In the Fire

I have never known a pain like this before. The other day I found myself in the shower weeping to the point where I couldn't even stand. I sat in the tub with the water pouring over me. The heaves came and I could barely breathe.

It all started when an image flashed in my head. The image was of my parents playing with my two younger daughters. One of whom they have never met, and the other that they only met at 5 weeks old. In other words, they never really got to know either. Watching that relationship unfold was robbed from me. For the entirety of my physical life I will never know the joy my parents would have in knowing my two younger daughters, nor would I ever get to see those girls light up at the sight of their Nana and Opa. I have been robbed.

I have never known pain like this before.

3 weeks ago I got the phone call that my little brother, aged 30, had died the night before. He woke up, unable to breathe. His lifelong battle with asthma ultimately found him to be the loser. I got the call as I was driving to a festival with my wife to celebrate my birthday. For the rest of my life my birthday is now also the day my brother passed away. His memorial service was on my 3-year-old's birthday and I had to miss it. I have been robbed.

My brother lived 1500 miles away from me. He lived in the town I grew up in. When visiting to bury him and attend a memorial service I found many people approached me to tell me that Stephen, my brother, had started changing right before he passed. After years of drug use and illegal activity, the past few years he had grown. He was a father now, a devoted boyfriend of a girl he planned to marry. He had become a force for good in most of the lives he frequented. They told me stories of how he had led them to hope in hopeless times. How he had shown them honor and respect, and saved their lives. While from afar I rarely talked to him and still was in process of repairing our relationship which had been damaged over the years, he was changing around those who now knew him best. It was only a matter of time before we would have been fully reconciled, and I could have known my brother as the man I had always prayed he would become. He would have been a wonderful uncle to my children, he already had been at times, and we would have been able to do so much together. My relationship with my brother had been on the brink of full restoration, and now I will not know it in this life. I have been robbed.

I have never known a pain like this before. The past few months my wife has been dealing with mysterious symptoms. Aches and pains and numbness and fatigue that comes and goes. She has been to doctors and been given full bill of health. Together we have gone after every spiritual area of affliction we can think to seal off. We have prayed and been counseled and tried new daily habits and yet nothing has budged. To date she has persevered and fought bravely, admirably fulfilling her duties as mother, wife, and friend. Yet the question always lingers, “What is wrong?” We are in a fight.

I have never known a pain like this before. For nearly six years now I have been dedicated and working toward finding a place in my chosen career path. I have interned at my local church. I have returned to school and finished strong. I have worked closely with another church only to find that it wasn't going to be a home for us. I have made myself available only to be overlooked. I have been stuck in jobs where my natural gifts are not used and where there is no promotion available. I'm now in my 30s and cannot find an open door, and all mine and my wife's dreams of career, buying a house, settling into a community long-term, things we have contended for in our 7 years of marriage, seem no closer now than they did at the beginning. We are in a fight.

I have never known a pain like this before, when everything attacks at once. Contending for breakthrough in health and career while also grieving the loss of half my family. I had a person tell me when I was in California for my brother's funeral that “You are so strong, but don't feel like you always need to be.” I now know what she meant. The past few days I've felt my strength disappear, and for the first time in my life I was happy to let it. Losing my brother reopened the wounds of losing my parents. Daily I watch as my wife pushes through her physical ailments. Daily I'm faced with hopelessness about my career, our financial future, and whether or not the things my wife and I dream about will ever happen. Daily I have to convince myself I'm not a failure. That none of these trials in my life are my fault. Logically, it's true. I just wish it dulled the pain.

So where is God in all of this? If anything I've learned that He is so faithful. True, it's not in the ways I expect or even how I want. For the first time in my life I feel I am being crushed but I have not gotten angry at Him. It's hard to be angry when I have so much to be thankful for. My children, first and foremost, are healthy and thriving. I'm more in love with my wife than I've ever been. My health is great. As of this moment we have no financial concerns. We have great friends and are surrounded by people who love us. We are very rich in that regard. We eat well and live in a nice little house in a safe neighborhood. In many ways you could look at us and say we're living the dream.

The other day I had the thought that if I were God and I was as good as I believe He is, if I was ready to promote my grown kid but I knew the time wasn't right I would put him or her someplace safe to wait. I would make sure they had everything they needed to grow safely and enjoy themselves while they bided their time until the time was right to move them on. While in this “waiting” period I would help them to address anything that might hold them back in the future. I would help them grow even more prepared for whatever they were facing. I would make sure that they came out of it strong as possible. I also would probably have them wait while I knew a storm was blowing outside.

In other words, I would do exactly what God has done with us. We are in a safe place to grow. We are facing very little outward adversity. Our battles right now are internal. My wife's health issue, our battles with frustration, my navigating grief, etc... Yes, the pain is great, sometimes too great to bear in our own strength, but at least my battles are focused. It is God's goodness that keeps us safe from the outward attacks while we are conquering the inner. In all of this pain, in all of this processing, I have never not once felt safe. And I am grateful for that.

I'll be real honest. Right now, even as I talk about the bright spots of our season, I don't feel joy. I feel a numbing sadness. It's pervasive. I don't feel strong, I feel weak. I don't feel hopeful, I feel lost. But I can still feel God. I can still feel His peace when I turn toward Him. I can still feel His tenderness. If anything it just makes me feel like weeping more. For my lost parents, for my lost brother, for my ailing wife and for my inability to open the doors to our dreams.

Somehow, through all of this, through one of the toughest seasons of my life, I know that I know that I know that He is good, and He is love. I know that He didn't orchestrate these hard things, but I know that He is holding us through them. And though I don't understand any of this; the loss, the grief, the desperation, the unanswered questions, I can't give up on trusting Him. For the first time in my life, I think I'm finally learning what enduring faith really is, and I feel like I'm beginning to grasp a deeper part of His heart for us.

Eventually breakthrough will come, in all of these areas. I know this because it's what He has taught me over the years. Eventually we will look back on this season as one we absolutely needed to have in order to grow. Eventually, yada yada yada. I'm am really excited for that day. Being in a fire of life this hot really sucks. But for now I'm called to do one thing: endure. I'll cry a little every day until the grief of my family is processed; I'll work my shift work job as best I can; I'll love my kids and hold them close; I'll contend for my wife's health and love her the best I can; I'll spend my free time watching Netflix and sports and playing games; I'll make time for friends; and I'll soak in the presence of God and worship Him with thanksgiving during all of it. And through all of it, I'll be hoping and praying for the next season.

But I'm thankful, so thankful, that while the fire is hot, He is in here with me. And while I don't feel faithful, or strong, or hopeful, it doesn't matter. He is good enough that if I simply try to choose those things, He will take care of the rest. He's a good, good Father. And that makes everything else possible to endure.  

9 Keys to Overcoming Discouragement

What do you do when you face discouragement? It's ok, you can admit it. You've been there. Even if you're reading this on a day when the sun is shining just for you, you know inside that you've had those times. Maybe it was that job you didn't get. Maybe it was that time your husband or wife totally missed that you needed support from them in a moment. Maybe it's the negativity from a mother-in-law who still doesn't believe the best about you in every situation. Maybe it's your child continually making bad decision despite the way you raised them. Maybe it's a healing you believed for but never manifested.

Whatever it is, we all have to face discouragement at some point. I know from personal experience. I've lived a wonderful life to this point full of adventure, excitement, love and blessing. But it's also been full of discouragements. From losing my parents early in life to moving across the country for a job that I ultimately didn't get, I have faced some biggies as well as multiple small ones! I am no stranger to the land of depression, anxiety, and discouragement. But through it all I have learned a lot.

One of the greatest skills we get to learn in life is how to minister to ourselves. Let's be honest, there's not always going to be someone there to pick us up when we're having a tough time. Sometimes we are alone or simply surrounded by those who are only exacerbating the problem and not helping it. There are going to be times when we are going to be the only ones who can turn things around.

In those times we have choices. Do we bemoan the fact that we are alone, using it as an excuse to go get drunk at the bar? (Been there, done that.) Do we start blaming the rest of the world for our problems and use it as an excuse to close ourselves off and grow bitter? (Yeah, that wasn't fun...) Do we blame ourselves to the point that we become utterly useless and broken? (Because that is SO helpful...) Or do we learn how to avoid the traps and grow?

I'll be honest, I have partnered with all three of the bad choices in that list. Probably some more too if I could think of them at the moment. They all did absolutely nothing for me. At one point I even stumbled through a 6 month depression because of my disappointment. A time where I regularly drank too much and fought with God and contemplated how great it would be to be dead. Yes, this was AFTER I had graduated ministry school.

Just because I knew Jesus and wanted to live a life in ministry did not mean I had “arrived” or that I was free from the process of maturity. It happens to us all, some quicker than others, but no one is exempt. If even Jesus had to grow in favor with man AND God before His ministry, then you can bet we will have to as well.

Thankfully God does offer us shortcuts sometimes. Especially if we are open to learning from others and Him. Because of this I'm going to share some keys to ministering to yourself that I have learned, my hopes being that you will be able to use these to avoid some of the hard lessons I had to learn in my stubbornness and naivete.

1) What is God saying about the situation?
In the event we face discouragement in life, the very first thing I recommend doing is fight for some alone time. Get alone with God and offer up what is affecting you. Be specific. Then after offering it up to Him ask Him what He says about the situation. Then shut up and listen. Rest in Him. Listen for His voice. Sometimes He'll give you specific words, sometimes He'll just show you something. But whatever it is He will encourage you. If what you hear is not encouraging or loving, then you're picking up the wrong voice. God is always encouraging and loving, even when He convicts. So listen and wait until you get something.

2) What is God saying about you?
While you're in the quiet place, make sure you ask God what He's saying about you as well. Oftentimes our discouragement will be followed with accusations from the Enemy. Some of his favorites are, “You're a failure.” “What did you expect, you're not worth good things!” “You can't trust anyone.” “God hates you.” Etc.. etc... Thankfully, we know that he is a liar, so if you can find the strength you'll find that what he says is actually quite funny and you can laugh at it. But if you don't have that strength, just go the Lord. Tell the enemy to shut up and just listen to what God is saying about you. He will tell you how loved you are, how amazing you are, and He might even share with you the name He calls you by (feel free to ask Him for that!). God sees us as we are in our finality, being that He is outside of time. He sees the finished product and He will encourage you in that.

3) Trust the words you're given
Far too often we negate what God is trying to minister to us because we either a) don't want to believe it (“I just want to be mad for a while...”) or b) we have bad beliefs that don't allow us to accept the good things He is telling us. Here's a rule I've learned in my years growing in relationship with God. If what I hear in my head is too good to be true, well then it's usually God. He is so much better, so much more loving, so much more encouraging than we could ever begin to comprehend! The reason it can be hard to accept is because our experience with people has taught us that no one is that good. No one could possibly believe in us that much. Well I'm here to tell you that He is that good, and He believes in you far more than you believe in yourself.
Trust the words. They will encourage and strengthen you.

4) What has God said?
If you're having trouble hearing from the Lord, then it's time to go to the Bible. Heck, go to the Bible even IF you're hearing from Him! It will only amplify the awesome stuff He's saying. Read through Psalms until you find one that connects with your heart. Or go through the New Testament and find all the promises Jesus, Paul, and the other writers speak about our futures and all the amazing things God has planned for us. Take those things and strengthen yourself.

5) Never forget that God is always Good
When bad things happen it is often easy to let the lie in that somehow God “wanted” it to happen. This is a lie. The truth is that God is always good and His will is not always done. How can this be so? You might ask. It's so because God in His sovereignty gave us free will. When He did that He backed off humankind to the extent where He said, “I'm not in control of your life unless you let me be.” When that applies to 6 billion people, you can bet that there are going to be many things that happen that are not of God but the results of human disobedience. We, all humans, are far more powerful than we realize. So don't blame God. Most times our difficult situations are the results of our disobedience or the disobedience of another human. Which brings us to the next item...

6) Be quick to forgive. Look, if Jesus could cry out for forgiveness for the Roman soldiers hammering nails into His hands then we can forgive the person who called us stupid or didn't hire us because they hired a family member instead. A lot of people are stuck in a rut of depression and or disappointment simply because they refuse to forgive. Jesus says that when we don't forgive we literally invite torment into our lives. (Matthew 18:34) It's our choice. I highly recommend choosing forgiveness. Both of those that hurt you, and of yourself as well.

7) Find something fun to do!
Yes! Here is something that far too few people don't give you permission to do. Well I'm going to do it. Instead of facing your discouragement by hunkering down and either working harder or trying to prove yourself, just walk away and take a break. Find the thing you enjoy doing the most, or the people you most enjoy being around, and go let loose! When you are having fun, when you are around others having fun, everything else seems so trivial in the moment. Joy comes back. That's important because joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). We need to let our hearts heal, and more often than not that comes through laughing and enjoyment. Remember not all your problems can be solved in a moment, but being strengthened on the inside will grow our momentum in overcoming them. Fun, long discredited, will build you up!

8) Make sure you are living in expectancy, not expectation
Expectation says, “This will happen at such time.” Expectation believes for specific things to the point where we have it all figured out. This presents a place where God cannot move beyond the restrictions of your box, which sets you up for disappointment. Basically because God refuses to work within a box.
Expectancy, on the other hand, is the hope and expectation of good things in general. Expectancy does not limit God to WHAT good things He presents to you, it simply believes that a good God is always working on our behalf to grow us and bless us (Jeremiah 29:11). This is Kingdom thinking. It is the thinking that matures us to get through hard circumstances and disappointments without falling into the long trappings of discouragement and depression. It is the secret to having joy in all circumstances.

9) Finally, get back on the horse
After letting go, finding out what God is saying, making sure you're forgiven, learning to live in expectancy instead of expectation, and finding your joy again, it's time to start moving forward. Realize that every time a major obstacle in life discourages you that God is there to help you overcome in time. Know that every time God doesn't answer a prayer immediately with a “yes” it's because He is saving His “yes!” for something better. Know that, no matter what, God is on your side and He believes in you.
As you continue in this you will learn that you cannot fail. You can have setbacks, but you will always fall forward.

I've learned many of these lessons the hard way. I'm still not perfect at implementing them, but I've found that when I do I am so much better in life. I'm quicker to overcome, I'm faster to be in my right mindset, and I'm more influential. As I grow in ministering to myself when needed I grow harder for the enemy to slow down, and I grow more useful to God on a day-to-day basis. I also get to live in more joy, more hope, and more faith than I would otherwise. Who wouldn't want that?  

What is the "Milk" of the Gospel?

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. - 1 Corinthians 3:1-2

When the Apostle Paul wrote these words he was in the process of disciplining the church of Corinth. The Corinthians were, by all accounts, an immature group of believers, who for whatever reason struggled to grasp the easier parts of the Gospel. They were undisciplined, a church full of gossip and quarreling, lawsuits against one another, and they even celebrated sexual immorality. Of all the churches in the New Testament that Paul writes to, they are the ones straying the farthest from the Gospel. Because of this, Paul expresses his frustration. They are "infants" in Christ, and he cannot even begin to give them spiritual meat because they refuse to grow up.

We find this same analogy in the book of Hebrews, where the writer expresses their frustration with their audience.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. - Hebrews 5:11-14

The writer of Hebrews then proceeds to tell us exactly what spiritual milk is.

Therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith in God, the doctrine of baptisms, the laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.

- Hebrews 6:1-3

There it is, our foundation, laid out for us. Milk is the laying foundation of the doctrine of the Gospel. The truths that are to unite all believers without any debate. Let's go through them one by one.

1) Repentance from Dead Works (or Acts that Lead to Death, depending on the translation, both are useful)

    Contrary to popular opinion, all sin is not the same. In 1 John 5:16-17 the Apostle John is clear that all wrongdoing is sin and all dead works are sin, but not all sin leads to death. We all still struggle with sin at times (unless there is someone out there I don't know about...) but none of us are to still be in sinful lifestyles once we are redeemed by Christ. Repentance, true repentance, makes that impossible. Lifestyles such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, addiction, idolatry, and others show that we have chosen something other than Jesus as our god. It is one thing to struggle with a familiar spirit, it is another to justify it and remain living in it freely while also claiming Christ.

     We are to repent from all sin. We are to be ready to be changed always so that we sin less and less until all sin in our lives is gone. Ultimately our goal is to be like Jesus. Perfect. Acts that Lead to Death, I believe, are sins that are more than simple hindrances in our lives, but they are bondages. Sometimes they are sins we make excuses for, even change our theology to accommodate. These are the sins that will ultimately destroy us. These are the sins that we must break free of immediately.

     This is a "milk" truth of the Gospel because it is foundational to who God means us to become. We must repent of dead works and of Acts that Lead to Death because if we don't we are ultimately choosing something else over God and we will never go deeper into Him as a result.

2. Faith in God

      This one seems obvious, but is it really? I would argue that the acts of many Christians betray that it is not. Faith in God is not simply belief. Anyone can acknowledge a belief in God. Faith is actually living that belief out.

      Faith looks like something. As James writes, faith without works is dead. A faith in God is not only believing in Him, but also knowing Him and trusting Him. Faith is exemplified by someone who takes risks for God and by someone who is growing in the fruits of the Spirit. Faith in God, to the world, should look irrational and illogical at times, for the Word is clear that the wisdom of God is foolishness to the world.

      What faith in God is not is simply reading your Bible occasionally and trying to "live a good life." Anyone can do that. Faith in God requires something of us. It requires us to place God's will in our lives above our own. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing, that is perfect faith. This "milk" truth is not requiring perfection of us, but it is requiring that we are stepping in that direction.

      Faith in God is a "milk" foundation because we cannot truthfully claim to be a Christian without being willing to lay our own life down and trusting God with the results. All Christians, real Christians, must at least be on the journey of learning what that looks like for them.

3. Doctrine of Baptisms

      While the theology of baptism has differed in certain parts of the church one thing is Biblically certain; baptism is an absolute must for any believer. Baptism is not only symbolic of our death to sin and rebirth in Christ, it is also a prophetic spiritual act which legitimately changes us. Even Jesus was required by God to go through a baptism before starting His earthly ministry. If baptism was only about washing away the sinful nature then Jesus would never have needed it. Yet through baptism God announced to the world that Jesus was His son, and through baptism Jesus was given more access to the power of the Holy Spirit. Not because He had to, because He chose to for our sake.

      In the Bible there are two baptisms: the baptism of water for repentance, and the baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit. Both are necessary for Christians. 

      The baptism of water is a choice we make when we choose Jesus. It is a physical act done in the presence of witnesses and it announces to the world and to the spiritual realm that we are a new person. The dead is gone, the sinful nature is gone, and the reborn person emerges. It is through this we first receive the Holy Spirit into us. It is the equivalent of both John's baptism (the baptism of repentance) and when Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into the disciples (John 20:22). It seals us for Christ.

      The baptism of fire and Holy Spirit is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit falling upon us. This is best exemplified in Acts 2. The disciples, who already had the Spirit in them (John 20:22) now had the Spirit come upon them and from this point on walked in supernatural power. But they weren't the only ones to receive this as Acts tells us about 120 were gathered when the Spirit fell and they all started speaking in tongues. This outbreak led to the conversion of 3000. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the baptism of power. It is the next step for the believer, the step from being changed internally to impacting the world more externally. Once the Spirit fell is when believers started being added daily.

      There are times when both baptisms occur at the same time, and other times when they occur separately. Why this is remains a mystery only God knows. Yet the doctrine of baptisms, plural, is pretty clear from scripture both the baptisms of water and fire. Why is it a "milk" foundation of the Bible? Because I believe it is clear that we need both to be a fully effective disciple of Jesus. We must have the baptism of water to lay aside our old nature and step into the new. We must have the baptism of fire in order that we can walk out our lives in the full empowerment of the Holy Spirit. God fully intended His children to walk in the real of the supernatural, both on the inside with the fruit of the Spirit, Godly wisdom and knowledge, and on the outside with signs of the miraculous. That is what Jesus did, and we are on a journey of becoming more like Him.

#4 The Laying on of Hands

      This "milk" of the Gospel is one that I believe has often been neglected to be taught on and therefore has passed many times into the background. The laying on of hands has roots all the way back to Jewish tradition, where it was symbolic of transferrence of inheritance and of laying on blessing. In the new covenant under Jesus the laying on of hands is how most miracles occur and how most anointing is given.

     In Mark 16:18 Jesus says that His followers will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. In Acts 8:18 Simon the sorcerer sees that the Holy Spirit is given to others by the apostles through the laying on of hands. Ananias laid his hands on Saul to restore his sight. Timothy was given his spiritual gift by the laying on of hands. There are many clear examples of the power of laying hands on people in scripture.

     In the early church this was such an accepted truth that Paul warns Timothy not to lay hands on people in haste (1 Tim. 5:22). When we touch someone something happens spiritually. Things are transferred, both good and bad. I do not know why, but I do know that is what scripture tells us.

     So why is the laying on of hands a foundational "milk" of scripture? I believe it is because it is to be something we are actively doing at all times. We are called to give because we have received (Matthew 10:8) and that is much more than a physical principle. We are to give spiritually as well. This is done mostly through the laying on of hands. We are also called to use wisdom in doing so, for it is a powerful practice that is not to be taken lightly. The early church was called to understand that, we are to as well. These days we do most of our giving and receiving through teaching and preaching, yet we need more. The laying on of hands is part of that more.

#5 Resurrection of the Dead

     This should be a fairly easy one for it is generally accepted that Jesus rose from the dead among Christians. In fact I've never known a Christian who didn't believe that.

     What is more controversial is that the writer of Hebrews doesn't simply say "Jesus' resurrection from the dead." I would argue that the writer of Hebrews is getting at something much more broad here.

      To label the resurrection of the dead as a spiritual foundation, a "milk" of the Gospel is to imply that we must believe in the supernatural. We must believe that death is defeated, which has a whole lot of meaning behind it. Do we believe people can be raised from the dead still? I believe we should. Do we believe that we died spiritually and were raised again? I believe we should. All of this is contained in this one powerful phrase.

      In many ways the resurrection of the dead is the greatest miracle. Taking something that has died and bringing it back to life is an amazing thing. Whether it is simply spiritually or physically or both, it is a miracle of the highest degree. As Christians, even immature Christians, this belief in the miraculous is to be a foundational core belief that we build upon into maturity. Basically it is the belief that God can do anything, that He has already done it, and that He will do it again.

#6 Eternal Judgment

     And finally, the last core "milk" foundational truth that the writer of Hebrews gives us is that we must believe there are eternal consequences to our life here on earth. There is a coming day of judgment for all of us where God will either see our name written in the book of life, or He will not. This is not about our mistakes on earth or our sins that have been forgiven, it will be about whether we chose to receive the gift of forgiveness or not.

     I believe very strongly that scripture tells us there is a hell. It has become popular these days to become more and more universalist in the beliefs of some. The idea of hell is scary and sobering, so many don't want to think about it. But it is inescapable. I could and probably will some day write more on the subject, but not today.

     But even better is that those of us who accept the gift will be judged into heaven. We will get to spend eternity with God, free from sin, pain, sorrow, failure, and remorse! We will get to reap the rewards of being eternal sons and daughters of His. How glorious!

     I love the core value of eternal judgment. I love it because it means that we all live a life full of meaning. I love it because it means that no matter what I do on earth, as long as I say "yes" to Him I am forever secure! It is the most freeing, amazing thing to realize that you are an eternal being.

     I believe that eternal judgment is a core "milk" foundation of the Gospel because it sets our perspective straight. It forces us to view everything through the lens that our time here is limited and we should not waste it. It frees us from thinking that we need to "get all we can" because we only have "one life to live" and instead gives us permission to take risks and try to accomplish the impossible. What's the worst that could happen, I get to spend eternity with my savior? How unbelievably awesome is that!

     Eternal judgment, for the Christian, is a wonderful amazing doctrine. I do not believe we can fully live out our destinies in this world without knowing this doctrine. I believe it is a core doctrine because everything we learn about God and every decision we make on earth needs to be viewed through this lens in order to best grow in wisdom. What a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Concluding Thoughts

     The milk of the Gospel is so simple, yet so important. I believe that every one of these foundational principles must be where we begin as Christians. We need to be taught these things from the beginning until we are secure in them. From there, once they are ingrained in us, the sky is quite literally the limit as to how far we can grow in the revelation of God.

      While these must be laid as a foundation, it is important we also grow beyond these truths. That we make them our foundation and from there pursue God and seek out His mysteries. The writer of Hebrews was ready to move on, Paul was ready to move on, and they both urged all other believers to get to the point of moving on as well. A mature Christian will have these foundations so deeply inside them that they will rarely need to talk on them anymore. They are the ABCs to a mature Christian.

       My concern is that today in the church we are full of immature Christians. We are full of people who don't want to go deeper. Sometimes they are weak in foundational truth, but more often than not they are simply stuck on them. This is the fault of leadership in the church. We are to lay the foundations, and then take the people further.

       My hope is that the leadership of the church begins to realize this more and more. That it grows better at laying these "milk" foundations in their people, and then has the courage to take the people on the process of maturity. To stay on these principles forever means a weak church. It means an immature church. That is never what Christ intended for us.  

      Toward the end of John's gospel John shares Jesus' words to His disciples. Jesus tells them that they have been upgraded, that He no longer considers them servants but friends. That designation is available for all of us, but we must be willing to grow in order to do it. Jesus is alive, He is not a principle. As we grasp His principles He invites us into deeper relationship, and that is where the true treasure is. 

Are You Ready for a Revolution?

Something is starting to happen in America. I say it's starting to happen, but the truth is it started some years ago, yet the wave is still cresting. Seeds long ago planted are starting to sprout and there is about to be an amazing harvest.

I don't know where the idea came from that the "end times" were going to be scary and dark for Christians. I imagine it must have come at some point during the Middle Ages, when people started wrongly thinking of God as an angry being ready to pour out destruction at any moment. When you start getting the wrong picture of God it changes everything, as we will subsequently view everything we learn about Him through that lens and it will influence our theology. Since the ascension of Christ this has been an issue with His people. Paul wrote to believers who couldn't get the idea of a judgmental God out their heads and so they kept going back to the Law (Galatians) as well as believers who believed Grace canceled their sin to the point that now sin wasn't even sin anymore (Corinthians). John wrote to believers who turned to gnosticism, a belief that totally devalued Jesus as deity and believes that all the material world is evil. All of these happened while the Disciples still walked the earth and it still happens today. Believers get a wrong understanding of the nature of God and change their beliefs to accommodate that understanding.

As believers, in order to better understand truth we must start with a correct understanding of God's nature. While the Bible is full of words to describe His nature (healer, love, judge, jealous, good, etc...) we could not understand what it all looks like in reality if it weren't for Jesus. Jesus showed us all the aspects of God in a way we could understand. He did it as a man. And while He came to save us and give us access to God and Heaven, He also came to show us what God was really like. After centuries of being misunderstood except by the few who actually took the time to know Him personally, God sent Jesus, God incarnate, to show us, once and for all so that there could be no mistake, exactly what He is like.

Therefore we now have no excuse. Our entire reading of scripture, our whole understanding of who He is, must always come through the lens of the life of Jesus. Through Him we see the absolute love, devotion, mercy, and Grace of our loving Father. Through Jesus we see a God who is in no hurry to punish us, a God who wants to save us and have relationship with us. He doesn't take any nonsense, but He also isn't afraid of sin. He hates religion and is zealous for His house (which is now us). He doesn't live in anger, He isn't looking to smite us for screwing up. He is eager to heal, eager to deliver, and He is always approachable.

The idea that the God Jesus displayed is simply waiting around for us to screw up so bad He can finally unleash judgment is inconsistent with what He has revealed to us. Peter knew this so well that in writing about the end times he said, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come into repentance." (2 Peter 3:9). God is patient, He has a plan. He will not come until every single person He knows will turn to Him has a chance to do so.

But even if that time is coming soon, what are we so worried about? The best is yet to come! Towards the end the church will fulfill her destiny by coming into unity and by purifying herself, in order that we might be presented a ready Bride for Christ. Jesus prayed that the church may be unified,

"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one-- I in them and you in me-- so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you loved me." - John 17:22-23

I find it hard to believe that Jesus would never see His prayer answered. Especially when Revelation tells us that the Bride will be made ready for Him when He returns,

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready." Revelation 19:7

If this truly is the beginning of the end times, it is time to get excited! The end means a revolution is coming. A revolution where the church finally rises up in unity, purity, and power! The world will change and we will experience the greatest glory the church has ever known before the end. Jesus is not coming to rescue a weak church. No, He came to rescue us the first time. The second coming will be to marry His ready Bride and to judge those that stayed outside.

Does it mean we will face persecution? I'm sure we will. As the light grows lighter the darkness will grow darker, for the enemy will pull out all the stops as he knows his end is approaching. But why are we afraid? Have we forgotten that times of great persecution have always produced the greatest harvests? A billion soul harvest  has been prophesied for these coming times, and it is consistent with what God tells us in scripture if we understand His nature. If we are hard-pressed, if times get difficult, it only means that God will be MORE faithful. It only means that more amazing things will happen. We will be so focused on what God is doing that while it may affect our bodies our spirits will only grow stronger!

And there is more! In the end the Spirit will pour out as never before. Isaiah (44:3), Joel (2:28), and Peter (Acts 2:27) all have prophesied so. Jesus told us that we would do greater things than He (John 14:12). To ignore that is to call Jesus a liar, but since He isn't, we need to be expectant! Miracles, signs and wonders are starting to pour out in greater fashion than since the beginning of the church. This is not a mistake, nor a coincidence.

It is a revolution!

The next period of time, whether it is the last on earth or not, we are to be expectant and excited! One way or the other we are in the last days, and every day grows closer to when Jesus returns. It may be tomorrow, it may be in a 1000 years, but it is growing closer. For us, the church, this means only good things. We are not to fear man or look to the world for determining our excitement, we are only to look to God.

What is coming is the greatest revival the world has ever seen. What is coming is the greatest outpouring of the Spirit the world has ever seen. What is coming is the unifying of the church into the unleashing of her ultimate destiny!

I suggest you get ready!

The #1 Problem in the Church: Hopeless Leadership

Today I did something stupid. I allowed myself to go down a rabbit hole of hopeless news. With each story I felt myself growing more and more discouraged, until finally I read the last story I found to read and backed away. At which point I was beginning to have serious doubts about things I had believed for years now. Of course, that made me feel even worse.

The worst part of all of this is that the trail had started on a well known Christian site (I won't reveal which one, because it's not a problem unique to them and I have no desire to "call them out" individually). This is a site I usually love reading, but in the last few months they have become very focused on the problems in our country. On the one hand, I applaud their courage for going after these problems and not ignoring them. On the other hand, I'm beginning to see those problems presented through a lens of hopelessness. The former is something the church is called to do, the latter is something the church is never supposed to do.

And yet, the American church is full of hopelessness. I would argue it may be the largest problem in the church today.

After reading all these stories I retreated into my room, desperately needing time alone with God. I cried out to Him in my spirit, "Is it really true? Is judgment coming? Are we all heading into a deep persecution?"

I wept as I cried out. The nation I loved, I couldn't imagine it falling apart. I wept for all the prayer and hope and work of the saints I knew was going on in the nation, feeling as if it meant nothing. I felt powerless.

"It doesn't have to."

I stopped then, His voice clearly cutting through the mess in my mind.

"Why are you listening to them?"

Well, because many of these are pretty trusted Christian leaders. But then again, they also are Christian leaders I have no relationship with.

"Who said you were powerless?"

And there it was. Right there I knew I had let lies of the enemy in. I had dropped my discernment for a few moments and let hopelessness overwhelm me. As I heard these words I felt hope awaken in me again, and I knew now that God was not nearly as hopeless for the nation as others were. I knew it because as I heard from Him I felt peace, peace that had left me while I was reading other things.

He wasn't done speaking either.

"As my church loses hope it loses it's influence." 

How true. When I had felt my hope missing I had just wanted to give up. If there is no hope for America, for the people here, then there is no need to keep pushing forward. Nonbelievers don't want to hear about how they are doomed if they continue in their ways, they pretty much believe they are doomed anyways. So what makes Christ appealing to them?

Hope. Hope and love.

There is a popular blog right now making the rounds on Facebook and other social media which has the premise that the reason the church is dying in America is because the church is "boring/" I couldn't disagree more.

First of all, I don't believe the church in America is dying, but that's for another blog. However, I DO believe the church is losing influence, and I believe that is because the church has given up hope.

The symptoms are everywhere. Want to find a hopeless church? Look for these things:

1) An over-emphasis on the "end times" and judgment.
2) Constant talk about persecution (a "victim" mentality).
3) Consistently harsh criticism directed at the church and prevalent immorality.
4) Consistent preaching blaming the church for its inadequacies
5) Consistent mentioning of "how bad things are" or the infamous "it's all going to get worse."

There are more, and I'm sure you could all think of a few. Why? Because it sure sounds familiar doesn't it? Of course it does. In fact I have only ever regularly attended one church that wasn't guilty of at least one of these. It is a spiritual infestation in the American church which hides in plain sight because it is able to quote scripture as justification.

But we forget that scripture used through the mouth of the enemy is still a lie. Go read about the temptation of Jesus if you don't believe me (Matthew 4).

Scripture is to be viewed through the lens of the Holy Spirit. It is to be read through relationship with God. It is to be understood within the full context of the whole Bible, and not cherry picked for validating verses.

When we do that, we find that there is no room for hopelessness in God. There is no room for despair and doom-saying. We find that every hard truth spoken in Scripture (and there is plenty!) is accompanied by hope, encouragement, and love.

Imagine if the American church would finally grasp this. Imagine if we, as a church, focused on knowing Jesus more and focused less on the end of the world. Imagine if preachers stopped trying to verbally beat their congregations into submission to Christ and instead focused on igniting the fires of excitement in order that they would CHOOSE submission to Christ on their own! Imagine if we, as a church, fell passionately in love with Jesus.

We would be the most moral, passionate, peaceful, joyful, loving and hopeful people the world has ever seen! And we would become irresistible to every person who has ever looked for love and for answers.

Church leaders, this doesn't mean ignoring our problems, it doesn't mean giving permission to live in sin, it doesn't mean ignoring the harder truths of scripture. What it means is that we re-order our priorities, and we begin to see every problem, ever person, through the lens of faith, hope and love (And in case you're forgetting what that looks like, go read 1 Corinthians 13, Psalm 25:3, Romans 5, and so much more).

It's time we repent of being hopeless. It's time we started believing that God has a plan for everything, to bring it all into redemption. Yes, there will come an end-time, but anyone who believes they know more than that is fooling themselves. I've seen too many "prophecies" and projections by "wise" men and women over the years that were ridiculously wrong to know that no one really knows anything about what it will look like or when it will come. To preach it as if we know is not only foolishness, I believe it is a tool of the enemy to promote fear and powerlessness in the church, as well as apathy to actually changing the world. We MUST NOT give in to it!

Scripture is clear, God is in no hurry to destroy the world. Read 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." Sounds to me that as long as people are coming to repentance, God is eager to let them keep doing it. Our focus should be on spreading this Good News more and more so that more will be saved, and let God worry about when He's coming back.

As a church we have very obvious callings and jobs in scripture. We are to spread the Good News (which telling people they are "going to hell if they don't change" is not an effective way of doing that!), we are to disciple people (which means training up those who have said "yes"), and we are to live blameless, good, productive lives in society. That's the simplicity of it. I've read the New Testament countless times, and this whole "casting judgment and proclaiming end-times doom" is nowhere that I have found!

I'm calling on Church leaders to repent now of this negative outlook. I'm calling on us to forsake hopelessness and start promoting hope! I'm calling on us to reject the limits of the "logical" approach to Christianity that the church adopted in response to the Enlightenment and again embrace the "foolishness" of God! (1 Cor. 1:25) It's a foolishness that says, "these problems are opportunities!" and embraces hope when all is dark around us! It's a foolishness that says "I REFUSE to let the enemy steal my peace and joy! I refuse to be afraid of the sin of others when I was set free from it!" It's a foolishness that will attract the most unlovable and the most lost.

It's time to repent and find our hope and joy again, and then watch as our influence changes the nation.

The "Good News" is Better Than You Imagined

What if there was nothing on earth to stop you? What if you were so powerful you could do whatever was put into your heart to do? What if you were supported by the richest person there was, and that person was more interested in your success than you are? How amazing would that be?

Think about that for a second. Allow yourself to dream.

Got it?

Hold onto that thought, because I have some great news for you.

Those "what ifs" are not "what ifs", they are truths.

For too long the Good News of the Gospel, of the reality of Jesus, has been reduced to something like this:

*achem* "Jesus came to save you, so you can go to Heaven. He has given you something to look forward to after all the suffering you're going to go through in this world. So say yes to Him, then be as good as you can be, expect to suffer a lot (but be excited about it! That's proof you're a Christian!), and then you can die and finally go to Heaven. If you're lucky you'll get to see a miracle or two in your life, and maybe make a difference in the world. But don't worry too much about that, it's all going to burn anyways. So just be content with whatever your lot in life is, and try not to enjoy yourself too much, because you might end up sinning. But remember, you get to go to heaven!"

 Um, yippee? Is it any wonder why the church has lost so much influence? Where's the love in that message? Where's the hope? Everything "good" in that message of the "Good News" is pushed to after we die. And yet we wonder why people are tuning out?

Thank God the real Good News is much better news than that! It's real and timely, wonderful, exciting, and empowering! Yes, it starts with Him saving us. It starts with Him not only forgiving our sins, but forgetting them (Jeremiah 31:34). It starts with Him running excitedly toward us when we turn toward Him in repentance, He throws us a party, clothes us as royalty, and embraces us with joy! (Luke 15:20-24) That is how it starts, but there is so much more!

Jesus came not only to save us but also to give us life more abundant RIGHT NOW (John 10:10). Too good to be true? Well let's revisit the "what ifs" from earlier and see what the Bible says about them:

1) With Jesus, nothing on earth can stop us!
    What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? - Romans 8:31
    I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

2) God knows the desires of our hearts, and He wants to give them to us!
    Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
    If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. John 15:7

3) He makes us powerful!
    But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to all the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8
    Therefore we also pray for you always that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power. 2 Thessalonians 1;11
    For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 1 Timothy 1:7

4) He, the Lord of all things, is working to make all things work out for us!
    And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
    For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Matthew 6:32-33

And these are just the beginning! Not only does God care about what we care about in this life, not only does He promise us that we cannot fail in life, He also heals us body and soul (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18, 1 Pet. 2:24, 3 John 1:2).

He rewards us for everything we give up for Him by giving us a hundredfold IN THIS LIFE and beyond;
     So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brother or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my sake and for the Gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time-- houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions-- and in the age to come, eternal life.  Mark 10:29-30

And the list goes on and on. He gives us eternal hope for every circumstance (Rom. 5, Rom. 8), He comforts us (2 Cor. 1:4), He is patient with us (2 Pet. 3:9), He gives us wisdom (Ephesians 1:17), etc... And above all, He LOVES us! (John 16:27, Rom. 5:8, Galatians 2:20, Eph. 2:4)

This is the Good News! This is what the world needs to hear. And if they did hear it, you can believe they would be flocking to it.

Church, my heart and I know the heart of God is for us to realize the full wonder and goodness of our inheritance of salvation once again. We were never meant to be a people left complaining about the state of the world and looking forward to the end of it. We are meant to be a powerful people, full of joy and love! We are meant to be secure in His love and fearless as a result!

I challenge all of us to stop thinking about how big the problems of the world are and start focusing on Him. The deeper we go into Him, the more we give Him, the more He gives us! It's time we stopped being overwhelmed by the sin of the world and instead start pitying those who don't know any better. Just as Jesus did (Luke 23:34).

It's time for us to stop making excuses for the things we don't understand, things like "why hasn't such and such been healed?" and instead partner with the will of God for that person; which is FULL HEALING! (Matt. 13:15, James 5:16)

It's time for us to start realizing what real Biblical suffering is. It's not poverty, it's not sickness, it's not fear, struggle with sin, or addiction. Christ gives us freedom from all of those things! The only suffering which we are to expect in this life as part of being a Christian, the only suffering we are called to endure and not to fight at, is the suffering of Christ (2 Cor. 1). That suffering is persecution. which is the only suffering Paul (Col. 1:24, 2 Tim. 1:8) and Peter (1 Pet. 4:13) exhort us to endure. Christ was never spoken of as sick, He didn't struggle with sin, He had no addictions, and He had all His needs always met. As well as showing us the nature of God Christ also showed us the perfection of man. Whatever Jesus overcame we are meant to overcome as well.

We also are not to expect suffering for our entire lives, but only for periods, usually short.
   In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials 1 Pet. 1:6

Suffering is not from God, even though He can use it for good. God ONLY gives good gifts.
   If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Matt. 7:11
   Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17

Has it started to come through yet? The Bible is clear about just how wonderful God is to us, how abundant a life He wants to give us through Jesus. Not just to wait for heaven, but for RIGHT NOW!

I don't know where we lost it, I don't even know how. But somewhere along the way we started interpreting the Bible through our own understanding and not through the clear words God has given us. Somewhere satan convinced the church to start expecting bad things to happen instead of good. Somewhere we got tricked into believing that we weren't powerful and that we STILL needed a savior. The Bible says different, it says that we GOT our savior, and He has empowered US! Now it's OUR responsibility, with His help, to go out into the world and see it get changed. To see it get healed and delivered through faith, hope, and love. The power is His, but He gave it to us!

THIS, is the Good News of the Gospel! That we get to bring heaven to earth, a little bit at a time, until we are called to our real home! We are blessed and we get to partner with God in living out an existence that provokes those who don't know Him into jealousy, that they might desire to know Him as well! (Rom. 11) We are to evangelize by doing good works (1 Pet. 2:11-12) by having a hope that no one else understands (1 Pet. 3:15) and by doing all things through love (1 Cor. 13).

This is how Jesus got the crowds to follow Him. When He preached, they were already there. They knew Him because He had relationship with some, and He was so amazing word spread, then they wanted to know Him more.

The Good News is right there for us to read. It is our responsibility to cherish it, to get excited about it, and above all, to live it! But we can't do this without actually knowing the God who had it written down. God has given us direct connection to Him through Jesus, and our first step to growing in the knowledge and love of all of this is just to KNOW Him! To spend time with Him! It's that easy. But of course it is, because the best news of it all is that this is a gift to us, and all we have to do is say "yes".

So what are you waiting for?



 

There's Nothing to Be Worried About

Every few nights the past weeks my 4-year-old has been waking up with bad dreams. She doesn't wake up screaming, she doesn't lose all sense of composure from terror. She simply wakes up, finds me (sometimes I'm still awake, sometimes she ends up scaring ME awake), says "I had a bad dream," and then stays with me until her peace returns and she can go back to bed. Sometimes I only have to say, "It's ok, daddy's here and God is watching over us" and she goes right back down. Sometimes she lays with me for a while until she drifts off and I can put her back (don't judge me, but I can't sleep with kids in the bed!).

Every single time she ends up sleeping the rest of the night and then wakes up fine. She doesn't dwell on what happened, she doesn't let it sit with her. She trusts me and lets it go.

In this she shows that she understands better than most adults what trust is, and what God is like.

When I was about 20 years old I was reading Matthew 6 and Jesus' words hit me like a freight train.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown in the fire, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6: 25-34|

Something in these words stuck with me, and I knew that in these words was a key to life. Something that at the time I couldn't even put words to. So from that moment on I decided that I was going to make it a point in my life to not worry about things. It was one of the most empowering decisions I have ever made.

As a result I was able to make decisions that were scary and never feel the weight of them. Something, just by making that decision, switched in me and I grew in confidence and saw some amazing things happen in my life as a result of not being fearful.

But to be honest, it didn't last. Anyone who knows me knows that for a few years I didn't really walk with the Lord. I never stopped believing, but I wasn't pursuing God either. And while I appeared to be "worry-free" to many people, the truth was I had simply moved my fear. I didn't fear much for my own health or success, but I feared a lot about where my country was headed, if people liked me, etc... I had a lot of worry and fear, but I was adept at disguising it.

So what's the point? The point is that it's impossible to fully live a life without fear unless you have Christ and you are constantly going back to Him.

Simple right? Yup.

So why are we so dominated by fear? Church, I'm talking to YOU.

One of the amazing things about fear is that when you are fearful you become so good at disguising it. Scared about where the country is headed? Nah, I'm PASSIONATE for change. Fearful that famous Christian who disagrees with you on a small theological point is leading others astray? Nope, I'm "defending the Gospel." Terrified your grown kid is making a bad decision so you try to control them? Not at all! I'm "doing what's best for them." Afraid to take risk in life so you belittle the successes of others? Of course not! I'm "just a realist." Petrified you're going to get sick so you try to control every single aspect of your diet? Whatever, I'm just "choosing a healthy lifestyle."

Heard that before or something similar? Of course you have. It's come out of your own mouth. Don't lie to yourself and deny it, because you know it's true. Look, I'm just as guilty as you! I've excused my fear so many times it's sickening, especially because I truly believed the words coming out of my mouth in my denial.

But then a few years ago something happened. That Jesus I'd been reading about and occasionally hearing from led me straight on into encounter with Him. He gave me a choice, and when I said yes He led me to know Him in an intimate way I never imagined possible. He showed me how I could find Him every day and live near Him every moment. He made Himself more real to me than I ever believed possible on earth, and as that realization grew and continues growing I found something amazing: Fear gets further and further away.

On top of that, it becomes so much easier to spot. Want a fear-fest? Spend 10 minutes on Facebook. People terrified for our country will post their political fears. People afraid for health will share their health tips. And the list goes on. Are most of these good people? Absolutely! Are they wrong? Most of the time no. But it doesn't always matter what is being said but how it's being said.

Signs of fear:
    "{Blank} causes cancer!"
   "{Blank} is ruining the country!"
    "{Blank} is preaching heresy!"
    "{Blank} will happen to you if you don't {blank}"

Signs of healthy thinking:
     "{Blank} helps your health!"
     "{Blank} will help our country get back on track!"
     "{Blank} in the Bible is amazing truth!"
     "{Blank} is helping all kinds of people!

The truth is that almost all negativity is a sign of fear. Why? Because negativity promotes hopelessness. Negativity breeds hate. Negativity tries to destroy in order to set things right. Hopelessness is the exact opposite of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13). Hate is the opposite of Love (God, 1 John 4:8)). Destruction is a characteristic of the devil (John 10:10). You cannot go to God and walk away discouraged (Rom. 15:5). It is impossible. So any idea that discourages is NEVER from Him.

Church, we have ignoring the command of Jesus to not worry for far too long! And it IS a command, not wishful thinking. We have taken our trust away from God and given it to the devil. By fearing we are putting our faith in brokenness and not in the healer. This does not mean we ignore the world's problems, which are very real, but that we filter them through the perspective of God.

And through that perspective, we will always be encouraged, always find joy, always be strengthened, and always focus on solutions.

If we are to regain our influence in the world we must learn to be the most hopeful people alive yet again. We must take Jesus at His words! His words tell us that we will be fine and that God is working in the world to take care of us (Rom. 8:28).

It's time to put fear in its place, once and for all, and in doing so find greater freedom and joy than we've ever known! The good news is that it is so EASY too. The grace of Christ made it easy. He sent us His Spirit and says, "If you get scared, there's my door. Come get me."

To be honest, sure, it still pops its ugly head up and I have to squash it. Sure sometimes I let it hang around a little too long. But I'm learning how to notice it, wake myself up, go to my Daddy and tell Him, "Daddy I'm scared." And when I go to Him, He tells me, "It's ok, everything will be alright." Then He invites me to stay there until I get my peace back. I'm learning all over again what my daughter already knows, and it's a wonderful thing. I invite you to embrace Him too. He's warm, He's loving, He's safe, and the closer we get to Him the easier it is to say, "What on earth was I ever afraid for?"

The Hammer (Or, "Why We Aren't Making a Difference")

The other day we were preparing for my son's birthday party. Being good hosts is important to us, so we were working hard to get our house in the best shape it can possibly be. This meant also making some repairs that needed to be made, which specifically meant to repair the curtains that our giant labrador had torn down while barking at the (choose one of the following: mail man, utility man, neighbors, squirrels, deer, guests, etc...).

So out I brought my modest toolset and started getting to work putting the third batch of holes into our rented wall (fairwell security deposit!) and making my wife a happy woman (hello happy marriage!).

In all the noise of hammering and drilling my son became very excited and decided he was going to "help" as well. He proceeded to find his small wooden hammer and went around looking for anything loose in the house that he could hammer back into place. In short, he was helping in spirit only.

Of course, usually we wouldn't mind. We love to encourage any good traits being displayed in our kids, even if the actions of those traits are about as fruitful as me staring at a wall. Unfortunately for our son this time he continued hammering well after I had finished making my noise and my wife had put the baby down for a nap. Those with newborns will understand, but nap time is a sacred time in the house, and that sacred time was on the verge of being ruined.

We asked our son to stop, and he did for about a minute. We asked him again and the words went in one ear and out the other. So now it was time for action. We sat him down in the kitchen and gave him an ultimatum: hold onto your hammer and stay seated, or give us your hammer and get up.

Now it seems easy right? I mean, why wouldn't you just give up the hammer? But that's not how it works with 7-year-olds. He doth protested, and protested much.

"I'm only trying to help!"

"Why are you so mean!?"

"I don't want to give up my hammer!"

"I don't want to sit down!"

On and on it went and it baffled me (although it shouldn't have, because this is what kids do). So he sat there, very upset. And I actually felt sad for him. I knew that his heart was only to help, but unfortunately because he wouldn't listen his "helping" was actually a problem. As this emotion of pity hit me I heard the Lord say, "Now you know what it's like."

Whoa. No sooner did He say that to me then I was flooded with a revelation. I got a flash vision of many people, myself included, who had held ourselves back. We had such good intentions but our intentions were outside of what God was doing in the moment, and it held us back.

In that moment I got an insight into how God sees many of us at various times in our lives. We are the children holding onto our hammer, crying out "We just want to help!" but God can't use us. Because we want to help on our own terms and not on His, and that makes us more harmful to His plans than helpful. We aren't listening to His voice calmly saying "Here's how you can help" and giving us directions. Instead we're taking tools that helped us before and trying to use our limited understanding to do things our own way. As a result we just mess up until finally God has to say "sit this one out, you're not ready."

It reminds me of when Jesus told Peter, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith would not fail; and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren."

'But he (Peter) said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you, both to prison and to death."

'Then He said, "I tell you Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you deny me three times." - Luke 22:31-34

Peter was so ready to HELP. He was so ready to go down fighting alongside his Savior. Yet Jesus knew he wasn't ready. Jesus knew that Peter didn't yet understand. Peter wanted to help but he didn't want to help the way Jesus needed him to. So Jesus had to have him stay behind, and let Peter grow in understanding before he was ready to really be a part of what Jesus was doing on earth.

Between Jesus and the disciples there are many interactions like this. Interactions where the disciples think to do one thing but Jesus tells them to do another. Interactions where Jesus has to step in and make up for their lack of faith or knowledge. It's all over the gospels.

In all these situations they are trying to do the right thing. Their intentions are good. But whenever Jesus corrects them it's because they didn't go to Him FIRST. They didn't find out what He was doing FIRST. Meanwhile Jesus lives perfectly, and why? Because "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner." - John 5:18

Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. Before He did anything He checked in with Father to make sure He was partnering with God, and therefore able to move forward the will of God.

So many of us want to do the same, yet we are holding ourselves back by refusing to give up what we think we know, by holding on to what we are comfortable with.

It can be so many different things. We can be holding onto bad beliefs which are stunting our growth in God. We can be holding onto fear. We can be trying to use a principle which may be good, but is in the wrong timing. Or maybe we are simply trying to do something in our own strength while God is asking us to be patient so He can work. Maybe it's that we just don't understand what He's doing and so instead of pursuing understanding we try to frame it through our own little brains. Maybe it's that we have a sin in our lives that we are unwilling to step away from. Maybe it's a habit that isn't necessarily bad, but needs to be sacrificed for a season.

It can be a lot of things, but it comes down to one thing; are we listening to His voice? Some of the best Christians get stuck simply because they are afraid of trying new things after years of other things working. Moses was afraid to speak to the rock because he didn't want to be embarrassed, and because hitting the rock is what worked the first time (Numbers 20). His intentions were good, but He didn't trust God in the moment. As a result, God knew Moses wasn't ready to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. This was MOSES people. The greatest prophet to ever live! And even he had a moment when he held onto his "hammer", and as a result God had to sit him down and say "sorry Moses, not this time."

I believe that most of us want to do big things in this life and for God. I believe we all, after choosing Jesus, naturally have good intentions. But that's not enough. It's enough to be saved, but not enough to make a difference, it's not enough to change the world. Jesus showed us the perfect method, He gave us the secret. Looking to God and listening to His voice to find out what He's doing. Before stepping forward in anything we should always be finding what He's doing. Sometimes it's obvious. Sometimes we have the answer already. Some things are laid out perfectly clear in Scripture. Other things need His relational guidance. We should always be checking in with Him to find which is which.

God is always looking to promote us. He is always looking to bless us and reward us. He is also always looking to use us. He wants to partner with us in changing the world. He also wants to have a lot of fun with us and enjoy us. I believe most of us want that with Him too. In submitting to Him, in trusting Him, we will be able to accomplish more and enjoy life more than we ever dreamed possible. But it takes the sacrifice of giving our hopes, dreams, desires to Him.

My son, zealous to help and upset that he couldn't, sat there for a while clutching his hammer. Finally I got down to his level, looked him in the eyes and said, "Jacob, I just need you to give it to me for a little while. I will give it back later." He then decided to trust me and was able to get up and finish helping, this time in a way that made a difference. Sure enough, he ended up not even missing his hammer and found a whole lot of joy and pride in his work without it. And when it's needed, he'll get his hammer again.

God is ready to do the same with us, if we would just listen.

God is Joyful, Why Aren't We?

Last night we gathered as a family an hour before bed.  My kids love the show "America's Funniest Home Videos" (or "AFV", but seriously, that's dumb) and since it's on Netflix we like to watch it as a family sometimes at night. I remember doing it as a kid every Sunday evening, and I love to give that to my kids as well.

So before we watched we decided to do our family prayer time. This is essential with 4 kids under 7 because once 7:30 passes prayer time becomes a mish-mash of "I'm TIRED!", "I'm THIRSTY!", "I want to pray for (insert name) not you!!!". Tired kids often resemble angry drunks (look it's been proven that tiredness does the same thing to the brain as drunkenness, I'm not just saying it to be mean!), and because of this timing is EVERYTHING.

Because we got the timing right this night, prayer time went swimmingly. The kids were passionately praying for our loved ones and as a father I was very proud. Then as prayer time was winding down I decided to lead them into a time of just resting in the presence of God. So we invited God to come and touch us and we shared laughs as He did (He ALWAYS does!). As this was happening I started to lead the kids in a prayer of thankfulness, and as I started I heard in my head, "I love to watch shows with you guys!". This made me smile and so I told the kids and watched as they lit up and laughed! They were enjoying God, and basking in His enjoyment of them. And I just had one of those moments where you think, "this is what it's all about."

Why do so many kids raised by Christians turn away from the faith? I really believe it's because:
a) western Christianity has taught us that good theology is all you need and so we have substituted teachings for experience
b) we have expected our kids to know truth without encounter
c) we have been so afraid of sin that we focus more on avoiding sin instead of focusing on how joyful a life with God is
d) we have lived our own lives without joy, and as kids grow they don't want to be like us anymore as a result.

Along with teaching our kids the Bible and "good theology", we have prioritized leading them to actually EXPERIENCE God. We are obviously not perfect, and I can't speak as to what choices my children will make in the future, but I know that my six-year-old is already speaking in tongues, has conversations with God, prophecies over people, and has had multiple people be healed at the touch of his hands. He already knows that God answers His prayers and that God is REAL. Not because we told him, but because of his own experience. That is not something that he will lose because of good teaching by a atheist college professor someday. My son already feels the pleasure of God in his spirit and his body, and he knows that God loves to laugh with him!

He's the oldest and the boldest, so his experiences have already far surpassed his sisters, But even they are learning the pleasure of God and the FUN of God! My daughters love to dance to worship (yes, we love and encourage DANCING in our house! It IS Biblical!). Almost every day my 4-year-old Sonora wants music put on so they all can throw what they call a "God party!" As a parent I just marvel at this. Despite the many mistakes I've made with them, to see them still loving and going after God on their own means that something is going right!

And thinking of this now I've thought about the world around us.

Over the years I have talked to numerous people about God, most of them young adults. One of the things I frequently hear from them is that they don't believe God is any fun. They think of Him as some extremely serious old man in the sky looking to ruin their fun. Their mindset is perfectly summed up by Billy Joel in the song Only the Good Die Young.

He sings about heaven, "Some say it's better but I say it ain't. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints."

Billy Joel isn't alone. Multiple times in my life I've heard "Why would I want to go to Heaven? At least in hell my friends will be there."

Are these ignorant statements? Absolutely. They are statements that hold no clue as to what truth is. But that's not the fault of these people, it's OUR fault as Christians.

We are the ones who created the "serious God" perception. We are the ones who started trying to convert the world by telling people how BAD hell was. We were the ones who took the focus off of how GOOD God was!

The world doesn't want Jesus because we have done a horrible job of communicating how good He is!

Oh we do a great job of saying "God is good because He sent Jesus to save you from Hell," but it mostly stops there. Then we try to ram down their throats just how BAD Hell is, and people either get terrified or apathetic. We are doing our recruiting with negative reinforcement, and we wonder why people tune us out?

What people need to know is the God of joy, the Jesus who was happy! They need to know that God doesn't want to ruin our fun, He wants to lead us to the BEST fun! A life of joy and peace and love and hope!

It's time for the church to pick this up again and run with it. Let's teach people the Good News! Not the "Better than Hell so it's Good News" but the fully true, fully joyful, fully transformational GOOD NEWS! The news about a God who loves us so much that He died not just to save us but to LIVE WITH US. He died to give us things on earth that we couldn't get without Him, good things!

Jesus was full of joy:

Luke 10:21 - "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit"...

John 17:13 - "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I'm still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them."

Hebrews 1:9 - "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you (Jesus) with the oil of joy."

And so were the disciples:

Acts 13:52 - "And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit (which lives in us!):

Galatians 5:22 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, goodness, kindness, faithfulness,"

If Jesus was full of joy, and the disciples were full of joy, and the Holy Spirit that is in us is full of joy, WHY AREN'T WE FULL OF JOY!?!

I personally believe we have placed asceticism above joy as Christians. Somewhere in history western Christians decided that since the Bible said we'd share in the sufferings of Christ that we should start MAKING ourselves suffer. Since James wrote that we should find joy in tribulation, we should CREATE tribulations for ourselves. Somewhere we decided that God wanted us to be miserable and find joy in it. That God doesn't care about our dreams.

This is such a lie!

As Christians we should be more alive than anyone else. Will we suffer sometimes? Of course! But that suffering is not to be self inflicted! I know too many Christians who refuse to do anything fun for fear that fun is a sin. They won't dance, they won't watch a movie, they won't have a glass of wine, they won't get involved with sports, etc... They just sit around and criticize everyone else who is having a good time. Instead of using discernment to determine WHICH movies are ok, WHICH dances are ok, HOW MUCH wine is ok, they are just too afraid to even participate.

And they wonder why the world keeps choosing hell?

The church is the closest thing people can get on earth to experiencing what heaven should be like. We ARE the church. Nonbelievers should be amazed at how safe they feel with us. They should be awed at the fun we are having even though we don't need to sin to do it. They should be jealous of how close we are as a family, and how good we are at taking care of one another. They should be looking at us and thinking, "God must be so good to have such a happy, whole people."

THIS is how we help people. By showing them truth! By showing them a God who believes in the dreams of His children. By showing them a God who is all-loving, all-generous, all-caring. We should be serving with joy!

Instead what they are seeing and hearing is criticism. They are hearing hate. They are hearing fear.

Church, it's time to lead the world into an encounter with the real God. Let's allow God to bring us joy and fullness of life again, and watch as the world around us changes. I have already seen the changes it is bringing to my family and others, it's real, and He is good!

7 Things God Has Taught Me About Parenting

As a parent of 4 young kids, I am ready to admit that I constantly mess up. I am always learning and constantly being humbled. Along with my marriage, my kids are the greatest treasure and responsibility in my life. They bring me more joy than I ever imagined as well as more challenges. They have taught me that parenting is a whole lot of trial and error, especially because each kid is different. What works for one doesn't work for another, and so on.

Like any parent, I want to make as little mistakes as possible. As a result I have read parenting books and watched parenting videos. I have taken what I believe worked well from how I was parented and tried to weed out what I believe were mistakes.

As someone who has relationship with God through Jesus, I also know that there is only one perfect parent; God the Father. He parents us all perfectly, and therefore I know that He is the one I want to emulate the most. Not only because I want to be a good parent, but also because my wife and I are the people most responsible for giving our children their first impressions of what God is like. Not because we are perfect and all-powerful, but because we are the first real authority in their lives. We teach them what it is like to have a constant presence in their lives that is ultimately in charge. We can either launch our kids off to a strong start to success in life and relationship with God, or we can miss the mark and leave our kids with mountains to overcome and wounds to be healed from. It's our choice.

I want to do the former for my kids. I'm sure we all do! So for what they are worth I'm going to share what God has taught me about parenting. Obviously I'm not perfect in following these, but that's ok. That's where Grace comes in. But I try to follow these principles as best as I can, and let the rest of my parenting fall within the parameters of them. Hope they will help you too!

1) Discipline is different than punishment.

    God disciplines His kids (Hebrews 12) but there is no Biblical precedent for Him punishing them. After the wrath of God was sated by Jesus' death, the only mentions of punishment in the New Testament are when Hell is being talked about or in regards to governmental authority. In other words, because of Grace punishment only comes as a natural result of our choices. Worldly authority can punish those that are living against the rules (usually endangering others) and then Hell naturally punishes those that want nothing to do with God (Hell is the only place totally absent of God). But there is no mention of God punishing anyone.
    Why?
    Punishment is about paying a price, while discipline is about leading and growing someone into success. There is no redemption in punishment, there is no rehabilitation. God never does anything that doesn't help us grow. He is always focused on us first of all developing deeper relationship with Him, and secondly growing us to succeed in becoming more like Him (perfection).
    Punishment is about finality, about serving penance.  As parents we are never to be done with our kids. As parents we should never do anything to our kids that doesn't assist them in growing to be better. This is why it is never a good idea to discipline out of anger, for in anger we are usually seeking to merely punish and we miss the aspect of discipline. As parents we need to accept the fact that our kids don't owe us anything. They are our responsibility, we are not theirs. Everything we do should be about steering them forward and not about halting their process. That is the difference between discipline and punishment.

2) A good parent never stops believing in their children.

    This should go without saying, but unfortunately it needs to be said. God never gives up on us. Ultimately we can choose whether or not we give up on Him, but He is never the one who makes that choice. As parents we should never be the ones making that choice either.

3) A good parent gives their children freedom to fail.

    This mostly applies as our children grow older. But God gave us free will for one reason, and it is that we could love Him freely. In doing this He risked that some would not love Him. He risked abandonment and heartbreak in order that we might live more fully. He chose to powerful creations in relationship with Him, instead of making us merely pets or slaves.
    Our children are powerful. They are humans created in God's image. If we try to control them we are being a whole lot less loving than God has been with us. In trying to control our kids or manipulate them into doing what we want them to do or what we believe is best we are making their lives more about us than about them. True love is letting them go and assuring them that we will always be there for them. That's what God does for us, even when we are being foolish. He allows us to fail, but always gives us the option to return to the safe place that He is. Even if we turn our backs to Him He is always ready to pick up the phone and encourage us if we call. He lets us fail so that when we turn back it is real.
    One of the best things we can do as parents is allow our kids to fail. When they are still in our house we will need to discipline them, but when they are out we just need to let them know we love them and are there if they need us. Offering advice is great, God does it with us. But manipulation, guilt, shame, whatever we want to use to try to force our kids into changing is ultimately the opposite of the heart of God for us. We can do better.

4) A good parent never stops encouraging.

    This goes hand in hand with the last two. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the "Comforter" (John 14), and Paul says that God has given us eternal encouragement (2 Thessalonians 2:16). In other words, God's presence and words to us are always enveloped in comfort and encouragement. Even in disagreement God finds ways to encourage and comfort us.
     If we are to be good parents, we need to find ways to always encourage our kids and comfort them. Even in our discipline, disagreement, or disappointment. Studies have shown that men especially list the encouragement of parents as one of their top reasons for success. Encouragement is a God-given strategy for building up successful, loving children. Our children should never leave a conversation with us without feeling loved and encouraged.

5) A good parent supports the dreams of their children.

    The word "desire" when broken down literally means "from father" (de= of, from; sire=father). As children made in God's image our deepest desires were put there by God. Using discernment, we can tell which of our kids desires are pure, noble and good, and which are not. A lot of times our dreams for our kids may not match up with what is in their heart. As good parents we need to be able to let go of what our expectations for them may be.
    It should be obvious that I'm not talking about supporting immoral or harmful desires that our kids may have (for some desires can come from another father, the "father of lies"). But if we really believed our child would be best as a teacher but they desire to be a musician, we need to support them in this, even if we can't see how it would be "successful." Some dreams are fleeting but still need to be attempted. While others may actually be desires deeply imbedded in their hearts by God, and the pursuit of those will ends up in success that far surpasses most of our imaginations.
   The easiest way to shut down a child's passion and joy is to stomp out their dreams. It is also the surest way to guarantee them a life of failure. God knows this, which is why He gives us those desires in the first place (Psalm 37:4) and then encourages us to ask for whatever our hearts desire, according to His will (multiple times in John 15-16).

6) A good parent is quick to forgive and to ask forgiveness.

    And now we've come full circle. Just as God lowered Himself to forgive us, we need to do the same to our kids. Every day. We also are all going to fail, and we need to humble ourselves and ask their forgiveness as well. Get over yourself, you're not perfect. You will make bad decisions, you will sometimes act out of anger or frustration. Our kids need to know that we love them enough to make things right.
    Obviously God never needs to ask our forgiveness, for He's perfect. Yet He still gives us the formula that we need to emulate.
    Forgiveness resets the standard, and we all need to constantly reset it. Once forgiven we are perfect until we screw up again. This is what Grace is all about. To be as close to perfect parents as possible, we need to be forgiven constantly. We also need to show our kids how forgiving God is. Nothing will attract them to Him more than to experience His mercy and grace.
    Also, don't forget to forgive yourself!

  7) There is so much more!

   Who can fully know God? Only Christ. I hope these little revelations of mine prove helpful, but remember to constantly seek Him for your own revelations, and then share them with me!