Laying down your rights. It’s a simple concept, yet so many people make it complex. Granted, it takes a great amount of faith and self-discipline, but it is possible.
Laying down your rights is a concept that is all but lost. We live in such a fast-paced, everything’s convenient society where the focus is our life, our possessions, our families, etc. The focus is on what matters to us. Yet, the Bible says that everything on the earth belongs to God. All of our possessions—“your” house, “your” money, “your” car—all belong to God. He’s blessed us with the use of it.
Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24NLT). “Turn from your selfish ways.” The phrase is more than simply a group of words thrown together to form a sentence; they’re words to form a lifestyle.
The main focus of Making Jesus Lord was to inspire in our hearts this concept of laying down our rights. There are many different areas in the lives of the people, as this book pointed out, in which we all need to lay down.
One area that grabbed my attention was in the area of people. A major example used repeatedly in the book was the author’s wife. He had to lay down his personal feelings, human emotions, etc. about his wife in order for God’s will in their life to be completed. It signified that he was following God 100% and that he was literally giving up everything to follow the Lord.
I, personally, find that to be amazing. Anyone can say that they’d give up things for Christ; lay things down at His feet, but how many people would honestly give up their right to love their spouse or kids or, in the case of the single, friends, siblings, etc.?
“Sometimes we need to do more than relinquish our rights—we need to understand what the enemy is trying to do in our lives and combat it in the opposite spirit” (118). I love that quote because it establishes that there is more to this laying down our rights thing; it brings in spiritual warfare—an area of which I am all too familiar with. Sometimes, we have to realize that in order for us to win certain battles; we have to lay down our rights to fight the battle.
In the Old Testament, time and time again, when the soldiers would go out to fight in wars or battles, they’d send the praise band out first and God would fight and win the battles for His people. It’s the same in the spiritual realm. Yes, we must fight, but sometimes the smart move—the strategic move—is to simply give it to God and then “collect the spoils.”
When we lay down our rights, we truly become humbled before God. When we’ve given Him our all, then God can use us for His glory in ways that we can’t even imagine.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
More Than Conquerors
More than Conquerors
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
--Romans 8:37 (NIV)
“More than conquerors.” That’s a pretty profound statement. I am more than a conqueror. That’s awesome to me. It pumps me up, yet it makes me think. I believe that it’s a magnificent confession that we can confess in any situation.
When you’re having a bad day: “I am more than a conqueror. Thank you, God, that today will turn around.” When you’re sick, “I am more than a conqueror. By Jesus’ stripes I’m healed.” When attacks come against you, “I’m more than a conqueror.”
I think that scripture can really apply to any situation. Why? Because the Bible says that in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
I love what the following scripture says in the Message Bible. It says, “I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love…” (v.38-39)
That’s so true! We are more than conquerors. I think that we need to take this for all it is and some of our problems are going to disappear. I think that if we can start confessing that all the time, our problems are going to get fixed.
I wrote about victory a few days ago and this goes hand-in-hand with it. This is something that I’m completely passionate about right now.
Ever since I heard Pastor Rick say, “We’ve been called to live a John 10:10 kind of life” this concept has been very big in me. It’s something that I’m striving for. Why? God promised it. Simple answer. Granted, I’m not there yet, but I believe that I can have it. I think that for any age. Whether you’re nine or ninety, older or younger; it doesn’t matter.
The catch is that we’ve got to identify those things that are holding us down and replace them with Truth. What is the truth? The word of God. It’s that simple! Identify and rebuild. We need to get rid of some of the junk in our lives. Romans says that we are more than conquerors; thus, we have the capability to do it and to walk in that!
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
--Romans 8:37 (NIV)
“More than conquerors.” That’s a pretty profound statement. I am more than a conqueror. That’s awesome to me. It pumps me up, yet it makes me think. I believe that it’s a magnificent confession that we can confess in any situation.
When you’re having a bad day: “I am more than a conqueror. Thank you, God, that today will turn around.” When you’re sick, “I am more than a conqueror. By Jesus’ stripes I’m healed.” When attacks come against you, “I’m more than a conqueror.”
I think that scripture can really apply to any situation. Why? Because the Bible says that in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
I love what the following scripture says in the Message Bible. It says, “I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love…” (v.38-39)
That’s so true! We are more than conquerors. I think that we need to take this for all it is and some of our problems are going to disappear. I think that if we can start confessing that all the time, our problems are going to get fixed.
I wrote about victory a few days ago and this goes hand-in-hand with it. This is something that I’m completely passionate about right now.
Ever since I heard Pastor Rick say, “We’ve been called to live a John 10:10 kind of life” this concept has been very big in me. It’s something that I’m striving for. Why? God promised it. Simple answer. Granted, I’m not there yet, but I believe that I can have it. I think that for any age. Whether you’re nine or ninety, older or younger; it doesn’t matter.
The catch is that we’ve got to identify those things that are holding us down and replace them with Truth. What is the truth? The word of God. It’s that simple! Identify and rebuild. We need to get rid of some of the junk in our lives. Romans says that we are more than conquerors; thus, we have the capability to do it and to walk in that!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Victory
Victory
“We will dance in the freedom that you won. We’ll dance in the freedom that you won. You have won it all. Shout it out. Shout it out.”
--“The Victory”
--Planetshakers
As I was getting ready for work this morning, I was listening to the song quoted above and something inside of me jumped. I got so stirred up!! My spirit-man got pumped!
Jesus has won the victory! It begs the question: “Why aren’t we walking in it?” You see, I believe, that we get this mentality-this frame of mind- that we can only walk in some areas of it. But, that isn’t true. The Bible says that Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). It also says that we can do all things through Christ.
So, why aren’t we living that life? Why aren’t we taking that knowledge and applying it? I believe it’s because we (as a whole) haven’t figured it out yet. I believe that once we grab hold of this concept—taking the promises of God—we will be that unstoppable forces that tear down the walls of whatever and replaces it with walls of Truth. That’s when we’ll live that John 10:10 life. We’ll become that force that storms the gates of Hell and forcibly takes back all that the enemy has stolen from us.
We do have the victory. Some of us just haven’t figured it out yet. I’m sick and tired of hearing how wrong things are going—how terrible life is. Listen, God has not only called, but promised us more than that and I believe once we figure that out—once we grab hold of that—we’ll walk in it. It’s time to stop telling God how big our problems are and start telling our problems how big our God is!
The Bible says that Satan is a defeated foe. He’s already lost! So, why do we continue to allow him to take us out? We allow him! The Bible says to resist him [Satan] and he will flee from you (James 4:7). You see, he doesn’t have a choice.
Satan has three jobs: steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). He wants to take us out. He hates our guts because God loves our guts. It’s that simple. BUT God promises that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him (Isa. 59:19).
This is something that has been so big in me lately. Why do I post it for the world to see? I do it because Hosea 4:6 says that people perish for lack of knowledge. Perish = death! Not awesome. Now, you know. So you can apply this knowledge (if you so choose) and start walking in the victory we’ve received! Start confessing the Word!
The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. It also says in Proverbs 18:21 that there is the power of life and death in the words we speak! Read James 3:1-12. It’s all about what comes out of your mouth!
Anyway, there it is. Walk by faith, speak the word, and live in victory!
“We will dance in the freedom that you won. We’ll dance in the freedom that you won. You have won it all. Shout it out. Shout it out.”
--“The Victory”
--Planetshakers
As I was getting ready for work this morning, I was listening to the song quoted above and something inside of me jumped. I got so stirred up!! My spirit-man got pumped!
Jesus has won the victory! It begs the question: “Why aren’t we walking in it?” You see, I believe, that we get this mentality-this frame of mind- that we can only walk in some areas of it. But, that isn’t true. The Bible says that Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). It also says that we can do all things through Christ.
So, why aren’t we living that life? Why aren’t we taking that knowledge and applying it? I believe it’s because we (as a whole) haven’t figured it out yet. I believe that once we grab hold of this concept—taking the promises of God—we will be that unstoppable forces that tear down the walls of whatever and replaces it with walls of Truth. That’s when we’ll live that John 10:10 life. We’ll become that force that storms the gates of Hell and forcibly takes back all that the enemy has stolen from us.
We do have the victory. Some of us just haven’t figured it out yet. I’m sick and tired of hearing how wrong things are going—how terrible life is. Listen, God has not only called, but promised us more than that and I believe once we figure that out—once we grab hold of that—we’ll walk in it. It’s time to stop telling God how big our problems are and start telling our problems how big our God is!
The Bible says that Satan is a defeated foe. He’s already lost! So, why do we continue to allow him to take us out? We allow him! The Bible says to resist him [Satan] and he will flee from you (James 4:7). You see, he doesn’t have a choice.
Satan has three jobs: steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). He wants to take us out. He hates our guts because God loves our guts. It’s that simple. BUT God promises that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him (Isa. 59:19).
This is something that has been so big in me lately. Why do I post it for the world to see? I do it because Hosea 4:6 says that people perish for lack of knowledge. Perish = death! Not awesome. Now, you know. So you can apply this knowledge (if you so choose) and start walking in the victory we’ve received! Start confessing the Word!
The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. It also says in Proverbs 18:21 that there is the power of life and death in the words we speak! Read James 3:1-12. It’s all about what comes out of your mouth!
Anyway, there it is. Walk by faith, speak the word, and live in victory!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Worship
Worship
So, last night I was at a Planet Shakers concert about an hour away from where I live. It was an amazing concert (well, what I caught of it…long story), but the most interesting thing that happened was when the pastor of the church hosting the concert got up and began to speak a little on worship.
It wasn’t really a “sermon” by any definition, but it definitely was thought worthy. He said “worship isn’t just raising our hands or clapping or on occasion jumping up and down because everyone else is…” He went on to talk about Acts 17 where Paul found the altar “To An Unknown God”. Those people didn’t even know what they were worshipping!
As I was driving home, I began to think about it. How many times do we do that? How many times do we go about our day, striving to get everything finished that we need to finish, just to go home and watch whatever show on whatever channel? How many times do we give our all into cheering on Mizzou (yeah, I know) UNC or whatever team, as we desperately hope they make it into the Final Four or better? How many times do we sit in front of the computer (or the TV) playing RPG’s or Call of Duty or Rock Band or whatever game just to pass the time? How many times do we put these things before God?
You may say “never”. I’ll call you “religious”…or a liar. The fact of the matter is that we do often put these things above God and we don’t even realize it. The Bible calls these things “idols”. Anything that we put above God is called an idol and we, in a sense, worship these things.
No, I don’t mean we sing songs of praise to the television or the Play Station, but sometimes they consume our thoughts, our reactions, our likes and our dislikes. We put all this time and energy into these material things and sometimes we tend to neglect our Creator.
Worship isn’t just doing what everyone else is doing and not knowing why you’re doing it. Worship is that time where you say “God, I love you.” Worship is that intimate, one on one time between you and God.
Webster says that worship is: “to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion”. Someone else once said that worship is “the object of life’s most intense focus.” That is so true. Has it ever occurred to you that whatever it is that consumes your thoughts is actually what you worship? I was a kick in the head for me because it’s true. When we focus on whatever episode of the next TV show or the release of the next book in the series or video game in the series and that consumes our thought, then it takes our mind off of God and no longer is he the center of our everything. I’m not saying that’s you can’t look forward to any of that stuff, I’m just saying that when it’s consuming our thoughts and it’s all we can think about, then we probably need to get ourselves in check. Worship is what we give our time and attention to.
John 4:23-24 (MSG) says, “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
Worship is a way of showing that our relationship with God is not just a one-sided relationship. It’s one way that we give back to God.
We live in such a fast-paced, everything’s convenient world and with God it has to be more than that. You wouldn’t go to your husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, or even your best friend and talk to them for five minutes and then you’re done for however long. Your relationship wouldn’t last. I can’t help but realize that we wouldn’t do that to that person, but yet we do it to God all the time.
King David went crazy for God. He danced naked in the street to show his love for God, even at the expense of being ridiculed, but he was blessed. Worship is not about us. It isn’t about what your neighbor is doing. It isn’t about what God can do for us. Worship is getting up in the morning and saying “Hey, God. I love you.” Worship is sitting alone in your room with a guitar and singing songs of praise. Worship is driving down the road and just talking to God (yes, praying is a form of worship). Worship is giving up things like Coke or TV or candy or whatever to say “hey, God, you’re more important to me than that.” True worship is dying to yourself and saying “here I am, God.”
“All my delight is in you, Lord. All of my heart. All of my strength. And all my delight is in you, Lord, forevermore…”
--“None But Jesus”
Hillsong United
So, last night I was at a Planet Shakers concert about an hour away from where I live. It was an amazing concert (well, what I caught of it…long story), but the most interesting thing that happened was when the pastor of the church hosting the concert got up and began to speak a little on worship.
It wasn’t really a “sermon” by any definition, but it definitely was thought worthy. He said “worship isn’t just raising our hands or clapping or on occasion jumping up and down because everyone else is…” He went on to talk about Acts 17 where Paul found the altar “To An Unknown God”. Those people didn’t even know what they were worshipping!
As I was driving home, I began to think about it. How many times do we do that? How many times do we go about our day, striving to get everything finished that we need to finish, just to go home and watch whatever show on whatever channel? How many times do we give our all into cheering on Mizzou (yeah, I know) UNC or whatever team, as we desperately hope they make it into the Final Four or better? How many times do we sit in front of the computer (or the TV) playing RPG’s or Call of Duty or Rock Band or whatever game just to pass the time? How many times do we put these things before God?
You may say “never”. I’ll call you “religious”…or a liar. The fact of the matter is that we do often put these things above God and we don’t even realize it. The Bible calls these things “idols”. Anything that we put above God is called an idol and we, in a sense, worship these things.
No, I don’t mean we sing songs of praise to the television or the Play Station, but sometimes they consume our thoughts, our reactions, our likes and our dislikes. We put all this time and energy into these material things and sometimes we tend to neglect our Creator.
Worship isn’t just doing what everyone else is doing and not knowing why you’re doing it. Worship is that time where you say “God, I love you.” Worship is that intimate, one on one time between you and God.
Webster says that worship is: “to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion”. Someone else once said that worship is “the object of life’s most intense focus.” That is so true. Has it ever occurred to you that whatever it is that consumes your thoughts is actually what you worship? I was a kick in the head for me because it’s true. When we focus on whatever episode of the next TV show or the release of the next book in the series or video game in the series and that consumes our thought, then it takes our mind off of God and no longer is he the center of our everything. I’m not saying that’s you can’t look forward to any of that stuff, I’m just saying that when it’s consuming our thoughts and it’s all we can think about, then we probably need to get ourselves in check. Worship is what we give our time and attention to.
John 4:23-24 (MSG) says, “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
Worship is a way of showing that our relationship with God is not just a one-sided relationship. It’s one way that we give back to God.
We live in such a fast-paced, everything’s convenient world and with God it has to be more than that. You wouldn’t go to your husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, or even your best friend and talk to them for five minutes and then you’re done for however long. Your relationship wouldn’t last. I can’t help but realize that we wouldn’t do that to that person, but yet we do it to God all the time.
King David went crazy for God. He danced naked in the street to show his love for God, even at the expense of being ridiculed, but he was blessed. Worship is not about us. It isn’t about what your neighbor is doing. It isn’t about what God can do for us. Worship is getting up in the morning and saying “Hey, God. I love you.” Worship is sitting alone in your room with a guitar and singing songs of praise. Worship is driving down the road and just talking to God (yes, praying is a form of worship). Worship is giving up things like Coke or TV or candy or whatever to say “hey, God, you’re more important to me than that.” True worship is dying to yourself and saying “here I am, God.”
“All my delight is in you, Lord. All of my heart. All of my strength. And all my delight is in you, Lord, forevermore…”
--“None But Jesus”
Hillsong United
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Change
The Change
“For the
1 Cor. 4:20
As I was sitting in the back today for staff prayer/devotional, Rick was giving us our little devotion before the prayer portion and he read the scripture above and something inside of me began to get stirred up. It was cool because, not only had I never read that before, but it was timely.
Mark 16:17-18 says that signs and wonders are going to accompany those who believe. It says that we shall lay hands on the sick and watch them recover. We’re going to cast out demons. If we drink some kind of poison, we’ll be okay. The list goes on.
Jesus himself said that we are going to do even greater works than he did…but, what does that mean? Does it mean that we’re going to be greater than the Messiah? Well, quite simply, no. It does, however, mean that the same Holy Spirit that resided in Jesus and gave him the power from on High resides in those who believe…us.
Acts 10:38 says “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who oppressed of the devil…” You see, it wasn’t until after Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit that he became the Christ.—the Messiah. Jesus did not do ONE miracle until after he was baptized with the “Fire” that John the Baptist spoke of. In that moment, he went from being Jesus of Nazareth to Jesus Christ.
To get back to tonight, we were watching a movie in Rise Up tonight called Finger of God. This movie is fantastic! You should all go rent it and watch it. It’s amazing…seriously.
The movie is a documentary. This guy goes around and he’s filming all the awesome moves of God all around the world. It’s incredible! So many people around the world can grasp the concept that God is completely awesome and He’s real and His power is real; His Spirit is real.
It makes me wonder why we, the
We are looking for some kind of challenge in life. We need something, but we can’t explain what it is. We have this intense desire and this passion for something that we don’t understand.
It doesn’t matter what university you graduated from (or go to). It doesn’t matter what “denomination” you were raised in or what church you go, if you even go to one. In order to do anything in life, you have to have passion. It doesn’t matter how high you scored on your ACT or SAT. It doesn’t matter what level of math or science class you got into. If you don’t have that passion, it’s all for not.
The worship leader at Rise Up, Josh, was saying something tonight that really hit home with me. He goes to university where some of the smartest people go. He was saying that as he looks around and sees all of these people who will be CEOs and bosses and company owners and fill in the blank, that they’re so intelligent, but yet they’re idiots. As he was talking, I began to think about it. He’s right.
You see, those people may be highly intelligent. They may very well be some of the top minds, at least in this state. I was thinking about it, just as the words were being uttered out of his mouth, that no matter how smart they are, Josh is smarter. Not in a conceited, “I’m more intelligent than you” way, but he has something that most of them don’t: hope.
I think about Josh and where he’s at, and I can tie it into what’s going on in my life right now. No, I’m not in college anymore, but it’s still applicable. I think we can all apply it to our lives in some way or another because we do have something that the rest of the world doesn’t have and that is that hope and that passion for our Savior.
I said all of that to make a point. We live in a world that is falling apart at the seams. Is it our fault? Probably not, but that doesn’t matter. What the generations before us did, it’s time for us to fix it.
They call our generation “lazy,” “worthless,” and “silent.” They say that we have it easy. That’s not true. Our generation has it toughest of them all. We deal with things that were deemed “unimaginable” to the previous generations.
We’re a generation that’s striving to see God move. We’re starving for more and more of Him. We’re experiencing the supernatural and walking in it. We’re living supernormal lives because “normal” isn’t good enough anymore. The standard has been raised. We’re a generation that refuses to compromise who we are—who God says we are: a generation of power.
We’re a generation that strives to live God-satisfied. We don’t care, nor do we want, what the world has to offer. We don’t merely want to keep what we’ve seen and what we’ve learned to ourselves. Our heart’s cry is to bring it to the ends of the earth. The Bible says not to conform to the pattern of this world any longer and we’re not.
We’re the generation that says “good-bye” to carnality and steps outside of ourselves. We understand that we’re crucified with Christ and now HE is in control. We’ve laid our own lives down and set ourselves aside to see His kingdom come and His Will established on the earth. Do we do it out of selfish ambition? Absolutely not.
We’re the generation that is breaking down the walls of religion, doctrine, and tradition and we’re saying “Lord, send me. I’ll go.”
We long to take the Power of God out of the four walls of our churches and run rampant with it. We long for the world to see the awesomeness of our unmovable, unshakable God
.
James 1:23-24 says, “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes way and immediately forgets what he looks like.” We don’t want to merely be hearers of the word, but we want to be doers of the word. 1 Timothy tells us not to let anyone look down on our youth, but to set the example.
We’re the ones who are taking what we hear and applying it to our lives. We’re seeing God move and we’re taking it into our schools and throughout our towns. I’m not saying that the older generations aren’t applying it to their lives as well. Some people may very well be, but the difference is that our generation, as a generation, is searching for the things of God. We want what’s on the heart of God and we want to live our lives accordingly. We have and want that pure, childlike faith.
This is where we make the change. This is where we walk by example. This is where we let the Holy Spirit run rampant do the will of God. It isn’t about us anymore.
We’ve been empowered to do the works of the ministry. We’ve been given that power and anointing to usher in all that God has in store…and we will.
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