Rejoice And Give Thanks

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

This past week was definitely the kind of break I needed. The week as a whole was very God focused. Today I was reading through 1 Thessalonians and I knew that I needed to rejoice and give thanks to God for the friends and family I am blessed to have. This past week I was able to spend a lot of time in prayer with friends and family and in such a short time I witnessed a growing desire and commitment in people's lives to God. It was so encouraging. I pray that this growth continues to increase. Community prayer is definitely something the church in America could use more of nothing else builds such solid relationships. Coming together in prayer allowed us to share things God had put on our hearts and our struggs and everyone was praying for the same things in unity. It was glorious. We are all part of the body and we are meant to be in unity.

There were a couple of verses that really stuck out to me today while reading that I think we really need to stress as a church and part of the kingdom of God. First off their is no idle ground. Paul says to "admonish the idle" and twice encourages the Thessalonians to "do more and more." (1 Thess. 4:1,10; 5:14) Paul is specifically referring to godliness and brotherly love in these two instances, but this idea of idleness isn't compatible with the Christian faith. In other epistles Paul relates the Christian life to a race and we must continue towards the goal of Christ. I saw a lot of growth this week in my life and others lives, but it cannot stop there. We have to push on and continue moving forwards or we will end up going backwards.

Philippians 3:16

¹⁶Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

This past week was awesome, but as a body we need to continue to encourage, admonish, and to help others. We need to be committed to praying in community and by ourselves.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-25

²³Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

²⁵ Brothers, pray for us.

Embrace Brokenness

2 Timothy 2:11

¹¹The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

2 Peter 1:2

² May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Lately I have been thinking about why I started this blog and the word koinonia and where it appears in the Scriptures. Koinonia means an intimate fellowship a communion, and I started this blog to have intimate fellowship with believers that I am not always around. Recently I have discovered koinonia appearing in Scripture in conjunction with the Greek word ginosko which means to know. These words and related words have been coming up everywhere in what I have been reading and hearing lately. The word knowledge in 2 Peter 1:2 is related to the Greek word ginosko and the next verse discusses partaking and partnership (koinonia) with Christ.

So how do gain this knowledge of Christ that supplies us with grace and peace?

The simple answer is found in the 2 Timothy verse that appears first in this entry. We must die with him. We must die to ourselves and embrace brokenness. To do this we have to understand what it means to be broken.

John Piper talks in his book, God Is The Gospel, a lot about the world's view of love and how antithetical it is to Christian love and embracing brokenness. The world wants to be loved and will embrace brokenness to be built back up again. In the words of Piper the world wants "to be made much of." But that is not what dying with Christ and sharing the same attitude Christ had in the flesh is about. If we really want to have the same attitude as Christ that Paul talks about in Philippians 2:1-11 we have to embrace brokenness in order to be filled with the righteousness of Christ. In other words embrace brokenness and God's love to make much of God not ourselves. Today I was reading through the first chapter of James and it amazed me that in the first verse James identifies himself as a servant of God first. That is crazy. James was the earthly brother of Christ, but to him that means nothing. He has embraced brokenness and voluntarily become a bondservant to glorify Christ.

The other nigh at Unite Now I was praying to be broken, because I knew I needed it but I wasn't sure why. And God definitely didn't return that prayer void I went over to talk to my brother and I couldn't even speak because I was crying so hard. It was beautiful, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't hard. We want to make much of ourselves in this culture, because what the world tells us to do. But by making much of ourselves we will never come to the knowledge of God, and it's the knowledge of God that provides a love that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 4:19).

We have to die with Him to live with Him. Because it is through dying with Him that we know Him. And through knowing Him we receive eternal life. When we don't humble ourselves now we will be humbled later by the words "Depart from me I never knew you." (Matthew 7:23).

Through knowing God we receive all grace and peace and love. I encourage you as you read through the Scriptures to look for the words know and knowledge and anything similar and to rejoice in the blessings and promises of knowing God. I pray that we will humble ourselves like Christ and embrace brokenness so that we may make much of God and gain knowledge of Him who is above all.

John 14:4-7

⁴And you know the way to where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" ⁶Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

Discipline

2 Timothy 1:7

⁷for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

2 Timothy 2:15

¹⁵Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

So it was recently brought to my attention that I have been having some mad discipline strugs lately. The end of the semester and idleness have definitely been getting the best of me. Luckily Ethan decided that our life group was going to read 2 Timothy and it has been so convicting, but so refreshing and definitely what I needed. With a lack of discipline came a lack of desire and just an overall negative attitude. I know I have talked about this some in my last few blogs, but I would be a liar if I pretended like I had it all down.

Yesterday as we were discussing Crazy Love and Thursday at home group it has really been made evident to me that we need God to love God. We need God to live disciplined lives. We have to rely on God for everything. We have to completely surrender our lives to Him. It's scary, but when we focus on our own power we fail. God gave us a new spirit. God gave us the Holy Spirit. A spirit of power and love and self-discipline. When we submit to the Holy Spirit we are given boldness and the ability to live disciplined lives of godly character.

Without discipline from the Holy Spirit it is impossible for us to remember that only one thing is important. I think we can all attest to what happens when we put ourselves in charge. Jesus commands us to watch ourselves and to stay awake at all times in prayer in preparation for his return. How is any of this possible without the Holy Spirit? It's crazy we need God to love God and the more we love God the more we want of Him. We need to submit ourselves to Christ and commit ourselves to lives of discipline searching for the Truth.

I pray that as this finals are getting closer we will continually submit ourselves to God and that He will put a desire in our hearts to love Him.

1 John 3:16-18

¹⁶By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? ¹⁸Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Let's love in truth and commit ourselves to spending ourselves for Christ. Let's rely on God for strength and force ourselves to live by faith so the love of Christ will be evident in our lives.

Live For Eternity Now

"The time is now for lifting souls

The time is now for letting go

From your skin to your core

Let light and love come rushing through the door

It's time to make a stand

So put your heart in greater hands"

~Phil Wickham

Luke 6:21

²¹ "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

"Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Luke 6:23

²⁵"Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

"Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

All throughout the past week in my quiet times and conversations with others this underlying theme throughout all of Scripture about living for eternity now has been coming up. It's repeated time and time again and appears very frequently in the Gospel's and the teachings of Jesus. God doesn't want all of us tomorrow or the day after next or when we graduate from college. The list of excuses we make for not following God wholly everyday of our lives are too numerous too list them all. And that scares me. The responses Jesus gave to people like who didn't want to follow Jesus now would offend us, because our Jesus is politically correct and would never offend one of his "followers."

Luke 9:57-62

⁵⁷As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." ⁵⁸And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." ⁵⁹To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." ⁶⁰And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." ⁶¹Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." ⁶²Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Jesus's response to people postponing the Kingdom of God in their lives is frightening. He didn't chase after these people, because God wants people committed to Him in His Kingdom. Last Sunday Tom Short preached on being committed to discipleship, and I sat back and said to myself "this is definitely going to be legalistic." Much to my surprise it was probably one of the most encouraging sermons I had heard in a while and I definitely needed to hear it at this point in my walk. My thinking before the sermon represents the poison that has infiltrated so much of the American church. When someone tells us we need to do things we don't feel like doing we write them off as legalistic. And one of the first points that Tom Short made was that when it comes to our faith we think it's right to do only do things when we feel like it, but that is so far from the truth.

We have to be committed disciples of Jesus living for Him now. Jesus didn't want to die on the cross he prayed for the Father to let the cup pass from Him, but He still bore our sin on that cross and rose again. Imagine if Jesus had just what he felt like? It would definitely ruin all our hopes of getting to heaven. So if we are supposed to imitate Jesus why is it okay for us to not be committed to the Father's will? Why is it okay for us to plan on living for eternity later? The truth is for some of us there might not be a later. Our lives our fragile and they are not our own. We are created beings created to live for God now and for eternity. How do we expect to live for God in eternity if we don't start now?

We need to stop making excuses and become committed followers of God. Committed to His Truth to His Word to His Son. We cannot do this on our own and it's definitely a process, but we have the Holy Spirit. We have to die to ourselves and serve God being led by the Holy Spirit now, so that we may live eternally in the presence of God in heaven. Let's not be like the rich man in Luke 16:19-31 who realizes after he is in Hell that he missed out on the most important thing in life. We have the truths of the Bible so readily available we must remember that one thing is important and live for it now.

I pray that throughout this week we will remember that one thing is important and that we were created to live for God now. Lord humble us now so that we may be exalted later in your throne room. Remind us that we need to be committed to living for You even when we don't feel like and that every second of our existence should be spent for You. Father you alone know what is preventing us from living a Biblical lifestyle and I pray that you will remind us that through you we can overcome. That through you we receive true peace and rest. Father you are perfect and blameless beyond thought reveal yourself to us so that we will no other choice but to live for the glory that we have seen and tasted.

If we don't live for God now what good is it planning to live for Him in the Future?

Focus on eternity instead of the future.

Bring the Kingdom now instead of later.

But One Thing Is Necessary

Luke 10:41-42

⁴¹But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, ⁴²but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

Psalm 73:26

²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Recently I have been reading through Luke and J.I. Packer's book Knowing God, and I have been coming to the same conclusion over and over again. Knowing God is all that matters. There is a difference though between knowing about God and having knowledge of God. Packer spends a lot of time in his book discussing these differences and lists four characteristics of people who know God.

1) Those who know God have great energy for God.

2) Those who know God have great thoughts of God.

3) Those who know God show great boldness for God.

4) Those who know God have great contentment God.

The past few days while reading Scripture and through Packer's book it has become so clear to me that I need to devote myself to seeking the Savior. Packer talks about the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how the had counted the cost. Just Mary in the passage in Luke 10 they had chosen the good portion.

It's easy to look at these people from the Bible, and forget that they were human just like us. They probably had the same struggs and issues that a lot of us still have now, but there was one key difference. They truly counted the cost and chose the better portion. The chapters I have been reading through in Luke have talked a lot about the cost of following Jesus, and to be honest it scares me. I couldn't stop thinking about the American church and if we really understand what it means to follow Jesus. Have we as a church counted the cost? Have we ever sat and meditated on Luke 9:57-62 or Luke 14:25-33?

One thing is necessary, one thing is important, and only one thing can save our souls. Jesus states no one comes to the Father except through him and right after he says "if you had known me you would have known my Father also." (John 14:6-7) I feel like lately I have been learning and relearning over and over again that I need to set my eyes on the Savior. That's what my note Amazing Grace was about. We need to overcome the noise in our lives and seek after our God with all that we are. There is nothing else that matters, and Jesus even promises us that if we seek after the Father knows our needs and will add them to us.

The difficult part about living in America is that in all reality most of us don't have any need or desire to live by faith. I want to challenge all of us to read the passages from Scripture talking about counting the cost and meditate on them, seeking truth and the Savior. I really feel like God has been placing these passages on my heart for a reason. I pray that God will reveal to us our lack of knowledge of Him and that he will place a desire in our hearts to seek after Him with all of our lives. I pray that we will cry out like the psalmist in Psalm 73 recognizing God as our strength and portion forever. I pray that we will be able to find contentment in God alone and that we will truly be able say that all we need is You.

Psalm 73:25

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

Soon And Very Soon

Forever I will tell you
Yeah I'll scream until it hurts
That I can't live without You
You are Heaven, I am Earth
And even from the moment
That You saved my life I knew
That I'll always love You

~Phil Wickham

Galatians 4:6

⁶And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

Last night I went with a group of people to see Phil Wickham in Jacksonville, and I don't think I have the words to describe how amazing it was. Even before his set started I could tell it was going to be a worshipful night. They played an hour and a half long set list and we are shouting out to the Lord the entire time. It was beyond words, and not because it was Phil Wickham. He is an amazing musician, but it was so much more than music. When we were worshiping together it just became so clear to me how much I love God, and I think for the first time I really understood what Paul meant when he said in Philippians "To live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:21) I can honestly say after last night that I cannot wait to be worshiping our Lord and Savior with even more intensity than last night for all eternity. I felt like we had a taste of heaven on earth and it was beautiful beyond words.

This revelation didn't come without spiritual conviction though. When we were singing "I'll Always Love You" I realized how true that statement was in my life and how much I loved to worship through song. And then the Holy Spirit hit me like a rock. My entire life should reflect praise and thanks to God eternally glorifying his name not only in even, but starting right now for the rest of my life on earth. All I could think was Romans 12:1 and that I needed to offer up my entire life and body as a living sacrifice. I love praising our Lord. He is all satisfying and He is all we need. We need to have as much energy and passion and desire praising God with our entire lives instead of just letting it come out every now and then through song or whatever. My life has been changed, and not because of Phil Wickham but the Holy Spirit. Worship today at church was completely different and I loved it. I feel so much more intimate with God it's insane. I hope and pray that I get chance to worship with all of you here on earth through music, through our lives, through whatever. Let's shout for the Lord and offer up all of ourselves. God is so good and faithful.

Just for a little side note earlier this week one of my prayer requests in life group was a reminder that God is all-satisfying, and He delivered in a big way. I pray that we all remember that simple truth that God is all we need. I pray that our hearts and our entire lives will scream out Abba! Father! I pray that we will not neglect to worship together and by ourselves never giving ourselves a second of time to forget that He is all we need. He is our everything. I pray that His word will fill our hearts day and night and that we will long to do His will.

Romans 12:1

¹ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Remember and rejoice that soon and very soon we are going to see the King.

Soon and very soon we are going to see the King

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We are going to see the King.

No more cryin' there we are going to see the King.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We are going to see the King.

No more dyin' there we are going to see the King.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We are going to see the King.

Amazing Grace

I have a confession to make. I have let my relationship with God over the past few days become boring and stale. It has probably been going for longer than I would like to admit. I remember the zeal, the passion, and the desire I had for God when I came here. It was insane. I am still a devoted follower of Christ, but I have allowed myself to settle for less. To be content with having "enough" Jesus and checking off my devotional time like it was one a to-do list. But praise the Lord, because he is a God of all grace. Today I was blessed with the revelation of this truth in my life and it was definitely not a routine Tuesday.

1 Peter 4:10

¹⁰And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Today I was listening to a Francis Chan podcast and he was talking about spending time alone with God. He quoted 1 Peter 2:2-3 and how we should desire the Word like an infant desires milk. And listening to this I was so convicted, because I used to have such a strong desire for time alone with God in his Scriptures. I hadn't stopped doing that, but my desire and thirst for the "pure spiritual milk" was waning. Then I was reading through Shane Claiborne's book Irresistible Revolution and the gospels and I was again beginning to see just how exciting Jesus' life was. I seriously doubt Jesus was ever bored. He was too preoccupied with the Way and the will of the Father to allow himself to be bored.

So today after reading through some Scripture and repenting I asked for this day to be different. That I would slow down and take the time to hear people out and to live like Christ with the will of our Father in mind. And the Lord definitely answered that prayer. Today Tom Short was speaking in Turlington, and I had totally forgotten about it. (For those of you who don't know who Tom Short is he is a missionary brought in by GCL to speak on college campuses.) The Spirit is alive and working in him. He definitely reflected Christ and a Biblical lifestyle it was a refreshing experience. I was trying to think of a metaphor to describe the atmosphere of the preaching, and all I could think about was how insects are attracted to those bug zapper things. Tom Short was bringing the light and people were peaceably gathering around, and every now and then someone would wrestle with the Truth and walk away limping. It was just like the metaphor Jesus gave in the Bible commanding us to be the lights to the world. Tom Short did so in a loving Christ-like manner which opened the door to talking to the listeners. I was able to talk to someone a little about what he was saying and invite them to church, and they seemed really interested it was awesome. God is alive and he was definitely on the UF campus today.

After Tom was done preaching he called all of the Christians together and he talked about grace and we circled up holding hands and sang Amazing Grace. It was beautiful and definitely what I needed. Looking around and seeing the faces of people full of Jesus gave me joy beyond words. Our God is a God of amazing grace and we cannot forget. I pray that we will desire Him more than we ever have and that others will taste and see that the Lord is indeed good. Praise the Lord for his steadfast faithfulness.

1 Peter 2:16

¹⁶ Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

When we've been here ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun.

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we've first begun.