Reflections on 2011

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What a year! 2011 for me was a great year, in which I saw God do many things in and around me. If I had to sum up 2011 into one phrase it would be:

“God is Faithful!”

And I saw Him be faithful over and over again throughout the year.

HAITI – The year started with a growing desire to go to Haiti, they had just had the one year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated that country; and I found myself with a longing to go there, to do something there, didn’t know what or how to go about it, but I knew I had to go. Even got to the point where I told my Pastor, you need to find me a trip there; there has to be someone we know who is planning a trip to Haiti. So I just began to pray, pray that if it was Gods Will that He would show me a path and provide an opportunity. And apparently God Tweets! Because not long after starting the prayer, a pastor I follow on twitter tweeted out that his ministry was going to Haiti and if you wanted to go fill out the application. I filled it out, and continued to pray about it, and God in His Sovereignty worked out everything perfectly, and I got to go spend a week in Haiti working at an orphanage. One of the greatest weeks of my life. Every prayer request I had for the trip was answered, and there I met friends that will last a lifetime, as we gathered together not knowing each other and served a long side each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Philippians 1:27  This scripture absolutely rocked me week one of the year, and has stuck with me all year, where I continually think about it and dwell on it. The verse is this:

     Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one Spirit, with one mind striving site by side for the faith of the Gospel.

Let your life be worthy of the Gospel, let your life equal the Gospel. Basically saying let your life match what you say you believe! This verse just hit me, I know yes we should live out what we say we believe, but Paul is saying here compare your life to the Gospel, and make it match that. So much more there than reciting a prayer and saying yes I a believer now. But no, now that you believe strive to have your life match the Gospel you proclaim. Theres a seriousness involved in being a believer, we no longer have a life to live for ourselves, but to live a life for Him, and one that lines up with, is equal to the Word of God we say we believe.

Answered Prayers  This year, I saw God answer some amazing prayers in my life, in ways, I hadn’t seen Him move that way before. From big request like Haiti, and let the group get along, to other small request like today can I have an opportunity to talk about you with someone. Some were answered after praying for a few months, and on several occasions prayers were answered within an hour or two. Just continually amazing me that God in Heaven hears me and answers me when I cry out to Him.

He is Faithful! 

He is Faithful, and has proven it over and over again in my life this past year. As I look forward to 2012, my prayer for people is you would seek Him this year, first! And that He may prove Himself Faithful in your life as well. My prayer for you is out of Colossians:

Colossians 1:9-14  And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all Spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His Glorious might for all endurance and patience and with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the Saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

May your 2012 be incredible, and may He prove Himself strong in our lives!!

 

Top 5 Books Read in 2011

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End of the year is a time for “Top ___” list for the year right? Well here is my list of the top five books I read this year; outside of the Bible. In the Bible I have been camped out in Philippians all year, so much great truth in that short 4 chapter book.

1. “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life” by Charles Spurgeon 

I thought I knew how to pray until I read this book. Greatly challenged me, one of those books I will read again. Highly recommend it.

“True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor vocal performance. It is far deeper than that – it is spiritual transaction with the Creator of heaven and earth.” (page 15)

2. “Power Through Prayer” by EM Bounds 

Found this book on my shelf, and decided to read it. Short read, but great read. Challenging and practical, written towards an audience of ministers, but recommend it for anyone.

“No man can do a great and enduring work for God who is not a man of prayer, and no man can be a man of prayer who does not give much time to praying.” (page 57)

3. “A Hunger for God: through Prayer and Fasting” by John Piper

Great read/ teaching on purpose of prayer and fasting. On the purpose of the two comes out of a Hunger for God; to draw closer to Him.

“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world.” (page 14)

4. “Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We’ve Made Up” by Francis Chan

Title says it all, its a study on what the Bible really says about Hell. Ton of scripture references, if wanting to know what the Bible really teaches about eternity, I recommend this book. Was written in response to Rob Bell’s “Love Wins,” which was one of the most heartbreaking reads I have ever read.

“When it comes to hell, we can’t afford to be wrong. This is not one of those doctrines where you can toss in your two cents, shrug your shoulders and move on. Too much is at stake, too many people are at stake. And the Bible has too much to say…. Don’t believe something just because you want to, and don’t embrace an idea just because you’ve always believed it. Believe what is biblical. Test all your assumptions against the precious words God gave us in the Bible.” (page 14-15)

5. “Weight of Glory” by CS Lewis

Short essay, but thought-provoking and challenging. I have a hard time reading Lewis, but was able to read this, and it has challenged me.

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”(page 1)

This is just a short post about 5 books that have challenged me this year. I highly recommend these books and would encourage you to read them. But as a caution I would add that books are great and great authors can challenge us and open up our minds to the things of God, but don’t neglect the Word of God for a book. Don’t neglect the Creator for someone created. These books have helped me to think hard on the things of God, but nothing can challenge us and grow us more than the Word of God can.

I Logged Out and Survived

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Recently I took a break from Facebook, and I learned something, that I can survive without it. I can survive without checking everyone’s new status updates and posts every 10 minutes, I can survive without knowing what all my friends ate for dinner, and I can survive without Facebook stalking, we all do it. So this morning I did it, I signed off Facebook; logged off, decided that I’m through with it. My page still exists, and I will probably log on once a week or once every two weeks only because I have some friends that only contact me, by emailing me on there. But other than that I am off. One reason leading to this decision is this quote:

“One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.” 

                                                                                                                                                                               ~ John Piper

Now this isn’t a brand new point, or quote, I heard it probably over a year ago, but just recently began thinking about it. For those of us addicted to Facebook, we are constantly checking it, on the computer and on our phones, we have to know whats going on. So every five, ten minutes we are checking on our phone, over the course of the day think about how many hours this probably adds up to. I didn’t do the math, but I would be willing to bet that the average Facebook addict spends several hours a day on Facebook checking, looking, and stalking. Hours a day that could be used in prayer, reading Gods word, or living out what He has called us to do, be the light of the world. To think of the fact that there is coming a day when I will stand before a Holy and Righteous God and give an account of how I handled my life (Romans 14:12) scares me to death. And the thought that saying sorry God I tried, but I didn’t have time, I didn’t have enough time to pray, I didn’t have enough time to read, I didn’t have enough time to go and love and serve others, I just didn’t. And for Him to tell me, well you spent _X_ many hours a day checking Facebook, so yes I can tell you were busy. I don’t think at that time He will say I understand.

Is our time on Facebook greater than the time a day we spend in prayer, reading, loving, serving, and sharing? If it is, then something is wrong, IF we say we love Christ, we want to live for Him and know His will for our life. Somehow I have never personally or met anyone who learned God’s will for their life surfing on Facebook. We learn that by spending time with Him, reading His word, searching after Him, when we draw near to Him is when He draws near to us (James 4:8). We are as close to God as we choose to be, and if logging off Facebook can help me spend more time with Him, and therefore get closer to Him and be used by Him and learn His will, then goodbye Facebook. It’s not even a contest.

Now this is for me, this is whats been going on in my life, and in my mind. Maybe you can keep Facebook and still serve God just find, and you aren’t addicted, if that’s the case, then that’s awesome. But my question is if someone logged everything you did for a week or two, how much of if would be meaningless stuff such as Facebook, and how much of it would be to advance the Kingdom of Christ, which way would the percentages tilt.

For me, here is just a list of some concerns I come to realize with Facebook:

  • Its Addicting – It sounds funny but people are addicted to it. We are to grow in knowledge and self-control which leads to Godliness (2 Peter 1:5-7).
  • Does Facebook lead to Holiness? If we are called to be Holy as the Lord is Holy (1 Peter 1:16).
  • If we are to: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. – Philippians  4:8; Does Facebook help promote this? Or does it cause us to dwell, and think on things that quite honestly mean nothing as far as eternity is concerned. And we come obsessed over it.
  • Promotes Gossip – I would be willing to bet that 90% of the time when we talk to someone about something we saw on Facebook, we are in fact gossiping. “Did you see…” – When Paul is describing the man who has turned away from God and choose the serve the creation over the Creator, a characteristic of them that he list right after murders, and right before haters of God, he says they are also Gossips (Romans 1:28-30). Little sin that doesn’t promote Holiness, that we seldom think about, but yet Paul list it in the same list as murders and those who hate God.

This is just a short few thoughts that lead to my decision. In no way am I saying that I am holier than thou, and better than the next person; the best I have to offer is filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). I just feel in order for me to better draw closer to God, and begin to discern His will in my life, I needed to log off. I yearn to know His will for my life way more than I care about everyone’s status updates, pictures, or than I feel the need to stalk anyone. I don’t want to waste my life, and at the end of it go oh God, I never knew You wanted me to do that, or go there, or to say that, or to etc.. And never know because I was too busy on Facebook. And Facebook is just one thing in our lives that distracts us from Him, just using this as an example because it’s where I am now, and I’ve already been asked why I was getting off.

I want to know His will! I want to know Him!

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect

                                                                                                                                                                      ~ Romans 12:2

This has been a verse that I always strive to live by. You see so many times we want an equation on how to live out the Christian life; well this verse is the closest thing we get to an equation on how to do it.

Not Conformed to world + Renewed Mind = Discern God’s Will

So if I want to know God’s will, (and who would really say they don’t?) then those things that conform me to the world, and don’t renew my mind, they have to go. They have to! I may not see whatever on Facebook, I may not of seen this movie or know this song, etc,etc, etc,  but I get God’s Will, and that has to be worth it. It has to be! Its God in heaven, the One who created you for a purpose, the One who gave you life, He has a purpose for mine and your life, wouldn’t you like to know it? I do! And if logging off Facebook helps me get to know it, then so be it. I have the better treasure! And its Worth it!

I want to finish my race well, I long for the day when my race is over and I want more than anything to hear, “Well Done!” I don’t want to waste my life, and for the sake of the Kingdom of God, we don’t have time to waste.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel

                                                                                                                                                          ~ Philippians 1:27

Let our lives be worthy of the Gospel! Let our lives match what we say we believe. He is worth it! One day we will see Him face to face, and at that moment we won’t care what status updates we didn’t see, we won’t care whatever it is we gave up to run after Him more, because He is so worth it!

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

 45“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46who, on  finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

                                                                                                                                                             ~ Matthew 13:44-46

I guess the main question really is how much do we really want to know Christ? How much do we really want to know His will?

Tis the Season

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(youth newsletter)

This is the season where we usually get busy, stressed, over whelmed, agitated, short tempered, while trying our best to give  THANKS! Finals coming up in school, spending extra time with family members, having to go to school when you know exactly how many days you have until you get a much needed two week break.

 

Let us not forget what we celebrate this season. What we gather together for. The event that changed the course of history; a baby has been born in Bethlehem and the world has never been the same. Christ has been born, the Word has become flesh and dwelt among us; Immanuel, God with us.  More than just the birth of a baby, this baby brought Hope, hope of a Savior, a rescuer, the One who would redeem His people so that we could enter into fellowship with Him.

 

This season let’s celebrate, celebrate the fact that we have been redeemed, the fact that our Savior has come and is returning again. In the midst of the crazy holiday season, don’t forget that because of His birth we celebrate this season. Hope has entered the world, and because of this we can celebrate, we can rejoice and we can worship.

Its Not About You

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Last Sunday Night, my pastor spoke on Worship, as he continued through Psalms, and made some points that have stuck with me all week; even as I was reading this week, ran across some thoughts that continued to make me dwell on it.

The passage the sermon was on :

Psalm 134

1Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD,
who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
2 Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the LORD!

3May the LORD bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!

Short Psalm, but has a lot to say about worship and what our attitude towards it should be. First two verses we are told to come and Bless the Lord. We are to Bless the Lord through worship, in our worship times, to lift Him up, and make much of Him. This is opposite of the way we think, a lot of times when we enter into our “worship services” we are solely thinking of ourselves, hoping we get a lot out of it. Hoping that we sing this song or that song, and really hoping that we don’t sing these type of songs because those just do nothing for me. We often time enter our times of worship not as worshippers but as consumers, looking for the best option for satisfy our needs, instead of looking to Him, and lifting Him up. As consumers we begin to shop around for what we think is best for us, and what makes us the happiest. And if the worship leader chooses the wrong songs, worship will be horrible for us, and we simply won’t get anything out of it, but if they are to choose the correct songs, the ones that stir us up, then worship experience will be great.

Years ago I heard a pastor give a definition of worship, that he got from a Seminary professor, and it has always stuck with me:

Worship – is setting your minds attention, and hearts affection on Him, and praising Him for who He is and what He has done. 

Setting our hearts and mind on Him, not on us, but on Him and praising Him, this takes all the personal want out of it because everything that we have is set on Him; looking at who He is and what He has done. In view of this we see that we are nothing and have done nothing, and so it’s all about Him. And our response is that of praise and surrender, ok God it’s all for You, its all to You, and we surrender to You.

What drove home this thinking this week was as I was reading “A Hunger for God” by John Piper, I read this paragraph:

Beware Loving Loving God Rather Than Loving God

This is a very relevant warning for us in a day of great worship renewal. Many people are discovering the joy of meeting God in extended times of emotionally charged singing to the Lord. I personally find such seasons of lingering before the Lord a very rich communion with him. But I see a danger. The danger is that we will subtly slip from loving God in these moments into loving loving God. That’s the way one of my colleagues put it recently. In other words, we begin to savor not the glory of God but the atmosphere created by worship. When this happens we open ourselves to hypocrisy. And under the cloak of great religious fervor, deadly inconsistencies can emerge in our lives (A Hunger for God. pg 133, Piper).

Loving loving God over loving God, has stuck with me since I read it. Seeking satisfaction not in the One who can satisfy but satisfaction in the act of worshipping God, the atmosphere, the emotions stirred up, the songs we love. Making worship all about us and what we want. When its intention is to be all about Him, and lifting Him up, not that He needs us to, but because He and He alone is worthy of all honor and praise for He alone created everything (Revelation 4:11).

Worship begins and ends with Christ, it’s not about us, and if we make it about us we are not worshippers but consumers, simply trying to satisfy a need.

Tests Reveal our Hearts

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Currently I am reading “A Hunger for God – Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer” by John Piper, and I read this passage the other day in the introduction, and it has really stuck with me, and I have been continually thinking on it. I believe it is something that I have known, but it just really clicked when I read it. It’s a quote from CS Lewis, when asked if God knows everything, then why did God test Abraham, in asking him to sacrifice his son, Isaac on the mountain top; and why did the angel say from God, “now I know that you fear God.” His response:

“If God is omniscient he must have known what Abraham would do, without any experiment; why, then, this needless torture?” But as St. Augustine points out, whatever God knew, Abraham at any rate did not know that this obedience would endure such a command until the event taught him; and the obedience which he did not know that he would choose, he cannot be said to have chosen. The reality of Abraham’s obedience was the act itself; and what God knew in knowing that Abraham “would obey” was Abraham’s actual obedience on that mountain top at that moment. To say that God “need not have tried the experiment” is to say that because God knows, the thing known by God need not exist.” (A Hunger for God, pg 17-18)

So the test was to show Abraham how much he really trusted God, not God testing him to see how much he trusted Him. Thinking on this, I immediately thought about the passage in The Gospel of Mark, Chapter 4, when Jesus tells His disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” So they get in a boat and set sail, then Jesus goes to sleep in the stern, and a storm arose, so intense that these men who were fishermen by trade, before Jesus called them to follow Him, were afraid and ran and woke Him up. And we know the story, Jesus wakes up and looks at wind and sea and says, “Peace! Be Still,” and instantly the wind ceased and the sea was calm; Jesus turns to His disciples and ask, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”  So did Jesus, who was 100% man and 100% God, not know that the storm was going to stir up as He slept? In this test He was showing the Disciples, how much they still didn’t trust Him. And through out His ministry He continually grew and taught His Disciples in a similar manner.

In the moments when we are in a test, in a rough situation, maybe instead of wondering why, we need to wonder what God is trying to reveal to us. In situations as with Abraham, He is revealing how much we do trust Him; and in instances as with the Disciples, God was allowing a situation to flush out a response in the hearts of the disciples that He was wanting to work on. He was working on their faith, and growing it.

Just some brief thoughts, from a quote I read last week.

Situations and test in our lives flush out response from within our heart. What are those responses telling us about what we really believe about God?  And if our response is negative, (Disciples not fully trusting), are we willing to allow God to work on this area in our hearts?

Freedom = Casual?

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The man to the right is a man I have never met. A man I have never talked to, and man many people do not even know exists. But yet, he’s a man I have been thinking about all day. His name is Youcef Nadarkhani, an Iranian Pastor, arrested in 2009,  who is set to face execution, for professing to be a Christian. The profession many of us claim, but yet in his country it is illegal. All he had to do to be set free was renounce his belief in Christ, and he could go free, and he would not.

As I was discussing this with my pastor and others this morning the phase we kept saying was, “We Don’t Have A Clue!”

This seems crazy here in America, the land of the free. Freedom, where we can worship, who and where we want, without any persecution, or threat of persecution. But my thought all day has been, has this freedom we enjoy caused us to become casual in the way we worship, and the way we walk with God. So instead of seeking God, and worshipping Him, we in our freedom begin to look for a church that fits our needs, and our wants, it becomes all about us. What type of music is sung? Is the preacher funny or not? Does he speak for 20 minutes or an hour? Whats the youth group like? Whats the dress code there? etc…

All the while missing the point all together.

David Platt says, “The freighting reality of the Gospel, Jesus does call us to give up everything we have. And He may tell anyone of us to sell all of our possessions, and give them to the poor. But we don’t believe this. If we form Jesus to look like us, and to be who we want Him to be then even when we gather together and sing our praises and lift our hands, the reality is we are not worshipping the Jesus of the Bible, we are worshipping and singing to ourselves.”

It’s a foreign idea to us, that someone would be put to death for being a Christian. We would say it’s not normal. I just wonder what Christianity would look like in America if there was a cost to being a follower of Christ. You see persecution for your faith is normal in most of the world, just not in our little bubble. America only makes up about 4% of the world’s population, so we are not the norm, or the standard, as much as we like to think that we are. Where countries like India and China alone make up roughly 40% of the world’s population, and they are some of the most dangerous countries in the world for a professing Christian to live. Freedom we experience and freedom we take for granted is not the norm, and it shouldn’t be.

Jesus and the Bible teach that there was a cost to following Him. That there would be persecution, that others would hate you, maybe even your own family (see: Matthew 10:22; John 15:18-20; Luke 21:12; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 John 3:13; Luke 14:25-35).  This is what Christianity should look like, and in many places around the world it does.

There should be a seriousness involved in us claiming to be Christians. That’s what I see when I read the Bible, Jesus taught it, the Disciples believed, it and also taught it,and their lives matched it.

Could it be that in our enjoyment of our freedom we are missing the point? Our freedom doesn’t necessarily require us to take any stands. What if church wasn’t all about our wants, and their wasn’t hundreds within a short driving distance of your house? If there was only one church, with one type of music, and it may last all day, would we go? What if it was hidden in an abandoned building, and not a fancy building? Would we love Christ enough to go? If it was hard to call ourselves Christians, could we do it?

Why do we go to church now? Duty or Delight? Has it become just part of our routine? Do we sometimes care more about sleep, golf, lake, football games, gathering for dinner,etc, than we do seeking the Creator of everything who has loved us, and has pursued us, and has rescued us? The One who knew no sin, but yet became sin on our behalf, so that we could become His Righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Are we serious in our faith? Have we become casual in our freedom? Have we counted the cost and said yes Christ, You are worth it?

40 Day Prayer Emphasis (from my Pastors blog)

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40 Day Prayer Emphasis

Winfree Baptist Church

October 16 – November 24

Join us on Sunday October 16 at 6:00 pm as we kick off 40 days of prayer.

Begin to pray now. Asking God to rekindle in us a passion for Him, His Word, His Church, and His Mission!

Pray and Expect Great Things!

“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time – walking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God – it changes me.” ~ CS Lewis

Debris from a Storm

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Storms come and go all the time especially living along the Gulf Coast. We get them in all kinds of different ways, some small, with barely enough rain to wet the ground, some massive as in a hurricanes that requires you to pack your loved ones and prized possessions and evacuate inland.  Where once there we sit and wait, wait to see if storm will hit our city, and what effect it may have; only some wind damage or wind damage along with flooding, a lot of uncertainties remain as we sit and wait. With questions running through our mind, worries, concerns, what will this storm bring? Will anything remain? What will be left when I go back home?

Theres always one thing that remains after a storm…

You ever walked outside not long after a bad storm and looked at all the debris left behind? Various sticks, limbs, and leaves; as there are still some still attached to the trees they belong to. Last weekend I went out to cut my back yard and there was limbs from my palm trees everywhere; we got hit by a tropical depression the previous weekend. As I was gathering them, and looking up into the trees and noticing there were still some attached, were alive and green. Where as the ones I was gathering were dead, and had been for a while, yet the palm tree was still holding on till the storm came and broke it free.

Look back on the storms you have gone through, over the years, did they not cause you to let go of those things in our life that are dead and hold onto the One who is alive? No matter what it was that we were holding on to because we thought we needed it, we thought it satisfied, and we had to have it, when all the while it was dead, and not allowing us to hold on to Him. The storms in our lives move us to run to the One who is able to comfort us, sustain us, and grow us. Sometimes it’s not easy to sit and wait and wonder what will the results of the storm be, what will be left? Will I survive? Will I be ok? Why is this happening? What can I do? Cant I go back?

It’s in these times when I find my self running to Christ, the creator and sustainer. The One who came to redeem me, and as much as I wish following Christ meant a life of ease, and smooth sailing; He never promised that, but said that in Him there is hope (John 16:33) because He has overcome this world. In the Gospels we see an instance where Jesus climbs into a boat and tells His Disciples He wanted to go across to the other side, so they set sail. Most of His Disciples were fishermen by trade, they had made a living on these waters, grown up on these waters, most likely had encountered numerous storms, and survived them. Basically saying that these guys knew how to control a boat in a storm, but in this instance the storm was so intense that they feared for their lives, and moved past trying on their own and ran to Jesus. And this whole time He had been asleep. But the storm caused them to run to the One alive in their life for help, and He simply gets up and tells the storm to “Shut Up!” and it ceased (Matthew 8). No matter what storms we face or go through, whether small or massive, He has already overcame them. In that we find peace, in that we find rest, in that we find hope, and His Name is declared out in our life. Then those around us begin to notice our hope and question us about it, and we are able to speak the Gospel into their lives and give a defense for our hope (1 Peter 3:15), and He is glorified. We get the Hope, He gets the Glory!

Could it be that the storms in our life are used as a means of drawing us to Him! I know many of us have talked about how intense and purposeful worship was after Hurricane Ike, how we HAD to be with our local church body for fellowship and to worship, how our quiet times were awesome, and how we grew, matured, and fell more in love with Him. I’ve read stories of Followers of Christ overseas that were in prison and had been set free, and mentioned that at times they wish they were back in prison, because their relationship with Christ was so intense in prison that wish they could go back to experience that closeness again.

Are we willing to endure a storm, if it means a greater closeness with Christ? Willing to let go of things that keep us from pursing Him with all that we have?

Storms in our lives, shake free from us things that are dead and weighing us down, and allow us to hold onto what is Alive.

As I gathered the debris in my yard, I threw it out, I didn’t try to climb the tree and put them back in it. Sometimes we have to allow God to set us free, so we can do what we were created for and that’s to pursue Him.