Better is One Day

Better is ONE DAY in His presence than a thousand elsewhere. What does ONE DAY in His presence look like?

What would it look like to live each and every moment of your day fully aware of the Presence of God? Fully aware of what Heaven is doing? Fully aware of what the Father is saying in every moment, every circumstance, every situation? Heaven doesn't move or change. He is the EVER PRESENT God. He doesn't move or change, we do. We lose our awareness of Him. He never leaves us - it's His promise. He is always with us! I'm not talking about just "taking a moment in your day" to acknowledge God, but continual awareness of Him! Jesus only did what he saw His Father doing and only said what He heard His Father saying. Better is ONE DAY in His presence than a thousand elsewhere. Become aware of Him today! I dare you! Watch your life, your day change radically!

YOLO

It's the new popular phrase. If you don't know what it means, you should. You only live once.
Many people are using this mindset as an excuse to things that are foolish, harmful, painful, costly. You only live once is not a reason to be a fool. The Bible says quite the opposite - you only die once. "It is appointed unto man once to die and then comes judgement."(Heb 9:27)  When we die, we will give an account for the life we have been given. This life is not the end. It is only the beginning. Life is a gift. Don't waste it! Spend it, invest it wisely.

It is God's desire for you to live your life to it's fullest! So how does one get the most out of this life? How do you live your life to the fullest? Give it away! It truly is better to give than to receive. Why? Because in the Kingdom, the more you give away, the more you will receive. So if you want more out of your life - Give it away! Jesus said, "If you cling to your life, you will lose it, but if you give it up for me, you will find it."(Mat 10:39)

There is a difference between giving your life away and throwing your life away. The truth is you won't truly live until you have found the one thing worth dying for. Holy Spirit is called "Comforter" for a reason. Get out of your comfort zone and find out why! Live every area of your life in such a way that it will fail without God's supernatural intervention.

What is it in your life that you are willing to die for? What is it that you would lay down your life for? 

#YOLO

The Cost of Freedom

What is the cost of freedom?

We always talk about it or hear about it on the news... How soldiers have laid down their lives for our freedom, for our country's freedom and how grateful we are for it. But what about the cost of the freedom of our souls? The freedom of our minds? Our health? What is the cost of this?

We know that Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice and the paid the ultimate price for this - His life. It cost Him everything, but what did He gain in return?

The question I ask is this: What price are we willing to pay? Are we willing to pay any price? Are we willing to give whatever it takes, or whatever He asks of us?

There are some things we are willing to give up and some things we are not willing to surrender to Him. What is it that you are unwilling to surrender? Your pride? Your fear? Your addictions? Your reputation? Your income? Your possessions? Your comfort? Your time? Your life?

There are some things that seem like they are just too costly. The Bible is very clear in Luke 14:25-34 about the counting the cost: "Anyone who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."  Another verse says, "What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?" Jesus paid the ultimate price for you. We must understand He didn't just die to get YOU into Heaven, He died to get HEAVEN into YOU!

All of law can be summed up in this: Love God more than anything! Are you willing to love God more than anything?  See God's Kingdom is an "upside down" Kingdom: The last shall be first, the least shall be the greatest, He uses the foolish things to shame the wise, if you try to save your life, you will lose it, but if you give up your life for Him, you will save it!

One thing is clear: In the Kingdom, the reward is ALWAYS greater than the cost/sacrifice.
It is mockery of God to think that He will not reward those who pay the price.(Galatians 6:7)
We must understand the Biblical concept of reward! 


(Matthew 19:27-29) Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?”
Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life."


Christians in other countries clearly understand this, most Americans do not. Many Christians understand the willingness to lay down their life for Christ. Are we willing to lay down anything for Him?

So we must ask ourselves, which is more important, our comfort or His Kingdom?
Is the cost worth the reward? With God - ALWAYS!

God is...

Only once in the entire Bible is there such a clear description of our God. God has many names, many attributes to His character and His nature. He has many different emotions and feelings. But here in this moment  the Holy Spirit inspired the author to write one single word to encompass all of who God is. In three bold words he captured all of who God is. He was not describing one of God's many attributes. He was not telling us of some part of God's nature or character. He was telling us who God is.  His sentence contains three simple, yet profound words.

God is love.

He could have said, "God shows love," or "God is full of love," or "God loves..." but he didn't.

It seems that the weight of this statement and this word has been lost over time because so few of us truly understand or know what love really is. We say, "Oh I love that shirt" or "I love that movie" and somehow, with each of these careless uses of the word "love," it loses it's meaning. Combine that with the fact the devil does everything within his power to destroy our concept of love. Fathers and mothers who should love their children abuse them. Husbands abuse and mistreat their wives instead of loving them. Do we love our neighbors? The list goes on... So in the end, we have so little concept of the meaning of love. Our concept of love is often twisted, distorted, and polluted.

Love looks like something!
What is love? What does love look like?

I'm so glad you asked! Thankfully, 1 Corinthians 13 give us a glimpse into the answer:
If God is love... then ... God is patient, God is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He is not rude, He is not self-seeking. Our Father is not easily angered and He keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God, Our Father always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

God never fails.

Love is a person. His name is Jesus. Do you know Him? Do you know Love?
As I said, this is only "a glimpse" into who and what love is.
When you look into the eyes of Love, you will know the rest.

1 John 4:8 - Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:16 - And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
Perfect Love casts out fear.
Jesus Christ is perfect theology!
Anything you believe about God that you do not see in the person of Jesus, you have reason to question!

Snowflakes, Fingerprints, & Sunsets

TRUTH

"I am the truth," Jesus said. What an incredibly bold statement to make!

Jesus didn't just say he knows some truth or even all truth. He said He is the truth. Not only that, He told Pilate that the reason He was born was because He came to testify of the Truth. (So basically Jesus was born to testify about Himself. He was born to reveal Himself, and in doing so He revealed the Father. If you want to know what God looks like, acts like, look at the life of Jesus.)

"What is truth?" Pilate asked Jesus this question, not realizing the answer was standing right in front of him. Truth is a Person. His name is Jesus.

How many denominations have been formed around a truth? How many churches, marriages, friendships have been divided over a truth?

I believe the Bible was written in such a way that you cannot know the truth contained within, unless you know the Author of Truth who wrote it. For so many years people have been and still are divided over "truths" in the Bible. There are so many truths that seem to contradict each other, yet they don't. These apparent contradictions cause us to fall in love with the Author rather than the "method." The problem comes when we decide to build a doctrine on a truth rather than the Truth. The issue then becomes not, "What is truth?" but, "What is truer?" or "Which truth is right?" We are missing the point!

Jesus was all things to all men: To the proud, arrogant rich young ruler, He was the Law. To the broken, humble woman caught in the act of adultery, He was Grace and Mercy and Compassion. To the cold, hard-hearted, religious Pharisees, He was the Judge who used the hammer of love to break their hearts of stone. To the thirsty woman at the well, He was the Living Water. To the man who was possessed by a legion of demons He was Freedom. To the blind, the lame, the sick, He was the Healer.

He still asks the same question of us that He asked Peter, "Who do you say that I am?"

God loves diversity. He loves diversity in all things; Not just in snowflakes, fingerprints, and sunsets. God has made each of us unique. The Bible often refers to us as a body that is made up of many distinct, unique parts. Each part serves a different purpose. We need to realize that aside from Christ, we've all been given a truth, but none of us has the truth. We each have a piece of the puzzle. The next time you want to attack someone who has a different piece of the puzzle than you do, try slapping yourself in the face first and see how it feels. It doesn't make much sense to see a body that attacks itself. What does make sense is when a body works together in unity, in sync, as one. Learn to love what He loves. Learn to love diversity. Most of all, learn to love Truth!

Life & Death

Consider this: I am a spirit, I have a soul, I (currently) reside in a body. This body is not my home. This body is my current residence. This body is not who I am.

Everything we know is temporary. All things in this life have a beginning and an end. All things, but God. He has no beginning and no end. He created time. Before God created time, time did not exist. Try and wrap your mind around that one! When we come to the place where we realize that what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal, and real, only then we can learn how to truly live.

What is life? What is death? How is it possible that you can have a heartbeat and be dead? How is it that your heart can stop beating and yet you still live? Answer: We are born dead.

This is all Adam's fault! God told Adam, "...in the DAY you eat of it, you will surely DIE." So Adam ate of the forbidden fruit and in that day, he died. Adam died, yet his heart continued to beat.

As we read through scripture, we learn that when God speaks of life, He's not talking about whether or not you're breathing. When He speaks of death, He's not referring to your body's vital signs. This is NOT life and death. Death is separation from the source of all life - God. So then, what is life? Life is being connected with, and being one with, the source of all life. To know God is to live. Notice I didn't say, to know "about" God, but to KNOW God. Many people know "about" God and have no life. Life is not found in religion. Life is not found in you simply saying a prayer, or going to church, or having good theology. God doesn't have a 12-step program. He has a 1-step program: Death to Life! Life is found IN Him alone. Jesus didn't say 'I will "show" you the way, the truth and the life.' He said, "I AM the way. I AM the truth. I AM the life." Know Him and you will know life. Possess Him and you will possess LIFE!

Move Me

What moves you? A song? A painting? A beautiful sunset? A book? A movie? A dance? Why do you think our Creator made us so creative? We were created to be like Him. We were created in His image. He is so wonderfully and uniquely creative. Why do we feel the need to be like someone else? Why do we idolize others? Granted, it is in the very nature of our being to worship, but worship of anyone or anything other than our Creator is idolatry.

Some of are only moved by fear. What a miserable existence! Trust me, I know! I've been there. I hate being moved and or motivated by the "what if's" or "what will happen if..." or "I'd better do this, or else...." This is not living! God has so much more for us! He wants us to be MOVED by LOVE! He desires for us to be deeply expressive in and through our creativity! The church as a whole, by in large, has for too long, stifled creativity and uniqueness; All in the name of "safety".... fear really. We always try to control what we fear or do not understand.

Well I say, it's time to "throw caution to the wind!" Let's raise the "sails" of our creativity, catch the wind of the Holy Spirit and learn to soar with Him! It's time for the beauty of His bride to arise and shine! A bride does not put on her wedding gown and stay in her room. A beautiful bride is adorned and arrayed in splendor to be SEEN, not to be hidden! It's time for the church to come out of the bridal chambers and walk down the isle as the whole world watches; for ALL to see her in her beauty and glory! Let the world see the creativity of it's Creator! He made each of us in His image and likeness. Let's be MOVED by love. Let's be moved to dance, to paint, to sing, to write! There is NO shortage or lack on His end. He is infinite! Let's tap into heaven and bring it to earth in all of it's beauty!

God let your creativity and beauty arise in me! Let it shine through me! Let me be moved by Love. Let me be motivated by Love. Let all who see the radiance of Your beauty in me be captivated by You! You are the desire of every heart! Let the creativity of my heart beat with yours! Let us co-labor, co-create, and in doing so, co-love this world you died for!

Amen!