Evaluating Relationships

As we come close to the end of this 21 day fast, it would be a good time to evaluate our relationships.  Christianity is all about relationships.  Many people make the mistake of thinking that Christianity is only about our relationship to God.  This view of being a Christian is missing two main components.  So what relationships should we be focused on as a Christian?

We should be focused on our relationship with God.  Are we praying enough?  Do we do daily devotions?  Are we taking time to read Scripture each day?  Do we attend and take part in a worship community as a part of the body of Christ?  These are important and develop a deeper relationship with God.  What are you doing to draw nearer to God?

We should be focused on our relationship with the people around us.  This includes our family, friends, church family, co-workers and the people we come in contact with everyday.  This includes the cashier that rings you out every time you go to the grocery store.  Are you nice?  Do you say hi?  Does your family see you as the same person that your church family sees you as?  It is important that we love others just as commanded in Scripture.

We should be focused on ourselves.  Ourselves?  Isn’t that selfish?  If you do not have a good relationship with yourself, how can you have a good relationship with others.  It is important to know yourself.  Know your strengths and know what temptations make you weak.  Know when to volunteer yourself but also know when to say no.  Knowing yourself and setting personal boundaries will help you to be more fruitful in advancing God’s kingdom. 

As you think about these relationships, discover which ones need improvement and start working on it today!

Holding onto Roses

Full and complete surrender. This is good. Too good not to reblog it!

with my whole heart

Yesterday was the first day in the past two weeks that I did not cry on the way home from work. I wish I could say I was exaggerating for dramatic affect, but that would be a lie.

Just like the lies I’ve told in the past few weeks to everyone (minus a few close friends) who has asked the casual, “How are you?”

I mean feel like the baby elephants that I love watching on YouTube are just sitting on my heart crushing it beyond repair, and I might be dehydrated because I don’t think I’ve ever had a time in my life when I’ve cried this much. I’m actually holding back the tears now, so I don’t make this conversation any more awkward. It would be great if you could just move along…you didn’t want the real answer to that question anyways…and I need a minute to plaster…

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Abide In Him

⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

I heard these thoughts on the radio this morning on my way into work.  It is a message worth repeating for sure!

Many people love the verses that say ask and you will receive, whatever you wish it will be done for you.  It is a great thought and coming from the mouth of Jesus, it is surely true.  Well, yes and no.  It all depends on how you interpret it.

Many people read these verses and envision that they can truly get whatever they want as long as they ask God.  I want a new car.  I want to be rich.  I want…, I want…., I want….  The list is endless.  If you are a person who has this attitude with prayer then you are looking at Jesus as if he were a genie and you are granted an immeasurable amount of wishes.  Genie Jesus does not exist.  We do not rub a lamp and poof…our wish comes true.

The key to this is the first part of verse 7.  If you abide in Me and My words abide in you.  If I am all-in, 100% in Jesus and have made room for the Holy Spirit to reside in my heart, there are only certain things for which I will ask.  My prayers will only be fruit bearing prayers.  My requests will only further His kingdom.  My requests will not be selfishly trying to make “my kingdom” bigger than it deserves to be.

The next time you have a prayer request, ask yourself these things.

Does this request further God’s kingdom? 

Does this request bear fruit? 

Is it selfish of me to ask for this request?

Ponder And Pray

I was unable to continue with the devotions last week due to an unexpected hospital stay.  Five days of sitting in a hospital bed with nothing to do but ponder and pray.  Nothing in this world is guaranteed.  We can go from thinking we have the world in the palm of our hands to being truly humbled by God.  Regardless of what is going on in our worldly lives, we always have hope.

1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans 5:1-5

We can glory in our sufferings because we are better people because of them.  We are who we are by the scars of our lives.  We do not have to be ashamed.  We are at peace with God by grace through faith.  His love lives within us through the Holy Spirit.

I know that because of the health issues that happened last week, there are other things in my life that I must change.  These changed things will shape who I am in the future.  I still have God’s love in my heart.  I am still at peace with God.  I will, however, look differently at myself.  My hope doesn’t change.  It grows.  I am a better person for it.

The next time something challenging darkens your doorstep, ask yourself, “How does this change who I am for the better?”  How does your hope grow?

In Honor Of A Great Man

Many people only think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr as a civil rights leader.  If you are a Christian and that is your opinion, then you are missing out on one of the greatest Christian minds of the 20th century.  If you haven’t read his work, you need to do so.

The life changing book for me was Strength To Love. This book is a compilation of 15 sermons preached by Dr. King.  When I say life changing, I mean life changing.  Dr. King has a way of making me rethink everything I have ever been taught in conservative Christian circles on how to treat fellow humanity.  He has a way of preaching the love of God for all of humanity to hear.  His words are alive on paper and video clips today.  They live on even though MLK himself is not here any longer.

I cannot stress it enough.  If you haven’t read MLK writings, you need to do so.  Do not just depend on the video sound bites that are played today and throughout the month of February.  If you do, you are missing out on the true message of love and equality that Dr. King preached.  Read Strength to Love.  You begin the book as one person and end the book a completely different person.  Don’t be afraid of it either.  Sometimes change good.

“God has two outstretched arms.  One is strong enough to surround us with justice, and one is gentle enough to embrace us with grace.”

“Every true Christian is a citizen of two worlds, the world of time and the world of eternity.  We are, paradoxically, in the world and yet not of the world.”

“The God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God.  He is able to beat back the gigantic waves of opposition and to bring low prodigious mountains of evil.  The ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able.”

“When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a great benign Power in the universe whose name is God, and he is able to make a way out of no way, and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.”

“A positive religious faith does not offer an illusion that we shall be exempt from pain and suffering, nor does it imbue us with the idea that life is a drama of unalloyed comfort and untroubled ease.  Rather, it instills in us with the inner equilibrium needed to face strains, burdens, and fears that inevitably come, and assures us that the universe is trustworthy and that God is concerned.”

So Sorry Everyone

I was rushed to the hospital last night. I am feeling much better but the Dr is keeping me another night.  I will continue devotions as soon as I am able. Keep on keeping on. God is with you wherever you go. I know for sure He is with me right where I am.

Hear His Word

Speak Life To One Another

But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men.  When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others.  God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man.  Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s word to him.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Serving God Together

Psalm 92:1: It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High.

Psalm 100:2: Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Joshua 24:15: As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

As Christians, God does not intend for us to walk this life alone. Jesus’s life was shared with his 12 disciples. They then went on to teach it to others, who in turn, taught it to others. The earliest Christian churches gathered together in homes for meals and the readings of Scriptures and the life of Jesus. Our church is a community of faith that shares the gospel of Jesus through teaching, prayer, communion, worship, fellowship, missional work and counseling.

It takes much more to follow Jesus than to give up an hour every week, say hi to the same people and maybe even ask how their week was before saying goodbye. It requires personal investment with others in prayer, study, fellowship, and praise. There is no way to truly follow Jesus without community.

There are so many shapes, sizes and flavors to the modern day family. Look at the church as a larger version of your family. Regardless of who you are, where you come from or what your situation is, there is a church family for you. If you haven’t found this family yet, keep looking. If you have found this family, is it a place of love, prayer and acceptance?

Praying as a family is important. We must share our burdens, praises, encouragements and triumphs. Prayer is as simple as a group of children talking to their father together. It is quality family time. Spending time in prayer with a true Christian brother or sister can turn us from a seemingly sure defeat to an overcomer’s victory. Worshiping together as a church family is critical to becoming the people God desires for us to become.

Who makes up your family, your community of faith, within the larger church you attend?

How do you express love, acceptance, grace, and encouragement with them?

What elements of prayer and worship are regularly missing from your time with them?
Do you pray for your church family?

Happy Sunday!

I pray that everyone is having a beautiful, relaxing, and, blessed day.  Devotions will begin again tomorrow for Day 9.