Prosperity Redefined

Job 9:21-22 says,"I am guiltless; I do not take notice of myself; I despise my life. It is all one; therefore I say, He destroys the guiltless and the wicked."

I want to tell each and everyone of you that I full heartily believe in something called the Prosperity Gospel. Now before you exit out and make the rash decision never to read another post from this blog again, please, hear what I have to say.

Job is in a pickle. For those of you who know his story, you probably know why. However, most of his upset spirit comes from not knowing why everything was taken away from him. His sons, daughters, servants, cattle, sheep, everything was taken away from him and he still praised The Lord because he knew that God was always deserving of praise, no matter what. When he was struck with boils, he still was determined to not rebuke God even when his wife told him to.

Job's close friends came by and decided to comfort Job. These men did some of the best counseling in the world when they just sat with Job and were there physically for him. These men knew God and followed hard after Him. They understood theology and the ways in which God would work. That's why when they finally opened their mouths, they began to tell Job that he should just repent of whatever sin he had committed and everything would end.

This is where we find Job; not having done anything deserving of this pain and affliction but enduring it anyways. He starts to accuse God of being unfair in His judgement because he has no other explanation of why things are happening this way. However, God has Job exactly where He wants him. We know that Job was a righteous man and that His communion with God had to be so strong and intimate. Part of the reason that Job didn't curse God when he was afflicted was because He knew God. When someone has an understanding of God, it doesn't make sense to ever go against Him or to turn away from His presence.

God was using this pain and loss to show Job that He really was worthy of all praise. At the end of the book, God comes to Job and tells Him just how powerful He is. I get chills when my pastor tells me about the bigness of God and His character, but imagine getting a talk about the character and power of God from God Himself... Yeah... I'd buy tickets for the both of us!

One off the major points of this book is that God can't be put into a box and when He think He is doing something for some reason, we can be wrong. He puts His most beloved children under some of the most intense oppression. It reminds me of one of my favorite passages in John 10 when it says that God prunes those who bear fruit so they may bear more fruit. He puts those He loves under hard friction so they may come out sharper.

Some people look at this account and use it to attack the idea of a Prosperity Gospel, however, I don't think this passage could be anymore affirming of the idea.

Prosperity in the dictionary means to be well of wealthy. How can the riches of this world be compared to the riches of Heaven? The Joel Osteen Prosperity Gospel states that when we trust God and follow after Him, then we will see riches here on earth. Good think Job didn't believe that, because as soon as he loss everything, he would have had every right in the world to curse God. However, Job knew that even though he had lost everything, he did not lose his faith in Christ. He understood the riches of heaven. Even though he lost sight of it, they were his ultimate goal.

So yes, I believe that if you trust in The Lord and follow after His will that you will be the richest person in the entire world because you have endless riches waiting for you in heaven that can't even be understood or expressed in a blog, book, or series. I remember seeing the room of treasure that Bilbo Baggins finds himself in under the Lonely Mountain in Tolkien's The Hobbit and thinking, "Man, that's a lot of gold!" I can't wait to be in heaven and completely forget about even remembering such a thought. 

All of this is to say that even in suffering, understand that you have joy that you can hold on to and that it will some day be perfected and you will have endless riches. The beauty about being under submission to Christ is the fact that it's a win win with Christ. We will never die, we'll rule forever, we'll always be in the presence of the Author of life, and we'll never grow thirsty or hungry ever again... Sounds like a sweet deal.

Chase after Christ and you'll learn what it means to be overflowing with riches. - Forsake All

Pray. Please.

2nd Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
I have attended Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA for hte past few months and have already heard a lot of speakers and pastors and people who have made a difference. Most of them come with the idea that we are going to be, not world, but "church-changers". They come with a message that will give us the encouragement and fire we need to pursue the newest revival. I've heard, even in this short time, a lot of talk about the right way to do it, but not until recently have I heard the correct approach to changing our churches.
Now, I must also make this straight. We are not called to save our culture. God did not send Jesus to die on the cross for us to be filled with the love of God so that we may save the tradition of things we like to do or ways in which we enjoy acting in. Believe it or not, this is the commission some teachers and guest speakers have given. However, I hope that my generation doesn't strive to preserve culture but to change lives. I know these same teachers would agree with me, but wording is key: there is a need for the lives of individuals in the church to be changed.
Again, before we come across the answer and key to revival, we must understand that we are not starting revival by being perfect people. We will not stand above the crowds and lead them in righteousness from our own flesh. We aren't perfect leaders because there already was one and He stands as our high priest who listens to our cries (Hebrews 7:26-28). With this said, revival must start with us. If we cannot be changed daily to the call of Christ than we have no part in asking others to do so. So let it be said, let it start with us.
We most recently had a pastor of a church in D.C. that came and spoke at our convocation. He knew. He understood. He told us to turn in our Bibles to Acts 10 as we would discuss Prayer. Having recently studied prayer throughout scripture, I thought this was a strange place. Usually, it's smart to search throughout the Bible for your topic and then pick the strongest one that makes your point. This didn't seem like a strong passage.
Cornelius was a centurion in the Italian Regiment and had a devout faith towards God. In verse two, it says that he prayed regularly. One day, God gave him a vision, in which he was told to send some of his men to fetch Peter and bring him back to Caesarea, where Cornelius had been staying. Peter also received a vision that was probably a bit stranger than Cornelius'. Peter became hungry during one of his prayer sessions and the Lord gave him a vision of animals on a sheet and God said, "Eat!" Peter rejects the food in saying that it was unclean. We was a devout Jew and he wasn't going to partake in food that was against his religious diet. However, God makes a bigger than we think statement and says, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
Cornelius' men show up at Peter's house and bring him back to Caesarea. Then it says in verse twenty-seven that Peter entered into Cornelius' house. It goes onto say that it's not custom or right for a Jew to associate with a Gentile, but God showed Peter the vision and told him that God has made things clean. Peter than begins to tell them more about the Gospel and they become baptized at the end of the chapter.
Still, what a strange chapter to chose for talking about prayer! But something that I learned was the reason behind this advancement of the Gospel. When did God meet with both Cornelius and Peter? When they were praying. You have to understand that this opened the door for all Gentiles to have the ability to become a Christian and to follow after Christ. This event shifted the tables and created a completely new world. Because of the prayers of both of these men, God made a practical way for those who weren't ethically called to be apart of God's plan. Most of you who read this article would probably say that you are not Jewish. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, it's because of the prayers of Cornelius and Peter. Was it their power that did it? No, but God used their devotion.
So what does this mean for us? Let us pray. That's the only answer for revival. It's the only way lives can be changed. It's the only way because it's the purest motive of telling God that we don't have the ability or the power to do all the things that He can do. I don't want to work as hard as I can knowing that God can do so much more than I ever will be able to. I want to spend all my time tapping into His power. Does this mean we shouldn't preach or lead worship or have revival services? No, but it does mean that we shouldn't do anything without someone praying. An old Moravian saying is, "No one works unless someone prays."
Although praying is the hardest spiritual discipline, it avails much for the righteous. - Forsake All

True Life

Psalms 24:6 says, "This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face. Selah."

There are so many generational songs that we sing as a church body all over the world. The words from a Paul Bolache song rings in my head this morning after reading Psalm 24. He words this verse, "O God let us be, a generation that seeks, that seeks Your face, O God of Jacob." He turns this proclamation of a generation into a cry and plead that we would be that generation.

As Christians, there should be a daily prayer being prayed that has to do with the revival of the Christian heart. A revival could be considered a resuscitation of a person. A believer who is unconscious or asleep and in need of breath to be awaken. We don't have the breath of God and unless we ask for it to rain down in our lives. We pray for this awakening so that we may have the characteristics of a Godly generation, like verses four and five say. They say, "He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from The Lord, And righteousness from the God of his salvation."

Why is it so important to be this generation that David is talking about? Verse three of this chapter says, "Who may ascend into the hill of The Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?" So prayers across the globe are being made that we may reach the presence of God and bask in His glory? Yes, but even more so, it's so that we may find life.

Yes, life. One of my favorite things about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or the story of His perfect life and death on a cross to save His people, is that He does it so that we may have life. Life comes from having fellowship with the Father. Without fellowship with God, we do not have nor know life but simply a morsel of it. When we are in the presence of God, we experience this life. Being redeemed and justified, we have the promise of experiencing true life with God in heaven, but it's a fight to enjoy that life here on earth. We are still sinful, and even though we have been completely justified by God's grace, we still sin. We look forward to the day where we no longer sin but have life to the fullest with God.

So let us join together and commit to this daily prayer: That our hearts would be pure and our hands be clean so that the Christian church may ascend into the hill of God. - Forsake All

New Covenant

Ezekiel 16:3 says, “… [Ezekiel] say, ‘Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem, “Your origin and your birth are from the land of Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.” ’ ”

You may be thinking, “I think I clicked on the wrong blog.” Let me assure you’re in the right place. You also may be thinking, “What a strange verse to start off a blog.” Well, to be honest, it’s the beginning of a beautiful story. If I wanted to tell the whole thing it would take up this entire post, so please, if you have the time and devotion, turn in your Bibles and read Ezekiel 16.

This story talks about a girl who had a very violent and bloody birth and was cast out into the streets with no hope of life while only a baby. A man (God) walks by and takes the baby to His safe keeping. He raises her and calls her His own. When she grows up, she becomes a queen but trades her wealth to become a prostitute. This was symbolic to the way that Jerusalem was acting towards God.

It all started back with the Israelites on the bank of the Red Sea where their disbelief in a God who had just saved from their oppressor was very evident. They complained against Moses, but as soon as God showed up, they responded in “Reactional” Worship. I create this new word to describe a syndrome to describe those who only praise God when He shows up and saves, but in the times where they can’t really see His hand, there is no praise in his or her mouth. This sort of worship only lasts for a little while but is soon drown out by fear, doubt, or just the world and its snares.

I love this picture that God, through Ezekiel, paints. It says in verse 34 of the same chapter, “Thus you [Israel] are different from those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot as you do, because you give money and no money is given you; thus you are different.” Israel’s adultery came with the bringing in of idols and gods from other countries. They didn’t really gain anything from playing the harlot with these gods, but they just fulfilled their own fleshly desires. There was no payment, but instead they gave money in order to have the people bring in gods.

Something beautiful happens in verse 60. It says, “Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.” There are two different covenants here: one from the past and one that He will put into place. The first one is the Abrahamic Covenant and the second on is the New Covenant. This is so beautiful because it’s a picture of the cross. We see that Jesus specifically died for people who He raised and loved their whole lives, yet turned against Him. He draws them back to Himself.

Again, I love this picture because I believe we are a very adulterous generation. Don’t you think? My brother always said, “Do you want to know what you love? Figure out what you spend the most time on.” We have so many things fighting for our attention and our time consumption, and in the process, we are giving our hearts to things that will fade away and won’t be remembered whatsoever. This is idolatry. God has raised us and called us His own, yet we don’t focus our time on serving, knowing, and making Him known.

Don’t walk away from this post with guilt and saying, “I can never love God fully.” This is so right, and I’m convinced that there has never been a day in your existence where you have fulfilled the greatest commandment. You might have spent the whole day sleeping, and having abstained from evil, but you have never loved God according to His fullness. The New Covenant is completely grace-based. It’s silly to think that we could be perfect in this life, so God had to sent His Son, which I think we should take seriously.

Who do you love? – Forsake All

Kingdom Minded

Colossians 3:1-2 says, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above not the things that are on earth.”

For a lot of us, we are entering into a new stage in our lives. Most of us don’t really know what is going to happen next, yet we wait in anticipation. For those who are just on the sideline of our lives, they watch with excitement to where we are about to go. For some of us, this means new friends and new dreams. This post is for everyone, but it’s especially for my friends who are going to college this next semester.

Yesterday, I came back from a week of church camp. I had the joy of leading a bunch of Jr. High guys to know more about Christ. The leader over me, who I switched teaching with during the camp, made a few statements that really got the groups attention while everything I said seemed to go over their heads, but who knows! She shared this verse that I’ve put above in order that we would Seek and Set.

This resonates with me as enter into a new world with new people and new goals. Will I finally be able to seek after the Lord with all my heart? Will I make provision so this may happen? This verse helped me come up with a college “Mission Statement” if you will. It’s as follows: I will only engage in activities that help my profession and conviction. This is not to become the most legalistic person on campus so let me explain myself a little more.

The purpose for our existence is to glorify God with all we do. The outcome of this is His fulfillment of joy in us and ours in Him (John 15:11). Matthew 6:33 says to seek first the Kingdom of Christ and all these things will be added to you. I wonder if we get to caught up with “these things will be added to you”. The glory of God is not a means to an end but the fellowship with God is what creates joy. There is no way to get joy without worshiping our Creator for who He is. Our search for joy is in essence the search after the presence of God and His glory.

No matter where you are in life, college student or not, your life is not your own. It belongs to the One who created, saved, and secured you. We also studied this past week about the completion of the Kingdom. When Jesus comes back to get us, there will be so much joy. I wish we thought about the end times more, for I am sure that is the fuel for the seeking and setting in our lives. If we truly understood that only some things will last and others won’t, that would completely dictate the way that we lived. I know you’ve heard this a million times, but as you read this, I’m praying God would show and reveal truth to you.

The hardest part about this is that the world and its sin is so enticing that no one falls short of this. Even while writing this, I think of all things I could do that wouldn’t advance my profession or conviction (By which I mean what God has called me to do for a living and the fact that I am certain He is the only One worth living for). I’m preaching a dream that will one day be completely obtainable and enjoyable. However, this shouldn’t stop us, though it may discourage us, from living a life that is Seeking the face of God and Setting our minds on Him daily.

My prayer for us is that we would become His children who are Kingdom Minded – Forsake All

God is Greater

Psalm 48:1 says, "Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain." This is the cheif end of man. I've said it so many times and will continue to say it; we were created to glorify God. However, to glorify God, there is a fullness that is implied. I think this is where we get misled as a church all around the world. We show up on Sundays and Wednesdays to praise God as we should! What we're missing is the rest of our lives that should be praising God. God doesn't demand a 25% return on us, nor 50%, 75%, or 99%. He desires all of us. I pray that I will realize fully that God has given me all that I am and He deserves everything I am.

The potter can say to His finished work that it is completely his. There is no portion of the created that he can claim for himself. I believe it was Andrew Murray who gave the picture of a God who owns every plot of land and that there is not even a square inch that God does not jealously shout over "Mine!" If we truly believe that God created the heavens and earth then why is it so hard for us to understand that He also owns it. No where do we see it recorded that God gave someone else the keys to the earth and then go watch over a different galaxy. He is here.

Think about his nearness and tremble, for there are very recent times in which I wish that God was not near me. I wish He didn't look at what I do or know what I thought. He is entitled to my praise from every part of my life and body, and when I deliever so much less than that, there is no use to my life. I hate to be the guy who tells people that they are useless, but unless you are living for the glory of God, the truth will soon be revealed. I also take this and look at how much of my life has gone to waste to immorality and lust. It's time for a change.

God's love reaches over the oceans and galaxies and universes to touch your heart. While He is over the entire realm of existence, He lives within you and desires to be close to you. He is worthy of all praise and adoration and even more so because He loves us. I've been dealing with so much sin that keeps controling my thoughts and actions but God loves me even while I'm in this. His love will never leave me, and for that alone, He is worthy of all my adoration and praise.

There really isn't a point to this message besides the fact that God is greater than all this world has to give and should be glorified accordingly. I've been listening to so many songs that say that God is greater and that there is no one like our God. This is so true, but why only say this with out mouths when these words are justified by our actions? I ask for your prayers as right now I'm in the middle of spiritual warfare and complete failure and desloation doesn't look too far away. Even so, my God is gracious and just to forgive and loves me even while I am a sinner. He calls me His own.

How great is our God? - Forsake All

Broken Yet Sent

Acts 14:15 says, "'Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.'"

Let me put this into context. Paul and Baranbas are preaching the Gospel in Lystra when they saw a man who had been lame from birth. They made eye contact and Paul told him to stand on his feet. The man did so and everyone was amazed. However, they thought that they were the greek gods Zeus and Hermes. The people went to go get the priest of Zeus and that's when Paul made this statement after ripping his clothes.

Being in Burundi has been a blast and I love every second of it. Yesterday, I got to teach a song to the worship team at the church and they were more than grateful. When the worship leader, David, introduced me to the team, he said words that were more than kind. I do want to point out that he didn't say anything that compared me to a god, but I wanted to make sure that we were all on the same understanding that I really was not "that great."

I don't want this to seem like a post full of self pity, but I do want there to be a right understanding of who we are. The only way to see ourselves clearly is to be able to see the revealed God. I say revealed because there is infinitely more to God than we know and ever could know. We know that He is perfect yet He is ever more so. Our understanding of His love is great but could increase daily for eternity. His faithfulness is felt every second, but in all of these things, we have barely scratched the surface.

In return, we have fallen from fellowship only to be brought back by the blood of the lamb. Hallelujah! There we should be categorized as tools used in accordance by God's will, still straying from time to time, but we have been brought close (Ephesians 2:13). Like David, it's important to understand our humanness and the separation between the nature of man and God. Only when we understand and comprehend this will we be able to receive the fullness of what the Gospel has to offer.

With this understanding, those who are in a place of ministry or missionaries who travel across the world can say, "We too are only human." We are broken people just like everyone else. What we must boast in is that we have a hope and a joy. We, unlike everyone else, have a peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7). While others search for a purpose to this life, we can, with complete confidence, say that we were created to glorify our God and love Him with all that we are.

Once born again, there becomes a false and sinful idea of spiritual levels. We may look at the pastor of our church and say, "Wow, I want to be on his level some day." We wish that we were like the missionary and envy the faith to do God's will. I implore you that these people may be closer to God, but they still deal with sin and are broken and are desperate need to God. Paul talks about a race; a marathon. We can get caught with mile-markers and covet the ability to be at their levels, but the closer we get to finishing the race, the closer we get to God, the more we understand how much we are in desperate need of Him. Read Jon Owens or A.W. Tozer or any of the greats and they will tell you the same thing.

I pray that none of you have an issue with this, but I know that I do. So if anything, walk away from this post and pray that God would do a work in me to draw me closer to Him, not to some level like someone else. Don't get me wrong, one of the initial reasons I took Christianity seriously is because I saw someone else do it and have joy, but I don't put him on an altar and worship him, for he was broken and made mistakes. The only reason I think highly of him is because God used him and he was willing to be used for the furtherance of the Gospel.

Being broken is a beautiful thing when you realize that there is Savior. - Forsake All

A Compelling Love

Acts 2:36-38 says, "'Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah' When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"

Our team touched down in Burundi last night and we spent all day today just getting familiar with the country and the people that we will be working with. We went to a place where women can learn to sew and also grow closer to Christ. It's a year program, so every year that we go we get to see new faces and hear new stories. This year, one really touched my heart.

I was talking with a lady name Christine who was actually a partner with the program and we were exchanging our testimonies. If we would've voted, hers was better than mine. She was raised Catholic but one of her Christian friends kept bugging her to come to church with her. Finally, an opportunity came up to go and Christine thought to herself, "I go with her, she'll stop bugging me." (Might I add, these are the famous last words of many nonbelievers.) They went together and Christine heard and responded to the name of Jesus. She said, "I knew who Jesus was, so when the pastor asked if anyone wanted to trust in Him, I already knew that I had, so I raised my hand."

Something was different about this Jesus than what she had previously learned through her own Catholic beliefs. She decided to go the next Sunday to learn more about Him. She finally got to the point in the service where she started reading the words that they were singing. Her words were beautiful and still resound with me...

I heard and read about the love of God and I just... repented of all my sin.

I was reading in Acts before we left the hotel today because I knew that if we were going to start a revival in people's hearts, we had to do it the Biblical way. After doing a study for about for a few years and looking into the original Greek and talking to Peter personally about his strategy, I have come to a conclusion. The Gospel is sufficient. I get so caught up in the different ways to share Christ and to win hearts that would be set on fire for Christ that I spend the time I should be sharing the Gospel on analytical experimentation of Peter and his message.

Truly the love of God is so compelling that when one hears it, it is prone to make a decision. When someone hears that the Creator of the universe is perfect and that he or she isn't, it has to be dealt with. When they hear that God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us, they must react. That's our part in the great commission. It's really not a bad gig. I'm just thankful that I am not responsible for the eternal future of the person I share the Gospel with.

The proclamation of the love of God is so sufficient when it comes to telling people about who God is. To truly understand the love of God, there must be a common and revealed understanding of Who He is, but once that is breached, His love is compelling. Just like Christine, thousands have been saved because of the realization of God's love for them.

Don't pass this up or look over it. We didn't pass Jesus Loves Me 101 in Sunday school, in fact, by God's grace, I'm still enrolled. I pray that we have the opportunity to find a piece of God's love. If each man and woman ever created found out ten new things about the love of God every day, with all of our life times put together and squared, a large portion of God's love would remain hidden. Some look at this and ooh and aww but never jump into the dark pit with no floor that is the love of God. I'd rather jump in fully pledged to find what I can.

Will you jump in with me? - Forsake All 

Living Hope

1st Peter 1:3-5 says, "Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

Hope is all we really have to live for. That's what belief and superstition are built on. I believe that one day I will be in heaven, and that is my hope. We heard  a story early this week that really made us think about hope. We climbed a mountain called Bell Rock in Arizona. We were super excited to have been all the way to the top and the next day made a reference to our hike to our tour-guide while looking at Indian reservation items. He told us a story of two-thousand New Age believers sitting on Bell Rock and in a huge circle. They crossed their legs and interlocked their fingers hoping that something would happen.

They believed that the earth would soon start to change and there would be more visual changes in the world we know. One of those changes would be Bell Rock raising itself out of the ground and lifting itself into space. The New Agers wanted to be a part of the change, so they tried catching the ride. I can't imagine watching the disappointment after they all come down from the mountain.

They hoped in a prophetic word and a fairy tale and they were wrong. This is what everyone worries about: having a false hope. We dread the day that we get to the end of our lives and we find out the truth. "What if what I hoped in was wrong and I lose control of where I am going?"

I'd encourage you guys to not fear this interaction. Peter says it plainly: our hope is a living hope, different than everyone else's. Don't you love knowing the answer while everyone else doesn't? There is a sense of pride knowing that you have the key to the door while everyone else is looking everywhere and picking up keys that will never fit. We're not told to hold on to our key, or our knowledge of Christ and His resurrection. He tells us to share what we know and hope in with everyone over all the world.

This is huge! Our hope is living! It's not something that has no real evidence but the earth itself is proclaiming the life and death of Christ. The sky proclaims the glory of God so that none can deny it! It's so evident. We literally have the key to all the questions the world can ask! We have been given the gift of eternal life and the ability to press in on the presence and reality of who God is. Our hope is living and works in us every day. Our inheritance is coming and we have been assured by the coming of the Holy Spirit into us.

What are we waiting for? I could go on about how we need to share the Gospel of who God is even further, but is that really the issue? The issue is we don't understand the value of what we have. God is in love with us and desires for us to join in the song of His glory. When we are dedicated to glorifying God, He gives us joy in return. There is so much worth in knowing and being with God daily. It's like knowing a rockstar that you get to hang out with personally while everyone else longs to meet him. We have complete access to the throne of God! We are still to recognize it as holy and sacred, but we also can come before God sinless.

The Gospel is a beautiful thing and it is our job to rediscover the value of it everyday and how important it is to us and to our world. When we understand what we are living for and the importance of it, that's when our minds start to zero in. We start concentrating on how to give God the most glory and how to live every second in His presence. The living hope we have literally lives and moves within us. In everything you do,  be assured by the living hope of the death and resurrection of Christ that we are going to receive an inheritance that is not corruptible but completely obtainable.

Have hope. Christ is our living hope bringing us to His glory - Forsake All

How Measureless and Strong

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says, ““Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Sometimes, I wish we were so quick to see symbolism in the Bible. I really wish that we would write things on our foreheads or our gates or doorposts. It’s not some sort of radical experiment but if something is written on your forehead, don’t you think you’ll remember it? If you don’t, people will remind you.

But why should we love Christ? 1^st John says that we love Christ because He first loves us. Paul says that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It’s not something that we need to do when we truly understand what he does for us. When we get hit by something that big, we don’t need to react. Take our example of being hit by an 18-wheeler. In that case, we don’t need to fall back down the road a few yards because the impact of the vehicle will do it for us. In this, we are not called to just love God because we have to, but we are simply called to react to His true love for us and the way that shows His affection by dying on the cross.

My heart is to pastor people and to lead people closer to Christ, but sometimes I feel like pastors, and a lot of times myself, try to perfect everything in a Christian’s life but not touch on the love of Christ. The only reason we sin is because we don’t understand that depth and width and height of the love of Christ. If we did, we wouldn’t chase after other things like money, worldly success, and relational gratification.

I don’t write this as an expert on the love of God, but as someone who needs to be informed and consumed by it. I need God every day to explain how much He is lavishly in love with me. I need Him to reveal His love to me when I wake up and go about my daily duties. I need to remember His love and affection in the days where my heart is wondering. I might as well write His love upon my head.

So chase after the knowledge and fullness of the love of Christ and pray to be impacted, which then is the fulfillment of the greatest commandment – Forsake All

The Beauty of Sin

Psalm 73:25 says, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.” This is such a powerful statement that Asaph wrote years ago that still impacts and touches our hearts. It makes our mouths water and say in desperation, “I want to be there.” How freeing it would be to live in a world where the only thing you desire is to be with God and to worship at His feet. To live out the soul purpose of our existence is the only thing that can bring us ultimate joy and satisfaction, but the question remains: how do we get there?

Psalm 73 isn’t a song about the goodness and glory of being in the presence of God from the very beginning. I remember being told about this amazing psalm by a friend and looking at the first several verses and saying, “I must be in the wrong chapter.” Asaph begins to write that all his righteous living is in vain. He sees the wicked, and those who give way to their own desires, succeed and prosper and then looks to the heavens to cry out in agony. In verse twelve he says, “Behold, these are the wicked; And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.”

In the very next verse he says that he has kept his heart pure for no reason but just out of abstinence. What a crushing statement to the Christian life! How awful it would be to live your life pure and away from evil only to discover at the end of your days that it all was just to keep you from prospering or having riches?

Verse seventeen turns everything around. He says, “Until I came into the sanctuary of God, then I perceived their end.” This post isn’t about the glory of knowing you’re right and everyone else is going to hell, but the impact and the change of mind when someone enters the presence of God. I’ve probably used this example from Paul Washer several times already, but being in the presence of God or experiencing God is just like getting hit by an 18-wheeler. There is no possible way to walk out of the situation unchanged. But people do! I’ve been to church camps where the presence of God seems to be so thick that people are crying and confessing sins to friends, but as soon as they leave they begin to talk about normal and worldly things as if they never had gone into the worship service in the first place.

What’s wrong with this? Should we be concerned that the presence of God is showing up every week and with us daily but we aren’t being changed? I believe in sanctification and want to let you know that I’m in no way saying that you need to change now or you’re not experiencing the fullness of His presence. I believe God is more sovereign than my mind and all of my thinking and His timing is perfect and just. It’s really easy for me to look and people and judge them, but every time, God is showing me a piece of my heart that I’m not giving to Him.

If I’ve experience the presence of God and worshiped Him in spirit and truth, why do I still lust? Why is my way of thinking still deformed? Am I doing something wrong? On the contrary, I should rejoice in the way that my sins bring me to the presence of God to worship. I shouldn’t find joy in my sins in themselves, but in the way that they bring me to my knees in desperation crying out to God, “Lord, I give my life to You. Use me for Your kingdom.” That’s the beauty of sin.

I’m still trying to “figure out” the presence of God. Hopefully I’ll never find the complete answer until I ascend with the fellow believers, but man, I am intrigued. If you’re also curious about this pursuit of knowledge, I’d love for you to check out Pure Praise by Dwayne Moore. Amazing author and book. I’ve finished the first week and I’ve learned more than any devotional book I’ve ever picked up. Praying for you guys and would love to know ways I could specifically pray for you by you sending me an e-mail or commenting on this post.

Pray for me as I explore the beauty of what God is revealing to us. – Forsake All

The Art of the Lonely

Psalm 138:8 says, “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your loving-kindness, O Lord, is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.”

Graduating class of 2013. Super excited to be able to leave the house and head out to somewhere completely different. I can’t wait to go to say the least. I’m writing this post in my current mindset praying and asking that others dealing with the same issues would learn to love and experience the joy of glorifying God.

I’ve written on loneliness a little bit before and probably just talked about how it’s no fun but God is in control, but right now as I write this I’m in the midst of experiencing the deepest type of humanistic loneliness ever in my life. It’s not a shortage of friends to be honest, because I have some great friends right now, but it’s the absence of having someone besides me that loves me.

Can I be honest? It feels so insanely stupid to write about how much I want to be in a relationship with some girl. Being somewhat a man, it doesn’t feel good to express my deepest weakness, but God works in our weaknesses. I feel like this time in my life is a desert for several reasons. I leave for school in the fall, so when I say “this time” I mean the end of spring into summer.

In Galatians, Paul says that he spent sometime away after his conversion before going into the ministry. It’s so easy to understand that he needed to be prepared for the ministry that he was about to have. In that time, he was being trained by the Lord to be ready for stoning, hatred, denial, and other types of persecution. God also led Moses and Israel into the desert and wilderness before going into the Promise Land so that they could experience the goodness of who He was and so they could learn to rely only on Him.

That’s what this time in my life is. My Dad and I both believe that I’m only ready to get married when I am fully satisfied in Christ and look to Him alone for my worth. Now, that’s saying a lot, and really may not ever be completed in this lifetime. Might as well suit up now for single’s ministry, ay?

While helping teach a parenting class for teens, I was reminded that the end goal is not a girlfriend or marriage, but instead a closer love for God and just to be near Him throughout life. Right now, I’m learning that if I can’t be satisfied in God, than I’m not ready to pour into my wife all the things that she needs. I need to be completely secure in my Christian identity before having a completely effective ministry to my wife and even to others. So God bids me to rely solely on Him.

I ask for your prayers and also that you would rejoice in this time with me. God is drawing me closer to His heart, and even though it hurts like crazy, it’s going to be so worth it. We were created to glorify God in all that we do. I’m so ready to do that more and to praise Him with all that I am.

Maybe you’re finding yourself in a state of loneliness or even absence from the “Presence of God.” I’d love to remind you that the presence of God has not left you, but instead God chases you even while you are sleeping. He is with you day in night pursuing your heart and asking that you’d not only give him some room but complete clearance.

That’s what the lonely is for. –Forsake All

Falling on Our Faces

Numbers 16:41-45 says, “But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people.’ It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly.’ Then they fell on their faces.”

I lack knowledge when it comes to the power of prayer and even more so when it comes to the power of God. Sometimes I read different passages and think different things about prayer. When I read this, I think it’s one of the most impactful things. Looking at things in the Old Testament is so hard because Jesus doesn’t always come out to say whether what happened was wrong or not. All we get are the stories and the after effect. But honestly right now, I’m not too worried about the morality of the matter.

The truth is that Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and pleaded with God to save the Israelites. Because of the constant rebellion of the people of Israel, God burned with furry against the Israelites and came to the point where He wanted to smite them. Moses responds by throwing himself on the ground to pray for the sake of his people. If you look abroad in the book of Numbers, you’ll find that this is not the only time Moses falls on his face. Nor is this the only time God has wanted to smite someone.

What does this mean for us? I don’t think we understand the fullness of what prayer can do. As I said earlier, I hardly know anything about prayer and what it can do besides what I read in the Bible. Shouldn’t that be enough though? If we believe that God is omnipotent and if prayer is taking the keys out of our hands and giving them to God so He control the situation, than isn’t prayer a way for amazing things to be done? I recently met with a youth minister that told me about the success of Charles Spurgeon. One of the things I’d never heard before about him is that when he preached in the London Tabernacle, he had a hundred people praying underneath the floor of the chapel. No wonder God used him to change the hearts of hundreds and still millions even today.

I remember when I held my first pistol at a father/son campout. Some of the dads brought their own guns for us to shoot at an on-site range, and so I went to go try them out. At age 8, my only experience shooting was shooting a BB gun and a 22. My friend’s dad handed me a small revolver, which thinking back was actually pretty big when I held it in my hands. I wasn’t intimidated as I pointed it down the range. I slowly pulled back the trigger, waiting for the gun to go off. After a certain point, it went off and the kick was more powerful than I thought. Instead of keeping the gun pointed down-range, the kick propelled my hands to point the gun in the air at about 60-degree angle. However, I brought it back down to fire a few more times. As you might be able to guess, the owner of the gun was not in any hurry to grab it out of my hand as he ran in fear for his life.

I didn’t know the power of the gun would be able to do what it did, and was truly surprised by what it could do. Isn’t the prayer similar? We don’t know the power of it until we try it out. If you read my last post, you know my previous experience with prayer and how it kind of surprised me that it worked. Think about how dangerous it would be for the devil to see us wield prayer like a professional marksman.

This is my prayer: for us to pray. When we lift our hands and ask for God to take our situation and show up in amazing ways, we can pray for God to show us something new. If God truly is endless, shouldn’t we pray that He would show us something different every moment? I think of the Casting Crowns song from what seems like ages ago (Which is just a few years but also equates to half my lifetime) that says, “What if His people prayed?” I heard that and walked away thinking, “Yeah, that’d be cool.”… I pray that we aren’t content with just hearing about the need for prayer. Right now, it might be good for you to “fall on your face” for a situation in your life.

Prayer is a weapon that no government can take away, yet ten times as powerful – Forsake All

The Presence of God

Exodus 33:12-15 says, “Moses said to the Lord, ‘See, You say to me, “Bring up this people!” But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, “I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’’ Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.’ And He said, ‘My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Then he said to Him, ‘If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.’ ”

This has been my desperate cry because I find myself lacking just as much faith. Living in the family that I do, I have become so analytical, which is great when it comes to discernment, but I believe there is a door of faith that can only be opened if you throw your analytical mindset away. Jesus said that if we even had the faith of a small mustard seed that we would be able to move mountains (Matthew 17:12). Shane & Shane say it beautifully in one of their newer songs, “I don’t need to see the cancer go away, I just wanna everything will be okay”

Sometimes we don’t need to move mountains but all we really want is to feel the presence and movement of God. We are told to pray, but isn’t it hard when you feel like you’re just talking to yourself? My prayer always feels so one-sided, like I’m talking God’s ear off. I know He loves and hears me because the Bible says He does, but why can’t I hear His voice? Why don’t I feel His presence? If He’s by my side throughout the entire day, shouldn’t make sense that He’d assure me of such things, maybe by tapping me on the shoulder or putting His hand on back telling me He’s right behind me?

This is what I wanted. This past Sunday I got up early to pray for the congregation and their hearts. I wanted the Spirit to fall on the building like a consuming fire and just fill people with His presence. Even though I had no idea what it all meant or what it looked like, I wanted it. This passage kept coming back to me; just the reality of Moses’ simple request. I prayed that God would show us His glory (Exodus 33:18). I wanted it to be real. My faith was so small and so basic; I just prayed that God would literally walk into the room to reassure us of His reality. I prayed this all morning and during the last song of the last service, I left the stage to go and pray thinking that more people would be touched by me pleading for the presence of God to fall than just simply hearing a tenor voice that was still trying to wake up.

I prayed and pleaded, and when the song was over, the room was so heavy you could feel it. Or, at least, I did. The worship leader told the congregation just to pray because he knew that God has shown a glimpse of who He was, and we needed to stay in that moment for a little bit. I rushed into the sanctuary not knowing what I’d see, but nothing visual had changed, besides everyone sitting in their seats praying quietly. But as I stood in the back, I could feel it… But I still feel like I miss it.

You may have read this post to learn something new about the presence of God, only to find out that I know basically nothing about it. All I know is that I want to be there for the rest of my life. Moses shows his reliance on the glory of God when he says, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” After being in the presence of God, he knows how vital it is to live near or in it. However, in his day, to be in the presence of God took sacrifice and a whole procedure. I’d encourage you to read through Leviticus and understand that God is holy and no one who is unclean can enter into His presence. Like Paul says in Romans six, the law helps us understand how unclean we are so that the Gospel becomes more powerful.

Like I previously stated, I don’t know a lot about what it means for the presence of God to fall in today’s world, but I know because of His power and might that it doesn’t just happen on Sunday, Wednesday, or special revival nights. How do you seek after the presence of God? What can you do every day to experience the goodness of who He is? I’d love for you to contact me with thoughts and questions, with the understanding that I probably don’t have the answer, but I’d love to search after it with you.

It just takes a simple prayer and an open heart for the presence of God to be shown; I believe that – Forsake All

Strength in Weakness

2^nd Corinthians 12:10 says, “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The Christian worldview is so backwards. In our world, the most popular are the strongest. We envy those who are stronger and those who seem to have more control in their situations. As guys, we strive to be the strongest, partly because we have a desire to fulfill our own needs and not have to rely on others to help us. We don’t want to be helped, or even have to ask. Doesn’t this sound right?

Sometimes our culture mixes into Christianity as well. As believers, we sometimes try to have all the answers, memorize the most scripture, and even be the wisest so our friends will come to us to ask for spiritual advice. It sounds weird, but isn’t that the truth? Jesus starts to turn our world around when he starts giving the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. Everyone there must have been wide-eyed because everything he said was completely radical, in the sense of being complete opposing to the normal ideals.

The main reason I’m writing this is because I think there is a lot of people who look at others with big, old, and word Bibles and start to think, “They’re totally ‘Holier Than Thou.’ ” It’s weird though; when I find myself in the darkest of times, I end up reading my Bible shortly after. Why is it like that? Why do I read my Bible? Well, my motive for reading the Bible should be because I am weak am in need of a Remedy. However sometimes it really is to highlight as much stuff as possible so the people sitting next to me on Sunday will see how spiritual I am. It’s so backwards! When I read my Bible, what I’m really doing is focusing on the glory of God and taking my eyes off myself.

Why do you read the Bible?

I used to get on to a lot of people who never read their Bible, and still sometimes do. It just doesn’t make sense that if you truly understood the state that you are in that you wouldn’t want to read the Bible, but I have to understand that God’s timing is His timing. Someone could totally come up to me and say the same things, about how I should read the Bible more, which I should, but really, my heart really just needs to be broken enough sometimes in order for me to really want to know God more.

I have to come to a place where I understand that God is the One thing I need because whatever I’m doing really isn’t working well for me. It’s my cry of desperation. Maybe you look at all the blogs I’ve written (Somewhere around 80) and say, “What an awesome and spiritual guy!” I assure you that the only reason I write is because I need to be taught things. Most of the entries were written about the things I was learning or going through. It’s like talking to a friend about an issue and then coming up with the answer before they even speak. I pray that people would look at me and comment on how weak, disgusting, and useless I am without the power of God giving me life and the ability to love Him.

Let your weakness show. Tell people how weak you are. Read you’re Bible because you are weaker than you think! And like I said earlier, I’m writing this to myself more than anyone. But maybe you need to hear this. Maybe you need to understand the strength of weakness. When you’re weak, you’re giving God the glory of having the victory. When God took over Jericho, He made sure that Joshua was completely out of the way so that the complete glory would go to Himself.

We are weak but He is strong – Forsake All

Salvation

Ephesians 2:4-10 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Maybe you’re reading this and you don’t know what it talks about. Maybe you’ve heard this message before but the idea of grace has never really caught your attention or resonated with your heart. It doesn’t always make sense to me. If you knew my life and all the things I’ve done, you’d understand how much of an enemy I was (and still am) to Christ. Almost everyday I show just how much I hate the light, things of God, and enjoy the darkness, things that don’t glorify God.

Maybe you’re like me and you hear this message almost everyday, but it gets old. We get so used to hearing about the grace of God and how much He loves us that I think we don’t really understand how powerful it is. But we notice the times when we forget. I find myself with loads of guilt when I am constantly trying my hardest to do what’s right, but only to build my relationship with God. The thing is, the only way I can build my relationship with God is by trusting in His love and grace, so it really doesn’t make a difference whether I start reading my Bible more or start praying more unless I surrender myself to His grace.

The Christian life is known to be backwards. We aren’t saved by doing good works or being good people. Think about the word “saved.” We didn’t attribute the word to salvation, but the Bible uses it several times. When you are saved, it’s necessary to assume that someone indeed is doing the saving. When you are drowning and someone comes to the rescue, the best thing you can do is just relax. When you’re about to sink in sinking sand the best thing you can do is to remain still. In both cases, you’re salvation is relying on the strength of the person getting you out of the situation.

When we say we are Christians, we are publically proclaiming that we are the weakest beings on the earth, only held together by the grace and will of God. We are called to be weak and live in constant dependence of the salvation that was made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Maybe you need that. How do I know that? Because we all need it.

In the first three verses of Ephesians, it says that we were brought from being sons of disobedience and we were literally dead. How is this possible? Well, if life is found in Christ Jesus, than being apart from Him is spiritual death. That’s why hell is complete and utter separation from God, which is where we’ll end up if we don’t accept salvation and the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

I encourage you to look more into. Maybe you already have and are turned off by religious thinking. Maybe you’re already a believer but grace is still something that you don’t fully understand or even appreciate. I’d love to open myself up to talk to you. You can contact me by e-mail. robertwegner1433@gmail.com.

His message is life-changing, and I’d ask you to pray about accepting and growing in it. – Forsake All

I Am Counting On God

Philippians 4:19 says, "And my God will supply every need or yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Lately I've been listening to John Piper and his series from sometime ago about Killing Sin. It's a three part series that gives the secret to getting rid of sin that keeps coming up in your life. If I could quickly summarize for you, I would say that the main point of the messages is that we are called to trust and have faith in the promises of God.
Throughout the Bible, we see God give promise after promise to His people and those that He loves. The first is in Genesis 3 when he tells Eve that her Seed will crush the head of the serpent. After this account, God's people had a hope and something to believe in. No matter how hard things got, God gave them a promise that He would be able to commune with them and save them for His glory. We see the consequences of forgetting promises with the Israelites, when they forget all that God did in Egypt and what He promised to do through Abraham. Because of their lack of faith, they wandered for forty years in the wilderness.
It was crucial for the people of God to remember His promises to them, and it is even more so now. God has revealed His will to us through the Bible and that is our main source of revelation. Because this is true, we should dive into it and have faith that what it says is true. This is what defeats sin and unbelief in our lives. Just like Ephesians 6 says, we should take up and wield the Sword of the Spirit which is the Bible. It's pretty obvious to see that the sword is the only weapon meant for attacking in the list given in Ephesians 6. If we actively fight for belief and faith, than sin will no longer reign in our mortal bodies.
As any high school or even college senior can understand is that anxiety that comes with graduation. For some, it's where do I go next? For others, it's how do I get there? For me, I've been locked on going to Liberty University for the past year or so. I'd walk all the way to Virginia to attend if I had to. However, I've also been stressed by the issue of tuition. With what I'm currently making, there is no hope for me to go. I've been getting extra gigs and jobs in order to be able to generate some more income, but it still doesn't seem hopeful.
However, while reading through Philippians, I came across this verse. This doesn't mean that I am "for-sure" going to Liberty, but it promises me that God will supply the supplies that I need to move on into my stage of life, whether that is college or going straight into the business world. God has a plan for me and right now I am called to have faith and seek out the promises that God has given me in His word. By His grace, everything is working together so that I will be able to go, by His grace, but He is in control and I give my future to Him alone.
What are you going through? Are you struggling with anxiety, hopelessness, despair? I encourage you to seek out the promises that God has written throughout the Bible. I also want to help encourage you and also give myself hope as I plan to study more promises that He has made. We aren't called to have a blind faith, but we believe in things that He has spoken and that He has promised to do to His people. So I pray for you through out this next season that your faith in God and His word will increase. In the meantime, seek after God and dive into His Word.
I pray that we all can trust God with everything that we have each and everyday - Forsake All