Displaying the Father

"Displaying the Father" by Tom Crandall.  Reposted from Jesus Culture website:

 Fear flooded his heart as he stood before me trembling. Alex had only been coming to our youth group for about six months prior to this incident, but he sure he had done the inexcusable this time. Earlier that evening, he decided to sneak past our security guards to "borrow" the fire extinguisher and head out for a good time. His chosen target- our neighbor's house. Their house was decorated with Christmas ornament, but there was no snow on the ground- until Alex showed up.

After getting caught covering the yard with Christmas glee, Alex found himself with one of our leaders awaiting my arrival. It was at this point that fear flooded his heart over the possibility of an unknown outcome. He had seen this before but was unprepared for what punishment would look like here. To him, punishment was learned in the foster care system. He was sure he would be sent away because that is what happened all the times before. Alex's perspective was radically changed when we began our conversation.

When I approached him, I could overhear conversation about the need to clean up his mess. This scared boy saw me and immediately looked down. "Learn anything Alex?" I asked. "Yah" he replied. At this point, I continued the conversation about cleaning up the mess and then hugged him. Looking up at me confused, I continued, "I love you and am proud of your for taking responsibility to clean up your mess." At this, his countenance changed. He expected to be punished, banished even, but that is not what he received. He picked up his head and smiled. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

This is one of many encounters of this nature with Alex. Every time, the response was the same: love. Students like Alex is why I do what I do and why I love it.

Alex needed to see what the love of the Father felt like for him, over and over again. But in reality, all of us need that.  And as we receive it from God and each other in community is the way we will give it away to a generation.

The biggest need in society today is fatherhood, and the number one thing Jesus came to reveal was the Father.

Here are 5 things the Father wants us to really know.

1. He loves us unconditionally.
That means exactly what it says.  There is nothing we can do to earn his love. Condemnation, shame and fear are not from God. They are not "tools" he uses to make us more holy or like him. Punishment never made anyone more like God. Love comes from God. God is love.  We cannot exhaust God's love, ever, God cannot deny him self. It's who he is. He is always with us, for us, and cheering us on. When we do well, he loves, when we fall, he loves.  As a father I would never shame my kids into to getting their lives right. Loving conviction always calls out destiny and deals with the problem so we can fulfill our purpose and be his son or daughter. Love never fails!

2. He is a jealous Father.
As a Father my greatest passion is to see my kids grow in relationship with the Lord, flourish in life and joyfully live out their purpose. I am jealous for their hearts and minds to be immersed in grace and truth. Anything that comes against that I come against for their good. I stand against anything that would seek to pollute my kid’s innocence or steal from them. At times there is loving correction or discipline to help them learn and grow through every situation. My wife and I have said no to all other people by giving one yes to each other.  By saying yes to God, as the highest place of love in our hearts all other loves get put in their place.

3. He establishes us in our identity.
In order to understand and live out our purpose we have to understand who we are in a Kingdom. Kingdom means the Kings domain. In Christ we have been born into a Kingdom. John 1:12 says, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
God is our Father, Jesus is the first Son risen from the dead and because of him and the finished work of the cross we are now Sons and Daughters of the King. That makes you and I royalty in the Kingdom of God and we now relate to Him is as sons and daughters. This is the context on which the Father deals with us on a daily basis. We are Sons and Daughters!

4. He has massive purpose for our lives.
Jeremiah 29:11 say For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Psalm 37:4"Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." God has created each of us with a unique purpose in mind. There is a reason why you see the world like you do, and why you love what you love and hate what you hate. The Father is weaving our lives together like a fine tapestry and he uses everything in our lives, nothing gets wasted. It's amazing what The Lord has used in my past to fulfill purpose!

5. He empowers us!
The grace of God is best described as unmerited favor upon a believer showing it through the life. Grace empowers! Grace doesn't just take us out of the negative but puts us way into the positive. You are a child of God! Our lives are marked with favor beyond what we can work for or ever earn.
Receiving empowering grace happens through relationship. Get alone with the Father today and let him love you and empower your heart as his Son or Daughter to shine as a diamond in a dark world.

Hope for the Hurting

"My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice." -- Psalm 34:2

Your testimony of God's goodness brings hope to the hurting.  Don't refrain from your boast in the Lord--it could very well be the good news that somebody else is needing to hear.  Tell it and be joyful:  Our God is Good!  He is full of grace, comfort, holiness, mercy, justice, peace, and love! 

Thank You, Jesus, for Your sacrifice on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins.  We love You so much.  Halelujiah and Amen!!! 

Prayer for Others Transforms Us, Too

"A Christian community either lives by the intercessory prayers of its members for one another, or the community will be destroyed.  I can no longer condemn or hate other Christians for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble they cause me.  In intercessory prayer the face that may have been strange and intolerable to me is transformed into the face of one for whom Christ died, the face of a pardoned sinner.  That is a blessed discovery for the Christian who is beginning to offer intercessory prayer for others.  As far as we are concerned, there is no dislike, no personal tension, no disunity or strife that cannot be overcome by intercessory prayer.  Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the community must enter every day." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Song of the Week #138

Song of the Week #135

Engaged!!

That's right!  Ya boy's engaged.  haha!!

At approximately 10:15pm on December 31st, 2012, Ms. Chelsey Nicholson said yes.  It was one of those moments that is indescribable.  Perfect.

Chelsey and I have known for a while now that marriage was on the way.  We've been talking about it for months, and she's even been planning some things early--gathering addresses for invitations, buying a dress, deciding her bridesmaids' attire, etc.  We are way ahead of the game!

So with the wedding so certain (and the tentative date closing in quickly), it was tough keeping the proposal a surprise.  Chelsey was starting to get a little antsy about the whole thing and actually asked me the day before I proposed I if I at least knew when I was gonna do it.  She was so happy when I told her I knew you would've thought I proposed to her right then!

So anyways, I had my whole thing prepped and ready to go.  I was gonna pop the question in the exact spot that I first met her.  For us, that first meeting happened at Promiseland Metro Church.  And since I'm the worship pastor there, I have keys :)  Thus, no problem getting in the building when nobody else is around.  Success!

On New Year's Eve, she had no clue it was coming.  We had just eaten dinner with some friends and were on the way back to my house to prep for some people coming over later.  The church is on the way home, so I said I needed to drop some stuff off real quick so that I wouldn't have to worry about it on January 1st.  I get there all ready to go, and I had forgotten my keys.  Are you kidding me?!  Mind racing, I told her I would just have to drop the stuff off tomorrow when I had my keys on me.  So we left, her none-the-wiser.

We get to my house and I'm fervently thinking of some way to make this work tonight as I had planned.  If you know Chelsey, you know that Chelsey loves coffee.  "Aha," I thought, "I will use this for trickery!"

"You want to go to the Creme?" I asked.  "Oh, I think it's closed," she says.  It was.  "Well you said you wanted some coffee...how about Starbucks?" I came back.  Of course she got all happy and said "sure"...she will take any offers for coffee (I usually don't make these offers).

We get the $5+ coffee from the monster that is Starbucks and then head towards the church again.  I really wanna get this stuff dropped off, ya know.

When we get there I ask her to come inside with me and then I give her some work to do to distract her.  While she is working on things, I'm in the sanctuary setting up my scene:  dimly lit, guitar set up, Bible opened, and a folder of dreams/visions/words ready for reading.  Now I'm ready.

I go get her after she finishes up her job.  We begin to exit through the sanctuary and I say something like, "I've got something else for you before we go."  She sees the setup...............and STILL doesn't know what's going on.  Of course, I didn't know this until afterwards, but wow--she must've really thought that I wasn't proposing any time soon :)

I take her coat and ask her to sit in the exact place we first met.  My Bible is open to Song of Solomon chapter 4.  I read her some lines out of there that we both really like, and then I grab my folder.  I read her the word-for-word prophecy I received about her about a year before I met her on 12/11/11.  Then, I grab my guitar as I'm telling her about a song that I started writing for her before we even met.  I sing the song to her for the first time.  She is starting to realize what is going on.

I turn from her for just a moment to retrieve the box from it's hiding place.  I get on one knee in front of her and tell her about how blessed I am to have met her and how I intend to love her, about how I thank God for her and how I intend to be a husband to her.  Finally, I ask her if she would do me the honor of marrying me.  And she said yes.

*     *     *     *     *

We are still just starting, but our whole relationship is a fairy-tale.  Too good to be true many would say.  I beg to differ.  Your reality is different when you live from a different world.  We've got a King who is not confined to the usual.  We've got a King that made love, and we've chosen to honor Him as first in our relationship.  We are not perfect and cannot even pretend to be, but one thing we are is honoring of what we feel God has laid out as boundaries for our relationship.  To honor these boundaries is to bring life--more love, more hope, more goodness.  All these flow as we obey the Father's commands.

I cannot wait to see what the future holds.  I am sure I cannot fathom the blessings that lie ahead for the both of us, but I know it will be good...and I know this because God is faithful.  He is always good and He is always pleased to give good gifts to His children.  I'm so incredibly grateful that He ran Chelsey and I into each other and let this love story start.  Our story is a showcase of God's faithfulness.  He is always good and always faithful, and He will be the same towards you as well.  Love and obey--it's the way to go.

Day of Love

What Does Love Look Like?

There were 2 baby birds, Bart and Bob, in a nest perched high above the ground. The Mama Bird loved her 2 babies very much. Every day she would fly out from the nest and search for worms to bring back. Without fail, she would come back with one worm for each of her babies. “Here’s your worm for the day,” she’d say. “I love you both very much.” And the babies were happy.

This continued for years as the babies got bigger and stronger and turned into high-energy youths. They would play all day long around the large nest their mama had built for them. Then, everyday, Mama Bird would come home with a worm for each of them. “Did you both have a good day?” she’d ask. “Yes, Mama. We both love you very much,” they’d reply. Then they would each eat their worm the Mama Bird brought for them. And the babies were happy.

The babies kept growing and started spending less of their time playing and more watching the other birds fly. “I would like to fly like Mama does,” they would say to each other. “But I don’t know how, and it looks scary.”

So one day when Mama Bird came home with their worms, they asked, “Mama, can we fly like you and the other birds do?” “Well, of course!” replied Mama Bird, “you both just have to try.” “But we’re scared of gravity. Won’t it make us fall?” they asked. Mama Bird chuckled a little bit. “Gravity isn’t bad; it’s keeping you from floating out of this nest right now,” she said with a smile on her face. Mama Bird was wise.

Time passed and Mama Bird kept bringing home worms everyday to her 2 babies that she loved very much. They kept getting bigger and stronger and now spent all of their day watching other birds fly—it looked like so much fun! One beautiful spring day Mama Bird came home to see one of her babies on the edge of the nest. Mama Bird asked, “What are you doing, Bart?” “I think I want to fly today,” he replied. “That’s wonderful! I love you so much!” Mama Bird exclaimed.

So Mama Bird took Bart out to fly. She held onto him until they were both high in the air and then she let him go. Bart flapped his wings as hard as he could, but kept falling. He flapped them harder and harder as the specks on the ground came into clearer view. Finally, right as he was closing in on the forest floor he started to rise back up. He was flying! Mama Bird was so happy for Bart. They flew around rest of the day looking for worms together.

That night they both flew back to the nest where Bob was waiting on them. “I flew today!” screamed Bart. “Really? Weren’t you scared?” replied Bob. “At first it was really scary, but I just kept flapping my wings until I started to fly. And then, I went with Mama and got my own worm today!” Bart was obviously proud of himself. Mama Bird told Bob, “We can take you out to fly tomorrow if you want.” Bob looked down and said, “I don’t know…I’m still kind of scared.” Mama Bird said, “That’s ok. I still love you very much.” So they all ate their worms and were happy.

The next day came and Bart went out to fly first thing in the morning. Mama Bird asked Bob, “Are you ready to fly today?” “I’m still kind of scared,” he replied. “Maybe tomorrow.” “That’s ok,” Mama Bird replied, “I love you so much. I’ll bring you a worm when I come back tonight.” So Bob didn’t try to fly that day.

The next day was much the same: Bart flew all day long, Bob was still scared to fly, and Mama Bird brought a worm home for both her and Bob. The next day was the same, too. In fact, the days rolled into months, and the months rolled into years. Bart never came around much anymore because he started his own nest and would go out to find worms for his 2 babies he loved very much. Mama Bird was getting older and sometimes it would take her longer to gather food, but she would always bring Bob back a worm at the end of the day.

One special day, Bart came over on his way home to his own nest to visit Bob. “Bob”, he said, “you’ve really got to try flying. It’s so much fun! And not only that, I get to find worms for me and my 2 babies that I love so much.” Bob replied, “It still seems kind of scary. Besides, Mama brings me a worm every night.” Bart nodded and said, “Yeah, she loves us both very much. But, it’s weird…I don’t know how to describe it, but for some reason I really enjoy hunting for worms to give to my babies. I really liked it when we were growing up and Mama brought us worms every day; now I guess I know how she feels.” Bob looked at him puzzled, “I don’t know what you mean. I get to sit in the nest and watch everybody else fly everyday—that’s pretty fun. You have to spend your whole day looking for food and I don’t, but we both end up with a worm every day. Sounds like I’m getting the better deal.” After they talked a bit more, Bart said his farewell and flew back to his own nest with worms for him and his 2 babies.

Time kept passing and most days were the same. Mama Bird would spend all day looking for worms and then bring one back for Bob. At night, they would talk a little and then go to sleep.

One winter day Mama Bird got up to go spend her day looking for worms for herself and Bob. Before she left, she said to Bart, as she always did, “I love you so much.” Bob replied, “I love you, too.” The day passed and night came, but Mama Bird didn’t come back. Bob knew what had happened—Mama Bird had gotten old and wouldn’t be coming back this time. He was very sad at this thought and went to sleep with a heavy heart.

In the morning, Bob was still sad. He was also hungry. He hadn’t thought about it until just now, but then it hit him, “Who is going to bring me a worm today?” He panicked. He roamed around the nest while his mind raced. He racked his brain for ways to get some other bird’s attention so that they would bring him a worm—he knew he had to eat! He tried everything he knew how to do to get the attention of the other birds that were flying by with worms in the mouths, but nothing worked. The hunger pains coupled with sadness started to get to him. After another cold and sleepless night, he finally realized the only thing to do was to get out of the nest.

Early the next morning, Bob got himself ready to fly. He was scared but remembered Mama Bird telling him that she loved him very much. He remembered what she said about gravity. He thought of how Bart said it was fun to get worms for himself and his 2 babies now. As he gathered all of his courage, he stepped to the edge of the nest with his heart pounding and his mind full of all of these things. With his eyes wide open and his wings spread as wide as they could go, he took one last look at his nest and stepped over the edge.

Still Pursuing

The Word keeps amazing me and fascinating me. I see something new like I'm seeing it for the first time so very often. If you love literature, then you can appreciate how you can thumb through the pages of the Bible and find whatever theme you're looking for: romance, war, redemption, drama, suspense, action, poetry, etc. Well today I was drawn into one of the many accounts of the greatest love story ever told.

The heading over Hosea, chapter 11, in my NIV Study Bible reads, "God's Love for Israel". The chapter starts out recounting how the Lord deeply loved, nurtured, and called out to Israel since the nation was young. But the people of Israel seem determined to run from Him. Although their actions deserved much punishment, the Lord responds with mercy in verse 8: "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?...My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused." In Chapter 2, we see similar language: "Therefore I am going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her...In that day," declares the Lord, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.'"

This language speaks of a father, of a lover, who can't help but follow the longings of his heart. Even though His beloved has turned their back on Him time and again, the Lord STILL pursues; He is STILL ready for his people to turn and embrace Him.

That's the love that your Creator has for you. A love so crazy that He doesn't care how long you have run from him, or how hard you've run in the other direction; He is waiting with open arms and eyes of adoration. His heart longs for you.

When you consider all that we've done to put distance between ourselves and God it is incredible that He still wants us, and is so close. Just like the people of Israel we read about in Hosea, we have prostituted ourselves and forgotten where the goodness of life comes from. We have chosen to embrace things other than the One we have been sworn to. But His love looks past our infidelity; He sees us as who He made us to be, not as who we've made ourselves out to be.

Turn and see how close He still is. See the grace in His eyes and find your identity in the name He gives you. His love never fails, and there is nothing you can do to earn it--just let His mind-blowing love envelop you and forever change the cadence of your heartbeat. Amen.

Restoration

We've talked about restoration a lot around here lately…for God to restore you, your broken relationships, your heart, your life, etc. And I’ve seen it happening all around me! Praise the Lord!!

Whenever I hear the word “restore”, my mind usually thinks something along the lines of “set back to default” or “the way it was”. Basically, it’s almost like I picture a giant Reset button that can be pushed and you get to start over. But as I think more about restoration, I’m not sure that thought is completely accurate.

In Revelation 2, the church in Ephesus is praised for its good works, its perseverance, and its intolerance of wickedness. But immediately after this, they are warned in Verses 4 and 5, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first…”

The Lord calls them to “do the things you did at first”, and to remember their “first love”. Depending on your interpretation of the whole account that warning is probably referring to the love they had for each other and/or the love they had for Christ. Let’s assume the passage means Christ (and if it means Christ, then it also automatically means love for each other because that is the natural progression of love for Christ anyways). Thus, the Lord is reminding and warning them that although their works have been wonderful they need some kind of change in their lives where Christ is the center of their attention again.

Herein lies where I think I’ve been slightly off in my thinking of restoration. God tells them to “do the things you did at first”. I used to view this primarily as a call to put things back to the way they were when I first came to know Jesus, and to do the things I did when I first accepted Him as my Savior. I’m sure you’ve heard others reminisce about how amazing it was the first time they felt the love of Christ, got baptized, and got set free of their past ways. They may even talk about how “on fire” they were for God back then. So my thinking has usually gone to how I could recapture the way I felt and acted in the summer of 1997 when I first accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.

But I don’t think restoration only means hitting reset. I think by restoring Christ to the center of your attention the most critical thing you do is to restore Him to His rightful place—the place of your first love. You again sit Him at the highest and most important place in your life. To merely hit reset is to erase all of the things that have happened since your conversion. Although there’s surely some crap in there that you wish never happened, there is also a history with God. There is stuff in there that God doesn’t want to be erased because it brings glory to His Name now that you are back on the right track!

This whole idea is rocking me right now! It’s changing my entire perception of restoration. I pray God continues to reveal His perfect concept of restoration to me, and that He shows the same thing to you. Lord, please open my mind and my heart to the depths of your love, redemption, mercy, and restoration...and the fullness thereof. Reveal these things to me and I pray that they manifest themselves in my life more and more. In Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s Holy, Loving, and Awesome Name, Amen.

God's Will and You

The call of God is general and it is specific. God’s will on earth is to grow His Church—that every person on earth come to know Him as He is; i.e. to know Him as their creator, their master, their lover, their God. He wants everyone to experience Him and have relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. He wants His will on earth done as it is in Heaven. He does not want to see people sick, depressed, lonely, hurt, suffering from disease, broken, broke, unloved, defenseless, ridiculed, enslaved, abused, hated, ignored, burned, left for dead, disregarded, or lied to.

You are part of the bride of Christ. To be a bride means only to love Him, and to let him love you. Fully.

When you are asking to find your specific purpose, your specific role, it only makes sense to me that you seek to love Him first, that you seek to find His heart more. When that love relationship gets all kinds of messy then things will be birthed in your spirit. Then, those things won’t just be cool things that give you something to get excited about for a while; they will be things that already are drenched in the purposes and heart of God. THOSE are the things that turn out to do mighty Kingdom things.

Don’t necessarily look for things that everybody else is doing, things that are big, and looking at the way to do them the biggest and best. People don’t necessarily have to notice you…especially at first. If the goal is to be noticed, especially at first, then your heart probably isn’t in the right place. Don’t be the guy in the worship band that misses the worship b/c of the band. Don’t be the prayer warrior that only goes to major events but neglects the prayer closet. You’ve gotta lay the ground work in your heart correctly if you want to be part of something that is God-big, and sustainable.

Your specific purpose will tie to the big overall purpose: to grow His Church on earth. If you keep that in the forefront of your mind and heart, then the Lord will sooner or later show you your more specific role in the Body. The Body is His Bride. Let us love Him.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Love and Relationships

Just had a very simple revelation:

Two things that the Christian community in the US has been stressing the last few years is that 1) God is love; and, 2) “It’s about a relationship, not religion.” If these two things are true, and we are seeking to imitate God to the best of our ability, then shouldn’t we be all about 1) love; and, 2) relationships?? Makes sense to me. A pretty simple revelation, but could profoundly affect somebody like me…

I’m one of those people that is prone to being driven by tasks and accomplishing things. People like me can sometimes view personal relationships as just another task to be completed during the day. For example, spending 15 minutes on a phone call to a friend, or carving out time to spend with your spouse can become something that is just another item to be marked off a list at the end of the day. This is not healthy!

Being first and foremost about love and relationships brings an entirely different outlook to life. If you are first about love, then you can see past people’s mistakes. If you are first about love, then you find it easier to see the greatness in people. If relationships are of foremost importance to you, then you don’t treat people like an object; you place people above tasks and don’t mind putting time into them.

One of the great points Stephen Covey makes in “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is that you should be effective with people and efficient with things. That means that you shouldn't merely schedule blocks of time to “deal” with people and relationships in your life as you would things, or tasks, that you need to get done. You must be patient and put the necessary time into the people and relationships that matter to you. You can’t treat people and tasks the same.

So I’ve got it in my mind today to be more like my Daddy: be all about love, and be all about relationships.

Who You Are!!!

We have a 24-hour prayer service going on at my church right now. As I was there this morning, I prayed one thing that seemed to carry more weight in my heart than anything else. I prayed that God would prick the hearts of this generation and this nation so that they could feel again. I prayed that He would get rid of the apathy and that people would care about the desires, concerns, and passions of His heart—b/c He puts a new and clean heart in you when you accept His love.

I think that for people to accept God’s love and ask for Jesus Christ to cleanse them of their sins as they turn and repent from their old ways, they have to understand what God says about them, and to them. They have to understand who they are. So despite what you may have heard people tell you, the following things that are pulled straight from the Bible are the truth about who you are. These verses are phrased so that you can say them out loud and claim them over yourself. I challenge you to read each one of them out loud, one-by-one, and see what happens to your heart. This is what the Almighty God, Your Creator and Lover of Your Soul, says about you:

I am redeemed and forgiven by the grace of Christ.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:7).

I am saved by faith in Christ, not by my works.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

I am chosen, holy, and blameless before God.
For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love (Ephesians 1:4).

I am a child of God.
But to all who have received him--those who believe in his name--he has given the right to become God's children … (John 1:12).

I have been chosen of God, and I am holy and beloved.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience … (Colossians 3:12).

I have been accepted by Christ.
Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God's glory (Romans 15:7).

In Christ Jesus, I have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption … (1 Corinthians 1:30).

My old self was crucified with Christ, and I am no longer a slave to sin.
We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin (Romans 6:6).

My new self is righteous and holy.
… Put on the new man who has been created in God's image--in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth (Ephesians 4:24).

My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in me.
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? (1 Corinthians 6:19)

I am God’s workmanship created to produce good works.
For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them (Ephesians 2:10).

The peace of God guards my heart and mind.
And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

God supplies all my needs.
And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

This is who you are. God says so. There are a few links at the bottom of the page that have more to say on your identity in Christ (I copied most of the verses in this post from the first link). Check em out.

Most importantly, if you haven’t already, I urge you to ask Christ Jesus to come into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior. He is God's only Son who came into the earth to die to forgive us all of our sins. Through Christ we are reconnected and right with God. Accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior is as simple as believing in Him, and confessing your sins with your mouth. If you would like help with what to pray, you can follow this link, or ask me (adamkees@hotmail.com). There’s no better time than now. Tomorrow is promised to no one. I pray that you do it.

In Jesus Christ of Nazareth's Love,

adam


http://bible.org/article/who-does-god-say-i-am
http://branchofvine.blogspot.com/2007/06/what-god-says-about-me.html
http://www.nemontel.net/~word1/what_god_says_about_me.htm
http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/devotions/JennyTheJewel.aspx

Embrace Your Greatness!

If you have the audacity to embrace the greatness put in you, people are going to mock you. They will scoff, they will laugh. They will tell you that you can’t do it, they will tell you that you are crazy. They will try anything to keep you from pushing past the norm into that magnificent place where your talents and giftings collide with the power of Throneroom blessing.

Your Creator, Our God in Heaven, has put things in you that you are passionate about. It doesn’t matter if that passion is in the vein of the usual “churchy” gifts; i.e. teaching, preaching, music, mission work, etc. It doesn’t matter if it’s something that people haven’t traditionally used to glorify God. Your love for fixing cars, designing clothes, flipping houses, politics, pet grooming, business, fitness, cooking, or whatever else has been put in you by God. If the Bible is not telling you it's sinful, then it's probably from Heaven :)

You know it’s your passion because the way it makes you feel alive, the way it moves your heart in a way hardly anything else can. That feeling is what makes your passion special. You already have an inherent drive and motivation to do these things, and do them well, because it’s what you naturally get pleasure from. It’s easy to do things you enjoy!

It’s also that zeal which will cause people to take notice. Bill Johnson, the lead pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California, says, “When I live out of discipline, I am admired; when I live out of passion, I am contagious.” Everybody can tell when you are doing something you love. It’s obvious. When you talk about what you’re doing your eyes light up, there is excitement in your voice, and nobody can get you to shut up about it :) It’s infectious. Sometimes I’ll get excited with you just from listening—even when it’s an area I could care less about!

So what is your passion? And why aren’t you living it out? I don’t care how normal (or unorthodox) you think your passion is, if you purpose it in your heart to live it out and line it up with the Word of God to bring glory to the Father, you can be an earth shaker. A business mogul. A fashion icon. A TV fitness guru. A sold-out, Spirit-filled, President of the United States of America.

Don’t let those that laugh at you keep you from your pursuit. Let’s be real: most of them don’t want you to go after your dreams because they are sitting around not pursuing theirs. The prospect of you doing something you love and wildly succeeding at it makes them uncomfortable…and maybe even a little jealous. If they’ve given up on their dreams, or bought into the lie that says they are insignificant and can’t possibly make a difference in this world, then you going after your passions just might get them all kinds of messed up.

You have to be ok with the fact that a lot of people are going to hope you don’t succeed. You have to know from the start that when you embrace the greatness that lies within you that people who have settled for average will oftentimes try to convince you to settle for average as well. On the one hand, as referenced above, your passion is contagious; on the other hand, to some people, you are absolutely scary.

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I’ve made up my mind that I’m not going to maintain mediocrity so that I can keep other people feeling comfortable. Does that decision ruffle some feathers? Yes. Does it damage some relationships? Unfortunately, yes. But that decision also unleashes the potential for greatness to flow out of me. It’s a decision that’s well worth the cost. I hope you join me.