Pages

Deuteronomy 6:5 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."

Monday, June 25, 2012

Cut It Out

This past week I underwent surgery to cut out the pre-patellar bursa in my right knee. For those of you who do not know what the bursa is, it is a sac of fluid that protect the knee cap and allows for the skin to slide smoothly over the knee cap. The bursa in my right knee has been inflamed for sometime and has hindered my mobility, particularly in the athletic arena. I was not able to lift, condition, or recover the way that I wanted to. It was slowing me down, keeping me from being all that I was capable of being. So, the doctors went in and cut this bursa out of my right knee. Once it recovers, the knee will be as good as new. Throughout this process, God has really been speaking to me. Telling me something that i really need to hear.

Hebrews 12:1 ".... Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Much like the bursa was setting me back from training from football, sin sets us back from running the race of Faith in our lives. Look at the metaphor that Jesus presents here. He uses the words weight and ensnares with run, endurance, and race. These words do not go together. You see who runs an endurance race with an extra 10 pounds on their back? Who goes and runs with snares set up along the path? Nodody that I know of. Most people run when they are as light as they possibly can be, and along a path that is as free of hazards as they can possibly make it.

Why do we treat or spiritual lives differently? We burden ourselves with doubt, worry, fear, guilt, shame, money, relationships, the world. We get caught up in the snares of sin such as lust, gossip, cussing, etc. We say that we a running toward God with all of hearts but how is that so when we are so weighed down and trapped that we can do nothing but barely take a step. We need to Cut It Out to "lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us." Why? Because then we can run towards God with all that we have. We will not be weighed down by all of the extra stuff that means nothing at all. We will not be caught up in our sins that separate us from God. We will be "Running to his arms" where "the riches of his love will always be enough."

What is weighing you down friend? What is the sin to so easily ensnares you? I pray to we all have the courage to lay these things aside and run towards God with all that we have. Is it going to be easy? Heck no, but I know that it is going to be worth it. Let's make it our personal goal to run towards God with all that we have, leaving behind "every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us."

Matthew 11: 29-30 "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

A Writing from the Heart

This is something that is a lot different than the other stuff that i have posted in the past. I wrote this a couple of months ago and it has been really fitting in my life lately. I hope you enjoy, came straight from my heart.

My heary cries out full out doubt
All the time thinking Your love I'm without
I didn't stop, never listened, only lived in fear
All the while Your love was nothing but near

You were in my heart, but I couldn't see
How in the world You could love a sinner like me
Have faith my dear loved one, look up to Me
I showed you My love when I died on that tree

Every beat of my heart, let it beat for You
For without Your love my life is nothing but through
There's no reason to doubt, or live in fear
Because all the while Your love will be nothing but near

I will rise from these ashes, I'm set free from these chains
My eyes are on You, heart set on heavenly gain
As I walk, As I talk, let Your love shine through
So that all may see My life, I gave to You

Galatians 6:14 "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world."

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Don't Hide and Go Seek

This is probably the most personal post that I have written up to this point, as it is strictly everything that God has been telling me for a long long time. You see, at this point last year I was heavily doubting my salvation in Christ. And for a good time afterwards the doubt was still there. It was constantly there always tugging and pulling at my heart. I prayed and I prayed, but I never did anything... I hid. Never put any effort into seeking God, but put plenty of time into hiding because it was the only thing that I felt that I could do. However, this could be nothing further from the truth.

Jeremiah 29:13 states "And you will seek Me and find me, when your search for Me with all your heart." When you play a game of hide and go seek you have a person counting and everyone else is hiding. When the counter gets to a designated number he begins to seek the people who are hiding. He does not just simply run around like a chicken with his head cut off, he searches with a purpose. A purpose of finding those who are hiding. That is how our relationship should be with God. We should be like the counter seeking those which are hidden. Our purpose seeking God But you know what the great thing about our God is? He is not hiding. He is literally inside of us. His book is right in front of us. We do not have to search for Him, He is right here. We just have to open our eyes and put forth effort.

 Looking back on the times when I doubted, I was doing the opposite of seeking God. I was hiding from Him. Never seeking Him, never putting forth any effort and wondering why I always felt the same way. He lead me to the verse in Jeremiah and began to speak. Saying Josh, what are you doing man. I have done everything for you brother. I have given you my life, my blood, everlasting life. What have you given me? I was stunned. All I could say was half-hearted praise. Everything less that everything. At that moment I realized that reason I was doubting is because I had not given God everything. Right then, right there I did. That's where this Blog came from. That's where Bible study came from. In one moment I went from doing nothing to doing something. From doubting to shouting out Christ in all areas of my life. Am I perfect? Heck NO. But with God in my life I am imperfectly perfect.

I like the way the Sidewalk Prophets describe seeking Christ with your whole heart "Recklessly Abandoned, Never Holding Back." What does reckless abandoned mean? It means everything, like a kamikaze pilot headed straight towards Jesus. The only mission we have in life is Jesus. To seek Him, to serve Him, and to love Him. To give Him everything because he gave us everything. To seek Him because he first sought us Luke 19:10 "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Are you out there hiding? He is searching for you friend. He desperately wants you, wants to hold you. Wants to call you one of his own. Will ya let him? It will be the best decision you have ever made. Are you serving God with your whole heart? Are you willing to Seek Him with your whole heart in order that you find Him? Don't be like me and hide, go seek God with your whole heart and He will take care of the rese.

Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore bretheren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.



Monday, June 4, 2012

Certainty Amidst the Uncertain


There are times in life when we are uncertain about actions, thoughts, or decisions. If we are to be totally honest each and every day we face a multitude of things that we are uncertain about. For instance, many times we are indecisive and uncertain about whether the clothes we are wearing look good, whether or not we are driving on the right roads, did we do the right thing, is the answer A,B,C,or D, am I where God wants me to be. In my life I have been uncertain about my salvation, where I should go to school, what is my purpose in life. My current life is not without uncertainty and confusion as I am uncertain about what God wants me to do with my life, about the choices that I am to make, and about certain relationships. However, amidst all of the confusion and chaos there is a God who rises above and beyond all of the confusion and chaos.

In the middle of all of the confusion and uncertainty in my life God has been telling me I am here, I will take care of you, it’s not for you to understand it’s just for you to follow Me. I will guide you through this. Many times we are uncertain about things because we are scared about the outcome, we see that it might not be safe, we do not understand it. In Proverbs 3:5-6 the Word states “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." We have a Lord who says trust in Me, and I will direct you paths. Do not lean on your understanding, because our understanding is temporary. It only sees what we know, see, and feel. Whereas God's understanding reaches from the beginning of time to the ending of time. His understanding encompasses the will that He has for our lives Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the thoughts I think toward you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Even in the confusion and uncertainty that fills our lives we have a God who is absolutely certain about where we are headed. The storms, indecision, and restlessness are there for a reason. To draw us closer to Him.
Psalms 18:28-33
"For you will Light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
For by You I can run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.
As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in HIm.
For who is God, except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
It is God who arms me with strength,
And makes my way perfect.
He makes my feel like the feet of deer,
And sete me on high places."
.
The Lord will light up the uncertainty, the darkness in our lives. If we trust Him and are in Him He gives us the strength to do the things that he has called us to do, no matter how uncertain it may seem to us. The way that the Lord has for us is perfect. Although everything around you may seem like it is uncertain, trust in the Lord and his perfect way because well... It’s perfect. He protects us from all things with His shield and nothing will overcome HIs shield because he is the creator of all. He is God, He is our Rock. The Lord will provide us with the strength to pull us out of our confusion and uncertainties and guide us down his perfect path. After all, where God guides he always provides.
If you are living amidst confusion and uncertainty in your life Trust in the Lord. Do not lean on your own understanding, lean on the everlasting arms of Christ. He has you there for a reason, a reason that we cannot see the majority of the time. Trust in His path, His way because it is without flaw. It is perfect in ways that we will never know or understand. When all else is uncertain we can find certainty in Christ Jesus. Our God, Our Rock, Our Creator, The One Who Guides us down His perfect path

Psalms 18: 30-31
"He is a shield to all who trust in HIm.
For who is God, except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?"