Truth Brings Light

I like to think that even though this is seemingly the hardest spiritual time I’ve experienced yet, that the fruit will be incredible. I have struggled and been faced with more temptation in the past few months than ever before in my walk. I want to say I’m thankful for the people who surround me with prayer and encouragement and that I love them.

Even though I may struggle, God is still good. So if I can ask one thing, it’s that you pray that I understand and realize in faith and hope that our God is after me, for me, bringing me out of this and that everything He asks is beautiful and for my benefit. Thanks again for being the body and pouring out on me friends.

Faith vs Obedience

I was reading something by John Piper the other day and it sparked a thought in my head that the Lord was good to elaorate on for me. I have a tough time with letting rules… well… rule me. I sometimes overvalue the importance of obedience over relationship. Then Sunday at Midtown Mike Breen of 3DM says that God puts the value of “being” before “doing”. God made Adam in His image to BE in His likeness. He then gave him dominion over everything. His identity and existence came before his duties and roles in Gods plan for him on earth.

This struck home with me. I’ll just be honest, I have a severe overly analytic mind and so much so that I can almost always talk my way out of identity and intimacy with God given the right pushes and pulls from the enemy. We know from Ephesians 6:12 that the devil is trying to destroy us and deceive us. His plan isn’t to kill us although he would if he could, but to do the next best thing since we have eternal life… keep us from tapping into the fullness of what God is offering.

All this being said, which is easier in… well lets say a marriage (and a healthy one at that), not going out to eat after work because your wife/husband tells you not to, or recognizing that they are probably cooking you dinner now and that if you decide to trust what they ask in love, your needs will be satisfied? This is exactly the situation we are put in all the time with God! He says do not give in to lust. Is it because He thinks its wrong, or because if we try to satisfy ourselves with it, we won’t allow Him to satisfy us? And honestly, I know that because we were created by such a great and powerful and loving God, that the amount of satisfaction we need can only be truly provided for by Him.

So what now will we choose? To allow ourselves to be continually deceived into thinking we need these self destructive behaviors that give instant gratification, or to yield and allow the God of Love to satisfy us in ways we have never thought imaginable? And to add to all this, in the faith that He is all we need, we WILL be obedient, and therefore give Him MORE glory!

Can We Live Like Jesus?

The Missing Link

The secret of His ministry is seen in His statements: “the son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do…the Son also does in the like manner,” and “I speak to the whole those things which i heard from Him.” His obedience put the bounty of heaven on a collision course with the desperate condition of mankind on earth. it was His dependence on the Father that brought forth the reality of the Kingdom into this world. It’s what enabled Him to say, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”

Jesus displayed the Father’s heart. All His actions were earthly expressions of His Father in heaven. The Book of Hebrews calls Jesus the exact representation of His Fathers nature. Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me you’ve seen my Father.” The life of Jesus is a revelation of the Father and His business. It is the heart of that business to give life to mankind, and destroy all the works of the destroyer.

Jesus continues to point the way to the Father. It has now become our job, by means of the Holy Spirit, to discover and display the Father’s heart: giving life, and destroying the works of the devil.

When Heaven Invades Earth; Bill Johnson

In reading this excerpt from Bill’s book, I was pressed into a corner by the enemy. “You can’t ever live this life.” John 20:29 says that those who believe without seeing are greater… Is Jesus saying that those who believe without example and just follow are greater? Yes. How? Holy Spirit! “It has now become our job, by means of the Holy Spirit, to discover and display the Father’s heart: giving life, and destroying the works of the devil.” What Jesus is saying, is that those who don’t analyze and just follow the Spirit will be greater.

The heart is deceitful and the mind is too powerful for its own good when not yielded to the Spirit in us. God gave us the word but gave us the Spirit to GUIDE US THROUGH IT. The Spirit is what anointed Jesus’ ministry, the apostles’ ministry and ours as well. Yield to the spirit and our life will be a representation of the Kingdom of Heaven. God reveals Himself to us in the Spirit.

The Law

This morning I finished Leviticus and wow, God had some intense laws He wanted to put on the Israelites. So as I was reading, I continually asked myself “Why does God care so much about these laws that we don’t even really worry about anymore?”. I then thought of Romans 8:3-4 that says

“³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

My focus here being the difference between the law and the sacrifice of Christ. The law was weakened by flesh, aka sin. The law was put in place to show God’s glory in the obedience of the Israelites, however because of their sinful nature this never actually happened. God instituted the law to say to the Israelites “I want to set you apart from the other nations and I want you to act as my chosen people!”. The people didn’t have the Spirit (with a few exceptions) upon them so the only thing they had to please God was His law. This was how he made it for them to fulfill their end of the covenant with Jacob, Isaac and Abraham. Of course we know that this never happened as sin was stood before the Israelites instead of them before God.

The Breaker of Sin then came to change all of this and fulfill the part of the covenant that we never could, making it forever fulfilled and never null and void. Christ, who was, is and always will be holy and righteous, came to absorb God’s wrath against the sinners and no longer allow their (our) glory-belittling-sin to stand before them. God then was able to be fully glorified in their lives because they were made righteous before Him in their (OUR!!) acceptance of Christ as the Son of God and our Messiah.

Hope you have been continuing to read through b90x and it has been encouraging your faith in God and helping to build a foundation that the enemy could never shake!

Genesis 1-16

Ok so its safe to say that day one has been strange indeed. I have never actually read this much in the Old Testament so that alone was somewhat overwhelming. God, in those days, was seemingly put out by His own people time after time. Continually the people He created and protected killed one another and pretty much threw anything the Lord said out the window. I feel that throughout the first few weeks of b90xtreme we’re going to see some less commonly talked about character of God.

b90x

Ok so I finally found the b90x plan by Steven Furtick (he is the one I originally got the idea from). I have attached it here. The plan is to start tomorrow (Jan 1) and end 90 days later (March 31). The plan gives you two grace days at the end to do any catching up you need to.

So if you’re on board, make sure to Twitter often with the hash tag #b90xtreme (due to so many people using #b90x). I’ll also try to keep everyone updated on here and as always please comment your thoughts on the readings.

Disclaimer: This is not a bible study for bible scholars or theologians. This is a bible study for the people of God, wanting to dig into His word and obtain more truth! Remember, the Kingdom of God is at hand folks. We need to do everything we can to prepare ourselves for the overlapping of Heaven to Earth! Atlanta is already beginning to be transformed daily as God begins to redeem the streets and bring wholeness once again!

Just incase you read this and think to yourself, “Man, I wish James would give me a way to get involved in the Kingdom being brought to Atlanta…..”, here it is.

1. Pray. Pray. Pray. God loves to hear the hearts of His children cry out to right injustice. As we continue to lift up the people (including ourselves) of the A town, God continues to move. As much as He desires to take you deeper and bring you into all the things of the Kingdom, including healings and receiving prophetic word from God Himself, what He really wants is your heart.
2. Get involved with a ministry. God has put it on the hearts of tons of people to start ministries here in Atl and they always need help. Here are a few you can get involved in. These are anything from ministring to the Muslim community to homeless outreach.Safe House Atlanta Jesus in the Qur’an Give By Faith Atlanta Dream Center
3. Be a part of the Kingdom. Walk in your faith and encourage one another. Don’t let anything hold you back. God has big plans for us and Atlanta, so lets get on board and follow Him, regardless the cost.

b90x Introduction

The new years resolution I have decided on is b90x. This is a reading of the bible divided up over the first 90 days of the year. Jan 1 – March 31. Ill be posting more details later this week on the actual breakdown of verses. Email me if you want to join us (James Foster) and myself on this amazing journey through the recorded hand of God on history. Not only will we learn about the history of the Kingdom but we will also learn about the character of God and the faith of His people.

Spiritual ADD

Ok so lets be honest, if you’re in college or high school, or once were, you probably can empathize with the term ADD ADD is defined as a problem with inattentiveness, over-activity, impulsivity, or a combination. I’ve been away this past week for my first week of out of town work in Richland SC and I think the title of this blog is appropriate to title this past week. I found myself constantly looking into the future and setting aside time for God and totally falling through on it. I kept putting off reading or just getting alone for spending time with the guys, which is great because it offers me a chance to be pouring the kingdom into them, but who’s pouring the kingdom into me!?

Three times in the gospels I found that Jesus decided that there was too much going on around Him and that a little alone time with the Father was in order. Matthew 26:36, Mark 1:35 and Luke 5:16. Pastor Steven Furtick posted something this past week that caught my eye and kinda settled into this whole situation I found myself in. “The way you respond to this test, determines what you get to do next.” I can’t help but think that God was kinda talking directly to me here. That even when I’m tired, or the guys want to go play football, or even that I’m trying to get ready for work in the morning, whatever God has to say that day, is much more important that everything else. I almost want to make the excuse that I have got to work and preform well, forgetting that God got me the job and knew that I would need to spend time with Him when I needed to be getting ready for work. Granted a one hour quiet time may not be appropriate but we need to, as followers of Christ and having a legitimate relationship with Him, prepare ourselves, prepare our hearts, to hear what He has to say to us. We need to remember that we grow through trials and that in order to do ANY of that, we need to be ready for Him. He has been more than ready for us…

Destructive Muscle Music

So over the years I have listened to many different types of music and the one I have come to love as far as working out with is a mix of metal, hardcore and rock. So here is my gym playlist I made for South Carolina.

Walking In Truth

So last night at House Church, I was blessed with the opportunity to talk about walking and living in Truth. This is actually something that gets incorporated into a lot of messages and talks but it never seems to be addressed directly and to me, this seemed to be a big problem. Over the past month and a half God has been speaking to me and teaching me about living in Truth. More or less what I’m about to do is break down my talk from last night.

What is living in Truth? Living in truth is the same thing as living in faith. Our faith that God is who He says He is and will come through on the promises He makes. That God loves us unconditionally and has actually put the killswitch on sin in the lives of those who follow Him.  Luke 18:42 and 2 Corinthians 5:7 define this for further reference.

Now, this whole faith thing seems to be a little unexplained so lets break it down here. Faith is not something we muster up from some deep part of us. We don’t wake up and say “Ok God, today, I’m going to have faith that you will take care of everything”. Try that some day and let me know how long it actually lasts. Faith is something we receive from God (Ephesians 2:8). He instills in us the determination and strength to put Him and His truth before what we are facing and feeling. Luke 11:11 tells us that when we ask for faith, God will most certainly give it. However, maybe not just the way we expect to get it. For example, facing challenges sees to be one of the best ways to be given faith. Its also not something God does over night with us. He doesn’t wake us up randomly one morning after we ask for faith and have us feel mighty as a warrior for Him. This does happen sometimes, but 9/10 times, we grow through the daily relationship that we have to work for with our father. Trusting Him in a few kinda big situations is nothing compared to trusting Him on a day to day basis with everything big and small. He sets us up with a trust that He is good and through the following points, we grow in our faith.

• Being reconciled with God
• Confessing our sins to God and the world.
• Knowing the truth and living in it
• Breaking from our routine

The first point, being reconciled with God is not always an easy one and its even harder to stay in that place once you’re there. To be reconciled with God is the same to say that we have to submit ourselves to Him (James 4:7). I wish I could explain this in one sentence but I would be writing one of those Paul sentences with 30 “and”s and 500 commas. As best I can explain it, we have to know that 1. He doesn’t call the equipped, but he equips the called (thanks Jarred). So we have to be available to what He wants to do with us, even if it means getting outside our comfort zone. 2. We have to know that our will is far below God’s will.

Confessing our sins. This is pride’s worst enemy. Its one thing to confess our sins to God knowing that He has already forgiven them to us. However, something that we don’t realize a lot of the times is that while God loves us unconditionally, he also disciplines those he loves to grow them through their trials and errors. The tougher part is this, we must also confess our sins to the world. James 5:16 tells us that if we “confess our sins we may be healed”. Also, “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”.

The turning point to this whole process is knowing the truth. Can you expect after not studying for a test to go in and ace it? No way, and I can tell you this first hand! This is how I single handedly got on academic probation at the end of my freshman year! Ha and unfortunately I’m not kidding. Anyways, Romans 12:2 says “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Key word here: renewing. We have to renew our knowledge of who God is and how great He is. Take a morning devotional for example, even just reading a few sentences in the word every morning seems to turn around not the way your day goes, but the way you react to and think about the things, good and bad, that happen in your day. God has a massive amount of grace He pours on us daily and when we walk in light of that, it changes everything.

Now something that seems to be the first stumbling block in this plan of action is the routines we get ourselves into. This is going to be short and to the point. We need to break routine to get dirt in our faith. If every time you get frustrated you go and play Xbox, turn the dang Xbox off and go get in Gods word. I guarantee you  that God will use this to help heal wounds and bring a new life to you, however its most of the time not a 1 minute fix. Its a knowledge that we need the living and breathing God of the world.

The second stumbling block we run into is our own feelings. Now let be very clear on this before I start on feelings that they are not bad! Your feelings are hand in hand with things that happen to you and are warning signs a lot for situations we need to get out of. Best of all, when our feelings line up with truth, powerful things happen in the kingdom. But feelings don’t always line up with the truth. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that our feelings are deceitful. That our heart leads us away from the cross and into a place of selfishness or loneliness. Since the first sin with Adam and Eve, everyone that is born into this world is born into sin. So we naturally will turn to sin in areas. When our spirit marries the holy spirit in our saving moment with Christ, we are given a clean slate. Its like Steven Furdick of Elevation Church said, “Some of us just want to keep the dead cat in the bed one more night before we have it taken off. We need to get the cat outta the bed!” God has made us white as snow yet we still want to run with sin! We have to turn from the evils of Satan and get into this real life with God! Ezekiel 36:26 tells us that God even does all the work. All we have to do is realize how dumb the things we live for are and put God first and at the center of life.

Living in truth brings freedom. Its liberating to know that we are free from the sin that we think holds you down (John 8:31-32). Not only does it free us but it is a preventative. When we are striving to live for God we don’t strive to live for ourselves. You just can’t do both.

As a final piece of scripture 1 John 3:18-24 is awesome:

^“18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. ¹⁹This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence²⁰whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

²¹Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²²and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. ²³And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

Thanks to Aubry for helping me write this message I gave Tuesday. And thanks to House Church KSU for being the awesome group it is.