Archive for August, 2008

Posted on August 27, 2008 - by bj

who, what, where, when, why, how….but, for WHOM??

This post is in reference to a friend’s blog post that talked about facing tough decisions and trying to discern God’s will for our lives. It also proposed our take on adventure.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.” 1 Cor 10: 31-33

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Prov. 16:3

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Col 3:16-17

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Col 3:23-24

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.” Eph 1:4-12

For me, and i think for everyone, it’s not so much about the details of life concerning “what.” It’s whatever we do, do for Him. In the verses from Ephesians, it says that He works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. i’m not saying that we can sin and say, “oh, i did it for the Lord” at all, or that we don’t/will not have to make tough decisions in life–b/c we will. i’m also not saying that we should put ourselves in bad/dangerous situations where we know that we will be tempted, using “God will work it out” or “I’m a child of God” as a means of justifying it. It becomes extremely tough to guard our heart in those situations, b/c the situation usually keeps us from discerning what is healthy and best for ourselves. However, i think that the main thing we must do is not sin. We shouldn’t only think about ourselves when making a decision or what benefits we may reap as a result. We shouldn’t try to write a conclusion to something that hasn’t happened yet, but embrace where we presently are and where we know that we’re going. i think we must put our trust in the Lord that no matter what route we take, He will eventually lead us to where we are supposed to be. Just because we make a decision that causes us to take the long way around doesn’t necessarily mean that the decision we made was sinful. If i didn’t know what colors mixed together made orange, and i just tried mixing red and blue, i would find that they do not make orange. Not only would i know that but i would find out how to make the color purple. If i continue to mix different colors and then eventually try red and yellow, i will find that they do make orange. i’ve taken the long way to get to orange through trial and error and i also experienced something cool along the way–i found out how to make the color purple and probably other colors as well. i guess for me, the main thing is to not focus so much on the details of life and ask myself…”Is this God’s will for me?”, but rather it’s “What do i know to be true from His word? i try to focus more on God instead of consuming myself with the decision that has to be made. i then make a decision and stick to it. i know that even if the door ends up closing, at least i’ll learn something along the way; at least i’m a child of the most high God, who loves me unconditionally no matter what. Sometimes we have to just go out on a limb since that’s where the fruit is, right?— i remember reading this quote somewhere but i’m not exactly sure where that was…. But it makes sense–the limbs stem from the Trunk and as we reach for the fruit, we may break a few limbs in the process; but we must continue to get up and try again if we want to eat, knowing that we can’t use the same limbs as before. But anyway, i’m also not a husband or responsible for raising children yet, and i haven’t been thrusted into some major situation where i have to act as an agent on behalf of someone else so i haven’t had to make, what you might call, the “super-tough” decisions of life—so all of this is much easier for me to say.
About adventure– i love adventure. But, i think what i do wrong alot of times is i try to seek out adventure. Point being, because we’re children of God, adventure will automatically come our way. When we seek adventure, we end up creating our own personal standards and we make the adventure about ourselves. It seems, so far, that the main adventure in life for me is uncertainty–not knowing what tomorrow will bring–and that is exciting for those who are in Christ. i think we experience adventure everyday and a lot of times we experience adventure but just don’t realize/acknowledge it.

Posted on August 22, 2008 - by bj

NOT me, BUT YOU

So many times, we (at least this is true for me) end up consuming ourselves with the things of God instead of God himself–the One who created us in His image and gave us passions to pursue to bring glory to His name. The message at encounter last night was quite similar to what’s been on my heart lately. It was on the subject of keeping our purpose in check as we pursue passions and goals (things) in life. To sum it up, our purpose is to KNOW HIM and glorify Him in all that we do–to surrender and humble ourselves as we walk through life, to love ourselves and others as He loves us, and everything else in between. The “What” in life will probably change pretty regularly, but the “Why” will never change and when we lose sight of the “Why,” we’ve lost our purpose. We end up coming to the point of trying to find satisfaction in the things of Him–people, school, individual passions, etc… which eventually lead us to a place of unhappiness and loneliness. “Things” end up becoming means in themselves. As a result we end up making life about ourselves and we try to create our own purposes. We build up our own walls to keep other people out of our life and in that, we push God out of our lives as well. Point being, Jesus is the WHY and is the only thing that can bring revelation.

What’s been on my heart recently: Our happiness depends on how we respond to God’s touch. The areas of our life that bring us pain and suffering and cause us to stumble are the areas that God wants to have control over—this isn’t limited to experiencing emotional/physical grief and pain from external circumstances that we have no control over but also the pain and suffering we put on ourselves from the choices we make–usually choices made based on emotions or impulses. God wants to have control over all of this and can if we allow Him to.
Our minds and emotions can prevent us from experiencing the fullness of God. Our mind and emotions are not bad things—He gave them to us to use for His namesake. Our emotions and thoughts were designed to help us engage and focus on God so that we can perceive people and situations/events with His understanding. God is consistently putting His hand on these and other areas of my life and yours. He massages our souls in the form off gentle, quiet realizations and whispers. God doesn’t want bad things to happen to us and i don’t think He truly wants to take extreme measures to get His point across—He does this quite often when we choose ourselves over Him. We must lay all of our personal ambitions and idols aside and focus on his gentle caress. It’s when we choose to consistently take pride in ourselves and base our life on and around the things of this world that extreme measures are allowed to get certain points across. And usually we don’t realize what we should have done or been doing until something extreme happens. Or we sometimes, sort of test God by continuing in something that we know is wrong and we try to justify it with something that sounds godly, or that it’s permissable b/c of what he/she said or did, or we might say something like..”I’ll stop tomorrow, or if I’m in this situation again, I won’t do this.” This is all going through our head as Christ is continuously speaking to us but we just choose to not respond. And then…BAM!!!—we get blind-sided. Of course, the perception of the magnitude of what we end up experiencing will be different for each of us—what is considered very extreme for one person doesn’t necessarily hold true for another. But…..His gentle caress turns more into a slap across the face that knocks us silly. He’s basically saying, “Hey!!!!!! Wake Up!……Peel those scales from your eyes and turn to ME!!!!” We must die to ourselves, NOT kill ourselves. The only way that we can die to ourselves and experience the fullness of God is if we allow Him to fully come alive in us. i’m not saying that we won’t sometimes experience intense pain and heartache, but we must not make the mistake of focusing on and trying to die to certain issues that are causing that pain. Doing that makes us pre-occupied with what we are not—we are not defined by our sins or insecurities, but by the CROSS! When we live in spirit and truth, Christ makes us occupied with Him. When we allow God to come alive in us, we become alive in Him, and this automatically makes us dead to ourselves. Sure we have struggles, but God knows our struggles and does not condemn us for them, so we shouldn’t kill ourselves with condemnation and guilt. It says in His word that His mercies are never-ending and are new everyday–each day is “New,” because of His mercy. Despite our insufficiencies, we have the opportunity to enter into His presence every day WITH confidence because of His love and grace. He welcomes us with open arms and embraces us with a huge hug when we run to Him. And……we can’t wiggle out of this if we try.

Posted on August 20, 2008 - by bj

The Beginning of a New Season

So it’s been awhile since i last posted. i’ll try to briefly sum up the last month and a half the best that i can. First off and most importantly….What the Lord is doing: God is amazing. i can’t express in words how incredibly loved we are but i know for a fact the He is at work in my life, my friends’ lives, and millions of other people that i don’t know. It’s true–He does have the whole world in His hands. i’ve realized that i’ve taken many blessings for granted or sometimes just didn’t recognize them when He placed them in front of me. He’s brought conviction to this area of my life and there is no guilt, which is what the enemy tries to throw my way. God has given me an appreciation, not only for the huge blessings in my life, but for the smaller things as well. Recently, it has mainly been the latter of the two. He has been revealing events and situations from my past where He was trying to bless or teach me something through certain people and i just chose to push it aside and not be appreciative or thankful. For example, i’ve gotten angry and frustrated with family members for no apparent reason at all, i haven’t truly appreciated the love that my family and closest friends have for me (which He was trying to show through their small acts of love), i’ve brushed off and ignored certain people when i could have given them a little of my time (which is actually His time anyway), i chose to remain spiteful or mad at certain people if what i expected wasn’t the result even though He was continuously loving and blessing me through them, and there are others. i think we can all relate to this at some point or another. Sometimes, i try to make my own definition of what it means to love and be loved. Of course, when i do this, i am usually as far from the truth as i can get. Plain and simple, God is love. Love is what it is and at it’s core it is no different for anyone. Love is constant and consistent and it perseveres through the most horrible storms. Sure, we show our love in different ways but He loved us first and through His ultimate display of love on the cross, He gave us the ability and privilege to love others for who they are as He loves them and to love ourselves as He loves us. i really am so thankful for all of the people in my life and for His never-ending love and grace. i will praise Him all of my days. Through all of this, the Lord has brought me to a place where i really just enjoy being in His presence and having fellowship with Him. This has made it much easier for Him to grow and teach me and tune my heart and mind to His.

Recent events: i finished up all of my classes at the beginning of this month—yes, i am completely done with college. That’s really weird to say, but praise the Lord. i’m working in Auburn for the fall and going through accounting recruiting and interviews. The Lord has blessed me tremendously in all of this and with my living situation, and with a new job. Being in Auburn for the fall was up in the air until about a month ago. By that time, it was really hard to find a place to live that would let me lease for the fall only and i probably would’ve had to live by myself. i was somewhat stressed and i prayed for the Lord to just take control of that situation and rid me of any worry so that my focus could remain on Him. He was faithful in that and blessed me with an awesome place and Godly community. Through a random conversation with a great friend of mine, John Pritchard, i found out that he had a room available and he said that i was more than welcome to live there for the fall. i moved in about 2 weeks ago. i’m very excited about what the Lord has in store for the season.

i was only able to go home once over the summer while i was taking classes, which was for the fourth of July. When summer finals ended, i was able to make it home for about 8 or nine days to see the family. i spent the majority of that time at my grandpa’s place, which is about 45 minutes north of Mobile (where i’m from). It was so good to see him and he expressed how happy he was to see me–another way that the Lord revealed His love. However, the night that i got to his house, i experienced a huge scare. We were sitting in the living room talking and catching up and he left and went into his room for a minute. He came back out and didn’t sit down, but stayed standing and leaned against his chair. He then said, “We need to go to Mobile. I need to go to the hospital. Something happened a few minutes before you got here and I just can’t seem to shake it off.” Of course, my stomach leaped into my throat but i didn’t ask any questions. We hopped in the truck and started speeding towards Mobile. i did the only thing i knew to do at the time and that was run to the Lord and pray and drive. After we got on the road, i asked him what happened. He couldn’t really explain it but from my understanding, he had fallen asleep in his chair and awoke to use the restroom. He got up from his chair and almost collapsed on the floor. After taking time to gather himself, he got some water and sat back down. However, he remained light-headed and felt extremely weak. He felt very hot and his body became very flushed. This was right before i arrived.
So we keep driving and he decides to call 911 and speak with someone about what happened. The person told him that an ambulance was close to where we were and advised us to meet them. After talking with my grandpa, we felt that this was the best thing to do instead of driving all the way to Mobile. So we met up with the paramedics and they ran a bunch of tests. i continued to pray and was able to get in contact with a couple of my friends to let them know what was going on so that they could be praying for him as well. My grandpa struggles with high blood pressure and periodically with an uneven heart beat (which i think is known as a murmur). He does take medicine for all of this. Anyway, his blood pressure was pretty high when we got there but it eventually came down. After they finished running the tests, they said that they didn’t find anything abnormal and my grandpa was feeling much better by this time, but if it happened again, to call them or head to the hospital. Otherwise, they said that he could go home. He didn’t have anymore problems while i was there and we had an incredible time together. What an amazing and faithful God we have!

The Friday after i got in town, i went out with some friends that i hadn’t seen in awhile. i had a great time. After it had gotten late or–to be correct, early in the morning, we decided to head home. i had to take people home and we were waiting around outside to make sure we had everyone and i ended up meeting a guy named Randy. He had his drink in hand and he was probably in his mid 40s. His teeth were missing and his body wasn’t well taken care of. i figured he was either homeless or close to it. He did have a job so he had some type of income. We chatted for awhile and by this time, everyone was ready to go. i told him that i needed to leave and he asked for five dollars to help him get a cab ride. i asked him where he was going and he said an area that i knew was pretty far away–far enough that 5 dollars wouldn’t get you there. i became skeptical and a taxi was right across the street so i told him that i would ask the cab driver how much it would cost to take him to where he wanted to go and i would just give the money to the cab driver. i started walking that way and Randy then starts trying to persuade me, “Hold on man, you ain’t gotta do all that, man just wait…i will get another cab up the street, just hold on man….” Of course i knew now that he really didn’t need a cab ride and made up my mind that i wasn’t going to give him the money. But before i could leave, the Lord said, “Give it for me. Any act of kindness or service done in My Name never goes unnoticed.” So that’s what i did. God revealed His love for Randy through my deed, however, what i failed to do was share the Good News in word. We are called to preach the gospel in both our words and our deeds. God has revealed that this is something i need to work on by completely and wholeheartedly surrendering to Him. i have no doubt that the Lord can turn any small seed of faith into something large and amazing. This is my hope and prayer for Randy and for you.