The Big Con

Several Sundays ago I taught on one of the Assemblies of God's fundamental truths. The topic was sanctification. As we began the talk, I was very surprised that not many if any students really understood what it actually was. The topic kind of took a rabbit trail. We ended up talking about what the biggest battle was for young men and women as it pertained to sanctification. This is what they came up with. "The biggest battle for guys is lust." "The biggest battle for women is the want to be loved." As we talked about these agreed upon statements, several of the students came to an epiphany. These two things are related. I allowed them to talk this out.

We began to talk about how Satan uses the eyes in men and the mind in women to play them against each other, when in the context of a marriage the yearning after your spouse and the affirmation of love are good, outside of that they lead to ungodliness. Think about this. When you get involved in a relationship outside of the confines of marriage, physical attraction can often lead to mental manipulation. Guys tell girls what they want to hear. Girls dress provocatively to get a guy. They use the natural visual wiring to hook the guys. The guys use the words "i love you" to basically melt the mind of the young lady.

This game of cat and mouse aka flirting leads to emotional investment and that investment leads to a girls mind being clouded. The boy's mind is consumed with lust and yearn for physical gratification. At first it starts out with small touch and then goes further until basically the boundaries are quieted. The want to be loved will drive a young lady to the arms of an abuser who tells her he loves her and then tells her she deserves the mistreatment. The lustful desires will lead a young man to the point of manipulation of a young lady just to get what he wants.

Sadly the breakdown of these areas are done so inconspicuously that often times the involved persons don't even realize they are compromising. When the realization happens the person is full of remorse and guilt. The vicious cycle continues until the people involved break the cycle. Dating in general leads to emotional investment. Before a couple should even consider dating they need to be ready to be married. They date for that specific reason. Casual dating leads to minute pieces of the heart being flaked away and morality getting attacked.

I know this may sound very strange to some of you reading, but think of the difference this would make in relationships and marriages specifically. When you kiss your spouse and you know her past, do you compare or wonder how you stacked up to the other guy. In intimate moments that should be sacred between you and your spouse do you find your mind wondering if this moment had ever happened with someone else. Prayerfully not, but in many cases this questioning leads to a very dysfunctional intimate area. In many cases it leads to mistrust and doubt. Satan attacks very stealthily. He chips away at morality until he can blur or etch it to make it obscure.

Sanctification is ongoing and it is what God asks us to do. Change the very way we think. We will see families and marriages renewed if we just practice this one area more than just expecting it to work itself out alone. Our relationships can be bigger than our imagination. Will we let them?

The Chance Of A LIfetime

I have had a quote by Lenard Ravenhill floating in my mind today. "Opportunities of a lifetime are seized within the lifetime of the opportunity." As I reflect on this simple quote I begin thinking of different opportunities that have made themselves available to me. Did I do anything to make them happen? Why would these things that are so great happen to me? How many opportunities have I missed out on because I was to afraid to take the chance in the lifetime of it?

Every person has opportunities that come and go. They are birthed and die just as we do. Unfortunately many of our greatest opportunities die due to lack of courage. What leads to opportunities? Often time it is simple obedience to do what God wants us to. Obedience to God and his commands opens so many of our doors for us. Some swing open wide and fast like a garden gat and others are slow and smooth like a vault containing treasures. In either case, the doors can open, but we cannot access them unless we walk through them. Discouragement from human and even demonic forces will freeze us in our tracks. The fear of our past failures is constantly being brought to our memories by the enemy and often times well intentioned friends. We cannot life in the past. If we do, we miss the lifetime of the opportunity.

Look at your life right now. What opportunities are presenting themselves to you? Are you ready to take the chance and seize the opportunity? If you are, I pray that you square your shoulders and take the step. What you will find is that the first few steps are difficult. They are that way to test your faith and add to your resolve. You will then find life bigger than you can imagine. God is only governed by human limitations when we place limitations on Him. Seize the opportunity and see what God will do. There is new fresh anointing right around the blind corner called faith. Will you take the chance and step out. Don't let this opportunity end.

Rooms Of The Heart Pt 1 foundation

I was surprised to fine out that the human heart has so much pressure it could shoot blood up to 30 feet away. I was also taken back by the fact that our heart will beat around 2 billion times in our life. The heart is so amazing. It is created to serve it's purpose and serve it with efficiency. Valentine's Day is fast approaching and we will hear sayings like I love you from the bottom of my heart and I give you my heart.

The human heart has often been associated with love and deep affection, but it has not always been the symbol of deep love like we think of it. In the Old Testament times the colon and large intestines were the center for deep soul based love and affection. That would change the way we see a lot of songs today. Achy Breaky Heart would take on a whole new meaning. Your singing the lyrics now aren't you.

In the human heart the center of love there are many rooms. Each room serves a distinct purpose. Before we can talk about the rooms of the heart we must first talkk about what the heart is built on. The foundation is the key part of the hearts design. The foundations footings are poured and then brick are laid on top of the footings.

It is this part that we have problems with. We were created by God and so our footings were poured. The footings are the 10 commandments that make up our morality. Then we begin to live our life and start placing the bricks of life on them. Unless a brick has mortar it will eventually crumble when it is put under pressure. Friction and movement will happen in ever person's life and unless the mortar is placed on a situation or event in our life we will start the process of crumbling.

Mortar is when you allow Jesus to take all of your problem and stop concentrating on the problem. We need to allow Jesus to cover the problem or hurt or struggle. When we do that, we will be strong and able to use that past event in our life even if it is a hurt or painful memory to strengthen ourselves and others.

When we take the problem away from Jesus and start focusing our energy and effort on it we become bricks with no mortar. Satan then begins to come and tap on that weak area of our wall until he knocks that brick back out and gets us focused on it again. He then starts strategically knocking out pieces of our wall until he causes it to collapse. We must give the entire problem to Jesus and then be proactive in doing things to help the problem instead of dwelling on it. When we do that, we will find that our hopeless feeling of collapse of our faith in God, faith in church, and faith in others begins to be restored.

Jesus wants to re-mortar your life. Even the worst wall can be fixed by the master carpenter. We simply need to be still concentrate on Him and listen to the words he has for us. God wants us to be strong for him. Build your house on the rock and not on the sand. Mt 7:26-28

We can surpass our imagination and be stronger than we ever thought possible with Jesus Christ as our hope and healer.

Can We Really See The People?

As I sat in the Omaha airport, I began to watch people as they went on with their day and boarded planes and passed through security checkpoints. When my number was called to board the plane bound for Phoenix, I remember looking at my ticket and thinking wow I am not last in line, but thinking man I am pretty far from the front. The plane boarded and I was pleased to find myself by the wing of the plane and with an open seat between me and another person. For me comfort had been achieved.

I still could not take my eyes off of the crowd that was on the plane. My mind was captivated by a young man's face that was absolutely normal. There were no distinguishing features about him, he was normal looking. As I saw his face and looked at his eyes I noticed something, this guy was just going through the motions of flying. From his actions, he had flown several times before. He spoke to no one/ He just put on his headphones and listened to whatever on his iPod.

The point I am trying to make is simply this. In our lives, we can get so caught up in the routine that we ignore the opportunities around us to witness and the opportunities around us to recognize and give honor to the creator of life and all that is. We can just put on our iPod's and seclude ourselves with no regard for the people around us going on with their lives.

The opportunities that God gives each one of us far exceeds our imagination. They are bigger and have more impact than we can even imagine. Do we truly see the people around us or do they just blend in to the pictures in our head of what normal looks like. Today, I encourage you to take a new look at what you call normal. Take the time to see each thing, each person, and each act in a new light. In that moment, God will make your normal even bigger than your imagination and the supernatural will become a part of your natural.

Do You Have All Your Armor On???

For many of us when we read Eph 6:10-18, we sort of pass through the armor of God quickly and say to ourselves "I got that." The question is do we really understand the importance of each piece? Each piece of armor is vital to our success as a warrior for Christ. Let's look at them from the top down.

We start with the helmet. The basic thing is that a helmet protects our brain. Satan begins to attack us in this area almost immediately. He realizes that if he can start making us question our salvation then he can make us falter and eventually get us so confused that we will give up. That is why scripture tells us that God is not a God of confusion.

The next piece is the breastplate of righteousness. In our heart, we are supposed to be like Jesus always doing things that are right and directed by the spirit. We are supposed to have our hearts tuned into the lost. When we allow Satan to attack the heart, he tries to get us to stop acting upon the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our heart and act out of emotion. He also tries to dilute what actual love is and tries to make our hearts fickle and wavering. The neat thing here is that Breastplate really of no back on them. As Christians, we must realize the army that we fight in never retreats so a back is not needed.

Next we have the belt of truth. The belr of truth is what holds all the armor together. Without it, we can hear the word and even believe the word to some degree, but when we try to act on the prompting of our heart we trip and fall on our clothing. Many argue that truth is relative and it is exactly that thought process that allows Satan to obscure the truth and thry to blur the lines of truth. We many times can put our own thoughts in to what we believe is truth and that compromises the truth and makes it have an air of the truth but not truth at all.

The gospel of peace on our feet is the next piece. This armor piece is often attacked by Satan using fear and apathy. Satan knows that if we get motivated and actually start going and proclaiming the gospel of peace he is in deep trouble. So, he begins to attack the believer with fear. HE then tries to persuade us that it is someone else s problem or job to reach the lost.

The shield of faith is often attacked many times by Satan pointing out times when God supposedly did not answer our requests of Him. He points out sadness and hurt and pain and suffering with the hope of getting us to question our faith when we pray and stand on the front lines. We simply must not allow it.

So how do we keep our armor on? We pray and ask god to show us our weakness. Then, we pray for God's help to strengthen us in that area. Thirdly, we pick up our weapon and learn how to use it. God did not leave us with just armor so we could stand and be Satan's punching bag. He equipped us with a manual for the greatest weapon known to mankind. It is bigger than the biggest aircraft carrier, stronger than an atomic bomb, and more portable than an iPod. Simply put it is the Bible and we should read it to find out how to tie all our armor together and activate the best weapon ever. God's word is the sword of the Spirit. That means that when we use it the Holy Spirit is the one who is doing the fighting, we are just telling him that the battle is his.

God has equipped us for a battle that is far bigger than we could ever imagine. Are you ready for war? Ready or not it is raging in society to day and all around the world. Will you be ready to stand on the front lines and fight?

Breaking The Chains

When we think about links in a chain, we get an image of the oblong rounded rectangle metal link. As we walk through life we are constantly getting handed links or picking up links that are laid out in front of us. Satan is not an idiot as some have said rather he is intelligent and very deceptive. If he came at us with a chain and started trying to chase us and bind us then we would run and not be caught. His plan is more sinister than that. He give us small links that we place in our pocket. Those little links are just little things that don;t weigh a lot. We pick them up and think they cannot harm us and before you know it you have a chain of sins and events that begin the process of binding us so we are of no use.

I went around with a ten pound chain wrapped around my hands and feet for about ten minutes revently. What I found is that at first I fought against the chain and then I learned to cope with the chain. I changed the way I walked and performed tasks with my hands. This is just exactly what Satan is trying to do to us. If he can change the way we walk and perform tasks daily then he can dictate how we act. John 8:34 says that if you sin you are a slave to sin. In the very loosest sense of the word slave this rings true.

Jesus Christ wants to take all of the problems and struggles. He wants to loose us from the chains by breaking the links. Those "pet sins" or secret sins are known by God and by Satan as well. We must make Jesus center and give him everything and remember that he sees us as beautiful even if we see ourselves as a mess.

The love and power of Jesus Christ is so much bigger than what we can imagine and he is only limited by us and our hang ups in our minds. What chains are on you? Is it fear, doubt, depression, discouragement, anger, rebellion, hurt, pain, or something else? Will you let Jesus take the chain and then once you give it to him and then not pick it back up.

How do you do that? Find accountability. Find someone that can pray with you and can help you when you struggle. Read the word of God. If you are a new believer or just curious about God and his love, read the Gospel of John. Pray and ask God for forgiveness and help. God wants to break your chains.

A New Season

There is a song that I love that begins "it's a new season. It's a new day." I find myself singing and thinking about that song more and more each day. Many of you who read my blog or know me personally know of our journey these past few months. My friends I can tell you it is truly a new season.

Seasons come and go in our lives. Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter come and go and we seem to have no control over them. As I look at the past three months I can truly say we were in a winter point in our lives. We could not see outwardly what God was doing, but we just knew we had to hold on a bit longer. Many time the winter season is harsh and cold and brutal and does not seem to be conducive to life in general. Here is the thing we need to keep in perspective. If not for the winter, spring would be over ran by insects and eventually without winter the results would be desolation. The winter makes us stronger as individuals and affirms our faith and catalyzes our faith.

I am happy to say from all accounts we are now entering the spring season. Granted it is still in it's infancy, but I am seeing life, vitality, and experiencing both refreshing and renewing. If you find yourself in a winter season understand that winters seem to go on forever, but in actuality there is no season where God is any more with you than in the winter. Take heart and know that God is going to make this season yield a new season that is bigger than your imagination.