Tag: christ

Christ, Our Treasure

Christ, Our Treasure
At the center of growing intimate with God is becoming increasingly convinced that Christ is worth more than anything else. 
 
In Matthew 13:44 Jesus proclaims, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
 
In America, we have so much and it’s so easy to fall in love with all that comfort can give. For some of us, our families are most important. For others, it’s our job that is regarded above all else. But whatever false-alters we are prone to worship at, the Bible is clear that God and His priorities must become our everything.
 
So the question is, what about Jesus makes Him greater, more attractive, and worth more than all else to you? 
 
I challenge you to make a list of those things that would remind you of Christ being the treasure worth selling everything for. After you make the list, put it somewhere that is visual so you can be reminded often of who you are living for and why He’s worth more. 
 
This may also have the side affect of reminding you why spending time seeking Him in His Word is one of the most valuable things you get to do today.

Jesus vs The Past

The following post is an excerpt from Victory In Christ: A 30 day devotional. Coming soon, 9.1.14!

Ben’s Story:

Have you ever made a mistake? A big one perhaps? Ben did. He even had a felony on his record to prove it.

“Ugh, I hate filling out job applications. It’s as if I will never be free from my past mistakes. No one will understand if they find out what I did. And even if they did sympathize, I’ll still be disqualified from getting the job.”

Feeling defeated, Ben walked out with the unfinished job application in hand. As he left through the revolving doors, the tears started streaming down his face. He felt the weight of shame and embarrassment heavy upon his shoulders.

He couldn’t go home to his wife and newborn baby and tell her he chickened out, again. So he sat on the curb right outside of the office building and cried out to God, “Lord, You have made me new. I am not who I once was. Please help me overcome my past so my family can have a future.”

As Ben finished praying, a man from his church walked toward the entrance. The man recognized Ben from his baptism last weekend and they started talking. Ben was surprised to find out that he was also the Hiring Manager. They walked back in the building together and Ben was able to open up about his past, and explain that he is not that person any more.

Twenty minutes later, Ben walked back through the revolving doors. But this time, he felt the opposite of defeat. Because Ben got the job.

Midway to his car, he couldn’t hold it in anymore, “THANK YOU LORD!” He yelled as everyone in the parking lot looked at him like he was crazy. But he didn’t care. Ben’s heart pounded like a bass drum in his chest as he thought, “If God can overcome my past, perhaps there’s no limit to what He can do in my life.”

 

Victory Logo

You know that saying, “The past doesn’t define you.” Well that couldn’t be more true. Especially for followers of Christ who have been washed clean and transformed by the blood of Jesus. We are no longer slaves to our past.

“I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” -Isaiah 43:25

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus our sins have been erased and God remembers them no more! How freeing is that? 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

The past is dead and gone, and Jesus is making us a new creation now, setting us up for a victorious future.

Sometimes the past comes back to bite us. And sometimes Satan or our minds try to convince us that we are who we were. But every time that happens, we can overcome those thoughts with the truth that this is a new day in the Lord. Yesterday does not own us. God’s mercies are new today (Lamentations 3:22-24). We are no longer defeated, but we are victorious in Christ.

By trusting in Jesus, the past is forgotten; His victory becomes our present and future.

VICTORY IN ACTION

A victory is won when we embrace our story for what it is, and become unafraid to share it. Augustine once said, “There is no saint without a past, and no sinner without a future.” Every one of us has sinned. We’ve all messed up. No exceptions. The miraculous part of our story is not that we can be perfect, because we can’t. The miraculous part is that God can turn ashes into beauty.

So your challenge is to write out the real story of what God has done in your life. What was life like before Jesus? How is life different now that you are His and He is yours?

After you write your story, share it with at least one person. If it is easier, start with someone close to you.

Embrace your story. In so doing, God will set you free from the haunting of your past.

SHARE

@loveuncensored By trusting in Christ, the past is forgotten. His victory sets us free from who we once were. #VictoryInChrist

 

In honor of our one year blogiversary and our upcoming book launch on September 1st, we wanted to have a special giveaway to thank all of our readers!

And now for the fun part! Enter in the giveaway below for a chance to win some of our favorite things.

 

A GIVEAWAY of some of our favorite things!!!

One winner will receive ALL of this:

Victory In Christ Devo Giveaway

 

Loving God OR Wrathful Robot?

One of the things that has been difficult for me to reconcile with in my head, is how an invisible God could be a relational God. I mean, wouldn’t you say that it’s challenging to feel like He wants to connect with us relationally when we can’t see, hear, or touch Him. But over the years, as I have wrestled with God in this area, He has revealed Himself to me through His Word and life’s circumstances.

And I have come to find out that the outcome of the battle raging in my heart over Him being relational vs. the problem of Him being invisible… His pursuit of our hearts relationally destroys the opposition. That is, if we are willing to open our eyes.

Before we get into how God is relational, let me dive a little deeper into my struggle over the years. And you may be able to identify with it.

Growing up, I would have never admitted it, but I saw God as this perfect, wrathful robot. I don’t know what would put these images in my head, but I would picture Him “smiting” anyone who did anything wrong. Whenever I would make the slightest mistake, I would think of Him as being disgusted with me. And what’s even more, I felt that it was impossible to please Him, because I would never be enough. Afterall, why would a perfect Deity want anything to do with a mistake ridden mortal like me?

Have you ever felt this way? This drives a person away from God… or at least it did to me… For a time.

Although there are many things I could share about what God has done to reveal His loving, relational side to me… today, I want to share something God did recently in my life to show His love.

About a month ago, my wife and I took our son to the doctor. He had been sick and wheezing. Long story short, the doctor had us give him breathing treatments. In which we had to take one of those nose & mouth mask breathing contraptions and put it on our son. Cool air gas was meant to hovered out of the mask and into our son’s airways. But not if our son had anything to do with it. Our nine month old, Tristan, was scared to death of this thing, as well as the cool hazy gas that kept chasing his little nostrils. By the way he was kicking and screaming, it was obvious he thought we were trying to hurt him. A look of betrayal shown in his precious little eyes as we held him down. And tear after tear flowed down his helpless little face.

It broke our hearts in a way we had never felt them brake before. All we could do was weep with our son for the ten minutes or so that we had to hold him down and keep the mask on his face. But, knowing that it would be best for him, we did it. We did it in spite of his tears, and our hurt over his tears.

This was my first experience of this kind. I had never before had to intentionally put my kid through trauma for His own good. And I hated it. As soon as the breathing treatment was over, we all just held each other, as we continued to cry.

You might say that I’m a wimp… which you would be entirely correct. And I know I will have to do even more difficult things for Tristan’s own good. But driving home from that doctor’s visit God hit me with the idea of what Jesus experienced when it says, “Jesus wept”.

The story found in John 11 that surrounds this verse tells us that Lazarus had just died. In response, Jesus was weeping with Lazarus’ family and friends. Which were also some of His closest family and friends.

But what gets me about this story, is that Jesus knew He would raise Lazarus from the dead shortly. He knew Lazarus wouldn’t remain dead for long. So Jesus wasn’t weeping because Lazarus was dead. He wept because He loved the others that were weeping. It hurt His heart to see them hurt. His heart broke over their broken hearts.

And it is the same in His relationship with us. He feels joy when we feel joy in Him. His heart leaps when our hearts are overwhelmed with His love. He is angered when we are wronged. And just as I was broken hearted when my son’s heart was hurting – Jesus is broken hearted when our hearts are broken.

What a truly different vision of God we get, when we see that He actually weeps when we weep. That He loves us so much that He joins us in our sorrow, and works toward our recompense (Psalm 34:18). There is no way we can see Him as a wrathful robot, when we see Him from this light.

I hope this can be a comfort and assurance for us as we navigate the peaks and valleys of our lives by His grace… knowing of His great empathetic nature. And knowing, that He will only allow something difficult if it is working together for good in our lives (Romans 8:28). Because He loves His children.

 

God Loving His Bride

I once heard a wise teaching from an old philosopher (I don’t remember who) regarding teaching a people to build a ship. Although I will not able to quote it, the teaching goes like this:

The best way to teach a people to build a ship is not to give them the right instructions to do so. But rather to build within a people a longing for the sea. It’s sunsets and sunrises. It’s winds and waves. It’s wild nature, salty smells, and swimming creatures. If a people has a longing for the sea, they will, with great zeal, find a way to build a ship, so to enjoy the sea in all is splendor. In the same way, the best tactic in developing a passion in people to spread a passion for God is to build within them a longing for God and His gospel truth. That is, to help them to taste and see the greatest joy that is found only in Him, and in so doing, unleash them. In so doing, they will not be able to stop spreading a passion for the God of love!

I have found this teaching to be true in my life, and it is the greatest reason why I write at all. But more specifically, it is the reason for this post today.

Isaiah 62:4-5

You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.

For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.

As the bride of God, I want to know what He thinks of me. And this passage reveals much about what God thinks of us. His people.

In Ephesians 5 Paul uses a word picture to show us the great love our God has for us. He compares a marriage relationship between a husband and a wife, to the relationship Christ has with us. In the comparison, we are the bride of Christ. This has no sexual implications. The focus of this word picture is on the greatest love that we know of as human beings, between husband and wife, and the covenant made in that union of love.

As Paul explains in Eph. 5, God has shown His devotion and love for us in that He gave His life for us. That is, He is not only committed to the covenant He made through Christ to the church, His bride… but He is devoted to His covenant because of the love He has for His bride.

And Isaiah 62:4-5 paints such a wonderful picture of God’s love for His bride. Us. This passage compares the exhilaration and joy, and even smittenness a groom feels or experiences over his bride, to what God experiences over His people.

Think back to the exhilaration you felt in the puppy love stage of dating your mate. Or even the excitement of the days just before you were married. Do you remember the rush you felt over being around that person. Well, this and much more, is what God experiences for us as His bride every second of every day.

What an amazing thought! That God is that exhilarated about you, and me, and every person who believes and has Christ’s imputed righteousness counted for them. He is that in love with us.

Take a moment and think about this. Did you know that God loves you that much? Did you know that He felt that way about you?

Spend some time in prayer talking to Him about this. How does this realization make you feel? How does it affect the way You see Him, and how He loves you? Does grace flow from this reality into your heart producing thanksgiving? – Tell God what you are thinking.

It is my hope that this idea may encourage us to see a deeper side of our King’s love than we may have seen before! And as we see of His great love for us, that we would experience the reality of it, and long for more of it. As God’s greater love takes over in place of what we come to see was a smaller love that we were merely settling for, His purpose and His mission become increasingly important to us. And as we live out His mission for our lives, we find ever increasing love prevailing in our hearts, and flowing out to the world!

 

A Christmas Mission

To those who will read this post, it may be no secret that I am Worship Pastor at Temple Baptist Church, here in Amarillo, TX. This Christmas season, I have issued a challenge to our church’s worship team and choir. And since I truly believe it will bless us to carry it out, I thought I would issue the challenge to all you as well.

So below is your Christmas Mission, should you choose to except it. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and that the love and joy of Christ is spread far and wide… All glory be to Him!!!

 

Word Minded People

It is my belief that one of the biggest things that keeps us American Christians from reading the Word of God as much as we could, is that we are not thoroughly convinced that it is the gateway to the greatest life, and joy that we can have. But the truth of the matter is that the Word of God is what the Spirit of God uses to speak the greatest truths into our hearts. It is these truths believed in and lived out that God brings the fullness of joy through. Many times we buy into Satan’s lie that the comfort and ease our American culture provides is of more value than the struggle of searching God out through meditating on the implications of His Word. There is nothing farther from the truth!!!

Psalm 119:9-16

How can a young man keep his way pure, by guarding it according to Your Word. With all my heart I seek after You God, let me not wander from Your commandments. I store Your Word up in my heart that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You O LORD, teach me Your statutes. With my lips I declare the rules of Your mouth. In the ways of Your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes and I will not forget Your Word.

As we grow in developing a more thorough definition and vision for spreading a passion for the supremacy of God, we must come to a more radical and thorough pursuit of finding God in His Word.

Here are a few implications of the passionate writer of Psalm 119:9-16:

  1. The Word is key to protecting our heart from unrighteousness and foolishness. We see this when the writer says, “How can a young man keep his heart pure, by guarding it according to Your Word.”
  2. “With all my heart I seek after you God.” The writer’s whole hearted pursuit of God implies that He understands the worth of having a relationship with God. In other words, there is nothing of more worth, or more value to our lives but that we would pursue and love the King of kings (Philippians 3:7-14). And by pursue, I mean, know Him in a deeper way through the faith and knowledge that is given by mediation on His Word.
  3. The writer sees the great value of memorizing scripture by saying that he “stores His Word up in his heart”. This in turn is not only what guards him from sin when he does not have “a Bible” on hand, but it also is what the Spirit uses to lead Him in righteousness.
  4. The writer has this desperation for God that is important for us to get as well – He says, “Blessed are you Oh God, teach me your statutes.” – The writer is desperate to know how to follow God, what to do, and in what manner to do it. It is a like a young business person coming to a multibillionaire and asking him to teach him everything he knows so that he may glean wealth from it. This is nothing short of what we are called to do through feasting on God’s Word. In this passage, there is a desperation in the writers pen, because he sees the infinite value of knowing and worshiping God with his life.
  5. And the response of the writer gets from what God teaches him through His statutes, which is the same response of us who are recipients of the true gospel – He goes out and shares it with others. He says, “With my lips I declare the rules of your mouth”. This is a natural response to anyone who has been truly convinced that Christ is not only the only way to God, but that sharing in a relationship with Him is the greatest life here on earth, as well as in eternity.
  6. And then, in the passage, the writer shares another echo of the worth of God’s grace showering upon our lives through His Word when he says that he “delights in God’s testimonies as much as in all riches”. Can you imagine, finding a long lost, billion dollar treasure. What excitement and joy we would feel. – It is nothing short of the same thing, if not more when we see and find the depth of God’s grace in the Gospel. This in turn has great implications for how that effects our lives here, and in heaven. In this way, finding God and His grace is the greatest road to a deeper love and joy than we can find in anything of this world.
  7. And after all the proof and evidence of what this writer says, he validates it’s worth by making this oath – “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes, and I will not forget Your Word.” – We would do well to follow the writers example. Not just in practice, but in passion, and in desperation for God.

In Conclusion:

As we are Christians that seek to spread a passion for God, let us do what will give us the greatest passion for God. That is, to seek to delight in Him through the faith, joy, and love that we gain through seeking Him in His Word.

 

Peace Like A River

One of hardest things for every sinner to reckon with is that we can be forgiven by God. I wrestled with God for years over this issue. For me, the struggle was the greatest when I would catch glimpses of His perfect holiness. Much like the prophet Isaiah’s experience in the book of Isaiah chapter 6, God’s perfection magnified my every flaw. In those times of beholding God in His purity, all my sins were brought to the forefront of my mind. And like a person who has every shameful act of their life on display before all who matter to them, I used to feel such horrifying shame in the presence of God. Of course, this caused every experience I had with God in those years to be to be marred by a terrible haunting. Like the trauma of a war veteran, I would wake up in cold sweats, in terror of what I feared most… God’s wrath. It is by the grace of God alone that I kept seeking Him at all during these times. But I knew I needed Him, even though I couldn’t get it through my thick skull exactly why my relationship with Him was so traumatizing. And at the time, a part of me wondered if this was how a relationship with God was supposed to be on this side of eternity. But the real truth of matter was, I did not truly BELIEVE in the gospel.

For some reason, and I would guess it was my foolish pride, I had convinced myself that I believed in the wonderful grace of the gospel, when I really didn’t. I was caught in self-deception. The whole time I found it impossible to rest in the fact that God had truly ransomed me, and paid for my sin in full through what Jesus had done on the cross. I would find myself constantly seeking a reason that God would love me, when my sins were so great and numerous. But I could find none. What a hopeless state I was in.

Then, one day I shared my struggles with a man of God. He lovingly, but bluntly asked me, “Do you actually believe that your sin is greater than God’s ability to save?” And oh how this question changed my life. It took years, but God through the question changed me nonetheless.

Romans 3:23-26
… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

As God in His grace worked in His timing, I began to see that I was so focused on how terrible ‘I’ was, and what ‘I’ could not do, and how ‘I’ was unlovable, that I was failing to focus on God’s infinite ability to save a soul from any and all sin. And isn’t that what we do so many times. As sinful beings we are constantly indulging thoughts of self. Most of the time we don’t even know that that is the very thing that is destroying us.

But I can remember when the joy of assurance of salvation began to kick in in my soul. It was when, by God’s loving-kindness, I focused more on His undefeatable ability to overcome. It is not our ability to become enough that God gives us salvation. In our imperfection, it is impossible to for us to be “enough”. That is why Christ is ENOUGH for us! This means pursuing the end of praying and being open to God’s Spirit helping us to see, and except – and truly believe that He is more than enough for our salvation. It means putting our faith in the miraculous and soul healing truth that He is BIG ENOUGH, He is STRONG ENOUGH, He is FORGIVING ENOUGH, His SACRIFICE ON THE CROSS WAS ENOUGH… etc. And the more we see how great He is and bask in the wonder of His immense grace for us, the more our peace and joy will grow and our fears will fade.

It is not about what you or I can do, but about what the infinitely great God can do. It’s not about us at all. It’s all about Him! Let us pray that God helps us to lose focus on our weakness, and gain a full focus on His limitless ability to work in us. There are no limits when we truly believe this. The chains fall off when we truly believe this. This is when real joy begins to take root and grow. And this is when God begins to spread a passion for Him through us. Perhaps this is close to the heart of what our King meant when He said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

 

The Superman Files

A while back, I wrote a document with forty or so reminders of how I am to think and live by God’s grace to glorify Him. As God has grown me, these reminders have evolved. So I wanted to re-share them with the world in their present state. I hope they are a great edifying force to your relationship with God.

The Superman Files

[note to self] You must read these thoughts of excellence often so that you will be forever on the offense in this ever raging epic battle. If you do this, among your other spiritual disciplines, it will encourage you and assist you to think and strive rightly, that Christ may allow for you to be a mighty man, by His grace and for His glory and for the joy of all peoples

Inspired in part by the “Resolutions”
Of the late Rev. Jonathan Edwards

  1. Do whatever you think will most glorify God.
  2. Thoughts that should consume you while being afflicted:
    a) Oh that God might be glorified through this.
    b) If God decides to be gracious in this situation beyond what you deserve, then you will grow in Him through this and He will receive more glory! (Pray that He be fully glorified in your life)
    c) Oh that you would be afflicted more if God would receive more glory from it!
    d) Do not think of affliction as it applies to self, for your soul purpose is to glorify God.
  3. Be Honest with yourself and others. Take the utmost care when speaking to only use words that will convey the truth. Be ever mindful of pride’s temptation to exaggerate a narration. When saying anything, stick purely to the truth!!!
  4. Do not Compromise. Do the right thing, even if it leads to your death. For this pleases your Heavenly Father.
  5. Be excellent with every second to use it in the most profitable way.
  6. Strive valiantly with all your might while you are alive!
  7. Practice Humility in all you say and do. Do not think of self, or about what others think of you. Pride should have no part in you. Your worth is found in Christ. Not because of anything you’ve done, but because He paid the price for you. It is not about you, it is all for your King. And He has called you to love Him and others.
  8. Keep in mind whether you feel that you have lived the kind of life you believe you should have if you were to die today. Would you be afraid to face Christ? Could you say that you had run the race?
  9. Worship Jesus in all that you do — whether working, resting, eating a meal, doing ministry, etc… It matters not what you are doing, do everything for the glory of Yahweh!
  10. With every person you come in contact with, you should constantly be thinking of how you can care for/serve that individual – then act upon those thoughts.
  11. Never give in or give up or loosen in your fight against the sin in your life no matter how unsuccessful you may be.
  12. Remember that the harder you look for fulfillment by any other means but Christ, the more unfulfilled you will be.
  13. Make sure to do whatever you feel is your duty.
  14. Let benevolence rule your tongue above all else.
  15. Endure suffering because it is your honor and privilege to do it in love for Christ (Romans 8:17). As Christ has suffered and died for you, so you have been given the HONOR of enduring suffering with the attitude given by enduring love – that others may see the love of Christ and He become more real to them. If you truly live for Christ then persecution and pain are inevitable. May it be an opportunity to glorify your King and not a weight of sorrow.
  16. Always remember the many blessings of God in your life (Psalm 50:14).
  17. Immediately get rid of such things that would gratify your pride and/or vanity. If anything in your life is about pride and/or vanity, then you are missing your purpose! (Ecclesiastes 12)
  18. Be an excellent steward. The money, time, energy, ect. That you possess is not your own, so act accordingly. (Luke 12:35-38, 42)
  19. Make it a mission to constantly find ways whether new or old to be kind to others. (1 Peter 1:22)
  20. Never do anything out of revenge. (Romans 12:19)
  21. Whenever you sin, fight with all your might to trace it to its core and cause, and fight and pray with all your might to eliminate that sin from reoccurrence.
  22. Do not buy into sin’s illusionary allure. It is only an illusion because whatever you think you will gain from sin is settling for something so much less than the authentic pleasure and fulfillment found in Christ. God wants to bless you!!! He waits for you. Ultimately the depth of destruction that sin causes lasts so much longer and goes so much deeper than any momentary good you think you will receive from it.
  23. Study the Scriptures with fervency so that you may grow in knowledge, faith, and joy in God.
  24. Be cautious of the words you would speak to the Almighty God. Always remember why you pray… for the glory of God!
  25. Strive to live by faith in God alone, and by His grace alone, because the more He is Lord of your life, the more your prayers will be effective.
  26. Never allow any pursuit, motive, pleasure, affection, ect. of any kind unless it encourages the pursuit of God and what He has purposed you to do in life.
  27. Live the Christian life in the fullest since. Live the Christian life in the way the Christian life and name should be represented. LIVE, in the fullest since of the word.
  28. You must accept God’s forgiveness for all past sins. Otherwise, you will find that you don’t actually believe you are He has forgiven you. GOD HAS FORGIVEN YOU, now get over yourself and live in the freedom Christ has provided!
  29. The more fully you know Christ the more fully you will be able to worship Him. Let this be your ever joyous pursuit! TO KNOW HIM MORE! (1 John 2)
  30. Remember that God wants you to experience the greatest pleasure, joy, peace, love, fulfillment, ect. Strive to enjoy God in all you do.
  31. Let go of your need to control everything in your life or in anyone else’s. Your thought of control is only an illusion, for control is impossible for you. It is impossible because there is only one sovereign God, and you are not Him. Put your faith in Christ and TRUST in Him!!! (Proverbs 3:5-6) Simply put, surrender.
  32. See others in the way Christ sees you… with love, compassion, and grace. Always remember how much He has forgiven you and loving others will become easy.
  33. The most exciting thought I can perceive is that somehow, in His infinite grace, He would find a reason for which He would smile over me as a proud father does a son He finds joy in. And that, by Christ’s blood He does smile over me, and more.
  34. Remember that your Heavenly Father loves you so much that he “rejoices over you with gladness; he quiets you by his love; he exults over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17). Your King loves you more than you could imagine.
  35.  Remember that knowing God is obeying God (I John 2). Fight and pray that this would be the greatest joy and affection of your life (to obey and please God).
  36. Listen, think, and pray more. Speak much less. (Proverbs 29:11) When speaking, speak in the wisest, most concise way possible. Do this to avoid missing the point and the truth. The less you speak, the more people can understand, and it actually stick with them. If people want to know more then they will ask.
  37. Constantly pray… And pray with PASSION!!! (Remember Spurgeon)
  38. Live by the grace of God with Strength, Courage and Passion! Pray for these gifts!
  39. Take care to remember that you are most liable to sin and should be most guarded and focused on a God-centered mindset when you are most comfortable, and/or most discouraged.
  40. Make no excuses for things done wrong. Don’t count motives or anything else. If you make a mistake, admit it, and then press on to do what is right.
  41. If you are truly living your life in Christ then your every relationship will reflect it.
  42. Be ever conscious that when you are walking with Jesus the corruption of the world is vile and disgusting. If the [the way of the] world is not disgusting to you then you are not crucified to the world as you should be. Whenever this is true of you then repent, turn and follow God
  43. Your mission in life is not for comfort, money, rock star status, your own safety, marriage/love, or anything else you desire. Your mission in this life is to live by His grace, fully for His glory and the joy of all peoples.
  44. Remember that this is a war. A spiritual battle. Live this way every second of every day. If you were in a war would you be lazy? Or would you do everything in your power to fight, strategically, every second being aware of everything around you. This is not recess, this is war. Be mindful of this and always be alert and fighting. FIGHT with all the weapons God has given you while you are alive! (Remember Gurnall and all he wrote)

 

Joy in Memorizing Large Portions of Scripture

I was recently asked the best way to memorize long portions of scripture. It was a delight to answer her question. And since this is truly one of the most joy increasing acts we could do, I wanted to share my response. To simplify my meaning, I have written it out in steps. This, in my belief, is the best way to meditate on, and memorize long portions of scripture:

Steps 1-3 are really meant to prepare us SPIRITUALLY & PSYCHOLOGICALLY. ***these 3 are most important***

 

IMPORTANT INTRODUCTORY NOTE: The lack of a great enough motive causes a failure to be capable of pushing through when memorizing gets difficult. This in my opinion is the greatest hindrance in memorizing scripture. This is also why it is imperative to know the great reward of memorizing scripture.

 

1. Most importantly, before memorizing scripture, remember why you are memorizing it in the first place. Here are a few reasons why… Romans 10:17 says that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God”. This word “hearing” is not just referring to what we do with our ears. It’s implied meaning is much deeper than that. It is hearing with our hearts. It implies that we truly understand something and really ‘get it’. So by “hearing” the Word we build faith. Since faith is the agent God uses to bring about all spiritual growth, then it is infinitely important that we grow in understanding the Word. Also, John 15:1-11 makes it clear that to have an “abiding” relationship with God we must have the His Word IN us. This passage also affirms that if the Word is ‘in’ us then it will have a great affect on the power of our prayer life. This also affirms our need of the Holy Spirit to help us internalize His Word. We must constantly partner prayer with meditation along with memorization of God’s Word. Jesus also says in this same passage (John 15:1-11) that abiding in Him is what gives us fullness of joy. – – So to sum up, meditating on, and memorizing the Word allows for us to know Him and His purposes more, thereby allowing us to grow in faith, adding power to our prayer life, and growing in joy. This in turn makes us greater disciples and disciple makers of our Lord Jesus… In reality, we gain much more than the things I have just mentioned by meditating and memorizing scripture, but I don’t want you to have to read a book. So I only mention these three or four and then will have to write about the others in a book someday. But these are some of the main motives that pump me up to dive as deep as the Lord will let me into His Word.

 

2. With the previous motive in mind, our greatest gain comes from praying through and meditating on the scripture we are memorizing, until we have rung it for every ounce of life-giving truth God will allow us to find through it. This does take time, and it is work. But once we “taste and see” the JOY of knowing our Lord more and more, knowing His desires, His ways, how we can please Him, how He loves us, and more… this becomes our obsession. It is the greatest addiction we will ever have. This is actually what our souls were made to do = to find ever increasing treasures of joy through knowing our King ever more!

 

3. It is these last last two points (motive & deeper motive) that are the greatest help for me in memorizing long passages of scripture. I find that as long as I have the proper motivation to memorize scripture, there is no text too long. Because knowing that the greatest treasures and joys are found when I am able to dive deeper into scripture is greatly motivating. That is, diving deeper in my relationship with my King from having scripture so easily accessible (in my head). This gives me great fuel for the journey through His Word.

 

Steps 4 to the end deal with LOGISTICS (how I go about memorizing) and some SPIRITUAL aspect for your continual consideration.

 

4. When I have a long scripture to memorize – say, Romans chapter 8, which is 39 verses. What I do is, I first go out and buy some index cards. Then I transcribe the whole text onto multiple index cards. I have found that the best way to set this up is to write normally (not too small so as to fit more on the card), but if anything write bigger. Write on each card only what will fit on one side. Most of the time one side will hold somewhere between 3 to 6 verses. This would mean that for a chapter like Romans 8, you would need between 7-13 index cards. Once you have the scripture on the cards, start with verse 1 and begin memorizing.

 

5. When I am memorizing scripture, I take my time, because the whole process is so wonderful if we will take it all in. The whole time I enjoy anticipating the deeper understanding God will graciously give me as I pray through His Word. I mean, it’s so exciting to think of diving deeper into the glory of God, thereby experiencing that much more joy today!!! – So I always begin in prayer asking God to open my eyes that I may see what He wants me to see in His Word.

 

6. Then I begin to methodically memorize, being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. I read through one whole notecard first, slowly (as stated before, this should be 3 to 6 verses). Then I read through the notecard again. Every time I read through it, I focus on the words, asking God to help me think, using all the brain power He gives me to understand what He is saying through the scriptures. Every time a new understanding, depth of the text, conviction, or a new idea of how to apply the truth learned jumps out at me, I know it is the Spirit taking me deeper into His love and joy. This is why the process is so amazing!!! I read the note card over and over and over again. I stop and contemplate those portions that are hardest to understand. Then, the more I familiarize myself with the text and it’s meaning, the more the memorization of it becomes easy. – Remember, meditation and prayer is the goal, not memorization. Memorization is secondary. Memorization is only a tool that allows us to have scripture readily accessible in our minds for more prayer, meditation, and use of truth in application to our lives. – And all this for the glory of our King.

 

7. I usually only focus on one notecard a day. But I usually spend a good hour or so on each notecard, maybe more if it is a specifically rich text. Or, if the Holy Spirit blesses me with a supernatural touch by His grace upon my soul. Sometimes I don’t get past the first line. That is, if God moves my heart to a spontaneous worship session, or drives me to overwhelming, joyful tears over a new depth of Grace understood… in which I would be on my face pouring prayers of thanksgiving and reflection out to Him. All this to say that the amount of time spent each day on any given notecard should be up to the Holy Spirit, and should not be predicated on how long it takes you to memorize the passage.

 

It is important to note that the best “brain hours” of the day should be spent on meditating on and memorizing scripture. That is, our best brain hours should be spent contemplating truth and asking the Holy Spirit to infuse it into our hearts. Our lives must be “on purpose” in this way (and every way for that matter). – If somehow, I still don’t have the contents of the notecard memorized after spending ample time meditating on a passage, then I finish memorizing it by reading a sentence, then looking away from the card and restating it from memory. Once I have the first sentence memorized, then I add the next sentence… and so on, and so forth. The initial stages of familiarizing myself with the card, should make the final stages of solidly memorizing it much easier. This is why I just stay with the “memorize a sentence then add a sentence” routine. (WARNING: If you are only trying to memorize the text as quickly as possible, then my method is not for you.)

 

8. (Day after you memorized the first card) The following day I pick up the second card and begin the process over again. Every day I make sure to restate the scripture I learned the day before. For the first couple days I usually have to relearn some of the previous material. But after a week at the most or relearning material, I have the previous scriptures imbedded pretty well into my brain. This point, above the others should show you of the almost below average intelligence that I have. For most people, they will be able to memorize a text much faster than I. But, nonetheless, intelligence is not as important as resolve (which comes through motive) in meditating and memorizing scripture.

 

9. After you have each of the notecards memorized (might take a few weeks), then practice saying them in order while praying through it. Whats amazing about this is that it gives more context to the entire scripture passage. This broadens what God will show our hearts through it. I would honestly say that I have an average memory, at best. And I was able to memorize Romans 8 in under a month. The point to telling you that is only that if you have the proper motive, then memorizing long portions of scripture should NOT be too difficult.

 

Well folks, I know this was thick. But if you were brave enough to wade through it then I pray that this will be a great encouragement to you in memorizing more scripture and knowing our God more fully!!!

 

Pride VS. Joy

Acts 20:35 – “…remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

I’m reading an incredible little book by Timothy Keller right now by the name of The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulnness. I am currently in the middle, but so far I have gotten so much out of it that I just had to write a little about it. Quoting C.S. Lewis, Keller notes this about pride – “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next person. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others.”

Pride’s fuel is it’s competitive nature. But when we are constantly trying build our self-worth off comparing ourselves to others, we will never be enough because there is always someone we have to be better than.

Keller’s eventual point, which he writes about so much better than I can, is that ultimate fulfillment, love, joy, life… etc. is found in finding our identity in the grace of God. It’s actually not about us at all. It’s about God! It’s about loving Him and loving others. And the more we grow, by the grace of God, in thinking less about ‘me, I, and my’, and more about loving God and others, the more we will experience the ultimate joy of loving Him and others.

I mean, when you think about it, aren’t the happiest people you know, the most selfless people you know. This is true because their worth is not based on “self”. In fact, there is no “self” in their [self]worth. Their worth is not based on their thoughts of themselves or other’s thoughts of them at all. It’s not ever about “their worth” at all. It’s about others for these blessed people. And they are FREED by loving God and others, and forgetting themselves.

Let us pursue and pray toward what would give us true joy. Let us stop chasing the miserable trap that is the American Dream. Let us chase God and the joy that He has created us to experience in loving Him and others. Glory be to God!

P.S. – I encourage you to read The Freedom of Self-Forgettfulness. I have found it cheapest on iBooks ($1.99). Hope you all have a great day. God bless.