Casual Christian

We can not walk through this life as a casual christian. We can not have one foot in the door of the kingdom and the rest of us living in the world. Christ is calling us to be living totally sold out to Him and to His kingdom. Christ is coming back for His bride. If we think about marriage for a moment, we would not want our husbands to be “somewhat” devoted to our relationship. We want our husbands to be totally sold out and committed to us and only to us. Christ is no different. He wants us committed to Him, not to the things of this world.

“...just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:27

“So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Revelation 3:16 (New King James Version (NKJV)

Christ’s desire is that we be burning red hot for Him and Him only. He truly wants nothing less than this from us. He actually goes so far as to say that He will vomit us out of his mouth if we are not. This is kind of a gross thing to think about here, but hang with me just for a moment. It makes Christ sick to his stomach to see His beloved toying with the things of this world. Let me refer back to the marriage relationship once again for yet another comparison. When we are not totally committed to our spouse in the marriage and we toy around, it’s called adultery. So guess how Christ views our toying with the things of the world? Yes, I will say it. He views our one foot in the church and one foot in the world mentality as adultery. Why? Because we have not given ourselves totally, 100% to the Lord. We are lukewarm. No wonder He wants to vomit us up. If I were God and my beloved was messing around I would be sick to my stomach as well! He covets our undivided attentions! He longs for us to be focused on Him and Him alone. We serve a jealous God! He has no desire to share us with this world. That brings so much comfort to my spirit to knowing that my God is jealous for me. Guess what, God is jealous for you too! What a sweet and precious thought. When I think about my God in this capacity it helps me to stay focused. I do not want to give God any reason to make him sick to stomach.

Lord, I pray that you help us to stay steadfast for you and only you. Keep us from walking in the realm of the casual Christian. Help us in those times when we are enticed by the temptations of this world. Thank you for being a jealous God over us, that it actually makes you ill to see us wanting anything else but you as our beloved. Thank you that you love us so much that you have no desire to share us with this world, but you want to keep us all to yourself.

Challenge # 4 - Texting Thankfulness

So many of us have the use of technology at the tips of our fingers these days. For many of us our phones rarely even leave our sight, and the moment they do, we panic. We rely so heavily on being connected to those around us. So, I only find it fitting that we use technology to bless, strengthen and encourage those around us to advance the kingdom of God. This challenge is a quick and easy one. Scripture emphasizes the the importance of being thankful in spirit, but also being thankful for others. Let’s take a look at some of these examples.

“I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” Ephesians 1:16

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 1:4

“I thank my God every time I remember you.” Philippians 1:3

“We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.” 1 Thessalonians 1:2

In each of these examples Paul is showing his thanks for various people. In his day and age the way of distance communication was through a written letter and by no means was this instantaneous like we have it today. One advantage we have today is that we can tell others how grateful we are for them and they can receive that message in the blink of an eye.

So for this challenge we are going to send at least two text messages a week telling two different people how thankful we are for them. So by the end of the month we should have texted at least eight different people. The text messages can be very specific, or they can be more general, but whatever you say, by all means please make sure it is coming from the heart! I don’t know anyone who likes to receive encouragement that is forced and not genuine. If you are having trouble knowing what to say, spend some time in prayer. The Lord will lay on your heart exactly what to say that will bless the heart of the one on the receiving end of your message. If you do not have texting, then send out a quick e-mail, message a friend on Facebook, or even jot down a handwritten note and place it somewhere along that person’s path so they can find it in the midst of their day. There are many ways to let someone know that you are thankful for them and all they have done for you. The point of this is not what means we use, but that we follow through with letting others know that we are thankful for them!

May this challenge strengthen you as you strengthen others. After all, we are called to encourage one another daily. Blessings to you as you share your heartfelt thanks with those around you!

I would love to hear how this challenge and the other challenges have blessed you. Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know how the challenges have been a blessing to your heart or the hearts of others.

Extending The Hand Of Forgiveness

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times” Matthew 18:21-22

How many of us get frustrated with having to forgive someone for the same thing twice? I know I am guilty of not wanting to extend grace and forgiveness for a repeated offence. Jesus wants us to understand something in this verse. A person with a heart of compassion is hard to come across. Peter thought he was being compassionate when he asked if he should forgive seven times. But in the eyes of Christ, forgiving someone seven times for the same offence does not necessarily qualify us as having developed the characteristic of compassion in our lives. God does not just want us to be compassionate when we want to. He wants us to be characterized by a life filled and overflowing with compassion and forgiveness, and if that takes seventy-seven times to develop that characteristic in our hearts, than that is the path we need to take. Christ is not asking us to keep track of the number of times we bestow forgiveness on someone for repeated offences, that is not the point here. He is trying to nurture and develop in us a life characterized by compassion. He wants others to be able to see in us a compassionate heart. This is not so people can use us and abuse us. It is so others can see what Christ looks like by the way we live. It is so others can see Christ face to face. It is so others can identify that the compassion they see in us is not coming from us, but rather flowing through us and that the source of our compassion comes from Christ himself!

For many of us forgiveness doesn’t come easy. It requires us to swallow our pride, humble ourselves and extend the hand of Christ in the very moments we want to be extending the hand of revenge. We are not capable of repeatedly forgiving someone for the same offence and not carry around a chip on our shoulders about it without Christ operating in our lives. It is necessary that we allow Christ to work in our hearts so that forgiveness can flow freely in our lives. Otherwise, we will give up long before Christ has even had the opportunity to change our hearts.

To read more on compassion visit: The Lord's Compassion, Echoing The Heartbeat of God , Jesus Chose The Least Of Theses, Getting Dressed (Part 1)

Lord, I thank you that you desire to develop in us hearts that are filled with compassion and full of forgiveness toward others. I thank you that you are going to be right beside us in those times when we want to extend the hand of revenge rather than the hand of forgiveness and you are going to work in our hearts so that we can choose to forgive in those moments. I thank you that you want our lives to be characterized by a forgiving heart so that others can see you in us. We know that we are incapable of accomplishing this on our own and that it is only by you working in us that continual forgiveness can flow. Work on our hearts this week Lord, that we can extend the hand of forgiveness seventy seven times if needed! And let our lives be characterized by a continual flow of compassion extending from our hearts in each and every moment when forgiveness is needed.

The Power Of The Tongue

The tongue has the power to bring life, and encouragement, or the power to tear down and destroy to the very heart of a person. When we think back to our childhood, and the things people have said to us that burn in our memories often times they are not the positive, or motivating things that plague our memories. The things that we often remember vividly are the things that people have said to us that have cut us to the very core, the things that have broken our spirit and and haunted us for years. Words have the ability to hurt people so deeply that those words will follow them sometimes even to the grave.

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” James 3:9-10

“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Proverbs 12:18

The tongue is the most difficult part of the body to train in terms of lining it up with the things of God. So often it gets us into more trouble than we care to admit. Much of the responsibility of taming the tongue lies on us. However, we have a God who will help us in this overwhelming area. Our prayer needs to be:

“Set guard over my mouth, O Lord, keep watch over the door of my lips” Psalm 141:3

Outside of prayer, there are some other ways we can begin to gain power over our tongues. Second to prayer comes spending time hiding God’s word in our hearts (for more on this topic see my blog post entitled "Hiding The Word.") When we work diligently at hiding God’s word in our hearts God helps to keep us from sinning against Him (Psalm 119:11). Scripture also tells us that the mouth speaks whatever the heart is full of (Luke 6:45). So when we store up the good found in God’s word, then good things will flow from our tongues. 

The next area to aid us in gaining power over our tongues is examining how we are spending our time. If we are spending our time around others who do not control their tongue, how can we expect to keep our tongue in check.

“Do not be misled; Bad company Corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33

We must surround ourselves with those who are working on the same common goals as we are. Otherwise we will find our tongues having the power over us instead of us having the power over our tongue.

“He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.” Proverbs 13:3

Lord, we pray that you set guard over our mouths and keep watch over the door of our lips. It is so hard to gain control of this little body part. Yet, we know that when we come to you, you are going to help us in this area. Help us to be diligent about keeping watch over the things we say. We desire to have encouragement and blessing flow from our lips and not hurt and destruction. Help us to be diligent in your word and in prayer and help us to surround ourselves with others who are going to build us up. Thank you for your help in this difficult area! Lord, please go before us today and every day so that we may gain power over our tongue.  

For more about this topic please read: "Lord, Help Us Bite Our Tongue!"

Training Others In Kingdom Living

The beauty of the kingdom of God is that we can teach and learn from one another no matter what age we are. If we are a Christian, then we have a responsibility to train others in kingdom living. But when we approach training others, we can not stop at simply telling them about these things, or even by merely being an example of these things. While these two approaches are all well and good, they are a very authoritative approach to training. We must add a third level in order for the training of a person’s heart to be effective. The first level comes through hearing and it is, “do as I say”, the second level comes through observing and it is, “do as I do”, and the third level comes through training and it is “do with me.” The “do with me” moves from being authoritative in approach, to being more of a heart to heart training. The “do with me” shows someone we are willing to walk this thing out with them. We are willing to help carry the load and the burdens right alongside them. We are willing to be accountable with them and to them. The “do with me” is training out of our relationship rather than out of our authority.This shows compassion. It shows the heart of Christ. This is a level we don’t see as often because it truly takes someone who is committed to the heart of another person. It means that we must be willing to lay aside our own wants and desires in order to pour into training someone else in kingdom living. It is a sacrificial way of training, but also a way of training that is very effective in influencing the heart of a person. This type of training shows others that we are going to be right there in the trenches of their situations with them no matter what they may be facing. This type of training is not a forceful pushing, but rather a gentle leading. We should never force people into righteous living, but rather lead gently and at the pace that God is moving on their hearts. Please bear in mind that we as humans can not change anyone’s heart. We can only lead them to the feet of the one who can.

If we take a look at the culture in Biblical times, the training for an occupation was done often times within the family, but it was done always as an apprenticeship, out of relationship with the one they were training. The older would train up the next generation right alongside them. The “do with me” method of training was readily used. They didn’t give them a five point sermon and then expect their student to go and apply it. (Although there is a time and place for this method of teaching.) They had their students working right along with them day in and day out. The student would hear how to do something, see how to do it, and do it right along side their teacher. They encompassed all three levels of teaching in order to effectively train up the next generation in a specific skill. Our approach to kingdom training should look much the same way. We should bring others along side us as we train them in kingdom living.

“ Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”   Titus 2:3-5

I love how this section of scripture gives us a list of things that we can teach one another about. This section of scripture is geared toward the older women training up the younger women but conceptually we can all teach and learn from one another about each of these different things despite our age.

• Teach one another to love our husbands.
• Teach one another to love our children.
• Teach one another to be self-controlled.
• Teach one another to be pure.
• Teach one another how to be busy at home.
• Teach one another how to be kind.
• Teach one another how to be subject to our husbands.

This list is so interesting to look at, because for me there are several on this list that I am definitely in need of some growth and development. Having someone to speak into our lives in these various areas is what helps us to grow in our faith and our maturity in Christ. This list not only helps us grow in the things of the kingdom, but it helps us to simply become a better person all around.  

Now, lets go back to my original thoughts and see how they relate to this list we find in Titus. If we want to teach to the heart of someone about the things found on this list, then we should approach our teaching by bringing others along with us instead of simply telling them how to’s.  For example, if we want to encourage a friend of ours to love her husband more, we would be better off setting up a challenge where both of us would be responsible for doing something that shows our husbands love rather than telling her “the Bible says to love your husband so you need to do that more.” or “watch how I love my husband, now you should be doing that too.” The benefit of teaching others through the “do with me” level of training is that they hear about it, see it and put it into practice all at the same time while being accountable to someone else who is also hearing it, doing it and being accountable right along side with them. I don’t know about you, but I would be more challenged in my growth if someone was doing it with me then if someone was simply telling me how to do it by myself. Let’s not leave our fellow believers out on a limb dangling in their struggles. Let’s be a little bit vulnerable and climb up the tree to help them down. Many of us are willing to help others from the ground by yelling up to the one dangling from the limb what they should be doing, but not too many of us are willing to climb up the tree in order to show the other person how to climb down. The difference between the one training from the ground and the one training from the limb are two very different approaches. Which approach would effect your heart more?

Father, you are the ultimate example of a teacher. You have given us your word to help us to train not only ourselves, but also others in kingdom living. I pray that you help us to bring others along side us and train them in kingdom living by the “do as I do” approach. Thank you that you train us by this very method yourself. You bring us along with you, leading us gently. You don’t just tell us what to do and then leave us to figure it out all on our own with no other guidance along the way. Lord, help us to also remain teachable. There are so many areas in kingdom living that we need growth in and I pray that you send individuals into our lives to help us down off our limbs that we find ourselves on. Thank you for knowing our struggles and giving us the tools we need to help one another through those struggles. Thank you that you never fail us, you never give up on us and you never leave us dangling.

My Battle Verses

From the day I first started experiencing pain until the day I was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with having a stroke, 13 days had elapsed. To put this into perspective, strokes can kill an individual within a matter of hours. I managed to drag out a stroke for 13 long and painful days. Now, I share this not for pity, but rather because I want us to understand the importance of having scriptures tucked away in our innermost parts so that when times like this come, and it is inevitable, they will come, that we can pull them out and begin to rehearse those scriptures.This is how we can begin to fight the good fight of faith. There were two such scriptures that I battled so very hard with in those 13 days.

“ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”Jeremiah 29:11

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8

I can’t even begin to count the number of times I recited these scriptures, or parts of these scriptures during that time. I’m quite sure I sounded like a broken record. However, I just knew that whatever was going on with me, the chaos that I found myself in, that God held in me the palm of his hands and that he was going to take care of things. In the midst of my storm all I could do was recite the promises that the Lord had given me in order to get me through. 

The other lesson that I learned in those 13 days was one I was not expecting. I had always heard our pastors share when they traveled, that they coveted our prayers and I never fully understood what that meant until those days. I coveted the prayers of the saints so deeply because I knew it was those prayers that were going to pull me loose from the grip that death had on my life. I coveted those prayers so much that my spirit actually hurt. I know that may sound crazy, but I was in no physical condition to be able to intercede for myself, so I truly was relying on the prayers of others to swing the pendulum of death in the opposite direction. 

In the natural, my stroke should have taken my life, or at the very least left me severely and permanently disabled, but it did not. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt because of fighting with the word, and the power of prayer I am now a normal functioning member of society. My stroke has left no physical evidence of it’s existence. However, it has left a supernatural mark on my spirit that I can never possibly forget. I am so grateful for the lessons learned during this time. They are lessons that I cherish so deeply.

God truly does hear our cries! He hears both the intercessions we make on the behalf of others and the scriptures we repeatedly recite in the face of adversity! These things do not fall on the ears of a deaf God. He is faithful to hear our cries poured out in humility. So I encourage you to write scripture on your innermost parts so that in your times of need you have something to focus your attention on and rehearse. These scriptures will be your saving grace in the most difficult of times! 

Lord, I thank you for your word! I thank you for your promises that you reveal to us in your word! Help us to tuck these promises away in our hearts so that when times of adversity come we can pull them out and begin to battle with them. Lord, we know that there is power in your word. Help us to use that power to fight our battles. Help us not to get lazy in memorizing scripture because we never know when we are going to need it! Thank you also for the prayers of the saints. I pray that you help us to remember to lift up our brothers and sisters in the faith. We know that not only is there power in your word, but there is power in prayer. Thank you Lord that you have given us these two tools to encourage us in our faith in the most difficult of times. Thank you Lord that you never leave us nor forsake us. Thank you Lord that you hear our cries. Thank you that you hear when we repeatedly rehearse your word to get us through our challenges. You are so faithful!