No Other Gods

Do You Worship Your Sin?

If anyone had asked me that question before, I wouldn’t have even had to think about the answer. “Of course I don’t!” Why would I worship the very thing that I constantly struggle with, that separates me from God???

It wasn’t long ago, I was in prayer, and I was repenting for some things that I find myself repenting of quite often, and the Lord asked me that question…”do you worship your sin?” to which I replied “of course not, I hate my sin! That’s why I am talking to you about this. I can’t seem to get rid of it!” He then reminded me of this scripture:

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”

I thought; “What does that have to do with my sin?”

Well, one of the topics that the Lord deals with me about regularly is the difference between Conviction and Condemnation. They are very different yet we tend to get them mixed up.

Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit for the purpose of revealing our sin to us but then pointing upwards the Father, where we find redemption. Condemnation comes shortly after conviction, from the enemy, to re-reveal our sin to us, but also to the keep our focus on our sin, resulting in shame and frustration.

So the Lord reminded me about this concept and showed me, that if you allow condemnation to take root in your life, then your focus is being consumed by your sin.

We are taught in scripture that an idol or a god is not just a golden statue, rather anything that you put your attention and focus on before God.

The purpose of conviction is to get your eyes off of yourself and your sin, and get your eyes on God. Condemnation does the opposite.

The bible says that when we come before God and repent of our sins, He casts our sin as far as the east is from the west and He even forgets that it ever existed.

So if He has forgotten our sin and we are choosing to focus on our sin…whom are we worshipping? God or our sin?

It’s a crazy thought, because we would never knowingly choose to worship that which hurts us the most. However, I would challenge you with this thought, “Where is your focus, on The Lord who has forgotten your sin, or on the very sin that holds you back?”

It’s time for us to let go and let God.

No other gods before Him!

Christ came for this reason:

John 10:10 “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”

Be Blessed!

DEEP ROOTS

Lamentations 3:19-24  I remember my affliction and my wandering,
 the bitterness and the gall.
 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
 for his compassions never fail.
 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

 

We all go through tough times. None of us are excluded from that. However, we all have to decide how we are gong to react and handle ourselves when the tough times come.

We’ve all had some one try to tell us that “It’s gonna be alright” or “God has everything under control,” which is awesome and true, but doesn’t it always seem like that’s coming from some one who is not going through what you’re going through? Or they are always talking from a past experience? Which always makes us think to ourselves, “It’s easy for you to say that, cause you aren’t dealing with it NOW.”

It’s easy for us to justify our depression or bad attitude because WE are the ones going through junk. But I love the scripture above because it shows Jeremiah, and how he responds, not just to where he was at one time, but where he was at that moment.

He finds himself going through hell, yet his hope and faith rise because he KNOWS the promises of God and the faithfulness of God.

How did he know?

Jeremiah’s hope and faith came from one thing…He was so deeply rooted in God that he knew God’s unchanging character.

If we will dig deep and root ourselves in the Lord through prayer and His Word, responding like Jeremiah in our own times of hurt will not be an issue.

Hope and Faith will always rise when you truly know the Father.

We need Deep Roots…

Why Am I Here? Part 2

To recap on “Why Am I Here? Part 1,” we are created for Connection.

Connection with God First, and created for connection with others second.

God created us for connection and relationship with Him. We read in Genesis how He made us in His image and His likeness and would walk in the Garden of Eden with Adam.

But it was also very important to God that we be connected with others as well.

Genesis 2:18 (MSG) God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.”

God saw, right away, that it was good for Adam to have a companion, someone to connect with.

Many people, appreciate connection with others, but than there are also those people that you would call “loners.” Those who always seem to keep to themselves, that human interaction is just not that important to them.

That would have been true for Adam in the beginning.

He had no choice! He was the only human on the planet.

But I think it’s unique and says a lot. That after God put Adam into a deep sleep, removed his rib, and created Eve, that Adam, even though never having seen another human, let alone actually have a relationship with one, immediately felt connection and knew that this was good and right.

Genesis 2:23-24 (MSG) The Man said, “Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh! Name her Woman for she was made from Man.” Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.

And even now we find that God wants to have connection with us and us with each other.

When Jesus was preparing to leave us here on earth to go back to his father, his final charge to us was this:

Matthew 28:18-20 (MSG) Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

As He is connected to us, we are to go connect with others and connect them with Him.

It’s our commission. Its what we were made for.

We were created for “connection.” Connection with both God and people.

Why Am I Here? Part 1

This is kind of the age-old question that people ask themselves at some point or many points in their lives.

Why am I here? What is my purpose? Why did God create me?

We have all been or will be at this point sometime in our lives.

Whether it’s when we are trying to figure out what school to go to, what person to marry, what job/career to pursue, etc.

Or maybe you have just found yourself in a place in life of feeling no purpose or even worth.

The truth is, at the base of everything, we were created for connection.

First, for connection with God and secondly for connection with people.

The Bible is the story of God’s pursuit for connection with us.

Genesis 1:1-2(MSG) “First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.”

Then after that He just starts creating things.

It doesn’t say why He started creating things(and eventually us) He just started doing it.

Later the Bible says in Revelation:

Revelation 4:11(NIV) “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

(MSG) – You created it all; It was created because you wanted it.

So it says that it was out of God’s WILL that we were created and have our being. God WILLED that we be here, and out of everything He created we were the only thing that was created in His image and likeness.

Genesis 1:26(NIV) Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…”

God wanted to have Connection and wanted to have it with us.

So why were we created? We were created with my many plans in mind, many relationships in mind, many purposes’ in mind, but ultimately we were created for “connection.”

In my next blog I will be talking about the other side of the “connection” that we were created for.

See you next week!

Who DO YOU THINK You Are?

We talk about “who God says we are,” a lot.

–        What our worth is in him.

–        What we are capable of.

–        What and who we are called to be.

But so often, we hear and talk about it and never really connect the final dots, which actually change us to being who we are supposed to be.

“Connection” is so important for the lives of believers. By “Connection” I am talking about the interaction and relationship that we were created to have with both God and people.

However, if we are not aware of who we are or who we are perceived to be, we will greatly miss out on the quality and depth of “connection” that we were created for.

Likewise, if you do not have a good grasp on who you really are, then people will never get to connect with the “real” you. How could they when you really aren’t even connected, with the “real” you?

There are many reasons why we believe and think about ourselves the way we do.

–        How we were raised

• Our Parents.
• Our siblings.
• Our teachers.

–        Our Job

• How our boss’s and colleagues treat us.

–        Our Friends

–        Our Mentors/Icons

• How we match up to them

All through out our lives, we struggle with being defined by so many other people, other standards and others images, which tend to be different than what we were made to be defined by, resulting in poor self-images.

One thing we should remember is that:

Your viewpoint of yourself will directly affect everything you do.

–        Choices

–        Relationships

–        Success

–        Dreams

So the question is: Who DO YOU THINK You Are?

Though God called Moses to lead His people out of slavery, Moses thought he was in adequate to accomplish the task.

Though God told Gideon that he would conquer an army of 180,000 with just his 300 men, Gideon swore he was to weak and afraid to walk it out.

It took a lot of convincing from God to make these men believe in themselves…the way God created them to be.

They had allowed themselves to be defined by there heritage, surroundings, perceptions, standards of others, etc.

What we believe about ourselves will determine the outcome of our lives.

I do not mean, what you believe about yourself and only yourself, but what you believe about yourself and God in you, working out in you what He created you to be.

Ephesians 1:11-14 (MSG) It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had His eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the over all purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it, found yourselves home free-signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

We are all in this life, learning how to be who we were created to be.

Everything we do in life is affected by this very principal.

If you do not find out, understand, believe, and accept who God says that you are, you will never reach your fullest potential.

–        Your relationships will suffer

–        Your dreams will suffer

–        Your self-image will suffer

–        Your ministry will suffer

I hope this sends you on a journey to really find this out for your self.

So I want to ask you again…Who DO YOU THINK You Are?

This book, the Word of God, is full of scripture, revealing to us, who we truly are as a result of Christ in us.

It’s our job to open it up, study, learn, and discover who we really are.

Walking by Faith

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

God loves our faith in Him. I believe our level of faith clearly depicts how close we really are with Him.

His letter to us, the Bible, is full of promises that He made personally to us.

Promises like:

“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 (NIV)

Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” Hebrews 13:5 (MSG)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6, 7 (NIV)

The scriptures were given to us to encourage us in tough times, so that we would have something solid to stand on when all else seems to be crumbling.

Sometimes in life, our situation doesn’t really reflect, in our eyes, what the Bible says God will do for us. It’s in those times that we have an opportunity to exercise faith (which pleases God) in trusting Him to meet all of our needs.

A few years back, a movie came out called “Evan Almighty.” This modern day Noah and the Ark story, has a scene where Evan’s (modern day Noah) wife is talking to God about how baldy she wants her family to be closer but it’s not happening. To which God responds with, “if someone prays for patience, I don’t give them patience. I give them the opportunity to be patient. If some one prays and asks for their family to get closer, I don’t make them closer, I give them the opportunity to draw close to each other in tough times.” (paraphrasing of course)

The point is…we know that without faith it’s impossible to please God. Therefore we know that God is going to give us opportunities to exercise faith in Him and what His word promises.

He can be trusted and His word is true.

I want to encourage you, the next time you have an opportunity to exercise your faith, take a leap and watch God carry you through!

Walk by faith!

 

Try Something New

I talk to people all the time that are frustrated with life and complain about how nothing seems to go right for them. How another guy has let them down, another rumor is being spread about them, their church isn’t deep enough, God never answers their prayers, when are things ever gonna start getting easier, when is something finally going to go their way, etc.

You may find yourself in a similar place in your life, and I would just like to simply ask you:

“What are you doing that is bringing these results? And if you don’t like the results you’re getting, than what could you change that will bring you different results?”

I heard a quote a while ago that spoke really loud and clear to me.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’re always going to get what you’ve always gotten.” – Susan Jeffries

So here is the deal:

If you want something different, try something different. Try something new.

In John 21, the disciples went fishing all night long an never caught a single fish. In the morning a man yelled out to them form the shore, telling them to try through their nets on the right side of their boat.

So they tried it. Their result: they had caught so many fish they needed to call to others to help them bring their nets in.

It was after they got their result that John said to Peter, “Look it’s the Master.”

Now many of the disciples were fisherman by trade. They knew how to fish. Yet when they weren’t getting the result they wanted they were willing to try something new.

I think its unique that the bible tells us that it wasn’t till after they tried the new thing, that THEN they realized it was Jesus talking to them.

Many times in life, we need to step out and try something new, yet we don’t always hear a big, loud, clear God voice. Sometimes we need to step out in faith trusting that God is directing us.

But just like the disciples, when you get your results, you will KNOW if it was Gods direction. A little scary I know, but if what you try isn’t right, then just try again.

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” – Steve Jobs

If you don’t like the results you are getting, TRY SOMETHING NEW. And if the new thing doesn’t work either, than try something new again.

God is big enough to take care of us along the way.

Don’t stay where you are if it’s not the life you were made for. Take a step of faith and try something new!

Know What You Know

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Faith…

Something we all love to talk about and would agree we all need, but have a hard time really using it.

I once heard the quote, “We like the message of faith, as long as we don’t have to use it.”

Ouch…I’d have to say that rings true even in my heart some times.

We know that the Bible says that it’s impossible for us to please God without faith. Yet, knowing it and applying are two completely different things, we so often find out.

Our level of faith says a lot more than just what we can get from God. I believe our level of faith and trust in God reveals our real intimacy level with the Lord.

When you are really close and intimate with someone, you KNOW whether what they say and promise is true or not.

So for us to say that we believe what the Word says is true, but then not stand on it in all things, really shows how close we really are with God.

Do you remember that game we would play as kids, called “Trust Fall”??

It was hard to just fall back without instinctively trying to catch yourself. Unless you really trusted someone like your mom or a friend that you were so close to, that you knew you could trust.

That’s the trust and faith that God wants us to have in Him. Whatever He says about us is true and we can take it to the bank!

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

So when it comes to different situations in your life where you need to exercise your faith and your trust in God, because they way things look and feel, don’t line up with what the Bible says, your mind set needs to be this:

“You know what you know because you know it. Not because you see it.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 We are called to walk by FAITH and not by sight.

Know what you know because you know it. Not because you see it.

Keep Your Word

Matthew 5:33-37 (NIV)  “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

Jesus put a lot of emphasis on the importance of us being people of our word and keeping the promises that we make to people, ourselves and to God.

Many times in life we make what I will call “little commitments.” Like ones we will make to ourselves. Like:

“I’m going to start exercising more because I am not healthy, or I am going to start spending more time in prayer because I need to strengthen my faith, or I am going to start spending more time with my family so I can leave a better legacy, and many things like that.

The reason I called them “little commitments” is because there are easily not kept, because no body knows about them but us.

Or we will make larger commitments to each other like:

“I’ll pay you back the money you are lending me,, or I’ll be at your game to support you, or I will help serve in your ministry, or I will be praying for you.” And on and on our commitments go.

We are all guilty of falling through with our promises but that doesn’t make it okay.

God really wants us to be people of our word. It’s is so important to Him, that His word says this:

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 (NLT) When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it.

That doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want us to make commitments. God loves when we make commitments and enter into covenants. Our entire existence is based around God’s desire for us to be in covenant with Him.

But He is so adamant that we follow through and be true to our commitments.

Vince Lombardi said this: “ The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

Maybe you find your self at the beginning of this year, having commitments you have made, not yet fulfilled.

Finish strong this year and do what you said you would do! There is still time!

Be some body who keeps your word!

It’s A Process

This life that we are in is a journey!

And on this journey, God takes us through a process of perfecting.

James 1:2-4(NASB) – Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. and let endurance have it’s PERFECT result, so that you may be PERFECT and complete, lacking in nothing.

God doesn’t allow us to go through the “process” just for the process’ sake. The process is preparation in us for something greater that’s coming.

I believe that God loves you so much that He will not give you your destiny until He has prepared you to handle it. He does not want you to fail.

You can look at examples in the bible of those who received a vision or promise of God of what their future held, yet God still took them through a time of preparation and character building so they could handle His plan for them later. I.E. – Abraham, Joseph, David, etc.

So God takes us through these perfecting processes. Purifying us and working out the kinks and junk in our lives. Much like a potter does with clay before he is able to make a vas or dish. Something beautiful!

Scripture says in a few different place that God is the potter and we are the clay.

An artist will take up clay … dull and grey and shapeless.

• They’ll begin to knead the clay, forcing out pockets of air trapped within the lump of clay.

•They’ll start working out grime, dirt, rock etc.

•They’ll throw the clay onto the wheel, turning the wheel and shaping the clay into a smooth sphere.

In this same way, God is the artist or the potter and we are His clay.

We are in God’s hands, just like clay in the potter’s hands.

•God kneads us, pushing and pulling, applying pressure to squeeze out weaknesses and imperfections before they become permanent and fatal flaws.

•God smoothes us and shapes us until, what lives and breathes before Him, satisfies the aspiration of His imagination.

When the potter takes the raw clay and begins the purifying process, he is not surprised when, in fact he knows that, impure things, and things that don’t look good will rise to the surface and come out.

That’s part of the purifying and refining process.

And he continues until his work is finished cuz he knows that once it has been made pure, it is ready for what it was created for.

This is likewise with God. Our mistakes and downfalls do not shock God. He is not caught off guard or surprised that we mess up sometimes.

You need to understand. I am in NO WAY saying that sinning is not a big deal and that it’s okay no matter what you do. NO WAY!

The bible tells us to stay away from sin.

2 Corinthians 6:17 – So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good,” says God. “Don’t link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself.

And there is a big different between junk working its way out of you in the purifying process, and you continually allowing junk into you!

BUT while God is purifying you and letting you go through the process, that will make you into who you were created for, and you make mistakes like we all will…

He will NOT give up on you! He is not finished with you!

He who has started a good work in us will finish it to completion.

– Early in the last century, sculptor Gutzon Borglum gazed at the cliffs of South Dakota’s Black Hills. As any great artist would, He saw what no one else could…the sculpted faces of US presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. After 14 years, he finally completed his project — Mount Rushmore.

How in the world did Borglum foresee such a work of art by looking at a cliff?

Cause he envisioned what those Black Hills could become.

Just like that sculptor could see that masterpiece when all it was, was a rocky cliff, God can see us and does see us as WHO HE HAS CALLED US AND CREATED US TO BE.

It’s A Process.