Losing My Life

    Following Christ is not an easy path, even though it is the right one. We go through many difficult seasons that God uses to test and strengthen our faith. When we are being grown in our endurance we are not usually grateful in the moment, but He always knows whats best for us in the end.     I just want to encourage you to keep on going today. Run this race to the end, even when you feel like stopping. There is a special reward for us at the end of this journey when we stick to following Jesus with all we've got. Don't let the weariness of your flesh hold you back from the rewards that come from listening to your Spirit! James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (ESV) Revelation 2:10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten day...

Isaiah 40:28-31 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.     This is one of those verses we hear over and over again. When we hear verses so often it is easy to let them lose their meaning. After reading this verse for the umpteenth time this week, it took on new meaning to me. The verse doesn't say our strength will be renewed on its own, it says that they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.     That made me think. If I am feeling weary and worn down, am I waiting on the Lor...

    I have been doing a lot of thinking recently about the phrase, "guard your heart," and what all goes into it. Why does Jesus ask us to guard our heart and what does it mean to do that? What I found is that the word stresses the importance of our hearts everywhere. There are countless scriptures referencing our hearts. Our hearts are very important to Jesus.     Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts because our lives flow from it! Our hearts are the core of who we are. What we fill it with determines where we are going in life. If we want to be going towards Jesus, we have to be careful to feed our hearts life and goodness. But if we fail to guard ourselves against the evils of the world, we may find ourselves down a very different path.     Jesus stresses a "pure" heart-- a heart that is filled with His purposes and not that of the world. When we accept Jesus our Spirits and hearts are reborn and new. We then have to be careful to nourish them ...

    When we view God do we view Him as a means to get what we want, or is He what we want? Those are very different things. Sometimes I feel as if I am using Jesus to get what I want like a spoiled child asking for a new toy. I get impatient about things I feel I am entitled to or that He has promised me. I believe that I am not the only one who sometimes has treated our God like this.     The Lord does have promises for us that are written into His word. He has given us the right of sonship and sees us through the eyes of His perfect Son. But for us to act as if we earned those things is completely incorrect. They are gifts from our loving Father. So why do we use the giver to get to the gift when it should be the opposite? The gifts point to the giver!     If you don't feel like you are getting a lot of "gifts" at present, maybe it is because your heart is too much invested in the gift and less in the giver. All Jesus wants is our hearts and if somet...

    There are many people in our faith who claim to follow Jesus but they have zero passion for Him. They don't love Him or His people, they just show up for church and say they are Christians. Unfortunately, many people think this is what Christianity is about. But be assured, it isn't. Jesus was upset with the church in Laodicea for this same thing. He chastised them for being lukewarm.     Our lives should be defined for our love and need for Jesus. When we put ourselves in a position where we think we know it all already, like Laodicea did, we take Jesus out of the equation. We need to live in a state where we always recognize our great need for Him. In our flesh and sin, we are worthless. But with Jesus we have everything we need.     Jesus pointed out to Laodicea that they were miserable, poor, blind, and naked without Him. It is the same for us. But if we search for Him, He will be found. He will make us rich and clothe us in white garments. Don'...

    The church of Philadelphia is unique in the fact that it is the one church of all seven who didn't have any criticisms from Jesus. Their letter was more to encourage them to stay on the track they were already headed down. That is the goal for us all. We should strive to posses the qualities that the church in Philadelphia did.     Even though the church in Philadelphia had "little strength," they still managed to follow God's word. Sometimes it's easy to convince ourselves that we are too tired to devote any time or effort to following Jesus. Maybe we don't think about it outright, but we believe it and therefore back away from Jesus and His community. The beauty of the Philadelphia church was that they pressed on even when they were weak and never denied Jesus in the hard times, as is tempting for us all.      The Lord brought those who came against Philadelphia to their feet. They admitted the truth and recognized His people for who they wer...

Revelation 3:1-6 “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’" (ESV)     Sadly, I believe what is described above is what plagues many churches across the globe today and turns people away from Christianity. When churches profess they believe one thing, and f...

Revelation 2:19-28   “I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things. “But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality. “Therefore, I will throw her on a bed of suffering, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve. “But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching (‘deeper truths,’ as they call them—depths...

Revelation 2:13-16  “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city. “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth." (NLT)     To the church in Pergamum, Jesus commends them for their faithfulness. Interesting that what He told the church in Smyrna they were doing wrong was just what those in Pergamum were doing right! They lived in an area that made it particularly difficult to stay devoted to Christ because of all the persecution, yet...

    Like I said yesterday, we can learn a lot from looking at what Jesus had to say to the seven churches in Revelation. I want to explore what He has said to all of them. Today, we look at the church in Smyrna. Revelation 2:9-11 “I know about your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich! I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to Satan. Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life. “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death." (NLT)     Jesus starts by telling them that He knows where they are at. He sees their suffering and He has not forsaken them. Oftentimes we feel the same way. We go t...

    In the book of Revelation, John writes all about a vision He had from the Lord. The book starts with John recording what Jesus said to seven different churches. I believe we can learn a lot from the seven churches. They exemplify mistakes made by different churches and Christians and what Jesus says about it. Most of us can see ourselves in some or all of the churches. Today I want to talk about the first church addressed-- the church at Ephesus. Revelation 2:2-7 ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lamps...

    Rarely do we take time to actually process what we are saying. We think something and it comes out of our mouth and we immediately regret it. Today I want to take a second to reflect on the importance of what we say and how it interconnects with what we think and what we do.     In the past I have often mentioned the importance of keeping your thoughts in check. We can choose to either dwell on the things of this world or on Heavenly topics. It is a constant battleground in our minds as we choose what thoughts we toss out and which we meditate on. We have to remember it is never a good idea to meditate on sinful thoughts, even without intent to do them. What we think determines what we say and what we say determines what we do. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think abou...

    We are called to live in the community of Christ. That is where we are able to draw strength from one another and flourish in our faith. However, we should also be able to stand on our own with Jesus. I believe He wants us to be more dependent on His strength than the strength of those around us.     There are times when He allows us to be separated from our community for a short time to strengthen our personal relationship with Him. Community is undoubtedly important, but do not let it become a crutch for your own personal relationship with Jesus. You have everything you need available to you through Him directly. We do not need to rely completely on the Jesus we find in others.     Remember today to take time to devote to your personal relationship with Jesus. Of course, we should never stop meeting together with our fellow believers, but we have to remember that don't need them to constantly surround us for us to make a difference in the world. I...

    We all go through times when we feel weak and weary. We may not feel we have the energy to connect with God because we are so distracted with the busyness of life. Personally, during those times I feel like I cannot be used by God. But I am reminded that no matter what is going on with me, He can use me.     In our weakness His strength is made evident. I think that Jesus especially likes to use the times we are feeling insufficient to show us that His grace is! He is more than enough to fill in our weaknesses. It is in those times that He reminds us that it isn't our strength by which we make a difference, it is by His.     If you are feeling insufficient today, remember that He is more than enough. Lean into Him despite what you may be feeling and remember that He is truth. It doesn't matter where we are in life, Jesus will never change. When we have Him working through us, what could go wrong? 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is...

    Many times when we do not like someone upon our first impressions of them, we tend to write them off completely. Or else one bad experience taints our entire view of a person. Unfortunately, human nature is to pull back from things that we do not feel will be pleasant to us. We harden our hearts to people that we feel will cause us pain or inconvenience. Yet this is totally unbiblical.     Christianity should be about love and acceptance, but the world's view of it is hatred and judgement. Why do we dismiss the people who need Jesus the most to protect our own skin? We need to start changing our mentality as the body of Christ. We should be looking at people with Jesus' eyes of compassion and reaching out with His hands of love. When will we realize that people act the way they do in response to what they are feeling deep down. Were we not all the same while we were yet sinners? Before Jesus redeemed us and made us whole, we were the same way.     S...

    From the outside looking in, many people look at Christians for what they give up. They see them avoiding all the "fun" things of life and don't understand why. This is a huge misconception in the eyes of the world and likewise in the eyes of the Christian community. I daresay most of us do not even understand why we give up so much and resolve that it is just the "Christian" thing to do. But I want to point out that it is not about what you give up, but what you gain.     Jesus has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. At first we are living in darkness and do not recognize what is good and what is evil. This is why He gave us His word. It shows us in black and white what is beneficial and what is harmful to us. God never intended for us to live a boring life without things that are pleasurable. In fact, He intended the opposite! But the world's idea of what is good is only pleasurable to the flesh. What Jesus calls good nourishes ou...

    The way we view ourselves is important to our relationship with Christ. When we see ourselves as righteous and having it all together, we make ourselves unteachable and unyielding to His truths. We have expectations to be raised up and recognized, yet God sees our stone hearts and does the opposite.      A simple reminder today of how far you have come. Remember how Jesus rescued you from your sin and the ways of the world. He has redeemed your undeserving soul out of His great love for you. In no universe could we ever be worthy of that and it is wrong for us to think so. Praise the Lord that He has had mercy on you! Thank Him and He will exalt you to where He sees fit, not where you deserve.  Luke 18:9-14 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself...

    When Jesus' disciples ask Him to elaborate on the parable He has just told, He replies with another similar parable. This part further clarifies that we should be vigilant in doing what we know is right so that we may be rewarded when the time comes. The reason I broke this into two parts is for the last part of this parable.      Jesus goes on to say that those who knew their master's will and did not act on it will be punished more than those who did not know His will and acted the same. This means that there is a far greater responsibility for us to do right when we know what right is. If you are willingly living in sin when you know about the proper alternative, you would be punished greatly if Jesus came today. Those of us who have seen the light are expected to walk in it.       So again I urge you not to wait! If you have known the Lord, do not walk away. Come back to His arms today and live how you know is right. I promis...