"So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church." Acts 12:5
Can I ask you a question? I guess I just did! Let me ask you another question. When you pray do you expect anything to happen? When you ask God for something or to do something, do you really expect anything to happen?
You should!
There is this story in the book of Acts where Peter gets thrown into prison, so the church starts praying for his release. Now at this particular time that Peter was in prison, James the brother of John had just been killed. Obviously they had the same plans for Peter. So the church hold an all night prayer meeting and prays for his deliverance. In the middle of the night an angel of the LORD comes and gets Peter out of prison, so Peter runs to the home where the meeting was taking place to tell the people of the church all that God had done.
The funny thing is...at first they didn't believe it was him, they thought it was his ghost or his angel or something. They spent all that time praying that God would get Peter out of this situation and when he did the people didn't believe it.
Why do we do that?
The problem now is, we have de-evolved to the point of skipping the prayer part and going right to the non-belief part. We don't pray for anything serious anymore. When we do pray, it for stuff like our pets, or safe travelling, or my friend is being mean to me, or fluffy stuff like that.
We don't seriously pray for things because we don't seriously believe that God will do anything. I don't know if it is because we would rather rely on ourselves than see God move or we just plain don't think He will do anything. The fact is, in our story, what they prayed for they got. God moved!! He delivered Peter just like they asked!
What do you have going on in your life that you could pray...and I mean seriously pray about. I am talking about falling on your knees and asking God to move in this situation or that and believing that HE WILL DO IT!!!
What non-believing friend could you pray for, for opportunities to speak to them about Jesus?
Whose marriage is on the rocks that you could pray for restoration?
Who has an illness that you could pray for healing?
What situation in your own life are you struggling with that you could pray for guidance?
Jesus said ask whatever you want in my name and you will receive it. James says that you receive not because you ask for the wrong reasons. What that means is when you ask for something, why are you asking? Because you think it is the right thing to do? Or because you believe with all your heart that what you are praying for God will deliver?
Pray, talk to God like you believe what you are asking for will happen!!
May our LORD be with you
Josh
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
Worthless things
"Incline my heart to your testimonies
and not to selfish gain!
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your way."
Psalm 119:36-37-He
There is this picture post...thingy...floating around facebook. I posted it on my wall because it is a great saying and the speaker is one of my favorite authors, Francis Chan. The saying goes like this, "Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter".
I am a schemer by nature. I have so many ideas and so many things that I want to accomplish, it can get kind of annoying at times...just ask my wife. I have a tendency to float from one thing to another before accomplishing the first thing. I have had to learn to complete a project and see it to the end before I start another one, even if it is not going the way that I had planned originally. I'm not great at it but I am better than I used to be.
With all of these things that I want to do and want to accomplish, sometimes I have to stop and think...do the things that I do really matter??
All of these dreams and stuff I want to accomplish, does it really matter?
Is it going to make a difference?
Is what I am doing for my glory or for God's glory?
In Psalm 119 David writes and asks God to turn his eyes from worthless things. I love that phrasing. But I have to ask, do we ever ask that of God?
Are the things that you are doing worthless?
In the grand scheme of eternity, are they going to matter?
Sometimes, I really have to hold my tongue when I talk to students entering their college years (but maybe I shouldn't) and they tell me their plans and what they want to major in and do with their lives. I often wonder, where does God fit into all of those plans. I hear plans to major in things that will end up being...well...worthless. It sounds like Beaker from the Muppet's, "Me me, mememe me me me". I never hear plans to the tune of, "I want to major in such and such, so I can serve God in this way". I was with a student the other day who told me they wanted to major in a field dealing with mechanics. You should have seen the look they gave me when I suggested they could use that to figure out how to build machines that would dig wells in Africa for people who don't have drinking water.
It makes me so incredible sad when I hear students who have gone to church all their lives, make plans for their lives, that puts God last in their lives. That seems to be the cycle of the "American Dream". Go to college and major in something that will make you lots of money, serve yourself, have a nervous breakdown or mid-life crisis because you are ultimately unsatisfied because you are serving only yourself.
Paul says that whatever we do... do it for the Glory of Us? WRONG!! Do it for the Glory of God!!
How can we do that?
By serving others.
God says that we should not look to only our own interests but to the interests of others. THAT is something worthwhile!!
Are your eyes focused on worthless things?
May our LORD be with you
Josh
and not to selfish gain!
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your way."
Psalm 119:36-37-He
There is this picture post...thingy...floating around facebook. I posted it on my wall because it is a great saying and the speaker is one of my favorite authors, Francis Chan. The saying goes like this, "Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter".
I am a schemer by nature. I have so many ideas and so many things that I want to accomplish, it can get kind of annoying at times...just ask my wife. I have a tendency to float from one thing to another before accomplishing the first thing. I have had to learn to complete a project and see it to the end before I start another one, even if it is not going the way that I had planned originally. I'm not great at it but I am better than I used to be.
With all of these things that I want to do and want to accomplish, sometimes I have to stop and think...do the things that I do really matter??
All of these dreams and stuff I want to accomplish, does it really matter?
Is it going to make a difference?
Is what I am doing for my glory or for God's glory?
In Psalm 119 David writes and asks God to turn his eyes from worthless things. I love that phrasing. But I have to ask, do we ever ask that of God?
Are the things that you are doing worthless?
In the grand scheme of eternity, are they going to matter?
Sometimes, I really have to hold my tongue when I talk to students entering their college years (but maybe I shouldn't) and they tell me their plans and what they want to major in and do with their lives. I often wonder, where does God fit into all of those plans. I hear plans to major in things that will end up being...well...worthless. It sounds like Beaker from the Muppet's, "Me me, mememe me me me". I never hear plans to the tune of, "I want to major in such and such, so I can serve God in this way". I was with a student the other day who told me they wanted to major in a field dealing with mechanics. You should have seen the look they gave me when I suggested they could use that to figure out how to build machines that would dig wells in Africa for people who don't have drinking water.
It makes me so incredible sad when I hear students who have gone to church all their lives, make plans for their lives, that puts God last in their lives. That seems to be the cycle of the "American Dream". Go to college and major in something that will make you lots of money, serve yourself, have a nervous breakdown or mid-life crisis because you are ultimately unsatisfied because you are serving only yourself.
Paul says that whatever we do... do it for the Glory of Us? WRONG!! Do it for the Glory of God!!
How can we do that?
By serving others.
God says that we should not look to only our own interests but to the interests of others. THAT is something worthwhile!!
Are your eyes focused on worthless things?
May our LORD be with you
Josh
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Follow me, Jesus?!?
Blessed are those whose ways is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD!
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
Psalm 119:1-3-Aleph
We have some big problems that we struggle with these days.
Young men looking at Pornography and teaching their bodies to naturally respond in a very unnatural way.
Young ladies giving themselves away and doing whatever they can because they think it will make them feel loved and wanted.
Teen guys and girls making terrible life choices to the tune of "YOLO", (you only live once) and then finding unthinkable ways to get rid of the mistakes that they have made.
The kicker is, these big problems are not only happening outside the church, they are happening inside the church as well. In some cases, the problems are more frequent with "believers" than non-believers. What is wrong with us, the church, these days? How did we get to this point?
I don't know as though I have the answer but allow me to share a theory with you. We, as the church have become so complacent, we have stopped teaching that Jesus needs to be our lives, rather than add him into what we already have going on. Its like we don't drop everything when he says "Follow Me", we come to him and say "Jesus, Follow Me, be a part of the life that I already live, but don't change anything in it. Just be my get of of hell free card".
Am I wrong? We live life the way we think is best, then scream at God for not saving us from certain situations when the outcome is not what we expected. The above Psalm says blessed are those whose way is BLAMELESS, who walk in (there own way, no way) THE LAW OF THE LORD. Blessed are those who seek after him with their WHOLE HEART!!
Jesus said the only way to save your life is to lose it to Him!! If you try and hold onto your life you will lose it for good.
This is what we need to teach our sons and daughters and youth. Lose your life to Jesus and He will save it. Follow Him, rather than Him follow you.
Here are three ways we can do this;
-Teach the word of God rather than trends and fads. Talk about God and his way of living with our kids and teach these things in our Youth groups. If we do not teach the word of God in our groups, these kids will never know about it. When we teach the Word, it will inevitably answer their life questions and problems they face.
-Let's be less sensitive to those who are not believers yet. I am not saying be mean but often times we don't give kids the truth because they "are not believers yet". Encourage those kids to cry out to Jesus, to pray, to worship. Dong this will teach them to be a disciple even before they give their lives to Christ. That is the truth and the only way to live, why would we cover that up or try and dance around that with advice. Give it to them straight, talk to Jesus, pray to him, read the Word.
-Teach those who do claim to be believers to get rid of all the things in their lives that keep them from following Jesus and get serious about following him. Sometimes you have to draw the line in the sand and say, "either you are with Jesus or you go your own way". Continuing to teach these students that they can live life and add Jesus in when they want is only doing more damage. We need to teach them and our children that Jesus needs to be their life, Period.
May our LORD be with you
Josh
who walk in the law of the LORD!
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
Psalm 119:1-3-Aleph
We have some big problems that we struggle with these days.
Young men looking at Pornography and teaching their bodies to naturally respond in a very unnatural way.
Young ladies giving themselves away and doing whatever they can because they think it will make them feel loved and wanted.
Teen guys and girls making terrible life choices to the tune of "YOLO", (you only live once) and then finding unthinkable ways to get rid of the mistakes that they have made.
The kicker is, these big problems are not only happening outside the church, they are happening inside the church as well. In some cases, the problems are more frequent with "believers" than non-believers. What is wrong with us, the church, these days? How did we get to this point?
I don't know as though I have the answer but allow me to share a theory with you. We, as the church have become so complacent, we have stopped teaching that Jesus needs to be our lives, rather than add him into what we already have going on. Its like we don't drop everything when he says "Follow Me", we come to him and say "Jesus, Follow Me, be a part of the life that I already live, but don't change anything in it. Just be my get of of hell free card".
Am I wrong? We live life the way we think is best, then scream at God for not saving us from certain situations when the outcome is not what we expected. The above Psalm says blessed are those whose way is BLAMELESS, who walk in (there own way, no way) THE LAW OF THE LORD. Blessed are those who seek after him with their WHOLE HEART!!
Jesus said the only way to save your life is to lose it to Him!! If you try and hold onto your life you will lose it for good.
This is what we need to teach our sons and daughters and youth. Lose your life to Jesus and He will save it. Follow Him, rather than Him follow you.
Here are three ways we can do this;
-Teach the word of God rather than trends and fads. Talk about God and his way of living with our kids and teach these things in our Youth groups. If we do not teach the word of God in our groups, these kids will never know about it. When we teach the Word, it will inevitably answer their life questions and problems they face.
-Let's be less sensitive to those who are not believers yet. I am not saying be mean but often times we don't give kids the truth because they "are not believers yet". Encourage those kids to cry out to Jesus, to pray, to worship. Dong this will teach them to be a disciple even before they give their lives to Christ. That is the truth and the only way to live, why would we cover that up or try and dance around that with advice. Give it to them straight, talk to Jesus, pray to him, read the Word.
-Teach those who do claim to be believers to get rid of all the things in their lives that keep them from following Jesus and get serious about following him. Sometimes you have to draw the line in the sand and say, "either you are with Jesus or you go your own way". Continuing to teach these students that they can live life and add Jesus in when they want is only doing more damage. We need to teach them and our children that Jesus needs to be their life, Period.
May our LORD be with you
Josh
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