SOLD OUT!

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR - What are you waiting for? What event in life do you need to finally convince you that the way you are living your life is not worth it? So frustrated day in and day out. Lack. Lack is the one word that defines your existance. Never enough. The day leaves you exhausted. You come home and distract yourself with entertainment. You 'Live for the weekend'. Unsatisfied. When will you believe that Christ died for you and not just the minister and the preacher. We have all suffered greatly because all who have heard Christ have not followed Him. Did you not understand that if you heard His voice and accepted Him than it was to you whom He called to a life from that point forward in service to Him?

SACRIFICE – I know. In the past it seemed too much. You have a family and friends and a routine. Where has that got you? I can tell you; it has left you unsatisfied, wretched in your hearts, deperessed, dependant on medication to provide for a “chemical imbalance”.

WHY ARE YOU OUT OF BALANCE TO BEGIN WITH -  Is it not because you are living in a rebellion against the call of Christ on your life? Did you not think there was a blessing for you in following Jesus that is more than what you can hold in your hand? You tell me. You have your home. You have your big-screen t.v. You have the furniture. But, is it bringing you peace? How's your relationship with your spouse? Children? Family? I can tell you. You don't have to lie to me. It's written all over you. What do I mean? There's no power in your testimony. Those around you are not shaking at the power of Christ in your life. Nobody speaks of you. Let me tell you something. Those who are on The Path of following Jesus are dividers! What do I mean? I mean this. They are either sought after or despised! People love them or hate them. Of those who are fully committed to following Jesus leave noone a choice to “not have an opinion.”

IT'S MY FAULT - I know this because I was (am) one of those people who ignored the call for far to long. Let me tell you where that led me: Bondage, Debt, Division with my spouse, rebellion of my children. Should I go on? Of course not! You already know it for yourself! It's my fault and my sin, but no more!

I'M SELLING OUT FOR CHRIST AND I'M TAKING MY FAMILY WITH ME - I'm tired of that old life. I'm tired of ignoring Christ's claim on my life. I'm not ignoring it anymore. I'm following Him. I'm selling out. Goodbye house and mortgage I can't afford. Goodbye material possesions that have no purpose for God. Goodbye curses; bring on the blessing! Yes, and I am taking my rightful place as the leader of my family. I am taking the wife given to me and I am leading her and my family to Jesus. To following after Him and experiencing the joy and peace that come from following Him and Him alone!

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN - I don't know, but for the first time since I have been saved and filled with His Holy Spirit I'm excited again! I know there will be trouble, but not without His Peace. He gives peace not as the world gives! THANK GOD FOR THAT! I'm done with this world folks. It's a curse. It's a trap and a lie. This world holds nothing for me anymore. I see where it leads. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

WHAT'S STOPPING YOU FROM GOING WITH ME - But, how will my family survive? How will they be provided for? That's what is in your heart, but you don't say it out loud when asked. We come up with all sorts of reasons to feed our delusions like “Someone has to support the missionaries.” Yup, I agree. I thought that was Jesus job though? What you are really saying is “I don't have faith to believe that Christ meant that for me.” When in fact He did. If you heard His call then He meant it just for you. “Follow me.” That's what He said. “I will make you fishers of men.” That's what He said. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” That's what He said.

YES THERE WILL BE TROUBLE – Yes, there will be trouble. Yes there will be times of unknown immediate answers to your need, but won't it be so good to know that you are living by faith and not by sight? That you will have the greatest peace there is in knowing that you are one with Him! Hand in hand with Him? Give that life to me! I want it and I want it now! I want it today! Give me Jesus and nothing else!

JUST GET OUT OF MY WAY – For those of you who would say “Calm down Chad. Let's think this through.” Really? You want me to think this through. Okay, I've spent the last twenty years thinking this through. Give it a rest! Save your words. I've “sat” and “thought” long enough. Give me Jesus. He is my portion!

COME WITH ME - Don't sit there. Come with me. Make yourselves dependent on Him. Cast yourselves at His feet and I guarantee you will learn about prayer!

HAVE I GOT YOU STIRRED UP NOW - I sure hope so. This country (USA) has fallen by the way side because to many of us, Christ's Church, have not understood that we were to be wholey and soley for Him and Him alone.

Pick up your cross and follow me...

Three Nails for a Clean Heart

Our natural tendency is to shy away from prayer. We already dread the time we will spend there before we ever start. Even those who are given to spend more time in prayer than perhaps some others will even feel it in their own flesh as well. Resistance. You know why. The weakness of the flesh. The sinfulness of the flesh. The guilt of our own hearts condemning us. If we would just understand that it is just what prayer is for that the answer for these and much more would be found with our heads and hearts bowed before God.

Why does this happen? - We know for ourselves that prayer is a sacrifice in many ways outwardly. It is a sacrifice of time and we know instinctively it is a sacrifice of our own wills. We don't even truly consider that the sacrifice of these two things alone our worth it. Sadly, we never have truly experienced what it has meant to lay hold of God. Prayer is a sacrifice. That's why this happens. We are told in Romans 12:1 that we should present ourselves “holy and pleasing to God.” Before we can be presented we have to be examined. When Yahweh gave the commands for the sacrifice He did it with order. There was an order to be followed. Principal of this order is that the sacrificial lamb was to be “unblemished”. The high priest was to examine the sheep for errors. Simply put, if there was anything wrong with the sheep then it was rejected and could not be offered as a sacrifice.

So that's what's happening - YES! If you have accepted Jesus as your saviour then you have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord's Spirit will do everything to keep us in a right standing with God. Do everything to keep us in His favor! Do everything to keep us UNBLEMISHED! The Holy Spirit will prompt us all day long to stay in God's ways. Will direct us according to our thoughts. Warn us of danger. Show us how we are to proceed. If we, by faith, follow and obey His guidance then we maintain a clean conscience. We, the living sacrifice, are examined. Your heart will be examined for truth. Whatever the truth is then it must be confessed and exposed.

The crucified life - For most, sadly, they only see confession as a sad ordeal that has always led to the same place; back to where they are now. Nowhere. No more power in life than what they have always had. Listen to the Lord's story. Have you not seen in God's Word? YOU HAVEN'T EVEN PRAYED YET! I don't care how long you have been a Christian. I don't care how long you have attended church. If you have never understood this then you have NEVER pressed in. Listen to what I am telling you. You haven't even begun! Don't let this be a condemnation, but a sign of hope! That which I had thought of as prayer and never received answer for wasn't even prayer! That which you have always called prayer was just the beginning! You have never made it before God's throne where the blessings of prayer and the offerings of our heart can be offered! To that place where you can come away from with a full assurance YOU HAVE WHAT YOU ASKED FOR! But, what if the confession of your heart is that of the crucified life? What if you can with boldness, instead of a confession of sin, let your confession be that of a clean conscience? That you can believe God and have your heart be examined and that through faith (believing God's word and work) that you have been made clean. Confess your sins. Accept God's grace. And THEN press on to the throne of God!

Before the Throne - Now you can pray. Now you can plead your case before our Lord! It is here that we can present ourselves and God's promises to before the throne. We come before the King of Kings and present His Words, the Law, and we confess them before the Lord AND DO NOT GIVE UP until we have a full assurance in our hearts that we have received our request!

Are you with me now? - Can you see now what your sin is and has been? Can you hear your heart tell you now what your true nature has been? That sin of unbelief. Unbelief is the cause of our loss. It is why we continue to lose with God in prayer. Again and again we have hung our heads in shame and walked away without the blessing we came for. The shame of walking away from the throne empty-handed has happened more times then we can count. Nobody has ever told you that today, even today, you could have walked away with a fullness of faith. Walked away from the throne of God with a full assurance. That you could have heard His decree; His promise to you and your blessing. That you could have seen in your life God's working and manifesting of His power! God's Word cannot fail! God's promises cannot come back empty! A fullness and boldness of faith is required. A fullness and boldness that does not shy away. Have you not read that the one who doubts can expect nothing? Do not let this be you forever! Do not go away again empty-handed! Come with me and kneel before God and confess your sins. Read in God's word how He has cleansed you of your sin by His death on the cross. And that even now, by his own blood, is interceding on your behalf and washing you clean!

Brothers and sisters, you have not even begun to pray! But praise God! We will! Yes! Yes! We will!!

A HEART FOR PRAYER

When the Lord first did His mighty work in me I was led to a place I had not spent much time. Where was that place? Prayer. Having been born into and raised up in the same church or body of believers it was natural to have prayer. We prayed before studies and we prayed at the ending. We prayed often during our morning worship at select times. However, the “polite” church praying was not enough for me. Please do not misunderstand that what I say is laying blame or accusation of my church! Never! What I am saying is that in my local church there is order. We seek as a whole to provide a chorus of a UNIFIED voice to God. A chorus of voices crying out together silently and also openly in our churches is a good thing!

What I am saying is that the work God wrought out in me was a work for me and for them and now is for you. You see, the personal prayer life and the prayer life of a church can be two different things. What I witnessed and as my own personal experience in the church on Sundays never exposed me to the messy battle and war that can be in prayer when we are alone; the personal individual life that we are to have if any personal growth into Christ our head is to take place. For me, as it is for most, I was driven to prayer by an over abundance of sin in my life. Problems and worries and guilt and a lack of knowledge... I could go on and on. For a vast majority of all people I do not think I would be amiss to say that this is the “normal” path for all. Some tragedy in our life that brought us to our knees. Sadly, most have stayed only on their knees as long as the current tragedy persisted. Once the tragedy was ended the longing and need for prayer went away also. They have never found it to be or saw it to be what Christ demonstrated it to be for us. A place not only for pleading, but a place for PRESSING IN! They have never understood that just because the Lord commanded us to go to a quiet place doesn't mean that once we are there that it is to always REMAIN QUIET!

No, brothers and sisters in Christ listen to me. Let me plead with you for a moment. My heart breaks and even now I am in tears for you. Won't you walk with me for awhile? Would you let me be faithful to my Lord and my Saviour and allow me to walk in faith with the commission given to me and allow me to lead you to His throne? It is my prayer that you will. It is my hope that when you find my words here that you will be drawn to come back as often as you will to walk with me as we go before the throne. Let me help you to break out of a drought. Let me assist you to the place where any and all strength for any work is to be found and met by the loving grace of our Lord Jesus.

For as long as it is His will you will find me here as we walk together to the throne of God. It would so encourage me to know that you are walking with me. If you would like to take this journey with me then please let me know by simply commenting on this blog “I am here”. Blessings to you from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ our Mediator in heaven! Amen.

Wearing His Name

The scriptures say we are to "pray in Jesus name". But, do we understand what that means?

Let's look at this in a way we can understand in today's terms. When we see a child that resembles their father not only in the way they look, but also in their deeds we say "he certainly us his father's son!". Let's take it a step further and go on to a family. How often in life have we come to know a whole family and seen that the whole of that family exhibit a definitive trait and we say "that boy certainly is a Smith!"

This is what it means to "pray in The Name of Jesus". Everyone can see that the traits of the Father and the family exhibit themselves so clearly that you "wear the name of that family".

We do not worship as the pagans do as if by some magical use of a name it would bring some special significance. We do not "work" our prayers as if by some special combination of words used in just the right order would "work the magic". Leave that to the Harry Potters!

We pray in in the name of Jesus EVERY TIME WE PRAY only to the extent that the life of Jesus is evident in the child.

Is your heart clean? Are your thoughts pure? Has Jesus been made for you your shield so that anytime you should pray you pray in His name?

WHAT YOUR HEART THINKS

Today's Scripture: Romans 7

Powerless – That's where I have spent most of my christian life, powerless. I do not think I would be wrong to say that most christians can confess that it is the same for them as well. We've watched as preacher and teacher have come before us at Sunday worship and preached a rousing serman that has uplifted and encouraged us and then by lunch timeafterward all sense of peace and right are thrown out of balance by the fighting of our children or lack of agreement between you and your spouse making you wonder if those who are with you sat in the same room. I felt powerless. I had no power to keep the peace I had while sitting and listening to the preacher. My own frustration and lack for the correct answers to questions asked of me adding to my frustration so that I was time-after-time no better off than those around me, christian or not.

That's just the way it is – Not only is this a popular line from a song in the 1970's (I think), but also an unspoken theme for the way most lead their lives. The outward turmoil to be matched with inward turmoil; only to be at peace when we are being entertained here or there and our problems momentarily forgotten. And so it goes day in and day out month after month and year after year.

You mean I can read for myself? - The answer to that from most is yes, but no. I understand, that's just a confusing sentence. What are you talking about? I can only talk about my own experience. I can only tell you what happened to me. I sat in Bible studies on Sundays and I went to small group sessions through the week, listening to scripture and reading scripture to others, but time and again I began to see a pattern that was frustrating me and I couldn't put my finger on it. What I realized only much, much later was this; Confused people who don't even know their own hearts giving their interpretation of what the Lord says or is saying about scripture they had read and what that means to be lived out. The problem is that I was in the same boat as they. I could see, perhaps, some that seemed to have it “more together” than me, but looking at them as a whole I wanted to be nothing like them. Looking at myself as a whole I didn't want to be like me either. I was just like them. Perhaps they had understanding. Perhaps I had understanding, but there was still no lasting peace. So easily stolen day after day, week after week, year after year.

Something has to break - And thankfully it did! What broke was me. Just like the man of Romans 7 frustration came to the fruition and God's Word was proving true and I broke. This wasn't just a little breaking either. It was a shattering. The exact events and God's supernatural intervention I may share later, but for now I will only tell you how God's intervention in my life was worked out in me.

Need a translator? - The answer is NO. A thousand times no. We translate folks. We translate to hide what's really on our minds or in our hearts. We translate in our lives. The problem is what we have translated into speech and in our actions is not what is in our heart. I'm speaking to those who have been baptized and have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. What we say is not how the Lord spoke it. What we do is not what we were told to do. We do this until we believe our own lies we speak and believe our own actions are what we wanted to do. We deceive ourselves and do not know what our own hearts think. Ahhhh, the life of a hypocrite.

Man...I'm slow – I was shattered. I no longer trusted in “I” and I know longer trusted in “you”. Right where I needed to be. No longer trusting in myself, my own thoughts or the thoughts of others I could only hope and trust in Jesus to be and do all for me He said He would, come what may. Living for so long in the church and having read the Word many times over I came to the realization “I know nothing”.

Jesus take the wheel – Finally and utterly broken I was in the place where Jesus could finally prove Himself to me and in me. I stopped hiding in speech and in action. Wow, what an eye opener. I cannot tell you how many times I had to say “I don't know” where before I would have offered my educated guess and submitted it as fact (LIE). How many times I had to face consequences for previous lies and actions and accept the punishment for actions I had taken before Christ's intervention. I spoke the truth as God revealed it to me and was reviled by friends and family alike. No longer caring to please man I spoke it plainly as God was giving it to me. Friends became enemies and enemies became friends. For the first time ever in my life I was walking in Truth! But, not just in Truth, but in Spirit! If Jesus said it to me I said it out loud. If Jesus told me to do something I did it. No questions asked. No thought for myself taken. I was done with me.

Yup, this is a mess – My life in my hands was a mess and God had a lot of cleaning up to do. That means a lot of things I had set up God had to tear down. Relationships that should have never been were broken. In all my years of being a “Christian” and reading the Word and going to church God revealed only one thing that was true in me “Nothing can snatch me from my Father's hand”. Brothers and sisters it was tough. So many times I felt myself wanting to cringe from speaking the truth or doing something God had told me I should do. I was miserable, but my heart was at peace!

I will pick up with my next blog where this one leaves off. Until then please feel free to share your thoughts with me. I would be so encouraged to hear what God has layed on your heart!

Jesus bless you!