Learning To Abide

Fear, worry, and doubt are un-Christian practices.

How can I say this? Because Jesus says this.

Jesus tells us not to worry. If we ignore him and practice worrying, then we are disobedient to Jesus. 

Or, to put it another way, worry is a sin.

When we worry we are saying that we doubt that God is in control. We give power to our fear and we act as if God isn't big enough to handle our life.

Jesus also tells us not to be afraid. He tells us not to fear men, who can only destroy our body but not our soul. He even tells us not to fear Him. 

His Apostles remind us in the New Testament that perfect love casts out fear, and that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 

So, if we are ruled by our fears, we are not behaving like a Christian.

Doubt is a natural human emotion, just like fear and worry. But like those other emotions, doubt isn't something that a follower of Jesus can practice. 

If we are abiding in Christ, then we cannot doubt Him. If we go all in with Jesus, then that means we place all of our hope in Him, and if we do that we are not doubting, but trusting. 

Of course, none of us ever perfectly avoids these three things - fear, worry and doubt - but the point is that we do not practice these things. We don't allow fear, worry and doubt to remain. We cast those things out quickly and we refuse to be ruled by those because Jesus is our King and we are submitted to Him.

If we are abiding in Jesus, then we are practicing faith, hope and love, not fear worry and doubt.

Let's continue to walk in our new nature, which is Christ in us.

-kg

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THE SKY IS [NOT] FALLING>

FEARLESS>

WORRY NOT> 

You May Hate Yourself, But God Is Crazy In Love With You

You make His heart sing.
He can't stop thinking about you.
He throws back His head and He sings over you.

The voices of the angels ring in His ears night and day, but what He yearns for most desperately is to hear your voice calling out His name.

You think you're worthless, but He thinks you're worth dying for.

The value He has placed on you is greater than you can imagine.

He literally gave His life to be with you.

When He saw how much it would cost to make you His own He didn't blink an eye, He paid the ultimate price and now you are His.

Now nothing can ever separate you from His love.

He created Eternity so you could get to know Him better.



When God looks at you, He sees His beloved. He sees His child. He sees a face He cannot wait to kiss, and a hand He cannot wait to hold. 




His fondest desire is to be with you forever.

He has plans for you. Good plans. Fantastic dreams designed to fill your heart with joy and your eyes with wonder.

So, you might hate yourself, but God is crazy in love with you.

Let that love change your heart. Let His love transform you from within. 

Trust in Him. He wants nothing but the best for you.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit." - 1 Cor. 2:9-10

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I Won The Lottery!

Why do people dream of winning the lottery?

Obviously, it’s because they dream of a life without worry and stress.

We all want that, don’t we?

Of course, most of us believe that if we had millions – or even billions – of dollars in our bank account, we’d have nothing to worry about. We’d be set for life.

But, as citizens of the Kingdom of God, we already have that assurance from Jesus.

Jesus tells us that our daily bread is secure and He has our today – and our tomorrow – under complete control.

In Matthew 6, Jesus confidently informs His disciples that if they will change their perspective to align with the Kingdom of God, they can enjoy the peaceful, stress-free sort of life they’ve always dreamed of:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" [Matthew 6:25-26] 

So, according to Jesus we already have all we need for our life today. Our Heavenly Father knows what we need before we ask and He has already taken care of everything in advance.

Jesus also tells us that we do not need to worry about tomorrow. Why? Because God has everything - absolutely everything - under complete and perfect control:

"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." [Matthew 6:31-34 ]

Of course, if God is in control that means that you and I are not.

Here is where most of us really struggle, honestly. 

We want to enjoy a life without worry, but we also want to be in control of our lives. Somehow we think we are in control, but we’re not. Control is an illusion. Only God is in control, and if we rest in the reality of His unending love for us, we can let go of that steering wheel with joy knowing that He knows what He’s doing.

Without trust, our lives are filled with anxiety and strife. But if we can let go of everything and trust that God is good, that He really loves us, and that He really only wants what’s best for us, then trusting Him is the only response that makes sense.

Are you in Christ, Jesus today? Then celebrate your great fortune! You’ve just won the most incredible lottery of all time. You’re rich in all the things that matter – and many more things that don’t.

You have no cause to worry about anything, because God has your whole life in His capable hands. You don’t need to have concern about what tomorrow holds, because you know who holds tomorrow.

The truth is, worldly riches don’t really bring us peace, or comfort, or joy. Just a glance at the news or the tabloids will confirm this for you. No, peace, comfort, joy and life are only found at their source. Jesus is our peace. He is our comfort. He is our joy. He is our life.

You and I are already over our heads, swimming in the deepest depths of an ocean of blessings found only in the unsearchable riches of Christ. There is no greater treasure than that.

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." [Philippians 4:11-13 ]

Some people are so poor, all they have is money. You and I have been adopted as sons and daughters into the family of God, who created the Universe and owns all things. This same God has invited us to call him "Abba" or "Poppa" and He assures us that it is His good pleasure to give to us the Kingdom. 

Celebrate!

-kg

The Mechanics of Grace

The other day I spent some time with someone who has been through the meat grinder of life. He's endured the loss of a family member, the abandonment of his closest friends, and experienced a loss of passion in his career. That's only the beginning.

As he shared his heart with me I found I could identify with a lot of his pain. Not all of it, obviously, but much of what he confessed to me resonated with what I have been feeling lately.

Then he asked me to pray for him. So, as I began to lift him up in prayer to God I found that I was really praying for myself as well. I began to ask God for the same measure of blessing, and hope, and comfort, that I required in my own empty heart.

During the prayer I confessed to God, and to my friend, that I really don't know how to give God my burdens. Too often when I am depressed or discouraged I find something to distract myself from the pain. Rather than going to God with my problems, I turn to entertainment, or activities, or food, or other people, to help me forget the pain and dull the sorrow.

I know that we are told to "cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you", and I really believe that all of that is true, but to be very honest, I'm not very good at doing that. Not at all.

So, as I prayed for this brother in Christ, I began to ask God to teach me, and to help my friend, to learn how to actually take our burdens, our pain, our suffering, our disappointments, and cast them at the feet of Jesus.

Again, I do not know how to do this. I know that God's word instructs me to do it. I know how to pray those words. I know how to say, "Jesus, I give you my pain. Please take this burden away." But I do not know how to actually leave my burden with Jesus. I don't know how to come to Him with my pain and walk away with hope. I don't know how to come to Him with defeat and walk away with joy. That is what I want to learn how to do. That's what I need to do.

Maybe you know what this feels like? Maybe you're struggling with some of the same issues of doubt, of defeat, of apathy, of sadness, of pain. Maybe you also tend to look for relief in places other than the presence of God. Maybe you turn to food, or television, or video games, or film, or sex, or drugs, or other people. If so, maybe you've already started to realize that those things do not work. They only delay the pain, at best, and accentuate the sensation of emptiness at worse.

Maybe, like me, you're ready to learn how to put these words of hope into practice. Maybe you're ready, out nothing more than desperation, to discover how to actually turn to Jesus with your pain and surrender your burden to Him, and walk away filled with hope and life and, yes, perhaps even joy.

How does it work? What are the magic words? How many steps are involved? Do I need to attend a seminar or purchase a book to make it click?

Here's what I believe: God knows that we are weak. He remembers that we are made from dust. If there were six steps then He would have told us what those were. Since He told us to simply "cast our cares upon Him because He cares" then, by faith, I think we need to start there.

By faith. That's the secret. We stop trying to map everything out and we just do what He says. We believe. We put our hope - all of it - in His power to heal us, and change us, and restore us.

We turn away from all of those other distractions that we have tried and failed to receive our hope and life and joy from, and we instead turn straight for Jesus with our pain. We come to Him first. We make turning to Him our first, and our immediate, act when the pain and the sorrow begins to wash over us.

This is what I have decided to do. I put my hope in Him. I trust in Him. I am calling His bluff because I am convinced it might not be a bluff at all.

"Why are you so downcast, oh my soul? I will yet praise Him, my savior and king."

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CHILEAN QUAKE MOVED THE PLANET. DID IT MOVE YOU?

With scientists informing us that the 8.8 quake in Chile altered the length of the day and location of the poles by a tiny amount, I can’t help but wonder if it has moved anyone here at all.

Of course, I’m speaking of my own heart, really. I do not know you. I have no idea how this earthquake may have affected you, or moved you. I can only say that, for me, those images of destruction and despair get lost in the noise.

I have barely had time to reflect on the devastation in Haiti, and now an even greater destruction has come to Chile. What am I to do? How am I to respond?

Having donated money to an on-the-ground ministry in Haiti, I had just begun to check off the box and move on with my life. Now, this. Will another monetary gift make this one go away? And then I can’t help but wonder, how long until the next one? How long until this devastation finds us here in the United States?

What would it be like to have the earth shake violently beneath my feet? For darkness to fall over me as concrete and steel come crashing down? What would it be like to search for my sons, or my wife, and not find them? What would I do if there were suddenly no running water, no food, no medicine, and worse – no hope?

As I look at these faces covered with soot and dust, with tears streaking down and eyes full of despair in Haiti and Chile, I can’t help but wonder how long will it be until this touches me? And when it does, what will I do? And what is it that I would want someone in another nation who sees my photo on the internet to do about my pain?

A mentor of mine once said that the only mistake we can make when we consider Jesus' call to love our neighbor is not to see our neighbor in the face of the next person we meet.

But, what is the response of one who follows Christ to this endless parade of suffering and devastation? How can we be like the Good Samaritan when there is a man laying in the road on every website we visit?

At some level I know that we can only do the best we can do. We cannot berate ourselves for not taking an action that is beyond our ability. But, if it's more an issue of the heart, then I must admit that my heart is not as soft as it should be. And no amount of check-writing will change that.

I have a poster on my bedroom wall. It says, "We can only fail them if we do nothing." It is a poster to remind me of children who are orphaned and abused and exploited around the world. I look at those words and they burn in my mind. Because I wrote them. And now they echo back at me. Certainly I may have done something, but it's so small as to feel like nothing to me.

Lately I have been meeting on a weekly basis to pray with other men from our Church family. After just two weeks now I've become refreshed by these times of prayer. And one thing that has begun to stir in me is that prayer shifts my perspective to admit that there is much I cannot do.

By praying we acknowledge that we are unable to change men's hearts. We are powerless to heal others. We are helpless when it comes to divorce, and cancer, and unforgiveness, and poverty. We are insufficient. We are - by definition - 'not enough' to change these things. But God is. He can. And when we pray we begin to become filled with the great hope that He will move and act and work in ways that we can't.

Tonight I pray for the countless thousands who are suffering in Haiti, in Chile, in India, in Thailand, in the Philipines, in Africa, in North Korea, in China, and in every dark place on this globe. Yes, even in America. And I ask God to heal them, and bless them, and rescue them. And I also ask Him to send an 8.8 quake into my heart to shake up my status quo and tranform my life.

I think, honestly, that is what I would want if someone were to see my face on the internet and read of the devastation in my hometown. I would want them to lift me up in prayer. I would want to hear the voice of God. I would want to know that He had not forsaken me, or forgotten me.

Honestly, I want that now.

Amen.
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Discover the Journey

My friend Jonathan Olinger and his friends have started an amazing non-profit ministry called "Discover the Journey".

Jonathan is a talented film maker who has documented the suffering of child soldiers in the Congo.

I'd like to ask you to take a few moments to watch this beautiful, yet brief, video clip of Jonathan's work which is online now.

WATCH THE VIDEO
HERE

After you've watched the video, if you feel compelled to help in any way - make a donation, purchase a t-shirt, or post their info on your own blog and share this with your family and friends, I know they'd be very blessed to have the help.

DISCOVER THE JOURNEY exists to:

SPEAK UP for those who cannot speak for themselves by creating story, media and art about children in crisis around the world.

ENSURE JUSTICE for those who are suffering by engaging people across cultures through education and advocacy to respond together in Love.

Find out more at
http://www.discoverthejourney.org/

Read their blog
HERE

If You Could Choose?

My friend Brent had an interesting question this morning in house church. He said, "If you had a choice between never having pain or trouble in your life versus experiencing these challenges but doing so with Jesus alongside you- which would you choose?"

Of course, none of us has this choice for real, but it does make me pause and ask myself if I could choose to be pain free for the rest of my life, but live my life without Jesus, would I choose that? Or would I prefer to have a life of trouble and pain while knowing that Jesus would be with me all the way?

Honestly, I think I would choose to endure pain and suffering in my life and walk with Jesus through it hand in hand. Of course, the good news is that this is my life - whether or not I choose to agree with it or not.

Peas,
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