Anointed Encouragement

Give Up

"For no one can be made right in God's sight by doing what His law commands.  For the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying it.  But now God has shown us a different way of being made right in His sight - not by obeying the law but by the Way promised in the scriptures long ago.  We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins." Romans 3:20-22

In retrospect, we see the entire purpose of the Mosaic Law was to show the Israelites, and for that matter us as well, that God's Holiness required perfection...no sin could be in His presence...so the Israelites were given this Law, laid out in the Old Testament, mainly the first five books...and they tried to live up to it...sometimes they tried, then most of the time they tried, then hardly at all...and the Mosaic Law even had sacrifices built into it, because being the Omniscient God that He is, He knew they would fail...the more they tried to keep the law, the more they realized it was an impossible task, and according to the law, one failure turns every success meaningless with respect to being Holy...one mistake was failure...so the Mosaic Law was intended to show us we needed a Savior who could live up to perfection, who could fulfill the law...the sacrifices pointed to that One sacrifice that would turn the World on its ear...

Enter in Grace...in my mind's eye, I imagine Grace as a sprinter, readying himself in the blocks...and as Christ hung on the cross, Grace lifted His legs, raised His head, and prepared himself to take off...and then that moment came, Christ declared, "It is Finished," the Temple curtain split in two and Grace came flying out of the blocks...comforting us, attending to us...saving us...never again would the world be the same...

Never again would you be the same...you were given the gift of faith, the gift of Salvation, the gift of repentance and sanctification...knowing that His purpose is to make you Holy...

Why, you say?

Simple, because He is Holy...and every child wants to be like their Father...so give up dear friends, give up trying to beat that sin yourself, give up living a lie, give up multiple lives, just give up...simply let Him live through you...simple as that...let Him shine in you...through you and around you...you are to be nothing but an empty vessel that He will fill and pour out...He is quite fond of you, He will attend to your needs, even sometimes, your wants...Trust Him to be God...give up and trust Him...if you are not sure, just ask Him, He will be faithful to speak...but remember, do not ask, unless you are ready to listen...

Oh yeah, remember your purpose in life..."To Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever!"

The Battle

I want to share some thoughts with you...I will be paraphrasing CS Lewis here and throwing in my own thoughts as well, so if you notice a familiar thought, it belongs to Lewis...I apologize ahead of time for not being able to distinctly show you Lewis's words, but these writings come from a season where I paraphrased my readings with my thoughts as they flowed out of me...so I covet your grace here.

Christ would have us concerned with one of two things; eternity or the present.  The present is the point at which eternity touches the moment.  With reference to the present, we have freedom here, our mind does not lie to us about the present, and in the present we can think on our eternal union with Him and obey the cross we are to bear today, ignoring the other 17 crosses our mind and heart would have us believe we may have to bear tomorrow.  And in the moment, we can give thanks for His present provision and protection.  To think on eternity is to think on Him and Him alone.  We should remember well, that we did not create ourselves, our talents were given to us and therefore we might as well be proud of the color of our hair as we should the talents we possess.  With respect to the future, we should attend to it today, simply in planning the acts of justice or charity we will have as our duty on that day.  We must not give the future our hearts or place our treasure in it.  We should not be in a perpetual pursuit of the rainbow's end, forsaking honesty, or kindness, or happiness now, forsaking every real gift given to us today on the altar of tomorrow.  We know that there are trials, horrors in store for us and therefore we should pray for the virtues to meet them, but concern ourselves with the present, because there and there alone are all duty, grace, knowledge and all pleasure...Regardless of how we feel, regardless of what we think we see or do not see; if we find ourselves standing in a universe where it seems all traces of Him are gone, we MUST Stand stone-faced, against the wind, determined to do His will anyway...determined and resolute.

If there was any one of us that had it together, any one of us that could stand before Him on their own merit...now that would be a sight...yet how often do you look around and see men and women, boy and girls, play act at having it together...play at being spiritual...this is not true, cannot be true...we are broken, I am a broken man...there is nothing of intrinsic value in me, nothing redeemable...YET, He has redeemed me, created wholeness where once was darkness...filled my my cup full because I offered my cup for His will...as we give ourselves over to the forsaking of our own will, He in turn gives back all that we are...and so, therefore, we are never more truly ourselves, than we are when we are wholly His.

I once heard that humility was not having a low opinion of ourselves, but rather having no opinion of ourselves...rather a freedom from bias in our own behalf, and we can thus be set free to rejoice in our own talents and beauty as we can in those of another, or a sunrise, or a waterfall..we struggle so hard to identify truth and strength in ourselves and deny the weakness as someone else's fault...so very quick to point out another's fault, weakness, sin...yet ignore the very same in our own life...we stand condemned for condemning another...we must turn away from this, turn to grace.

Take a moment and have Him search your heart, search you out and begin to heal the secrets, begin to heal the hidden...let the light of His righteousness shine on it and destroy the lies...be set free and live in the Light...remember, Light is an active force...darkness is simply the absence of Light...start shining for Him...Training time is over, we must take action, we must rally each other....this is a call to Arms, a call to fight

We are at War and the War begins in your heart...the battlefield must be kept clean.

Joy & Thanksgiving

"And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to Him.  Let your roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught.  Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done."  Col 2:7

Let's look at the ending of this scripture, it says, "Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done."  It does not say, let your mouth...it says, let your lives...How you live your life, the actions you take, the way you treat your family, the way you treat your friends, the way you treat strangers...can everyone tell that there is something different about you?  Are you overflowing with Joy, with Peace,  with Gentleness...if you are not, why?  Because you are different, because you have special dispensation, because that is just the way you are?  Nonsense!  Perhaps our lives do not overflow with thanksgiving, because we truly do not understand what has been gifted to us, perhaps we do not understand the significance we now have in Him, perhaps we do not know who we are in Him...the Bible calls us a Royal Priesthood, among other things....in Revelation we are the 24 elders...if we truly knew all that was in store for us, then I am positive  we would not be able to wipe the smile off of our face...people cutting us off in traffic would be completely irrelevant.  As 1 Cor 2:9 tells us, (paraphrase) no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and the heart of man cannot imagine what God has in store for those that belong to Him.  CANNOT IMAGINE...those are pretty strong words, pretty cool future, cause I can imagine some pretty awesome things...so why do we get wrapped around the axel with irrelevant matters? Well, first of all, there is that war that Paul talks about, flesh and spirit...two natures at war...secondly, we have not accomplished the first part of the scripture, we are not drawing nourishment from Christ...our roots are shallow...we are a baby bird waiting for mother to come and feed us...a baby waiting for the bottle...as Paul says, get off the milk and start taking in meat for nourishment.  When your roots grow down deep, your faith will grow, and as your faith grows, your knowledge will grow, as your knowledge grows the joy will overflow in your life, because you will not only understand the future that lies ahead of you, you will understand the future that did not occur in your life...your life will be filled with thanksgiving for all that you did not get, but deserved.

We have a choice, we are no longer slaves to sin.  He gives us the power to overcome, yet we continually choose wrongly...choose to not sin, one time, because of who He is, because of what He has done...the next time you are confronted with your sin, choose to not sin...simply because you love Him, because He loves you...let your life overflow with praise, with joy, and with obedience.

Christ's Prayer for YOU

"I am praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony.  My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one father- that just as you are in me, and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.  I have given them the Glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are- I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one."  John 17:20-23a

The Bible gives clear evidence that Christ is our advocate...He intercedes for us in Heaven.  And right here, in this scripture, we find a wonderful expression of a prayer that He spoke for you.  Did you ever think that you were in the Bible..well, other than in Romans 3:23, that tells us we are all sinners...Romans 6:23 that we are worthy of death because of that sin...but here is an actual example of a prayer spoken two thousand years ago for you... how beautiful...YOU are spoken of in the Bible..you must be special, you must be the Child of a King or something... your life must have extreme significance then, for Christ to pray for you, for Him to pray that you would be kept safe from evil...what is it, exactly, that you are going to accomplish for Christ, that you would be attacked by the evil one?  What power do you have, what weapon could you wield that could damage evil in such a way that you would be targeted?  Do you want a list?  Love for one, Christ said the world would believe that He was sent by God because of us, that the Love we displayed would be clear evidence of that union.  Glory, for another; in this scripture, He states that He has given us the Glory that was given to Him...and this Glory has a purpose, to unite us in Him and to each other.  What is this Glory then...first of all, this Glory is Christ himself, it is the Holy Spirit..and through the Holy Spirit reigning in us, we would Glorify Christ, we would be mirrors of Him...we would become transformed into mirror images of Christ...but notice this cannot be done alone, we must be in Him, and with each other we must be one...this is all about relationship..relationship with Christ being displayed in our lives, in our marriage, in our Church, at work, everywhere...

We will be known by our Love, by this Glory, by His Glory...how much could we accomplish for Him, if we just lifted our eyes, silenced our lips, tuned in our ears and listened for His whispers...He is calling us to be One, to take action together, according to His will and His Glory...WE are His Army...an Army is not much of a threat if one man acts alone...but gather them together, give them a common purpose, train them well, equip them with powerful weapons, point them towards the enemy, and send them off in prayer...oh yeah, and by the way, knowing all the while that anyone trusting in Christ, committing their ways unto Him and letting Him direct their path...they are gonna win...every time.

Our family was in the midst of a battle not too long ago...I was very hesitant in the beginning to take action...but Christ was patient with me...and He took me one baby step at a time...I was hesitant, because I did not want to go where He was not leading...then I realized He was leading me to take extreme action...and still I was hesitant...then it hit me...I could not think of one instance in the Bible where God asked someone to go into Battle that He did not provide victory...and so I jumped off the ledge, not really knowing if I would be the first He asked to go into battle and lose...but Michelle and I resigned ourselves, that even if it was His will that we take action and not win the battle, we needed to be obedient, knowing that in the end, everything would be alright...and just like Ephesians says, He exceeded our greatest expectation...just as soon as I jumped off the ledge, the opposition fell....collapsed, right on the battlefield...He had already been at work behind the scenes...yet I did not know that...He provided the victory, the Glory is His...

My Prayer to Christ

A few years ago, I was struggling....struggling with my identity in Christ, struggling with being imperfect, struggling not enjoying my daily work, struggling with not being the father I wanted so desperately to be.  I was struggling with my joy, with happiness, and the ability to express love.  I felt so inadequate, so useless, so powerless.
"And now dear children, continue to live in fellowship with Christ, so that when He returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from Him in shame...see how much our Heavenly Father loves us, for He allows us to be called His children, and we really are!  But the people who belong to this world don't know God, so they do not understand that we are His children.  Yes, dear friends, we are already God's children, and we can't even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns!"  1 John 2:28-3:2 (emphasis mine)

Sometimes knowing a problems cause is more simple than  fixing it.  When we sin,  no matter the sin, we push Christ away.  This is why it is so important we constantly go to Him and confess our sin and re-engage our relationship with Him.  The longer we wait, the harder it becomes to humble ourself and admit we need Him so desperately...the harder it becomes to even see the problem...the more lonely we become, depressed and miserable. 

I want to share a prayer with you.  I wrote this prayer to Christ a few years ago.  I think it is alright if I share it with you.  I wanted to make sure I remembered my thoughts, my feelings....to remember the time that created the need for this prayer. 

"I have come to meet with you today, walk with me today.  I would do your will today, please reveal it to me.  Take me in your arms, shelter me, strengthen me, quiet my soul.  Help me see the awesome beauty around me.  Let the joy of your heart be the joy of my heart.  Let that which breaks your heart, break my heart.  May my focus, the focus of my heart, the intention of my eyes, be for your glory.  May I be concerned only for Eternity and may that concern quicken my actions for today.  Please forgive my sins, the weakness of my mind, the frailties of my flesh, the unbelief, the stubbornness, and the disregard for your will and joy.  I am sorry I have caused you pain.  May your tears over me be wiped away with the soft gentle kisses of my love for you in action in my life.  I am not my own.  I choose you, my Lord, my Savior, my Peace, my Father, my Honor, my Hope, my very Essence.  May you not be ashamed to be called my God.  My heart is yours, my life is yours, I am not my own.  Today, each day, may I die to myself- so that I might live intensely for your Glory, and for that day that may come where I lay my life down for you, I do so because you are my own, you are my God, because you chose me, and I will forever choose you.  If this is the dedication of my soul, may I ever more live for you each day.  If I would die for you, let me live for you evermore.  I come to meet with you today, be there too Father.  May your Glory shine forever in my eyes.

Your son..."

I can tell you that He was there that day.  My life is certainly not perfect, I am nowhere near perfect, and I still sin...I still have to go to Him and confess that sin, so that there is nothing between us.  He is faithful to encourage us, to give us a passion for Him.  Chase after Him dear friends...wherever your passion for Him lies, chase after it at 150 MPH...and even if you crash and burn, you will have good company, for if it is His passion that He has given you... then He will be faithful to be right next to you.  Do not fear and sit still.  A good friend told me today that Normal for Christ is MIRACLES....why then is our normal mediocrity. 

Soverignty

"But you are my witnesses, O Israel!  Says the Lord, and you are my servant.  You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God.  There is no other God; there has never been and never will be.  I am the Lord and there is no other Savior.  First I predicted your deliverance; I declared what I would do, and then I did it- I saved you.  No foreign god had ever done this before.  You are my witnesses that I am the only God.  From eternity to eternity, I am God.  No one can oppose what I do.  No one can reverse my actions."  Isa 43:10-13

Sovereignty, we do not hear that word too much anymore...at least I do not...sometimes I forget about His sovereignty, His right to speak truth and law into my life.  I take advantage of His grace and live my life the way I want and wonder why He does not bless my self-centered existence.  In fact, the very question of why I do not receive blessings is a self-centered question in and of itself.  I am blessed every moment of everyday, yet I am too caught up in my own blind world to see the beauty of it.  I look at fool's gold and want it, I call that a blessing and desire it...and then I am disappointed when He does not give me what I want.  How despicable can we be...who are we to ask anything of Him...and yet, He does give us the right to come boldly into His presence...That in itself is the most under appreciated blessing of them all...we treat prayer as something done as a last resort, instead of a first response...oh, how He desires to just come near to us, and we treat Him so harshly, ignore Him, belittle Him, sin against Him, deny the sin, wounding Him more, then we half-heartedly repent, so miserable to be away from Him...so shortsighted to understand the cause of it all...and the cycle repeats...

How then can we be free of this...free to live boldly for Him?  What is holding you back?  Possessions most likely.  When not appreciated in context for their purpose, possessions and the ability to purchase possessions can become a snare.  When we do not have them, we want them...once we can attain them we become afraid that we may lose them and this perpetuate all its own traps...so, then, what is the context for these possessions?  Well, I am glad you asked.  Everything we have,
every person in our life, is the Lord 's equipping of you to fulfill His plan in your life.  Your car is a tool to be used for His Glory.  Your home is a tool to be used for His Glory.  Your family is a tool to be used for His Glory.  He gives us the responsibility for these tools, to use them correctly and to respect them.  How is your mindset here...when you fear losing a tool in your life, are you thinking of it as a tool for His Glory, or as YOUR favorite Car?  If He takes a tool away, most likely another tool will replace it, for His Glory.  But like everything else, it is His Sovereign right to choose His methods and His plans for you.  Oh yeah, by the way, the harder you clinch your fist around what is YOURS, the more likely He is to break your hand to release that which is hurting you...He loves us just the way we are....however, He loves us too much to leave us this way!

Spiritual Gifts

"God has given to each of you from His great variety of spiritual gifts.  Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you."  1 Peter 4:10

I find the entire concept of spiritual gifts to be amazing.  The thought, that at the time of my salvation I was gifted with at least one spiritual gift is just plain cool.  What, though, is the purpose of these gifts?  Do you even know what your gifts are?  If you do know, are you using them for the right purpose?

What is the purpose of these gifts?  The scriptures actually give us a clue; first, I believe their purpose is to Glorify God, to Glorify Christ.  1 Peter 4 goes on to say, "Then God will be given the Glory in everything, through Jesus Christ." (4:11)  The scriptures also point out that if we use our gifts well, then God's generosity will flow through us. Flow to who?  Well, flow to the Church of believers and also to those we are called to give a witness to about our Hope and Purpose.  Our gifts then are intended to be used for the uplifting and edification of our Brothers and Sisters and to be a witness to a lost and unbelieving world.  These scriptures in 1 Peter actually follow Paul talking about the fact that all will have to face God and that we should be disciplined and earnest in our work and prayers for the time of the end is coming.  He then follows by telling us to be full of love for each other. 

The outlook for this world is desperate and grim, in their unbelief and rebellion against Christ.  Their only hope is Him, His only messengers are us.  We need to be full of love and devoted to our purpose.  He has given each of us a platform to declare His Glory.  He has given us gifts to help us in our platform.  Manage them well and His generosity will flow through you.  The time is short, the labor pains have increased, suffering has increased, immoral living has increased, outright disobedience and sin against Christ is rising,even within the Church.  The time has come, training for us is over, it is time to stand up for Him.  He has placed within each of us the tools we need to fulfill the specific mission and Purpose we have for Him.  If you will not fulfill His purpose for you, then there will be a gap in our line.  No one else will be able to pick up that gap, as we each have our own mission.  The time has come, how will you answer Him when He asks, "Whom shall I send?"

The Race

"Remember, that in a race, everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize.  You also must run in such a way that you will win.  All athletes practice self control.  They do it, to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.  So, I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step.  I am not like a boxer who misses his punches.  I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.  Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might become disqualified."  1 Cor 9:24-27

     When I was in High School, I ran track and cross country.  I also had the opportunity to participate in 2 State Decathalon Championships.  I understand competition.  I also understand finishing a race with Honor and Dignity.  My heart is touched when I see other athletes overcome adversity to finish the competition, I am thrilled when they succeed to levels that they once thought impossible.  During track my main focus was the 300 meter hurdles.  I also competed in the Triple Jump, Mile Relay, and 400 meter relay, among other races.  In my Senior Year, during the District Track Championships, in the preliminary heat for the 300 meter hurdles, I encountered a test. 

Let me give you some background first.  In the District Meet, your first goal is to get out of your prelimianry heat, into the final heat of your race.  In the final heat, you must finish in the top 4 to move onto the Regional Championships.    Depending on how many preliminary heats there are in your race, dictates what place you need to finish in your prelim in order to move onto the final heat.  In this case, there were three heats of 8 runners.  This dictated that I needed to finish in the top 2 of my heat.  If you do the math, that leaves two spots in the final heat for the next two fastest times out of the 3 heats to still move on if you did not finish in the top 2 of your heat. 

In my heat, I was in lane 4.  For those of you unaware of track etiquette, this is a lane of honor.  When assigning lanes, the organizer will spread out the competition among the prelimnary heats, making sure to not have all the fastest times in any one heat.  Usually the three fastest times will get the lane of honor in their prelimnary heat.  Then the next 2 fastest times will be on the left and right of lane 4 and so on until you get to lane 8, which, well, is a lane of hardship...especially in hurdles, lane 8 is a hated lane, right next to the fence or wall, depending on the track.  Lane 8 is assigned to the slowest time in a race.  The idea being, that the race will have a dispersion factor of a "V" when coming through the finish line.  So, I am in lane 4, which means, that I am expected to win this heat, because I have the fastest time that season among the guys I am racing against.  I place myself in the blocks, readying my mind to run full speed down a track with a bunch of hurdles in my way.  The gun goes off and I run the 13 steps to the first hurdle...my focus is the words written in the middle of the hurdle, I extend my stride and glide over the hurdle...I run the 8 steps to the next hurdle, extend my stride and glide over the hurdle...8 more steps to the next hurdle...and...and, well, I get my leg caught under the hurdle...and there it goes, any dream of making the Regional Track Championships...all the hard work of every season down the drain, as I cannot even get out of the prelims for my race...for what seems an eternity, I look up, from my position on the ground...every other runner goes flying by me....all these thoughts running through my mind...then one final thought...you have to finish the race with honor and dignity, despite everything else, you finsih with honor and dignity...and I jump up, and I am off once again down the track...as I come around the last corner of the race, I have caught the last two guys, then another, then another, then another and I finish the race in third place...I finished my race, and from what it seemed to the crowd, in quite a fashion. 

Then more drama...now I am not sure if I am truly out of the final heat.  Since I finsihed thrid in my heat, I have the opportunity to have one of the two next fastest times...if I do, then I will make the finals.  While I was hopeful this would occur, it was not very realistic...afterall, I had fallen, this really hurt my time....surely, there were two other faster times in the other two heats...and yet, in the end, I did have the 2nd fastest time out of all the other heats and I made the Finals.  By the way, for lane positions in the finals, they use the times from the prelims...so, do you want to guess what lane I was in...yep, lane 8...my new best friend...never before had I been assigned lane 8, and yet I was exhilirated to just be in the finals...part of the problem with lane 8 is, that at the start, you are placed so far in front of the other runners, you never see the competition until the first turn, by which time they have all gone over two hurdles and apporaching their third, when you are just approaching your second...it is a very difficult lane to judge what is happening around you...The finals of the 300 Hurdles was a beautiful race....from way out in my distant lane, I place third in the finals, making it to the Regional Championships...and adding one more reason to always finish with Honor and Dignity.

Paul says that we should run our race with purpose in every step.  When running the hurdles, I knew precisely how many steps were between each hurdle, I knew precisely how to position my body when gliding over the hurdle to minimize my time in the air.  This all requires practice, a knowledge of the sport and most impotantly, forward planning.  In order to have purpose in every step, you have to know what the goal is, you have to know what is to be achieved in every step...you actually have to look beyond your nose to see the impact of your life on the world...and more importantly, what Christ wants your specific impact to be on the world.  As an officer in the Army, I cannot tell you how many times I heard, "If you do not know where you are going, then any road will get you there."

Where are you going...have you disciplined your body, your mind to help get you there, or is your body and mind more of a detriment in your purpose...Remember, we are not our own...we have been bought with a price...we are a Royal Priesthood...brothers and sisters of the King...if you are currently on the ground looking up, wondering if you might have lost the race...lift up your head, get up and finish with dignity and honor...and if your brother or sister is on the ground...take the time to encourage them and invest yourself in their life to help them finish with dignity and honor...let your every step have purpose...Be in Constant Prayer

Life

"Now this is Eternal Life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."  John 17:3

What is life?  More importantly, what is real living?  Life is truly more than just existing, more than simply waking up in the morning.  We were built with an innate desire to belong, to matter, to make a difference.  We all want to be fulfilled.  The reality of this world as it is, people are seaching endlessly for true purpose of existence...they look to money, to possessions, to thrill sports, to pursuit of pleasure...but each of these leave us more empty than we were before...only the true spirit can fill us up...only when we lose ourselves to Him, do we find completeness.

Sadly, most people live their lives, in large part, in a state of death...too afraid to take a risk, too afraid to trust....lonely, feeling rejected and uncared for, afraid of intimacy, building large scale walls to protect themselves from pain...but also shutting out joy...satisfied to feel nothing at all, if it means they will not feel pain...this is not living, it is worse than death...paralyzing the believer and unbeliever alike into a state of helpless and hopeless desperation...so, what is life...this is where we begin...you must define the problem, if you ever hope to give a lasting and satisfying answer to it.

Look deep within you, do not be afraid....when you look back on your life...if today were the last day you would live...what would you desire your legacy to be...because dear friends, a legacy is not something you simply leave behind when you die...it is something you build while you are living...you must be in active pursuit of it...what is it that you want your life to be about?  The only way to truly answer this question is to look to Christ for guidance, because, unless we answer the question, through the filter of who He is and who we are built to be in Him; then the answer we come upon ourselves will never truly satisfy us....so, who was Christ, what was His life built about...

He lived only for us... and He built His actions around that concept...He served us everyday of His life...He completely poured His life into His disciples...and He did this in the Power of the Spirit...anything we do, must be done through the Spirit, else it will have no eternal value, no eternal impact...

He laid down His life to prove His love for us...and the world was changed that day, we were changed that day...His love reached back through time and forward through time...to cleanse us and free us...then His love lifted us up into unity with Him...We are a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD... what then would be our purpose, what then should our life be built around... Let me ask the question another way...Who or What is in the Center of Your World? What is Your Focus? 

Is it gaining knowledge, gaining wealth, gaining prestige, gaining strength, gaining power, gaining real estate...none of these pursuits in themselves are bad...until they are your main focus...remember what happened to Peter, when he was walking on the water...he took his eyes off of Christ and began to sink...unless our focus is Christ and His Kingdom, anything we do will eventually spin out of control and leave us feeling empty...but within His will, within His power, everything we do will succeed...

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" Ps 37:4

By delighting ourselves in the Lord, we become morelike Him, the  more we become like Him, the more we understand His will and begin to think His thoughts and His will and when that happens, our desires completely match His desires, and our desires within His will, will be given to us, for the Glory of the Kingdom and of Christ...there is greater depth of knowledge in that scripture, but simply put, chase after your relationship in Christ...chase after His love, make His joy be your joy, ask for His pain to be your pain...what matters to Him will matter to you...and He will Honor the request, the prayer to be more like Him and you will grow, you will be fulfilled, your legacy will continue to grow as your life is built around serving others...discipling them, bringing them to Christ, meeting their needs...bringing them joy...touching their hearts, healing their pain...reaching down to anoint them in prayer. 

Focus

"Have I put my trust in money, or felt secure because of my Gold?  Does my happiness depend on my wealth and all that I own?  Have I looked at the sun shining  in the skies or the moon walking down the the silvery pathway, and been secretly enticed in my heart to worship them?  If so, I should be punished by the judges, for it would mean that I would have denied the God in Heaven."  Job 31:24-28

First of all, let's not get caught up in legalism from these verses...more importantly....let's talk about the word "focus."

Let's define it: (From Dictionary.Com) -- "A Center of Interest, Close or Narrow Attention, To Converge on or toward a Central Point."

One of the Most difficult things for me to do, when it comes to the Bible, is understand the people in it...often for me, Paul, Timothy, Moses, Joshua, Enoch and even Jesus are just words on a page... the events in their life, just a story, devoid of emotion and enthusiasm and despair and every other thing that makes us unique... I do not understand them, I do not know them and so I do what comes naturally... I make them less than what they are, I make them understandable... I make them a nice story... unfortunately though, when I do this, I rob myself of meaning and purpose that I might gain and develop by trying to understand them, trying to see through their eyes, trying to feel what they might have felt...

Take for instance, Elijah...one of my most favorite stories (see, there I go again... perhaps, it is better said, Favorite Events in The Bible) is his confrontation with the 450 Baal prophets in 1 Kings 18...he let them call on their god all morning to set the bull on fire....the whole time, he did not say anything...but about noontime, he could not take it anymore...he started mocking them...absolutely makes me laugh at his sense of humor... "You'll have to shout louder, for sure he is a god!  Perhaps he is in deep thought, or he is relieveing himself.  Or maybe he is away on a trip..."  Then he let them continue to call all afternoon until it came time for the evening sacrifice...no reply from their god...but Our God did reply in a big and mighty way...what was it like for Elijah to be there all day, outnumbered 450 Baal prophets to one, not to mention all the people of Israel who were there at the King's order...people who could not make up their mind whom they wanted to worship...Elijah must have been a little concerned throughout the day, afterall, all the Lord's prophets were being hunted down and killed...Yet Elijah stayed and Glorified God that day, despite being the only one representing the Only True God.  As it turns out, apparently, if you have God on your side, it does not matter if there are 450 against you, or a whole country.

What a huge undertaking...to be used of God in such a mighty way...surely he was completely confident that the Lord would always show up...not me...I doubt, yeah, I know the last time I needed Him, He was there...but for me, in my mind, in my follish mind, Christ is like the Stock Market --Historical trends do not dictate future performance...what an absolute moron I can be...in my head, I know He promises, and historically He has NEVER not shown up...at the very least to comfort me...but I fear...I fear that the next time He will be silent and I will be completely alone.

What an interesting time Job must have had...trying desperately to figure out what went wrong, being told his life must have been full of sin to be cursed in such a way...all the while Job was honoring God by continuing to Glorify Him in the midst of not understanding...refusing to curse Him...knowing despite it all, it all came down to one thing...He LOVED God...his focus was on Him.

Where you there the day He created the Heavens?  Where you there when He thought up the giraffe and the antelope?  Can you defy gravity?  Can you exist outside of time?  Can you create life out of nothing, defeat death?  Can you even understand eternity?  I know someone who IS eternity!