Absolute Surrender

If I am honest, when it comes to surrender, something inside of me begins to cringe. I wonder if it is the same for you? I wonder if it is the same for all humanity. Could it be that we, human beings, like to be in control? We like to have the last say, find our own way. For the Christian, who believes in Jesus and His Words, we must understand that there is no other way. The only way to the Father is through the Son, who carried us to the cross and bore our sin once and for all, that we might become the righteousness of God.

As I was helping load up the kids this morning for a "field trip" with my wife to the art museum, I couldn't help be drawn to the little book my two year old daughter was carrying with her. This book stood out from the other kids books that she so enthusiastically carried with her as I buckled her in the car seat. The title of this small, seemingly insignificant book is "Absolute Surrender," by Andrew Murray.

Here is what jumped out of the page at me this morning, as I was struggling to find the Lord.

"Oh, I want to encourage you, and I want you to cast away every fear. Come with that feeble desire. If there is fear which says, 'Oh, my desire is not strong enough. I am not willing for everything that may come, and I do not feel bold enough to say I can conquer everything' - I implore you, learn to know and trust your God now. Say: 'My God, I am willing that You should make me willing.' If there is anything holding you back, or any sacrifice you are afraid of making, come to God now and prove how gracious your God is. Do not be afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow. God comes and offers to work this absolute surrender in you. All these searchings and hungerings and longings that are in your heart, I tell you, they are the drawings of the divine magnet, Christ Jesus. He lived a life of absolute surrender. He has possession of you; He is living in your heart by His Holy Spirit. You have hindered and hindered Him terribly, but He desires to help you to get a hold of Him entirely. And He comes and draws you now by His message and words. Will you not come and trust God to work in you that absolute surrender to Himself? Yes, blessed be God! He can do it, and He will do it." Andrew Murray.

It doesn't depend entirely on my effort, my goodness, my ability to seek Him! It does not mean that I have to have every area of my heart right before I can surrender. It is the opposite, and yet sometimes we think that God will only accept us if we have our stuff together. I am often times not hungering totally after God. I am many days struggling to hear His voice, to find Him. You and I are not different, we are made out of the same cookie dough. The good news is that we can truly say, "God, I am willing that You should make me willing!"

And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." Luke 9"23-24

God is good

Do you believe that God is good? Why or why not?

If you have experienced painful circumstances in your life, if you have felt forsaken, neglected, rejected or abandoned; then there is a good chance you may not feel like God is good.

If you have experienced blessings, being loved, being valued, being accepted, and provided for, then you may feel like God is good.

Does God's goodness depend on our circumstances or life experiences or feelings? Or is God’s goodness solely connected to His inherent nature of love, even when we don’t feel it or experience it?

Life is full of wonder and war, pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, love and hate. There is no lack of paradox when it comes to living in this world. On one hand we experience such beauty, as in the wonder of the mountains and oceans, and on the other hand such devastation as in the horrors of genocide and endless wars. Was it meant to be this way? Absolutely not.

God created Eden. God created all of Creation. God created man. God said it was good.

Man fell away from God. The result: pain, hardship, brokenness, fear, isolation, and death to name a few.

End of story? Absolutely not. To prove a Holy God’s goodness, He continued to reach out to the ones He created through His One and Only Son, Jesus. Jesus is only good, He rescued the ones God loves through paying the ultimate price. Is God not good? To allow His Son to suffer and die in your place?

I know. The world is still at war.

But don’t let it fool you into thinking that God is not involved in restoring all things to Himself, of winning back the hearts of sinful and hardened man who want nothing to do with the Creator. He initiated, and still does everyday, to show us a way much better than our reality right now. Eden will be restored, for all eternity.

So, what are you believing then? You can wallow in bitterness and anger, fear and torment, selfishness and pride. Or, you can choose to be loved and cared for, where fear is removed and your true life is restored. All. Because. God. Is. Good.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name; you are Mine!” Isaiah 43:1


                                          “God is goooooooddddd!,” Cried the baby bird.

The stones will cry out!

"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Luke 19:40

If you listen carefully down by the riverbed you can hear the sound of the stones rubbing up against one another as the water gently passes over them all day long. It's a sound that takes patience and discipline to hear. It's easy to miss, because daily these stones get overlooked. After all, they are just stones right? 

"Now He came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen: Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven! Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told Him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." He answered, "I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out." Luke 19:37-40

What do stones praising God joyfully have to do with anything? Everything. God can out of the stones raise up children unto Abraham, and turn the stony heart to himself, so he can bring praise out of the mouths of children. And what will be the feelings of men when the Lord returns in glory to rule and reign once and for all? 

Jesus, in the Triumphal Entry, revealed a picture of what was to come. Though he was only recognized by a handful of people as the King who comes in the name of the Lord, this image of Him riding on a donkey will forever be remembered. 

Let us who believe in His name and praise not keep silent. Let us proclaim the truth that He is risen indeed and has defeated death once and for all! 

If you had the cure to cancer, would you not share it with the world? There is a malignancy of soul which can only be cured by one Man, Christ Jesus.

Why I pray?

Prayer is as vast and deep as the ocean. You can stand on the shoreline and look out over the horizon, and marvel at the beauty of God's creation. If you are content to stand on the shoreline, then you will only see one perspective, if you choose to dive in and swim around and go underneath the surface, you will discover a whole world waiting to be explored. That is prayer. You got to get in the water to feel and know its power and hidden treasure.

What is prayer? Prayer is simply talking to God. Abiding prayer, is talking to God continually. If talking to God was not crazy enough, think about talking to God all the time! Now you have absolutely lost your mind! How can you talk continuously to that which you cannot see? Those people are usually labeled mentally unstable, right? Let me explain something to you. You were created by a Creator, like it or not, agree or not...it is true. The nature of that Creator is one who enjoys communicating with His creation, specifically the human species. We have been designed to function best when we are in communion with the Creator. Only then do we begin to operate successfully, the way were meant to operate.

Why is prayer so misunderstood and underutilized? A better question to ask would be, why is God so misunderstood? Could it be that we only talk to Him 1% of our lives? What kind of marriage would you have if that were true of the time you invested in your spouse? If you only gave your wife 1% of your time, I would imagine that your relationship at best, would only last a short time before it completely fell apart. Learning to communicate with God is as necessary as the air we breathe. It is in sync with the rhythm of your breathing.

I pray to know God. I pray to enjoy God. I pray to be enjoyed by God. I pray because I want to. I pray to know God, His nature, character, attributes, and personality. It's mind-blowing, but God WANTS TO BE SEARCHED OUT!

Boldness

"When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and knew that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13

How do you like your coffee? Bold, extra bold please. I must admit for most in my generation the age of Folgers light roast coffee is over. We are a culture that thrives on Espresso shots and strong coffee. What does coffee have to do with the verse up above? Nothing really, just wanted to point out an example of cultural boldness. Lol.

I don't know if Peter and John drank coffee or tea but one thing I do know is that they were both bold men filled with the power of God in the book of Acts. It seems like if I am not mistaken, that every time they went out to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and they received some form of harsh treatment, they became even more bold. Notice what they said after they were ordered by the rulers not to speak in this name again.

"Whether it's right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than God, you decide; for we are UNABLE to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard." Acts 4:19-20

If there is one thing as children of God that we should be UNABLE to do, let it be that we are unable to stop loving, sharing, proclaiming, testifying, and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let it not be because of fear, intimation, lack, and self consciousness that we are unable to share with others this treasure. It's an upside down kingdom. In the world if you are told not to do something by your boss, then you most likely listen if you want to hold your job right? Not so in the kingdom, as it pertains to boldly sharing Jesus. Pastor, what are we to do with public school teachers, and those in jobs that are not allowed to share Christ? May I ask a simple question? Not allowed by WHOM? You must decide just as Peter stated whether it is politically correct, culturally acceptable, to listen to God or man.

It doesn't stop there in this passage of scripture. Look at what is said after these men were released.

"And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that Your servants may speak Your message with COMPLETE BOLDNESS, while you stretch out your hand for healing, signs and wonders to be performed through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." Acts 4:29-30

Boldness, complete boldness? Notice there is no lack in those words. I am challenged to the core because often times I have given in to fear or intimadation when I am in situations that require me to die to my flesh and walk in the Spirit. But, shouldn't this be my daily bread, my glory? To walk in love and power and boldness?

These are days that require boldnesss. If we are to walk in the same power and authority that raised Christ from the dead. The gospel only thrives in boldness, not fear or intimidation. The church has only truly grown during times of hardship, persecution or resistance. It's an upside down kingdom. We need desperately to be bold, yes even in America again. Lord help us.

Let's Be Honest!

It's been a long time since I have blogged. I believe February 10th was my last post date. Much has happened since that date. God is good all the time. I have been a pastor for about a year and a half. It has been an amazing journey full of grace and joy. Yes, there are challenges, but that's just life. I have tried to pastor out of authenticity, vulnerability, and honesty.

Honesty is more than a forgotten and forsaken word. In a day and age when it seems to be something of the past, because current culture mostly despises it. Every man is a liar and God alone is absolute truth. Humanity has always struggled with being honest. It's sort of came with the fall, Adam and Eve in the great garden. They knew only truth, but after they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they began a process of decay. Needless to say, honesty is a part of the sin nature of all man.

I am going to be writing about the importance of this word, in God's word, and share some of my own struggles with it, and hopefully gain greater insight in how to live sincerely before God and man.

Move Out Of My Way!

You ever feel overwhelmed by the trials, obstacles, and daily dose of hardship that just seems to be in your way to thriving and happiness?

How do you respond to those nasty little life blows that happen without your invitation or "friend request" as on Facebook? You quickly find yourself trying to unfriend these hardships and distractions. You find yourself doubting and struggling to stay focused on the truth, that if God is for you then who can be against you?

That is the truth, its also the truth that you and I have an enemy. How should we respond knowing that there is a powerful enemy out to destroy our lives? He hates everything about God and his people. Is it no wonder when trials happen that often times we take offense at God and don't know how to respond.

 We are told that in this world we will have trouble, but Jesus said take heart, because I have overcome the world! This is really good news. The gospel is good news, especially in a chaotic world where all sorts of evil abounds. The only truly good news is that Jesus Christ has reconciled us back to God in that while we were sinners he died for us and gave us a hope and a promise that we could live in his kingdom. A kingdom of love, peace, joy and freedom now and in the age to come. 

There are so many promises for the righteous, even in the center of dangerous trials and hardships. We are told in Romans 5 that we can rejoice in our trials because they are producing character and perseverance and patience inside of us. The fruits of the Spirit are sometimes best manifested in the mist of difficult situations, not necessarily when everything is going great. Do not lose heart today no matter what you are going through, but be encouraged because you are a child of God if you belong to him.