War can be a very scary thing. Especially if you are not armed with the right weapons! As Christians, our battle is against the father of lies, Satan. It seems like God has been speaking to us at Drive Student Ministries about trust over the last month or so. How do we learn to trust? Simple. Dive in to God's Word! Our enemy wants nothing more than for you to view the Bible as a boring, old book with no value. And we are not plugged in to His Word, we fail to recognize His voice and will. Arm yourself with the Word - so that you can move on the offense for the Kingdom!
"The Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him." Ps. 32:10
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The Lord's Favor
Sometimes the enemy will come at me with lies saying I'm not good enough to preach to my students. Or that I shouldn't care so much about felllowship with believers. But....God has favor on my life! He spoke to me today through His Word - "the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..." (Isa. 61:1)
What Did You Say?
Our words are so, so powerful! Each time you open your mouth - you have the power to change things! Our words can be uplifting, encouraging, warm, gentle, powerful, etc. or they can be hateful, nasty, cold, bitter and angry. The Gospel of Matthew tells us a very specific thing about our words:
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:33-37, NKJV)
It is basically saying that what we "treasure" or "deposit" into our hearts, will come out in our words! In order to produce good things in our lives, we need to be receiving downloads from heaven and storing them in our hearts! That doesn't mean that your life will be perfect if you say the right things. It does mean, however, that if we choose to put the things of God in our hearts and minds, then we will see, think, and act the way He wants us to so that we can be even greater witnesses to the world!
Our words can reveal our spiritual condition and greatly impact our future and those around us! James says that our words will direct our destiny!
4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. (James 3:4-5, NLT)
We must choose to use our words wisely to speak life in to the world....not death!
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:33-37, NKJV)
It is basically saying that what we "treasure" or "deposit" into our hearts, will come out in our words! In order to produce good things in our lives, we need to be receiving downloads from heaven and storing them in our hearts! That doesn't mean that your life will be perfect if you say the right things. It does mean, however, that if we choose to put the things of God in our hearts and minds, then we will see, think, and act the way He wants us to so that we can be even greater witnesses to the world!
Our words can reveal our spiritual condition and greatly impact our future and those around us! James says that our words will direct our destiny!
4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. (James 3:4-5, NLT)
We must choose to use our words wisely to speak life in to the world....not death!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Good Ol' Galatians
Good ol' Galatians give us some very nice insight on how to be free in Christ. I was reading through our devotional today and the verses really spoke to me. Galatians 5:16-25. The last verse says "Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives." This made me think about the church (us). If we (the church) don't live completely by the Spirit's leading, then we open a door for Satan to come in and grab that portion of our lives. And we all know what happens when he gets his foot in the door!
If the church doesn't live fully by following the Spirit, then how does that look to the world. They will not want to participate with a group of people who preach one thing and then live another! His Spirit produces "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control". That's what the world needs to see. The church being lead by the Spirit, producing it's fruit so that they world can experience the goodness of God! So the question that I will ask you is: Are you following the Spirit's leading?
Monday, June 14, 2010
Experiencing His Goodness
"The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away - a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn't see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that." Jn 3:34-36 (MSG)
Wow! I'm not sure that I need to write anything to accompany those verses. God loved Jesus, gave Him everything so He could give it away to us, only if we trust and accept Him fully and by doing so we receive all He has to offer in this life and the anticipation of the greatness of the eternal life to come.
The part that has really stuck out to me is the last two sentences. It says if we don't trust Christ, we don't "see life". We miss so much of what God wants us to experience while we are here on earth when we choose not to trust Him. All of our experiences about God is just darkness - just a void. How much more joyful, pleasant, extravagant will our lives be if we just simply trust God. Pastor David Berkheimer said last week that "We don't have to understand everything, we just need to trust God." Our promise is not that life will be easy but, that if we can trust Him, we can experience everything He has to give to us!
Are you trusting Him?
Wow! I'm not sure that I need to write anything to accompany those verses. God loved Jesus, gave Him everything so He could give it away to us, only if we trust and accept Him fully and by doing so we receive all He has to offer in this life and the anticipation of the greatness of the eternal life to come.
The part that has really stuck out to me is the last two sentences. It says if we don't trust Christ, we don't "see life". We miss so much of what God wants us to experience while we are here on earth when we choose not to trust Him. All of our experiences about God is just darkness - just a void. How much more joyful, pleasant, extravagant will our lives be if we just simply trust God. Pastor David Berkheimer said last week that "We don't have to understand everything, we just need to trust God." Our promise is not that life will be easy but, that if we can trust Him, we can experience everything He has to give to us!
Are you trusting Him?
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Finding God Moments
While spending a great time with my wife on our anniversary trip in San Antonio, I've discovered an amazing thing. It seemed like every time we would go somewhere we would get the best parking spots or be positioned in the right place to find what we needed. I attribute all of that to God's goodness! Whenever you walk with God, He provides for all of your needs, even the small ones you may think are important to Him. I call those God moments - the times when He reveals Himself to us in really cool ways.
We have God moments all around us, but sometimes we forget to look for His goodness or we forget to thank Him for those moments.
Just a thought...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
We have God moments all around us, but sometimes we forget to look for His goodness or we forget to thank Him for those moments.
Just a thought...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
What's The Plan?
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jer. 29:11)
This is a well-known verse that speaks to our hearts about our future and how we can rest assured that God is in control and cares for us and our future. We hear this verse quoted so many times during sermons, devotionals, etc. But as I read this, I think about all of my junior high students. They will understand the concept that there is a God who loves them and has a plan for them. But what they struggle with is understanding what that plan is! So how do we know?
The next verse opens a door of knowledge that will help us in the journey to seek direction for our lives. "In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me." (Jer. 29:12-13) I believe that in order for us to really understand what God has for us, we need to know God! His voice, character, personality, etc. will be easily recognizable in our lives and in situations so that we can know what direction He is taking us in. We communicate with Him through prayer. He says that if we talk to Him, open our hearts (concerns, doubts, fears, joys) in an intimate, daily conversation that we will "find" Him and His will for us.
So how do we know God's plan for our lives? We must first seek him - with our whole heart! And He promises to listen and respond!
This is a well-known verse that speaks to our hearts about our future and how we can rest assured that God is in control and cares for us and our future. We hear this verse quoted so many times during sermons, devotionals, etc. But as I read this, I think about all of my junior high students. They will understand the concept that there is a God who loves them and has a plan for them. But what they struggle with is understanding what that plan is! So how do we know?
The next verse opens a door of knowledge that will help us in the journey to seek direction for our lives. "In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me." (Jer. 29:12-13) I believe that in order for us to really understand what God has for us, we need to know God! His voice, character, personality, etc. will be easily recognizable in our lives and in situations so that we can know what direction He is taking us in. We communicate with Him through prayer. He says that if we talk to Him, open our hearts (concerns, doubts, fears, joys) in an intimate, daily conversation that we will "find" Him and His will for us.
So how do we know God's plan for our lives? We must first seek him - with our whole heart! And He promises to listen and respond!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
I'm back!
So I haven't updated this thing in a while. That is going to change! I will be updating on regular basis now to let you in on my life, thoughts, ministry, etc.!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)