Love is the Movement

Love is the Movement



Through my life I have come upon many wondrous things inspired by God. He has touched my life in ways I will never be able to describe, I wrote as much of it down as possible. But I never wrote on something so important, so vital, so huge in God’s plan that I almost lost my mind when I realized it.

LOVE!

I got so caught up in living life holy and righteous that I forgot to give a message of love from God and from us to Him!
I was blown away when I read a piece of paper at my friends house, it was a verse about love and how you cannot be of the Father if you don’t have love. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love God more the anything in this world! But He taught me that I could not have that love for Him if I did not also love others with such a passion. Now, I will never love anyone as I love God, but I forgot to love the needy, the poor, the helpless. I got so absorbed in living with a passion for God that I forgot to love those who didn’t know Him.

As Switchfoot says it, “love is the movement!” Without love we are nothing, without love we have nothing to hold on to. God is love! Yes, God will show judgment on the unrighteous, but we must show love to all or there can be no love for God in our hearts.

I’ve had many chances when I could show a person love, to my mom and dad, to my best friend, to my neighbor, to a stranger, to my enemies. I let many chances slip by when I could have shown love but showed anger, bitterness, resentment, and evil intentions.

One time, I was with some friends and they made fun of someone behind their backs. I joined in and made fun of that person in a crud and embarrassing way. I sinned! I turned my back on a friend and showed no love in sticking up for them! I showed that I could be a traitor if I wanted to, and I sinned by turning my back on that person.
Love comes in so many shapes and sizes, in compassion for a friend or enemy, with kind words to a brother, in affection for a girl, for the greatest love for God.
Love is the movement, how many times have you amended feelings with a brother or sister with anger? How many times have you healed a friendship with bitter words? How many times have you led a person to the Lord using words of disappointment in them?
We cannot call ourselves Christians if we do not have love for all people! Not just our friends and family but for our enemies and those who curse and persecute us.

Why is it so much easier to show anger and hatred then to show love and compassion? I often asked myself why would I do something that hurt and embittered someone close? Does it make sense why we rarely show love when we are supposed to be filled with it? If we claim to love God and love to serve Him then we should be filled with love for people, not just our friends but our enemies as well.

One time when I was reading some stories from the Jesus Freak books, I read about people that would be persecuted and tortured for the name of Jesus Christ. Out loud I would yell, “why don’t you fight back? Why don’t you try to escape? Why do you bless someone that is torturing your brother or sister?”
I asked God why was it this way? Why do we get persecuted for this? Then I thought, “God was tortured and killed for telling the truth and yet he still had compassion and love for his enemies. God woke me up to true unconditional love. Love that does not need someone to love back but only gives love because it is filled with it. God woke me up and showed me that to follow Him meant that I had to have a love for all people even those who hated me.
How? How could I love those who hurt my family? How could I love those who had cursed me and left me for nothing? How could I love those who had wronged me beyond words? How could I love those who hated me?

How can a man love a person that has wronged him in a way that seems unforgivable? How does a man love when he has been hurt so deeply?
This is how, to love God means to find love for others including those who don’t seem to deserve it. Think about it, we don’t deserve God’s love, we don’t deserve the love He offers to us when He died on that cross! Yet He still offers it! And He has required us to love one another as He loves us and forgave us.

What is going to heal the brokenness in America? What is going to bring healing to the millions of teens that have ruined their lives from drugs, gangs, alcohol, sex, violent homes, no parents, and no morals? It will only be by love from us Christians! We must stop looking at the people of today as a lost cause or some bum on the streets but as people that need Christ in their lives!

One day while I was driving through a long stretch on the road I noticed something different about the people I saw. I didn’t see the bum that needed money, I didn’t see the impatient mom on her phone, I didn’t see the gang member with the low pants, I didn’t see the sad looking teen that looked as if he had lost everything in life. No! I saw humans created in the very image of God! I saw souls that longed for something to complete itself! I saw people that were lost and couldn’t find their way home to their Father. I felt such a burden to help all these people because I saw past their raunchy clothes and cell phones, I saw a person that could be a great worrier for God! I saw souls that were crying out in anguish looking for some purpose in life but cannot find one.
I found love and compassion for these people because God’s love was moving through me. I saw people as He dose. I looked at a person not with anger or resentment but with love and a heart that wants to bring hope to them.


What is love? It is being able to care for someone with a passion. To be able to love takes a renewing of the heart from God. If you do not have a heart for the lost then you your self are lost!

1 Cor. 12:1-8
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophesy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous, love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophesy, they will be away, if there are tongues, they will cease, if there is knowledge, it will be done away.


"Love is kindled in a flame, and ardency is its life. Flame is the air which true Christian experience breathes. It feeds on fire; it can withstand anything rather than a feeble flame; but when the surrounding atmosphere is frigid or lukewarm, it dies, chilled and starved to its vitals. True prayer must be aflame."
E.M. Bounds

"Our love to God is measured by our everyday fellowship with others and the love it displays."
Andrew Murray


There is something missing in our churches, our homes, our daily lives, and with our walk with God. It is a deep and sincere love. We have nothing if we do not have love. We can be as religious as we want and not have love. We can claim to love God with all our might but yet not love the lost which in turn brings out the true nature of the heart.
If we do not have a deep burden to save the lost we cannot love God! When God’s love reigns in your heart then you will feel a love and compassion for those who are lost.


“Welcome to the fallout: where the truth and the shadows have become blurred. This is the incompletion… and we are holding our breath. But look! The winds of redemption have come to within the confines of our frozen fists.
‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And in this newness there is hope for the hopeless, where the eternal lines of the heavens collide with our own humanity. In the divine comedy where up is down and down is up we lose ourselves to find ourselves.
Love is the movement. This is the revolution.”
Switchfoot

My Heart

There is something deep in my heart
It cries to be heard from the soul
It is an aching voice that is shut in a bottle
It pushes forward but gets kicked down
It longs for something to complete it
It is lost in the darkness of fear and doubt

There is something deep in my heart
It hopes to become something
It drives to pursue love and mercy
It is desperate for life
It craves for something that this world can never offer
It desires to be accepted

There is something deep in my heart
It cries out to God to be saved
It is empty without the spirit of God
It is lost in the ocean with the rest of the world
It will not make it past this darkness
It is crying for its Savior to save it

There is something deep in my heart
It is fighting for life
It is searching for intimacy with the living God
It is in desperation for air to breath
It wants to be free
It thirsts for unending water

There is something deep in my heart
It is the core and being of who it is
There is something so deep in my heart
That I could never explain
But that I desire God
That I be near Him always

What is this? It is all that I am
How can I explain this feeling in my heart?
When I don’t even understand it myself?

Oh God I cry out to You! Where are You?
Why is it so hard to describe how I feel?

It is a desire to know You God!




Is this the end?
Is this where it all stops?
It doesn’t seem my mind will bend
And then my head wants to pop
This raging fear of everything being lost
Wishing this were some sad twisted dream
Not being able to wake
Not being able to wake

It can’t be the end!
It seems as if it is but there is that faint hope
It is so far and doubtful
Why does it seem this is the end
But yet the beginning of a new
The very blood in my body shakes
It seems so odd this view
I always considered this life fulfilled
Then it hits me!
I have nothing!

I scream for some kind of an answer
My soul is in terror of being nothing
My life looks small and weightless
I look to God for help
Is there an answer?
Is this some kind of phase I can’t escape?
Will I see the life I always knew?
Or is there something new and altogether…
Quite absorbing and uplifting?
Then it hits me!
God is my all and all!

Everything! Everything! Everything!
Is nothing compared to my Lord and Savior
I see now
That this new revelation is quite dangerous
But it is some new step of faith in uncharted lands
My mind is grasping so little of this new revelation
But even that is mind blowing

I have been missing something that is indescribable
It has no words to explain its depth
It is something that very few people ever stumble upon
It is a faith of a new kind
A faith that does not need reason
It only has faith in the unseen
Can a man describe something that has nagged on him?
Something on his heart for so long?
There are no words to say this faith
It is something so new and fresh
It scares the living daylights out of me!

There is something deep in my heart
It says that I have treaded upon dangerous faith
A faith that man only dreams about
Where nothing in the world can compare…
To the glory of the Almighty God!

I have come to faith that scares me
But excites me
For I have nothing but God!

Indeed there is something deep in my heart
It is the longing to go deeper and deeper

Yes, this is new and dangerous faith
It is what God wants of us and more

To War!

To War!

To War!


My reason for writing this letter is because I was awoken to something so powerful, so great, so mind captivating that I knew that it is something us Christians must be reminded of constantly, daily, to the last days of our lives on this world.

Have you ever felt that this world was like that of the Matrix? When I first saw that movie I thought, “Dude! What if that were true?” What if we were living in a make believe world, that everything we thought and lived by was all… well, fake!
Of course that was the point to make us think that maybe this wasn’t the real world. But what if their idea was true, that the world we live in is all just a cover up from the real world or in the way I will use it, the real battle.

As Christians, we all know that Satan uses his dark forces to tempt us in the spiritual world. He will come upon us when we are least expecting and try to destroy us with his deceit, his malice, his indescribable hatred, and his love of evil.
We all have read the verses where God says that the fight is not with flesh and sword but with mind and soul. But do we truly realize how much of the fight is in our mind and soul? I believe that even now the enemy is lying to you telling you, “yes, there is a fight but it’s not that big of a deal.”
The enemy is trying to numb your mind as we speak so that my words will go through one ear and out the other. I would strongly suggest you stop right now and pray that God open your eyes and let you see truth. That your mind not be fogged with confusion and lies, that you may see the truth and it will set you free.

What I will tell you are my accounts of the spiritual realm and how most Christians are still blind to the fact that everyday we are attacked by the enemy. That most Christians fail God because they don’t understand the mighty weapon of PRAYER is their only way to call upon the Almighty God for strength and deliverance.

One day, I was sitting in my bedroom thinking about life as most teenagers seem to do. I sat there thinking about my life and what I had accomplished (at the time I felt as if I had done nothing to help serve God and my fellow man) I didn’t know it but God was to let me come to one of the worst times of my life, he let Satan come into my room with full access to my mind. It was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. The enemy’s presence filled the room, I could feel evil right at my fingertips. I felt cold and separated from God. Satan drove my mind insane, putting thoughts and doubts and fears into my mind faster then my mind could take them in. I felt torture and suffering in my heart and soul. I was being attacked by the enemy and all I did was cry out in anger and sorrow. That night I nearly came to the point of insanity, I felt like a little kid being beaten up by a big bully and I couldn’t do anything until he stopped. But the enemy didn’t stop he tormented my mind until I lost it and cried out to God to save me! I was so desperate for God to save me, I cried and pleaded for Him to come and rescue me.
God did come and rescue me, He saved me but more importantly He taught me a lesson I will never forget. One, that if I wanted to serve Him then I would be in a war where I would need Him more then anything in the world. Second, that this war is not in this world, it is in the world of souls and spiritual battling. And that my weapon is prayer.
When I was being attacked by the enemy I could do nothing physically, I was bound in a fight that would conquer me unless I had God’s strength.

The enemy sends his devils to plant doubt, fear, anger, confusion, laziness, pride, jealousy, lust, lies, and one of the worst for a Christian…numbness.
“Numbness to what,” you may ask? It is numbness to the truth, to righteousness, to clear sight from God. The worst is when the enemy numbs us to sin. He will use any means possible to ease your conscious and to get your guard down. He will make your sight of holiness appear thin and weak, making you feel that “it’s ok.”

Our battle is in our mind and soul!! How do I make it any clearer?

As Christians we have been numbed to the fact that our only weapon here on earth is prayer, that prayer is what shakes nations and crumbles evil! We have lost sight that the world we live in is but a testing place, it is but a short time. The real places are heaven and hell. Which world do you live in, the material world or the spiritual world?

We have forgotten our most powerful weapon, Prayer! It is our sword to vanquish the enemy! If we think that prayer is something we use for mealtimes and church times, then we don’t understand how much change we would see in our world if we would pray more. The verse that says to pray without ceasing, what does that mean to you? Come on, think, what does that mean to you? I would hope you say that it means to pray not just at mealtimes and at church but all day long! We will not survive the day unless we pray constantly, unceasingly, and zealously! Do you think God will send a host of angels to come and protect you if you pray weakly? No! May it never be! We must pray in such a way that would shake a mountain! We cannot cower back from our only weapon in the spiritual war.

We have become numb to the enemy, we have let him come in our lives through movies, music, internet, friends, and lack of time spent with God. People are always asking why are Christians so weak today? Why are there so many backsliders from the church? Why do Christians buckle under trials? It is because they have lost their weapon…prayer.
They spend more time watching movies then with God. They have their ten fifteen minute devotions in the morning and they think they are set for the day. They think that life is cool and that the enemy wont attack them. Well, that shows you how the enemy has gotten into the minds of Christians, they think that with five minutes of prayer they are ready to take on the day.

If you spend five minutes a day praying then I’ve got sad news for you, you wont grow with God that way, you wont be used by God. How do you expect to live for God when you don’t even spend half an hour a day with Him?

Prayer is our way to know God. Prayer is our way to fight the enemy. Prayer is our way of staying in touch with the spiritual realm. Prayer is our weapon in this raging war.
Yes, we will win the war, but it’s the battles that count in our life. We don’t need to worry about the end, because God will be victorious. But we need to win the battles.

Which world do you live in?

"Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late - and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience."
A.W. Tozer

"Revival comes from heaven when heroic souls enter the conflict determined to win or die-or if need be, to win and die! "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."
Charles Finney

Lost in the Ocean (full)

Lost in the Ocean




“Now do you believe, that God commands you not to be conformed to the world? Do you believe it? And dare you obey it, let people say what they will about you? Dare you now separate yourselves from the world, and never again be controlled by its maxims, and never again copy its practices, and never again be whiffled here and there by its fashions? I know a man that lives so, I can mention his name, he pays no attention to the customs of the world in this respect. And what is the result? Wherever that man goes, he leaves the impression behind that he is a Christian. O, if one church would do so, and would engage in it with all the energy that men of the world engage in their business, they would turn the world upside down. Will you do so? Will you break off from the world now, and enter into covenant with God, and declare that you will dare to be singular enough to be separate from the world, and from this time set your faces as a flint to obey God, let the world say what they will? Dare you do it? Will you do it?”
Charles Finney


“Change means traveling in uncharted waters and this causes our securities to rise.”
John Maxwell


Ephesians 4:14-16 (NASB) “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, but speaking in truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up itself in love.”

A young man once said, "My God, show me what to do, send me anywhere You want, I will submit to you too the fullest. Give me the strength to do your will, give me the strength to live my life for you. Even if it means giving up everything I have and love. I tell you this because I love you and I surrender my life to you, your all this life is worth living for."

When I hear this, it makes me wish all Christians lived by this, but that's just it! This is how we are supposed to be living! A life of submission to our Father in Heaven. But why is it that most Christians see this, but yet, they still do not give up everything they are to God. There are many reasons why, but I'm going to go over three main points.
One, the Christians of today are numb! They've become numb to the sin of the world. You might be thinking, "what's that mean, we live in the world and sin is in the world, so what are we supposed to do about that?" But what I'm saying is this, God did not intend for us to be unaffected by the sin of the world, not that were supposed run around in fear of it but that when we see evil and perversion we will look at it in disgust and want no part of it.

James 4:4 (NASB)
“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

I look back at some of the many things I did in the past and I see that I befriended the world and I said entertain me. I decided to give in into the desires of the world because I didn't want my friends to think I was "sheltered", or I wanted to say that I was my own person and I could do what I wanted.
Christians know what they’re doing when they sin, even if they've done it many times. Deep down they know what they're doing is wrong. Too many times does a Christian use the excuse,’ I didn't know what I was doing, or I didn't think it was that bad, and many including myself think, “God will forgive me." But don't you see, God doesn't want excuses, And He sure won’t be used as if He were a credit card. He wants us to come clean and break down before Him. When we try to make sin a not so big issue it tears us apart from God. In the Bible God says that He cannot be with us if we are stained by the sin of the world and live in its lifestyle.

Matthew 5:20 (The Message)
“Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won't know the first thing about entering the kingdom.”

And then I think to myself, if I sin all the time how am I supposed to grow closer to Him? How can God grow in me if I say I live for Him, but turn around and sin? Well the fact is, we can't. How do you expect God to abide in us when we live in a sinful lifestyle?
And after some time of playing this in my mind I figured it out, Paul talked about how we were supposed to live clean and sinless lives.

Romans 6:1-2 (NASB)
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

But we sin, how are we supposed to be “perfect?”
We chose to sin, we are the ones that chose to go against God and do exactly what He doesn’t want us to do. We are never tempted beyond what our minds can handle. We chose to fail God, we chose to screw it up.
There will come a point in your life when you will be stuck in a position, you will have the choice to stay in a life where you know that you are living for yourself and your flesh. Or you can choose to say no, and rely on God’s strength to make it through these temptations.
I didn't understand what it meant to give up everything. I wouldn’t give Him my emotions, my friendships, my schoolwork, and every little thing I did. I didn’t know what it meant to be in submission to God. You will either rise up and become a child of God, or you will fall because you wouldn’t say no to the sin because you decided to be numb to it.
The second reason why Christians are not living in full submission to God is because they are afraid of giving up a bunch of little things that God wants them to give up!

Romans 6:11-12 (NASB)
“Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey
its lusts.”

From what I see, this is the number one factor why Christians have such a “hard” time living for God. It is because they let sin reign in their lives and they wont give it up to Him.
For so long we have been used to doing these “little” things in our lives, dirty jokes, crummy movies and music, selfishness of your own flesh, you fill in the blanks. But when God asks us to give up the little things it seems so hard, we try to convince ourselves that it's not a big deal and we try to shove it aside. And yet, that voice comes back and seems to haunt you. You wish God would just make it clear of what He wants, but He is! He's saying,” give up these little things and serve me for I am holy and I require you to be holy." I've seen this too often, people let the little things destroy their relationship with God, and it separates them from Him because they’re not willing to give up something. Well here's the truth, it's only going to get harder the longer you try to make up your mind of whether or not your going to let go.
Why is it so hard for Christians to say no to this world! We say we love Christ and then we live a life opposite of what He commands. The things of this world are so small compared to the God of all creation and what He has to offer us. Why do we give in so easily, why do we feel that we can become like the rest of the world and be a Christian at the same time? The enemy tells us that it’s ok if we sin because other Christians do. He makes us feel that’s ok if we sin because God will forgive us.
But you know what, how can you ever expect to live for God when you can’t keep His laws?
It's true that the enemy will try to confuse you and twist up the truth, but there's a point where you must push everything aside and there's only you and God. You’re at the point of wishing you weren't alive, the point where God is so real and all you can do is cry out to Him. Wanting to know why something so small has to be so big! But this is the point where your relationship with God comes down to it, "are you willing to do anything He requires of you?”
This is the relationship God requires of us, but ask yourself, are you willing to give up a priceless relationship with God because of fear, of not having a few things that He wants you to give up? Is it worth it to live in despair because you care what the world thinks of you? When God says this is just a short time on earth, what does that mean to you? He says that we aren't supposed to become attached to the things of this world! That we aren’t supposed to live in sin. How can we live in sin when we are supposed to have died to it? Are you willing? Are you willing to give up anything for God?
The third reason why Christians are not what they are supposed to be is because we're too comfortable! All we can do is think how can I make things easier for me. It's true we are blessed to live in a free country, but we are so comfort- able with how things are. Why would we want to change them? Because we look like the rest of the world, the way we act a non -Christian could never tell the difference.
As Christians, we are supposed to be different, act different, live different. When we have that fulfilling love of God in our heart people will want to know what we have. Sometimes I thought, “how could I ever be like that?” It sounds more like Paul from the Bible. Well the fact is we can't be like this unless we get out of our comfort zone, we give up everything we are to God, we give up the friendship with the world, we are not stained by the sin of the world. We must stop thinking about what can I get out of it but how can I serve God.
When we forget everything in this world, and see that it doesn't matter! When you put aside everything for God then you will know what it means to live life the way He intended for us. When you put aside your selfish ambitions and only see Jesus, then you will know life.

Matthew 5:13-16 (NASB)
“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under the foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Rev. 3:16 “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

“I look to the sky and see,
That there is only one type of Christian I can be,
A Christian that reflects God’s love.
And I can only dream of Him above.
There is hope, there is love, there is truth!
I see that life, it is not strife,
But the very essence of being.
Oh Lord, let me be something more,
Then what I see here.
All I ask is that You smile upon me,
And let it be…
That You never leave this poor soul,And may I always have that one set goal…Amen”

Such Lack of Thought

Such Lack of Thought




What will it take for Christians to wake up from this ever-deep slumber? What will shake this broken generation from the darkness that it is enwalled in?
The Christians today, are weak, lazy, doubtful of their faith, and unfearful of God.
One can only ask why this is so, one must ask how Christians could ever have gotten in this state of pervertedness and lack of obedience to God.
Is there a simple answer for this question? Can this lack of obedience to God be transformed back to its original state of being? Or is this generation completely lost in its absorbance of self? Will God bring revival to the Christian heart and thinking before we have lost ourselves?
How did it come to this?

First, we must ask the question of how we have gotten in this place of slumber. How did our culture of Christianity become apart of the world? And what will we have to do to wake up the “lukewarm Christian?”

For my first example, I was listening to a talk radio show, the discussion was over whether or not homosexuals would inherit the kingdom of God. Frankly the whole thing disgusted me. But there was a lady that called up and said,
“well I’m a Christian and I don’t think that God would send someone to hell because they love each other. The God I know, the God that lives in my heart, would never do that.”

This is the stupidity and moral corruptness that has invaded so many Christians. They believe that God is so loving that He would never send someone to hell for being a homo, and yet God clearly says anyone who practices homosexuality and pervertedness will be cast into the lake of fire on judgment day.

How Christians have come to this, I don’t know. But it shows that Christians do not understand the Bible, they interpret it for themselves and read it the way they want to see it. Christians believe that God is this lovable teddy bear that is gugu eyes over us and wants to make our lives happy and pleasant. That is Satan’s influence if I ever saw it.
Yes, God is loving, God loves us more then we could ever imagine. But He is also a worrier, a mighty judge, a deliverer from evil, an untamed lion.

Have we lost ourselves? Have we forgotten that God will not be mocked? Have we forgotten that one day He will come and judge the righteous from the unrighteous?
If we live a lifestyle that is against what God has commanded, then we will not inherit the kingdom of God.

It confounds me to think that people are so easily deceived by false doctrines and emotions. I see that people truly believe that they will go to heaven if they act good enough for God, as if they can buy their way into heaven.
Christians are so absorbed in little technicalities of each others churches, and they are blind to the fact that they are on their way to doom!
One example, I remember a time when I was driving in a car with someone and we talked about each others church. The fellow asked if I believed in speaking in tongues, because to him this was a big issue. I was amazed on how this was such an important topic to his church. I kept silent about my thoughts on petty religious ideas. And only said that I believed that the speaking in tongues had a specific role and was not to be used too lightly. He was glad and told about his church belief in that area. Afterwards I thought about what we talked about, and I thought on how even I will get caught up with religion and lose track of my purpose. Christians will get so caught up in religion that we forget how to truly live in submission to God.
It’s true, people have many diverse ideas about how the Bible is interpreted. But I laugh at how Christians will become angry over the left behind scenario, and whether or not Jesus’ hands were nailed in the palm or the wrist. We make such a fuss over religion and we forget that millions of people will be lost forever. Such fools we are!

I ponder on the thought of how many Christians there are in America, and if only half of those alleged Christians would act on their faith, and truly serve God in their daily life.
Oh what a dramatic change we would see in our culture, America would be flipped upside down. But why do we sit around thinking as if people will be saved while we do nothing?
I am at a loss of words to this. How has it penetrated our small heads that God will save people without us? He must use us to bring the lost to Him. We are God’s tools to save the lost. We do not save people, God does. He merely uses us to accomplish His objective. As my good friend Devin says, “I am just God’s shadow.”

While we sit around and play with our thumbs, many people will be lost forever, and they will never know the truth of God.
It tears my heart apart, thinking that if Christians would act on their words, then we would not be in this state of darkness.
What has happened to us? Why do we think like the rest of the world? How can we claim to be Christians when we adopt the ways of the world? Who said it was ok to have a sinful lifestyle? Who said that it was ok to live life the way we want to?
Christians have been lost to the selfishness of their desires. They have completely lost sight of their purpose. That is to know and serve God, not to bicker about religion and live for themselves.
We think we have it all together because we have a Bible and go to church. We believe in our hearts that we have not been conformed to this world, and are living religiously. But we are blind to the truth! Satan has crept his weapon of deceit and lies in our hearts. We have allowed the enemy to keep us from God’s work.
In Satan’s mind he’s thinking, “these fools, as long as they don’t tell others about Jesus Christ, then they can have their little church meetings. They can sing all they want, they can act as good little Christians.”
We are no threat to the enemy when we conform to religion, when we lose sight of God’s plan. The enemy has beaten you if you have fallen for religion.

"Christians don't tell lies they just go to church and sing them" A.W. Tozer

What is the lukewarm Christian? Who invented this weak term for a Christian? You can’t be lukewarm and inherit the kingdom of God! We will not all be Charles Finney’s, and Martian Luther’s. But we have been called to be messengers for the living God! We are called to die to self and live to Him!
No, lukewarm is something we have invented in our minds, it is a sad excuse of someone who will not commit their life to Jesus. I truly am sad for those who believe that they will enter heaven when they put Jesus second in their lives.

In conclusion, if the Christians today will not wake up from this dark slumber, then they will lose their lives to their own selfishness. If we do not escape from the lies of the enemy then we will be ensnared in his mouth.
What will it take to change the thinking of Christians? We have such lack of obedience to God, we have lost our fear of Him.
What has happened to us? How have Christians become so absorbed into the things of the world? Is it not commanded of us to be in the world but not of it? How have we come to the conclusion that we can act and live like other people? We are expected to live pure and clean lives for the honor and glory for God.

We have lost ourselves.

A generation of Christians reared among pushbuttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relations with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions, and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar. The tragic results of this spirit are all about us. Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit; these and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.
A.W. Tozer

Fear vs. Faith

Fear-Faith



My fear


What is this fear that binds Christians to its chains of doubt and unwillingness to serve God? What is this darkness that keeps Christians from becoming the strong worrier of God that they are supposed to be?
This fear has bound Christians to a life of mellowness, and weakness. It has kept us from growing closer to God and it has kept us from doing the work He has set for us.

In my own walk with God I was bound to this fear of not taking action on my words. It was a fear that crept in my mind and said, “you stupid fool, how could you ever do that, you’re not strong enough to do that. Who do you think you are? What would everyone think of you?”
The enemy gets into our heads and puts a fear deep into our minds, it takes hold of lives and we give in. We forgo the chance to do wondrous works for our God! We forgo opportunities to tell others about Jesus Christ and we let it slip by because of this little fear.

Back a few months ago, I was sitting in a parking lot at a Barn and Nobles, and I was watching all the people walk by going about their business. I saw this man walk by, he was about twenty, five-nine, skinny, and looked like a real wuss of a guy. I saw this man and God told me to talk to him, to go and tell him about Jesus. Of course this was a huge shock and I didn’t want to get out of my car. But this fight raged on in my head and I knew what to do, but I didn’t do it. I sat in my seat and let that man walk away.
While this was all happening, God showed me a vision of this man and he was a great worrier for the name of the Lord, he told many people about God and brought revival to nations. God showed me this, but I didn’t do my duty. I let him walk away because I was afraid, I had this fear creep in my mind and I let it beat me.

This fear, it is our worst enemy. It creeps upon us in the time when we want to serve God, when we want to do righteousness for His names sake. But we give in and let it keep us from freedom. It is chains that hold us down from life! It is doubt that locks us to emptiness, it brings pain and suffering to our hearts. Why is it that we let this fear control us? Why is it that we give in, and we stop fighting?
Our hope is in what we fear most, our fear is the wall that keeps us from living in freedom. It is a wall that keeps us from God!

While I was at a youth conference called “Sold Out”, I met God in a way that brought me to a scary point. I was on my knees praying to Him and He said, “take action.”
God told me to get off my knees and to go outside and tell someone about Him. When I heard Him say this I was shocked, I was sad and I was in fear. I didn’t want to go, but He said to me, “if you do not take action, then you are a fake. And all that you have claimed to have said, saying, ‘God I love you and I will do anything you want of me.’ All of this will be empty words that mean nothing. If you truly love me then you will obey my words.”
God was telling me that if I did not put aside my fear and do as He required, then all that I had ever written about and talked about would mean nothing. They would be meaningless empty words. I sat on the floor and thought, “Aaron, how seriously do you take your relationship with God? How far will you go? Do you truly believe in what you have preached for so long? How serious do you take your relationship with God?”
I got off my knees and I went outside and did as God required of me. I put away my fear and lived for Jesus Christ.

We can break free! We can get up and say no to our fear! But not without God’s strength, not without His love. We are not slaves to our fear, we can push through. But ask yourself, how serious do you take your relationship with God? Is it something that you have a limit on, something that will only go so far?

This fear keeps us from God, will you push through and trust in Him? Or will you only say things with your mouth and then deny God with your actions?
How serious do you take your relationship with God?
This is a song I wrote in about ten minutes with my friends, it was a time in my life when I wanted to wake up from a slumber. It was a slumber of fear and doubt in Jesus Christ.

My Fear
“Some days it all seems to fade away
Everything you were so afraid to say
Knowing and growing to something
That all comes to nothing
Oh how I miss my innocence, but it’s still too late
For me to say I’m in ignorance
Oh how I hated those times
When life went by in a flash
And never gave me a second chance
And this life faded away every day
All those times when I wish I was dreaming
And having to open my eyes and see the meaning
That my only hope is in what I fear
Will I be cured?
The illusion I gave myself has locked my mind
I never gave myself a chance to unwind
Will I find the cure for my fear?
It all drags me down
I want to get up but this fear pulls me down
Oh why is that my hope is in what I fear most
I must get up and stop being the ghost
I must face my fear
And know that God is always there”


Faith to move a Mountain


"Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.”
Corrie Ten Boom

“Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods."
C.S. Lewis

In the Bible when God says if we believe we can move mountains, what does that mean? What did He mean when He said that we could mighty things with His power?
Are we too scared to call upon Jesus for such might, are we set in a thinking that only allows us to do so much? Can we do more then we think possible? Have we lost a sense of trust and faith in God that would enable us to do things like moving a mountain?

Another question in meOne for the powers that beIt's got me thrownAnd so I put on my poker faceAnd try to figure it outThis undeniable doubtA common occurrenceFeeling so out of placeGuarded and cynical nowCan't help but wondering howMy heart evolved intoA rock beating inside of meSo I feel such a stoic ordealWhere's that feeling that I don't feelThere was a boy who had the faith to move a mountainAnd like a child he would believe without a reasonWithout a trace he disappeared into the void andI've been searching' for that missing personUnder a lavender moonSo many thoughts consume meWho dimmed that glowing lightThat once burned so bright in meIs this a radical phaseA problematical ageThat keeps me runningFrom all that I used to beIs there a way to returnIs there a way to unlearnThat carnal knowledgeThat's chipping away at my soulI've been gone too longWill I ever find my way homeThere was a boy who had the faith to move a mountainAnd like a child he would believe without a reasonWithout a trace he disappeared into the void andI've been searching' for that missing personHe used to want to try to walk the straight and narrowHe had a fire and he could feel it in the marrowIt's been a long time and I haven't seen him latelybut I've been searching' for that missing person

Michael W. Smith/Missing Person


What is faith? What is this word we say in church and in our prayers? What truly defines this powerful word? It is to put your trust in something unseen, to fall into the arms of someone blindly.
It is unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence. Have we forgotten to keep our strength strong and firm? Do we truly have a belief in God that is unwavering and solid? Much of my own teen years I didn’t know what faith was. Not until one day, while I was sitting on a bridge and God told me to jump into the water. He told me to trust in Him and jump in! I was in unbelief and did not do so. Latter that day God told me that this was the type of trust that I would have to put in Him if I wanted to serve Him for all the days of my life.
God does not want weak half-hearted Christians. He wants us to stand away from the world and move mountains! If we truly put our faith in Him without condition, then nations would be changed, revival would break loose, and God would be moving through many people.

We have lost sight of power in God, we have lost sight that He is more powerful then any man. We have lost our child like faith. We are living a life where we believe that we are so weak and that we could never do anything. But God has said that if we will call upon His name in faith then He would do as we ask.
What has happened to us! We no longer have solid faith in God, we have let doubt and fear creep into our minds and hearts. We are afraid to let go of our securities and safe holds. We have lost our trust in the Almighty God!
Abraham in the Old Testament, he was going to sacrifice his son to God because he was required to do so. He put away his doubt and fell into God’s arms. This man had his only son and God told him to kill him. And Abraham said, “God, I will trust You.”

We must find God in a way we have feared for so long. We must put away our fear and go to a new level of faith with Him. We can’t stay in the boat, we have to get out walk to God. If we hold back, then we will never grow to a deeper relationship with Him. We must find our faith!


Faith in uncharted waters.


What did God mean when he said we could move a mountain with faith? Was it literal when he said that we could move a mountain, or is it just an analogy?
In my opinion, I think it goes both ways. One, God said if we called upon His name with faith we could move a mountain. I think He meant that faith has no limits with Him. What he was trying to say was that if we believed He could do supernatural things through us. But I also think He was literal in what He said! I think that men are too afraid to call upon God for supernatural things that seem impossible, they are in doubt when something big comes along. Remember Peter? The guy walked on water! Jesus called him and he stepped off the boat and walked on water. I’m trying to think, what seems harder, walking on water or moving a mountain? Both seem pretty hard to do. But that’s it! We think of it that way, we think this is so hard that it could never be done. But for God moving a mountain is not hard, for crying out load He created the universe! I believe that men are too afraid to call upon God for something great, they are too afraid to “move a mountain.” There are no limits on God’s strength, but it is us who put a limit on it with our fear. How can God use us to do mighty things if we are in doubt?
God once asked me to jump off a little bridge and into the water, I doubted so I did not. God told me that this was the faith I had to have in Him, this was the faith I needed to do great things for His name. I look back and I think, “God asked me to jump into the water, would I have walked on water?” I don’t know what would have happened, but I see that God can’t use me if I hold back and clutch to the bridge. If I truly want Him to use me I have to take a leap of faith and jump onto the water.
What does it mean to have faith to move a mountain? Is it literal? We are too doubtful of God’s strength because we don’t know Him well enough.
Take for example my friend Devin, there is no one on this earth (except God) that I trust more then Devin. I would trust him to the point of death, my faith in him is so immense because…I know him! I’ve spent hours upon hours talking to him about life! The reason we have such a lack of faith in God is because we do not know Him. I found that I didn’t have strong faith in God because I didn’t know Him in an intimate way. When I sat down and talked to God for hours I knew Him, I knew what He was like and what He wanted. I knew Him as my best friend, which in turn brought a strong faith in Him.
I say to all of you who are satisfied with your relationship with God, “go home, just go home and don’t bother claiming to be a Christian.” Go big or go small.
For those who want to desire God, I say this, “don’t cry out to God and say, ‘God put a hunger in my heart for you!’ But say, ‘God I desire You! I hunger for You! I want to know you more, I wont settle down for anything less then intimacy with You!’”
We must desire God, we must know Him! Then we grow to have a faith that will take us into uncharted waters!
What will it take to have a faith to move mountains? It will take a desire to know God, it will take a heart that desires to know God everyday. Don’t be satisfied with what God gave you yesterday, but desire more everyday!

Faith to move a mountain? Go big or go small.

Lost in the Ocean

Lost in the Ocean


It’s the year 2005, America’s culture has changed dramatically since its birth two hundred years ago. The Christian community is no different, it has plummeted down into a state of depravity and weakness.
I use the words lost in the ocean, the ocean is the world and things of it. Christians are lost in the things of the world, they have lost themselves and adapted the ways of the world. They think that they can live like everyone else, but they fail to realize that when you claim to be a Christian you claim to kill your ways of life, to live to a different beat, to be a Jesus Freak, to go against the waves of the world, to live different from the world.

In my personal life I was lost in the waves of the world, I claimed to be a Christian but lived life the way I wanted to. In my mind I good Christian, I didn’t do drugs or get into trouble. I was a “good” Christian, but I found that there is only one type of Christian that I can be, that Christ-like living holy and righteous, knowing and serving God with all my mind heart and strength.

What is a Christian you may ask? It is someone who has died to sin, picks up their cross daily, and lives for Christ and Christ alone.
My friend and I talked much on this subject because we didn’t know what to think when we would fall for the same temptations over and over. We thought, “how can I be a Christian when I fall over and over in the same place?” Our answer, as long as we know that we are sinning and are fighting to be overcome and have a repentant heart then we will be forgiven for what we did. But for those who have a lifestyle of sin and have no desire to overcome it then they are not a Christian, they are a fake and will not inherit the kingdom of God if they continue in this state of sinful lifestyle. My friend and I had the hardest time in our minds because we wanted to serve God but only fell when the battle came. Then it hit us like it hit my dad when he discovered that Elvis was dead, we can’t live like the rest of the world and live for God! We had to be rid of anything that brought a wall between God and us, we had to give everything to God! Not just a few things but everything! Even if others made fun of us we knew to stay strong because we take our relationship with God serious, more serious then any thing this world could ever offer.

Yes, my friend and I went through trials that were heart wrenching and soul tearing, but we fought through the battle because we saw the reward of doing so, an intimate relationship with our God, our Lord, our best friend. We were lost in the ocean, we were struggling with the battle of giving our all to God, (and still do now) and we went through what seemed hell. But we look back and see that those fights were worth it, we see that being a “lukewarm” Christian is the worst thing possible. Because we felt useless for God, but were still separated from the world in a sense. We were on the line of
God-and –world, and there was only one choice to make, to live for God or not to.

Will you give up your holding of the world, will give it up to be a Jesus Freak? Or are you too concerned about your reputation or your pride? Maybe it’s your fear of stepping out of the boat an jumping into the arms of God. A step of faith.
Will you be held back by your fear, pride, reputation, world stuff, a girl, money, the battle? Will you go against the waves of the world and fight? Or will you sink back into the weak term of the Christian, lukewarm?

Lost in the Ocean?