Two years ago, I flew down to San Diego, California with the two youth pastors from church for a Youth Specialties conference there. It was the first conference of any type that I had been too and I loved every minute of it. From the worship times, musical guests, skits performed, hanging out at the beach, a delicious love affair with In-N-Out, not to mention all of the free stuff that I was able to accumulate. One of the things that really stuck with me though was the message that Francis Chan, one of the speakers, gave during one of the main sessions. Francis gave an amazing message about really falling in love with Jesus. He talked about how nothing parents, or pastors, or youth leaders do can make someone fall in love with Jesus; only God can draw a person in. He also asked a tough question: Are we trying to be more like Jesus-or increase the numbers in our area of ministry? He doesn’t play around and his words and passion will punch you in the gut. He ended it with a great image of him holding his seven year-old (at the time) daughter in his arms and asking if this is what we’re like with God. Do we let him hold us in his arms? Do we love on him like a young child loves on his or her dad?
I love listening to Francis Chan preach. He always preaches with passion and conviction like peoples’ lives depend on it… and in some cases, they do. Since that message in 2007, I can officially say that I have developed a pastor crush on Francis Chan.
Who is your pastor crush? Who’s your favorite preacher/speaker is your and why?
Starting tomorrow, my next month is packed. Today, I rest and spend the day with God letting, Him fill me and strengthen me for what’s to come. My theme verses, so to speak, for times of rest and sabbath like this have been all of Psalm 23.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
I really want to make days like this a habit, to purposefully not do anything and just spend the day with my Creator letting Him fill me, restore me, and guide me. So, for those of you who know me, and even those of you who don’t, check up and check in to see if I’m being intentional with taking days to rest. In fact, I want to encourage and challenge anyone reading this to make it a priority to take a day, half-day, hour, whatever, to spend time with God, what ever that looks like for you.
One week ago, I was riding in the bed of a pickup truck through the streets of Bangkok. Today, I slept in and am watching a movie on TV. It’s always weird coming home after a trip. All of the excitement and adventure that you got to take part in becomes memories and we’re forced to go back to “normal life”. Getting back from Thailand has been hard on me; the combination of jet lag, fighting off a cold, and adjusting back to how dry it is here has really made it hard on my body to adjust. Since I’ve been home, I’ve also realized how much I want to travel to other places and parts of the world. And, hopefully I’ll be able to do that. This is a really short post, but it basically sums up what I’ve been up to since being back home.
Lately I’ve been having this desire for something; something that I’m not sure if it’s God revealing something that He wants me to do or just something that I want to do. And that’s where the uncertainty of the matter comes in. If it’s something that God wants me to do, then I know that I should do it. If it’s just something that I want to do and it’s not part of what God’s will is, then I shouldn’t do it. I’m trying to schedule a time to pray about this subject with two people I’m close with to discern if this is God or me. In fact, this looks like a good time to look at how to tell if something, (an idea, thought, whatever), is from God or not. There are four key areas to discerning if something is from God.
Is it scriptural?
Does the Word of God back up, or support the idea that is being presented? Sometimes this question is easier to answer than others. For example, if I thought God was wanting me to take something from someone else, would that be a Biblically based thing to do? No! Because most everyone will recall one of the Ten Commandments was to not steal. And this idea goes directly against that. The result = not from God.
Does it bear fruit?
Is the thing on the table a one-time-hooplah that’s not going to have any impact on things in the future? Then it’s not from God. God works all things together for His plan and His glory, and if the idea at hand isn’t going to be part of God’s plan, then do you think it’s really His idea?
Who does it glorify?
This one is pretty straight forward. If what’s being discerned glorifies or points to anyone outside of God, then it’s not from God. God is God, and He is the only one who is worthy of glory. Enough said.
Is it affirmed by other believers?
This is, in my opinion – I could be wrong, the most important step in discerning if something is from God. I believe this for two reasons. Not only does it put to the test if something is from God or not, often by looking back at the previous three steps. This also is the point where it’s generally discerned if this is a good idea or a God idea. There are plenty of ideas and visions out there that are scripturally based, that glorify God, and that would bear fruit, but if it’s not what God has planned, then it’s not something that should be carried out.
As for my own idea that I’m not sure if it’s from God or not, if it’s affirmed then I’ll share about it, but to avoid any unnecessary buzz, I’m going to try to stay pretty quiet about it.
It’s so cold here that when you take a mug of steaming water and throw it into the air, it instantly evaporates. I had heard about this and seen a couple videos but wanted to do it myself so I did.
Here’s also a video of the whole thing so you can see it in motion.
This brings some amusement to the bitter cold that it has been here for the last week. Although supposedly it’s supposed to get up to 0 by Tuesday.
The Kairos Retreat this past weekend was incredible. It was at North Star Bible Camp just outside of Willow, Alaska and it was one of the most beautiful three winter days I can recall seeing up here since I moved here in 2003. God really did some big things in my life as well as in the lives of others who were there and it was truly an amazing 3 days.
For me personally, I had a prayer ministry session with two amazing women and in that time God really gave some clarity to a situation that I was literally heartbroken over. It was actually kind of funny, (not funny-haha, but funny-interesting), because as I was getting ready for the prayer session, I had imagined how it would go and what God would say. But, like always, God had something else in mind which was a ton better than what I was thinking would happen. By the end of the session I felt much better about what God was doing and wanting me to do.
That was the biggest moment of the retreat for me, but there were several other people who had incredible moments of vulnerability with themselves, with God, and with the others there. There were testimonies of people realizing that they were believing a lie that they were a failure and unloved. There were testimonies of people beginning a relationship with Christ after knowing about Him. All in all it was an amazing three days of bonding and developing our relationships with our Saviour.
I think that just about every muscle on my body hurts today. My legs are sore, my abs, shoulder, and biceps and triceps on my right arm. The tournament was a whole lot of fun though! My team went undefeated in pool play, but we lost our second game in the bracket and ended up playing in the 3rd place game which we ended up winning. Although for future dodgeball tournaments, I should probably be on a training program to try and get in a little better shape before I go kill myself playing dodgeball for an entire day.
This is how I felt this morning when I woke up and tried to roll out of bed.
. One of the things that really stuck with me though was the message that Francis Chan, one of the speakers, gave during one of the main sessions. Francis gave an amazing message about really falling in love with Jesus. He talked about how nothing parents, or pastors, or youth leaders do can make someone fall in love with Jesus; only God can draw a person in. He also asked a tough question: Are we trying to be more like Jesus-or increase the numbers in our area of ministry? He doesn’t play around and his words and passion will punch you in the gut. He ended it with a great image of him holding his seven year-old (at the time) daughter in his arms and asking if this is what we’re like with God. Do we let him hold us in his arms? Do we love on him like a young child loves on his or her dad?
subscribe for rss updates
Entries (RSS)