Pose or Purpose

Many people are too busy working on their pose instead of their purpose. Many people are in it for the fame, the money, the hype, the lights and the glory.

“The world doesn’t need another famous Christian.” – Carlos Whittaker

Instead of us trying to make ourselves famous by using God’s name, we should be making God famous by using ours. We are called to live like Jesus, and that is what Jesus did. Everything He did was to spread the name of God.

Jesus had a purpose, while others (pharacies), were posing.

We, as Christians, can be the biggest reason people turn away from God. We are too busy posing and trying to make ourselves look good, instead of being real and true and making God look good. Now God does not need us to make Him look good, He does that all by Himself, but is our purpose. We should make ourselves so busy with our purpose in God that we have no time to pose.

Stop living to pose for others, live with a purpose for God.

You Know Me

Wake Up

Spiritually, most of us are still asleep at 5 am, as well as physically.

Matthew 9:24 – “The girl is not dead but asleep.”

We have been spiritually asleep for so long that we look dead. We have hit our spiritual wall and have stopped, lain down, and fallen asleep. Everyone else thinks we are dead, and we are done, and there is no more spiritual life in us. But God has called each of us to so much more than that. So much more than just being spiritually asleep.

As I am writing this, I am the only one is Starbucks who is below the age of 35. It helps me to ask this question, why are younger people, and most others for that matter, losing or not finding the discipline to wake up? Not just physically. Many people tend to have a problem with just waking up and spending time with God and hearing from him.

It is time to wake up people. It is time to get moving and shake off the tiredness and weariness. We are all tired and weary at some point. We are all done and exhausted at some point. But that is the time to find rest in God, and not always in a bed.

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. – Paul Valery

Yesterday, Today, And Forever

I want to start by saying that my prayers are going out to everyone who was involved and affected by these horrible bombings that have taken place in Boston today. I have no words to really describe how much my heart is going out to those people. I hope you all are also keeping them in your thoughts and prayers.

These tragic events, once again, have made me think of how much God is truly needed in this world. He has always been needed, and will forever be needed. The God of Moses and Abraham, and David and Jacob, is just as relevant today as He was back then. He is just as powerful, just as mighty, just as big, just as great, just as holy as He was then.

Our God is not a God of false hope, lies, tricks, grudges, hatred, or games. Our God is a God of truth, hope, happiness, love, and promises.

Do not walk through the rest of your days thinking about what all is going wrong in this world. Walk through the rest of your days thinking how great and powerful and wonderful and loving our God is. Let those thoughts be your driving force with whatever you do and wherever you go. Let the God of forever dwell in your spirit and guide your every step. Let the blood of Jesus be sufficient for you. Let that be all you need today.

As you remember and pray for Boston:

“God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.” – Peter Marshall

In the aftermath of this unfathomable circumstance, trust that God has a plan.

A Peaceful Spirit

Today was one of those days that you want to have every day. Bobbie and I spent the day in Dallas and had a great day enjoying the weather. Now we are getting some coffee and just relaxing. Simple and relaxing.

I enjoy having a time to relax with no distractions. It gives me time to recover and rest in the peace that the Lord has given me.

I encourage you, in your busy days, in your hectic lives, in your crazy world, take time to find the peace of God. Find rest in Him. Let your spirit become refreshed in Him and His word.

God, after creating everything, rested.

Successful people stop breaking up time in days, and start breaking up time is hours. From hours they go to minutes. Minutes turn into seconds. In order to be successful you have to take time to rest. whether that is 10 minutes a day, one day a week, two days a month. Find time to find rest in God so you can be renewed and not get burnt out.

“May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.” – Numbers 6:26 NLT

Spirit Break Out – Kim Walker-Smith

Forever

Forever…

It is a word that is hard to truly grasp. It is a word I do not think we understand until we meet our heavenly father.

For the Honor by Elevation Worship is where I started my day. As I prepare myself for tonight, to speak to my students, all I can listen to is this song. It has become my prayer for today. With everything in me, I want to honor my King, my Lord, my God… forever.

My writings are just that, writings. But it is my way of letting out what I am feeling. My heart is racing as I type these sentences. Not because they are anything amazing or fantastic, but because I feel the presence of God moving and working everywhere I go. Every turn I take, I have begun to see the hand of God moving more and more.

That gives me peace. Peace knowing that His hand has been and will always be moving  in people’s lives. I feel excitement and joy and happiness and grace and love overflowing into my life and consuming me. And that is all I have ever wanted. The grace of God to flow through me.

Forever is the gift that will always be there. God has said that is our gift, to be with Him forever. That means that every moment from now till forever will be consumed by God. It has always been that way and will always continue to be that way. Forever is hard for me to wrap my brain around, but I don’t want to . I am to concerned about living for my God to worry about it. I do not want to be worried about the amount of time I get, I want to be worried about what I do with the time i get. With every moment I get I want to honor God in whatever I do.

Our God’s reign will never end. No one can overthrow Him, no one can take Him away, no one can get rid of Him. We will be able to worship Him, forever.

The Aftermath of Easter

I would like to start off by giving you a little run down of what has been happening over the past few weeks, since i have not posted in a while. Since the last time I posted anything, a lot has happened. The youth group has grown and is begging to catch on to the fire of God. I have begun planning for a big event for people throughout north Texas in 2014. We are preparing for camp now and everything that goes a long with that. Lets just say things have been a little hectic around here.

As I sit here in the office preparing for Wednesday night, I am looking back on this weekend. I am looking back on all the faces I saw and all of the things that I heard, I am left here with this thought, there is freedom in the spirit of the Lord. I love that so many people come and experience that during the Easter season. I love that people that don’t normally come to church come and get closer to the spirit of God, even if it is just one day out of the year.

There is a but…

But what I do not get is why it is just one day out of the year. Is is the churches fault that we put so much into just one day? Is it the people’s fault for just focusing so much on one day that we forget about the other 364? Is it everyone who decides to only come around this time of year’s fault?

I don’t believe Jesus died so we could celebrate his resurrection just one day out of the year. I believe He died so we could celebrate it every day of the year, every day of our lives. As Christians we put so much effort and time into just one day, when we should be doing our best to put that much effort into every day. I am not saying we should have a big human video and and big super show every Sunday, but we should come with the same amount of effort to bring people to Christ everyday. We are not called to be one day Christians, but every day Christians.

I am not knocking the way Easter is celebrated at all, but i pray that one day, the celebration is not contained to just one day, or just one weekend.

I pray that everyone who reads this begins to feel God move through them everyday and not just one day. Celebrate Jesus conquering death everyday, not just one day. Celebrate Jesus walking away from the tomb, not just one day, but everyday. Live for Jesus not just one day, but everyday.

“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.'”- Billy Graham

God gave each and every one of us the best gift the world has ever seen, so celebrate that gift with your life and the way you live. Let people see the presence of God in your life so much so that it begins to overflow into their lives as well.

The story of Jesus did not end on that cross, it was just the beginning of God’s plan.