The Joy Set Before Him

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." -Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

Jesus alone is who we need to be looking to for our understanding of what true joy and peace is and can be in our lives. We must know that this life is not always perfect and a lot of times doesn't turn out the way we think it should, especially if we are following Jesus at all costs. A lot of times we get trapped into this mentality that if we are "following" Jesus and living the "right" life as we think we should, then everything turns out hunky dory.
Obviously, we know that this is not always the case, most times its not. Often times we are led to places where God wants to meet us and these are places that we may not be comfortable going to. The cross of Christ always bids us to come and die, die to our self and all our desires of our flesh, that we might truly live in Christ. Philippians 1:21 "to live is Christ, to die is gain" are the words of Paul, a man who got it, he understood what it meant to truly live and to have Joy and Peace in any and every circumstance which he found himself. Which a lot of times were situations none of us would want to be in (see II Cor. 11), he was often whipped, beaten, tortured, in prison, ship wreck, homeless, you name it, Paul went through it and ultimately leading to his death.
Why would anyone willingly go through all of that, just as Jesus did as he set the example for all of us. Why suffer? Why lose everything? Why give of yourselves wholly to others with no reservations? Why? I believe that the answer to these questions of "why" point us directly to the cross. Until we understand how to die on that cross, until we understand what it means to lose our lives, so that we may gain life in Christ, we will continue down that same old path of familiarity that tells us to just settle, that its time to just grow up and be responsible, make sensible decisions, that you have everything in this life that you need, continue to be a good steward of what you have.
The problem is, is that road leads us to a place of emptiness and unfulfillment, a false joy, a false hope that never really satisfies. On the other hand, there is another road where true joy, everlasting joy and peace is set before us and is now at hand for those who dare journey down it. However I must warn you that it WILL COST you something, it will cost you your life, your desires, your dreams. You may even have to go through things that are not pleasant, things that at the time are not fun at all, however God will meet you in those situations, he wants to grow you and mature you in your faith and trust in him. Rom. 8 talks about being conformed into the image and likeness of Christ Jesus, Hebrews mentions that God disciplines those he loves, God loves us enough to never leave us where we are at. He consistently calls us to die daily to our lives and to follow him, as Jesus' words, "pick up your cross and follow me". When we do this and are faithful to what God is calling us to, whatever that maybe, he is more than enough for us, to sustains us and to produce within us all the good fruit of his Holy Spirit. And once we become obedient over the long haul and have an understanding that this life is not my own, then his Joy and Peace come upon us and we begin to experience life to the fullest as Jesus promised, and the Joy that was set before Him is now set before us as we learn to follow Him. Christ Alone.

MY GIRLS!!

Nothing in the world is more precious to me than my girls, other than my wife, who I have vowed to be with till death due us part and to whom I love and cherish more than anything in this world. One day my girls will grow up, discover boys and eventually one day leave Casey and I for another man, to start a life of their own together.  But in the mean time I'm going to enjoy these moments and God willing the many more to come.

Right now, as I write this post, I am sitting in the St. Joseph Hospital with Olivia, who was admitted today with Flu-like symptoms and possible phenomena.  No results back yet on anything, probably not till morning.  So I just finished rubbing her head and tickling her back before she feel off to sleep for some much needed rest. As for the rest of the night, I'm sure lots of prayer and reading of the word, between nurses checking in and taking temps.  

These girls are so precious to me and as their daddy, I want nothing more than to protect them and to make sure that they are taken care of in this life.  The last thing any parent wants to see is there child sick or in any kind of pain for that matter.  I know that my God is a good God and its my prayer that one day, God quickens their hearts by his grace that they may be made alive in Christ Jesus.  I pray that above all else, that God would reveal himself to them and that his Holy Spirit would make them alive from their dead, sinful nature, that they would know the depth of his love. I pray that one day, they both would be able to say, as John has said of himself in his gospel, the one whom Jesus loved, that's me!  I have often whispered that to them, and would say something like "do you know Jesus died for you, He loves you!"  This is my prayer tonight, yes I'm praying for a fast healing and good report, but more than that, I'm praying that God would have mercy on them and that his grace would be extended to them.

check yourself

1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?[a] 6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."[b]
7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Lately God has been showing me a ton about myself, my selfishness, my motives, my ignorance, etc... you get the point. So this morning this was the word that struck home with me as I continue to play merry-go-round in my mind about the importance of struggling well, God's grace, confession, obedience over the long haul, did I mention God's grace... anyway I think you get the picture. Isn't it so easy to fall into complacancy in our walk that we total miss out on our intimacy with our Lord Jesus? Just getting caught up in the everyday things of this life, our routines, work, family... I mean life is noisy and if we are not taking the time or disciplined to have and make time to meditate on God and His goodness and mercy, if we are not taking time to confess and repent of our sins, it's the little things that crept in slowly and begin to kill and snuff out any longing and desires of the Holy Spirit that is within us.

5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?

Why do you think Jesus talked about fasting as something that would be done as the norm in the life of a Christian? He knew exactly why he was saying what he was saying, He knew that we would need to arm ourselves with this type of armour along with prayer. Throughout the bible fastings were done with the intent of helping in spiritual matters and purposes, abstaining from food or drink for a time, to set oneself apart to the Lord and to seek him on matters at hand.
What would be some "matters at hand" for us today? What would be reason for us to do as James 4:9-10 tells us to cry out to God and to humble ourselves before him who is worthy?

Some of you may even be thinking why do I need to do that and what benifit is there to always being down and out, crying and mourning about things. What you have to understand is this passage is talking about a repentant heart that is crying out to God for forgivness, not once, but a continual understanding that we must continue to struggle well within ourselves and we do that by continual confession, repentance and moving forward. But most of the time we just dismiss anything that seems really not that big of a deal, right? I mean come on, do I really have to repent over all the little sins of my day? I mean isn't some of that just the way I am and will always be? I'm really not that bad of a person, and when I accepted Christ years ago didn't He cover even my future sins?

Yes, Christ did cover all our sins when He died on that cross for us. The fact of the matter is, is that we still struggle with our sin nature (see Paul in Romans 7, look at all the men and women of God for that matter) and so the question is what do you do with it? Do you dismiss it? Bury it? Ignore it? OR do you confess it to God and somone else? Do you repent and turn in a different direction? Are you obedient of the long-haul?

Are you struggling well, or are you fading into a life of complacency and mediocrity in your life?

Incomprehensible

Incomprehensible, this is the best word that I could think of that describes what God has done in my life. His grace and mercy overwhelms me at times,to think about it and I often times I find myself flowing in tears of gratitude for this new life and family that God has given me. I'm often reminded of where God has brought me from and as I reflect on that and how his grace found be just where I was I'm reminded through my wife and family just howmuch he truly does love me, cause I wasn't deserveing of any of it. I'm so thankful and grateful each and every day for what he has given me that I could never look back, there's no turning back once a person has experienced the incomprehensible love of God. 

Father, I thank you with all my soul and all my being for your incomprehensible love that you have graciously extended to me. God help me this day to livelike there's no tomorrow for you and your kingdom and allow me to take this love and extend it to all people that I come in contact with each day, starting with my family first and then out into the world who does not know you. May this love you have given compell us to grow closer with you each and every day, forgive us of our sins and continue to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Father I love you and I give you thanks to you today for this fullness of life you have given through your son who died for our sins that we may know you fully and be restored to you.

Look Around....

So I have been thinking a lot about discipleship lately, well to be honest with you that's all I really think about the majority of the time. Questions like, What does it really mean to be in Christ?, or to have the mind of Christ... or sometimes I find myself meditating on the differences in theologies of progressive sanctification verses total sanctification/baptism of the Holy Spirit and/or a 2nd work of grace. Needless to say, I could go on for days thinking, studying, and talking doctrine and theology and the orthodox/orthoprax from which we live and believe.

I recently came across a blog by Mark Batterson that he shared on the importance of us having both a "Paul" and a "Saul" in our lives. The main take away from his blog for me was simply this "LOOK AROUND..." and ask yourself the question, who are we spending time with? If we are to be growing and maturing Christ followers than we must have both Pauls and Sauls in our lives to bring about balance, not only within our selves for our spiritual maturing, but also for the birth and the maturing of others as well.

I believe that we have truly been experiencing this at Overflow in some really natural ways. For instance we are a church that is focused on reaching the un-churched and de-churched in our world, journeying together as we learn to passionately follow Jesus and joyfully serve others. We have been doing just that, journeying together, some of us have been Christ followers for 5, 10 and/or 15 + years, while others just started knowing what following Jesus really means and some are still trying to figure it out or whether they believe at all, and that picture of everyone together is a beautiful thing. Discipleship IS taking place, things are happening in peoples lives, change is occurring with the hearts of people, and yet at times its hard to see it, its hard to not let the little things swamp you and overwhelm you, its hard at times to not just throw in the towel and take yourself to a place where it maybe just a bit more comfortable, a bit less stressful, a bit less time consuming....however through it all God is giving His all surpassing love and grace, his peace that transcends all understanding, his joy that is unstoppable to show us that it is He that is doing a great work among us, just Look Around...

Great Leaders

"Great leaders bless people. They inspire and encourage. They help people become more than what they have been, maybe even more than they thought they could be. Great leaders help people be a part of something bigger than themselves. In short, great leaders, leave people better off than they were before the leader entered their lives"
-Reggie McNeal in Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders