Just FYI the greek word for “Love” that’s used here when we are commanded to have love for one another is from agapao from agape…it’s unconditional love. A love that doesn’t require from someone else.

Let’s love without a response or requirement from others, and do so that they may know that we are HIS. How awesome to have His emblem burned into our hearts that others can see through acts of selflessness.

Although hard to do, giving up selfishness in all areas of life, communication, relationships, etc. is necessary in order to truly surrender to God’s will…that we might stop being at war with Him.

Serve.Love.Agape

Sadly, this post isn’t about the 90′s a capella R&B group.

Over the last few decades the term “Man” has been loosely used for individuals that are 18 and/or have moved out of their homes into the “real” world.  While this may be true of how the world views a “man”….that’s not all the requirements God has.

*These next lines are my personal thoughts and do not necessarily reflect anything beyond that*

Lately, I’ve been taking note of the fact that Men are no longer the ones leading in several different areas of life. No, I am not suggesting that a woman leader is a bad thing, nor am I alluding to the biblical reference where a woman should not speak in church. What I AM saying is that we let the women do all the ministry work these days. This is not to say that men aren’t willing/able or even desire to lead, but it would seem that it’s easier not to.

In relationships, guys no longer lead the way in pursuing, courting, dating, or anything where sacrifice of pride is required for this area. We are in a time where women get to ask out guys, get to pursue, and in all fairness, that’s NOT how God designed us. In Genesis, God says that woman will desire the position of her husband (authority and leadership) though man will be the head of her.

My thoughts on this are plain and simple: when women pursue and take away man’s opportunity to BE a man…then it’s safe to say that it should be no surprise to a woman when she finds that she is dating a “silly boy” rather than a “man after God’s own heart.”

I grew up in a youth group where the girls waited for us to open doors and even made us do it if we forgot. They challenged us to be the men we are supposed to be and held us to standards that seemed impossible to reach at the time. They made us WANT to be like Christ. They loved Jesus so much that we wanted to just BE like Him so that a girl would just notice us. Not exactly the right motives, but in Proverbs it states that wisdom leads to life and also a wife of noble character. So that being said, even if the initial intentions were wrong, we were being pushed to know Christ…even if we didn’t realize it.

So why is it that girls get offended these days when chivalry shows back up, when a man does something nice for them? Why do so many women feel as though they are treated as “inferior” because of a simple gesture of respect? I can’t tell you how many times I have heard a girl say “I can get the door, I’m not helpless.”

Chivalry: It's a good thing, not a sexist battle.

So for any woman of God reading this, I have one thing to say: Let the men in your life be men. Let them lead, let them learn how to serve you in love and respect so that they don’t resort to doing stupid things to get your attention. Teach men to be respectful. Don’t dress so that you “attract” them. To put it bluntly, if you dress like you want to take him home with you, then expect to attract guys that want to treat you like a piece of meat, rather than the beautiful creation of God that you are.

Long story short (back to the topic of men being men), as I continue to serve at Africa Inland Mission, I see that in short-term missions 80% of the missionaries are female and 20% are guys. I know that most guys and youth groups are up for serving for 2 weeks all over the world, but when it comes to longer-term investments, it would seem that in the United States (I work with the US Mobilizing Region of Africa Inland Mission) more girls/women are willing and able to give up everything for the Lord and less guys are in respect to certain needs. Now if the words “construction” or “youth/sports/camp” come into play, then it’s all guys.

I challenge any guys that are actively reading this post to look through scripture and start in the 4 Gospels where Jesus sent out disciples to different areas and see how many of them were women. Again, no, I am not suggesting women should sit at home…what I am saying …is COME ON GUYS!! We should be leading the numbers or at least competing for them. I know this may sound weird, but if you are a Christian guy, looking for a Christian girl to be a part of your life someday, you have to want Jesus more than she does (or at least tell yourself that). You have to seek Him with EVERYTHING so that you would be worth of a woman of God. Do you realize that she, that woman of God, BELONGS to HIM and that if you want to even stand a chance at taking care of her while you are both on earth…that you need to be more than a childish boy/college boy for ever..you need to be a MAN?

Take a cue from the women of this world and rise up. Share your faith with confidence, do so in spite of ridicule, serve in places where you can do nothing but trust God for everything, and most of all, love all that you come in counter with. God says, they (the world) will know us by our Love. Be what God designed you to be. If there was ever anything to direct our greatest flaw (Pride) to…it’s God. Walk in His ways PROUDLY and HUMBLY…knowing that you BELONG to Him and that nothing else in this world matters if your relationship with Him isn’t solid.

Be Men Not Boys. Serve. Love. Protect Hearts. Guard Wisdom. Don’t Settle For Comfort.

Be HIS

³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.^[b]

James 5:12

Above all, my brothers, do not swear–not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be condemned.

Both Matthew (5:37), and James (5:12) state that swearing oaths by heaven or earth …isn’t something we’re supposed to do. We are simply supposed to let our “yes” be yes, and “no” be no.

Ironically this is one of the things many people have trouble doing. When asked a question that requires a tough decision, many people avoid saying yes or no to either save face, protect their feelings, or protect the feelings of another.

In James, much of the book talks about the power of the tongue and how it wields both life-giving properties as well as death. That being stated, I think that while many people take answers like “no” as answers of death, they actually produce perseverance and life. It’s the gray area that causes stagnant living and death.

I think Revelation 3:16 (Aramaic translation) puts it best:

“And you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you from my mouth.”

God would rather you pick a side of the fence than straddle it. In fact, He says that he will VOMIT (powerful expression) you from His mouth. Imagine, being able to make the creator of EVERYTHING so sick because of your lack of being cold or hot, that He, the most powerful, might, conquering being in the universe….would vomit you out.

There’s a lesson to be learned about answering life’s questions with a yes or a no…but it doesn’t end there.

After answering, if we go back to chapter 1 in the book of James it says this:

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

It says to live by what the word says. So if we apply this to the “yes” or “no” challenge for the day…it would seem that God gave us everything in black and white. The gray areas of life are what make Him want to vomit us out of His mouth. Interestingly enough, a lot of people live in gray areas hoping that one day things will figure themselves, where God has basically stated that we humans are the ones creating the gray area and He can’t stand it.

Today’s challenge is to live a life on God’s side of the fence rather than straddling the “gray” fence that we might honor God and honor one another with our words and our deeds.

Let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no.

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹²For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ¹⁸praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints”

It’s easy to just read these words over and over again and miss out on their full meaning. There is a supernatural battle going on for the souls of man and as flesh and blood we have no way to combat that of our own accord.

In Romans 1:1 Paul declares,

“Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called
as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God”

What is so awesome about these two passages is that they tie together in a very powerful image. What we translate as “bond-servant” is not “slave” or a worker etc. The greek word actually translates as “valliant warrior.”

That gives us as Christians a whole new insight to how God wants us to stand for His name and how He wants to use us. Knights, in feudal times, are the best depiction of what Paul is referring to. Knights served their Lords and they did so as bond-servants. Lords entrusted Land and even money to their Knights and in return, Knights would give a portion of their return as well as their service in the military. When called upon to serve at a moments notice, Knights would ready themselves for battle.

The best part is, there were a LOT of Knights under the command of these Lords.

Is that not a great picture of a piece of our relationship with Christ? He is our Lord and we are all his Knights/bond-servants who get to wear His FULL armor, branded with His insignia, and fight in HIS army against the supernatural forces around us.

That being said, His full armor is the only thing that can protect us from the forces of the evil one. On top of that, we only have one attack weapon: The Sword which is His word.

There’s more….

John 1:1

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Needless to say, our only attack weapon …is Jesus Christ. While painfully obvious in some ways, we also tend to miss this quite a bit. Our attack and defense are Jesus Christ. It’s not how well we polish our armor, or how well we prepare. It’s not how smart we are, how much of the word we know (though all these things definitely help and are acts of obedience).

The real battle is coming to an understanding that we know nothing.

We are holding but a thimble of water (our knowledge of God) next to the endless, infinite ocean that is God’s knowledge.

1 Corinthians 1:25

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

We have an awesome God and that’s an infinite understatement. Don’t forget that and always remember, that is infinite and powerful as this God is…He LOVES us and wants to be so intimate with us that there’s no comparison to anything else.

How incredible.

Worship.Obey.Serve.Love

It’s been amazing to see what God can do with 5 or 6 mediocre guys. Not only does He bring people together…but it’s much more than that. God has allowed mankind to express themselves without having to use words, and yet the odd thing is, that we understand eachother better because it is as if we are speaking from our hearts rather than our heads and lips.

There is so much that God is, that I will never understand, but always be astonished by. It is sad however to see places that call themselves “churches” be so easily deceived by acts of Satan. “Centering Prayer” has recently been adopted at my place of worship, and though this sounds like it could be something biblical, it is definitely not….and it is painful to see those that claim to love Christ…so easily distracted by this. Just as Israel created a golden calf while God was chillin with Moses on the mountain, several churches are doing the same thing with false doctrine and with things that appear to be Christlike….yet are not.

Scripture says that Satan will come as an angel of light…not as a pitchfork demon out for blood.

As a co-worker of mine put it, “Satan will tell you that hell has an awesome golf course….but he doesn’t tell you until after you’ve added your membership that this golf course is made of lava, full of sulfur and the golfballs hit YOU rather than you hitting them.” Though a rather funny analogy, it is a very true point. Satan will mirror Christ so closely that it will seem as though we are following Love…but then will take us off by one degree of truth…and one degree which we all know can be the difference between a space shuttle landing on the moon vs. missing completely…is all Satan needs to win a battle.

It has been a difficult road deciding where to worship. No longer do I desire to lead or share gifts with the place I have come to resent. When I returned to my home church for a visit, I felt no attachment and did not miss “big” church…as there was rarely any truth spoken there anyway.

I found Christ more in a small bible study for two weeks, where truth wasn’t afraid to be spoken, than in 8 years of sermons from those afraid to shepherd. Society has taught our leaders that the way church works is that a pastor is merely at church to say “jesus loves you” and then direct small groups to lead. Scripture shows time and time again, all the disciples AND Jesus…doing just the opposite. Jesus spoke truth to those who “had ears to hear” and those that needed to expound upon ideas or have truth explained to them simpler…came to Christ after class was over and asked the teacher questions.

THAT is how we are supposed to speak truth. Speak it plain, and speak it in God’s power, and feed the people meat. Why do God’s people compromise for the sake of bureaucracy and high church attendance for monetary profit? Is that not the same money-changing that Christ knocked over in the temple?

Frustration is hard to deal with. David had 5 rocks, and yet probably knew he only had to throw one to defeat Goliath. I feel as though I am staring at a great evil in my home town, personally offended that this great “warrior” would dare mock my God and spit in His face, yet I do not know whether to throw this rock I hold in my hand….or whether this rock is from God at all. Am I searching for this of my own will or is God still teaching me how to use a sling on the bear and the lion before a giant is to be felled?

I find that I am thirsty, craving truth, craving passion for God’s Word, yet finding it difficult to locate the body of Christ. The Church (big C) is rising up, though scattered, and I long to stand ready in the armor of God, yet it is getting harder and harder to find the warriors Christ has placed on this earth. Where is the one that healed the blind with mud, that He might do the same to all those that have been blinded by lies? I long for His return….

Prayers, patience, guidance are all my prayers for the days to come.

As of late I’ve been in the book of Exodus and I’m just baffled at what God did for the Israelites. A passage that keeps showing up is that of Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest” (amplified bible). 

What I think is incredible is the fact that just 5 verses later we have this from our Lord: 

And the Angel of God Who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before them and stood behind them, Coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. It was a cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, but it gave light by night to the Israelites; and the one host did not come near the other all night. [Exodus chapter 14 verses 19-20].

God literally came between Israel and their enemies and held them off with supernatural power. I can’t imagine what the Egyptians must have been thinking as they were standing in the presence of God, watching their former slaves walk through a parted sea while a pillar of fire, along with the Angel of God, blocked them from pursuit of Israel. 

How incredible is that?! He wasn’t kidding in verse 14 when He said we need only be still. God is basically saying “get out of my way…I got this.” We tend to try and handle things ourselves, yet we are so short sighted. We fail to see where the power truly lies and where the path of safety is. It isn’t until we cry out to Abba that we then are told “move.” It is out of our obedience that God’s power and Love can be displayed. 

Someone put it to me like this: Love is a fruit and obedience is the labor that allows more Love to be grown. Christ is Love and when we are obedient to Him/His father, then we allow God to move in and through us.

We bind ourselves to things of this world and then grumble when God frees us. We see His power, we know His strength, yet when hardships come, we forget everything we’ve learned until we have been brought to our knees. Why does it have to be this way? I also think this is why at times we feel as if we don’t hear or feel God. If He always spoke to our hearts the same way, we would learn to ignore Him. When He speaks in different ways, we learn to yearn for Him and long to recognize His voice again. 

Going back to Exodus, I guess I just want to point out one thing that struck true for me while reading this passage. God was, is, and is to come. What I mean by that is: God never changes [ever]. So the same God that supernaturally defended the Israelites is the same today. His power has not diminished, it has not changed, it has not swayed. He will defend our hearts and His children with the same power and fervor as He did in Exodus. We need only “hold our peace and remain at rest.” [I like this translation better because it doesn't say to be physically still and wait for God to do everything...it says to remain steadfast, at peace, and to hold fast in obedience for what God WILL do.]

Hold fast. Help is on the way. 

Peace

Rest

Freedom

A high school senior ministered to his entire youth group a few weeks back saying “our first order of business is to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ. After that, we can argue/debate/discuss the semantics of it all, but how can we even begin to argue biblical truth before someone has accepted Christ?”

In the past I had often spent much of my time debating theology and trying to understand more and more about why things happened and how I could then debate and defend this new truth to an imminent attacker. Guys watch too many fighting shows and play too many video games that inspire us to want to be fighters with our own power.

All this to say, after serving 12th grade guys at disciple now a few weekends ago, I realized even further how useless all my past debating was. God’s wisdom is infinite and He has shared a little bit with us. Our Father’s wisdom is like an endless ocean…and we all have but a thimble of water….and we’re comparing thimbles.

I’ve heard this saying so many times and only now do I understand more of what He is saying.

The book of James outlines several ways to improve our witness and also outlines who we are to ask for wisdom. If we are lacking wisdom we are to ask God for it [James1:5] and not rely on our own understanding of anything.

Lately, I’ve made several visits to Athens Ga to visit friends and to make new ones. I get to meet different aspects of Christ that I am lacking in. Humility. Wisdom. Patience. Yet God has made these attributes abundant in several of His children that I have come to know and love. He has continued to pour into me each time I step out of the way. I have found no reason to debate or argue truth as it defends itself. The Word never said “go and logically argue your way into making disciples of Christ” it just says “go.”

As spring peers around the corner more and more I am nudged by that fever that spreads so quickly. A sickness that is hard to ignore. Spring Fever. For once in my life, God has allowed me to be content with growing in Him and Him alone. He is  training me to be the Godly example I need to be in a future friend, boyfriend, husband, and father. Though it is difficult at times to ignore “spring fever,” there is no comparison to the love my Jesus has for me and all of His children. 

There will be a day when Christ sees me fit and ready to join hearts with another, and I will be on guard and waiting forward for that day, but until that day comes, Jesus and I will be training and growing in our relationship so that the distinction between the two of us becomes less and less. I want people to see less of me and more of Christ. 

I may only have a thimble of water taken from the endless wisdom of God, but I’m going to make sure that Christ fills that thimble to the brim so that His work can be done and not mine. I desire to walk closely with my Lord so that the conflict of my human heart and desires can be overcome by the grace, mercy, peace, love, patience, kindness, joy, and everlasting life that is in Christ Jesus. 

I pray for peace. Contentment. Reassurance. Devotion.

He has taken care of everything and everyone in our lives. We need only trust and obey.

Serve Him well today and I promise I will do my best to be fully armored and trained on my sword to battle along side you.

There are no sidelines on the battlefield. 

¹Who is this who comes from Edom,
   in crimsoned garments from Bozrah,
he who is splendid in his apparel,
   marching in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, speaking in righteousness,
   mighty to save.”

The last few days I’ve heard the song “Mighty To Save” every single time I’ve turned on the Radio. We’ve even played it at my home church during our sunday morning worship hour. I think it’s powerful mostly because this song gets straight to the point. 

We could spend days/months/years debating theology but the fundamental point of Christianity is that Christ came to live the life we couldn’t live, bear the pain and suffering we couldn’t handle, and die the death we should have died, so that we could have everlasting life in Him and have it abundantly.

Theology and all the awesome cool points about Jesus are there to help those of us that know Christ, get to know Him better. Yet, the important first step is to go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19-20).

The song Mighty to save is an amazing song and what I learned from my friend Ben who speaks Hebrew is that Jesus (from the greek) or Joshua (from the Hebrew) means “salvation” or one who comes in the name of Yahweh (he who causes to be). Jewish people do not recognize the name Yahshua as a name unless you clarify “Yahshua the person.”  So it’s interesting to sing this song with the words “Savior, he can move the mountains” because it’s actually using the name of Christ [savior]. 

Anyway, here are the lyrics to meditate on and just take in, for those that happen to read this. 

God bless you all and I’d love to pray for you if you have anything at all you’d love to share with the body.

“Mighty To Save” -Hillsong United

Everyone needs compassion 
A love that’s never failing
Let mercy fall on me

Everyone needs forgiveness 
The kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations

Savior
He can move the mountains 
My God is mighty to save 
He is mighty to save
Forever 
Author of Salvation 
He rose & conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me
All my fears & failures
Fill my life again

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender (I surrender)

Savior
He can move the mountains 
My God is mighty to save 
He is mighty to save
Forever 
Author of Salvation 
He rose & conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

Shine Your light &
Let the whole world see
We’re singing
For the glory 
Of the risen King
Jesus

You’re the Savior
You can move the mountains 
Lord You are mighty to save 
You are mighty to save
Forever 
Author of Salvation 
You rose & conquered the grave
Yes You conquered the grave

Jesus Rules. Such an awesome savior, king, and lover. He never gives up and He never fails. Ever. 

Song of Solomon 2:8-17

⁸The voice of my beloved!
   Behold, he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
   bounding over the hills.
⁹My beloved is like a gazelle
   or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
   behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
   looking through the lattice.
¹⁰My beloved speaks and says to me: ”Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
   and come away,
¹¹for behold, the winter is past;
    the rain is over and gone.
¹² The flowers appear on the earth,
   the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
   is heard in our land.
¹³ The fig tree ripens its figs,
   and the vines are in blossom;
   they give forth fragrance.
 Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
   and come away.
¹⁴O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
   in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
   let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
   and your face is lovely.
¹⁵Catch the foxes for us,
   the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards,
    for our vineyards are in blossom.”

    ¹⁶ My beloved is mine, and I am his;
   he grazes among the lilies.
¹⁷Until the day breathes
   and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
   or a young stag on cleft mountains.

No one and no thing can ever compare to the way God loves us and the way His spirit causes us to long after Him. He is the one that causes the day to breathe and the shadows to flee. Though we may love another person on earth, it will never compare to the Christ who is our one true Love.

Peace. 

Too often have I seen people “renewed” in Christ, but come to the point where their attitudes become self-righteous. I say this because I am guilty as well. Christians tend to gain new knowledge and understanding of God [good] and apply it to their lives and how they treat others [good], but often handle this situation in arrogance and self-righteousness [not good at all].

The funny part is that this attitude is most often displayed towards other Christians/fellow brothers and sisters. At times this attitude is displayed in front of those that are wrestling with who God is and because of this, we turn away fellow Christians as well as those that would seek to know Christ for the first time.

God gives us lessons in moderation as we are able to handle them, and as such, we cannot assume that anyone else is at the same spiritual understanding that we are and must approach everything in prayer and supplication so as not to go to any extreme. It is our job to preach the word through our actions and if necessary, use words.

This is just a lesson I learned today and wanted to share. 1 Corinthians 13:4 starts with “Love [Jesus] is patient” for a reason. It is step one in knowing “Love” and knowing how to love. We must learn to love patiently, before we can master loving in a kind way.

Let us be bold in Christ….not arrogant in our knowledge of Him.

Win new hearts for Christ, lift up the other parts of the body of Christ and support them as best you can, but remember this analogy: God is the endless ocean of wisdom, knowledge, and power. We, as humans, each hold but a thimble of water, and we’re comparing thimbles.

How ridiculous is that?!

Peace.