Acts 1:4

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, which, He said, you have heard from Me.”

Ready, Set, Stop. Some of the finals word we have from Christ He gives the great Commission and simultaneously a verse of waiting and listening. How appropriate. We see in this verse that they are clearly given something to do, but it is not in the form of an action or sending out. It is in the form of standing still. Sometimes I think standing still means that I am not in the center of His will. I have realized now it is quite the contrary. When we let ourselves get in the missionary mind, literally eat, sleep, and breath missionary work it is easy to forget about the well-being of the self. Being up here in the long winter nights(in which I have yet to truly experience) you can get stir crazy, restless, or often feel that you are not being used to your full potential. That God may have put you on the bench and you feel simply ineffective. That is a device of the devil that takes so many Christians captive. The initial, absolute, most important task we are given in our lives is the responsibility of taking care of our personal relationship with Him. From there, all things blossom and come to fruition. From there we can learn, and from there we can serve. This all comes back to the Promise of waiting. In hours, days, weeks, months, even years of waiting we can stand on rooftops and waste our time staring into the sky, or we can embrace them and use them for the time of preparation. The battle of souls is at hand and prevalent and being fought all around us. I for one do not want to be the Christian running to the field naked and without weapon. If I spent all my time anticipating the battle I would be cheating myself out of all the armor I could be reinforcing and sharpening. Battles are prepared and won in the days of training, armies enter ready to go. Often times because I didn't prepare myself, my deploy was even set back or canceled. I was eager and ready to go but because I sat around before hand my opportunity was taken from me, or when I tried to fight I was destroyed. It is foolish to think days spent in long winter nights are less effective than the summer days of roaring war. We can see these quiet long days as a gift to sharpen our sword, to solidify our prayer life, and simply fall deeper in love with Him. A.W. Tozer a very respected, and revered man amongst our group was entirely self-taught. He spent his long days in books, prayer, and diligent seeking after the Lord. Now we see the abounding fruits from his diligence. He didn't have the internet a button away, he didn't have electronic gadgets that bring up literally anything we wish to find. We have no excuse. Blessed are the days of waiting. The bugle horns will blow one day, and we will have the opportunity to see our Lord face to face and on that day He will not ask us what we did for Him, He will only ask, did you know Me?

Acts 1:7

“He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed to His own authority.”

Oh how easy it is to hate this verse. You're in a tragic moment in life, all relationships are falling around you and you just want to just know, why? You think if you're given an answer than all will be okay again, you just need to know! I have a lot of questions, as many of you know, and nothing eats at me worst than unanswered questions. It will stumble me, cause hostility in me, blind me, cripple me, and basically distract me from all that really matters. What I realized is that if I were ever to get all the answers I wanted, I would no longer have a reason to search. No need to ask God or anyone because I already know. I would slowly watch myself envelop in pride and let fleshly riches enthrall me. Solomon, humbled and wise, was literally blessed with the gift of knowledge and wisdom. He was the smartest most intelligible man in the world at that time. What happened to him? He stopped asking, he stopped seeking a relationship with God. We're not meant to know all things on this earth for a reason, we aren't mature and loving enough to handle it! The journey of figuring out the answer is often times more important than actually receiving the answer. It keeps you diligent, humbled, seeking, attentive, in the word, in fellowship, in prayer, I could go on but I won't. I count it a s a blessing to not know the times or seasons that the Father has planned. He loves us enough to keep us asking. The day will come when all things are known, but they will be known to us while we stare at the face of God. My application is to embrace my questions and use them as an automobile to bring me closer to the Father.

Acts 1:6

“So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?”

Lord, will the rapture happen already? Lord, my back hurts so terribly, just kill me now so I can be with you. Lord, I have never sinned so deeply, I repent of my ways right now and just kill me quick before I screw up again. Lord, my heart is broken into the tiniest of pieces, please just end this pain and let me be with You. Many a times I have found myself asking these very questions and definitely more than once. In the depths of the weak, the pained, and the brokenhearted often times we just want the rapture to come right now! Even in the hearts of the strongest men, they long for the rapture to come everyday. Some of Christ's greatest warriors stared at Him and begged for Him to just finish all His work up and give the treasures that they have in store. Too me it only shows a beautiful picture of Christ's love. Say there was a perfect man who let Himself be killed for all the people of the world. On top of that, imagine this man coming back to life and offering a personal relationship with Him even though we let evil rule us everyday. He loves us more than we even know how to understand love and he has to watch us be beaten and marred all the days of this earth. He let His body break for us and still He watches His loved one's in the realm of evil. Who do you think wants to be in close relationship more, You? Or this Man? It must pain Christ to wait for the rapture. But He died for the whole world. We are called to love the world and not stand on rooftops waiting for Him to come. The more days we have before the rapture, the more of an opportunity we have to prove our faithfulness to Him. I will do my best to grasp the mission I am given and love Christ by loving His people.

1 Corinthians 13:7

“Bear all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

God does not force us to love anyone. He commands us to love, and from that point, we can choose to obey, or disobey. By choosing to love someone you are making a choice to bear the load. We choose to take on the task of loving that person. From that point, the next step we are asked to believe in the person at all times no matter the circumstance. If they have lied, slandered, and hurt you over and over again we are still asked to believe they won't do it again. You don't have to believe the lies they may feed you, or enable them, but we are asked to believe that the person could do better. First we choose to love, from there we must believe in what we love, and from that point we are asked to hope. Hope is having faith in someone and turning it into an action. Praying for them, encouraging them, and more personally, conforming your thoughts into hoping the best for them no matter the sin. Christ does this process for us everyday. He chose to love us, he believes in us through every sin we make, He then hopes that we'll do better next time, the next time, and the next time. He you picks up the pack(love) and strap it to your back. You must believe the backpack will be sufficient enough to fulfill it's purpose, if you don't believe the pack will pull through how will you it ever be able to prove you wrong? Whether your backpack is full of weights, or full of feathers, we have to carry the pack hoping that it will travel with you wherever you go. When we get dreary and want to set it down even for a moment, by love standards, that is unacceptable. After we pick up the pack, believe in its purpose, hope it will live out its purpose, we are then asked to do it every moment of everyday. If it rips, or breaks we must still carry it, hoping it will accomplish the journey. He is always carrying the pack and willing to do whatever it takes to help it complete its purpose. We kick, we scream, we walk away, we slander, and we hate. Yet still He walks for us. Luckily, God does not expect us to be perfect. But to clearly understand how Christ does this for us everyday, gives us that much more motivation to mimic. We will hate the pack, we will turn around and yell at it, and we will drop it over and over again. But because Christ never did, Heaven is still in store.

Proverbs 31:5

“Lest they drink and forget the law,

and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.”

I can't help but replace the word drink with sin. Lest they sin and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted. We so often see just a taste of sin in someones life haze the vision in how they see themselves and others. We do it thinking “only one won't hurt” and in the grand scheme of things one little bad thought or idea never really hurts anyone. But by allowing yourself that one little thought you let yourself have another, and another, and another, slowly breeding this sin until the point in which you are doing and thinking things you never had imagined. In comparison, when we find ourselves in a situation with alcohol it is a slow compromise, an action, a splurge of actions, and then a series of very unfortunate events. Alcohol, like sin, in abundance can lead to death. Alcohol little by little can pollute the physical body and mind until it deteriorates from the inside out. Sin little by little pollutes the Soul of a man, till his vision won't allow him to walk down the straight and narrow. The large distinction between the two is that little alcohol in moderation can be acceptable, sin on the other hand is never acceptable. But the parallel image is an interesting one. If we sin we do slowly haze the difference between right and wrong, in affect, forgetting the law. Also by sinning we are perverting the justice of all the afflicted, taking what was meant for good and using it for evil.

Matthew 11:6

“And blessed is he who is not offended because of me.”

Too many times I've heard the devastating story of someone praying for something fervently day in and day out and never getting what they prayed for, leading them to there unbelief in God. It's a tragic story to see such a potential heart be turned away due to lack of understanding in God's plan. I went through a period in my life where I was not given what I asked for and I prayed hard. I chose anger and disobedience to comfort the pain of being ignored. I was weak and hurt and hated that God wouldn't come to me in my time of weakness After getting kicked around back and forth by my sins and the sins of the world I found myself screaming out to God once again. I came back to Him and found the peace I had once had. Although having that peace the unanswered prayer that troubled me for so long stung in the back of my mind. Instead of running away with anger, I ran to Him for answers. I realized that I knew the answer all along and only needed to look at the situation in a different way. He had been giving it to me but I was not mature enough to see with the right perspective. Often times we want an answer from the Lord, and he gives us exactly what we ask for, just hardly in the way we expect. It's not that he gives us encrypted messages, it's usually that our hearts are not in the right place to understand. It can be compared to a carpenter and his wood. The wood must be taken from its comfort, shaved and cut down to where it is standing naked and vulnerable into the hands of the carpenter, sanded, polished, and eventually assembled into a functional piece of furniture. If the wood were to run away at the point of being vulnerable and naked it wood never know what it's beautiful purpose was for, leaving him alone and naked for the world to scar and beat. I was that wood that ran away while I was naked and I was scarred. But Christ took me back in and sanded them away to use me once more. When I come across a situation or a heart break where all I want to do is run, I will remember to fall on my knees and not let my feet take me anywhere but His word. In applying this, when I call home and here the troubles of my fellow loved ones I will not look to God and ask why, I will look to myself and ask, what am I supposed to learn?

With a vibrant mind and a dull heart you are a weapon of destruction.

With a dull mind and a vibrant heart you are a weapon of peace.

With a vibrant mind and a vibrant heart you become a peaceful destroyer.

This life is meant for Him.
To indulge in sin only leads to an emptier morning.
Only leads to another crack in your glass reputation.
Only sticks knives in the ones you love.
Only pours salt on the wounds where the knives have been.
Destruction leads to destruction.
Foundation leads to design and stability.

I do not want to die in this world rubble that scatters the earth giving myself to all creatures that walk by.
I want to be made a structure where I can invite those creatures in and offer them the peace I have been given.

Galatians 6:8

“For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

When I read this verse the concept of Pride comes to mind. When I was younger I had a complex with Paul. I read his letters and couldn't help but think how prideful he was in the way that he would always say be more like me for I am a man of God. A man who states be more like me doesn't always come across as the most humble of men. Through the eyes of the Holy Spirit it is an act of humbleness, in the flesh it comes across as prideful. When man does good on his own terms, and takes pride in the good he has done, it becomes pride. When we see men in our culture today telling everyone to be more like them, Charlie sheen for example, we think him prideful, insane, and simply crazy. We all have our own gifts and talents, who are they to tell me to be more like them. Why should Paul be any different? Paul takes pride in what he does for the Spirit, and only the Spirit. I believe Paul fully grasped this concept he wrote so many years ago. Because he knew that things he sowed were of the spirit then he didn't speak that he was a man of God through his own sowing, but because he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, he was made great. We can see that Paul is humble enough to say I am a great man, but give no entitlement to himself. From that point of view it makes us see Paul as an exceedingly sacrificial humble man instead of a man seeking recognition. I struggle with doing things for the Lord and remembering I had little to nothing to do with it. We are given these great tasks in the name of the Lord but we are so quick to forget that it was only through Him we were blessed with the task. It's easy to sow to the Spirit and desire to reap in the flesh.

Galatians 6:7

“Do not be decieved: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

We see this theme written with different names all throughout culture. Acknowledging this concept in almost every religion, it is mostly referred to as Carma given name by the Buddhist culture. When most people are introduced to this concept they take on the idea that they just need to do more good and therefore the punishments won't be as strong. The only ones who “succeed” at beating Carma are guys dressed up in orange garments and separate themselves from society for the rest of their lives. Even then, they never escape this vicious concept. God created us to be perfect, but we failed. And we continue to fail everyday whether we do it in the mountains of Tibett or in the cities of Boston, we fail. Adam and Eve initially was at fault for bringing sin into this world, but it is us that keep biting that fruit every single day. We can't escape it, we were born into sin. Many will try to bend and make rules explaining why this law of nature doesn't exist to them, but only one answer stands above all the rest. Christ. Only because Christ came in and payed our ransom. Only because he stepped in and became our ultimate get out of jail free card. If it were up to us to conquer this concept, you would be a fool to think we can defeat it alone. Only one of us was perfect, and He who was perfect loved the rest of us enough to be beaten and crucified, so we can be perfectly covered by His blood. He who was never bound by jail, became bound so we can all be freed. That, and that alone is the only answer to this age old question. We do reap what we sow with or without Christ, but with Him we win, without Him we lose tragically. The good we reap within Christ is good for God, the good we reap without Christ is a hamster in a wheel, thinking he is gaining, but only thinking.  

Galatians 6:5

“For each one shall bear his own load.”

I am called to pick up my cross everyday, and I should try to never complain for the path I have been given. Christ's cross bared more weight than any of ours and He is who we must look too. Not turn around, look at each others cross, and envy the size of others, but look to Him who carried the most. My cross is heavy yet the yolk is light and I will strive to run this race with endurance and without complaint.  

Galatians 6:5

“But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

Jesus Christ was our perfect example. If he were to ever say, why can't I sacrifice like John the Baptist? He would not have been amongst the people in the cities. If He were to say, why can't I be perfect like the Pharisees? He would have let the deception of religion backslide him into a white washed tomb. If He were to say, why can't I speak poetically like faithful King David? He wouldn't have been able to relate to the people of His time and love them exactly how they needed to be loved. Why do we find it okay to follow the great men of our nation and call it justified? Often we cry out to be more like this pastor, or if I can only think like this guy, sacrifice like this guy, love like that guy. It is good to respect a quality within a man, and admire his strength but never to think him great by his own works. Firstly, it will only lead you to be stumbled in your walk. If you follow the way of man he will inevitably fail you in one way or another and all the faith you had could crumble over one mans sin. Second, God does not call us to follow the sheep around us, He calls us to follow the shepherd. We are given a perfect plan for our life. Although we will never follow it perfectly, it is still singularly one path and one path alone. If Christ would have looked to others for heavenly guidance instead of heaven, my sins might not be washed by His blood today. I can't even fathom the repercussions. By conforming to others work we are cheapening His personalized will for our life. I need to rejoice in the realizations and plans God lays before me, for they are sweeter to my soul than any other. I am guilty of this type of idolizing because of it's tangibility, it is so easy to see the fruit they bear, taste it, and plan our lives around reproducing from our own lives. C.S. Lewis's fruit taste really really good. I mean really good. I would love to recreate those fruits. But God asks me to conform to His Son's fruits, and that is what I will try and do. Once again, Jesus Christ is our perfect example.

Galatians 6-3

“For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Funny that this is the verse that comes up now. I have been very caught up in my judgments lately. I deceive myself just about every moment of everyday. It is one of my greatest falls as a human being. I love the art of studying individuals, figuring out exactly what it is that makes them tick. My favorite past time is to simply sit and watch the reactions and decisions individuals make everyday. Everyone is a huge puzzle and I obsess over finding all the pieces. With this, my passion is based on judgment. I am in a constant state of comparison and judgment. It gives me a face of pride and wards off many with my first impression, often making them feel judged and insecure. Although never my intention, I hurt and offend many individuals. Jesus judged individuals righteously. He saw there flaws, he studied there behavior, and corrected them in there ways. But because he was perfect all judgments were perfectly used for the glory of God. That is my prayer. To continue to perfect and use this perceptive skill, not for the satisfaction of my pride, but for the glory of God. If we come from a place of “something” we look down on those who we are judging and find the flaws to hate instead of the qualities to love. If you come from a place of nothing you see clearer for one, but you strive to find the good qualities and meditate on the beauty of an individual. When the flaws are revealed, we only shall fix and correct, if it is toward the glory of God. I pray to judge righteously, and humble myself to see everyone in the way that I want to be seen. I want my very few qualities to be seen and loved enough to be loved through my flaws. I want to handle others as Christ handled me, through the layers and layers of sin, look at the qualities that make people beautiful in the eyes of the Lord.

Psalm 23:4

“Yea, 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 comfort me.”

He often has seasons of life in which the Valley of death seems to have no exit. The faint Son that shines through the trees grow more and more dim. To keep the warmth within him he chases after the Son to keep the fire of life alive. He watches the Son diminish behind the mountainous heights of distractions. He takes each step chasing with his eyes, his skills, his feet, ultimately his sense of direction. He composes rituals and traditions that give him the idea that the Son will stay in the sky longer. This wandering traveler will exhaust himself to the point that he gives justice to the name of the Valley, swallowed by death. What he did not know was that the Son was with him all along. Christ is not an object in the sky that we must work for, He is a loving God that only wishes to shepherd your heart with His warmth, His living water. He lives within you, longing to hold your hand as you feel tired and hungry. When we travel through the valley with our own skill, the Valley of Death will take another victim. We are only asked to stop, turn around, and call out to Him. He will do the rest. I can be this man at times, searching for outside sources and influences to sustain my walk with the Lord. I often forget that I simply must stop and look within to find the direction without. Notice David says though I walk through the valley, not when I walk through the valley. It can be interpreted that we don't only come in and out of this dark time but this world is that dark time. We are constantly trudging through the shadows and evils of this world. We don't have to do it alone.

My application is to remember that My savior is always wanting to hold my hands through these dark times. Today, as I walk, I will remember.

Psalm 23:5

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.”

We are merely instruments of the Lord. We are not our own, we were bought at a price. I see the table before me as an allegory to the relationship that God offers to us everyday. A guitar has no life of it's own. It was crafted by the hands of man, shipped to a store, and was given a price tag. With quality of wood, sound, and percussion the guitar may range in price. Depending on the musician, the guitar may come alive at anytime, at times used in the small confides of our room, sometimes in front of the people we truly care about, and sometimes used on a stage for all the world to see. The guitar does not take fame, or take credit for the sound it had made. I am having trouble on the actual application of this verse but this is what I have found within it. That my God desires to play the strings of my talents for His glory at any opportunity. We were crafted by the Lord, we were shipped to earth with a mission, we were given a price and sold to the evils of this earth, but yet the Lord sent His most precious son to buy back that which was already His. And now, He only desires to play. He wants me to play in the confines of my room, before the ones I love, and on the stage of the world. Although the guitar can play for all the world, that is not it's soul purpose or even ultimate goal. It is only called to be played. In acting we have a quote that is ingrained in all our heads “all the world's a stage.” I can use His relationship in this world to present it to my enemies so they can stand in awe at the table that I was blessed with. My cup runs over proves to me, that my God is always willing to shower me with the blessing of being played for His glory. We were anointed, we were called, to the battle of being played as loud as our strings can ring. This world is a stage, and God has called us to perform.

My application is to remember that people are always watching and listening, and that the music I play comes from my musician, not from my own strength.

Psalm 23:6

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”

Forever is a long time. It is not bound by time, it is not subject to decay or rot. We are on a constant destination towards death, all things out side of God we know, love, and find refuge in will disappear. Forever is not a measurement of time, it is the completion of time. Fortunately, this earth is bound by time, we were given roughly 28,579 days to learn and grow before our bodies are given to the earth for forever and eternity. The reality of being controlled by this time, makes the word Forever that much more of an impact. It puts a whole new meaning in running the race for the Lord. We often focus on how long this race is, we grow weary and tired, but if you compare to what we will be given in the end it all becomes silly. Often we enter challenges to get the prize in the end. People will train 12 hours a day 6 days a week to win a title of pride or a check with a lot of zeros on it. They often work this hard because they are fueled by passion. We are fueled by a promise, and on top of that the most perfect relationship we could ever long for, each step we take we grow in strength instead of growing weary. We will receive the most amazing price above all, living forever in the realm of perfect love. How can we not run as fast as we can! The race is short! God bless those who devote their lives to running this race and doing your best to find those who don't know there is a race to run.

Today I will run as fast as I can.

Isaiah 55:9

“For as the Heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

In 1 Samuel chapter 24:4 “Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.” This verse really speaks wonder to me. Throughout the bible we see command after command from God deliberately speaking one way on how to fulfill His will. In this passage we see God give David a choice. And not just a should I put turkey or ham on my sandwich choice, the choice to assassinate the King of Israel or not. I would like to think that he was in such alignment with God and the plan for his life that his fleshly desires transformed into the pleasures of God. It was no longer a flesh decision or a God decision it became the loving decision that God wants for us, the one we strive to understand everyday of our lives. David's most desirable trait was a man after Gods own heart. I believe his deserving title came from these times when God gave him a choice instead of a clear direction he still chose God's love. I pray that I can transform my heart to a heart of David's. Today I will try to choose God's love in decisions in which I don't get to here his still small voice.

Isaiah 55:8

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,

Says the Lord.”

Direction. I seek what I do not know daily. I want to know exactly who my wife will be, where I'll live, how many kids will I have, or the big one, when am I gonna die. All haunting questions we can't help but ask. All questions that at the push of a button I would accept. I Really hate not knowing. I keep thinking it will make life so much easier if I just had all the answers. The problem is, the more questions I am able to answer as I grow up, the more questions I am troubled with. When I keep my eyes on futuristic questions I don't have to deal with the answers I'm given today. Too many times the questions I asked years ago are being answered today, but because I'm so excited on asking the new ones I overlook what He has already made clear. Definitely one thing I have learned, the questions you ask are never answered in the way you prayed and had expected. There are many situations in which, if I would have known the outcome before I was supposed to, I would have ran as far as I could in the opposite direction. About a year ago now I was at a young adults bible study speaking with my assistant pastor. Amazing bible teacher. The subject of futuristic wealth and prosperity was brought up. thinking I was so wise I answered with “I wanna be rich enough to serve the Lord that I never have to think twice about having enough.” He chuckled and answered with “I only wanna have enough money to know I'll have a meal today, give us this day our daily bread is more than a prayer, it's an act of constant faith.” At the time I thought nothing of it but now I understand I was the idiot. He understood the verse we're all writing about so completely that his wisdom was the action to this verse, submitting your pride, submitting your humility, and turning it all into the act of faith. My thoughts are so definitely not His thoughts, and my ways aren't even close to His ways but that's awesome! Keeping it fresh. I am only here to look up, God will look forward. I'll never stop asking the questions, I just pray for the patience and faith that God will deliver them in His time.

Isaiah 55:8

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,

Says the Lord.”

Direction. I seek what I do not know daily. I want to know exactly who my wife will be, where I'll live, how many kids will I have, or the big one, when am I gonna die. All haunting questions we can't help but ask. All questions that at the push of a button I would accept. I Really hate not knowing. I keep thinking it will make life so much easier if I just had all the answers. The problem is, the more questions I am able to answer as I grow up, the more questions I am troubled with. When I keep my eyes on futuristic questions I don't have to deal with the answers I'm given today. Too many times the questions I asked years ago are being answered today, but because I'm so excited on asking the new ones I overlook what He has already made clear. Definitely one thing I have learned, the questions you ask are never answered in the way you prayed and had expected. There are many situations in which, if I would have known the outcome before I was supposed to, I would have ran as far as I could in the opposite direction. About a year ago now I was at a young adults bible study speaking with my assistant pastor. Amazing bible teacher. The subject of futuristic wealth and prosperity was brought up. thinking I was so wise I answered with “I wanna be rich enough to serve the Lord that I never have to think twice about having enough.” He chuckled and answered with “I only wanna have enough money to know I'll have a meal today, give us this day our daily bread is more than a prayer, it's an act of constant faith.” At the time I thought nothing of it but now I understand I was the idiot. He understood the verse we're all writing about so completely that his wisdom was the action to this verse, submitting your pride, submitting your humility, and turning it all into the act of faith. My thoughts are so definitely not His thoughts, and my ways aren't even close to His ways but that's awesome! Keeping it fresh. I am only here to look up, God will look forward. I'll never stop asking the questions, I just pray for the patience and faith that God will deliver them in His time.

Isaiah 55:7

“Let the wicked forsake his way,

And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

Let him return to the Lord,

And He will have mercy on him;

And to our God,

For He will abundantly pardon.”

This has been the hardest one so far for me to write about. Grace has never been something I've harped on. My youth pastor back home would preach and preach about grace and it would bore me to pieces. He never shut up about it. For most of my years in high school I had a very platonic relationship with the Lord. Like I've said before, I bless him, He blesses me. The problem with this ideology is that Grace and Mercy is completely exempt. I saw the Lord as my business partner, we were selling products that save souls and I was his salesman. Learning the product, coming up with clever sayings, presenting in a savvy way, and eventually getting my cut at the end of the day. When people would stop to say “how does it work for YOU savvy man?” I would stop for a moment, compile all the other accounts and say “It's changed the lives of so many people.” Well that's just the problem salesman, you only know how to talk about others conversions. What about your passion salesman? What about your relationship to it? The light behind is eyes were absent. Isn't is so noticeable when a pastor is personally on fire for the Lord compared to the ones who just preach it? For me Grace was the missing link. When Grace is understood the salesman realizes he does not own the product, he is owned by the product. When I realized that need for 'abundant pardon' everyday and that I was wicked and needed to turn to God daily my salesman title became a title of shame and disgrace. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Christ was the ultimate example of Grace, and I learn that a little more everyday. I see now the maturity in my youth pastor's walk, he fully grasped this idea and let it own him everyday. My application today is to be remember that I am owned by Grace.

Isaiah 55:6

“Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call up Him while He is near.”

Due to recent circumstances, I have learned that calling upon the Lord is a skill in and of itself. In our moment of weakness, when our mind is filling with idea after idea on how to fix the situation, our instant reaction is to fix it in the way that is most pleasing to the flesh. After all, punching that guy in the face cause he stole my girl seems very satisfying, before you actually commit the crime. After the fact you realize how poor of a choice that really was. When we go through these trenches in our life, we need to seek God the most, if we choose against His will, the punishable ramifications will always come in one way or another. When we are in these moments it is foreign to the flesh to choose a will that is not your own. When in those dark times we have to physically force ourselves to choose Him. We will think foolish, weak, or completely illogical. But that's just the point, if it made perfect sense to the flesh then we wouldn't need to ask Him. When life is simple it's easy to choose God in the small choices you make throughout the day. I guess what I actually learned today was that choosing his will above my own is an actual tool you must sharpen. It is not something you can pick and choose as you please, for when the battle of the flesh is at hand you are entering into a war with a dull sword. You will be slaughtered.

Luke 17:10

“So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.' ”

We have a duty. We have a debt to pay. We have a Lord that loves us. When I read this section these are the statements I take from it. But unprofitable takes on a whole new motive behind it. Humbleness has never been something I’m good at. In fact, I can't remember a time I was worthy enough to call myself humble. I have lived my Christian life as a profitable servant. I come home from the fields asking wheres the food and my own personal servants. I'm the servant that let's all the other servants know how well I plowed in the field that day. My pride has given me the falling trait of Lucifer, letting myself think God owes me, ultimately making me equal to God. I believe humbleness is the answer to all this. If you could let your eyes be opened wide enough, that you could see all that goes around you, you would laugh in sorrow how truly blind you were. We would realize just how powerful God is, and how weak we are. A man by the name of John Newton spent countless years aboard a slave-ship as captain. Controlling, powerful, and having the fate of 1000's in the palm of his hand. He watched those 1000's be beaten, raped, and killed for joy or simply lack of medical care. Pride at it's peak, with his flesh sitting as king. After years of refuge and repentance, he dedicated himself to the Lord and chose to become a minister. In his later years, he had lost his vision entirely, spending his final days in darkness to the world around him. He wrote these words “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like, I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see.” I believe that John Newton's vision completely flipped when he looked through the lens of love, opening his mind to wisdom, and humbling his heart to servant-hood. To be humbled, is to be loved.

My application today is broad, be humbled and open my eyes to the love God pours out on us consistently.

Luke 17:9

“Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?”

The love we receive from God is perfect in all areas. In correction, in faithfulness, in compassion and that's just to name a few. He wants to grow us, strengthen us and protect us from the devices of the devil. When I am often praised in this world I find a sense of comfort and complacency. I know I've done it right, I can just do that same thing over and over again and go into auto-pilot. For example IBS, if I was praised on how good I was everyday I would get comfortable and quit seeking the Lord's will and go off my own talents. This in retrospect is small, but in the large scale look at Pastor's, if they were told how talented they were for every message they could get comfortable and prideful and speak from their own intellect and not God's counsel. Personally I believe the Devil can take things that seem pleasing and beautiful to man, even harmless and innocent, but within the heart can grow a seed of sin. Because the Lord loves us we are blessed on his timing, giving it to us when He decides. An unloving Father would give praise to the child whenever he kicked and screamed for it, growing a sinful selfish behavior that could lead to rebellion. A loving Father would work his son, correct him, and have enough compassion to grow him through the time of loneliness. If the son is wise he will understand that this type of love will bless him tenfold for the future ahead of him. Lord thank you for loving me enough to not bless me for every little thing I do.

Today I will do my best to humble myself after I pray and give it all to the Lord.

Luke 17:8

“But will he not rather say to him, Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'?

I find in myself that I often want to put God on my terms. When I'm done being angry, I'll serve Him. When I'm done with this sinful relationship, I'll serve Him. When the storms come, I'll build the boat that will protect me and deliver me to the other side. We put ourselves as Gods, and put the Lord in our time of laziness and downtime. When we're done doing what we care about and love, then we can give the Lord his time. Yes, this will qualify you as a “Christian” but are you truly seeking the Lord with your heart, mind, soul, and strength? It kind of goes hand in hand with the saying “I'm only a Christian on Sundays.” In Acts, we see Paul serve the Lord against the pain of his flesh, against his pride by being publicly humiliated before all the people he knew and loved, and laid down all the fears of dying and all the joys of living to give the Lord his supper when He called for it. Personally, I deal with this problem by thinking I'm to smart for this or that and seeking my own will above His. I will get a piece of pride, try to stand on my own, and eventually exhaust myself until I'm broken on my knees once again. This is a reoccurring process in my walk that I feel is my largest struggle. Yes, I've been a Christian my whole life and saved for as long as I can remember, but I worship myself above Him all to often. My “knowledge” becomes my idol and of course leaves me in ruins every time. My ultimate goal for Pottersfield, is to soften my heart for the Lord to such a point, that His deserved obedience will come before mine without hesitation.

Personally, I will strive to be supernatural for the Lord. Go against the flow of my fleshly desires and unnaturally place the Lord on the throne of my heart before every tiny situation I make.

Luke 17:7

“And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'?

I think as Christian Americans we mix our culture with the way we view our relationship with Christ. What I mean by this is instant gratification and stocked rewards. Sometimes by tithing, praying, or fasting enough we let our minds make it about us instead of Him. In a sense, we believe that our good deeds will protect us from the struggles of this world. And if we don't have struggles, then we will noticeably be blessed in some way or another. Practically investing in Christ to be blessed for the riches of this world. We are glorifying ourselves, by giving our physical and mental strength we expect to be praised for all that good that we have done. In this verse I take from it that Jesus is rebuking those with this mindset. That as Christians we are expected to do our daily share of the work that should be done in His name. All to often we want that spiritual pat on the shoulder to get that reassurance when in all reality we have the bible to remind us daily. I find myself trying to keep score with God, trying “to bless Him” so I can “be blessed”. God is all loving and does not need to be blessed in anyway, we are His creation, He is not our whispering Jiminy Crickett.

I plan to do an act for the Lord in which I am sacrificing something and I will do my best to give entirely and completely and expect nothing in return for it. Also remember that all my treasures will be stored in Heaven and not in the prideful pleasures of this world.

Luke 17:6

“So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

I find myself being very humbled by this verse. For me it's a reminder of how unworthy we truly are, that if it was left up to us to work towards heaven the rate of success would be a whopping zero percent. That God looks down on our overwhelming sins and is able to see through all of it, and see us as his beautiful creation. It's humbling to think that even when you are walking with the lord for Xamount of years, and you've saved Xamount of people, we still cannot have enough faith to simply size up to one of the smallest seeds known to man. The love we receive cannot be altered from our end to the slightest degree. This verse ultimately proves to me the amount of God's love for us, even though our faith is small, our hearts are heavy, and our minds are darkened with countless numbers of sins, God loves me no less than that same day I took my first breath.

Today I plan to make even the tiniest of decisions with the help of Christ. Therefore, building my faith little by little with each tiny decision made and strive to prove this verse wrong with everything I do.