Have you seen them?

How do we show people the love of God when they don’t even know what love is? 

What a revelation this was last Sunday morning. There are people whose lives have never been filled with love. They have never experienced what it was like to have someone value them and love them for simply who they are. While this idea was brought to me from a young woman who had just returned from Haiti, based on her experiences with orphaned girls, I can sense that there are people here, in our community who may have never experienced real love.

Maybe these people are people are in your family, your circle of influence, your workplace, your gym, or your neighborhood. Have you looked around? Do you see them? You can’t see them if you are not looking. 

Kind of reminds me of the Matthew West song, My Own Little World. Take a minute and listen to it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvSwcMp9vU4

What if we are missing out? What if the there is a greater purpose?

So we look for them, and then we find them. We find these people who may not know love.

What then? How do we show them what love is? 

We teach them.

We teach them though example, we teach them with the evidence of our lives. We teach them through how we respond to them and how we respond to others. We let the Holy Spirit do His job and soften their hearts and speak to them about their own lives and their own values and their own purpose. We act. 

We can only do that though if we are confident in God’s love ourselves. Are you? 

How are you with God? Do you have doubts?

I do. I am just being real here. After all that I have experienced, after all that I have lived through and survived because of God’s providence. I still have my days where I wonder.  But even though I do have my moments of doubt, in my heart, deep down in my heart, I know that no matter where I am, He is faithful until the end. Even in my uncertainty. He is still faithful and I am grateful for this. It helps me to remember that I can still show love because I am filled with His love. It is possible for me to push right on through my doubt and fear and extend a hand or an ear to someone in need.  

As we have been learning over the past few weeks, the presence of the Holy Spirit is our proof that we are loved and that our fate is sealed and no one can steal that love away from us. His love for us is faithful and will endure forever. It is unconditional, it is not reserved, and it is not judgmental. 
  

When I doubt I can always get through it by showing love to someone. When I make it about them and not me I find the Holy Spirit at work in both them and me. This helps me find my confidence. It reminds me that there is a greater purpose and it is always easy to find. Our purpose is to love and be loved. 

James 1:6-8  NIV

6But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

 

It is an empty feeling to be double-minded and unstable, to be tossed by the wind, blown here and blown there. It doesn’t have to be like that. It all comes back to our relationship with God. Are we filled with His presence? We can only be filled with His presence if we practice His presence, if we experience His presence daily.

I get so busy with my life. I am a single father who works full time and is also taking 9 credit hours in college. I volunteer for a local organization by being a board member and I also make myself available to this church by writing this blog. I love what I do but it keeps me busy. So busy sometimes that I don’t spend time with God as I should. I get it. I know I am not alone with this but friends, we cannot afford to live to long without Jesus as the center. 

He is our life. Jesus says that “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” Think about that. Jesus is the life. John opens up his Gospel by saying that everything that was made was made through him (Jesus). Without him nothing was made that has been made. So Jesus is life. Every pulse of your heart, every contraction of your diaphragm, every sunrise or sunset, is Jesus. He is life and when we accept this truth, his spirit then moves into our soul and begins to make us one with him. 

We are like a love battery then, see ya later energizer bunny, we need Jesus to live. We need Jesus to LOVE. Each day we need to be charged. Remember the Lord’s Prayer? Give us today, our daily bread. Today.

So I find this truth at work in myself. When I don’t MAKE time to pray, to be in His word I am weak. I am doubtful. When I don’t take time PRACTICING being in his presence I can’t reproduce it when I really need it! When I don’t practice I can’t be good at it. This is a fundamental truth. It applies to everything we do doesn’t it?

The truth is that we need to be ready at a moment’s notice because life happens and it doesn’t give us any warning signs. The phone will ring and trouble will call. We need to be ready. We need to pray and read God’s word daily. We need to be charged and ready to share that charge.  

We need each other church. We do. This Sunday look around at the people who go to church with you. It starts here. It starts within these walls. We must engage each other and gain experience at loving one another.  We need practice. Going to church is not where we stop in our faith. Cool, you are Christian, you have accepted Jesus, that’s great but coming to church is not the final stop. It is not the goal. You’re not done friend. Going to church is not the end where we settle in but it is only the beginning where we dig in. We meet every Sunday and the reason we meet is not so we can hear Jared tell us about bible stories. It is not the one day where we shake someone’s hand and say hi.

The purpose of church is to do three things:

1. Attract people. Draw them into the faith through the truth of the Gospel.
2. Train people. Train them how to change their life and begin living in the truth of the Gospel.
3. Send them out. Take these people who have been trained and get them back into the world proclaiming the Gospel.

You’re in training. This is a boot camp. We are at war and we want you to be prepared for battle.

We can’t make you. We can only offer. It is up to you. We want to train you, to love you, to charge you, and to make you a soldier in God’s army but there is no draft. You have to enlist. You have to train. You have to practice. 

God is Good.

Luke 18:27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (NIV)

God is good. 

This past weekend I had the opportunity to spend the second annual Friend Fest with people I know and care about. Many of those who belong to the Real Life Church family showed up and I am honored and humbled to be considered a part of this family. In total, counting all the kids, we had 34 in attendance!

God is good.

 

It was only a year ago that I didn’t have a church family. Now I am blessed with a large church family. I would do anything for these people. They have my love. I can’t take credit for this though. I had tried for a couple years previous to find my place with no avail. One of my best friends and I searched and searched for a church where we could fit in, a church that felt like we belonged. I had given up hope as I attended the 1^st Friend Fest in 2012 by myself. That is where I ran into Jared and found out that he was a pastor. This was the beginning work of God. The work of the grand artist has shaped this worthless lump of clay into a man who has found his home.

God is good. 

I captured those moments from the 1^st Friend Fest in 2012 with a couple journal entries. 

June 30^th, 2012

It has been a wild week this week. I did get played again and I did not react all that well to it. But the Lord did work in it and brought forth some truth in the situation.

I ran into Jared Eckerley at Friend Fest last night and he gave me a business card for his church. I want to go check it out on Sunday. Maybe this could be my home. A place to begin tithing, and a place to give my time and truly begin serving.

July 1^st, 2012

It has been quite the interesting week. So much has happened this week there is no way I could journal it all. Maybe I should try?

I’ve been faking some of my faith. Maybe not faking it but I definitely have Jesus in my head and not in my heart. That has changed this weekend.  I recognized, well rather, I’ve decided to stop turning a blind eye to the fact that while I say I am a Christian I am not living as a free man.

Artist Eric Samuel Timm, a guest speaker said that 12” separates Jesus from where we should have him to where he is. 12” is about the distance between your head and your heart.  That’s me. Today I have read from 

Proverbs 1:32 NIV

For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

I closed out my journal entry on July 1^st , 2012 with this prayer.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for such a great weekend and for all that you do in my life. I pray this prayer to you this morning. 

I’m ready to come home.

 I’m ready to stop my mindless wandering, my waywardness. I have grown complacent in my relationship with you. I continue to live in my sin and have been living for idols and not you.  I hear you. No more OLD STEVE. No more old creation. I am all in. Please fill me with your spirit and lead me.

Your Servant,

Steven

God is good. 

I had a front row seat to see Him at work this past weekend. Literally, we had the front row, center, locked down all weekend. During that time we had to defend our spots on occasion and gently remind people that the spots we had, while empty now, were for our peeps and when they returned they would want them back. It was during such an encounter that I met Trevor and Beth from Ohio. They had traveled two hours so their son, Caleb who had just beat Thyroid Cancer, could see Toby Mac and magician Tom Coverly. 

They were occupying the front row in between sets because their son was about to be on the main stage with magician Tom Coverly and they wanted pictures to capture the moment. Caleb was particular fond of magic and they arrived too late to see the full magic show on the 2^nd stage but they did catch Tom as he exited the stage. They explained their situation, how they missed his show, Caleb’s love of magic and his recent battles. In response Tom decided to invite Caleb onto the main stage to assist him with a magic trick. Caleb jumped at the chance. While I talked with Trevor he also explained that they had really wanted to set up an opportunity for their son to meet Toby Mac. He explained that, a couple weeks prior to the show, they contacted the radio station to find out if they could just get 5 minutes with Toby Mac. To their surprise, and mine, they were told that it would cost $200 to set up such a meeting. Not having the money for that, this on stage appearance assisting the magician was more than they could have hoped for their son.

Caleb with Magician Tom Coverly

God is good, but the story gets better.

During the performance I snapped some photos and recorded the event for them. Afterwards I gave them my contact information and asked them to contact me so I could get them the video and pictures. That next day Trevor called me and shared just how awesome God is and how He steps in when we fail. Trevor shared with me a story that unfolded without our knowledge. You see, after the magic trick, this magician, who had already made Caleb’s day, took him back stage and introduced him Toby Mac. 

Caleb was able to talk face to face with Toby Mac and share his story. Toby Mac was very gracious and loving giving Caleb his autograph and even a hug! How cool is that huh?

Luke 18:27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (NIV)

Where man had failed, God stepped in and made a HUGE difference in this young man’s life. 

God is good.   

So here is the real exciting news! This same God, who blessed me with a family and this boy with realizing a dream, wants to work the same way in your life! 

So who are you? 

Are you a person that doesn’t think God is in it for you? 

Are you a person who hasn’t given God the chance to do something in your life?

Let Him in, He is good, He is knocking, and He loves you!

Consider surrendering your life to Him for He does have a plan for you; one that you couldn’t even dream of. 

Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV

11For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Come join us at the YMCA in Niles at 9 AM. You do not have to get your life right first. You don't have to wear special clothes. Just come as you are and see what great things God has in store for you.

Here are some pics of the family from the 2nd Annual Friend Fest 2013 

 

 

Who has control?

Romans 8:6 (NIV)

The mind of the sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace

 

 

For years I have had the mind of a sinful man. It permeates my being and I am saturated with it. Now that I know the truth there is quarrel between it and the sinful side of me. The arrows from the evil one once wounded me deeply. God has reveled to me three specific wounds which and I now have scripture to counter what was learned from those wounds. They are healed inside of me but the damage done is still being weeded out of who I am. 

Those wounds taught me how the world works and how I needed to respond to the world in order to keep me from being hurt again. My relational style had been built on lies. I was a sinful man with a sinful mind and was experiencing death. 

Not anymore though. Now that I have received the Holy Spirit I am in training. I am learning how to let my mind be controlled by the spirit. The battle is in fighting the old thought patterns that have developed and along with that battle there is the fight with the old habits that coincide with those thought patterns. 

When you accept Jesus as your lord and savior you receive the Holy Spirit. It does dwell inside of us now. Many of us though, still need to surrender to the idea that we have been chosen. 

You see, I struggled with believing that God chose to make me, to create me, to teach me and to show me His ways. He made me to love and beloved by him. What is absolutely humbling is truth that he also wants to father me. He chooses to work though the Holy Spirit, if I choose to live according to it.

How does one live life according to the spirit? Living according to the spirit means that I now should be drawn to pleasure by the things of the spirit and not the things of the world. It isn’t an easy process but God has already done the work for us. He is revealing himself to you though the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to have head knowledge of His truths but another to live there. What we really need is to put that truth to work in our lives, we have to practice living in the truth. 

Just like learning to walk when we were young. We couldn’t always walk; it was something that we needed to learn. We had to find our balance, and then we had to practice to build up our strength in our legs. We needed help, we needed someone to hold us up at first, and then we needed encouragement to not give up and to keep trying.

I have found that, even with things going well in my life, I still find myself down; experiencing sorrow and melancholy at times. When I lived according to the world I was so lost I didn't even know my own name. Those feelings were something I experienced everyday. I got comfortable with experiencing those feelings. It had become a habit. We seem to get stuck in our old way of thinking.....it happens right? Consider this quote from a friend of mine.

 "We are more comfortable in our uncomfortableness and more satisfied in our unsatisfactory state within ourselves—than we are enthralled and thankful and surrendered at His greatness and willingness to do just what He says He will do and be just Who He says He will be!"

That was me for sure. For me I can be down for a bit unaware of why I am down. When I do realize that I am down a conversation starts in my head...

I like to think that it is the Holy Spirit speaking life inside of me.

“HEY! Why are you down again? What is troubling you now?”

The Holy Spirit is challenging me to take my thoughts and hold them up to the truth. When I do the truth begins to sprout in my soul so I respond.

"Well....nothing is wrong....my life is good right now....there are no major stressors occurring."

And when I realize that I am again, believing in those lies, I am freed. Didn't Jesus tell us that we shall know the truth and it would set us free?!

In these times I am seeing that I am just so used to "something" being wrong it has become a habitual way of thinking or being. Sadness, melancholy....was just my accepted level of happiness. We all have the capability to accept a certain level of misery consider it happiness. This is as good as it is going to get. I was more comfortable there so it felt like home but that is not where I should be. 

My friends don’t buy into that. We were meant for so much more.

I say these things to prep this.

One of the best feelings that I have ever experienced is the realization that all is well with my soul. That God, in His glory, is fathering ME and I am OK. I am free of all that old stuff, that old way of thinking so I can just let go of my sadness and melancholy as it is nothing more than a lie from the evil one. When I turn my back on those old thought patterns I am choosing to live in the spirit. I am choosing to receive that truth from the Holy Spirit. It just washes over me like someone has dumped warm oil over my head and it just permeates my body (and soul) with its warmth.

I am convinced it is His love and I shiver......

In that moment I am recognizing the second part of Romans 8:6 …. the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace

I want that for you for I know first hand that God is faithful. He didn't give up on me and he won’t give up on you. He keeps pursuing us with His annoying love. It is always there, it has always been there, and will always be there.  There is nothing that we can do to separate ourselves from that love. Even in our own depravity and wretchedness He reaches down his hand every time we trip and fall. His patience is never ending; time and time again he fathers us like many parents do teaching their kids how to walk.

"Now ( insert your name here), come on, get up and try again, YOU can do it! I will teach you how to walk in my ways." AND in those times where I just couldn't do it anymore, He just carried me. Now I am walking on my own, more and more....nah, now I am learning to run...I still fall, but I get back up quicker than before. So can you!

The Holy Spirit is what guides us. The Holy Spirit is our encourager, and at times the one who reminds us that all is well and we need to simply get our thoughts focused on the reality of the truth of where we are now. We are IN him, we are with him and he is with us. We are a part of the vine.

 Let me leave you with this verse and a closing thought.

Romans 15:13 NIV

May the God of hope fill you with  all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Paul prays that God may FILL you with joy and peace in believing that he is faithful and by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. But you see, YOU have to choose what you get filled with. It is only God’s desire to fill you with these wonderful things though the choice is really yours. You can choose whatever you wish to be filled with but you only have two choices: 

1) What the world offers

or 

2) What God offers

You choose by what you surround yourself with. What are you choosing today?

Here is an old Cherokee Legend that was shared with me years ago. It is a good story that summarizes this week’s “Deep in the Week”.