Tag: God

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Final Thoughts on Chapter 2 Chasing Daylight

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Final Thoughts on Chapter 2 of Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus:

  • Until our bodies return to dust, there will always be a voice crying out within us to move from existence to life.
  • The possibilities that await us in each moment are fueled by the potential God has placed with in us…Its about the kind of life you live as a result of the person you are becoming. The challenges you are willing to face will rise in proportion to the character you are willing to develop. With the depth of godly character comes an intensity of godly passion.
  • It is the process of transformation that we find the fuel to engage with confidence the opportunities placed before us.
  • For some strange reason many sincere followers of Christ have come to think that their passions are always in conflict with God’s purpose.
  • When we delight in God, we become anything but apathetic. In fact, we become intensely passionate. These desires of our hearts are born out of the heart of God.
  • The more passionate you are, the more proactive you will tend to be (even if you boldly do the wrong thing).
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What Fuels You?

An excerpt from Chasing Daylight, chapter 2, “Initiative”

Until our bodies turn to dust, there will always be a voice crying out within us to move from existence to life…The possibilities that await us in each moment are fueled by the potential God has placed within us…It is about the kind of life you live as a result of the person you are becoming. The challenges you are willing to face will rise in proportion to the character you are willing to develop. With the depth of godly character comes an intensity of godly passion.

It is in this process of transformation that we find the fuel to engage with confidence the opportunities placed before us…For some strange reason many sincere followers of Christ have come to think that their passions are always in conflict with God’s purpose.

“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4) When you draw near to God, God infuses passion…When we delight in God we become anything but apathetic. In fact, we become intensely passionate. These desires of our hearts are born out of the heart of God…The more passionate you are, the more proactive you will tend to be (even if you boldly do the wrong thing!).

“The more passionate you are, the more proactive you will tend to be…” Wow! If that does not sum up a lot of things. If I were to apply that one statement to Christians alone, it may help pinpoint why some people do not get plugged into ministry in order to serve others in the body. It very well could be that they don’t get plugged in because of a heart issue…they may not be passionate about God, other people, or the ministry they are being asked to do. I’ve seen it first hand, if someone is passionate they are going to be committed, no passion…no commitment.

Green Freaks…are proactive about the environment.
Nascar Freaks…are proactive about watching cars drive in circles.
Animal Freaks…are proactive about saving the minks.
Jesus Freaks…are proactive about sharing the love of Christ.

What is fueling you? What makes you want to get involved with whatever it is that you are involved with?

It could be in the “Spiritual” world or the “Secular” world, but chances are, if you are proactive about it…you have a passion, a love, a longing for it. If you are not active with anything…you are just existing…not living, that’s apathy! Motivation for me is to be proactive in growing in my journey with Christ, as I grow, He will give me the desires that I need to be passionate about, and with passion I can act, therefore I can live.

If you are not living, chances are you’re not growing. What’s holding you back? God wants to remove those barriers and replace them with passion.

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Discontentment

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I guess it would only be natural to do a discontentment post just days after posting about being Content. I have to be transparent. I struggle with a lot of stuff, and it all stems from the church environments that I was raised in. My dad always did a great job of challenging me when we would discuss what I was being taught in my “Christian” school. I never heard him support some of the legalistic stuff that I was being taught, although he did have his opinions at times in the area of music, but God freed him of that long ago. The problem is, we didn’t discuss everything that I was being taught, therefore a lot of it sank in, without me lifting a finger to find out if it was a Biblical truth or if it was merely a person’s opinion. One of those struggles is discontentment and whether it is a bad thing to be discontent, or if it could be a good thing.

18 months ago I resigned as a full time youth pastor to get plugged into a new church plant in our area as a volunteer. I love our church and have no problems with it, but I am discontent. I don’t have the space to tell the entire story, (Email me if you want to know it) but I ended up getting a full time job at a 200 year old Presbyterian church in their publications department and overseeing their web design. Maybe some of the discontentment comes from not fully being able to use my gifts and talents as I once did when I was full time? It is hard going from one environment to a totally different one. Going from a full time pastor to a full time administrative position. I know God called me to preach when I was 12 years old. I had the opportunity to serve in ministry at my families church since I was around 10 and I remember how God kept speaking to me, I would wake up in the middle of the night, and I couldn’t shake it. I didn’t want the calling, but God didn’t ask.

Anyway, I tell my wife that if God sent me to Greenbrier for the sole purpose of meeting some of the people that I have been able to meet, then it would be worth it. I value Shane’s friendship more than anyone will ever know. I have never had a friend that was as sold out and as in love with Jesus as Shane and Hank. I love those guys and I have not known them for that long. My pastor Chuck has been a huge positive influence and was a breathe of fresh air at a time where I needed it. Being on the outside and kind of on the inside of a church plant, I feel like I’ve learned a lot, so I know that God uses his timing for many good things. The problem is, I know that, yet I am still discontent. I was looking at a book that was at our church office the other night waiting for our youth workers planning meeting to start. On the back of the book Bono was quoted as saying that within the next year over 10,000,000 children in Africa would be affected by HIV/AIDS, many of which will lose their life. Did you know that in the next year I will print over 146,000 worship guides? That has nothing to do with the crisis that Africa faces with HIV/AIDS, poverty, pandemic diseases, illiteracy, and other crisis’. Continue reading “Discontentment”

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Thought for the Day

I have been thinking about this verse a lot lately, not because of it being the Easter season and the natural reflection on Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. I have been thinking about it before this past week. It puts Christ’s love for us into perfect perspective:

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8

I cannot count the times that I thought highly of myself, or I thought that I had accomplished something great. Yet, Christ had equality with God, he had divine privileges, and he counted it as worthless, because he valued loving us more! Verse 5 is the hard part, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” That’s the verse that lets me know that I am not all that I think that I am at times!

Would I give up divine privileges for someone who would eventually murder me? Would I give up my position in a comfortable, perfect Heaven, and my equality with the Creator of the Universe? I wouldn’t, but Christ did. How can I even come close to that attitude? It’s possible through Christ, or we would not be told to do it, but that is a huge mountain to climb. I know one thing, it will humble us to realize we cannot accomplish such an attitude on our own, but it is through Christ that we can. How then can we think highly of anything that we do?

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Humble Me!

Dear God,

Please humble me! Please make me lower…make me decrease so you can increase. May your influence through my life lead people to you and not divide people and turn them away. May I never preach messages like these. May I never speak out against your anointing, your men, your people, your creation, your church. God I want you to use me, but not at the expense of hurting another man of God or his ministry. Thank you Lord that churches all across America are exploding for you because they refuse to allow man to hold them back, instead they are being obedient to you and your word. My God! If you would be so generous to allow my life to count for as much as you have the lives of men like Perry Noble and Billy Graham. Lord, I know you love men like Pastor Steven Anderson, and I pray that you would change his heart, and that though he may have his own opinions, that you would humble him, change his heart, use him greatly for your ministry, and give him a deep love for your people and your pastors. Forgive him for his venomous attacks towards your men. Lord only you can change his heart and his mind. Lord may I never represent you in an ill fashion.

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I got the New Spring Video from Tony Morgan’s Blog