God’s work

I don’t have a dedicated message or particular scriptural conviction to share today. But, I did want to make it clear that God is performing something surreal in my life right now. Yesterday He burdened me to share my testimony. My church, NewSpring, just made a call to its members to submit their stories on how Jesus has changed their lives. God called me to answer them. I obeyed.

A also posted it here on the site in its dedicated section. Go read it. It’s highly watered down and full of holes, but it tells the story of how I traveled spiritual light years away from Him…yet, He was always there with me. I’ve prayed that this testimony will reach a lost or confused soul, and I know it will.

Galatians 1:13 – 16 (The Message)
13-16I’m sure that you’ve heard the story of my earlier life when I lived in the Jewish way. In those days I went all out in persecuting God’s church. I was systematically destroying it. I was so enthusiastic about the traditions of my ancestors that I advanced head and shoulders above my peers in my career. Even then God had designs on me. Why, when I was still in my mother’s womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! Now he has intervened and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell non-Jews about him.

God likes to bombard you!

Man, if this statement isn’t true, then I’m lost completely!

Lately, this has been the biggest truth in my life. God has been hitting me from every direction, and this is a good thing. There’s been a particular message He has been hammering me with. I’m sure you have all experienced something similar. And I’m not talking about that damning hellfire barrage of judgment that many people unfortunately face. I’m talking about that loving message that God begins to whisper to you and then, through multiple outlets of ministry, He begins to educate and make clear to you.

And God is funny. I should have seen it coming. The very thing that sent me away from God, He’s now showing me is how I can better come to know Him.

Purpose.

It all started 10 days ago, or so I thought. I was talking about things with my mother and telling her about some books I was eager to read. Then “casually”, Mom mentioned a book she had that I would enjoy. I emphasize casual because it wasn’t her who casually mentioned the book, it was I who casually listened-I had my list of books and this one wasn’t on it. In fact, at that point I couldn’t name the title or author. As I went to leave that day, she stopped me and ran back into the house, returning promptly with book in hand. That book was “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren and it was the first attack of a Godly onslaught of His love and determination for me to seek Him!

I’ve been faithfully reading it daily, as prescribed, and I feel it is teaching me so much! However, God says that’s not enough. While Apostle Ron has hinted upon the subject of purpose in his services, it was through Perry Noble that God vocalized the importance of seeking His purpose.

Perry structured his sermon around the Top 4 Things that he would tell us if we had a face-to-face or heart-to-heart with him. And guess what was number one? Yea. Seek God’s Purpose in your life. I mean, come on…He (God) couldn’t be making this message more clear to me with a neon sign in the sky reading, “DJ, stop dealing with all this crap and let Me show you your purpose!”

Perry took it a little further than that by giving us three main areas of focus for how to seek God’s Purpose: Relationally, Financially and Vocationally. Two of these three I was failing at. Relationally, I truly feel as if I’m growing daily, experiencing and learning more about my God with every breath I take! However, I found I haven’t been trusting Him the way I was allowing myself to believe I was. We all hear it and we’ve all read about trusting him. In fact I even have a favorite passage that I wasn’t living up to.

Proverbs 3:5, 6 (The Message)
5-6 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.

Remember earlier when I said, “It all started 10 days ago, or so I thought”? Yea, this is what I meant. My wonderful grandmother told me to look up this passage in the new Bible my mother had bought for me…months ago. Even before I felt the fire of God in my soul as I do now, He was moving me to seek Him to find my purpose! He knows I’m broke and detest my job. He’s been trying to gear me up to fix both of those!

These two verses say so much about the faith that is required to seek His purpose. Verse 5 states very simply, “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.” But God, I’m broke and barely getting by now as it is…how can I manage to tithe? You’ve gotta put those Jesus Goggles on when you look at your money. Give to Him and His ministry and, as verse 6 promises, “He’s the one who will keep you on track.” I hate my job, but God, how will I manage to pay the bills if I do this for you…it doesn’t add up! God says quit trying to make it make sense and trust Me…I won’t lead you astray.

God is really moving all around us and inside us. Yet, so often we look elsewhere for meaning and purpose. I’m hear to say that when God is moving in you and showing you a message, stop and listen!! Don’t clutter His voice with your petty thoughts on the matter. Just listen and obey.

What message is God bombarding you with? Are you listening?

Keeping that Christian composure at work

 

Man, is this hard to do sometimes!! I’m being tested daily here at work. Yes, while I’m striving to make a living doing film and video work, I’m forced to work a “regular” job. But if your job is anything like mine, it’s gotta be far from regular! The people alone set mine apart!

I think we all have those unique characters at work. Some of them entertain us, while some of them simply ignore us. As is the case with my job, most of them just plain test the boundaries of my patience! But the main thing that really irks me is the monotony. Being an artist and being confined to the mundane on a daily basis for nearly eight hours a day is just plain torment on my soul!!

God gives me the peace and strength to somehow maintain my cool through all the torment. I have my moments, I’m not perfect by a long shot. But for the most part I’m able to surrender all my personal qualms to Him and He always delivers them away from me.

If it weren’t for my co-workers and superiors, my job would be more than manageable! hahahaha

Meanwhile, I’ve spent a lot of time on biblegateway.com cross-referencing scripture through the many various translations. This has brought me a great peace, as well, it’s helped me get a much better understanding of God’s word! So for any of you that often times find yourself nearly losing your religion at work (or even at home) give it a shot! God has always promised us His Grace in our study of His word.

Road kill and the stench of your past self

That’s right. Road kill. For those not from the South, or otherwise not subjected to the term “road kill,” allow me to elaborate. You know that possum you passed the other day, the one with tire tread marks across its belly, upturned on the very edge of the road? That’s road kill. And, Lord have mercy on you if your windows were down! Those things tend to build a stink something fierce! And that’s just what I want to address, the stink that is associated with dead things that are left lying around.

Galatians 5:24 (NASB)
“24Now those who belong to ^(A)Christ Jesus have ^(B)crucified the flesh with its passions and ^(C)desires.”

Paul tells us here that through Christ, through our salvation-our being born again, we have crucified our past sinful nature. We have, metaphorically speaking of course, nailed that person and all that sinful nature and worldly desire to the cross! We have KILLED our sinful self! If you’re like me, the only stories of crucifixion that you know of are told in the Bible. What happens after crucifixion? Well, even in the case of our Lord, Jesus, the body is buried. You heard that, right…after the death on the cross (crucifixion) the body is buried.

What happens if the body is left in the open and subjected to the elements? The elements (or the world) begin to break it down and with that decomposition comes a raunchy stink! I’m talking a gag-me-with-a-shovel-that-is-some-real-funk kind of stink!! But before that stink comes, look at that first part. The elements (or the world) begin to break it down.

The problem in many Christians lives after their rebirth in the Spirit (if not all, to some degree) is that they forget, or often times refuse, to do that vital second step of the process: bury that crucified carcass of who they were before Christ changed them. Think about that. Many of us simply forget that we killed that person we used to be and we fail to properly take care of the remains. That leaves us with a dead, decomposing and stinking carcass nailed to our back wherever we go. This is important to realize for a few reasons.

First and foremost, we are left now carrying a dead weight . Imagine carrying twice your body weight around. Many of us wouldn’t bear the load at all, and those that did would eventually tire. Even those of great strength would be bothered, distracted, by this dead weight clinging to their backs. We must look at our past selves as just that, a dead weight and hindrance in our travels with Christ. If we’re still carrying around our old sinful desires, how can we truly be on a path of seeking His will?

Another thing we must realize, we’re carrying a carcass that is open to the elements (or the world) and is being broken down and eaten away at. We’re clinging to that old sinful nature and it allowing it to remain a part of us still. And, slowly, but steadily, the world is eaten away at our Spirit. By holding onto that old dead self, we’re allowing that same creeping death of the world to slowly attack our Spirit, and sadly, this can result in a Spiritual death. We’re slowly allowing ourselves to be conformed, yet again, to the world. Heed Paul’s warning in Romans 12:2 against this very thing. We sought salvation in Christ, in order to rid ourselves of this worldly mess, yet if we allow an opening for it to get back in, it will surely do its best to consume us!

Finally what I want to point out is that if we’re carrying around this dead and decomposing weight, we are allowing ourselves to be covered in a terrible stench! The really bad thing is that we become accustomed to our own stink! Like the road kill, which is dead, we don’t realize that our past self is funking up the place everywhere we go! You see, we say that we are walking with Christ, but we’re doing the very same things we did before we sought salvation! Here Paul tells us this, Romans 7:19 (Amplified) “For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.” We can’t confess the name of Jesus with our mouths and still cling to the very dying flesh for which He died in order to grant our salvation. And, I don’t know about you, but I really don’t much like the idea of being that guy that’s funkin’ up the place!

Matthew 15:8 (NKJV)
“These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And^[a]honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.”

Holding on to that dying old self, that sinful nature we crucified in the name of Jesus is a poor use of our Christ given liberties (read Romans 14) and a poor ministry not only to fellow Christians, but more importantly to our lost acquaintances!! If we take Christ’s name, yet through our actions, we succumb to the world, then what have we really accomplished aside from a lackluster attempt at seeking God? At that point we aren’t striving to seek His will. We must work hard to cast off that old dying self so that we not only remove distraction in our relationship with Christ, but that we also don’t serve as a stumbling block to others who are lost and/or seeking Him.

I say it’s high time we all hit the showers with Jesus and wash that old stinking self away! Who wants to walk around carrying some nasty, stinking old carcass anyway!?

Christian friendships

A friend and I were casually discussing the fact that we both are in need of more Christian friends.  That may sound funny, but it’s true, I need more friends that share my passion for Jesus!  And, I think all of us should strive to have more friendships in which the core is a love of Jesus.

Let’s look at the word friend:

friend  /fr?nd/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[frend] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation  noun

1.	a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.

2.	a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter

So a friend is someone that you share a mutual affection or relationship with.  I particularly like the mention of a friend as being a supporter.  Lord knows there are times I need a friend in that regard; support.  And, what type of support can one expect if the supporter is a non-believer?  Can you expect this level of support and the accompanying advice to be the best suited for you?

I’m inclined to say no.  When in the circle of my agnostic and atheist friends (I pray for them daily, by name), if I open the metaphorical door for them to interject advice or their personal opinions on a matter I’m struggling with, what I get tends to be very self-serving and superficial.  As a Christian, this conflicts with my core values of seeking the Lord’s will.

With Christian friends, I can expect support and guidance that is grounded in Christ.  While I’m struggling with an issue in my life, they may just have the verse to shed light on what is distracting me.  I can also expect these friends to keep me focused on what really matters; serving Him.  Because in the grand scheme of it all, my problems are only shaping and strengthening my ability to better serve Christ!

Seek friendships that are grounded in Christ.  We all need that kind of support to make it in this word…and to keep that passion for Jesus alive and burning in us!

Setting aside time for Him

It has to be the easiest possible thing we as Christians can do for God…set aside some time each day to spend with Him. Spend that time in prayer or in His Word…or as I prefer to do, BOTH! Yet, even still, I hear people say, “I just haven’t had time to read my Bible,” or “I seem to forget to pray at night (morning, noon or whenever)”. You have time to eat, breathe and watch TV, don’t you? Sure you do. Do you forget to go to work or pick up your children from school? Of course not!

So why do so many forget to make time for God? I find myself often times lost in prayer just thanking Him for all He has done! Look around you. Yes, right now. There’s so much right there within your immediate surroundings that you can (and should) be thanking Him for! My pastor, Apostle Ron Carpenter Jr, often quotes this verse when talking about prayer:

Psalm 100:4 “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”

We all need to take time to thank our gracious and loving God. He’s given us so much…even His Son as a means for which we can have the very Salvation that we all cherish!! That alone is worthy of a daily thanks!

If we as Christians can’t make time in our schedules for our very own God, then how can we ever expect to reach our neighbors or our friends? I encourage you, take time everyday to enter into His gates with thanksgiving and praise! He knows our hearts and our desires, praise Him and He will give those blessings that I talked about yesterday!

Exploring God’s Word

Matthew 23:25 – 27

25 �Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.^[a] 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 �Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men�s bones and all uncleanness.

We are all too often caught up in outward appearances and doing things that appease others, when it is pleasing God that we need concern ourselves with. And He tells us here that we must be clean in our hearts first and the rest will follow. Just think about it, if our hearts are set on God and serving Him, then our outward lives will shift to suit that purpose!

The Pharisees are warned that their attempts to clean their outward appearances are simply in vain. I love the analogy given in verse 27 that “you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men�s bones.” God knows what thoughts manifest in our minds and what desires dwell in our hearts, so we can’t expect to fool Him with empty actions! We must desire Him in our hearts and minds, and therefore outwardly we will appear as one of His (for we truly are)!

We can’t settle for being whitewashed Christians! Where do you stand?

Christian infancy

Let’s first make it clear that I’m not talking about the offspring of Christian parents. No, I’m talking about those who are new to Christianity and are just beginning to hone their personal relationships with Christ.

I’m not ashamed to say that by all measure of time, I am an infant in Christ.

One (of the many) very special aspects of a “new” Christian is their passion, their fire, their ambition to do something profound in the name of God. There’s a fire in these Christians that, at least for a time, is unquenchable! When you first truly feel that loving and forgiving spirit of God enter your life, you are filled with a peace and joy that no manner of written word can explain. That fiery passion burns so strong that many of us feel like we need to go to seminary and become pastors…you laugh, but it’s true!

The sad thing is that somewhere along the way, many Christians allow this flame to dwindle to mere embers, barely burning remnants of their earlier passion, starved of oxygen and often times nearly vanquished. Just like a fire can’t survive without oxygen, our relationship with Christ cannot grow if we don’t feed it. We must constantly seek Him!

Psalm 119:2 ” Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,Who seek Him with the whole heart!” This is not the only mention in the Bible, but it is a strong mention. Let’s look at that word, blessed.

Dictionary.com says that blessed is the bestowal of divine favor upon. So, God says that He will give us divine favor if we constantly seek Him. Wow. That’s something to strive for. I don’t know about you, but having friends that will do favors for me is a blessing! However, to know that God, the Creator of all things, is willing to give me (us) divine favors simply thrills my soul! I can’t begin to fathom what favors those could be, but I bet it sure beats swinging by the store to pick me up a soda on His way!

Loosing that passion, that inspired drive, for Christ does not mean that we loose our salvation, but don’t you want to attain those blessings that God has set aside for you? Blessed are those who seek Him; therefore, to receive those blessings you must desire Him! He’s given us all so much…is it too much to ask that you take time daily (or even more often) to seek Him, His will and to give Him praise?!

We may never reach the adulthood age of Christianity here on this earth…that may be reserved as part of our Heavenly inheritance. However, we can grow and mature in Christ by seeking Him in all we do. Not only are we gaining maturity and knowledge of our God, but we’re gaining His blessing!

And a final closing verse because the Lord is so serious about His promises to us that He almost always repeats them:

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him“.

Seek Him always!

Launch

Just launched the site today.

No, I didn’t design the page. I’m using a pre-made theme that I like.

There’s not a lot of content up but, the What is Tha Word page is up, so read that.

Testimony page is not ready…so check back later.