Don’t Blink:

You’ll miss the magic of life

Psalm 69:3

I am worn out calling for help; 

       my throat is parched. 
       My eyes fail, 
       looking for my God.

When is the last time someone had to text you because their throat was raspy from crying out to God? I mean, when I look at the passion, the power and the devotion of the people in the Scriptures I wonder if we are missing something. Somehow we seem to be satisfied with the way things are but when you look at the Scriptures they were literally changing the world. It seems to me that God calls us to so much more than what we are currently willing to do. Today I want to challenge you to raise the bar, step up your game, step up your devotion, step up your prayer life, step up your willingness to sacrifice, step up or you’ll BLINK. You’ll blink and find yourself in your 20s without a clue of what God has done in your life. You’ll blink again and you will look back over the course of your life and see that you have had little to no impact because you did not seek God. You did not take His Word seriously. You did not obey Him. You heard everything, you went to church but you missed out on the magic of life. The wonder of God working through you. The joy of seeing lives changed by the Jesus. The power of seeing God answer prayers. The worship that happens when we are caught up in the Spirit.

I sleep in a lot of hotels. Every year there are hundreds of pillows I get to experiment with. Some are great and wonderful and I just want to stuff it into my backpack and others are less than desirable. The pillow is there for one purpose to give whoever is staying there a comfortable night sleep. Somehow the right pillow helps us fall asleep better. 

 Take a minute to think about who has served you well and who you have served.  When a friend needs a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on- are you there to serve them?  When you see a person on the street holding a sign "hungry," are you there to serve them?  When someone calls from church asking you to make a meal or work in the nursery- are you there to serve them?  When your neighbor, who has no boundaries, sends her 3 year old over to play- are you there to serve them?  

If you were asked to name someone who has a "servant’s heart," who would you name?  Is there anyone on the planet who might name you?

The Bible makes it clear that our deeds alone do not get us into heaven.  But God’s word also makes it clear that we are to do the will of our Father.  Jesus came to serve us- not to be served.  

Ask yourself how you can be a better servant- to your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and strangers.  Choose now to lead a life marked by service.  

My son will be celebrating his 9th birthday this weekend. It’s crazy to think that 9 years ago, I was in the hospital as my wife delivered our second baby. Moments later, as I was holding my son in my arms, I noticed he was turning blue. We called in a nurse and before I knew it, doctors took him away to another room. I could see him, but only behind glass. I watched as they kept trying to draw blood. Between the screams, the tears and the glass my heart was breaking to watch my little one struggle to breathe. The doctor brought me in and told me that he had swallowed fluid on the way out of the womb. This was causing him difficulty breathing, so they were going to put him on oxygen to help him breathe. I wish I could say that I handled it well. I listened to the doctor and held myself together quite well. The moment I left there, I lost it. Tears flowed as I realized I had to go share this news with my wife. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. He wasn’t supposed to end up in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Yet, for the next 11 days he would fight daily to breathe, as he gained strength in his lungs. Those days were a time of growth, as Kim and I sought God in whole new ways. Everyday we could see this baby grow, until the day they released him. Finally, we could hold him again, without fear and without wires attached. 

Nine years later, he is continuing to grow into a healthy young man. 

Take time to ponder these verses.

PROGRESS

Living for today but planning for tomorrow

Day 2 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

Today we are going to discover some vital life lessons from the book of Haggai. This book will give us powerful insight into becoming the people God has designed us to be. It is only as we uncover the treasures within the Scriptures, that we will be able to progress in the faith. Listen to the word of the LORD.

Haggai 1:3-4

Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house [God's house] remains a ruin?"

Matthew 6:31-33

"Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern” 

part 1 of 28

PROGRESS

Living for today but planning for tomorrow

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I WILL CONTINUE WITH ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR PROGRESS and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

-Philippians 1:25-26

I got a GPS for Christmas. For those of you who did youth ministry with me you know I can’t find my way out of a paper bag. My first youth group trip I took four kids on a hike. We got lost in the forest. Now when I say we got lost we left around noon with no food, no water, and no clue of where we were going. After about a half hour my four junior highers wanted to go back–no problem. I am sure camp is ahh, mmm over there! To make a long story short, my kids got dehydrated, several hours later we had the search and rescue team looking for us and me their fearless leader trying endlessly to find my way back to camp. Eventually we found another camp and someone (praise God) new the way to our camp. So a GPS is much needed. 

I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
~Henry David Thoreau

The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on, in linear sequence. 

In other words–one small change (the knocking over of one domino) has a huge effect (a chain reaction begins and knocks over all the dominos).

God wants to move in your life in mighty ways. To experience the God-sized life that He has in store for you–you need to trust in His plan-His dream for your life. His dream for you is one where you are not overwhelmed, but have peace–and that you are a part of bringing His peace to your neighborhood, your church and the world He has put you in. His dream for you is that you would become a better lover. A lover of Him and of others. His dream for you is that you would experience unlikely joy, endless blessings, wondrous redemption, unfound grace, and live with a creative passion that reflects the unending life He has given you. What if I told you there are small changes that you can make today, that will have a huge impact on your life? Would you make the necessary changes?

Today we continue on to Philippians chapter 3. There are so many powerful truths within these passages that can transform our lives. The key is to apply His word to our lives. Today as you read through Philippians 3 write down in the comment section (don’t be afraid of the comment section) one thing that you are going to do.

"The spiritual life is not hidden inside us. It’s practical–it affects everything we say and do. Living in the presence of God, being in touch with God’s Spirit, being fine-tuned to God’s sensitivities involves us in reflecting God’s concerns for all people, resonating God’s moral tone for the world, embodying God’s will through our living. In fact, the Old and New Testaments indicate that you can tell a person’s relationship with God by looking at his or her relationship with other people." 

-Don Postema, Space for God, 156.

 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  

-John 10:10

 "I want the presence of God Himself, or I don’t want anything at all to do with religion…I want all that God has or I don’t want any."

-A.W. Tozer

 We live in a day and age where we rarely see real bloodshed. TV and movies are full of violence, but we don’t often see real blood taken from a man or an animal. I think it is hard to imagine the significance of Jesus really shedding His blood for us. Really giving us His all. I could show you pictures and movies, but I thought it would be better for you to wrestle with the Scriptures. They are full of blood filled stories that seem rather gruesome, but when we understand their importance, they are profound.

Matthew 6:25

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Jesus commands us not to worry. In the same way that we are commanded not to kill, or steal or covet, we are commanded not to worry. Shouldn’t we as followers of Christ look radically different from the world? The economy falls apart- we don’t worry. Are children get sick- we don’t worry. How can we do this?

Stand in AWE. Be AMAZED. Humbly approach the ONE.

He is BEYOND compare. Marvelous. Glorious.

Words can’t embrace His WONDER. 

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

As disciples of Jesus, we can do nothing without Him. As you will see in today’s story- fishermen can’t even catch one lousy fish without Jesus.

John 15:7

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

Jesus is concerned about the place His words have in your life. Do His words shape you, move you, and capture your heart? Do they motivate you? Compel you? His words have the power to transform us. Seriously. In the same way that a caterpillar is transformed into something radically different, God wants to transform you. He wants to make you into someone who asks and recieves because you have spent so much time with Him, and you listen to Him. It is because His words remain in you that you know what to ask for, and it is simply granted to you.

Today, I want us to think about our secret life. For some of you there is a secret life that is not of God or from God. There are patterns that you have established that are hidden from everyone around you. You fear what others will think. You think your struggles, your secret life, is unique to you. But as followers of Jesus, we all have a point when we come out of hiding and into community.

God calls us to community. Loss of community is one of the major dangers in today’s society. We think we have community because we have an app for it, we tweet, we FB, we IM, etc., but the more gadgets and programs that come out, actually distance us from real community.

In a real community, we are accountable, we are authentic, we are vulnerable, and we are physically present in the lives of those in our community. In a real community, we don’t hide, but reveal; we don’t spin the story so that we look good, but we share the raw truth; we don’t worry, but we trust; we don’t ask for a 140 characters or less, but we listen to everything; we don’t hide behind the gospel, but we call each other to be accountable for our words and actions, so that we live out the gospel; we don’t just talk, but pray. In real community, we love each other as we are and sharpen each other to become what we are meant to be.

Have you ever thought about why God wants to reward us? I know I do it for my children. They work so much more efficiently if they are motivated by a reward. And it’s just fun to see their faces when they receive a reward. Is it any different for us? Apparently not. God wants to reward us. 

Jeremiah 17:10

“I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
according to what his deeds deserve.”

What is it you want?

What do you really want in this life?

Honestly.

Lamentations 3:22-24

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him.”

One of the dangers of following Jesus is becoming complacent: Grace becomes ordinary. Jesus’ sacrifice becomes familiar. God’s love becomes normal. The power of the Spirit becomes something we teach about but never experience. Prayer becomes boring. Life becomes mere existence.

The faith we are a part of is no less than extraordinary. Unless we constantly remind ourselves of the enormous lengths of God’s everlasting love, we will miss out on the life that God designed for us.

Today as you ponder these verses, your life, and God Almighty, let God remind you of the deep and remarkable life He has for you.

Peer into the heart of Jesus, and you will see that He is unquestionably for us. In the book of John, He defines who He is with seven "I am" statements. These statements give us a glimpse into the heart of God:

I am the Bread of Life -John 6:35

I am the Light of the world -John 9:5

I am the Gate for the sheep -John 10:7

I am the Good Shepherd -John 10:11

I am the Resurrection and the Life -John 11:25

I am the Way and the Truth and the Life -John 14:6

I am the True Vine, and my Father is the Gardener -John 15:1

Process these images. What image of God resonates with you the most?

Prayer is where the action is.

- John Wesley

Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees.

- Corrie ten Boom

Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.

- E.M. Bounds

Jeremiah 18:1-9

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:   “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”   So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, SHAPING IT AS SEEMED BEST TO HIM.

Then the word of the Lord came to me:   “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? ” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."

In this passage, we get to glimpse into a conversation with Jesus and a woman going out to draw water from a well. If you pay close attention, you can hear Jesus’ love, passion, and challenge to this woman. Stop when you get to the part where Jesus says, "Believe Me". Ponder the significance of those words and the implication of those words for our life.

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Spend some time pondering these verses. There is no page two so there is no rush. Just soak in some of the verses that you have read this week. May God fill you with a deeper passion and love for Him and those around you as you meditate on His Word.

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If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

- Matthew 7:11 

Your heavenly Father KNOWS your exact needs AND He will GIVE you EVERYTHING you need TODAY

BUT now we must make a DECISION to LIVE for HIM and to make the Kingdom of God our primary concern.

Decisions become easier when your will to please God outweighs your will to please the world.            

~Anso Coetzer

Matthew 13:44-46

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy     went and sold all he had and bought that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Choose right now not to rush through this

time with your God.

Luke 9:23

"If anyone would come after me, he MUST deny
himself and TAKE up his cross DAILY and follow me."

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;

  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

-  Jesus (John 10:10-11)

Psalm 42:1-2

As the deer pants for streams of water,
       so my soul pants for you, O God.

 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
       When can I go and meet with God?

RIGHT NOW, prepare your heart to meet with the LIVING GOD.