Double Take

So my time in Charleston is at a very near end. I am moving back to Atlanta in a week's time at which point I may be saying goodbye to many friends that are now graduating. I wonder what my parting words should even be. I know some of them still do not have a relationship with Jesus and I pray still that they will. Is there anything I can say or do to change that, not really, but I can show them love in Jesus' name and keep in touch with them while continuing to pray for the Holy Spirit to draw them. I just feel like so many times I have had deep conversations with people about God that do not lead anywhere not realizing that it is the Holy Spirit that has to do the work. If there is anything I have learned more so than ever during my time in Charleston is that God has called us to be a light, to be separate, but attractive to a dying, dark world. When we are acting the way we should in Christ people will be asking us for what we have. If we were as passionate and radical as the Christians of the early church things would be much more different, also Christians would be much more in tune with God's Spirit and the power/signs that accompany it. I had a friend tell me today that he was losing faith for praying for healing because he has only ever seen anything happen, but one time. It is becoming more and more apparent to any christian in America that something is wrong, because the power of God seems to be absent from our churches and we have nothing, but traditions of men. As I still think about Jesus' ministry I cannot say I have really witnessed anyone in my life that looks like Jesus, where there are healings, deliverances, supernatural signs going on regularly around someone's ministry. I will say I have heard plenty, but seeing is much different from hearing or reading about. One thing that struck me the other day is that no person in the NT was commissioned to evangelize without having authority to cast out demons. I know this might sound insane or primitive, but I believe demons are very real. How can you say the Bible is true without believing that? This is the commission that is not so popularly quoted from Mark, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." Mark 16:15-18 Notice the first sign he mentions is the driving out of demons. The disciples used these signs to confirm the good news of the Lord, but today it seems like we are either not speaking the actual gospel or have just lost all faith that he can do anything like this any more today. Even though we know in a head knowledge kid of way that things like this do go all over the world including in America. The media does not give it much attention though. I think we are somewhat afraid of the power of God, because when it comes it changes everything, we can't get by with a lukewarm heart, we either believe or reject it and live how we want to, which is the terrible fate of some. Interestingly it was the most theologically knowledgeable people of Jesus' day that rejected him the most and the miracles that accompanied his teachings. I just hope that I will not turn a blind eye to the unbiblical Christianity I see all around me. We desperately need the Holy Spirit, but the comforts and worries of our lives in America have lured us from recognizing our need for dependence on God alone. I just want to stop treating God and his plan for my life as a back up plan or a safety net and realize that it He is the reason I am alive and knows exactly what I was made to do. Let your truth come back into the church and let us not neglect critical points of the christian life just because it isn't seeker friendly or we might cause division. We need to be seeker saving and not seeker friendly. Seekers are looking for the true Christianity that Jesus died to make possible not a club full of "swell" or "hip" people. Thank you Lord, for calling me by your own glory and goodness, I pray that your spirit would not be hindered or grieved in my life, but would flow freely as I decrease and you increase in the spring of my soul. Amen

Christian Perspective on Suffering

So today I heard some really great things about suffering on two different sides of the scale. Suffering that God brings to bring us closer to him into a child-like dependence and faith in Him to take care of us and suffering that is caused by the corruption and sin in this world that robs our joy, love, and hope in God. I was listening to Derek Prince this morning on my IPOD talking about his life and how God allowed him to spend a year, yes a whole year in the military hospital inn Northern Africa while he was stationed there after the battle at El Alamein. He got this horrible foot disease that made him practically bed ridden most of that time. He was tried during that time, but it yielded a man that was ready to minister in the capacity that God had planned for him. In his desperation he rad through the whole Bible to find if God was a restorer of the body, a healer. He took a blue pen and underlined anything that talked about God renewing, healing, or strengthening. At the end of four months he made it through the entire book and lo and behold he had a blue Bible! God had taught him lessons about how willing God is to heal and restore, so he had a faith to stand upon. Next he found that the word was a medicine and he read it as if he was taking medicine, as certain times in definite intervals. After some time God healed Him and he recovered from a disease that others still had problems with that came months before him to the same hospital.
Next I heard a message from John Piper talking about the golden rule and how if we do to others as we would have them do to us. It means we need to be meeting peoples needs in suffering. It became clear that Jesus really was saying that we need to put ourselves in others' position and do for them what we would want done for us. In this way we can meet real needs, but we have to ask God for help to have the generosity and the right spirit, so that we can act on our empathy and do it in a way that the person actually feels loved. People do not want to be helped by someone who is complaining the entire time. SO yeah, those are some things I learned about today that were pretty eye opening.

"God of the universe, you are all-knowing, good, and perfect in righteousness. I need the power of your Spirit to fully obey this impossible command to love and treat others as I would want to be loved and treated. God show me people in my life that I have been failing to love and those that I am trying to love; give me insight into what their real needs are. And show me how to care for not just the needs right here and now, but to bring people out of bondage and meet their eternal needs. Let me not be one who is too "tolerant" to speak of Hell as it really is, to not shy away from the reality that all of us must face. Give me the boldness and courage to speak your words, so that I will be worthy to even receive them myself. Your name is above all. All praise, glory, and honor is yours forever. Thank you Jesus."

An encounter

Today I really rebelled against getting up early, even though yesterday I heard about the message about men acting like boys and not getting out of bed. While yes i can get out of bed in time to read my bible and say some prayers and get to work, I am choosing to sleep over spending time with God. I am realizing that it being with God and learning about and experiencing him is not something I have to do, it is something I GET to do. I pray God that not only would you give me a burden for the souls you have put into my life, but that I would not be slumbering during this time of mid-battle training. The battle is very real and is waging all around me, yet most times I would rather sleep in just a few extra minutes because I "deserve it". The only thing I "deserve" is Hell. But God has redeemed me, that means he paid for me so that I would not go where I deserved because God's love demands my life for himself. He has called me out of death into life. I love the way Galatians 2:20 puts it, "For I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I live in this body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." If I live by faith in the Son of God, I can faith to lose sleep for the sake of God, or lose a meal, or a drink, or a limb, or my life itself and know that I am His. When my foundation is on the rock, I cannot be moved, because he is unmoving, immutable, infinite, omnipotent, infallible. I declare your words over my life, that I will be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to you because it really is the only reasonable response to the vast oceans of grace you pour on me by your insane mercies.
Lord, thank you for today and for help at work. Thank you for tonight and for the sons and daughters that were added to your family. I praise you for your compassions that never fail, which are new every morning. I praise you that you are the God that is completely self-sufficient, that you do not need anything let alone from me, but yet you still desire me and want to partner with me to do great things that you could do quite easily on your own. God thank you for granting me repentance tonight and showing me the depths of my sin and how they grieve you. Help me to be holy as you are holy and to honor you with my body, mind, and spirit. Show me more of you that I would fear you and love you more that I might not sin against you.
Jesus, Jesus Lord of my life, I love you.

A great sermon I heard today

http://marshill.com/media/trial/marriage-and-men

Watch it, I have nothing better to write about today.

Expanding the Kingdom

Tonight was my first night leading the men's discipleship group. I got everything together for our meeting the night before and was looking forward to it all day and just prayed that God would show up tonight and he did. It was a much smaller group, only four of us. We got into great and deep conversation about what it means to follow God in our lives and making decisions for doing our relationships with others the way he made us to. At the end, I asked one of the guys if he had ever made a decision to follow God because it came up that he had never been baptized. Once we found out that he had not, we just came around him and loved on him and told him that today is the day of salvation if he wants it and is ready to make that commitment. We asked him some questions and informed him about some of the costs and benefits of following God. He made a decision and we led him through a prayer for Jesus to cover over his sins and to commit to following God. We gave him the schedule of when we are meeting for college group and church. It was such a great experience. I definitely feel like I was not ready for what God was doing tonight. I felt inadequate to lead this man to Christ, but really it was just a lie. God can do impossible things as long as we obey him. So God thank you for not letting my limited view of the possible to hinder others from going forward in you and finding your salvation. I pray that everything that I said that was false would be forgotten and that your truth would remain. Teach me to speak only what you have given to say. And Father, I love that you rejoice over the one lost sheep that is found because I know that I was once that person and you still sing your song over me. Help me to faithfully administer the grace you have given me to others. All praise, glory and honor is yours forever.
Thank you Jesus!

Principles of Perseverance

Well, if you are following my blog you know it has been awhile since I wrote last. It was all do to a little thought in my head that I could skip a day and do two blogs to cover them both. It started out as an idea that led to a laziness of not getting back to it until now. Since I stopped writing each night, my discipline has dwindled and have retained less of what God has been doing each day in my life. So I hope to get back into a regular writing to keep a record of what God has been doing.
Today I got to go downtown Charleston and serve food to people and pray for them. It was a great experience. One lady saw us praying for someone and started crying in her car, that was unexpected. I also just got to meet with some people from Florida and Columbia, SC. It was awesome to serve with people like that.
I hope that I will not convince myself that taking a day off would be okay.
Lord help me to persevere and to not something that I know is good.

Day 11 Sleep

The reality of my limited time is beginning to set in. I realize that I cannot let my soul sleep while my destiny passes me by. I woke up this morning, but her I did not know if I should get up because of work, but instead of deciding I just let the time past and never made a decision other than being complacent. The time in the morning will be the only time I may have to myself to really seek God later in life when I have a family, job, and ministry and whatever else might be going on.
We were talking about fearing God over fearing men as we studied Saul. We also talked about what it truly means to be a disciple. It calls us to follow Him, to yield fruit, to love our brothers in Christ, and to revere Him above all else.
I am thankful for God showing me new things everyday and working with me and my fallen flesh to make me new.

Day 10 Fellowship

Today was a great day, it was really nice to get up early and spend time with the Lord. I know that everyday I might not have the same energy to do so, but it sure was great. I was able to get a lot of reading, prayer and memorization in. I started to memorize through 1 John. I did not have much time to review stuff later, but hopefully I can make some good headway through it before the end of the week. 1 John gives such clear evidences to tell whether we belong to Christ or not. It really has been challenging me to "walk in the light as he is in the light". Today at work someone told me to tell him something good. It was a perfect opporunity to tell Him about Christ and about some of the things he has been doing in my life recently, but I completely blew it and said I don't know. "I Don't Know?!!!" I mean what is up with that. I have the best news in the history of mankind to share and all I could say is I don't know. I pray that next time I have such an obvious opportunity to share I do not hesitate.

Later that day one of my friends called me up and said he wanted to get together to pray and hang out. At first I really did not feel like it. I just wanted to come home after the long day at work and take a nap or something. But man was I deluded, when he showed up it was so refreshing to hear what God was doing in his life. After some catching up we worshiped together and then ate some dinner. After that we went into this like free worship mode or something and just started praising God. Some of it sounded pretty cool and then his presence came and we knew it was time to pray.

The night just turned out to be such a blessing and I am so glad my friend came over and that I could open up my apartment to another. I pray that I could desire and seek more times like this and not be so indignant, but hungry for his presence. That night we claimed the scripture "Where two or more are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them." Matt. 18:20

Day 9 Church, Taco Bell, and Super Bowl

Today was a great day at church, I really had one of the best times of worship I have had in a while, it was also a great opportunity to tell God how much I love Him. The pastor started a new series in Songs of Solomon giving biblical advice and applications concerning courtship, marriage, and our relationship with Jesus as our Groom. I learned about how his kisses are intoxicating, his character is fragrant, and his communion is intimate. It is sometimes uncomfortable to think of God as a lover, like a romantic lover, but he did create it after all. He even relates the coming of Jesus to the picture of a wedding where the church, his bride, will be presented to her groom, Jesus. God wants us to be intimate and close to Him, but we must be willing to receive his love we have to be face to face not having our back turned. I also learned that the Song of Solomon was read every year at Passover in Jewish tradition, which was a day of remembering God's deliverance from enslavement to the Egyptians.

Afterwards I went to Taco Bell and had another awesome discussion with my friend about life and just shared what God was teaching us. I was also able to encourage Him about getting himself prepared not only for employment, but also for marriage. If you think about what kind of person he would want for a daughter of his to marry, that should be the same standard to hold for himself. We also found out that we were both reading in the exact same place in the Bible. Of course this is after we had been reciting verses to each other that God had been speaking into our lives recently and recognizing that God had been showing us the same things because we were reading in the same book. We had a good laugh afterwards and praised God that he orchestrated it that way.

Later that night I went to a Super Bowl party at the church and it was really fun. It was cool that they blacked out the advertisements and played christian music videos during the breaks. For half-time we saw the testimonies of three football players who all had superbowl rings, but considered Christ more precious than any thing else. It was really encouraging and way better than the ridiculous Madonna idol worship that was on the TV. I was working in the sound booth at the time and I saw glimpses of the monitor of what was happening and it looked repulsive to me.
It was nice to have a super bowl party where you did not have to be bombarded with worldly messages every five minutes. For the most part I did not even watch the game, but was able to fellowship with my Summerville church family.

day 8 The Week

So it has been over a week now officially since I started this adventure, and today my Mom visited and we went out to see some things in Charleston. We went to a beautiful plantation and saw the amazing grounds. It was so nice to enjoy the nature trails and to just kneel down and smell a flower or pet a horse or chase some turkeys/be chased by turkeys. I just felt like a little boy enjoying life, I wanted to climb some of the trees, but that was not really allowed. I really am thankful I could go see such a beautiful and historical place. It makes me appreciate the slower pace and peace of those times while still remembering the evils of slavery in those times.
Later we went on a horse drawn carriage tour ride through the downtown area. Our guide was really funny and had some interesting history to tell. The town was pretty, but it is also one of the biggest drinking cities in the country with a history of having a ratio of a tavern to every 17 people. It has a very dark and storied history, but is also filled with stories of destruction and rebuilding, that through the fires and earthquakes the history of the town has been maintained and gives a good snapshot of life in the early 1800s.
Today has truly been a sabbath rest from the Lord, and I am thankful for it especially since yesterday was such a trying day. So thank you Daddy!

Day 7 Humility

Today God taught me at work just how much I depend on Him. If I am not doing things his way and asking for help from Him I am literally blind to what I need to do. Today I did not spend as much time with Him in the morning and was not asking for God's help at work today beyond just getting up and reading. When I arrived at work things were just not going right. It seemed as if everything was just falling apart and they were. My samples on the standard showed up way below specifications, machines I used broke, things that should be easy were difficult, at one point I was even blind to something that was literally right in front of me. My blindness sent me into a panicked rummaging through a garbage can for something I had lost. I think I may have been rummaging through the garbage of my past only to find the anxious, stressed out David I knew in high school. My co-worker saw my insanity and suggested I take a break and against my worst judgement I conceded. I prayed that God would forgive me of my pride and that I needed him to get through my day. He changed my perspective and opened my eyes to see what really was happening. I was shown that my witness at work is not just about how I can do things well, but about how I handle things when they are falling apart. The world does not need a perfectionist, but someone who trusts wholly in Christ.
God change me and mold me to be your light in the workplace and not forget how dependent I am on you.

Day 6 Priorities

As time seems to be getting shorter. The battle of getting enough sleep, spending time with the word, and fellowship outside of my normal work schedule is getting tougher. I was encouraged today at work to really do my work as unto the Lord doing it diligently and serving my other co-workers as best I can even if it means doing work that is normally mundane or not related to my job function. But a title at work never precludes a christian from being a servant in the workplace, as long as you still do what your job requires. Sometimes I feel that I need to have the right arguments to sway people to follow Christ, but all you need is Christ. As Paul wrote, "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. The witness of Christ himself and the pure message of the gospel holds all that is necessary to silence any arguments that stand up against us. So in desiring to allow God into the marketplace we use weapons that are not of this world to "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Cor. 10:5

God continues to answer prayer and reveal new things to me everyday. Help me not to fear man, but rather to fear the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Teach me what it practically means right now to work out my salvation in fear and trembling and to walk in the calling of Christ. "That if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

Day 5 Taking Ground

I will try to be brief today, but concise. At work there were walls falling down. They started to fall the day before, but today I had my first real spiritual conversation with men that had believed and gone to church most of their lives, but seem to have allowed the world to conform them into its mold. I was able to speak some of things I have been learning from God recently into these men's lives. I do not remember ever teaching men three times my age anything before, but I know I cannot take credit for what the Spirit taught me. These men opened up their lives and we shared true fellowship with one another and God made my mission more clear to me in this work place. My conversation with them showed me just how much darkness there is in the American workplace. People you ask will talk about church for many hours, but when it comes to real, life changing relationship and walking with Jesus, people get pretty quiet.

Lord, I pray that as you have called be to be salt, use me to preserve and flavor my workplace and community with the life and joy that only you can bring. As you have called me to be light, use me to go to the darkest places to shine the light of your good news and healing truth that can bring the freedom and fulfillment that you created us all to desire. I do not know all your ways for they are above mine, but help me to only do what I see you doing and to not be afraid to hit the gas pedal when I have handed you the wheel. Thank you Lord for your goodness and faithfulness, they truly are new every morning and never fail.

Day 4 Lessons of Faith

Today I got up a little earlier today because I knew today was the last day of the 21 day fast for my church and there was a particular prayer request that I asked would come to pass by February aka(tomorrow). I spent time in the word and praying and crying out to God to have faith and not doubt and to remain in Him. The previous night I reviewed Matt. 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given you as well." And today even though I stayed up a little later and did not get as much sleep, I was just wired. God gave me so much energy that by tonight my friends were asking me if I was on drugs because my eyes were so awake.
In the morning I had a great time of worship, reading and prayer. I read Mark 8 and Jesus says in verse 34 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." I normally pray this every morning, but I felt that God was speaking to me, stop saying it and do it. Today at work I started to talk about my faith openly and I believe God was using me to listen to others as they opened up to me about their struggles in life. I realized today just how broken people are and that no matter how secure or tough they seem they are really desperately insecure and lonely without Christ. I hope that it will lead to future conversations. It was interesting that sometimes people asking you if you go to strip to clubs can become the segue for a spiritual conversation. Later that day after work I met with a friend of mine to pray and talk about what God had been doing in our lives. We started crying to God on behalf of each others needs and after the prayer meeting I got a text from my brother saying the prayer was answered. I had been looking for a roommate for over a month and could not find anyone. I put on our church prayer list that God would bring a roommate by February. I was beginning to doubt if God was going to come through, I even confessed my unbelief to my friend I had just met with. But the answer came while I was praying and not just then but God had actually prevented this one man from ever even getting a hold of the person of his first choice in apartments. God did not make a way for the two guys that were perhaps more preferable, but rather for the guy that needs Christ the most and he himself testified that what happened seemed supernatural. I pray that the man can come to know Christ through living in my room and communicating with myself and my brother and seeing our lives as we follow Christ. If anyone is reading this, I ask that you would keep Greg in your prayers that he may be won for Christ. It is worth paying an extra months rent if this young man gets to know Jesus Christ by taking this room. I do not claim to know the ways of God, but I know he exists and that he answers prayers.

Finally, I read this today and I hope it encourages you as it did me. It was written by a young African pastor who was martyred not too long ago.

"I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His and I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.
My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I'm done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.
My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.
I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.
I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He'll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!"

God Bless, and good night!

Day 3 Keeping On Track

Last night i was reading a book called Expecting to See Jesus by Anne Graham Lotz. In one of the chapters it identified many sins and framed them in such a way I did not normally think to , but it revealed to me so many areas where I lack. I sometimes feel like I am not forgiven until I have actually done something right such as not doing the very thing I am asking to be forgiven of the next opportunity I have to do or not do it. If that were true no one could be saved. When I read this book I realized that I have not ever been able to say that I love the Lord completely
with all my heart, soul, and strength. And there are so many times I have used my time, money, and energy for selfish reasons without any regard for the God who blessed me with them in the first place. So I just asked God to forgive me of these things that were revealed in my life as sin, that I normally do not think of perhaps because they are not as shameful to think about and we are not disgusted by it because everyone does it I know. When I think that I am the only one dealing with a particular sin does my guilt become deepest. But I know now that the devil is not that creative, he uses the same three tactics to draw us away form the Lord. The lust of our eyes, the cravings of our flesh, and the boasting of what we have and do.

This morning was quite a test. It was so hard to get up this morning, but I just cried out to God and put on my spiritual armor and had the will to not get back in bed and read my Bible and pray. I read some more of Mark in chapter 7 specifically and read some other devotionals that were very encouraging. IN the passage where jesus heals the man that is deaf and dumb, it is so interesting that he put his fingers in the man's ears and spit and touched his tongue to heal the guy. After he touches Him then he says Be opened! I want Jesus to touch and speak that over me so that my spiritual ears will be opened to hear his voice and my tongue will be free to praise Him and utter things in spiritual tongues.

At work I told God that I wanted to honor Him with my work and that he would bless the works of my hands as a testimony to others of my relationship with Him. Today was awesome. With God's help I was able to figure out a couple problems with our alarm system and got the okay from my supervisor to move forward with them. I have noticed that as I learn more the harder it is to stay in a curious mindset, so I am actively seeking out opportunities at work to do different things whenever I can. Work is definitely going to be one area I really want to grow in and for God to show me how to minister in the workplace even as a newbie.

On my way home from work I listened to a program from Ravi Zacharias. It is very difficult to follow everything, because he uses such dense language and speaks so profoundly that I can usually only take away one or two things. In this particular program he was discussing the reconciling of the mind with the heart in christian theology. Especially in respect to what is more important. He makes it clear that we need to believe with both the mind and our emotions that God exists and that he loves us, if only one is present it is insufficient, but both have enough evidences to prove his existence. It is problematic when theology does not encompass both aspects. When you focus on only the emotional aspects you get books like Love Wins, or you can get highly intellectual and have little emotion and miss the experiential aspects of God. I only listened to part 1 so, hopefully part 2 will bring it all together in my mind better.

Tonight I went out to a field and praised God until I couldn't feel my hands and then I could not play because I could not even tell if my fingers were pressing down the strings or not so I thought it best to head back home. I have been memorizing through the Navigator's topical memory system. I have seen the verses now for awhile and have commonly carried them with me, but haven't really cemented them in my mind yet. My favorite one today was Phil 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Also I have been practicing to learn Spanish. I found an online language learning course that is really easy to navigate and start learning fast. It is called livemocha. Check it out if there is a language you have always wanted to learn, but never did. Anyways, it has been a good day overall.

Day 2 God is Good

So this morning I did not hear my alarm go off, or in classic David fashion I probably got up and turned it off, but forgot about it. I did wake up with enough time to have some time with God and get going. I felt like I should check out a new church this morning so I did. It is a smaller church that broke off from a larger one in the area called the Journey Church. The worship was really great and the teaching was phenomenal on money. I learned a lot about how to be a godly steward and God showed me some areas in my life that I had not submitted to Him. I also had some clarity about saving and not feeling like I was hoarding it, but rather holding savings as a way to protect money that God has not given it a place for it to go yet. I also was challenged to remember that every dollar I earn and spend is from God and that I will have to give an account to Him. I hope that I can honor God with my finances and submit every dollar I earn to what he wants me to spend it on. I know it will take some time to get it all figured out, but I want real treasures not just money which will perish along with everything in the world. It really came at just the right time too because yesterday I found out just how much money I was going to get for a tax refund and boy am I excited, but I was letting my imagination go and starting thinking about all I could buy with it rather than how I could honor God with it beyond giving the 10% of my income. But today I was able just to repent and ask God to change my thinking about money and I hope anyone that reads this and knows me would help keep me honest when it comes to spending money and time on things that do not have any significance.

After that I went to meet a friend at another church I had been to before. When I found my seat, another guy came and sat with me too that I had met previously at the college/young professionals fellowship meeting. I did not know all that God was doing at the time, but his plan began to click as time went on. The sermon was excellent and the music was awesome. There was a lady behind me that had the most soulful, beautiful voice I have heard and it was such a blessing to hear her loving on Jesus. The teaching was on the importance of the body of believers, the church, to have a mission centered mindset. That we should be focused on those that are not within the church and have the heart of God for the lost. To be able to go and get the lost sheep from the 99 that are safely inside the sheepfold. It was so powerful and God showed me some people in my life that I could be ministering to and sharing the gospel with at work and at my school, Georgia Tech. I was also reminded that it is important to love others in the body of Christ outside the walls of the church as the fellowship and unity of true believers is one of the strongest forms of evangelism available. What I learned yesterday was about to be lived out in my life today. After the service ended, my friend I came to see left and I just talked with my new friend for a while. We shared what was going on and I knew I had was going to meet another guy for lunch so we all went out to taco bell together. We chatted and were talking about the service and the message we had heard and the other guy had to leave to do some errands and so I was there with my friend again and we just started opening our hearts to one another and speaking God's word into each others lives. All the scripture memorization I had been doing over the past year and little by little in my life was coming back in our conversation as God just brought scripture to mind that spoke specifically into what he was going through. And afterwards when we were getting ready to leave God showed me that our entire exchange was just witnessed by four families that were sitting around us and they were watching and listening as if we were indirectly ministering to the entire lobby as we were just loving encouraging one another and building one another up in Christ. It was such an amazing moment that took my head knowledge of what I thought to be true and moved into my heart as something I have experienced and know that God just used me in a way that I could not have planned.

Later that same night we made plans to meet up at Starbucks and share a little more and talk, because we had some stuff to do in the afternoon. On my way there I was reminded to use that time in the car to listen to biblical teaching. I turned on a Derek Prince recording that was addressing the issue of rejection, especially the extent of rejection and how deep of a wound it can leave on a person. As I was talking with my friend at Starbucks I could sense something inside me telling me that what I just learned was ready to be applied right in front of me. All the symptoms of this young man's troubled life was springing from a spirit of rejection inside from the divorce of his parents during the most crucial years of his development into manhood, puberty. His life spiraled downward and he told me how he would not even be alive today if it was not for Jesus taking a hold of his life, but I could sense that he was still struggling with horrible things that grew into a bitter loneliness within him. By faith I just said to him that I thought his problem was that he had a spirit of rejection in him after he had spoken and that it entered him during the splitting up of his parents and that I wanted to pray for it to leave him. His eyes just lit up as if I knew the problem he was facing and I just defined what he had been trying to isolate all these years. We continued to talk about how God has been shaping and orchestrating our lives. Finally we prayed for each other and did not care if people were watching and we both left and hugged, yes we hugged, and went our separate ways making tentative plans to meet up another time.

I know from his testimony and all that has transpired today that God is good.

Day 1 Jesus and the Word

I have been blown away by what I have been learning and being reminded of today. I spent a good chunk of time this morning just worshiping God and praying for people in my church. God gave me a song to sing today called Always Forever and it just captured what I want to be true in my life, that Jesus Christ would be the ultimate love of my life and reason to be or not to be. I will post the lyrics at the bottom of the post, I was particularly listening to the Phil Wickham version. I was reading out of Mark today and it was challenging to read about what Jesus said who his true mother sisters and brothers were, those who do God's will. It lead me to re-listen to an audio message from Chip Ingram from his series on Romans 12. This was the fourth one I have listened to recently and it was on relating to the body of believers. It was very convicting and encouraging. One of the biggest take away messages for me was that the way we love one another is the strongest, most effective evangelical action for winning or losing people for Christ. I know it is true because when I have spoken with people with problems with the church or with God one of the root issues they always bring up is how they or someone they knew was treated by Christians. People all want to belong and be loved genuinely without hypocrisy or masks or pretension. His point in going through verses 9-13 is that we need to allow our real selves to meet person's real needs for the right reasons in God's way if we are going to experience the community that Jesus prayed that we would have in the garden when he had that final time with the lord before going to calvary.

Jn 17:20-26
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

As the very final words God spoke in his last prayer to God it must have been a big deal in God's heart for us to be in community with one another. Help me God to not be lazy, but to do the good I know I ought to in order to minister to others in sincerity and the spirit's leading so that the world would know that God sent Jesus and has loved them as he loved Jesus. Jesus also gave this command to his disciples,

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

I pray that I can be trained in this time to love like Jesus and experience the love the Father shares with Jesus, so that others can be loved and have their lives opened to the love they were made to experience.

Later that afternoon I was reminded of the song City on a Hill by Casting Crowns on their newest album. It speaks of a people on the city on the hill that fall apart because they allow their differences to drive them apart and into disarray, but they change and begin to use their gifts to encourage and strengthen each others weaknesses so that they work together in harmony. It reminds me of how we need authentic community in the body of Christ and that we each need to know our gifts and use them to help others as 1 Peter 4 tells us to faithfully administer God's grace in its various forms.

Today I also went through Genesis 1-5 to start doing a Bible Outline to help me develop a more overall understanding of the word. I did have some interesting observations reading through it this time though. One was that I noticed that God placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in roughly the same place; the middle of the garden. Also it never said anything about the serpent being in the tree when they were tempted, but even come if he was it is not apparent that they were hanging around the bad news tree, they may have been hanging out by the tree of life and the serpent may have to them right there. It goes to show that the great deceiver does not need us to be near a temptation to tempt us, our minds can entertain thoughts plenty long enough until we do the real thing. I know God was in control the entire time and while the serpent probably thought he was so crafty why do think the two trees of life and death were right next to each other? God knew what he was doing.
I was also doing some more in depth topical study on the book of Hebrews and it never specifies who writes the book and all the OT scriptures are accredited to the holy spirit rather than "the prophet Isaiah said...". Another interesting thing is that the word Hebrew means to pass-over and in the terms of the day it would have meant river crosser, which is what those people did quite a bit of. Most still have yet to cross their most important river of all which is that from the covenant of the old into the new covenant which is the fullest fulfillment and maturity of their old covenant. God wants to bring them from the outer courts into the Inner Chambers where he dwells so that he can dwell in them.

I also did a quick calculation to find that 1,656 years passed from when Adam was made to the flood on the earth. Maybe I can try to trace out the genealogies and trace the elapsed time up until Jesus.

Now I hope to finish off the biography on Derek Prince by Stephen Mansfield and look for a new church to try out in the morning.

Getting Back to my first Love

God, I need you. I have been so prideful and self-reliant, but I feel unfulfilled, empty, and afraid without you. Make me a holy vessel for your holy spirit to dwell and work for your glory and may my flesh, may David Neil Bentley be put to death. I want you alone to reign in and for the life of your spirit to sustain me. Thank you for your far reaching mercy that brought me the undeserved offering of your one and "only" son. As in Romans 12 the only reasonable response to such mercy and goodness is complete surrender, through which only more of your goodness can flow into this life you purchased.

God has begun a good work in me and I know from scripture that he will complete. I choose this day to co-op with God in the transformation of my life through the making new of my mind through a mass influx of his word into my mind and soul. I hope to take a 5-pronged approach through hearing it, reading it, studying it, memorizing it, and meditating on it. I will share on this blog some of my thoughts and record the goodness of God in transforming my life into the man he has called me to be. I pray that God would use this blog as a way for me to cement the things he teaches me in my mind and in a place I can go back to and remember what he has done, because as any human I now I forget things. Also I hope that their will be a record of the death of a small, selfish, helplessly insecure boy being filled with life and transformed through the power of the spirit into a man of God.