I've Stepped Over the Line...AGAIN!

"Also is not good for a person to be without knowledge."  Proverbs 19:2

You know those times you begin to walk through something and you become very aware that you will NOT EVER be the same?  You know that as you have chosen this, thing, let's call it and because you have chosen it you can never go back to who you used to be, and you can never go back what you used to do.  Well here I AM standing (well I am actually sitting on a chair at a table) in front of you shouting to the masses...

I CAN NEVER BE THE SAME!!!

I have had many moments of realizing this, sitting in a prayer room as God shows me a picture of something that I later find out has happened in the news over in Egypt...in that moment....CHANGED. That moment was the realization that I have found something worth dying for, a God far bigger and better than I ever could have imagined.  I had stepped over the line of mediocre Christianity.  Immediately following this moment a friend comes and pray for me and says that the Lord has marked you as a Firebrand of Holiness.  WHOA!!!  Yeah something happened on that day.  My life was the Lord's, He could do anything He wanted to me, so that He could anything He wanted through me.  It was a done deal, sealed and marked HIS!!!

I have again come to another line this week.  As many of you know, I am participating in a school about Biblical Foundation and Apologetics.  This weeks lecture has been about the state of the world.  We are not being informed of all of this to scare us, but to bring us to the place where we know the only answer is Jesus.  As I watch this movie on radical Islam I am weeping as I was the deception and lies ruin the lives of millions of people.  Lord, I am one person how can I help?  How can one girl help to shift the nations?  

I must decide that the Truth that I hold on to, is the only truth, there can be no other.  

I must no longer sit back with my head in the sand hoping that someone else will speak up.  I must live my life in accordance with the Scripture and as Linz said yesterday let the Spirit bring transformation in my life.  I must be transformed and then the spheres can be.  The enemy is so good at sneaking in silly lies in every area of our lives.  And so many we have come to believe as truth.  In this last week and a half I have been exposed to lies that are rocking my world.  They are opening my eyes to a greater need for truth!  My heart has been stirred to love and know Jesus, but more than that, to know Jesus with my mind, to look back in history and see that it's repeating itself.  I no longer desire to be a Christian asleep at the wheel, holding the truth that could solidify foundations of the world in my hands.  The Word of Truth and a life lived led by the Spirit exposes us to the line in the sand....I've stepped over, you wanna come?  

Just "Enough" Jesus

"'Christian Atheists' believe in God but live like he doesn't exist. - Craig Groschel

I was listening to a sermon from Craig Groschel this morning... author of Christian Atheist and the above quote about knocked me off my chair.

It's easy to rate sin or see other's sin as bigger than our own. But in Galatians 5:19-21 Paul lists sins like corrupt sexual impurity, witch craft and drunkenness right along side jealousy, divisiveness, anger and selfishness. It's interesting how we can see the blatant sin in the "world" but so many times we are unwilling to check ourselves as followers of Christ when it comes to things like envy, continuousness, or hate. We justify our soap boxes with just "enough" jesus... to make it feel "right"... even a little self righteous while making others feel condemned.

Ahhh I'm so tired of myself and I think the Annointed One must so tired of it as well. But there I go again... putting humanly characteristics on a God that can't possibly be contained by any rules or any box. A God whose love is so deep and grace is so pure we CANNOT fathom in our human minds how to even accept this real gift. Sure we say it... we spout off all of the right "christian" words and we take just "enough" of him to live safe lives that look shiny and clean on the outside. But I wonder what would happen if we bit off such a huge, undigestible chunk of him that if we take our focus off of him and his love and mercy for even a second we would be crushed by our own inadequacy in what we just signed up to do and how we said we would live... 

I have been in a funk for over a week from some hurtful words ... instead of focusing on all of the awesomeness God has filled my life with, I have been focusing on the disapproval of a couple of people... how the enemy must be rejoicing. But right now I call it out... right now, in the name of Jesus I reject the lies, right now in the name of Jesus I bind the enemy and proclaim God's truth... that HE IS LOVE... and grace and peace and joy... Today I don't want just a piece of that action... I want it all.

I'm tired of uttering empty prayers I don't believe... tired of making decisions based on fear and my own insecurities. I believe in a God who created me to be MIGHTY... to be COURAGEOUS. A God who calls me to say YES to him ... not just to take a corner of the robe of his grace and be satisfied. I want ALL of him... knowing I can't handle ALL of him in my own strength... Erwin McManus says that a lot of times "We dream better lives that we actually live." Life is so short... time with the people we love is uncertain... so why should any of us waste another second trying to figure out if we're good enough, smart enough, or brave enough to live the dreams HE has given us. 

YOU'RE AWESOME...OWN IT! YOU'RE STRONG... BURN THAT IN YOUR MIND! YOU'RE DESTINED TO DO GREAT AND MIGHTY THINGS... NOW LIVE IT!

... let's not wast one more second focusing on the words of others... lets not waste one more day taking just "enough" of jesus to be socially accepted by our christian friends. LET'S BLOW DOORS off of life EVERY DAY!! No matter what. Let's say we believe in God and then live a life that screams it... without having to utter a word. 

"So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death." - Romans 8:1-2

Fight Club

Written on Unfolding Diamonds October 28, 2010

This topic is so great. I feel like in the last year and half since I wrote this I could add way more. I am just going to leave it at this. It takes a heart of courage to fight. Check your heart on this matter...what do you think?

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say the word, FIGHT?

Is it a verbal argument, where words and spears are thrown with the intent to hurt? Or, maybe for you, it’s where fists are literally thrown and physical injury occurs?

Well, I’m not talking about either. I’m making reference to a sort of fighting, that these days just doesn’t happen enough…..

FIGHTING FOR UNDERSTANDING

This is a fight that isn’t sought to injure, but mend. A reaching out for the heart of another. The decision to stand firm and stay until a resolution occurs.

We live in a day and age of SELFISH people. We are all about ME!!! I’m talking about me too! This is just another topic I write about because it’s a road I have walked. I never ever knew what it meant to stay and fight for understanding. If I felt hurt, mad, or even misunderstood, I tossed on my sneakers and ran!!! Ran away from my family, my friends, my relationship, I just chose to run. It was too hard to stay.

Why was it so hard for you Lu? Well you really want to know? Vulnerability, yep…that simple little word. I would have nothing of the sort. Let others see I was hurt, sad, upset…nope they just saw I was mad, annoyed, or impatient. That was way safer. It was way easier to toss those emotions out and distance my heart.

I never chose to stay and fight for understanding or to even offer up my own heart so the other could better understand where I was coming from. I just ran away from it.

We also live in a society that is not afraid to toss another under the bus, to pierce with words, to gossip, to just show no sort of respect. It’s sad actually. The thing is that I now find that so sad when before I just joined ‘em. I would speak words and then wished I hadn’t, but they were already out…so deal with it!!!! Well not anymore. I want to be careful with my tongue. I want to be vulnerable with my heart when it’s safe. I want to fight for understanding with those that I love.

So I feel like maybe I could be rambling so I’m going to give you an idea of what exactly what I mean for it’s something I am very much learning.

Have you ever walked into a room of some people and when you walk in it gets a little quiet and you automatically assume they were talking about you? Did you ever think that it might never have been that at all? Yeah me either. How many times have you gone back to those people and just asked them? Why not? Were you afraid you might be rejected, afraid of wounding your pride? Well here’s what happens is that your mind and heart begins to run and run and run as to what they could have been talking about. In that very moment seeds of uncertainty, untruth, and anger begin to take root and grow….they take over and they begin to effect the perception of those in the room. You may become bitter, resentful….ever thought maybe there was nothing being said at all?

Why not just ask….I know, that’s a crazy thought, that’s a little scary, but it’s part of the fight. Or if they were talking maybe it wasn’t anything bad. Ask. Desire to understand.

When you want to run in the middle of a conversation where you feel hurt, stay and fight, when you hurt another, REPENT, stay, and fight...their hearts on the line.

We can no longer make assumptions...because the saying still rings true...when we assume it makes an "ass out of you and me". Assumptions on the behalf of another person are so DANGEROUS. It's send our minds and our hearts down a very nasty path. Take your pick..self-pity, self-rejection, anger, bitterness, resentment...you get the point.

Fight, fight, fight for the hearts of those that matter. If they don’t matter, that’s a totally different story. If they do matter then close the gap that could begin between two hearts. When there is understanding found, hearts love more, hearts trust more, and relationships thrive.

PS...it's a light sabre in my hand...