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No, this is not the title of a new blockbuster movie. However, this could be  the spiritual journey of a lifetime. My Pastor MIchael Kyker has issued a challenge to our church body to pray daily for 15 minutes a day, everyday, for the next six months. I want to challenge those of you that may not go to Church for All Nations to also take up this challenge.

This is a time to pray for your community. This is a time to pray for your spiritual leaders. This is a time to pray for God to move in our cities. Most of all, it is time to ask God to change us. It is a time of repentance for the sins of our communities. This is the time to pray for ourselves that God will cause such a change in our lives that our realitives, friends, co-workers will see the difference. This is a time of self-discipline. If you are like me, it can be hard to spend that much time praying every single day. This will build a stronger discipline as Christians as we begin to put God back as a priority in our lives!

Does this not merit 15 minutes of our day? Join me and our body in this time of prayer and focus. I guarantee if you do this, you will notice a change in every area of your life. I believe as you acknowledge Him He will make those crooked paths in your life clear and straight. You will experience a depth in your spiritual life you haven’t experienced before!

I would love to hear from you folks that are going to take up the challenge. Leave a comment or shoot me an email at oneofhis73@yahoo.com.  Also check out CFAN’s website: www.mycfan.com.

God Bless You and Everything You Set your Hand To

One of His

Momentum II

Yes, I wrote a post a few months ago with a similar title. I know. This is kind of a continuation of what God is doing in and through me.

Anyone who has been reading my posts can tell that I haven’t pulled many punches. I have been taking a lot of punches myself. God is pushing me, hard. He has been turning my thinking about church and what it means to be a Christ-follower. He is showing me that there things and ways of doing things that were effective in the past that are no longer effective and in some ways just flat wrong.

It is not easy when someone is telling you that you are not doing something you should be doing. It’s not easy to hear that you are doing something that you shouldn’t and to stop it! I hate it! What I hate even worse is the fact that I may have to change! AHHHHHH!!!!! Noone likes change. Some folks are more resistant than others. I have learned the more I resist what God wants to do in me, the more miserable I am. It is because I am telling God that I know how to live my life better. He will be more than patient and let me do my own thing, but He will be standing there when things blow up in our face ready to see if we are finally ready to listen. I find the more I listen and obey, the quicker I get through those times of change.

Is anyone out there being pushed? I would love to hear about it. We don’t have testimonies without tests. You never know when you might encourage someone else. It’s why I post these blogs. Please feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email at: oneofhis73@yahoo.com.

Remember, you are not alone.

One of His

Spectator Sport Christianity

I really enjoy football. I like to watch and play. During football season, if you were to call me after church, I would probably be watching a football game or sleeping in front of one. It’s not an obsession, but I definately enjoy watching the two teams on the field battle for victory. 

It’s funny as a person watching the game how much we watching by tv, or in the stands, know more than the coaches and players on the field. We spend so much saying what we would have done, but most folks would never want to step out on the field and face some 250 pound linebacker with a hunger in his eye to use you as a tackling dummy. We would love making the big money those guys make that could buy anything our heart desires, but most would not want to put in the time, training, or hard work required to  make it to the big leagues. We would love to hear the roar of the crowd and adoring fans cheer our name but would not want to have to put up with a coach in our grill, screaming at us when we made a mistake.  Though it’s funny, there are many who do the same thing at churches all over our country. 

We would love to see people healed and set free from things that are holding them back, but we don’t even want to work on the things that are holding us back from doing what He has called us to. We don’t mind watching God work through someone else, and we will even praise God when it happens, but we don’t want to spend time with God so we know what we are supposed to do so we can be used by God. We will drive or even fly untold miles to be somewhere where God is pouring out His Spirit and blessings, but we won’t earnestly pray for God to move in our own communities.

What I am trying to do is expose some things. I am trying to spur those of you who are “in the stands” to come down, and join the game. I am trying to make you ask yourself some questions. I want to make you uncomfortable and uneasy about the place that you are in right now. God never called you to sit in the stands. Jesus didn’t make the ultimate sacrifice just for you. He made it for your neighbors, your coworkers, your family, not so you can go to church. He did it so you could become His church, His body, His hands and feet that can go to the places He didn’t,  teach the people that He couldn’t, love  the ones He couldn’t get HIs arms around.

Get off the stands and get in the game. There is someone in your community that needs Jesus. There are those who endlessly labor for the cause of Christ that need your prayers!  Come on! Get in the game!

Healing for Today

I hate being sick . What I hate even more, is seeing those I love sick. My poor wife has been fighting a bad head cold for days. She had been in bed for the last 3 days just miserable. I am glad she is finally better.

I cannot count how many times I have prayed to God for people to touch and heal their bodies. I have seen God do amazing things. I have seen fevers break in a matter of minutes after praying. I have seen God remove headache and backaches from some. On the other hand, I have prayed countless times and seen people continue to be sick. I stood by mother’s bed praying that God would heal my mother from the cancer that killed her till the day she went to be with the Father.

I have heard lots of explanations about why some are healed and why some are not. I have studied the Word for many years trying to find the “key” to the difference between those who are healed and who are not. Faith is a powerful factor, but I have seen people with great faith that were not healed. Should we bother asking God to heal others? My opinion is absolutely yes! The Bible tells us that if someone is sick we should pray for their healing (James 5:14).  If we pray for someone, should we expect them to be healed? Absolutely yes! The Bible says that when we pray we pray believing that God will move on our behalf (James 5:15) If we do these things, does it mean that they will be healed? Not necessarily. There were many who were sick at the pool of Bethesda, but Jesus came to see a particular man, and that was the man who received his healing. In Mark 6:5 it says that Jesus was limited by the faith of those in that town and only healed a few.

We should pray that God would heal folks like their lives depend on it, and in some cases, it does. Many don’t bother cause “what if it doesn’t happen”? It’s about time that people swallow some pride and accept that power is God’s and not our own. It’s about time we had some Christ-Followers that aren’t afraid to stand in the gap for others and grab the attention of God to move on their behalf! When will we stop focusing on ourselves and see the need of others and intercede? Prayer is powerful, but it has become one of the things we do the least. Most Christians don’t pray 5 minutes a day. It’s no wonder the world is in the state it is in. We need a revival of prayer in our communities! Prayer does change things! The first thing it changes is you! Then it begins to affect those around you. It must start with you!  We would rather go watch someone who has the spiritual gift of healing rather than us be the conduit of Christ’s power. We have turned the supernatural into a spectator sport for Christians rather than being the hands and feet of Christ. When will we realize that God wants to use all of us to display His power and glory throughout the Earth? It’s going to start on our knees.

One of His

Refresh Us Lord

I am sure everyone else’s spiritual lives are going perfectly. Iam sure everyone else is reading the Word everyday and they walk with angels, but I have times when I don’t measure up. I don’t do the “right” thing every time. I need His grace and mercy. I need for Him to fill me with His Spirit and strength.  I can’t do it on my own. I just wrote this. Maybe this is your prayer:

Refresh us O God

Refresh us O Lord

Let Your rain fall on our dry and thirsty ground

Let us hear Your Voice, for we long to hear  the sound

May Your Word satisfy the hunger in our souls

May our worship move Your Heart

Delight in us O God

Delight in us O God

We need You Lord!

One of His

(Kevin)

Do You Want to Run?

John 6: 52)They started arguing with each other and asked, “How can he give us his flesh to eat?”

53)Jesus answered:

I tell you for certain that you won’t live unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. 54)But if you do eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life, and I will raise you to life on the last day. 55)If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are one with me, and I am one with you.

57)The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. 58)The bread that comes down from heaven isn’t like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever.

59)Jesus was teaching in a Jewish place of worship in Capernaum when he said these things.

60)Many of Jesus’ disciples heard him and said, “This is too hard for anyone to understand.”

61)Jesus knew that his disciples were grumbling. So he asked, “Does this bother you? 62)What if you should see the Son of Man go up to heaven where he came from? 63)The Spirit is the one who gives life! Human strength can do nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are from that life-giving Spirit. 64)But some of you refuse to have faith in me.” Jesus said this, because from the beginning he knew who would have faith in him. He also knew which one would betray him.

65)Then Jesus said, “You cannot come to me, unless the Father makes you want to come. That is why I have told these things to all of you.”

66)Because of what Jesus said, many of his disciples turned their backs on him and stopped following him. 67)Jesus then asked his twelve disciples if they were going to leave him.

Jesus had quite a way in picking through the folks that were in it with Him for what He could do for them, and the ones who were truly His followers. Only people who truly understood who He was and what His purpose was, would understand what He was talking about. Those who just came by to see what was going on and be a part of the “crowd” would not have a clue and be instantly offended by what He was saying. It was against Jewish law to partake of the meat of any animal without first draining the blood, and it was unlawful to drink the blood. (Lev 7:26-27, Lev 17:10-12) So when Jesus said this, those around Him started to trip out! Many of His “followers” left Him. This happens a lot in the church today. We hear something that is out of our box that we put God in and it becomes very uncomfortable. Some messages are harder to hear than others. Sometimes what is spoken is meant to stir up a response, meant to challenge, to push and in some cases shove us out of our comfort zone. Maybe there is some old thought patterns on the way we see Him that need to be stretched. In any case, we have a choice to make at that time. Does what we hear, make us seek Him harder, or does it make us turn away? The good news of what Jesus has done for us is for our world today, but it doesn’t mean that everyone will choose to accept. If you are a Christ follower, there are going to be things you don’t believe or even strongly disagree When we hear something that we don’t agree with, the first thing we should do is turn to God’s Word. It is the ultimate source of God’s will for our lives. You don’t have to agree with everything you hear, it is ok to not. It is not ok to isolate yourself from God and from other Christ followers.

I used to dream of a wonderous place where I could go to church and everyone believed the same as me. What a moron I was!! I have come to appreciate the differences and it makes me have to be even more careful that I have my ducks in a row. There were things that I completely disagreed with that now I have come to embrace. There were ways of ministry that I didn’t think were “appropriate”, that I have come to realize are very effective and relevant to today’s society. We need to keep our minds open and leave room for God to operate outside of the box we put Him in.

Don’t run away from things that are outside your ability to understand. Jesus didn’t run away from the cross.

One of His

Mom

Today would’ve been my mom’s birthday. I miss her a lot.  She was not always the easiest person to get along with, but a thoughtful, caring person, who had a way of making you feel special. I can’t wait to see her again and she can give me the skinny on what she’s been “up” to.  I don’t know if she can see whats going on here but, here’s to you mom. Thank you for giving me the gift of life and raising me to be a man of God. You rock! 

Relationships

I have been reading “Radical Reformission” by Mark Driscoll. In one of the chapters, Mark brought to light some interesting facts about our society today. He states that “Many people are lonely and lack the community gathering points in which to make meaningful human contacts.” He goes on to share some really shocking statistics:

• Family dinners are down  33 percent
• Having friends over to one’s house is down 45 percent!
• From 1985 to 1999, the readiness of the average American to make new friends declined nearly 33 percent!

People are more busy, isolated lonely, and diconnected these days. We grow more and more anti-social as we have more of a connection with the internet than in-person or even phone interactions! There are people with hundreds of myspace “friends” but not one human being they feel like they can talk to. We make excuses like ” well, they are probably busy”. So we don’t call out of fear that they really don’t want to talk us anyway. We use excuses like “If they want to get ahold of me, THEY will call ME”.

Inside, most of us cry out for friendships and relationships.  Day by day we make excuses for why we dont have any. We think it is everyone else’s responsibility to be our friends. As Christians, it is our duty to go against the flow of anti-socialism. There is a world that needs a friend. There is a world that needs to know that someone cares. We as Christians cannot do this with our faces plastered to a computer screen all night. The enemy of our souls would like nothing more than to disconnect you from people. The one who deceived Eve and broke the fellowship she had with God, wants nothing more than to deceive you into believing that you don’t need anyone. It is a subtle trick of the enemy, but extremely effective.  When we deal with actual people, it can get messy. People are broke, broken, and hurting.  They are not always going to respond in the way we would like. They may take your kindness and stab you in the back. We have no guarantees that every act of reaching out is going to be fruitful. This is why we need to realize that Christ was even denied by the people He was closest to. It’s easy to respond to hurt by isolating yourself but then you’ve just taken yourself out of the fight and have fallen into the ranks of so many people who would rather keep to themselves than get hurt again.

Let me challenge you to call someone today. Invite someone over your house. Reach out to someone today. Someone needs you today.

Discontent and Hunger

I hear songs about “hungering” for God, but just think about hunger for a moment. Have you ever been just ready to bite a chunk out of your arm cause you were so hungry? Things that you wouldn’t touch with a pitchfork from ten feet away starts to looks good when you’re hungry. Being hungry is not a pleasurable experience, it sucks!

There is a difference between discontent and hunger. We may be discontent with our lives and where we are in our relationship with God. Discontent is a motivating force in and of itself. Discontent is like eating Steak um and you really want a 16oz sirloin. You are fed, but you want something better. We are talking about hunger.

So my question to you is: Are you discontent or hungry? Are you just unhappy with how you act, or does it bring pain to you when you do something that breaks the Father’s heart and bring you to quick repentance? Do you devour God’s Word, or do you just know that you should be reading it and feel a little guilty about it? Do you find yourself looking for the next moment you can talk to Him, or do you pray cause you should do it? I think you get the point. Our hunger is the acknowledgment that we are in great need of life giving nourishment. I think we have ate so much that we are not so hungry and have grown fat and lazy. We have seen in other parts of the world what people will do when they are hungry. After Hurricane Katrina, folks in New Orleans ransacked stores and businesses to get to the food in them, causing millions in damages and lost merchandise. There are people in Haiti that actually make cakes of dirt and eat them to stop the gnawing hunger in their stomachs. What kind of crap are you consuming in your spirit to replace the great discomfort that you feel in your soul? What “comfort” food are you consuming that has no life giving value but keeps you from having to feel the nagging pain in your soul of being separated from the Giver of true Life? It is time to lay down the Twinkies that have been a distraction that we have been consuming to make us feel “ok” and allow ourselves to feel the hunger our soul feels. (Could this be religious trappings and traditions we follow and the things we “have to do” to feel ok in where we are at? Hmmm)

Discontent brings guilt, bur hunger brings true repentance. Are you hungry today? Or are you discontent?

One of His

Long Time No See

Hi Everyone. I know it’s been a while since my last post. I think sometimes you have to take a step back and think about your motivation for doing what you do. Sometimes we just do stuff because we feel like we have to do it cause that is what everyone expects. Think about some of the things you do on a regular basis. Are these things getting you where you want to be, or are they keeping you from what God really wants you to do? Should we be doing something else rather than what we are doing? These are questions I have been asking myself. These are questions that are necessary for our jobs, relationships, and our walk with the Lord. I don’t need to post just to give someone something to read. I want to post what God is laying on my heart, and if He isn’t laying something on me, or I feel like I have something to say, then I won’t post. It’s not about me, it’s about God. I was struggling with my lesson for my source group and God just made it so clear that He is the center, He is the What, the How, and the Why.  We can only live off of what He showed us previously for so long. We need to hear from Him constantly and ask for His strength and guidance. When we don’t, we can become religious and not even know it. I need Him! Don’t you?