Draw Near

“But [Jesus] would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” -Luke 5:16

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went our to a desolate place, and there He prayed.” -Mark 1:35

      Over the past year, I have learned what a precious gift it is to wake up early and start your day with a time of quiet before the Lord, reading the Word, meditating on it, praying and listening.

      Our Saviour, Jesus lived the perfect life while He was here on earth. He modelled for us what it looks like to life a life completely surrendered to the will of our Heavenly Father. So becoming imitators of Christ should be our goal.

      If Jesus retreated from the business of the day and the business of ministering to people to spend time alone with His Heavenly Father, then how much more should we take time to be still before the Lord? 

     Jesus knew that He wasn't here on earth for His own purposes. He was here to do the will of the One who sent Him. In the same way, we aren't here on earth for our own purposes. This life is not about us! It's about doing the will of our Father, and glorifying His Son!

      Jesus knew that in order to do the will of the Father, He would have to know the will of the Father. So Jesus took time away from everyone else to spend time alone with the Father.

     So often we get focused on 'doing things for God', that we strive and strain in our own strength to accomplish great things for God. But if we have that mindset then we're going to fail. We shouldn't focus on doing great things for God, God doesn't need us. Instead, we should be focusing on doing great things with God. Our gracious God decides to let us be a part of His amazing plans!

    Let's make it a habit to seek God in quiet times, early in the morning or whatever time you will be most attentive to what God has to say to you. Let's not run on ahead of God doing things for Him, when He wants us to draw near to Him so He can tell us what He wants us to do with Him.

      Like and football player waiting for the coach to tell Him which play they should run, or like a soldier waiting to hear his orders from the general, we need to meet with our Heavenly Father to learn more about who He is, hear His commands, learn His will, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Only then can we “live a life worthy of the calling you have received”(Eph 4:1). 

   Have an amazing week as you live the mission God has called you to!!


***Don't forget to book off April 4-6th for the LDP REUNION!! ***

Pray BIG

Over the past two weeks God has been challenging me to pray big. I often pray that I'll have a good day, have a restful sleep or that a headache will go away, but how often do I trust in God and tap into the power that is available to me?

“…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”  “But I tell you the truth: it is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you”- Jesus (John 14v15-18, 16v7).

Wait... did Jesus say that it was good for His disciples that He left? If the disciples would be better off with Jesus-in-the-flesh gone then what was coming must be pretty amazing. With the Holy Spirit coming we have power available to us just waiting for us to tap into it. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us.

Last week God put a huge burden on my heart for the lost. During my prayer time God started to put my classmates on my heart. In my classes there are roughly 28 people (4 of us whom are Christians) who will be with me for the next year and a half. I started to wonder who I should be praying for. Then it was put on my heart, "Pray big." I realized that I wasn't just supposed to pray for one or two people to come to know Christ but I was supposed to pray for ALL of my classmates come to Christ. It's prayer requests like this that don't make sense on a human level. How do I, as a single person, witness to 24 people over the next 18 months? That job is way to big for me. Praise the Lord for the Holy Spirit! As Mark 10v26 states, "With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God." I know that God loves each one of my classmates. I know that He desires a relationship with each one of them. I can't force that on any of them but I can be obedient to what He has called me to do. Right now He's calling me to pray big. Not for just one, two or five of them to come to Christ but for all 24 of them to know His incredible love.

What are some "BIG" things that you need to pray for?

Trust in Man or in God?

Trust- What does it mean to trust?

As we go throughout our lives, we will run into people who we can really trust, and those who you may have been hurt by that you cannot trust. Trust is something that we all do daily. I think that sometimes we get caught up in trusting man more than God. 

What is trust anyways? 

Trust means to rely on the integrity of someone who is being true to you.

Trusting in God is something that I have had to work on these last couple months and something that I am continually working on. After going through the tragedy that occurred in fall, as I have mentioned before I have had to really work on not blaming God. However, sometimes when I am feeling upset, I have a hard time trusting. Why should I trust that I will be safe or anyone else, when my cousin got hit? These are some of the thoughts that go through my head. However, I know it’s not God’s fault, but I realize that my trust in him has changed, so this is something I am working on constantly!

We will all go through hard times in our lives and have people disappoint us. It is so important that during those times that we trust God and trust that he has a plan for each situation that we may encounter. Trust is not an easy thing. That means we have to give up our fears and concerns to God and totally rely on him.

How can we work on trusting in God?

We need to be spending time in the Bible. The Bible is full of so many truths, and like in any relationship, before you trust the person, you have to get to know them first. Another way that has helped me is by reflecting on my own life and seeing where God has worked. I know God is true, I know that he loves me, and I have experienced it. Reflecting on your experience with God helps you realize that you can trust Him.

I want to encourage you guys to look at your lives and see where you are putting the most trust in. Is it on man or on God? 

Some verses that are good reminders of trusting in God is

Proverbs 30:5- “Every word of God is flawless;
    he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

Psalm 56:4-  “ In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?”

Psalm 118:8 “It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in humans.”

The WOG

Word.

Of.

God.

You NEED to get in the WOG! Lets be real, the world lies to you, the world will lie to you, today, tomorrow, this month, in the movies you watch, the messages ads give to you, what your friends tell you, what leaders tell you, what christians tell you, unfortunately it happens and WILL happen. I could even tell you a whole bunch of garbage right now and if I put enough out of context scripture references in there you might believe me! That’s why it’s so important that YOU know the WOG, that you know the truth, so that you know right away when you are being lied to. Find out what it says in there yourself! In our culture satan is sly, we get pulled away from God without even knowing it because we get sidetracked by genuinely good things or we don’t realize we are believing lies but meanwhile our focus has come off of Jesus. 

Deut. 6:

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 

The point is that we need to be dwelling and thinking about God’s words ALL the time! It’s NOT ok to be chill about talking to God and hearing from him. ’Talk about them (his commands, his love, what different verses mean, remind yourselves of promises) when you sit at home and when you walk along the road (at school, with your friends, with your family), when you lie down and when you get up!’ What does that look like for you to “Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads?" or to "Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates”? Maybe you need to memorize a chapter of scripture, (Which is SOOO rewarding btw) maybe you need to get in the habit again of MAKING a solid amount of time each day to read it and talk with him. It’s not always easy but I promise you that it will be two things: 1) SO worth it, and 2) you WILL love the word more and more as you read it more and more! His heart burns with passion over you, He has set his affections in you, He is so patient and He’s just longing for you to come to him. He WILL reveal so much more of His love and Himself to you as you contend for it! 

Blessings, Love you guys!

          -Seth

New Year, New Start

Happy New Year Everyone! 

 

    We've said our 'goodbyes' to 2013 and it's time to embark on the adventure that will be 2014. While looking over Facebook statuses on New Year's Day, I noticed certain hashtags that seemed to be trending. Hashtags like; #happynewyear #2014 #goodbye2013 #newyearnewstart #freshstart #resolution #thisyearwillbebetter #thepastisthepast #movingon #newyear. 

     These popular hashtags seemed to allude to a hard year, a 2013 that maybe wasn't what they expected. And these hashtags also reveal a hope for a new start, a new and better year in 2014. 

     But friends, we don't have to wait for a new year to leave the old behind and start fresh again in Christ. The Lord's mercies are new every morning!

“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.”

-Lamentations 3:22-24

      Jesus paid the price for our sins when He died on that cross and rose again 2000 years ago. He concurred sin and death so that we can now live in the freedom that He gives everyday! We don't have to wait for a new year, to make new resolutions and try harder to be a better person, or have a more fulfilling life. The only true fulfillment we have is in Christ, and we could never be a good enough person to handle our sin problem.   Jesus, in His love, already handled that for us.

So this New Year, as we make (or don't make) our New Year's Resolutions lets keep a few things in mind...

  

“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” -Lamentations 3:40

Lets remember that it is only in Christ that we truly get a #freshstart

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” -2 Corinthians 5:17

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” -Ephesians 4:22-24

Lets remember that we may have plans or resolutions for the new year, but it is God's plans that succeed.

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." -Proverbs 19:21

     Maybe 2013 was an amazing year for you, maybe it was a difficult year. Regardless of how you viewed your 2013 always remember that we serve an amazing God who loves us deeply, blesses us lavishly, and has a plan for each of your lives.  Lets draw nearer to our Heavenly Father this year, realizing that He is all we need. 

 

I encourage you to read Lamentations 3:19-33 today. Happy New Year!!

“Let all discipline, striving, and resolving be in response--and in REJOICING over-- what you have already accomplished in us, not what we think we must accomplish for you.” -Ruth Simons