Am I Dependent?

We are not saying that we can do this work ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do
2 Corinthians 3:5

"I am trying", I can't tell you how many times i've heard those words come out of my mouth or the mouths of others.
I'm trying to work on ____________ (fill in the blank).
I'm sure we all could fit something specific into that blank.
I know I have been trying to work on my pride.
It's been tough, that's for sure. I feel like I'm not really making any progress toward becoming more humble most days.
Tonight I was reminded, by my good friend Andrew, that we were not created to be independent. We were made to be totally dependent; on God first and others second.
That was like a dagger to my heart! That is so deep!
I started digging around looking for a good definition of being 'dependent'...
Dictionary.com puts it this way...
"relying on someone or something else for aid, support, etc."
I wonder if my pride issue needs more than just my "efforts" but it goes back to being dependent on God to help me through this.I wonder if I need to simply rely on Him more. It sounds so easy, but it is so tough for me to do.
I can't do it alone! Which is tough for me to swallow because I like to think I have everything under control...when I really don't.

I end this post asking...
Am I Dependent?
Are you Dependent?
Are we Dependent?

What we don't need to do...

"God doesn’t want us to come to him perfect."

This is a quote form Ed Cyzewski and his blog titled "In A Mirror Dimly" ( http://inamirrordimly.com/ )

To think that God doesn't expect me nor want me to come to Him in a perfect manner makes me smile.
I have always struggled with that...
I struggle with the thoughts of how imperfect I am and how God can't use me in this imperfect body.
I struggle with thoughts that because I am imperfect, not even close to perfection actually, God wont hear my prayers...
I worry that God wont help me...
I start to fall for the lie that I am worth less because I sin and I struggle...

I am not perfect

I will never be perfect

But I am covered

God doesn't see my sin anymore

He sees a young man blameless in His sight

Maybe I'll always struggle with these thoughts
These thoughts of how my imperfections can bring me down
Maybe you struggle with these same thoughts...

I want to end this post with a quote and some promises from the Word...

Your sin does not disqualify your worship - Chris Durso

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day - 2 Cor. 4:16

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God - 2 Cor. 3:5

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. - Ephesians 2:4-5

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. - Galatians 2:20

A Praise then a Curse...

“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Mark 11:9-10 are verses used to describe what the Jewish people were saying to Jesus as He entered Jerusalem to die.

And the word "Hosanna" literally means "Save us! Please!"
The Jewish people were praising Jesus on that particular Sunday but by the end of the week they were the ones saying "Crucify Him!!"

They were praising Him and then cursing Him...all in the same week!

Don't we do the same thing sometimes???

We go to a Church service on Sunday, sing songs of praise to God about how He is holy and how we love Him, but then even before the week is over we find ourselves cursing God.
Maybe we don't curse God verbally, but maybe we are curing at Him with our life choices.
On Sunday's we sing and pray "Take it all God! We surrender!" but then we find our lives saying
"Hold on God! I don't want to do that!"
"I don't want to go talk to that person!"
"I don't want to become friends with that homeless man!"
"I don't want to die to myself!"
"God I just want to live life the way I think is best!"

I know I struggle with this...maybe you do too
I have a feeling we are not alone though...

Lets change the persona that Christians are hypocrites!
Because it's true...we are!
We give God a praise one moment and then live a life that is a curse toward our God..

Go!
Live life expecting not to live in comfort, because no one said dying to yourself would be easy!!

Going vs. Being...

This morning I did not attend a church!
I know!
I'm a horrible person because I didn't go on a Sunday morning (I am going to worship with a Church Body tonight downtown though, so don't worry too much)

As I search my favorite social networks (Facebook and Twitter) I notice that a lot of my friends post things like "Loved Church today!" or "Going to church" or "Great message at Church today"....
I don't think there is anything wrong with loving Church, or even loving the message God used at Church that day....
but I wonder if we are getting caught up with putting more value on going to church and singing the right songs at church instead of being the church???
Let me explain...
First off, when I say Church I do not mean a building we go to to sing songs and hear a message. When I say Church I mean the Body of Christ. It is people, not a place.

With that cleared up I now start to wonder if we are starting to put more emphasis on our doing (i.e. going to church and being a regular attender) than our being?
Do we find ourselves worrying more about which Church we will attend each Sunday or Saturday or do we find ourselves focusing more on how we can be a better Church?

I do believe that God wants us to be in fellowship with other believers and He does want us to be worshiping with other believers on a regular basis.
But I also believe that God is more concerned about your being more than our doing.

Maybe this is where a lot of us have gone wrong!?
Maybe we have got caught up focusing on doing the right thing all the time and doing the things we have always done and have lost sight of what it looks like to BE a follower of Jesus Christ!

Because in all honesty I believe that these local Church Bodies that are "middle class, white, comfortable, give only 10%" are not what Jesus intended when He said, "Follow Me, die to yourself, love your neighbor!"

I'm probably the last person who should be writing about this because I need to work on BEING the Church just as much as the rest of us.

But may we find ourselves starting to live out the mission of Jesus Christ instead of just singing songs about it and memorizing verses on it.



(Scripture that really got me thinking about this whole Going vs. Doing)
Acts 1:8
Acts 2:44-47
John 21:22
John 15:12
John 3:30
Luke 17:33
Luke 17:21
Luke 16:15
Luke 12:31
Luke 9:23-24
Luke 5:28
Mark 16:15
Mark 12:30-31
Mark 10:43
Mark 10:21
Mark 9:35
Mark 8:34-36
Matthew 28:19
Matthew 23:11-12
Matthew 10:39
Matthew 9:11-13
Matthew 6:33
Matthew 5:16

New Neighbors Have Moved In...

On Thursday I will be giving a message in class, and it's a message that God has really laid on my heart this year, even though we're just two months in :)

It's this idea of loving our neighbor - and I'm going to be referencing the story of the Good Samaritan in my message. I did a research paper on the parable of the Good Samaritan last semester and after I finished that paper I now have a greater understanding of what God was trying to say to his audience with this parable.

Skip forward to the present time now and here I am sitting at Kava House prepping for this message that is two days away.

I'm sitting here thinking about the word love and the word neighbor and what Jesus meant when He says we are to love our neighbor.
Questions immediately fill my mind...
Do we love our neighbors?
Who is our neighbor?

As I keep on meditating over the passage and trying to understand what Jesus was trying to say to that culture I come to the conclusion that
A Neighbor Is Anyone Who Is In Need.

So now that I have this new understanding of who my neighbor really is it starts to sink in that when Jesus says we are to "love our neighbor as ourself"(Matt. 19:19, 22:39; Mark 12:31,33)
We are called to help everyone who is in need!
Jesus isn't calling us to just love those who think, look and believe like us.
He is calling us to love everyone.
Like the Samaritan did.

So now more questions arise...
are we going to love with no boundaries, like the Samaritan?
Or are we going to try to make excuses and try to justify ourselves and not love those who are in need?

...A Good Book...

So far on my winter break from school I have been reading The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne; I am only 3 chapters through it and it is already blowing my mind.

No lie, what Claiborne has been talking about in his book has been dead on with where I feel God leading me in my spiritual walk lately...

He has shared how when he was in college, much like myself, he had this struggle with how church was being done and did not agree with most of what he saw in traditional churches, much like myself.

In the latest chapter that I read he talks a lot about how we, as Christians, are now the Christ to the world, which has been on the forefront of my mind as well.

The verse that really stands out to me with this idea of literally being Christ to the world is Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
What if we lived out this verse in our lives??
Every day??
What if we simply just believed this verse??
Wow!

Green Pastuers Vacation...day one

I'm calling it Green Pasture Vacation because of it reminds me of Psalm 23 and how in Psalms 23 it says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in GREEN PASTURES"
when i hear the words green pastures i think of when I was growing up and my family had some cattle (cows) and whenever we would let the cows have more field to eat from they would roll around and eat and sleep and never leave their new pasture spot. And it always seemed that whenever we would allow them out there they would gain some extra weight as well.
That is what i hope will happen for my heart this trip.
I hope that this trip is going to bring some extra food to my spiritual life...I NEED IT!
I don't necessarily need to gain physical weight but i am in desperate need of some extra spiritual weight.

the first day on the trip that I'm calling "Green Pasture Vacation" has been a restful one thus far...
yesterday was the long van ride to Nashville...i filled most of that time up with some extra sleep as ricky had a good time annoying Mark...

Today is the start of the conference and, if I'm not mistaken, David Crowder is going to be kicking off the day...can't wait to worship with 5,000 other youth workers!

A verse that stood out to me this morning was "Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him." (Luke 15:1)
The challenge that hit my heart immediately after reading this verse was this: am i hanging out with people who are not like me? am i being intentional about getting to know not-yet-believers? i would have to say no to both of those questions. It seems more and more each day that God is calling me to be in more relationships with those who do not know Jesus yet...

Fill me up Father!
I am nothing without You!
Use me!
Make me more like your Son, Jesus Christ!
and please...Increase my faith!!