"I Believe" The Walk

This Sunday at Church our pastor led us in repeating "I believe, I believe, I believe". It is amazing how powerful those words are. In some ways these words are so simple. Its like "Hello, of course your believe, you have been a Christian for most of your life". But it is more than that, because to confess those words is one thing, to confess those words in front of a non-believer another. But to walk those words out so that you don't have to say a thing, people just know is some else all-together.
So what does it mean to walk out "I believe"?

1. I walk in truth
It is no coincidence that the belt of truth is the first piece of armor we called to put on (Eph 6). I know the truth and accept the Word for what is says at face value. "Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (2 Cor 5:17). I hear this and I walk in truth. When I want to believe the lies of my past I turn 180 degrees and turn towards the light.

2. I rebuke the lies
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7) Many people love to quote the last part of that verse but without the first it is incomplete and impossible. If you simply resist, you will only be trying on your own power, you must first submit!!!! Lay down your life, (your worries, your problems, your anger, your sin) and submit it all to the Lord.

3. I walk in family
I know I cannot walk this Christian road on my own; I need friends to journey with me. I need to be discipled and I need to be dicipling others. I love my Church family an I accept that they are not perfect just as they accept me and my faults. I know that I have been called to walk along side of them and have been called to help build a spotless bride.

4. I walk in submission
"Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account. Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly, for that would be of no advantage to you" (Hebrews 13:17)
I love my Church and I submit myself to the leadership. I trust the Holy Spirit within them and have faith that they are passionately pursuing the heart of God whatever direction they take. I trust that they love me, and always have my best in mind. Even when at times the love they show is challenging and doesn't feel so good. I know that to better myself sometimes I need to hear about the sin in my life that I cannot see.

5. I walk in peace
"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body" (Col 3:15)
I know that I am called to be anxious for nothing, trusting in my heavenly father and His love for me. I am also called to be a peacemaker which means that I do not smooth things over, but confront them head on with boldness exposing lies for lies and sin for sin in the name of love. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" (Matt 5:9)

Wow!!!

Quote "Sometime last week I was having trouble sleeping. It may have been something I ate, I am not sure but somewhere around 5am I had a vision that I would work at this business and in the vision I became the top sales person within 3 months."

This quote from my post I called "Hope" was written September 23rd, it was a promise that God gave me if I had the courage to close my business and walk out in faith into the unknown. Well if you have been following my posts you will see that I did indeed get that job and things have been going very well. I work in sales and have been really enjoying it.

Yesterday my boss called me into his office to "discuss" some things with me. My sales have really picked up the last couple weeks but I was pretty sure that this meeting was going to be a reprimand for some of the areas I have been struggling. Well I was partly correct, there are some concerns but only because I am the top grossing salesman in my department!!!!
WOW!!!

Isn't God good. His promises are true and He is faithful to us. Just two weeks ago I was wondering how this promise would ever be fulfilled as it seems there are so many imperfections in me that hinder Him. But God is bigger!!! He is bigger than my imperfections and He will accomplish in me and through me what He wants beacuse He is God and I am not. All I need is a willing heart and to allow His rudder to steer me.

I am posting this only to boast of the goodness of God and not to spotlight my abilities, for I am nothing without Him. God has granted me this as a faith builder for myself but also to you. I implore you to seek Jesus for the promises He has for you in your life, the miracles He wants to make a reality. Then walk in obedience as He guides you through this adventure we call life.

As great as all this news is that I have shared I do not think this is the fulfillment of the promise and there is more to come. Gidee up!!

Birthday Wishes

This post was written the day of my birthday. It was too depressing to post it that day so I decided to save it for a couple days. But as I desire to post my thoughts both good and bad so you can see the real me I am posting it now.

What a day. There is something about my birthday that just makes me feel like I want to be recognized. Yes, today I turned the big 29 and next year at this time I will be 30 (I had better get working on that mid-life crisis). But something happens to me on my birthday that is just sick. All of a sudden I get this expectation that everybody is going to be wishing me happy birthday, buying me coffee and all that crap.
I am thinking that many of these expectations come from when I was a kid. My Mom did an awesome job of making me feel extra special on my birthday. And there is nothing wrong with that when you are a kid. Its just that it seems to have followed me into adulthood but the fact of the matter is is that nobody really cares anymore. I am adult and the fact of the matter is that I am getting older and closer to dying. Really, people should be feeling sorry for me.
On the surface you would never know anything is different, but deep down inside I had to keep from telling everybody I had contact with that it was my birthday.

"Hey Matt, how's it going? Nice tie, it's my birthday. Hey Jeff, good to see you buddy. It's my birthday, how are the wife and kids?"

I wanted all my co-workers to know, and I really don't know why. I guess what it really does is expose a need in me to be recognized and appreciated. I guess deep down I still want mans praise. But I only told two people the whole day.
So the day that was such a day to look forward to as a kid has now become generally one of the worst days of the year. It tends to be the day that everything goes wrong, my wife and I fight and I generally get depressed. Today was no different. And because I believe it will be a bad day I fulfill my own prophecy.
Obviously there is still much crap to be weeded out of my life. I wish I could go to be and sleep until it is over.

Authority

Matthew 8:9 For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.

I have been learning a lot about authority all over again as we go through the Transformations program again. To live productive Christian lives we need to be under authority. How many Christians have the "I can do it all myself" attitude. Jesus himself was a man under authority, so much so in fact that a Roman Centurion recognized this. Many times Jesus said I do not do my own will, but that of my father. As such Jesus's disciples were under authority to Jesus.
Authority is God's design and if we are not under it we are not walking in the true power of the Holy Spirit. So just what is authority? Well authority really is not walking under your own will. When I am walking under the authority of my leaders I am directly opening myself up to correction and leadership.
The best leaders are the best followers. Who are you to tell me what to do? Who are you to tell you what to do? This is just hitting home with me so much lately. I am finally starting to get my focus on making sure I submitting to the leadership above me and walking in discipleship relationships.
What is that key component that you are missing in your walk with the Lord? How many Christians do you know that are so wrapped up in there own little Christian world and all their petty little internal problems that there is no way they feel they could bring somebody to Christ. Let alone walk along a new Christian and disciple them.

Jesus's last commandment before He left this world was to go out and make disciples of all the world. This wasn't Jesus's suggestion, it was a commandment.

So what are you doing for God? Are you so focused on working on your issues and reading self-help books that discipling has never crossed your mind? Sorry for my bluntness here, but it is like trying to polish a turd, it will never happen. As soon as you conquer one issue, the fear of actually moving out of your comfort zone will force you to come up with a whole new issue that you will have to buy a whole new set of self-help books for.
Bring your life under the submission of your Godly leaders, and find some one to disciple you. Then start to disciple others. This is the way Jesus intended the Church to be. Lets stop going to church and start being the church.