Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

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God is Not To Blame

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Shaking fist

God created the first man and the first woman; He continues to place His fingerprint on every child born today. He has specific plans for each soul and has equipped them with a unique blend of skills, talents, dreams and passions. You are born loved into a world of hate. No matter what happens you can always return to the love of your Father. He crafted you and He cares for you. There is nowhere you can run from His love, no place you can hide from His gaze. He is with you at all times and in all circumstances. God wants nothing but good for you and longs to see you fulfill the purpose He instilled within you before birth. These are the facts for every person ever born. It is true when we embrace His love, and it is true when we reject it. It is true when we praise Him for our blessings, and it is true when we blame Him for our pain. We may change depending on our situation and circumstances, but God never does. He is constant and sure. He is trustworthy and longs to collaborate with you as you live out your days.

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The Music of Your Life

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Music has always played a significant role in our society, and it has long impacted my own life. Lyrics can lift you up or bring you low; differing chords and notes can cause your mind to soar or your eyes to weep. The simple notes of a piano can invade your deepest thoughts, while the soaring wail of a guitar can pierce your soul. Beyond the strains of melody, the lyrical message of a song can move you to action or trap you in despair. Perhaps nothing has a greater influence on our mood than a song we hear on the radio or find playing in our head.

One of the most revered songwriters of the past forty years or so was John Lennon. Many people took his words almost as a gospel for their lives. Sadly, too many of us can relate to the lyrics of his 1981 song, “Watching the Wheels”. Take a look at a few lines:

“People say I’m lazy dreaming my life away”

“I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll”

“I tell them there’s no hurry
I’m just sitting here doing time”

When I was younger, I remember relishing the words of this song. They seemed to depict such an easy going life, one without cares or worry. For followers of Jesus, however, these words are poison. They speak of a lackadaisical life, a life focused on ease and comfort. While I’m certain there are times in each of our lives when we just want to stop all the motion around us and play spectator for awhile, this is not an option if we are seriously committed to carrying out the mission of Christ. Contrast Lennon’s words with those of a more recent talented songwriter, Matthew West:

“I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions”

This should be the cry of every heart that loves Jesus. We should never be content with sitting still and “watching the world go by”. Jesus called us to be people of action. His first word of what has come to be known as the great commission was, “Go”. Jesus never commanded His followers to sit still and do nothing. He commanded them to be busy doing the same work that they had seen Him doing. We are not called to be assimilated into the culture of our day; we are called to be different and to reflect the love of Christ to a dark and bitter world. We have all been created with different gifts and passions so that we might share the message of Jesus with everyone we encounter. If we are content to simply go through the motions, we will never experience the power of God in our lives and the world will be deprived of the song we have been given to sing.

Recently I have been very moved by the lyrics of another young songwriter named Josh Wilson. Here are some words from his song, “I Refuse”:

“I don’t want to live like I don’t care.
I don’t want to say another empty prayer.
Oh, I refuse to
Sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself.
Oh, I could choose
Not to move but I refuse.”

I want those words to be the prayer of my life. I never want to take a pass on the things God has given me to do. As followers of Jesus we should always seek to be proactive in carrying out the mission of Christ. We already have our marching orders, it is our duty to carry them out and follow through.

What will be the song of your life? Will you be content to simply watch the world pass by in front of your eyes or will you refuse to leave the work to someone else and throw yourself into the great adventure of following Jesus? At the end of your life will you stand before God with the music of His love bursting from deep within or will you, in the words of Emerson, die with the music still in you? We all must choose to live life either as a passive spectator or an active participant being the hands and feet of Jesus. The choice is simple, the implementation is not. Don’t be content with going through the motions and simply watching the wheels go ‘round and ‘round; refuse to be idle and wait for someone else to do what God has given you to do. Share the song He has given you while there is still time to let your life sing. May the love of Jesus resonate loudly from deep within your soul; let this be the music of your life.

Finding Your Purpose

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One of the most common causes of consternation among Christians is trying to determine God’s will for their life. We’ve discussed this previously, but I was recently struck with a different take on the subject. Countless books and articles have tackled this subject, but I believe they have come at if from the wrong angle. Recently I’ve been reading Erwin McManus’ “Chasing Daylight” again, and it provided the framework for my thinking. The first thing that we need to recognize is that God doesn’t have some massive blueprint for each of our lives. Believing that God has every twist and turn in your life mapped out for you eliminates the Biblical concept of freewill. For an excellent discussion on this, I recommend “Decision Making and the Will of God” by Garry Friesen or “Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views” by Greg Boyd, William Lane Craig, Paul Eddy and James Beilby. With this as our starting point, I believe there are three steps to finding your purpose. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What are my passions? Remember when you were younger and had visions of grandeur? We all dreamed dreams that were far bigger than ourselves and had goals of someday becoming something of note in this world. In our imaginations, we could be anything we wanted to be. As we grew older we were told that dreams were for children and we needed to focus on what we were really going to do with our lives. It seems to be the mission of those who have failed to live their dreams to quash the dreams of others as well. The passions and dreams we used to feel are what God has instilled in us. Our dreams are what make us unique from everyone else. Each of us was created for a purpose, a purpose that God carefully planted inside of us. If time and money was no object, what is it that you would most want to do? In the deepest depths of your heart, what is it that drives you? Make a note of each of your passions.

  • What are my skills? In addition to passions, God has given each of us a set of skills and gifts to be used for His Glory. People with low self esteem often disregard this question, assuming they are not good at anything and therefore have no skills. The fact is, we are indeed all gifted, we simply have not taken the time to reflect and discover all that we have to offer. Some are leaders, teachers, care-givers, good listeners, handy, a good cook or have a knack for dealing with certain age groups; the list could go on and on. Spiritual gifts and personal skills are very closely related. If you are aware of your spiritual gifts, I would encourage you to make a list of all the skills associated with that particular set of gifts. If you aren’t certain what your spiritual gifts are, there are several resources (many are free) available to help you discover your gifts. Email me at [email protected] if you would like a list.

  • Finally, ask how you can use your passions and your skills to best allow you to fulfill God’s will. Instead of asking what His will is for our life, we need to be asking how we can use our lives to accomplish His will. We know what His will is; He wills that none would perish, that none would go hungry or be treated unjustly. This is the will of God; He longs for unity and justice among all people. He commands us to love Him with all of our heart, soul and mind. He commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves, to treat them as we wish to be treated (Matthew 22:35-38). His mission for all who would follow Him is to tell everyone about His love and to demonstrate that love through our own lives. Looking back over your passions and skills, how might you utilize those to tell others about Christ or demonstrate His love to them? How could you use your passions and gifts to bring peace to a situation or to alleviate injustice or serve the poor? This is what following Jesus is all about; again, it’s not asking what His will is for our life but rather discovering how we can use our life to bring about His will.

Each person’s combination of passions and skills is unique, so it is difficult to give concrete examples in this limited space. I’d love to help anyone who struggles with determining how they can use what they have to fulfill the will of God. Leave a comment below describing your unique blend of dreams and gifts and I’ll respond with some real world ideas of how you might use them for God’s glory. If you prefer privacy, email me at [email protected]. I’d love to help. Knowing the will of God is as simple as living out His Word and reflecting His love to others; we all have been uniquely gifted to do so. Stop stressing over what it is God wants you to do with your life, and start living in the freedom of using your life to accomplish His will.

All for One

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Too many Christians relinquish their role in the Kingdom to others whose gifts and talents they deem far more significant than their own. This is a tragic mistake and runs the risk of missing out on the life you were created to live. Jesus has gifted every single person who believes in Him with unique gifts for use in furthering His mission and making His Kingdom a reality on earth. It has been said many times that we are all different parts of the same body, and indeed we all must work together to accomplish the overarching purpose of glorifying God. If any part is not doing what they were created to do, then the whole body will suffer. When those who belong to Christ sit back and watch others engage in Kingdom work, they deprive the entire body of their much needed contribution. As relational beings, we were created to depend on one another, so it is vitally important to the health of the Church that we all do our part and work in unity as we carry out the instructions of Jesus Christ.

One of the most important jobs of all Christ followers is to demonstrate love in everything we do. Those who don’t know Jesus are constantly watching our lives to see if what we have might be of interest to them. As a whole, our mission is to lead others to Christ, going out into the entire world to tell them the good news of Jesus. When we do not demonstrate the love of Christ in our daily lives, those without God will turn away because they find nothing compelling about the way in which we live. We can work diligently to love someone else, only to have another Christian act harshly toward them and so undo all the work we had done. This is why it is of such importance that each of us fully live out our calling and commitment every single minute of our lives. It is not enough for some to be diligent followers of Jesus; we must all be totally surrendered together if we are serious about changing the world for His glory.

Satan loves to convince believers that they have nothing to offer the Kingdom. Judging from the malaise of the Western Church, his schemes of oppression are highly effective. I have met too many people who think their gifts will not make a significant contribution. They are convinced they have nothing to offer and so are content to live lives of non-significance, relying on others to do the heavy lifting so that they can follow along. To be sure, there are those who will do works that appear to be more substantial in the eyes of men, but every act of service to Jesus is of infinite worth in the eyes of Christ. Giving away your sandwich to a hungry co-worker is every bit as significant as preaching to a large crowd of unbelievers. God did not model a ministry of mega-events, but rather one of simple acts to the poor. I believe the reason so many feel they have nothing to give is because they are looking at the size of their gift through earthly eyes rather than through the eyes of Jesus. God can multiply your humble acts of service into earth shaking results. Remember, Christianity started with a handful of fishermen and spread to billions throughout history. Every gift, every act of service, every life, is significant and of great worth and value. No person is exempt.

If you are one of those people who have bought into the lie that you have nothing to offer, I hope that you will be challenged to at least begin to consider thinking differently. Your faith family needs you; God needs you to fulfill the role for which He created you. If we are to reach the world with the truth of Christ, then we will need the thunderous multitude of all our feet marching to the ends of the earth. Every step adds to the glory of God, and to this we are all called. Imagine if every Christian were to put aside their insecurities, pride and selfishness; imagine if instead they were concerned only with demonstrating the love of Jesus through acts of service to others. You have been created to love others and in so doing to glorify your Creator. Only He is worthy of our devotion, and only He can bring us life. Recognize the person He has created you to be; realize He has purposed you to glorify Him and to carry out His mission. No gift is too small to gain the applause of Heaven. You are necessary and vital to God’s mission. Don’t deprive the world of the gifts He has placed within you. Join with your fellow believers and together we will achieve great things for His glory. You count, you matter; don’t let anyone ever tell you differently. You can bring glory to God this very day, simply by believing you were created to do so. Engage in the journey; we all need you. Welcome to the adventure.

God’s Will for You Life

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Does the fear of stepping outside of God’s will prevent you from making a bold leap of faith? Many waste their lives just waiting to hear from God, or to receive some divine direction that never comes. We can become paralyzed by all the possible good choices that surround us because we are afraid of missing the best opportunity. I submit to you that a heart that is totally devoted to God, a life that is wholly given to Him, cannot casually step outside of His will. If your driving passion is to see others come to Christ, how can your actions then be contrary to the will of God? God’s heart is for people, and so when our heart is for people as well, we are acting in concert with Him.

God has placed passions in our hearts so that we might utilize them to bring glory to His name; everything we do is for this purpose. One of the reasons we sometimes get stuck with indecision is because we are making too much of the decision about ourselves. We are not the point; a phrase that has become popular in recent years is that “it’s not about you!” The whole point of our life is to glorify God. We read the Bible searching for clues as to what to do with our lives because we are under the mistaken impression that the book is all about us. On the contrary, the Bible is God’s word given to us, but the book is all about Him. We are not the subject of our faith, He is. When we understand that it’s not about us, but rather about Him, our choices become less stressful and more clear.

Once we recognize our decisions should be based on what brings Him the most glory, then we can begin moving forward with confidence. Instead of framing decisions by what is best for us in our lives, we now understand that our choices are to be made based on what most glorifies God. Suddenly the pressure is off, because we now know that whatever we choose, we will be fulfilling our purpose in life, and that is to bring glory to the God of the universe. No longer will we be entangled by our own petty desires but rather we’ll be free to be the person we were created to be. As long as we are engaged in activities that bring Glory to God, we are in His will and are contributing to His mission as Kingdom people. We need not worry about doing the good but missing the best, because we are in His will and doing His work by glorifying Him.

Each day should be a fresh exercise in discovering ways we can honor and glorify Him. As we move forward in this manner, our lives will become a beautiful reflection of everything that He is. We will shine brilliantly with His incredible love and will demonstrate His mercy to those we encounter. This is the fulfilled and abundant life that He promised to us (John 10:10). Don’t be paralyzed by the fear of not knowing what God’s will is for your life. You were created to glorify Him through the use of your unique combination of skills and passions. If you will take care of the “why” (to glorify Him), He’ll take care of the “how” (the ways you will accomplish it). You need not be worried about finding some elusive perfect plan; you’ll never discover it. Instead, be surrendered and devoted to Him in every moment of your life and watch what unfolds before you. Jesus gave you your passions so that you would glorify Him through their use. If you will simply be willing to use your talents for Him, He will multiply both your ability and effectiveness.

Don’t be afraid to take bold steps as you seek to live out your calling. Continue the mission of God in ways that only you can, with your unique personality and passions. Stay focused on glorifying God in everything that you do, and you will remain firmly in His will. Every moment of your life is an opportunity to reflect His beauty and to express His love to others. Don’t be afraid to move forward; don’t be concerned with discovering God’s will for your life. Instead, seize each and every moment and glorify Him in that instant. As you manifest the love of Jesus by serving others, you will find that you are living the abundant life fully immersed in His will. Don’t fear and don’t hesitate; this is your moment. Seize it and glorify God.