Will you join the army?

I began writing a blog this morning about how leaders need to be transparent but had to stop and help my daughter with her research paper she is doing. Before returning to my finish writing my blog I was interrupted with news about our friends in South Sudan.(here is the article http://tinyurl.com/kump3qm ). God often wants to interrupt our lives but do we let Him? I can think of nothing else but our friends and the children that they have in their care. As I try to write, I am brought back to thoughts of them and cant write my original blog. I try to catch up on other news, and find that it is all so trivial in the context of life. Here is a family that have given up their lives to serve our Heavenly Father. To hear of a 16 year old and 23 year old who is willing to stay in the line of fire to bring the love of Jesus to a nation and yet we sit in our warm homes, with full bellies, and complain about what we don't have. Since I first heard about the turmoil in South Sudan I have tried everyday to find current news about the conflict so I could pray specifically for my friends, yet in American media there is very little talk of it. Check out MSN or CNN and it will take you a while to find an article about the fighting in South Sudan but only seconds to hear the latest on Duck Dynasty. Seriously? Has America really become that shallow and self-centered. I can confess that I don't like watching the news anymore, its depressing, but with everything happening in South Sudan and the fact that this hits close to home I have realized how important it is for the body of Christ to be aware of what is happening in our world. We are warriors. God equipped us and armed us with weapons not of this world (2 Cor. 10:4) to help and battle for those who cannot battle for themselves. We are commanded to take care of the widows and the orphans (James 1:27), and that is what my friends in South Sudan are doing. They are on the front lines, but that does not excuse us from the battle. It is time for the church in America to wake up and quit worrying about Duck Dynasty or Miley Cyrus but open their eyes to the broken and hurting world wide. There is a song by Casting Crown with these lyrics -

 "What if the armies of the Lord

 picked up and dusted of their swords

vowed to set the captives free

and not let Satan have one more"

The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

The church in America needs to humble itself, ask for forgiveness of our selfish ways, throw off the gluttony, the covetousness, the division, and the judgmental attitudes; turn from the distractions and turn toward God.

Our pastor preached a little on this yesterday at http://lifechangeomaha.com/. The world is in turmoil; America is in turmoil, yet we as the church want to remain blind. God desires to heal the nations but it will take an "army of the Lord" to "humble themselves and pray and seek His face" for that to happen. Will you join that army? Are you willing to give whatever it takes to see His will done here on earth as it is in Heaven?

Silent No More

I know it is the Christmas season and everyone is talking good cheer, but something has been bothering me lately and I need to say it. I usually don't talk about what other people are blogging or about what is in the media but there seems to be a trend going on with "truth". Not only the "truth" but how people are so easily offended by the truth. We in the church have become so afraid to offend people that we let sin run rampant in our midst. I guess this is a good time of the year to be bringing this up because Christmas is about birth and it is time for the church to have a rebirth of truth. I have been following another blogger Matt Walsh for a while now and I absolutely love how he speaks truth. Does he offend? Yes, but it's truth and it's not sugar coated. I recently read one of his blogs on a "forbidden" subject and this is what has been bothering me . The church has chosen to remain silent on a major sin that is destroying marriages, families, and lives. God has put human trafficking on my heart and I feel like this is the root of human trafficking. 
Pornography; there I said it; this filthy sin that we choose to keep hush-hush about eats away at the very core of our culture and our lives with out even a light shed on it because too many are too ashamed or embarrassed to talk about it. What ever the reason for the silence, it NEEDS to be talked about. The statistics are appalling.

• the revenue porn brings in is larger than all combined revenues of the professional football, basketball and baseball franchises. ($57 billion worldwide, and $12 billion in the US)
• 12% of all total websites are porn
• porn searches equals 25% of all daily search engine requests
• 35% of all downloads are pornographic.
• 20% of men and 13% of women admit accessing it from work.
• the largest consumer age group for Internet porn - 12 to 17 years of age.
• 90% of youth between the ages of 8-16 years old have viewed porn online
• 15% of youth between the ages of 12-17 years old have done so purposefully.

You say, "I'm a Christian, those statistics are for the unsaved". Argue with this then.

• 53% of Promise Keeper men have viewed it
• 47% Christians said it was a problem in their homes
• 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women admitted to being addicted to porn.
• 55% of pastors admitted to visiting a pornographic site.
• 57% of pastors say that porn addiction is the most sexually damaging issue to the congregation.

It is a problem in the church. It is a problem in your church? I guarantee it. We think that because it is never mentioned, it's not there. It's like a child who cleans there room by shoving everything in the closet, but when you open the closet all the garbage falls out. The garbage has never been cleaned out, it is still there and it's dirty and filthy and making lives miserable. Here is a link to the blog that I mentioned earlier, he says it better than me. ( http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/11/25/married-men-your-porn-habit-is-an-adultery-habit/). 

 It's a dirty little secret and we can't seem to talk about it. Husbands and wives need to be honest and open. Pastors and Christians need to start talking about it and opening up conversations. People are broken and hurting; families are being torn apart. When we keep silent we let "shame" and "condemnation" win. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The Bible also says "bear with each other and forgive one another" (Colossians 3:13). Is it coincidence that this passage is preceded by "put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry (Col.3:5)? I don't think so. We are called to hold each other accountable but we can't do that when we don't know what each other is struggling with. I know I have friends that are struggling with this, whether they themselves have an addiction or their spouse, yet they remain silent and try to battle alone, because everyone is scared to talk about it. It is time to break the silence and openly start a discussion. "oh", you say, "we don't want our kids to hear this kind of talk". Did you pay attention to the statistics? Look again. here are a  couple more for you.

• roughly 67% of young men and 49% of young women agree that viewing pornography is acceptable.
• 5% of all 12 year-olds; 10% of 13 year-olds; and 20% of 14 year-olds are sexually active.

Over half of our young people think it o.k! THAT'S NOT OK! They think that way because we are silent. We are letting the media and the social networks shape the next generation while we remain silent. Pornography is a sin. It is cheating if you are married, it is cheating on your future spouse if your not. For my friends and family who have been affected by this or who struggle with this, please don't take this as an attack. I love you but I come against the spirit of sexual immorality and I choose to no longer remain silent. We need to discuss pornography for what it is, unacceptable. We need to battle and stand against it together. If I am speaking to you I encourage you to speak out. Don't be ashamed because you fell, bring the sin into the light and ask others to partner with you to combat it. 

sources for statistics:
 http://unitedfamiliesinternational.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/14-shocking-pornography-statistics/
https://wsr.byu.edu/pornographystats
http://www.internetsafety101.org/Pornographystatistics.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/online-porn-statistics
http://www.mind-armor.com/staggering-statistics
http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/17/teen-sexual-behavior-quick-facts/?skip_splash=1

Lay It Down

I have all these ideas of what God is calling us to in the futures, yet I desire to hold on to none of them. As Christmas and the New Year approaches, many, including myself, reflect on the past year and contemplate the year to come. I don't want to make resolutions because they only hinder the work of the Lord. Jason and I have dreams; we feel pulled to help victims of sex trafficking, yet we must wait on God's guidance and timing. He brought my niece to us to give us a taste of what we will need and to open connections (even though she wasn't involved in that to our knowledge she was in a bad situation). He has shown us through her that there will be some that do not want to, or are not ready to be reached. We can sow the seeds, yet we have no control over what type of soil they fall on. 
When I reflect on the birth of Christ, I realize again how much God loves us. He took off His heavenly robes to be born of mankind in the humility of a stable. He left behind all He had in Heaven to join us, in all of our filth, here on earth, to live as we live, to demonstrate to us all that is available to us as children of God. He bore all of our sins on the cross so that we could be adopted. But He didn't stop there; He continually pursues us with a passionate love. So as I look ahead, I am excited about what God is going to do through those who lay it down. Lay down the presents, lay down the jobs, lay down the hustle and bustle, lay down the decorations, lay down the dreams; laying it all down to be available, ready to be interrupted for the coming of the Kingdom.
"Tarry not for a convenient time. The movings of the Spirit are never convenient to the interests of the flesh, and I shall engineer your circumstances to conform to My plan and my will. You will glorify Me, for My plan for you excels all other ways, and in the center of My will is a perpetual fountain of Glory." - Come Away My Beloved by Frances J. Roberts 

Desires

Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

It's not about what we want or what we want to do. As we grow in our relationship with Christ, our devotion to Him leads us to a point where our desires are nothing. I only want His desires to shine through! Are there still things that I desire? Do I have to give up the desires of my heart? No, I don't think so, but when my desires interfere with His desires then yes, I must give them up. I have a "Daddy" who loves to "give good gifts to his children" (Matthew 7:11), including the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4). First and foremost, though, must be His desires, His will. If I align my life with His desires, soon they actually become my desires. I would love to see the world and travel. It used to be because I wanted to see all the beauty that He created, but not anymore. Now the thought of going somewhere without it being for His glory makes me actually cringe. I desire to be His hands and feet and that's all that matters. Whether I'm traveling to another city,state, or country; or whether I'm going to the grocery store or picking the kids up from school I want it to be in service to my Beloved.

Aligning Our Will to His

I have been trying for several weeks now to find the words to describe what God is doing in our lives. I was reading my devotions this morning out of My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers and he put it into the perfect words.
Joshua 24:15 "...Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..."
"A person's will is embodied in the actions of the whole person. I cannot give up my will - I must exercise it, putting it into action. I must will to obey, and must will to receive God's Spirit. When God gives me a vision of truth, there is never a question of what He will do, but only of what I will do.
The Lord has been placing in front of each of us some big proposals and plans... Recall the moment when you were saved, or first recognized Jesus, or realized some truth. It was easy then to yield your allegiance to God. Immediately recall those moments each time the Spirit of God brings some new proposal before you. '...Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve....' Your choice must be a deliberate determination- it is not something into which you automatically drift. Everything else in your life will be help in temporary suspension until you make a decision. The proposal is between you and God - do not 'confer with flesh and blood' about it (Gal. 1:6). With every new proposal, the people around us seem to become more and more isolated, and that is where the tension develops. God allows the opinion of His other saints to matter to you, and yet you become less and less certain that others really understand the step yo are taking. You have no business trying to find out where God is leading - the only thing God will explain to you is Himself.
Openly declare to Him, 'I will be faithful.' But remember that as soon as you choose to be faithful to Jesus Christ, 'you are witnesses against yourselves...' (Joshua 24:22). Don;t consult with other Christians, but simply and freely declare before Him, 'I WILL SERVE YOU!' Will to be faithful - and give other people credit for being faithful too."
God has definitely been bringing new proposals to Jason and me. Not only that, but He is opening doors for us to complete His will. In doing so, we are going against all common sense and most of those around us do not understand what we are doing. We are boldly saying to God, "WE WILL SERVE YOU!" He has called us to something greater; to something different, and we may not know what it fully is yet but if He has called us and we will go. We are putting our trust and our lives into His hands for Him to be our provider, our protector, and our deliverer. He is going before us, making the footsteps in which we are to follow. We may not see where they lead, but we will place our lives in His one step at a time, aligning our will to His.

Stop Trying

I read this from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers this morning

 “Our calling is not primarily to be Holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the Gospel of God. The one all-important thing is that the Gospel of God should be recognized as THE abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell- it is redemption. The need to perceive this is the most vital need of the Christian worker today. As workers, we have to get the revelation that redemption is the one reality. Personal holiness is an effect of redemption, not the cause of it. If we place our faith in human goodness we will go under when testing comes.

            Paul did not say that he separated himself, but ‘when it pleased God, who separated me…’ (Gal. 1:15). Paul was not overly interested in his own character. And as long as our eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God. ‘Don’t ask me to be confronted with the strong reality of redemption on behalf of the filth of human life surrounding me today; what I want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in my own eyes.’ To talk this way is a sign that the reality of the Gospel has not begun to touch me. There is no reckless abandon to God in that. God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my own character. Paul was not conscious of himself. He was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose- to proclaim the Gospel of God (see Romans 3:9).”

Christ paid the price for us to be able to turn; to be delivered from our sin. When we accept Jesus into our hearts, truly accept him, it is an allowing of the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what we need to repent and it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can turn away from our old selves and become new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). 

We spend too much time focused on ourselves, we don’t feel good about ourselves so we “try” to do better. We say to ourselves “I’m trying to spend more time with God” or “I’m trying to go to church every Sunday”, when we do this “trying” we offend Him and diminish the work on the cross. His desire isn't for us to “try” so we will feel better; it is to “do” out of love for Him. A life truly, recklessly abandoned for God is not always going to make us “feel” good. He wants us totally surrendered to do His will with His power. Col.1:29(NASB) says “for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” The work is hard and it takes sacrifice but it comes from His strength not our own. (Phil. 4:13)

1 Corinthians 1: 26-30 ...think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things- and the things that are not- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because  of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God- that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 

Spending Ourselves

Isaiah 58 says so much to me. It begins with a bold statement, "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise you voice like a trumpet. Declare to My people their rebellion." It doesn't speaks softly and carefully as not to offend anyone, no, it says "SHOUT IT" Hold nothing back. Be honest.

These verses are hard verses for the Church, and if I'm being totally honest with myself, they are hard for me too. In this chapter the church is asking God why their prayers are not being answered. How many times have we come before God and cried out,"God where are you?", yet we never ask ourselves, "what have I done to cause Your Presence to pull back from me?"

Verses 1-5 reek of lukewarmness. The church is putting on a show; their hearts are selfish and full of themselves. "What can You do for me, God?" or "what do I get out of this walk with you?" But God shows us in this chapter of Isaiah how wrong that attitude is and what He truly expects of us in verses 6-14.

He desires sacrifice to "loose the chains of injustice and untie the chords of the yoke to set the oppressed free", to feed the hungry, give clothes to the poor and needy; those things must cost us something. Verse 10 says, "and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness..." Being a "light" in this world has nothing to do with going to church and being a "good" Christian. It's about spending ourselves, being uncomfortable ourselves to provide comfort to someone else,travailing in prayer and feeling the pain to provide someone else peace, and laying ourselves down for the will of God. My prayer for myself and for my church is that we don't grow comfortable. Let us lay it down daily and spend ourselves for the sake of the Kingdom, then and only then will we be a light breaking through the darkness.