Clue #2

Tomorrow I am being sent out on a 4 day adventure w/ my friend Birkleigh in order to experience God’s sovereignty and bring His truth as led. Neither of us have any idea where we are going or how much money we are being provided with, all we have been given are a couple of clues… We are relying on God to show up and provide in anyway He chooses to do so.

Please join us in prayer for this adventure: that we would be obedient to His leading and we would experience His provision and favor.

Clue #2

Pack a small backpack with the following:

  • 2 shirts
  • 1 pair of pants
  • 3 pairs of underwear
  • Toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, soap
  • Video camera
  • Bible, journal, and pen

Do NOT bring the following:

  • Personal money
  • Credit/debit card

Make sure you are wearing comfortable clothes and shoes tomorrow. Also, it may be wise to bring a coat, hat, and scarf.

Meet at the bottom of Sans Sebastian on December 18th at 4:30pm packed and ready to go.

I’ll give an account for this journey once we return. 

LiveLove

Pardon the Profanity!

 This morning in class, we were lifting up people and situations in prayer, to God, the creator, savior and king. Specific people have flashed through my mind that I can’t seem to escape and these people all share the same story; we all share the same story.

Our world is full of “I am…” statements, however, they rarely include words like, beautiful, alive, pure, gorgeous, precious, handsome, fulfilled…

My heart is burning for you to know that you are NOT all of the negative, hurtful things that you call yourself, the things your parents have called you, “friends” have called you and others have called you. The truest thing about you is what God says about you and He says the following:

  • You are not an asshole
  • You are not a bitch
  • You are not a piece of shit
  • You are not worthless
  • You are not a cunt
  • You are not dirty
  • You are not a whore
  • You are not a motherfucker
  • You are not a douche-bag
  • You are not meaningless
  • You are not alone
  • You are not a bastard
  • You are not an accident
  • You are not weak
  • You are not ugly
  • You are not depression
  • You are not alcoholism
  • You are not promiscuity
  • You are not an addict

You ARE created in the image of a pure, righteous, perfect, holy God.

Here is a stanza from a poem written by King David, the man known as “a man after God’s own heart”. David wrote this poem in a conscious recognition of the fact that God created him and how precious life is because it is purposefully pieced together, bit by bit.

“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.” [found in Psalm 139]

Amongst other purposes behind your creation, you were created to experience the LOVE of God.


Accepting Grace = Displacing Lies

In my personal life, one of the hardest realities for me to accept is God’s grace. The difficulties within accepting this truth has very little to do with a lack of faith in God’s sufficiency, but more-so being overwhelmed by a historical path of lies which take birth as guilt, shame, fear and doubt. These thoughts often consume us and negatively impacts the day to day steps of our feet, to the way we are able to love and the big dreams dreams that God has built inside of you to glorify Him.

Often times, we rebel against a process of healing because our pride forces us to show the world that we are strong and unaffected by the details of our stories. Unfortunately, this is our greatest weakness! I would like to encourage you to accept the weakness of your foundation, combat the lies, heal the pain, embrace the grace of Jesus and allow that to actually strengthen your foundation.

If you are anything like me, the last paragraph is a bit fuzzy because a flood of fears, doubts, pains and lies have flooded your mind and potentially pride also, which has made you question why you are reading this. Allow me to encourage you, that your freedom is almost solely related to your ability in displacing the lies, fears and doubts and replacing them with grace, love and truth. This fight can not be fought alone, rest in those who share the same vision for freedom, love for Christ and care for one another’s hearts.

Listed below are a few key scriptures to begin aligning your heart and mind to the pursuit of this freedom:

Romans chapter 8 verse 1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnationfor those who are in Christ Jesus.”

James chapter 5 verse 16 says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 

2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 says, “for God has not given us a spirit fear and timidity but of power and love and self-control.”

Freedom is a fight. Fight hard. Be FREE.

Thoughts on Leadership

A few thoughts on leadership based on 1 Peter 5:1-11. I did this as a homework assignment and just wanted to share it with my community. Enjoy :)

During Peter’s exhortation regarding shepherding, the first attribute that he mentions is that the leadership would not be out of compulsion, but rather that it would be done willingly as God would have it done. This hits the nail on the head with leadership, especially Christian leadership. We should be put into motion by grace and not out of legalism, our leadership should be a reaction to grace, not an action of self-satisfaction. Also, that we would be listening to the voice of God and align our heart and thoughts with the Father, that our hearts would pursue the same desires.

This idea continues as Peter lists some negative motivations for leadership including, shameful gain, domineering [which lies w/ pride], but that we should not only lead for am proper motive but that we should be examples in our leadership. Others in the faith should look at us and “follow us as we follow Christ”. There should be nothing questionable about our motive or the way in which we lead, every decision should be measured and each step should be purposefully placed. There is an extra ounce of exhortation provided for younger leadership, that they would remain submissive to the elders of their community/congregation. Without such submission and responsibility, we are susceptible to pride, especially if our churches, organizations, companies, etc are profitable and running well. 

Humility opens the door for advancement in the Kingdom of God and because it is He who we are responsible to, it is He who exalts our lives and “ministries” when He sees fit. God is so faithful that one of the major ideas of the Lord to keep us humble is to take our cares and anxieties! It is when we are anxious and feeling pressured that we take a hold of the reins and hold on tight with a hope to fix or bring order to the situation. One of the attributes to staying humble is to loosen up our grip on life, allow the color to come back into our knuckles and attack every step with prayer, patience and persistence.

In leadership of all offices and chairs, there will be opposition, the war that we fight is happening on a battlefield that we can not see, however the weapons are very tangible. Because Peter has personal experience in this area with his multiple denial of Jesus, an act that could have potentially made a mockery of his ministry, he offers some warnings. These warnings encourage us to keep a sober mind, not allowing the stress and pressure of our ministries, companies, organizations or marriages get the best of us which can lead us to, “just need a drink”. It is when “a drink” becomes a need to relax the soul rather than refreshment for the mouth that it becomes problematic. This is a direct command related to being aware of our enemy, “who prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”. We are to resist our enemy flee any ways that would give him a foothold on our lives, this includes, pride, drunkenness, etc. There is a promise of suffering for the lives of Christian leaders, however, Peter also offers a promise of restoration from our Lord Jesus Christ! Restoration, confirmation, strength and establishment are four beautiful promises for the Christian leader and we can rest in these, allowing Peters exhortation to come full circle within every cycle and season of life and ministry.

Glory be to my Lord Christ Jesus!

Someone is Trying to Kill You.

Just as satan tempted Eve to sin against God, so he tried to get Jesus to sin and thus fail in his mission as Messiah. The tactics of Satan and his demons are to use lies, deception, murder, and every other kind of destructive activity to attempt to cause people to turn away from God and destroy themselves. Demons will try every tactic to blind people to the gospel and keep them in bondage to things that hinder them from coming to God. They will also try to use temptation, doubt, guilt, fear, confusion, sickness, envy, pride, slander, or any other means possible to hinder a Christian’s witness and usefulness.

So many get angry at God that people go to hell, if you’re one of them ponder this statement, “it is more difficult to get to hell than it is heaven”. Think about how hard you fight in order to “not be religious”, or to “be young and have fun”. There is an enemy named Satan who is literally trying to kill you and yet you run towards him with open arms, embracing all of the heart break that he feeds you and in response you turn to God with both middle fingers held high… All the while, God is longing for your open arms, His heart breaks for your broken heart and He longs to repair it, to make it whole again. Pay attention to the patterns of your lives and how they match up to other people around you, measure those patterns in Life and Death and then be honest with who’s arms you are running in to. 

You’re making a choice to worship someone; God is longing for the moment where you choose Him.

Get Out Of YOUR Way!

Get Out Of YOUR Way

You have the potential to be incredible, successful, fulfilled and know that your life has a purpose… but you won’t get the hell out of the way!! 

I know so many people who are brilliant, charismatic, fun-loving, compassionate and talented beyond belief, but they are living only a fraction of what is possible.

You, you are a wonderful musician, passionate about being around and sharing life with people, however you are mostly too depressed and insecure to enjoy all that life has to offer. 

You, you are beautiful and draw the ear of people in a way that only greatness can explain, but you’ll never know how powerful your voice is because you spend your nights with new bottles and boys and your days recovering from the heartbreak that you’re too ashamed to share.

You, you are one of the most tender hearted men that I have ever met, and you let the pains that have made you a man break you down to boyish pursuits.

These three direct statements, are specific yet general. I have people in mind that I am thinking about, however, I know that you will wonder if I am talking about you when you read this…

There is nothing more true than what the creator says about you, and belief in Him or denial of Him does not change the fact that you were created in His image. He intended for you to have the skills and traits that you have, because He knit together the balance of genes that you were supposed to have. Stop fighting and get out of your way, experience a life more incredible than you can even imagine!

w/ massive amounts of love, DG 

Wickedness Within

“if we know our own hearts, we know more evil by ourselves than we do by any one else in the world” - Matthew Henry

Every time I read or hear this quote, I am disgusted with myself. My guess is, if you are honest about the happenings from within yourself, you are pretty disgusted also. If people knew the thoughts I think, they would run and hide. Wickedness is an incurable cancer, however we are able to be set free from the symptoms and pains of this disease. In order to be set free, you must first come to grips with your wickedness and desire freedom… Next is the part that so many of us have a hard time with, trust, we don’t want to trust that God really loves us because then we are accountable to that thought. The first step is easy, admitting that we are wicked… The second step is worth the risk, I know this from personal experience and can honestly say that life has not gotten any easier but damn, is it more fulfilling than any second that I breathed before I put my trust in the hands of Jesus.