Living a 220 life

Faith that moves mountains

Friends, how do we experience the miraculous power of God in our lives? I mean, Jesus told us in Matthew 17:20 that if we have, “faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” I don’t know about you but moving a mountain sounds pretty impossible to me. However, Jesus really meant what He said and really meant for us to believe what He said. So how do we get even a tiny mustard seed size faith that is large enough to move mountains? Romans 10:17 says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.” In other words, if you want your faith to grow you must spend time in the Word of God. Therefore, Romans 10:17 sets us on the pathway to gaining a miraculous faith able to move mountains by telling us to get into the Word, but the question still remains: What is faith?

In Matthew 6:30 Jesus asks His disciples, “Why do you have so little faith?” Now the guys He’s asking this question to have recently left everything they own to follow Him. These guys certainly believe Jesus is the Son of God. They believe! So why do they have little faith? The answer stems from the definition of faith. You see, faith reflects at least two ideas: trust and belief. Trust is a personal reliance upon the Lord for all sustenance and protection. Belief is an affirmation of truths. So, the disciples believed but hadn’t learned to trust Jesus yet. They had little faith because they had little trust. Ultimately, little faith results from our failure to understand our value to God and the extent of God’s protection of us.

Peter began growing in trusting faith the longer he spent time with Jesus. One of the most incredible stories about Peter comes from Matthew 14. Now remember, Peter was a normal guy who messed up all the time. He wasn’t Jesus, the Son of God. Peter was normal just like you and I. However, in Matthew 14:28 Peter yells out to Jesus, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” Then guess what Peter did…yep, you got it, Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. Wow! That amazes me every time. How do we get that type of faith? We trust Him! As our trust in Him grows our prayers will change. You see, prayer isn’t meant to inform God about our needs, it’s meant to express our trust in His provision.

Friends, if you want a faith that moves mountains you need to trust Jesus to provide the power to move the mountain. When you pray, you must understand that “Nothing is impossible” if you believe and trust. Now remember, faith comes from the Word of God. John 15:7 says, “If you remain in me and my Word remains in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.” My dear friends, abide in Christ daily through His Word and then confidently climb over the side of the boat so you can walk on water. NOTHING is impossible for us when we are abiding in Christ! Trust and believe Him. AMEN!

Joy that transcends circumstances

As a Christian we’re called to be joyful all the time. I mean, at any given time a non-believer should recognize a joy in us that sets us apart from everyone else. This sounds good in theory but how in the world are you supposed to remain joyful when life takes the inevitable turns it always does? You know, when the bank makes an error in their favor, when the car breaks down while you’re on the way to the airport, so you miss your flight, so you miss your child’s wedding, so you get a ticket while speeding, etc., etc., and the list goes on. Honestly, sometimes life becomes really “un-joyful”. So how do we remain joyful when every circumstance in life is un-joyful?

Paul had every reason to be un-joyful in Acts 16. Let’s begin with verse 22 where we read, “A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods.” Ok, so this is one of those “un-joyful” moments. The judge orders Paul and Silas beaten for their faith. I don’t know about you but I probably wouldn’t be very joyful at this point. Then in verse 23 we read, “They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison.” OK, again…un-joyful moment. But now for sure I would NOT be joyful. My circumstances would definitely overtake me and I would be un-joyful. However, in Paul’s case we find him and Silas signing and praying in verse 25. How in the world is Paul able to do this? How do these guys remain joyful in this time of beating and imprisonment?

The answer rests in Galatians 2:20 when Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” You see, Paul is stating that he no longer views the world through his own circumstances but everything is now viewed through his life in Christ. Paul recognizes that his life is no longer his own. In fact, he states in Romans 14:8 that, “If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” Circumstances will change every day just as the wind blows however; Jesus remains a constant, unchanging, rock. If we are to find unending joy we must find it in Christ.

Our un-joyful attitudes come about only through the shifting of our focus from Christ to our self. When we submit our lives to something larger than ourselves, namely Jesus, we no longer view circumstances as a personal catastrophe. Paul was able to sing and pray in prison because he had already died and gone to heaven. Not literally but figuratively. Paul gave up caring about how circumstances affected him personally and cared only about living for Jesus. Paul knew the rest of his life was simply service to Jesus until he moved on to heaven.

If we find ourselves burdened and un-joyful due to our circumstances we’ll likely find a Lordship issue in our heart and an over indulgence in self concern. An example is found in the entertainment world of football. Some people will watch football for fun and enjoy the game. Other people will know every detail of every player and get intimately involved in “their” team. I’ve heard many people refer to a professional football team using inclusive terms such as “we”, “us”, and “them” while the person has never actually been a part of the team. These two types of people represent those detached from the world in Jesus and those completely attached through self concern. While the first person enjoys the game and understands what is going on, they aren’t significantly attached to a team and aren’t emotionally impacted when their favorite team loses. Certainly they aren’t happy about a loss but the game is merely an external item to their meaningful life. The person who is emotionally invested in “their” football team has brought the external item into their life and places a great deal of importance in the football game out of a selfish desire for more entertainment.

My friends, when we become overly concerned with our own well being we become slaves to the circumstances of life. When we surrender our lives to Jesus we become slaves to Him. Hard times will still come in life but we are no longer changed by them. Understand, bad things still happen, that doesn’t change; however, we are rooted in the unchanging joy of the Lord. Brothers and Sisters, we must be Christians who are in the world but not of the world. Only when we learn to truly detach ourselves from this world while still living in the world will we be able to remain joyful all the time. Friends, won’t you die to self today and realize the unchanging joy Jesus offers us in this life? AMEN!

Digital Devo: The hard times dont last forever

Click here to hear the message:The hard times dont last forever

Digital Devo: Introduction to Digital Devos

This is a new way Beth and I will post some of the 220 Life devotionals. Rather than writing a long devo that turns into a mini-novel, we’ll put a link to an audio message you can listen to. Click on the highlighted portion to listen to the Digital Devo intro: Digital Devo Introduction

Balancing a surrendered life

As I dig into the teachings of Jesus the concept that continues to jump out at me is His call for an extreme change of life. Somehow, many Christians today have developed this idea that a Christian is meant to be a very mild, middle of the road, conservative who never rocks the boat in any way. We’re meant to be financially secure, completely family oriented, and perfect in every way. I’m being a bit facetious here but many people have views that aren’t too far off from this. Somehow Christianity has become synonymous with boring and conservative. My friends, as you dig into the life of Jesus you’ll find that He was anything but boring and conservative; no He was radical and very progressive. So how do we balance our stable family life with the call to follow our radical God?

In Luke 14:26-27 we find Jesus teaching, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison–your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters–yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.” Ok, at first glance this is pretty extreme. I mean, this seems to have crazy cult written all over it. However, when this teaching is taken in context with everything else Jesus taught, you’ll find a deep calling to surrender your life as a servant to those around you. Rather than a call to sever all ties with friends and family, you’ll find a call to strengthen all ties with friends and family…with a twist. Let me explain.

Scripture teaches us in 1 Timothy 5:8, “But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.” Scripture never contradicts itself and therefore this Timothy passage must be in unison with the Luke verse, though they seem at odds. Timothy makes it very clear that we are not to abandon our family in order to follow Jesus. Luke makes it very clear that we are to love Jesus above everything else in life, including our own life. Though these verses seem at odds they actually fit perfectly. You see, our human understanding is warped by sin. We think we know how to love our family best but we don’t. Let me offer an example.

Imagine you have no idea what an automobile is or what it’s capable of. You have the desire to travel a great, great distance in order to show your love for someone. However, the distance is so great that you’ll never be able to walk there in your lifetime but you don’t know this. Jesus shows up with the nicest of sports cars and tells you to stop walking; in fact, stop doing anything you could do to move toward your goal. Just hop in this nice sports car and allow the car to take you to your goal. Now, to us this seems like a no brainer because we know the capabilities of a car. However, to someone who has no idea what a car is it would be pretty crazy to stop showing your love by halting your march toward the goal. The problem is this: you’ll never actually achieve your goal unless you get in the car! The same is true with loving your family and friends. You’ll never actually love them until you surrender everything to Jesus and love Him first.

The beloved disciple John explains this concept to us best when he writes, “We love each other because He loved us first.” (1John 4:19) Do you see this? We can’t love each other without the love of Jesus in our lives! Friends, when you step into a relationship with Jesus it’s like you’re putting on a supernatural love amplifier. Without the amplifier you can attempt to love but it won’t happen; once it’s on you’ll love like you never could before. The problem is that people don’t want to completely put the amplifier on. Remember the call from Jesus in Luke; it’s not a simple acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord…no, it’s a complete surrender of your life to Him. He must be your first and primary love. Only by seeking Him above all else is He able to guide your daily actions in order to love those around you.

You see, when you’re surrendered to Jesus and your daily actions are guided by His Word it’s actually Jesus loving those around you through you. If you desire to love your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends, if you desire to love anyone, the only way to do it is through complete surrender to Jesus. Sometimes He’ll call you to do something you don’t understand. It might even look like it’s unloving to a family member, but you must trust Him. I’ve made some very difficult decisions based on His Word that eventually revealed His infinite love which I couldn’t originally see. My friends, trust me, when you live day by day surrendered to Him it will ALWAYS work out. It might be tough at first but He will never let you down. AMEN!