Belonging

It never fails! Any time you find yourself in the midst of the plan of God for your life, you will greet discouragement at some point like an old, long-lost friend! It's so simplistic that we can do what God has called us to do yet be led with tunnel-vision rather than noticing everything else at work around you. When we do this, we are not ONLY being led just by the things that we see but we are missing the actual unfolding of God's plan all around us and through us! I've always promised to be transparent with people. Whether it be one on one or through a blog, I've made it a point most of my life to just be genuine, transparent and, at times, raw. So here goes nothin'!

Lately I HAVE been a bit discouraged. Anyone that has read previous blogs or has spent any time with me in person at all could likely pick up on that. Despite ALLLLL the encouragement I received the last 2 years in Bible school and ALLLLL the great services and ALLLL the encouraging facebook status updates of favorite Rhema instructors such as Doug Jones and Karen Jensen, I've found myself discouraged. What sliced me like a dull sickle, however, was one particular status update by one of my aforementioned instructors. Now, I doubt that Mrs. Jensen takes the time to read my blogs, but just in case she does...thank you, Mrs. Karen! You rock! This is what the update said: "You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him."

Yeah...that one kinda hurt. What I had failed to realize is that I was viewing everything from the wrong perspective. I was choosing to look at my situations through a telescope rather than natural means. Beyond that, I was walking mostly by sight and only slightly by faith. When you do those things, it's EASY to succumb to apathy, discouragement, resentment, rebellion...I mean it just begins a vicious little cycle of garbage! You see, the enemy wants us to live life that way. He wants us to view things through the narrow scope of life, allowing all that we see to be distorted and minimal. God's plan, however, is SO much bigger...SO much more grand...SO much more and farther beyond all that we can see and all that we can hope and all that we can even possibly imagine!

It was almost intoxicating to me to hear from my cousin that her and her family were moving churches. I had become so distorted in my vision that I found myself actually CONSIDERING doing the same thing! She had faithfully attended my pastors dad's church and served as a worship leader and children's worker...she and her husband and children had grown more in this church than I'd ever seen them grow. So to put it simply to you, I was shocked when she called me that Sunday afternoon telling me that they had just attended their final service at that church! Well...I was shocked at first, anyway. Then I began to almost salivate at all the opportunities that they had before them! They were going to a bigger church. A church that had ALL kinds of different ministries from which one could serve in! A church that is modern and relevant and...everything I was beginning to see, through my distorted scope, that my church was not. Their church has children's ministry...youth ministry...men's ministry...college/career...cafe...and their view on praise and worship at that church matches more of my OWN idea of what it should be in a church. I mean, I was almost only a phone call away from hooking up with THAT church!

It's crazy, really. Putting things in perspective like that, placing words to that perspective and then reading over it. Wow. Anyway...I knew better than to just up and go without God either releasing me to do so or speaking to my heart about it. My emotions were telling me to run but my heart told me to stay. I wanted to make the move but I just knew that if God called me to come back home and serve at my church like I KNOW that He did (see, I was planning to stay for a 3rd year at Bible school but God made it evident that I was NOT to do that) then there HAS to be a reason for Him to have done that! So I decided that I was just gonna grin and bear it, albeit miserably so. I found that I was trying to convince myself that I no longer belonged at this church.

"I'm not even the worship leader. Sure, I lead the songs...but I'm not the worship leader...so what does it even matter?" "I'm not even an associate pastor. Sure, I fulfill those duties...but that's not my title either. So who really cares??" "I can't even start a college/career ministry. I can't even start a MEN'S ministry. My hands are tied! I can't do ANYTHING at this stupid church!" Yeah...those were actually thoughts belonging to yours truly. I know what I'm called to do and because I couldn't see myself DOING the things I'm called to do, I decided that I MUST not actually be doing them. I then heard my pastor say one thing to our head usher today while we were having worship band practice before service. That one thing, was simply..."Noah didn't wait for it to rain before he started building the boat..." Yes, I'm aware that I heard that totally out of context but it was exactly what I needed to hear. That was just God preparing my heart for the message tonight in youth. I won't cover the details of the message simply b/c I only remember the key points that cut straight to my heart.

Simply, I AM where I belong. I don't belong elsewhere. I don't belong back at Rhema. I don't belong in another church or ministry. It's NOT time for me to just go out and start my own church, either! God has placed me right where I am. And God's plan for me is HERE. He didn't place me here out of desperation or in error. He didn't place me here out of sequence. He placed me here for THIS TIME and for THIS SEASON and b/c of that truth then there IS a reason for it! This place has SOMETHING to do with God's plan in my life. And if I'm NOT in this God-place, then I will MISS what God is trying to do in me and through me.

Maybe you can relate. Maybe you can't relate. I had to type out this blog, however. Hopefully it will encourage any of you that find yourselves in a state of discouragement right now. I'm confident of one thing...God has a plan for you! And that plan is a GOOD plan and it is a PERFECT plan and ALL you have to do is follow Him and you will LIVE IN that plan! Some of you are in a place where you don't see yourselves accomplishing the same things that you felt God speak into your heart years ago. I encourage you to stop "looking" and just believe! Walk by faith in what God spoke to you and not by your own reasoning or understanding of the situation. If God spoke it, He didn't lie about it! I DON'T CARE where you find yourself right now! God has a plan for you and that plan will be accomplished! It doesn't matter what you see. If Noah had gone by all that he'd seen...if he had been discouraged by all that he heard, all creation would have been wiped from this earth! Listen to what God says! Listen to what His Word says! Forsake EVERYTHING else! Have faith in God!

Amen.

There's A Stirring...

As of this month, I've been home from bible school for 2 months. During that 2 years of training, I received more in-depth bible teaching, knowledge and application than I ever have before...and that's saying A LOT! I received something else during that time as well though...vision. I had it all planned out in my head of what my return home would be like. I realized, of course, that things have a way of turning out SO much differently than what you envision in your head or even in your heart most of the time...so when I got home to discover that I'd basically be sitting on my hands most of the time, I wasn't COMPLETELY shocked.

How many of you know what it's like to KNOW that you are called to do something or you KNOW that you have a certain purpose in your life and yet you find yourself in a place that neither supports that plan nor gives you an avenue to live it out? Anybody feel me there? Now for those of you that are just going to label me as "negative" here, I encourage you to just GET REAL with yourselves and realize that I'm simply stating things the way that they are. If you can't relate to this then perhaps you should just stop reading. Love ya! Anyway...coming home, I found myself in that very place mentioned above. I know what I'm called to do. I've known it in my heart since I was a child, had it confirmed to me over and over and over again and...besides all that, I've had that drive in me my whole life.

Some might say that I'm just too impatient or unwilling to submit (which is TOTALLY untrue!) to authority but I decree something else entirely. I'm just a driven and passionate individual that likes to get things done...and I've grown very tired of waiting. So here's what I'm going to do...I'm going to begin video-blogging. What am I gonna Vlog about? I'm not entirely sure. I know that I'll be giving you things from the Word of God that you'll not only find relevant and simple but also true and applicable to your every day life. I'm tired of church as usual. I'm tired of being a butt in the seat. Most of all, I'm tired of having to hold in everything I have stirring inside of me. If there isn't an avenue for me to pour out in the local church, if there isn't a platform from which I can stand and proclaim the truth, if there isn't a body of believers that I can stand before and minister to...then my life is as nothing.

It's time for me to take matters into my own hands, in a way. I NEED to pour out...I don't want to. When things are bursting inside of you, you have to just let them out. What better place for that...what better avenue than the internet? By making every where that I go my pulpit, whether naturally or digitally, I can and will fulfill the plan of God for my life. No need to be micro-managed by others here...as a minister, I answer first of all to my Father in Heaven. Yes, I'll still be accountable to others. Namely, my pastor and my church....but my Vloggings will not be affiliated with them in any way other than in natural association.

So you want a relevant word for your life? Tune in for my video blogs, coming to a server near you very soon!

Be blessed and I love ya!

Yes you can!!

I want you to know that you CAN do anything!

I want to tell you that anyone that has ever told you that can't LIED to you!

I want to let you know that with the Greater One living inside of you, you are unstoppable!

I want you to know that anyone who programmed you to believe that maybe you can't b/c of this or maybe you can't b/c of that...they were mis-informed! They didn't know what you are capable of. They didn't know that you can tap into the very power of God Almighty and live from the inside out!

The world doesn't understand that it can't stop you. The world doesn't know that it can't hold you back. The world doesn't know that it can only slow you down when you allow it to do so.

The enemy knows what you're capable of. The enemy comes to steal from you those dreams that God has given you and placed inside of you. The enemy has come to kill those hopes and dreams that you have inside of you. And the enemy would even KILL and DESTROY you if he could. Here's something else that the enemy knows, though. he CAN'T do it!

YOU have all power and authority in Jesus' Name even on your weakest, sickest, brokest, laziest, most careless day!

It's time we rise up and understand who we really are! We are, indeed, the sleeping giant, the church of God, chosen and set apart for the works of His kingdom at THIS VERY HOUR!

It's time to rise up! It's time to let go of all the lies of the past. It's time to let go of all the things that so easily beset us and PRESS ON! It's time to adopt a NEW mindset, the mind of Christ, and refuse to give up, refuse to give in and refuse to be stopped!

You can do anything! You can't lose! You weren't called out of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son to lack, suffer or live in defeat!

You were made for this time! You were made for this hour! You were made to raise the dead! You were made to heal the sick! You were made to sing new songs!

You were made to go forth and conquer! You were made to bind up those who are hurting! You are ANOINTED!

You were crucified with Christ and yet you no longer live but Christ lives WITHIN you!

Vow this day to go on with God! Vow this day to rise up and do everything God has called you to do! Vow this day to be who He has called you to be!

Because THAT is the only purpose we were created for...to be who HE has called us to be.

Glory to God!