Not a Fan

The video below touches me on a very personal level. I was a fan about a year and a half ago. Then by God's grace He called me to know Him more. I came to a point where I realized I was only going to church and doing devotions because that is how I was raised. I was frustrated with living the lukewarm Christian life. It completely changed my life when I went from a fan to a follower. Being a fan is easy, it doesn't require much commitment and you look good to those around you. Being a follower is hard most days, but that is what Jesus called us to be. 







I am not a fan, are you? I would love to hear your story if you have gone from a fan to a follower.

Fasting and Feasting

America lives and breathes in front of the television screen. Between video games, movies, and television the average American spends 3-4 hours per day in front of the TV. Four hours a day!  That means that the average American spends one day out of every week in front of the TV.  I would guess that the average American Christian spends 15-20 minutes in the Word of God on a good day.  Fifteen minutes a day compared to three hours, I don’t think I am the only one who sees something really wrong with this picture. Many of you right now are thinking, “I don’t spend that much time watching TV and I go to several church activities throughout the week so I am way better than the average American.” 


Stop comparing yourself against the average and start looking at what God has called us to do in His word.  Maybe television isn’t where you spend much time; maybe it is Facebook or some other activity. We all have areas in our lives that we spend way too much time in.  When we die we won’t be wishing we had watched more movies or spent more time on Facebook.  All of that does not matter compared to knowing God. 

Philippians 3:7-14 says “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith intChrist—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”


Are you willing to consider the things of this world such as movies, video games, Facebook, etc. as garbage? I am not saying that we just completely abandon these things and live completely separate from them. All of these things can be beneficial in some contexts, but we need to monitor our time on them. We are commanded in the Bible to fast. Most of the time people think of fasting from food, but we can fast from other things. Fasting from the things that consume most of our time can be very beneficial. It is us saying “Lord, I count everything as loss compared to knowing you, and because of this I am giving up an earthly thing to know you more and dedicate more of my life to following You.” Let us start fasting from earthly things and start feasting on God’s words. 


Feasting on His word is more than reading a chapter a day and then saying a quick prayer each morning. It is us focusing all of our attention and digging into the Word of God. It is us setting a significant section of time aside just to read and meditate on the Word. I like the term “feasting” because it gives the picture of eating until we are stuffed and overflowing. I believe too many times we try to get through our days with just a snack. A snack will never be enough to give us all the strength we need for each day. Feast on the Word. Also I believe that God has gifted many writers and they have written great devotional books, but let this never replace our study of the Word itself. Nothing should ever come in place of the Word, it is sufficient in itself.  Examine your life and ask God to show you where you need to fast and how to feast more on His Word.

Closed Doors

What are your plans for the summer?  What are you going to do in College? What are you going to do with your life? Who do you want to be? I have been asked those questions so many times over the past year, and I am sure that many of you can relate. Everyone wants where you are headed and what you are going to be doing in your future. When you are unsure of where you are headed in the future it is hard to answer those questions. You don’t want people to think that you are just wondering aimlessly through life.  I came to a point a few months ago where I had no idea where I was headed. I thought I knew where I wanted to go, but God had closed several doors.  Proverbs 16:9 says “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” I had planned my course, but God had a different plan for me. 

When God closes a door on something that you have been working toward for a long time it can be very challenging. Feelings of anger and frustration can arise. We like to think that we know better than God on what is best for us. When there are closed doors we have the opportunity to trust God more. We can change our head knowledge of God being sovereign to heart knowledge. When people have doors closed on them they come to a point where they say “If I just knew God’s will for my life everything would be so much easier and I wouldn’t have problems deciding what to do next.” 

Francis Chan in his book ‘Forgotten God’ gives an excellent view on God’s will for our lives. He writes, “I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life. God cares more about our response to his Spirit’s leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decisions. It is easy to use the phrase ‘God’s will for my life’ as an excuse for inaction or even disobedience. It’s much less demanding to think about God’s will for your future than it is to ask Him what He wants you to do in the next ten minutes. It’s safer to commit to following him someday instead of this day. To be honest I believe part of the desire to ‘know God’s will for my life’ is birthed in fear and results in paralysis….God wants us to listen to his Spirit on a daily basis, and even throughout the day, as difficult and as stretching moments arise, and in the midst of the mundane. My hope is that instead of searching for ‘God’s will for my life,’ each of us would learn to seek hard after ‘the Spirit’s leading in my life today.”

After several months of searching and many closed doors, I finally came to a point where I needed to trust God and be content with where I am at. This doesn’t mean I have stopped seeking God on where I should be, but until He opens something else for me I need to be faithful with what He has given me. 

I think about the parable that Jesus told about the bags of gold. Matthew 25:14-21 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.  After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!” 

In the beginning of the story it says that the master gave to each servant ‘According to his ability’.  The master knows the servants personally and he knows their ability to be trusted.  The servant with five pieces of gold returned five more. The master saw that he was faithful with small things and therefore he gave him more responsibility (opened a door).  When doors are closed it gives us a chance to reflect on whether we are being faithful with what God has given us at the moment. Praise God for open doors and new opportunities, but also praise Him for closed doors and the opportunity to learn to trust Him more.  

It Was For Freedom

 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1. Freedom, it is something that everyone wants to experience.  We get progressive stages of freedom as we get older, from the freedom of getting a driver license to the freedom of deciding the course of your life.  We enjoy freedom. As Galatians 5:1 says we have been set free by Christ’s work on the cross and we can experience freedom in every area of our life.  What type of freedom is this?  It is freedom to be holy.  It is not just freedom to now do whatever we like.

 In 1 Corinthians Paul is addressing the believers who are using their new found freedom in Christ to do whatever they want. He writes to them saying, “‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’—but not everything is constructive.” Steven Olford describes the liberty in Christ this way “Liberty in the Biblical sense is not the license to do what you want; it is the power to do what we ought.” I know many of you want to experience freedom in your lives. You read these verses and hear quotes like this, but you do not feel like you have freedom. You may feel in bondage to sin or maybe it is just your daily routine and you do not feel the Spirit of God guiding your interactions with others, thoughts, and actions. No matter what it is you want to experience freedom.

 I believe the reason so many Christians are not experiencing freedom in their lives is because they are not fleeing. They are not fleeing from what has them in bondage. Overcoming sin is a process and there are two very important parts. The first part is praying for deliverance. We see this when the Lord was teaching the disciples to pray. He tells them to pray “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” God is the only one who can deliver us. However, we still have a role. The second part is that we must have a fleeing mindset. We live in a culture where fleeing is looked down on. We are afraid people will think we are cowards and weak. We desire to look tough as we try to battle sin head on. Stop caring about how it will look to others and only care about what is pleasing to God. 1 Timothy 6:11 says “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” Drop you ego and flee!

During the Civil War our nation was divided in half and at war with each other. The war came about for many reasons, but one of the major reasons was over the issue of slavery. During the war the slaves in the south knew that if they could make it into one of the states that was in the north they would be free. They would be protected and what not be sent back to their slavery. However, in order to do this they had to escape. They had to flee from their place of bondage. They had to leave the comfort of their familiar homes and everyday routines in order to reach freedom. It would be a long journey and very hard at times but at the end awaited freedom. Fleeing must occur if there is to be freedom. I believe too many Christians are comfortable where they are at in their sin and they don’t want to put in any effort to experience freedom. Fleeing is an active process that involves awareness and discernment. 

In the movie “The Bourne Identity” the main character is being chased for most of the movie. At one point in the movie he tells the person that he is with that whenever he goes into a building he automatically locates the quickest escapes in case his pursues catch up to him. This is the mindset we need to have.  We must be constantly aware and ready to flee. 2 Timothy 2:22 says “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” We have been set free and that should cause us to give thanks and praise God, and we should use our freedom to pursue holiness. 

Renewing the Passion

In the last few weeks I have been to several graduations. Friends are graduating high school and getting ready to start a new phase of their life. Others are graduating college and they are going to start doing what they have wanted to do for years. Most of them are very excited about the new changes to come. As I sat through several graduations I found myself praying for the graduates. I was not praying that they would have a smooth transition into school or into work, or that they would have enough money for college. I was praying that they would become more passionate for God and His church.

 You see we live in a generation that is becoming less and less passionate for God and the church. We can call ourselves “Christians” and it really doesn’t mean anything anymore. I have heard it said, “Do not look at what someone says they believe, look at what they love. That will show where their heart is.” I want to see these graduates not just hold the title Christian but to really love the church body, their fellow believers, and above all else their Savior. You will love what you are passionate about.

 I hear people say, “I just can’t find passion for anything, I am not a passionate person.” I laugh a little whenever I hear that because I believe everyone is passionate, but many times in the wrong areas. For example I know that people have passion on Sundays, they just have it during the wrong part of the day. I see people sit through church with the arms crossed mumbling along. Then they go home and turn on the football games for the afternoon. These people who barely moved in church are now jumping up and down and screaming. If people were as passionate about church as they are about football amazing things would happen. Rodney Mullins wrote a great blog post about the issue of decreasing passion in the church. I thought it would be worth including.

 Confronting Casual Christianity.

 “I believe that the greatest problem that we are facing in America is that many Christians have lost their passion for God. They no longer seek God for their purpose in life. They no longer pray with a passion or worship with a passion. They have lost whatever it was that caused them to hunger after God.

Millions are going to Hell and Christians have no or little fear of a Holy God. I have watched for years as Spirit filled Christians with a fervor for the Holy things of God walk away to a less passionate place. Hearts that once burned with a fresh fire live on a weekly religious experience of fluff and conviction less teaching. Seeker churches have produced an apathy for the power of the pentecostal experience. Thousands of one time powerful Christians have delegated their spiritual responsibilities to a few and traded their heritage for a powerless convictionless play at church.

Those precious commodities in church have become a mockery to those who laugh to scorn the Holy Spirit filled church they once loved. Church to them is just a place to go once a week to hear a soft overly protective sermon and avoid spiritual accountability while stroking their religious itch.

They have traded their passion for spiritual hymns and songs to a yearning for the mundane and earthly. They have given themselves over to denying the covenant they once had with God to spirtualized excuses for breaking that covenant. Their hearts are far from God and seem to be in love with the present world and it’s pleasures.

My heart breaks as I realize that we Christians are more to blame for being casual than sinners are for being lost. The enemy has one goal and that is to keep sinners lost and Christians ineffective. I hunger again for those day’s when the people of God were on fire with passion for him. I thirst for the time when we appreciated the conviction of the word and longed for God’s presence. I have a burning desire to see people come early and stay late in his glory and holiness.

What we need is revival. A revival that plunges us to our knees and our hearts to repentance. A revival that turns the hearts of the children to their parents and the hearts of the parents to God. A revival where spiritual accountability is sought after and the preaching of the word is loved. A revival where we will seek to please the Lord and not the desires of our flesh. A revival of lasting and life changing results.”

How do we become more passionate? Unfortunately there is not a “Three easy steps to becoming a more passionate Christian” to guide us. However, there are things that will make us more passionate. I said earlier that you will love what you are passionate about. It goes the other way too. You will be passionate about what you love. The more you love God and His church the more passion you will have.

• Study the Bible, not to just check it off your list of things to do for the day, but because of a yearning to know God more.  
• Pray all throughout the day so you are always in communication with your heavenly Father.
• Read Christian books to expand your knowledge and to grow, but do not let it replace the Word.
• Get connected in a church, not just on Sunday mornings but throughout the week.

C. J. Mahaney said, “To grow in your passion for what Jesus has done, increase your understanding of what He has done.” Let us reverse the trend of passionless Christians and rise up to be who God has called us to be.

Prayer Part 3

To conclude this short series on prayer I could not think of a better passage to end on then John 17. This is one of my favorite passages in scripture. Jesus is praying to His Father right before He is betrayed by Judas.  We get a glimpse into the relationship between the Father and the Son. He prays for the disciples and for the all who will believe in the passage. That is us! To know that the Son of God was praying for me over two thousand years ago right before He was crucified is amazing.  Starting in verse 13 I went through and wrote down some thoughts on the different verses. I encourage you to spend some time going through this passage and thanking God for what He did for you and what how He continues to work. An important element in our daily prayer should be thanksgiving and adoration. Giving thanks makes us realize all the blessings in our life. Adoration takes the focus off of us and onto our Savior, which is where it should always be.

I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.  I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

(The world hates us because we are no longer of the world.  John 15:18-19)

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

(How often when we pray to overcome sin do we ask God to remove the temptation or the circumstances?  Let me tell you something there will always be sin on this earth. We cannot get away from it, but we can overcome it. Deliverance does not mean we will not be tempted, Jesus was tempted and did not sin. Deliverance does mean we will be able to overcome the temptation and not sin. 1 Corinthians 10:13)

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

(Everyone is searching for truth. Non-Christians try to find truth in many different things; they are always searching for answers. As Christians we know the truth and the truth is what sets us free. John 8:32)

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

(This is the Great commission. Matthew 28:18-20)

And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

(Unity of the body of Christ. In many of Paul’s letters he exhorts the churches to have unity. In 1 Corinthians Paul writes about each part of the body having different parts but all working together in unity. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27)

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,

(Is that not amazing?)  

I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

(God in Christ and Christ in us. Colossians 1:26-27.)

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

(Let us never get tired of hearing the gospel. We should live gospel centered lives that are focused on spreading it to those around us. The point of our lives is to point to Christ.)

I hope you have been encouraged by this short series.  If you have any questions or comments I would enjoy hearing them. Have a great week!

Prayer Part 2

In my last post I focused on our believing that God will answer our prayers and how He loves to bless His children with spiritual gifts. A comment I received on the post brought up the topic of praying for others. I thought it would be worthwhile to go into praying for others from a biblical perspective. It is common when we go to pray for others to pray for their temporal needs.  We pray for school, work, money, relationships, and other similar things. This is not necessarily wrong, but as I said in my last post we must be careful of the balance we have in our prayers.  If we look at how Paul prayed for the different churches he wrote to the central focus of his prayers is for their love to grow and that they would come to know Christ more.

Ephesians 1:15-18

 "For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you"

Do we pray this way for others?   

3:14-19

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Do we pray that God will strengthen them and that they will know Him more? 

At the end of Ephesians Paul gives final instructions on prayer and asks for prayer for himself.

6:18-20

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."

Do we pray that others would be bold in sharing the gospel?

Paul begins many of his letters by saying how thankful he is for the believers. He is continually thankful for the work that God is doing in them.

Colossians 1:3-4

"We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people"

Philippians 1:3-5

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,"

Philemon 1:4-6

“I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ."

Do we give thanks for the work God is doing in others?

The central focus in Paul's prayers is the gospel. He prays that the believers would know Christ and increase in their love towards Him and those around them. I ask again, do we pray this way? David Platt (the author of Radical) wrote an excellent explanation on the purpose of prayer. 

"Prayer is really more, designed to be more than just this thing where we ask God for things. We need to explore some of the depths of what prayer is instead of just settling for that.

Primary purpose for prayer is to:

1.     express the depth of our need for God

2.     explore the mystery of intimacy with Him

3.     experience the power of being used by Him

The power of prayer in and of itself is useless, but the power of people who connect with all mighty God is unstoppable!

Desire is the secret of Prayer:

1.     Make your wants God’s wants and

2.     then ask for whatever you want

That’s how prayer WORKS."  

I love the passage at the end of James. It shows how powerful prayer is. Verses 17 and 18 blow my mind every time that I read them. Elijah, who was just like us, prayed and the weather changed for over three years. How amazing is that?  

5:13-18

"Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."

I encourage you as you go about your week to lift your brothers and sisters up in prayer. Do not just pray for their temporal needs but more importantly that the Father would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they would know Him better.