“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” - 2 Corinthians 3:18

In Exodus 34, Moses returns to the people of Israel after receiving the Ten Commandments from God on the top of Mount Sinai.  After spending so much time in the presence of God, Moses’ face glowed with visible radiance and light.  The people of Israel were scared of Moses and would avoid him because of that fear.  Moses put a veil over his face to hide the radiance of God so that the people would come and listen to what Moses had to tell them. Moses veiled the glory he had received from God, but we are clearly instructed not to.  We are to reflect ever bit of glory that God blesses us with.

2 Corinthians 3:18 continues to say that we are being transformed more and more into the likeness of Christ.  God is taking ever life experience, every painful moment, every triumph, every smile, every tear, and using them all to grow us, mature us into the likeness of Christ.  Every moment of pain in my life, God has used in my ministry to comfort or guide others.  Every moment of failure has been used to teach me how to succeed.  Every success has been used to grow God’s kingdom.

If every single experience of our life is used to transform us more into the likeness of Jesus, then can there truly be any moments of failure?  Can there be any true loss?  God works all things together for the good of those that love Him (Romans 8:28).  God is transforming us more and more into a reflection of His glory.  Every experience bring us one step closer to being the creation that God intends us to be.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” - James 1:17

This verse has completely changed my life.  The past 7 months, God has used this verse to teach me, grow me, mature me, and strengthen me.

I find myself time after time praying for something and responding with amazement when God answers.  Do we expect God to ignore us?  Do we expect Him to shortchange or demean our requests?  Why?

Jesus tells us in John 14:14 that whatever we ask in the name of the Father is ours.  So why do we respond with shock when God does what He says?  Because God is in the business of blowing our limited and comfortable worlds apart so that we will experience the vibrant and unlimited blessings that God wants to give us.  Our dreams are never big enough for God’s plan.

I am so glad that my God does immeasurably more that I could ever hope or imagine (Eph 3:20).  All too often, we are asking God for crumbs when He wants to give us the feast.

So ask big.  Plead for the unthinkable.  Beg God to blow your mind.  We don’t serve a limited God.  We serve an infinite God.  When we ask for the best and God answers, we realize that God’s best is so much better than ours.

So what does James 1:17 have to do with asking big?  March 26,2011, God blew up my life with a “good and perfect gift”.  He gave me her.  He gave me Kodie…. Ask God for the best and get even better.

Don’t you hate that new kid on the block feeling?  I like knowing where I stand; what I’m doing; who the players are.  There are times in life that we feel like aliens on our own planet, foreigners in our own country, guests in our own home.

As a child I loved watching cartoons on Saturday mornings and one of my favorite shows was X-Men.  The show was about a group of people born with super powers that were special, but society would label as freaks if they did not conceal their identity.  Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, Storm, were all fighting to save a humanity that did not fully understand or accept them.

The longer I live my life following God, the more I realize I am a stranger to the world around me.  1 Peter 2:11a address Christ followers like this: “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world…”  Jesus did not ask us to lead a comfortable life in which the entirety of the planet adored and embraced us for our commitment to Him.  He, in fact, promised quite the opposite.  So why bother?

We bother because of what Peter says in the verses prior to verse 11, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

God has chosen me for greatness.  He has chosen you for greatness.  The Bible says that this amazing calling will not come easily, but ask yourself this: did the things in life that we yearned for the most, come without challenge?  If you desire an incredible, unparallelled life following Christ, prepare yourself to become a strange to the world and a child of God.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” - Ephesians 2:10

What were we created to do?  It is a question that is burned into all of us that live.  We constantly seek purpose, meaning, destiny.  When we do not live what Christ has created us to do, we become restless.  We were created for a specific purpose and should spend our lives doing exactly what we were designed for.  A hammer is only used for hammering.  A toaster is only used for making toast.  We are only created to serve God.

We are all unique and God has made us all to serve Him in different capacities.  I love teaching and public speaking, but I know many people in the world are thankful that God has not called all of His people to talk in front of crowds.  I know people that serve God by leading worship or creating art, both of which are things that I greatly lack talent in.  When we unite together with our personality, passions, and talents chasing after God and living out His specific purpose for each of us, we will change the face of the world.

1 Corinthians 12:12 says, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.”  What did God create you to do? Are you doing it?

I am not a huge fan of fast food because I feel like I am slowly killing myself with each Happy Meal I put in my mouth, but I am a poor college student so from time to time “ya gotta do what ya gotta do”.  The other day I was at Burger King and laughed at their slogan: Have it your way.  I don’t think they really mean that because if it was my way that Whopper combo would not have cost me $7.99 haha, but for some reason Burger King is still a corporate giant with restaurants located all over the world.  Despite us not getting the burger exactly the way we want, we are still continue to give The King our business.

For some reason, we think that the Burger King and the King of Kings have the same slogan: have it your way.  If we become a Christian, we should have a divine genie that supernaturally provides us with our desires and pleasures.  We should be allowed to pursue our lives as we choose and God should resource our efforts because we are morally acceptable.

When met with the reality that God does not function as our omniscient benefactor and financier, we often become belligerent or rebellious, but why? God is indeed the King of Kings.  He calls the shots.  Why do we think by devote our lives to His service, we somehow control our King?

In my short time serving God, I have learned many many things and there are still innumerably more to learn, but I have discovered that my way falls much shorter than what I expect.  That hope or dream was not as fantastic as I thought.  That investment was not as profitable as I thought.  That romance did not make me feel as happy as I thought.  That job did not bring the fulfillment I thought it would.  God has bigger plans.  Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

So why do I pitch a fit when I don’t get it my way?  I don’t take my business from BK when I don’t get my Whopper the way I wanted, why do I take my faith from God when my life doesn’t go my way?  God wants more for us than a romantic marriage, a successful business, or a painless life.  He wants you to be a part of the incredible movement of love and salvation changing the face of the planet.  He wants you to participate in saving souls from the grasp of the Enemy.  Stop getting angry when God won’t let you settle.  Trust that the hard times of your life are preparing you for the great victories God wants you to win for Him.

Matthew 15:21-28 has always been a passage I have wrestled with in Scripture.  The story tells of a Greek woman, who the Jews would have called a Gentile and deemed unworthy of the kingdom of God, coming to the feet of Jesus and pleading for Him to cast the demon out of her baby girl.  The part of Scripture that I have always wrestled with was the reaction of Jesus.  He tells the woman in verse 26, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”

In this verse, it seemed as if Jesus were siding with the stereotype of the unworthiness of the Gentile people to receive the blessing of God, but I could not have been more wrong.  The woman’s reply clearly shows what Jesus was doing. In verse 27 she says, “Yes, Lord…but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

This response is the most humble and faithful thing I have read in Scripture.  What she basically says is this: I know I am what your people see as unworthy and a lowly dog, but I am satisfied with being reduced to that undignified poor position as long as it is in the kingdom of God.

That is heavy.  This Greek woman understood that it doesn’t matter how much blessing we receive, how great people view us, what we do.  It is all about who our master is.

Hearing this Jesus responds, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.”  Jesus had never intended to turn her away, only to give her an opportunity to show how true her faith was.

The woman was satisfied with an unglorified seat under the table of God as long as she was in the presence of her King.  Our life with God is not about us.  It is not about how nice the blessing are that He gives us or the food we eat.  It is all about being content in Him.

So the question is this: do you want bread? do you want it your way?  Or are you satisfied in your King?  Would you rather have His scraps or the world’s best?

Have you ever been “shocked” when you touched the door knob?  Or when a friend rubs their feet on the carpet in order to make you jump from that little electric shock?  Static electricity made childhood so much better!  I loved bugging my sister with the magical powers of static electricity.

Do you know how static electricity occurs?  (sorry for the quick science lesson, but bear with me)  When you slide your socks over the carpet, loose electrons are broken off of the carpet and cling to the atoms on your socks adding excess charge to your body.  The electrons you rub your socks on make you electric.

The friends you rub life with make you who you are.  Who are you letting influence you?  The people you let close to you in your life, shape what your future looks like.

Honestly, how many times have you heard this: “She is a good person.  She just got mixed up in the wrong crowd.”?  The Bible puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’”  So to put it simply, if you rub your life against negative people, then your life is going to become negatively charged.

But the same is true of the opposite.  If you rub your life against powerful godly relationships then your life will become positively charged!  So ask yourself, how are you being charged by your relationships now?  Is it time for a change?

Apparently, one of the most common types of death for an eagle is drowning.  I know!  I was surprised when I first heard it as well.  Eagles supposedly are greedy animals by nature.  When seeing a large fish in the water, the eagle would swoop down to snatch it from the river, but often the fish is too heavy to lift.  Instead of letting go the eagle flails and fights in attempt to lift its prey from the water only to be drug under to its death.

Sadly, this is a picture of many of us.  God is asking us to give our everything to Him, but we fight back and flails about only to ruin our lives further.  For some reason, we feel that we can do better at running our lives than the one who created it.

I often find myself doing this when God asks me to do something that I deem impossible.  I try to find ways to accomplish His tasks through my own methods, but it will never happen.  I only miss out on the opportunity He wanted to give me.

We need to change our perspective on impossible.  Instead of being scared of those times when God asks us to do something that is difficult, we should be excited.  If we never step into those times of difficulty and impossibility, how do we expect to see the glory and power of God?

When I look at the eagle drowning itself for a fish, I tend to laugh at how juvenile and dumb that seems.  Then I realize, that is probably how God feels when I don’t give my whole life to Him?  Don’t give up your life for a fish.  Give your life to the King.

I remember one time in 1st grade, I got sent to the principal.  I will never forget the terror, not from what the principal would do, but what my dad would do.  I wanted more than anything for my parents to be proud of me, and in those moments of failure, I would always fear that they would be disappointed in me.

Honestly, that is how many of us approach our relationship with God.  Any time we make a mistake or sin, we run; not because we fear His wrath, but because we fear disappointing Him.  I struggled with this myself for a long time until one day God changed my perspective.  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

When we were still sinners, enemies of God, oblivious to the light, God did not feel anger, but compassion.  He sent His own son to die for us, when we did not care for Him at all.  Talk about limitless love.  God loved me when my life showed that I did not love Him.

So now, I call myself a Christ follower.  I do my best to honor God, to love God, to make God proud.  We always need to give God the best because He gave us His best, Jesus.

But there are always the moments that I will mess up, miss reading my Bible, say something I regret, give someone a bad attitude.  In those moments we must remember not to run away from our God, but to come to the love of our Father.  He showed us compassion when we were His enemies, why wouldn’t He show us love now that we are His children?

“For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” - 2 Corinthians 13:8

There are so many hard decisions in life?  Do I want a super size or not?  Should I say hi to her or not?  Should I try to jump over this creek or not?  Should I have brought and extra set of clothes since I didn’t make it over the creek?

But seriously, we all face big decisions in our lives: job, place to live, college to attend, person to marry, budget, children.  So often it seems we stand in front of 2 doors and don’t know which to take.  We pray and seek God, but neither door seems wrong.  How do we make the right decision?

Truth is there are moments in our life that we are faced with decisions were we must choose.  We seek God but it seems like He says that both choices are fine so choose for yourself.  THAT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!!  I want God to tell me what to do every step of the way!

Then I look at my parents.  They loved me and taught me how to be a strong man of God, how to make wise decisions and how to lead.  For sometime they made decisions for me and grounded me when I made poor ones, but there came a time where I became an adult and they encouraged me to make my own decisions.

God wants us to make decisions based off of what He has taught us through His word.  Stop trying to remain a baby in His care and be an adult that He loves.  Make wise decisions.

Now in closing, I know making decisions seem scary.  We don’t want to mess up.  And that is where 2 Corinthians 13:8 comes in.  It says we can do nothing against the truth only for it.  Now to clarify, in John 14:6, Jesus calls himself, “the way, the truth, and the life…”  So basically if we are seeking God, remaining in His word, and living what He has taught, then no matter what decisions we make, they are all can never be against Christ, the truth.  So make your decisions with the confidence that you have been trained by God himself through His word and He loves you enough to let you make your own decisions.