Ephesians 2

Oneness...Unity!.
No matter the circumstance in a point in time we will feel like we don't belong. The devil loves this opportunity. He knows that there is strength and power when we join together so he takes every chance to capitalize on our division. He wants to convince us that we are in the wrong place. That we dont belong.
But God has called us to walk a certain path and He can and will use us in whatever circumstance. There is always a place for us with in the body. Imagine a church of ONLY creatives... there would be plenty of brilliant ideas, but without the more articulate, business minded, the idea would be much more difficult to come into fruition. There also needs to be those who are in between, who can convey what each side needs to the other, creating balance. We all have different backgrounds, gifts, and dreams, but one God. One spirit that works through us all. If we just all align to Him and His will, there is no stopping the Body we are apart of!

Ephesians 1

A few months ago, I did a study on Ephesians. It has quickly become one of my favorite books due to its incredible amount of insite jammed into 6 simple chapters! Cant get much better than that. So here are some breakdowns of what i received in each of these books.
Chapter 1.
We are in! God made a way, through his Son, that we might be with Him. We are now viewed blameless because of what Christ has done for us. The Ephesian's pre-christian life style was completely ruled by immorality. They needed to hear this very fact, that there was no need for shame or guilt, because Christ stood between us and what we actually deserve.
How often do we feel unworthy or unclean? Verse 4 tells us God had, from the beginning, planned to see us without fault in His eyes! So when God looks at us, He sees His son. Jesus lives with in us and takes away any fault, any flaw, any thing that would keep us from the blessings of heaven. He no longer sees what we were but what the blood of Christ has made us!

Together We Stand

There is a constant battle going on all around us. Physical and spiritual battles that are fought at home, at work, when we are with out family and friends. Accepting Christ can be simple enough, but as soon as you step out into the world your hit with it and it's humanity. What is key here is that we don't have to fight alone. Every Christian ends up dealing with a lot of the same stuff because we have one common enemy. But when we come together and fight against the dark realms of this world we find support, strength, and new perception that we would never have on our own. This is why being grafted and connected into a local church with a vision is so vital to our growth and success.

In 2 Kings 3, the chapter starts out with the transfer of Israel's power from one king to another, his son. Their neighbors, the Moabites, saw this as the perfect time to attack Israel, a time of change. The enemy is always on the move in a time of transition. When we step into something new, it is so easy to get discouraged and feel like we are making a huge mistake. When this is pressed into our thinking, it causes destruction and hinders our growth. We can loose confidence and end up never stepping out into faith or our vision for our futures again. Some tend to get confused and think that this dout is brought on by God saying, "Thats not the direction I have for you." The way to filter what God is saying and what the devil is lying to you is simple. The enemy will always place negative thoughts into you. "Who do you think you are? You could never accomplish this." God will always correct with love. It is His nature. He will give you a new direction. He never leaves us empty handed.

So the Moabites rebel against Israel. Jehoram, the new king, now has a choice. His armies can hold up in the city and try to fight it alone, or go out and "nip it in the butt". Something stirs in Jehoram and he sends word to his allies Jordan and Edom. We have allies! This is a huge purpose of the church body.  We often want to hold up our little problems and try to solve them ourselves putting so much stress and weight on our world it eventually defeats us. But when we realize that we are fighting for the same causes and we band together. Ps. Jeff Crabtree has given a perfect picture of this. Ephesians 6 talks about the armor of God and verse 11 says, "Put on the armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." The word stand here in the greek translation is actually plural. We stand together, and when we have this armor on and we come together, we for an unstoppable force.

Now we have the three nations together and they end up in the wilderness on there way to Moab. Often times there is a desert between us and our goals. Sure we are committed at the beginning, but the test is if we are committed if it takes a long time to get to the goal. We can get bored with the time of trial and desert and turn back saying we will deal with it later but then end up never going after the vision again. 

Stuck in the desert, they were running out of food and water. They were getting weaker by the day with no nourishment and it seemed hopeless that they would even be able to stand by the time they reached moab, non the less defeat them. With all their own strength gone, they call on Elisha for a word from God. Elisha asks the king of Israel why he came to his God instead of the idols his father worshiped. He replies in verse 13 "No! for it was the Lord who called us three here..."

We all have a call, a vision, a passion burning in us that God gives us directly. Doesn't it make sense that when we feel stuck with no forward progression, when we plateau in this calling to talk to the creator and the one who imparted it directly? Sounds simple enough, yet how often does it turn into our personal mission instead of God's calling? We begin to try to work out all the problems on our own since we see it as our issue to fix. As if we know better. It is so refreshing to read that verse and see a king who was far from a man after God's own heart, realize that he wasn't going to make it on his own. That without God who stirred in him to step out in faith into this battle, he would not be able to fight the battle set before him.

So God gives Elisha the word that rain is falling far off that will produce a water source right through their camp in the desert, giving them the strength to defeat the enemy. There is always provision if we ask and strength and support in our allies. We aren't made to figure everything out, just to walk by faith. There is already victory waiting for us. 

Nothing but...

I have recently been in a time of visioning. Where am I going to be in the next year? How about the next five or ten years? When you start praying into your future and God starts revealing to you visions, it can some times be overwhelming. The thing is though, God gives us these visions to offer us hope, not so we feel inadequate. We can start filtering these visions and dreams through our minds and not our spirits, clogging the truth and making our goals seem unattainable. 

This was the mind set of a widow who met Elisha in 2 Kings 4. Her husband, the care taker  of the family recently died and left behind some debt. Creditors had come to her, threatening to take her two sons to sell as slaves because she had no real means to pay them. Elisha simply asks her, "What do you have?"

Ask your self that. Do you have a job with a good income? Do you have administrative or leadership skills? Do you have a heart to serve and be hospitable? What talents or gifts do you have? Search your life and pick out something that is working in your life. This is always a great place to start when trying to figure out how take the next step into this elaborate vision and dream God has placed into your spirit. Every one of us is blessed with something, yet most of the time we just simply will answer "Nothing". 

The widows first reply to Elisha was just that. "Nothing at all... well, except for this flask of olive oil." She almost doesn't even mention this flask because to her it is so miniscule. We are lead to believe that this olive oil was her very last possession. If I were asked what I had lying around my house, a jar of olive oil would be far down on the list. It is here that God shows us that even with the smallest things in life can be used to change someone's world.

Elisha now tells the widow to go to all her friends and neighbors and ask them for empty vessels. This is huge! People around us can be resources to get to our God given dreams. When I moved to NYC, I ended up selling a large amount of my things to help pay for the transition. This included my guitars. For those who do not know me or what I do, music has always been my olive oil. So when we arrived here, I was with out a vessel, a conduit, to use my olive oil. Thankfully the pastors happened to have a guitar that was open for me to use. What is better, this guitar was even better than the ones that I had to leave behind. 

There are ample opportunities and vessels that are already around us that we can sometimes overlook and pass by. Use your spirit to filter your vision so that you see the realities of heaven. See the open doors. See the empty vessel that can be used to produce great things in your hands. In the hands of Samson, a donkey's jawbone was the perfect weapon to defeat the enemy. 300 men in the right hands of Gideon was all God needed to win a battle. We all have something to work with. Find it. Embrace it. Use it.

Breaking Down Worship

Worship to many can be confusing. The term can seem quite general and leave  some wanting more. To get a grip on the word "worship", lets take a look at the first place we can find it used in the bible. Genesis 22: 2, 5:

"take your son, your only son- yes Issac, whom you love so much- and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you...

'Stay there with the donkey', Abraham told the young men. 'the boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.'"

This first use of the word worship in the bible is key. Moses, the supposed author of Genesis, saw this as an opportunity to include the word worship here to make a point. And with more than 250 appearances throughout the bible, this one appearance would have been enough to define to us what worship really is. It is described as simply giving or offering God the biggest part of your life.

Ask yourself, what is the biggest part of your life. 

For some people this "biggest part" of their life might be a burden. A sickness, a lost job, a lonely heart. This doesn't make them any less qualified to worship, it just means what they lay down as a sacrifice looks different then someone's sacrifice of great success. 

If your giving up your burden- do so with hope. Understand that there are highs and lows in life and that they are not the realities of heaven which pertain to us. God is a huge God in the sense that He can take care of all his people.  Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." 

Other people are currently in a high point in this roller coaster of life and have plenty to offer God, yet many times this can be harder to do. We can get in this comfort zone and look around and say, "I've got the house, I've got the car, I've got the job, I've got the friends, etc..." and actually forget God got us there in the first place. 

If your giving God the greatest most successful part of your life, do so with gratitude. Laying down your success doesn't mean you loose it, it is just an acknowledgment that God is faithful to give us the desires of our hearts. When we prosper, the Kingdom prospers. 

Psalms 9:1-2 says, "I will thank you, Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High."

Genesis 4 gives an account of Cain and Able's sacrifices to God. If you don't know the story, basically they were brothers. Cain grew crops, and Able raised livestock.  One element wasn't more important than the other to God, but the giver's heart was. Able gave the best of his flocks in sacrifice to God, were as Cain just gave. It is important to give, but to give with faith whole heartedly. 

word a day (9): Isaiah 54:2

EXPENSE... what does it cost? Usually the better something is, the more expensive it can become. I can confess to you that I am what you might consider a name brand lover. I will only purchase Adidas or Puma sneakers. There is something about the color that illuminates from a new pair grab my attention every time i walk down 5th or Broadway which are lined with shoe stores (my favorite being "Electronics and Shoes Inc."... only in NYC). But the truth is that these shoes generally have a considerably long life span. The neon yellow/silver adidas which adorn my feet at this moment, were purchased at least four years ago. You pay for fashion, or durability, or just because a brand is popular. 

So now back from that rabbit trail... It cost Christ His life to save the soul of every man ,woman,  and child who will except Him. To make a way that we can have a personal relationship with God no matter what nationality or culture we come from, but what does it cost you and me?

1 Romans 6, Paul talks about us joining Christ in death. This does not conclude in us going upon hills nearby and constructing crosses for ourselves, I promise. When we accept Christ and make Him the leader of our lives, we submit. We die to ourselves, our sinful nature, our past regrets. And just as Christ rose from the grave, so will we have new lives. A life that is no longer centered around our own selves. It costs us everything. Our all. We lay everything down for Christ, that pearl of great price. That can be pretty pricey for some. In a world that cries out "Me, Me, Me!!!!" it can be hard. We are trained to care for ourselves and then fold onto what is ours. This is why it is called an expense. It is casting aside our selfish "me me me" wants and focusing on what God wants for us. 

word a day (8): Isaiah 54:2

AND SPARE NOT... to spare is to hold back. Our God is not one who in known to hold back. To those who serve Him, He continually pours out abundance and blessing. Being made in 

God's image, would that not in-tale that we were never a people created to hold back. Sometimes work can bog me down, or something happens in my family that leaves me feeling low. There are even times when church can wear me out(you can account to this if you have been in bible college and have spent every single day of your week in the church). But not one of these is a legitimate reason to spare time or attention from God and His call in my life. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 9 that we not only are running a race, but we should be running so that we will win. We have to give it our all every day. This isn't a competitive race. We aren't competing to "get to God" before our peers, we are running out our own race. We are constantly challenging the pace we set the day before. The goal is to run with my eyes fixed on Christ. On His insurmountable love. On His grace that is undeserved. On His example he set before us and is available to us if we just open the pages of that book we only pull out for church services. The goal is for me to run this race, sparing no amount of energy, no amount of time, and no amount of effort.