worth it all.

have you ever thought about the cost of following Christ? and, after that do you think it is worth it?

these were some of the questions we discussed at Face2Face tonight at church. it is something that i havent thought about in a very long time.

but let's think about it. the cost of following Jesus was tough, and for the most part was unrealistic for most people. who would want to deny their family? (Luke 14:26) or risk not having the comforts of their basic needs? (Matthew 8:19-20) or forfeit all their possessions? (John 18:14-25) or love the people you want to hate? (Matthew 5:43-44) or carry an item of pain, suffering, and death? (Matthew 16:24)

this all seems foolish doesnt it? but this IS what Christ calls us to as believers of the Gospel. not just part of the time, or when we want to do them. and if we make that mistake Jesus tells us that we dont deserve to be his disciples. the Eleven disciples (excluding Judas Iscariot) understood this full well. Jesus didnt have to convince these people to follow Him. He simply told them to "Follow me" and they did. they dropped the things they were doing, left their families behind, forfeited the comfort of their homes, and followed Him. and to even look at this deeper, these were fishermen and tax collectors; men of low occupational standard, as well as, respectable age (some were young-possibly 17-25). and as time went on, looking in John 6, disciples from all over joined Jesus, or wanted to, but when Jesus told them the cost of following Him, they turned and went back to what the were comfortable with. then something very unique happened in scripture:

"From that moment many of His disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him. Therefor Jesus said to the Twelve, 'You don't want to go away too, do you?' Simon Peter answered, 'Lord who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of God!" John 6:66-69 (HCSB)

notice what Peter said. he says that they would have nothing to go back to. and they WANTED to continue following Him. wow. thats devotion. thats dedication. thats love. they trusted that Christ was worth sacrificing everything to follow, and they didnt want to go back to their "normal" way of life. they understood the cost of following Christ. and it is really shown after Christ's ascension when most of them take a martyr's death. they gave up their lives to follow Christ. literally. and that is a beautiful picture of what it means to be His disciple. it's crazy, i know, but i believe it's worth it.

one final thought. Francis Chan in his book, Forgotten God, states:

"Nowhere in scripture do I see “balanced life with a little bit of God added in” as an ideal for us to emulate. Yet when I look at our churches this is exactly what I see: a lot of people who have added Jesus to their lives. People who have in a sense asked Him to join them on their life journey and follow them wherever they feel they should go, rather than following Him as we are commanded. The God of the universe is not something we can just add to our lives and keep on as we did before. The Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is not someone we can just call on when we want a little extra power in our lives. Jesus Christ did not die in order to follow us, He died and rose again so that we could forget everything else and follow Him to the cross, to true Life."

with that said, is it worth it to you?

________________________________________

Now around every corner
And up every mountain
I'm not looking for crowns
Or the water from fountains
I'm desperate in seeking, frantic believing
That the sight of Your face
Is all that I need
I will say to You

It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it all
I believe this

-Worth It All (Rita Springer)

you can have it all.

so we have been discussing the Holy Spirit at church for the past few weeks. it has been a good study, but this past week was different. i was broken. and it was a good thing.

every week my Sunday School teachers ask us a very specific question before we get started. they ask, "What has God been doing in your life?" and this specific week i had a very hard time answering that question. i didnt want to try and dig into my mind for an answer because i feel like i would have answered the question out of obligation rather than sincerity. so i kept quiet. but it was neat listening to the other stories of what God was doing around me. and truthfully that blessed my soul. the entire time in Sunday School God did a number on my heart. as i listened to His truth and the response coming from the believers that were around me, i was convicted and encouraged.

we studied several scriptures Sunday, but one in particular stuck out in such a profound way that i couldnt get it off my mind. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, "Do not quench the Spirit." (ESV) or, "Do not suppress the Spirit." (The Message) or, "Do not stifle the Holy Spirit." (NLT). each version gives a profound understanding of what we need to do as believers in allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us. in the Greek, to quench something meant that you literally put out a fire. and in this case it would refer to the burning fire of the Holy Spirit and the power manifested in and through Him. we cant put out that fire. we cant suppress the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. but after i thought about it, i had to ask myself how i did that in my own life, and even to elaborate on that, how have i been doing that lately?

i searched deep in to my heart. and the Lord brought some things out of me that i had been holding on to. things that i had forgotten. promises that i looked over. and it was good to rid myself and be reminded of those. so in short, my heart was cleansed. my soul was refreshed. and my mind made new. bringing things to the feet of God is a good thing, and it is what He wants me to do. it is what He wants you to do. and i cant express my gratitude to a Father who wants to intentionally relieve my burdens from me.

"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

that night after being so caught up in what the Lord was doing, He gave me the opportunity to share that Love he extended towards me with someone else. on my way home from church Sunday night i had a schedule i had planned out in my head of things that i needed to do. little did i know that a woman named Heather and her 9 year old son, Ashton, would occupy it instead. they were stuck in the middle of the highway with no gas in their car. it was on the way, but they had no way of telling other cars they were stopped and it was freezing outside, so i felt the need to offer some hazard lights and a warm car. after we put a little gas in her car, i followed her to the gas station to make sure she made it ok. while the gas was pumping she was curious about my life story, so i shared some of the information she asked. then i asked her. turns out she is from Byram, MS which is where i go to church. i mentioned that, and it turns out that her son was actually at CWBC that morning with her mother. i told her that i would love for both of them to come to church with me Sunday and i would get them plugged into a Sunday School class.

as simple as this story is, it is neat to see how the Lord worked in it. if i wouldnt have stopped, then there is a strong possibility that the two of them wouldnt have seen the Love of God that night, and to take it a step further, they may not have been invited to church this coming Sunday. but the Lord used that connection we made sitting at the gas station for His glory. and i am going to continue to pray for those two, and i pray that God does an amazing work in their lives, just as He is doing in mine.

"What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure." Philippians 2:12-13 (The Message)

God gave me this opportunity and i took hold of it, and He got all the glory. that's what He deserves. it was nothing of myself because if i had it my way, i would have gone on back to my room and did what i had planned. but i am glad that He trusted me with that opportunity. my soul delights in Him.

as most of you know, i am also mentoring a young boy from church. his name is Landon. today i had the opportunity to pick him up from school and we just hung out. it was a beautiful day outside, so that is where we were. we shot basketball in his backyard, making up various games that i had no say in the rules because they were made up as we played. i guess that's how it goes nowadays though. but after we played for a while we finally sat down and talked. i got real with him. we talked about some things that had been on my heart, and some things about our relationship with the Lord. i wont go into detail about what we discussed because that is between us, but we made some headway in a positive direction. he is keeping me accountable and that is what i need. we are memorizing James 1 together. this is going to be an interesting ride from here on out, and i am excited about it.

the Lord is good. to Him be all glory, honor, and praise.

I’m alive to bring glory to You, King
God of victory, You are my passion
It’s in the way You are, You don’t change at all
Great and humble God, You are my passion

My strength in life is I am Yours
My soul delights because I am Yours

Your will on earth is all I’m living for

Jesus, I glorify; Jesus, my love is Yours
You are my heart’s desire; I live to know You more

Light that breaks the darkness, showing what true love is
Always full of goodness, You are my passion
You never do me wrong, the meekest Man, but strong
The most perfect song, You are my passion

My strength in life is I am Yours
My soul delights because I am Yours

Your will on earth is all I’m living for

Jesus, I glorify; Jesus, my love is Yours
You are my heart’s desire; I live to know You more

You Are My Passion (Jesus Culture)

the things i do.

life is running full speed right now. i dont want to get distracted from the things that matter to me. it is hard. and i have to continually rely on the Lord to get me through these difficult times.

i talked to my brother and sister-in-law today. i miss him. and her. but mostly him (no offense emma). he has grown up so much. i dont wanna say its because he is married now, but for the first time today i had a huge adult conversation. i admire him. im glad he is my big bro. he has my back in difficult times and he shoots it straight with me when i need it. i hate that it takes him being out of the country for me to miss him like i do.

on the brighter side, i am now certified to teach. ill be visiting schools really soon. hopefully i can land a job before school is out in december. we shall see.

i miss camp.

i wish that i could watch tv shows like The Office and NCIS on a regular basis. i miss not having a real structure to my schedule.

im glad that it is finally fall here in mississippi. its about time. i love being outside during the day. God is good at what he does.

i finished coaching practice with my 10 year old girls today. im really gonna miss their shenanigans. luckily ill see most of them at church.

im gonna get some coffee...

when it rains it floods.

so i did something yesterday that i have always wanted to do. get caught in the rain. as simple as that sounds, i have always wanted to unintentionally get caught in it. and today it happened. i was running and it poured. i wanted to start crying, but i couldnt because i was so overjoyed.

the reason for the tears would be because this simple act of getting caught in the rain is a picture of everything that i have been through lately. it seems that in life we get to caught up in the things of routine or the things of mediocrity. and for me this rain was a picture of releasing that in my own life. if you have been following my blog, i have written about some of the things that the Lord has been doing in my life. it is overwhelming. its like a flood rushing at me, and all i want to do is stand there. i dont want to run away from the working of the Lord in my life and in the lives around me.

David Platt writes in his book, Radical, "Our great need is to fall before an Almighty Father day and night and to plead for him to show his radical power in and through us, enabling us to accomplish for his glory what we could never imagine in our own strength. And when we do this, we will discover that we were created for a purpose much greater than ourselves, the kind of purpose that can only be accomplished in the power of his Spirit."

And in Psalm 135:6-7 it says,

"Whatever the Lord pleases, he does,

in heaven and on earth,

in the seas and all deeps.

He it is who makes the clouds rise at the

end if the earth,

who makes lightnings for the rain

and brings forth the wind from his

storehouses."

these two passages correlate in the fact that God is sovereign. He is the one who enables us to do great things for HIS great names sake. i desire for Him to get all the glory in my life. it is only by His name that i can do anything in the first place. i am so glad to be a part of the Lord's purpose. i want him to continue to use me, but to also use others to impact me. and just as the Psalmist said, "whatever the Lord pleases, he does". and honestly, i am ok with that. who am i to tell the God of the universe how to run His show. my prayers are not demands, they are requests. that is my role. i dont decide how it all plays out. and i just need to let Him do His thing.

so, from here, where do you stand? are you in the valley where the flood is, or on the mountainside where it's safe? i know that i have a lot to learn on this ride. but i am willing to continue to let go and not hang out on the outskirts and simply enjoy the view. i want to get my feet wet from that flood of love that wants to overtake me. are you?

coming soon.

i need to blog. asap.

new beginning.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." -Philippians 1:6

so yeah. i believe in this truth. i think more so now than i ever have. i cant even begin to tell you about how the Lord is working in my life right now. where

He is taking me. how He is challenging me. it is incredible.

i love the fact that i am made for His own possession. and that He started something in my life a long time ago when i put my trust in Him. and now He continues to build on that promise He made. He has begun a work in me, and he continues to work in me. Just one thing that He is continuing and perfecting in my life is my heart for discipleship. and that all turns back to Jesus.

these are some of the boys from Country Woods Baptist Church. there are more that i have the privilege of hanging out with, but these are just a few. two years ago i got to serve this church at camp. and fast forward a few years to the present, i am now a member of their church. did i think that two years ago that this would be the case? nope. that's how great our God is. He knows these plans for our lives. and i cant help but be humbled in the midst of it. through my trust in Him, i now have the opportunity to invest and cultivate these lives for the Lord even more. i am so grateful for the work that he started two years ago with these kids, and now i get to continue in this work, which will one day be perfected on the day Jesus calls the righteous home.

what work is the Lord doing in your life? what is he continuing? do you trust that promise?

I Exalt Thee