React or Respond?

When things don't work out the way I thought they would, or when something happens to change my plans I find myself reacting. I am totally focussed on myself and how inconvenienced I am, or on my own irritation. I have lost sight of everything that is important and instead chosen to see the situation with a very narrow vision.
1 Peter 1:13-15 speaks of the approach we must take if we are going to choose to respond instead of react:

So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

I'm challenging myself to try to see situations through God's eyes, not my own self-centered view and to choose to put these words from 1 Peter into practice.

Find a great post here about responding and not reacting with the Help of the Holy Spirit.
talked on air Thur about the differences in focus between reacting (self focus) and responding (others focus)

Joyful, Wise People

Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord. Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in His paths
Psalm 119:1-3
We can all think of people who have made a choice to do the right thing, even though they had to go against the flow. They may have even had people turn against them, and they still stuck with their decision to live a life of integrity. Those kinds of choices may not always be easy, but they bring the joy and peace of knowing you are doing the right thing.

How joyful are those who fear the Lord- all who follow his ways! Psalm 128:1
God has plans for His creation and His ways are above ours. Following His way is the way to joy.

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

We can google just about anything, we can know a lot about many topics, but that is not real wisdom. We can have multiple college degrees, PhDs work specialties,  and all kinds of expertise, but true wisdom starts with a reverence for God; being in awe of who He is.

Sarah Lamb's Mission Perspective

Going on missions trips has been very humbling and life-changing for me. It has opened my eyes to the needs of those around the world. I’ve been privileged to meet brothers and sisters in Christ from numerous different countries. I’ve been amazed by their testimonies, shared in their suffering and joy, prayed with and learned so much from them. Being completely out of my “comfort zone” has also made me more dependent on Jesus. I have clung to His Word like never before. It’s hard to explain how real and vital His words become, how precious His presence is…having peace in knowing that no matter where I am, He is with me…what a staggering reality.  

I remember the first time I went to Mexico, we visited/went to minister to people who lived, literally on the edge of a trash dump. To this day, it is vivid in my mind...people in their "homes" beside heaps of garbage. The reality of poverty struck, and has stayed with me since then. It's hard to fully describe how that changed my perspective. There are such intense needs in this world, and Jesus calls us to help. Sometimes the needs aren't always physical, but people with needs are all around us. Jesus sees each of those needs and cares deeply about them. I want to care deeply too. I want to be moved with compassion like He is. This was one of the times in my life that I gained a greater desire and urgency to give to the poor and to help those in need. That my life wouldn’t be about my own will and selfish desires, but about doing His will and spreading His Kingdom.  

I also remember noticing how joyful the people in Mexico were during the church services/meetings I was a part of with them. Even the blazing heat didn’t stop them from passionately praising! It was such an authentic lesson: worshipping God isn’t about our comfort. There are people all across the world who come together to worship Him without shelter, or even at the risk of their lives.

As far as my time in Italy, one day I’ll always remember is the day of our children’s Christmas program. Because of the snow here in Padova, a number of our children and their families weren't able to make it to church Sunday morning, which meant less voices to sing and one main speaking part missing. We were sad that some of our kids who had been practicing with us weren't able to perform with us. In addition to that, Sunday was the first day we actually went through the program in the "sanctuary" so there were details that we didn't have completely worked out. Needless to say, numerous things didn’t go “according to plan.” But as the Lord always works so wonderfully, the day turned out to be a beautiful reminder of what is truly important. Not speaking lines or song words being completely memorized…not every detail of the program you practiced week after week being carried out perfectly…those don’t faintly compare to the glory of one who was lost being found. A beautiful Filipino girl who had participated in our program asked Jesus to be her Lord & Savior after Pastor Steve's sermon. During part of his teaching, he talked about gifts...that the best gift that has ever been given or that can ever be received is the gift of salvation. The Father gave His only Son so that we might be saved. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. How glorious for her to accept His gift. What better way to celebrate CHRISTmas? After all, it's all about Him.  

Sarah Lamb

Cheri Bunch's Mission Perspective

Cheri Bunch has had the opportunity to travel on several missions trips and she graciously agreed to be interviewed for today's radio show. These are highlights from the interview.
Cheri spoke about mission trips being a time that people are taken far outside their own comfort zones. She shared that one Bible verse in particular was encouraging to her when she was traveling in countries where personal safety was an issue.
Habakkuk 3:19 (Amplified version)
The Lord God is my strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk (not stand still in terror, but to walk and make spiritual) progress upon my high places (of trouble, suffering, or responsibility)!

I can definitely see myself taking comfort in the thought of God himself being so protective! Cheri spoke of the discomfort of knowing the government was in a state of unrest, in the country she traveled; she spoke of physical discomfort of illness from exposure to foreign germs. She also shared about the joy of seeing Christ change lives in dramatic ways.
One person Cheri met in particular who made a big impact on her was Valle. Valle's story begins in a slum- dirty and hopeless. Women from a church decided to go to the slum and share Christ with the people there even though they would be going into a dangerous area. Because of those women's obedience Valle's life was changed.
The ripple effect was something Cheri got to see firsthand. Cheri's eyes light up as she speaks into the radio microphone to tell of her first encounter with this vibrant believer, "she came to me and said, 'You know Jesus!?' with the biggest smile. I'll never forget that." Valle began sharing Christ with those around her in the slum. Because of her faith and the incredible difference Jesus made in her life, many came to accept Christ as their personal savior. The change was not just internal, not just spiritual. Many of those who surrendered to Christ have had opportunity to move out of the slum and work to have a better life now because of the faith of a few women who were not afraid to share Christ.
Cheri was adamant about expressing a key thought, as important as the things are that we can take to the mission field to share with those less fortunate, "the best thing to take is the Gospel. That will be lasting!"

Chari Kauffman's Mission Perspective

Our mission trip changed everything for me. My eyes were opened to our "prosperous" American mentality. It made me realize that the poor are filled with joy, yet we American's, who are wealthy beyond their imaginations (even when we don't think we are) are poor because we have no joy. They rely totally and completely in God, and we struggle with not relying at all on God....trying to do everything ourselves. 

When I got back from Kenya, I started reading everything I could get my hands on regarding what the Bible says about caring for the poor. I would recommend several great books for those who would like to explore this a little deeper: 

A Hole in the Gospel - by Richard Stearns, 

Radical - by David Platt, 

Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger - by Ronald Sider, 

Make Poverty Personal - by Ash Barker, 

There's Always Enough - by Heidi Baker, 

Compelled by Love - by Heidi Baker, 

The Poor Will be Glad - Peter Greer, 

It's Not OK with Me - Janine Maxwell. 

Several things stand out from the mission trip. Matthew 25: 31-46 really came alive. Water is not readily available. They have no running waters in their homes, at the school, etc. They have to carry purchased water that is very heavy long distances just to have water to bathe in, flush a toilet (if they have one), cook with, etc. I personally drink a lot of water every day, so this especially stood out for me. We would take small bottles of water and give them to the teachers or the school kids, and inevitably in your mind you would hear, "....I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink." Also, something very similar, there were a group of kids outside of the school gate looking in on the Wazungos (white people). I shared a bag of potato chips and a bottle of water with these 5 - 6 children. They were so hungry....it broke my heart. I wept later (not in front of the children....they don't know anything else) and felt deeply touched that God would give me the opportunity to share such a special moment with these slum kids. One of these little girls I would have taken home with me in a minute. 

The thing that I contemplate most is how to impress on my children to go against the grain of our American Materialistic Society. We're thinking of taking them back with us to Kenya this summer. I want them to see that when they look at our pantry that is stocked with food and they say "there's nothing to eat" how blessed they are. That when they have more than one change of clothes that they are blessed. That if they eat every day that they are blessed. That when they are sick and we can take them to the doctor that they are blessed. 

I saw this great quote from Mother Theresa the other day....

Hungry for love, He looks at you, 

Thirsty for kindness, He begs from you, 

Naked for loyalty, He hopes in you.

Sick and imprisoned for friendship, He wants from you. 

Homeless for shelter in your heart, He asks of you., 

Will you be that one to him?

--Mother Theresa

Shared by Chari Kauffman

Houston, Texas

Kandace Rather's Mission Perspective

Not all missions experiences are overseas. Kandace shares how she is a part of something more local.

She writes, "Are you familiar with Treasure Hunts? It's something we have been doing here in Joplin for over one year now. It's seeing your own community as your mission field...going out, finding the "treasure" that God sends you out to find. Before we go, we pray and ask the Lord to give us clues for our treasure map....when we go out, there is hardly ever a time that we are not amazed the preciseness of what He has shown us. One in particular is a young woman who felt like the Lord showed her a yellow submarine. Later that night, her team starts ministering to a lady at Walgreens and come to find out this lady has a yellow submarine tattooed on her arm. There are so many stories like this. We also have healing teams who are going out and seeing people healed instantly and more important, getting saved. Most of the teams are young adults....it's glorious!" 

I love hearing about the exciting things that happen when we trust God. I also love Kandace's perspective on reaching out right where she is, right now. We can be God's hands and feet. We can do God's work right in our own hometowns

Faith that Amazes Jesus

In Matthew 8:5-10,13 we read about an encounter between Jesus and a centurion, a leader in the Roman army.
As Jesus went into Capurnaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with Him, "Lord, one of my young servants lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain."
Jesus said, "I will come and heal him."
But the officer said, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only say go and they go, or come and they come. "
When Jesus heard this He was amazed. Turning to those who were following Him, he said, "I tell you the truth I haven't seen faith like this in all Israel!"

What an incredible thought- to be able to amaze Jesus Christ! I think far more often I amaze Him at how long it is taking me to learn a lesson- and how stubborn I can be. This is an amazing story of faith that make me think we can examine our hearts and think about if we are living a life of faith and trust in Jesus Christ. If we stumble and find ourselves doubting Christ then we know He has mercy to offer. We must turn away from doubt and sin and run towards a way of right living detailed in the Bible.

Sometimes Stories are Hard to Hear

The impulse is to close our eyes to the hurt around us. The first reaction is to turn the channel, think of something more exciting, or more comfortable. It can be difficult to hear some stories. How do we handle stories that are vastly different from our own? What about when someone voices an opinion drastically different from your own?

Sometimes the best foundation for relationship is just listening, especially when the goal is forming relationships in order to have opportunity to invest in a life- not just preach at someone. One of our main goals at the FireEscape youth ministry is to build relationships with youth, some of whom are unchurched, in order to more meaningfully connect them with Christ.
Some of the subjects of the interviews conducted at the FireEscape expressed opinions that went completely against what I hold to be true. I did not try to interject my faith as I asked students about theirs, but as a result of the interviews conversations arose about God that night. I was able to share some truths about God and Christianity. Here are a few more of the interviews from that night. I'm convinced, in my humble opinion, that there is no room for judging these teens- but that we must ask ourselves if we are doing enough to share Christ's love and message of hope with the people around us who believe much the same way these young people do.


Mia described himself as a transgender. He did not seem nervous and was eager to talk. I asked him,"What do you believe?" He looked around a moment before answering, "I’m not a religious person, I have my own Bible, but I think religion is overrated. Religion can be confusing to me. When I was around 12 years old I really started thinking about faith." He looked at me and said,  "Most of my family is very religious. My Grandma was religious, she had pictures of Jesus and crosses everywhere. If you didn’t believe like she did you were going to hell."Some of his friends were seated there around us, they had also agreed to be interviewed. He said, "I have a few friends that believe in God- they’re not big advocates of their faith."

Scott Wheeles was one of the people sitting there waiting to be interviewed. He was ready to talk without much prompting with questions. He leaned forward in his chair and said, "I don’t believe in anything; I’m an atheist." I asked him how he came to believe that way and he said, "I was thinking too much, came to alot of conclusions to why it just can’t be. I talk about faith alot, I like to argue about it and I’ve been known to stump people in conversations." He began to relate some of his perspectives on why he doesn't believe in God. I could tell that he liked a good argument, but not wanting to be drawn in I asked if he also rejected belief in anything supernatural. He said with conviction, "I’ve had experiences that make me believe in the supernatural but I reject religion." He talked for a moment about his experiences and then I asked about his family's beliefs. He admitted,  "There was a point that I related to the religion of my grandpa. I was a mormon before I became an atheist. I think other religions have similarities to Christianity. I think other Christianity branched off from other religions. I believe they’re all the same- they’re all just changing the rules." I wanted to move on to the other people who had told me they were willing to be interviewed, even though Scott was still willing to talk and argue his point. I'm sure more conversations will come up and I even mentioned to Scott that many of us volunteers would be willing to talk to him more about whether or not God exists, if he wanted to talk more with us.

Do the people around you believe much the same way as the you, or are there major differences? Is it daunting to think about what some of those differences would be if you began talking with others about their faith?

Photo by Kira Stevens

Musicians' Stories of Faith: Heather Williams and Matthew West

Heather Williams' story is one of her experiencing poverty, neglect, abuse and how she came to know Christ at the age of 18. Click here to watch her video on YouTube.

Matthew West's new album is called The Story of Your Life and is inspired by letters from his fans, telling their stories Click here to read one of the stories of faith.

Share your story of faith in the comments below. Tune in Tuesday to Moments of Grace to listen to a few stories from interviews conducted at the FireEscape.

The Whys and the Hows

God gave us something to teach us, to illuminate what is wrong in us, to correct us, to prepare us and to give us the tools we need to do His work: the Bible. 
So how do we start reading the Bible? How do we make God's Word be the top priority that it should be?


It starts with an open heart, and the simple step of opening the  Bible. Some have suggested that if you've never read the Bible before the best place to start is in the New Testament, with the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I have always loved the Psalms; reading them has helped me through some really dark times and given insight during some really good times.
If you have read the Bible, but have found yourself giving Bible reading a lower priority in your everyday life, be encouraged! There is grace for those of us who don't have it all together! 
Check out these links for more encouragement as you strive to give God's Word top priority in your life.

Early Morning Memories Here a young lady shares memories of her mom rising early to read the Bible and pray.


Its Proper Place This young mom doesn't regret the times she has spent in early morning Bible reading

Got Bible Questions?/ You can submit your Bible questions, or search their archives for questions that have already been answered and posted.

The Canon of the Bible This gives more evidence to shed light on how we came to have the Bible we read today. 

The Hardest Thing to Do is Open the Bible by Molly Piper. On incourage.me

Bible Reading Plan

On this site you can chose what kind of plan you want to set up.

www.crosswalk.com has a daily Bible reading posted on Bible Study Tools                                          

What Really Matters?

The book of Philippians, in the Bible, is a letter written by the apostle Paul and by Timothy to all the Christians at the church in Philipi.

What was said to them can also be applied to our lives today.

9 I pray that your love for each other will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding. 10 For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until Christ returns. Philippians 1:9,10

So what do we need to understand, what really matters?

It really matters that you believe that the Bible is the Word of God and is able to change your life. It has no errors; the New Testament is the account of eyewitnesses to the events of Jesus’ life and the effects His life had on people; the Old Testament is the Word of God, telling of His character- His love for us- His plan to save us from our sins.

It really matters that you believe that Jesus Christ is God’s own Son, sent from heaven to live a sinless life, die for us and rise from the dead.

It really matters that you know that God has a perfect plan for your life, that He loves you enough to believe the best about you and expect the best from you, even when you are at your lowest.

God loves you and wants you to use the Scripture He gave to guide you in how to live a life for Him.


Photo by Kira Stevens

Is the Old Testament really God's Word?

One way to verify if a manuscript is authentic is to find the earliest handwritten copies, made before the invention of the printing press and compare them to the manuscripts we have today. There are many manuscripts that verify that we do have authentic copies of the Old and New Testaments. One example of this is the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These were discovered between 1947 and 1956 and are the oldest group of Old Testament manuscripts ever found, according to CenturyOne.com. Fragments of every book of the Hebrew Old Testament were found, with the exception of the book of Esther.
The ancient documents are remarkably similar to the Bible we have today, with the only differences being simple spelling or grammatical differences. This is not the case with other ancient documents

Another way the Bible demonstrates its reliability is through prophesy that has already been proven to be true. Prophesy can be simply defined as telling what is going to happen before it happens. Old Testament prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, prophesied many events that later came true. They could not have known about the events at the time. Some of their prophesies came true years after they had already died, but we can compare what happened with what they said and see that they in fact did tell the future. They told the future with such detail that the chances of a random event fulfilling the prophesy are astronomical.

We can also trust in what the Scriptures shows Jesus thought of the Old Testament. If we believe that Jesus is perfect and we read about Him quoting from Scriptures, then we can place our trust in Scriptures as well.

You can follow this link to read more about the Dead Sea Scrolls

This link contains quotes from ancient historians outside of Scripture, that reference Jesus Christ.
Clarifying Christianity

Is the New Testament really God's Word?

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17 

Is the Bible a reliable and trustworthy document?

     The Bible must be valued as God's Word so that we allow it to "teach us what is true, make us realize what is wrong in our lives," and, "correct us when we are wrong." The Bible is the only source of God speaking into our lives to prepare us and equip us to do His good work. There may be other good books but the Bible is the only inspired Word of God.  The Bible is the only book that has the power to truly change our lives.

     
     These are just a few evidences dealing with the reliability of the New Testament. There will be more on this topic and on evidences for the reliability of the Old Testament in coming posts and radio shows. Also listed are links you can follow to begin researching these topics for yourself.

     
     When historians want to verify if an ancient document is authentic there are many things that can be done. These tests have been applied to ancient, handwritten documents as well as the ancient copies of the New Testament. The other ancient documents may have as many as one thousand years between the writing of the original and the oldest existing copy of the manuscript. (The longer the gap between the original and the oldest exisiting copy then the more time for errors to creep in.)  The oldest exisiting manuscript of part of the New Testament was written within 40 years of the original. There are 14,000 manuscripts of all or part of the New Testament, but there are only a few copies of other ancient documents. 

     During the early days of the church, the first generation of church leaders, there were many quotes of the New Testament. They quoted the New Testament 36,289 times. So if all the ancient manuscripts of the New Testament and every copy on earth of the New Testament were destroyed we could still reproduce New Testament (with the exception of only 11 verses) just from the writings of these early church leaders quoting the New Testament. (Source: The Case for Christianity)

We can believe without doubt that the New Testament we have today was written by the people who were eyewitnesses to the events. 

Please follow these links to research the reliability of the Bible for yourself.

Is the Bible without error? From Christianity101

How do we know that the Bible is true? From ChristianAnswers

ClarifyingChrisitaninty This link contains quotes from ancient historians that reference Jesus Christ in ancient documents besides the Bible.

Wrong and Right

        This post contains excerpts from "That's Just Wrong,"

How do we know what is wrong and what is right?

        This question could be asked by anyone. We may have asked a question like this ourselves. We must look to Jesus Christ and to His Word, the Bible, to see the source of right. We see people choosing to act in ways that hurt themselves or others and our world is full of wrong because of these choices. In the Bible the list of wrong choices is long:

"They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless."  Romans 1:29-31

       The idea of wrong and right is “written on our hearts” the Bible says in Romans 2:15. It sounds harsh, but even we can see that the result of wrong living is death. Even though we chose the wrong path again and again, God loved us so much that He sent Jesus Christ to rescue us from ourselves. Since death is the result of our sin, Christ chose to die instead of us, even though He had never sinned. He died so we could be seen by God to be righteous- not sin-filled. 

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. "

Rom 3:22-24

Three days after He died, Jesus Christ miraculously rose from the dead! We can live for Him, knowing that our sins are forgiven.

Follow your heart or follow His?

       Most of the instances I think of involving my heart misleading me are when I was chasing some relationship with a guy! I have to admit that being in a relationship was such a major focus for me when I was in high school. I wish I could take back some lost time that I spent wishing some guy would notice me, or pay more attention to me. I would've been better off to pour that time into my relationship with Christ!

So I know the truth in the statement, "My feelings lie to me." Have you ever followed your heart just to find out that it was leading you wrong? The path I think my heart is leading me on may end in a trap. But the great news is that the Lord rescues me from traps! Even when I become trapped simply because of my own hard-headed stubbornness and silly pride.

"The Lord is good and does what is right; He shows the proper path to those who go astray. he leads the humble in doing right, teaching them His way. The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands." Then,"who are those who fear the Lord? He will show them the path they should choose." Psalm 25:8-10, 12

     There are so many times that my prayers include a plea that God will show me the direction I should be going. He is faithful to show me His way, but I'm not always faithful to follow!

       So what are we to do? The world tells us to follow our feelings, follow our hearts and yet that leads nowhere. The way of the Lord can be found. If you seek God- He will be found:

       "I will be found by you," says the Lord. Jeremiah 28:14  

        I will meditate on Your precepts and have respect to Your ways, the paths of life marked    

         out by Your law. Psalm 119:15

     

       He is waiting for you to seek Him. God's heart is to be found by you and anyone who will seek Him. If we seek Him He will be found- you can't get much more straightforward than that! I need that kind of clarity sometimes when my heart is so confused by the emotions that try to lead me. 

Renewed

Our attitude is so important as we remain in Christ, but it can be so easy to let things get us down.  We can be refreshed and renewed as we follow Jesus.

22 throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. 23 Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. 24 You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness -- righteous, holy, and true. Ephesians 4:22-24 New Living Translation

Another translation gives more insight.

Be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude)Ephesians 4:23 Amplified

As we consistently turn away from our old ways and choose Christ, we can be renewed over and over again- constantly. I don't know about you, but some days I feel like I need renewal moment by moment. Sometimes I forget that I can turn to Jesus for refreshing.

Ways we can be renewed by the Spirit:

• Bible reading, even re-reading favorite passages
• Worship music- help turn thoughts toward how great God is
• Poetry, devotions, observations from other Christians
• Gratitude- take stock of the blessings I see around me
• Praying for others-
• Doing something nice, smiling at someone, giving someone a gift for no reason
• Being creative, make something for someone, even if it is just a simple thing
• Read an inspiring book, choose one that lifts your sights, not just gives you an escape

Photo by Kira Stevens

Hopes and Dreams

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

  

Faith is hoping with confidence. By planning ahead in what we hope for we are working toward what God has planned for us. But that doesn't mean we just wait around. We work to prepare our hearts and we work to make sure you have the skills you need to do the big things God has for you.

Write down your dreams, make some lists of what you need to get there. You may need to think about how you’re using your time now and if you are really doing all you can now to realize those dreams.

We keep ourselves ready for the work the God has for us by living a life of purity, by keeping away from evil things. If I keep myself from watching or listening to things that are not right, if I make sure that I am putting God first, if I remain rooted in the Word of God, then I will be pure and ready for God’s work, ready for the dream He is working out.

Picture from www.Christianphotos.net

Does living living intentionally sound boring?

Does it give you the image of somebody who has done the same thing everyday for fifty years? Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus says in John 10:10, in the last part of the verse, that He came to give us a full, abundant life. Jesus Christ has big dreams for your life. Do you dream of amazing things happening in your life?

“Prayer is a form of dreaming. Nothing will adventurize your life like prayer. If you cultivate the prayer routine, it will keep your life from becoming routine. Prayer is where I cultivate a sense of destiny.” Mark Batterson

The work God has for you to do may be to study diligently for a class that you don’t really enjoy, to do mounds of laundry, or to work compliantly with coworkers and bosses that really get on your nerves. The work you are doing, although it can seem so common, can be God’s work. If your attention is diverted to meaningless drudgery with no thought for what God’s purposes are for you, that is not God’s plan for you, not the full life Christ has given. If your attitude about daily life is one of “just getting thru the day,” then you’ll have wasted all the time when you could’ve been worshiping, working and serving. If your attitude is good then you’ll be completing daily work while being transformed to be more and more like Christ.

When we choose to follow Christ we sometimes go through times of trials- difficult times when we feel alone, or attacked. These can be times when we are being opposed by the enemy of Christ- Satan. The first part of John 10:10 is about Christ’s enemy, satan. It says that satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. Satan wants to halt your growth in Christ, he wants to do anything he can to come between you and the full life that Jesus Christ has for you. He wants to steal your purpose and get you off track. 


Day to day drudgery can blind us to true meaning and purpose. The things that we have to do everyday must be done; food to eat, clothes to wear, work to be done. Are these common, daily things consuming your time and attention? Pray today and ask God to give you big dreams for your life, dreams that can include the everyday, while keeping in mind the higher things that God has planned for you. Share with us by clicking the contact tab on the FireEscape website or commenting on our Facebook page. Tell us the great things you’re dreaming about with God.

Photo from Christianphotos.net

Remaining in Christ

 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.

Even if you don’t make New Year’s resolutions, a new start can be a welcome thing. 

 Anytime can be a chance to leave behind past mistakes and have a renewed purpose. We are already a few weeks into the new year. Are you already beating yourself up over some New Year’s resolution you’re having trouble keeping? 

I’ve found that if I give my best effort I can usually keep up with a goal for about 2 weeks. After that everything seems to fall apart. I’m learning that the key to new things is so simple. I need to remain in Christ, like it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Our relationship with Jesus Christ is not about a list of dos and don’ts. It is a relationship that must be cultivated over time. A relationship takes intentional activity to make it more that it was at first. Your relationship with your best friend is different today than the first day you met. If you’re making a marriage work, then you are putting effort into it and it is not the same relationship as the day you said, “I do.”

But our relationship with Christ is also not about throwing out all rules and regulations and doing things our own way. The Bible is God’s word-  and in the Bible we have been told how to remain in Christ. We have to read the Word to know how to follow Christ better!

Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a book of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and loved to think about him. Malachi 3:16

If you are walking with Christ then you should be talking to others who are following Him. Thinking about Jesus more is easier when you have people around you who are talking about Him, people who love to think about Him. This verse in Malachi says that the Lord listens to that conversation among believers and writes it down. I want to be living the kind of life that the Lord wants to write down and remember what I say. That is an amazing thought!

Here’s another perspective on who we should be hanging out with:

Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.

Proverbs 13:20

Have you been walking with wise people? Do the friends you are always around love to think and talk about the Lord?



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An Intentional Life

On Moments of Grace our focus for the last week in January is “An Intentional Life.” We’ll be sharing some ways to be deliberate about everyday life while lifting our focus to things above the daily drudgery.  Whatever your place in life right now, you can be a part of Moments of Grace at FireEscape.net and on KFEX Monday through Thursday from 12-4. We’ll be talking about living an intentional life. We will be encouraging each other to find out how to remain in Christ so the new things He is doing in us will last much longer than our own efforts. Join me Monday throughThursday for Moments of Grace on KFEX












Picture from www.christianphotos.com