Bold

To be a Christian means to be like Christ. Christ was never timid about anything, He did everything boldly. We have been given the same Spirit “for God gave us a Spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” 1 Timothy 1:7. Often, we forget about the power of the God that dwells in us. If He commands us to stand out, stand up, or take action, we can act boldly with full assurance that He is with us.

Look at the story of Gideon in Judges 6 and 7, he was weak and timid until the Lord called him out into his true identity, we cannot let Satan attack our identity and stand by and do nothing about it. Or look at Peter, the same man that denied Christ three times on the night of his betrayal became a leader of the early church once he had the Spirit of the Risen King inside of him. We are chosen, we are mighty warriors for God’s kingdom that He has raised up for a time just like this! Our perspective can be thrown off by Satan’s attacks, but we must remember who we are in Christ. Our perception doesn’t matter, the perception of those around us doesn’t matter, the only perception that matters is the perception of our King, and He tells us that we are mighty and we are one with Christ. As Brother Yun puts it in his book Living Water, “I exhort you in Christ: please do not forget your identity. You are a redeemed one, chosen by the almighty God to be His child. Your heavenly Father wants you to be a bold warrior who depends on His mighty power. He wants you to be as bold as a lion. Amen!”

So go, be bold and confident in who God has called you to be, He will change the world through His children, why not be a part of that great transformation!

Identity

Who are you? That is a question that a lot of people have a tough time answering. It's been coming up a lot in my time with God lately, so I figured I would share some insights.

Myself and a few friends are memorizing Romans 8 this summer, so I have been reading over it quite a bit. Verse 14 (don't worry if you are memorizing with me, I haven't memorized this far yet) says that if we are led by the Spirit of God that we are sons of God! I read that and I'm like WHOA! Because when I think Son of God, I think Jesus, and to put myself on that level is kinda tough, but then I have to stop and realize that I'm not on Jesus' level on my own accord, but because He put me there and that His Spirit is why I am considered a son of God in God's eyes. Paul then goes on to say that we have not received a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but a Spirit of adoption as sons...here we go again, God is really driving the point home here that we are His family. Then down in verse 19 we are told that the creation itself longs eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God! When I read this I get really excited and something deep down inside me starts screaming like William Wallace before battle!

I get this picture of who God has created me to be, He has created a son, He has created a brother, He has created a man, and He has created a warrior. Looking at this person that God has created I get fired up, I want to live up to these things, I want to love Him as a son loves his father, I want to be a brother to those around me, I want to be what a man was meant to be, and I want to be a warrior for my King! Guys, when God created you, He created the same things! Spend some time asking Him how He wants these to be a part of your life. Ladies, obviously these things will be a little bit different for you, but God has a specific purpose for who He created when He created you too, so please do the same thing, spend some time asking God who you are in Him and what that means for your life. He promises us that He will bring the work that He has begun in us to completion. (Philippians 1:6)

Faith and Fish

How often do we worry about things that we need?

• Rent money
• A job
• New clothes
• Direction
• Words to say
• A boyfriend/girlfriend
• Good grades

In Matthew 14, Jesus is upset over the death of John the Baptist and He goes off to a 'desolate place' but a huge crowd follows Him and He heals their sick, but when it starts getting dark and they are a long way from food the disciples advise Him to send them away, but Jesus decides that they should all eat there. So He tells the disciples to feed them, but they say 'hey look, Jesus, we only have a little bit of food' of course Jesus provides a miracle and the little bit of food they had feeds all 5,000 men and the women and children with leftovers.

One chapter later when Jesus has been teaching a group of 4,000 men plus women and children that have been following Him for 3 days He tells the disciples to give them something to eat. After what just happened you would think the disciples were like, 'sure Jesus!' And just trust that it would work with His blessing, but they question how they can feed them all...the same way that they did last time!

I was reading through and saw this and I have been chewing on it for a little while and I think that we do the same thing a whole lot more than we realize. How many times do we worry about how a certain situation will work out, or how we will manage to afford this or that, or how we will ever pull a decent grade in a class? Now I'm not saying that we should not work at these things because scripture clearly tells us that our work brings glory to God, but I am saying that we have been commanded not to worry about how God will provide in these situations, but to seek His kingdom and trust that He will work out these situations to His glory.

So, yes, we need to work hard at everything that we do, Colossians 3:23 tells us that we should seek to bring God glory through what we work at, but we should not waste time or energy worrying about how things will turn out. In Red Moon Rising Pete Greig says that we should "pray like it all depends on God and live like it all depends on us". This means being obedient when we hear God's instruction and acting without fear while trusting that God will provide for His glory in every situation.

Microfinance

A bunch of you have heard me talk about microfinance in the past two weeks or so, but I just wanted to take some time to spread the word about what it is and how it works because I feel like God has shown me how it can be a useful tool for reaching out and loving others.

Microfinance is the process of giving a small business loan to an entrepreneur that is living in poverty so that they can improve the quality of life that they share with their family and their local community. I think that partnered with prayer and the power of God, this is a tool that can be used to change lives. I took some time to look into it and make sure that microfinance is legit and that people are helped through these loans. I found an organization that I thought looked straight forward and seemed to be seeking to help people, so I asked Jaime about it because I knew that she would have heard of this in all of her knowledge of poverty and social justice. Jaime suggested to me the same organization that I found and I just wanted to pass it along to everyone else. The site is www.kiva.org and they have profiles of people who are seeking microfinance loans and a lender (you or me) can look through and find someone that they want to help out. The loans are usually 6-months to a year and then the principal balance is repaid to the lender so that they can reinvest if they find someone else to help out.

There are some sites that allow you to participate in microfinance for a profit, but kiva uses the interest to cover the costs of the lending institutions, so the type of lending that kiva does is strictly charitable. This is a great way to do a lot with a little because the minimum amount to contribute to a loan is $25, obviously if you want to do more you can, but if you loan only the minimum of $25 and reinvest it over 2 or 3 years you can touch the lives of anywhere between 2 and 6 families and help them to escape poverty. But don't take my word for it, go ahead and check out the site, I promise you won't regret it.

A Challenge of Biblical Proportions

Colossians 3:1-4 is a challenge to followers of Christ. The gauntlet has been thrown down, and it's time to step the game up! The chapter starts..."If then, you have been raised with Christ"...so, if you have experienced Christ's resurrection, you should be acting this way. Wednesday night at Overflow, we were talking about Christ's resurrection, and what that means for us as His followers. A short summary is that we are dead to sin, because of Christ's victory over death, we cannot be held captive by sin. But more important than that (because yes, that is very important), because of Christ's victory over death, He is our King and our God, we owe all of our allegiance to Him. That being said, we should live our lives in the way that Christ instructs us through His Word.

The verse goes on to say that we should be seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, and that we should set our minds on the things that are above, not the things that are on earth (click the link and check it out yourself, don't take my word for it). Now, I don't want to make light of the current economic situation, but let's be real, if we are seeking Christ's Kingdom, are we really going to be focused on what the news says about the stock market, or about which part of the auto industry is seeking a bailout? Once again, I don't want to make light of this, because these events have real consequences in people's lives, and followers of Christ should be ready and excited about the chance to reach out to these people in their time of need. My point is that we should have peace about the whole situation, we should be filled with the joy that people need to see in a time like this, we should be prepared to share our hope with those who need it. If we are just as worried about America's economic falterings as people who are not followers of Christ, then we are not doing a very good job of being a light in the darkness, bringing hope to those who have none.

We have to be prepared to share the Truth with people who are seeking it more than ever in a time when hundreds of thousands of people in our country are losing their jobs and are going through financial storms, they NEED to know the God that can calm the storms and can give us peace in the middle of a war!

So, Scripture's challenge to all of us (myself included), is: "are we living like a people who have died to themselves and their own little worries, and live in the power of a resurrected King, and are we following that King to spread His kingdom here on earth?"

24/7 Prayer

24/7 Prayer at ECU starts Friday at noon and goes through next Friday. This is an attempt to bring people closer to God through spending time in prayer. The event will be held at the BCM beside Wendy's on 10th street. We want to unite our campus in prayer and seeking after God, He is doing big things on our campus, so why not join in and get involved.


24/7 Prayer at ECU from Brad Christian on Vimeo.

Check out the website to sign up www.247ecu.com

Special thanks to Brad Christian for doing an awesome job on the video.

Smile and Enjoy

Check out their website for more details about "playing for change".

I hope you enjoy the video and that it brightens your day like it did mine!

Praying For All People (Politicians Are People Too)

Over the past month, it has really been brought to my attention that the people leading our government really need prayer. When I say they need prayer, I don't mean that we should pray for them to pass this legislation or that legislation, I mean that we should pray for the PEOPLE that are leading our country. This list of PEOPLE includes President Obama, everyone in Congress, your governor and your local government officials. If you dislike our government, a particular politician, or all politicians in general, you don't have an excuse. If you don't believe me, check out 1 Timothy 2:1-5, it says that we are called to pray for ALL people, and even makes direct reference to praying for those in positions of political power (don't take my word for it, click the link). When you pray for our leaders, pray that if they are followers of Christ, that they will seek His guidance and direction in the decisions that they make. If they are not following Christ, pray that they will be impacted by God's influence in their lives. If you are truly interested in seeing God turn our country around, remember that He moves when His people pray. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (Go ahead, click that link too, God's word has more to say about this than I ever can).

If somebody forgot to let you know...

In case you live under a rock, or haven't been around lately, I just wanted to let people know that I have some amazing friends. C.S. Lewis once wrote that "The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are". I totally think this is true and I have been blessed to have the chance to surround myself with people who challenge and encourage me all the time. I enjoy spending time with people as you know if you have spent 30 seconds around me, and I just want to say thanks to all of the amazing friends that I have and to the Creator of the universe that brought each one of them into my life. Y'all are awesome!

Where are your priorities?

I want to take some time and hit on the fact that sometimes, we get busy, we get stressed and we get distracted from what we should be focusing on...right now is a great example of that because I am working my way through a pretty busy week and I have made it a point to not lose focus of what is important in life. I have a lot of assignments and quizzes and even 2 exams the day after my birthday coming up this week, tax season is starting to pick up at work and I know when I get to Washington in the morning, there will be a stack of returns on my desk waiting to be prepared. While all of this is going on, I have made a commitment to stay focused on spending time with God, leading my 2:42 group, and making people a priority in my life. Nothing in life can become more important than God, people, and service. Sometimes, that means choosing to take time away from pursuing good grades or anything else that becomes more important than these three things. That is not to say that good grades are not important, because they are, working hard is important, but in order to approach them properly and bring glory to God through my grades and my career, I have to make sure that He stays top-priority in my life. I challenge you to do the same...regardless of what is important in your life, please take time to make sure that God is the most important person in your life, and that loving and serving Him and His people is your goal in life.

Luke 10:27

And he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.

Hope

Hope is such a powerful word. President Obama used this word as one of his campaign slogans, it is a keyword in the fight against breast cancer, and 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that it is one of God's most enduring and amazing gifts to us.

Tonight, Kyle and I were watching the news and it was filled with report after depressing report about our failing economy and the huge holes in the stimulus plan that is supposed to fix the dying economy. The next report was about the 58,000 Americans that have lost their jobs in the last two days. Kyle and I just kind of looked at each other and he made the comment that he is so glad that his hope isn't in our government, our President, our economy, or anything else other than Jesus Christ and the love that He has for us. I couldn't agree more, and as I was thinking about all the people that are going through hard times right now and that are stressed because of our economy, or our country's new leadership, or any other multitude of things that people find to worry about, I was heart-broken that not all of those people have the same hope that Kyle and I have.

God can use times like this to draw people closer to Him, and I pray (and I ask you to join with me) that people will realize that regardless of their current economic position, that we all have a God that loves us more than we can possibly imagine and that came to Earth and died for our sins, but was then RESURRECTED, overcoming death and Satan so that we can spend eternity in His presence if we only acknowledge what He has done for us, accept it and turn to Him in repentance. He gives us peace that allows us to look at the current condition of our country and not worry about tomorrow, but to trust that He will provide for us. This is the true meaning of hope, hope that comes from God and allows us the freedom to fully trust in Him.

So I HOPE that you place your hope in the right place when things get rough and when things are going great.

Control

So, last night I went to bed at about 12:30 with the knowledge that in a mere 6 hours I would need to be on my way to Washington so that I could be at work by 7. I've gotten accustomed to having about 6 or 7 hours of sleep (college will do that to you). I'm one of those people that has the wonderful gift that when my head hits the pillow at 12:30, I'm asleep by 12:32. So I'm off to dreamland.

Suddenly my ears are bursting to the sound of a loud chirping (much like that of a giant mutant cricket)! It's WAY too loud to be my alarm telling me that I should be dragging myself out of the bed, but it's so loud that getting out of the bed just kind of happens. Someone in my apartment has pulled the fire alarm. I look out the window and people are standing way too close to the building for it to actually be on fire, so I'm not in a huge rush to grab some clothes and get out, but I start heading that way. Oh, did I mention that it is 4:00 IN THE MORNING!

Taking all of these events into consideration with the sleepy haze over my mind, I decide that the best thing for me to do is get dressed and go ahead to Washington to work really early.

I have taken two naps and I am somewhat normal right now, my sleep schedule is kind of weird, but I was thinking about the events of the pre-dawn morning and I realized that there are some things in life that we cannot control. This really should be no surprise to me, but it makes a wonderful reminder of the truth about control.

So how should I handle a situation like this? During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus asked the question "which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" As usual, Jesus was right...lol nothing that I could have done this morning would have changed the fact that someone (I don't really even care who) pulled the fire alarm and worrying about it wasn't going to fix anything, so if I'm not supposed to fret (some of you will say that's a Nash county word, and if so, I'm proud..lol), how am I supposed to handle this situation? That's just it, I can't change it so I can't give it head-space (complements of Bobby Garcia). My job is to get dressed, trust the purpose that God has behind making sure I'm awake at 4, and move through the day with a thankful spirit, blessed that there wasn't an actual fire and no one was hurt.