The Idea of Perfection

Zechariah 4:6 says,

"So he answered and said to me:
"This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:
'Not by might
nor by power,
but by My Spirit,'
says the Lord of Hosts."

We can't enter heaven by works.

We can't even live life as a Christian by works.

It doesn't matter what you do or how well or how bad you do it.

Because we were redeemed to God by grade through the blood of Jesus Christ.


Sometimes as a teenager I constantly worry that I never get it right. I worry that I don't always get things perfectly lined up, and at times I stand looking or watching other ministers, leaders, students or teachers, people younger than me or older than me and I have a moment where I ponder over how well they seem to have it all together and so I find myself pursuing this endless idea that I'm suppose to be better, or perfect, and have everything together. The idea was once put in me (somehow, I'm not sure) that when I do everything in fullness and get something "perfectly" that people will see that I love God and want to pursue him, too.


But the goal is NOT perfection.
How can someone even define perfection, anyways?


It's not by works.
Nor by how well you can do math.
No matter how well you can help people or how well you can manage a business or do a job or complete your school work or witness to people or lie to people...
Perfection doesn't matter. Because we weren't made to be perfect.
It's by grace that a leader can lead. Not by how perfect he does the job.

Love Never Ending

"In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem,
"Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst,
the Mighty one will save
He will rejoice over you with gladness
He will quiet you with his love.
He will rejoice over you with singing."

-Zephaniah 3:16-17


It's amazing that such an awesome love can quiet the most contrite heart.
In the midst of our freaking out, or in the middle of the most chaotic thing that could be happening in our lives,
his love is still present.
It's still there.
Always.
And it will never leave, disappear, fail or die. [Romans 8 says that nothing can separate us from God... not height, or depth, or anything in heaven or hell, present or past.]

Welcome to the Box.

I've been taught by many people and have been told many times how and how not to do things in the life that I'm living for God. The truth is that it isn't a bunch of rules to make our lives boring. But God put things in the word and laws so that we can live in the fullness of him with joy instead of being depressed, stressed, worried or under oppression. It's for the best for us... now this is only the beginning.

But even other Christians get so indoctrinated by what they think will work and what won't work.

"Oh, they're a baby Christian. They got saved two days ago, so it might be a while before they can get people saved or lay hands on sick people and watch them get healed." or "Oh, they're Lutheran, buddy. You'd better pray for them, because they aren't reaching anybody." "They're Catholic so they're boring. God can't move through them because they're this denomina-"

Excuse me, but who said you had the right to put God in a box?

God is boundariless. He has no limits unlike our limited, temporal minds that can't even reach the masses of understanding this "God" we so desire to know and be with. The angels and creatures in heaven that circle around the throne in Revelations get another glimpse of him EVERY TIME they circle around him, and they've been circling him for Billions of years and will for all eternity.

What makes you think you have God figured out so well that you can judge who and who he can't move through?

It doesn't matter if we have a cool youth band with good sounding music and pizza and jeans and spiky hair and bright green bibles and dancing. God could move through the poor, old-looking baptist church sitting down the street that has an attendance of 10 people every Sunday who sing out of the hymnal books.
Revival could break out because they pioneered the way.

It's time to stop judging each other upon what things look like, and start judging eachother by the fruit we bear, because it's what the word commands us to do.

When the disciples went around did they look cool? Probably not... They were normal, looking like you and me, probably rugged from traveling, and dressing like everyone else in Jerusalem or the other places they traveled. But they lived for God and they carried the holy spirit and went around sharing the gospel with people. You don't have to be a certain person, denomination, or wealth for God to move through you. That is a temporal factor and does not matter. That's when the gospel becomes "religion". The "religious" are lukewarm, complacent and can stand sitting 2 hours in a church service every Sunday and living a life in stagnant water. And we have a choice to destroy that label by establishing a real relationship with the God of this universe.

Don't put God in a box.
Let him be the potter and you be the clay.
Let him be the commander and you be the vessel.
Because at the end of the day, it's not all about you or me...
It's about him.

Praying for those who Persecute You...? Why?

I wrote this last night and finally had a chance to post it today.

"I remember how I used to get SO ANNOYED when people told me to pray for people that persecuted me. I would look at people like idiots and think “How can you just say that as if it’s such a simple task?” Thinking about someone who would hurt me or persecute me and offend me would probably make me even more angry let alone praying for them. But after these past few years of really encountering the love of God through giving him my life daily, I began to realize something.

The more you pray for someone,
The more you begin to see them with God’s eyes.
Which means the more you begin to love them.

I always pray and cry out for God to give me his eyes, or to give me his viewpoint toward people. God’s viewing is a relentless, unconditional, pursuing love. He loves his people, no matter what anyone says, does or thinks. The word declares it in John 3:16 and throughout the entire word. Him creating us was an act of love and putting dreams and desires in our hearts was an act of love. He loves his people so much that he will fight to win their hearts. He pursues us. In Psalms he says that he is consumed with Zeal for his people- zeal being a passionate, driven desire.
Personally, God is always assigning me people to pray for. People who may have strayed from God, who may not be saved, and even people who are passionately living for God every day such as pastors and worship leaders. After spending time in my “prayer closet” for these people, I realize that I begin to see them with eyes of love, or with God's eyes, when I see them again. REAL Love (again, not the fake love that people seem to be “experiencing” and it “not working out” for them because it “wasn’t what they were looking for” and as human beings that God created we ALL desire love, so if that’s the case then the love that was experienced was fake anyway! If you want some real love get a taste of this God and you’ll never be the same.)
Real Love is not offended, it is not prideful or boastful and nothing about it is evil. (Read 1 Corinthians 13)
People say “Love hurts” as an expression of “being in love and your heart getting broken” but I’ll tell you this- the only time love should hurt is when you’re going out of your way for someone else who needs help and you take a blow in the process. Or when you risk something so that someone else can get saved and you end up taking the consequences head on. Or when you’re hanging on a cross so that the people that hated you can have eternal life. That’s the only time love should ever hurt. And at the end of the day it’s worth it. Other wise, you would be saying “Me pulling away from this relationship hurts.” Because real Love never hurts.

After spending time praying for these people (who some of them I don’t even know very well) I remember feeling the love of God in my heart for them when I see them again. And so I smile and ask them how their day is going. Or sometimes I don’t say anything, but I know that God is working in their hearts.
So if this is the case… what will happen when we pray for the people we don’t like?
We forgive them, first. Because it’s a sin to hold offense in your heart. Then you ask God to help you see them with his eyes. Then you pray for them, pray that they have a good day, pray that they’re blessed, pray for the family, future, salvation, or pray in tongues for them. (Yes, I believe in praying for tongues. It’s real and it’s the spirit of God. Get over it. I’m not exactly “politically correct” if you haven’t noticed and it’s never my intention to be, thank God. Talk about freedom.) After spending this quiet time praying for them, you’ll find yourself seeing them with eyes of love- a sight that isn’t offended and that doesn’t remember that wrong they did to you."




I love you all. Have a great week. :)

A Year of Movement.

I am thoroughly convinced that there is no better way to bring in the New Year than singing and dancing at the very throne room of God, worshiping him in spirit and in truth however we want with thousands of other people in my generation. :)

This trip was definitely different. Before I left, I knew that I expected to come back home more hungry for God. And I did.
I expected things in prayer. And I received them.
I expected a love encounter with Jesus. And I got one.
But for some reason, I went away and realized that right before I left, I had been expecting everything I left behind to magically be fixed and drastically turn around when I got home.
…That didn’t happen.

God dealt with a lot of things inside of me. But really and honestly, it was not like my first year at the Ramp. At that time I went not knowing who I was or what my purpose and calling was, not being filled with the holy spirit and not even understanding a taste of the real and raw presence of God. Well, let me tell you that I certainly got something, and my life took a 180 degree turn at that point. I came home ruined. I didn’t know what to do at first but “stick around with these guys” or in other words continued staying in church and praying and learning more about who this eternal being was that I’d always been told to call God. I REALLY wanted to know God. Not just tell people “Oh yeah, I believe in God!” and not really know what I just said. That was four years ago.
This year at the Ramp, unlike all the years before, I did not feel the need to respond to any of the altar calls. (Thankfully I’ve at least made it to the point where I don’t have to keep going back and starting all over again, like Damon Thompson said… that’s assuring though! Lol.)
I didn’t have any weighty sin or gross feeling on me. I came hungry. I left happy. (Like at IHOP, except I was at the Ramp… haha, punny joke right?) I didn’t lay out on the floor interceding in a place so deep that I couldn’t get up like last year. I felt like God was calling me to just come pray and worship him. Just love him, fill up. And to lead. We had an entire new group of middle schoolers at Ramp this year. And he told me to stick with them and to show them the love of God and teach them what I learned…
And some people may have looked at my youth group and said “Man what are these guys even doing here? They aren’t hungry for God! Look at that kid eating chips during the service or that one not raising his hands when he worships, and she doesn’t even pray in the holy ghost. They’re just sitting over there talking, they don’t want God.”
Excuse me, but who qualified you to put God in a box?
Even radical, passionate God-seeking Christians have put up a boundary line up, saying “You can’t do that.”
But (again, quoting Damon Thompson) you can’t put God in a box. God doesn’t have boundaries. He can do miracles through the kid who doesn’t even know why he came to this youth trip or why people raise their hands during worship or dance around or the kid who fell asleep during word time. He might not even know that God put something inside of him, but when he responded to the altar call it was an act of opening himself up to receive the plans God had for him… and when you open yourself up, God will come in.
That’s what I learned this weekend. God is constantly teaching me how to see people through his eyes, and that is definitely a big lesson he drilled on the inside of me. And I love my youth group. Because they might not know it, but God is doing something bigger in their hearts than they can fathom. All they have to do is open up and be willing to receive. And I will do my assignment by praying for them and ministering to their hearts.
What I received from Perry Stone’s sermon this weekend (along with other things of course) was Confession. When we are constantly confessing offense with our mouth, we’ll be offended. When we’re confessing love with our mouth, it’s what we’ll receive. When we sow, we reap. When we sow seeds of faith with the words of a double-edged sword protruding from our mouths, then we’ll reap a harvest, and one as big as we expect. We confess truth. We confess the word.
God also taught me to stomp on the devil’s head when he tries to tell me to be afraid of the opinion of man. God is teaching me boldness…


Third Altar call


And this is my lovely youth group... all pointing to me because I made us take a group picture... smh.