Asleep in the Light

"Actions speak louder than words."—Popular saying. Quoted by many. Lived out by few? It seems to be a struggle of the human heart to actually let what our words say line-up with what our actions say. Atleast that's what I've been experiencing.

Lately, I've been really turned off by Christians. And I am one. Of all the religions, all belief systems out there, ours is supposed to be based in LOVE—but few seem to be "feelin' the love."

You find person after person, family after family—hurt, wounded and turned off from God, church, the whole shebang—all because of "Christians". Before I go on, I want to say that by no means do I expect Christians to be perfect—especially in this area—but we are called to a higher standard.

The older I've gotten, the more confident I've become, especially in the things I know God has gifted me in. And one thing I am confident in, that I boast in the Lord in, is knowing how to love people. I love to reach out, I love to pursue, I love to connect, I love to make people feel accepted, valued, etc. I love to LOVE. I'm good at it, and God created me with this desire to give it out!

But it's not always easy- by any means. And it's especially not easy when I'm not "feelin' the love" from others in return.

I've heard a number of sermons about so many suffering from an "orphan spirit": where Christians profess to know God as Father, but experience an internal contradiction to that belief—Deep down they struggle to comprehend that God loves them. They may harbour feelings of abandonment, fear, unworthiness or rejection. This may be due to unhealed hurts from painful past experiences."

We offer all these teachings on letting God HEAL these areas of our hearts—but that seems to be where it stops sometimes—teaching. We're HEARING about God's love and worth over us, but then not taking that info and APPLYING it—on others.

• There's that shy, awkward person sitting by themselves at church- go talk to them! 
• There's that guy/girl you know never gets invited to anything and doesn't have many friends- invite them to hang out with you and your friends!
• There's that guy/girl who's left the church, maybe isn't "following the Lord", but they need to still know you love them and care, not just wanna talk about him/her behind their backs! Reach out. Call them. Text them. Facebook them! Dont stop caring about people because they stop coming to church.

These are real examples that I see often, and you can probably think of a person you know that fits into one of those scenarios. When did the Church become so self-centered with this "orphan-mentality" that we forgot how to love? What are we gonna do to stop it?

The phrase "the least of these" kept popping into my head as I was thinking about those people, and then I found the verse:

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’....“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"  -Matt. 25:35-40

The "least of these" encompasses so many people—and we are called to LOVE them. You are not an orphan, and neither am I! That's a lie from the enemy. He doesnt want us to love—he wants you to be self-centered, only focus on yourself, your problems, your life—but God wants so much more.

I've read alot lately by people I look up to, that really made me think about my actions and what I hope I am "speaking out" with my life. Some quotes:

"Jesus came to love, and if you're doing anything other than that in the name of God, then He's going to have a bone to pick with you."  -Darren Wilson

"Yes, God wants you to do signs and wonders. But the love of God manifested through you is what people really need. So you first must see His face. You must become so close to His very heartbeat that you can feel what others feel."  -Heidi Baker

"The way to a full and happy life is to get our eyes off ourselves and live for others." -Andy Horner

"But people can be drawn closer to the Lord simply by meeting someone who is truly representing the love of Jesus. Sometimes we don't even need to say things and honestly shouldn't say certain things; we simply need to love others and show them we love them." -Danielle Buncick :)

The central message I'm getting from these quotes, and the message of what I wanna live out in my life? Not change. Not convict. Not pressure. Not judge. Not punish. Not ignore. But:

In Unfinished: Believing Is Only the Beginning by Richard Stearns, he puts it perfectly:

"In other words, love always requires tangible expression. It needs hands and feet. As followers of Christ we can too easily become overwhelmed by the complexity and depth of our Christian faith, and we can become confused by doctrine and theology. The beautiful simplicity of our faith is that it distills down to the exact same bottom line for both the brilliant theologian and the five-year-old child: love God and love each other—period. Everything else derives from that."

If this seems too far-fetched, then I want you to read where I'm getting this from [more references: 1 Corinthians 13, Matthew 22:37-40, John 13:34]:

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” -1 John 3:17–18

"...with actions and in truth". So what's stopping us? I know everyone reading this has someone, if not many, they love—but Christians are often looked at by the world [and even by their own] as disingenuous, self-righteous hypocrites—who are not full of love.

Let's break this stereotype, y'all. Seriously. My heart aches for the brokenhearted, the hurt, the depressed, the lonely, the "least of these"—and the world is full of them. Many of you could put yourselves under one of those words too I'm sure—I know I feel like those at times too. But sometimes the best way to push past our own problems is by loving those around us and taking the focus off ourselves.

I hope everyone feels challenged like me. I'm not perfect in this area—at all—but my heart is to grow and mature, as I pray yours is too. I want us Christians to wake up. Keith Green had the most poignant song I've ever heard about this epidemic in the church: "Asleep in the Light." He wrote it in the late 70s, so try and look past the 70s hair, haha. His words are so real, please check it out below :)

I pray that God would open up your eyes to those around you who He truly wants you to LOVE. Who He's called you to love. Cuz they're out there...just start lookin! :)

Song of the Day:

Keith Green- Asleep In The Light

The "F" word...

No, not that "F word"... did I fool ya? ;) haha. If only I could write a blog on that...it'd probably be a much easier subject than this "F word":  Forgiveness.

for·give  [fer-giv]
1. To excuse for a fault or an offense; pardon.
2. To renounce anger or resentment against.
3. To absolve from payment of (a debt, for example).

I've always thought of myself as a very forgiving person. I hate to have bad blood between me and anyone...I try and give people the benefit of the doubt...I try and see the good in all people...I love to "fix" things...I love to "communicate"...and I love having people like me! Haha, who doesn't?

But lately I have really been tested in this area. Forgiveness, grace, mercy, compassion—all of it goes hand-in-hand. So I just wanted to talk about my experience with this, in hopes that maybe it will encourage someone reading this, who might be going through something similar or will in the future.

The past 2 months have probably been the hardest months of my life. To sum it up without being too exposing: 

-My entire immediate family moving out to Wyoming [parents, older sis, bro-in-law, and their 5 kids].
-My little sister and her husband are moving to Thailand in a few months for who knows how long.
-If that wasn't hard enough, a couple close friends have hurt me deeply and have disappeared from my life. 

Needless to say, I feel pretty lonely and abandoned here in big, ole' Florida. At the time when I need friends the most, a handful of the ones closest to me seem to be nowhere in sight. And that's hard.

If these "changes" were one at a time, I'm sure it'd be easier...but all these things happened all at once, and I'm struggling. It's like that fun, lil' quote goes: "When it rains, it pours."

The hardest kind of forgiveness is the kind where someone wrongs you, but they don't apologize or try and right the wrong...so you have to forgive them without ever feeling "justified" or "reconciled" or anything... You just have to let go... That's the hardest kind, and that's the kind I'm going through lately.

Luckily, my stubbornness comes in handy here—because I've decided that I wont let anyone have control like that over me. That's what happens to you if you cant forgive someone and move on—you give them a power over you—a control. I saw this quote a long time ago and always liked it:

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” -Lewis B. Smedes

So, I have been in this process of forgiveness. That's what forgiveness really is: a process. Someone hurts you, you forgive them, and even though you may truly forgiven them right then, the pain/hurt/offense is sure to pop up again...the enemy is sneaky like that. Sometimes it's the next day, week, or it might not pop up until years later—but you have to continually choose to forgive—and show those people grace and mercy, even when they don't deserve it.

This isnt the end of the story for me. There's always going to be some offense that will pop up, in need of forgiveness—it's just up to us whether we decide to pick up that offense and carry it around on our backs—letting it drag us down. It's a hard, but worthwhile process. It's like I told a close friend in an email recently:

"I have good days and bad days. A lot of lonely days, but God will/is sustaining me. He's a good Dad, and I just gotta put my faith in Him when man/"friends" fail... I feel stronger week by week...I'm easily consumed by my problems though...but I'm laying these things down continually to Him and trying not to focus on whats going WRONG, cuz there's still good stuff going right too :) God knows what I need when I need it...thats what I tell myself. He's in control :)"

God has been showing me a lot about grace and forgiveness. I know I don't "deserve" the grace and forgiveness I've been given...that's for darn sure...so who am I to withhold it from someone else?

I've been looking at this quote daily to remind myself of the right mindset to have:

“A warrior mindset is always focused on victory. It allows no possibility of defeat. It does not retreat. It stands under extreme pressure. It advances by God’s permission. The Lord has a language of intimidation; it’s called worship. Your intimacy intimidates the enemy. Never forget that he is afraid of rejoicing hearts. He cannot stay in the presence of real praise.” -Graham Cooke

Victory- yes! I wont give up on love- or people. It's all about renewing your mind and your thought life. We have to change our perspectives on our situations, change unhealthy thought-patterns and habits that get us back in the same situations over and over, and choose to walk in the truth daily! [props to Mr. Davis for that reminder last Sunday :)]. Block out the lies that say "well, if so-n-so used me, everyone is gonna use me"..."if so-n-so hurt my trust, I cant trust anyone"...those are lies, and you cant let your past define your future. 

There's a quote I saw from one of my favorite authors, Danny Silk. He has a book called "Keep Your Love On" that I haven't read yet, but he quotes on Facebook all the time. The other day he said:

"Turning your love back on after it has been off is even more powerful then turning it on the first time. Turning your love back on after the experience of pain means that your choice to love one another can not be conditioned by what the other person does or dose not do. KYLO!!!" -Danny Silk

That goes hand-in-hand with what the Bible says [more references: Matt. 6:14-15, Matt. 18:21-22]:

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." -Ephesians 4:32

So simple, but so powerful. "Keep Your Love On", people. And forgive. Over and over. With no expectations. Your spirit will thank you, and eventually, those people you forgive might even thank you too :)

Song of the Day: 

Oceans (Where feet may fail)- Hillsong United :)