Light in the Depths

“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” ‭I John‬ ‭3:23 ‭NKJV‬‬ Jesus purchased our lives with His sacrifice and has therefore granted us access into Heaven, saving us from an eternal life of damnation. All Christians know this as truth, and therefore know that we have security in Heaven. However, what about the rest of our lives spent here on Earth? “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians‬ ‭2:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬. God has a specific calling for each and every one of our lives as Christians. There is a purpose that God has for us, and as long as we remain obedient to His commandants, He will be able to fulfill that purpose in our lives. However, just as we can see in the life of David, it doesn't always seem like that's going to be the case. God’s promises in our lives don't always seem

“Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭24:36-39‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ I was thinking for a long time about how to begin writing this IBS, but I think this passage will start it off beautifully. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowsh

“Remember the word to Your servant, Upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119:49-50‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ How often does do we forget that our promises given to us by the Lord are irrevocable? How often does the enemy attack our minds and try to twist our thoughts into thinking that what God has promised us isn’t attainable? “Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, The

“Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭30:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Spiritual warfare continues to be a great mountain for me  to climb recently, and I've seen it being a mountain of difficulty even amongst my teammates. The enemy is always seeking to kill, steal, and destroy the work in which God is doing (John 10:10), and I know that is what He’s seeking to do with my life currently. He is seeking to steal and destroy the work that the Lord has been doing in me recently, and has tried to put to death the promises in which the Lord has already given me. He has even sought to decimate the joy in which Abba has graced me with through my salvation in Jesus and the fullness in which I can receive Him on a daily level. However, recently I had the absolute privilege of reading through Matthew 27 in one of my devotions, and then getting to read through Psalm 22 in a group devotion afterwards. It gave me the most beautiful picture of how propheti

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Some days it seems almost impossible to NOT think on the negative things throughout your day. Every little comment, every annoying interaction, every boring chore, every physical pain, every moment spent away from people you love, the list is endless. It seems like the cards are completely stacked against you. Your flesh is just screaming to come out and seems almost untamable. You feel like you are just losing control of yourself, and a foreign being is taking control of you. How are you to maintain victory on days like these? On days when you want nothing more than to lash out, how do you keep yourself from doing so? Every single direction you look around to seems to aggravate an

“But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:36-37‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ There are so many people in this world that are trapped in spiritual emptiness or brokenness. There are so many people that are lost in the world and don't have any one to lead them to the Truth that is Jesus Christ. And even still there are so many Christians that know Christ but are stuck in their walks. They have claimed Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but have been distracted by some combination of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. And because of all of these people’s failures to come to or remain in the Highway of Holiness that is our Lord, they are beat up, harassed, and left hurting by this earth that we live in. They are being lead down a path that leads only to death and may nev

“The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; The heart of the wicked is worth little.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭10:20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ It is easy to for me to tell when I am talking to a mature Christian person, as I feel it should be for any disciple of the Lord. The way in which they speak is always edifying to the Lord, and you can hear the love and character of God in their voices. Not every person has the same character traits and gifts that God has uniquely given them, but they all tend to hold the love of God inside of them, and all His wisdom that comes with knowing such love. About two months ago I was graced with meeting a couple here after church one Sunday. I met them in the cafe that we have here at church and our conversation just started out as a friendly hello. It did help that they were a white couple, being that you don't see too many here in Africa, but I just felt led to speak to them. After talking for a while with them I learned so much about their lives, the family that th

“Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ This battle between Jesus and Satan is most likely the best example to follow when it comes to our fight with spiritual warfare. A few days ago the Lord allowed me to be tested in my own warfare with the Devil. It had been quite a while since I felt an attack from the enemy that was so strong and that lasted so long. Unfortunately I didn't perform to well, but through it the Lord showed me how much He wants to grow me and humbled me by reminding me how new I am in my faith. Then the following day, Matthew chapter four was a part of my devo and the Lord spoke to me through this verse. When Satan was first attacking Jesus, He was speaking to Jesus in partial truths. He was trying to twist Jesus’s idea of who the Father really was and how He acts. But Jesus maintained His faith in remembering who God was and what His ch

““Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;” ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭7:9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ How great is our God? The God “who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us,” II Corinthians‬ ‭1:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬. What surety and comfort we can have in this verse. So often we think that God doesn't want to bless us, provide for us, teach us, or even come through on the promises that He’s given us. We see ourselves as the Old Testament Israelites, constantly failing to live up to the Lord’s standards, never making Him proud. But then comes God, ““He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them.” ‭Numbers‬ ‭23:21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬. Even in our failings, as long as we always come to Him in repentance, He sees us as holy and righteou

“Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”” ‭‭John‬ ‭6:29‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ As I've been going through the book “We Would See Jesus” the Lord has been showing me so much about how I need to truly just look to Him and no one else. A little bit ago I had a person from church ask me to read through Isaiah 35 because it was something they had been reading through. And when I read through it it was such a blessing. It was amazing to just see Jesus jump off the page as I was reading that passage. The entire passage was wonderful, especially when Jesus is referred to as the “Highway of Holiness”. And how true it felt in that moment of reading it. How much joy it gave me realizing that all we have to do is just see Jesus and God’s grace is enough for us. But that's the thing, throughout my time here, I wasn't always looking to Jesus in this way, as the way. I was looking to Him as my king and savior, but I had been falling into a h

“So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”” ‭‭II Kings‬ ‭4:2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ This story of Elisha has come up a couple of times in my life recently, but yesterday I finally saw what I feel the Lord has been trying to reveal to me through this message. The full meaning of the container in this story isn't just supposed to be any jar of oil, but a jar of anointing oil. And not just any jar, but a flask, something small. Uganda has been absolutely amazing and I have grown so much here spiritually. But even with all the love I have for this place, I still have been so tired and I have been dragging a lot this last month. The Lord has remained my strength through it all, but at times I'm just so drained, I feel as though I have so little left in my tank. In this story, I see Elisha’s voice as the Lord’s, asking me what I have to continue on for these next three m

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” ‭‭II Timothy‬ ‭1:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ As I've spent my time here in Uganda I've come to really see the Holy Spirit working through me and overpower my fleshly instincts. I never saw it so clearly before, but for me personally, when I've been in fear about certain things or thoughts, it's because I'm choosing to remain in a fearful mindset instead of a righteous one. I’ve come to realize that fear is just an act of the flesh. Instead of thinking on the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy, Heavenly things, and trusting in my all-powerfull God, I, in my flesh, decide to think on the things that are without light, hope, or joy. When I'm acting in the flesh, I fall so easily into those worry some moods, and if i continue to stay in that mindset, I will fall deeper into the pit of fear that Satan hopes to keep me in. And if I'm frozen in worry and

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1:3-6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ I feel like God has really been trying to bring great joy into my life through these few verses. I've been going through Philippians a lot lately and I feel as though every time I come to this set of verses that I am driven to prayer for my fellow believers. And I am not just driven to prayer, but I'm driven there through a sense of faith and joyousness. See when I read this verse, I think of my friends, family, teammates, and many other believers that I have become acquainted with over the past year. And because I know that like me they are also believers, I know that they are saved, and that the have the same hope in Jesus Christ that I have.

““He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them.” ‭‭Numbers‬ ‭23:21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ How amazing this word from the Lord is. Now this verse is from the perspective of people who are outside of the nation of Israel, and I think it is a great depiction of how I at times feel about myself. See the preceding chapters before chapter twenty-two are all about Israel’s complaining and failing to remain faithful to the Lord. Every time the Lord punished them for their sinfulness, but soon after the people would repent and God would continue to bless them, although there were consequences for the decisions they made against God, including being kept out of the promised land. From the perspective of Moses and the Israelites they seemed like such a disobedient and disgraceful group attempting to follow the Lord. But from an outer perspective looking into the country of Israel, God considers them a righte

“Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭12:25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ While being in Montana, the Lord has truly been growing me in understanding how He wants me to use my giftings. It has been something that has constantly been in my prayers and He has definitely been answering those prayers. Encouragement has been something that He's really been trying to grow me in. It's amazing to see how much He's been my encourager and through that I have been able to learn how to encourage others. But at times it honestly isn't as easy as it sounds to simply encourage someone. Encouragement is just like any other gift of the Spirit, you have to be Spirit-filled in order to minister with this gift effectively. It's so easy for words that have failed to be completely selfless and Spirit lead to just bounce right off of people and be completely ineffective. At times they can even impact the person negatively and sink them deeper into wha

And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for his heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 Timothy 4:18 NKJV The fact the Paul makes this statement at the end of this letter is truly glorifying unto the Lord. This letter was written at the end of Paul’s life and at the end of his ministry. And if we know anything about Paul, we know that he suffered for the sake of the gospel. Aside from all the physical hardships that he suffered he also suffered endless issues from churches and fellow saints. So many issues that he felt responsible for and so many people that needed to hear from him. Not to mention all of the false teachers that not only tried to teach different doctrines but also tried to twist his. We also see how just several verses before this one that Paul even had fellow saints abandon him in perhaps his most desperate hour. These were Paul’s brothers, one of which was Titus, who received a letter from Paul that was placed in the

“Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to draw, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.” Matthew 28:1 NKJV Out of all the people who had been following Jesus throughout His sufferings in His death and afterwards, the two Mary’s might’ve been the two that were the most loyal to Christ and the strongest believers of His promise. That He would rise again. Just before this section of scripture we see these two women having been witnesses of Jesus’s death and having been at the tomb when Jesus was buried. They wanted to be with their Lord. They didn’t understand why everything had happened, but they knew that Jesus’s death was all according to the plan, and they remained persistent in following Him, even when it seemed like all hope had died with their savior. However, because of their loyalty to Him they were the first to see His power displayed, and were the first two that Jesus revealed Himself to. There will be times in life when things just don

““O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret places of the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, And your face is lovely.”” ‭‭Song of Solomon‬ ‭2:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Ever since I was in Montana I feel that the Lord has really been trying to grow my prayer life. He has been trying to get me to expand my prayers and truly come to His throne regularly throughout my day. I am usually speaking to Him pretty often and I feel as though I have a rather decent prayer life, but He has really put it on my heart to pray much more fervently, both in spirit and in petition. Honestly at first, and even still at times, I feel like some of my prayers start out either forced, wrongly timed, or even just unnecessary altogether. Especially when I pray about things repeatedly or just go into a time of prayer not exactly knowing what I'm supposed to be praying about. But in almost every circumstance, the Lord has continued to show me how untrue that is. He ha

“Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:37‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ For the past couple of days I've been reading Fresh Wind Fresh Fire and the Lord has been really speaking to me about my future. Coming here I wasn't really sure of what the Lord had for me in life, but I was pretty sure He was calling me to ministry. Now I still don't have a clue of where God is going to take me or how the Lord wants to truly use me, but reading Jim Cymbala’s book has been really encouraging. One thing that it has definitely shown me is that I don't have to be prepared for whatever the Lord has for me. Yes I should do my best to be prepared, but the Lord is going to be the one that leads my life, just as He did for Jim and his wife. It has also showed me how much that God has been working on my soul. He has been spiritually growing me so much and has been opening me up more and more every day. I've been so free to just be myself

“Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: “ LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭32:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The word is filled with promises from our God. As we got to discuss with a lot of teens at a kids camp that we were just a part of, the number of God’s promises in His word are almost uncountable. But those aren't the only things that the Lord promises us. Something that Team Uganda got to hear from Joe Focht in a teaching on Romans was how all believers, like Abraham, have personal promises from God that are only between us and Him. And these promises may at times make us feel very alone, and like no one else understands, but that is because only God understands our hearts. But even knowing that we've been given those promises, at times we may forget about them, or not remember them to be from God and think that they are just from ourselves. Abraham ha

“Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you.” ‭‭John‬ ‭13:33‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ “I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.” ‭‭I John‬ ‭2:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Recently I've been able to read through the book of 1 John. So when I came across this verse in John, I couldn't help but go back to this verse in 1 John. When Jesus said these words to the disciples, He was talking about how they would not understand why the things that were happening had to happen until after they would happen. He would come to die on the cross for our sins, but at this point in time it was something that they would not be able to understand. Jesus says that if you have seen Him you have seen the father, and Jesus acts just like a father would, our Godly father, when He makes this statement. “Little children, you are too young and do not know why I do the

“Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”” ‭‭John‬ ‭6:60‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ During my time here in Ignite, I have had many periods of complete spiritual lack of understanding. There had been many challenges that I faced that had challenged my past beliefs, and there were even instances when I was so lost that I felt as if I couldn't even trust my own thoughts because I didn't know if any of them were spiritual right to think. It was a time filled with immense spiritual warfare, and it was very difficult to decipher what was conviction and what was the enemy. It helped me to grow a lot, and I feel like I definitely understand the Spirit’s working in my life tremendously more than I did before, and I'm immensely more confident in my current spiritual situation, especially considering that I finally have stopped questioning my salvation. But it was without a doubt the hardest time spiritually in my life, probably ev

“A sound heart is life to the body, But envy is rottenness to the bones.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭14:30‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ So far, my time in Uganda has been amazing. It has been so fun to be a part of a different culture and to see how Christ works in such a different place. This really is a beautiful place to live and the people, especially the children, and all wonderful. It has truly been a blessing to be able to come and serve the Lord in this place. However, I know that there are many downsides to living in this country, and to some they may seem very burdensome. The harsh bathroom situations, the cold showers, the scorching sun, the mosquitoes, the heartaches of missing friends and family, the uncleanliness that comes with living in a third world country, and all the others problems that a third world country can contain to some may seem like too much to bear. Some people may not be able to handle living here for just a week or two, let alone six months. But the reason why I am here isn'

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬ There are so many false teachers in this world that we live in. So many people that ruin the true doctrine of Christ's teachings. Because of these teachers, many people fail to focus on the gospel of Christ, fall into legalism, and are just deceived by teachings that are biblically untrue. Although there are so many false teachers in this world, nothing from God is untrue, and Christ’s truth has been spoken to many a people in this world, but few have truly heard it as God intended us to. Because of that fact, us few people are going to have to be able to teach God's truth effectively and truthfully. We must keep the focus on His truth and not our own. We can only do this with the guidance of the Spirit. Without Him we would be lost in ourselves and never be able to whole-heartedly speak God's truth. So

“The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.” ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭4:7‬ ‭ESV‬‬ James‬ ‭4:14‬ ‭ESV‬‬ “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” ‭I feel like this IBS verse is actually very relatable to some things that James talks about in his New Testament letter. Jesus said it himself, He is coming soon, and we have no idea when he is actually going to come. He could be here tomorrow, tonight, next week, all we know is that He is coming and we don't have to match time to serve Him. We need to have a sense of urgency in our lives and realize that we have a very limited time on this Earth. I mean even if Christ doesn't come during our lifetime, we still have so little time to live for Him, our lives really are so short, even if we don't realize that yet. So we don't have the time to worry and doubt our God to accomplish

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭12:1‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Ok so I don't know about you but I don't think I know a single person who has really enjoyed being disciplined. Sure it's something that we need to learn about grow up with, but to love it? That seems pretty difficult. Honestly I feel like it you did a survey asking people if they either loved or hated being disciplined, the majority would probably be saying that the hate it. So why do we hate being disciplined? Well for me personally I hate being wrong. So when I'm disciplined for my wrong-doings my pride is always hurting and I don't enjoy that feeling. See that's the problem right there, that my pride is hurt. If I didn't allow pride to come into my life when I'm being disciplined, I wouldn't be focusing on myself and my feelings but rather on the knowledge that I don't yet have, and be seeking to transform my heart to accept that know

“And the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. Then the people said to Samuel, "Who is it that said, 'Shall Saul reign over us?' Bring the men, that we may put them to death." But Saul said, "Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has worked salvation in Israel."” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭11:11-13‬ ‭ESV‬‬ God gives us victory over the enemy every day. There is nothing that we acheive spiritually that doesn't come from Him. Without Him, there is no true victory, therefore the victory is always His. Something that has been pretty humbling to learn, that I still haven't really learned entirely, is knowing when you are given victory from the Lord, and afterwards remaining humble and not trying to boast about your accomplishment, but

“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119:11‬ ‭ESV‬‬ “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭1:35‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Throughout our lives, no matter where we are physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we should always be seeking to build up our relationship with the Lord. We should be seeking to understand, love, and fear the our father as much as we can. Being that the Bible is God’s word, the best way to learn about God is to learn about the word. Through it we can see how people relate with God and we can see how we relate to those people that lived in it. We can see how God loves on His believers and how He teaches them throughout their lives. If we keep His word in our hearts, we can better defend ourselves from the enemy and see what his plan is for our lives. We can keep His word on like the armor of Ephesians to protect us from all t

“that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:11‬ ‭ESV‬‬ There is nothing that we can do that can earn us our salvation. We see in Ephesians that it is only through the grace of God that we are saved, and for no other reason. But that isn't what Paul is intending when he wrote this verse. Christ’s death was the perfect example of God's grace and love. And there is nothing that we will ever be able to do that could ever get us anywhere near the love that Jesus displayed when he died on the cross for our sins. The only way we can ever repay Christ for what he did for us is by devoting our lives to him, and attempt to live the way the he lived, in perfect love and complete selflessness. Now we will never be able to live exactly as he lived, but that sure as heck doesn't mean we can't try. We can act in as much love and as selflessly as possible, and in doing so we may begin to understand how Christ lived for us. We may begi

“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:10‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Christ's death served as the ultimate sacrifice for humanity. It served as the only perfect and true example of God's love. Jesus gave up his own life and took on all the punishment of all sinners so that we may be saved and be given a seat in Heaven, which was already guaranteed to Him. Nothing can compare to this grace that God showed us in giving up his one and only son for our souls, even though we are all wretched, wicked man. We will never be able to repay the cost that Christ paid for us. We will never be able to have a love that is like His. However, we can do our best to try. We can do our best to use our lives to worship Him and show him our gratefulness. Although our works will only be considered to be dirty rags in the eyes of God, we can still sacrifice our lives to serve him. If we really yearn to serve Him and tru

“and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:9‬ ‭ESV‬‬ There is no act that we can do in our lifetime that can consider us righteous to God. Paul puts it that the best we can do is considered fiflty rags. There is definitely a part of sacrifice that is important when it comes to serving God. By sacrificing the things we put value on and what we care about we are showing God how much more we care about him than the things of this world. However, we can't just sacrifice everything to God just for the sake of sacrificing. We shouldn't just be giving up these things in this life because we think we will get something out of it or because that's what we think God wants us to do. God wants us to not just mentally sacrifice things, but to make sacrifices because we love him, and because we are willing to give up these things

“for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” ‭‭1 Timothy‬ 4:8 ESV As someone who played sports for the majority of his life I can definitely relate a lot to this verse. From the time I was three until I was 18 I played soccer. I've played during every time of the year and in pretty much any type of climate that you could play in. I spent all those years always attempting to better my skills physically, become more fit, and/or increase my mental understanding of the game. Whether I was just playing in games, at practice, watching games on TV, or just messing around with friends, I was always seeking to improve my skills or gain new skills that I didn't have before. I learned a lot of life lessons from playing soccer over the years. I learned a lot about discipline, leadership, communication, team work, and adhering to authority. Fortunately for me these lessons taught

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:12-13‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Christ died for our sins. And how that we have been baptized by the Holy Spirit, purchased by God, we have been given by God’s grace a seat in Heaven that an never be taken away from us. No matter what we do on this Earth, we will be able to see God in Heaven one day and look upon the face of the Almighty. And when we get to that place, we will be in a glorified state, in a new body and a finished product of what God intended us to be. The only reason we will be in this state is because of the faith that we've placed in God and trusting Christ to be our Lord and savior. It is the love our Christ that will bring us all up to Heaven one day. And that's what Paul wa

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:8‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Having an understanding of Christ is more important than anything else in this life. In the word Christ states how if you've seen Him you've seen the father, so by discovering who Christ is we can discover who God is, and better understand both His character and His plan for our lives. By understanding God we can come to know all things about this world and how we are supposed to live in this world. And a lot of the time, the way in which God wants us to live isn't the way we are really living. There are things in our life that are holding us back from Him and distort what His true character really is. God designed us to live in joyous friendship with him, and if we have things in our life that are getting in the way of our friendshi

“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” ‭Amos‬ ‭3:3 ‭ESV‬ All of class fourteen was called to Montana by God to become a part of his purpose. None of us knew why we were called or how God was going to use us but we all answered his call. We all left behind our lives back home, just like the disciples did when Jesus called them. They knew who Jesus was, but they didn't have a clue of where he wanted to take their lives, and neither do I. However, just like the disciples we were not called to this venture alone. God gave us each other to follow him and get through this time together. Before coming here I only knew one person that would be in this place. Everyone else I didn't know in any way, shape, or form. The only thing that I knew I would have in common with my classmates is that we are followers of Christ. And getting here that's all I felt I had in common with these people  I felt so awkward, insecure, and just weird trying to interact with everyone f

“"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18:15‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Sometimes the hardest thing to do in life is to confront someone about a problem you have with them. Nobody likes to admit that they are wrong. It's hard enough to go up to somebody when you are in the wrong and sinned against your brother. Our pride tells us that we don't have to apologize and to try to just push it aside. But it's when we push that apology off that we allow the problem to become worse. Because then we stay ashamed of what we've done and every time we see the person we sinned against we feel that guilt from what we've done to them and the longer we wait to apologize the further we feel distanced from that person. Now for the more difficult dilemma, when you have to go tell someone that what they did was wrong or that it at least offended you. Now personally speaking I do ha

“Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭13:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬ In every way that God works at transforming our hearts, including when he breaks us, God is attempting to build us up. We may not always see it as that way but in everything he does, he is continuing the process of our sanctification and seeking to bring us to the point of glorification, at which point we are brought to his completion through Christ Jesus. Therefore, when we interact with our fellow man, especially our fellow believers, we should seek to look at each other in the same way. We should seek to better each other and always attempt to strengthen one another in the faith. We should always be pushing each other towards Jesus and looking to love our brethren as Christ loved us. The word tells us to never be bitter or angry with our brothers and sisters, so before attempti

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Every person on this Earth was uniquely created by God to serve a specific purpose that is a part of His plan to redeem this Earth of all of its sin. Ephesians 2:10 ESV “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Now we all have different purposes to fulfill in our lifetime, and because of that we all have been given different gifts and talents to be able to succeed in those predestined works that God has prepared for us. Unfortunately for us, we don't know how God is going to use our gifts to have us serve. Although we may know our spiritual gifts and maybe even know how we are meant to use those gifts, we don't know what setting we are meant to use those gifts in and how we will work with others using those gifts. Sure, for example, when it come

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭1:5-7‬ ‭ESV‬‬ All people sin in different ways. Although all of us suffer from all types of sin, we all have our different weaknesses with sin. We could go on for hours about how all of us sin in our own unique ways; however, that doesn't matter, all that matters is that sin separates us from one another and causes us to not trust one another. Sin doesn't just individually lead us to death, but it also kills our relationships with one another and causes us to never be able to come close with those around us. Fortunately though for us, every person on this Earth has something in common that is greater t