Light in the Depths

“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