Just a Man

What am I but just a man

Not worthy of Your grace

But when You died upon that cross

You looked into my face

And wiped away my every tear

Your love I don't deserve

Oh wretched man that I've become

And yet Your love endured

Your presence is as close as breath

You've made me new again

The stain of sin is washed away

You sooth my mounting pain

I'll always be with You my Lord

I'll never be alone

My empty heart was filled by You

When You cried, "It is done!"

Who Are You?

When the lights go out at night, and you lay your head on the pillow, who are you?
When you're sitting alone and thinking, who are you?
When trouble comes, and you feel afraid, who are you?
When you're talking to a friend, family member, or co-worker, who are you?
When you see your reflection in the mirror, who are you?
When you sit in a crowded room of people you don't know, who are you?
When you face death of someone you love, who are you?
When you laugh at a joke, or cry at a story, who are you?
When you see someone mistreated, who are you?
When you pray, but don't have the words to express what you need, who is He?
When you lie in agony from unquenchable pain, who is He?
When you ask yourself "why am I here?" Who is He?
When you don't even know what the question is, who is He?
When you see truth expressed in His word, He's everything.
When your thirsty lips drink from His living water, He's everything.
When you cry out loud on a stormy night, afraid and alone, He's there.
When you sing a song of praise and gratefulness, He's worthy.
When it's time to give up your life and enter His loving arms, He's faithful.
When others see Him through your life or death, who you are doesn't matter, it's all about Him.

Enjoy Life!

So when did we stop enjoying life? It seems so difficult to do. We go through our day, and there might be ups and downs, but at the end we hope that the "good" moments outweigh the bad. We have ceased to cherish life...cherish each day. Now, understand that I say this because I see it in my own life. It sounds cheesy, but really, do we enjoy this life that has been given to us? Even amidst hardship. Do we regret more than we treasure? Do we groan more than we laugh?

It's hard, I know. We live like we are trying to survive on a desert island, seeking out the bare essentials. But isn't there more?

Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

So often we only see the second half of that verse. But life comes with opposition. The thief(who is Satan of course) wants to steal our life. Now what could this mean? In this passage Jesus is talking about His sheep, which would be the believer..YOU and ME! So if we have eternal life, how can Satan "steal, kill and destroy?" Simple, he sucks us dry and leads us to believe that we are dead. In fact we are alive if we know Christ, but if the Enemy can tare us down, then we live a joyless, depressed existences here on earth. I believe this is one of his biggest tactics to render us ineffective. But it doesn't only cripple our witness, it hardens our hearts.

Matthew Henry said it this way, "Life is inclusive of all good, and stands in opposition to the death threatened." Life is not just salvation from death. It includes EVERYTHING good! We need to stop believing that we are here just to exist, but "live life to the full!" Believe what Jesus said. You are free my friend. Live life unshackled and unashamed. Run through the sprinklers, eat some pie, go for a walk, drive to the beach, write a song, dance, thank God for the good in your life.

We need to be living life more abundantly, TODAY! Stop focussing on all the negativity, and I know there is a lot of it in this world. Start looking to Jesus, because the truth is we can't "conjure up" joy. He has given it to us. So let Him bless you with a full life, even if today is your last.

Awake My Heart

A fog of self and worried doubt
Descends upon my mind in drought.
For from Your Word I've strayed away
And even though it's just a day,
I see You not as who You are
But image only, from afar.
Awake my heart and see His grace
Lord bring me home, to Your embrace.
What joy it is to know You're near
Without the toil of sweat and tear.
You open eyes and turn my head
And from Your Word, I'm fully fed.
Sweet Jesus You are everything
A grateful song my heart doth sing.

"...and be found in Him."

"I want none beside Him. In life He is my life, and in death He shall be the death of death; in poverty Christ is my riches; in sickness He makes my bed; in darkness He is my star, and in brightness He is my sun; He is the manna of the camp in the wilderness, and He shall be the new corn of the host when they come to Canaan. Jesus is to me all grace and no wrath, all truth and no falsehood: and of truth and grace He is full,infinitely full." -C. Spurgeon.

I think Spurgeon knew the secret to the Christian life. This so called "secret" that I speak of is in fact not a secret at all, but we seem to have a hard time "finding" it. I speak of being IN Christ. You see, we as Christians live our lives as if we stand FOR Christ, or BESIDE Him. I think the enemy of our souls wishes for nothing more than we believe this subtle lie. I do not live my life apart from Christ at any time. I do not live FOR Him, I live IN Him. I know what you might be thinking, "That's a matter of semantics..." However, I believe it to be a world of distinction.

Lately God has revealed an ugly amount of pride in my life. I mean I knew I had pride, we ALL have pride right? It's easy for us as Christ followers to admit this. But I was always comfortable with the amount of pride I thought I had...it was manageable in my mind. But when, in His unending(and I mean unending!) grace the Holy Spirit revealed a disgusting refuse of rancid, rotting pride in me, I caught a glimpse. A glimpse was enough. THIS was the root of so much struggle in my life! I lacked victory because I didn't really trust Jesus. Stay with me here... my trust was not anchored in who He is, it was anchored in my ability to claim trust and at the same time deceive myself into actually relying on my own resolve.

And so we come full circle!

I had a revelation that I will never achieve victory or contentment or true repentance, or genuine worship until I am "found in HIM!" Paul talked about this in Philippians 3:

"7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 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."

Don't you see the real picture here?? We ar IN Christ, not just living in service to Him! All that I do counts as nothing compared to being in Him! Period! Paul had everything once and he counted it as garbage compared to identifying with Christ, not just on an intellectual level, but with his entire being. He longed for Christ as for nothing else!

Are you struggling with a trial, or sin, or identity? If we are in Christ He is living through us. If you truly belong to Him, you have been made new! And He is infinite! Corrie Ten Boom said,

“No pit is so deep that He is not deeper still; with Jesus even in our darkest moments, the best remains and the very best is yet to be.”

He is absolutely everything my friend! And I live in a worldly prideful fog perusing what looks like a Godly agenda, but in reality is self-centered at heart. SEEK HIM! Please! And please pray that I do the same! He is as near as your breath because He is in you!

In Spirit and in Truth

I don't know if I'm taking this out of context, but it just occurred to me that when Scripture says to "Worship in spirit and in truth" that it is perhaps referring to seeking God with the right motivation. If I seek Christ for any other reason than to know Him, I seek Him falsely. My heart is wicked right? Then it is not likely that my motivation for seeking Christ at any given time could be purely to know Him. Let me give an illustration:

I want to be a better witness at work, so I start to "practice" better Christianity in order that I might gain something. It's subtle, but nevertheless wrong. I don't attain anything good because I strive to be a better Christian. I don't have favor with God or people because I read more, pray more, or serve more. I do want to be a more Godly man, but not in reverse order...What I mean is, everything is a by-product of knowing Christ. I don't follow Him SO THAT I can be a Godly man. I am a Godly man as a result of following Him. This means that my "slavery" to Christ is purely that. I love Him because He loved me first, not so I can show the world what a Christian looks like. I AM a Christian, I don't DO Christianity.

My thoughts should be, "I want to be closer to Jesus, and know Him, and do HIS will." If I seek Christ for my own will to be done i.e. be a better friend, husband or father(last two not yet realized) I fool myself into a false faith.

My affections should be simple. Yet, because I am selfish and prideful, even when I am "following" the Lord it is more often than not for my own agenda to be realized. A good gage for this is to see how you handle adversity, or even and obstacle of any kind. How do you or I react? If it is not as Christ would, then perhaps my devotion to Him is less than genuine. I don't mean to sound harsh, trust me, I am a grace guy. But I want my faith to be real, not conditional. So if I am to "worship Him in spirit and in truth," then my prayer should be for Christ to be my reason for everything. A prayer like:

"Jesus, no matter how this thing in my life works out, let me remain faithful to You."

We all have things we want in life, a better job, a Godly family, a pure relationship. But to attain those things at the expense of true faith is dangerous, and in the end impossible.

"Lord let my devotion to You be true. Let me worship in spirit and in truth. I want You only. If I were the only soul on earth, let my heart still be Yours. Thank You for always being true, and faithful!"

EASTER

What a morning to behold
A blessed day awakes
Because His death was not the end
A stone began to shake


And from the grave He rose again
He conquered death and sin
Greater love hath no man seen
No greater love since then


He bought us back and called us sons
O' grace how sweet the sound
We run into His safe embrace
No shackles, free, unbound


Remember on this day His name
A name that has restored
This lost and wretched heart of mine
Sweet Jesus I am Yours