Submission

Servants, be SUBMISSIVE to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. (1 Peter 2:18)


This post will be short but I'd like to talk about something that I am truly working on, submission. Specifically submission to leaders. When we hear that word, submission,  a bunch of red flags go up. We say things like, "Why should I be submissive?" Or, "I only to submit myself to God, not men/women." These are both things I have said countless amounts of time, pretty recently too. In my eyes men/women are flawed so submitting to someone who is flawed can't be correct, right? There must be a perfect pastor or minister out there somewhere! Wrong!


All my life I've searched for that perfect leader but have not found one. And I'm starting to realize that I will never find one (took me a minute haha). We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Moses is arguably the greatest prophet/leader that ever lived, but he had an anger problem. Remember when he killed the Egyptian in Exodus 2:12?

And we can see throughout the book of Exodus that the Israelites were not the best followers of Moses. They probably didn't want to follow someone who was always angry all of the time.

Peter tell us in 1 Peter 2:18 that we are called to be submissive to our masters/spiritual leaders/people of authority, not only the nice ones who we love to serve but also the ones that are harsh. We are called to serve and be obedient not only to God but to his chosen leaders. Let's not be like the Israelites and be disobedient, for the majority of them their story didn't end to well.

Submit yourself to your spiritual leaders.

Live in Love. Live In Peace. Go in Freedom

-Daniel

God Needs You to Trust Him

Recently something in my personal life just happened that caused me to feel so many emotions: anger, frustration, bitterness, jealousy, confusion, and sadness. I would be transparent with you all but this testimony does not involve just me..

These emotions I felt were directed at God and others around me. I asked God why was this happening? What did I do wrong? Was I not living for you? Was I not totally surrendering to you?

It's funny how when we start obeying things God told us to do weeks, months, and years ago then we want to get a big head and feel as if we are entitled to a reward. Like we're the stars of the show and everything we do deserves attention and praise. Like God is supposed to give us a treat for doing what we were supposed to do in the first place. Well let me tell you all something The truth is.....you guys ready for it? It's real......


God owes you nothing. Nothing at all.

He doesn't have to reward you for anything that you do. He didn't have to bless you with a wife, kids, a job, a degree, a nice car, etc. And He sure didn't have to die on that cross for our sins.

But He chose to do these things. 

Our assignment as human beings is this: Obey His commandments (John 14:15) We are required to obey God. It is not an option. Not something that can be negotiated it is something that is involuntary.
God needs you to stop making out your plans and trust Him. When we start preparing our plans for our life we are not trusting God with our lives. Without complete surrender there is no trust. How can we say we trust God but not give up our entire lives to Him?

God wants to bless you and He wants to bring you into all the things He has for you but you must take that step out on the water and trust Him. Even if it doesn't look like the plan you intended for your life. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were told they would be thrown into the burning furnace for not worshiping the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar set up there response was this:

 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18 NKJV)

When I read these verses I burst out laughing! Firstly, the three told the king off saying that we don't have to obey anything you say. Then they went along to say that their God has the power to save them and WILL save them (a lot of times we just say that God will do something and all we're doing is just talking not trusting).  The last part is the best though. Even if God wouldn't deliver them from the furnance and they knew He wouldn't they would still not worship the false gods of king Nebuchadnezzar.

This whole story is a perfect example of putting our trust in God. If these three teenage boys could do it (yup they were teenagers) why can't you?

Live in Love. Live in Peace. Go in Freedom.

Daniel

What Are You Willing to Ask God For? (part 2)

So last week I talked about how God hears our prayers and answers them. I talked about how we must abide in Him and whatever we ask for will be done for us (if you missed it read last weeks blog). But how do we build up the courage to pray those bold prayers? How do we ask God for those things that are impossible for man?

Faith. 

But what is faith? We throw that word around so much as "church folks" or as Christians but what does it really mean? the Oxford dictionaries definition of faith is "Complete trust or confidence in someone or something". When you have complete trust in something there is no doubt in your mind that it will carry out the function it is supposed to do.

Every morning when I get out of my bed I go over to the sink so i can brush my teeth. I understand that the faucet has two handles, one for hot water and one for cold. When I turn the handle on the right that is labeled hot I am trusting in the faucets ability to spray out hot water. I don't expect for cold water to come out because I turned on the hot water, not the cold.

If we can put our trust in a few metal pipes to spew out some hot water why is it so hard for us to trust in a God who healed the lame and the blind? A God who fed multitudes of people. A God who raised Lazarus from the dead. A God who Himself, in the form of Jesus, conquered death.

Hebrews 11:1 reads that faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. The Greek translation for substance/confidence is hupostasis. Hupostasis means "a setting or placing under, a thing put under, substructure, foundation,  something that is firm, that which has actual existence...etc." So Hupostasis is tangible. It is as real as the computer you are reading this blog from or as real as your glasses on your face.

Faith is not just something we use to get what we want, it is something that is required of us. "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him MUST believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). 

When I read that verse I rejoiced because God does not want us to fail our classes. He doesn't want us to be in debt after we leave college. He doesn't want us continue to be held in bondage by our drinking addiction or by our pornography addiction. He wants to reward us for earnestly seeking Him. He wants us to be willing to ask Him for anything and everything.

But don't be mislead. God is not some genie in a lamp here to grant our every wishes. James says it like this: we don't receive because we don't ask (James 4:2) and we ask and don't receive because of our fleshly desires (James 4:3). Kinda confusing right? How do I know when I'm asking out of my flesh and when I'm asking something that God wants me to have?

Well we have to come to a point where we follow God just because He's GOD not because we want something. Then, the prayers we are willing to pray will line up with the will of God.

Live in Love. Live in Peace. Go in Freedom.

Daniel