The Deep Healing Waters of Jesus

I started my day like any other.  I woke up, got ready for work, and arrived on time.  I had plenty of things to do today and spent the morning trying to take care of the many tasks on my roster.  As the morning continued to slip away, I decided to go down to the kitchen to get some water.  I noticed worship music gentling calling from the living room.  I drank my water and continued to work on the tasks I had inside the house.  I passed the living room multiple times as I checked the furnace filters, the thermostats, and changed some light bulbs.

As I went past the living room, I noticed that more people than usual were attending the worship chapel and each person was doing something different as they enjoyed the music and connected with Christ.  Each time I passed the living room, I felt a draw to join in.  I frequently join in the chapel sessions but not the worship sessions.  So i continued my work trying to ignore the longing that was compelling me to join.

After about 20 minutes of attempting to ignore the desire of my heart, I decided to quietly slip into the living room, sit down, and write in my notebook as I enjoyed the worship album playing in the room.  As I sat down and began to write, a flood of emotion flowed from my heart.  My heart began to pour out onto the notebook in the form of a prayer.  I had not talked with God for a few days maybe even a few weeks. It was time and my heart knew exactly what I needed to say.

My heart had been drawing me to join the worship.  My heart had been longing to reconnect with my Lord.  The Holy Spirit knew my need though I myself had not perceived it or maybe worse had been running from it.  To help deepen and explain the significance of today, I want to explain my daily routine at work for the past few weeks.

I have spent quite a lot of time outside mowing, trimming, weeding, mulching, and so much more.  During this time, I put on my headphones, which are hooked up to my iPhone, and listen to podcast sermons from pastors I respect and admire and Christian music I enjoy.  I have probably listened to over 30 hours of sermons in the last week on Jesus and walking an authentic Christian life.  Now I can't say that I didn't not pray or speak to God in conviction during some of these sermons but I can say that I did not humble myself and give to God all I had been holding in my heart.  The silence of my blog recently has spoken to this condition in my heart.

When I sat down in that worship, I finally took the time to connect with where I was with Christ and was able, through the Holy Spirit, to identify my desperate need to reconcile with Jesus and lay my burdens, worries, and struggles down before Him.  As I sat there quietly in the back of the living room, I was able to truly pour out my broken and contrite heart before the Lord.

The Lord helped to facilitate my healing even further through my best friend, Jono, who spoke even deeper into the need of my heart through the daily texts we share.  I opened up and confessed also to my best friend and accountability partner the state of my heart and my need.  We both dove deeply into our desires to serve and live passionately for Christ.

Through this whole process, I found a peace I have not felt in a while.  I was able to breathe deeply and fully in the certainty and joy of Christ.  I could feel the Lord reconnect my heart into Himself.  I could feel my heart submit to His reign.  The rest of my day has been filled with the peace and joy of knowing that I have a God who knows my heart's need so much better than I do.  I can rest in the knowledge that my Lord will lead me to still waters whether I know I need them or not.

Where is your heart with Jesus tonight?  Have you been listening to all the Christian songs, reading the Christian books, intently enjoying the Christian sermons, and living a good looking Christian life and yet still finding your heart distant from Jesus?  Sometimes we can cover over exactly what we need by filling our lives with all these things and yet not humbling ourselves before the Lord.  Have you laid your heart, your sins, and your burdens at the feet of Jesus tonight?  Don't hesitate to do it tonight.  The cool waters of our Lord are abundant and sweet!  Don't resist the call of the Holy Spirit who is drawing you to make your path straight tonight.  Dive in my brother and sister.  Dive in.

As a closer, I would love to hear from you about how the Lord has drawn you to himself recently.  I would love to hear ways that you connect with Jesus daily.  I would love to here how the Lord used this blog to restore your heart today.  Feel free to comment on the blog or on my Facebook account.  I would just love to be able to share in the many way Jesus has spoken to, blessed, and uplifted each of my readers.

Blessings,

Greg

My wife and I feel an intense calling on our lives for missions and full-time ministry.  We have created a fundraiser to help us overcome one hurtle to us being able to go to the mission field.  I pray that you will take a moment and check out this link.  I thank you for your consideration and ask that you seek the Lord's guidance in considering contributing to this fundraiser.  Thank you.

http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=3437&url=roadtofreedomforproclaimingchrist

A Piece of Me

At my job, we have chapel on Tuesdays for our clients and employees.  Today's chapel, was about our own stories that make up who we are.  The speaker did an activity where we wrote down one word descriptions of our story and linked them together.  It was so amazing to see how so many words written by others could apply to our own stories also.  By the end of the chapel, we had a multi-link chain of our life stories one word at a time.  The three words I used throughout the activity was grace, darkness, and redeemed.

My whole life has been covered by grace though I have to say there were times I wouldn't have been able to see it.  I am a preacher's kid.  I tell most people that I have been in the church since before I was born.  My family did a wonderful job of raising me with love, teaching me the Bible, who Jesus is, and how to live a life that honors Him.  I remember being at church every time the doors were open.  When I was a teenager, I would even run the sound for dad at some of the weddings and funerals performed at the church.

Though my parents did a wonderful job of raising me, they couldn't protect me from all of the temptations and sins of this world.  Many of the struggles I faced in my life were not due to a failure on their part but a lack of judgment and wisdom on my part.  There were just certain challenges I chose, pridefully, to face on my own.  I praise God that I never had any problems with alcohol or drugs but there were definitely areas I struggled with throughout my teenage years and beyond.  

I struggled greatly with being a "two face," which for me was living for Jesus when I was at church and home and then living for the world when I was not.  I was greatly immersed in secular music, tv, and practices most behind my parents back through the homes of friends around me.  I learned to cuss on the bus in kindergarden.  We went to a school system that had all ages on the same bus.  I struggled greatly with the language, stories, and concepts I learned on the bus and in school for essentially my whole time in school.  I look back and shutter at the things I said, thought, and did during those years in grade school.  It took me many years of submitting all these things to Jesus and changing what I allowed to filled my head and mouth.  The phrase, "garbage in equals garbage out" is so true.

During a move to a new town when I was around ten years old, I was introduced to pornography.  I essentially became addicted to this horrifying realm of the devil for my full teenage life and well into my twenties.  It did not help that my generation was the first to fully interact with the computer and a new thing called the internet.  I grew up in a time when parental controls were nonexistent on the computer and content was infinitely accessible.  This served to feed my curiosity and drew me deeper into darkness and sin than I ever wanted to go.  I suffered greatly from this time in my life and looking back I can see the pain I caused to myself, my family, my friends, and my wife.  

During those teenage and college years I continued my 'two face' living of portraying the perfect preachers son who had it all together while sinking deeper and deeper into sin behind locked doors.  The devil had a firm grip on my life and yet I thought that I was okay.  I could answer any Biblical question you gave me and I knew who Jesus is and what He did for me.  I believed I was saved and had "rededicated" my life many times to make sure.  My heart was so deceived and the devil had me believing  I could live for two worlds without consequences.  

Well about five years ago, God brought me to a place where I met a man who I refer to now as my brother.  The two of us were much alike in the struggles with sin we faced and our desire to be free from them to fully honor and minister for Jesus.  We instantly became best friends and accountability partners.  Through prayer, accountability, and a fervent resolve to vanquish the sin that was destroying our lives, we were able to begin the difficult and painful walk to freedom.  God's grace redeemed us.  He utilized our friendship to provide encouragement and tough talks when needed.  He taught us how to walk in Him through our times hiking, biking, boating, and talking deeply about His word and how He was working on our hearts individually.  Through this time, Jesus taught us both how to passionately love Him and live for fully live for Him.

There is so much more to my story and the many ways that God has moved through it but what I am most proud of is to be able to say that Jesus has brought me freedom from the bondage I once endured.  For the longest time, I believed that certain temptations and addictions could not be broken but must be endured for the full length of my life.  I now can see that Philippians 4:13 is true!  Psalm 103:12 is absolutely true!  God's promises are true! 

I honestly don't know where your heart is tonight.  Maybe you are the one who is tired of hearing about God and Jesus because you have been running from Him so long.  Maybe you are like I was and have been in the church your whole life and yet secretly you are up to your eyeballs in sin and finally ready to acknowledge that you are far from Jesus and want to ask Him in your heart for real.  Maybe you have been missing something your whole life and have just never knew how to fill that void.  Maybe you feel that you are just to gone for Jesus to love you.  

I am here to say that you can never run to far away from Jesus for Him to reach you.  You can never fall to far down for Him to be able to pick you up.  You can never sin to much to be redeemed.  Jesus' salvation is offered not because of what right you've earned but what He has freely given (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Jesus is waiting for you to open your heart to Him today (Revelation 3:20).  Jesus will give you the Holy Spirit, which will be there to guide you, teach you, and help you walk the road back to purity in Him (John 14:15-31).        

I felt I needed to offer part of my own story tonight.  There are many parts of it I am ashamed of and yet through these times of darkness I have found my Savior, a brother, and a strength I have never known.  Jesus truly can redeem all things for good for those who walk in Him (Romans 8:28).  I know He has for me and I look forward to how He will continue to allow me to minister and reach our to the world for Him.  I pray that if you do not know Jesus, you would accept Him today.  I pray that if you know Jesus but are mired deeply in sin, you would seek His forgiveness and begin a right and real relationship with Him today.  Please know that I am always willing to talk, pray, or help in anyway I can. 

Blessings,

Greg  

 

My wife and I feel an intense calling on our lives for missions and full-time ministry.  We have created a fundraiser to help us overcome one hurtle to us being able to go to the mission field.  I pray that you will take a moment and check out this link.  I thank you for your consideration and ask that you seek the Lord's guidance in considering contributing to this fundraiser.  Thank you.

http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=3437&url=roadtofreedomforproclaimingchrist

Forever Friends

Have you ever had a friend in whom you could trust with your deepest of secrets?  Have you ever had a friend that you could trust to keep you accountable in your walk and help you grow closer to Christ?  Have you ever had a friend that just gets you and in whom you can truly be yourself?  Have you ever had a friend in whom you knew that even if you were a world a part your friendship would remain?

I don't know about you but I spent 25 years of my life believing that a friend like this didn't exist.  As a preacher's kid, I grew up in a family that never lived in the same place longer than 7 years.  One thing that became incredibly clear to me in all those years of being transient was that once you left, most of your "good" friends would no longer write or keep up with you.  It seems to me that for the most part we live in a world that enjoys friendships of convenience.  Most people do not want to go through the struggle of having to maintain contact through messaging, email, phone calls, and scheduled get togethers.  It seems most people choose to love the people in whom are close and convenient.

Well about 4 years ago I met a guy who became the brother I never had.  God completely brought us together and blessed our friendship.  He developed in us a friendship that will be able to stand the test of time.  We both love to hang out and do adventures, which includes paintball, kayaking, biking, hiking, and much more.  We both love Jesus and want our lives to reflect our passion for Him.  We both are married and want to be the best husbands we can possibly be.  We also both have a passion for ministry and have partnered together many times to reach people for Jesus.  The Lord has truly blessed our friendship.

Now don't get me wrong, we have definitely had our disagreements and our friendship hasn't always been easy but the Lord has been gracious and helped us to grow closer through our struggles.  It has been amazing how much both of us have grown in our walks with Christ and half of our friendship has been with us being continents apart.  I personally believe that there are certain people that the Lord places in your life that will bless you more than any other person can.  My wife and my best friend are two of those people and I am incredibly happy to have them in my life.

My friend is in the country for a couple weeks on a furlough to pickup visas and my wife and I had the opportunity to hang out with him and his family today.  I made sure to pack up both my bike and my kayak so that we could have an afternoon jam packed with adventure and heart connections related to who we are as men of Christ.  We had a wonderful afternoon kayaking on a creek near my friend's house and even had the pleasure of having a walnut war in our kayaks.  We both shared how the Lord is working in our lives and discussed struggles we have had in our walks.  It was wonderful.

I write all of this as an example of the importance of a close same sex friend and accountability partner to help you develop and grow your walk.  I believe this is the example that Jesus was portraying in the 12 disciples.  You also see a friendship like this in Jonathan and David in the Old Testament.  Paul and his many companions also reflected similar friendships.  These men experienced everything together whether joys or sorrows and through their experiences they became close and grew in their maturity as followers of Christ.  It is so important to have someone in your life in whom you know you could say anything to and not feel judged.  It is important to know that you are loved by someone so much that they are willing to ask you the hard questions that help you have a deeper walk.

If you do not have anyone in your life that resembles this picture, I highly recommend you pray that the Lord would bring someone like this into your life.  It may take a while but I know that the Lord has someone like this for each person.  For some, you may already know who this person is in your life and if so, I suggest you praise God for knowing who they are.  For some, you may feel like I once did and not  believe a person like this exist.  My advice is to be faithful and trust that the Lord intends for you to be able to share a friendship like this, that will help you grow leaps and bounds in your walk.  Our God is eternally and completely faithful, as I have said in many of my other blogs.  Trust in Him and he will bring someone like this into your life at the time you most need them.

Blessings,

Greg