The Rose

This is Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church, in Texas. This comes from his talk at the Desiring God conference from February ’09. I can’t really say much more about the video, because I’m afraid I would take away from the video. So here it is. I love it.

I’m the rose…you’re the rose….Jesus wants the rose!

Rain vs Shower

The other day, after leaving the gym, I went back home to my apartment, in desperate need of a shower. While on the way home, it started to rain, pretty heavily. At first I was annoyed with it, but then I thought, “it would be nice to have some soap right now, I could shower in the rain and save time!” But I didn’t have soap. So when I got home, I walked through the parking lot in the rain, to get inside and take a shower, then it hit me…”why do I get aggravated by the rain, but welcome the shower? I mean, the only difference in walking in the rain and standing in the shower, is clothing. Well that, and the fact that I can control the shower.” Then it hit me again (yeah, ‘it’ hits me a lot), “I know what it is…I can’t control the rain!” Well I also can’t walk around naked, but the ‘controlling’ thing is what’s most important here. See when I’m in the shower, I’m in control of everything, I’m prepared for everything that happens during and after the shower. But in the rain, I have no control at all. I can’t turn off the rain when I’m ready for it to stop. I can’t adjust the temperature of the rain. I can’t press a button and control how hard the water falls, like I can do on my shower head. But you know, walking in the rain is so much more fun when I realize that I don’t have control. When I just let the rain do it’s thing, and go with it, I can enjoy the freedom that comes with not having to be in control.

Isn’t that what life is like with God? Seriously, I’ve been shown so many times, how insignificant and meaningless my plans are. I mean, when God is going to do something, He’s going to do something, and me trying to hold on to whatever little bit of control I think I have, isn’t going to change anything. One of two things happen when I try to maintain control: Either I go with the flow of things, but stay aggravated and ticked off, or I say “No, I’m going to do things my way” and stubbornly walk right out of God’s plan.

But think of this, how awesome would it be to just surrender everything, EVERYTHING, to God, and be confident in the fact that He has your best intentions in mind. He wants what’s best for you, and what glorifies Him most…and that’s what this life is about, making most of God!

So what would your life look like if you were to take part in this beautiful surrender? What if you could just fall right in to whatever it is God is doing, and go along for the ride? Maybe, just maybe, walking in the rain would look a little less like this…
…and start to look a little more like this… …or maybe even a little like this…

Drew

Here is another video from Mark Horvath (invisiblepeople.tv). It’s a common, but devistating story. Here is Drew’s story…

Ulysess

Ulysses lives in Atlanta.  Not in a high-rise apartment, not in a trendy condo, not in a suburb, or in the hood.  Ulysses lives under the I-20 & I-75/85 interchange.  I met him a few years ago, when, through the discipleship from Jason, I first started to understand that God has a passion for the least and the lost.  If you look at scripture, it was often the “least of these” that Jesus would reach out to, in order to demonstrate His love, miracles, and desire to forgive sins and save the lives of anyone who would accept His forgiveness, and surrender their lives to Him. 

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Mark Horvath (invisiblepeople.tv), and introduce him to some of my homless friends, so that he could capture their story on video.  Here’s Ulysses:

How Can I?

The third, and final, devotional…

        How Can I?

 You were created by God, to worship God, to glorify God in your life and with your life.  God desires for you to be righteous.  That’s a huge statement, and it seems so overbearing.  “How can I glorify God with my life?” or “How can I be righteous?”  You may think it’s hard to do that, you may think it’s difficult…but it’s not.  Truth is…it’s impossible.  That’s probably not what you expected to hear, but it’s true. 

When Jesus was on the cross, right before he “breathed his last”(Mark 15:37), Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”(Mark 15:34).  After hearing that it’s impossible for you to be righteous, that may be exactly what you’re thinking, “God, why have you left me like this?  You want me to be righteous, but it’s impossible!”  But God knows that.  He knows that it is impossible for you, by yourself, to live a righteous life that glorifies Him.  But see the cool thing is, Jesus did live the perfect, righteous, God glorifying life.  

So here’s God’s plan, He wants to put the Spirit of the one that did live the righteous life, inside of the ones who can’t live that life, so that the ones who can’t live that life, can live that righteous, God glorifying life through the power of the Holy Spirit!

 Now don’t misunderstand what that kind of life looks like.  Here is what that kind of life is not:  it’s not just trying to be a nice person, not drinking, and not cussing.  Living the kind of life that God calls each of us to live, means surrendering.  Surrendering yourself to God, and living your life in response to the love that he has poured out on you. 

So now that you know what kind of life God desires for you to live; and knowing that the power of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from death to life, is available to you…what will you do with it?

I am Yours?

A few weeks ago, my good friend, Jason Sebren, was speaking at a back to school retreat, and I was granted with an awesome opportunity: to write daily devotions for students at the retreat.  I have never attempted anything like this, but I really enjoyed the experience.  I want to share these with you now, here is the first one:  “I Am Yours?”

 

            “I’m yours.”  What does that really even mean?  We hear it all the time, “I’m yours.”  We hear it in songs; we hear it in and say it in our romances and relationships.  It’s an expression that’s often used to show our affection, or our allegiance.  But what does it really mean?  What are you really saying when you say, “I am yours” or even “I want to be yours.”

            Let’s break it down, to understand what we’re really saying…“I am yours.” To say “I am” is to make a declarative statement.  Moses once asked God what his name is, God told Moses “I am who I am…say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you. (Exodus 3:14)’” God made the declaration that He is everything, He is love, He is compassion, He is power, He is strength, He is justice, He is mercy, etc. 

            “I want to be yours.” The word “be” literally means, “to exist or live.”  To quote Shakespeare, “to be or not to be” in other words, “to exist or not to exist” or “to live or not to live.”  Wow that’s pretty heavy.  Some synonyms for the word “be,” include:  abide, act, breathe, endure, prevail, rest, and remain.  It seems a little strange to think, such a small word that we use all the time, has so much more meaning and power than most of us have ever realized. 

             Ok, now “yours.”  The word “yours,” is the possessive form of the word “you.”  So let’s put it all that together: “I am yours.”  You are making the declaration that you belong to someone.  If you say, “God, I am yours,” you are telling God that you are His, you belong to Him…that’s a huge statement!  So what are we saying when we say, “Jesus, I want to be yours.”  You are telling Jesus that you want to live for Him, exist for Him, abide in Him, breathe in Him, endure in Him, prevail through Him, rest in Him, and remain in Him.  Can you say that?  Can you say that…and mean it?

             What would it look like in your life, if you could say, “God, I am yours!”?