Southeast Asia

Hello to you who have chosen to support me this summer as I go to spread the name and glory of the Lord in Southeast Asia. I and the rest of my team are very excited about this opportunity that God has given us. As of right now, I don't have a whole lot of new details to share beyond what I already shared in my letter, except that we are putting on a support dinner on April 19th. Please pray that it would be a profitable time of both fundraising as well sharing our vision of our trip and sharing Christ with those who may not know Him already. I would greatly covet your prayers. Here are some ways you can be praying for my team and me.

• Funds- pray for all our funding to come in
• Team Bonding and Unity- None of us are strangers, but that doesn't mean we can't grow much closer and learn how to better encourage each other in Christ.
• The Fundraising Dinner- Pray that the hearts of those who attend would share in the vision of Christ for the lost

Grace

Here's a poem that I thought I'd share:

Unmerited favor, undeserved mercy;
Innocent blood shed for wretches
A criminal given a seat at His table.
What is this you say?
‘Tis grace I tell thee.

Clemency has been granted to those condemned;
A slate dirtied has been covered by blood
Made fit to be written on by the King.
What is this you say?
‘Tis grace I tell thee.

Freely given, graciously received;
What once was black, now white
What once was dead, now alive.
What is this you say?
‘Tis grace I tell thee.

The worst of sinners made righteous;
Dry bones vast beyond all measure
Given new flesh and breathed into life.
What is this you say?
‘Tis grace I tell thee.

A lost sheep brought into the fold;
A blind man is made to see
And a deaf man is made to hear.
What is this you say?
‘Tis grace I tell thee.

My Lord is bruised and broken;
His life given for mine so that
Adam’s sin might no longer hold me.
What is this you say?
‘Tis grace I tell thee.

The Dichotomy of Love for Christ and Love of the World

I LOVE my God! He is absolutely deserving of all my love and commands my love.

Matt. 22:37-38, "And He said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.'"

How can I not but give my all to the one who suffered humiliation and beatings and the most painful death known to man so that I might enjoy Him forever and praise Him with all that I am forever. In light of this, how can I love the world and the things of this world? I CAN'T!!!!

1 John 2:15-17 says, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

The world and Christ are at complete enmity with one another. If I love the world, I am an enemy of God. It breaks my heart when I see my brothers and sisters in Christ who engage in the things of this world...enjoying the lusts of the flesh. Sure, they are tempting, but they lead to death.

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

While the things of this world may be tempting and seem pleasurable, Satan really only wants to kill, steal, and destroy you through them. The world hates us because it hated Christ and we are in Christ.

John 15:19 says, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you."

The world hates Christ and it hates us...how then can we love the things of this world? How can we run to them instead of Christ? We have been crucified and buried with Christ and raised again with Him. We have died to the old self and have put on the new man, which is in Christ.

I was really just thinking about this and the implications of this in my own life. If I truly say that I am a son of God, and that I love my Lord and Savior with my whole heart and all of my being, and if I am truly searching after Him, I can't and won't love the things of this world. Romans 12:9 says that we are to abhor evil and cling to what is good. Abhor is such a strong word. It means "to regard with extreme repugnance or aversion; detest utterly; loathe; abominate." This is how the Lord feels about sin and this is how I am to feel about sin.

1 John 3:5-6,9 say, "5You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has sen Him or knows Him. 9No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."

If I am completely abiding in Christ (as is my desire) I cannot sin. Andrew Murray says this regarding verses 5-6. "He admits sinners into life union with Himself; the result is that their life becomes like His...when the abiding in Christ becomes close and unbroken, so that the soul lives from moment to moment in the perfect union with the Lord its keeper, He does, indeed keep down the power of the old nature, so that it does no regain dominion over the soul." What blessed assurance!! It makes perfect sense. If Christ absolutely abhors sin, and I am abiding in Him, then I must abhor sin as well. If I am filled with Christ, then sin has no place in my life. I can either love my Lord or I can love the things of this world. May we seek to abide fully and only in Christ day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment, because we are in complete need of Him. May we be so consumed with Christ that we cannot even entertain the idea of desiring the things this world may have to offer.

In His Presence

"In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore." -Ps. 16:11

Where'er Thou art may we remain;

Where'er Thou goest may we go;

With Thee, O Lord, no grief is pain,

Away from Thee all joy is woe.

Oh, may we in each holy tide,

Each solemn season, dwell with Thee!

Content if only by Thy side

In life or death we still may be.

May we long to never leave His presence. May our abiding in Him be constant and our joy full.

Wisdom- Godly vs. Worldly

This post was sparked by my Bible study on Sunday morning at my church. We were looking at 1 Cor. 1:18-31, but this post specifically has to do with what worldly wisdom is as stated in vs. 20. I had some ideas, but I really wanted to see what Scripture had to say about it. And yes, it may look a little long and daunting at first, but most of the post consists of the actual scripture that I pulled from, so unless you are adverse to reading Scripture I would say, stick with it. :)

Figuring out what godly wisdom is turned out to be easier than what worldly wisdom is since verses straight up say "this is wisdom", but I think that, one, worldly wisdom is the opposite of godly wisdom, and so therefore we can see what godly wisdom is and see that worldly wisdom would be the opposite of that, and two, there are some good verses that point to what worldly wisdom is as well. I'll start with what wisdom is and then move to what worldly wisdom is.

Job 28:28 says, "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.'" - Wisdom is the fear of the Lord.

Ps. 111:10 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

Pr. 2:6, 9:10 says, "For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding." - It is only the LORD who gives wisdom.

So, wisdom is the fear of the Lord and comes from the Lord. Conversely, the wisdom of the world would be to uphold and value the things of this world and our carnal desires and such and it comes from man himself. Now, verses about the wisdom of the world:

Pr. 29:3 says, "A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but he who keeps company with harlots wastes his wealth." - Here it seems keeping company with harlots (valuing and partaking in the carnal pleasures of this world/not fearing the Lord or obeying His commandments) is opposite of wisdom.

Is. 47:10 says, "You felt secure in your wickedness and said, 'No one sees me,' Your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you; For you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one besides me.'" - Her worldly wisdom deluded her and caused her to think "I am, and there is no one besides me." - Basically her worldly wisdom caused her to reject God and think that she was God and there was no one greater than her. She made much of herself and was proud.

Jer. 8:7-10 says, "Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons; And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their migration; but My people do not know The ordinance of the LORD." How can you say, 'We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us'? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. "The wise men are put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, And what kind of wisdom do they have? "Therefore I will give their wives to others, Their fields to new owners; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is greedy for gain; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices deceit." - They were saying they were wise but were rejecting the law of the Lord. They were practicing worldly wisdom. It would also seem that from the last verse that greediness for gain and deceit are also a part of worldly wisdom.

Ez. 28:1-7 says, "The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 2 "Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because your heart is lifted up And you have said, ' I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas'; Yet you are a man and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God-- 3 Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; There is no secret that is a match for you. 4 "By your wisdom and understanding You have acquired riches for yourself And have acquired gold and silver for your treasuries. 5 "By your great wisdom, by your trade You have increased your riches And your heart is lifted up because of your riches-- 6 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because you have made your heart Like the heart of God, 7 Therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon you, The most ruthless of the nations. And they will draw their swords Against the beauty of your wisdom And defile your splendor." - I think this is the best example for worldly wisdom out of all the verses. He says it by his wisdom that he has acquired riches and that he is proud and thinks himself to be God. Later he says that the nations will draw their swords against the beauty of his wisdom...the beauty of his wisdom was all his gold and wealth. His wisdom was all about making much of himself and thinking himself God and running after riches and wealth. It says he made his heart like the heart of God because of His wisdom. His wisdom brought about the epitome of pride- thinking you are God.

I Cor. 2:1-5 says, "And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." - Here Paul says that he didn't come to them with fancy speeches and he wasn't proud and basically that he wasn't trying to persuade them by anything which appeal to the senses or anything that he could do to try to make them like his message, and he did this so that their faith wouldn't rest on the wisdom of men. Well, then, the wisdom of men would think that because what he said sounded good or he looked good or looked like he knew what he was talking about that they should believe it.
James 3:14-17 says, "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy." - Wisdom of this world is bitter jealously and selfish ambition. Wisdom from above is the opposite...it is pure, peaceable, gentle, and responsible, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, and without hypocrisy.

Well, there you have it. I hope that you have been educated and edified by reading this.

Thoughts on Prayer

I just finished doing a study on prayer and thought I would post some of what I gleaned from that study.

First, I think it important to understand how and why we are able to approach the throne room of God. Heb. 4:14-16 says, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need." Christ has made it possible for us to enter into the throne room of grace. The temple curtain has been ripped.

Second, in order for our prayers to be effective, we should be living holy lives. James 5:16 says, "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." If our lives are holy, then we should pray believing that the Lord will hear and answer our prayers. Matt. 21:22 says, "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." James 1:6 says, "But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind."

Third, the Lord gave us a guide for prayer. Matt. 6:9-13 says, "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'" This prayer can be broken into 5 parts:

1. Worship- We need to praise God for who He is and what He has done. Honor His great name.
2. Declaration of allegiance- We tell God that we are fully His and we want His will to be done.
3. Petition- We ask of God the things that we need
4. Confession of sin- We confess our sin
5. Request for deliverance- We ask God to deliver us from temptation and evil.

Forth, we should be persistent in prayer. Luke 11:8-10 says, "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened."

Fifth, there are certain things which will keep God from hearing our prayers. Is. 59:1-2 says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear." Ps. 66:18, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear." James 4:3 says, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures." Sin, wickedness, and asking with wrong motives will all keep our prayers from being heard by the Lord.

Sixth, if you are interested you should check out some of these prayers in the Bible and model your prayers after them: 2 Chron. 20:5-12; Neh. 1:5-11; Dan. 9:4-19; Eph. 1:15-19

Mother's Day Card

I know it's a little early for mother's day, but I figured I would just give all you guys out there a head start.  Here is my favorite mother's day card ever...

 Mom, you are the one who brought me to planet earth.  You are the one who suffered through my 24 hour birth.  You're the one who made lemonade for me after I'd come back from play.  I love you mom, so have a wicked nice mother's day!

There it is people...I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.