Forged By Faith

John 15:13 NIV This is probably the one verse that you will see on just about every single faith-based page and profile today. When it comes to our nation's holidays, I always try to find a verse that fits but isn't necessarily the one that everyone else seems to share. But for Memorial Day, this one is simply perfect! We all have so much to celebrate and be thankful for, and we truly don't deserve any of it! Today we celebrate freedom. We celebrate the price that our freedoms have cost. We celebrate the courage and bravery of those who have paid that price. We celebrate the opportunity to live in a country that has as much freedom as we do. We celebrate the chance to be proud of our country because of those who have fought for it. But most of all, we celebrate the lives of those who have given their all so that you and I can live these lives we get to live. It might just be me, but every Memorial Day I can't help but think of the cross. That cross will always be our re

Matthew 16:24 NIV The past couple of days I've felt the need to refocus. I go through periods where these posts feel really good. They flow really well and it feels like everything goes as it should. Then there are other times when it feels like I stumble my way through them and probably completely botch the job. Here lately I feel like I've had too much of me in them. And that's definitely not the goal! One thing that I never want any of these posts to be about is me. This isn't about me. It isn't about what I think or what I think I know. It's all about Christ and sharing the Gospel. I always try to bring these posts around to the messages and lessons of the Bible. Now I know I've gotten some wrong. I know I've missed the mark. I know that I've strayed off topic and probably taken some verses out of context. But it gives me something to work on, and that's just what I intend to do! You know, learning to put ourselves aside is a challenge for al

1 Timothy 4:16 NIV It really is incredible how the Bible can give you just what you need right when you need it. Here lately those old familiar doubts have tried creeping back in. Wondering if I'm making a difference. Wondering if I could be doing something different to reach more people with these daily Bible verses. Wondering if I should cut any of the different ideas I'm trying. But then I read this one the other night and it was about as refreshing as it gets! When it comes down to it, if we're living our lives for God according to His will for us then we're doing exactly what we need to be doing. But we often gauge things on numbers. We want that feedback to tell us that we're doing good, that we're doing enough, and that we're heading in the right direction. We think that if we don't see an instant impact then maybe what we're doing doesn't matter. We have to stop seeing things the way the world has taught to see them. God will lead the way

James 4:4 NIV Yesterday I shared with you all one of the biggest lessons that I'd learned from a mistake that I regret. Today is the second of those mistakes that I made back when I graduated from high school. Two mistakes, two regrets, two massive lessons that I was given the chance to learn on the same day! It really is amazing what God can help us learn when we're willing to pay attention and not think that we know better than He does. The night after graduation our school had something called Project Graduation. It was basically a party for our graduating class at a local family center. A night of games, food, prizes, just all sorts of fun stuff. So I went. I jacked my arm up playing dodgeball for roughly 5-6 hours straight. I won a golf glove and a round of golf that I don't think I ever even used. And when it was all done, we said our goodbyes and that was it. That phase of life had passed by and the next was under way. I went to that thing to spend a little more time

Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV Back in 2006 I was given the chance to learn a couple of very valuable lessons through poor choices that I made all on one day. I have thought about them off and on ever since and they popped in my mind again the other night. So I thought that I would share with you all a couple of my biggest regrets because I think that they may be more common than I realized at the time. When I graduated from high school my family gave me a seriously cool gift. But being the foolish person I was back then, I decided that I wanted something else. They had spent who knows how much time and thought picking out the exact thing that they wanted to give me, and I turned it down. I ended up having them return it and I used the money to buy something else, something far less special. Something without the special meaning and thought that they had put into what they wanted to do for me. What I chose instead was something that I had always wanted. But it ended up only pulling me away from

1 Thessalonians 5:6 NIV WAKE UP!! This is not a test! This is not a weekly test of the emergency broadcast system! This is the real deal. This is a real emergency. This is our wake up call reminding us that the time for living apart from God is over. All of us have been stumbling around in the dark tripping over our sins and dumb choices for long enough. We've all been reliant upon worldly things to bring our joy and hope for too long. Time to wise up! We have to start thinking clearly. That's one of the definitions of sobriety. It's being clearheaded. It's not being under the influence of anything. It's being able to see, to think, to reason, and to live clean and clear. No more sin. No more darkness. No more addiction. No more excuses. No more stupidity. Those things do nothing for us. They are nothing but crutches that we lean on when we're too lazy to learn to walk without them. Paul reminds us just a couple of verses before this one that the Lord will come

1 Thessalonians 5:5 NIV This is one of those verses that gets me fired up! We forget who we are. We underestimate the power of the Gospel. We try to keep God and faith in a box that we can understand. We limit the scope of who God made us through Jesus Christ. We think the message is a book. We only worship when a certain song hits us just right. To sum it up: we cause ourselves to miss out on the purpose of a relationship with our Savior! We are not made to live in darkness. The horrendous way of life that we've lived by choosing sin isn't good enough. Being led around by the selfish wants and desires that we've been taught to crave isn't good enough. Allowing shame and regret to keep us in hiding so that our flaws don't show isn't good enough. We have to stop thinking that we're somehow going to find happiness and peace while living in darkness! We were all made for more than what this world chases. That's why Christ did what He did on the cross! He di

1 Thessalonians 4:7 NIV I read this one last night and well it pretty much sums of the last few posts just about perfectly. Friends, He didn't create us to pick up the habits of this world. Unfortunately that's exactly what we've all done. We've learned how to live from the ways that everyone around us lives. The world we're travelling through loves everything unholy. Doesn't matter if it's right or helpful as long as it brings a little fun or popularity or other temporary pleasure. Learning lessons from worldly teachers leaves us broken and confused. This world doesn't have the right to say what's right or wrong. People don't get to choose what is acceptable or holy. That comes from God alone. His word tells us what's right and wrong. His Spirit leads us to things that are holy and righteous. But when we stop listening to Him, stop reading His word, and stop focusing on following His lead then we're going to get caught up in the mess aro

1 John 3:6 NIV Yesterday we talked about putting our old lives to death and living for something better. That's the opportunity that Christ gave us through the cross. And it's the opportunity that all of us seriously need to take full advantage of! There's no shame in admitting that our lives before Christ were less than stellar. But there is shame in choosing to continue to live under the control of sin and the darkness that it brings. The Gospel is meant to spark change! As Christians, sin doesn't have a place in our lives. Now none of us will ever be perfect. But it's our duty to take notice of our sins and mistakes and actively work to do better. We can't do as the world does and pretend that sin isn't all that bad. We can't allow ourselves to see it as anything other than the deadly disease that it truly is. If we let up in this fight it will consume us. But as we've discussed here lately, God didn't create us to be controlled by the wicked

Colossians 3:3 NIV Is it weird to be excited to talk about death? In most circumstances that we're used to the answer is yes. But when it comes to our faith, death is one of the most crucial parts of the process. Not the final, last breath version that we immediately think about. Although if we're right with God then that will be pretty exciting too! But I'm talking about the passing away of our old lives. That kind of death should get us all jacked up! Yesterday I shared a bit about the changes that God has led me through in recent years. I seriously cannot believe that old me was actually me. Looking back on the things I did, the things that I thought were important, the way that I lived, I can't believe how different I am today. And I am way beyond thankful for that! As I said yesterday, I wouldn't trade who I am now for who I was back then. And I will keep on fighting to grow and do better every day. That's the point of the Gospel. It isn't about who we

Colossians 3:7 NIV The life you once lived. That's a line that seriously hits home with me. And I would imagine that it really hits home for everyone who shares our faith. That's the thing that makes our faith so unique and so powerful. It changes us. It causes us to think differently. It teaches us how to act differently. It calls us to examine ourselves and find the things that we need to change and the things that we simply need to walk away from. This is one of those things that I actually think about quite a lot. A lot of people like to take those jaunts down memory lane. They sit around and reminisce on the good old days. That's all fine and dandy but it can sure become a stumbling block when God calls us to take a different path. We can get caught in this weird place where we're still holding on to the past while trying to take hold of something new. Eventually something's got to give. I speak from a lot of experience on this one. For a long time I was still

Colossians 2:15 NIV There's a power found in our faith, in our God that we can't begin to understand. It's the power to flip the script and overturn whatever messed up version of things this world has come up with. It's the power to overcome anything and everything that stands in the way of His purposes. It's the power to redeem, to save, to heal, to free. And friends, that power is available to every single person who believes in Him. I haven't the foggiest idea why anyone wouldn't want that! Christ is the ultimate 180. He turns darkness into light. He trades our pasts for His promises. He can take the worst that this world can dish out and use it for good. There is nothing that He can't fix, overcome, or help us work through. He literally took the worst, most humiliating form of punishment that our world could offer and used to show His mercy, love, compassion, and forgiveness! He took what was meant to bring shame and used it to bring salvation. This

Colossians 1:28 NIV There are so many goals in this world. People are chasing after countless different things. Some want fame and popularity. Others are all about that money. Still others want a bunch of material possessions. The point is that everyone has their opinions about what's important. And well, to be blunt, most of it is pretty much the exact opposite. Most of it is nothing but temporary. That's why sharing the Gospel is so crucial. It's not temporary. It's not limited by the span of life on this earth. It's not going to pass away when this globe stops spinning. It's eternal. It's the power to save every single soul that turns to Christ and leaves the wants and desires of these lives behind. The gift of salvation is something that is so big that it's hard to comprehend. Pretty sure that makes it a goal truly worth chasing! Don't get me wrong, it's not that I want everyone to be broke and miserable. I just don't want anyone to put t

Philippians 4:5 NIV Got another one from my nightly reading last night. We so easily become a product of our surroundings. We get used to how things work and end up falling in stride just because it's easier. That's a truly unfortunate thing these days because of all the anger and division in our world. When we go along with that kind of negativity then we only perpetuate all the problems we're facing. While we're busy picking up the poor habits of humanity we don't realize what we're doing. We're forgetting the importance of being different. We're forgetting that doing the same things that the world does will only get us the the same results that we're seeing all around us. Most of all we're forgetting that the example of Christ shows us how to live a life that makes a difference, that makes an impact. These days gentleness is all but non-existent. It's nearly impossible to sift through all the muck and monotony of anger and dissent. Everyon

Philippians 3:16 NIV Not sure if anyone else has those verses that stick with you every single time you read them. I have a few and this is one of them. I read it last night, and as usual, I thought about it until I passed out. It's so easy to start resting on our laurels. We think about all the changes and improvements we've made and we just get all cozy basking in the glory of what's already happened. But if we're not careful we can become lazy and complacent. That's not a good place to be with anything in life. It cuts off any chance at further growth or improvements. We stop trying to go further because we tell ourselves that what we've already done is good enough. But when it comes to our faith, it's one of the worst things that we can possibly let happen. While what we've accomplished and experienced in our faith up until today has been amazing, we shouldn't stop there. Faith doesn't have a finish line. It's not a goal. It's a way o

Galatians 5:1 NIV Continuing yesterday's thought about how sin is a crutch that keeps us relying on it. We get used to looking for the pleasure and excitement that sin offers. But what we don't realize is that the more we look to to sin to bring us a rush of adrenaline the more dependent upon it we become. Slowly we become slaves to that feeling, that rush, the self-indulgent thrill without even knowing it. Sin wants to keep us relying on it so that we fall further and further into the lies. It wants to break us down to the point that we don't know how to walk, how to think, how to live without it. Sin starts out as a crutch that we lean on to bring us selfish satisfaction. But eventually it becomes a cage around us that we don't know how to break out of. We're trapped. The thing is that God doesn't want to see us in cages. He doesn't want anyone to be under the control of sinful desires. He doesn't want any of us to be reliant on evil to bring us joy or

Ephesians 4:22 NIV I had this thought the other day and it has seriously stuck with me. Sin is a crutch. It's this thing that we convince ourselves that we need. We think that it's holding us up, making us happy, bringing us excitement and joy. And the longer we allow ourselves to rely on it the more power it has over us. At some point we end up giving it so much power that we can't imagine how we can go on without it. We become enslaved to sin. We become chained to darkness. The evils that bring us their momentary pleasure become crutches that we lean on. We turn to them whenever we're angry, upset, having a bad day, not feeling well, or whatever excuse we need to justify it at the time. Eventually we convince ourselves that sin is harmless because it makes us feel good for a second or gives us some thrill of giving in to our selfish desires. But in reality, sin is doing nothing but holding us back. Like a crutch, it helps us for a little while. It gives us something t

Ephesians 4:23 NIV It's really no wonder that our faith leads us through this radical transformation that we didn't know we needed to experience. The problem is that from the first time we open our eyes we're learning from the world around us. And well, so many of the lessons that this place teaches us aren't right, truthful, or helpful. Sadly we've learned to see things the wrong way. We've been taught that beauty is found in photoshop and airbrushes. We've been taught that money is the most valuable thing there is. We've learned that having everything we want is the only way to happiness. We've been told that having a fancy title and a lot of power is the only way to be important. We've learned that fitting in and going along with the ways of this world is easier and will lead to acceptance. We've seen that the truth isn't popular and not as acceptable as a bunch of lies. I could go on for a long time, but I'll just assume you get m

Ephesians 4:25 NIV We've been taught so many lies by the world around us. One of the biggest is that not hurting feelings is more important than telling the truth. People want to do whatever they want to do without fear of ridicule or repercussion. We've taken this whole idea of freedom and used to suit our own selfish ideals of what we want life to be. But in order to do things our way and not feel bad about it we have to shove the truth out of our way. We think that letting people do whatever they want is what's best. Let others be. Don't rock the boat. A little white lie won't hurt. Tell others what they want to hear. All of those things may lead to less friction but they also lead to more problems. We think that avoiding the truth and not telling people about the dangers of sin is easier. But as easy as it may be it just doesn't help anyone. Lying to ourselves or those around us only keeps us from the growth that comes with knowing the truth. We have to stop

Ephesians 5:8 NIV It's something that each of us have experienced. Something so powerful, so restoring, and so moving that we should do anything we can to give those around us the opportunity to feel it for themselves. The radical shift that happens when we turn away from the darkness in exchange for the light of Christ is indescribable! The greatest gift we've ever been given. We've talked a lot about not keeping this to ourselves. It's the kind of different that our whole world seriously needs. The darkness of this place ain't getting any better. In fact, if you've read the Bible you'll know that it's going to get worse. That's why we need to be sharing the message of salvation with everyone we can. Things may get worse but people don't have to suffer. There is freedom! Each of us know what it's like to live in darkness. We've all been there. Trapped inside of more guilt and shame than we ever thought was possible. Feelings of sadness,

Ephesians 5:11 NIV We've all known what it's like to live in darkness. We've all felt that need to hide and cover up our deeds to avoid the shame of them coming to light. Each of us have said and done things that we are far from proud of. And now that we've learned about Christ and the freedom He offers us, we know that living in the dark isn't good enough anymore. Once you've experienced His light how could you possibly go back to living in the dark? There are so many out there who act like sin is okay. They share this foolish idea of doing whatever you want to do without fear of consequences. That sounds all great, but we know the truth of the Gospel. Therefore we can't play that worldly game anymore. We can't pretend a little sin, a little darkness, a little evil is okay. It's not. It never will be. So stop thinking you can go along with the wickedness of this world and still serve Christ at the same time. As we've been talking about a lot her

Mark 16:15 NIV Alrighty, back on track here. We had been talking about the massive importance of sharing the Gospel with the world around us. So many are still trapped in the grip in of sin and shame. There is a scary amount of evil in our world. And odds are, with the way things are going, it's only going to get worse. But you and I have the lifeline that can pull people out of the current of despair. We have Jesus and His message of redemption and freedom! I was thinking about this a little yesterday and I think that many of us get focused on the personal side of faith. That's a very important thing. Each of us should make our walk with the Lord our main priority in life. It needs to be the very foundation that we build everything else upon. But we can't forget the other side of the coin. We can't ignore the calling of this verse. Jesus didn't say to go into our rooms and preach the Gospel to ourselves. He doesn't ask us to keep this gift of salvation to just

Proverbs 22:6 NIV Taking a bit of a diversion from our regularly scheduled program, today we get to celebrate! We get to take some time to appreciate some of God's biggest and most undeserved blessings in our lives. Our moms are without a doubt some of the most important people in our lives. With a job that many of us will never understand, they are the ones that do it all with more love and care than any of us could possibly ask for! God knew that we'd need all the help that we can get! Let's face the facts, we're all little heathens! We'd run around with our hair on fire and covered in dirt if we were left to our own devices. But thankfully He created our mothers to help us learn that staying wild and crazy isn't the best way to get through life. Not that we don't still have those streaks in us, but they just help us direct that energy in more heathy and productive ways. This is one of those days that always seemed a little strange. Not that we shouldn'

Ezekiel 33:9 NIV Wickedness pulls us into this weird existence where we become convinced that everything we do is okay. We get it in our heads that we're free to do as we please without fear of punishment or consequence. And oddly enough, we live in a world where evil and darkness do seem to flourish at times. We see so many people doing what's wrong and yet they seem to get by with it. So we're left in this confusion that can pull us in the wrong direction. Look, regardless of how things look or what twisted message the world shares, sin is wrong. The evil in our world will be dealt with. It might not happen in this life, but there are consequences to living in darkness. There's no avoiding that fact. That's why we need to fight with every ounce of our being to help others see the light of Christ. We have to share the Gospel and help Him save as many as possible by whatever means necessary. Some won't like it. Many don't want to hear that what they're d

Ezekiel 33:7 NIV Leave no soul untold. That has suddenly become this idea running through my mind that I just keep thinking about. Seeing what I saw yesterday morning on a simple breakfast run really opened my eyes to the importance of this mission to share the Gospel and tell others about the dangers of sin and darkness. The consequences for our worldly sins are more dangerous and deadly then we like to consider. But there's no avoiding that truth. We talked about that yesterday. People don't like the truth because it forces them to confront their issues. It's far easier to ignore our weaknesses and to allow ourselves to remain comfortable in our sins. But that choice to choose comfort over truth will only keep us on the trajectory toward an eternity of suffering. Why would we knowingly choose hell as our destination when we've been given the chance at something so much better? As Christians we have a duty to those around us to let them know the Good News of Jesus Chri

Galatians 4:16 NIV Driving down the road this morning, my family and I got a pretty shocking wake-up call. Crazy to think that an Adopt-a-Road sign can leave you in this strange bewilderment. Let me just say that evil is very alive in our world! We've been talking about it ever since, one of those things that is hard to get over. And one of the things that stuck in my mind is how we've come to avoid the truth. Everyone is so worried about offending someone else that we water-down the truth. We try to soften the blow so that it doesn't hurt anyone. But what we've done is soften the truth so much that it doesn't have an impact anymore. We're so scared of making someone feel bad or offending them that we twist and turn our words to make sure that we don't ruffle any feathers. The days of fire and brimstone are mostly behind us, but they should have never left. These days the majority of messages that we hear are more toward the sunshine and rainbows side of thi