Forged By Faith

Jeremiah 6:10 NIV Like talking to a wall. Only the wall is really angry. Even to the point of being fully dismissive and derogatory, the wall seems entirely content with its agitation. And making matters exponentially worse, this wall is lost within a gallery of other walls all equally aggravated and annoyed with any who speak sense in this senseless place. It’s becoming almost physically agonizing to know what’s coming and see a world refuse to humble themselves beforehand. I say that not from a haughty or prideful stance, please believe that. Personally, I know full well that I’ve no ground upon which to stand in a battle of morality. I have no decent bone in my body, nothing good resides in me. But as I now crawl my way humbly to the cross in search of forgiveness for all that I am, I find a pleading inside that demands I try to cut through the noise that has so many locked away inside themselves. Because I, as many others, have found the light of hope and it’s toward that promise w...

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV This faith of ours is a journey, and it's a long one. It's a life-long experience that brings with it plenty of highs and quite a few lows as well. It's a journey filled with endless opportunities to grow as well as plenty of mistakes that get made along the way. But I think some can get lost under the weight of how important this walk is. I think the seriousness of it all can begin to wear some folks thin and maybe even lead to doubts and frustrations that may create some massive stumbling blocks. The past couple of days I've been thinking back on how far Christ has brought me from who I used to be. And I wanted to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to do the same. Take a couple of minutes and think about the growth, the changes, the improvements that you've experienced in your life since finding Christ. I promise you'll be amazed at just how much He's done and how far you've come from the person you once were and the l...

Matthew 7:13 NIV I've been thinking about this journey that we call faith. Yesterday we talked about how we need to keep following Christ no matter what because that's the only way to reach the destination that He has planned for us. Now it can be hard to keep living a life of faith in this world. This road goes in a very different direction than where the majority of people are heading. That's why we need to stop worrying about why our lives look different than everyone else's. Alas, that's an all too common pastime of ours these days. We look around at what everyone else is doing and we can't seem to help but start comparing. We can start wondering why we're different, why our lives are going differently, and maybe even become slightly envious of their story. Well, this verse makes it pretty evident why we should be thankful that our stories are going differently than most. This road of faith leads to something bigger and better than anything this world wi...

2 Timothy 4:7 NIV I think it's easy to see our faith as a book. We try to contain it in a church. We confine it in songs and well-written articles or social media posts. We try to keep God in this box that makes sense to us so that we can remain comfortable inside of what we can understand. But our faith is alive. It's active. It's moving. It's this journey that keeps unfolding every day that God gives us. Our faith shouldn't be this accessory that we carry around. It should be the passion that drives us forward. It's not a part-time hobby. It's a life-long calling. It leads us in directions that we would never choose to go. It calls us into battles that we would rather avoid. It guides us up mountains and into valleys where everything we know is tested and tried. It is in that constant refining process that we actually learn what faith is. We can't try to keep our faith in this little box that makes sense to us. We can't pick and choose the parts th...

James 4:8 NIV You're only as close to God as you choose to be. A friend of mine shared that yesterday and it's been on my mind ever since. Choosing to follow God is just that, a choice. It is something that each person has to decide to do for themselves. God won't force us to pick Him over anything else. And we can't force anyone else to choose Him either. It's a personal choice that we all have to make. I think one of the biggest things that holds us back is that choosing to follow God requires letting a lot of things go. It means turning away from the life that we've always known to head off in a completely different direction. It's basically learning how to live life again, just with a completely new perspective and all new priorities. And I think that much change is rather horrifying for some. But as scary as it might be to leave things behind, learn to think differently, and let go of this vision we've had for our lives, it's the only way to tak...

Isaiah 14:27 NIV You guys realize what we're a part of? I think we often limit what our faith really is by trying to wrap our minds around it. But we can't fathom how big it really is. It can't fit inside of our understanding. It brings walls of cities down. It parts seas. It sets the captives free. It gives sight to the blind and helps the deaf hear. It raises the dead to life! I was listening to Unspoken yesterday and their song Bury the Workman really hit me. Nothing can stop God's work. Even if they try to kill every believer, God will still win. Even if they burn all the Bibles and turn off all the Christian radio stations. If they outlaw prayer and refuse to let churches meet. Nothing can stop the work that God is doing. This world and the evil in it simply can't compete with Him! The Bible talks about so many people of the faith that our world silenced. Killed. Tortured. Stoned. Eliminated. Or so they thought. They thought that taking the breath from Christ ...

John 6:37 NIV When we finally stop trying to fit in to this world and quit caring about what others think about us then we're free to move on. We're free to actually let a whole bunch of stuff go and truly give Christ a chance to change our lives. What we'll find when we do open our hearts to Him is that sense of belonging that we've searched so many other places to find. We were made to need a relationship with God. He created us to be His children so He could be our Father. But through the lessons the world teaches and getting lost in all those earthly things that never really mattered, we forgot that. We thought that we could find a sense of home down here. We started thinking that somewhere out there in this big old world was everything we needed to feel whole. But no matter how long we look or how many places we try to find it nothing ever clicks. That's because it's not meant to. We need that connection to God in order to ever feel alive, to ever feel comp...

Luke 10:16 NIV I think we all need little reminders like this one to keep us both humble and hungry. It's so easy to start thinking that we're supposed to play a bigger part in this story. But in truth it has always and will always be about pointing others to Christ. He's the one that does the saving part, we're just the ones that tell people where to look. It can easily become discouraging when we look around and see so little change in the world around us. There are so many problems and we have the answer to every challenge we're facing right now. But we can't force people to listen. We can't force people to turn to Christ. We can't force anyone to do anything. All we can do is share the truth that we've been given to share and pray that it's received with open ears, minds, and hearts. I know that I've been guilty of this one myself. We take it personally whenever someone disagrees with us or doesn't care to listen to what we have to sa...

1 Peter 2:17 NIV Looking for a good verse to share while listening to the beginning of the inauguration, and well, this one just nails what needs to be said. This has been one of the weirdest elections during one of the weirdest times in our country. It's left a lot of division, uncertainty, anger, and even fear in the hearts and minds of many. But still we must move forward and make the most of whatever lies ahead. There's no doubting that there are a ton of issues to be worked on. There's a whole bunch of healing that is desperately needed. There are questions and concerns to be addressed. But there is no reason to think that our best days aren't still ahead of us. Looking back over the past year and all that's happened, it pretty much can only get better from here. But in order for those better days to come we must work together. We need to set aside the politics. We need to put our staunch opinions back on the shelf and allow cooler heads to prevail. We need to ...

Philippians 1:21 NIV We were watching Gladiator the other day and I heard my mom talking about it. It's obviously one of the coolest movies ever, but the message that she shared about it really hit me in a whole new way. "If you know where you're going, they can't hurt you." Wow! I've thought about that a whole bunch of times over the last couple of days and I absolutely love it because it's this ubiquitous truth that fits our faith perfectly! When we're living for something eternal then nothing this world does can hurt us! The opinions don't sting anymore. The threats of violence don't send us running. The fear of being seen as an outcast or weirdo almost takes on this badge of honor. Basically what I'm saying is that when we are born again in Christ then life and everything in it changes and means something completely new. This verse in Philippians is one of those that I always struggled with growing up. To die is gain? How is dying gain?...

John 1:5 NIV I woke up this morning thinking about this one. And it kind of goes along with yesterday's post pretty much perfectly. To me it's one of those messages that helps us find hope no matter what may be happening around us. Nothing will ever be able to put out the light of Christ. Now to me, considering how crazy life often gets, that's a pretty amazing thing to think about! There is nothing that can happen in this world that can possibly change who He is or what He has planned. Nothing at all! His light will always be shining for anyone who's willing to look for it. Personally, I think we should all be looking for it every single day. No matter what we're facing or how we're feeling, we need that hope that He brings into our lives. You see, the amazing thing about light is that it keeps shining no matter the circumstances. Even if a concrete bunker were built around it, that light will still be shining inside even if we can't see it on the outside. ...

Psalm 118:24 ESV There's always this huge build up to Christmas day. All of the shopping, planning, cooking, and celebrating. Then the day after it's like this crash back to reality when all of the celebrations are over. We start packing up the decorations and find places to put up all the gifts that we received. While Christmas has come and gone, our rejoicing and celebrating the gifts we've been given should never stop! I felt the need to share this one today to remind everyone that this is a great day too. It is another remarkable gift in itself. Every day is. Holidays get this extra excitement with all of the festivities, but in reality, we should celebrate every single day that we're given. Not because they're all full of parties and too much food but because God chose to open our eyes one more time. One of the biggest lessons that my parents have always taught me is to be happy in the small things. Not every day is going to be perfect. We won't wake up eve...

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV So MercyMe dropped their newest single last Friday, and it's one of the coolest and most powerful songs I've heard in a while. I'll drop a link below for you guys to go check it out, please make sure you do because it's absolutely incredible! It's about never giving up even in the face of truly difficult circumstances. It's one of those songs, music videos, and messages that just makes you think. I've been thinking about it all weekend. It's so easy to get it in our minds that our problems are horrible. Some of them really are. But the thing that I've been thinking about is that there are people in this world that would love to have our bad days. They would find our inconveniences to be huge blessings compared to their normal. What we find hard would be a gift to someone else that is facing something that we can't imagine. Everybody is dealing with something, but everyone also has amazing blessings to be thankful for. So...

2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV Well, it's the last day of November. We're down to the final month of 2020, and for many it seriously feels like we're limping to the finish line. The past eight or nine months have brought all kinds of interesting things into our lives. A lot of challenges, a lot of changes, and a lot of things that none of us ever saw coming. Been the most interesting and difficult year many of us have ever experienced. But here's one thing that we should take away from it all. It's over. It's behind us. All those bad things that happened are in the past. Now I understand that we're still dealing with many of them, the virus and the changes it has made will probably stick around for a while. But we need to stop dwelling on the past so much. We can end up spending so much time looking back that we miss out on what's happening here and now. We risk missing what God has still to come. And no matter what's happened recently, the best is still ahe...

Micah 7:8 NIV We will rise! No matter what you're going through you will make it. I was finishing up the book of Micah last night and this verse in chapter 7 really stood out with what we talked about yesterday. God is truly the epitome of faithfulness. He has always held up His end of the deal He has always fulfilled His promises. And He will always continue to do so! So many things and people want to see us broken. They want to see us hanging our heads in defeat. And whenever we allow our circumstances to get us down we give them that satisfaction. Whenever we allow ourselves to sulk or feel sorry for ourselves then we're letting ourselves become victims to the difficult situations that we're in the middle of. But as we discussed a few days ago, God made us to be conquerors. He designed us to take on this world and overcome the evil within it. He gave us His Spirit to help guide us through the minefield of life. He gave us every tool, every weapon, every opportunity to ma...

Romans 8:37 NIV Overcome. Defeat. Take control. Climb. Win. God made us to be champions in this life. Sadly we've accepted this defeatist mindset because we've lost some battles along the way. Truth is that it doesn't matter how many battles you may lose. You can always win the war. You can always claim the ultimate victory over whatever you may face in your life. So stop running scared and stand and fight! It's a weird thing how life's hard days work differently for some than others. For some they beat them down and get the better of them. They manage to convince some people that they're not good enough, strong enough, or tough enough to make it. They cause some to quit and never realize their full potential. They lead some to a life of shame a regret over what could have been. But for others, those same hard days forge them. They harden them. They turn them into some true warriors who will fight to the end because they know that it's worth it. Even if the ...

Psalm 16:8 NIV Distractions. Confusion. Gullibility. Peer pressure. Acceptance. So many things in life pull us away from God. And the more we're focused on all these other things the more off balance we're going to feel. It really only makes sense. When you're bouncing from one thing to another all the time, it's going to be nearly impossible to find any kind of peace or solidity in life. Thankfully, we actually have a voice in what occupies our focus and attention. I've found it really strange the past week or so, but I've really felt this pull in my life. I've felt God pulling me to go deeper into faith. I've felt this need to turn my focus away from most of the things going on around me and give Him everything I can. I'm becoming less and less interested in the way the world is going, and more interested in setting my mind on things above. This year has brought about so much uncertainty and so much change. And all of that upheaval has left all of ...

Philippians 3:20 NIV Freedom. We talked in our last post about the true and lasting kind of freedom that is found in our Lord. Every single one of us have lived life apart from Him so that we could fit this place better. And we all know what living like that has gotten us. Nothing but shame and regret, and well, those things suck! They definitely don't leave us feeling very free. Thankfully there is freedom like we talked about yesterday. To me there's not many more powerful thoughts than the message of this verse. The fact that this isn't our home is another one of those seriously freeing thoughts that can't help but change things. It allows us to move past the barriers that society has set up to force everyone to blend in and do as we're told. It gives us the courage to leave the concerns about fitting in behind. And it lets us completely forget all the worries that come from worldly things. I love knowing that this globe isn't the final destination. How could...

Psalm 34:8 NIV Been a while since I've shared some tunes with you guys, so I figure it's about time to drop a link at the bottom for you to check out. Today was another day of not feeling too hot in this week of blah. But God got me up and got me to try anyway. In the midst of what ended up being quite possibly the best shoulder workout I've had, Skillet did what they always seem to do! Their song Better Than Drugs has always been one that has hit me a little harder personally than most. Talking about how God is just better than all the other things that we try in the search for happiness and satisfaction. So today I just wanted to echo the message of that amazing song that you have to listen to for yourself. God is better. I beg you all to give Him a chance to show you just how great He is. Everybody wants to feel loved. We all want to feel accepted. We're all looking for joy and happiness. We want to feel whole and like we have a purpose. Everyone on this earth is se...

Ecclesiastes 3:12 NIV I have a bit of news that may come as a shock to some of you. Kind of one of those things that I think we tend to ignore for the most part. But no amount of ignoring it will change it's truth. So here we go: Odds are we're not getting out of this alive. I know, and I'll give you a minute. (insert brief moment of shock here) It's just the way it is my friends. These lives that we're living have an expiration date. With so much going on around us in the middle of probably the most deranged year in history, I wanted to encourage you all just let some things go. So many people are so riled up and deep in these fights and arguments. A lot of others just don't feel well. A bunch of us are simply tired of seeing all the drama and foolishness. Still others are losing hope and all the madness is really getting to all of us in some way. Life is just too short to get caught up in all the bleak parts. Why spend any amount of time being miserable if you...