My Two Minute Miracle

I first accepted Christ when I was in second grade. At the time, I was attending Eighth Street Baptist Church in DE. Sitting in Sunday School one morning, I felt the Spirit of God drawing me in and I knew I needed to confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Shortly thereafter, my mom's sister died and then her mother died (both of cancer) and in the midst of the family chaos, we stopped going to church. So I received Christ and was baptized, but there was no discipleship. I wasn't actually taught what it means to be a Christian. So I simply continued doing what I thought was expected of me.

I tried to live a perfect life. That meant perfect grades and a serious dose of extracurricular activities. It was so important for me to get straight A's. I still remember one of my friends in sixth grade Social Studies asking, "Why are you doing extra credit? You already have 100% in the class." But I had to do the extra credit because my identity was wrapped up in having a perfect image. I had to prove to people that I was worth something. But no matter how perfect my life seemed on the outside, I was still searching for significance on the inside. 

After my parents divorced, I moved to Pittsburgh with my mom and eventually recommitted my life to Christ in high school. My journey since then has been far from perfect, but it's certainly been exciting. God has freed me from the obsession about what people think of me, because, quite frankly, it really doesn't matter. God showed me that I am worth everything to Him. He sent His son to die on my behalf because He values me as a person. So, truthfully, the only opinion that matters is what He thinks of me. Every day I grow a little closer to Him, letting go of my old way of thinking and rewiring my mind with His amazing truth.

There is power in the name of Jesus.

Today I was reminded of the almighty power of Jesus Christ. I was blown away as God revealed two categories of things that I have ascribed power to.

1. People
So often I've tried to impress others with my intelligence or accomplishments or good deeds... but it's sheer foolishness. It's complete and utter foolishness. There is no human being on this planet that has any authority over me or my destiny. Why should I be caught up in trying to gain their approval? It is God who approves. It is also God who gives his children favor with men, and even if He doesn't, there is no person on the planet who can interfere with my right standing with God.

Even more, people really aren't powerful apart from Jesus. Even people in places of authority are completely broken and helpless without a Savior. And the enemy has tried to convince me that my co-workers, for example, already have it all together. They're smarter than me, make more money than me, have more exciting lives than me - but all of that is ridiculous. Because God takes the foolish things of the world to shame the wise - to expose that they are powerless. And no matter how equipped they are in this life, they are headed to eternal destruction if they don't know Jesus as their Lord. And it's heartbreaking to think of how I diminish the value of my salvation in comparison to their earthly riches. But I thank God that He values each and every person on this earth and desires eternal life for them.

2. Powers of darkness
Let's be real: Jesus disarmed the powers of darkness and humiliated the enemy through His death on the cross and His resurrection. End of story.

There is actually no thing or person worthy of praise or boasting in aside from our God. He is all powerful. And when we are deceived into believing that He is anything less than that... we rob ourselves of a lifestyle that actually honors Him. A sub-par ideology of God is so detrimental... We have to take back any of the authority that we have given to other things... When we see Jesus as more powerful than any bondage or people or situation in our lives... when we truly believe there's power in His Name... the very peace and liberty of God is revealed.

Resting in Love

God, I thank you that my obedience is not a requirement. It’s worship. My consistency is not even mandatory – it’s just glorifying to You. My lack of consistency, my failures, my shortcomings… they are all covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

If I have to obey, it’s a burden. If I get to obey, it’s an opportunity to worship. Then there’s no striving involved… it’s just the love of the Father that compels me to worship. That’s why the Word says, if you love the Lord, you obey His commands. My obedience starts with love for God, not with expectations or standards for myself.

There's no formula.

That's what I've been hearing from God for the past few days, through the mouths of many people. "There's no formula."

For the past week I had been a bit frustrated by my own lack of passion and boldness for the gospel which I claim to wholeheartedly believe. There was a part of me that really wanted to go all out --- sharing the gospel with strangers, praying for miracles, fasting with diligence --- but I couldn't figure out how to make the jump between what my life looked like at the moment and what I wanted it to be.

But God showed me some stuff.

First of all, there's no sense in thinking about who I want to be solely from an external perspective. The Bible says, "Man looks at outward appearance but God looks at the heart." That's a fundamental difference between how humans perceive eachother and how God perceives humans. If we want to find out about someone we look at their race, education, occupation/salary

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Pleasing One God.

Last night I was watching some sermons by Craig Groeschel from his series entitled "Weird: Because Normal Isn't Working." The series is built around Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Most people are cruising through the broad gate, which, unfortunately, leads to their demise. But the brave few, the "weird" as Groeschel calls them, find the small gate and enter onto the narrow road. 


Anyway, here's one critical point he made: Normal people desire the please themselves and/or other people. Weird people desire to please God. And I started thinking about how confusing and frustrating it can be to meet people's expectations. First off, friends, parents, siblings, co-workers, neighbors, etc. each have separate expectations for you. What happens when your parents want you to study more but your friends want you to party more? It's impossible to satisfy everyone else's requirements for your life, because chances are, they don't overlap. Moreover, chances are higher that they'll change their minds about what they want from you. People are fickle like that. Pleasing people can become a huge mess.


And, of course, there are those people who say "I do my own thing" or "I don't care what people say about me." Well... Those people are lying. It's natural to care what others feel about us. As humans we long for significance in the world. We desire to feel important to others. If we don't, well... let's just say that's one reason anti-depressant prescriptions are filled. 


But there's hope. In fact, there's no need for