Restoration at its finest

For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NET)

  Growing up I had a neighbor who him and his dad would restore older vehicles. And believe me, boy was it ever a process and a lot of hard work! Some of the vehicles they worked on didn't need much but for some it took years and years of work!! Rust all over the place to where paint wasn't visible, motor parts sometimes barely even recognizable due to the years of just sitting collecting rust. I can recount the hard hours he told me about when he would be sanding down metal to get it so that it would be ready for painting. Sparks arcing in every direction and water being thrown on the blade. I remember watching and helping occasionally place different parts together watching this bucket of rust become a beautiful master-pieces. They would shine and sparkle as though they had literally just rolled off the production line. Original lights to interior paneling just like it had been. And ya know.....we humans are a lot like those cars.

   In our world today, we like to think that we are all doing pretty good. May have a couple dings from the bumps of life but in reality we are like those rust buckets. When we were first made we were shiny off the lot. We started cruising through life and along the way we actually got rocked. We have been t-boned, front and rear ended, and after awhile, we flat out give up and quit or give up because life is just to hard to deal with.  But may I suggest to you an alternative: Jesus.

  Jesus is the only one who is able to take our rust, if you will, and turn it into the masterpieces we were created to be. Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God's masterpiece!! Think about that for a second. The GOD of the UNIVERSE made you his masterpiece!! You were shiny and beautiful coming from the factory that God made you from (I.e: the womb. See Jer 1:5) we are to be his witness to all nations. But what happens is we turn away from God. We decide that we know what's best for us or we let situations turn us away from God. But let me assure you that he knows what's going on.

  Now, believe me when I say this because I've been there. I've been that rust bucket that sometimes couldn't even run anymore. I've told God that I've known better than he does and that I can handle this myself. And overtime that rust started to wear and weigh me down to where I couldn't even function in life properly. But when I went to Jesus and gave him my keys to my heart, he began a new work. That's where vs 8-9 come in. It is by grace that i am saved. And notice how it is by grace only. It's nothing that I can say or do but it is the grace of God alone that saves me. And once I did that that allowed me to be and begin the process of restoration. Trust me, Gods definitely put some hard hours Into refining me to who I am today, amidst my futile attempts to tell him what should be done. He knows me inside out. I'll say this, that anything I could have suggested weren't anywhere close to the much better plan that God had in mind.

  So my point is this. We are all broke and broken in our own ways. Jesus is just waiting for us to come to us with our hearts so that he can restore you to the masterpiece that you were intended to be all along. God didn't make a mistake when he created you, it's just that through our humanity, we have allowed our masterpieces to be smudged, crushed and everything in between. My question to you is this: are you willing to allow Christ to come and restore you to who you were created to be. That there ladies and gents: is restoration at its finest; seeing Jesus move and work in people's lives. If you don't know him! I pray that you do. You won't regret it. If you do know Jesus, I pray that you "come back to the shop" so that he can get you to where he wants you.

James 1:2-4

2 Count it all joy, my brothers,[a] when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 And let perseverance have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

   This passage has taken on a whole new meaning for me. Lately, I have been dealing with a lot seeing a lot of new plans going forward with life seeming to go up in a mushroom cloud, even when I felt that God was telling me to go forward with those plans. But, this verse has taken on a whole new meaning for me. not only due to the fact that it wants me to take joy during trials!!! that's the last thing that I want to do! I want to come in and put my foot down and say this is going to be how it is and your going to have to live with it! If i were to do that, that would be counter intuitive. 

   The weird thing about this is if I do "count it all joy" and trust that God will work it all out for his glory and my good, then God can go to work. Basically, If I don't allow this to happen, then I'm interfering with God. I'm getting in the way of his plan and purpose of molding me into who he has called me to be. If I do allow him to, then he can use the spirit that he has implanted in me (that faith) and produce perseverance. I think perseverance could mean a couple of things:

  first, it could be faith in general. By going through this you rely on Christ more than you ever had up to that point and then by relying bring you out of this storm that your in. Secondly, it allows his spirit to become more active in the lives of others. For lack of a better term, he's allowing us to go through that because he's working on someone else at the same time and to keep you from interfering with that growth process he has going for that person. So really he's working with both of you but not ready to allow them to work together yet.

  So the long short of it is this. When you go through trials, it'd not because hates you or has a vendetta against you, rather he's preparing you for your next step in life and your walk with him. Is it going to be tough? Absolutely? Be the worst thing you've ever experienced? Possible. But God will bring you through it. How do I know that...I've been there and done that. Believe me when I say this:I know what it's like to feel like your in hell. But really when you think about it, God always has you in the palm of his hand. He knows exactly what he's doing and how it's all going to come to completion. How do I know that? Because even though I've been through and will go through big and small ones to come, my God promised he would deliver me and he hasn't failed me yet...And he never will.

Just Like Air

Every week in band rehearsal is started with a devotional and last week was no exception. Sure I enjoy hearing what he had to say but was still finalizing the music on my stand before we started. This week in particular, he started off with a story.

"A young man and old man were having lunch one day. the young man asked the older man 'How do you find Jesus? I cant seem to sense his presence.' Later that day, as they were walking by a river; the old man said 'follow me'. once in the water, the old man takes the young man's head and shoves it underwater. holding it there for a long few seconds, he yanks the young man's head from the water. Gasping the young man yells 'HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?' the old man replies calmly: ' the moment you follow after Jesus with the same intensity that you were gasping for air...you'll find him."

We all need air to live. It allows your body to work properly. from muscle to brain function, you body craves air. and yet, we don't even think about it sometimes. its second nature, our body is so use to it that the brain just automatically gets the lungs to expand and contract, keeping air moving in your body. Similarly, we need Jesus almost like it is second nature. We need him in our everyday movements. from just getting up in the morning to making it back to bed at night. At work or school when you get that one person that will not get off your last nerve. To when you've told your kids for the upteenith time to quit drawing on the walls. taking that test you just happened to not study for. everything that we do whether driving/sleeping/eating/ etc...We. Need. Jesus! What is keeping you from relying on Jesus?

Growing....Which Way?

Sometime ago while I was out and about, the Lord impressed a thought on my mind. It took a second of mulling around in my mind before it kind of started to make sense. The thought was this: “You’re always growing.” At that point, the parable of the sower and the seed came to mind. The main point of the passage was to focus between difference in the soils and what happened to the plants; but God was helping me to focus on the plant itself. The plant is in one of three phases:
-Growing Dead
-Growing Wilted
-Growing Strong

It is possible to grow dead. I believe that this stage is more in the non-believers category, if you will. This is where the living and breathing Word of God has not penetrated the hearts of the individual. As a result, they become similar to a dead body. They grow cold, the color has left them and the body has a blank stare, just looking for something to seep life into it.

You have the Wilted Christian; where they love the Lord and the Lord has penetrated into their hearts. The problem is, after awhile they decide to go on their own way or decide that they can live their lives on their own. As a result, they start to fall away and wither because they have not been drawing onto God and the unlimited free strength that he gives.

Finally, there is the growing strong. This is where an individual, having had Christ penetrate their heart, mind, and soul; walks with God in everything that they do. This does not mean that they are perfect by an stretch of the word, but even when life goes south, they rely completely on Christ.

As I mentioned before, the parable is mainly focusing on the soil. We need to be planted in good soil so that we have the best opportunity to grow. But keep in mind, even good soil-based plants can wither and/or become deceased if they do not rely on the nutrients in the soil in which they are planted. In the same way, we could be put in the best situations to grow, and not actually grow. My question to you is this: Which way are you growing?

Abide

"4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples"

7 times in this short paragraph Jesus says abide in him. this may be a touch on the "duh" side of things but I think this is something we should really take into account. The meaning of the word "abide" is "to remain, continue, or stay. Jesus is telling us to remain in him. Its just that simple. Jesus wants us to walk with him talk with him like it talks about in micah 6:8. Jesus is wanting us to spend that quality time with him so that way he can pour out his love on us. He can be our vine and give us the spiritual nutrients that we need in our everyday life. because Satan wants to take us down. He wants us to frolic in our sins so much that we think that it is hopeless. The question then becomes: how do we do this? It comes down to 2 words: quiet time. It means: quiet time. A time where we as believers can sit down and see God at work in our lives. A time where God can talk to us. We can vent to God about things that are going on and how Satan is trying to derail us. When we do that, that opens so many doors that God could use you. If we open ourselves up to God and abide in him, he can enlighten,empower, and strengthen his children. So that they can be warriors, fighters, salt, and light to the world in our various roles and mission fields that he has called us to work in. When we abide, we will go far with Christ, when we do not.....we wont go anywhere on our own.

Why I do what I do

The other day, the Grace University Saxophone Ensemble sent a quartet to a church to play for part of their  worship service. So we grabbed some pieces out from our tour last April, blew the dust off of them, shook the rust out of the fingrers, and went to play. When we had finished the set right before the message, the pastor stood up and against any of our pryor knowledge had a question for us. I dont remember exactly what the question was word for word, but something along the lines of "why do you do what you do" or "why do you use music?" (could have been a combination of the two but i digress)

After we all kinda looked at each other, I finally took the mic thinking "Lord, give me something to say". Apparently, he already had something ready for me. My response was something like this (probably jumbled but something this effect)

"I think the group will agree with me in saying this, that the reason we do what we do is so that God can use us in ways that we would not have been able to otherwise. I think that God has given us all a specific set of skills in our abilities to use these tools to be used by him for his purpose. he has a plan for the use for all of those tools and will use them as he sees fit in the best way possible. why do we do music? because music is the words that words cannot express or explain. Music; with all of its melodies, chord structures, etc has this ability to penatrate the soul in ways that words cant. Its not that God could not use words from a sermon to grab a hold of a person's attention and turn it to himself, but sometimes he chooses to use music and musicians like ourselves to get someone's attention. Whether its him trying to start a relationship with, renew a relationship, or grow a relationship with himself, he uses it in ways that we cannot imagine. It is our prayer that those he is trying to get a hold of, that they will respond to his calling. Back to us. We as performers realize that this is not because of our efforts, our skills, etc. This has everything to do with what he has given us the ability to do. From reading the sheets of music, to remembering how to play that is all him. We are merely the instruments playing musical instruments that God has chosen to use to further his kingdom and draw his children to himself. Both believers and non-believers alike.

That got me to thinking. We all have a God given skill set. As a result of that we are called to use those gifts to further his kingdom and help God bring his lost children home. My question and challenge is this. What are our gifts and how are we using them? believe me when I say this, I need to step up my game and use what he has given me to a fuller extent of his grace and his glory. but my challenge is this: Don't be afraid of what tools God has given us. Be bold and more over: be willing and God will lead you to where he needs you to be. prepared? qualifed? doesnt matter. If you are willing, God will use you and he will show you a side of his grace and himself that will leave you not only in awe, but in a state of longing to walk with him in the abilities that he has given you to answer the question: what do you do what you do? when someone asks you that same question.

1 Peter 3:15 (NLT)

"instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be readay to explain it."