Come to Me

John 12:26

“If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”

The past week, God has been impressing on my heart, the idea of following, or coming to God. Before the disciples could be of any effective use to the Lord, they had to come as Jesus called. Mark 3:13 says, “And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.” I think it is interesting that Jesus went up on a mountain to call his disciples. If we are not spiritually healthy, and seeking the higher calling of the Lord, we will not be able to accomplish that perfect will Jesus has for us. That does not mean that God can’t use us if we fall or experience valley lows, because we are all broken, sinful people, but he desires to use people who desire to know him, and love him more passionately than the day before. After all, we cannot grow or be molded into the image of God, unless we submit to the shaping of his hands. And when we are willing to submit, is when God takes the useless, broken, vessel, and transforms them into something of surpassing beauty. Matthew 16:24, a verse that we know so well here at IGNITE, says, “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” The first step is to come. Jesus is always, always talking to his children. He constantly is calling us, in his sweet, tender whisper, to come. Throughout Jesus’ ministry on earth, he often said the word, “come,” before he healed and saved anybody. To the man with the withered hand, in Mark chapter three, Jesus simply called, “Come here.” In Matthew 9:14, Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me…” And in Matthew 14:29, when Peter walks on water, Jesus again asks him to come. Nothing more, and nothing less, all our Savior desires is for us to come as he has called. Coming is the first step, and so often it is the hardest. I have never been one to come to people with my problems, or desires. I usually just let everything sit inside of me, until someone comes to me and breaks down my walls. But our relationship with God is the complete opposite. If we truly desire a relationship with God, we must come and allow him to invade the depths of our hearts, and fill us to overflow with his spirit. Then we can pursue, strive, and run towards great heights with the Lord. Isaiah 6:8 says, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” He is calling all of us. There is no one perfect, anointed, human being on this earth. Jesus simply wants the willing. Those who are willing to give up their rights for the sake of Christ, and become a servant to all people, just as Jesus was to us. And when we come, and let God in, people start to recognize Him in and through us, and God moves and works in people’s hearts, in ways we cannot imagine or explain. That is the kind of life, I long to live. Lord, when people see me, may they see you; when they get to know me, may they get to know you. Teach me how to love, teach me how to submit, and teach me how to serve.

Application: Because I have such a hard time coming to the Lord, and I get caught up in my mind and thoughts, Nicole is holding me accountable, and will check up on me when I am looking lonely, and point me to Jesus. 

Who Am I?

2 Corinthians 12:14-15

“For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.”

I will be the first one to say that I have a comparison problem. When I am surrounded by a group of people, especially a group of believers, it is hard for me to not look at what other people have, and what I am lacking in. I criticize myself, often too harshly, and wonder if I will ever be good enough. Will I ever be as talented of a speaker as they are? Will I ever be as bold as they are? Will I ever be as kind as they are? Of course all of these things are good aspirations to have, and positive gifts to desire, but it eats me up inside. I am a thinker, and as much as I love people, I would rather be by myself, alone with my thoughts. But that is the problem. I let myself be alone with me, me and my flesh, me and satan. I never realized it before, but I talk to the devil far more than I talk to God. I hate it. I don’t want to be that person anymore, but how do I get rid of a problem that has consumed me for as long as I have been alive? I hate to admit it, but I have never felt good enough. I try so hard, and I always fail. From the time I was six, I spent anywhere from three to five days a week in a room full of mirrors, with a room full of beautiful girls, and even more beautiful dancing. Our classes and rehearsals were thankfully filled with encouragement, but it was impossible not to compare. “I wish I had her turn out. I wish I was as flexible as her. I wish I had her lines. I wish I was as strong as her. I wish my feet weren’t so flat. I wish I could be just as good as her.” Everyday I battled these thoughts, but I knew my friends beside me struggled in the very same way. I was not alone. One day, our teacher turned all of the lights off, put on a song, and we all danced. I know it sounds kind of weird, but my teacher was making a point. She wanted us to learn how to dance in the dark, before we danced in the light. She wanted us to learn how to be ourselves completely, how to dance with all transparency, when no one was watching. If you are reading this Lindsay, I got the point! I was free, we were all free. There was no wishing I could be someone else, it was just me and Jesus dancing together, and it was beautiful. It was in that moment that I realized the days I danced the worst, were the days I compared and complained. If I kept my eyes on who I was truly dancing for, who designed me with this gift, who loved me just as he created me, everything was different, I felt like I could breathe. Oh how this applies to my walk with God. I become so introverted, that all I can see is me and all I can hear are the deceiving wanderings of my mind. I run around with both of my hands covering my eyes, wondering why I can’t gain a new perspective and see God. I look to man, I look to myself, I turn away from the Lord. I take on a mindset of pride, thinking that I know better than God. “If you would have just given me this gift…If you would have just made me more like her, I would be more effective for your kingdom.” That is a lie straight from hell. I must stop looking at what God has not given me, and start looking at what he has. Because the fact of the matter is, we are all broken, useless, sinful vessels. On our own, we are nothing, we are simply a pile of ashes. But God. In the hands of the master potter, we are whole, valuable, and righteous. With him, we are more, so much more. We are beautiful. God, let my feet stand firmly established in who I am in you. I am so done talking with the devil and becoming absorbed with myself, and everything I am not. I am a child of God, bought by the precious blood of Christ, because he so loved. He could have forsaken, but he so loved. All is grace. All is found. Nothing is lost. I am rescued. I am redeemed.

Application: I will talk to one of my girl teammates about this IBS, and share things with her, that I normally would keep bottled up inside. 

To All

1 Corinthians 9:19

“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.”

A servant to all. Time and time again I have heard the phrase, “actions speak louder than words,” and as overused as it may be, it is absolute truth. If the way I walk does not line up with the way I talk, than I have a serious problem. So often I do not practice what I preach. I like to pick and choose parts of the bible, and the parts I leave out are usually the parts that will take me out of my comfort zone. But I am called to live a life that lines up with Christ’s. Though I can never, ever attain perfection, I must strive, grow, and reach to be transformed into the likeness of Christ’s image. And who is this Jesus that I am supposed to become like? That may sound like a funny question for a Christian to ask, but I so easily forget. He is the Son of the Most High God, God in the flesh, the perfect lamb slain on my behalf. He did everything for me: to know me, to love me, to captivate me, to rescue me, to hold me, to save me and refine me into something beautiful, something useful, in the hands of the Master Craftsman. He came to heal, save, restore, and serve. Yes, serve the very people who would quickly turn their backs on Him, deny they knew Him, and yell, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Jesus knew all of this would come to fruition, and still he loved, to the very end. When he finally knew that his time had come, the scriptures say that Jesus washed his disciples feet. One final act of service, before the price was paid. If this is not at the forefront of our minds, what motivation will we have to serve other sinful, underserving humans like ourselves? Matthew 20:26-28 says, “…But whoever would be great among you, must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you, must be your slave, even as the Son of Man did not come to serve, but to be served and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 2 Corinthians 4:5 says, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” If I am to be a servant to all, I must first be a servant to the Lord. I must deny my rights, my titles, my fears and anxieties, and press on to know him deeper, seek him further, and love him more; always more. Like a tree, my roots must reach deep and wrap around the solid rock, holding onto Him for dear life. I cannot serve others in my own strength, I can do nothing apart from my Maker. If I am not planted in the love of Christ, my relationship with Him will cease to abound, and every relationship thereafter, will forever change. Everything flows from my friendship with Christ. I want to be a reflection of Jesus, a lamp that is not hidden and does not cease to radiate in the darkness and in the light. I must serve for Christ’s sake, because he first loved me and served me when he knew I would forsake him. Jesus be the heartbeat of all that I do. May your love compel me to love others wholeheartedly, and serve them expecting nothing in return. 

Application: This week, I will do one random act of service/kindness for one of my teammates.  

Kindred Hearts

Ecclesiastes 4:12

“And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

A threefold cord is a piece of rope made up of three separate strands. On their own, the cords are weak. They cannot withstand a lot of pressure, they do not hold things together well, and they prove to have little use, but together they are strong. Unity changes everything. Unity, coming together as a body of believers, enables us to withstand heavy weight,  and hold together through the fiercest storms. We prove to have great use because of the love of Christ that binds us together, and when we are working together with one mind, one love, one spirit, and one purpose, nothing should be able to stop us. Since being in Guatemala, I have seen this verse come to life many times. Last Saturday, during our outreach at the local market, we became swamped with a swarm of kids asking for balloon animals. There were only a handful of people in our team of twenty one who actually knew how to make the animals, but that did not stop the rest of us from trying. We found the need, worked together, encouraged one another, stood alongside each other, and fulfilled it. Together, we are empowered by the holy spirit to accomplish great and mighty things for the kingdom of the Lord. We need each other. We need people who share the same heart for the Lord, to come alongside us and strengthen us when we are weak, build us up with the word, and lovingly tell us when we are wrong. This week, Pastor Rob has been teaching about the life of David, and I can’t help but connect this verse to the brotherhood between David and Jonathan. 1 Samuel 23:15-16 says, “David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose up and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.” “Though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand…” Jonathan strengthened David with the presence and the promises of the Lord. Wow! I want to be this friend; the friend who is constantly pointing people to the cross, and holding them up when they are weak. We can not survive in this wicked world alone, and God knew it when he created us. So if you are wondering why you long for deep friendships, and relationships, it is because God placed that holy desire in your heart, when he breathed life into your lungs. God, I pray that I would be this friend to others, but I pray that I would desire to be knit together to you before anyone else. 

Application: I will write a letter to two of my best friends, who have been “Jonathan's” in my life. I will also be praying that God would give me opportunities to pour into others, and strengthen their arms.

Get Over Yourself

1 Corinthians 9:22

“To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”

Change. I tend to hate that word out of selfishness, because it usually impacts only me. In my mind, change means that I have done something wrong, or that I am not good enough, so I need to fix myself. Or maybe it has nothing to do with me, and I am simply effected by the choices another person made. Either way, change has never been a dear friend of mine. But the change in this verse is not negative, it is indeed a positive change. It is adaptability. It is exactly what Jesus did for us. It is hard to imagine that the God of the universe would manifest in human flesh, just to reach mankind and become one of us. The Bible says that God sent Jesus to this world to be the ultimate sacrifice, the perfect lamb of God, who would take our debt and pay it in full. But Jesus also came to earth in order to experience all of the same trials we face. He wanted to be relatable, He wanted me to know just how much he cared for me. The life of Jesus is the greatest example of adaptability that has ever existed. If the Son of God could leave the glorious, incomprehensible, beauty of heaven to meet me in this horribly wicked earth, than I should be able to go out to any people group on any continent, and become like one of them. Of course I must not conform my beliefs, values, and morals, but I must be willing to step out of my comfort zone and enter into a way of life that might be uncomfortable, or foreign. In order to have effective ministry, I must adapt to the surrounding culture. If this means that I have to eat foreign foods, wear different clothes, carry myself or speak in a different manner, then I will, and I will do it all for the glory of God, even if my actions only plants a seed in one heart, it will be worth it. I must remember that I might be the first glimpse of Jesus that these people see, and that is not a responsibility to be taken lightly. I am the hands and feet of the Lord, and I am his mouthpiece. Every word I speak, every move I make, every action I carry out, is a reflection of Christ in me. Jesus, help me to get over myself, and reach out to people with your unending, everlasting love. May I be willing to become all things for all men, even if it only impacts one soul. To you be the glory, forever and ever! 

Application: This week I will pray for the people of Kenya every day. I will pray that their hearts are softened to the word of God, and I will pray that God will use me to reach that one lonely soul. 

Free to Serve

Galatians 5:13

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

Freedom. Our culture has taken this word to a whole different level, and given it a new meaning. Walk one day in the streets of America and you will see people racing past you, heads down, bumping into you without apologizing. You will see rallies of people picketing for their beliefs and trash talking anyone who disagrees. Everyone has a mission, a one worded purpose: Me. No one else matters as much as me. No one’s opinion is as important as mine. No one knows what I am going through. We live in a self oriented culture, and no matter how hard you try to preserve your humility, the poison of selfishness always creeps in. Even believers, even christian schools, and yes, even the church are corrupted by self. We are sick people, completely corrupt, and blind to anyone else but ourselves. If I am being honest, I have never thought of myself as a selfish person, but oh, was I wrong. It took me leaving America to a foreign country, moving in with 21 complete strangers, to finally realize that I constantly think about myself. “I want to eat dinner, so everyone else needs to hurry up and get in line.” “I need to get ready, so I am going to use the mirror first.” “I don’t like to pray out loud, so I will let somebody else do it.” I need to get over myself. We need to get over ourselves. Yes, I matter. Yes, I am important. But who am I to think of myself as better than anyone else? This mentality can only come when we are uprooted from God’s love; when we forget what He did for us, how he died for us, and how he loved us, when we wanted nothing to do with him at all. Matthew 22:37-39 says, “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This verse has lost it’s meaning for so many believers, even myself, but I was looking at it wrong. I see a list of rules, instead of a list of opportunities. I have the opportunity to lean into the love of Christ, drink deep from his mercies, and shine his love, which has the power to save a life. How different life would look like if my one worded purpose was others. How different life would look like if the entire body of believers rejected self, and embraced people. The world would change, I am sure of it. Freedom would take on a new meaning, the meaning God had always intended: love. Freedom for believers is rooted in love, and it starts when we fall in love with Jesus, and remember the great love that he has lavished upon us. Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, ”The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can understand it? I, the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jesus, search my heart and rid me of myself. Fill me up with you, to the point of overflowing. May I abide in your love, and may your love radiate in my life, that I might serve all those around me. 

Application: This weekend I will follow the will of the Lord and call up one of my friends to pray over them. I want to remind them of how much I love them, but even more so, how much the Lord cares for them. 

Jesus be my Heartbeat

Hebrews 5:8

“Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”

“Although he was a son.” Although Jesus was the Son of the Most High God, the Great High Priest, the Creator of the universe, and the Blameless Lamb of God, He had to learn obedience unto the will of God. That baffles me, but I so easily forget that though Jesus was fully God, he was also fully man. He never sinned, but he met temptation just as much as I do. He never strayed from God’s will, but the flesh within him surely attempted to persuade Jesus to follow his own path. Through it all, he had to learn what it meant to be obedient and yielded unto the Lord. Unfortunately, the times that we truly grow and learn what it means to be godly, are the times we are in the dark, suffering, and fighting off the devil and his flaming arrows. 1Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” 2 Timothy 3:12-14 also states: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  These verses spoke volumes to me. As a little girl, I spent at least four days a week at my church, and I still have never known a life without it. But as I have grown up, I have seen countless people stray away. People that I committed my life to the Lord with, was baptized with, and went to retreats, camps and conferences with. All of those boys and girls that I grew up with, knew the bible inside and out, and grew up in the church just like me, so why did they leave? Suffering. They forgot that a life in pursuit of God, is not all rainbows and butterflies. Christians love to neglect the fact that we will suffer, and when they do suffer, they blame God and flee. But how would we know growth if we weren’t first pruned? How would we know joy, if we hadn’t first experienced pain? Suffering is necessary and though it hurts and often times, blinds us, it refines us and has the power to make us sweeter and purer human beings. The power is in our hands, however, and it is a deliberate choice we must make every day. Philippians 1:29 says, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake.” For the sake of Christ. For the sake of Christ we suffer, because he did not just suffer for us, but he died for us, and he died because his soul loves us and longs to know us. There will be times in my life that I feel like I am just barely getting by, and there will be times of thriving and great joy. In either case, may I learn obedience. May I not forget that God puts us in situations in order to teach us more about His mighty power, and the nature of our weak and sinful hearts. Whether we are in the darkness or in the light, may we cling to Jesus and remain rooted and built up in His love. May we not forget the why. The why we became Christians in the first place. Let Jesus be the heartbeat of your life and the motivation behind every single thing you do.

Application: Tonight, I will sit down with Sara (my RA) and ask her how I can improve and how she has seen me growing throughout the six weeks I have been at IGNITE. I will listen to her criticism and be obedient to her guidance.