By Faith We Understand

Hebrews 11:3- By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

By faith we understand...

That which is confidently trusted in, will ultimately determine exactly and precisely what is known. In this case, we know something about the universe because we are trusting what God has said. We know because we have faith. If we were to trust something else or someone else, we would come to know something else completely about the universe.

What is the source of what you know about yourself? After about a decade of talking to other Christians about their deep heart struggles, I've come to the conclusion that we are rarely (if ever) the source of what we know about ourselves. What we know about ourselves is almost entirely understood by who or what we are trusting. Who or what we trust, is determining our views on ourselves. 

Most people don't know or realize that. You may have low self-esteem. You may be struggling with fear... or possibly guilt and shame. I want you to know that the source of those thoughts and struggles is NOT you... There is an outside source that is not you that is sending you messages about what to believe.

Internally, we are waging a war of faith. We are wrestling with different sources of information and which ones we will put our faith in.

Paul says it like this: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities..." The word "principality" means "the source of something". We aren't wrestling with ourselves, we are wrestling different sources vying for our trust... And once trust is gained by that source, it has free access to dictate what we will perceive and understand about ourselves and our lives. Our faith produces our knowledge.

What are you listening to right now? What voice has all the authority in your life?

As you go through the day today, hear God speak one word to you that fills your hunger. Hear one word from this passage in Isaiah. Hear the voice of truth and reject all opposing voices:

Isaiah 54:14-17
¹⁴ In righteousness you shall be established;
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
¹⁵ Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me.
Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.

¹⁶ “Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an instrument for his work;
And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
¹⁷ No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.

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Less important sidenote: I plan on revamping the blog in a week or two. I'll be teaming up with my amazing and beautiful girlfriend to produce a blog/art blend.

Every other week, we'll create a super fun piece of art that elaborates and integrates with the message in the blog. You'll be able to buy the art too, that way, if you really connect with something God is saying through the art/blog, you'll be able to hang it on a wall as a constant reminder of what God was speaking to you. It should be really fun and I'm kind of overly excited about it lol. Anyways, Happy Memorial day to everyone. Enjoy the day!

Dream Big

Over the past couple of months I've heard a lot of criticism about dreamers... Ya know, people like me... and deep down, people like you.

My ears have caught it in many different forms: Millennial bashing, "Common Sense" worship, a general "Calm down, and just be normal (like me)" attitude... The criticism is that dreamers tend to be dissatisfied with normal, everyday life. They don't function well at normal jobs. They're self centered. They make dumb, dream-related decisions instead of pursuing a more stable normal life... the list could continue... All lies, meant to keep us away from trusting the God of the impossible.

Dreamers are bashed on all sides with profuse intellectual disdain. And at the same time, dreamers are uplifted by our culture's warm feelings toward miraculous success stories. We are told to dream big and then berated for doing so. Often, the greatest berating comes from inside our own mind and emotions as we see the successes of other's dreams and the failures of own.

But dare to dream big again!

Not because our culture loves or hates it. Not because it's smart or stupid. But because hope requires us to dream. If you refuse to dream, in reality, you're refusing to have hope again. You're refusing to be anything other than discouraged and disappointed. We often fake contentedness and leave our hearts lying in the dust. We often refuse to ask God for what we really want because we don't believe He can or will... or worse, we accuse ourselves of sinful selfishness and refuse God on the basis of our own false humility...  But bring your heart's desires again to God. Dreaming means vulnerability with your Dad. It means talking like friends. Guess what your closest friend wants to hear from you today? He wants to hear your deepest desires. Your most heartfelt thoughts. Your biggest dreams. Perhaps He wishes to work in those dreams. Perhaps He has dreams of His own that you could get to be a part of. And maybe it will all work together for your good.

So don't be afraid to dream again. For some of you, you'll feel like your dreams are a far distant land that can't even exist. And for others, you'll try to dream and realize you currently don't know how. But dare to dream big anyways. Look outside and see the world around you. See the vast creativity of God in nature. Now start to picture your dreams and measure them against what you see. Do your dreams match the vastness of God's? See if you can't dream the same way God did when He created the world and the heavens. You'll find great joy when you try.

Then write them down, one by one. Tell God how you feel about them, honestly. Open up your heart and start asking God for the "big ones" and don't be afraid to pursue it. God loves it when we dream with Him. He won't accuse you like others are accustomed to doing. He loves your heart and wants to be in it. Let Him in again.

The Removal of Sins

Psalm 103:12- He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west.

Grace did something to our past.

I was laying in bed realizing that verse, over and over again. Realizing the craziness of what is being said.

It's not that God made my sins better. It's not that He fixed them or simply fixed their ramifications. It's that He removed them from me. He took them away. He removed it from my past. It's like He did open heart surgery and took them out... Open life surgery... What a wonderful gift!

I'm reminded of the song "Jesus Paid It All"

Oh praise the One
Who Paid my debt
And raised this life
Up from the dead

When a debt is paid, the debt no longer exists. It can't exist. If a debt exists, it hasn't been paid. So if a debt is paid, it's gone! It's been removed. And the only thing that can exist is the gratefulness and full relief of the debt no longer existing.

Too often we receive forgiveness of sins without receiving complete removal in our heart's and minds. It's easy to say, "God forgives me" and maintain a fair amount of sorrow. It's supernatural to say "My past sins no longer exist" and shout for joy because of it!

Service Pro is a clean up and restoration company. Their slogan is, "Service Pro: Like it never even happened". That's how completely God removes our sins. That's how wild this thing is. We made a crap ton mess of our lives and Jesus is like, "NOPE. REMOVED. ALL OF IT."

What keeps us going back to our past sins is an attempt to find value in them. An attempt to make them into something that's useful to us now... to justify their existence in our past so that we can appreciate them in our present, instead of disdaining them. We want to value our past sins, not throw them away (a.k.a. not let God remove them). So we hold on. But God wants us to let go.

The reality is that there's nothing good except God's grace. Grace is the only productive thing. If you've come to Christ, it's not your struggle with sin that's made you who you are today. If you've come to Christ, your failures aren't providing you with any value, whatsoever. Plenty of people struggle and sin, and it hasn't brought them any benefit at all. The only thing that's made you who you are today... The only thing that's provided value in your life is God's grace. Don't blame your past sins for the good things you have in your life now. The sin did not, in any way, provide that. That's why God's okay with removing it from you. It's actually not useful at all to Him.

It's the removal that's valuable to God. The complete removal of any and all sins is the thing that gives God glory, not the sin itself. God's forgetting of your sin is the useful thing, not your remembrance of it.

So accept and allow God to remove all your sins from you and especially from your past. Don't get stuck trying to make them into something useful when God's looking to remove them from your life.

Be the Saxaphone Player. Be the real thing.

Me and my girlfriend were scanning the audience as the music started. It was a night of contrast. On one side of us, was a small group of teenagers who were all trying to impress each other and were a little bit annoying. (It's okay though, we photobombed them).

On the other side was a younger guy with his mom and they were both just genuinely enjoying the music.

One group was living real. The other was living fake.

As the night progressed, we saw this pattern unfolding. The real was contrasted with the fake. The heart was contrasted with the head.

The first band was a relatively newer, younger group (Judah the Lion). As they played, we felt the reality of their song. They were fully in. Their hearts were singing. They weren't performing. They were living and loving it. Their hearts were alive and as we listened, we noticed that the crowd responded with their hearts.

The second band (Parachute) had been around for a while. They did all the right things. They performed "well". They were "energetic". They didn't miss a note. They mastered the mechanics of the performance.

And nobody cared a lick.

Their hearts weren't in what they were doing and the entire crowd knew it. I don't know how we knew it, but we knew it.

See, we didn't go to the concert to hear music or see a performance. We went to feel alive. We went to be free. We went because we wanted to live from our hearts in that moment. And Parachute just wasn't doing it.

Except for that guy in the picture...the saxophone player. It wasn't just that he was talented. He was the only guy up there still playing from his heart. It was a beautiful thing. He didn't let his band hold him back from being free. He was living from his heart and letting it shine.

I realized in that moment, that I wanted to live like that saxophone player. Most of the world we live in can't do it or won't do it. But as someone who trust's in Jesus, I have that liberty. I know that God's grace has freed me from all guilt and all punishment for anything my heart does or has done; and in that freedom, my heart wants to live out love out loud! It's like God's mercy gave me a new heart (because God actually did!). A heart that's free and courageous in a world that's predictable, mechanical, and afraid.

So let me encourage you: Be the saxophone player in your Parachute world today. Trust Jesus from your heart and be free. You were made to live that way. And when people see it, they'll know that's the way they want to live too.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and honor your Father in heaven."

What Are You Waiting For?

But seriously.

What exactly are you waiting for. There's life on the other side. But the grass is always greener where you stand.

Our slow suicide is killing me
To hear you once again
Living in death
When life is calling on the other side

"The other side, the other side!"
Screams the unhappy man
Is just too far away
It's far away to stand

Stand in all your stubbornness
Rooted in your ground
The very ground that's suffocating
And dragging your life down

All your hopes and all your empty fears
The wild earth in distant past
Was one you choose to bear
And bear it well you uncomfortably did

To see the light of day
It never was the Father's Love
Now pulling you away
Deep within the earth you cry
"Why do I feel I die"

We always know when we are dying
We always know when we are sighing
We always look to the other side
And forget to step

Because today is beautiful in it's own way
And tomorrow's moves us far away
From moving...
But Hope again tomorrow
Will always be the same
Until we chose to let go
And hang on
To His hand

It's not your strength
You must let go
It's not what you've done
Or even do
You must let go
That way is death
"Why do I die?"
That way is death
Connect
And let go
And hang on

Because liberty has worth
In and of itself
What is produced by it
Is not
What makes it worth an ounce
Of whatever man declares an ounce
Of anything is worth
Let go, Let GO
Uproot your stance
And hang on to Grace's Hand

"Stand firm therefore, in the Liberty in which Christ has made us free and do not be enchained again to a yoke of slavery."

I've found that sometimes we depend so much on our understanding that it's hard to just read something like that. It's hard to read and not understand up in the brain. And for those that refuse to feel and refuse to let their heart live (the heart where God lives ... the heart that's purified through Christ), it's impossible to get through. But if you just would read it again, this time without thinking. This time without trying to understand, you'd have a better understanding. You'd probably just know. Ya know?

Knowing God is a little like that. Sometimes we don't understand, but we trust from our heart and that's enough to know Him. And over time the understanding comes but not independent of trust. There's value in that.

The Difference Between God and Tony Perkis

The past couple of days at work, I've been thinking about the greatest movie ever made: Heavyweights. This is an objective truth and has nothing to do with personal preferences.

The primary reason it's so phenomenal is because Ben Stiller plays Tony Perkis, an insane camp director who treats his chubby campers with utter contempt... It's a wonderful experience.

So how does this connect to God? Well, look at this quote from your dear old Uncle Tony:

I think a lot of times people live their lives hungry for the experience of God, the presence of God, the blessing of God, God's answers to questions, healing, provision, their dreams, you name it... They live their lives hungry and empty and feel like they just have to deal with it because of their own "lack of hustle". Lunch, for them, has been cancelled because they've failed to live up to God's standards... and in their own lofty opinion, if they just tried harder, then their God (Uncle Tony) might feed them. 

And the sad part about this is that Christians will often portray God this way. In an attempt to defend God (as if He needs it) as justified in not helping people who clearly need help, we blame people's lack of hustle (and our own) as the reason their lives are empty... Our wrong defense of God creates a wall that says, "To eat God's food, you have to try harder". You have to give. You have to serve. You have to love. You must approach perfect living with greater fervor. This could not be further from the Truth. Instead, God says this to you today:

"Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare."

The only stipulation is that you can't pay for it. It has to be free. Your labor cannot be used as payment for God's grace. So come eat without cost. Bring your requests to God as one who eats from the buffet of God freely! There is no wall. There is no hurdle. The experience of God is tangible and right next to you. There's nothing in the way. Go there. Breathe. Eat. Ask. Because with Jesus, lunch is never cancelled due to lack of hustle!

P.S. I've demonstrated an extreme lack of hustle with this blog over the past month... Lars would not be pleased... I would like to explain why: I started writing another book! It took me a little bit to figure out if I still wanted to keep the blog going while doing that... It's a lot of writing... but I know now I definitely will. Blog updates will probably be every other week until the book is finished. More details on the book will follow and I'll be sure to keep ya'll posted!! Thanks for reading!

A Father's Blessing

God: "If you were the only person on the planet, do you think I would make you financially rich?"

God singled me out. He cut to the core of who I was and what I believed. The answer in my heart to His odd question, was a resounding, "Yeah, of course you would".

It was when I let God deal with me on a one-on-one basis that I could finally see the truth about money. When I let myself matter to God, I saw the way He felt about me.

God's heart as a father is to take care of His children- and in an extravagant way... For them to have more than enough. When the prodigal son came home, did His father give him only what He needed and nothing more? No, the father threw a lavish and expensive party! Everytime Jesus provided bread or wine, did he do so in a miserly way? No, the wine was the richest wine they had ever tasted and there were baskets full of extra food! Or look at the stars in the sky. What an extravagant gift to humanity! billions and billions, more than we can count. 

Why?
What do these things communicate?

They communicate that God's supply for us is so much more than we will ever even be able to experience fully. We're so worried about bread and Jesus is just like:

“O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? ¹¹ How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread?"

God cares about us. So why am I worried about bread? Why am I worried about whether or not He's going to take care of me? To Jesus, it's just overly common sense that He'll provide richly for us. So much so that He doesn't even feel the need to address it. He's just like, "They've seen my spectacular provision in the past, so I don't even have to address the lack of food. Of course they'll be taken care of extravagantly... That's why I'm going to talk about something else entirely."

So the question really is this: Are we seeing? Or do we still "not yet perceive". It must be frustrating for someone who loves so extravagantly to be constantly doubted by the one that He loves. And yet that love just keeps telling us the truth, over and over and over again. And the truth is that God will richly provide for us in far more abundance than we will even need. I pray that you'll receive that truth today.

A Father's Love

Jesus told us to pray to God as Father.

What father withholds gifts from his children on Christmas?
What father enjoys seeing their children hungry?
What father purposefully makes their child sick?
What father won't do everything possible to see their child well?
As children age, what father enjoys seeing their child struggle financially?
What father likes seeing their kid get picked on?
What father leaves when their kid disobeys?
What father ignores their child's heart desires?
What father only loves their child when they do things well?
What father only loves when their child serves him?

A terrible one.

As I'm writing this, I have this picture in my head of what a good father would love to see:

There's a boy playing basketball. But he's not just playing basketball. He's playing basketball from his heart and you can tell. He's pouring out all of who he is: emotionally, physically, mentally. He yells wildly to his teammates. He dives for the ball from his heart. When he messes up, he doesn't get discouraged at all. He just keeps playing. When he makes a great play from his heart, he pumps everyone up including himself. It's everything the son thought it would be and the son is loving every minute of it.

Or it's like William Wallace leading his troops to battle. Or in Rocky II,  it's like Adrian telling Rocky to "Win". Or it's like falling in love. Or it's like freedom breaking free.

 Jesus came to set the captives free. Real freedom. The kind that lets you loose to be you. The real you.

I say all of this as groundwork for what I know God wants to do in my heart... And something inside me knows it's not just for me. It's also for you. There's a freedom from bondage that God the Dad wants for our hearts and our lives. And to experience that, we have to stop falsely accusing God of being a terrible dad. If we want to live free, we can't keep thanking Him for bondage that He never put us in.

We've all had earthly dad's who succeeded and failed in certain areas. We all know some level of imperfect love. But there's a wild destiny that God has called you to. And to go there, you'll need to trust fully in the perfect love of your real dad in heaven. Because it's only when we experience that love that we'll be truly free.

God's working on me in this area. What you'll see in the blogs in the near future is what He's teaching me and what I'm struggling with. I hope to be honest... and at the same time, I hope to tell you the real truth that will set you free, just like it's setting me free.