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.