spiritual growth - Jeremiah's Vow

Video Spotlight | “Laying Cinder Blocks like a Pro”

A couple of months ago I came across this video. It is what it says. It’s four minutes of a man you can not see laying blocks in a smooth and steady rhythm. I have watched it several times because there is a beauty in it I can’t describe. There is just something about watching an individual who has honed and perfected a trade or craft.

This is what I have asked myself as I have watched this video, “Am I as good at anything as this block layer is at laying block?”

I would have to say no. But, I would like to be. Striving for perfection may never yield the desired result. In the journey what we find is the refinement of skill and satisfaction. We all have to ask ourselves why we do what we do. Is to “get ahead” or make more money? Or, could the simple act becoming “good” at something bring its own spiritual reward? I’m not sure, but I would like to find out. Enjoy!

You can follow the link to the video. Laying cinder blocks like a pro..

Growing Pains | Introduction

Growing pains are not meant to be fun, but they are necessary. They are a sign that you are alive and that you are not perfect. Both of these are good things.

We All Have Growing Pains

I remember waking up in the middle of the night with a pain shooting up both of my shins. I thought someone had come into my room and had hit me as hard as they could. It was as if a vice had been place across my shins and where being tightened and then loosened over and over again. I had never felt pain like that in my life. Now, I was about twelve, so I did not have a lot of other moments to compare it too. The next morning, I told my mom what happened and she told me that it was a normal part of getting bigger. They were just “growing pains.”

Well, it has been a long time since I had physical growing pains, but the experience has not changed as I have gotten older. The growing pains that I go through now, however, are spiritual, personal and emotional rather than physical. I am constantly learning new things about myself and others. Some of them are better than others. Some of them, I wish I never had to go through, but I would not change it even when it was my fault.

Growing pains are not meant to be fun, but they are necessary. They are a sign that you are alive and that you are not perfect. Both of these are good things. The challenge is to be an active participant in the process. We have to accept the pains as a reality we have to learn to deal with because there will never be just one. And because of that we may lean in the direction of quitting or giving up rather than fighting through.

Growing Edges

My pastor told me as I sat across from him in his office during my annual staff review, “We all have growing edges.” A growing edge is that place where you have to improve, get better. We all have them. We do not always see them. That is why we need someone to remind us of where we need to grow. The same is true in the church. As a whole we all have to grow together, together. This is what makes a church’s growing pains difficult. They are difficult because they involve more than one person. And all of these people may not always be on the same page.

Over the next several weeks we will look at seven growing pains. Each of these areas are important because they are the visible realities of our faith expression. At any given time any person that is not a Christian, not a part of the body of Christ will come in contact with a believer who may be (should be?) engaging in one of these activities. It is at these times that we discover where we are and whether or not we are moving towards where we need to be.

My mom’s explanation helped be to understand what I was going through. My hope is that over the next few weeks we will see the purpose of these pains and find a way to endure and grow to see the benefits of what is happening even when we don’t always enjoy it.

Spiritual Starvation: The Reason Many Christian’s Struggle

Ok, so here is the deal. When I get hungry, I eat. When I get tired, I sleep. When I get discouraged, I eat. Just kidding on the last one. I usually go watch a movie or watch my kids play.

On a serious note, though, if hunger is the sign that something needs to be put in our stomach’s, what are we supposed to put in our spiritual belly when we are spiritually hungry? This is a question that I have been trying to get my head and heart around over the last couple of months. I do not have this all figured out, but I think that I am going in the right direction. So, let me share with you what I have been thinking.

There are two places in the Gospel’s were Jesus says something about spiritual food. What makes these two instances interesting is that one has to do with consumption and the other has to do with activity. I am by no means the symbol of fitness or dietary excellence, but I know that if I want to be healthy I have to eat well and exercise or stay active.

This is what Jesus said. The first he said to the devil and the second he said to his disciples.

But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4, ESV)

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work….” (John 4:31-34, ESV)

Continue reading “Spiritual Starvation: The Reason Many Christian’s Struggle”

Eat your way into heaven!

Over the last several years I have struggled to lose weight. I know that I can’t continue to eat like it will be my last meal and expect to maintain a healthy lifestyle and weight. But, eating is so good. If there were a way to keep eating, but not get full, I think that many of us would probably eat all of the time. Food is a gift from God. We were designed to eat so that we could live and not the other way around.

So let me ask you a question: if food is needed to sustain your physical life, what do you need to “eat” in order to sustain your spiritual life?

It can be so easy to think that the physical and the spiritual are in the same condition, but that would be a mistake. The problem that many of us have is that we are very good at diagnosing where we are spiritually. I would strongly recommend Donald Whitney’s book Ten Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health. I can read the questions and some of my thoughts on each here in Part 1 and Part 2.

Back to my question, what do you have to “eat”? I have found that the only spiritual food that God has provided for us is his word. Listen to what Jesus said to the Devil after forty days of fasting,

³And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

(Matthew 4:3-4, ESV)

“Every word that come the mouth of God” is what provides the nourishment that we need in order to feed our spirit. One of the things that we have to realize is that we do not truly know how spiritually malnourished we are until we have fed our spirit healthy food. The more junk we take in the weaker we become. I would challenge you to begin reading scripture on a daily basis, three times a day even, and see if your spiritual life does not improve.

There is no way that you can eat too much of the word of God. And, there is an added benefit to eating scripture, you will grow more healthy with each bite!

A Spiritual Gut Check

In this post I will let you in on my plan and my dream! Read on and I hope you join the journey with me!

Yesterday I said that I would be letting you in on something that I will be doing this year. Well, here it is.

One of my “Faith” goals is to make one new disciple of Jesus, for Jesus this year.

Now, while that may not be too earth shattering to some, it is to me. I want to intentional find and lead another soul into a deeper relationship with Jesus. I have to tell you, I am scared and excited about it.

So, let me give you some background and then the plan.

This all begins with a simple question. I gave you a hint yesterday. Do you remember what it is? I asked: What was the last thing that Jesus asked and left for his disciples to do when he went back to heaven? He said it at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. Let’s read it:

¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV)

Jesus was given authority by his heavenly father, and with that authority Jesus commanded his disciples, both present and future, to go and make more disciples. That appears to be relatively straight forward. One would think that this would be something that the church and her members would spend a lot of time thinking about and doing. To some degree, we do a very good job of talking about discipleship. It is just in the execution of the plan that most of us get bogged down and even stall into failure.

Here is the gut check. In the time that you have been a Christian, have you ever, intentionally made a disciple? Now, before you answer that question, here is the definition of a disciple.

A disciple is someone who makes disciples.

This definition is designed to be both wide and narrow. It is wide because we are not designating “how” this happens. There are a multitude of factors that play into making disciples, and we will discuss some of those in the future. The “how” should never become more important than the “what.” When you claim to be a disciple there is a necessary byproduct to this profession.

Here is the simple truth of it. If we are disciples and we are NOT making disciples, we are misfiring is a very critical way. A brand new car, with no gas, is just as useless as a car with no engine. They both might look the same, but something vital to its work is missing. But, if the gas is added, then the one that has all the necessary components will work as it was designed to do.

The engine of the Christian life is the process of discipleship. Without it the Christian does not have what he or she needs to move towards God’s purposes. The gas that moves the discipleship engine is the Word of God. This is something that we will see.

But, this definition is also narrow because it identifies the expected “what” that should come from the process of discipleship. After a discple has been made, what should they do and what should they be? They should be disciples, followers of Jesus, who go and make more disciples that look like Jesus AND themselves! This is what I call the ELEVENone Principle.

Paul helps the Corinthians understand what it looks like to be disciples and to do what disciples do when they adhere to this one idea. Read if for yourself.

¹Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:1, ESV)

Here is the question that just grabs me and will not let go when I read this erse. Who is Paul asking the Corinthians to imitate?

Now before you go and give me to old, “Well I am not Paul” line. Let me ask this. Are you supposed to be? Whoever said that everybody had to be an apostle in order to make disciples or even say what Paul says here.

“It just sounds so prideful and arrogant.” “Who am I to ask someone else to do what I am doing?” Wow! With that kind of humility why shouldn’t we follow you! (Sorry, but this kind of thinking drives me crazy.) When did it become more faith-filled to avoid doing what the Bible points to us doing? Jesus never promised us a perfect, care-free life. Trials and trouble, sometimes, are what mark the life of a Christ follower.

The level of self-awareness and humble recognition that Paul is calling the Corinthian’s and all believers who read his words to is this, nobody can be for another what Jesus is for us. But that does not remove the responsibility that we have to be and become like Christ to those that God has placed in on our path.

I could go on and on here, but I will save some of this for later. Here is the bottom line. If you are a disciple of Jesus, then you need to be making disciples. No exceptions. No excuses. So, the question that we must as is why are we not intentionally making disciples? What is holding you back? Could it be that we do not know what to do even to get started? I know that this is exactly what the problem was for me and I am in full-time ministry!

So, this is what we are going to do. If you are interested in learning a simple way of growing closer to Jesus and helping others grow closer to Jesus, i.e., make disciples, this is what I want you to do.

Pray. Pray. Pray.

Pray that God would confirm his plan of using you to make one disciple of Jesus, for Jesus this year. Pray that God would start a fire in your heart for the souls of those whom God sends to intersect your path. If this is what you want to see in your life commit yourself to trying something new.

Today will be a time of prayer and reflection. Tomorrow, if you want to be a part of a plan to make one disciple of Jesus, for Jesus this year, I will share with you a simple process that will blow you away. It did for me!

God wants to interject…

“Don’t become so enamored by the world’s agenda of success that you miss the spiritual growth and ministry appointments in your family’s everyday life. Then you’ll realize you’re not busy doing life, but busy doing ministry.” – Jack Fiscus in MORF Magazine (Issue no. 1, Fall 2011, p. 5)

*MORF Magazine is a free magazine for youth workers. You can subscribe on their site.