Up 2 Him!

I can't change who I am.  I can't be better.  I can't live up to any standard of holiness or righteousness on my own.  No matter what I do.  No matter what I don't do.  I can't.  And neither can you.

We are totally- and when I say totally I actually mean TOTALLY, like... in every way- dependent on the supernatural and loving intervention of God in our lives!  Apart from His Spirit living inside you and I, we are hopelessly destined to remain trapped inside a ceaseless cycle of failure and sin.  If HE doesn't work it out in me, it will ultimately never change (Although the pop Christian subculture might like to disagree).  You and I stand in utter need for God to make the sovereign, gracious decision to work in our lives.  The only real question is whether or not we will remember it.

Are you asking HIM to work?

Jesus says, "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches.  Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.  For apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

Revive Me, Lord.

When was the last time you were so hungry for God you just turned the TV off and fell down on your knees in prayer?  When was the last time you wept over your own sin?  When was the last time you hardly noticed the sins of the world because you were so broken over the carnality and apathy of the church?  When was the last time you hungered for God's Word more than for food?  When was the last time you cried out for the presence of God to manifest itself in your home and church?  When was the last time you prayed until you thought there was nothing more to pray about- and just stayed on your knees in the holy presence of God and kept praying?  When was the last time you shared the Gospel with a lost friend because you just couldn't help yourself?  When was the last time you honestly asked God to show you your sin in full color, every spec of it, so that you might repent and seek His face- regardless of any resulting consequences?

These are questions God has been pressing upon my heart recently.  Questions I believe we need to start asking ourselves.  And if you already are, please challenge others.  Loved ones, it's time to pray.  It's time to repent.  It's time to unite.  Let judgment begin in the house of God.

See: http://onecry.com

Do Dependence

If you've ever been to church, chances are you've been told of how important it is to read your Bible.  And of course it doesn't stop there.  Prayer also comes highly recommended.  As well as coming back for church the next week.  If you consider yourself to be a Christian- or if you've been raised to think like one- you admit these things seem "right."  You know you should do them.  But sometimes it's so hard, and your Bible winds up sitting in the same place for days on end, your knees never really touch the floor, and you find yourself in greatest need of sleep on Sunday morning around the time you know you should probably get out of bed and head to that building with a steeple on it.  What's up with this!?  Does it sound familiar?  Because I know this has been all too true of me time and again throughout my Christian life.

Read your Bible.

Pray.

Go to church.

Why?  Not why should we do this stuff, but why is it so hard?  The reasons are probably many.  Business.  Wrong priorities.  Overwhelmed with yet another to-do list.  Satanic opposition.  Endless distraction.  Whatever reason we could conjure up for struggling with prayer, Bible reading, church attendance and the like, I've recently come to discover just one answer to my struggle:  dependence.

When I view these simple acts of Christian devotion as things I should do, they rarely happen, and when they do I usually just feel a bit religious and happy to relieve my ritual-sensative conscience for the day.  And beyond that, not much else.

Recently I've begun to learn, however, that when I come to the realization of a need for God in my life, and my complete and utter spiritual bankruptcy apart from Him, my entire perspective is turned upside-down.  The more clearly I see my need for God, the more quickly and easily I grab my Bible and pour over it's pages!  When I recognize my desperate spiritual condition apart from the grace of God in my life, I cannot help but fall on my knees in humility and brokenness!  And when I understand that my relationship with Christ is completely central to having a life that is honoring to God and personally fulfilling, church suddenly becomes a new favorite hang-out place!

Today, rather than thinking of a list of stuff that God and your pastor say you should do, think of that list as a few things that you get to do- things that you must do in order to have the life God intends for you to have.   That's what I'm doing.  Let's recognize how much we need the presence of the Lord in our lives and I guarantee you we won't be able to go without that little list this week.  Don't fret over your spiritual chores, just do dependence.