change our affections

"To come to Jesus is to taste and see that he is good and to find in him the end of all your desires. To believe in Jesus is to experience an eternal pleasure that far outweighs and outlasts the temporal pleasures of this world." David Platt

Why is it that some are able to avoid drinking, drugs, immorality, bad language, lying, pride, materialism, immodesty etc.? Is it because they have more self-control? Is it because they are able to follow the Christian list of do's and don'ts more efficiently? Is it because they've been raised to avoid everything on the DONT list? 

Sometimes we approach these things the wrong way. We try to get our young people to stop partying/drinking/clubbing because its wrong and not glorifying to God. We try to approach these issues in this generation by starting on the outside and pushing it to the inside. I guess what I mean by this is, we tell each other, "thats sinful, don't do it." And then we expect a change of heart from a head of knowledge - from the knowledge or what is right and what is wrong.

Is this really going to work? I don't think so.

So whats the right way to approach these things? How do we get the point across that getting drunk, sexual immortality, immodesty, materialism, pride, lust, greed, profanity, pornography and the list goes on... how do we approach sin in our lives? We need to tackle it from the inside and pray that a changed HEART will lead to changed ACTIONS.

A heart that desires JESUS cannot desire the ways of the world. PERIOD.

There is no sitting on the fence, dipping our toes in the waters of sin. If you TRULY desire Jesus and have a true and living relationship with Him, your heart must have changed and be continually changing. Im not saying that sin and the ways of the world will stop being tempting - no, but certainly they will lose their appeal. We may be tempted, we will face trials and challenges and we will certainly never be perfect. But your heart will find itself FULLY 100% SATISFIED by Jesus Christ. You won't have a hunger for anything else. 

We need to teach people about Jesus. We need to pray for their hearts to be broken, so that might realize that they are empty and needing something... someone... to fill them. Jesus. We can't shove a list of rights and wrongs in their faces, a list of what you can do, what you can maybe get away with and what you definitely can't do. There is NO list. All there is is two options: a heart that is for Christ, and a heart that is for the world.

We need to pray that people's hearts are truly touched by the gospel, that they will realize that Jesus is enough. When they do - their hearts will change. The ways of this world, the things we once loved, the things we once wanted WILL become the things we hate. Jesus will become all we want. We need to continually be in the word, learning more and more about Jesus and who HE is. You cannot mirror Jesus as we are called to, unless you pick up your cross and surrender your life. Surrender yourself.

We need to TRUST CHRIST to CHANGE our AFFECTIONS 

rather than working so hard to change our actions. 

lay your life down

"The life God has for us is one of abundance. 
It is meant to be full, not repetitive. 
He wants us doing things that have eternal impact. 
He wants us busy expanding his Kingdom in one way or another, today and every day. 
This doesn't mean that every Christian should quit his or her job and move to a foreign country. 
But it does mean that we need to figure out how to make each day count for his purposes." 
Francis Chan. >Follow Me<

It's so easy to start feeling like the world revolves around us. We become self-absorbed and self-focused, feeling like the only important thing each day is OUR plans and OUR jobs and OUR families etc. We need a wake-up call every day, reminding us that if we live this way, we aren't accomplishing what God has in store for us. There is so much more then routine. There is more then church once a week and devotions at the dinner table. There is more then simply knowing of God and believing in God. If your belief in God doesn't change your life completely, then you missed the point. Why?

Because Jesus called us to pick up our cross and lay down our lives for His Kingdom, for His Glory. 

We live in a world where everything revolves around self, "Protect yourself", "promote yourself", "entertain yourself", "comfort yourself", "take care of yourself"... but Jesus says "Slay Yourself!"

Wow! If our lives don't change after claiming to believe in Christ... in the one TRUE GOD, then have our hearts truly believed? "Churches are filled with supposed Christians who seem content to have casual association with Christ while giving nominal adherence to Christianity." >David Platt< That is so true, its scary. But its so wrong; the Bible speaks clearly that many will stand before Him and say "Lord Lord"... but He will say to them, "I never knew you". How do we know that we truly KNOW God and he truly KNOWS us? 

Look at your life. When we look at the life of Jesus, do we discover a path that is worth giving up our own lives for? Our own plans, goals, ambitions, hopes, dreams? Our own money, time, safety? Do we live each day to satisfy our ourselves or do we seek to make each day count for Gods purposes.? Its not just about 'come and hear' every sunday, its about teaching Christians how to 'go and tell', how to fulfill the great commission. 

"Jesus is worthy of far more than intellectual belief, and there is so much more to following him than monotonous spirituality. There is indescribable joy to be found, deep satisfaction to be felt, and an eternal purpose to be fulfilled in dying to ourselves and living for him." >David Platt<

No matter who you are, what you do, where you work, where you live, where you go to church... if you take the title of Christian - if you call yourself a follower of Christ - we cannot just continue on in our patterns and routines. We do what we do FOR God, we give up what we want or what we have FOR God, we put relationships and friendships on the line because their salvation is more important than our reputation. I am no longer my own - but Christ lives within me. What a blessing that is.

is your relationship with God alive?

Make it real, make it a relationship.

I guess I feel like I've seen so many people missing the point of their faith in God, I know I've been there before and now I see how sad it is to be off target.

Why do you go to church? Why do you pray and read the word? Why do you stay away from worldly things? Is it because your parents brought you up that way? Or maybe its because you feel that its the right thing to do, the morale thing to do. Maybe you enjoy the social aspect, or maybe its just routine. Maybe its because you genuinely believe in God, but you just leave it at that... I remember wondering what the point of believing in God was. I remember feeling like there had to be more to what God had for me, outside of the routine of church and reading the bible out of obligation. I see some people I know now, and apart from the fact that they attend church faithfully and 'know their stuff', they even have good morales and stay away from 'worldly' things, but other then that you'd never really know they walk with the Lord. They're just nice people doing nice things. There is no passion, no desire to learn more about God. They read the bible before or after dinner because its what they do - they pray once and awhile because they know God listens, but do they REALLY get it?

God is so much bigger and so much greater then we can even imagine. I have christian friends who rarely talk with me about what God is doing in their lives, they never seem interested in sitting down and just talking about God and the word and life. They seem burnt out, confused even as to why they have faith in God at all. I desire to see them, and myself, experience God on a daily basis in the ways he intends. God speaks to us through his word, and through prayer, and through many other things, but reading the bible out of obligation and not out of a true desire might actually be a wall between true communication with God.

Sometimes I see the difference between different worship styles and I wonder, are they really experiencing what God has for them? I'm not talking about throwing yourself on the floor in an emotional, uncontrollable mess... I'm just talking about whether or not God really grips their heart and moves in them and their churches. I wonder this for them because I wondered for myself for quite some time, and now that I have an answer... I want to see other people find freedom too. I don't understand how worship can be fenced in by SO many rules and preferences that are man-made. Worship freely. How can worship (I'm not just talking musical) be so dry and dull? The word of God is not boring, singing songs to God is not dull. It IS good to praise God with music, with musical talent of all kinds, to sing and really praise his name. It IS good to pray and lay hands on one another and seek God's face. It IS good to have certain occasions in church to allow people to come to the front and have prayer and even ask for Christ to come into their heart. Be discerning, stay true to the bible, but don't restrict the Holy Spirit, don't put limits on God just for the sake of your comfort level.

Sometimes I wonder if the style of worship has actually become an idol for some churches. If attending church is an idol? If you miss one service, or visit a friend or family's church for a Sunday, is that so wrong? If you are baptist and you visit a reformed church for the sake of worshiping with your loved ones one week, that is healthy. If you are reformed and visit a baptist church for the sake of worshiping with your loved ones once in a while, that is okay! I wonder why people act as if every church except their own is inappropriate and not up to par. You don't have to agree with every minor thing, as long as they preach God's word TRULY and have Godly leadership etc.

Walking with God is exciting and joyful. It moves me to worship privately and in community. It moves me to want to share my faith with us. It takes away the desire to do things that the world does, drinking and partying and clubbing have no appeal to me because God is more appealing. I want to be different because I want to be closer to God, not just because its the right thing to do. I want to be closer to God because he is EVERYTHING, not just because thats the right thing to say. I want to talk to God and hear from him on a daily basis, truly hear from him and expect more from him every day because I know he is WILLING, I need only have faith. I want to raise my hands in worship and sing, I want to pray when I feel led to pray, not just when its the allotted 'prayer time'. I want to cry and laugh and feel God moving in my heart, captivating me more and more. I want to seek HIS purpose for my life, and not try to add him to the plans I've already made for myself. Faith in God is amazing, beautiful and moving. It should be passionate and hungry and exciting.

Anyways, just a random blurb of thoughts. Are you excited about your relationship with Christ? Are you constantly hungry to be closer to him and learn more from him?