Working my way into Heaven...

A couple weeks ago at church, Minister Lee quoted Matthew 6:33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

I have heard this verse so many times before, but that day it really resonated in my mind.

I have been caught up in so much for so long that I had been putting God on the backburner. There is a saying that where you spend most of your time is what really has your heart. And, unfortunately, I had not been spending most of my time with God; I had made myself too busy for Him. And what’s amazing is that I found myself too busy doing God’s work to make time for Him.

How can I expect to live a Godly lifestyle without God Himself? I can’t. And for a long time I tried and wondered why it didn’t work. But, I’m thankful to God that in His mercy He has been showing me myself. I am so thankful that He has not continued to let me live inside the lie in my head. He has let me see that I have been trying to work my way into heaven.

I can see now how easy it is for people to get so caught up in doing God’s work that they miss out on relationship with Him. And it’s a shame because God doesn’t want servants, He desires sons and daughters.

Matthew 7:21-23 are some hard verses to read, but I have found myself on those pages:

"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (NKJV)

I can see how that day could go. I would come before the Lord, telling Him about all the wonderful things I’ve done in His name, the people I’ve helped and prayed for, the fasts I’ve been, the few scriptures I’ve learned and the few ways I’ve been obedient.
And I can see how I’ve been setting myself up for the Lord to say that He never knew me because in all the time that I had called myself a Christian, I never took the time to truly and intimately know Christ.

I have seen the pattern in all of the relationships in my life; constantly trying to do things for other people and believing that that is what would make others love and accept me. But with God, it’s not about what I can do for Him; it’s about who I am to Him. And in the end heaven is all about relationship.

God,
I thank you for coming into my life and turning everything upside down. You have shown me that there is so much more to being a Christian than going to church on Sunday, doing work for the church and saying prayers I don’t really think You’re hearing. I thank you for the desire you have put in me to have a deeper relationship with You; I enjoy the time we spend together and I can’t wait to get to heaven to be with You forever. I pray that we will continue to grow closer as I seek You first.

Then...and WOW! My weight-loss journey

And the journey continues...

Here at The Well we have an awesome Health and Fitness program:

"Wellian students have entered the school with various goals including eating healthier, losing weight or gaining weight. At The Well, students are encouraged and expected to eat healthy and stay physically fit. Each student completes a thirty-minute exercise activity, a minimum of three days a week. The Well also has an established Run Club… in which we take weekend runs on the campus of Georgia Tech." (runtothewell.com)

Before coming to The Well, I had been trying to lose weight on and off; I would go really strong for a few months and then fall over and give up. I also had a lot of bad habits in college that were really destructive to my body.

It has been really hard for me to lose weight in the past because I was trying to lose weight for myself; my motivation was off. I wanted to lose weight so I could look good and feel better about myself. I’ve had a lot of self-confidence issues that I thought would just go away when I finally lost the extra pounds. But, it never happened.
At The Well, God has been showing me the importance of taking care of my body for Him.

It is important to take care of my body because:
It shows good discipline (1 Corinthians 9:27)
I will have more energy for ministry work and for the mission field
I will have more energy for my family
It shows that I can be a good steward of the things that God has given me, which include my health
It glorifies God

These days I am feeling great and looking good! Since taking the focus off of myself and focusing on God (Matthew 6:33), the weight has been coming off!

Its funny, because now that my focus has shifted, the weight loss hasn't become as important to me. And, I find myself purposly not trying to get caught up in it. But, God is showing me that I need to focus on it and talk about it more because it is a part of my testimony and I can use it to glorify Him.

Plus it's not about me. Psalm 67:1-3 says
God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.


God loves to bless us, but it's not just for us. He blesses us so that we can inturn tell others about the goddness of God. So, I'm determined now to give God the glory and credit for each pound because I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that its not me.

So, I'm guessing now you want to see some proof? Well, I don't have any official numbers for you yet, but here is a before-and-after photo:

Pretty awesome, right? And its all God! Stay tuned for awesome updates!

Siege for LIFE

“Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it… Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it.” (Ez 4:2-3 NKJV)

Last weekend, The Well teamed up with Bound4LIFE Atlanta to go on a Silent Siege.

We stood outside of an abortion clinic with red tape over our mouths that read “LIFE.” Together we stood there praying silently from 7 am to 9 pm, in a line, in the rain, for the entire world to see.

A Silent Siege is where we silently stand inthe gap on behalf of our nation and build up a wall of prayer (Ez 22:30). This strategy was given to us in a dream from the Lord...When we make a stand outside of a courthouse or an abortion facility, our stand is for life, mercy, and justice.
When LIFE is written on a piece of red tape and placed over our mouths, we are identifying with the silent cries of the preborn—those who have no voice to defend themselves.

Our stand is NOT a protest. It IS a silent prayer meeting.

We make our appeal to the Judge of the earth and ask Him for speedy justice to be released (Lk 18:7-8).
It’s also a plea for God to subpoena the conscience of the nation.
We dream of the day when every abortion facility in the nation will have long lines of people, young and old alike, standing in silent prayer with Life Tape covering their mouths. If every church would rise up and stand at every abortion facility with sustained fasting and prayer, what could happen? (Bound4LIFE.com)

As I stood there in the rain, I prayed for the babies, that God would keep them and protect them. As I was praying, my brother's song came into my head and I began repeating “save the babies, Lord, save the babies.” I could hear their cries and I could see blood in the streets; it looked like the rain water running down the road. I began to cry, thinking about the babies that never got to live, that never got to smile or see a sunrise. I heard God saying to the nation “I'm blessing you, I am giving you a gift, the gift of life, and you’re killing them.” These babies are gifts from God; not everyone can even have children. Why do we think it’s okay to throw away something so precious?

I repented on behalf of all the women who selfishly killed their children in the name of convenience, because they couldn't get past the burden and see the blessing that God was trying to give them. I also repented on behalf of those in our community too ashamed, too fearful, and too focused on ourselves to say anything or stand for what is right.

Standing there I could literally feel God’s heart breaking and His sadness; the rain fell like God’s tears. My chest ached and this overwhelming feeling of grief came upon me. Before coming to The Well, I never thought about how our sin affects God. When I use to sin in the past, I would feel sorry and ask God for forgiveness so that He wouldn’t punish me. But I was missing the point; God loves us and it hurts Him when we sin.

At The Well, I have been learning about how to have a real relationship with God, to connect with Him so that I can know His heart and how He feels. It grieves me to think about how my sin makes God feel, especially when I sin on purpose. Jesus died and paid for my sins because He loves me, and when I decide to do something that goes against Him, it breaks His heart. I can hear Him asking, “Why? Why do you continue when I have died for you? When I have given you the grace to overcome? Why do you go back?” And yes, He does get angry; you would too if you gave your heart to somebody and they kept stomping on it, over and over again, because they wanted to do their own thing.

But, because God loves us, he has not thrown us away when we’ve messed up. He has not given up on us. He is still showing us mercy even though thousands of babies die every day. We all deserve hell, but because of Jesus’ loving sacrifice, we have been given the opportunity to have life and life more abundantly. These babies are Gods creation; they deserve to be given the same opportunity for life.

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:4-5

God is calling us to stand in the gap and be a voice for those who cannot speak, to be a standard in this backward world.

Then said I: “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
But the LORD said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD. Jeremiah 1:6-8

For more information, please visit www.Bound4Life.com

What the world needs now is...love

I saw this comic by Mike Lukovich on ajc.com and I thought it was very interesting:

This comic made me think about how different people view Christians. Unfortunately, we have this overall reputation of being judgmental and hateful. How did this happen?

Christianity has been given a bad name.

While working on my Marketing degree in college, I had a concentration in Public Relations (PR). One of the most important components of a successful company is its image. They can market and sell products all day long, but if the general public considers the company to be bad in any way, it will hurt business. And PR, like the good or bad press a company receives, has a lot to do with helping our hurting that image.
Christianity has received a lot of bad press.

I am so tired of seeing hateful people claiming to be Christians on TV. I see these “Christians” screaming hurtful messages, telling homosexuals that God hates them and they’re going to hell. I see these “Christians” looking down their noses at Muslims and treating them like they are scum. I see these “Christians” judging prostitutes and drug addicts, continually treating them like outcasts and deciding that God doesn’t love them. I see these “Christians” judging other Christians and comparing themselves amongst themselves by standards that aren’t even in the Bible.

I see these “Christians” treating others as if they are so evil and wicked that God doesn’t want anything to do with them.

And because of these “Christians”, people think that there is this selfish, angry, hateful God in heaven waiting to condemn people and send them to hell. People think that unless you’re perfect, like these so called Christians, God wants nothing to do with you.

And these people are the ones we see on the T.V. screen and on the internet sending hurtful, hateful messages around the world.

And this gives Christianity a bad name because last time I checked the Bible said that God is love.

We, as Christians, need to show people the love of God. Now, I'm not saying this because I've got it down pat, but because I can see how love has started to change me.

I used to feel so condemned because of the way that other “Christians” treated me that I just assumed God felt the same way. The more I’ve gotten to know the real and living God, the more I’ve realized that He’s not up there condemning me, but loving me.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:16-18)

At The Well, we have been talking about the importance of loving other people. You can’t, or shouldn’t, do ministry without the love of Christ. And, simply and most importantly, you can’t be a good Christian without the love of God.

In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 it talks about the importance of love:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
So, we can know a whole bunch of scriptures, we can go to church every Sunday, we can know all the right “Christian” phrases, we can volunteer and do good things and be pretty decent “Christian people”, but if we do not love others like God loves them, then it all means nothing.

I’m saying all this because I‘ve been there. And I know this because I used to do it. It was so easy to get caught up, thinking that because I go to church and do all these things I’m somehow now better than people who don’t. I have noticed that there are a lot of “Christians” that get so focused on the things they do (or don’t do) and the few little scriptures that they have followed that they’ve missed the whole point of the Bible.

I have been in church my whole life. And what I noticed is that some church folk have this religiousness and fakeness about them; they can go through all the motions without any true emotion. They can sing all the songs on Sunday and tell you that they “love you with the love of the Lord”, but it’s empty and not real. They don’t have Gods love in them. And it’s a shame because they have been deceived.

John 15:12-13 says “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Jesus laid down His life for us, even those of us who treat him like dirt, even for those who hate Him. He loves us so much that He laid His life down. If Jesus Christ loves, and we call ourselves His followers, then who are we not to love?

How can we look down our noses at anyone, knowing that we are only sinners saved by grace? What makes us better than anyone else? How can we say we are Christians and not have God’s love? It’s time for us as a church to re-evaluate our salvation to see if we are even in the faith.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:7-11)
God loves all people because God is love!
Now, there are things in our lives that God doesn’t like, but He doesn’t hate us as people. He has given us each free will, the power to do, believe in, and live whatever we want, even if our ways separate us from Him.

He loves each and every one of us and wants a relationship with each and every one of us. He wants to save us, heal us, cleanse us, and give us abundant life.

So, as Christians, we are God’s representatives on earth; we are His PR. And quite frankly, as a whole we are doing a pretty crappy job of keeping God’s good name.

We as Christians need to get ourselves together, stop hating, and love God’s people. We need to consider and love Muslims, Buddhists, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, etc and respect them as God-created human beings. We need to reach out to and love homosexuals and other people who are hurting that the church has turned its back on. We need to connect with and love prostitutes, pimps, and drug addicts and all those who are physically, mentally, and spiritually trapped in bondage.

We need to love them just like we need God to love us.


Leave a comment and tell me what you think; I’d like to hear from you.