HUGE NEWS.

You all know that I’ve been praying for the hockey team and for Ryan for a few months now. Recently, I decided to take a more active approach…

I may have anonymously mailed him a New Testament. :D

They’re passing out New Testaments at my church as a way of encouraging us to witness to our friends. It’s really cool! I got this Bible a few weeks ago, and decided to send it to Ryan. It has this 30-day reading plan to provide a “quick look” at the New Testament and its general messages. I also sent Ryan a notebook with notes on some of these passages, helping explain some of the deeper theological applications. I wrote a note, explaining that I just really wanted him to have the opportunity to read the Bible. If I believe what the Bible says is true, then why wouldn’t I be sharing that with others?! I explained that I wasn’t trying to pressure him, but I really wanted to at least give him the chance to read through the New Testament, and the opportunity to hear about what Jesus did for him. In the notebook, I went through the crucifixion and just explained some of the basics as to WHY Jesus had to come, and the symbolism and significance behind His death on a cross. I just want him to have the chance to hear the Gospel!

I also gave him an email address to email me if he had any questions. I didn’t want to just send him this Bible, then leave him to explore on his own; that would be lame. Well- he emailed me! You guys- I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how excited I am!!! He said that he really appreciated the prayers and the Bible. He also said that once his schedule lightens up a bit, he is going to start reading through everything, and that he’s really excited to start reading through it!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE continue to pray for him! Pray that God would open his eyes to the mystery of the Gospel; that he would be saved; that God would transform him in to a man of God; that He would bless him with a powerful ministry. Pray that God would help him to live out the Scriptures, especially 1 Timothy 6:11-12, 1 Kings 2:2-3, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, and Ephesians 6: 10-20.

Please continue to pray for him you guys. We’re talking serious prayer-warrior style here. If you have to write it on your hand, set a reminder on your phone, wear a rubber band around your wrist- whatever you have to do to remind yourself to send up a prayer for him! I am not messing around with this. This is something that is constantly on my heart and in my prayers, so PLEASE join me by committing to pray for him for at least a few minutes each day. I pray that God would be glorified through Ryan’s salvation and through our prayerful battle on his behalf.

Are you strong?

“Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn…”

-1 Kings 2:2-3

I stumbled upon this passage one day….and I’m a big fan. It has been great to apply this to my life and to pray that God would transform me in to this type of person. It is also so cool to see how the Bible defines “showing yourself a man.” Masculinity has nothing to do with weight lifting, sports, burping, or fixing cars. It has to do with keeping the commands of the Lord! How awesome is that?! I mean, not that I am masculine or anything, but it is really eye opening to see how the Bible defines strength. It isn’t someone who displays physical strength- it is someone who is deeply rooted in Christ. So, this verse is particularly applicable to men; this is one way the Bible defines a strong man.

Ladies- now I’m going to speak to you. This verse isn’t dismissible for us! Just because it says to “be strong and show yourself a man” doesn’t mean that we can stop reading and say, “OK, this one doesn’t apply to me. Next!” Proverbs 31 describes a woman of God. In verse 25, it tells us that “strength and dignity are her clothing.” This verse in 1 Kings applies to us too! We are called to be strong in the Lord. This verse is not only describing strength for men; it is describing strength for all Christians. Ephesians 6:10 tells us something similar: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.”

As Christians, we are all called to be strong in the Lord! Do we live like that? Do we know that our strength is in Christ? Do we really rely on Him to strengthen us when we feel weak? Do we expect Him to come through for us?

Armor of God. Oh yeah- I'm ready to fight.

In the past few weeks, I have been going through Ephesians 6: 10-20. This is the section that discusses the armor of God. What awesome imagery! We so often forget that we are caught in a battle! I am usually so content to just sit by and watch life happen; I am so hesitant to jump in to the battle and fight boldly for God!

I recently went to an Admirals hockey game. The game went into overtime, then to a shoot-out. They played this epic video compilation of movie clips from these inspiring pre-battle speeches. They used movies like Braveheart, The Gladiator, 300, Lord of the Rings, etc. It definitely made you eager to go into battle and fight for something! It was awesome! It was meant to get you geared up for battle; that is what this passage of Scripture is intended to do too.

This passage of Scripture tells us to find our strength in the Lord and to put on the whole armor of God so that we will be able to stand firm again our Enemy. Paul reminds us that we are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against enemies that are not tangible- the “spiritual forces of evil.” Therefore, we must take up the armor of God. I love that he explains why we need the armor of God before explaining what exactly the armor of God is.

When he starts to explain what exactly comprises the armor of God, I noticed something. We are only given one offensive weapon- everything else is defensive! We are given the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” That is why it is so essential that we read our Bibles! That is the only weapon that we have to wound the devil! When Jesus is tempted by the devil, He uses Scripture to rebuke him (Luke 4:1-13). Guys, it is imperative that we study Scripture!

The other thing that really stuck out to me was the shield of faith. It reminded me of three movies scenes. The first one was from Lord of the Rings. In one of the movies, enemy troops are attacking a city. The city was surrounded by walls, so the enemy troops were trying to infiltrate the city by breaking through its walls. As they were approaching, they held their shields around them, as a protective barrier. Some guys held their shields above their heads, protecting the top, and the guys around the perimeter held their shields beside them, protecting their sides. The soldiers from the city tried to take out the enemy troops as they approached the walls of the city, but they could not break through the shields. They were shooting flaming arrows, but they would simply be deflected off the shields.

The second scene was from 300. The Spartans were battling the Persian army, and they were vastly out-numbered. The Persians tried to take out the Spartan troops by firing arrows at the troops. There were so many arrows that they blocked out the sun! That is a lot of arrows! But all the Spartans had to do was kneel behind their shields. Their shields were able to block all of the arrows. The Spartans literally just laughed at the Persian’s attempt at attack. We can rest securely behind out shield of faith and simply laugh at the devil’s attempts at attacking us. We know that our strength lies in Christ.

Another scene that I thought of from 300 was when King Leonidas is explaining the battle strategy of the Spartan army. Each man holds up his shield at shoulder height; if one man cannot hold up his shield, then the battle line is broken, and the entire unit is now vulnerable to attack. The shield is an essential part of the battle strategy! We must take our faith seriously; it is so important to our defense against the devil’s attacks.

Paul also mentions being constant in prayer. I rejoice to think that even if I am simply praying in my room, I am fighting in the battle against the Enemy. In praying for Ryan’s salvation, I could be a warrior for Christ! I desperately hope that in all these prayers for Ryan, we are robbing the devil of one more soul that he thought he had. I pray that God would make Ryan a mighty warrior for Christ; that God would give Ryan a powerful ministry and would speak powerfully through his testimony one day. I long to see him join the battle for Christ against the “cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil.” I pray that one day, Ryan would understand the “mystery of the Gospel of Christ.” Not only that, but I pray that one day, he would also boldly declare this Gospel.

This particular passage has really encouraged me to become more active in my faith. I want to be a serious threat to the Enemy; I want to be a threat in the battle! I don’t want to just sit by and wait for others to fight for me. I want in on the battle! We know Christ has already won! What could we possibly be afraid of?! So I pray that I would “keep alert with all perseverance,” and that I would “boldly proclaim the mystery of the Gospel.” Care to join me in the battle? God doesn’t promise an easy fight, but He has already guaranteed a victory.

Trying to keep things in perspective

God has been convicting me of a lot of different things lately. It has been very eye opening. I’ve definitely been learning a lot about myself that I was previous unaware of. One thing that God has really been showing me is that I have a very selfish, short-term view of things. I typically only focus on the hardships that I am going through, or only really care about how something is going to affect me. I have really been working to fix that about myself in the past few months. I have definitely noticed a difference in how I react to situations. I am much more willing to help people now; I am focused more on their needs. I am not perfect (not even close!), but I can tell you that I have definitely noticed an improvement in my attitude since I have stopped focusing on myself so much. It doesn’t seem quite so inconvenient to help someone, once I have put things in perspective. Christ has called us to love and serve others (John 13:34-35). He tells us that when we serve others, it is like we are serving Him (Matthew 25:35-45), that we should do all things for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), as if we were serving Him and not man (Ephesians 6:7).

I have really started to realize how spoiled I am. I live in this amazing apartment where I have my own bedroom and my own bathroom. I have running water, electricity, air conditioning, heating, a kitchen, a washer and a dryer. I live right next to a grocery store, where I can go any time of day, to buy any amount of food I want. I get to be picky about if I want white rice, or brown rice; whole wheat bread, or white bread. But I will still get upset if the store is out of the particular brand or type I wanted! But I have food. Everyday. I get to choose what I eat, when I eat. People in other countries don’t know IF they get to eat! The kitchen light in our apartment went out a few weeks ago, and housing still hasn’t fixed it. I wish I could say that I had kept a positive attitude about it. I have definitely tried to. I try to remind myself that people in other countries don’t even have electricity. Fortunately, I have gotten a little bit better at keeping things in perspective, but I still have so much room for improvement. It is amazing how quickly I feel like I am entitled to something. It has been so humbling to have God open my eyes to how selfish I really am.

I have also started to really realize how selfish I have been with the Gospel. I hardly share my faith with people! I am so ashamed to say that. I really need to work on that. If I really believe in the Bible, then why would I not be sharing my faith?! The Bible tells us that people who aren’t believers are going to go to hell. Do I really realize how serious that is? Apparently I don’t, because I am still silent. That just sickens me. Why am I not bolder? I need to be sharing the Gospel with urgency, with persistence! Please pray that God would give me (and you) more opportunities to share my faith. I pray that He would give me the words and the courage to boldly share the Gospel with others. I am so thankful that God is starting to convict me of this. I never really realized the urgency, because I have always grown up around other Christians. So I was never close with any one who would have been going to hell. If someone died, people would always be comforted by the fact that they were in heaven with Jesus.

Then, two years ago a girl that I was on cheerleading with committed suicide. She was not a Christian. It totally shook me. She was the first person I knew well who had died. We weren’t best friends or anything, but it was so sobering! I had interacted with her everyday, and hadn’t shared my faith with her. What if I had? Would she have become a Christian? Would she still be alive today? I think of her whenever I am too afraid to share the Gospel with someone. It definitely helps put things in perspective. What do I have to loose by sharing my faith with someone? They might think I am weird. But compared to the eternal life they could gain if they decide to put their faith in Christ- it isn’t even comparable.

God has really been convicting me of this using Ryan. I don’t know this guy, but I can’t bear the thought of him going to hell! That is why it is so imperative to share the Gospel! If we aren’t sharing, how are people supposed to hear? (Romans 10:14) I pray that God would give me opportunities to tell others about him; I especially pray that He would put people in Ryan’s life who would point him to Christ; that God would open his eyes to the mystery of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:19-20), that God would give him eyes to see and ears to hear (Matthew 13:16), that Jesus would intercede on his behalf (Romans 8:34). In praying for Ryan, God has really started to show me how important it is that we are sharing our faith with others. It is essential, not optional. I cannot even begin to tell you how grateful I am that God has blessed me abundantly with the burden to pray for Ryan. Through this prayerful battle on his behalf, God has really started to give me a heart for those who are not saved yet and has taught me that evangelism is essential. Praise God!