Monday Morning Munch No. 9 - A New Name

Growing up there were a number of titles I wanted to be known by at some point in my lifetime:

Olympic gold medalist
Wife
Mom
All American
Magazine designer/editor
Kroger cashier (...I had big dreams)
Sports journalist

But now that Christ has invaded my life and I bear His name I only want to have one title:

A beggar.

Not just any beggar, but a beggar of souls.

I am no longer content to sit idly by while the people I love (and the ones I haven't met yet) speed through their one life, wasting it on the failing promises of this temporary world.

John Piper proposed this to Don't Waste Your LIfe's readers:

Of course, we do not use the word cool to describe true greatness. It is a small word. That’s the point. It’s cheap. And it’s what millions of young people live for. Who confronts them with urgency and tears? Who pleads with them not to waste their lives? Who takes them by the collar, so to speak, and loves them enough to show them a life so radical and so real and so costly and Christ-saturated that they feel the emptiness and triviality of their CD collection and their pointless conversations about passing celebrities? Who will waken what lies latent in their souls, untapped—a longing not to waste their lives?

This is what God has called me to do for not just the middle and high school girls at my church, or my classmates at school but everyone I encounter.

I want to not just be the friendly girl who is known by her "bubbly" and "sweet" personality. I want people to know me as the one who loves them enough to tell them the truth. I want to be known as a beggar of souls.

"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell." — C.T. Studd

Brothers and sisters, we are ambassadors for Christ. We have been given a new name, a new life, a new heart and a new part in this world. We are to proclaim the Gospel with our lives and our lips and love deeply, give freely and forgive in the same manner that Christ Himself has loved, given and forgiven us.

I pray we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and exercise zeal with wisdom, boldly sharing the Good News of the Gospel with everyone around us - it is the power unto salvation for those who believe.

But how will they believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ... Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:14-15, 17)

Be a Beggar

""'Not called!' did you say?'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world." — William Booth, 

Do we really grasp the gravity of the gift we've been given? We have been given life. Life. We were dead and now we live. Why do we not share that verbally with others who are dying?

My encouragement for you (and me) is to prayerfully watch for opportunities to speak life to others around you. Whether it be your spouse, kids, neighbor, fellow church-goer, classmate or complete stranger, speak life to them. Be obedient and leave the results up to God.

He will use it. He will use you.

Go. Speak. Share. Love. Give. Send. Serve. Obey.

May the Lamb of God receive the reward of His suffering,

 

Fight...or else

"This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophesies previously made about you, that you wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme." -1 Timothy 1:18-20

 "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of God and many witnesses." -1 Timothy 6"11-12

Make War - Tedashii ft. Flame 

[Intro: John Piper]
I hear so many Christians, murmuring about their imperfections,
And their failures, and their addiction, and their shortcomings.
And I see so little war! Murmur, murmur, murmur.
Why am I this way? Make war!

[Verse 1: Tedashii]
Bang with me, ba-bang bang, ba-bang with me
No more playing games mane
Cause this thang can get risky
So mane if you into Christ,
Take up!! your cross quickly
Stand fearless on the front-line
Time to come with it, do the right thing
Wake up!! And let's get it
I ain't even in the ring
They throwing bows like Riddick
Persistently attacking me
They're even in the back of me
It's either fight or loose my life
And I can't take this passively
So what you think I'm 'bout to do
I'm bout to do what I can do
Trust the one who got me through
And fight like it was after school
Never giving up, steady, standing on the battle field
Feet firm to the ground like I stepped on Chapel Hill
Flesh feeling frisky, sin persuades and tempts me
Satan cheers me on, guilt followed by conviction
It's the same ol' trap and we fall like we defenseless
Work your senses, grow in wisdom
Stand firm and be relentless

[Hook:]
I make war!
Cause sin never sleeps
It's got me in a trance
You can see it in my dreams
I make war!
Man I beat my flesh
To the death, every breath
Like I beat my chest
I make war
Sun up
I make war
Sun down
I make war
Time in
I make war
Time out
I make war
Against lust
Against pride
Against me
Until I die

[Verse 2: Flame]
Do you even have a clue
What happened to you when He died
When that tomb got rolled when He rose in the sky
I think we emphasis sin so much
That it makes us paralyzed
And glorify struggle so much
That it makes us terrified
And de-emphasize the fact
That we have been sterilized from our own lives and thus
We gotta snap out of it
We ain't in no straight-jacket, we free
When Jesus died in our lives something strange happened
He gave us power
Yeah I know that we sinners
But since He rose He's renewing the image of God in us
Now, we gotta start making war
Now we can start saying no
To them fleshy impulses that Jesus Christ is paying for
Now we can start taking the lead
Just like the Dalai Lama and start going all out like a suicide bomber
Whatever the sin is we gotta go go go harder
By His grace no time to waste and just just just like there's no tomorrow

[Hook:]
I make war!
Cause sin never sleeps
It's got me in a trance
You can see it in my dreams
I make war!
Man I beat my flesh
To the death, every breath
Like I beat my chest
I make war
Sun up
I make war
Sun down
I make war
Time in
I make war
Time out
I make war
Against lust
Against pride
Against me
Until I die

[Verse 3: Tedashii]
I'm a Christ representer, fin' to stand and deliver
Cause a lot of my believers struggle with their agenda
So I dropped this on an adat
Just so you could come play back
A hit to be encouraged that rocks you with truth from, way back
So listen up to it asap, like you do a Lecrae track
I'm spittin' written visions to put on heads like a wave cap
Sinning, naw we don't play that
Cause that's the way that a slave acts
I'm filled with the spirit so tell them dog this is payback
As you begin to copy the carbon copies of Christ
And conform to his written image you should be shinning a light
If you not, why is that?
Is it fear that's been grippin' you
Cause you scared they'll be dissin' you
Flipping birds while that spit at you
If you not, why is that?
It don't matter so bump it
Perfect love cast out fear and He ain't save us for nothing
This is a privilege (privilege)
Your life to give to Him (give to Him)
So stand firm for Him dawg and let's get it in

[Hook:]
I make war!
Cause sin never sleeps
It's got me in a trance
You can see it in my dreams
I make war!
Man I beat my flesh
To the death, every breath
Like I beat my chest
I make war
Sun up
I make war
Sun down
I make war
Time in
I make war
Time out
I make war
Against lust
Against pride
Against meUntil I die 

 

What do I see as Precious?

While watching Passion 2010 main session videos with my sister and Whitty last night several things jumped out at me but upon further reviewing it appears there is a common theme...

What do I see as precious? What do I treasure?

Precious = Highly esteemed (prized), greatly valued, beloved.

Treasured = To retain carefully.

"Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." -2 Peter 1:1-4

Do I treasure my faith, the Word (His promises), Jesus as precious?

Well, while that may be my intentions my life often shows that the execution of those intentions is sometimes flawed. Why? Because intentions without action is like a bar of soap with no water, it may look and smell pretty but without water it cannot fulfill it's purpose. Soap without water won't clean you up, it will just leave a gross residue on your skin. In the same way, good intentions will get you no where. Action must be taken before the intentions can come to pass. My friend Jesse told me Sunday that in order for God to speak through him, Jesse had to first open his mouth. Sometimes it takes a little initiative, and a lot of obedience, on our part.

Sometimes instead of realizing that God has made me (an over-competitive, over-complicator, over-analyzer of a person) a partaker of His divine nature, my heart struggles with discontentment which leads to a dulling of the sensitivity to the Spirit and that results in a hardening of the heart.

"Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath." Romans 2:4-5

At Passion 2010 John Piper said, "Every time you sin you choose something else as more valuable than God."

Yikes.

After reading the verses in 2 Peter and trying to grasp the fact that God has given us EVERYTHING that pertains to life and godliness, I can't fathom why I ever struggle with discontentment- this says He's given us above and beyond what we need... yet I still sin, and by doing so I'm seeing something else as more valuable than the Creator of the Universe. Ridiculous!

Dear Lord,

Help me to truly treasure You and Your exceedingly great and precious promises as more valuable than anything or anyone else in my life. Thank You for Your unbelievably amazing love and mercy that has allowed me to become a partaker of the Divine... I certainly didn't earn that position. You are so worthy and while I'm completely worthless on my own, You see Jesus in me! Thank You for being my Father, my brother, and my King. You amaze me. Help me see You as supremely precious.