New Friend Request.

The other day i read a letter that was sent to many people on Facebook by Pastor Alex Lopez. Though i do not know who he is, i respect that God has placed him as a pastor and felt the need to read to see what he had to say. He asked a very valid question. If Jesus would visit some of the Facebook pages of many who claim to be Christians, what would he say? I believe he would say "These people honor me with their lips, but their Facebook accounts are far from me." I notice that many of my friends that are christian did not display it on Facebook.

Perhaps you remembered in Matthew 15:8-9 when Jesus spoke and said "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." He was referring to the people that knew the word and prayed and worshiped but their hearts, their lives, were not in full submission to Him.

Maybe you remember Matthew 7:21 -23 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' ²³Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

The most impacting thing about these verses are that they are in essence WARNING us against religious lifestyles and trying to enter us in divine relationships with our living God. God is saying it is NOT enough that you have given prophesy in my name, it is NOT enough that you preform miracles, because the most important thing is I want to know YOU!

Its not about you knowing God, Its about God knowing you. The bible says that even the demons know that God is Lord and they tremble at the thought. By simply knowing about God and not doing anything to serve Him, we are in the same level as the demons. I don't know about you but they are not exactly the kind that i want to compare myself with. In the words of Paul Washer, God needs to know us!

If you go outside the white house and yell "I know Obama, let me in!" they will look at you like you are crazy and say "So what, get out of here!" But if Obama comes outside and says "I know this man let him in" then its a whole different story. In that same way God needs to know us.

Back to the whole Facebook thing. Ask yourself: If i call myself a christian, do my pictures, status, and comments glorify God? The solution does not come in NOT letting the public know the bad things I do, the solution comes in not doing the bad things I do and entering a consecration with the Lord.

Pastor Alex finished with this:

"For the Luke warm people: You have options. You can change your life around or you can erase off of your "Info" that you are Christians. Because in reality you are dishonoring the faith that we profess and stomping on the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross."

Though you may say "this is a bit harsh" and "you will push people away" but ill tell you this: Many of these people are already away. The only good thing about being away is that there is only one other direction to go, to come back.

Remember brothers and sisters that everything we publish on Facebook comes from our heart. I hope that our hearts belong completely to Jesus. God bless you.


Verses to Read
1 Corinthians 2:14, Romans 8:8, Galatians 2:19-20, Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 15:8-9

Against the current!

Today, I had a couple minutes to talk to a new friend, a brother in Christ, that i met about 2 weeks ago. We started talking about how sometimes we want to be in such a high spiritual level but we are not willing to put in the work needed to reach that level. Sometimes there is just too much pressure. Or sometimes we are unable to avoid things that don't benefit us.

My friend told me that our life is like an ocean. The Lords presence is at the bottom of the ocean and there is a lot of pressure and gravity that pushes you to the top of the ocean as you try to reach it. So how do you reach a place when all the pressure in the water pushes you to the top and its SO hard to breathe for so long?

The English Standard bible says in Ephesians 6:11 "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil."

What does this mean? It basically mean that the ONLY way to get to the bottom WHEN all pressure is pushing you up is to be armed and protected, in other words a SUBMARINE.

A submarine is a device used to swim against currents, pressure, and the gravitational push of water. It is used to reach places where not many can reach. It protects you from drowning and out of harms way.

The interesting thing about a submarine is that water is constantly pushing itself to enter the submarine in anyway it can. Sin works the same way. We are constantly tempted by the world and sin tries to enter our lives through any door that is deliberately left open. Rhetorical Question: Is your submarine completely closed and safe from leaks?

Another wonderful thing about a submarine is that no matter where it is in the ocean it has complete control of where its going. Let that sink in for a while, no pun intended. Do you have control of where you are going?

I find it even more interesting that a submarine has a radar. It can detect when it is around danger and its surroundings. It can avoid sharks and other harmful animals. It can avoid many things because it can detect trouble when it is heading towards it. Do you know the people that you are and aren't suppose to hang around with? Is your radar telling you that you are in a danger zone?

An even better question is: Are you swimming with the current or against it?

We are not suppose to be routine Christians that live routine lives. We need to be swimming AGAINST the current and exiting "dead religion" so that we may enter "divine relationship".

My pastor said something that blew my mind. "If enough people swim against the current, the direction of the current has to change" he even took it a step further and said " Even a dead fish can swim with the current but only LIVE fish can swim against it"

Last question: Are you a dead fish or are you alive?

Let me know, leave your comments on this question or anything else for that matter.

Verses to Read:
Romans 12:2, John 17:15-18, 1 Peter 1:16, Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 6:12-13