Walking Out Your Breakthrough

 

Many times in the church people experience a life altering encounter with God. Their life gets changed, turned upside down and they are a different person. Maybe an addiction or thought pattern or sin kept them down for years. They have had people pray for them, and even cried out to God themselves. However when they left church they had the same issues.

 

I believe that tonight God did some amazing things in prayer. Lives were transformed. People received a breakthrough.

 

However living a certain way for so long, or dealing with an issue for a long time, we seem to learn to live with it, as if it became part of who we are.

 

Picture if you would with me…

 

A truck drives in circles over and over and over again. Eventually there are tracks formed, and a little bit longer you may not even need to steer just because the path and ground work has been put in place. You can look down at the person and say ” hey just turn the wheel and drive out of there”, but because he is either, scared, comfortable or just doesnt believe it, he wont turn the wheel and will just stay in that circle. He knows for a moment he can get out if he wants, but then worry or fear or whatever sets in.

 

This is alot like people. You can go to church with all your hurts, paints and struggles. You say you want to be free, you go and get prayed for and the leave the same way you came. You leave thinking your still the same person. Maybe you scared to change anything, or you just think its to hard and not worth the fight. So you leave and end up right where you always been. Sometimes its so apart of us, our behavior we just automatically go get to that person. GET OFF OF AUTOPILOT!!!!!!!

 

Do I think people deliberately want to stay in the place where they are? Some maybe, but a majority are being held back because they are not walking out their breakthrough. Hear me… They experience it, but leave it at that and never walk it out. You can experience something, but thats just for a time, but when you walk it out you take ownership of that.

 

You need to declare it! The bible says, Who the Son sets free is free indeed! You need to declare that you are no longer the same person. You need to believe that God can and has changed you. Let go of those insecurities and grab a hold of God. BELIEVE YOU ARE FREE, DECLARE YOU ARE FREE, AND BE FREE!

 

As we are approaching the Generation Conference, I believe God is gong to do hugeeeee things. However is it just going to be an experience for you, or is going to be life altering-destiny driving-though breaking-turned you upside down type of thing? Walk it out its yours for the taking

 

A final Goodbye

Well this is a hard one this year. As most of you probably know my step father passed away in December. Last weekend we had the burial ceremony. So its obvious on everyones mind. Usually for fathers day I would write him a note saying how Blessed me and my mom are to have him and how much he has meant to me. Well this year I cant do it, and thru tears and tiredness I write this last letter to my stepdad.

Gary, no words can convey how thankful I was for you. You came into my moms life at a time when it was rough. You helped taken a broken family and put it together. Some of the happiest times I remember my mom is when she was with you. You came into my life as a stepfather, but acted more like a dad. I know I dont always express it but I love you and thank God that my mom had found someone so great. Thank you Gary for being a part of my life and my moms life. Thank you for loving my mom and being there for her. Thru the good times and bad you were there. You took her places she has never been. Things she has experienced in her life she would never have if it wasnt for you. Thank you. I miss you and love you. Happy Final Fathers Day Gary. 

This is a hard time. Remembering how awesome he was makes me happy and feel blessed, but makes me sad knowing he is gone…I take joy in the fact he is with Jesus though.

A story

So one time there was this Christian names Freddy… Freddy was a pretty good guy. Did he have issues? Yes of course. Freddys biggest problem was how he complained about everything. one of his main issues was saying tings were not the same anymore. That prayer wasnt good, worship wasnt the same and that the church neded to step it up. So he went on with his life with this atitude. One day he had church and he got there a little bit early. So before service at his church they usuallly had some sort of prayer before service… He would never go, he already knew how much it lacked the presence of God and that it was a waste of time. This time though he thoguht he would go, he had some personal struggles and was at a spot where he needed God to do soemthing. So Freddy stepped into the prayer room and to hs astonishment people were praying. Not just Lord bless me prayers, but world shaker prayers. prayers that would wake God from the deepest slumber if he was to sleep. Prayers of old which he compared everything to. Then suddenly he had a revelation. That the church had moved on without him. While he was stuck in sin, and doubt, and different issues the spirit of God had been moving. He hadnt taken time to listen to God or see what God was doing. He realized he was so far away from what God was doing that he could not see how powerfully he was moving. Freddy realized that God had been doing amazing things, but becasue he got caught up in himself, an life his spirtual eyes had been blinded. He repented in his heart that night and gave his life back over to God… For Good…. 

Are you a Freddy? Dont miss out on what God is doing, dont be blinded by your own arrogance, and your own thought of how everything should be. Open your eyes to what God is doing and get involved in it.

What God spoke to me #1

I am currently reading Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels. Have you ever started reading a book and their was a scripture reference and you got something out of it that really doesn’t go along with the book? Kinda here….

Leviticus 26v3-4, 6
If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. 6 I will give you peace in the land and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear…

In my own life as well as others I have heard people say I cant wait for breakthrough, or “when will i see more people get saved”, “Or when will I be blessed?” I think one of the key answer to this question is the first part of this verse, ” IF YOU FOLLOW MY DECREES AND ARE CAREFUL TO OBEY MY COMMANDS”, Do you spend all your time asking other people to pray for you? Do you sit around and complain that you need a breakthrough? Do you go out and sin all week then bring your butt to church and have a leader pray for you and expect the blessings to just flow? At times, you will face situations where you will need your friends to pray for you and need them to come by your side. However what are YOU doing for your breakthrough, what are you doing that you deserve to see the Rain of God come into your life? Do we receive the blessings of God because we didn’t swear for a week, or we didn’t go out and commit some horrible crime? Well i am no theologian… but I don’t see this bringing the blessings of God ( However this behavior probably wont be going on if your doing it right =) ) 
I believe as Christians we need to take responsibility for our breakthrough and not ride on the wave of everone else praying. If your riding on the wave and not making any of your own, eventually you will drown. God loves us so much and cant wait to bless us… and its so simple.
That verse goes on to say “I will send rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. 6 I will give you peace in the land and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear… As christians we need to obey God all the time and live like the Word of God tells us to live. Not just on sundays and wednesdays or whenever you have church. When we begin to obey God and live according to the word thats when the blessings will come and the rain of God will come into your life.
I want to end this note with encouraging you to get your breakthrough. You press into God and ask for what you need. I could go to Thomas and have him pray for me and maybe feel a little bit better, but until i get on my knees and in the face of God i will not have my breakthrough. I will not experience the true presence of God unless i ask him for is. 

Last note… Living off the breakthrough of someone elses life is like a child borrowing a toy from a friend, eventually he will have to give it back and he will no longer have it… If it were his toy, he would have possession of it and it would be his and his alone and only he would appreciate the true awesomeness of that toy.

Perception Is Reality and Reality is False

So… This whole perception is reality thing I agree with. However it also bothers me. Everybody as a story, somewhere they came from. It might be the guy who comes to church who was use to drink all the time, or whoever it may be. Your driving down the street and you see him walk out of a bar… Chances are your going to think man hes drinking again. Fair assumption? I suppose. However it is not fair to that person. Should you make sure? Of course thats not that point. hen do we reach the point in life where we can just be ” normal” without people assuming the worst? I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, however I would still make sure they are ok. What gets me going is when there is someone trying to be nice or do something good, and they are oblivious to anything negative, and just trying to get along and be nice and instantly they assume the worst. I have to admit I am also guilty of this… What is it in out nature that almost wanted to assume the worst? We may say oh no of course not… but deep inside do we crave that drama and just hope you can be right? Who knows. I wish i could go back to the people who I have wrongly accused and apologize, but I cannot, all I can do is not continue to assume the worst in people. I want to encourage those of you who might be in place where they feel as thought they cant do anything right, and tell you to focus on God… Sounds cliche, but sometimes we need to not think about everyone else and just focus on him… Maybe be more sensitive to the situations we put ourselves in. Maybe totally innocent to us, but before you do or say something think quick how this can be perceived by others… May suck right then, because you cant do something fun or nice, but in the long run it will benefit both. Heres a little ummm… not a poem but a little thing that I have been thinking…

I will do great things…I wont give in to fear or hurt but I will do great things…I wont be discouraged by the words or actions of others because I will do great things…I sway to the left and the right, and swagger in my feelings…But I will do great things…I will do great things..I will do great things in God.

Unknowingly Apathetic

Wow, what a title. Yeah. Well Pastor Mark preached a message tonight and hit on the subject of Apathy. I felt some words of, well wisdom come to me =) 

I think sometimes we can become apathetic and not even realize it. We hang out with our friends and family everyday. Some of them already know Jesus and some don’t. All can use an encouraging word. When we hang out with them all the time it becomes natural to just coast and maybe be oblivious to the needs of the ones closest to us. 

My family is not really saved. I say not really because I am not really sure. Issue one. Why don’t I know where they stand? Because I am so use to them being where they are and being comfortable with it. This isn’t good my friends. I was convicted tonight about how I am with my friends and family. Is my passion for God, put on the back burner as i move into cruise control when I hit the family scene, I just expect to hear people complaining and just being how they are.We make jokes how this family member always has issues and you dont want to hear it again. We all do it. I find myself being more positive with strangers and other people then with my own family.

The people God put me in a spot to reach I have become apathetic in my christianity with them. I want to challenge you as reading this think about how you act with the ones closest. The ones who God wants you to reach and put you in a place to reach. Ask God to make you more aware of your friends and families circumstances. 

Well thats all I have to say =)

Ch-Ch Changes

John 3v20 says “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I have heard this scripture a ton of times but today is was revealed to me. In the past month I have made it a point to make God the center of my life. For far to long he was just one of the influences. As I have done this I have notices things changing in my life. Certain convictions that I previously have not had not suddenly seem much more evident. I could not figure why this change. This scripture came to mind and BAM it hit me. 

As I am decreasing and letting God have more control, He is increasing. Things that I once maybe found ok to do or say, are now just not cool to say. I am not trying to be better then anybody, I am just saying what God is doing in my life. 

I believe as we do decrease and He increases, things begin to change in our life because we take on the character of God. This is what I want in my life. I want to be what God has called me to be, not a lazy 2nd rate person to whom I should be. 

I remember once saying, Well I can do this or say this because my views or convictions are different then theirs. ( which can be true) However in my instance I found the character of this person to differ mine, when his character reflected that of Jesus. Scary thought. I no longer want to compromise how I have been living. I want what God has for me in its fullest. 

This is not some camp experience where I get excited, or a conference. This is just everyday times I have spent praying an seeking God, and this the result. 

I write this because I dont want anyone thinking I am trying to be better then anyone, I am changing certain things, but this is why. If you just trust Him and really give Him all of you, great things will happen.

Love

Sigh… Love… What is it? Well I am sure if you were to ask a child what it was their answer would be simplistic in reasoning, maybe saying that love is letting me play with a toy. Then of course the bibical definition of love… ” For God so loved the World…” Love has been and can be defined in many different ways.  Love is something we all search for. Some of us have found. We look for that person that we can spend the rest of our lives with. The person who will make our heart feel like it never has.Some people spend their whole lives searching for this love, some claim they have found it, yet others claim it doesnt exist. How can this be? Me?Well the longing I have for love is so great I know it exists. I know she is out there and is feeling the same things inside of her heart that I am feeling. People tell you to be patient and stop thinking about it…HA!  Is this possible? We are surrounded by reminders of love and marriage everyday… On tv, in our friends lives, in the bible. The word MARRIAGE is lingering in front of us as if to say only a select few can have me, and your not it! As the days and weeks and years go by I wonder what is it I have to do? Rob a bank so I am rich? Na I do have a good job, and my head on straight. But what do I do besides sit here and write how I cant find it.I will say the worst part is I do like someone, and have for some time, however I am nothing but a mere vapor to her… actually i am friends with her but I wanted to use that line. She treats me like a good friend, her looks of frendship at me are retured with looks of hopefulless at her. I see her and nothing else matters, what a cliche, but its true.I could be mad, or sad, and i see her and nothing matters. I sit waiting, waiting for that signal, that sign, that one word or look that says.. ” Yes Karl you may enter” I wait and wonder if what i am waiting for is pointless…Then i think well this person is worth waiting for… working thru… That all the sadness i felt of not being able to be with her would be washed away in seconds and forgotten about forever… What woman can have this power… what is it about her? About the way she smiles? Or laughs? Or calls you that she can have complete control over your life. Is it love? Not recipricated love, but love none the less. As I sit here I wonder if there is someone out there thinking the same thing? If her.. with her angel like qualities is there searching for the same thing… If what she is looking for is me? When will I know…. 

Negative Christians

I think as Christians we need to stop being so negative. Stop thinking the world is going to go to hell tomorrow and we better bunker in for it. I heard someone say the other day, I know things are going to get bad soon, people are going to be poor and needing money and everything is going to go down hill. Of course that is my interpretation and doesn’t sound the same way I heard it but I think you get the point. I believe God is doing great things, and soon things are going to change… for the Good. You can disagree with me, and that’s OK, your aloud to be wrong. For example, the sub prime in the real estate market fell out… those of you who don’t know what that means, well its bad. You heard news stories about how bad the real estate market was. However, now things are changing, from someone who works in the real estate market, i am seeing things changing. I am seeing the market picking back up…slowly..but it is. I believe there is a renewal coming to some of us. financially, spiritually, emotionally.  Some of us? Yes , I believe those living with the mindset that things are just going to suck, well they are going to suck for them. We need to change our mindset, and believe in what the bible says about being prosperous. Standing strong on that, and holding on to our dreams and visions that we have. Don’t be discouraged, but be encouraged, and know that if you stick with it, and you push thru that mindset, you will see success… DON’T GIVE UP!

Now Hes Gone

Well this is a post that will change your life. Its more for me then you, but feel free to read. Now that Gary is gone its weird. I think about it and hes dead. It is as if a chapter of my life has passed and a new one has started. Sometimes its so hard in times like this to understand what God was thinking. You want to, and I have, tell God he made a mistake, what good did it do to take this person. I look at it from human perspective, and I see a sad family, and a wife who was left alone and it hurts. I am the christian and i should have some sort of comfort in this whole thing. Instead im upset with God, as if my being upset can or will change anything with me, or it will make God realize he messed up. Its like my reality is a dream, a bad dream, and i am trying to wake up and hope everything is ok. I know as the grieving process runs its course that it will get better and be easier.. but right now it really sucks