All the Pursuit

  • The Bend

    The Bend

    I’ve always been fascinated by the flow of a river and how it bends. You could be walking right beside it for miles and then out of the blue it’s changing course and going the opposite way. It flows freely and, although rivers usually run in a general direction, the path it creates is a series of twists and turns dependent upon it’s surrounding geological and human factors. When it needs to change, it changes. When it needs to adjust, it adjusts. It by no means, remains the same, and in a similar matter neither should we nor were we meant to.

    When you consider the course of life, a person has one of two perspectives: positive or negative. In the past couple years, I’ve encountered numerous people who view challenges and issues in their life with the mindset and belief that it will never change or can never change. It’s beyond disheartening to me because I understand what it’s like to spend years thinking nothing in my life will ever change….yet I also know what it’s like to be set free and see all the things change that I never thought possible. The problem had not been my life, the problem had been how I viewed my life and even how I viewed myself. Nothing changed until I wanted to change.

    When Jesus said “with God all things are possible”, He did not mean some things, He meant ALL things. When the Word of God says “all that call upon the name of the Lord will be saved”, it does not mean some, it means ALL. We have this false belief that God is limited to what He can and will do. So many believers around the world go through religious motions but their lives never change and they stay stuck in the same issues year after year because they don’t comprehend that Jesus died to truly set them free.

    The work of the cross is complete. When Jesus said, “It is finished”, He did not just mean His work was finished, He also meant that the power of sin and death over our lives was finished when we believe upon Him. He meant that every repeated cycle and every place we feel bound in our life was finished if we can only believe. “Who the Son sets free is free indeed” must become a reality within our heart to see it. The promises of God are yes and amen but we must take them and apply them to our life.

    We are not meant to stay stuck but just like a river, we are meant to flow freely. Change doesn’t happen until we truly want to change and take the first step. God will always meet us if we step. It does not matter how impossible something looks, God is God of the Impossible. Just like a river bends when it’s time to change, we also must be willing to bend to experience change.

  • The Transformation

    The Transformation

    The ending of a short yet tranquil hike leaves us staring speechless at the sunset poking through the clouds. The vibrant orange with hints of red were like flames of fire bursting forth from the haze and magnifying everything in it’s direct path. The bleak and barren trees came alive and danced to the tune of the very light shining upon them. Just a few minutes prior, those same trees looked dull and nothing spectacular, but in the presence of the light they transform into something beautiful. 

    It’s not incorrect to say that people, just like nature, are often a reflection of what they live in the presence of. We acquire and take on our surroundings, and often times we might not even be aware of it because it has become so familiar to us. We are like sponges that soak up the water around us. People who grow up in broken or unloving homes will often live a life that reflects that brokenness, even if it is hidden underneath. People who were not shown love as a child or neglected or unwanted, will often live a life that reflects that lack of love and worth by constantly seeking it but never seeming to find it being fulfilled. People who have been rejected or abandoned will often reflect that same rejction by isolating themselves behind hidden walls. The very people you are in the presence of will also become your reflection if not careful.

    I was once a reflection of all of the above but when I came into the presence of Jesus time and time again, I found that my reflection changed.

    The life of a true believer is not meant to be a one time thing where you say a special prayer or are baptized and think you are complete so that you can go on and keep living your life the same way. I once thought that because I grew up in church and was baptized, that I would go to heaven, but I was no more saved than the clock on the wall. Inside I was broken and lifeless and saw no worth in myself, yet I would I get up every day and hide my pain so that nobody would know.  Desperately wanting to be loved and wanted, while simultaneously living in my own prison, there never seemed to be a way out no matter how much I wanted it. Out of the blue one day, God sent someone to me to share His truth and it was then that I encountered the light of Jesus and it was then that I encountered the love of the Father that I had been seeking my whole life. When His light hit me, I became as alive as those barren trees did when the sunlight hit them. 

    When we come into the presence of God Almighty, everything is exposed and everything that is of darkness has to fall away. When we come into the presence of the Father, chains break off of us, brokeness is made whole and our hearts are made full with love that is true and real and not like this world can give us. The more you come into His presence, the more you begin to reflect His nature. The more time you spend with Him and take in His word, the more you begin to change and the more your life begins to change. The more you seek after Him, the more you will find Him and you will find your true identity and who He created you to be. The more you let His reflection shine upon you, the more He will take you from glory to glory. It is impossible to be in the light and not take on that same light.

    Jesus is the light in the darkness and though you may be a dull and lifeless tree on the mountain side just like the trees i witnessed, when His light breaks through the haze and shines upon you, you will find that you will never be the same again.

    2 Corinthians 3:18 – But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

  • On the Mountain

    On the Mountain

    John 14:1 NLT – Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me also.

    There is something so serene about being on a mountaintop. As a child, I practically lived for every moment that I could be hiking or camping somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains. My life was always so troubled that being out in the wild and up high close to God gave me a sense of peace and let me forget about everything else. I never wanted to come down because I knew it meant going back to life and going back to everything I wanted to run away from. In the Gospels, it is mentioned that Jesus would go up to the mountain to pray and in Matthew 17, it was on the mountain that He was transfigured. Jesus did not stay on the mountain so neither can we, yet our mind and our perception does not have to leave.

    When you look at the life of Jesus, He was never troubled by anything. The only time He ever mentions His heart being troubled was in the Garden of Gethsemane right before He knew He was to be crucified. It’s so little understood that while Jesus was from God and was God, He was also a physical man that lived on this earth just as we do. He faced trials just as we do. He experienced pain just as we do. He was afflicted and suffered just as we do. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” But Jesus knew who He was and He knew whose He was and His oneness and trust in the Father kept Him. 

    As we go through our day to day life, we encounter so many troubles, worries and anxieties that they often plague us. Sometimes it’s continuing circumstances and sometimes it’s unexpected circumstances that leave us stressed, worried and even defeated. Yet, so many times Jesus says not to worry and to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us. He’s not sitting up in heaven just looking down at us, He’s actively watching and interceding for us and wanting more than anything to be part of every detail of our life. It’s like learning to be a little child all over again and learning to trust our heavenly Father with every little thing, knowing that He will not fail or let us down.

    You might be walking in the valley right now but in the valley you can still see the mountaintop. The word of God says that if we are His then we are now seated together with Christ in heavenly places, which means if you can come to believe it then you are always seated on the mountaintop with Him, no matter the circumstance. Can you believe it? Can you believe Him? It doesn’t matter what your feelings say or what the problem looks like, Jesus already made a way. Don’t let your heart be troubled, look up and see where your help comes from.

  • A New Creation

    A New Creation

    2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have been made new.

    During these cold winter months, one can’t help but notice the naked and bare trees, seemingly lifeless without their covering of leaves. The past season has ended and fallen away, as the tree prepares itself for a new cycle of life in the coming spring. While the tree itself remains the same, its leaves, flowers and fruit all become new, with no trace of what had previously come before it. This cycle of nature set into motion by God is not just a cycle but also a beautiful symbol of our own redemption.

    When people consider the Gospel, it’s commonly taught and believed in basic religion that Jesus merely died on the cross for our sins to forgive us so that when we die we’ll go to heaven. Sure, that’s a part of what He did, however, the full truth is that He has redeemed us from sin and our fallen nature. To redeem something means to buy back, repurchase and free from captivity to make right again. Jesus’ body was physically broken on the cross so that every broken place in our physical body, mind and soul could be healed. His blood was shed as a sacrifice and to forgive us our trespasses so that we might be given new life. When you truly believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord, your spirit is reborn and His spirit comes to live in you. You become a new creation.

    No, your physical body doesn’t look different and most days you probably don’t feel different but you are different. God’s not looking at what you see in the mirror, He’s now looking at His child that has been restored to Him. Jesus defeated powers of darkness, was made a curse for us and literally broke the power of sin from off of our lives so that we could be free. We no longer have to be controlled by our sinful nature, our past, our failures and disappointments, generational cycles, bad habits and anything else that causes bondage in our life. The old is dead and gone.

    It’s a process of coming to a place where you can see yourself differently. Where you can see the fullness of what Jesus did on the cross and the fullness of what has been given here and now for us on this earth. Where you can experience truly being healed and free. I struggled for many years until I started to pray and ask for help because it is not something we can see or understand on our own. We continue in our brokenness, bondage and pain because we don’t realize there is a way out or a way to be healed, but through Jesus there is. He’s already done it. When you can believe it and receive it for yourself, that is when you will start to see things change. You will become like the bare tree: ready for the new. That is when all things become new.