Brian's Blog

God’s Point of View

// July 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Camps and Conferences, Youth Discussions

Tuesday Night – Summer Camp 09

We need to look at misconceptions that we have of God that get in the way of our relationship with Him.  I think that we have a lot of wrong ideas about how God reacts to us and thinks about us.  For some of us our lives have been full of disapproval and disappointment from people who we look up to.

This can lead us to thinking that God somehow sits “out there” somewhere looking at our lives and shaking His head at us.  He is not a distant God!  He wants to be in close relationship with us!

So, just how does God see me?  He sees me through the sacrifice of His Son, the following are some of the scriptures that show His point of view.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NKJV) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

He thinks good thoughts about me!  He doesn’t spend his time rehearsing my past, He thinks about my future and what I He can accomplish through me!  He wants to listen to me and he wants me to pursue relationship with Him.

1 Thessalonians 1:4 (NLT) We know that God loves you, dear brothers and sisters, and that he chose you to be his own people.

Not only does He love me, but He chose me!  He wants me no matter what I may think of myself!

1 John 4:16 (NLT) We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

Not only does He love me and chose me to belong to Him, but he chooses to allow me to live “in” Him and chooses to live “in” me!  Living in Him means living in all that He has.

Galatians 4:5-7 (NLT) God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
And because you Gentiles have become his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you.

He purchased my freedom, I don’t have to be controlled by sinful desires.  He doesn’t want me to be just a servant, He wants me to be His child and He wants to give me access to everything that belongs to Him.

Romans 5:11 (NLT) So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.

I am His friend!  Not only does he allow me to be His child, He wants me to be His friend as well.

Colossians 1:22 (NLT) yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

Not only am I his friend, but because of the sacrifice of Christ applied to my life I am perfect in His eyes!  He chooses not to see my imperfections, he chooses to see my potential.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

He sees me as a masterpiece, a brilliant work of art!  I am not a mistake or an accident! Not only that, but he had a plan for my life before I was even born.  It doesn’t matter what anyone else says, God planned for me!  He created me!

Romans 5:1-2 (NLT) Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

I am “righteous” in God’s sight, and I stand in the highest place of privilege.  I can be confident that my future is bright and full of great things from God!

1 Corinthians 6:17 (NLT) But the person who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

I am “one spirit” with Him, this is deeper than just friendship.  This is an intimate relationship, knowing each other deeply.

Colossians 1:13 (NLT) For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.

I am a part of His Kingdom, I no longer live as a part of the corrupt world.

Colossians 2:10 (NLT) and you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe.

I am complete!  I’m not broken!  Everything I need to have a complete and full life is found in my relationship with Him.

Romans 8:1-2 (NLT) So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death.

I am not condemned or rejected and I am free from the power of sin.

1 John 5:18 (NLT) We know that those who have become part of God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot get his hands on them.

· I am secure, as long as I remain in Him the enemy can’t attack me.

Ephesians 3:12 (NLT) Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome.

I don’t have to be afraid of God, I get to have a relationship with him where I know I am always accepted and He wants to spend time with me!

God always looks at us through the Blood of Christ applied to our lives which filters out all of the imperfections and leaves us looking like the people he created us to be.  He created man so that he could have relationship with us!

Knowing His Voice

// July 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Camps and Conferences, Youth Discussions

Summer Camp – Session 2

John 10:27 (NLT) My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

If you’ve ever read about real shepherds you will know how well sheep respond to their voice. A real shepherd only has to speak a word or two and all of the sheep will gather and begin following him wherever he goes, they know his voice and they know that as long as they are near him they are safe.  A true shepherd doesn’t drive his flock, he leads them.

We need to train ourselves to hear His voice and follow.  So how do we know when we are hearing His voice?  For me it isn’t an audible voice, but thoughts that come into my mind.  Learning to hear His voice is not really as hard as we make it sometimes, it’s simply taking time to quiet ourselves and hear what He is saying.

Psalms 46:10 (NKJV) Be still, and know that I am God.

It is in the quiet times of prayer, when we silence all of the things around us and in us, that He speaks to us.  Notice here that he says “be still and KNOW that I am God.”  After some time of training ourselves we know very clearly the voice of God.  We can learn to instinctively separate His voice from all the others.

John 10:10 gives us a clue about the difference between God and the enemy, God’s words bring life, peace, calm, etc. while the enemy’s words will bring agitation, nervousness, distress, fear, etc.  God’s words will always line up with scripture.

In the process of learning to hear His voice we can test what we are hearing, we can ask God to give us some kind of confirmation.  In the book of Judges we find the story of Gideon, God came to him and gave him some direction, he wasn’t sure that he was really hearing God, so he asked God for confirmation, twice, and he got it both times.  God is not afraid of us testing his voice, and He is always patient with us!

Another of my favorite passages about hearing God’s voice is found in 1 Kings.

1 Kings 19:9-12 (NKJV) And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

Elijah had seen some pretty big things from God, but he was in a tough place, he was being hunted, people had turned on him because of his stand for righteousness.  He comes to this place and God teaches him a lesson, sometimes we are looking for the word of God carried on thunder and lightning, or a big booming voice, when in reality He speaks to us in that quiet place with a still, calming voice.

Ginny (my wife) pointed out that another good lesson from this story is that sometimes when we remove all of the loudness around us, then we will find his voice speaking quietly to us. 

Take some time today to “be still and KNOW that He is your God.”

Face to Face – Part 1

// July 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Camps and Conferences

This year our theme for Summer camp is “Face to Face.”  Our key verse is Exodus 33:11, “Inside the Tent of Meeting, the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”

Our journey this week is one of exploring a level of intimacy with God that would bring us to the place where we can meet with our God and speak to Him “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”  How would our lives change if we had that level of relationship with God?

A lot of us have learned in our lives to pray in ways that really aren’t conversation.  We end up throwing words at God then ending the conversation.  How many of our friends would stick around if we talked to them the way we talk to Him?  A lot of time it is just a one sided conversation when God is waiting for us to be quiet long enough to hear Him say something.

I know that He is my God and my Father,  but I also want that friend relationship with Him.  I want to make time to hear His voice speaking to me, sharing His heart, learning about Him.

Moses wasn’t some “special” creation of God, He was a man who learned to relate to God the way that God originally created all of us to relate to Him.  I believe that God wants this type of relationship with every Christian.

Take a look at Enoch…

Genesis 5:23-24 (NLT) Enoch lived 365 years in all. He enjoyed a close relationship with God throughout his life. Then suddenly, he disappeared because God took him.

Hebrews 11:5-6 (NLT) It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—"suddenly he disappeared because God took him." But before he was taken up, he was approved as pleasing to God. So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

Enoch was a man who pleased God so much that God pulled him from this earth, straight into heaven without having to die.  That is an incredible relationship!  That is the kind of relationship I am looking for, that it could be said of me that I was “approved as pleasing to God.”

Notice in Hebrews it tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God.  Bill Johnson of Bethel church said, “God does not respond to need, he responds to faith.”  We see in this passage that its true.  Faith will cause us to believe that if we take time to talk to Him, he will respond and talk to us.  “He rewards those who sincerely seek Him,”  He is waiting for us to come to Him believing that He will respond, the reward is that He will respond!

Take time today to spend some time not just talking to God, but listening to Him as well.  Have a notebook handy and write down all the things you hear, no matter how small.  God is wanting to talk to you!