Grace

What comes to mind when we think of the word grace. Elegance or beauty of form, manner, or action. Maybe to favor or honor; to grace an occasion with ones presence. Or maybe a short prayer before a meal. That is mainly what we think of when we hear the word grace. What grace really is, is the freely given, unmerited favor of God, Read Ephesians 1:7. We need grace because all of us are sinful, Romans 3:10-11, Romans 3:23. Please read those, They are good convicting verses. God is a God of justice and love. Romans 3:24, explains God's justice, we are justified through His grace, because of Christ. Romans 8:23, explains God's love, God shows His love for us, in that when we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That is so encouraging to me. Think about it, before we even thought about choosing Him and were just in the world, in sin, He still died for us, even if we never choose Him. How do we view grace? Typically we abuse grace. There are really 2 ways in which we abuse it. 1. We allow grace to be an excuse to sin. Freedom in Christ does not allow us freedom to sin, but freedom from sin. Two verses taken out of context are Galatians 5:1 and John 10:10. Living life to the full does not mean living a life full of sin. We should be living our lives to the full for God. Galatians 5:13, Not to do what we want and sin, but to live in and of the Gospel. When we do sin, it hurts God and the Spirit grieves, 1 Corinthians 3:17. This should not be our attitude. To many times I catch myself knowing that I am going to sin, and yet I still do it. Why? I know I will be forgiven? That is wrong, that is the complete opposite attitude I should have. I should use every inch of me, and the Spirit in me not to sin, to flee from it, to stay as far away from it as I possible can. Thankfully no matter how much we do sin, grace will keep growing and over power it. This again, does not give anyone the right or permission to sin. 2. We believe God's blessing is dependent on our performance. We believe we can work for God's favor. For example; I pray this long, had a quiet time for this long, Iv'e read the Bible this many times. Really read Luke 18:9-14. Do you really think God is impressed with the things that you are suppose to be doing? It's almost comical, and I find myself doing it daily. Our good works are like filthy rags unto the Lord. We have the mindset of good day/ bad day attitude. Other times we believe our sin is to great to be forgiven, Read Romans 8:31-33. Why do we think God could't forgive us or believe God couldn't love us. Are we that arrogant to think God's grace isn't good enough for you, that it is too great? Our attitudes should not be on the religion, but the relationship that you have with Jesus. To many times I catch myself not making it about Jesus. We should ultimately view grace as a way to rejoice in the Lord, Romans 5:1-2. As a way to draw us into a deeper, more personal relationship with God, Titus 2:11-12. Remember this; "Your days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace." Every look you take at sin, take 25 looks at the cross. Not literally 25, there is nothing special with that number, but overwhelm yourself with grace. Personally think about your life. Do you use grace as an excuse, are you performance based on good and bad. Are you really experiencing God, and if so are you finding joy. I need to be rejoicing that I have a savior, every day. While I was a sinner, and still am, Christ died for me. I am a great sinner, Christ is an even greater savior. Please pray that I will not take grace for granted. That I will not base it off my works and good/bad days. Pray that I will continue to rejoice in my relationship with Him. This is a hard one for me, but I am so thankful that God gives me grace.

Serving Him,

Daniel

Encouraging

Monday's are probably my favorite days of the week. I always start off Monday going to the gym and then work. Then I basically have the night free till 7:30. Tonight me and Natalie shared dinner and just had some good time together. Then we had D group which is one of my favorite things on project. Tonight we all went around the circle and said what everyone has been doing well, or things that have impressed you, just true honest encouragement. As I have said before, what is said about the other guys is confidential, but I will tell you some of the things that were said about me. I was told that I am a good steward of my body, time, and money. I have yet to miss a work out or run, I stay on my diet, I make time for God, and I really don't spend my money on anything but groceries. I was told next that I am ready to enter the world as a Christian man. I needed to hear that, it's easy to get down on yourself and to hear something like that definitely encourages you. Graham who is my room leader told me, how exciting it has been watching me grow over these past weeks. He said he just loves to hear and see how excited I get about spending time with God. My best friend here, Josh, said when he first met me he thought I was a jerk. We all busted out laughing. Now me and him are the two closest guys in the room. He said that he appreciates how I have kind of taken him under my wing and given him lots of good relationship advice for him and his girlfriend. The last thing Josh said, which really meant a lot to me was, "You are a man." He didn't mean it in the worldly sense of a manly man, but a man, a man of God. All four roommates told me how my relationship with Natalie is a great example for all of them to follow. This is the encouragement that meant the most. They all said how encouraging it is in how I treat her. How I make her first priority, and if she calls I always drop what I am doing and answer to her. How I make her first and treat her not only as my girlfriend, but my sister in Christ, how it should be. The last thing they said was how our relationship has set the bar for further projects. Because having a girlfriend at project in not recommended and can be extremely difficult. All four of my roommates said how encouraging our relationship was to them, and that was encouraging to me. I encouraged all my roommates and I didn't shoot them BS, or lies. I told them the truth, and it felt nice encouraging them. Lastly we talked about hoe great our room cohesion is. All five of us are leaders or chiefs. Graham is the room leader, I am an extreme alpha male, Mark is the president of his fraternity, Josh wants to be a football coach. We are all leaders, and yet we all leave it at the door and submit to one another. We all act like Indians and let Graham lead the room, and he doesn't Over step his role. It is just awesome! The Holy Spirit is not only blessing this room, but He is in here, even right now. I know for sure! I'll go out on a limb and say that our room is probably the closest room and with the least amount of problems, Thank God. It is really helping us grow, and me grow. Praise God. Just to let you know, I did not let all that encouragement go to my head like I usually do. I took it and used it to thank and glorify God. Please pray that our room continues to grow, and not only encourage one another, but glorify God in all we do.

Serving Him,

Daniel

The God of my Sabbath

Sabbath- The first day of the week, Sunday, observed as the day of rest, and worship by most Christians. This is something that I don't do very often. I don't really have a day of rest, I'm always full throttle Kronz. In Genesis 2:1-3, even God rested. He set the example for us, He did not need to rest, but He showed us how to. After it was good, after all the work was done. He set this example for us to follow. In Exodus 20:8-11, He commands us to. This is seriously important, important enough that even the Almighty God rested after He created everything, this speaks loudly. I doesn't necessarily need to be on Sunday, take my Dad for example, Sundays are not really a day of rest for him. The purpose of the Sabbath is to rest, reflect, and refuel. Rest, why sleep? Psalm 127:1-2, Psalm 121:3-4 shows us why. It really shows our dependence on God and how we can't do it alone, without Him. Even the greatest man in the world, whoever that is, needs sleep. Sleep is a gift from God. Think about how great it feels to crawl into a nice soft bed, turn the air down and snuggle right up under the covers, it feels amazing. We should all sleep well knowing that God has us and we shouldn't worry. I need to remember that. Even late nights studying or trying to meet deadlines. God is not nearly as impressed by your late nights and early mornings as He is with a peaceful trust that casts all anxieties on Him and sleep. Hebrews 4:1-11, don't skip this one, it's huge. Because of Jesus we can rest, it is final and we have eternal life. Jesus death in fact gave us eternal rest. We have a blood bought sabbath, we need to trust God and really honor this day of rest. What comes next? Reflect, the Sabbath is a time corporate and personal worship. It is a holy day ordained by God. Lastly, Refuel, the Sabbath is a time to refresh us for His work. A couple no no's when taking a Sabbath. Don't allow yourself to work in a way that would dishonor the Lord, and or prevent you from getting refueled to do His work. Also getting to wrapped up in secular things. Have your Sabbath honor God. Spend time with Him, but also do things that are enjoyable for you. Weather it is exercise, reading, writing, whatever. Rest in Christ, I like to do physical things, like run or golf. Make sure you refuel so that you can work hard the upcoming week. Make your Sabbath special for the Lord and your personal relationship with Him. You have to plan it out and make some sacrifices. Learn to say no, and for most of us it will be Sunday, go to church. Spend time alone with God before and after church to prepare and reflect. Find things that refuel and refresh you. Everyone is different, and we all have different ways, what works for some may not work for others. The Sabbath should remind us to rest for one day, and to work the other six. This is something I need a lot of help in. Please pray that I can establish a solid Sabbath and keep it Holy to the Lord.

Serving Him,

Daniel

War, Lifestyle, and Intentionality Living

Yesterday morning I went on a run and listened to a great piece of a sermon, by John Piper. This will probably ruffle some feathers, he said, "I hear so many Christians murmuring about their imperfections, and their failures, and their addictions, and their short comings, and I see so little war..... murmur, murmur, murmur..... Why am I this way? MAKE WAR!" This is so true. I hear these excuses all the time, and no one ever makes a true effort to fight back. We have so many tools; scripture, church, friends, family, most importantly the Holy Spirit. This same morning I came back and read Romans 8. I really dug into it and pulled so much useful information out of it. How their is no condemnation because of Christ and that we are all set free, God only condemns sin. Everyone basically knows that. But your lifestyle is what really reflects what is in your heart. If you are constantly sinning, then your mind is set on sin, and it is not set on the Holy Spirit. If you are living in sin you cannot please God, Romans 8:8. Yes, we have a sinful nature, but we can be helped by God if we ask the Spirit to help us. We can't do this alone. We cannot battle and fight evil and sin without help. The Spirit will give you life on earth and help counsel you when you are weak and need His help. This once again does not mean that you will not suffer, but it does mean that you can conquer over evil. God subjected us to frustration so that He could liberate us from bondage and decay. If you have all of this, then their should be no excuses, you will not need to murmur. Your lifestyle will look more and more like Christs. This then all rolled over into last nights talk (conveniently). They talked about how we should be living. In that, our one goal and purpose is to shine the light of Jesus before others to give God the Glory. If you are not doing this, you need to think good and hard why not. If you are not shining his light, why is that? God really doesn't need us, He chooses us, and we need to bring God Glory. 3 ways to live intentionally. 1. To bring Glory to God, we do this by living intentionally, with a purpose. 2. Live as who you are. God created you to be you, in His image. To be real and authentic, not fake or as the world calls you to be. 3. Take risks and really trust God. In doing this, it shows where your relationship with Him really is. Please pray that I can live this way. With no excuses, that I will make war, and that Gods light will shine through me.

Serving Him,

Daniel

Opportunities

Today was another good day here in Panama City Beach, Florida. I've really been enjoying the fellowship with others who are not only enabling my walk with Christ, but strengthening it also. Tonight, Friday night social, we did a coffee shop theme and we had previously all signed up to preform talents and such on stage. Myself and Will opened up the night singing a rock version of a rap song "umbrella", it was a fun and funny night. There is so much talent here on project, so many gifted singers and performers. I really enjoyed the night. When we got back to the hotel I helped Trey unload equipment out of the truck. This was the time when 3 young guys walked up and started to ask us questions. They identified themselves as army guys and I preceded to tell them that I was a newly commissioned Lt. They were all not only Lt, but finishing IOBC which I don't even start until February. This gave me a great opportunity to talk to them about IOBC and my future. I talked to them for at least 20 minutes. They were some wild party guys that were just up my alley in my BC (before Christ) days. This is when I was insured even more about my possible future calling. I told my Dad that I felt a slight call to ministry in my future. I explained that not like his type of ministry though, my type. I don't think I could really ever see myself as a pastor or minister, but who knows where God will call me. I explained to him that in order to move in my career in the army that I will have to go back to school and that I am interested in doing maybe a religious studies major and get ordained. So not only could I be a soldier but an ordained minister as well. This would give me an opportunity to minister and share the gospel to the rough tough guys in the army that many of us can't reach. Even if we could they probably wouldn't listen to us about Jesus. Being a fellow arm man and an officer, I can not only be a witness, but someone that they could talk to about God. it really hit me tonight when I got back and was talking with my roommate Josh. We talked about how I was talking with these 3 guys for about a half hour and how there really isn't anyone else here on project that could or would do that with those guys. They had been drinking and were using some rough language, but I talked to them didn't use language, they offered me alcohol and I told them I don't drink. They didn't care and they respected me, and we all just kept on talking. They are going to be here for the next week and I am going to share the Gospel with them. This might be the start to my new called ministry. I'm extremely excited about this opportunity and I'm truly relying on the Holy Spirit to help guide me and use wisdom in the choice of words I use with these guys. When opportunity calls, you have to answer it, and come prepared. Please pray for me, that God will not only give me the courage, but wisdom and insight to share the Gospel with these 3 guys.

Serving Him,

Daniel

Application

Last night the internet was down, nothing new, but every Thursday night is Bible study training. If you haven't been following my blog Bible study training has consisted of observation, interpretation, principles, and now application. Application is how you apply it to your life, really and truly apply it. Most of us stop at interpretation. We observe what is said, then we interpret the scripture, some of us may take a principle out of it like don't lie or something of that nature but many of us don't apply it to our lives. For some the Scripture is just text, like any other book, for others it is just head knowledge and really worthless. We must be transformed, our goal is to be transformed into the image of Christ. Romans 12:2, James 1:22-25. Observation and interpretation without application is failure to do what the scriptures are intended to do. So basically it is pointless. Applications simply answer the question of, how does it work? Applications need to be measurable, attainable, and clear. This is just like any other goal. Like new years resolution, how many times do we set a broad goal that isn't measurable and clearly not attainable. Like I'm going to work out more this year.... how do you measure that? Or something super unrealistic. What is in the Bible are guidelines to our lives that we must apply and live by. Joshua 1:8. Four steps that I learned to help me apply scripture to my life. First is that I must know the text, the only way to do that, is by spending time in the Word. Not half heartedly either. I must really spend some quality time, just like I would with any other relationship. Next, I need to relate it to my life. Once I know the Word of God, I must relate it to my own experience. Thirdly, really meditate on it, if I just rush through it to just get it done with and out of the way, then once again it is pointless. Really reflect on what I am seeing. There is no need to try and fly by and do it just to do it, God knows where your heart is, and you can't fool Him. Lastly, practice is an application of worship. You can do all the previous and it still won't really matter unless you practice and truly apply it to your life. It is much easier said than done, but the more you practice it, the more it will become part of your life. Remember that it is impossible to do this on your own. Rely on the Holy Spirit, it's what He is here for. When doing this use the application method today, like, how can I apply this today? All of this applies not to just me and us here at project, but everyone who claims the Lord or calls them self a Christian. Here are some simple examples from the same verses that I have used in the past Bible study training blogs. 2 Corinthians 3:18, I need to reflect Christ in my life, remember not to self deprecate because that is not honoring God, the Lord wants to life you up, not tear you down, reflect God's glory. 1 John 1:8-10, Just confess my sins, and don't make excuses, really receive God's forgiveness, and move on. Joshua 1:8, If you're not in the word then you will not follow His ways, you will forget what it says. That verse makes me wonder how non Christians do it, how do they live with hope and are not terrified. Lastly, Philippians 2:3-4, don't react from others, but be humble and put others first. All of these I need to do on a daily basis. Just writing these down and saying them once will not accomplish anything. I must look at His word multiple times a day and really reflect on it, practice it and apply it to my life. Also make it personal, don't say we or all of us, say me or I. Think about it? Please pray that I will actually do this, that I will daily apply this to my life and practice so that it will be real to me. So that I can reflect the Lord, and that I can glorify Him by my witness, because that is what it is all about. For the Glory of God.

Serving Him,

Daniel

Trust

Wednesdays are our free nights to go out and have some fun, normally for group dates. Last night about 20 of us went to go see the Eclipse movie. Yes I am a Twilight fan and was extremely excited to go. Natalie and I both really enjoyed the movie. It is nice to have a night off and do things like this. Especially when there are 20 of us scattered around the theater screaming each others names before the previews start. It was a good night. Yesterday I spent a very long time in the Word reading more about the Holy Spirit. I read John 15:26-27, and did some cross referencing. The Holy Spirit is referred to as a counselor. He was sent from the Father to help counsel us and help guide us to the truth, and we are suppose to testify to this truth. This is where faith and trust come into play. I am a newly practicing Christian. This is the first time in my life I have really spent time in the word, made a true effort to build my relationship with Him, and put my full trust in Christ Jesus. So, I am like a child compared to many others here who have been doing this much longer than I have. I want to feel the Holy Spirit all the time, I want to hear Gods call clear in my life, I want it to be extremely real to me. It is, but I need a lot of growth first. It is just like any other relationship we have here on earth. I talked to my room leader Graham about this and I told Him how I know for a fact that this is real and I have seen God work in my life and change my heart, but I don't feel as connected to the Holy Spirit as others or as much as I want to be. This is where he counseled me through the Holy Spirit. He explained to me that I am a new creation in Christ and the longer I spend longing for Him and His help and counsel He will reveal himself to me. He used Natalie as an example. He said when yall first started dating things were new and you guys weren't as close. You both didn't have the same bond and relationship that you do now. It is the same with the Lord. I don't know why I didn't think this, but I needed him to reveal this to me. In time my relationship will grow stronger and stronger in Him. He will develop me and in me and our relationship will grow. In verses 1-2 is says how God is our Gardner, and he knows what is best. He knows what to cut off in order to help me grow. It may hurt, and I will suffer, but it is so that I will grow more fruitful. Verse 4 says that I can't do it alone and I must remain in Him. Once you become a Christian and you start to develop your relationship, like I am, you cannot expect God to use huge flashing neon lights to tell you what to do and influence your daily life, at least not all the time. Verse 5, you must stay in Him and get extremely fruitful because apart you can do nothing. Verse 6, If you don't you will be cast down into the fire, HELL. This isn't threatening or scary for me at all, actually more encouraging. I love how much encouragement is in the scriptures. All of this is for the Fathers Glory. He explains in verse 9 that we must remain in love and obey His commands in order to be more Christ like. This should not be for pain, but for JOY. Verse 16, God chose us, how lucky are we? To be able to bear everlasting fruit. It will not be an easy walk, at all, we will be hated by the world and persecuted. We now have no excuse for our sin, but what we do have is grace, Thank God! This is where the trust comes into play. The chapter before John 15, chapter 14, explains again how the Spirit sent down from the Father is here to have us build this relationship for an eternal relationship. This takes a whole lot of faith. John 14:16-17 says the Holy Spirit is here to counsel us forever, and that the world does not see because they don't believe, we do because he lives with you and is in you. I explained to Graham that I really really trust and believe that the Holy Spirit is in me, but that I don't always feel His presence. In time Daniel, he said. I need to have faith and let the relationship build. John 14:26, The Holy Spirit is here to teach and remind you. He definitely is. I need to be patient and let God do work in me. My faith and trust is stronger than ever, I just needed the encouragement from my brother and Gods word. I am thankful for what God is doing in my life and I have given Him the keys to my life. It will be painful and I will suffer. This is all necessary in order for me to grow stronger in Him and be more fruitful. Keep praying because it is working and God is working in my life.

Serving Him,

Daniel