Are you being a good disciple?

On the road to Damascus, Saul, a persecutor of Christians, is visited by God.  After the Lord has spoken to Saul, he speaks to a disciple named Ananias. (Acts 9:10-16)

"Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, 'Ananias.'  And he said, 'Here I am, Lord.'  So the Lord said to him, 'Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.  And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.'  Then Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.  And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name."

(Key verse)

"But the Lord said to him, 'Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.  For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake.'"

It hit me as I was reading this; we, as Americans, are so spoiled!  How much do we suffer for His name??  Oh dear, a person might think we're weird, or maybe they won't invite me to their family picnic...that's all bunk!  There are people dying every single day for Jesus Christ.  There are people in prisons, who will never be able to see their children grow up.  There are people who are tortured for their faith; and we're worried about our social image?  I'm preaching as much to me as I am to you!  We need to not lay back and think everything is going to work out and your best friend is just going somehow get to heaven; YOU may be the tool God wants to use to wake that person up!  But if you are a keeper of the aquarium, instead of a catcher of the fish how are you going to increase the tank?  I've got news; it won't happen.  So it's time to get off our butts and start asking Him, "Who am I supposed to be a blessing to today?  Who am I going to be able to share with?  What is Your plan for my day?"  God has called us to be disciples and I don't know about you, but I've been way too slack lately; it's time to get back on track.

<3 Mik

Surrender

My life has seemed like a treadmill lately; you run forward and get nowhere, but if you stop running, you go backwards!  It can be so discouraging!!  But thank God that He places people in the right places, at the right times, with the right messages!

On Friday, at youth group, we played a game called "Crossed and Uncrossed".  You pass a pair of scissors around the room, opening and closing them and trying to figure out if they're crossed or uncrossed.  What nobody realizes is, they're so focused on the scissors, that they ignore the obvious body language of those who know how to play.  When you take your eyes off the scissors, you can clearly see that the people are uncrossing and crossing their legs and that's how you figure out if the scissors are crossed or not! 

The analogy Andy drew from that was that the devil can throw things straight in your face and you're so concentrated and distracted with it, that you don't realize what other things the devil is messing with.  It's been eating at me since that night; there are certain things in my life that have clearly been distracting me because I've been so focused on them, and the material things, that I've allowed them to fill my time, instead of using that time to get closer to God and listen for His voice and direction.  And man, let me tell you!  If I had taken the time and listened before all of this, I would have been a lot better off!  John 3:30 says "He must increase, but I must decrease."  He's once again opened my eyes to the fact that He matters more than anyone or anything and how much I need Him.

Another thing that's been eating at me, is something else that Andy talked about.  It was about laying down what we consider our "rights" and giving it all to God.  I was sitting on my bed the other night, and I just started writing a list.  I wrote down all the things I could think of that I needed to surrender to God; that list is a lot longer than I'd like it to be!  I thought a lot of those things had been completely surrendered already, but when I sit and think about it, I realize that a lot of them are only partially surrendered.  And that's not a good thing!  If Jesus is to be Lord in my life, He needs to have EVERYthing; not just little bits and pieces.  My challenge for me and for you in these next weeks; is He what you think about in your spare time?  Is everything that you do, devoted to Christ?  Is He what you meditate on while you're walking, doing dishes, lying in bed at night?  Because He should be.  He should be a constant companion; the one you go to first when you're happy, sad, or confused.  He understands every single thing that you're going through, even when you're sure He can't!  The life you lead should glorify Jesus; 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."  "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ..." (Philippians 1:27)  Live for Him; let everything you do be surrendered to Him.

<3 Mik