Communion

When I think of communion, I must confess that my first thought is of grape juice and broken up crackers.  To a non-Christian, communion must seem like a completely stupid and meaningless thing that we do every so often, just because we get hungry in church.  Oh, how little truth there is in that thought!  Communion has nothing to do with grape juice and crackers, but so much to do with the Man who sacrificed Himself so that we can live with a hope and a joy that can never be smothered.

Communion is normally something that passes pretty much in the same manner every time; the elements get passed around, the pastor takes a passage from 1 Corinthians, there's a prayer, and then you drink the grape juice and eat the broken cracker.  End of story, right?  Not so today!  I was on the point of zoning out when my pastor said something that I've never contemplated before.  I tried to put it in my own words; here's what struck me today.  When we take communion, we not only declare our faith to those around us, but also to the spiritual realm; to principalities - angels and demons alike.  And I thought about it and realized woah, this is interesting!  So, what he's saying is that when we take communion and strengthen our relationship with our Savior, we're being spiritually marked.  And I got this picture in my head of all of us sitting in our chairs and above us, on one side, angels.  And on the other side, were demons; neither group doing anything but looking down, and as I followed their gaze, I saw they they were looking down at our heads and there were markings on the tops of our heads.  I can't explain to you exactly what the markings looked like or what they were made of, but they were a deep maroon color and they were only over the heads of those who have a personal relationship with Christ.

It never occurred to me that we might have marks on us.  It makes sense to me now, but I confess that I haven't thought it over before today.  It actually fills me with awe, to realize that everything we do is marking us; not just in this realm, but also in a realm that we can barely catch a glimpse of.  It gives me something to consider and wonder about and it also gives me reasons to alter some of my would-be actions.  How about you? 

<3 Mik

Christ

I was at work yesterday and I suddenly had to get this out.  I'm preaching to myself mostly, but I thought I'd share it with y'all.

The funny thing about coworkers is that you can laugh, roll your eyes, crack jokes, work together...and never once discuss a serious matter.  Sure, you can make an impact on their lives by being different, but it's rare that you ever have time to sit down and discuss important issues.  Issues about life and death and whether this life is all there is. The only things that really matter in this life are completely overlooked or pushed aside for "later".  Will we ever realize the things we shy away from are the very things we need to bring into the open?  This life is not all there is; Heaven and Hell are not storybook places.  Our souls, after we die, will go to spend eternity in the place we ourselves have determined for them.  The debate, "Do people who've never heard of Jesus go to hell?" isn't something I'm going to discuss right now.  But let me tell you this; if we know the truth, and never speak about it, it is not anyone's fault but ours.  And in the whole scheme of life, wouldn't you rather you took a stand for what you believe, rather than being just another ant in the anthill? 
Jesus Christ was never silent about what was right and true, so why are we?  Christians are supposed to be "little Christs", but if we're not emulating Christ, we might as well be labeled, "Satanians".  As Christ Himself said, "He who is not with Me is against me".  Let's get it together and stop handling others' spiritual conditions as though they were second place.  This is our fight; this is where we make a stand.  Open your mouth - if you're obeying our Lord and Savior and answering your call as a follower, He will bless it.  Every word that you speak for His glory, He will use.  Maybe it's not the way you thought it should go, maybe it happens the exact way you pictured; regardless of all that, God has a magnificent plan and even if you can't see it, He has used and continues to use your words to glorify Himself. 
We all make mistakes; not one of us is guilt free.  But the breathtaking beauty of God's grace is that it covers all of our sin.  If you are a drug addict, or a pastor's kid, your sins are equally forgiven.  The choice to follow Jesus and seek Him with every fiber of your being means that every sin you have committed is washed away in the flood of His lovingkindness and grace.  Oh, the joy and peace it brings me to know I am counted blameless in God's eyes!  The doubts I have in my foolish moments are but shadows that I myself have created.  The expanse of God's love far exceeds any doubt I could ever have.  I live because of His grace.  Many times have I been near physical death, and many times He has seen me and rescued me.  I don't deserve to live, I don't know why He found it fit to save me, but I do know that I have a purpose.  The Lord Jesus has redeemed my soul, so it is only fitting for me to give Him my life.  Jesus, I love you.

<3 Mik

Thoughts running through my head after Japan

People sometimes ask, “What are the things that change your life?  What are the things that shape it?”  Maybe it’s appreciating every day, maybe it’s having a place to live; or maybe it’s knowing that there’s a heavenly Father who’s got your back.  I’m not sure about every single thing that changes us or shapes our lives, but I do know one thing: tragedy speaks to our hearts like nothing else.  It breaks us, it causes us to rediscover the joys of taking a breath, and it draws us together because we all have something in common, whether we’re Muslim, Christian, black, white, English, or Spanish.  It is disaster that brings us together and it is a pity that it’s often the only thing that forces us out of our self-protected little bubbles and shakes us into the reality that life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.  

If we were a nation after God’s own heart, our earthly hearts would be burdened every single day for every single soul that has not yet heard the Gospel.  As it stands now, the majority of the world only prays for the other nations when they’re in a situation of need; do you not realize that nations are always in need?  Every morning when people wake up, it’s one more second that they don’t know the Good News, and it’s one breath closer to an eternity in the pit of Hell.  Get off of your cushioned little seat and do something about it!  Don’t suddenly pray for Japan because of the incredible damage done there, and then forget about it in a few months; your were born to serve God and to bring His Word to all nations, not just to hang out in a community group and blab about how much Jesus means to you!  It’s great to commune with others and to encourage the body, but spending hours on your knees in the throne room, interceding for those who have no idea where they’re going to spend eternity, may be where God wants you right now.  Maybe He wants you overseas, maybe He wants you to be on your knees, backing up those He has sent out; whatever it is that He is calling you to do, do it and do it with every fiber of your being.  Don’t do it because everyone else is doing it, do it because we are all called to be missionaries, and if we’re not praying for lost souls, we’re not doing our job.  And if we’re not doing the job our Father has instructed us to do, well then, He certainly has every right to punish us.  I thank God for His incredible grace because with all of the mistakes you and I make every day, I should have been dead by the time I was a day old.  But because of His incredible mercy and love, we are alive and vessels of His; use every breath wisely, because, who knows?  It could be your last.

<3 Mik

The little things

My parents have been married twenty-four and a half years and are, even now, very much in love.  How did they make their relationship work for that long, and how are they still in love?  The little things.  The way one looked at the other, noticed how tired their spouse was, and offered to make dinner.  The way Dad sends Mom flowers with a love note at random times, just to make her feel special.  The way they forgive quickly and look back at their failures together and each only remembers the good about the other.  Neither of them have to make sure the other has their back; they're married and they know that it's for life, but they keep the fire alive by doing the little things and not letting the wedge of complacency settle into their relationship.  How does this relate to me, you say?

Our relationship with Christ is similar!  Our relationship grows stronger when we start to see Him in the little things.  When the sun shines in your window in the morning, do you take it for granted?  Or do you thank the Almighty who makes the sun rise every day?  When we begin to see His blessing in our every day lives, we begin to sing His praises even without thinking about it!  Psalm 34:1 says, "I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips."  By praising him continually, we build up a loving relationship.  It's one thing to say you love Him; it's quite another to tell Him that every single day, with every single breath.  Like a married couple, we must build each other up or our relationship will never last.  God encourages us daily, but how often do we tell Him the things we love about Him and the things that make Him so amazing to us?  We are the bride of Christ but we can never make our relationship work unless we are totally committed to each other.  Christ is committed to us, but how committed are we to Him?  I don't know about you, but like my parents, I don't want to have to question whether my spouse has my back or not; I want to know.  And the sooner I start building my relationship with Christ, the better.  So I'm going to put into practice the things that I don't usually make a priority; singing praises to my Savior when I can't see the good in my situation, thanking Him for every breath that I breathe, and dancing for His glory...because in the end?  It's the little things that matter.

<3 Mik

Stars

Genesis 1:16-18 says, "Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.  He made the stars also.  God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.  And God saw that it was good."
The part I want to focus on is dividing the light from the darkness.  Let's link it over to Philippians 2:14-15 that says, "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe..."

As Christians, it is our responsibility to shine like stars.  Yeah yeah yeah, we've heard it before...but did you ever think about it this way?  We DIVIDE the light from the darkness.  We draw the line of righteousness.  We are called to be different because we show the dividing line between the righteousness of God and the darkness of the devil.  If we aren't shining brightly, how will the world understand the difference of right and wrong?  Younger generations learn from what their parents do, what their siblings do, what their friends do.  If we do nothing, how will they know the difference of right and wrong?  "Oh they've got Godly friends", you think "they'll be fine".  WAKE. UP.  How dare you place your burden of responsibility on someone else's shoulders!  This world is going down the tubes and all you can say is "They'll be fine"?!  No.  I want to live for the higher call of Christ, I want to divide His light from the darkness.  I want to be the changing point in the lives of everyone I meet.  I want to change this world for CHRIST.  I don't care if I'm the only one fighting for change, because "those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” (2 Kings 6:16b)  What can man do to me?  I've got Jesus on my side!

So be a light and divide this world, don't be an airplane with its light going on and off.  Don't be hot and cold for Jesus!  It's so easy to sink into the everyday routine and forget your devotions; fight it!!  An airplane is in the sky and it floats across the blackness of the night, but eventually it disappears from sight.  Do you want to disappear from sight?  Because if we are lukewarm about our duty as Christians, we will disappear without changing any lives.  Let's go out kicking!!

<3 Mik

Contentedness

So it's been the better part of three months since I've written...yikes!  It's time I got back into the swing of things!  I'll admit that this past month, I've been up and down with how close I am to God.  I've been letting the little things get in the way instead of pushing them aside and taking time with the Lord.  But I'm so thankful that He never gives up on me, no matter how blind I am!!  So I'm taking the plunge again and pushing forward to follow Him more earnestly than ever.

During Bible class the other day, I heard a teacher, and he was discussing Psalm 23.  Verse 2 says, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures: He leads me beside the still waters.”  I always thought, “Oh ok, great!  God takes care of us.”  But the teacher started explaining things and all of the sudden it made so much more sense!  

In Israel, he said, you can look around and it’s dry.  If you’re a sheep, you could wander around for miles and not find green grass to eat.  But the shepherd always knows where the green grass is, and all of the sheep depend on him to lead them to nourishment.  The teacher compared us to the sheep and he said that God will always lead us to green grass if we follow Him.  But if we’re completely worried about where we’re going to find our next grass, and we forget to enjoy where we are now, what good is it to us?  We need to stop worrying and enjoy the pastures we’re in right now.  It made me stop and think and it really encouraged me to just let go and let God lead me while I enjoy where I am.

It reminds me of what Paul says in Philippians 4.  Paul has been in and out of prison, he’s been beaten, he’s been threatened, but he still writes letters of encouragement to the different churches!  In verse 11, he says, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:”  That’s what I’m learning to be.  I’m learning to be content where I am, but ready to move wherever God wants me.  As long as I keep my eyes fixed on Him, He can change my attitude and help me be content.  It's not going to be easy, but God never promised us the easy road =)
<3 Mik

Peace and love...and I'm not talking about hippies!

This has been a crazy week for me!  Ups and downs emotionally seem to bring me closer than ever to my Lord.  I'm not sure where to start, but I guess I'll just wing it!

The power of prayer is amazing.  I had an opportunity to pray over someone this week and it was an experience I don't think I'll ever forget!  We laid hands on him and we were praying out loud and after about four people had prayed, I felt that it was time for me to open my mouth.  But I really didn't know what to say because the people before me had already said what I wanted to say!  But I decided to follow the nudge and open my mouth and I am SO glad that I did.  I started to pray and I could just feel the Holy Spirit flow into me; I've never felt anything like it in my whole life.  It was as though me and my selfish humanness was completely emptied out of my body and the only thing in me was God, pouring through me.  And that is a very lame description of how I felt!  Never before have I reached a place with God like that, never before has He made me shake like a leaf, never before have I felt so empty and yet so full.  His power is breathtaking!!!

My Jesus seemed so close yesterday that I swear I could feel Him standing next to me.  We visited a church and the sermon was about deny ourselves and following Christ.  (The sermon was a lot better than my condensed version here ;P)  It really spoke to my heart and I could feel that there were things in me that I needed to surrender and give completely and wholly to God because He wants EVERYthing and not just most things.  So I got home, cleaned the house, had people over, rode the emotional roller coaster...and didn't take time to sit down and pray.  (Which I now realize was a big mistake!)  After everyone left, I went upstairs to my room, cried, and talked to my Savior.  I just poured it all out and told Him that I surrender everything; everything closest to my heart, everything I haven't wanted Him to change, everything that I've been holding onto for selfish reasons.  And the second I gave everything to Him, He filled me with peace.  He opened my soul and just poured it in like a waterfall!  Oh how refreshing it was; how amazing to feel the peace that surpasses all understanding!

After I'd soaked in the love of my Creator, my dad came upstairs to say goodnight.  He came in and gave me one of those hugs that he gives me when I'm sad, one of the really long ones.  And as I stood there and hugged him, I suddenly realized something that totally blew my mind.  I didn't need his hugs, his love, or even his comfort!  My Jesus had filled me up so much with peace and love and He had taken my sorrows away and I have never felt more loved in all my life!  (Sorry about this next part Dad O.o)  The love my dad had for me right then?  I couldn't even feel it.  I know he loves me and I cherish his love, but at that moment in time, any other love paled in comparison to God's love.  My heart was...in a different world.  That's the only way I can describe it!

Now I have this hunger, this burning desire, to go back to those places and meet God.  All I want is to be enveloped in Him!  I know it's not going to be an easy thing to keep surrendering everything everyday, but my love for my Savior and the love He gives me, makes it all so incredibly worth it.
<3 Mik