From My Knees

As I worshiped in my Antioch community this morning, God continued to reveal exciting things to me. The Spirit came to me saying "You are strongest from your knees." I've been in the Christian circle long enough to translate this Jesus-jargon into something about prayer. I thought initially I understood what God was telling me, but I persisted to ask for more. Let's explore this together, what does it mean to be "strongest from [our] knees"?

First let us consider the apparent division between the two parts of this sentence. "Strongest" carries a very positive connotation of power. It implies that we are mighty, but in what situation? From our knees. Kneeling demonstrates submissiveness, meekness, and humility. By kneeling before a Holy God we admit that we are under His sovereign rule and our very selves are secondary to His will.

The honest truth is that without God, we are powerless. God is all powerful. Isaiah 40:23 tells of how the strong of this world are nothing before the might of Our God. As much as we flee submission, we are called to it. We are called to be obedient to God in all circumstances. This obedience produces a humility in our souls that gives God room to work. A prideful person leaves little opportunity for God to be real in their lives.

To be strong is not something that we are inherently capable of. Our power comes from the Spirit of God that lives inside of us. Our access to God comes by means of prayer which is direct communication with Him. Nothing in us is worthy, but God communes with us because He wants us! He wants to be the power inside of us. With an invitation of this magnitude, how can we refuse to live a life under his authority. How can we refuse ultimate power. Let us live a life from our knees.
-matt

College Will Do That to You... Thanks Jesus

Coming into my first year at the wonderful institute of Texas A&M I wasn't quite sure what to expect from anything. I had a couple things nailed down to start with, or so I thought. I knew I would church shop for a couple months. I knew what I believed. I knew that I wasn't going to become complacent in my faith, but I certainly wouldn't ever become what you would call "radical".

Well here is a little confession. Everything that I knew has been turned upside down, and my faith has been strengthened because of it. Jesus ended up planting me at Antioch my very first Sunday in town and He has kept me there ever since. Over this semester I've really had my faith pushed to its limits, but not in the way I expected. Contrary to what I've heard, it isn't hard to keep your faith in college - with the caveat that you choose to pursue it. It wasn't a struggle for survival, it was a struggle for truth. 

If you talk to me today, I would hope that you see something different. If you ask my community of believers for testimony of my life in College Station, they'd be able to tell you. A lot of the things I wrote off as for the "charismaniacs" have become a huge part of my life. I will spare you the all the details, but know that I have seen an increase of God in my life in radical ways. Exhibit A, my favorite thing to do on weekends is walk around campus and the College Station area and pray for people and tell them about Jesus. That's weird... or at least it used to be, now it's a lifestyle.

I grew with a "safe" Christianity. Church attendance, service projects, and inviting a friend to D-Now were the norms. No one dared utter the words prophecy, visions, healings, miracles, etc. I've known Jesus for a while now, but I've only recently come into a fuller understanding of just what He is capable of. Jesus is always bigger than how big you say he is, always. 

For those of you coming to Aggieland as students in the coming years, I want you to know that Jesus is taking this campus by storm. When you enroll in this university you're enlisting as a Freedom fighter in this Revolution against the powers of darkness. The battle is real, and it is raging more fiercely that you or I can understand. 

For those of you whom God has sent elsewhere, I urge you to affix yourselves to the Jesus Christ of the Scriptures and to pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance in your life. God is just waiting to show you how good he is, just ask Him.

If you gather nothing else from this essay, heed Paul's cry to the Ephesians. "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." Let that challenge your soul. Ask, Seek, and Knock the Harvest is at hand.

-matt

Relentless

When you hear the word relentless, what comes to your mind first?

Got it?

There are generally two different conclusions that you might have come to. Relentless to you could resemble a mighty warrior. One who is willing to go the distance and continue to battle when times get tough, a hero of heroes. Relentless, on the other hand, could give you an image of a hurricane destroying everything that stands in its way, an utterly destructive force. One side favors a bold endurance that Hollywood loves to capture through film; the other of a darker side of brutality. 

Both views describe Our God.

The Father is relentless when it comes to how He loves his children. Jesus speaks of the shepherd who leaves the 99 to come and seek after the 1. The son is relentless when He allows Himself to be horrifically murdered in our place, refusing to give up on the long journey to the cross. The Holy Spirit is relentless as He convicts our souls and brings us to a place of repentance.

You see as a child of the Light, we walk in a confidence that God will never cease to chase after us, no matter how far away we stray. The scary side comes when He wants all of us. I know it's easy for us to talk of our love for God, but it becomes a struggle when He tries to take away "our stuff". Be it good, bad, or indifferent; we all have our one thing that we don't wont to let Jesus have. This ranges from everything from an idolatrous view of women to an overly zealous obsession with football that conflicts with our church attendance. You see Jesus is not okay with having a small part of our lives, He wants it all. Sounds a bit greedy from our perspective doesn't it? But when we really consider it, do we really deserve what we think we do?

If we want to turn this into a merit system then we fall into the red from the very beginning. Since the Fall, you and I are doomed to Hell to suffer for eternity. We don't have the right to even be in the presence of a Holy God because He cannot and does not tolerate sin of any form. We don't deserve that pay raise at work; we don't deserve that new car that just came off the line. We don't deserve to be blessed with financial earnings; we don't deserve to own a car at all. Yet we have been blessed with this and I for one take these things for granted way too often.

It's time we cast aside our Americanized entitlement syndrome. If we truly realize that we deserve nothing at all, the relentless love of Christ begins to overwhelm us in a beautiful way and the Gospel begins to work in our lives. This is love, not that we first loved God, but that He first loved us and gave His life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. There is no greater love than this, a man who lays down his life for His friends. I [Christ] have come so that you may have life, and have it to the full. [cf1 John 4:10, Romans 5:8, John 15:3, John 10:10]. See what I'm saying? How incredible is this love that will stop at nothing, not even death?

If his Love has power over sin and death, who are we to upstage Him in any way? Who are we to shun his freely given grace? The relentless love of God demands we lay down everything and run to Him. When we think about it, why wouldn't we? There is nothing to lose and everything to gain in the free gift of the Cross.

God promises to come after those who reject this gift. He relentlessly pursues and destroys all who oppose Him. Luke 12:5 tells us that we aren't to fear man but fear God who can throw us into Hell if we choose to rebel against Him. The Relentlessness of Christ is coming to after you no matter what you do. The choice has been given to you, will you run to Christ or will you not?

-matt