Colossians 4:5-6 - 5Be wise in the way act towards outsiders; make the most opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

As we pray & seek God, places become opportunities where we can better listen to people & passionately live on purpose. When we live deliberately we'll find that we won't miss opportunities that God is giving us.

Praise God!

Today I witnessed an answer to a prayer that I've had for a while! A little over a year ago I moved to Taylor. Since I started ministering here my prayer has been that God would raise up an army of young people that love Him more than anything/one else & that will take their city for Christ. I know that those things begin & end in prayer, after all we're only as strong as our prayer life is. So I know that I was praying that students would develop strong prayer lives. It seemed hard at first to get people together to pray, not because they were forced to but because they wanted to. Today, even as I type this, there are 7 or 8 students & young adults in our youth room praying & seeking God!

2 Chronicles 7:14 - If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

God is moving in the Taylor & Downriver area! The battle is on!

On my knees fighting,

Luis

Think Different

I was reading the book of Daniel & there were a few things that jumped out at me. God's chosen people have always been "different" people. Ever wonder why you might think a little different than other people? Why you might be a little strange? Well, there are some people who are just strange but God's people are are strange because we weren't created to be like everyone else we were created to be like God.

Daniel 3:-8 - ³Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility – ⁴young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. ⁵The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service. ⁶Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. ⁷The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. ⁸But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.

v. 8 - but Daniel chose to "Think Different"...

God's people think different because we were created to make a difference. It's the people who think different that make a difference. "Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." - apple computers

Are you crazy enough to believe you can make a difference for God? Are you even crazier to live that difference?

Crazy enough to think (& live) different,

Luis

Image is Nothing, Thirst is Everything. Obey Your Thirst

I'm not a big pop drinker but there are a few pops that I like a lot. One of those pops is Sprite. I was drinking a Sprite one night while I was reading 2 Samuel 15 & God spoke to me. The big famous slogan from Sprite is, "Image is Nothing, Thirst is Everything. Obey Your Thirst." As I was reading the story of Saul I thought of the Sprite message.

Here Saul was on a mission from God & somewhere along the way decided to dv8 from the plan & do his own thing. Samuel called out Saul about his sin & told him that God was preparing another king to replace him. Saul responded by saying, "I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel." Saul was more concerned with his image that he was about his heart. I never want that to be the case.

My prayer for myself & for our ministry is that our thirst for godliness would be much greater than our desire for image. God's not looking for us to build our own image; he wants us to become his image.

obeying my thirst,

Luis

Just Do It

Have you ever been afraid to do what God wants you to do? I know I have. Serving God is the most exciting thing that you can do, but it can be very scary at times. But there's good news... perfect love!

1 John 4:18 - Perfect loves expells ALL fear...

Fear is a perfect love problem. The more we love God the more we'll trust him & the more we'll face & conquer our fears. Jesus is better than our excuses, bigger than our laziness & bolder than our fear! So...

JUST DO IT!

Quote

I read this quote today & thought I'd share it with you

"Excellence is...

• the result of caring more than others think is wise,
• risking more than others think is safe,
• dreaming more than others think is practical,
• and expecting more than others think is possible."

Striving fore excellence,

Luis

Look Up...

As I've been preparing for VOX this week I read a verse in Hebrews.

Hebrews 12:2 - Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Then I came across this cool story about a statue of Jesus that really puts into perspective how we can "fix our eyes on Jesus". This statue is in a church in Copenhagen, Denmark. This is no ordinary statue of Jesus, this particular statue has a very strong message that the sculptor sculpted into it. "A little old woman who helped to care for the interior of the church, once put into words what the sculptor's genius has expressed in marble. Said she: 'To see the real beauty of 'The Christus' you must look into His eyes, and you can do that only if you kneel at His feet.'"

You can’t see the eyes of Jesus if you’re standing looking at it. The only way you can see his eyes is to kneel at his feet and look directly up into them. To often we're guilty of trying to see the eyes of Jesus without kneeling and completely surrendering to Jesus, but the only way to clearly see is to kneel at his feet.

What are you looking at?

Kneeling at his feet,

Luis

Hungry?

John Piper is a stud! I was reading a book of his called "A Hunger For God" & I came across a part that I thought was so good I needed to share it with someone.

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls out appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. it is not the x-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures or earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.

A question I asked myself after reading this paragraph & Luke 14:15-24 is "Am I really hungry for God? Or have I ruined my appetite for God by nibbling at the table of the world?

ID - Who Is Jesus?

We live in a society that is full of identity issues. The people that we idolize, put on posters & hang on our walls don't seem to know who they really are. People are trying to find their identities in stage personas, personal possessions, big parties, etc, but it doesn't seem to work. Which leads me to my question, "Who are you?" Where do you find you identity? If the people we look up to can't seem to find their identity how can we?

Today at VOX we started a 2 week series called ID, Who Am I? What is my identity? Before we are able to answer those questions I believe we need to answer another question, "Who is Jesus?" Without knowing who Jesus is we can never fully know who we are. 

As I spent time studying, reading & praying I looked through the New Testament at all the statements Jesus made about who he was. I then moved on to the Old Testament & began to look up all of the names of God (& there are there a lot of names). Here are a few of them:

Jehovah-Jireh - I Am the Lord who provides for you

Jehovah Shalom - I Am the Lord who is your peace

Jehovah Rophe - I Am the Lord who heals

Jehovah Natsal - I Am the Lord who delivers

Jehovah Ezer - I Am the Lord who helps

Jehovah Chezeq - I Am the Lord who is your strength

Jehovah Padahel - I Am the Lord who loves you

Jehovah Yasha - I Am the Lord who is your savior

While I was praying and thinking about all the different names of God I had a realization; every name that is used for God in the Old Testament is seen in the life of Jesus throughout the New Testament! Jesus did provide when he fed the multitudes; he brought peace to the women at the well; he healed the blind; he delivered the possessed; he helped those in need; he gave strength to the weak; he loved us so much that he became our savior as his arms were stretched out on the cross. 

So, who is Jesus to you? What has he done in your life?

Enjoying learning more about who Jesus is,

Luis

Feb. 4 '09

These are a few things I read today:

Proverbs 4: 20-27 - 20My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. 21Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body. 23Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. 24Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. 25Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. 26Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. 27Do not swerve to the right or to the left; keep your foot from evil. 

"If we keep God's word before our eyes, we won't start looking in the wrong direction and doing the wrong things." Warren W. Wiersbe

Breakfast of Champs

So I've been hearing from people asking what happened to my blogs. Well, I've decided to use the study on the Warrior Poet for something I'm doing with my leadership team so I'll post it as we use it. As for being gone so long, well... I just didn't blog. Since I've been hearing about it from some people I figured I'd share a quote with you, it's from a book that I've been reading entitled "Be Strong, Putting God's Power to Work in Your Life" by Warren W. Wiersbe.

"Its impossible to live by faith and ignore the Word of God and prayer; for faith is nurtured by worship and the Word. The people God uses and blesses know how to discipline their bodies so that they can give themselves to the Lord in the early morning hours."

Its an easy discipline to forgo until we truly realize the necessity for our daily time in God's Word & in prayer. We will never achieve what God desires for us without that discipline. When we start our day off with that kind of breakfast we'll be less likely to miss the opportunities that are set before us. After all, breakfast is the most important meal, right?