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?

A New Day...

Today is a new day in America. We as a nation have elected a new leader. Regardless of whether you voted for him or not, regardless of whether you like him or not Obama is the new president of our great nation, & now more than ever we must pray for our nation & its leaders, both current & future. 

1 Timothy 2:1-2 - The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. 2Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply in humble contemplation. (MSG)

Our nation is in the middle of a very tough time. As God's own we must continue to fight together for our nation, our leaders & each other. Only on our knees in prayer & on our feet living out His word can we truly make a difference.

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. - 2 Chronicles 7:14

On my knees,

Coach Luis

The Warrior Poet: The Shepherd's Watch

For those of you that have been asking when its going to start, today is that day. Today I am starting a blog series entitled "The Warrior Poet". I am going to take some time to look at the life of David. David is one of my most favorite bible heroes. He was a great man of God who had victories and defeats. David was very open and honest about how he felt as he wrote each Psalm, but despite where he was at & what was going on he would come back around to how great God is! My plan is to study the psalms of David in chronological order - the order that David wrote them according to the various events occurring in his life.

Join me as I travel through these excerpts from David's life & feel free to leave your thoughts & comments as well.

The Shepherd's Watch - Ps. 23

Psalm 23 is most likely written after David was anointed to be king while he was still tending to his father's flock. David is next in line to be king & instead of being "groomed" for the job by another king in the palace he was out in the wilderness with no one else around, just a bunch of sheep. He may not have realized it at the time but he sure did realize later that he was being groomed for the job by the King of Kings! As David was sitting there watching over the flock he began to write down a metaphor about his life, his God, and God's love.

David writes that the Lord gives us all we need (vs.1); so long as we have Him we will never be found lacking! The lord gives us peace (vs.2) - in good & bad times. The Lord gives us strength and guidance (vs.3) - so we can get through anything. The Lord gives us protection and comfort (v.4) - so we can see the light through the darkest of times. The Lord gives us blessings, love and security (vs. 5-6); God pursues us & he never stops!

David knew about being a shepherd, its what he did, and he knew how much the sheep need the shepherd. David wrote about what God meant to him, but what about you? Maybe you know nothing of being a shepherd so what would you say God is to you? Is he your dad, your friend, your boss, your teacher, your coach? Whatever he is to you, the very things that David said the Lord gives us still apply today. God's love, peace, strength, comfort, blessing, ect, transcend all the way to where you are today. With him we have all we need and we will never be found lacking!

The Lord is my coach...

This morning I spent some time thinking about the way that I talk. As I was thinking of that I read a verse that really put me in check...

Ps. 34:1 - I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises.

Is it God's praises that are continually coming out of my mouth? Do my words please God? After asking myself these questions I then asked myself, am I the man that God wants me to be? I want to honor God at all times.

I've still got a lot of work to do but it begins with today; it begins with now.