This is, for me, really gets me thinking. Wow…

Persecution in India: Francis’ Response from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.

Persecution in India: Unedited Footage from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.

In the first video, Francis says, “It made me really sick to think of people that may lift me up because I have a gift of communication or some other Christian who has an ability to sing or play an instrument, and how we lift these people up as our hero’s or great writers or… When these are the ones that.. man their lives look like Christ, and..  See when we make a popular author or speaker or hero then it’s easy to go ‘Oh yeah, I wanna become like him’ but then when we look at these martyrs and these people who have really died for the Gospel, if we lift them up to be hero’s, we have to constantly ask ourselves, ‘Do I wanna be that?’.

This really makes me think.  There are a few people or bands in life that I really do lift up.  Matt Chandler.  Donald Miller.  Hillsong.  Kim Walker.  These are all great people or artists, but I never think about the martyrs.  How they die all over the world every single day because they love Jesus and are walking a Gospel lifestyle.  Like, here in America, we (or at least me) are so afraid to even really talk openly about our love for Jesus.  We get scared just wondering what the world would “think” of us.  They might “stab” us in the back with their words.  They might not want to be our friend anymore… or something like those things.  But come on, really?  At least we’re not dying.  For me, I feel like I have been ashamed.  I do not want to be ashamed!  I want to love Jesus Christ with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength.  And I want my life to reflect that 100%…

Hey!  This is probably going to be a long post.. so I hope you’re ready!

So, you’re probably wondering what Ethos is.  Well, here is  what it is:

“’Ethos’ is defined as, the fundamental character of spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, and practices of a group or society; the power of a group united in purpose and expectation.”

And with that, there is here in Cambridge a ministry called Ethos Ministries.  And this is about Ethos Ministries:

“Ethos Ministries means to develop, train, and release leaders by building a foundation of who they are and what they are called to, while creatively developing effective and practical ways to accomplish their calling and getting greater vision for how they can impact culture and history.”

So anyway, I went to Ethos tonight (though I was late) and Ben (Ben being the founder and director of Ethos Ministries with his wife) began telling a story about he went to Caribou Coffee and pretended to read a book was really watching the people in there.  As he was observing the people, one person stuck out to him.  He began praying for that person praying, “God, what do you have for him?  What is his call in life?” As he was praying, it ran through his head that this guy “Is in transition right now in life” and then a scripture passage went through mind about fathers turning back to their sons and sons turning back to their fathers.  Ben went up to that person and told him what he heard.  That man broke down right there in Caribou and began sobbing.  God had spoken to that man through Ben.

With that, Ben said that God speaks to all of us (which He does) and so wanted us to practice hearing God speak to us about people.  So we did this exercise where Ben handed everyone 5 notecards and then had 4 people at a time sit in the middle of the room.  While some soft music was playing in the background, the people not in the middle of the room were to be listening and trying to hear God’s voice speak to them about something about one of the people in the center of the room.  Towards the end, Ben took all the notecards and handed them out to the people they were written out for.  I received 5 notecards.  As I was reading, I was completely shocked.  Every single one of them was accurate.  And mind you, these people do not know what I am going through right in life… walking into the desert and all.  But they all heard God speak to them about me.  The notecards I got said this:

“You have an eager, willing, and vulnerable spirit.  Your healing that is taking place is blessed by your openness.”  - This is so true.  Maybe you would have to know me personally to know how vulnerable I am.

“You feel stable, but lonely.  But God says ‘You are never alone.  I am your best friend and I’m always with you.’” – I do feel very lonely, But I know this is truth.. God telling me I am not lonely and that He is my best friend.

“I see you as a waiting knight on a horse.  You have been waiting to do something “Knight Like.”  Go off to a faraway place, maybe to get the quest, or just to stand where you are and be content with your life right now.”  - That far away place is the desert I talk about in my earlier blog posts.

“Something is hurting you.  But Love conquers (covers) all!”  - Yes, this journey of walking into the desert… it hurt very much.

“Don’t listen to the spirit of discouragement.  Arise! You are anointed for greatness.” – This is true in that I feel like this season of walking into the desert hand-in-hand with Jesus can be a great opportunity for the enemy to attack me.  But I need to fight back and not listen to his lies!

So with all that, it was really a confirmation to me that my letting go and walking into the desert really is where God is leading me.  It’s where He wants me.  And so this was also very encouraging.  I know that my God has my heart in His hands.  I know He is changing me.  Molding me.  Transforming me.  Healing me.  I know God is being glorified through all of this.  I am so happy to be able to glorify my God.  That’s what I am living for!

Hey everybody.

So I wrote a post a few posts ago titled “Letting Go”.  Well, this is going to be a continuation of that blog entry.

So, as I stated, I am walking away.  I call it walking into the desert.  The reason I call it that is because the desert is a place where there is pretty much nothing there.  So if you go into the desert with Jesus, all you got is Jesus.  Nothing else.  Also, I think the desert is a painful place.  Or can be.  For me it is.  When I walk into the desert with Jesus, He has my full attention.  And He can still show me His beauty, in the desert!

So, to be more specific I guess, I have a friend that I have been unhealthily attached to romantically.  And as I described in my “Letting Go” post, this is not good.  I know that Jesus wants to heal my heart from this.  So, I know that one thing I needed to do before beginning my journey into the desert with Jesus was to really just let go of this friend.  For me I had to go to the extreme.  I had to leave her world.  And so I did.  I have stepped completely out of her world.  And wow.. it’s very painful.  But now the process of becoming un-attached can begin and I can now walk into the desert and give my entire heart to Jesus.

So this week has been seriously painful and hard on me emotionally and spiritually.  Now that I have stepped out of my friend’s world, I need to intentionally give my heart to Jesus.  I can do what I just did (step out of someones life) and then nothing else.  But then I accomplished nothing.  I NEED to walk into the desert with God.  But again, it’s painful.  So anytime that I feel the pain in my heart, to the best of my ability I give Jesus my heart right then by saying, “Jesus, creator of all things, have my heart.  Here now, I surrender fully to You.  Change me.  Mold me.  Transform my heart.  I trust You Jesus that You are doing something in my heart.  That You are healing me.”  I also keep praying and will continue to pray the simple prayer of “Help me Jesus, You’re my only Hope!”.

So for those reading this that are going through something difficult in life right now, weather it be similar to my journey or not, praying “Help me Jesus, You’re my only Hope!” is probably not a bad idea.  Praying that constantly will help get you into the habit of turning to Jesus and surrendering to Him.

You know, it’s been on my mind a lot lately that I really want to live my life great.  I want to live my life in a way that will impact this world.  But here’s the thing, that doesn’t mean that we have to do something HUGE or something for ALL THE WORLD TO SEE.  To do something great doesn’t mean getting famous or having a lot of followers.  You can do something small and it still be great.  You can start doing something great by first deciding to not live life for yourself.

If you think about it, it seems that everyone lives life for the same thing: themselves.  I see the same thing everywhere.  We are born, grow up, get a job, get married maybe and so maybe have kids, and then die.  That’s it?  I want to live for something greater!  I want to live for something eternal!

Not very many people know about William Wilberforce.  William Wilberforce lived his life to abolish the slave trade in Great Britain.  He was not living for himself, but for something greater: the freedom for all people.  Lucky him, he actually got to see the slave trade abolished in his lifetime.  Now William did something great and yeah, it was pretty HUGE.  You’re probably thinking that you can’t do something that huge.  But remember, it’s not about how huge it is, but how much love you put into doing it.

So I encourage you to think beyond yourself.  Don’t think everyday about just what you need to do for yourself.  What can you do to be completely self-less?  What can you do that would be great?  Maybe it’s saying hi to someone that no one else says hello to.  Maybe it’s giving your neighbor a ride because they don’t have a vehicle or any other means of getting around.  Maybe it’s picking up all the trash and litter that’s on your street.

We all can do something great!

You know, there are things that we all hold on to.  Often times we hold on to them to tight.  We are then so afraid of losing them.  I believe that’s when they can take the place of God in our lives.  They become idols.  And because of this we cannot fully surrender to Jesus.  If we do not fully surrender to Jesus, then how can Jesus change our lives entirely?  We have to give everything up.  Let go.

For me right now the very thing that I am struggling with is letting go of romance.  I am 21 years old and single.  I have only had 1 girlfriend and that was only just 5 months ago.  It lasted 3 months.  I know that right now, God wants to heal my heart of wounds I have received growing up.  These wounds hurt.  And I try to numb them with temporary things.  Relationships being one of them.  And it become a selfish thing then.  I am trying to fill the whole in my heart with things that do not satisfy.  And all I care about is me.  I do not want the pain.  There is then no respect for people and their identity or value or boundaries.  They become a tool.  I do not want to be that person.

And that’s why I am walking away.  I need to let go of the attachment I have with women and walk hand-in-hand with Jesus.  Jesus then can heal my heart.  He will heal my heart.  He will transform me.  He will become my lover and romancer for all of eternity.  Then, when I am ready, He will allow me to return.  When I return, as a warrior, I can offer her all that I was created to offer her.  I will not be trying to get from her that which she cannot give me.

But this is so hard.  And painful.  It’s bearing the cross.  And the cross is a very painful place.  It’s where Jesus died.  And there is where I need to die to self.  To die to idolatrous, selfish attachment to women.

This is where I pray, “Help me Jesus, You’re my only Hope.”