Walk the World

9.28.2008

Who I Am in Christ

I Am Accepted
I am God’s child. (John 1:12 I)
I am Christ’s friend. (John 15:15)
I have been justified. (Romans 5:1)
I am united with the Lord, and I am one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:17)
I have been bought with a price. I belong to God. (1 Corinthians 6:20)
I am a member of Christ’s Body. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
I am a saint. (Ephesians 1:1)
I have been adopted as God’s child. (Ephesians 1:5)
I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 2:18)
I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. (Colossians 1:14)
I am complete in Christ. (Colossians 2:10)

I Am Secure
I am free from condemnation. (Romans 8:1-2)
I am assured that all things work together for good. (Romans 8:28)
I am free from any condemning charges against me. (Romans 8:31-34)
I cannot be separated from the love of God. (Romans 8:35-39)
I have been established, anointed and sealed by God. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
I am confident that the good work God has begun in me will be perfected. (Philippians 1:6 )
I am a citizen of heaven. (Philippians 3:20)
I am hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)
I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
I can find grace and mercy in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me. (1 John 5:18)

I Am Significant
I am the salt and the light of the earth. (Matthew 5:13-14)
I am a branch of the true vine, a channel of His life. (John 15:1-5)
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit. (John 15:16)
I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)
I am God’s coworker. (1 Corinthians 3:9)
I am God’s temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realm. (Ephesians 2:6)
I am God’s workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10)
I may approach God with freedom and confidence. (Ephesians 3:12)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

(Anderson, Neil. Victory Over Darkness. pgs. 38-39.)

9.21.2008

Nicaragua Fall 2008 - New Place, Same Face

Living it up in wonderful Granada, Nicaragua with Adventures in Missions.

9.20.2008

Validation

Well, I have been in Nicaragua for a few days and have been reflecting on the past week and the significant impact that training camp has had on me. It was a time of tremendous spiritual growth, and a great opportunity for our group to build stronger relationships. Days included team prayer and quiet times after waking up, training sessions in the morning, team building challenges in the afternoon, worship and teaching at night, and team debriefing right before bed. I believe I learned more life application in the areas of pursuing God and reaching out to others in this one week than in my entire four years of college.

The most revealing and applicable moment for me was during our guys session, where we discussed our role as men on the mission field and how we are to interact with others. We talked extensively on how to treat our fellow, female teammates and how to honor them as sisters in Christ. The most profound part of the session was the concept validation and how we desperately search for it in all situations. This is an area I have struggled with for a long time. I have continually looked for validation and approval in my actions, my talents, my position of power, and my relationships with others. Our discussion made me think of how I interact with others of the opposite sex and what I am sincerely seeking in my relationships with them. Do I act out of selfish motives in the littlest things I do or say? What am I truly seeking to gain when I interact and converse with women? If I am honest, it is either to get closer physically with them, or it is to make myself feel better. My validation and affirmation needs to be found not in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm.

My validation must come from Christ alone, because finding significance in Him is the only thing that matters. Freedom only comes when I am seeking to please Him and not seeking to please myself or this world. I have to keep going back to the scriptures and remember, “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside false gods.”

So remember to give up the false idols in your own life, where you seek to find significance and self-worth. Instead, find validation in your relationship with Christ and “look to the Lord and his strength, seeking his face always.”

(Psalm 40:4)
(1 Chronicles 16:11)

9.06.2008

Honduras Summer 2008 - Los Hermanos Dicen "Adios"

My last video from Honduras. ¡Qué triste!

8.31.2008

Honduras Summer 2008 - Bailando y Cantando

My last interview with the some cute kids from Destino del Reino, which includes some awesome dancing and singing.

8.30.2008

Freedom Under Slavery

I must admit that I have struggled with loving God more than myself. I have felt a constant battle between serving my own selfish desires and pursuing God’s will. In reality, I have been a spiritual slave to one thing and one thing only: sin!

Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, we've been taken captive by sin; its consequences, its destruction, and ultimately its death. In the book of John, Jesus declares, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” We are in bondage to a sin nature that is vile, corrupt, and self-seeking. Our only hope for freedom is an alternative form of slavery.

We must become servants to a new master, the one who conquered sin by His death and resurrection - Jesus Christ. In a letter to the Corinthians, Paul states, “For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” Christ’s substitutionary death at Calvary atoned for our debt, and our acceptance of His free gift binds us to a life of servitude to Him.

Paul writes to the Romans, saying,

“Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Life offers us freedom and slavery, but neither one is mutually exclusive for they are bound together. Someone who is a slave to sin is free from a call to righteousness and holiness, however, a person that is a slave to God and under the authority of the Holy Spirit is free from sin and spiritual death.

We are all mastered by something, but the question is, “What are we slaves to?” It is simple, we are either slaves to sin or slaves to Christ. I have decided to be chained by Christ’s slavery; the only place where endless freedom can abound.

(John 8:35)
(1 Corinthians 7:22-23)
(Romans 6:19-23)