THE DANGER OF DRIFTING AWAY

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1).

The world we live in is an interesting place, and if you live in a city like I do where we are surrounded by many different kinds of noise and other distractions, it is easy not to pay closer attention to the Word of God. And that is a dangerous place to be if you are a follower of Christ.

Picture the world we live in as a river with a strong current that drives us away from God towards sin, complacency, and towards self. And God call us to go against that current of self-gratification and self-absorption; He calls us for something greater than that, something greater than ourselves, to love God and to love others. So first let’s see how we can recognize if we are drifting away, below are some points I learned from Dr. Stanley and some I have learned through exploring the word of God. I recognize that these are not the only ones, so please let me know what other you might see are essential:

HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM DRIFTING AWAY

1. Your interest for the Word of God and Prayer decreases
If you call yourself a follower of Christ, but are not putting your face in the book and your knees on the ground my guess will be that you are being taken away by the current. And as Christians the issue of drifting is that we do not simply stop moving and stay where we are until we get it together and continue to go against the current, but that we continue to move, but moving the wrong direction. To drift away does not require effort; even a dead fish can do that. I heard once said that sin will take you farther away than you wanted to go, and keep you there longer that you wanted to stay, and we all know how true of a statement that is.

2. You stop sharing to people about Jesus Christ
Ask yourself, when was the last time you share to someone about Him? Or when was the last time you encouraged a fellow believer in Christ?

3. Not feeling as close to God as we used to
We do not hear the God anymore or sense His presence around us anymore. This is a dangerous place to be. God speaks to us in different ways, through the Bible, prayer, other people, circumstances, but if we keep ignoring His voice again and again our ears will grow deft and our hearts will become hard. If you hear God calling your name, respond as Samuel: “Speak Oh Lord, for your servant is listening” 1 Samuel 3:10).

4. Your desire to gather among fellow believers diminishes
Not only am I talking about going to church, which is essential in our faith walk, I know for some of us that is a box we like to check once in a while. But I am talking about intentionally gathering and having fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ daily. We are called to live in community, encouraging each other, so that none of us is hardened by sin’s deception, are we are to do so as it is still called today, meaning daily (Hebrew 3:13).

WHAT CAN I DO TO AVOID DRIFTING

1. Keep paddling
The word retirement does not exist in living the life of a Christian

2. Join efforts
Understand that the Christian faith was meant to be lived out in community. You cannot do it by yourself, believe me on this I tried it! It takes humility to understand that we need of each other and it reminds us that we are all one body with many parts, and each part is unique and essential for the body to be healthy.

3. Recognize the different currents
Stay on guard. In order to battle sin, we need to recognize our weaknesses and temptations so that we can be on alert and ready to combat/avoid those. Do not be ignorant on these, otherwise you will not know when or what hit you. It has been of great benefit for me to understand that I am not to resist sin, but to flee from it just as Moses did (Genesis 39:12).

4. Have a sure and firm Anchor
The only way we can be successful in avoiding going against the current is to have a sure and firm anchor, Jesus Christ (Hebrew 6:19). He is on our behalf.

In closing dear brother and sisters, it is important to know that we all fall short of the glory of God but that it is only by His grace that we find redemption through Jesus Christ. He is our high priest forever.

All for His glory!

GO, DO IT!!!

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again” (John 10:17).

"Many of us want Christianity on our own terms. We want to stay alive - we want the benefits of the Cross, but not the requirements of it. But whereas the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses us with all the pleasures of Heaven, it asks for something in return - our lives"—Pullinger

Check this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIc631LALz8

I have always heard it say that the price we pay to become followers of Christ is a big price to pay, which I say right on! But let me tell you, what we pay cannot even be compared to what we get back in return from our relationship with our Father.

"Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. ‘Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?’” [Matthew 16:14-16 (MSG)].

Dying to self is not something we do once and for all; instead it is something that we are to intentionally pursue daily through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In order to serve and be used by God He needs to be the 100%. I have to become a 0 on the side for Him to be ALL. Radical? Yes it is, but there is nothing more joyful for a human life than to be used by a great and merciful God and to be part of His work.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you" (John 15:12-14).

He gave his life for you and I, the least we can do is to do the same. And know that wherever He sends you He will provide for you the gas to get there, and the resources to stay there.

All for His Glory,

LIGHT THE FIRE, KEEP THE FIRE

I have been a follower of Christ since 1999, and since then my Christian life has been an ongoing process. I know this is not new news to many as this is the reality for most, if not all of us. But yesterday while attending a Christian gathering at the University of Pennsylvania something came to mind that reminded me of a critical part of my faith, the nurturing of it.

My desire is to have a personal, real, and practical relationship with God, but if my face is not in the Word daily, if my knees are not on the ground constantly in prayer, it is impossible to nurture my relationship with my Father in heaven. I had a picture in my mind of a fire, it started small but it became bigger and stronger as I continued to praise the Lord. So here is the portrait: the fire is our relationship with God and the wood feeding the fire is the Word of God, Prayer, serving others, loving others, being in community, sharing about Christ and much more. The fire (our relationship and passion for God) will grow if we throw more wood to it constantly. In the same way, like a fire, if we do not continue to feed it, it will fade away. If we fail to feed (nurture) our relationship with God I cannot tell you it will fade away, but I can tell you it will definitely not be the same as if we did.

In closing I want to be clear that I am NOT sharing this as simply a method we can use to nurture our faith, while ignoring the grace and will of God. It is impossible to please God while ignoring His Spirit in us. What I do want to share is that as followers of Christ we are to intentionally engage in the nurturing of our faith. We put our time in reading the Word, in prayer and God will do the rest. In all, “it is God who is working in you, [enabling you] both to will and to act for His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).

Burn in passion for Christ for I assure you some will come to watch you burn and will catch on fire.

Keep the fire burning in you,

All for His Glory,

So here I go...

So I never thought I would open a blog for myself, but I decided to do it last week as I want to be able to share to as many people as God allows the amazing learning experiences He has allowed me to experience in my life. I will pursue this through personal writings and through other writings I have found to be challenging and inspirational. I called them my Ebenezers, my reminders of God’s blessings.

If you are a believer in Christ I hope you find it encouraging reading what God has, and is still doing in and through the life of a man that is far from perfect. I pray that God speaks loudly to you through the writings, challenging you in your relationships with the Father.

If you do not share the faith that I have, I hope that you can read these posts with an open mind understanding that this are the writings of a man that seeks to lead by serving, using as a role-model the life story of a man that came to serve.

Please leave me comments, questions, arguments, and others as I seek to continue to learn from others.

Thank you