3/2/17 - Thusrday - John 15:15 - No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 

Nick:

A friend of God! I never would have imagined I would ever be where I am now. I use to be an enemy to God. Feeding my flesh to please my sinful nature. Filling my heart with idols and lusts not knowing that only the true and living God could fill my heart and set me free. God has made known to me the things of him. He has shown me his son and what he did for me. He has rained down from heaven spiritual blessings that I had no idea ever existed. Things that bring so much joy and peace to my life. Revelations and knowledge of him and his majesty. The miracles he has worked in my life. The circumstances he placed our family in and the mountains he moved for us to be here. The chains he has broken and bondages he has set me free from. The relationships he has redeemed. To go back even further to before I was even born. He lived a perfect life for me. He was the perfect example of a servant for me. He was a great teacher for me. He was persecuted, mocked and beaten for me. He was nailed to a cross and died a gruesome death hours later for me. He was raised to life on the 3rd day and is now seated in heaven for me. There is no friend on the face of the earth that can and ever will do any of those things for me. I owe Jesus my Life. I the most incredible part of it all is that the life he gives is better than any i could think of or imagine and on top of that there is heaven to look forward to.

Julie:
The servant master relationship is all business. They are both in business of benefiting themselves. The master uses the servant to get things done that he does not want to or cannot do. The servant uses the master to earn money or keep his life. It's a cold intimacy between the two. I can only imagine that before Christ, this is how the people of God felt. I can imagine that this is how people who are not Christians believe Christianity is today. And what is our purpose on earth? To save souls by bringing them the gospel. Why would any nonbeliever listen to someone who portrays the relationship between us and God as cold and business. I know I wouldn't. Instead, as Jesus says in this verse, we are friends. The definition of a friend is "a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection". What I've always known a friend to be is someone who does good for another without expecting anything in return. The relationship is warm ad inviting. This kind of intimacy is what I want with my King. This kind of confidence in knowing God protects me is what unbelievers want. When they see the unbreakable and uncondtional friendship between us and Jesus, they begin to put their guard down and desire the same kind of bond. And what better person to have this best friendship with other than Jesus. He is our King, our Creator, our God. He is the best of the best of what we desire in a friendship. And better than who he is, is his character. He loves me and is jealous for me. He wants me and is heartbroken when I'm not with him. He makes me feel lovely. He fills me heart like no other man or thing. He fashioned me before I was born. He knows my beginning, end, and everything inbetween and if I just walk with him as a friend, He will protect me from harm. Jesus is the best thing I have. He is the only thing I have, because when I die and leave this world, nothing else is leaving with me but Him. He is my rock and solid foundation. I am so blessed to have this charished friendship. So "pull me alittle closer, take me alittle deeper, I want to know your heart, I want to know your heart, cause your love is so much sweeter, than anything I've tasted, I want to know you more, I want to know you more"

Wednesday March 1, 2017 Matthew 20:26-28 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as ransom to many.

Nick:

One of those many is me. He made himself the least among the people and ransomed me from eternal hell. This world, including myself, has such a misconception of what it means to be great among people. The belief is that you have to be the best at everything, powerful in character, and has it all together. But in the Kingdom of God its the complete opposite. The greatest among us here on earth is the person who seems to be the least. The one who has taken the position of a servant unto the Lord. For me I can apply this to my family life. Sometimes I am guilty of lording it over my family that I am the leader of the household. I exercise my authority over my family. This is very convicting for me because this isn’t the way Jesus is calling me to be a leader, inside if my house or out. I forget sometimes the example that Jesus gave us on how to live our lives as Christians. I so easily forget the fullness of the gospel and just take out the parts that benefit myself. I forget the selflessness that the gospels brings. The service that it requires of us. My identity is that of a servant if I am to be Christ like. Philippians 2:6 “who, though he was in a form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

 

Julie:

Jesus came to this earth to be an example in our lives. He was an example of many wonderful things. One example was on being a servant. Here in Matthew, Jesus is potraying how humble we are to stay. He, being the Son of Man, served wicked people in a wicked world. Why? To be a light. And what did he say in Matthew 28:19? - "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...". We do this by following Jesus' examples. Being a light of the world does not mean being the spotlight, it means letting Jesus shine through you. This has taken me a long time to grasp, but it is begining to stick. I want to be a servant, but not at the expense of someone taking full advantage of me. But who am I to feel this way? Jesus was blameless and died a criminals death on a cross. Another example. I am to serve to death. This may mean physical death or death to self. All I know is that I am so in love with Jesus and who he was that I want to be just like him and if letting someone take full advatnage of my being a servant to them is part of it, then so be it. I will take it joyfully! I pray that this heart continues to blossom to where I do not even recognize the wickedness in others that could set me up for bitterness. I pray for complete ignorance to other people's motives and just trust that Jesus will protect me.

Tuesday February 28, 2017 Luke 17:7-10 “Will anyone of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and recline at table? Will he not rather say to him, prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, We are unworthy servants, we have only done what was our duty."

Nick:

Jesus served us unto the point of death on the cross. He did what was commanded of him. It was his duty. It was why he was born. There is also a reason why we were created and a will that god wants to walk in. There are good works that God has planned for me. Only by Gods grace am I able to walk in those good works. I am unworthy of any of these things that God is doing in my life. Going through the discipleship ministry here in Guatemala is just my duty. I know that I am in Gods will, so anything that is asked of me from my authority comes from the lord because he is sovereign. Being here and serving is just my duty. God didn’t bring me here to please myself and to be lazy. He brought me here to grow in him. To transform me into what he has created me for. To be more like Jesus. Jesus was the ultimate servant leader. So if I am being molded by god, who is sovereign over my life, I can expect to be asked to serve and know that it is just my duty. Its part of being a slave to Christ. Its just what we do ask Christians. Not only am I to serve, but I am to look for nothing in return. Wake up, do what I’m told, and love Jesus. Repeat

 

Julie:

I have no rights before God. I am undeserving of anything that He gives me. Someone said this - "We should be content with no wage from God". And it's true. God has already given us the best most undeserving gift and that is eternal life. I know I do not deserve it, but he paid the price of His son so that I can have it. I am unworthy to get any pat on the backs or encouragement when doing what is expected of me. I do not reward my son for doing what was asked of him. If I gave him candy fr brushing his teeth, not only would it be counter productive, but his motive to brush his teeth would be to get the candy instead of doing it because he is obedient in doing the right thing. And why would we as Christians settle for the table of this world when we have one being prepared for us in heaven. And how grateful should I be that I get that, the best table, because I certainly do not deserve it. I deserve a chair in hell because I am a sinner. God owes me nothing, but instead I owe Him everything. I owe him my life, no matter the cost. Because any cost is no cost when compared to what He did to save me a seat at His table in heaven. I am an unworthy servant. Any pride, arrogance, self centeredness is out the door when remembering just how small I really am and how little I can do. If I am capable of doing anything great, it is only by God that I am able, so why still would I consider myself worthy. God does not need me to complete His work. But I am so blessed and humbled to know that, although I am not capable in my own strength, He still uses me, which shows me value that I will recieve in my eternal life. God loves me and I should be content with that. He is saving my seat at the table.

2/27/17 - Monday - John 12:26 - If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Julie:
I am so happy to have read this whole section as to where I am with my walk right now. I feel like slowly God has been letting me die. And I do not say this lightly as I have actually watched this physically happen before. The body instictively fights to stay alive, and that is what I have been doing. I know I'm dying, but I'm fighting. As I die, I'm learning how useless I really am. I'm realizing how lifeless I am. No strength, no love, deserving nothing. This is me. This is me in my own will. This is me apart from God. In my own will I am the wheat grain still attached to its stalk. What good is that? But as my Creator is killing me and as I, the wheat grain, fall into the earth and die, I am becoming durable to serve for God's purpose. I'm losing my life on earth for a better life in eternally in heaven. And praise God for it because I don't want this instant gratification that the world offers, but instead forevermore love that God has for me in heaven. So while I am here on earth, dead, I will allow God to take me where He calls me and do whatever it is that he has asked me to do. Because wherever He send me, he too is there. The Word say that he has called me to be a servant of His. Serving God requires constant death to self in order to glorify Him. This is an easy concept to grasp, but hard to apply as our flesh tends to cling to motives. But the more we die to our flesh, the more we get to glorify God through serving.

2/24/17 - Friday - 1 Corinthians 12:14-15 - For the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

Julie:
I'm just trying to imagine a body where the feet are hands, the legs are hands in the palms of more hands, the ribs are fingers branching out from two hands that create the back, the heart is a fist, the eyes are hands that open and close, you get the idea. How can a fist pump blood throughout the body? Wait, where is the blood amongst this "hand body"? The only way a healthy body can function properly is if all the parts are healthy and working well. If a toe is sick and has gangrene, it can infect the whole body and kill it. The rot begins to take hold of the whole foot enabling the body from walking, soon the infection hit the blood stream and goes to the heart causing the heart to be posioned. Since the heart is too sick but continues to fight, the blood pressure drops. When the blood pressure drops too low, the limbs of the body do not get as much oxygen, thus they begin to die. So, because the toe was sick, the whole body failed. It is not only vital that all parts of the body work, but that they are well. As common trick the enemy does is tells us that because we are only a toe and not a heart or head, that we are discouraged. This leaves us feeling depressed, unworthy, abandoned, suicidal. This small nic that the enemy inflicts on us can so easily become infected. So we have the eyes to keep watch over our toe. We have the heart to sympathize for the toe. We have a head to discern how to treat the toe. The toe is a vital part of the body because without it, the body is not complete. Period! If a man who belongs to the body of Christ removes himself, the body is no longer complete. Period! There are many missing body parts to Christ's body, and that is why we are so broken. If the body where whole and all the parts were working properly, we as individual parts would not feel so incomplete.

Thursday  February 23, 2017 Ephesians 5:21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Nick:

Each one of us is belongs to the Lord. We have been bought with a price, and our lives are not our own. We have been washed with the blood of Jesus, and the life we now live, we live for Christ. Jesus submitted to the worst of sinners, to the point of death on a cross, for you and me. He was mocked, flogged and beaten but yet stayed under submission so that the will of the father would be fulfilled. He never fought back or retaliated. At any moment he could have taken the any of the lives of those who persecuted him but he didn’t. He didn’t do any of this for himself. The thirty three years he spent here on earth was for us. He resisted sin and temptation for us. He was an example for us. He prayed for us. And he died and agonizing death full of Gods wrath on a cross. These things barely scratch the surface of what he truly submitted to for us. If we can just keep these things on the forefront of our hearts and minds. If we could only look at our brothers and sisters, and see them with these thoughts of what he did for them. In respect for our Lord and King, we need to submit to our brothers. He not only bought us with a price, but them also. We can almost view it as a sort of stewardship. How do we stewards Gods people according to his word? By loving them out of reverence for him. They belong to him along with all other creation. Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

 

Julie:

Paul tells us to look carefully how we walk. He tells us to be wise and not unwise. Then he breaks down how. He tells us not to be foolish but stay in God's will. Only a foolish man thinks he can outrun God anyway. Then he tells us do not be drunk but be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then he tells us to always give thanks. I believe this is opposed to grumbling and complaining. Lastly, he tells us one another for Christ's sake. This leads into many different ways of submission. All of these ways are steps to take in walking with God. Use our days wisely because they are numbered, staying sober minded to focus on Christ, be thankful, and submit. Submission doesn't really look good amongst all these easier traits. Submission is difficult because it requires laying down for pride and humbling yourself. But God loves it! And when we do submit we are recognizing His order and the authority he put in our lives. God has placed authority in my life and to make sure I am walking carefully I must submit. And why do I have to walk carefully s a Christian? Because the enemy has laid land mines all over my path. I do not see them, but God does, so he uses my authority to keep me from stepping on a bomb and destroying my spiritual walk. I am thankful for the authority in my life because without it I would be spiritually dead again. They see my blind spots and keep me safe. Sometimes submitting to my husband is difficult. Mostly because of my flesh. But I do know without any doubt that only God has kept us together. So, because I am so thankful for Christ keeping us married, I will remember Christ by submitting to my husband.

Wednesday February 22, 2016 Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Nick:

Even though I have been freed from all things, I cannot use that opportunity to feed my flesh. I belong to Christ Jesus, and he has crucified my my flesh with its passions and desires. When I am walking in the flesh, my family and people around suffer for it. I have people who I am accountable to. He says to through love serve one another, not selfishly serve ourselves and our desires. It says in Romans 15:1 that we are OBLIGATED to bear with the failings of the weak and not please ourselves. I Corinthians 8:9 says, But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. Once I have come to the place of taming the flesh, God is commanding me that I turn from my self and serve my brothers through his love. I wasn’t freed from my sin to sit here and dwell on myself. He freed me from that as well, so that I could move past that and become a servant to all. If I keep myself free of self thoughts and walk in the spirit, I can be more aware of those opportunities that God presents for me to serve him and his people. My flesh wants things but I have all I need in Christ. Lamentations 3:25 The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.

 

Julie:

I can best explain it this way, we give Trent certain freedoms. We love him and want to see him happy and prospering and growing. But, because he is just a child, he does not know what his boundaries are yet. He is given freedom to obey it and not to abuse it. The reason he does not have total freedom is because he is too young to discern what will hurt him or get him in trouble when doing whatever he wants. He has certain tendancies to disobey the exact thing we have asked him to do. This is caused from a lack of self control. I can give him freedom to play in the courtyard, so he decides to play in the fountain of the courtyard. I gave him freedom, but out of his flesh and lack of self control, he decided to what pleased him knowing it was wrong. The same goes for us. We are children of God and he wants to see us happy and prosper and grow, but not at the expense of sinning. Once we accept Jesus as our Savior, we have been freed from eternal hell. But now we are under the yoke of Him. Total freedom, I can only imagine, is equevelant to total destruction. When you are free to love whoever you want, you are free to love someone who is married or someone too young for you. When you are free to be happy in whatever way, you can stay in a state of drunkeness or strung out. When you want something, you are free to lie cheat and steal to get it. All of this we have the freedom to do, but under Jesus' yoke we don't. We are not called to be free so we can feed our flesh, but instead to glorify Jesus. When Trent obeys, he is glorifying his parents, and when we use our freedom to obey God, we glorify Him.

2/21/17 1 Corinthians 9:22 - To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

Nick:
This is an attitude of the mind that I should live by no matter where God places me. Freed from all things by Jesus Christ but willfully becoming a servant to all so that some may be saved. Isn’t that what Jesus did? Didn’t he become a servant even to the point of death on a cross to save the world? We have been doing cultural studies in our perspectives classes and this verse really seems to apply to what we have been learning. To be able to reach people in different cultures, we have to be able to adapt to the way they view things. We have to be culturally sensitive. It doesn’t matter if I am here in Guatemala, Africa, or in the states. How is the gospel going to be able to reach someone if I’m on my high horse. If people can’t relate to me and feel comfortable with me, how will I be able to share the good news effectively. If I’m trying to reach someone and they have there guard up because they don’t feel comfortable, they will not be focused on what is being said and the message can’t penetrate. I also run the risk of offending someone or making someone feel inferior if I become weak for the weak. Jesus went through the struggles and suffering for many reasons but one of which is so that he would understand what we go through and so that he could comfort us no matter the situation. I to have gone through the suffering and struggles so that I can relate to these who need Christ. There is power in my weakness. I really believe that God gave me the skills in sales for the sake of the gospel. I learned how to adapt to other people quickly so they felt comfortable enough to hear me. I learned how to read people so that I could relate to them. I think I can apply those skills in becoming all things to all people.

Julie:
Paul is talking about adapting to who he is with in order to bring people closer to Christ. But how is being weak with others being a good leader? I think of Austin. He continues to get in the trenches with us and battle it out. He never acts too strong to pray with a brother or sister. He becomes weak so that he can get on our level and relate. He gets as low as Trent's level of weakness in order to bring him closer to Christ. This reminds me of John 13 when Jesus washes the disciples' feet. Jesus, who was sitting level at the table with them, gets on his knees sitting way below the other disciples. He humbles himself to complete weakness and washes the men's feet. But what I find so intimate about this scene is how he gets back up when he is down and "resumes his place". He came back to sitting with the disciples. He met them where they were. He could have stood over them and to make the statement that they need to wash others' feet, but he didn't. He put himself at the same level as these men and looked them in the eye. How sweet is it when Jesus does that. When I can't continue the phasod of being strong and my shell breaks. And as I'm lying in the floor like a shapeless mess, Jesus lays down with me, looks me in the eye and picks me up. Just like the adulterous woman - he didn't stand over her and tell her how awful she was, nor did he condemn her. Her got down to her level and probably again looked her in the eye before standing up and defending her. Jesus is a king in heaven yet he still lets himself be weakened. And he does this for my salvation. And just like he told the disciples', I cannot have him wash my feet and not turn around and wash others. I am called to lay down on the floor when a brother or sister of mine is down there and I need to look them in the eye and just be weak with them. And just like the story of the adulterous woman, I cannot cast stones at a brother or sister who is down. That would be prideful to think I didn't ever deserve the same punishment. Jesus is such a beautiful example of being weak with us and for us, so we too can go out and be weak with others in hopes to bring them salvation.

2/20/17 Romans 15:1  We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

 

Julie:

I would love to say that I belong to the first word of this verse "we". I am by no means strong enough or smart enough to carry someone in their weakness. The only thing I have to offer is my testimony of when I was weak and God picked me up and gave me His strength to keep going. My only contribution to helping is to give love and compassion and sometime I don't even feel like I am strong enough to do that. When I feel that, it is probably because I am trying to help or disciple from my own efforts, but Jesus is the real example, not me. It's funny because I feel like I am weak in discipling, and the purpose of this verse is to disciple the weak. The irony here is too good to not give God total credit. But "What can I say? What can I do? But offer this heart, Lord, completely to you!" Jesus is my example on how to disciple the weak, because I am the weak. And what better way to being completely compassionate with someone than to totally break with them because I too am walking in that weakness. This is what Jesus did. He ate with prostitutes and tax collectors who hated themselves. They were weak in knowing their worth. Now, Matthew's testimony of Jesus makes up a quarter of the gospel. I think Jesus' best example was seeing people's strengths when they only saw weakness. And then He pursued that! I believe that is discipleship. Jesus, I have no idea how to be strong for others, but I do believe that in Your power I can be. Please give me your strength to help in spreading your gospel.

2/17/17 Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Julie:
Someone once told me that in marriage, when judgement day comes, I will be judged on the kind of wife I am called to be. God will look over our life together and judge me on how well I submitted to Nick. God has asked me to submit to Nick as the church submits to Christ (Eph 5:24). I am called to be subject to Nick, which means I am to follow his leadership (1 Peter 3:1). Sometimes this feels absolutely impossible. Especially when he is leading me into a pit of disaster. But this same person who once told me that I was going to be judged for submitting to Nick, also told me that Nick too would have his judgement day. But he will be judged on how well he listened to God and what kind of shepherd he was for our family. With the title of being a man of God, head of household, and leader of our family, also comes the responsibility of making Godly and prayerful decisions for our family. It is very difficult to submit to Nick when he blindly walks us into quicksand that I see a mile away. But when I die, I am not going to be judged on how safe I kept our family. That's Nick's job to watch over his small flock. My role is to submit. Just like it is Trent's job to submit to us. Just like it is our job as Ignite to submit to our leaders with Pottersfield. God ordained them to be our leaders, so when we complain about them, we are really complaing about God's work in our lives. Just like when the Isrealites complained to Moses and Aaron about being hungry in the wilderness and they said "...what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord." (Ex 16:8). So next time that we complain about a decision Austin or Pastor Mike or the RA's make, we need to first remember that they will be judged for the decision, not us. Even if it has to do with something as big as changing the world or something as pointless as painting a muddy wall white. All we are to do to for our authority is submit. We must remember that they are our authority by God's decision, thus their decisions for our life are God's decisions for our life. Even if our leaders, who seek God's heart anyway, make a wrong decision for our lives, we can rest assure that God will honor us for our submission to it. What a weight lifted off of my shoulders to realize that I'm not the shepherd but the sheep. As humbling as it is though, it is the lot I was cast for now and I trust the Lord's decision in that, so I will continue to honor my leaders and husband because if judgement day comes tomorrow, I want God to say "Well done".

Thursday February 16, 2017 Colossians 3:20 Children obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Nick:

This is something Julie and I have been working on with Trent for a while now. Paul lays it out really simply on how a christian household should be structured and ordered. Sometimes these things are simple and sometimes they can seem to be very difficult to obey, for all of us. Our family was such a mess for so long, it has taken the Lord some time to get to the heart of things in our family. A personal walk and a family walk are two totally different things. The family walk with the Lord being the more stressful and difficult of the two. Three different personalities jockeying for position, and when we don’t lay ourselves down and surrender to Gods will, things get really sticky. But by staying in the word and much prayer, God has really been able to do a lot in our family since we have been here. Before coming here, Trent didn’t want to pray nor did he know how. But since we started doing family prayer in the mornings, Trent likes to take the lead in the mornings and pray for our family and the school. Trent is growing in his obedience to the Lord and it is such a blessing to see. 

 

Julie:

Trent,

I know it is difficult to obey your father and me, but when you do, it pleases the Lord. The Lord put us in your life to guide you and discipline you. This was not a mistake. He knew that we were exactly what you needed to succeed as a light amongst this world of darkness. I think I know what's best for you, but the Lord does knows what's best. I am asking the Lord daily that He help me take my hands off of you so He can do His work in you. In a way, I have to obey Him like you have to obey me. He tells me to sit and wait on Him to do His mighty work in you, and if I am impatient and do not sit still, I am being disobedient. So I do understand how difficult it is to sit still. I may not show you the grace I should, but I do have it in my heart because I am also child who doesn't listen or obey. God is my Father. With that being said, I am going to start making a better effort to obey my Father in hopes that you too will start obeying your father and mother. Because, Trent, all that we are is a vessel for God to use to teach you lessons and faith. God used Pubah to make me who I am, and God used Poppy to teach Daddy who he is. Pubah and Poppy, just like Dad and I, are not perfect though. We are only humans. So that is why it is very important that you also stay obedient in praying to God. He will always guide you the right way. It makes God very happy when you pray to Him because He loves you, but it also makes Him very happy when you listen to your parents too. This makes Him happy for a lot of reasons... 1. It is a commandment, 2. It shows Him that you have self control, which is a fruit of the spirit, 3. It puts order in our family and God loves to see order, and 4. It shows that you trust God when he chose your mom and dad. I am so blessed to just be your earthly mother, how much more blessed is God to be your Heavenly Father. Please continue obey us even when you don't want to, and watch how God blesses you with what you need. I love you ! - Mom