Commitment to Sexual Purity

As a generation of parents, we haven’t done a very good job of living in joyful surrender to God with our sexuality…

This Thursday night, I will be leading a seminar/discussion for parents sponsored by KV Youth about living a commitment to sexual purity.

Sex is a beautiful and powerful gift from God designed and reserved for marriage.  It’s pull on us all is intense and alive with desire.  Our young men and women are the stewards of this fire and we need to show them a healthy way to surrender their sexuality to the Creator who designed sex from the beginning.

I am so humbled to be sharing about this subject in Thursday’s seminar. However, it does cause me to feel like Isaiah when he confessed his own unclean lips and that he belonged to a people of unclean lips in Isaiah 6:5.  As a generation of parents, we haven’t done a very good job of living in joyful surrender to God with our sexuality.  Often times we don’t make the connection between God’s blessing of an amazing life (including sex) and our obedience to Him. We live as if following Jesus is hard work and serious, while sex is fun and sort of just the thing we do.

There are children living with us that are counting on us to show them a better way… the way of Jesus’ kingdom.  We can do this by His grace- but it is gonna take honesty, humility and an authentic surrender to Him.

Will you fight for a new generation of young men and women? 

Will you fight for your kids?       

Ne Cede Malis

I would love it if at the end of my earthly life my children would be able to say that I didn’t yield or give up in the face of trouble or adversity…

I dug around a bit today looking for the “Lamos family motto.”

It is found on our family crest. I discovered that it is the Latin phrase “Ne Cede Malis“. The translation is “yield not to adversity“.

It’s funny how a motto like that has a way of challenging me at a deep level of my identity. I would love it if at the end of my earthly life my children would be able to say that I didn’t yield or give up in the face of trouble or adversity.

Don’t Say You Are Only…

When Jeremiah the prophet was a boy, he had a life altering encounter with God…

When Jeremiah the prophet was a boy, he had a life altering encounter with God. You can read about it in Jeremiah 1:1-19.

At one point, God tells him that he is going to speak through him to challenge leaders in powerful positions of authority. Jeremiah raises the objection that he is only a boy. The Spirit quickly confronts him says “Don’t say I am only a boy“.

The thought comes to mind that I say all kinds of things that limit what God wants to do through me. It usually sounds a lot like… “but I’m only…

Oh Creative God, teach me to fill my head with your thoughts about me and learn to echo what you say about my potential in your hands.

A Towel and Basin Revolution

If I want to change the world, I need to live every day looking for chances to serve just the way Jesus would…

I was thinking about what God ‘s plan might be to bring about change in this world.

I read that as a Jesus follower I should do all that I do in His name… to do things in the way he would do them… with the same attitude. Jesus showed his way of doing things by grabbing a towel and basin and washing his friends feet. Behavior like that could cause a revolution where I am from. If I want to change the world, I need to live every day looking for chances to serve just the way Jesus would

God, help me to see my towel and basin every day as the best gift you have given me to change the world.

Book Suggestion – You Are God’s Plan A

The main message of the book is that God has designed each of us with a unique ministry thumbprint…

You Are God's Plan AIf you are looking for a great book to remind you of what really matters, I suggest that you get a copy of “You Are God’s Plan A” by Dwight Robertson.

I read it over the summer. The main message of the book is that God has designed each of us with a unique ministry thumbprint.

Gods 2000 year old plan is to use laborers for His harvest. Great book to get reactivated in your life mission.

 

 

How Dare You Question My Love?

In ancient times, God tested His people’s love for Him.  It is recorded in Deut. 13:3 “The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

It is a pretty typical human response to feel threatened by this, unless of course we are actually passionately in love with our God!

What if the only way to avoid sin and deception is to be deeply in love with Jesus?  In reality it still is… It is only deep and real love for Jesus that will draw His people together and send us out to usher in His kingdom.

John 17:23, “So, allow Him to test us today and may it drive us closer in to His embrace.”

This Is Not about That…

Are we a good judge about whether or not our actions are selfish or selfless?

What does it mean when we say things like, “This is not about me” or “I’m really thinking about what is best for you in this…“?

Are we a good judge about whether or not our actions are selfish or selfless?

The other day I read something about a selflessness that is born out of a deep awareness of who one is and what they are supposed to do.  I found the idea very intriguing as it seems that in many of our relationships, we often misunderstand someone who is secure about those issues as arrogance.  I John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  It is actually self centeredness and pride that lead us to fear.  When you and I are completely full of God’s perfect love, we are free to fully embrace who we are and we can live securely in the life mission He has designed for us to accomplish.  We can then actually bring our best to our relationships and the mission we have been given.

What Do You Want?

God is still the God we read about in The Bible. He is also the God that we know and experience by the Holy Spirit. And He is Jesus who revealed who God really is by becoming a human being and who revealed to us how to live as human beings in a deep friendship with God…

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the question, “What does God want?

By that I mean; “What would cause Him to feel amazing today?”.  God is still the God we read about in The Bible.  He is also the God that we know and experience by the Holy Spirit.  And He is Jesus who revealed who God really is by becoming a human being and who revealed to us how to live as human beings in a deep friendship with God.  He has been calling to me and pulling me into a renewed awareness that He is with us and that he longs intensely to meet with us and lead us in ways that we can release His grace in our world.  But the secret is found in Isaiah 30:18   “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!“.

I want us to wait on Him and allow Him to be gracious toward us.  I want Him to show us what matters to Him and to seek His grace in aligning my desires and motivations with His.

What do you want?

“Holding Out on God Hanging on to Me”; Brent’s “Thirsty” Prayer…

If we turn back or grind to a halt on the path of following Jesus because of fear of any kind- than we are holding out on God…

At “Thirsty Wednesday” last night, Brent Ingersoll prayed that God would “show us a vision of our calling and grant us the courage to walk into it without fear and insecurity“.  As he poured out that prayer, I immediately felt the power of seeing myself and our congregation at Kings Valley Wesleyan Church moving in freedom and courage into all that God has called us to be and do.  Then I quickly recognized that this would truly be miraculous and would not happen without God’s grace and without Him bringing a change in me and in us as a church.

I enjoy listening to people as they talk about what God wants them to be and do.  Their dreams, struggles, successes and failures – all help me to stay in the game and to find hope for my journey. Lately a friend of mine said to me that he feels that the biggest barrier standing in the path of living out our calling is “getting over ourselves”.

He’s right!!  I’d love to experience everyday life with a strong allegiance to the rights of the kingdom of God as a higher value than my so called personal/individual “rights“.

What if we lived each day with a focus on His will being done on earth as it is in heaven?

What if I were not so sympathetic with myself and others when we hold out on God because of fear and insecurity and leave His mission unaccomplished?

What if it wasn’t considered normal amongst us any more to hang back and take our time in making the courageous sacrifices  necessary to show our world that Jesus cares and is here to rescue them no matter what they are going through or no matter what it might cost us?

Getting over myself and my wants is a heartbreaking experience sometimes… sad as I am to admit it…  But, I do believe the answer still lies in finding my contentment and fulfillment in allowing God to completely fill me with His perfect love.  I John 4:18 (NIV)

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

If we turn back or grind to a halt on the path of following Jesus because of fear of any kind- than we are holding out on God.  How can we be satisfied with that?

I am becoming increasingly discontent with myself over this issue and sometimes I even get angry about it and I am sharing here because I feel many of us are stuck and would love to break through these barriers of fear and insecurity.

A New Decade… Gulp!

There is a foundational reality that we all live in the midst of…

Acts 17:26 (NIV)
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

God knew that we would be alive in these times.  It seems from what I am reading that the coming decade is going to be very challenging and likely our paradigms are going to be shaken to the extreme.  Are you up for that?

I am praying for myself, my family and friends that we will be more aware of what really matters to God concerning our lives and have more integrity toward what He values.  If by His grace we do that, we will be ready to face the “shake ups” and dilemmas of this new decade.

Happy New Year!