Ekklesia: The Called Out

the called out

Scripture:  Matthew 16:13-19      

The word “Church” is actually translated from the Greek word “Ekklesia” which means calling out or summon out.  God has and is calling us His “Church” or His body out.  Out of what? 

We are nothing like the rest of the world.  We are aliens, sojourners, just passing through but while we are here we are to impact this world.  We are to change this world for the glory of the Father through the Son.

God through His son Jesus is calling us out of a life of shame, fear, hopelessness and apathy.  The list could go on and on.  No longer is His Church, that He has given the keys to the kingdom of Heaven, to be a broken down, impotent, a decaying archaic institution that is powerless and of no influence in the world.

He is calling His church out of a life of selfishness, egotism, helplessness, weakness, and powerlessness.  How can we be a church that bombards hell… when we are full of hell? We must answer the call of our Savior’s voice as He calls us corporately and by our name.

This powerhouse called the Church is what you are a part of.  We bring life to all those that our influence reaches.

Daily Prayer:

“Father thank you that I am a part of your church.  Thank you for calling me out of the darkness and into your marvelous and wonderful light.  Help me live in such a way that others want what I have.  Give me the opportunity to share the love you have given me with those around me.”

Daily Challenge:

Each morning and evening look in the mirror and thank God (out loud) for calling you out of this world system and into His body of people who bring life to all those around them.

SPIRITUAL EXERCISE

SPIRITUAL EXERCISE

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Everybody knows that we need to exercise but most of us don’t want to do it.  We want the perfect body and perfect health but we aren’t willing to do what it takes to get it.  We have list of excuses, which aren’t really excuses but they are our justification as to why we don’t have the perfect body or good health. 

Many of us do the same thing in our spiritual life.  Actually we are less disciplined in our spiritual life than the other areas of our life.

If we were to apply the same discipline to the other areas of our life that we do in our spiritual life, we would be kick out of our homes, never have electricity, continually having car problems because we don’t maintain it and the list goes on.

Discipline is part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  To be a disciple means you are being taught and instructed in how to be like Jesus.  Discipline is a must if you are ever going to go the distance.

                                                                                                                   

You need to be a long distance runner not a spiritual sprinter.  You need to finish the race and finish strong.

What Discipline is not:

·      Discipline is not the end.

·      Discipline is the not the main thing, it simply keeps us on track to the main thing.

·      Discipline is not the focus if so then we have fallen into a religious mindset and it’s more about the doing than it is about the being.

·      Discipline is not an excuse for a rigid and boring life.  It should always be flexible and open to spontaneity and moving of the Holy Spirit.

·      Discipline is not a substitute for an intimate relationship with Jesus.

·      Discipline is not being a moralist.  Moralist are people who think they are good enough or at least they are busy trying to be good enough.

·      Discipline is not some moral code to be lived out in your own power and strength.

What Discipline is:

·      Discipline is the agent that allows us to live free in the power and presence of God.

·      Discipline is a means to a desire end.

·      Discipline is result of vision.

·      Discipline is the power to achieve the vision or dream.

·      Discipline is the pre-requisite to winning.  (No Olympian ever won a gold medal by accident)

·      Discipline is being a disciple.

Daily Prayer:

“Father, life gets a little crazy at times and I admit I’ve not be as disciplined as I should in my spiritual life.  Allow your Holy Spirit to give me the power and strength I need to do in order to grow spiritually.”

Daily Challenge:

Get up early every morning for a week and spend 30 minutes in the Word of God reading and praying for others and not yourself.

KNOW WHO YOU ARE

Know who you are

Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11-14

Believe it or not, your life is not about you.  You don’t have the right to live it the way you want to.  For most of us, that offends us to the core of our being.  And why?  Because we’ve been taught since we were babies: “It’s your life and you can live it the way you want to.”

However, that statement is far from the truth.  It’s not your life and you can’t live it the way you want to.  We were all created to serve!  We were created to worship either God or the Enemy: Satan.  You can’t stand on middle ground for there is no middle ground.  There is no DMZ (De-Militarized Zone)!

Most people in our world who are decent, nice, and kind, but don’t know Jesus as the Lord of their life, would not consider themselves to be Satan worshipers.  However, that’s exactly what you are doing when you simply live for yourself.

Selfishness is the ultimate and original Sin.  Adam and Eve fell in the Garden not because they were tempted by an apple or fruit but by the statement the serpent made, “YOU can be like God.”  What God had created to worship and have relationship with Him had now become self-conscious, and now their existence was about what they wanted and not about what their CREATOR destined for them.

It’s not about you, but it is about you.  God esteemed and prized us so much that, after the fall of Man in the Garden, He did everything that was needed to ensure that we would be brought back into a right relationship with Him.  The spiritual term for that would be ‘reconciliation’.  Reconciliation means to bring back to a right relationship.

Daily Prayer:

“Father, my life is not my own; it is Yours.  Since it is Yours, You can do whatever You want with it.  Help me not to live selfishly and focused solely on what I want, but to be open to what You want for my life.”

Daily Challenge:

For 3 days in a row, when you wake up in the morning, stop and think about what you first think about.  Then, the next 4 days, wake up and stop to think not about what you want but about what God wants for your life.

A WALK TO REMEMBER

A WALK TO REMEMBER

Scripture: Habakkuk3:3-18 (NLT)

When is the last time you thought about the amazing things God has done in your life?  Enoch in the Bible (Genesis) on a daily basis walked and talked with God.  Adam and Eve would walk and talk with God every day in “the cool of the evening.”  They had memories of times with God that were awesome.  What are your awesome memories with God?

Remember the works of God.  Begin to contemplate the awesome deeds of God.  Not just the things that He has done for you or your family, but the awesome deeds He has done throughout modern history and ancient times.

Remember who God is.  Don’t just look at His works but look at who He is.  God is amazingly compassionate beyond human understanding or comprehension.  He is patient and slow to anger.  His anger lasts for a moment, but His favor lasts for a lifetime.  He is merciful.

Take time to spend with God. 

Daily Prayer:

“Dear heavenly Father, I love You because You have loved me.  You are an amazing God and I want to spend time with You.  Help me rearrange my schedule so that I can spend more time with You.”

Daily Challenge:  Take a walk every day for a week in the evening by yourself and God.  Pour your heart out to Him, no matter what it is.  He already knows anyway. 

TOO BUSY FOR GOD?

TOO BUSY FOR GOD?

Scripture: Habakkuk 3:2

Satan, your enemy, will make sure that you get too busy to see God for who He really is.  Satan knows if you truly see God for who He really is, you will stand back and fall face down in awe of God’s amazing, astounding, and astonishing glory.

“I just don’t have the time to spend with God.  I have too many other things to do!” Time with God is not an option or choice on a multiple choice test; it is vital and necessary.  Just like the air you breathe— without it you will die!

The reason we don’t stand in authentic amazement of God is that we just don’t take the time to be with God.  Spend the time to get to know God and you will never be the same.  You will begin to think differently, act differently, respond differently, and talk differently.  Spend time with God and you’ll start acting like God.

Time is the one thing that we all have, no more or no less than anyone else.  What you do with that time will reveal where your heart is.  You will spend time with what or who you love most.  We may not actually say we are too busy for God but, by looking at where we spend our time, it will tell us what the most important things in our life are.

We can choke God’s Word with a yawn; we can hinder the time that should be spent with God by remembering we have other things to do. “I haven’t time!” Of course you have time! Take time, strangle some other interests, and make time to realize that the center of power in your life is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)

Daily Prayer:

“Dear Lord, please help me with the busyness of life.  Help me discipline myself to not get distracted by the ‘cares of this life’ and focus my ‘affections’ and attention on You and Your will for my life.”

Daily Challenge:

Every hour on the hour, stop what you are doing and take a minute or two and spend time with God.  Read a scripture, say a prayer, or just tell Him how you are feeling.

HOW TO MEZUZAH YOUR WORLD

HOW TO MEZUZAH YOUR WORLD

Scripture: Colossians 3:23

On the right side of every Jewish doorpost is nailed a small piece of parchment rolled and inserted into a wood, metal, stone, or ceramic case called a mezuzah. On the front of the parchment are lettered the twenty-two lines of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21.  The Hebrew word Shaddai, which means “almighty”, is inscribed on the back in such a way that it can be seen from the outside.

The mezuzah was a ritual code that said to everyone entering and leaving that home, “as for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.”  An everyday mezuzah ritual helps us grow our own souls by modulating the mundane into the eternal.  A mezuzah connects us to our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.

Today I would like to ask how can we mezuzah our universe.  How can the eternal connect with the temporal? 

The Christian faith is a sign language.  The true language of biblical faith is not phonetic but ideographic; meaning it is not formed with our mouths so much as with our bodies and lives.  That’s what it truly means to be a living sacrifice. 

To mezuzah one’s universe is for the world of Grace to intersect with the world of culture in such a way that grace is visible in the whole of life, historically as well as spiritually viable. (excerpt taken from Soul Salsa Leonard Sweet ©2000 Zondervan Publishing)

Daily Prayer:

“Lord, by Your grace give me the power through Your Holy Spirit to live a life that honors You and brings hope and life to others.  Help me live beyond the words I speak so that my life speaks louder than my words.”

Daily Challenge:

On your bathroom mirror, write or tape different prayers, quotes, or goals that you want to happen in your life or through your life, and every morning when you wake up and go to the bathroom remind yourself of these for one week.

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-10

When you look in a mirror what do you see?  Do you see a person full of the awesome power of God? Or a person full on regret, sorrow, hurt, pain, arrogance, etcetera?  What you see in the mirror is all in your perspective.  What are you looking through?  The only way that you will see who you are truly destined to be is you must see yourselves through the eyes of God.

Do you see yourself through your culture?

…through your family?

…through your friends?

…through your accomplishments?

…through your environment?

The only way that you will see yourself through the eyes of God is you must read and study the Word of God, the Bible.  The Bible is God’s love letter to you.  It is His road map for your life.  It will shine light on the dark places of your life.  It will illuminate and give clarity to the confusion that may exist in your life.

Allow the Word of God to faithfully reflect a true picture of who you are!

Daily Prayer:

“Lord, please help me see who I am the way You see me and not how I see myself or the rest of the world sees me.  Give me the power to be who You have called me to be, Your son/daughter with purpose and destiny.”

Daily Challenge:

If you have the guts, find a few close friends and ask them how they see you: a confident person, insecure, strong, intelligent, ditzy, etcetera.  Then go to God in prayer and ask Him who He sees you and go with what God says.

A LASTING LEGACY

A LASTING LEGACY

Scripture: Judges 2:6-12

You can’t give away what you don’t possess.
Receive Life – Give Life
The joy of receiving life is only surpassed by the joy of giving life.  You can’t pass down to your children, neighbors, family, or friends something that you don’t possess.  Do you have the “Zoe”, the God-life in you?  You can’t leave a legacy on credit.  Our government and financial hierarchy have written checks on money we don’t have.  You can’t leave a legacy of Hope, Peace, Life, and Love if you have nothing in the bank.
Got Life?  As people who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ, we should possess certain qualities and characteristics; one being that we are a people of Life.  By having life, I mean we are a people that eat from the tree of life and not from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Eating from the tree of life will always produce life no matter where you are.  Do you work in a hell-hole?  Bring life.  Is your family the family from Hell?  Bring Life.  Does your school seem like Satan has taken over?  Then Bring life!

John 10:10 (NKJV)

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Daily Prayer:

“Lord, I thank You for Your life You gave in order to bring life to me.  I pray that You will produce in me, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, Your life as I continue to eat from the tree of life.  Help me to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Daily Challenge:

Pay attention to the words that come out of your mouth when you are engaging with people.  Are they negative, positive, mean, hopeful?  Whatever they are, choose to speak life.  The next day go on a “word fast”.  Only speak when you are spoken to and see how much your life will change.

INTIMACY WITH GOD

Scripture: Psalms 63:1

Hectic American life can be devastating to having an intimate relationship with God.  So many things demand our time and energy – deadlines, appointments, TV, social media – to name just a few.  Actually... that’s not quite accurate is it?  Those things have no power over our time unless we give it to them; but the problem is we do just that.  Read the verses above again though.  Look closely for any indication that David’s thirsty soul or fainting flesh would have been satisfied with Facebook or watching a ballgame.    
            The truth is that the deep, unfulfilled longing all humans beings experience can only be filled by God.  That is the way He designed us.  Efforts to plug the hole with “stuff” only lead to stress and dissatisfaction.  As you read and feel the earnestness of his words, understand that this type of desire and abiding love was not something peculiar to David.  We not only have the opportunity to have the same intimacy with our Creator, God actually desires this type of passionate devotion.  So how does it happen? 
            If we are patient, continually waiting upon Him, pouring out our hearts to Him and listening for His voice to us, we will learn that we need no other fulfillment than God.  The more time we spend in His presence, reading and treasuring His Word, the more we will find that intimacy is growing and that His presence is becoming an ever-increasing joy.  Simply put, a lifelong quest for intimacy with God should drive the Christian's existence.

 “We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God.  He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.”  A.W. Tozer

Daily Prayer:

O God, thank you for loving me.  Thank you for allowing me to know you and have a relationship with you.  Grant my soul a stronger desire for a deeper, fuller relationship with you.  Allow me to be ever-hungry and ever-thirsty for your presence.   Give me a longing than can only be quenched by spending time with you and your Word.  I pray that you would give me profound and practical encouragement as I seek to truly delight in you. Amen.

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Daily Challenges:

×        Read Psalms 63

×        Schedule an hour within the next few days to spend just in prayer

PURPOSE & DESTINY

Scripture:     Jeremiah 29:11

Devotion:

If you are 18 or older, you have probably asked the question, “What am I here on earth for?”  Most people want to know that they have a purpose and a reason to exist.  And it is because of this lack of purpose and destiny that generations are being lost to anonymity.  God has a purpose and destiny for your life.  I know that sounds super religious, but no matter how it sounds it is true.  When we are able to hear God’s voice for our life it gives us direction and purpose.  Here are three “Don’ts” that you need to follow if you ever want to live a life of purpose and destiny the way God intended.  First, Don’t feel sorry for yourself.  If you have failed in the past, it’s okay.  It’s the past.  God has a call on your life.  Begin praying now and allow God to reveal to you what that call is.  Second, Don’t focus on your problems.  I’ve got problems, you’ve got problems, everybody has problems.  Life is riddled with problems, but that does not mean we stop living out what God has for our lives.  Most of the successful Millionaires and Billionaires through out the world had problems but kept pushing forward to what they knew was ahead of them.  Third, Don’t find a reason to stay home.  One of the ways a Captain of the Explorers Ships of the 1400’s and 1500’s would keep his crew and himself committed to a new land they had discovered was to burn the ships.  You can’t pursue God’s destiny for your life if you are always looking behind you at yesterday and the memories of the past.

Daily Prayer:

Father, I know You have a purpose and destiny for my life. Reveal that to me.  I don’t need all of it now, just what direction you want me to go.  Point me in the right direction and I am willing to follow You and go fulfill Your call on my life, no matter what that may be or entail.  I trust You!

Daily Challenge:

Read stories about the lives of some great church, government, and business leaders.  Look at what they had to go through to achieve the destiny and purpose for their life. Look at what impact they had on their churches, nations, and industries, and ask yourself what does God want for your life.