One With Him

Being a Student 1 Mark 4:10-11 – But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. And He said to them, “to you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables. Here we see many things happening. I see that the Lord teaches, the student ask, and the Lord brings some understanding. The one of the few things that really sticks out to me in this scripture, is when it says, “those around Him.” The people and disciples were around Jesus. They were listening, attentive and ready to be poured into. It so important to just be around in ministry. I remember my overseer telling me an illustration of this. He said that it doesn’t matter how long you had worked with Him, if a new guy comes in and is around and available, unlike you, he would choose the guy to receive the benefits. Why? Because, he wants the guy who is going to work the hardest and who is looking for the work.  The next

Discipline 5 1 Timothy 4:7 – But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. I firmly believe, now more than ever, that the Lord is going to come back soon. If you take a look at what’s going on in this world, all the natural disasters, attacks breaking out, political conflicts, biblical prophesies coming to pass and so on. It’s seriously getting more and more corrupted in this world. That should scare us into taking every opportunity to spread the love and gospel to as many people as possible.  Friends, listen to me, you don’t want to be the reason why one person doesn’t hear what Jesus did for them. You never know if that day is their last day on this earth. I urge you to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to fill you afresh today and to bring divine appointments. I don’t want to be the reason why one person goes to hell because I was to scare to be bold. For God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound min

Discipline 4 2 Samuel 11:11-13 – And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and the lord Joab and servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house and eat, drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now then David called for Him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at the evening he went to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. When I am reading this, I put myself in Uriah’s position. He gets called home randomly by the king and so now, David is telling him to go home to his wife and rest. If I were Uriah, I would have thought something sketchy was going on. But in the midst of this small sections, you can really tell the heart of Uriah. He is a man of loyalty an

Discipline 3 Mark 1:35 – Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. When I read this a question comes to mind, why does Jesus rise early to pray? Was is for the purpose of just the quietness in the morning, when no one else was awake? Or what? After asking around, I came to the conclusion that we need to get in the routine of starting off our day in the Lord’s presence. And, we do that by praying and being in the word. Jesus set the ultimate example before us. Waking up early takes discipline though. If you think about it, Jesus was a busy guy. He traveled everywhere and was constantly surrounded by people. So if we think that we are too tired to wake up in the morning, that wasn’t an excuse for Jesus, so it shouldn’t be an excuse for you are me either. Lately, waking up early has been super hard for me. I feel like I have been constantly going and running on ‘E’, if you know what I mean. Our

Discipline 2 1 Corinthians 9:24 -27 – Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one received the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. This is a really cool verse for me. It’s a really good reminder of what we are running for. We are running for our crown of glory that the Father bestows upon us. We don’t run for this world. We don’t run for the air here. It’s crazy. It’s through discipline that we obtain the prize. Think of it through the analogy of a cross country race. You have to prepare for the race by training. Training takes a lot of time, effort, and preparation. You know what they say, training takes a lot of blood, sweat

Discipline 1 1 Timothy 4:8 – For bodily exercises profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that is now and of which is to come. Physical works will only get you so far. But the works done inside you, through the Spirit, will not only help in the physical world but also gain you the kingdom of heaven. The bible talks a lot about how works can’t get you to heaven. It’s through Jesus that we have the promise of everlasting life. So we can do all we want to here on earth but that will hardly put a dent in our earning us eternal life. It’s our relationship with God the Father that we will be the ambassadors of his kingdom. Don’t get me wrong here though, Jesus exhorted us to do the work of God here on earth. He asked us to go and make disciples. And serve others in the process. But, all those things mean nothing if God isn’t a part of it. Jesus Himself come to this world not to be served but to serve. He did it though His Father who stren

                                 Sacrifice 5 Philippians 3:12-13 – Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. Sometimes we forget how much we are really holding onto. Whether it is from our past or if it’s a sin that is/has entangled us, those things can make it hard to move forward. But we have to remember that Christ has already defeated the grave. And, it’s though that that we become the overcomer by the power that lives within us. It’s through that power from the Holy Spirit that are able to leave the past behind us and take a step forward in our new life though Him. And I know I keep putting the word ‘through’ in there a lot. It’s sounding super repetitive. BUT, it’s only THROUGH Christ that we prevail.

Sacrifice 4 Philippians 3:11 – if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. One thing that really sticks out here in this verse was the part that says, “By any means.” By any means, I shall attain Christ. It’s very challenging statement. Makes me think of how far I would go to achieve true salvation. You know? By Jesus dying on the cross, the prize he had to pay in order for me to live in the light was crazy. Since He did that for me, how far will I go to achieve the ‘by any means’ standard. If I am honest, I would love to say that I would give it all at any cost but that would be a lie. It’s hard for me to give a measly little French fry away, much less my life away. As human nature, we believe that we are entitled to things. And it defiantly goes against everything in our nature to surrender our rights away. But that’s what God calls us to do. He calls us to follow the example of what He has been set before us. And that’s hard. But by any means, through Ch

Sacrifice 3 Philippians 3:10 – that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death This has been my prayer all along here in Ignite. That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. I want to know God. Actually know Him. I want to know God in every way you could possibly imagine. There is this verse in the bible that say something along the lines of knowing where to go just by the direction of His eyes. I want to know where to go just by the direction the Lord look and he doesn’t even need to say anything for me to understand. I want to know the power of His resurrection. My miniscule mind can barely comprehend even a fraction of what Jesus did for me on the cross. But all of these are just words, I can want something all day, but in reality it’s the action you take that will allow you to get the prize. I NEED to constantly be in fellowship with Him. I need to understand that I am nothing and He is everyth

Sacrifice 2 Philippians 3:9 – and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is of faith through Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; When I read this the first thing that came to my mind was, we are only found in Him. We only have righteousness because of the free gift God has given us. God enables us to have faith. Faith apart from Him is meaningless. So often times we can faith in other things or people. Like a boyfriend, or family. We can run to our social media, pleasures of the world, money, and basically anything that you can put your faith in other than Christ. My point in saying all of this, is that so often times we miss the point. We miss that it’s only through and by Christ that we can be satisfied. The world has nothing to offer us. But, the good Father has called us to righteousness. All He asks for us in return, is to have faith and know that He provides everything that we need. Don’t be afraid to step ou

Sacrifice 1 Philippians 3:8 - Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them rubbish that I might gain Christ. This is a very challenging verse for me. Why? Because it challenges me to not put things before the Lord. When Paul says “ I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,” To me that implies that I need remember that God is in control of every situation, whether good or bad. He continues on by saying basically that he won’t allow the things which he has lost to hinder his race. He will be willing say, that if he has to lose everything, then so be it. As long as in the end, he gains Christ. How many of us can say that about our own life? How many of us can say that we would be willing to give up/lose your house, family, job, and etc.? I can tell you that being here in the Ignite program, I have had to give up a l

Servant 4 John 15:15 – No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. I think it’s cool that this verse tells us that we have a direct connection with the Father. I am also in love with the fact that the Lord calls us His friend. That’s just so personal and enduring. I am so unworthy to even be on this world much less be called a friend. What’s even crazier is that He says He makes Himself known to us. He uses the Holy Spirit to communicate to our beings. When I think of things being made known to me, I think of God revealing His character to us. He revels what he is feeling, words of wisdom, what he’s passionate about and what not. The day my classmates climbed the volcano ‘Agua,’ and I stayed home. And I was quite sad about it honestly, I really wanted to go but the Lord held me back. Looking back on it now, I realize that He wanted me to

Servant 3 Matthew 20:26-28 – Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give Him life a ransom for many.  I can’t tell you how much I love this passage. I remember watching this show and it had the illustration of a dirty kid sitting all the way at the end of a seemingly endless table. But, the boy sitting there, hears the Lord called Him to sit at the right hand seat next to Him. Thinking about that, as long as we are on this earth, we are going to be at the very end of the table. Not in the way that we are far from God, but as the means of we are going to be putting others before ourselves. We are going to be serving them because that’s what the Father asks of us. The Lord came to this world not to be served, even though He rightfully deserves it, but to serve others. How good is our

Servant 3 Matthew 20:26-28 – Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give Him life a ransom for many.  I can’t tell you how much I love this passage. I remember watching this show and it had the illustration of a dirty kid sitting all the way at the end of a seemingly endless table. But, the boy sitting there, hears the Lord called Him to sit at the right hand seat next to Him. Thinking about that, as long as we are on this earth, we are going to be at the very end of the table. Not in the way that we are far from God, but as the means of we are going to be putting others before ourselves. We are going to be serving them because that’s what the Father asks of us. The Lord came to this world not to be served, even though He rightfully deserves it, but to serve others. How good is our