No Man's Land

A soldier in No Man's Land - World War I

You can see them wandering aimlessly, not really knowing which was to go. "Should I go forward?" they ask. "Or should I go back the way I came?"  And that's the problem. They're lost. And guess what. So are we.

When I first became a believer in Jesus - I mean a REAL believer - I was blessed to have someone in my life to "show me the ropes." I had someone to teach me and help me grow in my faith. Pity the one who falls down and has no one to pick them up (Ecclesiastes 4:10).

I have seen WAY too many youth group kids pray that magical sinner's prayer and then fall by the wayside later on because they didn't know what they should do with their new-found faith. They were left to die in a spiritual no-man's-land. But the question of the day is, are we actually right there with them? Have WE faded away?

When we place our faith in Christ we actually become a changed person. We're still the same person we always were but our heart gets changed. Our soul changes. Then slowly, yet deliberately, the rest of us begins to change. But that first initial "fire" can diminish.

We suddenly find ourselves with one foot in "the world" (the secular world) and the other foot in God's world (the truth). We quite honestly don't know which world we should choose. If left alone most us us would go back to the world we once knew. After all, we were comfortable there. Why not go back?

But that is precisely where we cannot go. You see, that's where death is.

One day we all will find ourselves with one foot in the boat and the other on the dock. As the boat and the dock slowly drift apart it won't be long before we must make a choice. God wants us to choose life. But if there is no one there to help us guide us, how CAN we?

Should you ever find yourself in that position, caught betwixt and between, cry out to God for help. Reach out to someone you trust. Don't try to make it on your own. You will become totally lost or worse. But if we call out for help God is faithful and He is mighty to save.

"The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." - Zephaniah 3:17

As soon as we find ourselves in the darkness, we must reach out for the light. God wishes that none would perish (2 Peter 3:9), but He knows that many will because they are too prideful to cry out. They are in no man's land.

Don't be afraid to call for help. God always hears us and, if we believe in Him, He has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). What an amazing promise! What an amazing King!

15“If you love me, keep my commands. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” - John 14:15-21

The Ballad of Bill Hubbard - Roger Waters
Mighty To Save - Hillsong United

Convicted?

In the 1981 movie Stripes, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis are asked a question by their recruiting officer. "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" Murray and Ramis looked at each other and said, "Convicted? No, never convicted." Funny - implying the were probably guilty of a felony, just never convicted of it. Have you ever been convicted? If we call ourselves a Christian we should have felt convicted at SOME point in our lives.

This past Sunday our pastor delivered a sermon out of the Book of Revelation. Most people hear the word "revelation" and immediately think of End Times events. Others don't know WHAT to think about the book since their churches don't teach out of the book. The Revelation of Jesus Christ is really an encouragement to His church. Us.

This past Sunday that "encouragement" left me feeling a little convicted. And that has made all the difference in the world this week as I began walking a little closer with Jesus.

The text that got my attention was this:

² “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; ³ and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. ⁴ Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent." - Revelation 2:2-6

Ouch.

When you first gave your life to Jesus, do you remember what it felt like? Some describe coming to faith in Christ as a "mountaintop experience". I think that's because, in many cases, it can be "downhill" from there. We tend to lose that fire we had at the beginning of our relationship with Jesus.

So, how do we regain that fire we once had? Get closer to Jesus! Here's what you can do. These things will work if you are feeling distant from God and want to be closer to Him. Do what HE did.

1. Read more. Jesus quoted scripture quite often. Do we? I try to fill my spare moments with reading the Bible. The time I used to spend on Facebook has decreased in favor of reading.
2. Serve more. God gave us each gifts. Use them specifically for Him. What are your gifts? Use them for God's glory.
3. Love more. Invest in your relationships.
4. Pray more. Prayer is how we talk to God. We speak to our earthly friends more often than we speak to God. Why is that? Because we're distant from Him.

My friends, if we have never felt convicted by God's Word, His Holy Spirit does not live in us and we are still dead. Resuscitate yourself today!

Here's one of my favorite Christmas songs but it also speaks to what each of us must have happen in our lives to become born again. Seek Him, Ask Him to restore that fire. May He be born IN you today!

I love you guys!

Be Born In Me - Francesca Battistelli

Never Convicted - Stripes

Back Paddle!!

Forty years ago my best friend Chris and I did a lot of white water canoeing in northern Wisconsin. Those were the days. Not a care in he world. The only thing we had to worry about was how to get the tent set up without being eaten alive by mosquitoes!

We always searched for the more dangerous sections of the rivers to run. I'm not sure why. Seems like kind of a stupid thing to do, looking back on it from the downhill side of 60 years of age. But that was us, young and invincible.

We got to the point where we didn't have to talk with one another when running through the rapids. Chris would pick which side of the rock to go around and I would steer the tail end of the canoe around to comply. We were a team. We watched out for each other.

There was a time when we were very confident of our abilities - OVER confident in fact. That overconfidence came to an end one spring day on a snow-melt, swollen #3 rapid in the Namekogan River.

Obviously we survived. My canoe, however, did not.

The point of my telling you that story is to ask you to never take your faith for granted. I have seen too many people profess a faith in Christ, get baptized, and then slowly fade away. They become overconfident, not only with their salvation, but with God's forgiveness of sin.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you can lose your salvation if you truly believe. I am asking the opposite. If you continue to sin after professing a faith in Christ, do you truly believe?

I'd like you to read this passage from Paul's letter to the Colossians . . .

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

"5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all." - Colossians 3:1-10

When we place our faith in Christ the old self is supposed to die. We should no longer be living like we did before we were saved. God has rules. The Bibles is full of them! And as much as we might like to change some of the rules we cannot do that. That would make US God and that is idolatry and blasphemy all rolled into one.

Back-sliding is a very real problem in the church. It happens slowly, then the next day we sin a little more. Out post-redemption life is a constant battle. We sin, we repent and we are forgiven. There is no forgiveness without repentance and the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

"4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned." - Hebrews 6:4-8

If we continue to sin after "believing" did we really believe in the first place. And if we didn't, don't we need to "believe again? And make it stick this time!!

I believe that Jesus died for our sins - past, present and future. But that does not give us license to still sin, thinking "I'm forgiven any way." No! We need to repent of all sins we commit in our walk with Jesus. If we don't we will grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).

We are Christians! We should be living like it. Living any other way is a mockery of the Cross. Don't let yourself fade away from what you once were. Live for Christ! Let Him be your every thought. Make no decisions without consulting Him in prayer. Confess all of your sins, even as you commit them. Become refined through trials and be transformed into the image of Jesus so that we can continue to learn and grow in grace, mercy and love. Beware of the slow fade and back paddle when you encounter it. We are here to shine a light, not to grow dim.

"19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent." - Revelation 3:19

Slow Fade - Casting Crowns