Radom act of kindness....

I'm taking the day off from "A call to die", not because I don't have the will to do it, but for two reasons. One I am looking after my best friend's two kids along with my own, and while I am enjoying every second of the giggles, I am also refereeing about every 5 seconds. While trying to get through the first chapter of Mr. Nasser's day 6, I have had to stop about 20 times. The second reason is, I have something laid very heavy on my heart today. I don't know if you have ever watched Evan Almighty. But it's one of my favorites, yes it's funny, but more so than that, it focuses on changing the world, one act of random kindness at a time.

How many times have you been having a terrible day, and someone just shoots you a smile or does something so small as a kind gesture that just changes your whole mood? I can't count how many times it has happened to me. I am a firm believer in the fact that only God can change hearts, but that we can plant the seed. What if, every day, everyone made it a point to do one random act of kindness? What would our world be like? What if today, you walked into your local branch to do business, and you smiled at the teller who had just been told off by an angry customer, and talked to her like a hurting person instead of a gopher who just needs to suck it up and do her job? What if, we looked past people's appearances and saw their feelings? What if we dropped the defensive walls and truly saw who someone was? What if we decided that we wouldn't join in on the gossip? What it we decided that we would be bold and take a stand on God's principles? What if we truly stood for righteousness? What would our world be like tomorrow? What would our children's world be like?

As a mom, I try to instill in my children everyday, that you can't control what happens to you, but you have control over how you react to it. But I know as well as anyone that sometimes we all just need a little help. So this is my challenge, I don't know how many of you will do it, but I won't be checking up on you. I'm posting this in faith alone. I challenge each of you to do one act of random kindness today. Whether it's reaching out to someone you've never talked to before and telling them that God loves them, or buying someones lunch, or even just speaking kinds words to someone who needs it. God will lead you, pray about it. Then wait, because God will bless your heart for it. Who knows, you may want to do it everyday, and if that's true, then what will our world look like in a year? Then the next part of the challenge, pass it on. Encourage others to do the same, keep it going.

Jesus said in John 13:35: By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

What if the whole world, knew who we were, just by our love for other people? Christianity is not about rules, it's about love!

Day 5...EXCUSES, EXCUSES

¹⁹ Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

 ²⁰ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

 ²¹ Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

 ²² But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Matthew 8:19-22

"Our struggle with excuses is the test of our commitment to Christ."-David Nasser. For every chance we have to obey God, there are several sensible reasons to turn away. For the teacher of the law, Jesus stated that while he had wealth and comfort, he'd have to let that go it. Mr Nasser pointed out that one of the greatest examples of this, was Mother Teressa. She felt conviction to serve the poor and sick in the poorest city in India. She gave up comfort to do what God had called her to do. And because of her kindness, she was able to share the love of God with presidents and kings! The second man, who needed to bury his father, also had an excuse and a legit one at that. But Jesus was making the point, that you have to put your love for him before even the love of your own family. 

Each day we are faced with decisions, some very small and some that will affect us very deeply. Some have clear cut answers of what is right and wrong, others we go deep in prayer about. Some of our decisions affect not only us, but others as well. Will I live by example? Will I be kind to that new person or join in on the gossip ring as we try to assume who they really are? Will I follow what Jesus has commanded of me, or choose the easy way out? Should I watch movies and TV shows with skin and violence, even though I know it doesn't honor God?

Mr Nasser gave a perfect example of his own life.  One Friday night he went to the movie rental store and went to the shelves. He grabbed what was left, as it was Friday night and most everything had been gotten already, knowing that it really was not something that he should have been renting. But he shared that he though, I am a strong enough Christian to enjoy the good parts and look past the bad, so he gave the excuse and proceeded to get the movies. He took the movies up to the front and handed over his credit card. He said that as the clerk slid the video's past the metal detectors, God must have looked at his angels and said, "Watch this, David is about to get busted". For as he stepped passed the detectors, he heard "Hey David! Nasser! How you doing?!" Nasser's response was "Hey bud..." code for, who are you again?  It was one of his students. "Dave you spoke at a conference that I attended last year, I gave my life over to Christ! Hey me and some of my buddys from bible study are going to my house to watch some movies, and since there is nothing left, why don't you come? we can watch whatever you have." David's heart stopped as he reached for the movies he had picked out. As he reached, he realized, there were no other movies up on the counter but his. The student laid eyes on the movies and his face dropped. David turned to the clerk and told him, "I don't want these movies anymore". "Do you want your money back?", David replied, "No, I just don't want them."  He then went home, to sit in the dark and reflect.

As Mr. Nasser put it, this isn't about rules, and about which movies to watch. What this lesson is truly about is this: When we truly understand the sacrifice of Jesus, we won't try to see what we can get away with, we will see how much we can honor God.

Day 4...Rewards

Mr Nasser said it pretty perfectly. The past three lessons were pretty hard to swallow. Is there truly anything to make someone choose this life?

"Those who honor me I will honor"

1 Samuel 2:30

The Bible speaks of the law of reaping and sowing. Paul spoke about it.

 ⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature^[a] will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Galations 6:7-9



As Mr Nasser put it, "the law of the harvest" means that we reap what we sow, we reap more than we sow and we reap after we sow. You don't go and scatter wheat seads and expect to see corn growing the next day. A farmer knows that if you scatter wheat seed, your going to get wheat and your not going to get it for several months. Sowing and reaping is the same for us, only in sin and goodness.

As I posted yesterday, we are very self-absorbed people. When we focus on sowing success, money prestige...we might reap just that, but most people who do can't even enjoy it, because they are so worried that someone will out-do them!  For those of us who seek approval, it's like an addiction. We are so anxious about what we say, what we do, that the rolling of the eyes or the shaking of one's head could destroy us. Some of us have one goal in life and that is to be number 1. In trying to be number 1 we manipulate and diminish people. What is reaped from that is that the people closest to us, feel used and abused. All three of these examples boil down to wanting to be the center of attention. The desire for power and attention always reaps a painful, destructive harvest. The result is heartache.

Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. Jeremiah 45:5

But the good news is that by sowing good seeds, such as truth, love, forgiveness, helping others. We will reap the good harvest and recieve those things back, if not by others, by Jesus. As we grow in the love and forgiveness of Jesus, our hearts will change, we will want nothing more than for God to be honored. We won't care if we go unoticed by others. If we seek only happiness, things will always get in the way of it. If we seek to honor God, nothing will be able to stand in the way. 

Mr Nasser spoke of a man by the name of Eric Liddell, he ran in the 1924 olympics in paris. He was a Christion and believed very strongly in keeping the Sabbath day for God. When he learned that his first heat was scheduled for Sunday. He refused to race. Countless people tried to convince him to change his mind. He wouldn't. Another British runner, who had already won a medal, offered to let Eric Liddell run in his place in the 200 meter race. Liddell accepted. On that day, as Eric dug out his starting point an American runner handed him a slip of paper. On it this was written: "In the good book it says, 'He who honors me I will honor'" When the starting gun sounded, Liddell took off running, the piece of paper clinched in hand. He won! He was faced with pleasing his country or his God, and for choosing God he was rewarded. He became the sensation of his country, and what an example he set! 

God will honor us too. Sometimes we will enjoy the rewards of the harvest soon after, sometimes in eternity. But it should be known that when we honor God, no action, big or small, ever goes unoticed and will never be forgotten by our Father.

 "We will reap what we sow, more than we sow, and after we sow."-David Nasser

Day 3....RUINED!

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a

 man of unclean lips, and I live among

a people of unclean lips, and my eyes

have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Isaiah 6:5

I am going to start my post with, wow! God meant for me to read this today. Right here in this moment. I pray that my post does not step on anyones toes and that it is not read harshly. Because I will be honest. God put me through the ringer on this one.

Mr. Nasser said it perfectly, "We are incredibly self-absorbed people." All we seem to think about is our appearances, what we want, how to get what we want, when will we get what we deserve. As Mr Nasser puts it self-absorbness leads to two things cockiness and shame. If we feel like we are doing a good job, we somehow get a complex like we are above other people. If we feel like we aren't measuring up, we feel like complete failures.

In my devotion, Mr Nasser made the perfect point that as Christians, we normally focus our self-absorption on "my growth" or "my progress".  We talk about wanting to be like Jesus and instead of loving Jesus we spend all of our time comparing ourselves to others.

I love the book of Isaiah, I don't know if Ive ever shared that fact about myself. But I really do. In fact the opening verse in this devotion is one of my favorites. Because it was read to me right before I gave my own life over to Christ. See, Isaiah was a prophet. He went around telling people to stop living in sin and how if they didn't repent from their wicked ways, they would spend eternity separated from God. Then one day, God revealed himself in a vision to Isaiah.

1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” -Isaiah 6:1-5

The angels in this passage had six wings, two that covered their eyes. Because God is so Holy that the light blinds even them! And they repeat over and over "Holy, holy holy!" In front of God, His holiness swamps our petty selfishness and shatters our pride. In front of Him we are broken, helpless and hopeless-unless God himself touches us.

I wonder if my preacher will read this, because I chuckled to myself when I read the next paragraph. Mr. Nasser then talked about how we have dumbed down Jesus to our level and how we tend to treat him like a buddy, "or we call the Father 'the man upstairs". The phrase "the man upstairs" fires my preacher up! LOL! I never thought about it, until he spoke about it in a sermon one Sunday morning (Yes, Brother Mike, I was listening). To me, it wasn't a big deal, until Brother Mike made the point that when we speak of God, the Alpha, the Omega, the Creator, of complete Holiness, it is a BIG deal to dumb him down with such a cliche name. To quote Mr Nasser "Yes, Jesus calls us friends, but be sure of this: Jesus stoops from the blinding majesty of his heavenly throne in order to stand next to us and call us friends. He didn't come from the next street over. He created the entire Universe!"

When Isaiah saw God, he cried out "woe is me!" Mr Nasser made the point that Isaiah had said this phrase many times before, but never about himself. But in the presence of God, all the sudden, Isaiah realized how unclean he was and what trouble he was in. He was ruined.

See, it's like the potter and the clay, we ask God to break us and mold us again. God wants to ruin our already dead lives in order to resurrect in us real life. Again, Jesus brought us "Good news" not "Fun news", but you can't realize how good the news really is until you realize how bad off you are. And when facing God with how bad you are, there will be change, I'm not talking a little bit, I'm talking about your life being dumped upside down. As Mr Nasser put it, "Our lives will then be driven by conviction, not just convenience."

But visions don't just happen. We can prepare our hearts and position ourselves to hear what God has to say, but ultimately only God can initiate a vision. Most visions, come in a time of desperation. Isaiah's vision came in the year that King Uzziah died. A time when the country was in turmoil. God saw an opening in Isaiah's insecurity and was able to break through. Stability produces passivity, upheaval breaks us, and opens us up.

Isaiah screamed "I am ruined!" There he stood before GOD! Imagine what you would have yelled. Realizing all your impurities and having nowhere to run and hide, no way to fix it. But then God touched him.

6Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

-Isaiah 6:6-7

So what was Isaiah's response to this?



8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom

shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

9He said, “Go and tell this people:

ACTION! Isaiah took action.  As a christian, you are going to be one of three types of people when it comes to witnessing God's holiness.

1. Your going to be the person who can walk away unchanged
2. your going to be the person who it affects some
3. your going to be the person who will never be the same from it

So the question today is, what person will you be?

day 2...Hard words

"ON HEARING IT, MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES SAID, 'THIS IS A HARD TEACHING. WHO CAN ACCEPT IT?' FROM THIS TIME MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES TURNED BACK AND NO LONGER FOLLOWED HIM"

-JOHN 6:60,66

So how would you describe Jesus? How about a 'rock star'? That's how Mr. Nasser describes Him in the middle of his ministry. Did you know that when he fed the fish and loaf to the thousands that we are not talking about around 2 or 4. We are talking anywhere from 15 to 20 thousand people! Thats a big following considering the time! But if you think about it, everywhere he went the blind were seeing, lame were leaping to their feet, people of their deathbed were walking around like nothing ever happened! Of course people were amazed, wouldn't you be? But then His teachings got harder, like when he claimed to be the son of God. It was too bold a statement for some. Healing people was cool and all, but claiming diety?

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. -John 6:53

That's when the thousands dwindled. He looked to the disciples and asked them, "don't you want to leave too?" Imagine standing in their shoes, how easy is it to support someone when everyone agrees? In our day, Jesus in mid-minstry being the rock star, would be on the wheaties cereal box! Or as Mr Nasser put it, have a Nike sponsor-ship at least! But suddenly, instead of being a roadie for KISS, your suddenly looked at like a follower of a crazy person. But it was my favorite disciple, Peter who spoke first, saying this "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." And then there were 12.

Mr. Nasser makes an excellent point in the fact that Jesus didn't come bringing "fun news" but brought "good news" instead. If we expect to be entertained by the news, we will leave the minute God asks anything of us. Jesus' goal in  coming wasn't to entertain us but to bring Glory and Honor to the Father. So hard words are apart of the faith. Mr Nasser put it this way, "if you don't hear any hard words from God, it's a good sign that you aren't his child at all."

"My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,

and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

because the Lord disciplines those he loves,

and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son"

Hebrews 12:5-6



It's like the young man that came to Jesus. He was very wealthy and asked Jesus how to obtain eternal life. Jesus first told him that he must ovey all the 10 commandments, the young man knew all the commandments and said he had kept them. He then looked to Jesus looking for more. So Jesus told him to sell all his possesions and give all his wealth away to the poor. The bible states that it was then that the young man walked away very sad because he had a lot of wealth. Mr. Nasser made the point that a lot of ministers will use this to try and convince you to open your wallet, but really, the point Jesus was trying to get across was, are you willing to give it all? Or do you have idols in your life?

God will shine light on your idols in His own time, yes yours! Mine, yours, everyones! We all have idols, whether you want to admit it or not. It could be that you love your spouse more than him. You could put your job before His purposes. You could love hanging out with freinds more than spending time with Him. God wants you to be the child He intened. As Mr Nasser put it, "you joined the team are you really not going to listen to the best coach in the world?"

I know this post has been long, but if you've made it this far, I want to finish it with a quote from Mr Nasser, again I feel like I have been hit with a ton of bricks.

"Our "etertain me" culture has made us spiritually soft and emotionall mushy. We expect hings to happen simply by pusshing a button or clicking a mouse. Repenting of spiritual idolatry is hard, brutal work, and this culture has not prepared us for it. Still it is essential if we intend to walk with God. When God shows you that something besides him is occupying the center of your life, don't expect it to just melt away. It won't. Don't expect it to step down graciously. It won't. Don't expect it to come out without a fight. It won't." -David Nasser

day 1...taking up your cross

"THEN JESUS SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES, 'IF ANYONE

WOULD COME AFTER ME, HE MUST DENY HIMSELF

AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS AND FOLLOW ME.'"

-MATTHEW 16:24

So day 1 is all about taking up the cross and what that means. Have to say, Mr Nasser gave some history on the cross that even I did not know. For instance, did you know that as you walked from town to town, that they actually had men hanging on crosses outside as you entered the towns. Add that intimidation to the knowledge of how they hung you there and you slowly suffocated and the fact that it was a symbol of execution. I can only imagine the faces of the disciples as Jesus spoke those words to them. The cross is supposedly one of the most violent execution tools in history. So in modern day terms, you could kind of consider it like someone looking at you and saying, "Hey if you really love me, you would go jump in that electric chair". So imagine the looks Jesus got from that statement. But Mr Nasser made an excellent point in the fact that taking up your cross, meant total obedience to God. Completely denying yourself, to bring honor and glory to Him. But first you have to deny yourself.......

This is where the not so fun part comes in, you have to first deny your wants for God's. I know, as a christian, I should not word that as the "not so fun part". But come on, I'm trying to be honest and any honest christian will tell you that walking in the truth is not easy by any means and is definitely not without its troubles. So how do we deny ourselves?

1. deny yourself gossiping
2. deny yourself that show, that has horrible, unGodly values in it
3. deny your wants and serve someone else

and so on and so forth.....

I could rattle off a hundred specifics, but honestly its really about denying our human selfish ways and longing for God's ways. I'm not going to in anyway pretend that this is an easy task, after all as you read from yesterday's post, I tried this devotion once before and quit only a few days into it. But I feel like God doesn't need big important people to get things done. What He really wants is for a heart to say, "God, our way is not working, we need You! Here I am, send me!"

I do want to quote Mr Nasser on one thing he said, because it struck me like a ton of bricks and I couldn't say it better myself. "What is Jesus' call in this passage of scripture? It is a call to die, a call to let your selfishness starve to death because you don't feed it. If it won't starve, we have to grab our selfishness by the throat and strangle it. once again, remember we are talking spiritual, not physical issues. Because Satan is not gentle in dealing with us, we cannot be gentle in dealing with sin."

A call to die

I'm starting a new devotional book, well..., it's not new, it's actually one that Justin and I picked up about a year ago. I naively picked it up thinking this would be an "easy" devotional for Justin and I to do together.... *Insert wrong buzzer sound here*! I should have been tipped off by the title, "a call to die", got to give a round of applause to David Nasser, He knows how to put us Christians on the spot for sure. But, I think it's only healthy spiritually to be challenged to grow, otherwise we just sit stagnant in the water and we all know that is not the grand plan that God has for us. We were created for so much more! So here goes! I accept your challenge Mr Nasser! I am going to indulge into your 40 day journey. I only made it a few days when I first tried it and to be honest, my heart was not in the right place, but I'm hungry to be challenged. I am longing for something more right here and now. So God I hand this experience over to you. I want you to renew me. I pray for strength, perseverance, and humbleness as I go on this journey. Finally Father, I pray to come back changed.

Day 1 starts tomorrow.....