Not A Religion

Christianity is not a religion.  It is not a religious activity to do or a check list that must be completed to get to a certain point.  Christianity is the only belief where God saves His creation, His people; there is nothing people can do to save themselves; because Christianity is not a religion.  Christianity isn’t even a good term to use, it sounds religious.  Jesus follower is much more fitting.  It is not about performing certain rituals, like reading the bible, going to church, looking a certain way when you worship, but it is a heart condition.  He doesn’t ask anything of you.  He doesn’t expect anything of you.  He just wants you to believe in Him, believe in the sacrifice He made for us to save us.  He just wants you to accept His undying, infinite love that is held out in His hands, He eagerly awaits for this from each one of His precious children.  He is long suffering.  His love for us is so strong, so unwavering and He freely gives this love even when it is not returned to Him.  He waits for each one of His children to be returned to Him, for us to know and feel this love that He has specifically and uniquely for each one of us.  He wants to be close to you.  He wants to be personally involved in every detail of your life.

No, Christianity is not a religion.  Once you get a dose, a taste of being in Gods presence you can’t help but crave more.  There is an overwhelming sense of peace and joy that leaves you wanting more, a deeper revelation.  The more you’re in His presence, the more you love Him, and the more you love Him the more you automatically, subconsciously follow Him and His ways, how He designed the world to be, how He designed us to live.  

When you set your eyes and heart on Him, all your issues seem dull in comparison to His all surpassing power.  The sinful ways, things you do that aren’t necessarily life giving, of how you act gradually become godly ways.  And we all fall short, but the amazing thing is He doesn’t ask us to measure up, but He adds to us to make the mark.  He just wants to know us.

Throughout the world Buddhists, Muslims, and other religious groups are being encountered by God; the one and only true living God.  A group of students are in Jordan in the Middle East.  They were asking the Lord where they could be used in this ‘closed to Jesus’ nation.  One of the boys got a name in His mind of a Jordan citizen, an image of a symbol, and a sick boy.  The other student knew that the marking was the sign outside of the police station.  Well, there was only one way to find out if this was from God.  They went to the police station, the first officer they went up to they asked him if that was his name.  The officer looked at them puzzled, ‘yes’.  Then they asked if his son was sick.  ‘Yes…’  The officer was freaked out at how they knew this, he would not allow them to pray for his sick son, and asked for the YWAM boys phone numbers so if something weird was going on he could report them.  By the time the officer got home his son was healed.  He called the boys, “Who are you!?”  He gave his life to Jesus.

No, Christianity is not a religion.  Have you been convinced by God?  Do you live in the reality of who He really is?  He is alive, He saves, He delivers, He heals.  And He is waiting, yearning, in eager anticipation for you to accept His gift of ultimate life and love.


I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
John 10:10-11

Your Hearts Desire

Dreams.  What are your dreams that you have or had for your life?  Dreams have power.  It’s not necessarily about your dream but what He has instilled in you.  He is shaping us right now to who we are to become.  You have a birthright to become all that He intended for you.  God has made you to be an original, not a copy.  He instilled dreams and deposited a specific path for each one of us before we were born.  We don’t need to be conditioned by the status quo.  We don’t need to be shaped by the cultural paradigm we live in.  His calling for your life is original because He is original.  Even in scripture He shows this.  Jesus healed blind men throughout his life.  He didn’t always do it the same way.  Once he touched the mans eyes, once he spoke, once he used mud and once he spat.  Don’t expect that you know exactly the equation of how He works.  This is why you don’t need to be molded to fit in, like a copy of the world.  He can’t wait for you to step into your true life.  And the best part is it is never too late to do so.  He is a God of resurrection. 

This week our speaker, Edwin Fillies, is speaking on dreams.  The most profound truth that hit me was: The greatest waste of natural resources is the amount of people who never live up to their full potential.  Everyone has dreams, but many get lost by the world telling that you can’t live up to that dream, that it can’t happen, or you must wait for it to happen.  Lies  :)  I have learned in my life that if Jesus isn’t first in place, everything will be out of place, especially your dreams.  What is the order of your priorities?

Matthew 6:33-34

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

All your dreams, desires, what you long for, what makes you you, God put those in you when He made you.  Why wouldn’t you trust that He knows the best way to fulfill those desires!  And better yet if we trust Him to fill us He gives us even more than we thought we wanted!  He doesn’t limit us with just what we think we want or what we think would make us happy.  He longs for us to step into our life He designed for us to live.  So take those dreams that you once had and resurrect them. 

1 Corinthians 2:9

…No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him

We can not even imagine the plans He has for us, that will be fulfilled, if we choose to step into it.  Nothing is too small for Him.  If you align your heart with His and your desires as His, He will use you in unimaginable ways. 

In light of these last few days I began to think about what my dreams were throughout my life.  Honestly I can’t think of any that I ever had before my culture came in and began telling me how I should be, act, live, or what I should do to be successful.  However, now my dreams are – Living a crazy, radical life for Jesus spreading His joy and love, traveling (I’ve always loved traveling), and family (I’ve always longed to have a huge family with like 10 kids).  It’s so exciting to know that I can live this life!  God doesn’t want to just give us possessions for temporary happiness.  In Him there is true joy despite any circumstance!

God’s goal for your life will be so obvious that you will not be able to miss it.  However, stepping into it is like playing hide and seek with a little kid.  The dad hides in a spot that he always does, in hopes to make it easier for his son to find him.  The child wanders around looking, in random spots, hoping to find his dad.  A little bit of time passes so the dad sticks out his arm from the hiding spot.  The son walks right by not noticing.  Then dad sticks out his leg, the child looks and squints at the leg, thinks “Is that you dad?”  but keeps on searching.  Finally the dad flings his whole body out from the hiding place and the son trips over him.  The son thinks he found his Daddy but in reality it was the Dad that found his son.  Think you are looking for God?  He already has found you; He is just waiting for you to see the parts of Him that are there.

Father Heart of God

We have had some incredible speakers so far.  Speakers that truly brought the truth of God and didn’t hold back.  This week was special because it was sooo refreshing.  Our speaker was Brian Brennt.  He is an awesome, anointed man that totally emits God with every breath he takes but he is the most funny, humorous, chill guy!  This week he showed us that Christianity isn’t uptight at all!  It is not about rules, regulations and what you can’t do.  It’s about knowing the true heart of God and His character.  It’s not about being an avid prayer warrior or how many times you have read the bible, it’s about relationship!  He longs to have relationship with you!  He longs to know you personally and for you to desire the same from Him!  In fact God cries out for this!

Almost my entire life I was searching for fulfillment, a constant search; going from activity to activity, purchase to purchase, in different types of relationships and many other meaningless pursuits, and always came out empty.  My true significance for my life came when I had revelation of Gods love for me; and how perfect and boundless His love is. 

God is love.  That is the message of the bible in one word.  Love.

Ephesians 3:16-19

I pray that out of his glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

His love is so unfailing, inexhaustible, completely dependable, never falls short, that our human minds can not even fathom the idea.  There is nothing that we have ever done or could do that would lessen His love for us, His love is unconditional, the highest form of love.  No relationship we have ever had on earth can compare.  Beyond knowledge.    Reading this verse in faith you can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of joy!  The creator of the universe loves you, personally, uniquely, and knows every hair on your head.  He created you, as a one and only, planned your birth from the beginning of time, the exact moment in history of when you should walk on the earth.  Our tiny mortal selves can’t wrap our minds around it!  Humans use what, 10% of our brains?  We don’t even know what we don’t know and yet we are so confident about what we think we know!

Jeremiah 31:3

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.

Throughout my entire life I felt the draw of His love.  When I was a tiny girl I knew in my heart that there had to be more significance to life than just what we can see with our physical eyes.  Today I recognize that He was wooing me, alluring me towards Him since I was a child.  Gently drawing me to Him, waiting for me to choose Him.  I just never knew how to step into it or what to do.  It took hardships and heartache for me to get to a point in my life where I fully surrendered and said I can’t do this myself.  Now that I truly understand the Father heart of God and His love for me, there is nothing that can happen in this life that will set me back.  I can rest in the truth of His love for me.  His love is forever and forever is an awfully long time. 

Romans 8:38-39

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He Came to Set You Free

God designed you specifically with a purpose for your life; for you to have a great sense of fulfillment as we go about living.  However, there are so many hardships and negativity in this world that deter us away from even beginning to fulfill our purpose that He made us for.  Instead of walking out His original design for our lives we begin to live a life of barely surviving and coping with our hardships.  Our personalities and who we are begin to develop due to our circumstances; hiding and shielding our hearts and our true selves rather than finding our identity in Jesus.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Sad, lonely, unworthy, useless, angry, bitterness...  These feelings are not of God.  God promises a bright future and hope if you chose it.  He desires for you to feel complete joy and happiness and you don’t have to do a single thing except receive it.  He is not a God of force; and He gave us free will to choose which path to walk out.  If we chose to live our way He allows this but loves us throughout it all, hoping that we would turn and begin to live the true path that He designed us for. 

Psalms 20:4 May he grant you according to your heart’s desire, And fulfill all your purpose.

His promises are for a bright future and hope, fulfillment of all our desires, to have a sense of purpose and completeness with life.  Wow.  What a great God we have!  Through Jesus we can gain a complete sense of purpose for life, because He is life, He designed our lives even before we were born.  He chose the specific time in history for each one of use to be created and to fulfill a purpose.  Many can’t even comprehend this because they have been molded by the pain they have experienced in the world and become desensitized to anything that has to do with God.  Before we can truly gain the abundant blessings that God is just waiting to pour out on us, we must be set free.  Free from bondage.  Bondage or a stronghold is a sense of slavery, whether it is a mental or physical state of being restrained, tied up, or chained down.  There may be a strong hold on your life that is determining the way you live.  Is there a gap between the person who you desire to be and what you are currently living out?  Is how you are living not bringing you satisfaction?  Something is holding you back from experiencing the fullness of life that you desire.  Fear of man, passivity, rejection, unforgiveness, unbelief, insecurity, living for yourself.  These are all examples of chains that can tie every person down.  It begins as thoughts of yourself based on pain and circumstances in your life – I can’t do it, I’m not good enough, beautiful enough etc.  You begin to agree with these negative thoughts and ideas.  It is engraved into a persons head and they begin making decisions, actions, and base value upon themselves through this.  Soon this becomes a lifestyle and bondage.  Some may not even recognize they have bondage and are blind to it, they truly are trapped in a repetitious cycle.  Most live their lives in a way due to a response of pain that they have endured until hey are completely set free and healed form that pain.  These negative thoughts of ourselves are out of alignment with God’s truth of who He created us to be.  Our Father wants to set us free from these chains; He wants to break you free of what is holding you back from living the true life of what you were created for!

Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.

It’s not about just changing our behavior but changing our hearts and our minds, aligning how we feel about ourselves and the world with how God sees it.  He gave you an original design for your life and longs and cries out for you to step into it.  Begin the journey of becoming the person you were created to be.  Allow God to open up your heart so that He can clean it, restore it, mend it, and put it back together.  Then may you walk in this new way, His way, with a new heart. 

Humans are a creature of habit, when we get in a pattern and routine, it feels comfortable so we don’t want to change.  In fact we are such creatures of habit that we even continue in a bad habit, no matter how painful it may be, until the habit becomes more painful than the pain that will come from breaking free of the habit.  Only then will we change the habit.  Don’t waste time until you get to that breaking point.  What if we changed all our habits to good habits so we never had to change our habits again because they were all good! And what if our habits brought joy, life to ourselves and others, and not a deep pit in our stomach, knowing we shouldn’t be doing it and always planning on changing later.  We would never have to feel the pain again of trying to change a bad habit!  And oh man is it hard to change a habit or view point of yourself when you have walked in it for years.  Take a step out of that bondage and start now.  Be willing to be healed, desperate for change, desperate for fulfillment, desperate for God.  He will heal you.

Philippians 3:12-14

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

He sees us as Holy.  We were made to be Holy.  He calls us to be holy.  He calls us to bring a revelation of heaven on earth and to press on to be restored to live out fully how He designed us to be.

Even the apostle Paul admits that he knows he has not reached a point of true understanding and changing behaviors; but he knows the truth that comes with Jesus.  He can set you free; with His strength you can change your bad habits to good.  And once you conquer that battle and step out of what you know to not be good, you will grow even closer to Him. With that, He can begin to fill you up with immeasurable pleasure, joy, and contentment.  It is not easy to step out of bondage, in fact you need to strain ahead and do not look back.  Keep your eyes forward.  But what pleasure our God brings: contentment with life.  That is something not many find, but it is what He has to offer you -  True contentment in the depths of your heart, despite any circumstance.  What would be a reason to not accept this astounding offer of Love.  

Esteeming Others

On campus there is a prayer room.  This isn’t just any normal prayer room.  It is a 24/7 worship room with music always playing and there are times when band sets come and play live for hours on end.  Although the entire campus is a place of rest, peace, and pure joy the prayer room has an essence of its own.  A place of complete abandonment to God.  You can pray, you can sing and worship, you can read, bring your computer, work on homework, blogs :), or you can just sit, looking out the windows which frame the extravagant and boundless Pacific Ocean.

We have very full days on campus, between class, work duty, assignments, and scheduled activities.  But as I walk from one class to another and one task to the next, I am surrounded with smiles, praise, greetings of blessings, and people who sincerely care about my feelings and getting to know me.  True, authentic community; how God always intended us to live.  Why can’t this environment spread to outside the campus walls?  Out into the world?

The world is full of standards, temptations, and influences and it all depends on what culture you are born into.  But just imagine a world absent of these factors.  A world absent of comparison.  Whether it is comparison of how you look, what you wear, what kind of car you drive, how financially stable you are.  Comparing yourself to others saying “well I may not be as beautiful or rich as that person, but at least I beat this person over here - so I must be doing pretty well.”  I absolutely use to compare myself in all these ways to other people, girls especially, not with an angry heart but just as a way to see how I am doing to the “standard”.  As I began to find my identity in who God made me to be, all these insecurities about all the little issues of life began to vanish.  When it comes down to it, they are truly meaningless.  I began to view each person I met, not with an attitude of comparison but an attitude of loving the gifts God gave them as the unique person He created them to be.  What a joy to celebrate the differences we all have and to give others compliments and life giving talk that makes the other person bloom with happiness.  This is contagious you know.  The affirmation you get from positive talk can't help but be passed onto the next person.  If this was what the world practiced, low-self esteem and negativity toward one another would be unheard of!

Self esteem is a weird thing.  The view we have of ourselves is greatly influenced by what others think about us and say to us and what our cultures says we should look and act like.  If we receive negative affirmation, or don’t meet the “standard”, even in the smallest way, we begin to carry a low self esteem.  We want others to like us, we want to fit it, we can’t just change who we are.  What if every person lived a life of esteeming others; uplifting one another.  How loved would each one of us feel!  Now this would be a radical transformation in the world.  To esteem means to set high value on.  Don't you want to feel of high value to others?  

God has put it on my heart that I should challenge myself to pray for someone each day, whether it is a total stranger or my best friend.  And this isn’t just behind the scenes praying, but out loud and face to face.  The thought of this scares me still.  But there is power in prayer, especially when you are praying His word.  The day that I felt this feeling I shared it with my girlfriend, and school leader, Vanessa.  She encouraged me to look for God sent opportunities.  I left the café where we met and went to my room.  My roommate was on her bed looking somber.  She is from South Korea and is a little difficult to understand at times but her English is amazing for only being in the U.S. for 4 months.  She explained to me that she was so sad because she felt like she didn’t spend enough time with her mother or do enough for her family before she came to America.  A week before this, she expressed to me that she really wanted to spend more time with me, which I apparently subconsciously disregarded as I’ve been spending majority of my time with the girls that speak fluent English.  All of a sudden I found myself in her shoes: sad, lonely, and difficult to communicate with majority of the people on the campus.  Wow, I’ve been blind to this…  Then I realized - Divine Appointment.  Immediately I asked if I could pray for her.  I went over, sat on her bed next to her, put my arm around her and began pouring out through prayer exactly how God felt about her and what an amazing girl she is.  She buried her head into my shoulder as she wept while I was praying to our Father. 

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

The words that we speak, are they life or death?  Do they give us hope or discouragement?