K-LOVE Radio Features – March 2012

Finding God’s Word Again

In the Old Testament, King Josiah didn’t just begin to re-read the Bible; he had to first find it. (2 Kings 22) It wasn’t misplaced; it had been discarded, exchanged for something more desirable.

Has something replaced the Word of God in your own life? Entertainment? Fun? Work? Career? Another person? Or just idleness?

Too many of us  sow the wind of distraction and reap the whirlwind of destruction. Personal preference replaces God-given purpose—passivity supersedes passion.

Do you need to reconnect with the Bible again? Somewhere along the way has it become a relic stored in a dusty attic? You know it’s important, but it’s ceased to be essential for your survival. Don’t continue to fill the numb places in your heart with cheap imitations.

There’s no substitute for God’s Word. Find it again, and live!

Your Best Chance to Change

If your fire has grown cold, let God rekindle your heart.  For “you will find [Him] when you seek [Him] with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13, NIV) We get to know God by feasting on His Word. I’ve found that life without the living passion of God’s Word is tedious and dreary at best.

If we allow the Word of God to die in our hearts, the truth will not only need restoration; it will first need resurrection. Our greatest enemy becomes that part of us that’s willing to settle for the way things are, whether it’s producing life or death.

Don’t pamper your passivity! Your opportunities for doing so are fading fast. Today may be your best chance to change—don’t let it slip by!

WORD COUNT: 126 words

Salt and Light

We’re created to be the salt and light of this earth. (Matthew 5:13–16) Salt preserves what is good, melts what is cold, and flavors what is bland.

Light eradicates darkness, shows direction, and reveals the truth. By blending into the world, adopting its values, and compromising Biblical wisdom, we misrepresent God and our life experience ends in regret. Eventually, we become exactly what we detest, living and dying in mediocrity.

If we, as Christ’s church, misrepresent Jesus, then we lose the essence of our purpose. Either we reflect the likeness of Jesus, or tarnish it and live a forgettable life. We must change, reflect our true Source, or accept the reality that we aren’t living up to our full potential.

The God of second chances awaits our decision.

Breaking the Speed Limit of Life

In 1850, the average American got 9.5 hours of sleep each night. By 1950, it had dropped to 8 hours. Now it’s between 6.5 and 7 hours per night, and it’s continuing to dwindle.

Many of us are chronically rushed, chronically late, and chronically exhausted. Americans work longer workweeks and take shorter vacations than other nationalities, yet struggle all the while. We are breaking the “speed limit of life!”

Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30, NLT)

You know you’ve found Jesus when you find His rest. Don’t settle for less. Only Jesus can give you the rest you’re looking for.

Normalcy Bias

We all have a tendency toward a normalcy bias—the mental state people settle into when facing a disaster. It causes us to underestimate the possibility that a disaster could occur and then hampers us in coping with its effects. We often interpret warnings in an overly optimistic way. We assume, because it never has happened to me, it never will happen. We are left unprepared and ultimately unhinged!

Are you suffering from a normalcy bias? Do you believe the need and urgency in your own life is overstated? Perhaps that’s your normalcy bias! It says, “I believe I’m basically okay, because I can’t face not being okay!”

The wonderful thing about knowing Jesus is that I don’t have to live an illusion: He actually helped me the most when I finally admitted I wasn’t OK.

Believing the Worst

Should we believe for the best, or prepare for the worst? Both!

What if government officials refused to look at worse case scenarios? If they merely encouraged the public with positive statements, but never seriously faced real issues and sought for solutions to our problems.

What if they said, “We need to believe for the best!” “Things could always be worse!”

That’s the last thing I’d want to hear them saying. I want them to be up to their eyeballs planning for worst-case scenarios!

So, what’s my point? Spend your life believing that God’s bigger then any worst-case scenario you could EVER face. The Bible says, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2Corinthians 9:8, ESV)

Never Again

Throughout history, people have consistently underestimated their problems until it’s too late.

During World War II, the actual danger Jewish people were facing in Nazi-occupied Europe was continually minimized… Whenever the gross mistreatment of Jews was reported, many refused to believe it. When rumors circulated of death camps, they dismissed them as too outrageous to believe. Who could do such unspeakable things? They were unable to believe it was actually happening.

Thus the present Jewish Defense League’s motto: “Never again!” Never again will we be blind-sided by an unthinkable reality!

Have you been rescued by God’s grace but find yourself starting to ignore the warning signs in your own life? Can I encourage you… don’t ignore what God is saying to you…

Never again give in to the things of this fallen world.

Truly Safe

Unless the church in America changes quickly, we may soon find empty buildings standing as reminders of greater days when God once had His way.

Unless we pray for, love, reach out to, teach and train the next generation of young people, there may not be a new generation of whole-hearted followers of Jesus in America.

Unless we recognize the need to fall on our faces before a holy God and repent of our compromise and coldness of heart, we will miss our last best opportunity to see God once again transform families, churches and our nation.

God’s calling us! Do you sense it? He’s drawing us into a deeper place than we’ve ever been before. Respond to His voice and begin to walk confidently in your future with Him.

No Victims in Heaven

There are no victims in Heaven, only celebrating saints rejoicing in the price Jesus paid to purchase their salvation. If we’re not filled with gratitude for what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross, eternity in Heaven won’t change that. Our gratitude begins on Earth, and is a direct indication of our salvation.

Jesus made Himself a victim so we could be victors, but He will never force us to be grateful. He will never trick us into accepting His identity and destiny for our lives. I’ve heard it said, “The person who loves you the most is the one who tells you what you don’t want to hear.” So, please hear this: don’t live your life as a victim. Let Jesus make you the victor He created you to be.

Distorting Reality

We live in an upside down world. Our society distorts reality calling right “wrong” and wrong “right”; good “evil” and evil “good”; truth “lies” and lies “truth”, while treating lust as love, and love as hate.

When I was an atheist, I chose to believe unreality for seven years, but when I surrendered my life to Jesus, I began to believe the truth and stopped living a lie.

It’s always our choice in life: medicate the symptoms or eradicate the root. The root in each of our lives is sin. And the only cure is the God who was willing to die for our sins. His name is Jesus.

“This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’–and I am the worst of them all.” (1Timothy 1:15, NLT)

Feeling Again

I’ve spent the last 13 years meeting weekly with young men and women who beg me to tell them the truth more aggressively—to take the gloves off—to stop sugar-coating it.

What they’re saying is, “I’m numb—disconnected from my emotions. Please! Help me feel again!”

And while I strive to use words as scalpels and not swords—to unpack pain without damaging spirits, there’s great danger in soliciting someone else to uncover your destiny. Only one Person can help you become who you’re created to be, and that’s our all-powerful God and Creator.

“God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.” (2Peter 1:3, NLT) Look to Jesus to show you who you really are. For only He knows. “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all of your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13, NKJV)

4D

On Earth, the rage is three-dimensional – 3D. Even the three physical dimensions consist of width, length, and height. Yet, the Bible speaks of God’s love in terms of four dimensions: “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.” (Ephesians 3:18) It sounds like deep is the fourth dimension! With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we’re now fully immersed in the age of deep calling to deep. Since God’s always deep, to commune with Him, we must go deep as well.

In theaters, it will cost a few dollars more to see movies in 3D. In the Spirit realm, it will cost everything to establish a focused relationship with our Creator—to see our own lives as God intended—in 4D.