I Will Never

How many times have you said that statement? I will never (insert item here). Like:

I will never date this person

I will never have sex before marriage

I will never listen to this kind of music

I will never drink

I will never do drugs

I will never go to this place

I will never eat this food

I will never grow up to be my parents

I will never do that again

I will never make that mistake again

I will never jump the gun

I will never treat people badly

I will never go to a club

I will never hang with this person again

I will never talk to this person again

I will never join this group of people

Now look back at these and others that you have told yourself.  How many of them have you actually kept. How many times have you said that you will never do something, but then end up caving and doing it at some point in your life. For example, you tell yourself that you will never make the same mistake again. Ok fine, but then later on you find yourself making the exact same mistake that you said you would never do again. Well, I guess that didn't work out.

But now you might be asking the question of why didn't it work.  

"Words have power, so why didn't it work to say that I will never do this again? I kept saying it to myself so that it wouldn't happen, but it did."

Well, there is a very simple answer to this. And the answer is really simple, but we usually miss it. It is involved with one specific word in the statement of "I will never". The word.... is I.

When you say "I will never"  you are actually saying that you won't do something with your power. For example, if you say "I will never drink" then you are saying you will do everything in your power not to drink. For some things your own will power will be enough to stop you from doing it, but there are just somethings that we just can't really control. Most of the time these issues have big emotional attachments.

With the big emotional attachments we seem to not be ourselves anymore. We basically will go with the flow and will about do anything to keep that emotional attachment alive or dead. For example, if you say that you will never have sex before marriage then you are treading on rocky waters. Now yes it might be easy if you don't have a girlfriend, but what happens when you do have a girlfriend and you get into a situation that leaves both of you alone. Emotions can easily rise up and that is where the trouble usually takes place. And most of the time at that moment your will power that says that you won't have sex before marriage seems to be nothing. Then you might end up have sex before you are married.

Another example is saying that you will never drink again. A lot of people drink to get things off their mind, and if that is why you are drinking then how well do you think you will be able to stop. Especially if the event you are trying to drown out with alcohol is painful to you. Your will power will only be able to go so far until you would have to drink to make the pain go away, or the make the memory go away. Then the cycle starts all over again. And again, and again.

But how do you beat these things? How do you actually not do what you say you aren't going to do? It is actually a simple answer the these questions. Instead of going off your own will power to not do these things, go off of God's power. With God will can do all things, not alone we can do all things. So, ask God for the strength to not do something. Stop trying to fight these battles alone, and let God help you. You know that we don't have to go into battle alone against the enemy right? God is gracious enough to lend us a hand in the fight against the enemy. And the best part is that God will always be there with us. God will never leave our side in the battle against the enemy.

So stop fighting alone. Let God fight along side with you.

-KeymasterPL

Giving Your All

You are - Tenth Avenue North Lord of empty space
You breathe and then create
Before the earth was made
You are
The King of every age
Outside of time and space
The heavens speak Your name
You are
You areLord of brilliant light

You separate the night
And everything inside
You are
The One who calms the seas
And every part of me
With just a word You speak
You are
You are.

I give You all of me for all You are
Here I am
Take me apart
Take me apart
I give You all of me for all You are
Here I am
Take me apart
Take me apart

Angels bowing down
Beneath the rushing sound
A voice that thunders out
You are
The one who holds the stars
And the beating of my heart
Exalted above all
You are
You are
I give You all of me for all You are
Here I am
Take me apart
Take me apart
I give You all of me for all You are
Here I am
Take me apart
Take me apart
All I am I want to lay down at Your feet 3x
I give You all of me for all You are
Here I am
Take me apart
Take me apart
I give You all of me for all You are
Here I am
Take me apart
Take me apart 
So, how many of you are going to truly give God all of who you are? How many of you are going to give God everything that you do? How many of you would drop whatever you had to follow God? How many of you will truly let God take you apart?   No really, how many of you will truly let God take you apart? And I know many of you would just jump to say "Yeah. God really take me apart. I want you to take out everything that is not of you. Take me apart. I am giving you Lord all of me". Now really look back at the words. Are you really giving God all of you? Are you?  Now let me ask you this: Are you doing anything with what you are giving to God? If you ask God to take you apart are you doing anything with what he takes away? If God tells you that you need to fix this part of your life, or you need to get rid of this portion of your life, or you need to let this person go, or even you need to stop hanging around this person what would you do?   First instinct is to say: "Oh I would do what God tells me to do." But really how many of you do? Don't we normally sit there and tell ourselves that we actually need what we are holding on to? Don't we normally justify ourselves for whatever that God said needed fixing so that we can just go on with our lives? Now yes there are times when God has told you to do something and you do it right then and there, but really how often do you do that?   Don't you doubt yourself? Fight if that is the right answer? You really put more effort into saying that you should keep it, than give it away. Yeah it is hard to give up things, and yeah we have all been there. But what is the point of holding on to these things if God tells us to let go.    Go back to the beginning of the song now. Read the words, and listen to the song. It talks about how God is the one who created everything and just gives us an image of how powerful God is. So why fight God who created everything. Created time and space and holds the stars. I personally don't think that is someone that we should decide to tell no to.  So instead of making up excuses for holding on to the things that God has told you to let go, let those things go. Lay your life down at God's feet. Give God you all and really let God take you apart. And then act on what God did in your life and capitalize on it. Don't look back, and only look to the future God has in store for you.  -KeymasterPL 

Power

For some reason we just love power. Whatever type of power it is us, as humans, just want to have it and to be the more than anyone else. You want to rise in the ranks until you control the situation. You can't stand having someone else tell you how, or what to do. And really, if we are being truthful we do the same thing with our relationship with God.

Now you might be asking me how do we mix power in with our relationship with God? Well, it is simple. It's our own lives.

Think for a second. How many times has God asked you to do something and you decided to say "No, that is not for me" or "Nah, I think I will be fine if I stay where I am" or "I don't feel comfortable doing that" or "I am not good enough to do something like that"? I would guess a decent amount of times. Now at this point some of you are already knowing where I am going to go with this. That we want to have power over our own lives and that God should truly be the one in power. Like come on, God is never wrong. He did create you, so why should you think that you should be in control of your own lives. Yes, all that is true, and we should be doing those things, but I want to take it all in a different approch.

If you really think about it, we truly do want what God has in store for us. We have read so many stories of what God has done for people in the bible. God has provided in times of need and still does. God protected His children when they needed Him and still does. In our hearts we know that God has the best plan for us, and that we should follow all of His instructions to us. But then where does it all go wrong? Where do we hit the point that we consider our own plans compared to the one God has in store for us? Why can't we just get by the wall that makes us think that we know better and have a better grasp on our lives than God does?

I know I don't have all the answers to every single question and really I only know what I am told by God. And what I have for you all today is that one of the problems that stops us is our mind.

Our mind? How is our mind what is hindering us from doing what God wants us to do? Well, reflect for a moment. Go back to a time when God told you to do something and you decided to say "No, I'm good". Now why did you say that to God? Why did you think that you knew what was going on? Wait a second.... look back at the words: think and knew. Because we thought that we have everything in order. We like it where we are. People refer this to living in your comfort zone. You are comfortable where you are right now and with your walk with God. You are liking how everything is going. If you relationship with God is strong, or if there really isn't a relationship with God you like were you stand.

But stop thinking..... really stop thinking and listen to your heart. Because I bet you that your heart is telling you to get up. Get up and follow the path that God has set before you. It is right there, so take it. Stop thinking that you know what is going on, because that is what gets you in trouble.

Talk to God and listen what He has to say. Going back to two posts ago, it really is that easy to talk to God. There is no special hours that He will only be available. He is waiting for you to talk to Him and to stop thinking, and start going by what is in your heart. Does your heart really want you to do evil? No, your heart wants you to do what Jesus did. Because Jesus lives within your heart. He is always right there, and never lose sight of that. You are never alone, and will never go on this walk alone. Jesus is always right there to help you win the fight.

So go, Go walk the path that you were meant to walk. Go do what you were meant to do. And, never think that you know what is going on. Because we can never understand God. Even though God has, and is the same and will never change, we will still never be able to understand God fully. That is how amazing, and powerful God is. So if we can't understand, then don't try to. Don't think and go on the right path.

-KeymasterPL

Back to Basics

Sometimes it just seems that life is stuck in the same place. You try to push in to seek God with all that you have, but it just seems like you are going nowhere. You do everything that you can think of to get out of this, but nothing works. There are a few times were it seems like you finally made a break out, but then something just comes and brings you back down. You take a step forward, but then it just seems that you fell down 20 steps and now have to work your way back up. Is there anyway to get out of this place that you are in?

Well, yes there is. There are many ways to get out of this place. Prayer, fellowship, and sometimes just keep pushing until you have nothing left to push with. But there is another way to get out of this place, and it is called going back to basics. Now most of you do not get what I mean by this, since this phrase started as an inside joke with my friends, but I will do my best to explain.

What does it mean to go back to basics........ well... simply exactly what it says. You just need to go back to the basics. Go back to certain things that you used to do. Now, you do have to be careful with this and not go back to things that will push you farther down. Go back to the things that brought you up and helped you get the close relationship you had with God.

Now if you are still confused I will give you an example. Today, I went to church. But the difference was that I went to the church that I haven't been to in, well a year to almost be exact. But that isn't the part of me going back to basics. The worship was awesome and the preaching was amazing (we had a guest preacher come in today), but right before the preacher finished he wanted to worship team (the youth band was playing this week) to come back up and play a song. My friend was playing the drumset for worship earlier, but had to leave early (I'm guessing he had to go to work), which meant the worship team didn't have a drumset player. For a little context, I used to be on the worship team at this church before my family decided to go to another church about a year ago. This church is actually the main reason I learned how to play drumset. I wanted to learn so that I could join the worship team at the church I went to. The head of the worship ministry was sitting behind me and I asked if I could step in to help out the worship band. Even though I was gone for a year, she let me go up and play with the worship band (which I didn't even know the song they were playing and I hadn't even heard the song before).

Right when I sat on throne and started to play it felt just like old times. I just played, didn't care how I sounded and just was worshiping God, just like I used to do when I played with that worship band. And really, that is exactly what I needed to get me unstuck. For me, I had to go back to basics.

So now it is your turn. If you are stuck and can't get out then try to go back to something that you really felt God. Whatever it might be. If it is going to a certain place and praying, or going to a certain place and reading your bible. Maybe it is even hanging with a certain group of friends and doing a certain activity. Whatever it is go back to it, because it can get you unstuck and back on track.

Sometimes we make things way too complicated and because of this never are able to get out. But, just as the inside joke started, sometimes you just need to go back to the basics. So try it. Go Back to the Basics.

-KeymasterPL