Deep-End Discipleship

 “ The Lord responded, ‘Don’t say, ‘I’m only a child.’ Where I send you, you must go; what I tell you, you must say. Don’t be afraid of them, because I am with you to rescue you,’ declares the Lord.” - Jeremiah 1:7-8 CEB - Maybe it is a conversation with your parents where you know what you want to say and you are afraid of the ramifications. Perhaps it is a problem you see around you that needs to be taken care of but you are unsure if anyone will take you seriously. Maybe it is a good friend that you know is making an awful decision that you are hesitant to really bring up for fear of messing up your friendship. We all have times in which we feel powerless but know there could be something more for us. Jeremiah was a young prophet that didn’t think he had anything to offer or anything worth saying. Instead God insisted that Jeremiah go where God sends him and speak what God tells him. And then God reassures Jeremiah that he shouldn’t even fear because G...

  “God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I'm an open book to you; even from a  distance, You know what I'm thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of Your sight. You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and You're there, then up ahead and You're there, too - Your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, to wonderful - I can't take it all in!” - Psalm 139:1-6 MSG - Have you ever struggled to understand how your parents already know what you're about to do because you haven't even said anything about it? Have you ever wondered how they know to tell you their experience before you do something new? I imagine this is how God feels with us and our life. In the passage it makes it fairly clear that God knows what we are going to do before we ever do it. This also bring up the question of why does God not stop us from doing things tha...

  “ You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you could go and produce fruit and so that your fruit could last. As a result, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.” - John 15:16 CEB -  If you could ask God just one questions, what would it be? People have pondered such a question for ages. Do we dare ask God anything at all? What should we ask God for? Or maybe it’s the complete opposite. Instead of being timid to ask, there is something burning in us that must come out. What in the deepest parts of us must we ask God for? What question echoes in us that we feel only God is qualified to answer? Often we hear the back part of this verse – whatever you ask God, God will give you. And how many times this feels the opposite of our experience. We all know what is like to shout what seems meaninglessly to God.   What we think we know about God differs from what we are experiencing. What we try to ask God for in fact doe...