Where would the world be without Christ?

I have been meditating on this scripture:

remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:12, 13 NIV)

And it blows me away.

As a gentile I was a foreigner without hope and without God in the world.

I probably wouldn't even have known that I was living without what I needed.

And this is the state of most of humanity.

Sometimes because they have rejected Christ and sometimes because they haven't truly heard.

Yet through the blood of Christ I know God and have hope! And this message has spread to most of the world! Wow!

Here is a real mission statement:

The world is without hope and without God. People are lost and hopeless. But we can bring the message that brings life and hope and God through his Word and Son!

How beautiful is that work then to bring the gospel and good news of Christ. For it is the hope of God and the hope for us who were far from God!

Spirit take me to the people you want to hear this news. Proclaim this amazing good news through me with renewed boldness!

Amen

Paul's encouragement to Timothy and to me

Paul encourages Timothy to keep going, to seek God himself and to keep going in ministry even in the face of opposition from within the church body. Timothy was probably discouraged and perhaps hopeless, ready to give up on the mission in Ephesus.

Some nights or weeks I find myself at the corner of discouragement and hopelessness in ministry work. 

I sometimes let the circumstances define my identity. When things aren't going well or to my plan, like when only one person or 0 come to the bible study small group I lead with a student leader. I carry it close to my heart, emotions begin to weigh on my heart ant they don't leave when I go home. It often makes me doubt my work and God's plans or goodness. 

God I pray you would have a word for me, just as Paul had many words for Timothy. 

Paul writes to Timothy:

1 Timothy 1

¹⁸ Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well,¹⁹ holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.

One of the first things Paul calls Timothy to is to hold on strong to his own faith. 

Paul also acknowledges there will be suffering and discouragement in ministry. 

2 Timothy 6-8

⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. ⁸ So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.

In the challenge of ministry Paul points back to timothy's calling, the Spirit within, and invites him to join with him in suffering for the gospel. 

Paul continues and points Timothy back to the gospel which is our mission and has been entrusted to us to pass on and share with others. 

2 Timothy 9-12

9He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, ¹⁰ but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. ¹¹ And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. ¹² That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

God point me back to my calling. Help me to live in that calling and not get lost in the details or the times of discouragement. For you are at work on the CU campus and I see it already! Thank you for letting me be a part of it. I ask for more hope and vision to see your kingdom come and advance at CU!!!
Amen

Missionaries on the CU campus Jeremiah 29

God speak this word that you gave Jeremiah to me and to CU IV!
Send us to be missionaries on the CU campus!

Jeremiah 29
These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving (... people of Israel in exile):

⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

God what does it look like for me to enter back in as a part of CU in order to lead my students in their lives as college students in the culture of CU?

I think CU is an interesting place where students in IV somewhat feel like they are in exile in a strange culture but also they are chasing after dreams of success. 

God I pray that you would empower us to be missionaries on this CU campus. Give us eyes to see this place as our mission field. 
Give us hearts of love and compassion for those on campus. 
I pray that we would have hope that we might bless and renew the campus!

Boulder and CU are yours too God! And you love the people in this city and on this campus. Let us seek the welfare of this city! Let us pray for CU. God help us to leave a legacy here!
Amen

Paul's calling in God. What is mine?

With my friend Jonathan I have been studying 1 Timothy and letting God speak to us as Paul spoke to Timothy as a young man of God leading others. Now we are studying a few verses at a time in an intensive focused study. 

I am excited, because I know there is so much even in the first 2 verses. 

1 Timothy 1:1-2

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

² To Timothy, my true child in the faith:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul has such a clear understanding of who he is. His calling and identity are wrapped up in who God is and who God made him and called him to be. I believe he is apostle not as a title but as a calling. That is who God commanded him and enabled him to be from the inside out. Being an apostle is not a specific responsibility to a certain group of people, a certain church or a certain set of tasks. God gave and even commanded Paul with a mission an identity. 

God I want to meditate on who you are. 

Out of who you are I say I will go send me. 

Who are you calling me to be? 

What will define my life? 

Let it be all only for you!

Amen

God's promise: I will be with you.

I find this verse both scary and encouraging!

Isaiah 43:2 NIV

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze."

Often as Christians and people we just want things to go well and be easy. We want to see quick results and we want to avoid pain. Sometimes we think God should or promised to give us this. But the reality is Jesus promises us that we would face hard times and suffering and persecution. 

The real promise God gives is that through the hard times: He will be with us. 

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you

In this life we will face rough waters and fires. We will be afraid, we will be challenged. But God promises to be with us and protect us. I believe this is a spiritual protection, because physically we do get harmed. But if our hope is in God and our home is eternity with God in heaven then we have nothing to lose. Nothing can harm us from our eternal destiny. Nobody can snatch us out of our place as sons and daughters of the living God. 

So my prayer is: God help me to remember and trust your promise to be with me in the calm and rough waters. Help me to believe you will keep me from getting burned though I walk through the flames. Set my eyes on Jesus and the life you give me in Him!

Amen

Even through the flood waters God has been with me.