Journal Entry Week Five: Destiny by Design

Destiny By Design (Ryan Kirk)

A week of purpose. A week of passion.

A week of breaking ourselves down before God and giving ourselves over to his will.

In Hebrews 11, it speaks of those who gave their lives for our Savior. They were beaten, sawed in half, beheaded. They left family, friends, riches, comforts. They lived lives that we would consider extreme. As Christians today we would say that they were "called" to live this way. While we might not say it out loud, many of us would think that is a special call to die for our King. We think that these men and women were radicals that had an exceptional amount of grace on their lives to be able to do so.

But this is what God says about them.

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were STRANGERS and EXILES on the earth. …But as is it, they desired a BETTER country, a HEAVENLY one.

THEREFORE

GOD IS NOT ASHAMED TO BE CALLED THEIR GOD.”

God is not ashamed to be called their God.

God is not ashamed to be called their God.

Is He ashamed to be called mine?

Let us in turn live lives of exiles. Let us live our lives knowing that this is not our home. We are strangers in this land. We have not come to make ourselves comfortable. We have not come to settle in. We come knowing that we have a short time in this place only to be brought home where we have our citizenship.

It is in this living that we surrender ourselves to God’s will. This is how we gain an eternal perspective in every aspect of our lives.

Our Money? It’s not ours. All of our possessions, gifts, skills, family, friends. NOT OURS. The things of this world are fleeting. We came into it with nothing and we leave in the same way. Let us not build up for ourselves fleeting treasures that in the end are as worthless as the body that will be put into the ground. 

Instead let us sow our seed into Heavenly things.

John Wesley said “I value all things only by the price that they will gain in Heaven.”

If our time on earth is but a whisper and our time in Heaven is never ending, how can we live life to gain our own riches?

The temporary perspective of this world is corruptive. It screams at us from every ad on television, every consumerism proclaiming mentality that we’ve known since we were children.

Go to school, get a degree in a high paying job, start a career, work your way up to earn more money, buy a house, fill it with things, work harder to save more money to pay off your house, so that in the end, you’ve reached your goal of retirement and can lie around a beach for the last 5-10 years of your life and die…what? Happy? Rich? Fulfilled?

I don’t think so.

“True joy comes to those who pursue something greater than their personal happiness.” (Ryan Kirk)

We are fed this mentality of responsibility and logic when it comes to money. And yes, God does call us to be wise and to be stewards of what He has given us. But wisdom begins with a fear of the Lord. And to fear the Lord, we must realize that everything we have belongs to him. “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” -1 Corinthians 3:19

In our American minds we think responsibility is working towards building up that 401K so that our future is “secure.” But I know my future is secure in His hands. I’d rather live my life giving every penny away if He calls me to do so and to see Him provide for my needs. He knows what I need, so why would He ask me to give and to sow into the things of Heaven and then not provide when I am obedient?

It is in this willingness, this surrender of what they world calls success, that we begin to understand what it means to live a life of significance for the Kingdom of God. It is a life of meaning, of hard work, and of full dependence on God. It is not easy, not by any means. But it is a life worth living, a life that will leave an etch on the walls of eternity. It is a life that will be remembered in the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s why we’re here.

Now I’m not saying that we are all called to give up everything we own and live off of what God throws our way. It’s not bad to HAVE things. But In having a house and a car and savings, we need to remember that these things are merely THINGS and they are not ours. Don’t let them be everything.

Many ARE actually called to have these things and to live the typical “American” life, as long as you are investing your worth into things of the Kingdom of God, not our own kingdom of stuff. (And “stuff” can be more than money. It can be friends, it can be goals, it can be family) But God has given each one of us passions and gifts, something that burns inside of us, for which we can advance His Kingdom.

John Piper urges us to “Find the God-centered, Christ-exalted, Bible-saturated passion in your life, and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it.”

We are not made for mediocre living. We must learn to desire that our lives will count for something great. We should not be satisfied with leaving behind nothing but a tombstone that no one will remember after 40 years. “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” –James 4:14

I want to leave a legacy, one not of my own. I don’t want my name to go down in the history books. But I want people to remember a movement of God throughout the world in which I was a part. I want God’s legacy and His fame to be so fueled by my life on earth that when I get to Heaven, I’m able to gather up all those treasures that I’ve sent ahead and say “Here! This is what I gave my life to. I'm laying it down at your feet. It is not as much as your deserve, but I fought for it with everything that you gave me.” This is the life that counts.

So find that passion. Find that burning in your heart and go after it with everything that you have. Don’t ever settle. Don’t ever dream for anything less than the dreams of God. He’s given you gifts, passions, skills, a unique personality, specific influences in your life. “For the gifts and the calling of God is irrevocable.” –Romans 11:29

What are we advancing if not his Kingdom?

“Christians should be trouble makers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society.” (Jacques Ellul)

So God, teach me to live a life to which you can say

“I am not ashamed to be called her God. That's my passion in her, my love, my grace. She carries more than my name, but my heart as well.

I am not ashamed to be called her God.”

So let Hope arise and Darkness tremble.

For the Kingdom of God is here and it cannot be stopped.

And every eye will see Jesus our God.

With everything, we will shout for your glory, we will shout for your praise.

Let the enemy see me as dangerous.

Let me be known as a threat.

Because for you my King, with everything I am,

I WILL SHOUT FOR YOUR GLORY.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1 


Character of God: Compassionate

James 5:11 “You have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

Matt 15:32 “Then Jesus called his disciples to Him and said “ I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away lest they faint along the way."

Matt 9:36 “When he saw a crowd, and he had compassion on them, for they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Every time I read these passages that word compassion always sticks out to me. There’s just something in it. It’s not like He felt bad for them or like he saw them and had pity on them. He had compassion. It’s a much more tender, loving word. It shows a God that is more than just big and powerful, but a God who cares enough for his people to feel their pain, to join them in it.

Because if you think about a sheep without a shepherd, you think stupid. You think people wandering around aimlessly, falling off cliffs, doing nothing but whining, with no purpose in their lives. Any one of us would go ahhhh! I can’t stand these people! But not Jesus. He saw those that were lost, wandering, looking for someone, and he had compassion on them.

I have to say it’s been very encouraging for me to understand this. Because if I am going through something rough, even if it’s something silly, Jesus doesn’t just laugh and say “man up.” Sometimes he may tell you to get over yourself, but it is always in a compassionate way. It should be our goal, unattainable as it may be within our sinful, selfish selves, to have this same compassion on others.

Walking in Atlanta, you get used to seeing homeless men. We kind of have our own style of homeless down in the ATL. We’re used to them, so we pass them by without a second thought. But I often hear things from those who have money to share. The words “Get a job, junkie” are not uncommon. A woman sitting on the road, humbly begging for any change people may have in their pockets and the only thing she hears is “you’ll use it for drugs, why would I support that?”

A blind man on the side of the road calls out rather obnoxiously for help. Everyone around him tells him to shut up, but he continues to call knowing it’s his only hope. Maybe, just MAYBE, someone will have an ear to listen to his suffering this time.

And Jesus does.

We are called to live as our Lord Jesus Christ who had compassion on those lost and without a shepherd. If he had so much compassion that he was willing to take up that cross as atonement for my sins, this lost sheep, this unfaithful beggar, how can I ignore those who are in need of the same? Jesus didn’t just stoop down and throw them some money or drop it into a cup as he walked past. He didn’t just do the minimum to say that he did something.

He looked down at them, got down on their level, and showed them love. He touched them. He healed them. He honored them for their faith.

So how about taking some time out of our day to pick up one of His lost, wanering sheep, drive them to Maccas, and buy them a burger. Spend some time with them. Not just treat them like a human being, but treat them like kings, like something special. Have compassion on them the way Christ showed His compassion for each and every one of us.

Let us be the compassion that Christ has throughout the world. 

Growth:

One on One- so good to have you back! It was good talking to you again about everything God’s been showing me. Hopefully we can actually like… hang out more this week. =]

Small group- it was really good, especially how you guys prayed for me at the end. That was more encouraging than that little bugger of a page that we did. Lol

Outreach Prep- felt like it should have been discouraging, but I’m seriously not worried at all. God is SUCH a big God and he’s not going to let something as menial as money hinder us from doing the work he’s laid out for us. Even you Whit. If God wants to see you go to Cambodia with us, you’ll go to Cambodia with us. There’s just no question about it. He’ll provide someone if you’re supposed to be there. Just wait and see. PS. I’m so glad Ben is back and we can actually have our full team together again!

Worship- Wednesday night was really good, but probably the best day of this week for me was Friday morning. It was just an intimate time with God to just reflect on everything this week and to let him speak. And I got to make promises to Him as well. I thought 3 hours was gonna be waaay to long for me to be off alone with God, but by the time we were done, I had JUST finished and actually would have been ok with more time.

Evangelism- We missed half of our people this week (No Taylor, Ryan or Emil) so it was kinda rough, but still good. Not a lot of people were there. But intercession this week was awesome getting to pray for all of the people we’ve had a chance to witness to throughout the week. And half the time it wasn’t people from Friday nights. (So anyone back home, keep Sarah, Drew, Gordon, Mat, and Will in your prayers!)

In fact, I made some new friends last night that I’m super pumped about keeping up with! Mat, Matt, Jordon, and Jeremy. We met them on the beach in mooloolaba while Beth, John, Wendy and I were planning on building a sand castle so big we could spend the night in it. (in case you were wondering… that doesn’t work)  But we were interrupted by one of those stupid green laser pointers, a hulk light, shining on us. John and I raced up to the guys doing it and ended up joining in on a game of beach rugby. (That’s right! I played Rugby! And I was awesome! … ok not so much, but it was so fun!) But I got to talking to Mat and found out that they were all Mormon, some of them had just gotten back from two year missions. Mat was baptized Mormon, but doesn’t really believe in it. He doesn’t really like the whole religion thing. So be praying for him, they’re all great guys and I’m stoked to go back and play some more footy next weekend.

So that’s pretty much my week, but I do want to say one more thing about that movie Furious Love. When people were telling me about it before I had seen it, most of them were saying things like… it was creepy, but it’s good to be aware of evil like that in the world, and how eerie it was seeing demons and such and hearing about them manifesting. That they liked it and it was kinda cool, but it left them a little scared.

But when I watched it, it was honestly the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Yes, it had eerie aspects simply because it was about the demonic powers the hold that they have throughout the earth. But what an incredible beautiful wonderful miracle it is to see the power of the love of Christ come and reign in those places! In every circumstance, it is simply the love of Christ being poured through his people that conquer over the evil that tries to take reign.

And these people that are bringing Christ are simply people. There is nothing special about them to be able to come against these powers of darkness or to be able to heal. It is simply by the power of Jesus Christ our Lord and a love for these “evil” people that so many Christians would curse. But Jesus is searching for all his children, even those that are inhabited with the enemy. He loves them as much as he loves those sitting in a pew every Sunday morning, if not even more. And it is He who delivers.

So let us be open to bring the delivering love of the Father to his people! Let us have courage to stand up and proclaim the name of Christ to the Darkness. There is only one weapon to combat the enemy, and that is in the power of the name Jesus Christ. Let us not be afraid, but stand firm and know that we are not fighting against flesh and blood, but those powers of darkness that roam the earth.