Here I Am by Jeremy Camp

You are waiting for us to move.
There is so much more, deeper than I've ever known, and known before.
When we draw near, I see the mysteries of who You are.

Reveal my heart to be renewed until nothing's left but You, only You.

Here I am.
Falling to my knees I'm crying out again.
Jesus take me deeper than I've ever been.
Lord here I am.
All of me.
Reaching to the places that I cannot see.
Desperately I need You to move me.
Here I am.

You are waiting for me to see.
All of who You are, God you are so patient with me.
Day after day, come living water, let me drink from Your amazing grace.

Reveal my heart to be renewed until nothing's left but You, only You.

Here I am.
Falling to my knees I'm crying out again.
Jesus take me deeper than I've ever been.
Lord here I am.
All of me.
Reaching to the places that I cannot see.
Desperately I need You to move me.
Here I am.

Let the things of earth lose their hold on me.
Let Your river flow, You are breaking me free.
I will lift my hands in Your presence God.
Make me like You are.

Here I am.
Falling to my knees I'm crying out again.
All of me.
Reaching to the places that I cannot see.
Desperately I need You to move me.
Here I am.

Here I am, everything surrendered.
I am Yours, nothing else that matters.
Laying down every one of my fears.
God won't You, God won't You move me.
Here I am

Salvation

A question came up in our house the other day...can a born-again Christian lose their salvation?

While many other issues brought up about the Christian faith are debatable, this one is not. Scripture gives us a clear answer. A loud, resounding, and glorious "NO!"

Listen to the answer given by John Piper via the link below:

http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/can-a-born-again-christian-lose-salvation

Romans 8:30 - "And those whom he predestined he also called, and those who, he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 - "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."

1 Corinthians 1:8-9 - "who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

Jeremiah 32:40 - "I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me."

Philippians 1:6 - "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

Let us not forget that salvation isn't about us and our ability to "act saved." It is all about our God and his faithfulness to both save us and sustain us in our faith until the end.

But what about those who live like they've been saved and then seem to lose their faith?

1 John 2:19 - "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us."

Hebrews 3:14 - "For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.."

Sometimes I question my faith. Especially when I find myself sinning over and over again. Am I really saved?

After discussing with a few of my close friends, I believe that I am saved. There are a few verses in the Bible that confirm this for me personally.

Romans 10:9 - "because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Romans 7:14-15 - "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."

Two things give me confidence: I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and can say that, "Jesus is Lord." I also hate sin, despite the fact that I am a sinner.

The more I try to be a good Christian in my own strength, the more I fail. I pray that God would help me to lean on him in my weakness, for that is where I am strong.

Honesty is the Best Policy

Is honesty always the best policy? I believe that it is.

The Bible certainly supports the concept:
"Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit." - Proverbs 12:17
"Whoever gives an honest answer kisses the lips." - Proverbs 24:26

I want to apply this concept to potential romantic relationships specifically.

To begin, some wise words my mentor once told me:
"You can't be 'just friends' with guys. Either one or both of you will always end up wanting more."

This has only proven to be true as I watch the lives of my girlfriends and experience it in my own life.

So unless you plan on dating someone, do not try to develop a close friendship with them. It will not end well. This is why it is important to be honest with your intentions and feelings toward members of the opposite sex.
While one of you might be enjoying the benefits of close friendship (i.e. attention, connection, feelings of significance), the other person might be suffering a heartache.

I'll use an example from my life to illustrate how this happens...

A few years back when I was still in Bible College, I developed a close friendship with one of the guys there. After one semester of hanging out often (more often than not in groups) he took the opportunity to tell me that he was interested in moving things forward in our relationship to dating. At that point I was freaked out because I did not have that idea in mind. My girlfriends helped me to evaluate my feelings and I told the guy that I honestly couldn't see us being more than friends. He took it pretty hard and avoided me for a while.
The next semester went by super fast and at the beginning of my second year he approached me again, wondering if my feelings had changed, and they hadn't. Now after this, both of us dated other people and graduated Bible College.
Just this past year, my guy friend and I began emailing each other again and, after a few months, he expressed his interest in dating me again. His plan was that we would continue to get to know each other more as friends for a few months, emailing and calling (things were long distance), then he would visit me and we would re-evaluate and decide where to go with things. I agreed to give things a shot but let him know that I still saw him as just a friend and would be honest with how I felt as the months went. I needed God to change how I saw my friend before I would be ready to date him. So the months flew by and we deepened our friendship, but I felt no different. Finally, he came to visit and we had a great weekend hanging out. At the end of his visit, we talked about our friendship. He expressed his interest in moving things forward, and I had to shut it down.
Why? What was wrong? I was asking myself those questions all through those past months of deepening friendship, and while I know my friend has good character and is a good-looking guy, I still didn't feel excited about dating him. There was no "heck yes!" and the peace of God was not there. Actually the thought of being in a dating relationship with this friend somehow stressed me out and I couldn't convince myself that it was a good idea. Perhaps it's as simple as I just didn't want to date him.

As you can imagine, there was some hurt felt when I rejected him for the third time. But I do not regret my decision because I was honest.

I don't think this friendship will ever be like it was before, nor do I expect it to be. Going back to the wise words of my mentor, "You can't be 'just friends' with guys." But you can (and should) be honest!

Living Word by Jeremy Camp

In this life there is one guarantee
This broken world will only leave me empty
But there's a life that healed my heart
And it holds firm when I'm falling apart

I will stand on the truth in the living Word of God
Cause every time it moves my soul and shapes my every thought

It's alive in me
The very breath I breathe
I'm holding on with all I've got to the living Word
The living Word of God
The living Word of God

I can't survive on bread alone
I hunger and I thirst for your Words that give me hope

I'll stand on the truth in the living Word of God
Cause every time it moves my soul and shapes my every thought

It's alive in me
The very breath I breathe
I'm holding on with all I've got to the living Word
The living Word of God

Speak into me now
Your voice is all I'm craving

All the freedom I have found
In the living Word of God

I will stand on the truth in the living Word of God
Cause every time it moves my soul and shapes my every thought

It's alive in me
The very breath I breathe
I'm holding on with all I've got to the living Word
The living Word of God

Amazing Ministry

First, watch this video:

http://www.wimp.com/robbertears/

I was extremely encouraged by that lady.

I want to meet her but if I don't before either one or both of our lives on earth are over, I know that I will see her in heaven.

I long for ministry opportunities just like that one. It's hard to live out your faith in a radical way when life seems so "normal." I mean, every day is drastically different in every possible way from another but crazy opportunities like what happened to that lady don't happen often, if ever, to most people. I will not discount the opportunities that God has given me to share my faith with others, I just haven't had anyone react in the same way that the lady claims the man who tried to rob her did. I wish I could see the Spirit working, moving, changing people's hearts. Changing my heart.

The video mentions that this lady's story is being spread, and I am again in wonder at how God uses these situations to bring glory to His name. This lady was not looking for attention, but she took her opportunity to minister and God has blessed her through it and has used it for bigger impact than I'm sure she expected.

As this lady has done, we as Christians are all called to spread the gospel message:

"For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'"

- Romans 10:13-15

Yes, Lord. Send me. Amen.