Luis' Blog

Bright Awakening

2009-06-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

This past week God has awakened in my a great reality. The fact that apart from Him I can do nothing. Now, we've all heard that before but when I slow it down, and think about what it all means: Apart from Him I can do NOTHING.

We are leaving for Authentic 09 (A retreat for our youth ministry) in about 13.5 hours. I have been doing a lot of praying for this week that God would do mighty things in the lives our students. What I failed to realize was the very word choice that I had chosen. That GOD would do might things. Not myself, or John or Bill; GOD. John 15:5 says "I (Jesus) am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" Jesus himself proclaims this beautiful truth so bodly. That without Him we can do what? NOTHING!

It has been a freeing reality to me, that if God doesn't show up than it's all for nothing, and nothing is exactly what will happen. "Doesn't that scare you?" one might ask. It shouldn't. Today I was blessed to see who I am... Lysol. I am nothing but a mist that goes much faster than it came. Leaving no lasting impact on the envirnment around me. I am nothing but mist. To think that I will actually have anything to do (besides being a tool) in the eternal lives of anyone would be to say that I am much greater than a mist, that I am much more than that, when the truth is, I'm a wisp.

Being awakened to this truth my mind is prepared to accept and expect the "impossible". The things we didn't plan for. The ways and thoughts of our Lord are much higher than are own, who are we to say what will happen this week? Especially when apart from Him we should expect nothing. The tens of thousands of dollars, the 200+ students, the 70 leaders, the songs, messages, small group time, the data entry, the months of planning... they all come to absolutely nothing unless God Himself shows up. What a refreshing thought!

I pray that I, along with anyone who accepted this weekends challenge, will be able to put all my trust in Him who is everything in such a way that when I wake up in a few hours the first thought in my mind is "Yes God" Because I should resolve to do NOTHING unless I do it with the understanding that it is all for His glory according to His will. Anything that I do apart from Him will come down to absolutely nothing.

May this be a bold and encouraging reality in my life and the lives of the church today.

Just my thought

2009-05-12T17:12:00.000-07:00

I was driving home today and saw one of my favorite sights. When the sky is mostly really blue with a large cluster of clouds in one place and a whisp of cloud in another. I was looking at the clouds and was kept in awe. Just thinking about those clouds was amazing. What appeared to be a complex of mountains and hills with some kind of water fall was just a cluster of clouds that looked like it would come down with the weight of a mountain.

As I kept looking at the clouds I couldn't help but think of what it really was. Evaporated water, thousands of mile from the ground. Water in the form of a tiny mist, but it came from some puddle, lake, ocean, whatever. Now, all these little mists of water so tiny that they are held in the sky, are just up there, hanging out, joining with other little mists of water until they are too heavy to be held up then they fall to the ground and start over again.

Psalm 147:8 says He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills

Knowing all I know about clouds I see it's all about God's timing. The evaporation, the waiting, the combining then the falling. It's all this incredible orchastrated symphany that we simply call clouds! NO WAY! I just can't simply look at a cloud the way I used, how could I?!

What a prayer!

2009-04-16T07:13:00.000-07:00

I'm reading through Proverbs and I've come across Proverbs 30:7-9 and just just couldn't believe the prayer spoken by Agur.

7-9 says "Two things I ask of you, O Lord, do not refuse me before I die. (8) Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. (9) Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, Who is the Lord?. Or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my God.

Looking at this I'm taken back. Usually people pray for wealth, or for a better financial situation. Not here. Here the writer is literally praying that God will ONLY give him enough to get by ever day. The writer here proves to be quite wise in understanding that any more than daily bread MAY lead to the dishonor of God's name. I say MAY because I know some incredibly wealthy people who seek to honor God even through their own finances.

This prayer is the real deal of trust in God. Many would consider this a dare. To sit down, look up at the heavens and ask God to only give you enough to get by. Not enough for that car, or that bigger house, or for our fancy gadgets, but just enough to survive. That's so WILD!

Apart from that I love this chapter. Check out v18-19 and 24-29, just try to grasp his thought process! It's awesome!

Solid foundation

2009-04-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

Doing some homework and learning about Paul's metaphores. I Corinthians 3:10-15 have just blown my mind.

Back in the day, fire was a huge concern for the people of Corinth. Open fires were used for warmth and cooking, and with the living arrangements the way they were, fires happened nearly every day. So Paul uses this as a metaphore that to this day we should all consider.

Paul challenges any teacher of faith saying that what and how we build on upon our foundation, obviously Christ, will surely be tested, thus revealing what our structure is really made of. If we start with a structure and build upon it with gold, silver and other fine stone, we will build a structure that cna withstand a fire. On the contrary, a structure built of hay, wood, and mud would never withstand any given fire.

In the same sense, as we are making our preparations for our weekly environments, our teachings, our dicipleships, etc. we have a choice. We can either build with gold, silver and stone, putting in the time, effort and dedication, by seeking the word of God and His guidance for every step of the way, OR we can merely rely on ourselves, our own knowledge, "wing it" and hope for the best. Basically we can make our preperations by pursueing God and His liking, or we can do things on our own, spending more time preparing physically than spiritually.

The thing with all this is that our work will be put to the test. This is such a tangible truth. I can think back to times when I didn't spend enough time with God, gave a message and felt it totally BOMB! Other times when I prepared what I could and sought God more than ever and the message, the night and the response was incredible!

The question I ask myself is this, "Am I building a structure that will withstand the test of flames, or will I run from this burning structure empty handed?" I remember Jeremiah 48:10 "A curse on him who is lax in doing the Lord's work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!"

My prayer is that I am not lax in the work the Lord has so blessed me with, rather I build upon His priceless foundation with everything I've got, not sparing a thing.

Glory to God

2009-04-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

For so long I've heard the question "How do we bring glory to God?" and I've heard the same answers: "Live for Him", "trust in Him", "Share Him". While all those answers are true, when someone asks me how to bring glory to God, I'm almost always stumped.

I learned today that God is glorified by us when we are satisfied in Him.

Every time I eat somewhere I leave the restaurant and just have to tell someone about the food I just ate, wether it was delicious or terrible, but when it's delicious, oh boy do I go at it. I explain every detail, every last bite of my meal, like it was worth a million bucks, because for me the experience was wortth a million bucks! While doing this, whoever I'm talking to always says "Well I've gotta try that!" or "Did you save me any?" I learned today that what I'm doing is bringing glory to the restaurant or the food.

In the same way I bring glory to God through my satisfaction in Him. If I could share, not just the gospel, or a bridge diagram with someone, but rather my satisfaction in the Lord, I can bring glory to God. At the same time, whoever sees the satisfaction that I find in Him can say, "I've gotta try that!" And if they ever want me to give them a peace, I will always have some to share.

What I've noticed is that my life hasn't been reflecting a life that finds complete satisfaction in God. Not that I don't love Him, share Him, trust Him, or desire Him. Just that my life doesn't explain my experience with God like I would a million dollar meal. This excites me though, because I know my experience with God is much greater than any meal I've had, and with satisfaction in Him, and through my satisfaction in Him, my life will yell, "Taste and see that the Lord is good!"

Today I wish to express to everyone around me my full satisfaction in the Lord

On mission with God

2009-04-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

I've been reading through the book of Joshua, and have just been amazed at God's power through Joshua. I think so many times we take the story of Jericho and because it was so long ago, we turn it into a fairy tale or something sparkly and distant, when the reality is that what happened at Jericho actually happened. Today I was just sitting back enjoying my headache and thinking about Jericho. With Trumpets and loud yelling the walls of Jericho were destroyed! No way man can do that on his own. I read on and learned how Joshua took over Ai and the rest of the region.

Yesturday I finished my reading for the day in Chapter 10. The second to last verse, verse 42 says: "All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel." I put down my Bible and asked, is the God of all fighting for me today? I went about my day with this question in mind and just couldn't wrap my mind around it. For some reason I couldn't see the question nor the answer. Nonetheless, I continued to ask myself, Is the God of all fighting for me today? My quick reasoning was, I have a relationship with God, I fight for the mission He's set on my heart like Joshua did, why wouldn't He fight for me?

It wasn't until today that I realized I had it all wrong. I read this verse again and noticed that "the Lord, the God of Israel, fought of Israel". Israel! God's chosen people! Israel was God's chosen people, it wasn't about Joshua it was about His people. God was fighting for His people. Today we are all God's chosen people because Christ died for all of us. If we are to be on mission with God, we need to set ourselves aside and believe that the Lord, the God of all, is fighting for His people. Of course we must have a relationship with God to partner with Him, but as far as the mission goes, God doesn't need us for anything, but He chooses to ALLOW us to be on mission with Him to fight for the salvation of HIS people! Even if it means blowing kazoos and holding up screaming babies at a wall, God WILL bring it down if that's what He wants. The trumpets and yelling were no more powerful than anything we have today, but yet God used them to bring down the walls of a city. If we are going to bring down the walls of this world and penetrate our community with the Gospel, we need to believe that God is fighting for those people, and will prevail, by nothing of our own, but by the power of God.

God isn't fighting for Luis Zamot, God is fighting for His people, because of that He chooses to use people like you and me to be on mission with Him like He chose Joshua, merely as a tool for His work.

So now the question isn't, is God fighting for me, nor is it, is God fighting for His people, but rather the question is, Can I believe today that God is fighting for His people? And, Can I believe that God will use me as a tool to be on mission with Him as He wins their souls?