The Time Has Come

The Bible says in Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” We often forget that when we get to the place where Jesus is enough to satisfy us in every conceivable way that we will live fulfilled and spiritually significant lives.  Our most fantastic desires become reality when we are delighted in the Lord because when we get to the place of delighting in Him, our desires will be His desires for us.  Erwin McManus says, “When we are passionate about God, we can trust our passions.”

The time has come for our delight to be in Him.  For our desires to be in Him. For our passions to be in Him.  To live a life of complete fulfillment and contentment and great power and significance we must throw ourselves headlong into this radically biblical pursuit of our destiny. Does anything else really matter?

Our lives are fleeting and our time here is but a vapor.  The opportunities we have to make a difference diminish with each passing day. Lets desire Him today in a new and relentless way. Lets extend ourselves for the sake of God’s purposes and be difference makers for hurting humanity.  The time has come!

It Is Well!

In 2Kings 4 there is a story of a Shunammite woman who supported the ministry of Elisha. She and her husband actually did a room addition onto their house so that Elisha would have a place to stay and prepare whenever he was in town.

God blessed this woman with a child clearly because of her faithfulness to God through the ministry of Elisha. However, a few years later the boy died. The woman was repeatedly asked what was wrong, even her husband asked, and her reply was “It is well!”

She went immediately to seek God with the confession of “It is well” on her lips. Her understanding was that God would not give her something with the intention of her losing it. (We know God does not give and take back. But we also need to embrace that His intention is not for some one or some thing else to take it away either)

Before the day was done her son was alive, raised by the power of the one who gave him in the first place.

What a lesson of how God feels about our faithfulness and how committed He is for us to continue in the blessings that He gives us.

When it looks like the dream God gave you is dead, proclaim “It Is Well!” and run into His presence! He is the defender of the promises He gives.

Monday Monday

Monday morning early, sitting in Starbucks thinking through Sunday’s 5 services at New Creation, 4 in English and 1 in Spanish. The services were exciting and engaging in a very challenging sort of way. We are going to change our world, we are the architects of a new way forward in the presence, power and provision of God. It all sounds so grand, so meaningful, so magnanimous. But can we really do it… Can I really be a difference maker?

Well, here are some facts that you won’t hear from the UN, I mean afterall, if we really knew the facts we might not need the UN. Or CNN or the NY Times or Al Gore et al.

If just two percent of the worlds grain harvest were shared we could erase hunger on the planet. There is enough food on the planet to offer every person 2500 calories a day. Additionally, we could house every orphan in the world. Here are the numbers from Max Lucado’s book ‘Out live your life’ – 145 million orphans in the world, roughly 236 million “self proclaimed” Christians in the US. From a pure mathematical approach American Christians by themselves could house every orphan in the World.

So, back to my point – it’s Monday morning in California or whatever day it is where you are. And we can dedicate a brand new week, or a brand new day, or a brand new moment to our King Jesus and the work of His Kingdom. And yes, you can make a difference!

Enjoy today, wring life from it like water from a sponge. Go ahead, life life to the fullest and along the way be a difference maker.

‘Tis the Season

Well here we are in early December, can you believe it? Almost Christmas. I find it so easy to get caught up in the “christmas spirit” and forget what this is all about. It is the season when we celebrate the greatest gift ever given to anyone, anywhere. “For God so loved the world that He gave …”, He gave Jesus – to us who didn’t deserve anything but rejection. And so what do we do? We concentrate on getting more stuff. I’m not talking about the joy of blessing our children and families but just the focus of the season going amiss. The season is a celebration of us receiving greatly so we shouldn’t forget that this season should be about us giving greatly. And a great way to give is to invest in those around us who are having a tough time this year.

Sometimes we assume that we don’t have much to give, but we have an abundance to give. We can give a smile, a pat on the back, an encouraging word, a cup of coffee, a coat to someone without. You get the point, we can give ourselves. Spending a few minutes and letting someone know that they are appreciated, loved, that you care, can be a priceless gift.

So let’s not let the season pass by without investing ourselves in the lives of other people. It matters more than we know.

Choose to be a difference maker in the life of someone else this year!

Nothing is Impossible

The Bible says that with God all things are possible (Matt 19:26). It also says that all things are possible to those who believe (Mark 9:23). In our lives today, as in every life in every age of human history, we must cultivate a strong reliance on God and his Word. Impossible situations are not supposed to destroy us but to develop us. We must not lose heart when we face things that to us seem impossible. We need to see impossibility as an opportunity for God to make whatever it is possible. And He will if we believe that He can and will. (Mark 11:23-24)

Take heart today, knowing that God loves us and specializes in difficulties that without Him would be insurmountable.

It is time to embrace the impossible and see it as possible through Christ!

10-14-2010 Bringing Clarity …

I said something last night that I want to clarify. I talked about people who are in blatant sin and how they need to be admonished in the most forceful way that that sort of lifestyle is not pleasing to God etc. I believe my tone last night could be discerned as intolerable, ungraceful, unloving, harsh and so on. It is this that I want to clarify.

If my family were careening toward a cliff and they were facing certain doom, I give you permission to do whatever is necessary to save my family without asking me if its ok. My point is, if I know someone is involved in an activity that will certainly damage or destroy their family, their children and their immediate future (I say immediate because God will restore a person if they repent, but usually the damage has been done ie marriage, children, career, ministry etc) then I need to confront that person in love and tell them the truth!

Here’s a newsflash for you, they will not want to hear the truth. Long before you showed up they have rationalized their sin and contorted their “christianity” to fit the mold of their choices. Therefore, they are going to think you are judging them, that you are not walking in love with them and that you don’t care about them. In actuality, you do love them, you do care about them and you are not judging them.

We are seeing the beginning of the shaking of the Kingdom going on which we read in Hebrews 12:27 …

“And this [word], Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

Don’t let your life be shaken away from the things of God. Be resolved in your heart and do what’s right. Be a finisher!

There are two types of pain in the world… the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Choose wisely!

A New Day Has Dawned

In Lamentations 3 the Bible says that God’s mercies are new every morning. That means what ever the struggles were yesterday, we get a clean slate today. We have the next 12 hours or so to make a difference in our world. In Matthew 6:34 the Word of God says that every day has enough trouble on its own without worrying about tomorrow. (I’m paraphrasing) It is futile to worry about tomorrow but it is equally futile to worry about yesterday. I have heard it said this way, yesterday is in the tomb and tomorrow is in the womb, all we really have is today. What are we doing with our today? If you think about it, yesterday is past history and tomorrow is just an illusion, for many tomorrow will never come. Why allow the struggles of the past or the dread of the future to rob us of our potential. As men and women of God we must put our focus and energy into something we can actually impact.

Friends, walk in His fulness today knowing that God loves you, accepts you and has a given you the ability to do great things, TODAY!

Don’t Make Excuses, Make A Difference

Making the Connection

We started out on this discussion last week on the importance of connecting foremost with our Father. When connect with God we connect with His Word because they are one in the same. A relationship with the Word is paramount in the life of any believer, not just a pastor/teacher etc. This week we talk about the importance of connecting to each other. God made us for connection. He intended for us to compliment and complete one another, not compete and stifle one another. Don’t get me wrong, competition is healthy in many arenas, but in the arena of building the Kingdom of God, we must work together. Stay tuned as we develop this series …

Remember, Don’t Make Excuses, Make A Difference!

October 2, 2010 It’s about time

Wow, we’ve been working on our website upgrade since we merged Crossroad Christian Center and Pure Rock Church early this summer. The website is far from complete but at least its alive! I will personally be adding content and information for the next few weeks and by the end of October it will be very close to communicating the heartbeat of this vibrant and innovative ministry called New Creation.

What a crazy summer and my prayer is for those who are called to be along side Eve and me and our terrific staff of leaders. It is time to believe God for the miraculous, to take our place in His-story and make a difference for this generation. There is every reason why we can’t do it, which tells me we are positioned for a move of God.

I will keep the blog updated and you can also follow me on twitter @ken_spicer for more frequent updates.

Be blessed and remember, don’t make excuses – make a difference!

The Still Small Voice

In 1Kings 19 Elijah was on the run from Jezebel and he had come to a place of great discouragement. During this time he had a visitation from the Lord. The Word says that there was a great and powerful wind but the Lord was not in the wind. Then it says there was an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And then after the fire a still small voice, and Elijah heard the voice of the Lord.

So many people today are chasing the wind, the earthquake and the fire. They think that anything that spectacular must be God but so often its not. I believe that we must be able to hear Him in spite of the wind, the earthquake and the fire. Life has many distractions and the enemy has many counterfeit opportunities which makes discerning His voice in our life all the more important and time is the only requirement. Time alone with Him.

If you tell people you cant see them because you have to go shopping, or you are going to a sporting event, or because you have an appointment with somebody else, they are ok with that. But try telling them that you can’t get together because you have scheduled some time with the Lord. They just might look at you like you have gone crazy. It just so happens that that is exactly how we should spend a large portion of our time, with Him. So that we can get so familiar with His voice in our lives that we can hear it anywhere under any circumstances.

In combat training there are exercises where they simulate the chaos of battle and give intricate instructions in the midst of the noise and confusion. The purpose is to train the soldiers to be able to stay steady enough to hear and respond to the orders under combat conditions. God is the same way, He expects us to hear His direction no matter what is going on.

Are you listening?