Heath with a Purpose

God knows everything you've done, you're doing, and what you're going to do.  “Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭23:24‬ ‭NIV ‬‬ When someone says God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient it tends to lead to the question "if God is everywhere, has unlimited  power, and is all knowing then why does he allow bad things to happen?" Most people who don't believe that a God exists struggle with this concept. If God was real and is everywhere,  and he can do anything and  he knows everything why does all of this evil still happen? One mistake we easily make is we put ourselves in the judgement seat. We can see apparent evil and then blame God or use as evidence against such God because he knew that this apparent evil was going to happen but didn't stop it even though he was there and had the power to do so. This would be a fair ju...

I have previously talked about shame and how the proper response is to worship God. The last thing you probably want to do when your in a dark place is worship. You might think God deserves better. In April, I heard a pastor preach on Lazarus in John 11:43-44.  When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” ‭‭ Before Jesus came into each of our lives we were dead to sin. But Jesus has called us like he called Lazarus. Now picture Lazarus walking out of the grave. Did he come out glowing wearing white with angels singing behind him? No, he probably stunk and was still wrapped in his grave clothes. We are just like Lazarus. We still aren't perfect even though we are now alive in Christ. When God called us it wasn't when we were in a state of glory, but rather a state of m...

We all struggle with our sin. Sometimes it's struggling with the temptations that lead us to our sin. Sometimes it's struggling whether or not what we do is a sin in God's eyes or not. And sometimes it's struggling with the shame we have after we have sinned. Let's Look back to the beginning in the garden right after Adam and Eve committed the first sin.  Genesis 3:9-10 “But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”” ‭‭ When we are struggling with the shame of our sins, our instinct is to hide from God. We naturally want to isolate ourselves because the weight of our shame is to much to bare sometimes. But the truth is that God wants you to give him your shame. Jesus' death on the cross shows us that he wants us to be reunited back to God. God treated Jesus with what we deserved, so God can treat us with what Jesus deserves. We are blameless in hi...

Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life. Out of all his titles, I find this one the least relevant. I need him to be the Lamb who was slain, the lion, my king, the endless spring of water in my life, the High Priest I confide in, the light for my path. But why the bread? In all the other examples they all are necessities but bread is not. Some people have cut bread out of their diets to be healthier and some people can't eat it without getting sick. I know back when Jesus was walking the earth people didn't count their calories or have the same awareness about the food they ate that we do (then again do we even know what we are eating), but because I believe Jesus knows everything he should of known that eventually we would come to realize that bread isn't necessary. As I read John Chapter 6, the whole picture starts to reveal itself. First you see that Jesus preforms this miraculous miracle feeding the 5000 with a boys lunch, then he is found walking on the wa...

I got caught up reading about Jesus calling his disciples to follow him. Did God call you to follow him? What did it look like? Is the journey what you thought it would be? All these questions flooded my mind as I read how these men just dropped everything to follow Jesus. Some left their work, others left their family. Jesus says " whoever saves their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life to me will save it."   Why did Jesus use the word "loses"? Why not the word "give", or "offer", or "share"? Why lose? Are we playing a game of life with Jesus where he has to win and defeat us so we can also win?   I love games. All kinds of games. Sports, board games, video games etc., but I have a hard time understanding his logic. If I lose I win, but if I win I lose? Very often God's way seems illogical. When I try to understand it from a logical point of view from a human perspective, it just doesn't make sense. But the...

For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. - Colossians 1:27 NLT Christ in you. How is this explained? One of the most confusing statements that non believers don't understand. But as a believer, how amazing is this. Christ is in you. Right now.   Do you feel like Christ in you makes you any different? To be honest there are days where I don't feel any different. I can't deny that I am changed by him but some days his presence seems almost absent.   The other morning   was a good example. I wanted to dive into his word after writing my devotional to my youth kids. I even prayed he'd give me the energy to do so. It didn't happen. I ended up wasting all my time before work. On my way to work, I started to think about what does it mean to love God with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength and all my mind.   Then it dawn...