NEW SITE ON THE WAY!

Why has this blog not been updated??? Well the vision has expanded and a new site has been in development. Stay tuned for www.poptheculture.com !

Quick update on what I've been up to...

Ministry with the Frontlynaz this summer has been awesome. We've been traveling and even got a chance to go to St. Maartin!

Work has been crazy busy but what else is new!

Rest...I've been resting when I get a chance. That is what the summer is for!

Seminary ...I'll be starting seminary classes in Sept if the Lord wills. 

Can't wait to launch this new site...it will be great!

Pop the Culture

Bejoy

Discovering the Will of God - Pt 3

"Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."

- Psalm 37:5

When it comes to seeking God's will, we usually seek after instructions that will accomplish a vision or goal. We want to know who, what, when, where, why, how and everything in between.  We pray, we cry, we search, and search some more for these illusive elements. We tend to forget that God's will is more about the inches than the miles ahead of us.

Once we decide to follow the Lord, we step onto God's will not knowing what is ahead. We move forward with limited knowledge of the full path. Since our human nature hungers for control, we begin to survey the miles ahead of us trying to define what moves to make and what significant milestones we must reach. We confuse the milestones that we cannot see as "God's Will". We completely ignore the inches that are right in front of us. 

I recently went on a retreat with the Frontlynaz to spend time in prayer to seek after the voice of God. We have some very specific questions as a ministry team. After three days of prayer, meditation, and discussion we definitely don't have the full journey figured out. We did, however, open our eyes to the "inches". We renewed our faith and trust that God will bring all things to pass. We determined that we need to act on the inches He has revealed to us and the rest will unravel on its own.

God's will is not a future milestone to search for. God's will is continuous, dynamic, and requires your obedience today. Every seemingly insignificant inch forward will reveal more of God's plan for your life. Obedience today will carry you further than diligently searching for answers God is not ready to reveal.

What is God leading you to do today? Is it to read the Word? Is it to send an email to someone? Is He telling you to brainstorm and put ideas on paper? Is He telling you to stop spending money on video games? :-)

Take that inch forward today, trust in Him,  and He will make sure His will is accomplished. To God be the glory.

Pop the Culture,

- B.P

Discovering the Will of God - Pt 2

"...then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."

- Romans 12:2 (Amplified)

Have you ever thought about the character of God's will? What are your perceptions of God's will for your life? Do you sometimes carry a negative response to the desire of God, his timing, and how He does things? Or do you see God's will as good, pleasing, and perfect?

Previously, we talked about the prerequisite to knowing God's will. Another important lens to look through is the nature of His desire for our lives. If that lens is out of focus, walking through God's will can become difficult and frustrating.

Ultimately the Lord can do what he wants, when he wants, with who he wants! He is not restricted by man but because He is love, his will for us is powered by that same nature. Our hope lives knowing that God has a good and loving will for us. 

If your like me, I'm sure you may have questioned God's plan like...

"Why did I have to go through that suffering?"

"Why is he/she making progress, and I'm stuck in the same place?"

"Why are things taking so long?"

"Do I have to make that sacrifice in order to fulfill Your will?"

"Why am I still unclear on Your desire?"

I know you can relate! These questions can drive us insane and further away from God. We begin to question the wisdom of God and his motives. If these thoughts continue, we can find ourselves redefining His will without His permission. 

Following God's will to the end requires a deep rooted belief that His desire is fundamentally good even if our emotions and circumstances say otherwise. Not only is the outcome of His plan good but the plan itself is perfect. Take time to reflect on the character of God and His will for you. Looking through the right lens will help you successfully "test and approve God's good, pleasing, and perfect will."

Lord, transform our minds so we may clearly see the true character of Your will...

Pop the Culture,

B

Discovering the Will of God Pt 1

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

- Romans 12 : 2

"God's will". I'm sure we've all referenced this phrase throughout our lives. If your like me, I'm sure you've cried, "Lord, help me to know your will!"  When hanging out with your friends, you probably have steered into the discussion of finding out the "hows" and "whats" of your life. In some way or another we all return back to this concept of God's will. 

Understanding God's will for our lives can be challenging at times. His will can be so simple and clear. In other situations, we have no clue what the Lord wants us to do. Aspects of His will seem to be laid out for us already while others require a journey of discovery. 

My hope for growing leaders in the faith is that we progress in our understanding, discernment, and knowledge of God's will. The following series of Evangeleader blog entries will be dedicated to this topic and I'll be touching on a few thoughts that I've been meditating on lately. I'm excited to discover more regarding my own life and my desire is for God to reveal His good will towards you. Here are a few things we will dive into...

- The prerequisite to knowing God's will

- The character of God's will

- God's standard will

- God's personalized will

- How to determine God's will

- The dangers of not aligning with God's will

The Prerequisite

The most important lesson I've learned is that to know God's will, you have to be close to Him. The spiritual renewal of our mind is an awesome process of detaching from the world and conforming with God's desires. Loving God, the most important commandment, is the driving force behind understanding more detailed aspects of His will. Without repentance and a relationship with the Lord, the will of God in your life will always be elusive. Becoming wise in the knowledge of His will requires the fear of God. Loving submission to the Lord will ignite the wisdom you desire. The answers we are looking for are resting in God so have you found a quiet place to worship? Have you been reflecting more on your goals rather than Jesus? Have you fallen in any way lately? If so, run to His grace and seek forgiveness. Start your journey in God's will the right way. We call it "God's" will for a reason :-)

Pop the Culture,

B

Welcome 2009!

I'm excited to enter 2009 with a fresh zeal for the Lord. This year, expect more blog entries on a more frequent basis :-) Also, I'll be launching a new website! 

For your devotional pleasure, take some time to read Psalm 37. Great scripture on waiting, trusting,  and relying on the Lord. I've been running into a common message from scripture and mentors regarding "patience". I'm all about diligence and achieving, but we all must learn about the dangers of  "overachieving". 

I won't leave you hanging. I'll be posting a new blog entry about that next :-)

Pop the Culture,

Bejoy