Well it's another NEW YEAR an how many people are running to the GYM to shed those extra pounds that they acquired in 2017! How much more should the child of God be running to the CROSS to be FIT when it comes to our spiritual life! Just like we want to shed weight in 2018 what weights are bogging you down and keeping you from growing closer to the Lord? In Hebrews 12:1 it says that "we should lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and run the race that has been set before us with endurance." There is no way you and I can run this spiritual race with vigor and passion and purpose
As we are back now from Beach Camp and I reflect on what God did, I am blown away! He surpassed anything that April and I were even thinking would happen (Eph 3:20)...We saw the hand of God from the beginning in that Dave and Dan had such servants hearts in assisting and being present throughout the camp to bless and love on you guys!...The messages during the whole camp were not only challenging but were just what everyone needed to hear in that moment!...Both Pastors who came to share with us texted me following the camp and said thank you to us for feeling loved by CYA and how they we blessed to see young people serving and living for the Lord! The bonding amongst the group was neat! We saw new people in the group make connections with everyone that made them feel loved and accepted into a new family of friends! The fellowship as a whole was incredible! From the games, to water play and surfing, to the sharing and times of worship and gathering around the bonfire, the memories are very special! An finally, on Sunday our last day we concluded the retreat by remembering what Jesus did for you and me on the cross as we took communion together and were washed and cleansed by his blood that was poured out for us! This is why we get away and retreat with one another and the Lord! It's to be reminded of walking in live toward him and each other...It's to bond and unite our hearts one to another as family...Also, it's to get right with God and get a tune-up spiritually so that we can be come back being a pleasing odor to our father! That's what made this Beach Camp the best one so far! We met with God and he did all the work and refined us all into his holy children! Thank you Jesus, for making this another "Sweet Moment" in our lives! We needed it! Love KC!
I am not alone! Do you ever feel like you're the only one going through a specific trial or problem? Sometimes we feel weird or like something is wrong with us because no one is going through what we're going through...Or we look around and it seems like everyone else has it all together! But know today that we all are going through the same things! We all have sin in our hearts, we all are under attack from the world and the enemy, we all get hurt at times, and we all are tempted every day to sin against the Lord! No one is exempt from struggling at times in their walks as a Christian! It's simply part of living in this sinful and infected place we call "Planet Earth!"
But be encouraged! Jesus said that he knows what your feeling and what your going through! He said that he too went through the same things as us while he was on earth, so he sympathizes with us! (Hebrews 4:15) Joseph was abandoned and betrayed by his own brothers when they sold him into slavery..Talk about pain and hurt, but God was with him!...He was in prison for 13 years for something he didn't even do, but God was with him!....You think he never felt alone and confused? Of course he did, but he always kept his eyes on God and not on his circumstances...He trusted that God had a plan to turn this evil into good! What are you going through? Who has hurt you or betrayed you? Do you feel alone and forsaken? God said "I will never leave you nor forsake you!" (Duet 31:6) We have to believe his words and trust that he is always telling the truth and will never forget about us! He loves us too much and is working this out in our lives to make us a better person for his glory! So the next time you think that something's wrong with you and no one knows what your going through, God does! So now you can say..."I Am Not Alone!" https://youtu.be/bfveawSAHJA Mid-Week "C-YA Sweet Moment"
As April and I are on vacation this week here in the desert in Indio, I'm reminded of 2 major elements one might experience while in a desert. These elements are both heat and dryness... The effects physically on the body due to these elements can result in weariness and thirst... When you or I are going through a desert in our walks, the enemy will turn up the heat in our lives to discourage us and cause us to fall...We also wander from God and are far from his Holy Spirit leaving us spiritually dry and barren of any fruit or life...Because of these elements the results will cause us to be tired and weary and thirsty for some kind of relief! Usually in a literal desert we relieve this weariness and thirst with water! Spiritually some will relieve their thirst with sin and pleasures! Jesus told the women at the well that he offered living water and in John 4:14 Jesus said "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst." Are you in a desert place as you read this? Are you dry and over exhausted because you've been operating in your own strength and power? Do you thirst to turn back to God and his living water, his quench, his relief? Don't go and drink of the water that this world and your flesh desires, but drink that water that only God can provide through his word so you will thirst no more! Love you guys! KC Yesterday after I was finished conducting my monthly training for certain staff at my job, one employee stopped me on my way out and asked me an HR question regarding time off he needed due to his stage 3 cancer...As I was answering his questions you could see that this man looked sickly and even appeared to be in pain standing there in front of me....Jaime (is his name) proceeded to tell me that his recent chemo and radiation treatments did not work and that the Drs had not given him much hope!... At that very moment I felt the Holy Spirit tugging on my heart to reach out to him...I encouraged Jaime in his illness to hang in there and to surround himself with a support group to help him on this difficult journey of cancer...He replied that he had no one, no family and no friends!...I reached out my hand and said "You have me, I'll be your friend and I'll support you!" Jaime began to cry, and as I got choked up myself I told him that there was a reason why we were talking today and that I would be praying for him!
I'm reminded of Isaiah who when asked by the Lord "Who shall I send?" Isaiah responded and said "Here I am, send me!" Isaiah made himself available to God for whatever God wanted...He was willing to be sent to the people to speak to them of God's plan and direction for their lives. Will you say today "Lord, send me to the hurting, to the hopeless, to the loveless?" Will you make yourself available today to touch someone's heart by reaching out to them?...You never know who you will bump into that God wants to use you to share God's love with... Be ready! Love you guys! KC What if Jesus was your favorite vocalist!
Do you realize that Jesus sang and still does sing? Have you ever wondered what He would sound like? How about if He was your favorite vocalist and you were His greatest fan? Hmm what if you were His tour or band manager or His publicist? Wow Jesus sings? Yep He does! Zephaniah 3:17 says On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp.The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Jesus sings songs of deliverance and joy over you and delights in you. It is a personal love song He sings and you get to tell the whole world about and follow Him everywhere He goes. Thats better than any music event or seeing the best artist perform and probably best yet Jesus sings for free and its free to everyone who wants to hear Him. With songs of praise focused lyrically on the truth of the gospel we become the mighty promotor of this love filled message. During the Last Supper with His disciples He washed their feet and said I have given you an example. You should do as I have done for you. - John 13:14-15 Let's take His example and serve others in song. He sings so let us sing also. The world writes songs but have you ever looked up the lyrics and read all the way through. I did this to a recent song and I couldn't believe how simple mind boggling it was. It was about opening a door and the writer was asking people to open it and let people in. That's it. I said wow if I saw just the lyrics I might not like that song. To me it was about nothing worth hearing for 3-4 minutes. Then I realized how long I was singing along in my head and thought they were singing something completely different. The best Bible study I ever heard on worship was when the pastor taught that music is an "on-ramp" to worship, that is, all music is putting you on a path to worship something. The word worship just means to ascribe worth to. Songs can be about a car, a girl, a guy, an icon, a drug, an experience, freedom, self, sex, attitude, the beat, the bass, a shoe, a door, or my dead dog fido. The possiblitlies are endless. It just has to have a good beat or a good producer. That's it. But as Christians we get to use lyrics to promote the best vocalist ever...Jesus! Either songs are about stuff in this world that will pass away or they are about....Jesus who will remain forever! What matters most? The next time that catchy song comes on...check out those lyrics and then decide if that artist is truly "worthy" of being a favorite vocalist and of you being their promoter. You might be surprised just what you find. Take the Disovery challenge. Challenge Today: Who's your favorite artist? Look up some of their songs online and read through their lyrics from beginning to end without the music. What did you discover? How did you feel? Ask Jesus what He thinks about these lyrics. Now pray for that music artist and ask God if they are following His example of singing? Read Hebrews 12:1-2 Chat with God about it! Watch Jimmy Needham's video "Clear the Stage" to the right. What a miserable existence to have enough Jesus to be miserable in the world and enough world to be miserable in Jesus!-John Randall Quit Trippin!
Here we are on a Thursday finding ourselves 5 days into this challenge. How are you doing? I'm lovin it but I have to admit it's not always easy. Secular music is everywhere...shopping, cars next to me, birthday parties, friends houses, places to eat, sporting events, tv and the list goes on and on. This reminds me of everytime I've ever made an advance in my spiritual life guess who has been faithful to set up traps for me to fall into all along my "victorious" path. Satan that's who! He sets up a trap of temptation that lures me with my own desires and when it has to do with music he uses my favorite beats, lyrics, genre, and songs that have deep meaningful memories from my past. All to steal my attention and focus away from Jesus! And guess what...He's very very good at it. In fact he's been doing this to Christians for many many generations. How do we battle these temptations that we so naturally are attracted to...well.. we need to understand that temptations are always going to be coming at us and we need to ready for them. We need to recognize when our "flesh", that is, our natural desires, are being stirred and lured toward something that will pull us away from God. Then we need to resist the temptation, that is, turn away from it and run to Jesus. This is an action step. Go call a leader that can pray with you, go serve at church, go read your Bible, go play your instrument and worship, go write a Christian song. Do something that will bring honor and glory to Your Father in heaven and focus your attention on Godly things. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, Galatians 5:16-26 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 1 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,[a] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders,[b] drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Challenge Today: Read Ephesians 6:10-20. Identify which piece of spiritual armor you are missing or need to exchange for a better one. Sometimes our equipment gets old and we need an upgrade with a brand new smell and look with all its speed and high powered characteristics. Ask the Lord to send you an updated "warfare" armor and then wear it proudly...even sleep in it! Watch "Break Every Chain" video to the right. WONDER VS. WORRY
Have you ever wondered or worried about something? Maybe, about something that takes so much of your energy and time thinking about? Life’s daily challenges and struggles can create thoughts that can either make us or break us…spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and even physically. The definition of Worried means,“to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; uneasiness or anxiety.”Being worried about something can often take control of your life if you allow it. 1Peter 5:7says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you!” Worried thoughts can have a negative effect on our life without us even realizing. Sometimes God allows us to worry so he can allow us to wonder about Him. The word Wonder actually means, “to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe; marvel. A mixture of surprise, curiosity, and sometimes awe.” Turning our thoughts of worry into thoughts of wonder can help us see how great God’s love for us really is. Redirecting our focus on the Wonders of God can help us stay focused on the promises God made to us. So when you’re worried or anxious about something, remember and wonder about the promises of God: 2 peter 1:4 “And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires” Romans 8:37-39 “No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Challenge for today: Ask the Lord where your worries are running the show in your life and then ask Him to replace those worries with the wonder of all His magnificent characteristics and love for you. Worship Him in song today. Join Hillsong in singing My Heart is Overwhelmed. Use video to the right. Well we've seen all kinds of challenges from special spices like cinnamon to the good old ice bucket but here is one for your listening soul. Friday we kicked off our 7 day music challenge where we as a group said we were fasting from secular music. Together we read Colossians 3. We committed to listening to only music that would encourage us to be more like what this chapter talks about. We kicked off our 7Day Challenge on Palm Sunday and will complete it on Easter Sunday. We are honoring the sacrifice that Jesus lived out during His last week of life on this earth. So it's Day 3, how are you doing? Keep going! Re-read Colossians 3, circle and highlight anything that you can grow in then measure your music against this chapter. Do you see anything that doesn't fit well? Do you see anything that definitely doesn't belong? Do you see anything that definitely focuses you on Jesus? Do some spring cleaning in your music department. We are not only committing to not listening to secular music for 7 days but this is also a time to commit to hanging out with Jesus more. Be bold. Ask the Lord what should stay or what should go. Be inspired by your Savior's sacrifice during this week that made a way for you to have eternal life in His presence. Even if you didn't start with us on Palm Sunday. Join us today! P.S. To the Right is the video we watched on Friday @ CYA
Challenge for Today: Re-read Colossians 3. Chat with the Lord about where you struggle and where you can grow. Be honest and open with Him and then thank Him for hanging out with you today! |
AuthorK.C. Aldaco Arch-ives
January 2018
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