Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you… ~ James 4:8 

Drawing near... 

• When you want to “see” someone clearer you have to "Draw Near!"
• When you want to “hear” someone better you have to "Draw Near!"
• When you want to “get closer” to someone you have to "Draw Near!"

When I draw near, my relationship grows and this verse tells us that Jesus  reciprocates,  He in turn draws near to us.  

I don't know about you, but I want Jesus closer to me in every aspect of my life, drawing near to my family, my finances, my health, just in my everyday  daily walk..  

See I need His counsel, His direction in my daily life, drawing near really means, I must let Jesus into all those areas, give Him control in them, allow the work of the Holy Spirit to speak to those areas.

Worship and prayer are the greatest  ways I know to draw closer to Him, to Jesus, in my prayer I allow God to speak into my heart, I listen for His voice, and when I am quite that is when I can hear Him speak most clearly.  In worship I have this freedom to wash the exteriour distractions away and focus on praising Him, thanking Him for all He is and has done for me.

We had a great time of Prayer & Worship this last week, check out a picture from that event.

I encourage you to press in to draw close to Jesus, allow Him to draw close to the things most important to you, “invite” Him into your personal life, increase your relationship with Him

How do I live right, in a world that is so obviously wrong.    

Truth is,  we live in a fallen world and have a sin nature, this inheirant war between right and wrong living.  

Paul has some great insight on this subject:  Lliving Right in a Wrong World:

I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.

But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.  ~Romans 7:14-25

Paul, who I know that most would say was a righteous dude;  in Romans 7 declares what I think to be something we need to hear.   Paul says:  there is this natural  struggle to do right, he says I want to do right I set out to do right, but all too often I do the opposite. He is saying in this text that no matter how right you are trying to live it doesn't make you immune to the effects of the sin-nature (that is on your own,)  it just screams for your need of the power of Christ in you even more.

Paul says (ephasis mine)

"What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise."

Left to my own devices I am going to make the wrong decisions, so if I want to live right in this wrong world, simply put I am not going to do it alone, or in my own strength.   If I do I am only excercising the definition of insanity "trying the samething, expecting a different outcome."     Paul points out that he has the desire to do what is right I belive that is God infused, but he says  on his own, it never ends well. -- Can you relate?

But how does Paul says some things that can help us to live right in this wrong world:

1.  It's Predictable 

"It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up"

Because it is predictable,  I can be prepared, I can take safeguards to ensure that my sin-nature doesn't trip me up.  I can bring every thought captive and under the submission of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) Predictability allows me to recognize when I am on the wrong track and get back on the right one. 

2. I't Can't Be Resolved In My Strength

" I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?"

Isn't this the truth: The very things we struggle with, the things we do over and over are the very things we have tried to overcome in our own strength.   Paul said "I've spent a long time in sins prison, "  why,  because more than often than not: "Change doesn't happen in your own strength"  if we were able to change on our own we would have done it a long time ago, in fact we would not need Christ's help.

3. The Solution is Christ's Power

"The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different"

"He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions"   This verse says it all, Jesus Christ because He overcame the sin-nature, because He defeated the enemy and because the very power that rose Jesus Christ to Victory the Bible says is at work in us (Romans 8:11,) to help us life the life we were intended to, to Live Right in  Wrong World...  

Thank you Jesus. 

I don't have to tell you that we are in different times than when our generation grew up.   I can tell you what a messed up teen I was, and the struggles I had to deal with included, sex, drugs, acceptance, abuse, bulleying, depresssion, lying, stealing and the list goes on.    I know this:  if God hadn't rescued me, I would not be here. There is an enemy out there, and he wants to destroy our future, our young people.  

The devil is real and his agenda is real too:

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

~1 Peter 5:8

I didn't know when I was growing up that there was an enemy that wanted to destroy me,  that this enemy wanted to steal my future.  More importantly,  I didn't know that there is was a God who loved me and understood my pain, who knew exactly where I was and how I got there.  That He wanted to help me out of my perdicament, and into the future He had originally for me, the one I missed; by my hurts, my habits and my hang-ups.

OUR FUTURE AT RISK

SUICIDE: 8.5% of students in grades 9-12 reported a suicide attempt in the past year.

BULLYING:  There are about 160,000 children that miss school every day out of fear of being bullied (2010 Statistic.)

PREGNANCY: 70 in every 1000 about 7%. Two-thirds of all U.S. teen pregnancies occur among 18–19-year-olds. The pregnancy rate for younger teens is almost 40 per 1,000 women aged 15–17, while the rate for teens aged 18–19 is nearly 120 per 1,000 women

DISJOINTED FAMILIES:  35% of all homes in the us are those being run by a single parent

DRUG DISTRUCTION:   A Columbia University report states that drug abuse amongst teens is the largest growing epidemic in America Study

BUT HOW DO WE AFFECT CHANGE?

We allow God to Heal us, to turn us around:

OUR PLAN:  

1.       Pray

2.       Take our burden and God's plan

3.       Invade our Schools

·         North Hollywood Highschool 

·         Ulysses S Grant Highschool

This sprint we plan present a panel to both of these schools and to propose that they allow us to bring an afterschool club called LHGH Life Hurts God Heals to the school.   We believe we can change our City, our Future we can change the face of these schools by bringing the best news I believe any hurting person could receive:  God Heals and He is willing to Heal you of your past and get you on to present and future victories.

LIFE HURTS, GOD HEALS

8 –Steps to Healing

8 Steps of Life Hurts God Heals that Could Change Your Life!

Step 1: Get Help

I admit that I am powerless and that I need help. Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor. (Matthew 5:3)

Step 2: Open Your Heart

I now know that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He is the only One who has the power to heal my pain. Happy are those who mourn. God will comfort them. (Matthew 5:4)

Step 3: Depend on Christ

I realize that I need to turn my life over to Christ. I need to depend on Him in all reas of my life, including all that I say, think and do. Happy are the humble. (Matthew 5:5)

Step 4: Hear and Speak

I agree to evaluate my life and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone whom I trust. Happy are the pure in heart. (Matthew 5:8)

Step 5: Embrace God's Way

I will stop doing things my way and put my life on the path that leads toward God's way. Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires. (Matthew 5:6)

Step 6: Ask for Forgiveness

I will offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me, and I will ask for forgiveness for any wrong I've done to others. Happy are the merciful. Happy are the peacemakers. (Matthew 5:7,9)

Step 7: Live for God

I will set aside some time for God each day to examine my life, read my Bible, and pray so that I have the power to live God's way. Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor. (Matthew 5:3)

Step 8: Share with Others

I will take the message that God heals to others in need and share it by my words and actions. Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires. (Matthew 5:10)

 Videos LHGH Check these out:

partnering with 

to reach out to those in need.  Our purpose in this, is to convey this message  in a practical way "God Loves you." Jesus said whenever you did for the least you did it for Him.   If we could do anything let us do it for Him, with Him so that those who see us see Him and His great love.    If your interesed in becoming part of this outreach please feel free to contact me. 

Event Dates:

• February 8th
• March 8th
• April 12th
• May 19th
• June 7th
• July 12th
• August 9th
• September 13th
• October 11th 
• November 8th
• December 13th

I beleieve its so easy to get off course in this life, we  have this inate ability to take life into our own hands rather than looking to our maker for purpose and direction.  What is interesting, we  often find ourselves complaining about the condition of our lives, the mess we are in, all without looking at how we got here.  

I know for me the how I get there often has been a process of taking the wheel from God and wanting to do it my way, you know,  living for my purposes, my plans which in itself would not be bad,  if I would invite God into all of them.   The Bible says that I should live life intentionally with a due sense of responsibility, as one with purpose:

Know the truth—let your life show it!

Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. ~ Ephesians 5:15

I think Paul found the answer:

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly  body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  ~Galatians 2:20

What a great verse, so what Paul is saying is this:   The life I lived before Christ, the one that wasn't working, is dead and the life I am supposed to live, the one in Christ has begun.   I have been enabled, empowered and enriched in this new life by my trusting in Christ.  And the power I  received, it came when He died for me and was resurrected to the right hand of God.   It’s that power which is at work in me to destroy the things of the old life.  That power that has the ability to help me overcome the plans and  schemes of the devil and to succeed in this present life. 

Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.~ 1 John 5:5

This is a continual process, we need to do it daily 

Via, Veritas, Vita  (Jesus, the way, the truth, the life)   Live Life Intentionally -- Find Your Purpose In Christ

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