I propose to you a challenge! It involves vulnerability through asking questions. How are you affecting those around you? Are you displaying the character of Christ? Are you an example of Christ like character in wisdom, love, affection, correction and discipline? Are those around you truly understanding what you are doing or are they merely the victim of miscommunication?

Even if you feel like the answer to these questions are indeed yes and amen, then I challenge you to ask people under you and around you if this is the case. I am not at all saying that we need the approval of people in order to be doing what’s right. Often what God calls us to looks like nonsense and madness to those around us. But we can also be so blinded by our own pride and shortcomings, that we don’t and even cannot see the log in our own eye. Trust me on this, others can see the log.

Here is the challenge:

Over the next two days sit down with 2-3 people  and ask the following questions:

What is my best quality?

What is my worst quality?

What am I doing right now that makes you miserable?

What am I doing right now that makes you happy?

If you were in my shoes what would you do differently?

If you could choose one thing that I can do that would make your life easier or less stressful what would it be?

Take what they say before the LORD and ask him to reveal his truth to you. Maybe all of it is accusations but maybe it is not.. Who knows maybe God will use someone under you to teach you about himself. That would be like him.

Here are a few of the people that I would suggest asking: Spouse, children, employees; if you are a pastor or leader the leaders under you and the people that you are leading. Honesty and humility are characteristics that allow people to follow your example in the LORD not just submit to you because they have to. Most importantly honor God, but if possible, as far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men (Romans 12:18).

Use wisdom and be humble. The sacrifice that is pleasing to God is a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51). I would love to hear about how this challenge goes for you! Feel free to leave some comments!

May the grace and peace of our LORD Jesus Christ rest upon you! Amen.

~Joseph D. Lewin

{I had a little trouble with the video links so if they don’t appear try refreshing the page. If that doesn’t work I am going to post links for them at the bottom of the page.}

My friend David Klingerman and I went to Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago to be homeless for the weekend. We had only $3 a piece and the clothes on our backs. David documented the whole trip here but you can probably only see it if you are his friend on Facebook. If you are not-you should be. Anyway, since he already wrote everything down I would just like to recap with a few things that I learned. We also video documented so I will put those up throughout the post.

                                                      Video Blog 1

I generally think of myself as pretty fair in my judgments. This trip proved my self assurance was way off balance. This trip for me was one of those Humty Dumty moments. One of the things that really struck me was the homeless’ willingness to give. They have nothing, but they are willing to share with those who have nothing. I can’t say the same is always true for myself. I didn’t have a  hat and it was freezing and one of the guys gave me a hat. I may have done that on a missions trip but in day to day living? That is another matter altogether.

Another thing that hit me was that God’s heart is for the homeless and he sees them and hears their prayers. I tend to think that those people have weaker faith because of their position. I judge them according to the flesh. They have this or they don’t have that so that speak about their relationship with God. I have fallen into the same trap as so many before me.

On that note, here is a little tidbit, a real nugget from our journey. Have you ever found yourself annoyed with the classic K-love music? I mean they are still playing the same songs I was bored with 10 years ago. I get cynical towards “Contemporary Christian music.” I wonder how that music can even speak to anyone, it is so cheesy! But I was quickly grounded in my thinking.

We were with Ralph-the one who gave me the hat-and he started talking about how God has been watching out for him. This guy has lost everything and is traveling around trying to get his papers in order and looking for a job. In the midst of that he trusts the LORD to provide and acknowledges that God has been looking out for him every step of the way. He then goes on to say that he loves casting crowns and that one song in particular sticks out to him. He then handed me the Casting Crowns CD insert and said read these lyrics they got me through yesterday. This is what I read:

“If We Are The Body”

This blog is a slightly different tone than I normally write in. The point of it is that I want to be honest and truly share what I learned without putting a mask on. Basically it showed a few areas where my Christianity is very shallow and I hope to grow in. Another thing that really struck me is that there are true believers that are homeless. They too can live a Holy life in conviction as unto the LORD and may even be able to easier because they don’t have possessions to get in the way. All of them have to take life one day at a time and cannot be anxious about tomorrow. Some of them live out Matthew 6:25-34 in such a real way.

Now something that I should make clear is that I am sharing a few things that the LORD convicted me of while I was on this trip. But there are plenty of homeless people that don’t care a lick about God. The oppression from drug and alcohol addictions are out the roof and demonic oppression is prevalent as well. So it is not all churchy out there but I sure was convicted because of my assumption that they don’t really love the LORD.

In closing here is an area of major lack in those communities that needs to be picked up. Discipleship. There are many out on the streets with the desire to serve God but no one to teach them how. That is where you and I come into the picture. I met several people who are living very unwholsome lives but that genuinely love the LORD. They need people to come along side them and teach them how to live.

I hope this post isn’t to depressing but it is just honesty from me. When I get through all of the fluff this is what I am left with. For a more exciting version you can read my last post. I hope that this helps to open my eyes and your eyes to broken and hurting people. I hope that this helps to show us that we are not better than others because of our social class. This trip definitely showed me that.

I will close with this statement: “If we are the body, why aren’t his hands reaching?”

                                             Video Blog Part 3

Thank you for spending your time with me. I sincerely appreciate it!

~Joseph D. Lewin

Links to the videos:

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXBbKskLwTY&feature=related

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9ATgE7uIag&feature=related

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrHadcbXJ7M&feature=related

There are some typos and punctuation issuies I will fix later. i just want to share this story fresh! We are still in the library!

My good friend David Klingerman and I set out on a journey last night. Our mission: to see what it feels like to be homeless; to gain compassion and percpective. I will write mor about that soon. What you need to hear is what happened in the Indionapolis Public Library!

Dave and I stayed in a homeless shelter last night and will be staying again tonight. We came with $3 and light clothing. We woke up ate breakfast and followed all of our new homeless friends to their hang out zone, the library!

After hanging out until around lunch time we began to get hungry. We went outside to look for food. Well what do you know! There was a van from the Assembly church handing out sacked lunches!!!

It was pretty chilly out and all we had on was a few layers of light clothes. (We didn’t bring coat’s because it has been so warm!) This is where sweet Mary comes into the pictures.

We were just getting ready when our peppy black sister comes up to us with her cane waving and said, “Aren’t y’all cold?! You need a coat honey!” (Mary is homeless so she knows that it is too cold out for us to be so under dressed.) We looked the part-and probably smell the part at this point-so she began to direct us to the nearest place to get a free coat.

Well, the place doesn’t open ’till later tonight so we came back into the library to warm up. We sat down to finish our lunch. Just as we were finishing, in walks Mary explaiming her concern for us. She sat down and tried to help us figure out exactly where the place is for tonight. From there she started telling us about her life and mentioned the LORD. She was coughing up a storm and informed us that she had acid reflex.

I felt the LORD stir in me that he wanted to heal her body and impressed me that we should pray for her. I was feeling deep compassion for her and felt the LORD telling me he wanted to show her his love in a tangible way. So just as she was standing to go Dave and I stood to pray for her.

She was so receptive and started praising the LORD. We began by asking about her pain level so that we would be able to see how the LORD healed her. We then began to rebuke the pain in her feet and so on and so forth. As we were nearing the end we prayed that the curses would be broken from her. We then prayed that the Holy Spirit would come over her and give her comfort.

What happened next suprised me. She began to wobble a little and we put our hands behind her. Almost immediatley she fell over in the Spirit and began to say “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,’ and lifted her hands in praise. Someone passing by asked if they should call the medic and we responded that we had prayed for her and she fell over and that seemed to satisfy the passer by.

Well, then the library security lady came over and said, “What is going on here?” We explained that we had prayed for Mary and that she was really quite alright. The Library Lady then said that she believed in the power of prayer but that we would have to help Mary sit down.

So we helped Mary up-who was still quite dased and saying, “Jesus, Jesus”-and sat her down on the couch. She then stopped and seemed to be completely dased and her eyes were glazed a bit.

She seemed not know where she was or even who we were. It was almost as if she had just been awakened from another world! She felt her legs and we asked about the pain and she said there is no pain just some tightness. We reminded her that we had just prayed for her and she had said the pain level was a 9 out of 10. She looked at us like we were crazy and then suddenly remembered. She sarted going crazy and saying praise Jesus i have no pain!

She then got up and walked around in circles and came back so excited that her pain was gone! We continued talking with her and she said that God had truly encountered her. She said that she was so thankful for us. Then she looked at us with a twinkle in her eye and said, “Y’all aren’t homless.”

HAHA! It was a sweet time and we shared the LORD together for quite a while! What an amazing Pappa God we serve! He truly cares for the poor! He sent us all the way to Indionapolis to share his love with his daughter Mary!

Joseph D. Lewin

Wow what a question right? What does doing good look like? Is this not a question that everyone in the west is searching for? From “Go Green,” to “Change,” to “Toms;” “Compassion,” “Sex + Money,” “Waweza Movement.” Are these not an outcry for justice? Is this not man’s pursuit of good? But what is good and what does doing good truly look like?

There are a lot of voices crying out for decency and selflessness for the common good of mankind. Church, will they find good in you? Or will they pass by and run after the winds of change and allow the secular world to define good? Let me rephrase that. Church, how long will you continue to allow the world to define good?

There are two questions to answer here. What is good? And What does good look like in action? We, as humans in the West, often say that these are in fact the same question. Some would even argue that good is an action; good is what you do. Those same people would argue that man, out of the goodness of their heart, do good. We do good because we are good.

The basic idea is that there is a little good in everyone and as a matter of principle we should search for the good in ourselves. I, however, do not believe this to be true. In fact I am confident, no justified, in saying that this train of thought is wrong. So once again we are at the question what is good.

Good is often defined by action, however, this is entirely the wrong approach. I will start by asking this question, “Who is good?” Is man good? No, if we look at the world around us we see that man is not good. Psalm 53:1 says that there is NONE who does good. Romans 3:10 says that no one is righteous!  Man has always rebelled against God. I am no exception. Matthew 5:20 says that we must exceed even the most righteous of people in order to enter the Kingdom. Who then is good? Jesus says in Mark 10:18 that only God is good!

Only those who are Good can do good. If we are honest with ourselves we can see that apart from God we are not good. Every thought and intention of the heart is deceptive in a fallen state. We can see that Good is a person, that person is Jesus. Without the person of Good living in you there is no good. Which means you can do nothing good. There is nothing good apart from God.

But what about all the good deeds? Are they of no value? What about what Blake Mycoskie is doing with Toms? Does that count for anything? The answer is apart from God, they are merely an attempt at righteousness. Doing “good” actions apart from the person of “GOOD” is an attempt at piling up good acts. They are not good. In fact they are nasty, smelly, poop compared to Christ (Philippians 3:8).

How then is it possible to do good? The answer is again found in the gospels. Matthew 19:26 says that with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Only when we repent of our humanistic ways can we truly do what is right in the sight of God. Only when we humble ourselves and seek his glory can we truly be of any good to mankind. If we give to the poor, things to improve their lives, but don’t have the love of God and fail to share the gospel with them we have done no good.

This may sound harsh, but here is where the rubber meets the road. Is it better to do good in the sight of man? Or is it better to do good in the sight of God? I for one want to be on good terms with God. He is the judge of justice and righteousness! Now, if we repent of the wickedness inherent in humanity and receive the free gift of the grace of God, if we receive the righteousness in Christ, only then can we walk in true righteousness.

Also, we must take action. To do good takes action. To truly love the poor we must take action. love in action is this, Christ hanging on the cross for you. That is love in action. So today, repent of the false righteousness that leads to death and embrace the righteousness of Christ. Now, go and do good. Show others the Grace given to you by feeding the poor and taking care of the fatherless. There is a verse that tells us exactly what it means to do good, Micah 6:8 says:

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness

and to walk humbly with your God?

So what does this look like in action? James says it is to take care of the widows and the fatherless (James 1:27). So go! Go and show the goodness of God that he has shown you by binding up the brokenhearted! Don’t know where to start? Don’t think you can make a difference? Check out Wawezamovement.org and start making a difference and doing good through God today!

I also wanted to share this post from my good friend Laura Reed. She is in the midst of doing true good in Rwanda. Read her article “Who is my Neighbor.” I was convicted and inspired by this story from her adventure! What she writes about in this post is an example of living out true good with action.

 Thanks for taking your time to listen to me, I would love to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Joseph D. Lewin

“May the lamb of God receive the reward of his suffering.”

Love beckons, the voice of my beloved, He is calling. No turning back this time, this time no second thoughts. Forget my garments being clean, what are they without him? Wait my love, I will soil my feet for you.

Deeper still, I will go deeper still. Call me after you, let us run, deeper still.

~Joseph Lewin

So lately I have been thinking-I know that can be a scary thing-but seriously, I have been thinking about a lot of stuff lately. One thing that is sticking out to me right now is how I approach interacting with others. Now this may sound arrogant-and well I guess it is-but I have always approached conversations with a desire to be heard. Thinking back now it was probably due to insecurity and a desire to be appreciated. That approach, however, has hindered my ability to grow.

During pre-marraige counseling I was listening and learning a lot. Through that experience I started learning the importance of listening. My desire is to change from a mentality of what can I teach to what can I learn. Simple, I know, but helpful.

There are two men who have really lived this out that I have had the privilege of learning from. One is my friend Mr. John Mackey, a missionary to Cambodia and father of thirteen. The other is my amazing father-in-law Bill Murphy. Both of these men have always treated me like I matter. Even though they are both light years ahead of me, both in life and in the LORD, they treat me with respect. When I say something to them I feel like I am heard.

Here is an example of someone listening and learning that changed my life. I was having coffee with John Mackey, Starbucks to be precise. During our conversation he said to me, “I enjoy spending time with you because our faith is mutually encouraged. I learn from you when we get together.” Being a nineteen year old and having a mature Christian man say that to me impacted me and made me feel important.

All that being said, when I grow up I want to be like those men. I want to treat everyone as important and listen and learn from everyone. I want my heart to constantly say, “LORD what can I learn from this person and this situation.” God so vehemently resists the proud and I would much rather spend my life learning about who Jesus is than assuming I already know him. When the day comes for me to meet my savior I want to have him say, “Joseph, my son, I know you and you know me.” What an encouraging thing that would be to hear. How much better to hear those words than these ones, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

When I think of Christians (Myself included), the first characteristic that comes to mind is not honesty. In order to make it clear what I am saying, I am going to explain what I mean by honesty. We all know that semantics get in the way and can turn a harmless expression of thought into a ravaging beast. I’m not launching a bomb, just throwing some food for thought to any soul hungry enough to listen.

I am not talking about lying or not being truthful about outward actions. By using the word honest, I am referring to inward honesty; honesty of one’s heart. What would happen if we all started being honest about how we feel and about what our struggles really look like? It may start a revolution.

Could it be that we think that God’s expectation of us is perfection? When we are honest with other people we have to be honest with our selves. When we are honest with ourselves, we don’t like what we see. Inside of our hearts there are lies, rebellion, falsehood, pride; wickedness-the list goes on. We see the wretched inside, we try to hide the ugly behind “fig leaves.” We think that the One who breathed and the world was created, the One who breathed and life pulsed through our bodies, would not see darkness lurking inside. But he does see.

The truth of the matter is this, we cannot hide. No matter what masks we lurk behind, trying even to fool ourselves, there is no escape. At the end of the day we have to face reality, we will be judged. The standard is perfection and if we are being “honest” we do not meet that standard. The hard truth is that we will never be good enough, even as Christians. Who then can make it? No one can pass the test-save one.

What beauty there is in honesty, what beauty there is in the truth of the gospel. What beauty. One day, I believe, the sky will split and roll back like a scroll. On that day, a man, namely Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead and more than that is seated at the right hand of the Father, will come back for me. I will stand in judgement and all my deeds will be laid out before the judge. The files will be opened. My account will say, paid in full, see Jesus’ file. What a promise! He has paid what I never could!

The reality is this, our sin does not change the fact that Christ has paid for us in full. The areas that we are still lacking show all the more the astounding mercy, grace and compassion of our Father. In my weakness He is strong and his power is made perfect in my weakness.

By GRACE you have been saved through FAITH. It was grace through faith that saved you and it will be grace through faith that carries you into eternal life. It was not by works that you were saved and it is not by works that you will be carried into eternal life. It was and is and will always be about simple faith. If it is works that you want it will be counted as your due-but if by faith you trust the promise of salvation it will be counted to you as righteousness!

Now we can take a step back. What a stress reliever! Now we can be honest with others and even honest with ourselves. The things that brought shame can be brought into the light so that they can become light! This freedom from the dominion of sin does not mean we never sin again but rather that we are not in bondage to sin and on THAT day we will be free from the dominion of sin, when it’s finger try to reach for our soul the KING OF GLORY says, “That is my child; I have stored up life and glory for them.”

The question remains then.. Shall we sin that grace may abound? By no means! But that is a topic for another day.

P.S. This seems so obvious and is really the most basic reality as a believer-but do we believe it is true? If we do then let’s live it out. Let’s be honest with ourselves, with each other and most importantly with God.

P.P.S. This is absolutely important, but there is the other side of the coin which is just as important. That is to say, we, as believers, are the righteousness of Christ. Because of his righteousness in us, there is no flaw in us. How can both of these be true you might ask? It is a paradox of love. We must fully live in both realities. If we do not, then we either become arrogant, or self loathing; neither of which honors God. But that is also a topic for another day.

~Joseph D. Lewin

What am I placing my faith in anyways? This is a question I have found myself asking lately. Things will be going good and I am hearing God and seeing him so clearly.  Next thing you know my life seems to have gone down the tubes and my faith in the Lord’s goodness often follows close behind. It is in this place that I have been searching my soul and asking the Lord to reveal where I have been placing my trust.

I have often thought that the children of Israel were quite dense and some what ridiculous for complaining while bread was falling from the sky. They saw first hand the power of the God and still they reverted to their old ways of grumbling and complaining; slave mentality, you might say. You would think that a people who had been released by miraculous power from one of the strongest nations on earth, who walked through the middle of the sea on dry land and never had to stroll to Payless for a pair of new sandals, would at least have little faith.

The human condition is a funny thing, for, after condemning my bearded brothers due to their lack of faith, I find myself wandering through the same desert. Jesus came with signs and wonders, proclaiming the good news of his father’s kingdom, and what did they do? They crucified him due to their hardness of heart and their unbelief. I crucified him through my hardness of heart and my unbelief. After pointing the finger at that “Twisted and perverse generation” I turn and crucify him by my doubt in his faithfulness.

Time and time again I find myself asking these questions, “God why did you not show up in this situation,” or “God I trusted you for this and it didn’t happen.” “Why did this person not get healed?” “Why did I not get healed when I asked you?” “Lord I was faithful to you in this situation and now I am getting blamed and it wasn’t my fault.” “Why do you not see my pain?” (Insert your own question here). Worse than that I sometimes don’t even bother to ask him questions at all. In such cases, I find myself slowly self-medicating with the “fleeting pleasures of this world.”

One thing that seems to beckon me when I am feeling especially visionless and numb from unbelief is video games. Somehow I feel a false since of vision while achieving a fake goal in a cyber reality. When I start excessively playing games it is a good indicator to me that I need to reevaluate where my heart is and what direction it is leading me.

This brings us back to the question, What am I placing my faith in anyways? If I, like the children of Israel, have seen God bring me out of captivity by miraculous means, and then submit myself again to a yoke of slavery, what was my hope in? Was my hope in God’s word and his faithfulness to fulfill all that he has promised now and, more importantly, into eternity? Or was it in the signs and wonders and the miracles themselves? Was my faith in the idea of God without counting the cost and sacrifice it takes to follow him in “normal life” when he seems to be silent? And when he is silent-and he will be from time to time-will I terry far from his side and run into unbelief or is my faith in his steadfast immovable love.

Jesus was constantly reprimanding the people for following him because of the signs and not repenting in humility because of the word of truth that he brought. I find him gently rebuking me, of my unbelief, and lifting my head to remember all that he has done and to live in faith of the promises he has made. This is my heart crying out to my own soul as well as anyone who will listen. Where is my faith. When God seems to not show his face, is my faith built on the Rock-Jesus himself-or is it in something that is tangible that pleases my flesh? When my flesh is prodded, it is the moment when I most clearly see the areas of unbelief in my own heart.

Our hearts may be saying, “I would believe if God were to do “this,” or if he would  just give me a little sign. It doesn’t even have to be something big, just a little thing that I could see with my eyes and believe.” This would be my challenge to any heart that feels justified in that place, and is not willing to cry to God that he would grant our hearts wisdom and understanding in the words of his mouth and his promises:

Jesus told a parable about a rich man who found himself, after dying, in eternal torment.  He proceeded to beg Abraham to send Lazarus (a man who had also died and was across a chasm with Abraham) back to his brothers to warn them. Abraham then said to him, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.” The rich man replied, “No, they will not hear them, but if someone raises from the dead and tells them,” the rich man reasoned, “Then they will hear him.” Abraham then said to him, “If they did not hear Moses and the prophets and repent, then even if someone was to come to them from the dead they would not repent.”

Take heart oh my soul, and delight in the steadfast love of the LORD. His words are true and his promises will be fulfilled. All of God’s promises find their yes in Jesus. This is my heart’s cry, to myself and to you. Remember the Lord and lean on his goodness. Even when there is no hope and you feel abandoned, like the men and women of old, cry out for mercy and believe and encourage your heart in the LORD.

Whatever circumstances I find myself in I have no right to demand a sign from the Lord. In those kinds of situations, our faith can be found true. When we say, “I don’t see, yet I believe.” When everything falls apart and I am left “bruised by the watchmen of the city” I will cry out louder, “If you see the one whom my soul loves, tell him I am sick with love!”

Oh my soul, be lifted up and encouraged when your are down trodden. Trust in the LORD and in his words. Oh my soul, be encouraged by this word of the LORD from Isaiah, when you are searching for a sign and an answer:

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

Father, grant to me this day your strength for I have placed my trust in you, the immovable rock of my salvation, the cornerstone; the rock on which my entire foundation is set. Have mercy on me, a foolish man, who runs blindly toward his own desires, and deliver me from unbelief God. You are the mighty one of Israel and it is in you that I trust and in no other. Father, teach me how to trust you when there is no vision in sight and I don’t see. For you have said that it is more blessed to believe without seeing.  Lord I long to walk by faith and not by sight!

Oh God I ask that when I walk in folly and turn my back on your words and your truth that you would reveal the wisdom of man that I am leaning on, that I may be shown to be foolish. Reveal my folly that I may receive mercy from your throne and be granted wisdom that is from you! I look not for a sign or wisdom but for Christ.

Paul did not live his faith in the confidence of signs and wonders or of wisdom. Instead he lived as a spectacle, preaching the foolish message of the cross. This is what he said in his second letter to the Corinthians:

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Humbled, I come before you, YHWH, king of the universe and creator of everything. Grant to me a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus. That the eyes of my heart might be enlightened. That I may know what is the hope of my calling and what are the riches of the glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of your power that you placed in Christ Jesus, whom you raised from the dead and seated above every principality and power. I believe, help my unbelief. Give me strength when mine is gone. I will boast all the more in my weakness, for your grace is sufficient and your power is made perfect in my weakness.

Abba, from this day forward I place all of my trust in you. When I fail to do so, my confident is in your grace and mercy, to lift me up again by the power of your cross. Thank you for the cross oh God. Thank you that you died for my unbelief and that I never have to bear the penalty of my former state.  I ascribe to the glory of your name, and I proclaim what David so beautifully declared in Psalm 20:

Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.

Thank you LORD, Call me after you, let us run!  I will follow you to the end! Give me strength in my weakness God. Amen.

I wonder what would happen if we all started doing the things that we all feel that others should be doing.  For example, doing ones own dish instead of leaving it in the sink, not driving sluggishly in the passing lane, plunging the toilet after an unsuccessful flush, or REPOSTING BLOG POSTS ON ALL OF ONES SOCIAL NETWORKS. The world might indeed be a very different place.

I find it very amusing how fast we, as human beings, sometimes feel as though everyone should hurry up and do the very things that we are trying to convince ourselves to do.  It seems as though one could easily find themselves preaching a message to others that they are trying to prove to themselves; their own piety in said area.  When in reality, it is a subject that has recently been revealed to the individual in question.  Wishing to be justified in the areas lacking in their own life, they point out the failure in others.  Is this really the answer to the problem?

Maybe if we look inward instead of outward to fix the problems that are based in our own hearts, then we could find the peace and harmony found in meekness and humility. I believe someone else a long time ago touched on this very subject in the sermon on the mount.  A young Jewish Rabbi spoke out on this revolutionary subject and had some insightful things to say.

To sum it up in not so many words, the Rabbi said to worry about the problems that you have in an area and get right in your own heart before raging that your brother is committing a much smaller offense.  That is why so many people couldn’t stand the guy.  He cut through all of the red tape that man had placed around God and brought everything back to man’s heart, not merely his outward deeds. They proved his point by crucifying him to appease the pride of their own souls and justified it in their minds by holding stricter laws over the heads of their brothers to cover their own sin.

In writing this post, I am guilty of the very same thing.  However, I hope that instead of justifying myself in my areas of lack, I can somehow expose the evil deeds in this overgrown crevice of my heart and by so doing help to bring light into areas long darkened by the shadowy fingers of pride in others.  I pray that the LORD will continue to strengthen our hearts in the knowledge of him and help us become more like him by exposing the remnants of the fallen man, by the power of his blood, through his resurrection!

The beautiful thing is this, as we allow these gnarly weeds to be exposed and uprooted, we can walk in a renewed relationship with God through the power of his death and resurrection. Oh!  The power in allowing the LORD to prune and shape us into a beautiful garden; ready for the good works of his kingdom!!!  LORD continue to cleanse your bride and show her your ever tender mercy by the washing of the water of your Word.  Jesus.  Amen

To the Glory of his name,

Joseph Lewin

Here is another cool story that came the day after Salem.  I was sitting in Starbucks (which is almost a daily ritual if you live in Waterville).  While I was working on stuff, I got a phone call form my room mate John.  He was working at the Circle K, when this kid came in and asked for walking directions from Waterville to Augusta.  Now keep in mind that Waterville to Augusta is around 20 miles and this kid was going to walk.  So John, being the kind hearted man that he is, dind’t want this poor kid to have to walk that far.  He had called me to ask if I could give this kid a lift.

I got to the Circle K and was introduced to Michael and we proceeded to my car to start the journey.  He had already walked for a very long time that day.  Apparently a few friends had offered him a place to stay a ways past Waterville, as well as a ride there.  Well, turns out that his friends were not such good friends after all.  They brought him up there and left him.  So he had to walk all the way to Augusta to try and connect with family there.

After he told me about himself, he asked me about myself.  “What do you do for fun,” He said.  “Well, this weekend I was in Salem for Halloween.  We saw over one-hundred and fifty people get healed and we shared with them about Jesus.  That’s the sort of things I like to do for fun,” I said.  “Like casting spells and stuff?”  He asked inquisitively.  “No,” I continued, “We do heal people a little differently.  We pray for people and they get healed by God.”

I was able to share with him for a while about the LORD and what we do up here.  On that note, he told me that he was a Wiccan.  He said that he practices more in secret, not flaunting it about as some people do.  He said that most of the Wiccans up here are pretty secretive about that practices.  “That’s how it should be,”  He said.  “At least one family member has practiced witchcraft at any given time for a few generations.”

As we continued to talk, I asked him about his dreams.  He said he doesn’t dream often, but when he does they always come true.  When we got to Augusta,  I asked him if I could pray for him; specifically for his dreams.  He said yes.  I got to pray over his dreams and that he would have massive encounters with the LORD.

He said that he had done to many bad things  to be received by God.   I got to share with him about how deep God’s love is and that God was chasing him even in the things he was doing.  That God wants his heart.  I told him that God was so different than he thought and to ask God to show him who he really is!

He was really blessed and we exchanged numbers and will hopefully get together sometime soon!!!

Pray for Michael, that the LORD will explode his heart with the revelations of Jesus Christ!!!!

And pray for me, for boldness to continue sharing the gospel with the broken.

Also I was able to pray for a kids knee outside of Planet Fitness the other day.  It was really amazing.  He was definitely not sure what to do with it, but it definitely made an impact.

So, to you, go out and heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons and preach the gospel of the Kingdom!  I pray for boldness for you t step into the power, authority and love of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.