Joy to be fighting

Today has been one of those days where I am so incredibly thankful for God's grace in not only saving me, but putting me around Godly men that encourage me with their examples. Tomorrow is a seminar being put on by the church as a lead-in to the upcoming men's Bible study; the seminar is being put on by Mitch Maher, a preacher out of Houston, and is called Clarifying the Bible. Maher shows how the whole Bible is linked together as one narrative, and I'm excited to go there and be a part of it, and to spend time serving at the same time. I recall days of my youth where the idea of getting up early to help with anything would have been met with annoyance and anger, but thankfully that man is dead, replaced by a spirit of willingness and love of service, one modeled by my own father.

I'm also incredibly thankful and prayerful for my pastor, Matt Chandler, who I've written about below. Matt is in the middle of the initial intense treatment for his cancer, and has a new update posted:



Matt and his family have been through so much, but at the same time it's amazing to see how God uses this time where he has been somewhat incapacitated from many of his normal activities to raise up other people in the church, and to demonstrate that this church is not a work of Matt's but one of God's.

Seeing all this gives me strength to fight my battles with my own sin, and lets me rejoice in the midst of painful times. Seeing the examples around me allows me to preach to my own downcast soul and call it out of self-pity and despair; it allows me to fight even when the enemy tries to convince me I'm not good enough to stand my ground. I thank God for days like today, where struggles are coupled with strength, and I'm so incredibly glad that He's always providing the strength to fight each day.

2010 prayers and thoughts

Father, I'm tired...please let me rest in You.
Father, I'm weak...please let me be strong in You.
Father, I'm a sinner...please make me holy in You.
Father, I'm alone...please let me be with You.
Father, I'm hungry...please let me eat at Your table.
Father, I'm thirsty...please let me drink the water of life.
Father, I'm falling...please don't let me fall away.
Father, I don't deserve anything...but Your goodness shines so brightly I can desire nothing else.

I am such a broken and sinful man, yet You have proven to me that Your love is greater than anything, and Your forgiveness surpasses the strength of all sin. Father, I beg you for the strength and the will to live as a man who is free from that. On my own I can do nothing, with You there is nothing in Your will I cannot achieve.

Help me to remember than when sin looks so good.