Orphaned Spirit

This week I got a chance to speak to three men of different ages.  One was just entering a new realm of life at 13 years old; another entering legal adulthood, and the realm of legally being called a man at 17, going on 18 years old; and the third in his 50's.  There are vast differences between 13 and 18, being 22 myself I can still look back and remember those formative 6 years leading up to legal adulthood, and even from four years ago being 18 to now, there are vast differences in who I am.  I can only imagine the vast differences from where I am now to where I'll be, and who I'll be in 28 years at the age of 50.  

At 13 I started Junior High, and I started growing facial hair (to my friends in their 20's who still can't, you should probably be jealous), my voice began to grow deeper, my height continued to increase (and eventually surpassed my Dad's height at 5'8", where I currently stand at 6'0").  This is the age when us guys, notice girls.  

At 17, I was getting ready to graduate my senior year of High School, applying to colleges, and picking what I wanted to be when I grow up.  Which when compared to the direction I'm heading in now, is a bit different.  

I'll let you know what 50 is when I get there.  

The reason I lay out these differences is simple, in that, even though with all these little differences setting the demographics apart, so on and so forth, they all had one key similarity.  They all had fathers.  This is where I pose my question, can a person with one or both of their parents, be an orphan still?

A common thing I heard with these three men was "I think my Dad loved me" or "My Dad just isn't/wasn't around".  Nothing against moms, mine is amazing; there is something absolutely pertinent about a Father's presence.  A father's presence is, I dare-say, a necessity.  

In women that have grown up without fathers or even some form of father figure, they went out seeking, not always consciously, sometimes sub-concsously, that male love; as in their heart was an incompleteness, a longing, and often a lie, that they couldn't be loved by a man, or a distorted view of love from a man.

In men, there is a different, albeit just as devastating affect.  Quite often there was no positive reinforcement on a proper male model.  There was an unsureness as to exactly what a man, and what manliness was.  This created a obscure self identity.  While I don't completely agree with gender roles, there is a reason men and women are made different, there need to be differences.  

Looking at my own parents, as I was lucky enough to have both of them in my life.  My mom was always the more tender, compassionate one; whereas my dad was stricter, and sterner.  Both love me, and I know it; there is no question there.  The compassion of my mom, and discipline of my dad created balance, and allowed me to become a balanced human being.  I can show compassion when someone is in need, and sternness where it need be applied.  

Back to the issue of Fatherlessness, these three men had a lack of solidity in their identity.  All relating back to the lack of a solid father figure, or a stable father figure where abuse of substances and/or people were involved.  They had unsureness of who they were, because there wasn't a father molding them in a proper way.  There was a brokenness, and for anyone that knows me, when someone starts crying, I tend to get a little leaky.  

Phrases like "I think my Dad loved me, but he just didn't show it.", "I just wish my Dad was there for me some times", and "I don't know what's wrong with me" (in relation to fatherly absence), are ones that should never even be thought about.  The lack of a father is NOT YOUR FAULT.  

These men grew up with a dad, or their dad was alive, just somewhere that wasn't where he should've been.  And yet, I found on these men, an orphaned spirit.  An orphan simply, is a person or thing, deprived of protection, position, etc.  So even though there was a man that produced the DNA for the child, the child was deprived of a real father.  Therein my question, and an answer, can a person with one or both parents still be an orphan? Yes, they can, as they're deprived of a father's love.

This is where things turn around, God makes a promise in His word.  He is a Father, to the fatherless.

Psalm 68:5, Deut.10:18. Psalm 10:14

When Jesus was about to be crucified, He cried out ABBA FATHER! (Mark 13:33-36).  When a child is afraid, they'll often cry out Mommy, Daddy.  That's quite like what Jesus was doing in this passage, was crying out to His dad.  Not because He was a sissy, I just need to say that. Although, He had some fear, knowing what was about to transpire, I think that's allowed given the circumstances.  

In the same way, we can cry out Abba Father to God, and He will answer, He will come to us.  James 4:8 tells us that when we come close to Him, He will come close to us.  I see a lot of comfort in that; that the God of the Universe, can be called Daddy, and that He will draw near to you, and that He loves you.  

For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.  John 3:16

Begotten means His own flesh and blood.  He gave His flesh and blood son, to save His fallen child.  Ephesians calls us adopted children, and in Jewish culture, an adopted child had more right than a flesh and blood child.  The biological child could be disowned, removed from an inheritance, anything, but an adopted child, could not.  Once the child was adopted, it was ALWAYS a part of that family and inheritance.  God wants to know us, and us to know him, deeply.  He desires to be a Father;  for He loves us.

Go and Do

I often wonder about the things we do.  We say we do them for one reason or another, but is that true, or do we decieve ourselves for a bit of self satisfaction.  Do we allow ourselves to become so jaded in an attempt at self realization we miss the greatest realization of all? The realization of Jesus Christ, His death, Resurrection, and the Salvation through this.

We go around with a Jesus stamp at times, seeking to justify anything and everything we do by shouting the name of Jesus and making a show of it.  In the Bible Jesus sorts of the Goats and the Sheep, those that KNEW Him and those that DID NOT.  Both went about performing miracles, but there was one key difference.  One, the goats, were making a man made effort, focusing on deeds; the other, the sheep, knew His Voice.  So let me ask you this, do you know His voice? Do you know the saviour you claim to have?  Will Jesus say "Enter the gates my sheep", or will He say, "Get away from me, I DID NOT KNOW YOU!".

There is a delicate balancing act between FAITH and DEEDS.  To demonstrate, in James 1 it speaks of our faith going without deeds, and when there are no deeds to match our faith, our faith is DEAD!  However, jumping over to Ephesians 2, Paul tells us we are NOT SAVED BY DEEDS, but by faith.  

So how does this work?  Our deeds will not save us, nothing we can EVER do, can grant us salvation, only through Jesus Christ and FAITH in Him can we be saved.  Now that doesn't mean we get fire insurance and we're good to go, nay nay.  My house has an alarm system, now that's no good if I don't use it correct?  Say someone broke in to my house, I tell the Police officer, "I have an alarm system", he would ask if it was armed, and I would reply, well no, having should be good enough right?" I gaurantee that officer would laugh at you.  The same thing with faith, it's pointless if you aren't walking in it.  Your faith should be pushing you to move and DO SOMETHING.  

James 1:27 (NKJV) "Pure and undefilied religion before God the Father is this; to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, AND to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

There's a two fold walk there, NOT ONLY do we have to think about ourselves, which is actually the second point not the first, take notice of that, I think there's a reason for that.  We also have to look out for OTHERS.  We have to DO SOMETHING.  The great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 wasn't a recommendation, but a commandment.  I don't know when GO and DO turned into sitting in a church pew on Sunday morning and going about life as if nothing happened.  If Jesus came back right now, what do you think He would say about the church today?  "Oh hey, I like that picture of me." "That's a really nice sound system you have there" for some reason I doubt that.  He'd probably start asking if we've been loving our neighbour as ourself, if we've been visiting those orphans and those widows, if we've been dying ourselves DAILY and picking up our cross.  

But always remember, make sure your eyes are on Him.  

I don't say any of this to condemn, that is not my goal nor my hearts desire.  I do however, wish to challenge people.  To break them out of mediocrity and complacency into a fullness of Joy they have never known.  If my life hadn't been radically changed by the Lord my Saviour Jesus Christ I would not care what you did.  But knowing what I know, there is so much more than this world has to offer.  The shallow, short lived pleasures are nothing measured up to the Greatness of the One above, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, Yahweh, God our Father.  And for that reason, I challenge you to never stop moving, always keep watch, always keep faithful, never let discouragement be a burden, but in all things find what is good and rejoice.

Not Afraid, Not Alone

I have a heart for inner city kids, when I was in college doing my education degree (I had to leave during the recession), my first practicum was at an inner city school. A lot of the kids come from broken homes, a number don't know their moms/dads, or barely know them. They don't have any positive influence in their lives, and some make bad choice, either for attention, or the impression they've been left with. It breaks my heart on a daily basis seeing kids go through this. My eyes are not dry, my heart is definitely broken, my emotions run wild, my passion flares up, and I get raw and down to the point with this. These kids need someone, they need hope, and a light in their life. They don't need punishment, or this reform school garbage. They need love, because they ain't gettin it any where else. They end up going to the wrong places looking for acceptance, for love, for some fake level of 'you did alright'. There is an attack on our Youth today, turning them into lifeless zombies drifting through life, numb and cold. Things need to change. Please help me; help me spread hope. Help me bring life to young men and women who feel their life deep down, means nothing. Help me, make a difference. 

**I wrote the words previous, and following this in raw aggression and desire for a change. Everything I say is real, pass it on.

When I slip into ignorance, complacancy surrounding me
I go numb, don't know what's goin on.
Ignorance is bliss, can I keep living like this?

When I see the hurt, when I see the pain
I know there's a God, he couldn't be more real to me
Cuz I know that when there's pain in the night, Joy comes in the morning
There is a hope, I'm not afraid, I'm not alone, I'm not afraid, not alone.

In the pain and the suffering, I know what hope will bring
I'm not alone, I'm not afraid.
I got the Lord Almighty by my side.
I'm not alone, not afraid.

Though the world is dark, cold, falling apart,
Here in His presence, He comforts me.
No mourning in Heaven, He'll wipe away my tears
I will rejoice, I will rejoice
I'm not afraid, I'm not alone.

Updates and Such

So it's been a few weeks (oops), I was at another Youth Camp, this time at Whispering Pines just outside of Medicine Hat, AB.  It was a great week and I saw the kids grow so much over that week and even saw the redemptive work of Jesus Christ in their lives (Mad props to God).

So I get back from camp and find my life in a slight uproar, while I was gone my Employment Inusrance Benefits ran out, thus leaving me with absolutely no income.  Want a stressful situation? Go through that while having the bank, etc. calling you for money.  STREEESSSSS!!!

But anyways, I sit down with my pastor/good friend, to mull over things, plan, and so on.  We end up scoring me a car for $1.00 (yes, One dollar, you read that right).  Thus I score a job as a delivery driver (for no less my favourite pizza place).  Now, what would life be without a curve ball (or two?), for my job I require commerical insurance, an extra $500 a year (ouch, I know), I know people that pay not much more than that for their insurance, and that's how much extra I have to pay.  On top of that, for it to be road worthy it needed a decent chunk of work.  Now for those wondering what car it is, it was a 1996 Geo Metro , now if it looked like this I would be COMPLETELY fine with it, however it looks like this

The story does not end here!! I drop it off at my church, I get a call asking what all the issues are and get told to drop off the list.  (Excuse that fragmented, messed up sentence thing).  So after dropping off that list of needed repairs, I get another call, everything is fixed!  For a grand total cost of, ZERO DOLLARS!  Why? Because we sat, prayed, planned, and followed God.  


Moral of this story: Trust in God, He has a plan, and it's better than any silly little idea we may have.  It may not be the prettiest car, or the fastest car, but God will used a rusty old lemon easier than a pimped out Mercedez (not knocking on you Mercedez owners).  


Do I car that my car isn't super awesome? Not really.
Do I plan on upgrading some day? Yeah, when I can actually afford it.
Am I content with how things worked out in a period of like two days? Definitely.


Don't be afraid to email prayer requests to amarks@live.ca

Tranquility

It's been a few weeks since I last wrote something, I tend to get busy running around at different Youth Camps. Single, unemployed guys are great for minstry in the sense of nothing tying them down (haha), but besides the point. 

I'm sitting outside at 5am, what am I doing up at the hour?  I've barely slept all night, and I recalled my friend Melissa deciding to watch a sunrise today.  Seeing as I was up at 4;30am still, I decided to proceed outdoors.  So I'm sitting outside listening to the birds chirp, various small animals wake up for the day (not excluding my four year old Bijon Schitzu), as I watch the moon fade and the sun rise, the dew on the grass gently rolling of the blades; and enjoy the crisp, clean, cool air.

As I'm taking all this in I had a thought, we get very busy in our lives, and we seem to forget of an enjoyable thing, known as tranquility.  I found it so peaceful this morning sitting outside in sweats and a tee, my dog pouncing about the yard like a puppy, just taking in all the sounds, the sight of night slowly fading to day.  It brought to mind a piece from scripture;
Psalm 46:8-11

⁸ Come, behold the works of the LORD,
         Who has made desolations in the earth.
 ⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
         He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; 
         He burns the chariot in the fire. 
 ¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God;
         I will be exalted among the nations, 
         I will be exalted in the earth! 
 ¹¹ The LORD of hosts is with us;
         The God of Jacob is our refuge.  Selah


We can praise God easily in the good times, in our spare time.  Do we praise Him always?  He made the Earth, everything in the earth.  There is so secret formula to talking to God, it says very clearly here, BE STILL and KNOW, I AM GOD.  In everything going on in your life, it's not hard to find even five minutes, go into your prayer closet, a quiet room, free of distraction, and just bless His name for starters.
A simple way to understand the Lord's Prayer, and I'll finish with this.


Father God,
You are good, may Your name be blessed and holy.
It's Your will, not ours.  We want to see you glorified,
On earth and in heaven
God, you know my needs, even before I ask, and you are the provider.
I mess up, but you forgive me, grant me grace to forgives as well.
Keep me safe from attacks, clothe me in Your heavenly armour (Eph6)
All glory to You, it's all for Your name.
Forever and ever
Amen

Crisis

Life is not pain problem-free. As one of man said, “You’re either in a crisis, coming out of a crisis, or about to go into a crisis.”




Life is not all sunshine and lollipops (apologies if this is the first time you're hearing of this), it's true. Real life has it's ups and downs, low points, and high points. How we deal with them, can be directly influenced by our relationship with God. Sometimes we go through a trial to test our faith (1Peter1:7, 2 Corinthians 13:5, sometimes Satan wants to pull us away form God (John 10:10), and sometimes we just hit a speed bump so to speak, in our lives.




The thing with a struggle, crisis, dilemma, and the like, is that they build character when we persevere, (supposing we don't run off in the corner cowering). If we "man up" in a manner of speaking, push through, (as Paul says, run the race and fight the good fight for the faith), we will stand in the end stronger than we were in the beginning. The deciding factor in all of this, as aforementioned, is a relationship with God. Thus I am brought to my main point.




Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose"




Yes, this is from the bible. We KNOW, not we think, but it is for certain knowledgeability, that we say this. That ALL THINGS, that means everything! Work together for those who love God. See where our relationship with our Heavenly Father comes in? His love never fails, never gives up (1 Corinthians 13). God has a purpose for us (Jeremiah 1:5; 29:11,12).




So whatever your current situation is, remember that God cares about you and loves you. That He has a plan and a purpose for you.

Music

A fairly vague title, I could think of nothing better to title this as all my creative juices are currently being poured into writing, you guessed it, MUSIC. I was three songs away from my goal for writing my first album, currently however, I can't find the notebook in which I wrote four songs, so I'm sitting at half my songs. Tres sad (I don't really know french). I'm hoping I find that book soon.




A quick tidbit about the project:

I love writing music and I've always wanted to make an album so I started the endeavor a few months back. The album will consist of primarily original songs, the one cover I'm looking at doing more than likely (supposing I can get rights to do it) will be The Stand. It's a song that's meant a lot to me for some years and carries some memories and experiences no other song does. So look forward to that.




I think that's everything for this pointless entry.




Be blessed!

When I'm Found In The Desert Place

I haven't written in a while, but believe me there is reason behind this. I wish to write nothing, if it does not have God in it. May any words I put forth, be only what God wishes for me to say.

I've been going through a bit of a spiritual desert of late. Specifically, the last two months or so. The purpose behind a desert is usually for growth and maturing, or else preparation. For instance Elijah went into the desert before God sent him to do great things, Jesus went into the desert where he was tempted and then grew more spiritually with His heavenly father. John the Baptist grew spiritually in the desert. And so I consider myself priveleged to experience any form of desert these men of God faced. It's a sign of bigger things to come, and gets me excited as to what God has in store ministry wise.

I decided I would write a little bit of deserts just for any going through a similar thing, so that you would not feel hopeless, nor become discouraged. As I stated previously, God uses the desert experience to prepare you, grow you, mature you, or even break you. Perhaps you rely on people too much, and so you're being pushed into a position you must fully rely on Him instead of those people. Perhaps you have to some extent, taken for granted the power of the cross, or just haven't been in His presence like you should, and so He's pushing you into a position where you spend more time with Him. Whatever it is, remember, God has a plan for you, and He loves you, and will not abandon nor forsake. Don't let the lies of the enemy pull you into believing things that are not true. It may feel like God has turned His back on you, but the bible promises He will not leave nor forsake. He loves us so much, He gave His only son so we could have a relationship with Him.

What to do with your desert:
I'm not a fan of pragmatics and lists, but here some ideas a friend of mine gave.
-Thank God for everything, every little thing, but only if you're actually thankful for it, He judges the motives of man's heart, remember that.
-Let Him know how awesome He is, spending time in praise and worship and prayer, even when you don't feel like it, is perseverance. And character is built through perseverance, God wants men of character.
-Don't stop, while your relationship with God may appear to be on a standstill, it isn't, He's still there, He still wants you, but He may be wanting you to put more forward. Perhaps there is an area in your life you're not giving up, not denying yourself daily in some way.

And remember above all else, Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. The greatest calling in life, is to have a relationship with the God of the universe.

A Recent Testimony

So, today I was having a conversation with a young man from the youth group I volunteer at.  It began the usual way with, "Hey, what's up?" and so on.  Soon it turned to me asking what he was up to, and his response of, listenin to some tunes, about to grab my bible and do some reading.  So I proceeded to ask, which book of the Bible?  He said about to start reading in Isaiah, I assumed he meant Isaiah 1.  In fact, he had worked through Isaiah and was reading the last chapter, 65.  At this point he will be beginning on Jeremiah.  What blows my mind even further, this young man, isn't even 16 years old.
The fact of getting to see God work in his life, defeating drugs, depression, just leaves me in awe.  This just proves, that God's word does not come back void. I felt I should just share this little testimony, and I've always shared a link to a personal favourite worship song of both the young man and myself.
How He Loves-John Mark McMillan ,
Blog
Read Previous Blog
Follow My Blog
Blog Archive
Contact
Twitter
Ministry Homepage(Facebook)


Hope this encourages any who read this in your faith.
~Andrew

A Challenge To Singles

I write this as a single man. Because who knows, I could walk through the doors of a store tomorrow and find the woman of my dreams. This is something important for single, and even married men. You can correct me if I'm wrong somewhere. Now, to the point. This does jump around a bit, but I hope people get something from it. It's something that's been on my heart for a while.

"Men" today and Real Men are two different things. A man today is considered simply as some guy, over the age of majority in his place of residence, who probably lives on his own, or with someone else other than, say parents, and works at a job to pay bills and seek self serving pleasures. By these terms, there are a lot of "men" out there.


However,

We've created a society that has us pushing away from those good ol' family values. Where we respect women as a gift from God, and not just a pleasure object. There has been a shift in thinking from starting a family and having the man at the head of the family, to people being more independant (the idea isn't so bad, but the practice today, isn't so great).


We've become a society of self, we seek personal gain and satisfaction above most other things. So we either strive to to gain more for ourselves, or become content with where we are because we're comfortable. Depression has become such a large issue, it's easy to see why. We don't set goals, or else we do, but with no Godly wisdom. We remove God wholly from the equation, and wonder what happened.


There were single men in the bible that were great witnesses and so on and so forth. Phillip and Stephen in the book of Acts for example.


Many signle men today, are not men, but boys. They take responsibility for nothing, but want want, everything. I recently heard a sermon on this topic. Men need to build, and grow, and harvest. When God made man, He told him to work the land. Some where in the mix, that got taken away from some part of man. Creating the complacency we see now. Men building their empires, or destroying them, in video games.

I feel this is an incredibly important subject, and something all men, married or single need to know about. Men need to be just that, Men. Not a kid playing grown up, but a real man. Someone who seeks justice, shows respect, and follows what is right.


But maybe that's just me, maybe I'm just some weird guy who thinks that men today could be so much more. That, too many, have just given up. And some, just need to grow a set of balls (putting it bluntly).


I'm a single guy, but I look at the season of being single as a gift. We have more time readily avaliable for the Lord. Because when we find that woman God has intended for us, and we become one, we need to love her, like Christ loves the Church. For that reason, we need to look at our definitions of what a man is. Is it simply lifestyle, income, and materialism? Or is there something deeper to what a man is? I would argue the latter. A man is made up of more than exterior, but interior. Where's his heart? Where are his priorities? Does he have any plans in life? Or is he a life long drifter?


To woman, if you're married and happy, congrats!! If you're single and looking, look at each man carefully, don't jump from desperation, it will probably be the worst thing you do. It's better to be single and wait, then to jump the gun and be hurt. I've been there, it isn't pleasant. It's never worth the hurt. Set standards, don't compromise them, or your principles. If you have to do either, than the person, is not worth it. I've been single two years, and I'm gonna be single longer yet, at least I think so. Love, is worth waiting for, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Enjoy the time you have between you and God. I think that's all I have to say for now.