life

WORSHIPPER

“Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! While I live I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” Psalm 147:1-2

Worshipper. That is who I am. Who do I worship? Well, it used to be that I worshipped basketball; this was my life. I worshipped the Lakers (Kobe and Shaq). My mood would go up when the Lakers would be winning and it would drastically change when they would lose. I thank God that He has convicted me of this idolatry, and that He has given me grace to walk away from it. 

You see, human beings are made to worship. We worship something, someone, some place, whether it be our career, spouse, kids, cars, celebrities, experiences, there is always something that we idolize. The reason why we were made to worship is because we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), but without believing in the gospel our worship is misdirected towards the wrong gods. 

So who do I worship now? I worship the one true living God, Jesus Christ! Why do I worship Him and Him alone? Well, because on a cold winter morning of December 2012 He became real in my life. I could not see Him, but His presence was undoubtedly real as any physical being in my life. And after that day I realized that I could not ever go back to my old life. Jesus started working in my life to sanctify me. He walked me through my repentance and forgave me for my past, present, and future sins, and made me a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

This is why I worship Him. He loves me so much that He only sees the good in me and forgives me for my failures. Which is quite different from how I view myself. Imagine being in a relationship where the person loves you no matter what. You do not need to hide who you are, he wants to know everything about you. Now, I do not mean that God will be okay with our sins, He is not. He will always love the person, but hate the sin, and there are consequences for sin. But this is why God sacrificed His only son. So that we may be perfected through the grace and mercy that Jesus gives us by dying on the cross for our sins. 

What does this actually mean? What does it mean when someone says, “Jesus died on the cross for your sins”. Remember the game, Super Mario Brothers? In the game, I think you get about three lives to start with. Imagine you have an infinite amount of lives, then you have a better chance of getting to the last stage and winning the game. It’s the same thing for when you are in Christ. Because Jesus, the perfect sacrifice died on the cross for you, He is able to give you an abundance of grace to be able to push on towards sanctification (holiness).

Another reason why I worship Jesus is because He paved the way for me to enter Heaven. There is no other way to Heaven, but through Jesus (John 14:6). Heaven is perfect, and it is real. Hell is the opposite, and it is also real. I thank God that He provided us a way to be reconciled to Him through His Son. Without Jesus, then we would not have a way to eternal life with the Creator who loves us unconditionally. 

Now how does one start a relationship with Jesus and get into Heaven? Simple, ask and you shall receive (Matthew 7:7). Ask Jesus to come into your life; confess your sins and turn away from them; receive Him as your Lord and Savior, and accept the love that He offers you. But the most important thing is that you mean it in your heart, mind, and soul. A simple prayer does not do it, it’s what you truly feel in your heart, mind, and soul that matters. I’m not in a happy marriage with my wife just because I tell her I love her…it’s because I really mean it with my heart, mind, and soul that I Love Her. 

I pray friend, family, reader that you receive Jesus Christ today. There is no other relationship that is as exciting, fulfilling, and assuring than what you can have with Jesus. He is always running after you, wanting you; now it’s time that you run towards Him and enter into His kingdom. Receive the truth that you are a child of the King!

By: Luke Adan

Give Me Jesus

Give me Jesus. He is all I need. Just as the song goes…”You can have all this world, just give me Jesus”. 

I did not have Jesus in my life for 28 years and during that time life was empty. I tried to fill my life with friends, sports, fashion, and school, but none of these fulfilled what was missing inside of me. 

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:!5 KJV)”. I searched for happiness through loving the things of the world and the more I did, the less I felt God’s presence in my life. I grew up in a Christian family;  my Mom is one of the strongest believers that I know and she prayed for my salvation from the time I was born until I got saved. She watched me go through my “darker days”, trying to stay current with the crowd around me, knowing that I was just hurting myself by growing further away from the Lord instead of closer to Him. 

It was a long six months during my “darker days” that brought me to Jesus. Depression and anxiety plagued my life, but this is what brought me down on my knees in surrender to the Lord. It was December of 2012 that I specifically remember saying to Him, “Okay God, I’m done, take control of the steering wheel. You are in charge.” 

I have been a Christian for seven years now. I have seen how the Lord has brought me from darkness to light. He has molded me like clay as He is the Potter. There were many times that I resisted, but I thank God that His will is stronger than mine. I have learned that the only way I can truly achieve closeness with Him is complete surrender. 

In the last year God has brought me even closer to Him. I have felt the Spirit increase my appetite for His presence. Whether it be through reading of the word, prayer, worship, or through witnessing. I have been pressing on with Him trying to seek Him with all my heart, mind, and soul. I have been relying on the truth of James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” 

During this time God reminded me that “it is not about how good of a Christian I am, it is about what Jesus has done on the cross”. I have always wondered what Christianity is really about. Is it about how well I pray, worship, read my Bible, or how well I keep God’s commandments? Then one day it clicked; God showed me that what He did for me on the cross and that the joy this brought in my life needed to be shared with the world. Christianity is about getting the good news of the gospel to all the world. We are commanded to do this in Matthew 28:19, “therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Christianity was not meant to be kept to ourselves for our own benefit, it was meant to be shared with our neighbor for their benefit. Jesus died on the cross for “our” sins, not just “my” sins. 

See, Jesus is life and life can be found only in Him. All that a person needs in life is fulfilled in Jesus. The hope and joy that one experiences in God’s presence is something that cannot be explained (Philippians 4:7), but it is so awesome. I call it the “Jesus high”. So here I am at a point in my life where I can say, “Just give me Jesus.”

By: Luke Adan