Awaken Ministries

Experiencing emotions are part of the human experience. God gave us emotions so there is nothing inherently bad about emotions. In fact, a lot of the memories I have were when I was experiencing certain emotions. Whether that emotion was elation, or sadness, or joy, or anger, or pain–emotional times are the times I remember the most.

Think about that–if you took just a minute to think back on your life, I’m guessing you can remember 5 emotional times you had in your life. Most of the biggest moments in our lives are accompanied with strong emotions.

However, even though emotions themselves are good things that help us deal with reality in a given moment, many times emotions can be a hindrance to our spiritual walk.

As opposed to the strong emotions I described earlier, I am talking about the rather mundane emotions that we experience throughout the day. Emotions can be an excuse to not do what God would have us do at times. Many times, our feelings we have prevent us from becoming the men and women Christ wants us to become.

Ken Boa said it best, “We must be weened of our dependence on feelings and press on to purity of intention and will even when positive sensations are absent.” I think what he is talking about is having discipline in our lives. We need to have discipline to do what is right as opposed to what makes us feel good. And as Boa said, we have to do what’s right even when it doesn’t make us feel good.

I know this is not a real popular thing in American culture right now. What’s “cool” and “in” is to just do and say whatever makes you feel good. Just check out social media. People do and say so many “happy” things. When you read Facebook, you would think sometimes that everybody’s lives are just one big, wonderful post!

I can’t remember who said this recently–but someone I was listening to challenged the listeners to do something fun and meaningful with or for someone and then DON’T post it on social media! Just do it because it is the right thing to do and God calls us to invest in others.

So, I will pass that challenge on to you for this week. Let’s all do something good for someone else (even if we don’t feel like it) and then don’t post it anywhere! Just do it because you are being obedient to Christ!

More to come…
Jeremy

Our Sunday School class is studying the Adam Hamilton book and DVD series, “24 Hours That Changed the World” in conjunction with Lent. This week’s topic was on what happened at the Garden of Gethsemane.

As we read Mark 14:32-42 it occurred to me that in all actuality, if I was there in the garden that night–with Peter, James, and John–I would have fallen asleep by the olive trees also. Yes, I know that Jesus asked us to keep watch with him, but it was late at night right after a big meal (and an unusually busy week!) and we would all have been tired. Jesus going off to pray wasn’t anything that gave us pause since he did this frequently. Yes, he did seem more distressed tonight, but he always found a way to deal with problems as they came up and I’m sure this would turn out OK also. It was true that the Passover meal tonight was strange and even a bit awkward at times, but Jesus has confused us many times with His words.

Obviously, we don’t know exactly what was going on in their minds that night, but what we do know is that they fell asleep every time Jesus asked them to keep watch and pray. Another thing that we can probably say is that if James, John, and Peter KNEW what was going to happen over the next several hours, they would have been right there next to Jesus praying with the urgency that He was.

Isn’t that how we are, also? Sometimes we do know when a big moment is about to happen in our lives. I’m thinking of a wedding or a job interview or an important conversation that we know we are getting ready to have. Since we know about them, we usually pray about them.

But many times life is not that predictable is it? We usually aren’t ready to hear things such as, “You’ve lost your job,” or, “The results are back and you have (fill in the blank horrible disease)”. The truth is that life often times just catches us off-guard.

We need to have a certain sense of urgency about how we live our lives. I’m not talking about all of the unhealthy senses of urgency out there that the world puts on us. Those usually only serve to distract us from what is truly important in life.

I’m talking about a Godly sense of urgency that we truly prioritize our lives and we live it how He has shown us how to live.

So, what would that look like in your life? How can you live your life–not in a paranoid, frantic state–but in a way that you have a relationship with Jesus so that when the unexpected comes into your life you have a deep connection to the one who already knows what is going to happen.

More to come…
Jeremy

Living out our faith in the real world is often very difficult. We often have situations that come to us when we least expect it. Today, Awaken contributor–and my brother–Matt Garrett talks about a difficult situation:

“The first winter storm has passed and so has the school district’s first two-hour delay. I had brought work home in anticipation of such an occurrence and after shoveling the sidewalk was set to begin.

One was one of my daughter’s classmates and her younger sister came to the house as I finished shoveling. The older girl has been over a few times. I was neither sure why, nor happy the girls were here at 8:00 but it was apparent they had nowhere to go and were cold.
They came inside. They hadn’t had breakfast so we took care of that. The older one did not own a stocking hat, so we got her one. The younger girl’s book bag was severely torn. I don’t know the family dynamic other than to assume finances are tight and to know the mom often is unaware where her girls are. She has come to our door more than once inquiring if her daughter is here. And it was apparent she was unaware her daughters were here this morning.

I was struggling in my heart. I knew I was doing the Christian thing by allowing these girls to come in and feed and clothe them, but was also irritated my morning’s productivity was going to be impacted watching someone else’s uninvited kids. I had to stop my work to handle an argument, discipline my daughter, turn on cartoons for the younger one, and help find lost lunch money. And I was irritated with my irritation, believing it went against the Christian spirit.

My inner conflict ensued when I reminded my daughter, in earshot of her friends, of my on-campus work commitments if there is a two-hour delay tomorrow (likely considering it is to be below zero) and of our policy she can’t have friends over without a parent home. I said it politely and it was all true. I didn’t want the girls walking a half-mile to our house in sub-zero temperatures to be turned away. Not going to work or allowing the three of them to be home unattended were not viable options.

I will never forget the sadness in her fourth-grade friend’s eyes. I wasn’t just looking at the face of a ten-year old without the stable home life I took for granted as a kid. Statistically, I was looking at the face of a 20-year old unwed mother with no chance at college. The 40-year old woman twice divorced from deadbeats and with a possible substance abuse problem. The 60-year old woman who can’t imagine retirement and whose own adult kids add stress to her already difficult life. The 80-year old woman who will die with few mourners or any legacy.

It is easy to follow God’s call to offer two hungry and cold girls an apple, granola bar, hat, and two hours of shelter. It is easy to pray for their needs and success in reaching their potential. Nothing else about it is easy.”

More to come…
Jeremy

Last week, we discussed briefly how many Christians in the world don’t have the level of religious freedom that we have in the United States. For those of us not currently facing jail time, loss of a job, or daily threats to our life and the lives of those we love because we worship Jesus Christ, I think we face a different struggle. Many of us aren’t “all in”.

What I mean by that is if you are facing persecution daily you have to make that decision EVERY DAY to follow Jesus. There are no “days off”. You know full well that every day you are suiting up for warfare…and it potentially costs you everything.

But, if you aren’t facing that persecution, there is a tendency (maybe I’m just speaking for myself here) to be lackadaisical in developing our relationship with Jesus. We don’t think we have to be dialed in every moment because there aren’t any imminent threats.

Boy, are we wrong!! Spiritual warfare is happening everywhere. We can either be engaged or not engaged but that doesn’t mean that the battle isn’t raging. “For we do not wrestle against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places,” Ephesians 6:12.

Due to material prosperity, we can often be lulled into a false sense of spiritual security. We start living our lives how we want to live our lives–satisfying our needs instead of focusing on hard things like growing into a mature man or woman of Christ. We are tempted to be spiritual Peter Pans–never growing up in our faith.

Our challenge this week is to think through our routines. What in our daily routines have we just grown to accept as parts of our days? What can we replace that with that would help us live out our faith in every way.

How can we grow to be ALL IN for Christ?!

More to come…
Jeremy

Friday, January 16th was Religious Freedom Day in the United States. We in the United States probably take this freedom for granted. Yesterday was Sunday and millions of Americans went to church and didn’t worry about the government storming in to shut down the service.

But, if you pay attention at all to current events, you know that much–if not most–of the world does not enjoy religious freedom. Christians in many parts of the world are facing incredible persecution. We need to be in prayer and financially support our brothers and sisters in the faith that literally risk their lives by living for Jesus. So many over the last year have been killed or displaced for their faith in Christ.

We who experience religious freedom need to never take this for granted. There are no guarantees that the next generation will enjoy the freedoms we enjoy. Freedoms are never free in terms of man-made governments. They must be fought for to be won initially and then fought for continuously to be maintained. This is just fact. Look at any civilization in history and you will see that who they were at the end of their reign was different from who they were at the beginning of their reign.

We must remember that our true freedom comes from what Jesus did for us on the Cross. That is a freedom that no man-made government can take away from us.

So, your challenge this week is to:

1. Thank God for the religious freedom you enjoy today.
2. Pray that God would fully restore our religious freedoms in the U.S.
3. Pray for those in countries around the world who have NO religious freedom and whose lives are in danger right now.
4. Thank God for the relationship we enjoy in Jesus Christ.

More to come…
Jeremy

When we think of professional sports, we don’t always think of the positive role models. Usually, we think of many of the scandals and felonies involving famous names in the world of sports. The NFL has been on their heels most of the season dealing with acts that their athletes have committed. Baseball (although doing more than most sports about the problem) still reels from the documented performance enhancing substance abuses of many of their star athletes over the last 20 years. I could go on, but I would rather focus on the positive with this blog.

Tonight is the college football championship game. Did you know that perhaps the biggest star of the game (Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota) is a young man of faith? Read these excerpts from the 12/16/14 Breakpoint commentary:

“As he told the Fellowship of Christian Athletes magazine, “With [Christ’s] power, we are able to pursue and play for His glory. We want to go out and show the world that Christ lives.”

While the Heisman is awarded for Mariota’s on-the-field accomplishments which are considerable, his off-the-field record is what makes him most worthy of admiration.

His Oregon teammates have nicknamed him “St. Mark.” Whatever else that means, it’s says something about how they view his character. In an age of numerous academic scandals involving football and basketball players, Mariota graduated in 3½ years with a degree in science.

There are, as USA Today puts it, Marcus’s “weekly unannounced visits to the Boys and Girls Club” and daily stops to pass out food and water to the homeless. As one of his coaches put it, “The best thing I can say about him . . . is he’s done absolutely everything right since he’s been here.”‘

Baseball–my favorite sport–has two athletes I want to highlight. Cy Young Winner Clayton Kershaw lives out his faith by doing countless acts of charity, specifically by raising money to build an orphanage in Zambia. He has won the Roberto Clemente Award and the Branch Rickey Award for his efforts. Madison Bumgarner–who rose to fame with his historic pitching this year in the World Series–was named Sports Illustrated “Sportsman of the Year” for 2014. Eric Metaxas in the Breakpoint commentary said that “SI’s Tom Verducci marveled at Bumgarner’s humility. As Verducci put it, “He wants success without spoils, achievement without attention and the ball without excuses,” traits that are “rare in an era when self-promotion defines too many athletes.”

That’s because Bumgarner is interested in promoting something else. He told Verducci that “My short-term goal as a person is to witness an activity of Jesus in my life, and my long-term goal is for people when they look at me to see something in me about Jesus.””

In golf, my favorite golfer is Bubba Watson–another man of faith. He along with Iowa native Zach Johnson and Ricky Fowler are regulars at a Wednesday night Bible study at PGA Tour events. You can Google any of those men to see how their faith has impacted them and others around them.

One of the things I love about these men is that they are tough competitors! Many times Christians are labeled as soft or too nice. Well, these men consider living our their faith to mean to do their best at everything they do (see Colossians 3:23).

So, if you needed some people to root for in sports heading into 2015, I hope this small list (there are many, many others!) gives you that and also encourages you to live out your faith in whatever your work is!

More to come…
Jeremy

Thanks to my older brother Matt for writing the blog last week! I know enjoyed reading his thoughts. What came to me as I was reading it was that I am so thankful for God’s grace in my life.

I know so many people who are struggling with many, many difficult circumstances right now. For those people, saying, “Happy New Year”may be a friendly greeting–but their realities are going to make it hard for 2015 to be “happy”. Any of our realities could change in a heartbeat and we could be facing the same trials.

Happiness is such a fleeting emotion anyway. JOY is what we should be seeking. But, since that requires a prayerful attitude that is focused on what GOD wants–and not what WE want–we sometimes find ourselves avoiding the habits and attitudes that lead us to true joy. It is much easier to settle for the temporary pleasures of happiness that are easier to achieve.

So, my hope for 2015 is that we would have a JOYFUL year that is focused on God’s plans and not our plans. I know I need to spend time getting to that point.

This week, our challenge is to reach out in some tangible way to someone–or a family–that is dealing with a difficult circumstance. Write them a handwritten note, give them a call, invite them over to your house or bring them a meal. Let’s be Jesus to someone this week.

More to come…
Jeremy