If you look around at the world there are many Christians who seem to be living in this area of “dead faith”. They believe that Jesus is their Savior. The real issue is you wouldn’t be able to tell from looking at their lives that they are Christians. We as a culture are in a place where becoming practical atheists while professing to be Christians seems to be the normal way to do life. This is something we as the youth must start to change so we can get back to the original intent of what we are all about.

There are many stances on how we as Christians should live. If we really want to get down to the core of what we are about we are supposed to be different. Somewhere along our lineage we have implanted in our mind that Christians are supposed to stay contained to their Christian friends, their Christian church, their Christian t-shirts and sayings, but Jesus was never contained. We live in a society of cookie cutter Christians who all look the same as everyone else. While we should make every effort to live differently in this world most Christians look exactly the same as the rest of the world. We must stop living like this because it conveys the message that we really don’t care about God, so as Nietzsche suggested we live like “God is dead”.

When we look at the life of Jesus Christ who we know was sent as God incarnate to save us from our sins there was nothing ordinary about His life. He didn’t just go to the places everyone else went and he didn’t do the things that the typical “good Jewish person” would have done. This doesn’t mean that Jesus did anything wrong but that the culture had gotten it all wrong. The Pharisees had lead the people into a very legalistic culture and if we look at our present day culture there are not many differences. There is a problem with Christianity when we are the ones who are legislating our religion, persecuting minority groups, and living like non-believers when we should be living like Christ.

The great thing is we still have a chance to make changes that will positively effect our generation. We are stuck in a cycle we must get out from under. Superchick sums it up well in their song Hero when they say:

Now it’s our time to pick a side.
So don’t keep walking by not wanting to intervene,
Cause you just want to exist and never be seen.
So let’s wake up, change the world
Our time is now

It is time for a revolution of our generation that isn’t afraid to love those who others won’t love. It is our time to make a change instead of allowing it to continue on the current path. Instead of living in our Christian circle we need to break out. We need to flood the world with a love they have never seen before, something no one ever gives. We need to spend less time on legislating religion and more time on actually taking time to love the people around us.

Christ spent most of His time hanging out with those people who were living in sin. He was the ultimate example of what we should look like. Be willing to do life with those who are far from God and just be different. We were not called to be like everyone else, but to be the ones willing to stand for the oppressed, the persecuted, the underprivileged, and the ones who have no voice to offer. We should not sit in our houses with all of our stuff and look down on those who are not like us.

The things of this world will fade and at the end of our lives it will not matter what people here say about us. The only opinion that will matter is that of our Heavenly King. Begin to look internally and see how your life is doing. Are you living out an untamed faith that is fully on fire for God? On the flip side of that are you living like God may as well be dead because you say what you believe but never act it out? Take some time to see where you are and look for our upcoming blogs about how we can make a difference to show the world our God is alive. Let us be different for the cause of Christ!

Dive Deep,

KC

Pride is when we decide that we are doing things the “right” way. It starts as a small thing like having pride about an accomplishment and believing that you did it all on your own. As you begin to allow this to grip you it roots itself deep in your soul and spreads throughout like a virus. When we are gripped by pride we feel like we have arrived. We are always the ones who are right. It becomes hard for us to communicate the gospel because when someone offers a different idea our pride lashes out and fights against showing God’s love. Even on the cross Christ was always about others not about himself. The root issue of pride is that we have an inward view and not an outward one.

In our state of pride we fall into the spirit of  judgment. We begin feeling as if we should be able to tell everyone else how to live according to our lives. Last we checked God is the only one who has the ability to judge people so why should we inflate ourselves to play God? In the movie Bruce Almighty the main character Bruce (played by Jim Carey) gets the chance to be God. He is given the ability to do everything that God can do and for a while it is fun. He feels like he is good enough (out of pride) to be God, but at the end there is a scene with God and Bruce that captures why we should not try to take God’s place in judging others. Bruce tells God that he doesn’t want the responsibility of Him, and God replies saying something along the lines of we all want God’s powers without the responsibility of them.

When we become judgmental and prideful we begin to assume the role of God. As Bruce figured out, playing God is not something that any of us could even begin to do correctly. We lose the grace that God has given us to pour out on others because we are so wrapped up in ourselves and can’t see past our own desires. Our mission is to love others, and we can’t do that with a judgmental spirit. God would have us to love others unconditionally and even when they don’t deserve it. He first forgave and offered grace to us. Let us not be like the man in the parable whose debt was forgiven and then demanded another debt be paid. Let us spread the message of love to all who are around us even if we don’t want to give it to them. Of course we will stumble. That’s where God grants us grace and mercy. Let us pass on what we have been given.

The easiest way to not fall into a spirit outside of God is to constantly dive into the Word and God’s love. If we know God’s word we will begin to see that there are things we may do that are different for us than others. God gives us a set of universal lines to follow for those of us that call Christ our Lord. He offers the Ten Commandments as our guidelines for living. One thing that many Christ followers think is that if we shouldn’t do it then the non-Christians shouldn’t either. God’s rules apply to us, and we can’t expect those in darkness to act like the Light. Even within ourselves God has given us some things He feels will best benefit us. If it’s not written in black and white within the Bible God grants us free will to determine what we believe He would want of us.

There are millions of people living in the dark and we have been given the challenge  to reach those people. There is a God-sized agenda we are responsible for and it is much larger than our pride or judgmental spirit. Our Savior came into this world not to condemn but to save it. Over the next week we urge you to search in your heart where the virus of pride may be resting and begin to work through that area of your life. Let us give grace and mercy to those who we don’t think deserve it. Give forgiveness when we feel like we can’t. Be about this cause that is greater than anything we can ever do. Let’s go be who Christ called us to be. Be the Light in the darkness!

Dive Deep,

KC

This really shouldn’t be a surprise to us. If we look back at the apostles, especially Paul, they didn’t have it easy. Paul was beat up, put in prison, whipped and eventually hung for sharing his faith with others. Our Savior had the exact same thing happen to Him. He was ridiculed, cast out, his own people turned their back on Him, and ultimately He died on the cross for us. If we are wanting to be more like Jesus we need to understand the fact that our life will not be easy. Sharing the message of salvation is not something that is easy to do and Christ told us that because they do not know Him, they will not know us. As Christians we have accepted this mission when we signed on. We have committed to follow Christ till the end of our days, and sometimes it means being in rough spots. We have faith because our Father in Heaven pours out His love on us in ways we sometimes don’t realize.

God never told us that our life would be easier when we chose to follow Him but that He would never leave us. He gives us a full life. One that we cannot attain otherwise. Even in our troubles God is there guiding us though them even if we don’t see it. As new believers come onto the journey we have an amazing opportunity. We get to share with them what we have gone though for the sake of Christ and help them along the way. In our trials and troubles God uses them to reach others in ways we may never see. Non believers and new believers don’t want to buy into something that we are fake about, and when we share about everything that God has gotten us though our faith is real.

The prosperity Gospel is fake. You don’t get a sign-on bonus for becoming a Christian, but instead you are able to live a life that is renewed in Christ. While we live as Christians we have to become transparent which means putting the old to death. The new creation God has molded us into is revealed when we live a transparent lifestyle. We don’t believe people when they put up fronts so we should not live like this ourselves. This means that we are in the spotlight because we serve God and we need to keep that in mind. If we begin to really live what we say we believe we have the ability to reach those far from God with just being who God crafted us to be.

When we get discouraged about our faith we must rely on God to refill us. Paul in all that he was put though was singing songs of praise to God. We often in trials blame God, but instead we should praise Him in the storm. If we begin to live this we will be put into places that we can help others along the journey and call new people into a relationship with Christ. It isn’t easy helping others along the journey, but if we show love to them in all areas we will begin to grow in our journey. Sometimes God asks us to let someone else live on borrowed faith for a season so they might be drawn into a deeper relationship with God.

If we are not living a life that continues to dive deeper into our relationship with Christ we will not have faith to help others along the way. Believers are not just one person in a sea of faces, but one person being a part of a community of faces. Christ meant for us to do life together in community and to invite others into the journey. We do not walk this path alone, but with our Savior beside us and our brothers and sisters in Christ in front and behind us. Community living allows us to sometimes borrow others faith and in turn will grow ours. We long for the day when this is the case with believers, and we don’t feel like just one person in a sea of faces.

Throughout this week begin to seek out other believers and fellowship with them. If you’re not plugged into a community like this search one out. If we are going to reach people for Christ we are much stronger in a group than as individuals. Begin to live lives that are, as Ephesians 4 says, worthy of the call that we have received. Our call is to be real with those around us and open to sharing our faith. Continue to pray for God to allow you to minister to people and invite them into the journey. Let us take the hard road that gives us a fulfilling life rather than a prosperous one that leaves us empty. May God bless you all as we continue on this journey to reach those far from God!

Dive Deep,

KC

In the beginning of the world, God would walk through the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. How cool could that be to walk along side of your Creator in a peaceful setting? But we might think that now it’s not possible to get that connection with God. We sometimes get too wrapped up and forget that we have the ability to “walk” and spend quality time with God. We do this through intentionally praying to God about what is going on with us. Our God is a god that longs for us to talk with him because He wants to be engaged. He is always waiting for us to come and spend some time just soaking in His presence so that He can refill our cups.

 This means that we have to be intentional about spending time with Him. Daniel is probably one of the best examples of prayer in the Bible, and he models for us a method that works in Daniel 6:10 that says:

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

The writing that this passage talks about had banned prayer to anyone but the King, but Daniel knew that his God was the only King, and that was the only person that he would bow to. Daniel had made a habit of praying three times a day, and just because something was put into effect that would make this illegal, he chose to remain faithful to God and spend time with Him in prayer.

Daniel was intentional about prayer in the easy times, so when the hard times hit he was able to stand in confidence because he honored God, and through this honoring God saved him from the lion’s den. Daniel was privately honoring God in his daily life, and God honored him in his public life. We should strive to be intentional about when we pray to develop a sense of discipline. God also wants us to talk with Him about the things that are going on in our lives because He, like a parent, wants to be involved in our lives.

It is one thing for us to say a few words here and there to God about what is going on with us; it’s another thing to truly connect with Him in prayer. God doesn’t want us to be casual about our relationship with Him, just like we don’t want to be casual with our best friends or significant others. God wants to talk to you, but unless you make an effort to establish that relationship, He can’t move in you. Prayer is not for us, but it’s for God to move in us.

If you find yourself in a place where you are just going though the motions of prayer, now is just as good of a time to make a change to become intentional. God is waiting for us to go to Him and cast our cares at His feet. He is a God of love and mercy. Everything will work to the good of those who know Him if we just allow Him to. This week, we want to encourage you to move from a place where you may not be as intentional about prayer as you should be. We are going on a journey to start pursuing Daniel type prayers and we want you to join us so that you may be able to change and lead others to what we have.

Daniel day prayers require us to show the same type of reverence and obedience that Daniel showed throughout his life. We are asking for the next week for you to intentionally pray three times a day, morning, noon and night. Some of you might be thinking that the noon one will be hard because you work in an open area, or it may seem weird if your co-workers see you praying, but let us remember that our God died for us on the Cross, and we should never be ashamed to live for Him!

So during the next week, begin to become intentional about praying three times a day. If you aren’t sure what to pray about, start by what is on your heart. Pray for the people around you who are unsaved, hurting, in times of trial, in times of triumph, and become intentional about lifting up others. Be prepared to honor what God asks of you in these times, because we believe that there are things He wishes of you. Begin to honor Him privately, and He will honor you publicly. Even though we are only asking you to sign on for a week, we want to encourage you to make this a lifestyle. If you want to sign on to this, we are setting up some tools to encourage you to live in this new lifestyle. Check the Dive Deep Facebook Page for more info. To God be the glory and we pray that He uses us in a mighty way.

 Dive Deep,

 KC

Living a life of prayer is one of the ways that we can begin to actually practice being living sacrifices like Paul talks about in Romans 12. In verse 12:2 it says:

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Most of the time we have a hard time figuring out what the pattern of this world is, but it becomes quite easy when we have open communication with our Father in heaven.

Last week we talked about bowing down at the feet of our Father in humility. This week we are studying  exaltation of others though prayer. Some people love to get compliments; it’s just how they are geared. Even though compliments lose their worth as time goes on, lifting someone up in prayer is not something that is easily forgotten.

To lift others up, we should strive to have a better communication with the Father ourselves. He always hears our prayers, but when we earnestly seek Him, our words have more power. Look at this as if you have a good friend who asks you to do something: you wouldn’t hesitate to do what they ask, but if a friend that you talk to once every few months ask for something, you will help them but it will be in time.

As we connect more to our Father in our prayer life, we can really discover what His heart is for us. Paul says in the passage that we should not be conforming to the pattern of this world, and heavenly communication is required to understand what that means. On the surface, it means that we must rebel against our current culture. Our world tells us to worry about things, take everything on ourselves, and that we are in control of our lives. This is not the case! Given we have free will, our God is ultimately in control of what goes on in our world.

When people begin to actually pray for something, the outcome is amazing: people are healed, lives are changed, and the Kingdom advances. During his time on earth, Jesus believed prayer was very important. Before he was taken to be crucified, he prayed his heart out. His prayer was not casual, but was very intentional. We tend to take prayer lightly and think of it as something we do to “bless” our food or end our day.

We don’t understand how to pray because we haven’t tried to pray earnestly to our God, or maybe we have tried and it hasn’t worked out the way we want to. In conjunction with bowing down, we have to humble ourselves so that we can lift up intentional acts of prayer. This doesn’t mean that we can’t pray for things that we want, but it means that we should really think if they are something that God would want for us. The stuff of this world will fade, but our true treasure is in Heaven. God loves it when we ask him for things like wisdom, faith, healing, comfort, and provision. It is through these prayers that He is able to move in our lives.

Prayer is a time that we should spend soaking in the amazing glory of our King. We should make it our intent that during that time we pray to really connect with the Father. Another thing we should strive for is to be in constant communication with Him about everything going on in our lives. Though this, we will begin to have a renewing of our mind.

This week we encourage you to be intentional in selfless acts of raising others up though prayer. There is something moving about really connecting though prayer. We hope that you find that same connection that we all strive for.

Dive Deep,

KC

Dive Deep Ministries was founded at the beginning of 2009 by a few students who were tired of seeing a generation continue to forget their spiritual roots. We have been given numerous things at our disposal for advancing the kingdom, and we want to use those to the best of our ability.  This includes things like Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and the like to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ to more people than we can do at a local level. We don’t want to be super spiritual, but we want to go after issues that everyone has and talk about things that are relevant to our culture.

We are founded on the principles of a few key verses. 1 Timothy 4:12 gives us a look at one of the reasons that we do what we do, even though we are younger than alot of people. The verse says:

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Mathew 28:19-20 also gives us direction and purpose. It says:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We may not belong to the same denomination or share the same political beliefs, but what we do share is a love of Our Savior and a desire to learn more about Him.

Dive Deep is not a church or affiliated with a specific denomination. We do, however, believe a few core principles about our faith. We believe that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and lived among us, was crucified on the cross so that everyone could be redeemed though Him and live forever in eternal salvation, and that he rose again on the third day. We believe that salvation is open to anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord and commits to follow Him all the days of their life. The only absolute truth is the Word of God, and it holds no conflict with it’s text.

It is our desire to expand the ministry reach of Dive Deep. Over the summer we will be launching some new and exciting things. There will be some changes along the way, but our mission will stay the same.

Next week, we will be starting a series called Living Sacrifices. We will take some time to unpack the idea of worship. We hope that this series will help you find your pathway of worshiping the Father in your daily life.

Have a great week!

Dive Deep,

KC