Love is Not a Fight (a Warren Barfield Cover)

I wrote a post a little while back about songs that just punch you in the heart, in a good way.  This happens to be one of those, for me.
Love is Not a Fight is absolute poetry that paints a picture of what love truly is.  It's not something we fall in and out of.  Love is not something that just happens because love, at it's core, is God.  God is a purposeful, creative Father, so why would we think love to be any different?  Love is not simply emotion, but an action that is demonstrated through peace, and pain, and joy, and sadness, and hurt, and healing, and so many other things.  Love is not something meant to be left behind.
I love this song and just had to do a cover of it, though I actually recorded it quite a while ago.  Time to revisit and share the fun!

Here is Warren Barfield's "Love is Not a Fight".

DOUBT: The Faith Fuel

I can't begin to tell you how often I've battled with doubt.  It's a constant struggle for me and sometimes I think it's going to drive me completely bonkers!  All around me I'm hearing "just have faith", or "trust in the Lord your God", which is all sound advice.  But is it advice that's really thought through?  Or is it an easy "cop-out" answer for Christian leaders who want to simply hand out the candy instead of the floss?
Here's how I see it...
Doubt can be negative, but it can also be fuel.  Doubt is gasoline poured on your fire and can actually crank up the heat of your faith!  Did you know doubt can actually be a sign of devotion?! WHAT!?  I know!!!  Now let me be clear here and say that doubt without action leads to nothing, but doubt that fuels action can lead to much deeper levels of faith and understanding.

I dug in to an awesome article on this this morning, brought to you by Relevant Magazine. You should check it out and tell me what you think!

Via Relevant:

Thomas has received a lot of criticism for this throughout history, and his nickname stuck: Doubting Thomas. But can we really blame him?
Thomas may have assumed that the disciples were hallucinating, or they may have seen a ghost, or just someone who looked like Jesus. If they hallucinated or saw a ghost, it would mean that Jesus had not truly, physically risen, so Thomas demanded not only to see Jesus with his eyes, but to touch Jesus’ wounds with his hands...

Read more...

On this great morn!  As the son surely rises! I make a declaration!!!  
THIS COFFEE HAS NEVER TASTED SO GLORIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok seriously now, I just love coffee and felt the need to vent that 155 degree passion on to you.  But I wouldn’t do that if it was like a Mcdonalds cup of coffee.  That stuff is like radioactive acid brewed in satans french press.  Anyone who has ever spilled even a drop on your tan slacks knows that any region it touches is forever void of hair and nerves.  I theorize that my future kids may have been burnt by that stuff.
“Zach, why the heck would you start out your next post in such an obscure and odd manner?”
Well old chap, I have a bit of encouragement and plea for those in leadership (I’ll explain more about what I mean by “leadership” a little later in the post).
Now before I get deep in to this, I’m seriously preaching to myself here as well, so I’m not picking on you, I’m picking on myself…And you.  But just a little (unless you just spilled your Mcdonalds coffee on your crotch this morning.  Then irony commands that I giggle a bit).
We were created to be in relationship first, with God, and second, with each other!  We are meant to, as brothers and sisters in Christ, lift each other up, and then as individuals move “out” of our Christian bubbles to build relationships with people who need Jesus.  Heres where some of you may raise an eyebrow.  I don’t think we should start hanging out with someone or meeting with someone with the purpose of “converting them”.  The conversion is a heart change that only God can accomplish, so our role is to simply love on people!  SIMPLY LOOOOOOOOVE!!!!
Gay, lesbian, bi, drug addict, porn addict, angry, enraged, broken married people, whole married people, same sex married people, people who hate you because you are a Christian Etc.
WE ARE NOT CALLED TO JUDGE!!!  
As I’m typing this I really feel like a broken record because that statement has been said so many times by so many people.  But I’ll say it again, hoping that this VERY simple concept breaks through to some hearts.  When we leave out the judginess, everything simplifies!!!  WHAT A STINKIN CONCEPT!!!  SIMPLICITY!!!
SO!  As a leader in the kingdom (and that means if you have Jesus, you are destined to lead in some way)… JUST LOVE.
Talk with people, get to know them, support them, build relationships and just LOVE!  Let God work on their hearts through your willingness to simply love them!  

Carpooling is an awesome thing, especially when you are a one car family. One person drives, and the other helps out with gas, both are generally pretty happy. I love this concept because it gives me time to talk one on one with some of my favorite people! But it also gets me to work pretty early because I start 30 minutes after my carpool buddy. Since we try to get there about 10-15 minutes before he starts, that puts me at about 45 minutes before my shift. What a great chance to dig in to some podcasts!!! So I French press some coffee (cuz that’s how it should be done…Seattle has ruined me), and slap on the headphones.

This morning I started digging in to an amazing podcast about preparing for breakthrough. Without going in to all the details, it basically covers the different phases we need to go through as we begin fasting for breakthrough. I think there are WAY too many of us who start a fast and end up skipping meals without actively pursuing the breakthrough we need, so we miss out on what God truly has for us during those times. Well I tell you what, I’m not ok with simply being hungry. I want to see my breakthrough!!! Just the little bit I got through this morning has started messin’ me up! So here are a few little bits for you to soak in…

The first phase of breakthrough preparation is to hear (check out 2 Cor 5). We need to get ourselves to a place where we can hear the voice of the Lord, and then ask these types of questions.

What is it I’m breaking through to?

What is it I’m trying to break through from?

What do you want to see manifested on the other side of the breakthrough?

If we don’t know what we don’t know what breakthrough we are moving towards, we will miss it!

The second phase is to perceive (check out John Esther 4:1). We need to understand that there are things that we cannot co-exist with on the other side of breakthrough. So those things need to be ripped off of us! We need to perceive those things in advance!

Well, since I have not been through the remainder of the podcast, we will stop there for now. But there will be more to come! If you would like to check out some more amazing podcasts from the amazing leadership at Overcomer Covenant Church, please head on over to Overcomercc.org!