“City Lights” – The Book

Hey guys! I happy to announce that this blog is being turned into a 365 day devotional book! If you wish to pre-order or be a part of this project join our kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/972040189/mission-six-brand-new-album
I am so excited to see what God is going to do through this project, my hope is that all of us would grow in our walk with Him. He is the source of light that we all need in every moment, when we are connected to Him then is when He lights up the world around us. Don’t spend another day in the dark, connect your self to the true source of all light and life.
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
Psalm 119:105
-Noah

You Are Worth More

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Matthew 16:26

Most likely, I hope most of you have read through this verse before. But as the Lord always tends to do, He brings new and incredible truth through even the things we have always known.  Yes, we understand that to gain things of this world is not worth giving away our soul for. But do we realize what this verse means from God’s perspective? If you were to make a deal that you give away your soul, for everything in the whole world, to Him that would be a unfair deal. You see, to Him, you are worth more than the entire world. This earth and everything in it will eventually pass away, but your soul? That is eternal.  In Matthew 4, Satan temps Jesus saying that he will give Him all the kingdoms of the world if He would bow down and worship him. Satan had authority over this world, before Jesus willing gave up of His life to purchase it. Jesus now has the authority. He literally gave everything for you.  So then what stops us from freedom in Him? Abundant and satisfying life with Him? Forgiveness, healing, and second chances? Strength in our weakness? Peace in our storms? The answer to those things is that nothing can separate us from those things:

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

The barrier between God and man has been mad wide open. Jesus has bridged the gap, and now the constant attack of the enemy is to keep us away from realizing that the work is finished, and now all there is left to do is come the Lord! Satan tries to make us think there is more work to be done, when it is only by the finished work of Jesus that we are saved. Listen, I don’t care how fare you have fallen because I know how small it is compared to the price that was paid for it. As people for us it boils down to faith. God has given the choice up to us, to choose to believe, to come, and to receive of His grace through faith. True faith realizes that this storm, these sickness, and these sins are nothing but a touch away from healing with Jesus. We all need to get back to walking by faith, if God is able then why do we ever worry? Any time the disciples would worry in times of trouble, Jesus would say “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Never forget how much greater God is than even our biggest of problems. Come to Him, walk with Him, and He will give you rest and peace. As I look at my life and the life of people neck deep in everything that has to do with worldly satisfactions, I can’t help but see that we are worth more than that. Your life is of so much more value to God, don’t settle for endless games searching for satisfaction. We must all continue to learn the true value of things. Father may Your will be done in us, we want nothing other than what you desire.

-Noah

 

December 30

“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”

Genesis 6:8

 Noah was a guy that we all should strive to be, he did what God told Him to do with complete faith, regardless of what was around him. Because of his faith and labor for the Lord, him and his family were saved and used in a mightily way. Now was this all because of Noah’s faith, or was it because of His strength? They both did play a role, but it really was because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now don’t look at this like He was good enough to get grace but rather He looked up to God and realized He was a God of grace. This is what changed everything, causing Him to become the man that we know him to be. He found grace, grace that would soon be proven by God’s beloved Son being sent to pay our debt by the giving up of His life. This grace would be proven by blood, and shown in the life of Jesus. Many people throughout the Bible found this grace in His eyes, and it turned them into a totally new creation. Peter was weak and even denied/cursed the name of God, but when he looked into God’s eyes he still found grace. This grace would change Him, build up inside him and make him a strong man of God that even wrote some books in the Bible. What can we learn from all the remarkable testimonies in the entire Bible? If you look into the eyes of God you will see grace, grace that leads to a whole new life with God working in you.  So often we try to battle this life out, dealing with our choices and consequences all alone. Quite frankly, I am sick of living like that. Trying to out weigh the good with the bad, trying to earn favor from God, and just flat out live on my own strength. I got news for you, we all have been measured and the scale has tipped, and we are all guilty. Understanding this, we are hopeless if we don’t look up.  Seeing what God has done for us, and what He desires to do in us. Because of the work of Jesus on our behalf, we can find unmerited favor and grace from God. As humans have the tendency to think that this grace is too good to be true, but we need to let go of our own selfish nature, and look towards the heart of God. David the Psalmist found himself a murderer and an adulterer, but yet he was considered a man after God’s own heart. How could this be? David’s eyes and heart were constantly on the Lord, he connected himself to God and therefore his life was defined by the work and grace of God instead of his own. You want victory? Look to His eyes. You want freedom? Looking to His eyes. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him. Therefore my suggestion to you is not to receive your taste of grace then go live how you want. That is like getting a get out of jail free card and then going back and doing the crimes that put you in jail! It makes no sense and is absurd. Grace should be the foundational block that you build your life around.  Constantly learning and growing by walking with the Lord focusing on His eyes.  There is no loosing in this kind of life! Unending joy and a peace that surpasses understanding comes from simply turning your heart and life to Jesus.“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.”

 ^“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Hebrews 4:16

December 29

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
    to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

Proverbs 25:2

The glory of Kings, that sounds pretty nice huh? But this glory and wisdom actually does not come from ourselves, but rather yet it comes from us searching. I have always wondered why God puts certain things in the Bible. For instance, a lot of the Bible is is filled with genealogies, numbers, and stories. I mean God could have put a clear cut instruction manual that tells us what we are to do, but instead He choosing to conceal His glory within a book full of words, numbers, and people. This has always blown my mind, that God uses a book to reveal Himself. He could easily just have automatically revealed everything to us, and be done with it. But instead He conceals His glory, giving us the chance to search it out. The question is why? I’m 100 percent positive it is because God wants the very best for us. He want’s us to make the decision to seek Him, and on our own accord turn to Him. This is called faith. It is a choice given to us by God through the free will that He allows us to have. We can choose to believe or not to believe. Now is this always an easy choice? Absolutely not. Does this take total trust despite what we don’t understand and can’t see? Definitely. But it is all by faith that we are saved, through His grace. Indeed I was once a slave to sin, but because of Jesus I’m now an heir to the throne and can inherit the glory of the King of Kings(Romans 9:17). Here is how Hebrews explains faith, “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” The Bible tells us that if we seek we will find, and that is exactly what faith does in the Lord. He rewards those who seek Him, this is why we find so many messages hidden within the Bible, because God rewards those who search out and find the truth. This is truly a matter for Kings, it takes diligence and faith to search out and seek His word. After all, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17. Wait so your telling me first it takes faith to search out the Glory of God in the Bible, but then faith actually comes by hearing the words of the Bible? What an incredible cycle of the Lord building up our faith, as we put it in Him! He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, and the faith you had at first is now strengthened because of the incredible truth and glory you have seen in the word of God! I’ll tell you what, this is a matter fit for kings. Solomon was the one who wrote Proverbs, He can testify to this truth. My hope and my desire for all of us, is that though at times it is hard to see, that our faith would stand firm because our lives are being built upon the rock of the Word of God.  This is what Jesus would say regarding His word and indeed years later they still reign true, 

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Matthew 24:35

December 28

“The eye is the lamp of the body.

Matthew 6:22

I want you to understand today, that what your looking at does have an effect on you. This can either be a great thing, or a tragic thing. The fact that Jesus refers to our eyes as actually the lamp to your body, defiantly reveals the importance of how we use them. Boy is this a daily challenge and choice for all of us. Especially with the rise of technology, we now can look and find out anything we need at the touch of a button. I say this for our own good, be careful. Because what seems so intriguing and  harmless, can well up like a virus inside of us. Even if it is harmless, is what we are looking at really a light unto our body? I don’t mean to sound like a sunday school teacher here but, if it isn’t good then don’t look at it at all. I am serious though, this isn’t even about obeying the rules, this is about trying to save our souls from pain. I hate to see family’s not talking any more just sitting in front of the TV, and I hate to see friends not communicating in person anymore just tweeting or texting each other. It isn’t even so much that those things are bad, it’s just that they can become consuming and before we know it we are turning into someone that we aren’t. If your eyes are truly the lamp to your body as Jesus said, then we better get a reality check and watch out for what we are looking at. Maybe that is the reason your life feels meaningless or burnt out, because the light into your life is a LCD screen. But on the flip side? When we focus our lives on things such as the Bible, and our savior Jesus, how much more is that a light unto our bodies! Just by looking into God’s word, we are shinning a light unto our soul and unto our path. I mean Jesus was the light of the world, and we have His word at the touch of a button also! Now that is a pretty good use of a smart phone! Not to mention the thousands of songs, videos, and bands out there that use media to encourage us to look up and worship God! Wow what a perspective! No matter how dark or how depressing it might be around us, because of Jesus tearing the veil between us and God we now have free access to our Father in heaven(the source of all life). In Him is every good and perfect gift, and what great fulfillment we receive by simply looking to Him! As we look to Him our whole bodies receive this abundant life and fulfillment that can only come from Him. Humans spend their life trying to find the purpose of what they were created for. But we were created to be connected to our Creator! How can we live life without Him? The great psalmist David understood this idea of His help coming by looking up:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

December 27

 “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death– even death on a cross!”

Philippians 2:8

 As I was reading in Ecclesiastes yesterday, I really soaked up a lot of truth. As for today, I love this verse above because I believe it reveals an incredible answer to an issue we deal with daily. Disappointment, frustration, and wonder sets in when we don’t receive what we want. I mean this in the area of our works. I know that in what ever I do I am to do it unto the Lord and not men, but even then I still strive either to be seen working for the Lord or have the Lord bless me. But when this blessing doesn’t come? How are we going to respond? I am not saying you will never be blessed, but what I am telling you today is that life is not about getting blessing’s now. In fact the very message of Jesus is “if anyone will lose their life, they will find it.” I believe this is where Christians start to walk on both sides of the road, showing that they are in it for the blessings. And that is the very reason God doesn’t give us the finished blessing now, because everyone would be after just the blessing instead of giving your life in out of faith, love, and trust in Him. The path to life is a narrow road. Have you taken a look at the life of Jesus? Did He come to the earth and receive praise and blessing from all men? No, He got betrayed, spit on, and was disliked by many people. What I believe is key in the verse above, is that He was obedient. He prayed “Not my will, but Yours be done.” I love to pray that prayer, but then again I have to catch my self because when times get tough am I really praying “my will be done.” When I need help, when I need blessings? God is there for us and gives blessing’s no doubt about that(ask Job about this), in fact it say’s in Romans  “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” In the Lord is every good and perfect gift, therefore if we are searching for joy and fun He is the one who is the perfecter of them. I guess today, I am trying to speak my heart that there are times in my life where it is extremely difficult, and I don’t know why certain things happen. Solomon put it like this, 

“There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. 

Ecclesiastes 8:14”

 To me, this reveals my true motives for doing anything good. Is it for a prize or actually for the Lord? Especially being in the music industry, it’s all about success. But this morning, just like a wave over my heart I have realized that the prize and success I am chasing after is one that I don’t receive now. This is how Jesus lived, and those that followed Him lived. “John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.'” My motives are for Him, the reward is His, and I am a servant of His even if I’m in the middle of no where! The success isn’t based of circumstance or reward on earth, it’s all about the Kingdom and the ruler of it all. He is the author, the finisher, and the One who defines success.  I’m positive when we get to heaven God isn’t going to say, “Well done champion! You were so successful as a musician” “All of your successes have brought you here.” Not going to happing, the victory is His, and He is after a servant willing to serve and be faithful in whatever was brought His way. Why? Because if we are faithful in the small things He can trust us with the big things. News flash, Heaven is the biggest thing we could ever look towards. This is why Paul write’s “Work out your salvation.” Every moment counts, we are constantly growing up, and God is building us up through our trials and struggles. Building strength in us, and preparing us for eternity. How does this prepare us? What are we going to be in heaven? Floating around playing the harp? I doubt it, when we get to heaven we are going to finally see that all true joy and success comes from worship and service of the One true and Holy God.When that day comes, I hope He can say to all of us, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” Matthew 25:21

-Noah

December 26

“Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
    and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.

For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,

    though a person may be weighed down by misery.”

Ecclesiastes 8:5-6

 

No doubt Solomon the man of wisdom wrote this book of Ecclesiastes. Indeed great wisdom from the Lord is found within it’s text. Wisdom is defiantly something I daily desire because after all, true wisdom brings forth much freedom in life. Why? Because you have understanding, you can clearly see what your purpose is, and you can clearly determine what you should do next. This is why I continue to soak up God’s word, because it is faith that I gain as I hear God’s word(Romans 10:17), this faith leads to the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom(Proverbs 9:10). The more I do this the more I begin to understand how big God is, and I begin to trust Him more which is the best piece of wisdom I could ever give you. Walk by faith not by sight. There are many things and feelings we get in this life t and we have no idea why. The more we try to figure everything out it will grow to torment us, until we learn to trust and have faith in the King. People desire to be so deep in all they do, it’s like some prestigious trend to show everyone that you are a deep individual. But we really what is happing is causing us to become so deep we are in a hole, and we need help out! One verse before the one’s above we read, “Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?” Why do we question what the King has said and done? There is a proper time and procedure for every matter. The sooner we realize this, the more freedom we will feel. I am a person who weigh’s down my soul with thoughts and worries. It can be miserable at times, and the sad thing is it’s all self inflicted. Here is how Solomon put it regarding this issue, 

 “So I commend the enjoyment of life,because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.” 

8:15

He commend’s the enjoyment of life! I love that, because often times we make things into something that are nothing. Yes we won’t always understand everything, but that isn’t our purpose! We are humans under the sun, we aren’t God. How humbling and so freeing is this. I want to be wise, but wisdom is not what I once thought it was. Wisdom is actually having the fear and understanding that God is in control. This understanding will save you from many sleepless nights. A child’s wisdom should be our example, He’s got the whole world in His hands!

-Noah

December 25

 ^“Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Matthew 26:13

The words of Jesus have stayed true all the way to this moment right now, He surpasses the barrier of time. This woman Jesus was talking about was one who while Jesus was with the Disciples in a lepers home, she poured out an expensive fragrant oil on His head. The Disciple’s questioned this extreme act of love as they said, “Why this waste?  For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.” They totally missed the point, that this act this woman was doing was not only for Jesus but it also was for what was about to come. Sure enough Jesus would soon endure the scorn of the cross, and this oil was for His burial. With my own words, I can barley touch the surface at how incredible this act is. What is important for us to see is not only the Biblical truth in this story, but what kind of people do we want to be. People concerned about money and legalistic things, or people who can clearly see the work of Jesus and respond in an extreme way. This woman most likely wasn’t very rich, so by pouring out this fragrant oil it was like pouring her life out to Jesus. Because this anointing of oil was a symbol of the burial, this too is a great image of us letting go of our old life with the burial of Christ and becoming alive with His resurrection. Don’t miss Jesus in your life, in fact just like the leper’s home in which Jesus was in, He also desires to be in your home. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, desiring to be with us giving us an abundant life with Him. These past few weeks I have learned that I need Jesus as my identity, because I am going to fall short every time. But if I pour out my everything to Him, like the woman in the story, my life is one that counts and is remembered. When all is said and done, I hope that all of us can say we lived like the woman in Matthew 26. I want us to be people who poured out their lives as an offering, realizing the reality of what Jesus has done and what He is yet to do. He has poured out grace for us, He is preparing a place for us, and is coming back for us. I suggest we prepare ourselves as His bride, and watch with the joy of His coming. 

-Noah

December 24

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

John 5:8-9

The Lord just continues to chisel out and reveal His will to me through His word, and today I am reminded how important it is to remember that the last shall be first in heaven. As life goes on, we tend to do the same also, going on to bigger things, this is why I need to constantly be reminded of the message of Jesus. My life is in way better shape when I constantly rely on Jesus for strength, instead of defining myself with my accomplishments.  We will continue to be empty and feel incomplete if we become people who try to climb up the social food chain. We have got to learn to become low, finding our entire identity in Christ. Think of it this way, it is hard for Christ to have room in our life and ultimately define who we are, if we ourselves take up too much space. It never is obvious, but you will see the effects when you feel incomplete and dissatisfied. The whole point of following Jesus, is so that you can leave yourself behind being born again now defined by the power of Jesus Christ. What a powerful and satisfying life to live. We see this image in John 5, where Jesus goes up to a man who can’t walk. This man needed healing so he was striving to beat the crowds to a special pool that was supposed to heal your sickness. But because he was lame he was the very last person in the back, and he had no chance unless someone would carry him. That is the place that Jesus met him, and by His words He gave the lame man healing that those in the front of the line never even saw. He simply said, “Get up!” It was true authority that Jesus spoke with, authority that Has over come this world. As people, we cannot become so infatuated with finding healing, finding an answer, becoming first, or being successful that we miss the very purpose of Jesus coming to this sinful earth to meet us. Jesus died for sinners, and thats good news for you and me, we just can’t loose sight of that after all our wonderings for success. After all, Jesus is what defines success, He is the way, the truth, and the life. My word to you today is but a reflection of what Jesus said to this man, “Get up and walk.” Sin leaves us lame, blinded, and lost. Jesus directs our footsteps, opens our eyes, and in Him we are found. You may be down right now, but Jesus put Himself in our very shoes by dying for us, His victory can be your’s today. Get up and walk. 

-Noah

December 23

“Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. “

John 6:53

 If you look at how and what Jesus taught, they were usually parables or poetic words. I can’t help but notice that this is not an accident. From the very beginning of time God has desired to walk with us, and He is after our heart.  Poetry, stories, and parables either hit straight to our hearts(the spiritual), or can blow right over our head(the physical). You will notice any time Jesus taught in these parables, people would be confused, and try to comprehend them physically. For instance many people around Jesus thought He was a cannibal when hearing the words above(obviously He was speaking of His work of the Cross).  The question is, why would Jesus speak in this such away? I completely am convinced it is because He is after our heart, desiring to be separate from the flesh. Our flesh wants physical numbers, evidence, and a sign for proof. While Jesus desires us to “believe” and have “faith” by our own admission. Look how Paul put it in 2 Corinthians, ” We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” You see it is our flesh and the physical world around it that is sinful, and that is why Jesus came to save sinners, to transform our soul by His spirit. Physically we are curse with sin, and nothing can change that. But Jesus died in giving up his spirit, resurrecting and defeating the flesh, so that we could do the same.  Maybe I sound like a broken record, but I just feel like I have such a greater perspective after realizing all this. Jesus is after my heart, and life without Him is totally empty and worthless, I will never be satisfied. His poetic words have cut straight to my heart like a double edged sword. These parable stories have pushed aside my physical doubt, and opened up my heart to the truth. You know, for a while I never could put a finger on what I was missing, and you can try to cram all you want into that whole, but it is just going to get bigger. I can’t explain it with words, but when I realized that Jesus is EVERYTHING that I am missing and turned to Him to satisfy me, I felt complete. I can’t describe it, I can’t explain it, but all I know is that He is what I was looking for all along. Same goes with every person on this planet, they are all looking and all trying for more, yet Jesus is what they have been looking for, they just don’t know it yet. We were meant to be with God, therefore without Him, of course we are going to feel empty! There is just so much more for me to understand, yet today I can throw my hands in the air crying out to the Lord “It’s You” He is everything I’ve been missing. 

 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 

John 6:35