Josh Pitka, His Best Friend God, and the Mega Church Journey

and I think if you get on the Apostle Paul’s side with this ONE, you’ll do yourself well!

12 Not that I have already attained it, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended (laid hold of it); but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

I had a dream some years back where some great men of God were standing on a stage together in a notable and globally influential church. One of those men who has particularly impacted my life in a great way through his books ‘Wild at Heart’ and ‘The Way of the Wild at Heart’ shouted at near the top of the lungs,

“THERE IS ONE THING TO DO, PERSEVERE!!!”

Another great man by the name of Cesar Castellanos stated words to the effect of, “Everyone has a dream from God. But why do the majority of people never fulfill that dream? The ones that fulfill there God-given dream are the ones that persevere.”

I think this is true… because as you persevere:

• successes become more frequent and greater
• failures are transformed into learning curves and life lessons
• trials just make you stronger
• you continue to learn and grow every day, and you never get stagnant

Of couse, there are many other benefits to persevering – but the point is: DON’T STOP! Don’t let the past hold you back from what lies ahead. Because the truth is: no man of woman has done anything great in this life and not had to persevere through thick and thin!

You know that ‘zone’… it’s that mysterious feeling that comes over you when you’re doing really well, hitting the targets that are in your heart to hit, being the productive person you know you want to be, should be, need to be?

You know that place of living that you get to the end of day and you just say… “Thank you Jesus, this day was AMAZING!”

I like those days… and I propose that for the most part they happen on purpose.

I think that if you’re a dedicated believer, the enemy’s greatest strategy against you is not necessarily to get you to commit some great sin, because he knows you won’t. It will be to get you to compromise in the small areas of your life that stop you from getting to the end of the day and saying, “Wow, God you are SO GOOD, TODAY WAS SO GOOD (fruitful, powerful).”

I want to go there every day this year.

This year I want to look back on each day and say, “Wow God, you exceeded my expectations again!”

Trust in the goodness of God to bring you there! 

So often people cut themselves WAY short of their God-given calling and potential. Not one of us does or acts perfectly all the time – we’ve all made mistakes and have shortcomings… but why not go for it in 2012? even with all your shortcomings and successes and accolades and failures?

Why… not…?

Why not just full on, full out, full tilt, full boar, full-Y go after Jesus with everything you are?

Why not do the stuff He’s already been showing you to do, do it today, maybe even now?

Why not stop being lazy and selfish and boring this year and go crazy with the calling of God on your life?

Why not stop stuffing your face with pitiful excuses and put them dukes up and fight the good fight of faith!?

Why not love more extravagantly this year?

Why not give more generously this year?

Why not work… maybe not or maybe harder… but definitely smarter, and get that ax sharpened up? (see Ecclesiastes 10:10)

Why not just lay every thing else aside and seek God for that breakthrough you’ve been contending for for years… but you know you haven’t got it yet… why don’t you just seek God till you find him… knock till it opens?

Heaven’s open… grace is pouring down… and God is waiting for your move!

It’s a new year – full of “why not’s” – the “possible” is completely up to you.

There is a God who loves you and can heal you – physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially… Truly there is nothing impossible for Him – if we yield to the process of restoration – God will do it!

But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. - Isaiah 64:8

The Lord; your Creator; your Father; the One who knows you – even your mind and your heart and all you’ve been through – better than you know yourself… he can even take your broken life (which he likens to clay) and remake you; remould you; reshape you… He can and will heal you.

The only thing he won’t do… is force you.

You’re a free-will agent… just like God Himself… made in His image and likeness (see Genesis 1). And He will not force you… He cannot force love. Because He is love He will not force Himself. He won’t save you unless you call to Him… He won’t heal you unless you open yourself up to Him.

God is good. We are always the ones that hurt ourselves and hurt each other.

But He will make every move possible to save us from ourselves and our destructive ways. He made the ultimate move toward you by choosing to freely give you pardon and forgiveness of every wrong you’ve ever committed, by sending His perfect Son Jesus to take your punishment for you. All justice for your wrongs has been served by Jesus on the cross. All accusation can be made null and void. All condemnation can be lifted. You can be free!

All you gotta do is receive it. And if you follow Jesus He will lead you and heal you.

Only you can make the decision. Only I can choose to follow Him daily.

It is a process. A wonderful life of falling more in love with Love every day.

I hope that you will decide for 2012 to be your year restoration and hope and love and faith, as you’ve never experienced before!!

19 And no one considers in his heart, Nor is there understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire, Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals: I have roasted meat and eaten it; And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”

 20 He feeds on ashes; A deceived heart has turned him aside; And he cannot deliver his soul, Nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Isaiah 44:19, 20

It is amazing to me how many times I’ve fed on spiritual ashes, delicious, candy coated, entertaining, yet empty of any nutritional value… ashes.

How many times as a youth I got high or drunk (before I met Jesus) only to wake up empty pocketed with an empty soul…

How many times I watched movies or played video games for hours on end only to feel spiritual void and empty of anything truly substantial.

It’s amazing to me how in other cultures idolatry still consists or making, literally creating a ‘god’ with human hands and then falling down and worshiping it. Declaring to a block of wood, or gold or silver, or whatever earthly material it’s made of, that YOU ARE MY GOD!… crazy!! Worshiping the work of ones own hands…

But I think we do it even more in North America, especially with the entertainment industry. Sitting around for hours on end watching and eating and soaking in mind-numbing entertainment… consider these statistics:

Television Statistics According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube.  I.

FAMILY LIFE

 II CHILDREN

Compiled by TV-Free America1322 18th Street, NWWashington, DC 20036

Television is just one avenue (probably the main one) that societies worship. Would we rather be entertained than develop real, meaningful relationships? Would we rather feed on ashes because it’s easier than hunting for meat?

Idol worship is fun… and easy… and everyone is doing it… but it’s empty.

Let’s be a generation that seeks after God with all of our hearts, because the invitation is too good!

20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 

21 “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

Revelation 3:20, 21

Overcome what? I won’t write out Revelation 3:14-22 in it’s entirety, but I encourage you to read it… because I believe it speaks to a generation that is being overcome with apathy and a false sense of security in the stuff they have rather than the God they know. Get to know Jesus personally, His presence, grace, truth and love is better than any entertainment… no matter how tasty them ashes are!

Minute by minute children are starving and dying…

Minute by minute people feel hopeless and think about taking their lives…

Minute by minute people are murdered, raped, and plundered…

Minute by minute wars and rumours of wars are raging all over the earth…

Minute by minute the battle rages on:

The battle for people’s lives,

For their destinies,

Their futures,

The futures of their children and posterity.

All the while the enemy of our soul is singing to us, “every little thing… is gonna be alright.”

But it’s so evidently NOT alright.

There is justice to rendered!

There are battles to be won!

There are souls to be saved!

There are marriages to be restored!

There are prodigals to be reconciled!

Every minute that goes by was another opportunity to make impact… to love… to give… to serve… to accomplish… to realize… to grow. To rest in the grace of God and listen for your next heavenly assignment.

I’m not sure about you, but as for me… I don’t want to waste another minute simply existing – I WANT TO LIVE!!!

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:12-14

I think many people want to go higher, and be better, and get smarter, and change… but aren’t reaching higher, and focusing on what it will take to get better, and constantly learning, and making the tuff choices. It is CRAZY to think things will change if you aren’t… So reach higher today, and see a little more budge and change and develop because of a tuff choice you’ve made.

Everyone likes to have ‘good feelings’ - It’s a clear universal truth about humanity.

“I want to feel good…”

“I want to be happy…”

And there is nothing wrong with that, nothing at all.

Where it becomes dangerous is when we live our lives and base our decisions solely on ‘what makes me feel good today’ or ‘what makes me feel good in this moment’. It’s dangerous because #1 there are many things that ‘feel good’… even ‘feel amazing’ but they are outside of the will of God for our lives. We know as followers of Jesus this truth: THERE IS NOTHING GOOD FOR ME OUTSIDE OF THE WILL OF GOD. So the point is that EVEN if ‘feels good’ it doesn’t mean it IS good. And if it’s not good, it’s probably bad.

The second reason that living from your feelings is dangerous is that you run the constant risk of missing out on God’s best for your life – ie. walking in your destiny. Put another way, you could miss your calling, the very reason God created you.

The sad thing and the great thing about writing this blog post is that I do this all the time… but I want to do it less and less frequently. At least I recognize it and am working on not living by my feelings – but living by faith.

Living by faith is simple: following Jesus and obeying Him with your entire life.

Living by feelings is simple too: following yourself (your own feelings) and obeying the inclinations of your own flesh and mind.

Every single one of us do both of the above. We all have mixture. But the more you decide (and I use the word ‘decide’ purposely) to follow Jesus and not your own feelings the more you will succeed in every way that truly matters, and the happier you will actually be.

So if you’ve made it this far and wondering about the title of this post – here goes:
My heart has been stirred for about 2 weeks to do this ‘Elevation Global Choir’ thing (the deadline is actually extended until this coming Sunday at midnight)… but I didn’t recognize it because I knew it would be a tonne of work – and I didn’t really think I had the time. Also, and more importantly… I didn’t feel like doing it.

I felt the Lord asking me to get ’50 submissions in’ of people that went to Dunamis Church or people I knew and actually WIN the contest which would be awarded to the person who got the most entries in. The prize was an all expense paid trip to Charlotte to visit Elevation Church, attend a conference for a few days, and chill out with Elevation’s worship team (actually I wouldn’t go but send a few of our worship leaders). Alas, I was lazy (which usually goes along with living by my feelings, because who really ‘feels like’ shoving their good feelings aside and go with God when it’s hard or challenging?) and I didn’t act. I thought God would leave me alone… He didn’t.

He eventually worked on me enough to wake me up a few nights ago and say, “50 entries in 8 days”… but I know I can do it in 4. It really comes down to a decision on my part to work (it usually does) - to delegate – to grow – to lead – to emerge… all the things I want to do and I know would make me truly happy, but alas, they are hard. To make the decision doesn’t feel good, in the moment at least.

So I have this personal epiphany 2 nights ago and want to phone my girlfriend at 12:30am and tell her all about it…that I’m going to change and continue to grow and learn and emerge… but I felt like God was saying 2 nights ago… “SON, JUST CHANGE”… so I’ll just change and blog about it now instead, and hopefully spark something in you!

I’ll end with this: there are a lot of people saying a lot of things and making a lot of promises. I feel like the Lord would say, ‘stop talking so much and do it’.

50 in 8 … 50 in 4..?!?! Challenging?… Yes. Doable?… well I won’t find out unless I push myself and actually just do it! (like Nike)

I’m just going to change – today.

ps. we walk in our destiny by choice, not by chance… …so make the decision today to follow Jesus – and emerge into your God given calling! This is who you really are anyway, don’t let your fleshly feelings get in the way.

Whenever I seem to lose focus or feel discouraged – I know enough now to know that I need a fresh burst of perspective.

And the best source is still the very Word of God. Even as a pastor I need to consistently re-commit myself to focusing on His Word and gaining God’s perspective.

If you need perspective today – I encourage you – GET INTO THE WORD OF GOD! And ask Holy Spirit to speak to your heart and still your mind. Ask Him to give you direction. He will never fail you. God is speaking to you today!

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are you ways My ways,” said the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your way, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8,9

Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

- Luke 9:1, 2, 6

In looking at the above scripture in the chronological gospel account of Dr. Luke, we see that the disciples – CORRECTION – the 12 disciples closest to Jesus are finally sent out to do some of big stuff themselves, without Jesus! For Jesus, after a long while of personal training, deems them finally ready to go and “kick some enemy butt” without him right beside them coaching them.

But let’s get real, these disciples were passionate! Man, they left everything they owned and had built and accumulated, even leaving their families for an indefinite amount of time to go follow this Jesus!

Yet Jesus waited a while before He decided to send them out! Why?

I think it’s because they weren’t ready! They had to prove themselves in the small areas of faithfulness before they would be ready to tackle the big ones! And there were MUCH BIGGER ONES to come besides going out for a few days and doing some miracles through the power of God, such as we see in the above verses!

Where are you at with your faithfulness? Are you asking God for massive breakthrough in your life without obeying Him in the small areas? Are you asking God for healing in your body but continuing to consume copious amounts of junk food? Are you asking God for peace but neglecting the reading of His word, by which you would gain the perspective of God to actually have peace? Are you asking God for financial breakthrough in your life but neglecting tithing to your local church, let alone allowing the Spirit of God to speak to you regarding the many opportunities to be generous?

I think we must start with the small areas of obedience, then the Lord will lead us into the greater!

I used to feel bad because I wasn’t doing “more powerful” stuff for the Lord. Then, I realized it wasn’t my job to feel bad – it was my job to love my God with EVERYTHING I am, and to seek Him with all my heart! As I did that, and still do, God speaks clearly (for Jesus said ‘My sheep know my voice’),  leading us into fruitfulness and giving us instructions for where to go and what to do – what area of ministry and church volunteer life to get involved in, who to marry, what house to buy, where to help! Et cetera.

God is so good! And He wants to do POWERFUL stuff in and through each of us. But don’t neglect the little, and you will soon enter into the greater!