Dye Pi Fo - the meaning, the story, the ramblings.

I’ve gotten asked quite a few times what Dye Pi Fo means. Well my friends here is finally an explanation for it. Dye pi fo is Creole for God is stronger. I read an article about people in Haiti sitting in the streets a few days after the earthquake singing a song about how God is stronger. It has been something that has stuck with me. I love finding awesome phrases in other languages but none of the other catchy little phrases have found come with a story like this. I mean, how many stories do you hear about people sitting in their destroyed city declaring that God is stronger when they know that so many people are either dead, injured, or homeless? My imagination paints a picture of the surroundings of these people, sitting there with tears streaming down their faces, among the rubble that once was homes and businesses, and with the stench of death hanging in the air. Yet they still stood there proclaiming how mighty God was while mourning the loss of so many and perhaps even mourning the spiritual state of their country. Perhaps they did that because they didn’t know what else to do. But what got my attention was that they held to the truth, they knew that no matter what the God who made the heavens and the earth and everything in them was stronger than any freak disaster. Can you imagine that? What would it be like if we held to God like that when hard things happen in our lives? I’m not saying I’ve known hardship like this, I’ve been incredibly blessed to live in a family who hasn’t had to face a lot of hardship. But yet I’ve questioned how strong or good God really was over those tiny things that make a teenager feel like their world is falling apart. I completely understand that the kind of faith that can praise God while standing in the ashes is one that is often developed over time. But what if sometimes it’s just a matter of childlike faith? A child doesn’t doubt how strong their father is when everything they own is taken by a random fire. Their fathers’ strength is not defined by that. But how many of us could sit there in a situation like Haiti’s  or Japans or Joplin’s and sing about how strong God is? Would You? I pray that we would because there are so many people who are watching us all the time that would be impacted by whether we praise God or cursed Him. I know that sounds corny, but it’s true, there is always someone who knows who you are and what you stand for that is watching to see what your reactions will be. When we are happy, they want to see if we will stay true to God even when we have everything or if we will do our own thing because at that time we think we don’t need God. And when the hard times come about they watch and wait to see if we will walk away from God or if we will stand there with a tearstained face saying, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth” (Job 19:25). (Job is a great example of keeping faith in God even when he couldn’t see or feel God. If you haven’t read his story check it out.) Hard times often get us down and if we let them they will keep us down. We will all endure hard times. But what will set you apart from the world is how you choose to handle those times. If you can praise God in the good times, learn to praise him in the bad. If you think you only need him in the bad times think again, James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ” So remember to stick with the God who gave you the goods. Often times our relationship with God is only active during either good or bad seasons. But Job, once again, brought up a great point when he said, “Should we accept good from God and not trouble? (Job 2:10b), our circumstance may change, but the goodness of God never will. Learn how to trust and love Him when its good and when its bad. Even when you can’t feel or see God, stick with Him. He never changes and He will never leave you. He is truly stronger than anything this world can ever throw our way. . .

Know who you are and whose you are

I warn you that this is a very long blog. . . Anyways I mentioned in my first post how purpose and identity had been a theme for the conference. (Please bear with me because Desperation will be spoken about a lot in my posts because it is something that God has used to impact my life.) From the main sessions, to the seminars, even to the songs we sang during worship, identity and purpose kept sticking their heads in there. But I wasn’t understanding why, how did those things go with the theme for this year which was, “No Compromise.” The last speaker finally tied together what God had been emphasizing throughout the whole conference with that. If you don’t want to compromise you need to know who you are, whose you are, and with those things come purpose. We try to complicate purpose and identity. We over think it, we try and make people, jobs, styles, music, and so many other things be our identity or purpose. But those things will never be enough. They always leave us searching for more. We can know that our hope is firmly found in God and still miss the point. So here is my feeble attempt of speaking the truth about the foundation of purpose and identity. To find this you must know where you stand with God. Which is pretty simple because you are either saved by God’s grace, or you’re not. Only when you are saved by grace, do you officially become God’s. Think adoption. You aren’t legally recognized as someone’s child until the paperwork is done. When you accept and believe, the adoption papers are signed and sealed and you are recognized as God’s. With that, you are now a son or daughter of God. That is the foundation of your identity. You are a son of God. You are a daughter of God. Who you are is already established in Christ. You can be a doctor, but that is not your true identity. You can wear skinny jeans and V-neck shirts but that is not your identity. Those may be what make you stand out in this world but they cannot be your identity. Doctors lose their jobs and skinny jeans will go out style. Your identity must be firmly founded on something that will never change and that is the Ancient of days, the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So we know whose we are – We are Gods. We know who we are – We are sons and daughters of God. Now where does purpose come in? I’ve heard people say a lot about purpose and honestly I will admit I don’t have a firm grasp on purpose, it has so many things that are a part of it that I know I will miss some points. So, I’m going to just try to put it as simply as I can. We have been made by God for His delight. We can add so many other fancy words but delight is what resonates for me. In that word so much is being said. When someone delights in something, they’re finding enjoyment, appreciation, gratification, etc. Do you see what delight encompasses? For me i think of delight and it makes sense, the light bulb pops up! Our purpose is to bring delight to the heart of our Father. Yes, there is more to that, I could try to explain it with so many other words, but delight captures the heart of our purpose here. So our purpose is - to bring delight to the heart of our Father. . . So now, how in the world does this have anything to do with No Compromise? Check out the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. What empowered them to stand was that they knew their identity. If they had forgotten who they were and whose they were, they would have fallen into idol worship. But they didn’t. They remembered that they were the people of God, that they had been chosen, and that God had delivered them over and over again. They were brought into Babylon but they knew that they didn’t belong. They could stay standing even when being told by their friends to bow because they knew who they were. They knew that God could deliver them from the wrath of the king. The world is our Babylon. Our temptation is to bow to whatever the god of the age is, and often times our friends are encouraging us to bow. When we do bow we are losing sight of our identity. As people of God, we need to hold firmly to our identity and not compromise. It’s absolutely crucial that you hold to your identity or you will find yourself down a path you never should have walked down. . . It makes me think of Katy Perry. She once was a young women who said she loved God. That surprised me when I first heard it, I kissed a girl and I liked it had just become super popular and then someone drops the bomb that she had once been hopeful of a career in the Christian music industry. Now I don’t know Katy’s story, I don’t know how she got where she is, but I do know this, she’s lost her identity. She has forgotten whom she belongs to and she no longer knows her purpose. She has bowed to the idols of our Babylon and they have consumed her. I cannot imagine how much this breaks the heart of the Father. Katy Perry’s success will never give her an identity that will bring satisfaction. She’ll be chewed up and spit out like the many others who have gone before her. What will she have then? I’m not trying to pick on Katy Perry, but she is someone who sticks out in my mind as someone who perhaps never knew their true identity or lost sight of it. My point in bringing her up is to show you how far we can go when we lose our identity. So establish that firmly in your heart and mind. You are God’s! He loves you and has made you His! You are His son, His daughter and you’ve been put here to bring delight to Him! Bring glory to the Lamb. Keep your eyes fixed on God and do not lose sight of who you are or whose you are and in those moments when you do, don’t hesitate to come running back. The arms of the Father are always open and He is always there. Always waiting for you to remember you aren’t like the other people in this world, you are an heir of grace, you are a child of the Most High King you aren’t supposed to belong here. Be okay with that. When you accept the identity that God breathes on you, you will see that his children are not widely accepted. Your friends will ridicule you when you take a stand, or when you say no to sin, but remember that you are here to bring delight to our Father, not gain their approval. People will hate you when you speak out against the sinful nature our government is accepting, but children of the King of Righteousness cannot stay silent, they desire the things their Father’s heart desires.

Embrace your identity and purpose, it won’t be easy, but it will be worth it in the end. Don’t forget who you are while you walk in this foreign land.

For the worthy Lamb.

I've never truly blogged. Never seen the point in posting my thoughts for others to see and I've never wanted to be someone who got on here and spoke empty words. But that’s not what this blog will be used for. If it doesn't glorify God it won't go here. You who read this remind me of that.

I just got back from a youth conference called Desperation. Last night they gave us these rings that say "For the Lamb." It comes from a quote spoken by two young men who were apart of the Moravian movement. They sold themselves into slavery so that they could share the gospel because that was the only way they could get into this certain country. People tried to discourage them from going. They told them that they shouldn't go. That they had too much life left in them. These young men were 19 or 20, but they had a purpose, they knew their identity. As they were leaving the shore of the only place they'd ever known, their last words were, "May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering." This story messed me up. It had been shared last year and it had stuck in my mind. But last night, last night it got branded on my heart. We talked about purpose and identity a lot these last few days. This placed a purpose on my heart and it also gave me a challenge. Is my life being lived in such a way that it can be seen as a reward to the Lamb? . . . The rings they gave us are to be a challenge and a reminder that we are choosing to give our lives up, we are signing up to spend ourselves for God. We are saying, we are no longer our own. This declaration weighs heavy on my heart. It’s not something I am taking lightly and I pray that no one else took it lightly either. I’m posting this right now and asking that whoever reads this would lift us up in prayer. Pray that this will become our anthem, pray that we will be courageous, that we will devote ourselves wholeheartedly to prayer, that we would spend ourselves for God, that we will forego comfort and live dangerously for God.