Friction

friction |ˈfrik sh ən|nounthe resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another : a lubrication system that reduces friction.• the action of one surface or object rubbing against another : the friction of braking.• conflict or animosity caused by a clash of wills, temperaments, oropinions : a considerable amount of friction between father and son.

Hey ladies! Wow, talk about a week. I don't think I have ever had to fight so hard to stay in God's word, love people, and guard my witness than I have this week. I don't know about you all, but this week's challenge was seriously challenging for me. I set out to share the Gospel everywhere I went, to at least 3 people a day, everyday, and what did I learn? God showed me that I do not get out of the house as much as I should, that I focus on myself and what people think of me too much, that I am a hypocrite, and that I am choosing to withhold God's love from those around me primarily my family. Talk about ouch. I was sure that by the end of the week I would be encouraged and pumped up for God because I figured I would learn an abundance more by leaping out of my comfort zone to jump into His will. Well He taught me some things alright. God definitely brought His kingdom to my perspective, but it didn't build me up like I thought it would, rather it shattered everything within me, but it was good. This week I saw my flesh leak out of me like never before. In the attempt to get closer to Christ by living out my faith and being disciplined, God allowed sin from deep within me to surface and I realized that it was the friction between His grace and my disgrace that loosened the grime of my anchored sin so that I was able to see my wrong. He showed me that it is through our purification of sin that we get closer to Him, for it is our sin that separates us from Him. The narrow road we walk is not tricked out with random obstacles, rather it is laced with our own sin, and it comes in the form of an obstacle course placed there surprisingly not by the enemy who seeks to trip us up, but by God for the sake of our purification. But why would God make it so hard to get right with Him? He doesn't, we do. He does not weave the obstacle course, rather He sets Himself as the standard and it is our own flesh that trips us up so easily. Our sin is engrained in us, thus the enemy doesn’t have to pull from ambiguous materials to trap us, rather he uses ourselves- our unwillingness- against us to watch us fall. So it only makes sense that in order to follow God with all our hearts, minds, and souls, we must rid ourselves of ourselves, or else we will always continue to fall. It requires sacrifice to seek God hard, therefore, we must be willing to be cleansed of our own selfish desires so that we can seek the will of God. In fact, cleaning is of the essence of following Christ. For example, physically, when we wash our hands, it is not the soap and water that cleans our skin, rather it is the friction that occurs when rubbing our hands together. It is agreed that in order to remove writing marks from a sharpie on your hands, it would take intense scrubbing to get it off, right? Why? The ink is designed to be permanent, thus the friction created by scrubbing hard removes the irremovable marks. Sin is the same way- it was supposed to condemn us to hell forever but God made a way through Jesus Christ that we could be saved; His grace given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus, in collision with our disgrace, creates friction. This friction is our salvation, the purification of our souls by the grace of God through the Holy Spirit. As we seek God further and harder, the obstacles are guaranteed to get heavier, more intense, and brutal, because our sin is a permanent mark, and the harder we seek God, the stronger the scrub gets. We have all experienced carpet burn at one point or another in our lives. The reason our skin gets burned from being drug hard and fast across the carpet is because the friction is so intense that it creates that feeling of heat and discomfort on the skin! If you have ever had a true carpet burn, rope burn, or even razor burn, then you can agree with me that friction hurts. This is why we have to use soap and water when we wash our hands because the soap and water acts as a lubricant that will reduce the friction when we rub our hands together because friction hurts, but friction is what cleans them. But why would we want to reduce the friction if it cleans? Because think about it- it doesn’t really feel so good when you scrub just your bare hands together does it? No. And if you rub them together hard enough and for long enough bare, you can start to feel some heat as well as some pain. The same thing with God, the harder and longer you go against the grain of your sinful nature to seek Christ, expect to experience the heat increase as well as the pain for your flesh will react when it encounters the power of the Holy Spirit, but rest assured that the heat and pain have a working purpose when they sting- they are God’s grace and they are cleansing you. Make no mistake, there is no cleansing if there is no friction. Soap and water- with out FRICTION, they just sit there and do nothing. Church and good deeds- with the HOLY SPIRIT, they just sit there and do nothing. Thus, just as we must scrub hard because we need the friction physically to have clean hands, we must also seek Christ hard because we need the friction spiritually to have clean hearts, for the friction is the Holy Spirit and He is the only way to get rid of our permanent mark of sin. It is a continual pursuit of Christ, and a continual yielding to the Spirit that is required on this path to God, and it will hurt for we are stained permanently. Getting rid of something of permanence is painful because we must counter it with the measures that match, and we deceive ourselves if we resort to the painless remedy for it is an illusion of purification. We can not use the same cleaning method we would use to get rid of something that is not permanent- we can not fix this problem by just pouring soap on it. Ladies, some of us become okay with mediocrity, but I am telling you right now that mediocrity is a sin! We have to make time to get right with Jesus, we have to get on our knees, we have to allow the conviction that is friction from the Holy Spirit penetrate our hearts so that we can be cleansed and repent. It is hard, but never did Jesus say to expect the rose without the thorns. Jesus Christ is the only way to God, and He comes with the Holy Spirit for a reason- it is a package deal! We can not save ourselves, so forget the pouring out of our good deeds in public and records of perfect attendance at church because they mean nothing without friction- for the soap just sits there on separated hands, and so do our works on separated hearts! We must go against the grain of our nature, we must seek Christ and allow the friction to do its job, and duh it will sting- in fact, it is going to tear you up inside- but it is the only way to get clean. The Holy Spirit is the friction that purifies us when we go against our grain to follow Christ, and it only matters if we are willing to take the heat- we have to be willing to scrub, we have to seek Christ hard. Nothing else will fix us, nothing else matters, nothing else counts, there is no short cut, and no easy way out. It is either put on your big girl undies and endure it or forget the whole Jesus thing all together. Every obstacle you face will sting, but realize that every obstacle is your own sin and as you seek the Father harder, the friction that is the Spirit will burn more intensely for it is stripping you of your flesh- cleansing you of the stains of your sin. The shattering inside is good! Christ is the path to righteousness, and His way is God’s way; but it requires you to yield to the friction- succumb, surrender, and submit to the cleansing of the Holy Spirit. Just know that seeking God harder is always your next step, this will never change- and the pain means you are doing it right, for it is a sign of cleansing, so embrace it, for cleansing only occurs when there is friction, and where there is friction, there the Spirit of the Lord is also. So quit whining, stop procrastinating, and make Christ your focus. Endure the pain for you are a woman of God, and let the friction cleanse you.  

John 14:6 : “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”


James 1:12-15: "God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death."


Psalm 51: 1-17:

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

      because of your unfailing love.

   Because of your great compassion,

      blot out the stain of my sins.

 2 Wash me clean from my guilt.

      Purify me from my sin.

 3 For I recognize my rebellion;

      it haunts me day and night.

 4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;

      I have done what is evil in your sight.

   You will be proved right in what you say,

      and your judgment against me is just.

 5 For I was born a sinner—

      yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.

 6 But you desire honesty from the womb,

      teaching me wisdom even there.

 7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
      wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
 8 Oh, give me back my joy again;
      you have broken me—
      now let me rejoice.
 9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.
      Remove the stain of my guilt.
 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
      Renew a loyal spirit within me.
 11 Do not banish me from your presence,
      and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
      and make me willing to obey you.
 13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
      and they will return to you.
 14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;
      then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
 15 Unseal my lips, O Lord,
      that my mouth may praise you.

 16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
      You do not want a burnt offering.
 17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
      You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.



Philippians 2:13-15: "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people."

Hebrews 12:1-13:  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said,

   “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” 

 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.  Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.”

Challenge: Keep up the running routine and add one lap- that's right ladies were doing 8, as well as the witnessing! That means witness everywhere you go, and I mean everywhere! Trust me I understand its hard, I witnessed to one group of 3 girls in a tanning salon and one up and left before I could get started- talk about rejection. But they aren't rejecting us, they are rejecting Christ. I want to hear about your witnessing experiences this week! Email me or facebook me and tell me how its going! We are establishing a routine so remember we are only going to increase in laps and in numbers of people we will be reaching out to. This week, after you run, I want you to prayer walk in your drive way as you cool down. Pray for mighty miracles- yeah, I want you to pray for the big stuff, the things that seem impossible in your life and in others lives. I will just let you know I have been praying for some close family members to come back to Christ every night after my run this summer, and yesterday they got up at the end of church and rededicated their lives to God!!!! The power of prayer is mighty, and we need to be women of prayer. Do this exercise every night. If you have to, write down a prayer list, but just make sure you pray every night after you run. I think I spend about 10 to 15 minutes praying, sometimes 30, but you are not limited- you can pray longer, but no less than 10 minutes. Keep up the good work ladies!