New Year

Hello Friends,

No I didn’t fall off the face of the earth, I am still around, I’ve just been a bit busy lately.  Life has a funny way of distracting you with things that sometimes aren’t all that important.

I’m hopefully going to be putting a lot more effort and time into this blog this year, you know, with new years resolutions and all.  I wouldn’t really call it a resolution, but it is nice to have a fresh start.  So, I think this is a good time to start paying a little more attention to this thing.  I only really have one resolution this year.  It’s nothing complicated it is simply to be happy / happier.  I wouldn’t go as far to say that I am not happy right now, but I would like to be happier.  I have spent a pretty good chunk of my life not being genuinely happy, these past 4 years in particular have not been the best. 

I have met a few people in my short lifetime that are very happy people, and I am kind of jealous of them.  For me I don’t think that it is so much that I want to be happy but I want to have joy.  I want to be joyful.  It is so easy for me, as I am sure it is for some of you, to dwell in the negativity of a situation but these friends I have met find joy even in the suckiest times and its astonishing to me.  I know I shouldn’t but I compare my life to theirs and can’t help but wonder how my life would be different if I was more joyful. 

For anyone who may be confused on the difference between joy and happiness I have had it explained to me many times and many ways, so here is what I have concluded from all that I think.  Joy is being thankful, in a way, for things that are not always the best; for example: finding joy in a loved ones death.  Even though it is a difficult time and there is mourning going on you find joy in loss because you are able to remember the amazing life they lived.  Happiness is materialistic, it is being happy, excited, or content in a present moment, but joy may not come from that moment.  So, when you get $20 you’re happy but that $20 wont really bring you joy, because for me at least that money is gone just as quick as I found it.  Happiness is short turn and joy in long term.  That is how I have come to understand it.

So this year I want to be more joyful.  I want to work on being more outgoing and finding positive things in a negative day.  It will be hard but I think it’s nice that we get somewhat of a fresh start every year.

Challenge: Spend a little bit looking at how you’ve grown over the past year and thank God for the work he has done with you.  Then ask him what he wants from you in this coming year.  How does he want to use you?  Then pray that he gives you the strength and faith to do what he asks of you.

“What I am anxious to see in Christian believers is a beautiful paradox. I want to see in them the joy of finding God while at the same time they are blessedly pursuing Him. I want to see in them the great joy of having God yet always wanting Him.”

- A. W. Tozer

Happy New Year Friends! 

Iron Sharpers Iron

Happy Hump Day!

Jeez! This week is draggin'

So, I've been kind of busy with midterms, paper, work, church, blah blah blah....excuses! I know.

But I was reading my Bed Time Blessing and really liked todarrows (todays/tomorrows)...

Oct. 16

Believers who are growing toward maturity share in mutual feelings - mutual woes and mutual joys.

This is one of the best benefits of being part of the body of Christ and a major reason why we need to be involved in a local church. In that local community we have a context in which we can rejoice with each other and weep with one another.

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." Romans 12:15

This kind of reminds me of Proverbs 27:17 "as iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another"

As Christians I think it's important for us to lean on our church body, our friends, and so on. They are there to help us, hold us accountable, and remind us what we need to be doing when we stray.  

I myself am beyond blessed with most of the people I have met within my church. They are loving, open, and (literally) always there for me (even at 1 in the morning and an hour away).  

I know for some of us, including myself, we may be a little introverted and don't really like opening up to others, or we may feel that we are burdening them with our problems. Try to be open and try to stop that thought process. Our church family is there for us. We should be able to or at least try to trust them and be open with them even especially when we have no one else to turn to.  God might just be forcing you outside of your comfort zone to begin a friendship or show you something you've been asking to see.

So if you need to talk or need pray or you're struggling with anything or everything try not to let insecurities or fear hold you back. Look to your church family for support, comfort, and love. 

¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Romans 12:10-13

Rock Bottom

Alright, tonight is going to get a little personal and is going to encourage you to be really vulnerable, honest, and humble with God.  Part of it is going to focus on the parable of the wise and foolish builders and the other will focus on why we tend to push God away when we need Him most.  Why we try to do things ourselves and don’t realize how badly we need Him till we’ve hit rock bottom.

I know we have all probably had our doubts in faith but what do we do when those doubts start to consume us and the devil gets that hold on us?  You’ll find out in this post.  For starts though it’s all about building your house (faith) on a rock and not in the sand, just as the gospel of Matthew tells us “those who build among the sand are fools.” This adorable little video does a great job of illustrating Matthew 7:24-27, and for those of you who prefer the text:

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

The verse I want to focus on here is verse 27: “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”  I want you to notice a specific word, crash. This is what happens when we build our faith on the sand.  It’s not sturdy or strong and it will Not hold its own when it’s challenged, it will crash and you will crash with it.  This is that rock bottom that I mentioned in the intro.  I know not all of us will experience rock bottom, and that’s wonderful, but I know we will all experience a fall.  In some way or another we will stray from the Shepherd.  The parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15 gives us a good idea of the relationship between ourselves of God.  However there is a myth or whatever that takes this parable a little further.

It is told that before the shepherd placed the lamb (that strayed) on his shoulders, he broke its leg, so it could not run away again. Then by the time the leg has healed the lamb has learned to stay near the shepherd and trust him.  Whether this is true or not I still like it.

The breaking of our legs is that rock bottom we hit, and as we heal from the pain, or whatever it was we lean on God and his strength to carry us.  I hit what I think, and hope, was my rock bottom a little over a month ago.  I wont go into detail, but since then I had really seen a difference in Gods presence in my life.  I am being put into challenge situations that have been helping me grow and that are teaching me to go to God first.  I was humbled when I was broken.  During this past month or so I have really been meditating on Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  My pride is slowly crumbling and every time I think I can do something on my own I remember this verse, because my plan will do nothing but hurt me.  One thing that is very important about this verse is that it’s not saying that God will never break us, or knock us down, or that things will be easy.  It is saying that everything God does to you will make you better if you turn to Him while you’re going through it.  Remember to always look for that light at the end of the tunnel.

Now.  Here is what we have to do.  Let God break us.this song, or find a song that really speaks to you, listen to the lyrics and go back to you’re rock bottom.  Focus on who you were when you were there.  Remember the feelings and the thoughts of that state.  Now start moving forward and focus on each significant event where God showed you He was there and when you leaned on Him for strength.  Focus on how your faith became stronger with each passing trial and how you were able to learn and grow from each one.  Now focus on your present relationship with God.  On your current faith, feelings, and thoughts.  Notice how far you have come and thank God that your rock bottom was your new beginning. Be humbled that He left his flock and found you to save you from the world.  I want you to try and do something.  You’re going to go on a little soul search.  Now, I know this post is already really long, but take 5 more minutes.  I want you to listen to

If you have not hit your rock bottom spend the time of this song thanking God for the people and trials He has put in your life to help you make your faith strong, and pray for those in your life that may need a little help with this.  Pray for the ones struggling to build their foundation or for the ones still stuck on the sand.

I really hope some of you found a little hope within this post or a little relief.  Sometimes simply knowing that God does these things to strengthen us helps us out.  I hope you have a beautiful weekend and if you’re here in Southern Cali. don’t go outside, because those winds are crazy!

Links in post

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlPMld7ScU0

Song:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkZDJY31RX4

Romans 7: Believers United to Christ

Geez! I feel like I just colored this chapter orange (that’s the color of my highlighter).  This chapter brings back one of Paul’s main ideas, that we are all equal.  Whether we only know the law, only know the scripture, or think we know everything.  Paul reminds us again in verses 5 and 6 of Jesus’s death for us, and how when we die in our old life we become new.  Verse 5: “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 6: But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”  When Jesus was crucified we were disconnected from the law.  Not law in a spiritual sense but in a physical sense.  God created the law but man determines it, therefore it is of this world and this world is of sin.  However it is all very confusing and Paul begins to sound a bit like Captain Jack (Sparrow) in these verses, especially 14-17: “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15: For what I am doing, I do not understanding; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16: But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17: So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”

What?! So Paul is blaming what he is doing, but doesn’t want to be doing, on sin?  Not himself, but the sin in him.  Alright…so thanks to my handy-dandy foot notes here is what Paul is trying to say.  He is sharing 3 lessons with us, lessons that he learned while trying to deal with his sinful desires. (1) Knowledge is not the answer.  Paul was ok with not understanding what the law demanded.  (2) Self-determination doesn’t succeed.  We can’t do things on our own.  Christians get their power and strength from God. (3) Becoming a Christian DOES NOT stamp out all sin and temptation from a person’s life.  This third one may be the most important.  Like I said in yesterdays post, becoming a Christian isn’t all hunky-dory.  If anything becoming a Christian means you will be even more tempted, and when you give into that temptation those around you will judge you twice as harshly.  For some people you will be the only Christian face they meet and by you they will measure and judge all Christians, so keep that in mind.

Lastly I want to mention verses 21, 24, and 25 (ya know, sense they’re at the end).  Also I want us to notice that Paul is speaking from his own experiences and struggles here, this is straight up, hard-core Paul!  Verse 21: “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.”  Paul totally fesses up and acknowledges the fact that he is made of evil.  He is made of this world, but he wants to do well, he wants to be right with God.  I myself, think that is a really difficult thing for us to acknowledge and accept because we are so good at making excuses for ourselves and we are so quick to blame others. (This is where our challenge of the week will be pulled from).

Verse 24: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”  Here Paul shares his inward struggle with sin; it was as real for him as it is for us.  However we can learn from Paul’s wisdom.  Whenever Paul felt lost, he would return to the beginning of his spiritual life, remembering that he has already been freed by Jesus Christ.  When you feel confused or overwhelmed by sin’s appeal, follow Paul’s example: Thank God that he has given you freedom through Jesus.  Let the reality of Christ’s power lift you up to real victory over sin. All that was from my footnotes, because they are smatter than me.  But seriously though, when we are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, depressed, glum, etc. we often try to handle things with our strength first.  We could save so much time and energy if we just train ourselves to look to God before we try anything else, and this comes with putting God First.  Not letting other worldly things come before our love and faith in God but trying our best and doing things through Gods power. 

Challenge of the week: Don’t make excuses this week.  Be honest with God and fess up your evil.  God already knows what it is that you struggle with, but He wants to hear it from you.  Fess it up and give up.  Then after that thank God.  Thank Him for taking your sin and allow yourself to be with Him for a few moments.  Try to be quiet and listen.  “Let His power lift you up to real victory over that sin/struggle.”

Song of the day:

Autumn in New York

By: Frank Sinatra

Because it's autumn and I want to be in New York, and it's Frank Sinatra!

Romans 6

Hope all of your Mondays weren’t too rough.  As I promised Romans six is starting the week of everyday posts.  Monday is my first day of the week, because I run on a school schedule. I apologize if you consider Sunday the first day, but it’s just not.

We left off with Paul telling the Christian in Rome about sin and we meet back with him talking about the same thing, sin.  However, this time Paul discusses freedom from sin.  The first few verses are summarized very nicely in verse 10: “For the death that He died, He died to sin once and for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”  Or in lyrical words, “He became sin that knew no sin.”  When Jesus died sin died with Him.  Not in the sense that sin is no longer in this world, because that is definitely not true, but in the sense that sin can no longer find a home in us.  Having been freed from sin, we no longer have to be slaves to it. We are now slaves of righteousness (verse 18). 

We become slaves to whom or whatever we serve ahead of God. In verse 16 Paul says, “we are either slaves of sin resulting in death, or slaves of obedience resulting in righteousness.”  And in verse 12 Paul warns us to “not let sin reign in our mortal body so that we obey its lusts.”  All of these verses bring about one idea, freedom in eternal life.  I mean, seriously, what’s more freeing than living forever?  But of course with freedom comes responsibility.  Choosing to follow God could be one of the most difficult decisions we ever make.  I don’t mean accepting him in the way most of us do, with saying “yes Lord, I believe you died for my sins…etc.”  I mean giving yourself to Him wholeheartedly; giving up your old life and becoming new in Him.  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus” (verse 23). 

One of the verses that I really think helps us realize what died from sin means is verse 13: “…present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead…” Although it is a bit weird I really love the way it puts it.  We are to give ourselves to God like brand new gifts, as a person dead in sin and new in God.  Once we give our lives over to God we become free in Him, in righteousness.  I feel like a lot of people think becoming a Christian mean that you have to give up all your fun, and I suppose for some that may be true, all depending on what their idea of “fun” is.  However for most it is not too big of a sacrifice, because when you think about it God isn’t asking you to kill your only child.  Yet He did that with out us even asking Him to.  The point I am trying to make here is that when we become more and more like Christ we gain more freedom because that life becomes what we want to live and God presents us with endless opportunities, but when we live in flesh all we have are the things of the world and things that will only last as long as we do.  Gods will and His gifts are better than Anything we could ever plan for ourselves or think up of on our own, and if you only take one thing from this post tonight I want it to be that. 

Gods will and His gifts are better than ANYTHING we could ever plan for ourselves or think up of on our own

Also, if you guys have any pray requests or whatever feel free to head over to this Facebook page and post 'em. 

Youth is Wasted on the Young

So I know my post have been quite me focused lately, and I promise my next post will be Romans 6, because honestly…we should have already been done with Romans. I am slacking. But I have challenged myself this week to post Everyday! For this week…

Anyways, this post is about something that has kind of been on my heart lately…it’s about being young. About being so busy with trying to figure out what we are supposed to do that we don’t take time to figure out what God wants us to do. I feel like the idea of Gods plan for us has been following me around. It has been a topic within the youth group I am a leader at, Temper, it was in Sara Bartons post (if you don’t know what I am talking about go check out my last post), even in the new song "Wake Me Up" by Avicci. It has just been lingering around me all week. 

The verse that stands out to me when I think of young (life span wise) Christians is...

Timothy 4:12 – Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

I love this verse! “Don’t let anyone look down on you” as a Christian and a kid I really never appreciated people looking down on me, and now as an older kid I still don’t and try not to do it to others.  I feel as though we can all learn so much from each other. I know for a fact that the junior high students at Temper have taught me a ton, and have heard the same from other leaders in the group. Next, “set an example.” I know this is cheesy, but…be the change you want to see in the world. When you want more people to come to Christ be their light. If you want your parents or family to stop fighting, use Gods peace. Let others see what you are and make them want to be like you. We need to use the gifts God gives us the way He intended them to be used: in speech, conduct, Love, Faith, and purity.  I feel like love is the most important thing here, because sometimes all someone needs is someone else…an example.

Wait On The Lord

Alright friends. I have been slacking hard-core lately. I’m calling myself out on this because I really wanted to stay on top of my reading and blogging. However just like usual, when I set out to stay focused my life becomes clustered, as I am sure many of you have also experienced.

I am definitely going to keep trying to stay up on this blog because I need to, but since I havean’t posted in a while I thought I would through a couple of interesting and thought provoking verses your way, mainly just to distract you till I get my crap together. ;)

So for me lately school and I guess ‘family drama’ has been consuming my life and just as usual I am putting my will before Gods. This is literally the most difficult thing for me. I am so prideful and just cannot give everything to Him. Which is why I have such a difficult time staying steady in my faith. So, I have been meditating on Psalms 42 lately. It’s a pretty intense piece of scripture. According to This Video the Psalm is David “in a fight with himself.” And I think we all kind of feel like David sometimes.  We feel like we are fighting against ourselves in hopes that we will be able to find what we should be doing, or want to be doing.  But again, we need to but our “hope in God.”

This video has basically been getting me through this hard time. The guy is Matt Chandler.  In the video he tells us that we need to “wait on the Lord.” Why? He takes it straight from scripture, Isaiah 40:31 – Because those who wait on the Lord He will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. And that’s a promise!

Psalms 27:14

So, if you’re like me and find yourself more on the prideful end of the spectrum take a second to watch the video, read the psalms, and try and find a reason not to put all of your hope in God. And if you find it, let me know, because from what I read and saw His promises looked a whole lot better than what I could even dream up.

Have an awesome week friends.

Here is Psalms 42:

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and 6 my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me-- a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Here’s the link again to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVnt7kJ6NE4

Go watch it,

AND

Here are some of those inspirational / thought provoking verses I said I’d include:

Philippians 4:6-7

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

1 Peter 5: 6-7

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

(This is my favorite verse, just thought I’d let you know).

Joshua 1:9

“Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Hosea 6:1

Come, let us return to the LORD. For he has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

LASTELY, READ THIS:

http://dailybibleverse.tumblr.com/post/169230615/when-god-breaks-your-heart-its-not-because-of

It talks about why God breaks us before He fixes us. It’s lovely.