Romans 11, With A Twist

Hello Friends.  Lets just ignore the fact that I skipped posting last week.

My excuse: classes started.  Even though I only have 4 this semester they are kicking my butt.  For any of you that care, I am taking Statistics (again -_-), Sign Language 2, Cultural Geography, and Ceramics.  I have class everyday! I did this on purpose though because I n  Yes, I am lazy and unmotivated, but I am also a wonderful planner because I am forcing myself to wake up at 7:30 and get going! Yea!

eed something to do to get me out of bed.

That’s enough about me though, let us talk about Jesus!

Romans 11 is worded slightly weird.  There are certain things that Paul says that are just worded backwards and kind make God out to be somewhat of a favorites kind of guy.  He’s not.  I mean, He has His covenant with the Jews and all, but just to be clear right off the bat, God doesn’t have favorites.

There is only one part of this chapter that I really, genuinely loved.

Verses 16 – 23

16 If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. 22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

            Here Paul was talking to the Christians. He is warning them not to feel superior because God rejected some Jews. Abraham’s faith is like the root of a productive tree, and the Jewish people are the tree’s natural branches. Because of faithlessness, the Jews were the broken branches. Gentile believers have been grafted into the tree like a wild olive shoot. Both Jews and Gentiles share the tree’s nourishment based on faith in God; neither can rest on heritage or culture for salvation. This is from my footnotes.

            What I loved about this was how it talked about getting your roots right, and how none of us are saved just because we have Christian parents, churches, friends, anything! We have to own our faith! We need to make it our own, and we all deserve to do this. Take up your cross and follow Him. Let your roots be steadfast in Him. Build your house upon the rock!  It’s all throughout the bible. A constant reminder that it our roots are not in God we cannot bare good fruit, we can’t be a light to others, we will not have a relationship with Christ, and we cannot own out own faith. It is that Hardcore!

            Think of these roots as your heart, or better yet, your brain (I am sick of people acting like the heart does all the work). If your brain did not connect to the rest of your body, you wouldn’t be able to function. This is also a kind of cool analogy because neurons kind of look like trees, haha.  Anyway! Brain equals roots! We need to set our mind on God in order for our bodies to function properly.  Without Him our brains can’t function and we will not have roots to our body. Is this making sense? We would be body dead. Unable to act or control anything that happens to us and unless our minds (our roots) are strong enough we will become the devils puppet. 

Do you get it? Unless our minds are strong enough we will become the devils puppet!

Think about that this week and here is your challenge: make your roots stronger this week! Build upon the rock, take up your cross, you can do it.

Have a beautiful week! Love you!

Song of the week:

The Best Is Yet To Come

By: Stacy Kent

Because it is a wonderful song and she has a beautiful voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5zWotTNXoM

Romans 8: God Is Always There

It may be because I am a bit out of tune and haven’t read in a while, but this chapter stumped me a few times.  Some of the ideas don’t make that much since to me so maybe when you read through this you can let me know what you thought.

Romans 8 begins by explain what we are as humans.  We are weak and undeserving but God saw our strength and what we could do, he had grace for us.  In verse 2 and three it says “for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” Gods spirit has always been present and with every new born Christian the Holy Spirit is made stronger and Gods light in the world becomes brighter through us.

My favorite verse in this chapter is verse 10: “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”  This is, to me, a really good reminder that we need to live by the sprit.  Our flesh is already dead, so what’s the point of living by it?  It is important to have faith and trust in Gods plan for us, trust that whether it is good or bad it is what is supposed to be happening. 

Verses 12 and 13 really highlight these ideas, and verse 17 reminds us that being a Christian isn’t always rainbows and calm seas. 

The next section, verses 20 to 30 is become a bit unclear.  We are to inherit the kingdom as Gods his children.  We are waiting to be accepted to his kingdom by the redemption of our bodies (verse 23).  This makes since, but it’s a difficult thing to be clear on and wrap our heads around. 

In verse 26 it says that the Holy Spirit helps up when we are unable to conjure up the words to use to speak with God.  It says that the Spirit intercedes for us, which makes since because the Holy Spirit is our link to God.  We are not always left to our own resources and efforts.  Our God is gracious and He meets us where and when we need him to.  He wont make us get there on our own.

Next in verses 28 and 29 we are reassured.  Even though things may not always be easy and things may not go the way we want or the way we planned, they will always work together for our good.  The only thing we need to worry about is being like Christ.  Which should be enough in itself to worry about.  We need to trust God, pray, share, ect. like Jesus did when he was flesh.  It is our job as Christians to be the body of Christ.  This means taking the beatings and persecutions as well.  Things are never promised to get better and in fact they will probably get worse, but we need to have faith even in the hard times or we will sink just like peter.

This chapter ends on a wonderfully positive note: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angles, nor principalities, nor things present, not things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Not even Satan can separate us from Gods love.  If we are perusing Him and we have faith, God will always be there.  Even when we walk away and being to sink He will have His hand stretched out towards us waiting for us to grab on so He can pull us back to Him. 

He will never leave us or forsake us.


Song of the day and Really awesome Christian band you should check out!

Superhero
by: Family Force 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WUjyooSz-M

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.

Romans 4

Romans 4

This chapter focuses a lot on Abraham. No…not Lincoln (but he’s a cool guy). Father Abraham.  So, if you don’t know his story I highly encourage you to skim through Genesis 22, I belive the whole story is 12-25 though. Or if you’re lazy and don’t want to read all that you can go to this link http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246612/jewish/Abraham.htm that summarizes Abrahams story, and it’s .org so you know it’s legit.

So, lets get into this. Romans 4. I didn’t find a lot that spoke to me in this chapter, but if you do, please share in the comments J

In verse 5: But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness; we are shown/told that our actions do not determine our faith. Whether we believe or not is up to us, but whether we are saved or not is up to God. In John 14:6 Jesus says “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Flowing into verses 6, 7, and 8 it goes into further detail. 6 – just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 – “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. 8 – Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” Verse 6 is referring to King David, who committed a ton of sins, he committed murder, adultery, and lied but he was still able to experience Gods forgiveness, and so can we. In order to do so though we need to recognize our sin, ask God for forgiveness, and let go of that sin and believe that God has forgiven us. By doing this we recognize the tremendous price He paid for us on the cross.  It is arrogant of us to think that any of our sins are too great for Him to cover. In 1 John 1:9 is says that any sin s confessed are sins forgiven.

Jumping into my 2 favorite parts of this chapter: verse 16 and verses 19 through 21! Verse 16: For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (see Genesis 17:5). In the previous verses we were told that Abraham received his promise while uncircumcised or while being a Gentile and circumcised himself as the Jews and sealed his righteousness in that way, in a weird way it was like a baptism. This is just really nice to hear, we are ALL saved! Jews and Gentiles, those that live by the Law and those who don’t. If we accept God he pours His grace over us. We are saved only through faith in Christ, trusting Him to forgive all our sins. I like how Hebrews 11:1 describes faith: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see.”

Verses 19 through 21!

19 – Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;    20 – yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but he grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 – and being fully assured that what God had promised He was able to also preform.

In my Biblical Literature class last semester my professor, Dr. Love, told us a lot about covenants, basically a promise, and there are 4 (I think…) major ones and this is one of them. Basically God chose Abraham and made a promise that He would give him land, more of less, if he would trust Him. God doesn’t demand an answer right away, He first shows Abraham that His word is good, and then asks for an answer (or sacrifice) *wink*wink* but to know more go read Genesis.  Anyway…the thing I Love is that Abraham trusted God when most of us, especially today, would have just given up and been like ‘naa God, this isn’t worth it’. Abraham Trusted that God would follow through on His promise. 

I really love the way my footnotes evaluate verse 21: “Abraham never doubted that God would fulfill his promise. Abraham’s life was marked by mistakes, sins, and failures as well as by wisdom and goodness, but he consistently trusted God. His faith was strengthened by the obstacles he faced, and his life was an example of faith in action. If he had looked only at his own resources for subduing Cannan and founding a nation, he would have given up in despair. But Abraham looked to God, obeyed him, and waited for God to fulfill his word.” Abraham is inspiration at its finest. I doubt God all the time and I have a huge problem with trust. How am I supposed to sit around and wait for God to do something? If I look to Him it will become possible. We need to trust God, and I know I keep saying it, but I also know that it’s hard. Faith isn’t easy, being a Christian isn’t easy, and living in this world of sin with constant temptation doesn’t make any of it easier. But when we “Look To Go” He will make it easier! Trust Him! Trust His word, promise, and plan for you and put your faith into action. Look at the obstacles you face as a gift from God and use them to learn from and grow stronger in your faith! Alright…I’m done.

Take some time to thank God for the obstacles in your life today. Try to see if you can notice how they have helped you grow, or if you’re currently in them evaluate how God might be using this situation to help you.

Have an awesome day friends, and stay cool. ;)

Song of the day:

Upside Down, Jack Johnson 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqUdI4AIDF0