Think and let think...

Daily Bible Verse (Hebrews 10:35-36)

I'm going to be starting a daily blogging series today with sharing my thoughts and reflections on the "Daily Bible Verse" that I have listed on the main page of my blog. So, let's start this series off today with the scripture Hebrews 10:35-36

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Hebrews was written by an unknown author in an unknown time at an unknown place, but we know who it was written to. It was written to the Hebrew Christians who were at that time considering a return to Judaism. They have come to a point where they are starting to doubt. They were taught their entire lives the Law of the Prophets through commandments, rituals, and even the prophets themselves describing the promises of God. The Law was the way to forgiveness and salvation. That is what they have been taught up until Jesus came and died for the world and now there is the old (Judaism) and the new (Christianity), but the book of Hebrews is about realizing that both of those of religions revealed by God. 

The Law of the Prophets was fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Have you ever felt that your faith is stagnant? 

We have all had times of doubt and feel that our faith is not where it was. It's feeling more stale, and lacking growth and going nowhere. So, creeps in the doubt. 

I present to you Hebrews 10:35-36

Be persistent. Don't give up. 

Life in the essence of everything that it is will get hard. It will beat you down, but God will always be by your side, giving you the guidance and strength that is required of you in every situation of your life. You know for the longest time I have had this pet peeve. I absolutely detest the word, "can't" I just dont like, it bothers me when people use it too. 

God doesn't like that either. Us using the word can't im sure is not one of God's favorite things we do, because with God's help we can do all things. 

In the midst of their lives and doubt the Hebrew Christians were looking for answers and wanted God to assure them of their doubts. We want that too. We want answers, but God doesn't give them all the time. Sometimes God is silent and doesn't give an answer. 

The end of the book of Job 

The end of the prodigal son

He tells the writers heart that as God's children we persevere and be confident in what Jesus did for all of mankind. Don't lose heart. Have confidence in Christ. He will supply what we need, but we have to have an openness as well. We must open our hearts, minds, and very souls. God will supply the strength and courage to persevere, but maybe not in the way we expect. 

Thoughts from Today.

"The Affirmessy Process – The postmodern thought that life is a journey, or process, that affirms the multiple realities of all people and allows for messy conversations, messy theology, messy questions, and messy understanding. The journey in the affirmessy process is not about having all the answers, but rather the answer is enjoying/allowing/affirming each other’s asking of the messy, unsolvable questions." 

-Russell Clark, 2009-

Lately I have been encountering from different perspectives in my life that there is a certain amount of feeling the need to be clean before coming to God. Let me explain. How many times have you heard this: 

"I can't pray to God and accept Jesus into my heart until I get my life fixed." 

"I can't come to God like me!? Are you nuts?" 

Well, maybe I am, but that's another discussion all together. :-) However, that thought that we have to be perfect to be "allowed" to talk to the Lord is....well, it seems to me to contradict who God is, what he represents, and who He has a passion for. It's very true in fact that God has given us a gift of his grace and love through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ and that is very difficult, sometimes it seems impossible, to accept.  There is something that doesn't fit with "free gift" for us as human beings, but that's exactly what a gift is. It's free, you don't have to pay a down payment, or a monthly charge. It's free. We are ok with this idea when it comes to getting a gift from say your mom, dad, brother, sister, or even your best friend, but when it comes to God's free gift of grace and love? 

We struggle with that. We can't wrap our mind around..that. 

With presents from your mom, dad, etc. you can return the favor. With God we feel unworthy. There's a reason for that. 

We are.

(Just a little side-note: What if it stopped there? Praise God that it doesn't)

But.

(That one word makes the sentence take a 180. We go from fallen to forgiven. Just one word.)

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8

I present to you Exhibit A. Jesus Christ was sent for the sole purpose of giving the world redemption through His blood. Period. God knows that your messy. You got junk. Baggage. Things have happened in our lives that have damaged us. hurt us to the core, and what is God's response? 

He wants you and I to come to Him with ALL our junk, baggage, and everything that makes our lives messy. God says, "Bring it. I can take care of this. I got this." 

"The Affirmessy Process – The postmodern thought that life is a journey, or process, that affirms the multiple realities of all people and allows for messy conversations, messy theology, messy questions, and messy understanding. The journey in the affirmessy process is not about having all the answers, but rather the answer is enjoying/allowing/affirming each other’s asking of the messy, unsolvable questions." 

Point is this. We don't have all the answers, but we do have God and He tells us that we are loved and its ok to not know everything. He says its ok to not have it all "together," and its ok because of what He tells us through Paul in Philippians 1:6: 

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." 

It's a journey, filled with mistakes and joys and tears and laughter and love. We will all understand fully when we see Jesus' face to face.

The Fierce Urgency of Now!

"The war in northern Uganda has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today. For the past 23 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda (GoU) have been waging a war that has left nearly two million innocent civilians caught in the middle. The GoU's attempt to protect its citizens from this rebel militia has largely failed, resulting in an entire generation of youth that has never known peace."

 http://www.invisiblechildren.com/about/history/

Joseph Kony for the last 23 years has been "offing" anyone and everyone that he so desires. More recently his actions have been more brutal and he has been abducting innocent children and making them be child soldiers and if they don't go and don't kill when Kony says kill then they will be killed. If they escape from their abduction and Kony's army (the Lord's Resistance Army) finds them, then they will re-abduct just to kill them. 

I mean come on. Enough is enough! He's killing people and he's been doing it for 23 years and now its spreading to the surrounding countries of Northern Uganda, but there is a way to help. 

First. Go Here!

Second. Sign the petition 

Third. Give $5 bucks of your money to help the children

Fourth, Fifth, etc. Email, call, or send letters to your congressmen and congresswomen and your state representatives and ask them to sign the bill we now have in play, "LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act"

We have to stand up for those that can't stand up for themselves.

65%

Check this out: 

"Among non-Christians ages 16-29-atheists, agnostics, those undecided about their faith, and individuals affiliated with other faiths- more than four out of every five have gone to a Christian church at some time in their life (82%). Most of these attended for at least three months. And two-thirds of non-Christians (65%) said they have had conversations in the last year with a Christian friend and their faith views. More than half (53%) said they have been specifically approached in the past few years about becoming a Christian.

Most teenagers in America enter adulthood considering themselves to be Christians and saying they have made a personal commitment to Christ. But within a decade, most of these young people will have left the church and will have placed emotional connection to Christianity on the shelf. For most of them, their faith was merely skin deep. This leads to the sobering finding that the vast majority of people outside the church in this country, particularly among young generations, are actually de-churched individuals." 

Quite a sobering finding, but even more sobering....

"Most Americans, including two-thirds of all adult Mosaics and Busters (ages 18-41, and 65%), tell us that they have made a commitment to Jesus Christ at some point in their life." 

65%. 

Ages 18-41

Made a commitment to Christ. 

It implies that 65% of them actually sat down, and looked at the facts, read the gospels, listened to sermons, maybe participated in a bible study, and then eventually they committed themselves to be disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Then the world came crashing in. Reality started to set. Encountered probably some ridicule for being a believer in Christ and then with each comment and each doubtful experience, Jesus, the Christ whom they professed to believe and follow gets closer and closer....

and closer. 

To the shelf. 

A very sad notion, but all the same its reality of believing in something. Having faith in Jesus is a crazy notion. According to the world and so its hard. When or if anybody becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ there is this thought...

A part me thinks that a reason that some of that percentage does not stay the same is that we as human beings are well aware of our faults and think we cannot do it. It's too hard. I need to fix myself before I accept Christ because Christ is perfect and I'm not and I cant come to Him and say I'll follow Him as his disciple when I'm not fixed. 

"There's no such thing as perfect people. 
 There's no such thing as a perfect life. 
 So come as you are, broken and scarred
 Lift up your heart and be amazed 
 And be changed by a perfect God." 

God doesn't want perfect people, because he didnt create them. He created us in such a way that is not perfect but that is so beautiful. Come to God just how you are. 

Striking Quote

As I was reading unChristian this quote just really struck me, and I can't disagree with it. It really intrigues me though. Thoughts?

"Having spent time around "sinners" and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group. I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral yep. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus."

-Philip Yancey, from his book, "Whats so amazing about Grace?"

Faith based on Lifestyle and Transparency Christians

Faith- believing in things you cannot see or cannot prove. (my definition) 

Living your faith that is based on Lifestyle is dangerous. So very dangerous for the message that Jesus Christ has entrusted his believers with. As the Apostle Paul stated in Galatians 3:3, "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" It's impossible to succeed at such a notion of living your faith out by morals. 

Now, don't get me wrong morals are crucially important, but it seems that there is this belief that if you aren't a Christian then you just can't hack it. You don't have what it takes to be holy. These types of thoughts and statements are what the new generations feel about Christianity today. Very scary and dangerous indeed. They feel repelled by Christians, but even more intriguing than that is that they don't feel rejected by Jesus, but rejected by Christians. 

See, the mere fact is that we are fallen and we need God...everyday. That we cannot do it alone. Only one person could and he did it so well that we named the entire thing after him, but he was and will always be God. 

"There is darkness in our skin; our cover is wearing thin." -David Crowder, from the song "Rescue is Coming"

"We should have an honest estimation of ourselves, measuring our worth by God's purposes for our life." -Romans 12:3

We have to as Christians be Transparent and be merely trying to act right but being honest with who we are. Yes we are believers in Jesus Christ and we believe that he is our savior. That does not exclude the fact that we are fallen and we need Him every single day of life on this earth! Without Him we are nothing. 

Let us move forward as believers in Jesus Christ and be honest with who we are. Have an open mind and realize that some of the ways that we live is not a good witness and not representative of the life that Jesus taught us to live. Thank God for what you have today. It is a gift because He is gracious and loving.  

Senator Teddy

Senator Ted "Teddy" Kennedy 

3rd longest-serving senator, was in his 7th full term

Ted Kennedy was a great man that lived through two of his brothers being assassinated. Teddy continued to serve in the senate representing the State of Massachusetts and representing the American people as a whole so very well. 

“For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health, and economic well being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts.” - President Barack Obama

Teddy definitely did make a difference in our country for the past five decades and he helped change the lives and even the world we all live in. Senator, you will be missed. 

Onto something? No not so much

Do you ever get that feeling when your studying your bible that you are onto something? Well, I did. Yesterday. If you read my previous post about Genesis and God creating light then you know full well what I'm referring to. I was correct i think in a sense, however I would like to clear up that God did not create evil but that Adam and Eve's choice to eat of the fruit brought sin into the world and so from then on we were a fallen people who needed a savior. When it comes to the light, yes God did create Light twice, sort of. In Genesis 1:3, God does in fact create Light by saying, "Let there be light," and so light existed, then in Genesis 1:5 God seperates the light from the dark. And finally in Genesis 1:14-19 God gives the world the Sun to govern the light of the day and the Moon and stars to govern the night. Point being this: God's creation is beyond comprehension and its vast and amazing and glorious and magnificent and beautiful and overwhelming and I could go on and on. God has done an amazing work here in this world, not because he needed to but because He wanted to. God's love for us is unquenchable. He gave us the world, to care for, and to love Him. He desires so much a personal relationship with all of us. And I do mean ALL. Genesis is a book that has been debated on for thousands of years, and we will never truly know how God did it. That doesn't really matter anyway. He did it. End of story and end of statement. That is all that matters. Because God is Love.

Creation Story Thought Throwdown...

So, this week in the sunday school class i teach for the 7th graders we are talking about the Creation story in Genesis 1:1-2:4 this week and I was reading it today a couple of thoughts were running through my head so i need get some feedback on this. See what you all think. Look at Genesis 1:5. Done? No, seriously get a bible and look it up. Or go to www.youversion.com and look it up there. (Awesome site btw) Now look at Genesis 1:14. Seeing anything? In verse five this happens: "God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. " Verse 14 reads this way: "And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years," God creates "light" twice. Or does he? Where do we get the "light" during the day? From what source? The sun, and what about the night, well of course its the moon. So the creating of the sun and the moon and the stars happens in verse 14, right? But in verse 5 God still creates some form of "light." Ok go with me on this. Could this be God creating good and evil? Because one is light and one is dark. Thoughts? Please get back to me on this. I'm really intrigued about the responses on this one.

Holiness and?

"The real problem comes when we recognize God's holiness but fail to articulate the other side of his character: grace. Jesus represents truth plus grace." -UnChristian by David Kinnamen p. 36

Rain

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYKa9E1xzao&hl=en&fs=1&] "When the rain come. It's not like they might. They do. It rains in our lives....a lot." - Rob Bell I love that line from this video and actually the main reason that I feel the need to blog about this. Rain will come. Storms will come in our lives. You can't stop them from happening, they just do. The last couple weeks in the sunday school class that I teach we have talked about this every now and then. We talked about it in the story of David and Goliath and this past sunday when we talked about Samson. You see in life there is a path that we are on. Everyone has a path, and sometimes roadblocks get in the way. So, if you can't stop something from happening. What do you do about it? In life your gonna make mistakes. Just like rain, they are going to happen. So, what do you do when you make mistakes? Give up? No, when it rains do you stay inside all day everyday that it rains? No, you get an umbrella. Mistakes are gonna happen. In life we are going to fail. That's not the point though. The point is that we were created by a God that is all knowing and knows everything little you and I are going to make, but He still loves us and has a future for us! "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." - Jeremiah 29:11 When it rains you get an umbrella and and when you fail you realize that you are still loved by God. You always will be. Always. Here's a thought to chew on. No matter what mistakes you make in life or how many you fail, God will ALWAYS be there for you waiting to support as you go on. He is always with you and He will always love you. Always. You can fail everyday of your life and yet He will still love you!

How Christianity is viewed?

“Christianity has become bloated with blind followers who would rather repeat slogans than actually feel true compassion and care. Christianity has become marketed and streamlined into a juggernaut of fear-mongering that has lost its own heart.” -Anonymous-

"Christianity's image problem is not merely the perception of young outsiders. Those inside the church see it as well--especially Christians in their twenties and thirties. I was unprepared for the research showing that Mosaic and Buster Christians are skeptical of present-day Christianity." -"UnChristian" by David Kinnamen p. 18-

Something to think about today...

Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." God has an agenda for the world because God truly loves everyone on the face of the planet, he has always had an agenda, but now the question is, where do we fit in God's agenda? If you go by Acts 1:8, we are the ones that carry out God's agenda by loving, teaching, and embracing in the way Jesus taught us to. So, where do we fit? Right in the smack dab middle. We are the voice. We matter. Even in the worse of times in your lives you will always matter to God, always, and he believes in you and me and that is why he has entrusted us with the care of his creation. People need love. We desire to have love and there is no love like the love that God provides and we have to share it. I believe it was Francis Asbury that once said, "Offer them Christ." Cause that is an offer that may be refused but never fades and never disappears. God is always there. Always. One of the most beautiful moments in the Gospels is when Peter walks on water and then gets scrared and drowns, but what does Jesus do? He extends his hand and pulls Peter up. No matter what you are going through in your life today, tomorrow, or ever you will always have the hand of Christ extended to you. He loves us and we are His voice. Just some thoughts on an early Sunday morning.

Enough Said.

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

"The Word of God.

For the People of God.

Thanks be to God."

Living or Existing?

So, what's the difference? Because when you live and exist, you still have a heartbeat either way, but there is a significant difference and a lot of thoughts on living and existing hit me today as I was listening to Robbie Seay. "Shine Your Light us so that we may live." - Robbie Seay "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - John 10:10 At the very basis of our existence is that uncontrollable nature of sin. We can't help it. We can't stop it. We sin, and at one point in time in the history of this world everybody (man, woman, children) all were defined by it. Sin is a very troublesome thing that we can't control and to God all sins are all the same. To God when we sin, no matter what it is, it is us telling God, "Ok, I got this. What you offer God is good and all, but I found something better." Seriously. Knowing all that and knowing that it is the uncontrollable action of us as human beings, Jesus still came to this earth not to forsake us or even condemn us, but rather to embrace us and die for us. The amazing thing to me is that Jesus doesn't just embrace us when we are good, but he embraces us all and accepts all. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Everything. All. And what does he do? Jesus knows everything about us and knows how many times we have "found" something better, and yet it doesn't matter. Everything that we are as humans is enough for Him. His grace and love look past the times we have "found" something better and look into the eyes of our heart and say, "I don't care what you've done or what your going to do that is against my will, I still love you and I still would die for you." So back to my original question. What is the difference? Well, what is the difference between being defined by sin and being defined by grace? It's huge. Earth shattering. The difference is the reason we live and worship. Why would Jesus want to look past all the sinning and look to us as His love and children? Because He can. Just by existing we know that we uncontrollably sin, but when we live, then we know that we are not defined by that uncontrollable urge. We are defined by what Jesus did. When he died he made the sinners the justified, the idiots he made brilliant. The difference is crucial, because it is a portal to who we are at our existence. Loved. Lord, help us to always know that you love us beyond our limited understanding and that you died so that we could live forever. Father God your grace and love astound me to my core sometimes and I cant put into words how much it warms my heart and soul to know that you believe in me. Help us always to search our hearts for you and your will for our lives. In Jesus Name, Amen.

The Nearness of God

So, on the way back to work from my lunch break today I was listening to music from my iPhone and "Be Near" came on and I really really like this song. 

Your fullness is mine (Your fullness is mine) Revelation divine (Revelation divine) But oh to taste,  to know much more than a page To feel your embrace...

To feel your embrace, oh to taste. Yes! there is nothing in the world that compares to then overwhelming sweet taste of God;s love and the nearness of his presence. When I feel God close to me, a flood of inspiration, and courage just shoots through my body and my heart is lifted and oh to see the world through his eyes and with his presence right with you. There is nothing. Nothing better than that.  Father I pray that as we go about our daily routines at work and at home that we would embrace you and your presence because it is so near to us always. Thank you Lord for always being present with us through the good times and the bad and God help us to confront the things we struggle with and let us confront with the strength only you can give. We love you Lord! In Jesus Name, Amen.  May God Bless you with his sweet sweet presence!

That ' s it.

I was just hit with something. No, not in the literal sense..:) but all the same, something in my head just clicked. God loves us and yes that is something that is very evident to us believers, but is it really? Do we at all times believe that He really loves us and if so then what about those really bad days when we feel like the dirt under the dirt under the dirt under the....(you get the point), but God loves us. I couldn't get past this thought. I don't know why. The thought is that no matter what we think about ourselves and how many mistakes we make God loves us so much that we cannot even comprehend it, it is no possible to put into words how much we mean to Him. Seriously. There aren't words. They don't exist. How friggin' crazy is that!? God created us in HIS IMAGE, so we are like God. Our beat and feel how God feels. The way we think and do things is somehow connected to him and his essence of who he is. We are His voice to the world, to tell who God is, what God is like and what God cares about. This thought is just so overwhelming to me. Love that can't be describe because the words don't exist, they can't exist but the Love is too big! It's beyond us and our logical understanding of Love. I dont even know how to end this post but Im so overwhelmed with this Love that is beyond my understanding. God knows what we are thinking, before we think it. What we say before we even think about saying it. How many hairs that are on our heads, and man....that is just overwhelming. All I can say to end this post is..... Thank You God for seeing more in us than we could ever begin to see in ourselves. Thank you God. God Loves us. That's it.

Temptation & Value

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. -Hebrews 12:2

Through Jesus' life he faced as much temptation as we face and conquered it, now he was fully God and fully man, which is naturally difficult to understand, all the same Jesus faced the temptations that we face. In the wilderness Jesus by the prospect of power, influence, money, and worldly love. Things that as humans we are naturally tempted by, but what inherent value do all those things have? None. Money only has the value that we give. Its just a piece of paper. No value whatsoever. So, then how do we see ourselves as valuable.  It's simple really.  In the beginning God created us in his image, the image of love, and then to even sweeter the pot even more he came and lived among us and then willingly submitted himself to worst death anyone could face in that time. That is where we find our value. God gives us value by love and grace and truth. There is nothing the world can provide that will come even close to comparing with that kind of value.   So, i guess ill end with the same way I began with this post. 

"Fix your eyes on Jesus." 

Cause that is where true value in yourself is found. 

 

Defining Moment

I love Easter Weekend. I really really do because I feel so inspired to be a child of the king! As I went to church tonight and listened to the songs and what our pastors said I was really overwhelmed by what God taught me tonight. "Are we defined by sin or grace?" God saw the brokenness and suffering of his people and....Easter happened. It is not just mere happenstance, there is a purpose for Easter. Because of Easter everything has changed. Everyday is a new day, our old selves are no more and we transform into our new selves, the things we did before dont fit with what we do now, we have nothing to fear, no failure or any amount of mistakes can take away what Easter does for us. It defines us for who we are...grace. Do you realize how significant this really is? God changed everything with this one defining moment. This is so big that we dont even have to fear death anymore because Jesus conquered it! My Savior took my sins and placed them on his shoulders and willingly got crucified and died so that I may be forgiven and set right in the sight of God. It is by his grace that we are given this. Nothing else. Everything changed. In One Defining Moment.

The Day After

I was wondering today what it would have been like to have been a disciple of Jesus the day after he was crucified....you know, like to have known this amazing being and seen the amazing things that he did and felt the true love of God in your being everyday and then he's gone just like that. Wow, what that must have been like really speaks to my heart today. I just wonder, and i feel much closer to the disciples, because they lost a friend or so they thought. Here's to tomorrow when the SON SHALL RISE