God Is Real

I think we forget that sometimes.  Just look around you.  Look at yourself.  There are so many people who claim to “believe in God” or to “be a Christian,” but where is the evidence?  To me, it looks like so many are living for themselves.  There may even be a deep religious tradition they hold onto, but they’re still living for themselves.

I visited an after-school children’s program yesterday, right in the middle of a poor community.  There were signs for Barack Obama all over the place, claiming “Change.”  This man, Obama, has given people hope for a better life.  Also yesterday, I was hanging around some conservative evangelical Christians.  They’re all about McCain and Palin.  Because he supports banning abortion and gay marriage, they’ve put their hopes in him.  McCain has given them hope for a righteous America.

This may be a shock to some of you: Obama can’t save America.  Here’s another one: McCain can’t fix America.  Yeah, shocking, right?  There is only one man who can do those things, and His name is Jesus Christ.  He is real, and the Church is His body.  Wake up, stand up, and put your faith in the Lord of the Universe.  Serve Him.  He is alive.  He’s coming back soon.  Let us who believe start acting like it.

“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”–Luke 21:34-36

Take Over Me

I find my rest in You
  You expose my inmost being
I forget all offense
  You set my heart on fire

You are my backbone;
  I can stand because of you.
You are my blood;
  Your life rushes through my veins.
You are my eyes;
  Your love is the solution I see.
You are my lips;
  Everything I speak is to Your glory.
You are my skin;
  Let me feel every burden of Your heart.
You are my legs;
  Where I go is where You are.

As I let go of what I am,
Replace me with You

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”–Philippians 3:20-21

Dissatisfaction

I don’t know; over the last several days, I’ve started to feel a bit dissatisfied with my life and relationship with God.  Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t think it’s a bad thing.  I think the correct Biblical term for it is urgency.  I suppose that would be be the opposite of procrastination and laziness.  You see, I have a lot of patience, which is a virtue, but sometimes I think it creeps into “evil form,” namely, procrastination.  So I’m actually pretty excited right now.  I’ve prayed a great many times for God to give me urgency, and it’s finally starting to happen.

I think that in our Christian walk, it’s easy to see ourselves as “doing pretty well” in life.  You know, no complaints, that sort of thing.  You definitely aren’t supposed to compare yourself to other people, right?  So if you’re content with your life right now, it’s all good… right?  Um, actually, I don’t think so.  We need to look to God for our standard, not our own comfort level.  I think the devil lies to us in this way; if he can keep us in one place, we will never grow into the full image of God.  We should always be changing, becoming more like Jesus, growing in our faith.  We will never be like Jesus if we stop moving forward.

Ask, and you will receive.  Ask God for greater faith, greater love, greater purity, greater intimacy with Him.  Believe for a life of holiness and power.  Don’t ever stop, because none of us are there yet.

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”–2 Corinthians 3:18

Generosity

What is money, and why do we love it so much?  It’s not a bad thing: just a representation of work done, used to acquire things that we want.  The problem arises when we start to love it.  Take a look at this verse:

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”–1 Timothy 6:10

What is the love of money?  Simply this: putting our faith in the world to give us the desires of our heart.  I’ve had conversations with several Christian friends about this.  Some lift up money, their own comfort, above even their own faith in God.  They say things like “I would never give my money to [insert some good cause here],” because they see themselves as poor.  Here’s the truth.  To live a fulfilling life, all we need is God.  In God, we have the riches of His Kingdom.  That’s infinitely more than any earthly money could provide.  It doesn’t matter how much we have on earth; we are rich in Christ.  That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work, because you definitely should.  Sloth is a sin.  But you should work as to the Lord, not for yourself.

For some Biblical inspiration about generosity, read Matthew chapter 6.  Notice that one of the main points is to not give to be seen by others.  People who give their money away on TV receive no reward in heaven.  They give to be seen by men, and gain worldly respect and admiration.  We should give out of the love in our hearts for God and others, not ourselves.

Honestly, this is a scary post for me to write.  If you haven’t noticed, I usually write about things that God is working me through in my own life.  This is definitely one of them.  On one hand, it almost seems that my friends are more honest than I am, because I know I can be just as stingy.  This is one area where I think most of us could use a lot more faith.  We must be willing to give God every part of our lives, and that includes all our finances.  I know I have a long way to go in this area, but I also know that God will bring me through.

“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”–Luke 16:13

9 Lines

Hungry, waiting on today.
Waiting for a miracle. 
When that glorious day comes, it will be glorious.  
Until then, however, I wait and live on. 
Always ready, knowing that when that small spark comes,
      it will take down great forests. 
I come before you, LORD, singing Hallelujah. 
The beautiful life You gave will continue always, so I will wait for You. 
You will come in Your perfect time. 
Be steadfast, Oh my soul

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”–Matthew 10:16

Alone With Your Creator

I really love God, guys.  I think I discover more of Him each day, and that’s just awesome.  I mean, think about it: Jesus forsook His own Godhood to come to earth for me.  That’s real love.  If I ever come to a full realization of that love, I probably won’t even be able to survive the glory of it.  So I’m content with what God’s shown me so far, but still hungry for more of Him.

It may just be the introvert in me talking, but I love being alone with God.  Seriously, try taking a walk late at night by yourself, and just think about Him.  Talk to Him; He wants to know you.  Let Him speak to you while you meditate on His Word.  He is an awesome God.  Let Him in.  He’ll change you and shape you.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”–Phillippians 2:5-7

Testing… 1, 2, 3…

I just got done reading the books of James and 1 Peter.  If you haven’t read them in a while(or ever), I’d suggest reading them again.  Like most of the Bible, they’re very encouraging to the soul.  They’re full of very real stuff.  Most people don’t like to talk about it much: the testing of our faith.

The reason I think a lot of people don’t like this subject is this: life is difficult.  At least, from a worldly perspective it is.  Just the thought of a little “responsibility” or “pain” seems proposterous to us, especially when we think about God.  After all, isn’t God supposed to make our lives super easy, full of rainbows and butterflies?  Well, no.  Jesus did say “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  So, there’s still a burden to carry.  It’s just an easier one with Jesus by your side, and that’s a very good thing.

Life will have opportunities to do good.  The saddest thing I’ve ever heard is when people speak of their faith in God as “just their own personal faith”, therefore taking God out of the picture of their daily lives and actions.  The point of the book of James is this: real faith will live up to the test.  Real faith will deny greed and give money away to those who need it.  Real faith will comfort the hurting.  Real faith will do something about injustice.  We must seize every God-given opportunity to do good.

Life will have suffering.  If you want to know a real Christian, look for this:  will he stand up under pressure?  Will he keep faith when everything the world is saying is against him?  A true Christian will stand in faith, because he knows how great a rock he stands on.  Christ suffered for us first, so the least we can do is try to be holy.

Here’s the point.  There will be trials and tribulations if you’re living for God.  Life may be rough, but what tests ultimately produce in our lives is a stronger faith, closeness to God, and a greater understanding of Christ’s sacrifice for us.  I don’t know about you, but I definitely want all those things.  That’s why we can have joy, because we know that God will always work for our good.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
–James 1:2-4

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”–1 Peter 4:19

The Politics of Marriage

Many of you know that Florida is voting on a marriage amendment in less than a month.  It seeks to define marriage as a union only between one man and one woman.  I think it’s a good thing, to keep our current definition of marriage.  I think it’s worked pretty well.  I don’t have anything against homosexuals, but gay marriage is a fairly new idea(at least, trying to have the government acknowledge it).  From a Biblical perspective, of course, homosexuality is a sin, and I think that the closer a country’s laws are to the Bible, the better.  After all, the Bible is straight from God.  What could be better?

Here’s the problem, though.  Christians don’t even follow the Bible in regards to marriage.  Just look at the divorce rate.  Last I heard, it’s around 60% in the American church.  So, that’s just sad.  How do we expect anyone to respect the idea of God-ordained marriage if we can’t even model it ourselves?  What ever happened to “wives, respect your husbands” and “husbands, love your wives”?(Eph. 5:33)  What happened to “don’t divorce, except for marital unfaithfulness”?(Matt. 5:32)  Obviously, I’ve never been married, and I have no idea what those real situations look like.  But there seems to be a whole heck of a lot of “situations” these days.

What’s wrong with us?  Have we lost our faith in God’s provision?  Do we think we know better than God?  Are we really that selfish?  Just a head’s up, guys: life sucks sometimes.  There will be money problems.  There will be emotional strain.  Nobody’s perfect, especially your husband or wife.  The truth is, you took a vow before God and man to stay together.  If you didn’t want to be married, you should have taken Jesus’ advice not to take oaths and stayed single your whole life.

Here’s my advice, brothers and sisters: before you go out and vote on the marriage amendment, passing your own judgement on others, look at yourselves first.  Are you the best husband or wife that you can be?  If your marriage isn’t perfect, that’s okay.  That’s what God is for; you shouldn’t be depending on yourself(or your spouse) anyway.  Seek God and Godly council.  Trust God.

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”–Matthew 6:31-33

Waves On a Sea of Molten Steel

Liquid Metal, ripples like a bay in a storm; the beauty of imperfection is that we have so great a journey to travel.

The Storm, the beating heart of God: the earth quakes at the very thought of His love, throbbing, shaking for peace.

The Heart, is it deeper than I have imagined?  Is Truth beneath the surface, or will the calm reflect back what’s been here all along.

Waiting, wanting, yearning for the meaning of all.  Should I wait for the storm to pass before I dive in?

Peace, for beyond, or in the midst of, the fire is the Kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Shadow, the glimpse of truth will be revealed, imperfection becomes the Perfect.

The Path before me is straight and narrow and REAL

“for our God is a consuming fire.” –Hebrews 12:29