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June 26,2014
From the 21st to the 25th of June, I went to church camp in Orange Beach, Alabama. The theme was "Who do you say God is?". Initially, I went in with a sense of excitement, since I felt disconnected from God, and I was feeling extremely self conscious and shy. And over the course of this past week, God has completely unraveled every single one of my insecurities and taught me where my worth comes from. Because who we think God is reflects through us and shows others who we are.
Hebrews 12:1-3
"Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart."
Our self worth comes from God and from who He says we are. We are made in HIS image and HE calls us beautifully and remarkably made and VERY good. So what the girl who has bullied you for years says you are, isn't who you are. We weren't worthy to have the Son of God come down on Earth to die on a cross and give us the opportunity to have eternal life with God. But HE loved us so much, He did. And the people that do hurt us, we aren't called to drop them and unfriend them when the relationship gets tough. We're called to love them. Jesus died to save the people murdering Him, too. He loved them despite the fact that they were the ones beating Him, spitting on Him, crushing Him, and humiliating Him. And sometimes, life is going to get hard and people WILL hurt you. We are imperfect. Sometimes we are going to go through trials, and life is going to hurt. We are called to be strong and to refuse to let the circumstance destroy our faith, but to instead take the opportunity to demonstrate our faith. To show people that we are who we say we are and we believe who God says we are.
We are imperfect, yet we are saved by grace. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I don't make mistakes. But Jesus died to take my sins away and I now live to share that redemption with others, not hold it back.
We are hypocrites. Yes, I said it. Christians are hypocrites. Everyone, even people who don't believe in Jesus being their savior has morals. I don't know one single person, Christian or non-Christian, who was brought up to lie. But I don't know one person who hasn't lied. Yet we all know that lying is wrong. Everyone is hyprocritical in some way.
Nothing in life will substitute God. Without Him, you can try to fill the void with drugs, alcohol, sex, money, a spouse, kids, and yet nothing is going to fill the ginormous hole in your life except for God. And sometimes God lets bad things happen to us. But bad things are being worked out for the good of those who love God and walk according to His good purpose.
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” - C.S Lewis, Mere Christianity
God desires a relationship with you. He seeks you. He loves you. God is compassionate. He is my foundation. He is my Father. God is sovereign. God is life. God is my friend. He is forgiving. He is grace. God is just. God is trustworthy. My God reigns and will reign for the rest of eternity.
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Messiah." Mark 8:29
May 23,2014 - Oceans
aka "Peter's Prayer"
The song Oceans by Hillsong United has been my favorite song for months. The other day, as I was in the car, the lyrics finally struck a chord and I began to understand what they mean. I originally thought the song was crying out to God and asking Gun to give faith to the one calling on Him. A prayer. But then I realized it was more than just my prayer, it was a disciple named Peter's.
Matthew 14:22-33
"Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds. After dismissing the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone. But the boat was already over a mile from land, battered by the waves, because the wind was against them.Around three in the morning, He came toward them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and cried out in fear.Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s You,” Peter answered Him, “command me to come to You on the water.” “Come!” He said. And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out His hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those in the boat worshiped Him and said, “Truly You are the Son of God!”
"You call me out upon the waters the great unknown, where feet may fail. And there I find You in the mystery, in oceans deep my faith will stand. And I will call upon Your name. And keep my eyes above the waves. My soul will rest in Your embrace, for I am Yours and You are mine."
This was Peter's cry out to Jesus, his plead. This is when Peter finally began to understand the meaning of putting faith in Jesus Christ. He found the meaning of faith through the midst of losing it. And he began to see that Jesus really was there for him through everything. Jesus wasn't going to let him drown. Just like He isn't going to let us down. Don't we usually find Jesus when we are going through tough times? Standing there with open arms, waiting for us to reach out and hold His hands? Peter still made mistakes after that day, we all do, humanity is imperfectly sinful. But Peter found a love and trust that day that gave him a new light of Jesus that he'd never seen before. He saw Jesus, even though at first, he didn't believe what he saw. We can't see Jesus, but He gives us a hope for eternal life through His resurrection after dying on a cross for our sins. We see Him through the lives of the people around us that He has made an impact on. We see Him through the beauty outside our homes, the life and the opportunity. We wouldn't have a chance to truly live it hadn't been for Him. And that day, Peter saw. His eyes were opened. John 15:13 says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
May 17,2014
There was once a time when I thought that the only people God loved were the ones who went to church and wore shiny shoes and had lots of friends and had lots of money. And no, I was not raised to think that, but I guess if the only people you really surround yourself with and have all of those things are loved by God, then you begin to think of yourselves to be the only ones loved by God. Kind of like a clique. If the only people you hang around are a certain group of girls, the only people you begin to think about are those girls. You don't really think about the girl in the corner by herself, or the boy without a lunch, you think about you and the girls you consider to be friends. But that is all a lie in your head. You tell yourself, that they aren't worthy to be with you and aren't cool enough to be with you, and you consider yourself to be worthy of God, all of the sudden, since they aren't worth being around you, they aren't worth being around God. But that isn't true. Because God in all of His grace and mercy, sent His son to the Earth to hang around beggars, liars, cheats, diseased, killers, and heartbreakers. He was the little boy sitting with the girl in the corner laughing and talking about everything there is to living life according to God's purpose. He was her friend. And as I sit here writing this, I'm thinking about all of the people I could have been Jesus to, and I wasn't. And I sit here wondering if on Monday when I go to school, if I'll have courage to stand up, walk away from those friends, and be a friend to the ones who have none. Didn't God call us to be lovers and not despisers? Last week, I said something behind someone's back that was belittling and hurtful. I didn't think, that maybe, they don't have a friend. And that's why they seek attention, and do things that "normal" people wouldn't do. I didn't think about how Jesus would go introduce Himself, and tell the boy that He was loved. The quote "What Would Jesus Do?" is used daily, but not really thought about. What would He do, if the boy didn't have a lunch? Or if the girl was crying? 1 John 4:11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another." We are called to LOVE. Not despise, or ridicule, or put down. The word "Christian" means "Little Christ". We are called to BE the hands and feet of Jesus, not just talk about Him. We sit around, wondering who is going to stand up for the people of God. All the while, we have the capability to BE Jesus. And not everyone, there are many kind and caring souls doing everything in their power to love people like Jesus did. But America as whole..... we vote for politicians that allow the killing and murder of innocent babies, claiming that it's the mother's choice. But more often than not, it was the mother's choice to make the decision to risk bring this amazing life called a child into the world, why would she not give them the chance to live it? God gave us America, the land of the free. He gave us the opportunity to worship who we want, the choice, where before we had none. Just like He gives us the choice to accept His sacrifice on the cross, so that we might have eternal life. So who do we live for? Because I realize, I've been living for the girl who wants good grades, and lots of friends, and cute clothes. Not the girl who pledged her life to striving to be like the God who gave His one and only Son to give humanity a chance and a choice to accept Him. That is love, true love. Why seek the things of this world when we could have a joy that never ends? People talk about being happy. Jesus gives a joy that is so much more than the term happiness. Happiness is temporary. But the joy of getting to know Jesus, the King of all Kings, is forever. This life, isn't about us. It's about The One who sent us. Who are you going to live like tomorrow?
From the 21st to the 25th of June, I went to church camp in Orange Beach, Alabama. The theme was "Who do you say God is?". Initially, I went in with a sense of excitement, since I felt disconnected from God, and I was feeling extremely self conscious and shy. And over the course of this past week, God has completely unraveled every single one of my insecurities and taught me where my worth comes from. Because who we think God is reflects through us and shows others who we are.
Hebrews 12:1-3
"Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart."
Our self worth comes from God and from who He says we are. We are made in HIS image and HE calls us beautifully and remarkably made and VERY good. So what the girl who has bullied you for years says you are, isn't who you are. We weren't worthy to have the Son of God come down on Earth to die on a cross and give us the opportunity to have eternal life with God. But HE loved us so much, He did. And the people that do hurt us, we aren't called to drop them and unfriend them when the relationship gets tough. We're called to love them. Jesus died to save the people murdering Him, too. He loved them despite the fact that they were the ones beating Him, spitting on Him, crushing Him, and humiliating Him. And sometimes, life is going to get hard and people WILL hurt you. We are imperfect. Sometimes we are going to go through trials, and life is going to hurt. We are called to be strong and to refuse to let the circumstance destroy our faith, but to instead take the opportunity to demonstrate our faith. To show people that we are who we say we are and we believe who God says we are.
We are imperfect, yet we are saved by grace. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I don't make mistakes. But Jesus died to take my sins away and I now live to share that redemption with others, not hold it back.
We are hypocrites. Yes, I said it. Christians are hypocrites. Everyone, even people who don't believe in Jesus being their savior has morals. I don't know one single person, Christian or non-Christian, who was brought up to lie. But I don't know one person who hasn't lied. Yet we all know that lying is wrong. Everyone is hyprocritical in some way.
Nothing in life will substitute God. Without Him, you can try to fill the void with drugs, alcohol, sex, money, a spouse, kids, and yet nothing is going to fill the ginormous hole in your life except for God. And sometimes God lets bad things happen to us. But bad things are being worked out for the good of those who love God and walk according to His good purpose.
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” - C.S Lewis, Mere Christianity
God desires a relationship with you. He seeks you. He loves you. God is compassionate. He is my foundation. He is my Father. God is sovereign. God is life. God is my friend. He is forgiving. He is grace. God is just. God is trustworthy. My God reigns and will reign for the rest of eternity.
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Messiah." Mark 8:29
May 23,2014 - Oceans
aka "Peter's Prayer"
The song Oceans by Hillsong United has been my favorite song for months. The other day, as I was in the car, the lyrics finally struck a chord and I began to understand what they mean. I originally thought the song was crying out to God and asking Gun to give faith to the one calling on Him. A prayer. But then I realized it was more than just my prayer, it was a disciple named Peter's.
Matthew 14:22-33
"Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds. After dismissing the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone. But the boat was already over a mile from land, battered by the waves, because the wind was against them.Around three in the morning, He came toward them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and cried out in fear.Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s You,” Peter answered Him, “command me to come to You on the water.” “Come!” He said. And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out His hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those in the boat worshiped Him and said, “Truly You are the Son of God!”
"You call me out upon the waters the great unknown, where feet may fail. And there I find You in the mystery, in oceans deep my faith will stand. And I will call upon Your name. And keep my eyes above the waves. My soul will rest in Your embrace, for I am Yours and You are mine."
This was Peter's cry out to Jesus, his plead. This is when Peter finally began to understand the meaning of putting faith in Jesus Christ. He found the meaning of faith through the midst of losing it. And he began to see that Jesus really was there for him through everything. Jesus wasn't going to let him drown. Just like He isn't going to let us down. Don't we usually find Jesus when we are going through tough times? Standing there with open arms, waiting for us to reach out and hold His hands? Peter still made mistakes after that day, we all do, humanity is imperfectly sinful. But Peter found a love and trust that day that gave him a new light of Jesus that he'd never seen before. He saw Jesus, even though at first, he didn't believe what he saw. We can't see Jesus, but He gives us a hope for eternal life through His resurrection after dying on a cross for our sins. We see Him through the lives of the people around us that He has made an impact on. We see Him through the beauty outside our homes, the life and the opportunity. We wouldn't have a chance to truly live it hadn't been for Him. And that day, Peter saw. His eyes were opened. John 15:13 says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
May 17,2014
There was once a time when I thought that the only people God loved were the ones who went to church and wore shiny shoes and had lots of friends and had lots of money. And no, I was not raised to think that, but I guess if the only people you really surround yourself with and have all of those things are loved by God, then you begin to think of yourselves to be the only ones loved by God. Kind of like a clique. If the only people you hang around are a certain group of girls, the only people you begin to think about are those girls. You don't really think about the girl in the corner by herself, or the boy without a lunch, you think about you and the girls you consider to be friends. But that is all a lie in your head. You tell yourself, that they aren't worthy to be with you and aren't cool enough to be with you, and you consider yourself to be worthy of God, all of the sudden, since they aren't worth being around you, they aren't worth being around God. But that isn't true. Because God in all of His grace and mercy, sent His son to the Earth to hang around beggars, liars, cheats, diseased, killers, and heartbreakers. He was the little boy sitting with the girl in the corner laughing and talking about everything there is to living life according to God's purpose. He was her friend. And as I sit here writing this, I'm thinking about all of the people I could have been Jesus to, and I wasn't. And I sit here wondering if on Monday when I go to school, if I'll have courage to stand up, walk away from those friends, and be a friend to the ones who have none. Didn't God call us to be lovers and not despisers? Last week, I said something behind someone's back that was belittling and hurtful. I didn't think, that maybe, they don't have a friend. And that's why they seek attention, and do things that "normal" people wouldn't do. I didn't think about how Jesus would go introduce Himself, and tell the boy that He was loved. The quote "What Would Jesus Do?" is used daily, but not really thought about. What would He do, if the boy didn't have a lunch? Or if the girl was crying? 1 John 4:11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another." We are called to LOVE. Not despise, or ridicule, or put down. The word "Christian" means "Little Christ". We are called to BE the hands and feet of Jesus, not just talk about Him. We sit around, wondering who is going to stand up for the people of God. All the while, we have the capability to BE Jesus. And not everyone, there are many kind and caring souls doing everything in their power to love people like Jesus did. But America as whole..... we vote for politicians that allow the killing and murder of innocent babies, claiming that it's the mother's choice. But more often than not, it was the mother's choice to make the decision to risk bring this amazing life called a child into the world, why would she not give them the chance to live it? God gave us America, the land of the free. He gave us the opportunity to worship who we want, the choice, where before we had none. Just like He gives us the choice to accept His sacrifice on the cross, so that we might have eternal life. So who do we live for? Because I realize, I've been living for the girl who wants good grades, and lots of friends, and cute clothes. Not the girl who pledged her life to striving to be like the God who gave His one and only Son to give humanity a chance and a choice to accept Him. That is love, true love. Why seek the things of this world when we could have a joy that never ends? People talk about being happy. Jesus gives a joy that is so much more than the term happiness. Happiness is temporary. But the joy of getting to know Jesus, the King of all Kings, is forever. This life, isn't about us. It's about The One who sent us. Who are you going to live like tomorrow?
3/17/14: Putting on the armor of God; Selflessness
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1/17/14 - God uses the UNQUALIFIED
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