Lead The Lost

Why I'm Not A Christian in 2021

2015-03-10T23:35:00.001-04:00

I don’t think there’s anybody who hasn’t dealt with that question.

I’m sure it has come up and maybe you haven’t quite known how to answer it.

It is one of the hardest questions ever…

Have you ever met someone from another religion and after being around them for a while you felt like they were nicer, a better dad, more conscientious than you?

Maybe they weren’t even religious at all and they are one of the nicest people you’ve ever met; you’re like, “So, the Bible teaches these people aren’t going to heaven because they haven’t accepted Jesus?”

Doesn’t really seem fair for God to choose this one, arbitrary characteristic and pass over people who are every bit as morally good.

In addition to that, if you ask people today what the biggest cause of division and violence is in our world, your most likely answer would be radical religion; especially a religion that claims to be the only way to God.

Believing that your way is the only way is what causes people to fly planes into buildings, or so people think.

It may surprise you that I will say, as a Christian minister, that religion, by its very nature, does tend to divide people and bring out the worst unfamiliarity; that unfamiliarity then breeds suspicion and contempt; and that contempt can lead to violence.

So, I agree. But today what I would like to do is try and show you why the Gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t at all like that.

I’m going to try and show you that, at its core, authentic Christianity is one of the most humble, inclusive, loving, peace-promoting worldviews ever given.

I am going to show you that by taking a look at the preaching of Peter in the book of Acts and then along the way dealing with some of the main objections that I hear to Jesus being the only way.

First stop is in Acts 4.

Peter has gotten in trouble for making this statement, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

It would have been fine with everybody if Peter had said, “Jesus is our way, our God, and you have yours.” What got the Apostles in trouble was their claim that Jesus was the only way (no other name under heaven).

You see, Rome had a society that was built on pluralism.

Rome had conquered the world and all the peoples they had conquered had their own gods; so the way Rome saw it, everybody could have their own god, but each god only had a limited sphere.

The Ephesians had their god which was “the god of the Ephesians,” the Egyptians had their god, the Jews had a God that was God of the Jews.

Some gods were not geographical but restricted to a certain dimension of life like fertility or traveling or war and that was all cool with Rome, but Roman historians tell us the one thing no one was allowed to say was that their god was superior to all the others or the one supreme God, because if one people claimed their god was the supreme god, it would follow that they should be the in them. What happens is religion gives you a standard for what is good and acceptable… and so if you live by that standard you almost can’t help but look down proudly on the people who don’t; and so you want to separate yourself from them; that separation causes supreme, ruling people. And then, they would try to make war on the other nations.

So, Rome tried to ensure peace by letting everybody worship their own god but allowing no one to claim that their god was the supreme God. In fact, they had a Pantheon where they housed all the gods. An emblem of Caesar stood on top of it, and all the gods got along harmoniously in the building each with his own little room. Basically, the message of that building was “to each his own as long as you acknowledge we’re in Little Caesar’s universe.”

That was the world Christianity was born into. You see, people have this idea that back in the day everybody thought their religion was the only way. And when Christianity was introduced, everybody said, “Believe Jesus died for us? Love our neighbor? Yeah, that sounds better than worshipping the fish god.” And they all converted from the fish god being the only way to Jesus being the only way. And only now in our globally-pluralistic society are we starting to discover that there is good in every religion and we should be open to multiple paths to God.

But no. If you study Acts, Rome’s problem with the Apostles had nothing to do with the fact they wanted to worship Jesus. Hey, what’s one god more? It was their insistence that Jesus was the only way. In fact, later in the 1st century the Emperor Severus decided that the Christians had been persecuted for too long, and so he declared he would add a statue of Jesus to Caesar’s Pantheon and let the Christians have a seat at the table. What do you think the Christians did? Did they say, oh we’ve arrived! Jesus in the pantheon! One of our people in Congress! No, they protested Severus and said, “Get Jesus out of the Pantheon! He can never be just one among the gods! He is the Lord of Lords.”

So, the point… “Global pluralism” is not a new thing like many people think, and the Apostles’ claim that Jesus was the only way was a direct challenge to the prevailing pluralistic worldview then and now.

Now, back to Acts 4, Peter is called in and told not to preach like that any longer. Notice what he says in defense: 4:19 “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

One of the things people say about claiming there is one way to God is that it is arrogant, (“Claiming that there is one way to God is arrogant” ) like you believe you have some superior knowledge or vantage point to everyone else. But notice exactly what Peter is saying here. He’s not saying, “I know this because I’m smarter or because I have some kind of superior knowledge… I’m just telling you what I’ve seen and heard. We saw a guy raised from the dead and this is what he told us and commanded us to tell others…” You can call that a lot of things, but arrogance is not necessarily one of them.

You see, here’s what people today think… If we’re humble, then we realize that none of us is smart enough to know everything, so the humble thing to do is to recognize that everybody has a perspective that is at least equal to ours, and really, it’s only when we listen to everybody’s perspective that we’ll get the full picture. I’ve often heard it described like this:

Indian parable… Three blind men were asked to describe an elephant. Each one walked up to the elephant, and touched it, but at different parts. The one who touched the body of the elephant said, "The elephant is like a wall." The one who touched the trunk said, "The elephant is like a snake." The one who touched the tusks said "The elephant is like a spear." The moral of the story is that no one blind man had the whole picture, so they should all be open to what each of the others added to the picture. Each of them was right in what they saw; but each of them was wrong to argue that what they saw was the whole thing. In the same way, the parable goes, no one religion has the full picture. We should be open to other religions, because only then will we get close to the actual truth.
Lesslie Newbigin, a missionary to India, said in his book The Gospel in a Pluralist Society that he heard that parable so many times in India until he finally realized: In order to tell the story, you had to see the whole elephant. The only way to claim that each blind man only saw a part of the elephant was if you were not blind and could see the whole thing. Right? That’s how you would know. You are claiming to be able to do the very thing you were telling everybody else they could not do.
To claim that all religions are right, you claim to have a superior vantage point from each of the religions. That’s why you can say each one doesn’t have the full picture.

Recently I saw a Dean at Stanford University forced a group of students to stop proselytizing others on campus… What was intriguing to me was his rationale: “don’t proselytize; all faiths are equally valid as religions.” You shouldn’t be telling people their religion is wrong because I can see the whole elephant and that all religions are equal and that’s why I can say that you’re wrong to tell them they’re wrong.

But see, you are doing the very thing you are refusing to let anybody else do. That’s not fair.

By contrast, Peter is not saying he has a superior vantage point. Peter’s whole deal is, “Look, I don’t think these things because I think I’m superior, I’m just a barely educated high school-dropout fisherman from Galilee, but a guy raised from the dead and told us what the deal was and we believe him.” Peter’s like, “Face it, if the guy raises from the dead we felt like that gave him the right to make the rules. You disagree, take it up with him. Oh, that’s right, you did, you killed him and he came back from the dead. We’re sticking with him.”

That’s not arrogance, that is just taking Jesus at his word. And that’s a decision you have to make, “Is Jesus who He claimed to be?”

E.g. Airplane exit rows… Like when I get on airplane... I’d prefer to go out right here. “Fine, you can call your row an exit row but you didn’t build the plane and if we crash and the plane is on fire and you try to go out there it’s probably not going to work out for you.” It’s not arrogant for her to insist we go out the exit door. It’s because the designer of the plane designed the door here.
(Abbreviated) Bertha… “You’re trying to tell me Jesus is the only door into heaven?” It’s not arrogant of the pilot to insist that he land the plane wheels down on the runway; it’s just believing that the people who built the planes and the runways know how best to land it.

So, again, I would suggest that believing what Jesus said is not arrogant; it’s actually one of the humblest of all the truth claims because it says, “It’s not that I’m smarter; it’s not that I see better or have a better vantage point; I just believe that Jesus is who He says He is and I’m going to take Him at His word.”

Peter’s insistence that Jesus is the only name under heaven by which we can be saved also confronts another thing I hear a lot… and that is that “religion is just a matter of personal preference.” This view assumes that “Well, all religions say the same things. Love people, be good. Whatever you believe specifically is up to you—Jesus, Allah, Buddha, a gigantic cat named Fester… it’s all the same, and that is a private matter.”

That’s very different than what Peter says… Peter says, “It’s got nothing to do with what I prefer or what works for me, it has to do with who God says He is and how God says we get to Him.”

The prevailing view of religion in our culture goes back to a guy named Immanuel Kant. You may never have heard of him but you are influenced by him. He said that all religions are subjectively helpful, none are objectively true. Here’s what that means: He said, “there’s two kinds of facts”… Objective; subjective…

For example. Illus. We’re in a classroom and I ask the class, “What is the capitol of New York?” New York City. I say, “No, it’s Albany.” And he says, “I don’t think Albany should be the capital… NYC is a better city. City so nice they named it twice. He feels passionately about it. He asks for a vote, and ¾ of the class vote with him. Still does not make it true. You are right, he is wrong. Now, I think it is hot in here. A student says, “No, it’s cold.” If you told him he was wrong, you would be thrusting your definition of cold on him. You would be wrong to tell him he was wrong. Kant said that religion was that second kind of knowledge… subjective. Therefore it is a private thing. The question is what works for you. All religions are subjectively helpful but none are objectively true.
But why? Peter is saying, “I’m not talking about my personal preference, I’m talking about what Jesus who was raised from the dead said about these things.”
You have a choice to believe that Jesus is who He says He is, but you can’t just shove Him into a group of religions that you can worship if it’s your preference. That’s exactly the opposite of what Peter is here saying.
You have to choose…. Who defines what reality is? Is it the world system who says that all religions are equal? Is it you… do you get to decide and pick your own reality? Or is it Jesus?

Whatever you choose, you will be someone’s infidel. The world calls me an infidel because I won’t submit to the reigning viewpoint that all religions are equal. But the one thing Jesus will not be is one among many. He won’t let you put Him in your pantheon of gods. He’s either Lord of all or not Lord at all, and you can’t call Him Lord and deny Him on this matter. You have to choose, are you sticking with the world or with Jesus? Whoever you choose, you’ll be the other one’s infidel.
I’ll be honest with you… Part of the reason I think people don’t like to even entertain the idea that there might be one right way is that if there is one way then they themselves have to submit to it. They don’t want to be told what to do so they hide behind this “all religions are equal” so they can decide what way they want to go in life. That’s a choice you have to make.

Next, I want to deal with the charge that “Claiming that there is one way to God is divisive” … that it causes people to feel superior to others and look down on them and despise them… Let’s turn to another of Peter’s sermons, this one in Acts 10: (Summarize Acts 10:2–16)

Opens with a guy named Cornelius… Roman soldier/very good man/he has a vision: angel says, “Your good works have come up before God. I’m going to send Peter to you who will tell you how to be saved.”
Meanwhile, Peter’s up on a deck smoking a cigar before dinner and he has a strange vision… all kinds of traditionally unclean animals… “rise and eat.” For a Baptist preacher, like a vision for a crack pipe and a Bud Light with the command “smoke and drink.”

17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate. Peter has the dream… “what’s it mean?” There’s Cornelius’ men. Peter’s like, “aha.” It was about Cornelius. Peter had previously thought that Jews were a superior people… non-Jews were unclean, so Jews like Peter would not even go into a Gentile’s house. So, after the dream Peter goes in to Cornelius’ house and says, 10:28 “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.” He goes on 10:34 “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Peter goes on… 39 They put Jesus to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear to us… 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” 44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and praising God.

When the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius, it says he did two things: “spoke in tongues and praised God.” Those two things indicate two huge changes… one in Cornelius… and one in Peter.

First, Cornelius “praised God.” This indicates a significant change for Cornelius. (“Praising God.”) You see, Up until this point, you would have praised Cornelius for his goodness. He was a great guy, set above other men. In fact, how this goes down is confusing to people. You’d expect the angel to come in and say, “Hey, you’re a great guy, set above other men and praiseworthy… God wants you to know he appreciates that and that is why he is going to take you to heaven.” Instead he says, “Your prayers and good works have come up before God… So Peter is coming to you to tell you how to be saved.” And when Peter gets there he doesn’t congratulate Cornelius for his goodness, he tells him he needs Jesus to save him and forgive his sins.
For most people, they would assume that because Cornelius’ goodness distinguished him from other people that would have made him better than other people so that he wouldn’t need to be saved. But the Gospel says, “Your morality is not what makes you acceptable to God, because when our hearts are exposed, God sees that we’re all sinners.
Like Nicodemus…. Who is the best of the best and what does Jesus tell him? Not “congratulations,” but “you have to be born again.” Not even, You need to grow a little bit in this area Nicodemus and then you’ll be complete, but you need to be born COMPLETELY again!
The Gospel doesn’t come as a reward to morality. It challenges our whole way of thinking about morality: No man will get to God because he distinguishes himself… it is what Christ does for you, by living the life you should have lived and dying the death you should have died.
In verse 46, Cornelius is now praising God, not himself, because of what Christ has done for him.
The Gospel means that no person can every proudly distinguish themselves from others and praise themselves. The Gospel doesn’t allow you to separate the good and the bad, it says that all people, even the ones we think are the good ones, are sinful people in desperate need of God’s grace.
You see, here’s how religion usually works: every religion sets a standard and says, “If you live a certain way and when you keep the commandments or live the proper life then you are to be approved by God.” The good people are in; bad people are out. And so, you look at yourself and say, “Because I have superior morals, or better insight, or better discipline, I am better than others.” The Gospel says, “No. You’re a sinful person in desperate need of God’s grace.”

Well meaning people say, “I just don’t think you have to believe in Jesus to be saved. All good people can find God.” What I’m about to say is not rhetoric: if only good people find God, who doesn’t? Moral failures. In your attempt to be inclusive, you just left me out. You say, “Come on.” No, I know my own heart. Maybe you don’t know yours. You set up a standard, and some are in, some are out.
The secularist… who says, “I’m not religious…” you still have your standard as to what constitutes a good person. You feel like it is the enlightened, the honest, the compassionate, the diligent… Secularists are often every bit as self-righteous as religious people. Try living in CH and driving an SUV with an NRA sticker on the back and telling people you refuse to recycle and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about (not that I have one of those).

Everyone has exclusive beliefs. But the Gospel you learn to say, “Really, I am no different than anyone else; my sin put Jesus on the cross. I am acceptable not because of what I have done but because of what Christ has done for me.” And the Gospel humbles you… and causes you to gratefully praise God, never yourself, and you suddenly become open to receiving other sinful people the way that Jesus received you.

“Speaking in tongues… ” The second thing Cornelius does is speak in tongues. This indicates a significant change for Peter…

Peter recognizes this as the same thing that happened at Pentecost. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had fallen on the Jews and they’d all spoke in tongues of other languages. The significance of that was supposed to be that God now saw all races and peoples and cultures as equals. Up until Pentecost Jewish people had believed you had to be a Jew to be saved. Thus, the Hebrew race, Hebrew culture, Hebrew language, was seen as superior. Speaking in tongues was a sign that God sees all people equally and no people preferentially.
Well, now, it is happening again. This is the only other time in Acts that someone speaks in tongues when they become a Christian. Why? Peter hadn’t gotten the message yet. See what he says in when he came into Cornelius house? 10:28 “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.” Peter’s still got this tendency to think that Jews are superior. So this is like a DUMMY COURSE… Jewish men prayed each morning: Thank God I am not a slave, a woman or a Gentile… all the people in Acts that are coming to Christ are slaves, women, or Gentiles.
The point: The Gospel did not produce division, it destroyed it. No longer would our race, our culture, our backgrounds, even our morality distinguish us from others.

The Greeks and Romans would not mix rich and poor. The Christians did. The Romans and the Jews would not mix races. Christians did. The Gospel produced the most inclusive community the world had ever known.

Why? Ultimate reality for the Christian is a Man on the cross loving people who don’t love Him. Giving himself for people who didn’t agree with him. Study Acts and you’ll see new classes and castes of people mixing together… you’ll see people giving away their money in unheard of ways!

(Church, that’s why this is the one place there should be diversity!) In this room we’ll have together the morally upstanding and the moral failures; we’ll have the black and the white… all united praising God because it didn’t matter what kind of sinners we were but because of the kind of Savior He is.
If your belief in the Gospel ever causes you to feel superior…confess: sometimes it does. We think we are accepted because we are smarter, or more moral… When it does, it shows we have no concept of the Gospel.

The point: Everybody has an exclusive view of what is good and bad. You separate the good from the bad, the enlightened from the unenlightened… The question is which set of exclusive beliefs produce the most peace-loving, inclusive attitude toward humanity… and it is the Gospel!

Christianity is exclusive, but it is the most inclusive exclusivity there is.

Let me deal with one final thing people say about this…“ It is Cruel” It is cruel to say that Jesus is the only way and that only people who know Him will go to heaven.

I want you to think about it from my perspective. It is not cruel if it is the only way to safety. I didn’t make this up… I cannot but say what I have seen and heard.
Or say that we were rock climbing and you had a choice… I can only tell you what I’ve seen and heard. You don’t have to believe it, but you need to ask, ‘Who is Jesus? Is He who He says He is? And you can write Him off for fool, but you can’t just shove Him in the pantheon with all the other gods.”
You can’t say sincerity is what matters… George Washington…bled to death.

((Illus. pneumonia. I’d rather have a head cold.
555-1236))

Finally, if you’re still tempted to write Jesus off as one of many ways, let me ask you this one final question, and I want you to think about it… If there are a lot of different ways, why the cross? Why would Jesus have undergone a torturous shameful death if there were multiple ways to God? I’ve heard it said: “Oh, it is a show of God’s love.” But how does that make sense?
The resurrection shows us that Jesus has the authority to tell us what is going on out there. The cross shows us that we can trust Him. I invite you to JESUS!

Maybe you are now convinced, and you’re ready to trust in Christ. If so, just believe on Him: “I trust you. I am ready to receive you as my Savior. I am ready to follow you.”

Maybe you’re not there yet, but you are open to learning more: “I want to learn more about you. If you’re real, if you are the way, the truth and the life, please show me.”

This sermon was provided by J.D. Greear, lead pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh, NC.

My Conversion Story

2014-06-19T13:09:00.002-04:00

My Life Before Christ:

For as long as I can remember, I was always involved with church, in fact, my earliest childhood memories are of singing in service, playing with friends, and Sunday School. I used to really enjoy the experience, but as we're all very aware of, things change, I grew up and my views changed with me, as well as my interests. I got into high school and started hanging out with the wrong crowd, drinking a lot, having sex, smoking weed, and just "living the life." Nearly a year and a half out of high school I was married, and every weekend, for years, consisted of hanging out with another married couple and their friends, getting wasted, and just having fun. Over time this all really began to weigh on me, I began to fall into depression and wonder if this was all really fulfilling to me, and if this is how I wanted to live the rest of my life.

How I Received Christ:

Well, late 2011 we all took a trip to Miami Florida for a New Year's celebration, and we were having a blast; well, everyone else was, my heart and mind were really under a heavy burden and I was just along for the ride. New Year's Eve rolled around and we were all sitting on the beach, tipsy from the amount of alcohol we'd consumed all day waiting in anticipation for the final countdown. My buddy walked over to me, put his hands on my shoulders, and began to recount the past year or so of partying with me. As he was speaking the countdown began, and with each passing second as the countdown got closer and he continued talking, something within me began to stir more and more. Suddenly the countdown reached it's climax as my friend pulled me into a hug and declared how proud of me he was, as people all around me shouted Happy New Year! But, I couldn't hear them, my entire thought process had just shattered and the world was a blur, a midst the dazzling display of fire works above me a giant light switch flipped... I needed Jesus in my life. So right there in Miami Florida, January 1, 2012 at 0'dark thirty, a midst all the partying, loud music, fireworks, and people, I committed my life to Jesus.

My Life After Christ:

We promptly returned to the hotel where everyone immediately passed out. The next morning I awoke with a searing hangover, but I can still remember feeling more alive than ever. We packed the rental van, piled in, and began our thirteen hour trip back home. However, although I was squashed between two or three other people, and their luggage, I felt so peaceful within myself, and I began planning. Idea began to form within my mind of exactly how many things I'd need to change, what I'd need to do, and how I should begin living my new life with Jesus. So, the following day I began spending a lot of time reading my Bible, praying, and really just seeking God; I could feel so much life and happiness returning to me that I had lost over the years. I began attending a local church where I was soon baptized, and also began serving throughout the week. My friends and I sort of fell apart as our lifestyles kind of led in different directions, and eventually we stopped speaking altogether; but, I'm happy to lose everything pursuing God, and will continue to do so for the rest of my life.

Invitation:

If, like me, you feel like something has been missing from your life or that something needs to change, I'll be the first to tell you that that something is Jesus Christ, He alone has the power to overcome all of the obstacles and struggle in your life and heal the brokenness within you. If you would like to learn more about Jesus and how you too can experience the power that He has to offer in your own life, please click through and read my previous article about Christian Faith in Jesus Christ. God, I pray for those who are reading this article, that if they've never accepted You as their Lord and savior, that perhaps through my story You would touch their lives and lead them to seek You. I also pray that their lives would be a blessing to those around them, that many more would come to know You through the power and change seen through them, and that they would be a light in the darkness. I love You Father, I pray all of these things in Jesus' name, amen.

God Bless!

Star Wars vs. Christianity

2014-05-04T10:51:00.000-04:00

Well, it's National Star Wars Day, you know, "May the Fourth be with you" as they say; however, I say, "May the Father be with you." For what is Star Wars if not a pale imitation of Christianity? You have the light side with their Jedi, the Christians, ambassadors of peace, bearers of justice, and wisdom in all areas of life, drawing their power from the force, big 'G' God of all things. Then you have the darkside with their Sith or sinners who are unsaved, thirsting for power, hungering for wealth, wishing to destroy the Jedi, drawing their power from the force as well, the little 'g' god of this world, Satan. While the Sith want nothing more than to kill and destroy the Jedi order, Jedi simply want to save the Sith and convert them to good, meaning, that the Christians want to convert the non-believers to Christianity. How do Star Wars fans not see the connection here? For those die hard fans who are unsaved, but have praised the series their whole lives, how can they not accept God for who He is? They are actively choosing to walk the path of the darkside, the path of a sinner, remaining as an enemy to God; yet, all it takes to become a Jedi, a Saint/Christian, is to accept what Jesus Christ did for them 2014 years ago. God our Father recognized our helplessness and certain doom for the wrong doing in our lives. So, He sent His, perfect, one and only Son in the world as a human, to live as an example of goodness, then die for us, so that all our wrong would be wiped away. All it takes to receive that free gift is to believe in Jesus and accept what He selflessly did for us; and, just as He was raised from the dead to live with the Father for all eternity, so shall it be for all who follow Him. "I pray that all those who do not have a personal relationship with You Lord, that You would open their eyes, ears, mind, and heart to Your Holy Spirit, and that You would reveal Your truth to them. I pray these things in Jesus name, amen." I hope that you all have a wonderful Sunday, oh, and May the Fourth be with you!

Breaking Point

2014-04-27T20:28:00.002-04:00

My dearest Father, I feel something stirring within me that I haven't felt in a very long time, drive, motivation, and a goal. I can only imagine it being the Spirit, Your Spirit, moving inside of me, urging me to take action. I feel like I know what I have to do, I have a voice, I have a pen, I have a purpose swelling within. This is our world, You are our God, these people, Your people, don't have any idea what they're buying into. These demons, these powers, Satan and his forces of evil are moving swiftly, and I need to finally take my stand. No more hiding in the dark, no more fearing persecution, no more tip toeing around peoples feelings of pressure, for if I don't begin now, then I never will. The end is coming, the Lord is drawing near, I have to act, I cannot remain silent. Perhaps this is my calling, maybe this is my purpose, what I've been saved and protected for, and why I was chosen as a child of God. I know I'm not the hero of this story in life, or even alone in it, I am but one voice among many; but, I have been given a gift and the opportunity to use it. If we Christians are to be hunted down and martyred for our faith regardless of what we do, then let my time be spent acting on Your Will my God. If this is my calling and my true Mission then let it consume me my great and mighty King. Allow me to be filled at all times with Your Spirit, in Your presence, and let my words be sent out to the unreached people of the world. Use me Lord, and let all glory be given to You, I claim none of it for myself. Consume me with a new fire and passion my Lord and Savior. I praise You for rekindling my flame Father, I love You, and I pray all these things be done in Jesus name, amen.

For those of you who are reading, whether for the first time, or as a subscriber, I'd like to ask you a favor. I know it has already been a very long time since I've posted on this blog, and it very well could possibly be the last. It all hinges on what course of action I choose to take and when the Lord chooses to return, but I need your prayers. I feel very led to begin writing again, however, the problem I'm faced with is what platform to do so on. Lately I have been feeling drawn to writing a book and posting it up on Amazon either for free or a very low price, but, I cannot discount the amount of time which I've already spent establishing this blog or the possibility of beginning a podcast. So, for those of you who are reading these words, I'd like to ask you to pray for me, for wisdom, guidance, and direction from God. I have been feeling quite ashamed of myself for a very long time now for doing absolutely nothing to advance the Kingdom of Heaven, and I know that it is time, now more than ever, to begin writing again. Thank you everyone.

God Bless,

Brandon

Of God and Love

2012-05-06T20:18:00.000-04:00

Over the past few days I've been doing a lot of reading and a lot of learning. When I say reading, I don't only mean the Bible, and when I say learning, I'm not only speaking about the things that I find in text. No, over the past week I guess we'll say, I've been learning a lot about God in general, who He is, what He really wants from us, and many things regarding me personally; which I will gladly share with you all to hopefully shine some light into your lives as well.

A week and a half ago, I walked into the office of the care pastor at my church and told him that my relationship with God was not where I wanted it to be, "I desire to be able to hear from God the way He hears from me." Now, before I go any further, many of you may or may not believe in this kind of thing, but I can promise you this, it is real and available to every person who genuinely seeks it. He suggested a book to me called, 'Drawing Near' by John Bevere, and from about the fifth chapter in I was hooked and near about didn't want to put it down; that's how good the information was to me and I was extremely hungry to know more.

Basically, here is what the book talks about in a nutshell, God wants more from us than to simply share the gospel and come to Him in prayer; God wants a close and intimate relationship with each and everyone of us. If you don't believe me, let me point out a verse to you from very early in the Bible, before Christ was even close to coming and dying for us. Exodus 34:14 NLT says: You must worship no other gods, for the LORD, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about His relationship with you. I want you to think about that for a minute, just reread that verse and think about what it's implying.

Think about this, God created every human being in His likeness, when you think about having a child, do you even remotely consider not spending time with them and getting to know them; well then, why would God be any different? To put it even more clearly, God is fully and completely the embodiment of love, He desires us far more than we could ever desire Him; He wants to know us far more than we desire to know Him. Can you even really begin to wrap your mind around that, hard as I may try, I still cannot even really grasp that concept; but I know one thing, my desire to seek God has grown exponentially, and I want nothing more than to become a true companion of His.

Upon completing this book, which was incredible down to the very last page, I kind of sat back in my chair in silence, dumbfounded actually by all that I had read. I thought to myself, Lord, I've never really looked at you this way before, you've left yourself so open and vulnerable for us to hurt you and trample all over your heart. Father I'm so sorry for the things which I've put you through, please forgive me for shunning you all of these past few years, I want to make this right and I want to be so close to you now. God, as I spend each and everyday for the rest of my life seeking you, please draw closer to me and begin to speak to my heart.

There is not one person on this earth who is an exception to this, God wants to have a personal and intimate relationship with each and every single person on this planet. It doesn't matter what kind of evil acts you've committed, what nationality you are, where you come from, your gender, or anything; the Lord wants you just as you are and He yearns to know you just as closely as He knows His Son Jesus Christ. The only thing that you have to do is realize that you are a sinner and accept His Son Jesus as your Lord and Savior. To do this is so simple and takes less than 30 secs, but every word has to be meant in your heart. Say, "Jesus, I realize that I'm a sinner, and that the penalty of this sin is death. I also realize that you died in my place many many years ago to forgive me of these sins, please come into my heart and forgive me; thank you for your sacrifice. I pray and ask that this would be done in your name, Jesus, amen."

The Bible assures us that we may have confidence in the fact that if we've said this prayer and meant it in our hearts, then we are saved. However, this is but the first step in your lifelong journey of coming to know God as a personal companion. The true test comes with how you choose to live your life from this point on, serving Him, and sincerely seeking His persona each and everyday. You don't have to, but you should in fact begin reading the Holy Bible, which is the Word of God; doing this will bring you closer to Him each and everyday, as well as shed light on who He truly is. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a comment anytime, I may not always have the answer, but rest assured that I will speak with someone else who does and get back to you.

If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to share it with anyone you know by the use of our social buttons found a the top right of the page. As previously stated, you can also leave me a comment or feedback below, where you can also vote me up with a +1 in Google Plus. Now consider reading one of my last articles, called, Unanswered Prayers.

Thank you for reading and God Bless!

Unanswered Prayers

2012-04-27T11:35:00.000-04:00

"So you're just going to walk out on me?!" I asked. "That's not what I'm doing, I told you that when I have enough money, I'm moving out, and I would like for you to come with me." responded my wife. "That's not the way you made things seem like last night, you said that you would be leaving because you just couldn't take it here anymore." "Well, I can't take it here anymore, I need my own place, but I never meant that I would just leave without having a plan; you're the one that said you wouldn't be coming with me if I left!" "That was before you made it clear that you weren't just gonna walk out the door without a plan, of course I'd like to get back out on our own, but that's only if the money is there to support it."

This is the argument I had with my wife the other night, all revolving around the fact that my wife is no longer satisfied with simply living with my parents while I'm out of work; which is understandable, but there's also no reason to get so upset when I have no control over my employment, right?

As many of you may know, I rededicated my life at the beginning of this year and got rebaptized to show my understanding of the decision I'd made; from that point forward I began to pray over my marriage, that my wife and I would grow closer together, and our love would grow stronger. After reading the opening argument, does it really look like things have gotten better to you, not really right? As a matter of fact, things tend to be alright for a week or two, then we'll have an argument, then a time of peace, then another argument, and things just seem to kind of repeat themselves in this revolving manner.

At times I couldn't help but wonder, God, why aren't my prayers being answered, this doesn't seem like a selfish request to me, why are things still the exact same? Well, the other day I was listening to this sermon on the Internet, which was mainly related to an appetite for eternal things. During this sermon the speaker brought something to my attention that I'd never heard or thought of before, God is sort of stuck between this dilemma of answering our prayers and not answering them; here's why.

Many of our prayers revolve around us and if God were to answer them, we'd thank Him, then simply move on to the next thing on our punch list without really appreciating or understanding why He answered it. On the other hand, if God were not to answer the same prayer, we'd begin to have doubts and wonder why He's silent; either way it seems like God loses right?

The speaker continued further into this by saying that, often times, the prayers that are answered are often times done by working through a period or time of pain.

After contemplating these things in my mind and looking back on all of my arguments, the things that have gone wrong, the things that could have been handled better, I can't help but see nothing but a pathway of destruction and pain. Sure there were times when we got along and when we acted like everything was okay, but it was nothing more than an illusion, I think we could agree on that right? After realizing all this, I began speaking with the Care Pastor at my church, who counseled me and even scheduled a meeting for my and myself; which will be at the beginning of this next week, in addition, he plans on setting us up with a couple of blessed marriage counselors.

I want to leave you with a question, could it be that instead of God simply answering my prayer, that He has been waiting for me all along to take action instead relying on my own abilities and simply asking for a 'quick fix'? It could be that through this counseling, God will bring our marriage back together, and we'll be happier than we've ever been before; just something to think about as you continue through the course of your own prayer life.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to share it with someone else that you know, you can find social buttons located at the top of each post. In addition, feel free to leave me a comment or some kind of feedback below, where you can also find a +1 button to vote me up in Google!

Now consider reading my last post, entitled, Writing to a Prisoner.

Thank you for stopping by and God Bless!

Writing to a Prisoner

2012-04-21T12:51:00.001-04:00

Aaron,

What's up? How're things on the inside? Everything out here is the same as always, nothing ever really changes. You're right though, taking Mom and Dad out for lunch was good, we had a great time; even paid for the bill. We also bought them each a $25 iTunes card for their birthday presents, we ended up spending quite a bit overall, but it was all worth it.

I've been serving up at Lifepoint quite a bit lately, Monday through Thursday, from about 10am to 5pm or so. They don't really have any opening at the moment, but it feels good to get out of the house and go help out. It feels good to be a part of something that matters, like what I'm doing is important. They've had me doing all kinds of stuff, life: taking out all the trash, configuring/wiping computers, stocking, inventory, cleaning up around the building, running errands, and a lot more.

I talked to the care pastor there, about communicating with God, he hooked me up with a link to some really awesome sermon videos (Gateway Freedom Ministries). I've watched four out of the five main ones and they're really good, the guy covers things I've never thought of before. For instance, the truth will set you free, when Paul was imprisoned for a few years, he was just as free as anyone else on the outside of the prison. He was so intimate and involved with his relationship with God that he would have been happy anywhere he was, regardless of the situation.

The pastor also talks about the Gospel not being mainly what we've always thought, which is the death, burial, and resurrection; it's part of the truth, but not all of it. Jesus didn't come to teach about that, it hadn't happened yet, how could He? No, He came to teach that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, meaning that what we had lost with God through Adam and Eave was now available to us again; life in abundance.

It's hard to explain it all, I only watched them once, you'll have to listen to them sometime when you get home. I'm not sure what to say when people don't believe what you say when you're witnessing to them, I struggle with that question too. To show them them that God really exists, the best way you can, they have to see Him 'through' you; meaning that you have to change. I think the best way to share God with them would be with your own personal life and through your testimony.

I'm sure that at some point in there you've either lost your temper with someone, fought, said or done something which you shouldn't have. If you go back and talk those problems out and tell people that God's power is changing your life and that the same gift is available to them, you'll begin to affect people a lot differently. You have to strive to become like Jesus: passive, loving, caring, understanding, and patient. Just because someone may not accept Him the first time, they'll see you as an example and see God living through you.

You have to desire to be like that though, work at it and pray for it daily. It's easy to talk about and do in 'theory', but much harder to follow through with. Treat everyone equally, don't play favorites, regardless of sexual orientation, attitude, size, appearance, or anything. Jesus came as a servant to the world, spending time with the lost and wicked (tax collectors and prostitutes), living as an example and impacting lives not only through His words, but also through his actions.

The more time you spend analyzing who Jesus was and still is, the more you'll see how much you need to change. I seek this on a daily basis, to grow as close to God, and be as ready as I can be when Jesus returns. God created us to be a 'bride' for His Son, I may not fully comprehend that, but I want to be as close to perfect as I can be for Him. Don't worry so much about what you say to people as much as how you treat them and how you act.

You should put a lot of thought and consideration on what you do with your life when you get out. What you choose to take part in, what you do, who you see; focus on your relationship with God first and everything else will come together around you. I love you man, stay strong, and stay faithful; pursue God!

Brandon

I wanted everyone to see the kind of life and example I'm trying to set for my little brother, who is obviously currently in prison for the time being. He's struggled quite a bit with theft, alcohol, drug abuse, and many other things, but all of this can be changed by the power of God. It's sometimes harder for us to witness to those who are closest to us, but it is better to begin with them and move on to those whom you don't know; start in a small circle and work your way out to a larger one. This same theory began in the book of Acts when Jesus told them to start spreading the Gospel from the town they were in and extending outward to the farthest reaches of the world.

If you enjoyed this article, there are social buttons you can use to share it at the top of the page. Feel free to leave me any comments or feedback below, where you can also give me a plus one for Google Plus!

Now consider reading my last article, called, From Sheep to Shepherd.

Thanks for reading and God Bless!

From Sheep to Shepherd

2012-04-09T12:27:00.000-04:00

We all know what sheep are, at least I hope we do, the white fluffy looking things that frolic around in grassy fields; which are also very docile, gentle, and easily frightened creatures. But what exactly is a shepherd, well, the Bible defines it as the caretaker of the sheep; meaning that a shepherd watches over and protects his flock.

For those of you who have already given your life to Jesus Christ, you know that he is our shepherd, and we are his flock of sheep; correct? We are meant to follow the teachings, lifestyle, and example Jesus laid out for us, but, what if I told you that we are meant to do so much more than that? What if I told you that we weren't meant to live as sheep alone, that we were meant to go on to become shepherds ourselves; in a manner of speaking.

I was reading out of the Gospel of Matthew today, chapter 10 specifically, where Jesus instructs his disciples on what they should teach, what to expect, and who to teach to. First, Jesus blessed them with the authority to cast out evil spirits and heal all kinds of disease and illness; then instructed them to tell the Jews that the Kingdom of Heaven was near and Christ would only accept those who followed him. In addition, the disciples were instructed to take almost nothing with them: no money, extra bags, clothing, sandals, or even a walking stick; but they should not hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve to be fed. In addition, Jesus warned them that they should expect to be persecuted for who they followed and taught about, and not to be surprised if they're beaten, arrested, and possibly killed.

Now, you may have had a question pop into your head, why would Jesus tell them to instruct only the Jews about Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven drawing near? God chose the nation of Israel, specifically the Jews, to go out and instruct the rest of the world about Him. It's not that salvation is reserved only for them, forgiveness and eternal life is offered to everyone, God just selected them as His chosen people to carry this message to the ends of the earth. Another misconception is that Jews are already saved and will be allowed into Heaven regardless of what they do, this is not true, everyone must accept Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In regard to what Jesus instructed them not to take, the principle is that they were to go out ready for duty and travel, without being weighed down by extra material things.

Why would Jesus tell his disciples that they would, more times than not, face this kind of persecution and suffering? Well, look at it this way, if you were given a specific job to carry out by traveling all over the world teaching, what would you do in a bad situation such as being beaten? More likely than not you'd throw your hands up in surrender and quit right? By warning these men, Jesus gave them faith that what they were doing was correct and that they were on the right path. The basic teaching is this, the message that was to be delivered was more important than the suffering that would be experienced as a result of it. Those who are of this earth can only damage the body, they cannot harm our spirit, only God has this power and He loves us above all other life on this planet.

Just as Jesus instructed his twelve disciples about what to teach and what to expect, so too did the disciples impart these teachings to others after the resurrection of Christ. In the same manner, we too are called to share the gospel with others, how to instruct others, and what to expect because of their beliefs. Have you ever seen the Lion King, the principle sort of follows one of the teachings in the movie called "The Circle of Life"; when we become Christians we should share the Good News we've learned with others, instruct those who accept it to do the same, and tell them what to expect from others. We're not called to simply accept Christ as our Savior and spend the rest of our days awaiting his return, we're called to get out and share this News with as many people as we can. Everyone is a child of God, one of His sheep, and like a shepherd, we are meant to lead them to the Father.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to share it with someone else, you can find social buttons at the top of each page. Feel free to leave a comment or feedback below, where you can also find a plus one button to vote me up in Google.

Now try reading one of my last articles, called, Unemployed and Serving Others; why not go ahead and follow us too? You can do this at the top of the page on either side of the article.

Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Unemployed and Serving Others

2012-04-05T12:22:00.001-04:00

For the past couple of months, since September of 2011 to be exact, I've been out of work and unable to find a job. I'm sure that many of you are going through the same thing right now, perhaps you've been looking even longer than I have, yet your endeavors leave you wanting and with a feeling of disappointment. Perhaps some of you have faced a lot of financial problems due to your lack of work, maybe you didn't qualify for unemployment benefits or they have already run out; luckily this hasn't happened to me yet, but I do have my concerns at times.

However, there is a person whom I've come to know and place my trust in, someone who will provide for me when times are tough and I know He'll never leave me all alone; this person's name is God. At the beginning of this year, I realized that my life was in the crapper and that I was completely unhappy with how my life had turned out; it was time that things changed, for the better, and high time that I begin to do something meaningful. This blog is one of the byproducts of my faith in God and serving Him, which I use to reach out to others around the world, trying to lead them to Christ as well as inspire other Christians.

Lately I've been feeling like this blog just isn't enough, however, and I need to begin branching out a little further in my life. So, having a semi-close relationship with the assistant to the pastor of my church, I offered my services to help out around the church whenever assistance is needed. To my surprise, I was contacted the very next morning and asked if I would like to help move all of the stuff from their old office building over to the new church location; so of course I finished up what I was doing in a timely manner and headed out that way as quickly as possible.

When I arrived, most of the packing was already done, all I really had to do was help load some of the stuff onto the truck and then meet them back over at the new spot to unload everything again. Well, this part wasn't what took most of the day, it's easy to carry stuff off of a truck and sit it in a semi-vacant building; minus the furniture. The hard part came when it was time to begin unpacking some of the things in the boxes, arrange them where they needed to be placed, and get rid of things that were no longer needed. On top of all this, there were other miscellaneous tasks which needed to be accomplished, such as: flipping a few outlets right side up, drilling holes and setting up a wall mount for a television, and assembling a few stacked shelves.

Even though all of this took the better part of the whole day, which was ended around 7pm, I loved every minute of the time I was there. Once you've been sitting in a house day in and day out for several months, you begin to forget what it's like to get out and do things; what it's like to even work anymore, and it just felt so amazing to have a project to do. As I did all of this, I couldn't help but think about Jesus, how many things that he did in his lifetime here on earth, tasks that he wasn't required to do but did, because he wanted to do them. Jesus was the ultimate servant and the perfect Christian example of a godly life, I can only hope and aspire to reach that level of servitude; although I know I'll never really achieve it.

Did I receive any type of payment or compensation for the work that I put in, of course not, well, they did order us wings to eat for lunch; which I politely turned down, I don't really care for barbecue wings. That's not the point though, the point is that I was there to serve with a willing heart, not to receive payment for my services.

I can honestly say that after being there for only a day, getting to speak with the staff, be a part of the project, and just helping out, I really would love to work there. I don't necessarily want to be in a position of leadership, perhaps one day, but even being the secretary (Which they don't have at the moment), would be a blessing.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to share it with someone, you can find social buttons located at the top of each page. Feel free to leave a comment or feedback below, where you can also find a plus one button to vote me up in Google.

Now try reading one of my last articles, called, What is Easter Sunday All About?

God Bless!

What is Easter Sunday All About?

2012-04-03T14:42:00.001-04:00

WHAM! "Stupid alarm clock, waking me up on Sunday morning; why is my alarm clock even on? Oh.. that's right, I forgot, it's Easter Sunday; we always go to church today as a tradition. Alright, it's time to get up honey, we've gotta get the kids up too so they can get dressed up and ready for church." Rolling out of bed you rush around the room getting your clothes ready, you begin to put on one piece at a time as your spouse heads to the children's rooms.

About an hour later, a little behind schedule as usual, you skid into the church parking lot. As the dust settles from the abrupt stop, everyone piles out of the minivan and heads to the church entrance. Quietly opening the door, you usher your children in ahead of you and instruct them to find a pew in the back; where hopefully nobody will notice you sneaking in and sitting down. Luckily everyone is still singing their hymn and doesn't notice your family tip toeing into the last pew; score, now you just have to make it through this boring church service. As always, the elderly pastor will be droning on about the same story, some guy named Jesus dying and being raised from the dead or some nonsense; but it's a tradition you're parents began before you, so you continue coming each time anyway.

After church finally lets out, everyone piles back into the minivan before anyone has a chance to speak with you, and you head to your favorite family restaurant. As soon as everyone is finished and the bill has been paid, you all head over to the home of your in-laws; where the children will be playing their traditional game of 'hunt the Easter eggs'. Yay! Upon arrival, everyone takes a few minutes to greet one another, exchange hugs, and just a small amount of time catching up. It's decided that the children will remain inside with their grandmother while you, your spouse, and grandfather all run around hiding the eggs. As usual, you try to find the sneakiest places, the places where you think your children will have the hardest time finding their prize; which are plastic pop-open eggs with treats inside.

Once all the eggs have been hidden, the children are brought out and informed that the 'Easter Bunny' has hidden more of his eggs around the yard; the more you find, the more treats you'll have to eat later. Immediately the children begin giggling and running around the yard looking for the little plastic surprises, which brings a smile to everyone's face. After about fifteen minutes or so, all the eggs have been found, and the kids are happily snacking on their treats. The grandparents are a bit worn out from all the excitement and decide they would like to take a nap for a while, so the family heads home to relax and spend the rest of their time together.

Does this story sound a bit familiar to you? Is it about the same type of thing that you experience each Easter Sunday? I would say that more likely than not, this describes the average American's day of events on Easter, give or take a few percent who do or don't go to church or do/don't have children. My question to you is, however, do you really know what Easter is or what it's all about?

Well, as the short story briefly mentioned in the paragraph when the family was in church, it's about the story of a man who lived, was murdered for his beliefs, and then was raised from the dead; the name of this man was Jesus Christ. A couple of thousand years ago, God sent his one and only Son down to earth, to preach and share the Gospel with us. The Gospel, or Good News, is that those who wish to know God and spend eternity with Him, must have faith in His Son. As Jesus began spreading this news and performing miracles all around the area he was in, religious leaders came to despise him and his teachings; so they plotted to have him killed. During the last days of his life, Jesus predicted that one of his closest and most loyal followers would betray him to these leaders and have him killed; which happened just a short while later.

Once he was handed over to the leaders, he was taken before the leader of the nation, who could find no fault with Jesus; who had lived a perfect and sinless life. But, desiring to please the people under his reign, the ruler decided to allow Jesus to be swapped with a murder and take his place in death. After this decision, Jesus was beaten, whipped, beard ripped from his face, spit on, a crown of thorns pressed down on his head, then forced to carry a wooden cross to the site of his execution. Upon his arrival, he was laid down on top of the cross and nailed to it so that he would bleed out and suffocate to death from exhaustion. It's important to remember that Jesus had the power, being the Son of God, to come down from the cross and punish all who had hurt him; but he didn't, Jesus was to be the sacrifice for our sins, which will ultimately end in our death; this is the price of sin, death, and we are all born into it, it has been inherited and passed down to us from the very first humans who betrayed God, Adam and Eve.

Once Jesus was dead, he was laid in a tomb, which was sealed up and guarded by two Roman guards; this was done so that none could steal his body and proclaim he had risen from the dead, which Jesus had predicted would happen in three days. On the third day, as predicted, Jesus was raised from the dead and appeared before his loyal followers. After a short period of time remaining on earth, he ascended back up to heaven to be with our Father, God; where he now waits to return and bring all of his believers home to be with him. This is the meaning of Easter, the death, burial, resurrection, and faith in the fact that Jesus Christ will one day return to take us home and live with him in heaven.

So what does it mean to be a believer of Christ? It's as simple as this, realize that you are a sinner, recognize that you need forgiveness of these sins, and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior; that's it. Jesus said that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart then you will be saved, so please, say this prayer with me. "Jesus, I realize that I'm a sinner, please forgive me of all the sins I have committed and will commit in the future; come into my heart, change my life, and save me. Thank you for doing this for me, I ask this to be done in your name, Jesus, amen." If you've said this prayer just now, you can have faith that your place in heaven has been secured and that you will receive the gift of eternal life. What should you do from here? Well, you could do something as simple as beginning to attend church if you would like, or you can simply start reading your Bible at home. Regardless of which path you take, it's important to begin learning more about Jesus Christ, what he did in his lifetime here on earth, and the things he taught; we are called to live the same kind of life that he did and begin spreading this Good News to others.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to share it with others, there are social buttons located at the top of each page. You can also leave me a comment or any feedback at the bottom of each post, if you really liked my article, please vote me up with a +1 found just below.

Now try reading one of my last articles, called, In Home Health Care and Jesus.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!

In Home Health Care and Jesus

2012-04-02T14:07:00.000-04:00

Looking back over the course of the last year, I can't remember being sick or having poor health for more than a day. Take a moment, pause and think to yourself, when was the last time that you got sick? Was it serious or just something minor? Did you have to miss a day of work because of it or could you manage the symptoms while at your job? Did you have to visit a doctor or could you just throw back some Tylenol and ride it out?

The reason I ask is that today my wife isn't feeling well, she's facing a severe headache and possibly a low grade fever, yet she has decided to stick out her day at work; what a trooper. But I remember a time, not too terribly long ago, when she was laid up on the couch and didn't want to do anything except rest and watch television; ahh, haven't we all experienced that at some point and time? When you're facing these kinds of symptoms, such as a fever and body aches, what's one of the things that you desire above all other things? More likely than not, to stay where you're laying and be catered to, somewhat like receiving free in home health care right?

As I sit here reminiscing, I can still picture exactly how the scene was laid out, and what exactly was going on in the situation. I can see my wife lying under a blanket, box of tissues on the coffee table in front of her, and just acting all "sick pathetic"; you know what I'm talking about, when you act like it's the end of the world and you can't do anything, yeah that kind of pathetic. Anyway, she started asking me to do all kinds of things for her, which I did, if somewhat kind of begrudgingly; but I did them nonetheless because I love her. Eventually, I ended up having to go to the store, completely out of my way, to get her some drugs. While I was in the car, I just couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed with the whole situation, but once I stepped foot in the store, things kind of took on a different viewpoint.

Once I got past that initial annoyance of having to leave home, I began to think about my wife laying there at home, feeling all sad and down; which caused my perspective to change, if I were in her shoes, I would definitely want to be catered to. So, along with picking up some medication for her, I decided to grab a movie which she had been wanting to see, 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'; yea I know I know, it's a kid movie, but what are ya gonna do right? Upon returning home with the drugs and the movie, she was happy to see I had done something nice for her. So once she got the meds in her system, I filled up her cup of drink and whatever else she needed, we sat down and enjoyed the movie together; which wasn't really that bad considering the age group it was for.

When we look back on memories such as these, and being honest with ourselves, did we handle them the best we could have? Was there something else which we could have done that would have made our loved one more comfortable or shown them we care more? Could we have acted with a little more kindness instead of acting like they're just a chore or a burden on us?

After thinking about these questions, I can't help but stop and wonder this as well, what would Jesus have done in this situation? Well, of course if the sick had had faith in the power of God, he would have healed them and that would have been that right? Lol, but what if Jesus didn't simply decide to work through the power of healing? Not that I'm belittling his power or choices, just think about it, what would he have done in the situation. I believe with 100% certainty that he would go out of his way to do any and everything that was asked of him. Jesus would fix any kind of food, refill any kind of beverage, run to any kind of store regardless of how far away it was, pick up any kind of medicine or item, and ultimately just be the most caring person in the world when helping the sick.

When I think about that, I also can't help but realize just how far I fall short of being a strong Christian, someone who is loving and caring in everything I do. I know it's not just me though, everyone falls short of the glory of God, but isn't it our responsibility to grow in the image of Christ? Are we not called to become as much like him as we possibly can while on this earth? I would like for each of us to remember this next time we're taking care of someone, if Jesus were here, he'd be making me look like a pretty insensitive person right now; I should work a little harder and put a little more emotion into what I'm doing. Not only will you show someone how much you care about them, you'll show God how much you care for Him as well; for when we do good deeds for others we are also glorifying our Father.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to share it with someone else, there are social buttons located at the top of each page, so feel free to submit where ever. Also, feel free to leave me any comments or feedback below, where you can also find a +1 button to vote me up in Google.

Now try reading one of my past articles, called, Patience is a Virtue with God.

God Bless!

Patience is a Virtue with God

2012-03-29T14:32:00.001-04:00

When it comes to our relationship with God, are we patient, or do we expect immediate results from Him? With our requests, do we expect to receive right away or in God's timing? Are we humble in our position or do we sort of treat God like a goody basket; always expecting something when we ourselves do nothing?

In all honesty, how many times have we prayed for something from God, whether it be: healing, strength, love, needs, desires; then lost faith in Him when we didn't receive it in a timely fashion? I'm reminded of the story of Jonah, a man who was thrown overboard from a ship, then swallowed by a giant fish. Can you imagine the horror of that experience on him; feeling that you would never escape and die a slow death of starvation and thirst?!

Put yourself in his position, what would you do? I'm not sure about you, but I would pray, and earnestly at that; I would probably also go into shock or panic. Now after the first day or possibly even the second of serious prayer, wouldn't you begin to grow discouraged and lose all hope and faith? Jonah was trapped in this fish for three days before the Lord ordered he be spat up on the beach. Can you imagine the overwhelming joy, awe, and faith he must have felt in that moment? Going from a mental state of pure despair to having God's grace and mercy poured out on him?

This is often how I see our relationship with the Lord, asking for growth or anything it may be, and expecting it to be given almost immediately; then when we don't receive what we asked for, we grow discouraged, lose heart, and faith in our God. Oh but once He blesses us with our request, how joyful we become, how our faith increases, and how we claim we knew He would provide all along. How often has something similar to this happened in your own life?

I myself have fallen prey to these thoughts many times, for example, I pray for my marriage on a daily basis; that our marriage will grow stronger and my wife and myself will grow happier and more in love with one another. Not too long ago, my wife and I got into an argument, which got fairly ugly. One of the first thoughts I had was, what's the point in even praying if nothing's going to change? Why waste time praying for something that will never happen? But soon after calming down, I apologized to God for my thought, actions, and my anger; then I began to pray again for my marriage once more.

You see, God doesn't always answer our prayers when we desire them to be. We may feel that a speedy response would be best for us and for our lives, but we're only looking through human eyes and having human thoughts. God, in His infinite wisdom, may be holding off for several reasons. It could be that He has a lesson for us to learn, a trial for us to face, or a test for us to pass through faith in Him; no one knows how God thinks or operates. All we know is that He has our best interest in mind, He does everything for a reason, and He has His own timetable.

So from here on out, when we come before God in prayer with a request, we should also ask for patience. Patience is a virtue and we should most definitely have it when coming before God; think of how often He's been patient with us all throughout our lives. If God shows us continued love and kindness even when we're unfaithful for a time, how much more so should we as His creation!

Just remember, God had mercy on us when He could have simply allowed us to perish; be grateful for all He's already blessed us with.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to share it with someone else, there are share buttons located at the top of each page of the site. You may also leave any feedback or comments below if you wish, where you can also find a plus one button to vote me up in Google.

Now try reading my last article, called, Who is Jesus Christ?

Thanks for visiting and God Bless!

Who is Jesus Christ?

2012-03-28T16:31:00.005-04:00

Who is Jesus Christ? The way this question is often asked is done so in the correct way, instead the opposite wording of who was Jesus Christ? But I'm getting a little ahead of myself, the fact that you're here seeking an answer to this question shows that you're on the correct path to a better life; but again, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself and need to slow down a bit. To answer this question in short, Jesus Christ, was the Son of God and also the Son of man. Well how can that be possible you might ask, how can someone be God's Son and man's Son?

God chose a woman, Mary, who was a virgin, to give birth to a baby boy who would be named Jesus Christ. Now, Jesus was not conceived through the normal method of conception, which needs a woman and a man; instead, the Holy Spirit placed Jesus in Mary's womb to be born through a miracle. In this way, he was given birth to by a human, making him the Son of man; but since he was placed in Mary's womb by the Holy Spirit and God's will, this also made him the Son of God. In all actuality, Jesus Christ is none other than God, who came down to earth in human form, living as flesh and blood.

I'm sure that many of you have already heard of the miracles, signs, and prophecies which Jesus performed and spoke of; but there is an even more important part of his life that must be mentioned first. Before Jesus began his ministry and doing these things, he was baptized by John the Baptist, and given the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our gift from God, he is the one who grants spiritual gifts, the ability to have faith, heal the sick, preach, speak in tongues, and many others; it's very important that we recognize that even Jesus was baptized and received the Holy Spirit from God.

From this point forward, Jesus wandered the world, teaching about Lord, proclaiming himself the Son of God, healing the sick, the lame, mute, deaf, blind, raising the dead, and doing many other miraculous things. Everywhere he went he served others and humbled himself to them and their desires, if they had faith; it's important to know that healing and miraculous things come when we have faith in the power of Jesus and of God the Father. During his travels, Jesus angered many of the Jewish leaders of the cities and areas he passed through; he claimed to be the Son of God, the Messiah, and they did not believe his claims. These leaders began to hate Jesus, they tried to trick him into teaching wrong principles, trap him into doing something which could be punished, and plotting of ways to kill him.

Towards the latter days of his life, Jesus predicted that one of twelve followers who followed him, would betray him and have him killed. This man's name was Judas, who betrayed Jesus' location to the Jews for thirty pieces of silver. Even though Jesus knew that this was going to happen, he did not run, instead he allowed himself to be arrested by the Roman guards and the Jewish leaders. When he was brought before the ruler of the land, Pilate, the ruler could find nothing to charge him with; Jesus was clean of sin, he was perfect, had never done a single thing wrong in his life, but was despised by world. Although the ruler could find no fault in the claims of the people, he released a different prisoner, a murderer, and allowed Jesus to take his place instead.

After being traded, Jesus was beaten, his beard ripped out, spit on, whipped, had a crown of thorns pressed deep down on his head, and forced to carry his cross to the site of his execution. A cross is made of two boards that cross each other, one straight up and down with the other crossing it parallel to the ground. After reaching the spot where he was to be crucified, he was laid out on the cross, nails put through his wrists and feet, which caused him to be held in place on the cross. Once this was done, he was raised up and hung in place to dangle by his wrists and feet; this was the worst form of torture and execution created by the Romans. As he hung there, he was mocked by the guards which had hung him, asking, "If you're the Son of God, why doesn't He save you? Why don't you come down from the cross?" Although he had the power to save himself, Jesus did not do so.

Well, why not you may be asking yourself? Why would someone who had never committed a crime or done a thing wrong in his life allow this to happen? This has everything to do with us, we are evil people by nature, committing sin in our daily lives. In the Old Testament of the Bible, the only way to be forgiven of the sins we committed was to slay a pure animal and sacrifice it to God to atone for our mistakes. The reality of life is that without the forgiveness of these sins, we would never be allowed to enter Heaven and to live with God or know Him on a personal level. This is why God sent His Son to earth, to die for us, and Jesus knew that; for in all actuality, Jesus was and is, God in the flesh. Instead of having to continually sacrifice animals to the Lord and follow strict laws, God offered His own body and blood to atone for our sins; not just those of the past, but all who were alive, live today, and those who will come after us. The sacrifice of Jesus was done to save everyone from their sins!

Once Jesus died, he was buried in a tomb, where he was placed under heavy guard so that none would disturb his body; for Jesus had spoken that after three days he would return to life and live again, which terrified the Jewish leaders. Upon the third day, Jesus vanished from his tomb and later appeared to those who had followed him, showing that the power of God had risen him from the grave to new life. After a short time of speaking with his followers and appearing to small crowds in the area, Jesus ascended back to Heaven where he now lives with God at His right hand. Before leaving, Jesus left a message, that he would one day return for all those who believed in him as the Son of God; those who turned from their sins and followed him.

When I say that Jesus will return for us, I mean that he will save all those who have turned from their sin, accepted him as their savior, grant them eternal life, and steal them away to live with him in Heaven. At this time, you need to understand what is required of you to have this gift of eternal life and how you can have this happen to you. In his life here on earth, Jesus told his followers this, "those who believe in their hearts and confess with their mouths will be saved." Which means this, if you believe that you're a sinner, that Jesus Christ died for you, and that he is the price for all the sins you've ever committed and will commit, you will be saved. The way you do this is simple, all it takes is a few simple words, which you can pray to yourself right now. Say this, "Jesus, I realize that I'm a sinner, I also realize that you sacrificed your life to pay for these sins. Please come into my heart and my life, forgive me, and help me to live a sinless life. Thank you for your healing and your gift of eternal life. I pray that this would be done in your name Jesus, amen."

The Bible says that when you do this and mean it in your heart, that all of Heaven rejoices with you, all the angels and those who are already with God above are singing with joy. You can be 100% certain that your soul has been saved and that you will receive the gift of eternal life once Jesus returns or if you pass on before his arrival; God has promised us this and He cannot lie, he alone is perfect and worthy to be praised. Now that you know who Jesus is and hopefully given your life to him, it's now your calling to share this same Good News with others around the world and in your life. Don't keep this free gift to yourself, everyone is in need of saving and deserves a chance to accept Jesus as their Savior; share what you have learned with others!

If you enjoyed this article and what you've learned today, please consider sharing it with others, there are social buttons located at the top of each and every page. Feel free to leave me a comment below and please let me know if you've accepted Jesus into your life today; also please vote up my post with the +1 button found just below.

Now try reading one of my last articles, called, What is Christian Faith in God?

Thank you for reading and God Bless!

What is Christian Faith in God?

2012-03-27T14:10:00.000-04:00

Faith, there are so many questions about it. What is faith? What is faith in God? What is Christian faith? What is the meaning of faith? What is faith according to the Bible? These five questions alone are asked over 5,000 times a month in Google, but does each question get answered effectively? Each time someone looks up a question revolving around faith, do they find an article written by someone who genuinely cares about them and where their headed; or do they find someone who seeks to lead them astray?

Those last two questions are the ones that I contemplate on a daily basis, I ask myself, are people being reached effectively; this is my goal, this is why I write, this is my calling, to lead the lost. Instead of answering these five or six questions simply, I'm going to go far beyond giving you a simple definition; I'm going to give you examples from the Bible, as well as from my own life, and end with how you can have faith as well.

So just what is this faith that we've heard about, what exactly does the Bible say about it? Faith is defined as: reliance, loyalty, or complete faith in God; also a system of religious beliefs. I'm sure that this definition may have only puzzled you a little more, so I'll break it down into my own words, which may be a little easier to comprehend. More likely than not, we've all heard of God, we know who He is, where He lives, and what He's done. If you believe that God is real, you've already taken part in faith without even realizing it; you've chosen to believe in someone whom you've never met or seen in your life, more than half the worlds population does not believe in His existence.

So what is Christian faith? Well, faith doesn't have to be labeled as Christian or non-Christian, for there is only one true God and one true faith; it needs no label. But to the question in different terms, Christian faith is the believing that God came to earth in the form of a man, who was named Jesus Christ. He lived among the people of the world performing miracles, preaching, and speaking prophecies until he was killed by the Jewish leaders; it's important to know that Christ never sinned, he was perfect. He knew and even predicted his own death was coming, he could have ran and hid, but instead he chose to die on a cross for us so that our sins would be forgiven by God the Father. Three days after the death of Jesus, he was raised by the power of God from the dead, appearing before his disciples for a time, and sent the power of the Holy Ghost to live inside of those who believed in God; that is Christianity in a nutshell.

In telling you the short story of Jesus, I've already fulfilled my promise of giving you a story of faith from the Bible. We have personally never met Jesus, we weren't there when he was crucified, we can't see that our sins are able to be healed by Christ; we must believe and have faith in him and the promise of God that it will be done. Realizing that we are sinners, that we have done wrong in our lives, is the first step to becoming a Christian. We must then have faith in Jesus, realize that he died for us, and that sacrificed his own blood so that our sins would be forgiven by God. Jesus said that if we confess with our mouths we are sinners and believe he died for our sins to be forgiven, we have been saved, we can have faith in that. If you believe that today, let me tell you, your soul has been saved by Christ; you are no longer the same person you were five seconds ago. You may rest easy knowing that you're no longer condemned to an eternity of death, but that one day you will be alive for all eternity with Jesus in Heaven.

I suppose now it's time to give you a small window into my own life and show you how faith in God has affected me. Well, almost four months ago, I was doing whatever I wanted: getting drunk (The Bible clearly states it's okay to drink in celebration, but it's a sin to become drunk), cursing, listening to all kinds of horrible music, watching pornography, committing sexual sins in my mind, and just all kinds of bad things. One specific night I came to the realization that I needed to change, things needed to happen which I knew I couldn't do on my own. After realizing these things, I began putting my faith in God, that He would help me to overcome the sins which I was committing; the ones I knew I couldn't overcome by myself, that mainly being pornography, which I've tried to kick before. Well, over the course of the next month or two, I began praying and doing my best to hold out as long as possible without viewing it. I would give in once or twice a week and pray for that God would forgive my weakness and replace it with strength to overcome. Eventually, I got to the point where I stopped viewing it at all and haven't turned back since.

Let me tell you, all things are possible if you have enough faith in God, He alone can do all things; we're only capable of doing what He allows. Faith goes beyond just wishing for something and hoping that it happens, we must believe that God will allow to happen.

If you enjoyed this article, feel free to share it with your friends and family, there are share buttons located at the top of each page. If you would like to leave a comment or any feedback, feel free to do so below, where you can also vote me up with a +1.

Now try reading one of my other articles, called, The Need for Free Christian Spiritual Guidance.

Thanks for reading, have faith, and God Bless!

The Need for Free Christian Spiritual Guidance

2012-03-26T14:00:00.056-04:00

Have you ever reached a point in your spiritual walk that you kind of feel like you've hit a brick wall? Whereas you used to feel that you were growing on a daily basis, you sort of feel like you're not making any further progress towards spiritual maturity? If you're anything like me, more likely than not, you have or may at some point in your relationship with God.

I'll give you an example from my life to show you exactly what I'm talking about, just so it's a little clearer in your mind. For the past four months I've been spending time in the Word, praying, searching for areas I can change, and just desiring to be used by God. Well, up to this point, I've had pretty visible progress, I've dropped most if not all of the things which were sinful in my life, I haven't found any areas in my life which I can hand over to God, I also don't feel like I've heard from Him in a while, and it just really feels like I've hit a brick wall. What do you do in that situation, where do you turn? We know that God is there and listening to us, but why does it feel like He's not?

Seeing as how this is my first experience in my walk with God, I don't have a definite answer for you, but I can tell you the steps I've taken to counteract this and where I've sought help. One of the most important tools we have at our disposal as Christians is prayer, is it not? Well, when we come hit a point in our lives where we feel we're just making no progress on our own, what other thing would you do except turn to God in prayer? "Father, as you already know, I've hit this area in my walk with you and just feel like I'm no longer growing spiritually; I'm not sure why this is, but I need your help Lord. Although I continue to read your Word, devote my life to serving you, searching for areas of my life to hand over to you seeking healing and change, it feels like I've come to a halt. God please just come into these thoughts and feelings, fill me with your presence, love, and Holy Spirit; bare this burden for me and heal me of the stress it's bringing to my relationship with you. God I know you'll do this for me and continue growing ever closer to me on a daily basis and I thank you for that. I just continue to put my love and faith in your Lord, you alone deserve on honor and praise. I ask and know these things will be done in Jesus name, amen."

Now, I've already come to terms with the fact that God knows everything, He already knows that I'm facing these things; so why pretend that I'm not and try to hide them or push them aside? Why not just offer this burden up to God so that He will relieve me of the stress which in involved with it? Many of you may not have come to this place in your walk yet, but I urge you to begin thinking this way. Our God is here for us and longs to help us, He wants to, never keep God from doing what He wants.

The other step which I spoke of is seeking help from those who are much more knowledgeable and mature in their spiritual walk than myself. In my situation I have turned to the care pastor of my church, whom I hope to hear back from very soon. I've already informed him of what I'm facing, that I'm continuing to put my faith and trust in God, and I just want to know what he would do in the situation. It will take some humility on your part to open up to someone else and let them know that you're facing a problem, but it's just something you must overcome. We're not alone in this world, we're surrounded by our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, why not turn to them in our time of need? God would not have us to face these obstacles alone, He would have us help one another and build one another up; plain and simple.

To perhaps help you out and show you what I mean by opening up and showing humility, I'll give you a brief excerpt from my email of what I said to him:

As of right now, I'm at the point where I read the Bible every morning, at least a chapter and sometimes two, before I head to the gym each day. On my way there, I pray, and usually continue doing so while sitting in the parking lot. I pray over my dreams, my desires, my life, for areas of my life to be shown to me which need changing, for my abilities and skills to grow for God's use, to be used as His tool and not for my own personal gain, and just so many things. I've seen you around the church several times, you're always really upbeat, loving towards everyone, you openly praise God with no shame, and I'm just kind of struggling with that area. I've always been somewhat of a loner, don't really speak out much, and feel a bit of embarrassment when speaking to more than a couple of people; most of the time. I'd kind of like to know how it is you became this way, I heard that you were somewhat of a trouble maker, but now you're a strong care pastor.. did you have to overcome any of these obstacles?

As you can see, I was very open and honest with everything that's going on, what I've been doing, how I'm feeling, and just my need for his free christian spiritual guidance. Notice that I said free, don't waste your money going to people who would charge you for this service, a true Christian wouldn't seek to gain profit by helping others with their life; they would do it just because they care about your relationship with God. What you should take away from this message today is that we all face problems, but we're not alone in our struggles. We have many avenues in which we can seek help, whether it's just bringing our problems openly before God or bringing them to others; we are never alone.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it with the people you know, there are social buttons located at the top of each page. I also welcome you to leave any comments or feedback that you desire below, where you can also find a plus one buttons to vote me up; thank you for visiting.

God Bless!

God Has a Plan

2012-03-23T14:00:00.072-04:00

"Dear heavenly Father," I pray, "I come before you again today with the same request I ask you each day, please bless me with an idea or topic which I can write about and reach out to others with. God I just ask that you use me as your tool and that you speak through me instead of allowing me to simply sit down at the computer and just pounding away at the keys grasping at ideas. Please just take control and guide me to say whatever it is that you would have me to speak on for the day. I ask and have full faith that this will be done in Jesus name, amen."

As I've openly stated on this site many times, I don't enjoy sitting down and writing without an idea or some kind of topic in which I can run with. Today is no different, except that as I'm praying this prayer, I realize that God has already provided me with a topic for today; it's not exactly under the greatest of circumstances that I came by it, but it's an idea and a way to witness nonetheless.

A few moments ago, my wife informed me that one her close friends, whom she grew up with, lost her boyfriend last night; he was killed in a collision. Upon speaking with her a bit more, I've also been informed that she's already lost her Father to suicide and a brother to car wreck as well; so I'm sure this girl has a lot on her mind, as she has already been through quite a lot.

This is kind of where I want to start off today, on the subject of death, which is quite often a powerful tool that the Devil uses to gain a foothold in our lives. How many times have you heard of or seen someone who has lost someone close to them and began blaming God for their loss. How often have you seen them turn away from their faith and begin doing whatever they see fit and living a completely sinful lifestyle? In many of these situations, the death of the individual could have very well been their fault; depending on their lifestyle and what they subjected themselves to, their decisions could have brought them to a swifter death. Take smokers and drinkers for example, these things will utterly destroy your bodies organs and how they function; yet you see them continue to partake of them anyway, right up until they are diagnosed with a disease.

What we should remember is that it's not God's fault that these things are happening, but rather that He is allowing them to happen for a predetermined amount of time. When you look at all the pain and suffering that God allows to happen in comparison to eternity, it's nothing but the blink of an eye; somewhat like a single grain of sane on an entire beach. Our Father planned this from the beginning of our creation, He knew that we would sin and bring suffering to the world, but it will only continue until He returns to take us home. He has graciously given us enough time to make the decision whether we will live our lives in sin or seek Him for forgiveness. We cannot blame God for the death of our loved ones when in reality it is our fault that we are condemned to death in the first place, everyone dies, we just don't know when that time will come.

We tend to look at the death of a loved one from a single perspective, our own, how it directly impacts our life and what we've lost. If we were to pause and take a look at how God may be using this persons death to impact the lives of those who are around them, we may very well come to a much different and unselfish conclusion. It could be that the death of this person is an eye opener to someone else in the family, it could cause them to be all along, having nobody else to turn to except God. I'm sure you've heard the term that God works in mysterious ways, well, it's very true. We're merely human, we have no idea what God has in store for our lives, but He does. We only think from a human perspective and are incapable of understanding Him; God doesn't even have to think, He knows. Did you know that nothing has every occurred to God because He knows all? (Kudos to Pastor Jeff for that last thought!)

Here's the mindset and the thought process we need to encourage to other Christians and non-believers alike, there is no need to fear or mourn the loss of a loved one, if, they have placed their trust in and given their sins to Jesus Christ. We are told that if we believe in Jesus that we will be saved from death and an eternity of suffering. To take it a step farther of how much power Jesus Christ holds over death and the grave, he faced each one head on and raised by the power of God from their grasp. Jesus was sacrificed for our sins, remained dead in the grave for three days, and was brought back by the power of my Lord. It is also stated in the book of Revelations that death and the grave will both be cast into the lake of fire, along with Satan and all his minions; as well as all those who did not repent and believe in Jesus. I'm not entirely capable of understanding how death and the grave will be cast into hell, it sort of sounds like they're referred to as beings; but then again, I also don't have to understand, I simply need to believe.

I want to extend to all of you today who have never sought forgiveness for your sins and placed your faith in Jesus Christ an opportunity to do so now. All you really have to do is acknowledge that you are a sinner, it's nothing that you can help, but just the way you were born; realize this, acknowledge that Jesus died for these sins, and ask for his forgiveness. If you believe this in your heart and confess it with your mouth, you can have full confidence that you will be spared from eternal death; rejoice, you're now a member of the body of Christ and know that all of heaven is celebrating with you. If you have done this today, I would like you to take a step of confidence and humility by telling everyone here about your decision, it's nothing to be ashamed of; feel free to leave us a comment below.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to share it with anyone, there are social buttons located at the top of the post. Feel free to also leave me some feedback or a comment below, please also consider voting me up with a plus one.

Why not continue reading about our Father in my last post about Christian Fellowship in the Church?

God Bless!

Christian Fellowship in the Church

2012-03-22T14:00:00.161-04:00

My wife mentioned something to me not too long ago which is just now sticking out, she mentioned that at the church we attend there isn't much fellowship after the service or anything. Now, one of the reasons may be that many of the members are younger people, such as my wife and I, and do not enjoy sticking around after the service is over; everyone has other things they like to do before the day is over. Another reason could be that for six years this church has been mobile, meeting out of schools every week, meaning they have to begin tearing down everything after each service; people standing around talking after the service would get in their way and hinder their progress, but that's beside the point.

At the same time, as soon as the service is over, we don't stick around to try and meet anyone, we head straight to the car and leave. So it seems kind of pointless to complain or point this out when we don't even make an attempt to meet new members or build up new relationships doesn't it? I've come to a new realization, as the body of Christ grows in a church, meaning that the number of members increases, we tend to begin acting like a high school; umm, say what now? Have you ever noticed that nine times out of ten, the same group of friends will always sit near each other, talk with each other after the service, and kind of avoid going outside of their social circle? This is exactly the kind of behavior that goes on in a high school, how do you think this kind of behavior appears to those who are new visitors; bad right? The exclusion to this rule lies in small churches with less than 25 members or so, because everybody knows everybody and gets along well.

Now, something our church does have that goes on outside of the regular service are meetings in smaller groups, which they've termed life groups. These meetings have a dual purpose to them, giving us a place to continue growing as a Christian and a place to meet with fellow members of Christ. I recently joined one of these groups myself and meet with them once a week on Tuesday nights. The first night I was there, we all kind of palled around for a little while, ate some food and conversed a bit; afterward we watched a short film produced by a pastor who teaches out in Texas. After the film was over we discussed what we thought about it, talked a little longer, and all went our separate ways. Now, the following Sunday, where I was never able to pick out more than one or two people I knew, I could now see this group of guys, pick them out by name, and see how they're involved in the church. That's a huge difference over just going each Sunday and leaving after every service, correct? You begin to feel like your a part of something much bigger than yourself, at least, that's how I feel.

As Christians, we're not called to keep to ourselves, we're called to reach out to other people by spreading the news about Christ; as well as reaching out to one another, especially newer believers! I can give you a perfect example of how the church body should operate, this is exactly what has happened in my life, none of it is fabricated.

After rededicating my life at the beginning of this year and starting to attend church again, which is called Lifepoint, I decided that I would email the pastor of the church. I'd gotten the idea in my head to begin reaching out to others through the Internet and wanted to see if the church could use something like that. Unfortunately, I was informed by the assistant pastor, Aaron (Shout out!), that this area wasn't part of their vision, so he struck up a conversation with me about other things when he could have just left it at that. He suggested a book to me, called Walking with God, which I read cover to cover and got back to him as soon as I had finished. I'm not sure why he felt led to do this, perhaps he was surprised I'd actually read the book, but he offered to meet with me for coffee and get to know me a little better. During this meeting, I actually found we had a bit in common, even a few things from different perspectives in our marriage; which I thought was surprising. The cool part came after the meeting, he decided he'd like to meet with me again so we could continue our conversation; I thought it was awesome just to get to sit down and meet the assistant pastor one on one, I never expected it to happen again. Following our second meeting, which also led to a third, he invited me to join the life group he had started.

Now, here is where the story starts to shift a little bit, which will pick up at the second meeting; I've already told you about the first one. For some reason or another, Aaron couldn't make it, I believe he was busy with a few things at the office; so the assistant leader took over for the night. About half way through, I was called out to share why I was just now joining the group and to talk about my testimony. At first I was a little nervous, I don't really enjoy speaking out around a group of people, but as I continued I was filled with confidence. As the meeting was coming to an end, I was called out again to close in a word of prayer, my reply was "who me"?! I followed through though, closed out in a word of prayer, and headed outside to leave; where I had began to have a conversation with one of the other members of the group, Chris (Shout out!). We talked for a while, had a conversation about what was going on in our lives, when the Lord compelled me to pray, yet again, over Chris and his marriage; at first I pushed the feeling away, but later on gave in and laid hands on him before we went our separate ways for the night. I can remember getting in my car grinning from ear to ear, although it felt weird to pray over someone else out loud and in person, it also felt amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Fast forward to this past Tuesday, we were supposed to be meeting again when Aaron voted we go ahead and cancel our meetings until the next group of meetings starts back up; keep in mind I've only attended two meetings after just being invited, so I was a little disappointed. After kind of pointing this out to everyone, Chris offered to meet with me on our own terms and continue learning together. It sounds good in theory, but we wouldn't have a plan for what to study, and it would be kind of awkward to sit there and just read from the Bible then talk about it; I mean we could, but it just seems a little odd to me I guess, not saying it's a bad idea. Upon having this feeling, I was reminded of the three times I had spent with Aaron out at the coffee shop, so I offered this suggestion to Chris as well as everyone else in the group. As of this moment, I've only been talking to Chris, but you never know when other people may contact me and ask to meet with me sometime in the near future.

Here's the point which I'm trying to get across to you, when you become a Christian and you're seeking to grow and mature in your spirituality/relationship with God, there comes a point when you must go beyond just seeking knowledge; you must begin reaching out to other believers and non-believers alike. To give you biblical proof of this, in Acts chapter 14, at the end of the chapter, Paul and Barnabas return to the cities which they had already taught at. Sure they went back in hopes of reaching more people and possibly to replenish their supplies, but they also returned to continue teaching their fellow believers and to also set elders in places of leadership in the church; this was done so that the newer believers would have someone more mature and knowledgeable to turn to and seek as a godly example. If men of God such as Paul and Barnabas, two apostles who did amazing things in their time, spent much of their time reaching out to fellow believers, should we not also do the same thing?

I would challenge you to do this, next time you're at church, approach someone you've never spoken with before and at least learn their name; start small and work your way up to reaching out in larger ways. If you enjoyed this article feel free to share it with whoever you'd like, there are share buttons located at the top of each page. Feel free to leave me a comment or some feedback below, also, please consider voting me up with a plus one.

To continue reading about the Lord, consider reading Writers Block and Faith in God!

Thank you and God Bless!

Writers Block and Faith in God

2012-03-21T14:00:00.007-04:00

As a writer it's sometimes very hard to come up with a topic to write about, this is what we call writers block, which is pretty much the a writer's worst nightmare; I know it certainly is for me. There are days when I can't wait to get home from a great workout after being inspired by an event or thought that I can't wait to hammer out into a post, then you have those days that you can't think of a single thing; which pretty much describes what I've been facing this entire week, being a writer is not always as easy as you would imagine.

For reasons which are currently unknown to me, I haven't been hearing or getting any feedback from God lately, which sort of depresses me to a certain extent. Up until the beginning of this week, God was providing me with some great topics, viewpoints, inspiration, and just pushing me along in my writing; but this week, He's been entirely silent. It could be that I've done something to build up a barrier in my heart which is blocking communication with God or something that I've failed to bring before Him which I should have, but didn't. I'm not entirely sure why this is now happening, but I won't let it affect my mood, my outlook, or my faith in God or reaching others on a daily basis.

Have you ever had the kind of moments which I've been describing, not necessarily with writing, but with anything in your life? Has there ever been a time when you needed to come up with an idea, a way to achieve a goal, or to complete a task you've been given? Have you ever had a time in your life when you've continuously come before God in prayer, putting all your faith in his abilities, and just never heard back or received an answer; it's discouraging isn't it? If there's one thing I've learned though, it's this, God doesn't always answer us directly and not always in the time span that we would like him too.

Let me give you an example, not too long ago, my wife and I made a donation to our church, which is currently having a new home built. I won't go into the details of how much or anything like that, I don't want any praise or recognition for what we did, I merely want to show you how God works. When we transferred the money from our account to the church, we gave with a willing heart, but not long after, the Devil began pouring selfish thoughts into my mind. Thoughts like: I wonder how God's going to bless me for the money that we gave, I wonder when He's going to bless us, I wonder how much He'll return back to us. Satan is a powerful and evil entity, when I realized I was under attack, I turned to God immediately in prayer. "Father, I give this gift with a willing and unselfish heart, I don't expect anything in return. Lord, help me to push these thoughts and attacks from my mind, they have no place in my heart, they are selfish and untrue. God if you do bless us for the gift we've given, please let it come in the form of a happy marriage; let my wife and myself grow happier and more loving towards one another. I ask this to be done in Jesus name, amen."

Over the course of the next week or two, I continued to pray that God would strengthen our marriage, although my wife and I would continue having arguments and getting into little disagreements. After a week or two, I continued to pray for my wife and her relationship with God, but the request of a blessed marriage began to slip from my mind until it got to the point where I was no longer praying for it at all. Yesterday I came to a sudden and delightful realization, my wife and I have not had a fight for a couple of weeks now, we've been nicer to one another, and thoroughly enjoyed being in each others company. I realized that even after I had stopped praying, God knew my heart and my desires, He answered the prayers which I had brought before Him and has blessed my wife and I with a happiness and love we haven't had for quite some time now. You see, God doesn't always give us things when we want them, He sometimes makes us wait and suffer through a few heartaches before He'll answer our calls; but you must continue to place your faith in Him.

In regards to my writing and why He hasn't answered my prayers and granted me with the requests I've brought before Him these last few days, I'm not sure. It could be that He's testing my dedication and my resolve to reach out to others, testing that even when He doesn't personally provide me with a revelation or thought to nudge me in the right direction that I'll go out of my way to continue serving Him. God is a mysterious person, no one on earth can understand how He operates or why He does the things He does; but you can best believe that they are all a part of His plan. Writers block doesn't particularly scare me as a blog writer, I can always find something to throw up on my site; it may not always be the best topic in the world, but there will never be a shortage of ideas in my mind. There are a couple of reasons for this, if you're a writer you may want to pay attention to what I have to say.

God has blessed us with an infinite supply of resources to find topics to write about, even if it's in a specific area of writing; such as Christian living. You have places like Yahoo Answers where people go every single day with questions about life, Christianity, God, the Bible, and who knows what else. It is extremely easy to take one of these questions and spin it into a full fledged article dedicated to leading the lost and inspiring other Christians. You also have search engines at your disposal, type in a term like Christian News and see what's going on in the world; if you find something interesting enough to capture your attention, write a post about what you thought of it. The last and best source, is again, God Himself; don't ever belittle God and His awesome power. Although He may not answer you directly, if you seek His help, you can have full faith that you'll be shown something for the day in which you can write about. I literally come before God almost every time I begin writing, asking that He would use me to the best of my abilities and reach everyone with the maximum effects.

You want another example at how great my God is, scroll up and down this page, what do you see? If you're like me you see a whole lot of typed words coming down the center correct? I started this post without the slightest clue of what I was going to talk about, yet I haven't had to pause once and think about what I should say next; my Father is looking out for me and you best believe He's looking out for you as well, especially if your doing work for Him. I would like to thank you for stopping by and reading, if you enjoyed my take on things, please feel free to leave me a comment below about your thoughts. If you'd like to share this post with your friends or family, there are social buttons located at the top of the page, where you can also find an RSS feed to subscribe to; please consider voting me up with a +1 found below.

Now consider reading about Jesus the Miracle Worker or check out another site I use called Bible.Org!

God Bless!

Jesus the Miracle Worker

2012-03-20T17:00:00.124-04:00

Often times I wonder how many of us have fallen into the belief that miracles are a thing of the past, they happened back in the time that Jesus was alive and he provided his disciples with the same gifts; but it no longer happens in our era. I myself fell into the same mindset for a long time, I just kind of thought that these things must have been so cool to witness back when Jesus was around and I don't ever hear of miracles happening in the world we live in today.

I was in my car praying the other day, praying that God would use me however he saw fit, whether it was performing miracles on the street, writing a blog, or just teaching those around me; when it hit me. You know, I've always just assumed that miracles no longer happen, but I've never actually taken the time to look it up and see if they do or not. So, I made a mental note that after I got out of the gym and was waiting for my car to be inspected that I would look into it on my phone; yes I have one of those smart phones, lucky me huh?

Opening up my phone browser I just put something simple in like recent miracles and I get plenty of hits, so I start browsing through the results. Skipping over the first couple, I come across one that has a great number of accounts that happened around the same geographical area. I can't remember the location of the church or anything like that, but I'll recap to you a few of the miracles which I found. Following the Jewish tradition of praying at 3:00, a group of believers were praying in their church; as they continued to pray, those who were passing by stopped to stare above the building, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Above the church swirled a tornado of fire that vanished as soon as those who were praying inside finished. When they exited the building, they were approached and asked how they did this, but none of the believers knew what the onlookers were talking about.

A friend of the pastor's, who lived in the area, had a husband who was doing some work on their house one day; as he was coming down the ladder he lost is footing, falling to the ground, he landed in such a way that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Upon hearing this, the pastor and a few of the members of the church came to see the man at the hospital he was located at, entering his room they all began praying over him and fasting. For three days this went on, I'm not sure if it went on continuously or not, they didn't say, but after three days the man got up from his hospital bed and walked out of the hospital. The same type of thing happened to a father with a son who was possessed by insanity. The child would unknowingly sing and dance by himself at random times throughout the day. When the father brought him before the church, they prayed and fasted for several days; after this time period, the boy was completely healed and acted like any other normal child his age.

This next story is by far the coolest, the others just kind of pale in comparison to this one, you know how it is, save the best for last!

In Egypt, there was a Muslim man who killed his wife just for reading a Bible, he then proceeded to bury her along with their infant child and 8 year old daughter who were both still alive! After doing so, he then proceeded to report that a fellow family member had murdered them. After 15 days had passed, another member of their family died, but when they went to bury the body, they found the girls buried in the same place; still alive, after 15 days! Of course the man was sentenced to death for his crimes, but the fact that the girls were still alive isn't even the coolest part of the story.

Upon digging the girls up and getting them to safety, the eldest girl, who remember, is 8 years old, was asked how on earth they survived for that long period of time. She responded that a man in white shiny clothes, with bleeding holes in his hands, came to provide her with food, as well as waking their mother up to nurse the younger child. Can you believe that? That's not only one miracle, but several in the same story, performed by none other than Jesus Christ himself. Obviously the story couldn't be a lie, the girl is too young to come up with a story like that, plus they would have undoubtedly died; but Jesus kept them from death.

After reading that story I just had to stop and think about it for a moment, I had to try and envision how all of that must have happened and what it must have been like. I can't even picture lying in a small cramped space under ground, no air, no food, lying next to my dead parent along with an infant sibling who I had no way to provide for. What do you do in that situation? After giving up all hope, a man appeared out of nowhere, in this coffin with us, with food and the ability to bring my parent from the dead and nurse my baby sibling; then disappear again. I have a hard time even thinking about that, I can't comprehend it, but Jesus is that powerful and amazing.

Looking back over these stories and my own life, I can remember hearing when I was a little younger about those who were in the hospital with incurable diseases. The doctor would give them a determined amount of time to live and once that time had passed, they would return to the hospital to see what was going on; the doctor would then check them out and have no explanation about where their disease went, how they were cured, or even what was going on; they were dumbfounded. I'm sure that many of you have also heard of similar stories in your lifetime, the fact is that these are not just stories, they are miracles. We tend to overlook these situations and stories, mainly because we're not a part of them, and no one in particular actually performs the miracle; like Jesus himself did in the Bible. We tend to belittle the miracles that happen and not count them among the great things that Christ did in his time here on earth; but that doesn't change the fact of what they are and how amazing it is.

One of the things that I want you to take away from this message today comes from the opening miracles, which were all brought about healing through prayer. Prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of true Christian believers with a great deal of faith; and even more powerful when the number of those praying increases. It amazes me that these believers were so strong in their faith that they spent days on end fasting and praying over these individuals, not giving up until they were healed by the power of God. These acts are truly inspirational to me, and should be to you as well; next time you think that something is impossible, have faith in the power of God and come before Him in prayer.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to share it with your friends or family members, there are social buttons located at the top of each page of the site. Feel free to leave me a comment or feedback below; also, please consider voting up my article with a plus one found just below.

Now consider reading my last article about Free Christian Music Online!

God Bless!

Free Christian Music Online

2012-03-20T17:00:00.122-04:00

As I pulled out of the gym parking lot this morning, I couldn't find a single song on the Christian music stations that I liked; so I ended up flipping over to a non-Christian rock station. What was on sounded incredible, the guitarist was playing a very intricate and amazing solo, I was like, "Wow, God really blessed that guy with some skill"; yeah that's right, I talk to myself in my own mind. I started getting really into it, you know, head banging and just jamming out, right up until the chorus of the song came back on.

These are the lyrics, and I quote them, "I'm alive to be the demon, I'm alive to be the one, yeah yeah yeah yeah, Hell it lives in everyone." I know, wow, who comes up with lyrics like that right? You may be wondering if I changed the station after hearing that, no, I tolerate bad lyrics occasionally if the music sounds decent enough; God blessed these men with talent, but they were born into sin and haven't repented yet, I can't really persecute their gifts, just the way they use them.

After arriving back at home and eating my breakfast, I decided I would try to find some equally talented Christian guitarists, and let me tell you, there are some truly amazing ones out there. If you want to know what I mean you can go to YouTube for yourself and type in Christian Guitar Solos and click on Christian Power Metal Guitar Solos, that one was the best that I found. After a while of listening to some metal I got the urge to see what kind of talent the Christian rap industry has. I would say since high school I've listened to mostly Eminem as my main source of rap music, yeah, the one with the really dirty and horrible lyrics; don't judge me, I don't even listen to him anymore! Anyway, after searching for a few minutes, I came across a guy who develops his own tracks, graphics, and designs; he's extremely talented. I believe his name was Bezalel and the name of his self-owned company is True Vine Productions.

Not only does he produce beats and tracks to sell, he allows other Christians access to a few of them to download and use for free; as long as it's used to uplift and glorify God, how cool is that? The guy pours God knows how many hours into his work and then offers a great amount of it out to fellow believers at no cost. Be honest for a second, do you really think a non-believer would do something like that? Sure, then they'd tack on a huge price tag to go with it, probably somewhere in the price range of a few thousand to a few hundred thousand. The difference between the Christian music industry and the rest of the world is that Christians produce their music to uplift God and impact our spiritual lives; the rest of the world is in it only for the money and fame.

So why did I label this article Free Christian Music Online? Well if you're like me, jobless and unable to find work, you're looking for ways to save money; which includes going without some of the things you enjoy purchasing. Music may be one of those things that you feel that you can't live without, but I'm writing to tell you this, there are other alternatives. I've already mentioned one of these free methods, YouTube, which has millions of songs and videos to choose from. There are not only featured artists who have their songs posted up there for promotion and by other users, but there are also those who are seeking to get started in a music career as well. Meaning this, some people use YouTube to begin posting the music they've created for feedback and to possibly get noticed by a producer; it's a great place to find artists who you may have never heard of before, it's the main place I check.

The next free tool you can use is an application called Pandora which you can download to your Android or iPhone. The application works kind of like a radio station, you can select a type of genre or artist you would like to listen to, and it creates a custom radio station populated with similar artists. It's actually a very good application and is very accurate at selecting artists which are extremely similar to the one you originally wanted to listen to; the only downside is that there are a few advertisements that play occasionally, but that's the price for a free app, but that's not much to ask right?

I'm sure there are many other places to find Christian music online that I don't know about, but those are the two that I use from time to time.

Many of you who've been reading my blog up to this point are probably wondering why in the world I wrote an article like this after writing so many other unique ones, well, all I can say is that I got a random idea today and just ran with it. Like I said in my last post, Conversations with God, I don't always get a great idea from Him and have to rely on the brain He's blessed me with to come up with an idea for the day. Are they always great ones? Obviously not, Lol, but hey, what more can you can you ask from me; I'm doing what God asks of me, spreading the gospel and reaching out to fellow believers.

Praise is an important part of our relationship with the Lord, only He deserves praise and glory for the things that happen to us and the things we're able to do. No other person on earth is capable of the things that God can do, Christian music is simply an outlet that we can use to worship and praise our Father. So before you jump to conclusions and say that I didn't provide a good message for the day, I want you to remember that, God desires praise and I'm providing you with information on a method of finding it for free. You don't necessarily have to be the one singing to God, but just listening to uplifting music, following along, enjoying it, and head bobbing is an outlet and opportunity for praising our God.

I don't have the greatest voice in the world, but whenever I'm listening to some amazing and uplifting music which was produced by Christian artists, mainly rock, metal, and hip hop, I let loose. When nobody else is around, I'll be dancing around, singing real loud, head banging and playing the air guitar, just doing all kinds of crazy stuff; but I'm still worshiping God in the process. I'd like to thank you for dropping by and taking the time to read my "unique" article for the day; be sure to check back in often, I try to add an article Monday through Friday. If you enjoyed this post or got some use from my advice, please feel free to share it with your friends/family, there are share buttons located at the top of the page. Feel free to leave me a comment or feedback below and voting me up with a +1.

God Bless!

Conversations with God

2012-03-19T17:00:00.132-04:00

Prayer, a tool we use to communicate directly with God, our heavenly Father; something I use on a daily basis. There are many days when the Lord will provide me with a revelation or idea which I can use as my topic for the day, often times these are presented to me while in deep thought at the gym; however, today I didn't really receive that gift from God, or if I did, I didn't pay it much attention.

So as normal, I turn to God in prayer, seeking a direct conversation with Him. "Father, I come before you again for the third or fourth time today, seeking ideas and encouragement from you. As you well know, I'm sitting here without the slightest clue of what to write about for the day, you didn't really provide me with the normal revelation I've grown so accustomed to; I know I shouldn't always rely solely on you, I mean you did bless me with this great imagination, perhaps I should use it from time to time. But, I ask you now Lord, please fill me with your Holy Spirit, grant me a thought or idea for which I can break down into a post; I need your help Lord. I offer myself up to you, use me as your tool and speak to others through me. I have complete faith that you can and will do this for me Father, I ask these things to be done in Jesus name, amen."

A few moments pass by, which turn into five, ten, and before I know it, half an hour has passed by as I exchange a few emails with my wife and look at a few topics which would compel me to write a post; yet I hear nothing from God. Quite often I find when I want God to speak to me, I just don't hear Him; but when I'm not expecting it or not directly speaking with Him, I'm blessed with an idea or thought which I can use, I'm not quite sure why that is. So after a few more minutes of using Google's keyword tool, I come across the term, conversations with God, which sort of puts my brain into thinking mode. Well, God has provided me with quite a few topics lately, maybe it's time I come up with my own and show others how I speak to God and communicate with Him.

Now, before I move on to the type of prayer I say each morning on my way to the gym, I want to get this point across. Many people have been taught that communication with God is not really possible, but I can promise you this is not the case; the Bible tells us to bring all of our problems before God, if we can bring things as significant as problems to Him, why not also bring our dreams and desires before His throne? There are also a great number of people who tend to think that God is too busy to listen to them or that He can't hear us; let me answer this belief with a question, would you really serve a God who doesn't care enough to listen to you or pay you any attention? God is all knowing, all seeing, and all loving; he knows what you think, do, and say before you do, show some humility and approach Him as a child would their Father.

What I'm about to write may surprise many of you, but this is honestly how I talk to God on a daily basis, and it serves as an example of how close I am to Him and how personal our relationship is:

"(British Accent) 'ello Fatha! Lol Sorry, I couldn't help myself, I know you don't mind though, because you love me and created me to be exactly as I am. Anyway, it's kind of hard to tell what kind of day it will be, it's too early to predict with the sun not even being up yet; but each day I'm alive is a blessing and therefore beautiful to me. Thank you for providing me with another day of life, having the opportunity to grow closer to you, and seek to become more like you. I have something I need to openly confess to you, which you already know about, but I come before you showing humility; Lord, lately I've been feeling my faith begin to weaken and my flesh trying to take back over, we both know this has happened before as well. I pray and ask that you would fill me up with your Holy Spirit, forgive me for allowing these thoughts to even come to my mind, heal me, and help me to stay strong in my faith and dedication to you.

As always, I continue to ask that you would speak to me on a daily basis, grant me this special gift of being able to hear your voice Lord. I can think of nothing more valuable than to hear your every thought and desire for me, allow me the wisdom to discern your voice from my own thoughts; as you know I have a very active imagination and quite often imagine things you would have me do. Which in a way, you are speaking to me, for you're the one who blessed me with this mind and all of my thoughts; who's to say that all of the thoughts I have aren't sent from you? I ask that as I continue to seek you and become a better image of you, that you would continually grow closer to me and allow my gifts, skills, and abilities to mature so that I may continue my work for you. Lord I'm so grateful for everything that you've already done in my life and the things that you have in store for me; you've blessed me so much and it seems so selfish to ask for more than what you've already given me, but I also know you desire to show your power to me Lord.

As you are well aware, I have tremendous dreams for my life, things which I'd like to be a part of and accomplish before I return home; one of which is being involved and employed in the Christian ministry. Only you know my true potential and what I'm capable of God, I ask that you would show me the way to be all that I can be and do what I can for your kingdom. I would absolutely love to be employed by my church, or any part of the body of Christ; not necessarily in a position of leadership, I have no idea what you have in store for me, but I do want to be involved with the actual staff of a church. Lord even if you don't allow me the honor of serving on the staff of a church body, I ask that you would use me in great ways, just as you used people like Moses, Joseph, and many of the apostles. I know it's a bit selfish to ask for such things God, but I don't ask these things to better my own position or power in this world; I do it with an honest heart and wish only to serve you to the fullest. You know I no longer desire to be employed by anyone else in this world other than you Father, but I pray if this is how it must be that you would at least have mercy on me and bless me with the opportunity to work for a Christian employer.

God I just love you so much and no longer wish to be or live like the person I was, I desire only to further my relationship and understanding of you. I know I'm just starting down this long path in my decision to follow you, but I ask that everything I seek to do would be backed and pushed along by you Father. I seek not to do the things that would only bring me monetary gain, but would also bring you glory and demonstrate your power. Lord I just love you so much, as much as I can love someone whom I've never met or been able to see; I ask that you would show me how to love you even more and to put more faith in you. God I just completely open myself up to you, change my heart and my mind, my emotions and my thoughts; convert them in such a way that you can use them however you see fit. Forgive every selfish ambition that comes into my mind, every impure thought and emotion, every evil thought of sin; help me to grow stronger and become a more godly man. Lord I just give you all glory, honor, and praise; I put all of my faith and confidence in you, I love you God. I ask that all these things would be done in Jesus name, amen.

Holy Spirit, I ask that you would continue to pray over my thoughts, desires, dreams, and emotions even when I'm not; speak on my behalf with the Father, keeping me in line with His will for my life, that my prayers will be answered how He thinks best. Thank you Holy Spirit."

Whether you choose to believe that this is how I speak to God each and every day or not is up to you, but I assure you with all my heart it's no lie. God doesn't care how you approach Him, how you speak, or anything like that; as long as it's done with a clear conscience and out of a true desire for Him. I feel that nothing I ask for or seek is out of a selfish ambition to further my position on this earth, but rather out of a desire to further my relationship with my true Father and my place in heaven. I hope that you've enjoyed this article and can use it as an example in your own prayer life; feel free to share it with your friends and family, there are share buttons located at the top of each page. Please consider leaving me +1 with the Google Plus button, as well as leaving me a comment or some feedback below.

Now try reading my last article, Use Fitness to Witness for Jesus!

God Bless!

Use Fitness to Witness for Jesus

2012-03-16T17:00:00.084-04:00

Continuing along the same basic principles that I've been teaching about for the past couple of days, we'll be moving on to witnessing for Jesus Christ. As I pointed out in one of my last articles, "The Ab Workout of Christianity", I love to workout and be in the gym; four days a week at the very least. Something was brought to my attention today, which I've never really paid much mind, until now; once you reach a certain fitness level, others begin to approach you with questions.

I'll give you a couple of examples to show you exactly what I mean and how it may happen during your workout routine. A couple of months ago there was a middle aged woman who was doing her ab workout on the declined bench next to me. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed her watching my exercise, which was the Russian Twist, where you hold a medicine ball or weight and twist from side to side. After I completed my repetitions she asked me exactly what portion of the abs the exercise targeted, which lead to a 15 to 20 minute conversation of her telling me her fitness goals; she was a very nice about everything, but kind of killed my pump haha.

The next occurrence happened a couple of weeks ago while I was performing a front lateral dumbbell raise, lifting a dumbbell out in front of you. After completing my repetitions and writing down my progress, which is very important by the way, I was approached by a taller average sized young man. His question to me was how to specifically target the side deltoid muscles, which isn't really all that difficult. So I showed him a few sure fire ways to target the muscles, giving him the details about how to position himself and angle his arms as well; I basically gave him a short personal training lesson, just because I like to help people out who want to reach a certain fitness level.

The last time which I was approached was today, the funny thing is I was hitting the same muscle group, except by using a different exercise, I was holding a barbell and thrusting it straight up with my palms facing inward; with enough weight it targets the front delts incredibly well. Anyway, he wanted to know what this exercise was targeting and I guess looking for a friend who came regularly. We exchanged names and both went about our workouts, but coincidentally crossed paths again before he left. He kind of threw out the idea that we work out together sometime, and being a nice Christian with a friendly attitude I said that would be alright with me. Now, do I think he'll actually follow through, not necessarily, many people just enjoy making small talk at the gym and giving themselves a morale boost; but I guess we'll see huh?

As I walked into the locker room, God threw a revelation out to me, "Your fitness doesn't only have to affect you, it can be used to affect others as well." Allow me to continue on the basic idea of what I started in the opening paragraph, which was talking about fitness levels and being approached with questions. I've noticed quite often over the years, and I'm guilty of this myself, that many people who go to the gym will approach the bigger, more built guys, with all kinds of questions and seeking to workout with them. After God opened my eyes to this juicy little piece of knowledge, I gave it this little slogan, "fitness to witness"; which I'll now think about and live by each time I step foot in the gym.

Look at it this way, not only do I now have my personal goals to work towards, but now I also have a secondary reason for pushing myself to new levels. God knows I have an incredible love and enjoyment for building muscle, which He can use and turn into a method used to witness to others. It may not happen the very first time I talk to someone, but the more that these people approach me and we begin to build friendly relationships, it will leave a door open for me to witness to them down the road and even invite them to church with me sometime.

Here's what you should take away from today's lesson, the things that you enjoy in your life, whether it be working out or even something like baking, can be used to reach out to others for Jesus Christ. Think about something you're good at doing or really enjoy, does it ever involve other people or interacting with them in some manner; if not, can it? This cannot only be a door to begin building new friendships with others, but it can also be a gateway to be a witness and spread the Good News. Remember, it doesn't have to happen immediately, you don't always have to witness the first time you meet someone, especially if you see them on a regular basis, ease into it; remember this though, you also don't want to wait too long, because you never know when Christ will return.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to share it with your friends, please feel free to do so with our social buttons, which are located at the top of each page; please also consider giving me a plus one with the Google Plus button. If you're the kind of person that likes to leave your opinion on what you read or give words of encouragement, feel free to do so below.

God Bless!

Struggling as a Christian in 2021

2012-03-15T17:00:00.122-04:00

As Christians, many times we fall into this mindset that we have to be perfect; that if we aren't perfect, we're doing something wrong. This is true especially in those, such as myself, who have not been dedicated to living a godly life for long. It's come to my attention that quite often we think that as soon as we become Christians our lives will become radically changed; and in a way this is true, but not in the manner that many of us have come to think.

To give you a perfect example, I'll share with you something which happened to me today. I had just finished up my workout, got in my car, flipped on the radio, and was headed home when a song came on that sort of made me uncomfortable. Now, here's the funny thing, it was a Christian song; but the way the artist sang, so openly, and the words he was speaking, just showed me how short I fall in my praise life. I've always been a quiet individual, someone who never really speaks out or puts any emotion into a speech or a song; but hearing this showed me an area I was struggling with.

So what exactly was it that was being said, what was it that was being pointed out to me specifically? The artist was singing about God, how he created all of the stars and had names for each of them; how amazing God truly was and doing it so openly. There's no doubt about it, I love my God, but He pointed out to me through this song that I struggle with being open about my faith. Around my own family I'll often times wrap up my prayers quickly just because I hear someone about to walk into the room. It's not always necessarily because I'm embarrassed about prayer, but I do get uncomfortable when people watch me from time to time or ask me to pray out loud.

Here's the message that I want to relay today, when you become a Christian, not everything is going to be perfect, you will struggle. I pray on a daily basis that God will show me areas of my life that I can improve on, asking Him to come into these areas of my life, take over, and change them for the good of our relationship. By no means am I struggling in my walk with God on a personal level, but in regards of letting others know about it and sharing my faith with others, definitely. This may not be your problem, you may struggle with something completely different, such as giving up something in your life which you know is sinful; whatever the issue, we'll never be perfect, and it takes time to mature as a Christian.

Many people think that those who are in leadership positions live perfect Christian lives, such as pastors and assistant pastors; do you really think they don't fall short on a daily basis. The Bible tells us this, all people sin and fall short of the glory of God; it's not just talking about non-believers, it's talking about Christians as well. I guarantee you that there are many pastors, deacons, and other leaders who struggle with lust, pride, and money on a day to day basis. Don't fall into a manner of thinking that just because you have a minor set back that you're disappointing God, God loves you unconditionally and wants you to bring these problems before Him; don't just push them aside and belittle yourself.

You need to understand this, those who have been saved and continue to sin without seeking forgiveness, are failing to live a good Christian life; they are growing further and further from the Lord by failing to bring their problems before Him. But those who realize they are making mistakes, bring them before God, seek forgiveness and the strength to overcome, are doing exactly as they should be. God is more compassionate than we could possibly comprehend with our human emotions, He desires to carry all of our burdens for us, displaying His awesome power; all He asks is that we put our faith and confidence in Him. It's not by our own abilities and power that we make it through these struggles, it's by God's grace and mercy.

So next time you come across an area in your life that you're just struggling with, and you're not sure what to do about it, I want you to do this. Stop what you're doing, calm yourself, try to find a quiet place, and say this prayer:

"Father, I know that you already know what I'm struggling with, but I'm going to show some humility and bring it before you anyway. I'm struggling with (whatever your struggle is), I can't overcome this on my own Lord, I need your help carrying this burden. Father I just humbly ask that you would bare this burden for me, carry these emotions of stress, disappointment, and (whatever it is your feeling) so that I don't have to. Come into this area of my life God, (ask for forgiveness if it's something you've done), grant me the strength to overcome this obstacle and to focus on you. I know it's by your power and your blessing that I will overcome this, not by my will alone; thank you Father. I pray and ask that all of these things would be done in Jesus name, amen."

It may not happen immediately, God works on His own timetable, but you can have faith that He will allow you to overcome whatever it is you're facing. If you don't believe me, let me give you another perfect example from my life. For the longest time I had an addiction with pornography, I couldn't stop watching it and I just struggled with it almost every single day. When I rededicated my life to God, I continued to struggle with it, but I began asking for forgiveness and the strength to say no, I don't want to watch this. It didn't happen immediately, but over the course of about a month, God allowed me to reach that point where I no longer desired it and didn't have to watch it or even look at it. Do I still get urges to look occasionally? Of course I do, I'm a man, but I also have someone much greater than sin on my side; you do too.

If there is something which you're struggling with and would like to have others help you pray over, please leave a comment on the prayer request wall. I would like to thank you for dropping by, feel free to share this article with all of your friends and family, there are share buttons located at the top of each page; also please consider voting me up with a +1 with Google Plus. To continue growing as a Christian, why not consider reading about The Ab Workout of Christianity? Feel free to leave me a comment or some feedback about what you thought below.

God Bless!

The Ab Workout of Christianity!

2012-03-13T17:00:00.160-04:00

Anyone who knows me on a personal level knows that I love to workout, I enjoy being in the gym day in and day out. When it comes to building muscle or losing weight, what is the number one area that comes to mind? The core, or abdominal area right? Many people don't look at it this way, they think of it only as a "visual" area of the body, but, a strong core is very important to the body. Why is that?

When you look at the body, it stands upright and erect, right? Well, what area of the body do you suppose is responsible for this happening? Mainly the abdominal area and lower back region of your body, without strength in these two areas, you'll most likely grow to have bad posture and find it hard to keep your upper body erect. In the same manner, Christianity has core principles and teachings, with Christ at the center of our religion; because without Christ, we wouldn't have a religion, hence the name "Christianity".

I'm sure that by now many of you may be confused, thinking things such as: "So is this an ab workout article specific for Christians? Are you going to tell us how to workout? Did Jesus have a six pack or something? What's going on here?" So here's your explanation, Christianity is founded around the teachings, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the absolute core of our religion, aside from God Himself, but there are also other basics that must be learned so that we may continue to grow and strengthen our core.

The Ab Workout of Christianity

Alright, timeout, God just opened my eyes and showed me something really cool, and I have to share this with you; it pertains to the lesson, and actually serves to enhance it. I was going to share each principle with you anyway, so this just helps to illustrate it and help you commit it to memory. Alright, so think about this, what else are abs referred to? A six pack, right? As you strengthen and tone your abdominal's they begin to form six smaller and well defined muscles.

Well, I flipped open my Bible to Hebrews to see what the author had to say about spiritual growth and guess how many basic fundamentals need to be covered before maturing? I'll bet you can figure it out! But for giggles, let's just count them out anyway:

Turning away from evil deeds
Placing our faith in God
Instruction of Baptisms,
Laying on of hands,
Resurrection of the dead, and
Eternal Judgement

I also have to add this in as well, yesterday as well as today, I've been praying and asking the Lord to fill me with His Holy Spirit and lay on my mind what I should write about for the day. Both times he's given me great ideas, yesterday being How to Accept Christian Salvation! and today being the fundamentals of Christianity, ask and you shall receive; as long as it's in line with His will. I just noticed this as well, today kind of follows up with what I covered yesterday about accepting salvation, building on what a new Christian should learn; and I did none of this on my own, it was all God; He is truly amazing!

Alright, sorry for going off on a wild tangent, let's get back to the main subject at hand, which is building a secure foundation as a new Christian; the "abs" of Christianity. So Hebrews chapter 6 opens up by telling us that we don't need to constantly go over the same teachings over and over again; this is only for those who are no longer "new" Christians. However, if you are a new Christian, you should already know that it required faith in God and Jesus Christ to even become saved. You should also know that Christ was sinless, he lived a perfect life; following His example, we should also desire and strive to become perfect, although we will never achieve it until Christ returns for us.

"Older" Christians remember this as well, just because you've already learned the fundamentals does not mean you quit studying them; you simply need to move on to more advanced teachings while remembering the basics!

Now, what many of us may not know too much about are the last four points on the list; which are in many ways very similar to the abs of the body. Look at it this way, you have your behavior and your faith in God, which are your upper abs; easiest to understand as well as target in a workout. Next you have baptism and the laying on of hands, which are your middle abs; slightly harder to grasp and requires slightly more effort to target in your workout. Last you have the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement, the lower abs of the body; much harder to understand and grasp, as well as hitting them properly with specific exercises.

Baptism is an act of symbolism, done in public, where the pastor of your church submerges you in water, symbolizing the death of Christ; then bringing you back up into a new and forgiven life, which symbolizes God bringing Jesus back from the grave. The laying on of hands is an act, which was performed by Moses in the Old Testament, and by the apostles in the New, which involves praying over someone and laying your hands on them. The notes in my Bible say that this was an ancient Jewish practice, used to set people apart for special service. For example, In Acts 6:6, the apostles prayed over seven men to be placed in charge of administering food wisely. In Numbers 27:23, Moses laid his hands on Joshua, filling him with the Holy Spirit and commissioning him into his place of responsibility.

The resurrection of the dead could be talking about two different things, it could be talking about the miracles that Jesus and his apostles performed by raising people from the dead; but more likely than not it is referring to when Christ was raised from the grave by the power of God. If you never learn anything else from the Bible or about Christianity, this is the one thing which you should always remember. God came to earth in the body of a human, who was named Jesus, lived and taught among us, and was murdered; three days following his death, he was brought back to life, then continued sharing His teachings with His disciples for a time before ascending to heaven.

The last point which needs to be covered is the eternal judgement, which I'm sure that many of you have already heard of before; at least in some way, shape, or form. Many people who are not Christians have all heard that when they die they may either go to heaven or hell, but they choose not to believe or take part in this fact; yes I said fact. The truth of the matter is this, however, they may very well not even make it to their physical death; for the Lord our God is going pass a judgement over all of humanity. Here's how it will work, those who have submitted their lives to Jesus Christ will be granted the gift of eternal life with our God; but those who do not give their lives over to the Lord will spend all of eternity suffering in hell, it's that simple.

When is this second coming? The Bible tells us that no man knows the date or time of His coming, but when it happens it will be as if a thief in the night. The prophecies that were made in the past of the events which would happen right before His arrival have already come to pass. The only reason God is holding off on His return is to allow us a little more time to reach out to others and save them before it's too late. This is our single most important goal as Christians, spreading the good news about Jesus Christ and leading them to a relationship with the Lord.

To those of you who have been following my blog since it started, I'm sure you'll notice that my speech was kind of all over the place today; can you blame me? God revealed something truly unique and amazing to me today which I couldn't wait to share with you all, not to mention I was talking about growing as a Christian; that's a lot to get fired up about. If you enjoyed this article and would like to share it with others, there are social buttons located at the top of the page; also, please consider voting up my article with a +1. Feel free to leave me a comment below before you leave.

God Bless!

How to Accept Christian Salvation

2012-03-12T17:00:00.143-04:00

You've stumbled upon a Christian blog, where today I'll be teaching about Christian Salvation, and a relationship with God. For those of you who have already been saved, I encourage you to stick around and be reminded about the basic fundamentals of Christianity. For even Peter, who was there with Jesus in person, reminds us in 2 Peter to remember the basics of our faith; we should always continue and seek to learn advanced teachings, but we should never forget how we came to believe.

I'd first like to congratulate all of you who are here visiting for the first time, more likely than not if you've come across this site by the means of a search engine, then you've made a conscious decision to at least seek an understanding of who God is; to me this is the absolute first step down the short path to finding God, true happiness, and fulfillment in your life. I say short path because I want you to understand how simple it is to have a relationship with God, through his Son, Jesus Christ. Before getting to far ahead of ourselves, many of you may not even know what salvation is, so let's set up a basic understanding.

What is Salvation?

The Bible defines it as deliverance from slavery or from some great distress by the intervention of God; you may be thinking "well I'm not a slave, how does this apply to me?" Well, I'll break down everything into four simple things that God wants you to know; notice I said God, He cares about you and thinks about you on a daily basis, as well as the rest of his children. Something else you should know, you are a slave to whatever controls your life; if you have never freely given your life to the Lord, then you are living in sin and therefore a slave to it.

Four Essential Things God Wants You to Know

God deals with you based on what you are, not who you are
How he has chosen to solve your problem
You have to make the choice to accept Jesus or death
You must accept the gift of God which is in his Son Jesus Christ

1. The Bible clearly states in Romans 3:23 that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Let me ask you a simple question, when you were young, did your parents have to teach you to be bad or to behave; to behave right? This is because everyone is born into sin, we inherited it from the first humans on earth that sinned against God. Many people ask, if God loves us so much then how come he condemns us to hell if we're his "children"? Here's something you have to understand, God is light and pure, Sin is dark and evil; just like darkness doesn't exist in light, sin can't exist in the presence of God. In the same manner, we are unable and unworthy to be in His presence while we're still sinners; this is the first thing that you must come to understand.

2. God already knows we're sinners, which is why he chose to solve our problem out of an act of pure love, the offering of his Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for us. Romans 5:8 tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. John 3:16 says, God loved us so much that he sent his one and only Son to die for us, and if we believe in him, we will not perish but have eternal life. In case you don't fully understand what I'm saying here, let me break it down for you. God knows everything, he knew that we would be born into a life of sin; so in his infinite wisdom and love, he created a way that we could become clean, through the death of his Son. Jesus Christ, who was actually God in the flesh, came to earth and lived a sinless life, he never messed up once, He was and is perfect. He sacrificed his life for us to atone for the sins that we have committed, and will commit in the future. You don't have to comprehend how this works, no human can, it was designed by God; this is the second thing you must understand, God created a way for us to escape certain death and spend eternity with him.

3. This is a decision that you alone must make, nobody else can make it for you; just like someone who offers you money, you have the chance to accept or decline their gift. But before you make this decision, you must first fully understand the decision before you. Romans 6:23 states this, the wages of sin is death, but, the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. The meaning of death in this scripture goes beyond the meaning of what is taught in life; death in the sense of the Bible means eternal separation from God, spending all of eternity cut off from him in hell. Which is why God sacrificed his Son for us, so that we could accept Him and be saved from eternal damnation. Jesus himself states in John 3:36, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father, but through me. This means that no matter how many good things you do in life, unless you accept the gift that is Jesus, you will never enter heaven.

4. I'm sure that by now you are most likely thinking, well, how do I accept this free gift? Romans 10:9-10 tells us this, if we confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is the Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we'll be saved. For it's by believing in our heart that we are made right with God, and it's by confessing with our mouth that we are saved. Basically it means this, if you want this free gift that God is offering to you, you must believe that it is truly and freely offered to you; and all you have to do is ask for it.

If you would like to accept the free gift of salvation that God is offering to you today, because he loves you more than anything and desires a relationship with you, please say this prayer with me:

"Dear God, I know that Jesus Christ is your Son, I know that He died on the cross and was raised from the dead for me. I know I'm a sinner in need of forgiveness, I ask Jesus Christ to come into my heart and forgive me for all of my sins and save me. I acknowledge Jesus as my Savior by turning away from sin and looking to you for all my answers. Thank you for giving me forgiveness, eternal life, and hope for the future; help me to live the rest of my life for you. I ask this to be done in Jesus name, Amen."

I want you to know that if you've said that prayer just now, you can have faith that you are forgiven of all the sins you've ever committed in your life. All of heaven is rejoicing with you in your decision to follow God and I would like to do so as well. I want you to share with me below if you've asked Jesus into your heart, I want you to share your gift with everyone; let your light shine. There is much more for you to learn, your journey doesn't simply start after salvation; you should begin reading about God in his Word, the Bible, I would suggest starting in the book of John. God desires to grow closer with you, and this can only be done by getting to know him on a more intimate level.

Update: I've just published a new post entitled The Ab Workout of Christianity! which covers the fundamentals of what every Christian needs to know and learn before they can mature.

If you would like to see how I live my life and some of the changes I've made so far, I would encourage you to read my last post Desiring God in Daily Life! If this post has helped you and brought you to the Lord today, please consider sharing it with everyone you know, there are social buttons at the top of this page; also please consider giving me a +1. Again, I congratulate you on your decision to follow God through Jesus Christ, welcome my fellow brother or sister!

God Bless!