Today as I was relaxing I decided to watch TV. So I searched through the TiVo and decided to watch “Royal Pains.” The plot of the show was normal, basic and overall unimportant, but at the end of the show one of Hank’s clients said, “watch your six” to Hank’s brother. This simple phrase although very cliché struck me because I instantly saw a connection between it and our daily battle against sin.
In Exodus 31 and 32 Moses is called to the top of Mount Sinai to receive the Law from God. At this meeting God explains many of the Laws that he gave to the Israelites. Because there are so many laws, it took 40 days upon the top of Mount Sinai for God to share them with Moses. So the Israelites assuming Moses had been killed by God told Aaron to build them a golden Calf as an idol. Aaron obliged and according to Exodus 32:4, fashioned and carved a golden calf from molten jewelry.
When Moses returned he was furious. He condemned the Israelites for turning from the Lord. When he reached Aaron the High Priest at the time to ask how he could have allowed such an atrocity to be committed all Aaron had to say was, “I threw [the Gold] into the fire and out came this calf.” Did you hear that? The man who fashioned and carved the idol said that he just threw the Gold into the fire and out popped a Calf.
In our lives things pop out of the fire all of the time. We get too preoccupied with something, and “poof” out comes this pile of sin. Because we have accepted the message of the Lord we have been joined into the army of Christ, which means we are directly fighting against the army of Satan. And sadly enough, Satan’s best tools to pull us down are some of the same things we use to pull ourselves up. Fun healthy things like sports or games can be used by Satan as fuel to create sin in our lives. Even a game of Basketball can quickly turn into a heated battle for Supremacy and anger when handled badly.
Because Satan is the ruler of the this world, the world is going to constantly be crashing down on us. But the thing is, even if Satan is producing a massive amount of sin in our life, we may never know it because it happened slowly over time and came from safe things. The only thing that we can to do fight Satan from creeping up on us is the same thing that was given as advice at the beginning of this story… “Watch your six.” As you continue to spread and grow in the word of God you must continually watch your back for sin. Even the worst of fires all started from a single small match or spark that was allowed to burn for too long. “To Walk the Christian Walk” you must not only continually grow in the Lord, but also continually check that you are not falling back into sin.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Build Up or Tear Down... Your Choice
Hebrews 10:24-25
(24) and let us consider how to stimulate one
Another to love and good deeds
(25) not forsaking our own assembling together
As is the habit of some, but encouraging one
Another; and all the more as you see the day
drawing near
The message in this verse is simple, but it can often be hard to achieve. In today’s culture we, as Christians, are completely cocooned in darkness. Because we are also easily pressured, we often tend to make our lives look more like the darkness and less like the light. But that is not what God wishes for us.
Verse 24 says we should be stimulating others to love and to perform good deeds. You see God did not create Christians to be followers, he created us to be leaders. He created us to be lights on a hill for all to see. Instead of being like a chameleon and morphing into the darkness surrounding us, God wishes that we become the stronger force and cause the people around us to change instead of the reciprocal.
The easiest way for us to do this is found in verse 25. We need to stop abandoning the Christians around us for the things of this world. What often happens in today’s society is that we are confronted with a choice. Choose either to follow God’s path or follow the worlds, but the path leading to God is a very narrow path.
The word that this verse uses is forsaking. That can be translated in two different ways. You can take it to mean actual abandonment, or you can take it to mean an abandonment of trust. Or basically ridiculing our fellow brothers and sisters and losing their trust in us. But God does not wish for that. Instead he urges us to encourage each other.
We are taught by mother culture that comedy is found only in the breaking down of others. So we often pick the lowest person we can find (who no one cares about… right?) and then we break them down even more so we can feel higher. God does not wish for us to be like that. In fact it is that very form of pride that God absolutely hates. And as God says in this verse, the only emotion we should ever show others is encouragement.
Notice that the next section of the verse says especially when the day is drawing near. What does that mean for us? It means even when you have had a long day at work, a hard day at school, or even just a difficult day period, the only words that should come out of your mouth should be encouraging ones. Even when you are in the darkest pit of a day, and the only thing your soul craves is to say a slammer to someone... don’t. Instead encourage them and let them know how awesome they are.
Being a light is hard, in fact it is probably the hardest thing you will ever do. But it is also the most important. As talked about above, people are often going to be followers. They are going to look at the what they see around them and duplicate it in their own lives. This confront you with a problem, no matter what you do or want, someone out there is going to copy you. And most likely someone is probably going to copy them too. So your choice is simple, Are you going to live a life leading others to Satan, or a life leading others to Christ. You can say any answer inside your head, but the only answer that truly matters is the one shown by your actions.
(24) and let us consider how to stimulate one
Another to love and good deeds
(25) not forsaking our own assembling together
As is the habit of some, but encouraging one
Another; and all the more as you see the day
drawing near
The message in this verse is simple, but it can often be hard to achieve. In today’s culture we, as Christians, are completely cocooned in darkness. Because we are also easily pressured, we often tend to make our lives look more like the darkness and less like the light. But that is not what God wishes for us.
Verse 24 says we should be stimulating others to love and to perform good deeds. You see God did not create Christians to be followers, he created us to be leaders. He created us to be lights on a hill for all to see. Instead of being like a chameleon and morphing into the darkness surrounding us, God wishes that we become the stronger force and cause the people around us to change instead of the reciprocal.
The easiest way for us to do this is found in verse 25. We need to stop abandoning the Christians around us for the things of this world. What often happens in today’s society is that we are confronted with a choice. Choose either to follow God’s path or follow the worlds, but the path leading to God is a very narrow path.
The word that this verse uses is forsaking. That can be translated in two different ways. You can take it to mean actual abandonment, or you can take it to mean an abandonment of trust. Or basically ridiculing our fellow brothers and sisters and losing their trust in us. But God does not wish for that. Instead he urges us to encourage each other.
We are taught by mother culture that comedy is found only in the breaking down of others. So we often pick the lowest person we can find (who no one cares about… right?) and then we break them down even more so we can feel higher. God does not wish for us to be like that. In fact it is that very form of pride that God absolutely hates. And as God says in this verse, the only emotion we should ever show others is encouragement.
Notice that the next section of the verse says especially when the day is drawing near. What does that mean for us? It means even when you have had a long day at work, a hard day at school, or even just a difficult day period, the only words that should come out of your mouth should be encouraging ones. Even when you are in the darkest pit of a day, and the only thing your soul craves is to say a slammer to someone... don’t. Instead encourage them and let them know how awesome they are.
Being a light is hard, in fact it is probably the hardest thing you will ever do. But it is also the most important. As talked about above, people are often going to be followers. They are going to look at the what they see around them and duplicate it in their own lives. This confront you with a problem, no matter what you do or want, someone out there is going to copy you. And most likely someone is probably going to copy them too. So your choice is simple, Are you going to live a life leading others to Satan, or a life leading others to Christ. You can say any answer inside your head, but the only answer that truly matters is the one shown by your actions.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Prayer quickly turns to Resentment
After months of waiting I have finally reached Miami!!! I will spend the day in fairly intensive training for the drama, and on Thursday we leave for Guatemala! Not much has happened yet, but we did receive our roles for the play. I was expecting a fairly big part. I thought I was a superb actor, but this infatuation with myself was the very root of my distinguishing.
Yesterday at our very first FUAGNEM (Fired up and going nuts every minute!) we got to watch a video of the drama we will be doing. It shares the story of creation and the gospel, by portraying a world called toy world. It is very simple to pick out the underlying characters in the play: the toymaker is God, the toymaker’s son is Jesus, the Prince and Princess is Adam and Eve, and the magician is the devil. I watched this video and I understood how this drama has saved so many lives. It is amazing and it portrays the good news in such a passionate light. I watched as the story went on and I thought inside my head how good I would be at all of those parts. I could be an amazing God, a passionate Jesus, an evil magician, and I could even attempt to be the handsome prince. As the play went on I even said a prayer to God asking for him to put me in the part that would spread the most grace (thinking that would be the part of Jesus). But when I received my role I was astonished at what I got.
In addition to the main characters listed above there are soldiers, mimes, cats, and various other parts; Parts that I viewed important, but not good enough for my standards. When I received my part my view of the play was turned upside down. I was to be playing the part of a cat. Not even the King or Sidekick Cat, but just a regular cat. I was no leader even in the subdivision I viewed as being to low for me. The Cats part in the play is to be a bad guy at the beginning and then through God’s saving grace, be changed to good in the end. And somehow by God’s amazing grace the part of the cat changed me as well.
When I woke up in the morning I was still high on my train of thought. I wasn’t going to say anything, but I still felt underappreciated. So I decided to trudge downstairs anyways for breakfast. After I finished I went into the team devotions room. No one was their but I just sat down anyways and had my own devo. I read Revelations 21. When I read that heaven was a place with streets of gold I almost smacked myself upside the head for God.
It dawned on me... I AM NOT HERE FOR MYSELF!!! On a mission’s trip set to save thousands of people I was griping in the corner about being a cat. I had prayed the night before for God to use me as he saw fit, and after he did I resented him because it wasn’t what I saw fit. God had a purpose for me but I let the world’s distorted view of the superior person get in the way. God isn’t my sidekick, the guy standing in the back to answer my prayers when I need them answered. But he is the hero and I am not even good enough for me to be his sidekick. At best I am the stupid kid who the villain (Satan) snatches away with the snap of his fingers.
In a world where we are taught to be number one, we must remember that we are not. God is the origin of the universe and we are simply dots floating in space. The choice that God leaves us with is “what will you do with your dot?” I was ashamed to be a cat yesterday when someone got to be the star. Will you choose to be a dot randomly floating in space, or a dot gravitating around the origin of the Universe. If you choose the latter, then remember you are no longer the sun. You are just a planet rotating around it. Sometimes God will ask you to be Jupiter, and sometimes he will ask us to be a space rock. Either way, remember you are rotating around God and it is not the other way around. You should not be working to glorify yourself, but instead working to glorify your creator. God is the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End. To Walk the Christian walk we must give up our views of superiority and just be the best middle that we can possibly be.
Yesterday at our very first FUAGNEM (Fired up and going nuts every minute!) we got to watch a video of the drama we will be doing. It shares the story of creation and the gospel, by portraying a world called toy world. It is very simple to pick out the underlying characters in the play: the toymaker is God, the toymaker’s son is Jesus, the Prince and Princess is Adam and Eve, and the magician is the devil. I watched this video and I understood how this drama has saved so many lives. It is amazing and it portrays the good news in such a passionate light. I watched as the story went on and I thought inside my head how good I would be at all of those parts. I could be an amazing God, a passionate Jesus, an evil magician, and I could even attempt to be the handsome prince. As the play went on I even said a prayer to God asking for him to put me in the part that would spread the most grace (thinking that would be the part of Jesus). But when I received my role I was astonished at what I got.
In addition to the main characters listed above there are soldiers, mimes, cats, and various other parts; Parts that I viewed important, but not good enough for my standards. When I received my part my view of the play was turned upside down. I was to be playing the part of a cat. Not even the King or Sidekick Cat, but just a regular cat. I was no leader even in the subdivision I viewed as being to low for me. The Cats part in the play is to be a bad guy at the beginning and then through God’s saving grace, be changed to good in the end. And somehow by God’s amazing grace the part of the cat changed me as well.
When I woke up in the morning I was still high on my train of thought. I wasn’t going to say anything, but I still felt underappreciated. So I decided to trudge downstairs anyways for breakfast. After I finished I went into the team devotions room. No one was their but I just sat down anyways and had my own devo. I read Revelations 21. When I read that heaven was a place with streets of gold I almost smacked myself upside the head for God.
It dawned on me... I AM NOT HERE FOR MYSELF!!! On a mission’s trip set to save thousands of people I was griping in the corner about being a cat. I had prayed the night before for God to use me as he saw fit, and after he did I resented him because it wasn’t what I saw fit. God had a purpose for me but I let the world’s distorted view of the superior person get in the way. God isn’t my sidekick, the guy standing in the back to answer my prayers when I need them answered. But he is the hero and I am not even good enough for me to be his sidekick. At best I am the stupid kid who the villain (Satan) snatches away with the snap of his fingers.
In a world where we are taught to be number one, we must remember that we are not. God is the origin of the universe and we are simply dots floating in space. The choice that God leaves us with is “what will you do with your dot?” I was ashamed to be a cat yesterday when someone got to be the star. Will you choose to be a dot randomly floating in space, or a dot gravitating around the origin of the Universe. If you choose the latter, then remember you are no longer the sun. You are just a planet rotating around it. Sometimes God will ask you to be Jupiter, and sometimes he will ask us to be a space rock. Either way, remember you are rotating around God and it is not the other way around. You should not be working to glorify yourself, but instead working to glorify your creator. God is the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End. To Walk the Christian walk we must give up our views of superiority and just be the best middle that we can possibly be.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Bullying Part 2 - Between Friends
As discussed in Part 1 bullying is one of the hardest things a teen will ever go through. I personally went through severe bully throughout most of my life and still go through it today. But what I realized from my experiences is that physical bullying is not at all the problem even though it is mainly thought of as it. But what actually is the problem is verbal harassment. Because were only enemies choose to physically beat up on each other, every teen, even close friends, often choose to say hurtful things as an effort to be humorous.
Everybody wants to be funny. After all it is an awesome feeling to get a group of people to laugh at a joke you have told. But recently the media has distorted our view on humor. It has told us that instead of nice clean jokes, it is funnier to make fun of people’s differences. This specific kind of humor surrounds us on a daily basis. Derogatory names ring throughout school hallways. Insults like “fatty” and “retarded” are constantly being used as a comedic device. The problem with this is that teens often become accustomed to these jokes and accidentally start using them themselves.
Because our minds have been dulled from constant exposure to this humor. It has begun to leak into our personal relationships. We forget what we are saying and accidentally make fun of our own friends. We disguise it with statements like “I am just kidding around” and “I don’t really mean it,” but deep down we know it has the same hurtful aspects as if it were told to that friend by an actual bully.
God makes it very clear throughout the bible that bullying is not okay, especially between fellow members of Christ. Ephesians 4:29 says “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
When I read this verse God reminds me of the old saying “If you cant say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” God wishes for us to only love those who surround us. In this verse God tells us that unless we are saying something that will help those who are sitting around us we shouldn’t say anything at all. This includes jokes that you say to your friends. Even if it is truly being told in humor, if it isn’t nice don’t say it.
Verbal Insults will always surround us. And sadly our culture will never be able to completely rid itself of it. As a Christian it is our duty to spread our influence and light as far as we can. The best way to do this is to develop as many “safe grounds” as possible. Or in other words, create places where other people feel safe from hurtful forces of bullying. Begin this mission with your own youth group. I can tell you from personal experience that even though you may be behind the doors of a church you may still not be free from bullying. So as you rid yourselves of verbal bullying we must also try to rid our church’s youth program of it. The church should always be a Christian’s last resort for safety and comfort, but if we cant keep our mouths from negative talk even inside that building then we are no better than even the worst bully out there. To “Walk the Christian Walk” we must only speak that which benefits others and not that which cuts others down.
Everybody wants to be funny. After all it is an awesome feeling to get a group of people to laugh at a joke you have told. But recently the media has distorted our view on humor. It has told us that instead of nice clean jokes, it is funnier to make fun of people’s differences. This specific kind of humor surrounds us on a daily basis. Derogatory names ring throughout school hallways. Insults like “fatty” and “retarded” are constantly being used as a comedic device. The problem with this is that teens often become accustomed to these jokes and accidentally start using them themselves.
Because our minds have been dulled from constant exposure to this humor. It has begun to leak into our personal relationships. We forget what we are saying and accidentally make fun of our own friends. We disguise it with statements like “I am just kidding around” and “I don’t really mean it,” but deep down we know it has the same hurtful aspects as if it were told to that friend by an actual bully.
God makes it very clear throughout the bible that bullying is not okay, especially between fellow members of Christ. Ephesians 4:29 says “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
When I read this verse God reminds me of the old saying “If you cant say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” God wishes for us to only love those who surround us. In this verse God tells us that unless we are saying something that will help those who are sitting around us we shouldn’t say anything at all. This includes jokes that you say to your friends. Even if it is truly being told in humor, if it isn’t nice don’t say it.
Verbal Insults will always surround us. And sadly our culture will never be able to completely rid itself of it. As a Christian it is our duty to spread our influence and light as far as we can. The best way to do this is to develop as many “safe grounds” as possible. Or in other words, create places where other people feel safe from hurtful forces of bullying. Begin this mission with your own youth group. I can tell you from personal experience that even though you may be behind the doors of a church you may still not be free from bullying. So as you rid yourselves of verbal bullying we must also try to rid our church’s youth program of it. The church should always be a Christian’s last resort for safety and comfort, but if we cant keep our mouths from negative talk even inside that building then we are no better than even the worst bully out there. To “Walk the Christian Walk” we must only speak that which benefits others and not that which cuts others down.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Bullying Part 1 - Between Enemies
Bullying is a major conflict that thousands of teens go through today. Most teens can’t even go through a single day of school without receiving some kind of abuse. Although the type of abuse differs, there are only two different kinds of bullying relationships. The bullying relationship between two enemies, and the bullying relationship between friends. Section 1 of this post will go over the relation between enemies.
between enemies is the most referred to type of bullying. The image of two teens physically fighting is often what is pictured, but that is not the case in society today. Instead teens usually use words as daggers instead of their bodies as clubs. This kind of harassment, although not causing physical pain, impacts teens in even worse ways. This constant verbal abuse is sending thousands of teens into early-on-set depression. Then as a result, hundreds of teens are turning to suicide as a last resort. Doesn’t it just hurt to think about? These teens fell so bad about themselves from constant abuse, that they feel the only way out is through their death.
The first step to take when being bullied is to understanding that you are a special creation made from a loving God. Ephesians 2:10 says that “you are God‘s masterpiece.“ Not only are you a creation made from God, but you are his Mona Lisa, you are his masterpiece. Then to go further John 3:16 says that God loves you so much that he gave his only begotten son as a sacrifice for your sin so you could spend eternity with him. Not only are you a masterpiece made by God, but you are loved by your creator with such a strong love that no one can even comprehend.
The second step we must take when being bullied is to learn how to love and forget how to hate. 1 John 3:15 says “ Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life.” God tells us that we must show love to everyone, even our persecutors. This verse says that if you hate your brother you are a sinner, and are therefore equal to a murderer in God‘s eyes. So when we are bullied instead of reciprocating the action and giving into hate, we should instead stop the cycle in it’s path. Luke 6:29 says that “if somebody strikes one cheek ,then turn to him the other. If somebody steels your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.“ God wants us to only show love and kindness to those who bully us. When you are bullied, do not become like those who bully you, but instead be better than them and walk away.
The devil seeks only to pull us down and to make us disobey God. In order for him to do this he places bullies in our path. It is essential to remember when you are being bullied that it is not happening because God doesn’t love you, but because the devil wishes to destroy your relationship with God. John 15:18 says “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.“ God understands that we are bullied. In fact this verse states that Jesus was ridiculed even before you. We need to follow the example that Jesus placed before us and love our persecutors. Next time the devil tries to trip you up remember not to give in, but to instead “Walk the Christian Walk” away.
between enemies is the most referred to type of bullying. The image of two teens physically fighting is often what is pictured, but that is not the case in society today. Instead teens usually use words as daggers instead of their bodies as clubs. This kind of harassment, although not causing physical pain, impacts teens in even worse ways. This constant verbal abuse is sending thousands of teens into early-on-set depression. Then as a result, hundreds of teens are turning to suicide as a last resort. Doesn’t it just hurt to think about? These teens fell so bad about themselves from constant abuse, that they feel the only way out is through their death.
The first step to take when being bullied is to understanding that you are a special creation made from a loving God. Ephesians 2:10 says that “you are God‘s masterpiece.“ Not only are you a creation made from God, but you are his Mona Lisa, you are his masterpiece. Then to go further John 3:16 says that God loves you so much that he gave his only begotten son as a sacrifice for your sin so you could spend eternity with him. Not only are you a masterpiece made by God, but you are loved by your creator with such a strong love that no one can even comprehend.
The second step we must take when being bullied is to learn how to love and forget how to hate. 1 John 3:15 says “ Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life.” God tells us that we must show love to everyone, even our persecutors. This verse says that if you hate your brother you are a sinner, and are therefore equal to a murderer in God‘s eyes. So when we are bullied instead of reciprocating the action and giving into hate, we should instead stop the cycle in it’s path. Luke 6:29 says that “if somebody strikes one cheek ,then turn to him the other. If somebody steels your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.“ God wants us to only show love and kindness to those who bully us. When you are bullied, do not become like those who bully you, but instead be better than them and walk away.
The devil seeks only to pull us down and to make us disobey God. In order for him to do this he places bullies in our path. It is essential to remember when you are being bullied that it is not happening because God doesn’t love you, but because the devil wishes to destroy your relationship with God. John 15:18 says “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.“ God understands that we are bullied. In fact this verse states that Jesus was ridiculed even before you. We need to follow the example that Jesus placed before us and love our persecutors. Next time the devil tries to trip you up remember not to give in, but to instead “Walk the Christian Walk” away.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Endurance...Perseverance...What's the difference?
Everybody uses perseverance and endurance interchangeably. But after writing about perseverance yesterday I began to wonder, “What is the actual difference between the two.” According to Dictionary.com, perseverance is defined as continuance till the end. And endurance is defined as using strength to continue despite pain and fatigue. The difference between the two is that persistence is remaining steady in hopes to finish while endurance is bearing pain so that you can finish. Endurance is different than persistence because you have to conquer pain to endure.
Endurance is closely related to trials because to conquer trials you must endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” When you are faced with trials, you must remember to endure. God understands that this will not be easy so he will always provide you with a way of escape. But God not only wants us to endure our trials but he also wants us to rejoice in them. Romans 5:3-4 says “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Hope is essential to us, without hope we have no need for a savior, and thus no need for God. The Bible tells us that one of the only ways to produce hope is by enduring.
Enduring is difficult. But God doesn’t want us to give up. He understands that you may fail, but he still asks us to run the race as best as we can. When we run, we must remember that we are not running alone. Deuteronomy 31:6 says “the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” God is always at our side. He is constantly there holding our hands and protecting us wherever we go, even when we feel like he has abandoned us. When we stumble, like everyone does, God just asks that we take his hand, so that he can pick us back up. To “Walk the Christian Walk” we must endure through even the most difficult of trials, despite how hard it will be to do so.
Endurance is closely related to trials because to conquer trials you must endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” When you are faced with trials, you must remember to endure. God understands that this will not be easy so he will always provide you with a way of escape. But God not only wants us to endure our trials but he also wants us to rejoice in them. Romans 5:3-4 says “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Hope is essential to us, without hope we have no need for a savior, and thus no need for God. The Bible tells us that one of the only ways to produce hope is by enduring.
Enduring is difficult. But God doesn’t want us to give up. He understands that you may fail, but he still asks us to run the race as best as we can. When we run, we must remember that we are not running alone. Deuteronomy 31:6 says “the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” God is always at our side. He is constantly there holding our hands and protecting us wherever we go, even when we feel like he has abandoned us. When we stumble, like everyone does, God just asks that we take his hand, so that he can pick us back up. To “Walk the Christian Walk” we must endure through even the most difficult of trials, despite how hard it will be to do so.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Perseverance
Persevere, the words echoed in my head as I began to sprint the first lap. I was back on my daily running routine. It consists of about 2 ½ miles, separated by 3 different laps. I started the routine about a month ago. I went solidly for 2 weeks, but then I slowly drifted away. But now two weeks after the stop, I was running again. I use a very simple system. I exert all of my extra energy when sprinting the first lap. The second lap I take to recharge. I push myself, but not to a point of overexertion. The third Lap kills. I run for the finish. Most of my energy reserve has been depleted, and I am coming up empty. This lap is not run with my body. I block out the messages it is sending to me. I push myself, forget the pain, and persevere. Success is finally achieved when I reach the finish line. Accomplishment floods my brain. I have not just succeeded, or strengthened my body. I have won my own personal race.
Persevering is what strengthens our faith. In my story, the first lap is easy. Likewise, your faith doesn’t achieve much unless it is tested. But on the third lap, or the point where you have to push yourself, that is the when you choose whether to make or break it. When my body ached so bad that I thought I couldn’t make it, I could have easily given in and quit. But the fact that I choose to persevere kept my body working hard, and my body gain muscle because of it. When your life is easy, it is also easy to believe in God. But when your life is falling apart it is hard to endure. You can never truly know the strength of your faith until it has been pushed to its breaking point.
James 1:2-4 says “Consider it joy my brethren, when you have encounter trials, for the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” Perseverance is what gets us through life. We can not run a race, do our quiet time, or even write a paper for school unless we persevere. But how do we gain this life skill? The Bible tells us that the only way to develop perseverance is through the testing of our faith. Just like homework helps us grow in knowledge, trials help us grow in perseverance. George Van Valkenburg, a famous businessman of our time once said, “Accomplishment and success are often the result of commitment and perseverance rather than skill or talent.” Or in other words, you are more likely to succeed in life as a result of perseverance rather than talent. I once heard the same thing but stated like this, “I was not better than most guys out there, but I pushed myself harder than they did, and eventually I began to beat them.” To succeed as a Christian, we have to push ourselves harder and perform better than what is expected from the average person. To “Walk the Christian Walk” we must persevere even in the hardest of trials so that we can always finish the race a bigger and stronger Christian.
Persevering is what strengthens our faith. In my story, the first lap is easy. Likewise, your faith doesn’t achieve much unless it is tested. But on the third lap, or the point where you have to push yourself, that is the when you choose whether to make or break it. When my body ached so bad that I thought I couldn’t make it, I could have easily given in and quit. But the fact that I choose to persevere kept my body working hard, and my body gain muscle because of it. When your life is easy, it is also easy to believe in God. But when your life is falling apart it is hard to endure. You can never truly know the strength of your faith until it has been pushed to its breaking point.
James 1:2-4 says “Consider it joy my brethren, when you have encounter trials, for the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” Perseverance is what gets us through life. We can not run a race, do our quiet time, or even write a paper for school unless we persevere. But how do we gain this life skill? The Bible tells us that the only way to develop perseverance is through the testing of our faith. Just like homework helps us grow in knowledge, trials help us grow in perseverance. George Van Valkenburg, a famous businessman of our time once said, “Accomplishment and success are often the result of commitment and perseverance rather than skill or talent.” Or in other words, you are more likely to succeed in life as a result of perseverance rather than talent. I once heard the same thing but stated like this, “I was not better than most guys out there, but I pushed myself harder than they did, and eventually I began to beat them.” To succeed as a Christian, we have to push ourselves harder and perform better than what is expected from the average person. To “Walk the Christian Walk” we must persevere even in the hardest of trials so that we can always finish the race a bigger and stronger Christian.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Commitment Ends Quickly
Wow, Commitment to this blog is already becoming a challenge. Once the weekend sun set, my life became a whole lot harder. Where on the weekend I could blog for 2 hours a day without breaking a sweat, I now have a quarter of the time. The weekend is easy, free time and open spaces. But during the week I have school, final exams, and preparing for my drivers test. There is just no time anymore. Take tonight for example. I came home from school, went to a birthday dinner (45 minutes away from home), got back at 10, made a batch of cookies for school (4 dozen), and I am now writing to you at 12:15 at night. With this schedule I begin to wonder how am I supposed to fit in time for this blog, or even more importantly, how am I supposed to fit in time for God.
My situation is the exact same situation that almost every teen faces when school begins. Where in the summer it is easy to fit in a devotion here and there, during the school year there is no spare time. Then on the rare occurrence that we receive spare time, God is last on our thoughts. But this is the opposite of what God wishes for us. The bible tells us countless times that God should always come first. Even if it is just a prayer every so often throughout the day. Luke 5:16 says “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray.” This verse doesn’t say that Jesus prayed for hours and hours on end. It just says that he prayed often. In addition to prayer, God also asks that have fellowship with him daily. Just like you wish to see your friends and family everyday, God wishes for us to have daily fellowship with him. Hosea 6:6 says “For I desire… acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.” This verse says that God just wishes for “acknowledgement” from his believers. As much as he would appreciate a 3 hour devotion daily, he doesn’t require it. He just wishes that his followers acknowledge him in our lives every day by having a devotion with him.
In our busy teen lives it is hard to fit all of this in. As a matter of fact we can barely fit in sleep on some occasions. But we need to remember that God must always come first. To keep God constantly in our lives we must find times throughout the day that we can devote to him. Prayer should be done numerous times throughout the day. Easy times to do this are when you wake up, before each meal, and then before you go to sleep. These same times (with the exception of “before each meal“) are also great times to do quiet times. I mention the same times again because they are already scheduled into your daily routine. By picking times you always have open, you will have less opportunity to close it with other things. Devotions are a commitment that everybody needs to make with themselves so there is no set time limit, but 20 minutes a day is a great starting point. Remember, if it ever gets really late at night and you feel like you aren’t going to make it…still do a quiet time. Just pray to God before to keep you alert and focused, and then after to give you a deep sleep to regenerate and make up for the lost sleep.
By keeping God in your life by doing these simply things you will see a dramatic improvement in you relationship with God. Think of it like this, if you only ever prayed to God once daily and didn’t do a quiet time. By following these steps you could easily spend over a half an hour more per day with God. This time although seemingly small, adds up quickly. This step in our relationship with God is critical. We can never have God work in our lives unless we openly invite him in to talk to us. To “Walk the Christian Walk” one must have a daily relationship with God, even if it means pushing our self harder and longer than we have ever gone before.
My situation is the exact same situation that almost every teen faces when school begins. Where in the summer it is easy to fit in a devotion here and there, during the school year there is no spare time. Then on the rare occurrence that we receive spare time, God is last on our thoughts. But this is the opposite of what God wishes for us. The bible tells us countless times that God should always come first. Even if it is just a prayer every so often throughout the day. Luke 5:16 says “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray.” This verse doesn’t say that Jesus prayed for hours and hours on end. It just says that he prayed often. In addition to prayer, God also asks that have fellowship with him daily. Just like you wish to see your friends and family everyday, God wishes for us to have daily fellowship with him. Hosea 6:6 says “For I desire… acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.” This verse says that God just wishes for “acknowledgement” from his believers. As much as he would appreciate a 3 hour devotion daily, he doesn’t require it. He just wishes that his followers acknowledge him in our lives every day by having a devotion with him.
In our busy teen lives it is hard to fit all of this in. As a matter of fact we can barely fit in sleep on some occasions. But we need to remember that God must always come first. To keep God constantly in our lives we must find times throughout the day that we can devote to him. Prayer should be done numerous times throughout the day. Easy times to do this are when you wake up, before each meal, and then before you go to sleep. These same times (with the exception of “before each meal“) are also great times to do quiet times. I mention the same times again because they are already scheduled into your daily routine. By picking times you always have open, you will have less opportunity to close it with other things. Devotions are a commitment that everybody needs to make with themselves so there is no set time limit, but 20 minutes a day is a great starting point. Remember, if it ever gets really late at night and you feel like you aren’t going to make it…still do a quiet time. Just pray to God before to keep you alert and focused, and then after to give you a deep sleep to regenerate and make up for the lost sleep.
By keeping God in your life by doing these simply things you will see a dramatic improvement in you relationship with God. Think of it like this, if you only ever prayed to God once daily and didn’t do a quiet time. By following these steps you could easily spend over a half an hour more per day with God. This time although seemingly small, adds up quickly. This step in our relationship with God is critical. We can never have God work in our lives unless we openly invite him in to talk to us. To “Walk the Christian Walk” one must have a daily relationship with God, even if it means pushing our self harder and longer than we have ever gone before.
Monday, May 31, 2010
My Big Bang Theory... Literally
About a week ago I got into an accident. It was a very unfortunate chain of event. Two Mondays ago I had decided to build a new type of potato launcher. So I drew up the plans and bought all of the necessary materials. On Friday I started to put it together. When I had finished putting on the glue and locking all of the pieces into place, I had to take a break and let the glue dry. Then when I came back to it on Saturday I tried to shoot it. But I was met with failure. My combustion chamber was to big and I couldn’t get my fuel (Axe Body Spray) to ignite. So I went back to work. On Sunday Morning I got the new couplet that I needed to put the combustion chamber back together after I cut in in half. So I glued the couplet into place and “Walla.” The PVC part of this experiment was finally finished. To finish the project in its entirety, I needed to finish the electrical part. I drilled two holes into the PVC for the electrodes. Placed them into their finished location, and it was finished. I quickly looked into the combustion chamber to make sure that the electrodes where still working, clicked the igniter once and Disaster…
With a stunning flash of light the right side of my face was quickly engulfed in flames. I received 2nd degree and 1st degree burns all over my face. All of my eyelashes, 3 quarters of my eyebrow, and a large portion of the hair on the right side of my head was incinerated instantaneously from the heat. I rushed inside to get my face under water because it burned like nothing I had ever felt before. My parents came in to see what had happened and I was rushed over to the hospital. Where good old Portage thought that the emergency Room was a little overdoing it, so they placed me in the urgent care waiting room instead. After being in the hospital for about 25 minutes, the urgent care receptionist finally thought that it would be a good idea to give me some ice, so I finally received some form of treatment. About 10 minutes later I was placed in my own comfy little room. 5 minutes after that I finally got to see a doctor. They cleaned everything up, quick checked that my eye hadn’t been permanently injured, quickly grabbed some of the hair that persisted to fall out where ever I walked. And after 20 minutes after that I was on my way home.
But you want to know what is truly funny about this story. After receiving 2nd degree burns to my face that were so serious that if they didn’t heal correctly I would have permanent scarring. And after I almost lost the use of my eye, I was concerned about one thing… “O my Gosh I look like a loser!!!” Where the doctors recommended that I go home and sleep, the next place I told my mom to take me was “Cost Cutters.” Did you see the stupidity when I asked my mom to take me there. After receiving these injuries that had a high possibility of being permanent, the only thing I was concerned about was the things that would easily grow back in due time. My perception of what was truly important was masked by what in the long term (or even two weeks) wouldn’t even be an issue. All because I didn’t want to look different. I wanted to maintain the ability to stay average. The ability to not be looked at weird in the hall-ways of school, and certainly not to be harassed.
My story is a perfect recreation of why teenagers choose to not accept the message that God has so graciously placed before them. John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Isn’t that amazing? God loves us so much that he gave us his one and only son to die on a cross as our personal sacrifice so that we may have an eternity with him. Even though we did absolutely nothing to deserve it. This message is the single most important message that we will ever hear, yet we, as teenagers, often write it off.
Remember my story? Remember how I only cared about what Society would say about my face as apposed to what was truly important? Teenagers every where are beginning to following this very same path. They are beginning to only care abut what society says about Christianity as apposed to what they feel inside is truly important. The number of teenagers who are being turned away from Christianity because they are scared of what their friends will think is rising at an alarming rate. We need to instill in our youth today a very important message. The message that it is okay to be different. It is okay to look weird to the people around you, as long as you know that you are the normal one, and everyone else is truly the different ones. If we teach this message to our youth it will have an amazing turnout. In this specific case, it is even the difference between eternal life with God and eternal punishment.
Teenagers today have one huge problem. They care way to much about what other people think. I can personally admit to it. The amount of time I have spent caring about what other people thought, as apposed to just being myself is one of the biggest mistakes of my life. We need to start focusing on the choices that we make and not about what people think about them. We need to completely block out the worldly influence in our lives, and only care about the spiritual influence. A pastor once told me that, “your life on earth is like a single spray of aerosol in the entire universe, it doesn’t matter. What does is the choices that you make and the people that you help lead to Christ.” Your life will go on for eternity whether you accept the message or not. You need to make sure that the short spray of life you have on earth is done doing what is truly important. To “Walk the Christian Walk” you need to stop caring about what society says about your actions, and only care about God says.
With a stunning flash of light the right side of my face was quickly engulfed in flames. I received 2nd degree and 1st degree burns all over my face. All of my eyelashes, 3 quarters of my eyebrow, and a large portion of the hair on the right side of my head was incinerated instantaneously from the heat. I rushed inside to get my face under water because it burned like nothing I had ever felt before. My parents came in to see what had happened and I was rushed over to the hospital. Where good old Portage thought that the emergency Room was a little overdoing it, so they placed me in the urgent care waiting room instead. After being in the hospital for about 25 minutes, the urgent care receptionist finally thought that it would be a good idea to give me some ice, so I finally received some form of treatment. About 10 minutes later I was placed in my own comfy little room. 5 minutes after that I finally got to see a doctor. They cleaned everything up, quick checked that my eye hadn’t been permanently injured, quickly grabbed some of the hair that persisted to fall out where ever I walked. And after 20 minutes after that I was on my way home.
But you want to know what is truly funny about this story. After receiving 2nd degree burns to my face that were so serious that if they didn’t heal correctly I would have permanent scarring. And after I almost lost the use of my eye, I was concerned about one thing… “O my Gosh I look like a loser!!!” Where the doctors recommended that I go home and sleep, the next place I told my mom to take me was “Cost Cutters.” Did you see the stupidity when I asked my mom to take me there. After receiving these injuries that had a high possibility of being permanent, the only thing I was concerned about was the things that would easily grow back in due time. My perception of what was truly important was masked by what in the long term (or even two weeks) wouldn’t even be an issue. All because I didn’t want to look different. I wanted to maintain the ability to stay average. The ability to not be looked at weird in the hall-ways of school, and certainly not to be harassed.
My story is a perfect recreation of why teenagers choose to not accept the message that God has so graciously placed before them. John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Isn’t that amazing? God loves us so much that he gave us his one and only son to die on a cross as our personal sacrifice so that we may have an eternity with him. Even though we did absolutely nothing to deserve it. This message is the single most important message that we will ever hear, yet we, as teenagers, often write it off.
Remember my story? Remember how I only cared about what Society would say about my face as apposed to what was truly important? Teenagers every where are beginning to following this very same path. They are beginning to only care abut what society says about Christianity as apposed to what they feel inside is truly important. The number of teenagers who are being turned away from Christianity because they are scared of what their friends will think is rising at an alarming rate. We need to instill in our youth today a very important message. The message that it is okay to be different. It is okay to look weird to the people around you, as long as you know that you are the normal one, and everyone else is truly the different ones. If we teach this message to our youth it will have an amazing turnout. In this specific case, it is even the difference between eternal life with God and eternal punishment.
Teenagers today have one huge problem. They care way to much about what other people think. I can personally admit to it. The amount of time I have spent caring about what other people thought, as apposed to just being myself is one of the biggest mistakes of my life. We need to start focusing on the choices that we make and not about what people think about them. We need to completely block out the worldly influence in our lives, and only care about the spiritual influence. A pastor once told me that, “your life on earth is like a single spray of aerosol in the entire universe, it doesn’t matter. What does is the choices that you make and the people that you help lead to Christ.” Your life will go on for eternity whether you accept the message or not. You need to make sure that the short spray of life you have on earth is done doing what is truly important. To “Walk the Christian Walk” you need to stop caring about what society says about your actions, and only care about God says.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The World's Most Contagious Sin... Swearing
In my life there is one sin that I commit most often when compared to every other one. This sin is swearing. Ever since I was a kid and I heard those certain bad words for the first time, they stuck with me for the rest of my life. Despite how hard I would try not to, profanity would still slip out of mouth before I knew what had happened. This eventually led to me letting out some kind of curse after every negative occasion I encountered. My parents and other significant adults would try to punish me and get me to stop, but it wouldn’t work. Swearing became one of the biggest habitual sins I had ever committed. But I was saved by grace when God revealed portions of scripture to me. After years of swearing, I finally gained the ability to control my tongue.
There are many verse that go over sinning. One of the verse that make the most impact it Ephesians 4:29. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for the building of others up… [and what] may benefit those who listen.” Notice how the verse says “Do not” at the beginning. This means do no swear ever, it doesn’t mean don’t swear when you’re having a good day, or don’t swear when everything is just dandy. It says don’t swear ever. That means when you kick a step really hard, you don’t swear. Or when you find out you ruined a project you had been working on for over an hour, you still don’t swear. This verse tells us that there is never an OK time to swear. But that the only thing that should ever come out of our mouth is “that which benefits those who listen.”
James 3:9-10 says “With the tongue we praise our lord and father, and with it we curse men who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” We can not praise God and curse humans with the same mouth, that is too hypocritical to even imagine. The chapter goes on to say that fresh water and salt water can not come from the same spring. Therefore you cant not swear and obey God at the same time. Either we are a pure and holy spring that produces pure and holy water, or we are an evil spring that produces evil and impure water. A characteristic of a Christian “Walking the Christian Walk” is that they have taken on the traits of the “clean” spring, and have striven to be more Christ-like as time goes on.
When I had reached this point in my life I began to understand that swearing was a greater sin than the grain of salt characteristic I had previously portrayed it as. But where did that leave me. I knew now that I was a habitual sinner, but how did I dig my self out of this mile deep hole? The answer I needed was found in 1 John 1:9 - “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” After reading this verse I realized that not only was God going to forgive me of my sin, but he was going to help me stop sinning too. I also realized from the latter half of this verse that God was not only going to forgive me of my sin, but was also going to purify me of it too. When I finally understood what God meant when he said this, God produced in my brain a way to relate this to my everyday life.
We all know from buying water at a gas station what “Purified” water is. It is everyday water that goes through a filtration process to make it clean and healthier to drink. This is exactly what God says he will do in 1 John 1:9. God tells us that he is going to become our spiritual filter. He will take our normal everyday life, filter it through his word and his teachings, and will produce in us clean and holy water.
After this long process to rid myself of swearing I finally realized what God was trying to tell me; That I couldn’t do it alone. I was a human, and therefore it is my nature to sin. Unless some greater being stepped in and helped me along the way, I would always fail and revert back to my old sinful ways. It finally dawned on me that God wasn’t asking for me to go at it alone. God was only asking for me to give it my full efforts and he would help me along the way to finish the race in a worthy matter.
Swearing is one of the most addictive sins that Christians have to go through. We are taught our whole life that it is not “that bad” of a sin. After all it is impossible to avoid the media surrounding us. There is swearing on TV, the radio, internet, and even in our school systems. Thus our brain is constantly dulled down to completely ignore the true nature behind the words. The old saying “monkey see monkey do,“ in this case, is actually a sad reality. Our brains our programmed to recreate what we see and hear around us. Therefore it is only natural for us to make swearing a regular habit. The only way to conquer this sin is through the power that God gives us when we accept his message. When the holy Spirit enters our heart God gives us a newfound strength to do whatever we set our hearts to doing. But remember, God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, in fact he knows we will slip up and eventually fail. But if we ask God to forgive us when this happens; He will pick us back up and set us again “on the road to victory.” If we put our minds to it and ask God for his help, swearing will become an easy thing for us to overcome. And before you know it, you will be one step closer to “Walking the Christian Walk” in everyday of your life.
There are many verse that go over sinning. One of the verse that make the most impact it Ephesians 4:29. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for the building of others up… [and what] may benefit those who listen.” Notice how the verse says “Do not” at the beginning. This means do no swear ever, it doesn’t mean don’t swear when you’re having a good day, or don’t swear when everything is just dandy. It says don’t swear ever. That means when you kick a step really hard, you don’t swear. Or when you find out you ruined a project you had been working on for over an hour, you still don’t swear. This verse tells us that there is never an OK time to swear. But that the only thing that should ever come out of our mouth is “that which benefits those who listen.”
James 3:9-10 says “With the tongue we praise our lord and father, and with it we curse men who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” We can not praise God and curse humans with the same mouth, that is too hypocritical to even imagine. The chapter goes on to say that fresh water and salt water can not come from the same spring. Therefore you cant not swear and obey God at the same time. Either we are a pure and holy spring that produces pure and holy water, or we are an evil spring that produces evil and impure water. A characteristic of a Christian “Walking the Christian Walk” is that they have taken on the traits of the “clean” spring, and have striven to be more Christ-like as time goes on.
When I had reached this point in my life I began to understand that swearing was a greater sin than the grain of salt characteristic I had previously portrayed it as. But where did that leave me. I knew now that I was a habitual sinner, but how did I dig my self out of this mile deep hole? The answer I needed was found in 1 John 1:9 - “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” After reading this verse I realized that not only was God going to forgive me of my sin, but he was going to help me stop sinning too. I also realized from the latter half of this verse that God was not only going to forgive me of my sin, but was also going to purify me of it too. When I finally understood what God meant when he said this, God produced in my brain a way to relate this to my everyday life.
We all know from buying water at a gas station what “Purified” water is. It is everyday water that goes through a filtration process to make it clean and healthier to drink. This is exactly what God says he will do in 1 John 1:9. God tells us that he is going to become our spiritual filter. He will take our normal everyday life, filter it through his word and his teachings, and will produce in us clean and holy water.
After this long process to rid myself of swearing I finally realized what God was trying to tell me; That I couldn’t do it alone. I was a human, and therefore it is my nature to sin. Unless some greater being stepped in and helped me along the way, I would always fail and revert back to my old sinful ways. It finally dawned on me that God wasn’t asking for me to go at it alone. God was only asking for me to give it my full efforts and he would help me along the way to finish the race in a worthy matter.
Swearing is one of the most addictive sins that Christians have to go through. We are taught our whole life that it is not “that bad” of a sin. After all it is impossible to avoid the media surrounding us. There is swearing on TV, the radio, internet, and even in our school systems. Thus our brain is constantly dulled down to completely ignore the true nature behind the words. The old saying “monkey see monkey do,“ in this case, is actually a sad reality. Our brains our programmed to recreate what we see and hear around us. Therefore it is only natural for us to make swearing a regular habit. The only way to conquer this sin is through the power that God gives us when we accept his message. When the holy Spirit enters our heart God gives us a newfound strength to do whatever we set our hearts to doing. But remember, God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, in fact he knows we will slip up and eventually fail. But if we ask God to forgive us when this happens; He will pick us back up and set us again “on the road to victory.” If we put our minds to it and ask God for his help, swearing will become an easy thing for us to overcome. And before you know it, you will be one step closer to “Walking the Christian Walk” in everyday of your life.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Why Am I doing This
I keep getting this question of why Am I doing this. The only real answer to that is because God has begun using me in oppurtunities greater than myself. As I stated in my testimony, my life has always had God as a part of it, but recently I realised how wrong of a Choice that was. God is not part of my life, God is my entire life. Until recently that thought didnt click for me. I thought God was my life, but until my grandpa died, I didnt realise how wrong I was. My life wasnt truly about God. My life was about myself, and I was just letting God be a sideline observer. When my grandpa died everything aligned in my mind and I realised that my life needed to literally revolve around God.
When this dawned on me, I gave my life up completely to God, and now he is using it for his greater purpose. My life has completely gone through reconstruction all of what I though before has now been altered. Like the ideas I had subconsciously formed about what the sins mattered and which ones didnt. And the thoughts I had about Devotions. And basically.... Everything.
I am doing this blog to hopefully make the same change that happened in my life, happen in others too. I am dedicating my time right now to help get this message through to christians everywhere that God needs to be the center point of your life. He literally needs to be the the point of origin that everything else revolves around. It took me 2 years of really thinking to get this through my head, but now that it has, I am trying to make a difference. By writing this blog I am trying to get the Young Christians of the world off of their spiritual couches, and starting running the race that God has placced before them. With this blog I hope to help teenagers from all parts of the globe stop going through the motions. And to help them realize that sitting back as the world revolves is not enough for God. But that we, in every second of every day, no matter what stage of life we are going through, need to be fully and completely "Walking the Christian Walk" and not "Walking the Worldly Walk"
When this dawned on me, I gave my life up completely to God, and now he is using it for his greater purpose. My life has completely gone through reconstruction all of what I though before has now been altered. Like the ideas I had subconsciously formed about what the sins mattered and which ones didnt. And the thoughts I had about Devotions. And basically.... Everything.
I am doing this blog to hopefully make the same change that happened in my life, happen in others too. I am dedicating my time right now to help get this message through to christians everywhere that God needs to be the center point of your life. He literally needs to be the the point of origin that everything else revolves around. It took me 2 years of really thinking to get this through my head, but now that it has, I am trying to make a difference. By writing this blog I am trying to get the Young Christians of the world off of their spiritual couches, and starting running the race that God has placced before them. With this blog I hope to help teenagers from all parts of the globe stop going through the motions. And to help them realize that sitting back as the world revolves is not enough for God. But that we, in every second of every day, no matter what stage of life we are going through, need to be fully and completely "Walking the Christian Walk" and not "Walking the Worldly Walk"
Not having time for God
Life is hard. My life could be completely summarized in those three words. And many teenagers because of this don't spend time with God. They worry about the worries of this world and in many cases, the only time they spend with God is when their family forces the off to Church. But even when they go they aren't giving it their all and not taking in what they are learning.
These teens say "I have school, sports, friends, and no time to walk with God." But that’s not true, they have time but they choose to put God Last on their schedule. Matthew 6:33 says "but seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness." We should always have time for God because he should be the first thing we plan to do. You don't necessarily have to make God the first thing you do in the morning (although that is an awesome system to get into) But you need to plan him into your schedule first. We need to plan what we are doing around spending time with God, and not the spending time with God around what we are doing.
For example, If you have had a long hard day and you know that you are only going to make it another half hour or so. Then when you get home don't go sit on the couch to watch the TV unless you know that you will have enough energy to do a devotion after the show is over and before you go to sleep. God wants us to spend time with him daily, but it is little excuses like watching that one last TV show that can often get between us and God.
Another excuse that teenagers normally uses to get out of their time with God is School. They say they were studying so hard and were up so late that they physically had no time to walk with God. Matthew 6:25 says "Do not worry about your life." This verse is telling us that no matter what is on your plate and no matter how important it is, God still wants to be put first. Do you seriously not believe that if you give God a 30 minute devotional before, after or even during studying, that he will not give you enough strength to finish what needs to be done.
There is actually a story in the bible that though originally written about money still works perfectly for time as well. In Matthew 22:15-22, the Pharisees laid a trap for Jesus. They questioned whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar because if they did they would have less money to give to God. Jesus then, recognizing the trap they had set, responded "Give to Caesar what it Caesar's and give to God what is God's." This verse can be used perfectly to illustrate the time we spend with God. Because it is not a choice of which choice do we give our time to, but how do we split our time up between the two. We use the excuse of "we can not spend time with God because we have to spend time on other matters." But just like this verse says, give the time you need for school to school, and likewise give the time you need for God to God.
God gave you everything that you see around you. He created everything from the trees surrounding your house to the skin that you are currently wearing. But his only wish for us to give back to him is our Time. He doesn't ask for us to have a 6 hour devotional everyday, but he asks that we spend some time with him (If you really look inside of yourself you will know how much time you need to spend in devotion to him). But then, even in the times that we are not spending personally with God we should still be doing everything in a sort of way that glorifies God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 states this exactly and says "what ever you do, do all to the glory of God." So no matter what each day is spent doing, every single thing we do should be done for the glory of God. And thus every second of every day will be spent growing us closer and strengthening our relationship with God.
These teens say "I have school, sports, friends, and no time to walk with God." But that’s not true, they have time but they choose to put God Last on their schedule. Matthew 6:33 says "but seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness." We should always have time for God because he should be the first thing we plan to do. You don't necessarily have to make God the first thing you do in the morning (although that is an awesome system to get into) But you need to plan him into your schedule first. We need to plan what we are doing around spending time with God, and not the spending time with God around what we are doing.
For example, If you have had a long hard day and you know that you are only going to make it another half hour or so. Then when you get home don't go sit on the couch to watch the TV unless you know that you will have enough energy to do a devotion after the show is over and before you go to sleep. God wants us to spend time with him daily, but it is little excuses like watching that one last TV show that can often get between us and God.
Another excuse that teenagers normally uses to get out of their time with God is School. They say they were studying so hard and were up so late that they physically had no time to walk with God. Matthew 6:25 says "Do not worry about your life." This verse is telling us that no matter what is on your plate and no matter how important it is, God still wants to be put first. Do you seriously not believe that if you give God a 30 minute devotional before, after or even during studying, that he will not give you enough strength to finish what needs to be done.
There is actually a story in the bible that though originally written about money still works perfectly for time as well. In Matthew 22:15-22, the Pharisees laid a trap for Jesus. They questioned whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar because if they did they would have less money to give to God. Jesus then, recognizing the trap they had set, responded "Give to Caesar what it Caesar's and give to God what is God's." This verse can be used perfectly to illustrate the time we spend with God. Because it is not a choice of which choice do we give our time to, but how do we split our time up between the two. We use the excuse of "we can not spend time with God because we have to spend time on other matters." But just like this verse says, give the time you need for school to school, and likewise give the time you need for God to God.
God gave you everything that you see around you. He created everything from the trees surrounding your house to the skin that you are currently wearing. But his only wish for us to give back to him is our Time. He doesn't ask for us to have a 6 hour devotional everyday, but he asks that we spend some time with him (If you really look inside of yourself you will know how much time you need to spend in devotion to him). But then, even in the times that we are not spending personally with God we should still be doing everything in a sort of way that glorifies God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 states this exactly and says "what ever you do, do all to the glory of God." So no matter what each day is spent doing, every single thing we do should be done for the glory of God. And thus every second of every day will be spent growing us closer and strengthening our relationship with God.
Friday, May 28, 2010
My Testimony
My name is Jacob Schieber. I am fifteen years old and a sophomore at Portage High School in Wisconsin. What this blog is about to me is a way to share the Gospel but also a way to motivate the Teenagers of this nation to love their God in the same way he loves us.
As the first edition to my blog I am just going to share my testimony with you. It is nothing special, I was not healed from paralysis, nor did I gain teh ability to Walk on Water. But this is my story, this is the walk that I took, and this is the output that it created.
My Story-
My story starts out very similar to most Christians. I was born into a very Christian family and God was always ever-present in my life. So from birth on up my parents always kept me involved in the church. After one such youth group I heard the good news and felt convicted, I went home told my mother about it, and a few minutes after that, at the age of 6 years old, I got down onto my knees and excepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.
After that, I lived the ordinary Christian life. I participated in my church's youth group and everything stayed the same for most of my childhood. Then everything started to get different when I got into Junior High. I started to participate in the teenager section of my youth group. With this Jesus started to loose more meaning day after day. I still loved God and went to Sunday morning and Wednesday night church services, but God didn't matter anymore. Where before I was excited to go to learn about Jesus, I was now excited to spend time with the junior high "cool" kids. What this entitled for me was a complete loss of interest in the youth group. I literally only cared about the matters of my current life and didn't really consider God as necessary in my life, but only as a side note.
This continued for most of my 7th and beginning half of 8th grade year. But then everything changed at a winter retreat bible Camp. I am not sure exactly what the message was, but it had to do with the fact of living a Christian Life. These lessons, only lasting for 3 days, completely altered how I viewed God. I know longer saw God as the boring person standing on the sidelines watching my life go by, but as the director of my life. The person who i should literally let take control of my life. Then God started to show me that the friends I was hanging out with were shallow and mean, and that the only person I truly needed to start spending more time with was God. So for the rest of that 8th grade year, I read through as much of the bible as I could.
My life took an even bigger turn in the summer before my 8th grade year. I went back to that same winter camp, but only in summer form. I spent the first week in the high school retreat program. The second week i spent just off camp but still in the mix of things. I had become best friends with one of the teens whose parents worked permanently on Camp. So I spent another week around God learning and getting as close to God as I possibly could. And lastly, for the third week, My family came up to the camp and I got to stay another week in the family retreat program. So for three straight weeks i was completely separated from Satan's world and was permanently resting in God's safe zone.
These three weeks of camp again altered my entire view on life. Life was no longer spent with God controlling my life, but now God was my life. I started to see everything as he wanted it to be and then I started to do what he told me to do. So for my entire freshman year at school I was the on-fire for the Lord.
This leads me to last summer. With everything still clicking, I spent two more weeks up at that camp, once for high school camp and the second for family camp. But things started to change a little. I was still an on fire Christian for God, but material things started to sink into my world. I started to make promises to give my work money to God, but he never received my 10%. And then, because my focus was on money, I started to care about Xboxes and ipod touches more than I cared about spending time with God.
God whipped me back into shape at the beginning of my 2nd year at high school. First semester I was placed into the sophomore World History Class. This class, although called World History,only talks about History for the first term. the second term is completely about World Religions.
As I went through these talks about religions I really began to get confused all over again. I never doubted my faith, but I started to wonder why I wasn't on fire for God. We went over Islamic suicide bombers and I started to wonder why my faith wasn't like that any more. Not that I would blow up myself to make a statement, but that my life was no longer completely based on God.
After a very angering discussion on the book "Ishmael." God started to do work in my life again. I started to realise how phony the other world religions were to me and how i needed to start straightening up my life to be completely centered on God. So I began to read my bible again. I got a new compacted leather one to make a symbol of change and i took the bible to school with me everyday. I then read through the gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John, and after that the "tians" (Galatians, Philippians....). All the way until the new testament was completed.
Then God finally locked myself into his loving embrace and permanently became my life. Everything stayed the same for the next about 6 months. Then in beginning of April God started to do something in me again. He directed me to write a book. I talked to my youth pastor about it, he gave me the thumbs up and I started to alter the notes I had been collecting for the 5 years and turned them into digitalized copies. My faith was only reboosted by relearning all of the knowledge that had oringialy been why I had accepted Christ
A week later, tragedy struck. On the way home from my golf lesson we got a call that my grandfather had just been hospitalised and that things were not looking good. So we rushed the 45 minute trip home and went immediately into the hospital.... We were received to the story that about 20 seconds earlier the medics had legally pronounced my grandpa Brakebush dead.
The funeral was hard, but the thought that my grandpa Billy had died a Christian man helped me get through it. God used this experience to tell me that life would not last forever. He had just returned one of his children "home to glory" with no prior notice and now he was telling me, "get going, you have had your chance to crawl, but now is your time to run." So the book I had been writing started to be the only thing I could think about. I would read 200 page books in 3 days just so that I could be briefed on a subject I wanted to learn. Always keeping a notepad next to me when reading so I could write down what God was really telling me through the writings of modern day authors.
That story leads me to today. I heard that journaling was a great source of straightening out your thoughts. And I really wanted people to hear what I was writing about so I thought, "Hey, write a blog"
This blog is a way for me to help teach people the lessons in my book before I am finally able to release it. My email address is listed on the blog, please write me comments or send me emails, but either way, if the lessons in this blog teaches you something or helps you grow closer to the Lord then please let me know. If I get no answers then I will know it was for not, but please let your voice be known. If I did something in your life write back to me.
As of today the destiny of "Walk the Christian Walk"(my book) is sealed. I have now made all of my readers my accountability partners and I have gained people to help get me through the writing of this book. Today and forever on, I begin to firmly "Walk the Christian Walk" for all to see.
As the first edition to my blog I am just going to share my testimony with you. It is nothing special, I was not healed from paralysis, nor did I gain teh ability to Walk on Water. But this is my story, this is the walk that I took, and this is the output that it created.
My Story-
My story starts out very similar to most Christians. I was born into a very Christian family and God was always ever-present in my life. So from birth on up my parents always kept me involved in the church. After one such youth group I heard the good news and felt convicted, I went home told my mother about it, and a few minutes after that, at the age of 6 years old, I got down onto my knees and excepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.
After that, I lived the ordinary Christian life. I participated in my church's youth group and everything stayed the same for most of my childhood. Then everything started to get different when I got into Junior High. I started to participate in the teenager section of my youth group. With this Jesus started to loose more meaning day after day. I still loved God and went to Sunday morning and Wednesday night church services, but God didn't matter anymore. Where before I was excited to go to learn about Jesus, I was now excited to spend time with the junior high "cool" kids. What this entitled for me was a complete loss of interest in the youth group. I literally only cared about the matters of my current life and didn't really consider God as necessary in my life, but only as a side note.
This continued for most of my 7th and beginning half of 8th grade year. But then everything changed at a winter retreat bible Camp. I am not sure exactly what the message was, but it had to do with the fact of living a Christian Life. These lessons, only lasting for 3 days, completely altered how I viewed God. I know longer saw God as the boring person standing on the sidelines watching my life go by, but as the director of my life. The person who i should literally let take control of my life. Then God started to show me that the friends I was hanging out with were shallow and mean, and that the only person I truly needed to start spending more time with was God. So for the rest of that 8th grade year, I read through as much of the bible as I could.
My life took an even bigger turn in the summer before my 8th grade year. I went back to that same winter camp, but only in summer form. I spent the first week in the high school retreat program. The second week i spent just off camp but still in the mix of things. I had become best friends with one of the teens whose parents worked permanently on Camp. So I spent another week around God learning and getting as close to God as I possibly could. And lastly, for the third week, My family came up to the camp and I got to stay another week in the family retreat program. So for three straight weeks i was completely separated from Satan's world and was permanently resting in God's safe zone.
These three weeks of camp again altered my entire view on life. Life was no longer spent with God controlling my life, but now God was my life. I started to see everything as he wanted it to be and then I started to do what he told me to do. So for my entire freshman year at school I was the on-fire for the Lord.
This leads me to last summer. With everything still clicking, I spent two more weeks up at that camp, once for high school camp and the second for family camp. But things started to change a little. I was still an on fire Christian for God, but material things started to sink into my world. I started to make promises to give my work money to God, but he never received my 10%. And then, because my focus was on money, I started to care about Xboxes and ipod touches more than I cared about spending time with God.
God whipped me back into shape at the beginning of my 2nd year at high school. First semester I was placed into the sophomore World History Class. This class, although called World History,only talks about History for the first term. the second term is completely about World Religions.
As I went through these talks about religions I really began to get confused all over again. I never doubted my faith, but I started to wonder why I wasn't on fire for God. We went over Islamic suicide bombers and I started to wonder why my faith wasn't like that any more. Not that I would blow up myself to make a statement, but that my life was no longer completely based on God.
After a very angering discussion on the book "Ishmael." God started to do work in my life again. I started to realise how phony the other world religions were to me and how i needed to start straightening up my life to be completely centered on God. So I began to read my bible again. I got a new compacted leather one to make a symbol of change and i took the bible to school with me everyday. I then read through the gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John, and after that the "tians" (Galatians, Philippians....). All the way until the new testament was completed.
Then God finally locked myself into his loving embrace and permanently became my life. Everything stayed the same for the next about 6 months. Then in beginning of April God started to do something in me again. He directed me to write a book. I talked to my youth pastor about it, he gave me the thumbs up and I started to alter the notes I had been collecting for the 5 years and turned them into digitalized copies. My faith was only reboosted by relearning all of the knowledge that had oringialy been why I had accepted Christ
A week later, tragedy struck. On the way home from my golf lesson we got a call that my grandfather had just been hospitalised and that things were not looking good. So we rushed the 45 minute trip home and went immediately into the hospital.... We were received to the story that about 20 seconds earlier the medics had legally pronounced my grandpa Brakebush dead.
The funeral was hard, but the thought that my grandpa Billy had died a Christian man helped me get through it. God used this experience to tell me that life would not last forever. He had just returned one of his children "home to glory" with no prior notice and now he was telling me, "get going, you have had your chance to crawl, but now is your time to run." So the book I had been writing started to be the only thing I could think about. I would read 200 page books in 3 days just so that I could be briefed on a subject I wanted to learn. Always keeping a notepad next to me when reading so I could write down what God was really telling me through the writings of modern day authors.
That story leads me to today. I heard that journaling was a great source of straightening out your thoughts. And I really wanted people to hear what I was writing about so I thought, "Hey, write a blog"
This blog is a way for me to help teach people the lessons in my book before I am finally able to release it. My email address is listed on the blog, please write me comments or send me emails, but either way, if the lessons in this blog teaches you something or helps you grow closer to the Lord then please let me know. If I get no answers then I will know it was for not, but please let your voice be known. If I did something in your life write back to me.
As of today the destiny of "Walk the Christian Walk"(my book) is sealed. I have now made all of my readers my accountability partners and I have gained people to help get me through the writing of this book. Today and forever on, I begin to firmly "Walk the Christian Walk" for all to see.
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