Sacrifice

Today I heard a wonderful man speaking about his time in ministry and he spoke on a topic that struck so many chords. The "sacrifices" we make, we have all heard something one time or another something along the lines of 'I have sacrificed comfort or good living for God'. He wants to bring to attention that God doesn't need you that serving him is the good life, you don't sacrifice and miss out to serve God. What you won't do for him he will get someone who will to do it. It never was and never will be about us and our comfort, it is what brings the most glory to God, if you think for a moment that you can earn favor with God or something through personal 'sacrifice' you are on the wrong track. Your favor in Gods eyes comes from Jesus and his SACRIFICE on the cross.

Words of Peace for the Uneasy

In the world today it is more than easy to become stressed out over even the smallest details. With the busy schedules we keep and the wide variety of activities we participate in everyday, it can be easy for something to go different than we had planned/hoped. When things seem to turn for the worst I stop and remember what a wise man once told me "I would say that whatever happens would be the best case scenario." At the time I sorta got what he was saying but after being neck deep in what I had originally thought to be a horrid experience coming up, I looked back and fully understood what I did not at that time. God has the world in his control and everything in and around as well, from the smallest to the biggest detail God's authority reigns supreme. So when things seem like they are spiraling out of control instead of resorting to stress I am now trying to remember that God has a plan and it will inevitably be fulfilled maybe not how we imagine but exactly how God has planned it. The reason this comforts me is that not only do I not have to worry about fixing and controlling everything but the man in charge loves me and everyone of you and he has our best interests at heart. At the end of the day things probably won't be going our way at least not all the time, but they are going the way God has planned for us and even the strongest storms of our lives have an end and we have Christ as our shelter to wait them out in.

The Domain of God

Moving to Arizona I have picked up some new things knowledge, friends, a swimming pool, but one of the most awesome things I have learned or rather experienced here is just how far God's work reaches. God's domain, rule, and power cover all of creation and sure it's one thing to know that but moving here I have met many of God's workers and followers so far from home. It is awesome to see that God is not limited to one place that he is working everywhere all the time. God's nation is big and reaches far hopefully some encouragement for those who feel like they are fighting alone with their backs to the wall.

The Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-20 talks about the armor of God, this is the 'equipment' he provides us with to "11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." God provides us with the following "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." These are awesome to think about, God provides us with this arsenal to protect us in our battles for him note that when you are attacked it still hurts we will still have pain and suffering but we have what we need to fight the battle. God gives us a breastplate not a cuirass so your back is left exposed, if you turn your back on the battle if you refuse Gods path then everything he has provided you with is useless because his protection doesn't cover the backs of those who flee. The helmet protecting our heads the key to life and the thing that make us unique intelligent beings is salvation. This represents that without salvation then we have nothing if we have not accepted our salvation in Christ it is as battling without a helmet leaving us exposed to attack and doomed to fail. His word our sword is what we need to win without it we can take hits all day but we can never defeat our enemies. The belt is truth at our center keeping us balanced and on track. All the different types of armor and weapons are specifically chosen for a purpose to relate to us the use of God's gifts. He calls us to put on the whole suit of God because just part of it is not enough we need all of God to live.

Honesty

I have always held in my mind that honesty was important, that it was respectable and necessary to be a likable person. Recently while studying honesty I was shown a unique look on it that I had never heard. Honesty rather than being focused on your words and speaking only true things such as expressing thoughts and such as they appear is rather a lifestyle focus centered on God being the truth. One of the I am statements of God includes I am the truth, living in light of that (living honestly) means living your life in the truth of Gods words as he is the only infalible source of truth who's words are law. Speaking truths are only a side effect in the big picture of living in the light of the truth. In fact somethings commonly passed as truths are in reality not i.e. Say you have a negative opinion on someone like you may think they are ugly, expressing this feeling and saying that they are ugly is not truth, sure it may be 'true' that you have that opinion but our opinions are often skewed and twisted by sin. The real truth in this situation is God and his word which says each and every one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. This was just an amazing opening to my eyes on truth that truth is not merely a tangible rule or objective but that God is truth and being honest is to live in that truth.

Lot's Wife

As part of our schooling we are currently reading through the book of genesis, today we were reading about Abraham and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Something that stuck out to me was an analogy Abraham pleaded on behalf of any who were righteous in the cities to God that he would spare them. God graciously agreed that he would spare the cities if as few as 10 righteous were found in all the cities. When the angels visited the cities they come across Lot who God allowed to flee the city before it was destroyed for Abrahams sake. This is a huge gift of grace to Lot and his family but as they left Lot's wife disobeys one of the commands given to them to not look back this is the same as not accepting the gift of grace God offered them. She was turned into a pillar of salt when she did this. To me this relates closely to the new testament where Jesus sheds his blood on the cross to forgive our sins and put us right with God it is the biggest gift of mercy and grace. Like with Lots gift though we have to accept it if we don't take it or take it but not what comes with it then we will end up like Lot's wife who was turned to a pillar of salt. We will be held accountable to the punishment we deserve if we refuse the gift laid out before us.

Attentiveness

First off I would like to apologize for my lack of posts lately, it was my goal to keep the blog up but that hasn't been happening lately. I am jumpstarting the blog today on the subject of attentiveness. I think my favorite thing I have heard about this subject is that it is the key to being intentional. By itself being attentive will not get you much but it is the key stone to building and maintaining other character qualities. Some of you may wonder what this word really means the best way I can explain it is paying careful attention when being spoken to or shown something or anything you are doing. examples of this include keeping yourself from being distracted or a distraction as well as not interrupting someone else's speech. I recommend striving to attain some grasp or understanding of this character quality as it is a building block to doing most anything well.