Thank you

I haven't blogged for a few days now because I have been spending almost everyday with my friends. I just want to say thank you to all the people I have come to know over the last couple years who have helped turn my life around. Tomorrow I leave for Arizona so this is also a goodbye for now, I will be praying for you guys continually and I ask you do the same for me. This new chapter in life is not something I wanted to do but God is all knowing and all powerful so I know that he has me going there for a reason. He is not worried about what will happen to me in Arizona and neither am I. So thank you all again my friends, life is not over and I am sure we will meet again.

Suffering

In society today we are told to live life with as much comfort and luxury as we can accumulate. This is a trap easy to fall in because it appeals to many areas of our sinful nature. I would say most if not all sin is rooted in the sin of idolatry which is putting more time, effort, and money into something other than God. If we make a luxurious lifestyle our idol we will spend our days in an endless cycle of buying the latest and greatest of whatever society tells us we want at that time. Luxury is ever changing what is good one day is bad the next and new things are constantly pumped into the mix. God is a constant and never changes and he provided us with one narrow way to him that never changes. It is not just this day and age that is bustling with idols, nothing is new under the sun temptation has been with man since the beginning. As Christians we are called to place our value in the things of God not of man (Matthew 19:16-30) our life is not meant to be easy; we must put forth effort now in our lives and live the best life later. You cannot live your best life now and later...

Fellowship / Helloship

Fellowship is an essential piece in christian living we are not meant to live isolated alone on Mt. Me&Jesus for the rest of this life cut off from the world. a lot of us fall into a trap of helloship thinking we are fine but not realizing what we are doing wrong. So what are fellowship and helloship well these are the two definitions I have to offer.
Helloship - A gathering of people to share an experience together.
EX. Bowling, watching a movie, eating dinner.
Fellowship - A group of people coming together to share a uniquely christian experience.
EX. Any time God is the focus of your gathering.

Helloship is not wrong it is great to spend time with friends and have fun, but it is NOT a replacement for fellowship. Some of the best ways to experience fellowship are the simplest; attend church regularly, join  a small group, just ask someone about Christ. It doesn't take much but God loves to work in us through our fellowship with one another and that is why it is so important.

Father's Day

When I blogged yesterday I did not realize that it was Father's day so here is my one day late Father's day post. This holiday is to honor fathers God appoints fathers to be leaders of their households, they guide their family physically and spiritually in life. They have lots of responsibility to take care of their home and family; This can put a lot of stress on a man as so many things are riding on his shoulders and so everyday we should show our fathers support and this holiday should serve as a reminder to do so. God calls children blessings to a home and family and being a father is a big role because God trusts them with his blessings. Being a father is an honorable thing and for doing this we thank all the dads out their supporting their families.

Salvation

This is a strong term with a specific meaning. Salvation is the result of Christ's act on the cross which he did not have to do but chose to anyway. Salvation is the grace and mercy of Christ washing over our sin so that we can stand before God with a clean slate, not because of what we have done but because of Christ has done. Salvation is a free gift we just have to surrender our own selfish sinful desires/natures and accept Christ as our Lord and savior. This is the first step, once you have surrendered your life to Christ that's done the game is not to surrender more and more. At this point is where effort comes in Christ gives us many commandments that we are to follow we are to strive to be as much like him as possible. We are still sinners and we mess up a lot but being a christian means we have to get back up and make every effort to obey Christ. Salvation does not mean a life of ease if this your train of thought you probably haven't really come to Christ accepting him also means to place yourself in servitude under him and he has many things for us to do, and while they may seem strange or unpleasant God has the very best in store for his sheep because like all good shepherds he loves his flock and has great plans for it. 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is not just a holiday where people eat tons of food in the U.S. It is also a mindset. This type of mindset is characterized with a thankful heart and is very important in prayer. We should not pray only for things we want to happen or for rescue but along side that we need to pray thankfully for what God has provided us with. We should be thankful for the people we know, the things we have, and most of all the fact we get to know him and that Christ died for our sins. Scripture tells us what we deserve, so anything we experience or have is by grace because it is better than what we deserve. Take time each day and just remember to be thankful.
~ 1 Corinthians 1:4
~ Philippians 1:3-4
~ Colossians 1:3
~ Psalms 95:2
~ Psalms 50:14-15
~ 2 Corinthians 1:11
~1 Timothy 2:1-2

Flare Prayer

This is a term I have heard a lot lately while discussing prayer so I am going over it today. Flare prayer is a style of praying that majorly fails in one area frequency. If you are someone who does this then you only pray to God with an SOS at the very worst of times, when life throws its hardest at you, you respond with and emergency call for God to save you. when times are good however you leave God in the backseat and try to live life by your own strength let me point out right here your strength is not enough, never will it be enough. we are called to pray without ceasing to honor and glorify God throughout the day every day year round, not just when we are ill or injured. Praying during the hard times is not a bad thing we are supposed to, but there is so much more than the hard times that we still need to pray over. If you are just a flare prayer right I encourage you to practice praying throughout the day, when you get up in the morning, over your meals, before you go to bed, while you brush your teeth... Anytime God comes to mind remember to pray.