Resolution to Resolute

    As the new year is approaching you will hear about every ones new years resolution that they will almost NEVER do. The most famous goal is to lose weight in the new upcoming year. Now losing weight is hard so why would trying to lose at the start of the year be any easier. In fact it is shown that about 50% of people that "vow" to lose weight or start a diet, drop it within a couple weeks of the new year. Another one that you will hear is that people want to try and spend less money. They want to watch less TV so their cable bill isn't as high or they say that they will spend half of what they normally do around Christmas time. Well the reality of that is each year the economy is getting worse and the average American will not cut what they spend their limited money on. And of course all of this leads to debt which everyone has experienced at least once or is still going through. Another resolution you will hear people say is that they want to spend more time with their family. Instead of taking a long nap right after work they want to spend time watching TV or going out with their loved ones. Or they might make a goal to save their marriage that is going south. No matter who makes this resolution to love their family more and spend time with them more. Everyone can learn from that and use that. And lastly the resolution to drinking less alcohol hits the top 10 list for this upcoming year. Drinking less alcohol comes along with other behavior that may include smoking, prostitution, addiction, debt, death, alcohol poisoning, and so much more. Now not all of these effects come right from alcohol but they always seem to link to each other some how. But most people want to quit drinking because its and addictive drug that lies to your body by telling it that is good for you. For most people that make this resolution they are go through with it, but the brave ones that go through with it are going to have a tough but worthwhile road ahead of them.


   So all of these resolutions may not make your list for the year of 2013, but they are the most common for the upcoming year. Now lets take a closer look at what they actually mean in the eyes of God. First the goal of losing weight is a great goal and to God, he will love you anyway that you are because he only cares about the desires of the heart. But losing "weight" for the glory of God can be a lot different and lot more life changing. When you lose weight for God, it is the action of letting yourself surrender to the good Lord himself and then being able to set your forgiven sins aside. Just imagine how much "weight" will be lifted off of your shoulders! So you see, losing weight for the new year isn't just hitting the gym its about letting go of the old you and putting on the glorified imagine of the new godly created you. Next is the goal of saving money by watching less TV or just limiting the things we take for granted. You are probably wondering how can you save money through the Lord? Well good question! I don't have a definite answer for this one because every ones life is different. But the bottom line is try not spending so much money on your favorite thing that you think you need to survive. Once you do this you will realize that the treasures of this earth will never measure up the ever lasting strength that the Lord gives off. Also the goal is spending more time with family. This also ties in with spending less money because once you put both of these goals into action the true meaning with come through. The thing of this world such as jobs, money, alcohol, just anything....are all distractions from you seeing the glory of the Lord because everything is sinful. So never look to an earth possession looking for the glory of God because you will find glory but isn't not the true glory that our Lord promises us. Lastly the goal of not using alcohol as much ties into the last goal pretty well but it also reveals something else about God. We often act as if our eyes are hazed by this world and that we are under its spell and we cant get out of it because we know its right. Now what makes alcohol different from the other goals is that it does lead you in the wrong way but it also allows your body to go through with that 100% thinking that everything is true and worthy. I'm not saying if you use alcohol your going to hell. Because alcohol is just as sinful as everything else in this world but i am warning you that it doesn't lead you into the right direction. And this is why i hope that most people put this on their resolution list because these things lead us so far off the path from our Lord. Take into consideration this coming year what you want to resolute. That's great if you want to lose weight or spend less money. But also keep in mind how you are to make your spiritual life better. When you make your list I challenge you to put a goal for your relationship with God for every earthly goal that you have. Now if you don't normally make a list like me...try one this year you will be surprised what needs some work. Good luck....and happy resolution!






Word of the Year: " And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
                                                                                    ~Hebrews 11:6

The Regifter

          As well all know, over the years we have made Christmas about ourselves. We all go out and take all of our savings to spend money for Christmas gifts for others and sometimes ourselves. We don't always know what to get for our loved ones for the holidays, so half the time the gift might not be what that one person wanted. As funny as it is to get someone a gift that they say that they "like" by putting on a fake smile. I think its funnier when people get so overwhelmed and just fed up over searching for the perfect gift so they just shop for themselves. And I experienced this first hand the other day when I was working on cash register at my work, this lady was checking out and she had a friend with her as well. She had a good amount of things that she was buying and you would automatically think that she was buying the stuff for someone else. But I was proven otherwise when her friend laughed and said " You most people buy things for other people for Christmas not themselves." Her friend just laughed and said "hey there's nothing wrong with shopping for yourself." I couldn't help but laugh because I think it is acceptable to shop for yourself anytime! But that's not the point of this lesson. Just like the woman's friend said her friend basically needed to stop thinking about herself so that she could show her gratitude to others. Now think about the reason why God came to earth. He was sent here to save us for one but also to put us above himself. We should all really give to others freely all the time besides just Christmas. But as I stated in a previous blog this time of year seems magical because of birth of our God. We often receive gifts for ourselves and we don't share it. I mean I know its hard to share a pair of pants but what we receive should also be given to others to show the true colors of our hearts. Love is not shown by giving presents...the presents I'm talking about here is the gift of the Lord. These gifts may include hope, joy, faith, courage, love, strength, honesty, humility, and so much more. One way or another we all receive gifts from the Lord such as these. Some show them and some don't, but that is all based on lifestyle. If you get anything out of this, remember this... the gifts we receive and inherit from the Lord are gifts that are worth re gifting. When we hear the word re gift... the word cheap comes to mind. Several people re gift presents that they find in there homes or unwanted things you may have bought for yourself just like the woman did the other day from earlier in the story. Gifts are defined as something of value and worth to a certain person. So this is why re gifting seems so wrong because it seems like the person giving doesn't care as much. Its not about the amount or value on the gift. I'm sure you have all heard the saying "Its the thought that counts." Well that's true. Because the the treasures of this earth will fade away but the non-tangible meaning of a gift means the most. We see the things of this world but yet they don't last forever but the one thing we cant see(God) last for eternity. Ironic right? My challenge for you this week is actually really quite interesting. I want you to stop and think of all of the tradition's of Christmas. And then think about God and the story of his coming. Next I want you to put both of the stories together and stand back to see all of the similarities between the two. God had received the gift of love from his father and sent it to us...so we should so much as to think about giving that to others to spread the news.


        When that lady left the store I had a feeling that she knew that it didn't matter if she was buying stuff for herself verses gifts for other people for Christmas because she knew that the gifts didn't matter. I don't know if she was a believer or not but anyone can realize that materialistic things don't compare to what a higher power gives. Remember that eternal gift cant not be measure by the hand but by the heart.



Word of the Day:  "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

                                 ~Hebrews 4:12

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!:) I am so thankful to have all of you in this journey!

Never Cease to Amaze

      I think we forget to stop and reflect on the little things that a day can bring. When I write to you guys I often write about big topics or subjects in the world through the bible. But I realized that I never just talk about God freely. Just stopping and thinking about all the great things God has done gives our minds a break from the horrors of this world. I know its hard to see the good in the world in our life and all around us when the world seems so messed up. To some people, their world may be evil but for the rest of us we can look past the evil to see our lives. If I haven't already told you, like several other people I have my own place to go for my quiet times. When I have time I will often take bike rides down to the playground by the water. It is normally pretty quiet down there by the water and this allows me to sit down and have my quiet times. One time I went down there and I was praying to God that he would just show me sign that he was actually listening to me and that I wasn't just talking to nobody. I was having a rough day and I just wanted one of those miraculous signs that I have heard about from several other people. So as soon as I said that I saw a shooting star. And that showed me that God was actually listening. Also another time I was asking him to show me a sign I was sitting on a bench down by the water doing my quiet time to look down at the bench to see a heart carved in the bench right next to me....God does love us. And boy does he show it.

    Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving me and my family go up to Park City to start our Christmas shopping. This year I was kinda bored because I was walking around by myself and I cant remember why but I was in a bad mood and a little angry with God. So as I was walking around shopping I was walking close to a book store and I was gonna go in but I wasn't sure because I didn't know if they would have a book I was looking for. But I ended up walking into the  store anyways and I walked around for a while looking extremely weird because I couldn't find the Christian book section for the life of me. So I finally found it and when I got there, there was a lady in there looking at the books. Nothing out of the ordinary. So I'm just looking for books and all. And this lady turns around and ask me what bible she should get. I answer her question and then we just kept looking. Then she starts asking me about a couple of authors and the devotions they write and we started talking about that. And I would just like to stop the story for a second and say WOW!!! First off I never get those types of experiences where I talk to a total stranger about God!!!! Okay so back to the story... so we start to talk more and more. And we ask where each other is from and where we go to church and all. Then this older man comes up to the both of us and starts talking to us about this book called Harbinger and how it shows the true reality of today's world without God. So here I am talking to now TWO strangers about the word of God!!!! Once the older man leaves we go back to looking for books and occasionally talking to each other. And I wasn't finding the book I wanted, and I am usually pretty shy so she was talking more than me while I continued to look. And when we would stop talking I got this voice in my head that gave me the idea to tell her about my blog. And at first I wasn't going to do it because I didn't know how to bring it up for her to check out my blog. So I was still looking and I came over the books of Francis Chan and my youth pastor had introduced me to him through youth group and I have written about him on here before. It just clicked then that I should talk about my blog by showing her the books by Francis Chan and saying that I write a blog and that I did one on Chan. So I did. And the next thing you know, she wanted the address to my blog!!!!! And she asked for paper for me to write it down on, and I didn't have any except for this pamphlet that I didn't want to take at a very expensive Pandora shop. So I used that useless piece of paper and used it for something useful. Once we got some info from each other, she ended up giving me a big huge and we said goodbye. And I just stopped and thought to God. You never cease to amaze me. Here I was being a grump while I was shopping and there God went showing me that his glory will always prevail and that he is everywhere.

   There is no certain challenge this week. But I just wanted to just share random things from what I have seen first hand from God. And I knew I wanted to share it with you guys. But for those of you that like the weekly challenge...I encourage you to stop and think beyond all of the hustle and bustle and just REFLECT!! And share by commenting right here on the page or email me or send me a message on facebook and I would love to learn from you or help you or just listen to what God has done for you. Let us share our amazing stories because Gods wonders should never be left untold.




These verses hang on my mirror as a constant reminder to me:
"Don't long for "the good old days." This is not wise."  ~Ecclesiastes 7:10
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."  ~Hebrews 11:1
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not boast, it is not proud."  ~1 Corinthians 13:4
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  ~Matthew 11:28
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those we earnestly seek him."  ~Hebrews 11:6


Have your own favorite verses or quotes that are your constant reminder? Comment to share I would love to hear what speaks to you! Or let me know if any of these verses work in you!

Love Story

          Yesterday I turned the TV on to expect all those movies that you never hear of until Christmas. I ended up watching a movie about this girl that comes home from her busy life to see her mother. When she comes home she finds out that her high school reunion is going on while she is at home for the holidays. Of course she ends up running into her best guy friend that was always their for her but she always failed to see the love he had for her. But she kept chasing that football star that claims to have always "loved" her. I didn't get to finish the whole movie but I can probably tell you that she ends up getting with her best friend that treats her how a woman should be treated and she comes to her senses about what high school was really about. See I can almost perfectly predict that because all of those Christmas movie specials all end in a miracle. Now when we think of a miracle I think we all automatically think of love. Because of love being so hard to get through we associate love with magic and miracles. But an over load of those love movies about Christmas always made me wonder why just show these movies at Christmas time?! I mean if we all can "relate" to them so much and we always want miracles in our lives then why aren't those movies the only ones that are played? But what other miracle happens at Christmas? Of course its the birth of Christ. Now do you see the connection between all of those Christmas movies and the birth of Christ? These love stories are very different from each other. I think as humans we strive to find somebody for ourselves because we fear of being alone. This is the same thing with our relationship with God. Have you ever just cried to God that he would be there for you because you were scared that he wasn't there or that he was leaving you? Just like finding love, we all hope that a miracle happens between us and God. When God was sent to earth and born of the virgin Mary, he brought all the love possible. Just stop and visualize the job of loving everyone unconditional and how important and just amazing that impact was!!! I'm sure that little baby Jesus won the hearts of Mary and Joesph along with everyone in the world....a savior was born!!! Our world had never seen such a special person before God on earth! So what happened...everyone fell in love with him. Going back to the Christmas movies about love and miracles. I know how hard it is not to buy into all those movies that just warm your heart about finding that special someone for the holidays. I want you to realize how much you have fallen for the love story of Jesus Christ. Have you fallen for his love? Do you know of it? When your going through the holiday festivities and you feel all the love around you. Stop and just be in awe over the love that God has brought the earth and your heart will light up. Fall for God and he will show you the miracles! What joy is it to see the love story that God has created in us all! I want to challenge you to watch those Christmas love movies (warning they may be cheesy!) and use that as a tool to see how, just like looking for love, that finding God is a miracle. I have to admit that I never knew why I always loved to watch those movies and I would always think to myself how funny it was that December became the month of love. Then it hit me...God was born in December and he is love! Everyone yearns for love like I said just like we often do for God, and boy is it more than any normal relationship! Fall in love with God this holiday and choose to fall for his love...you might be surprised to see that he is the best partner you will ever have.




Word of the Day: "I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me."
                                                   ~Proverbs 8:17

Step Back and Watch Him Shine

            As the Christmas feeling is in the air you are probably digging out those dreaded lights.As you are pulling the thousands of lights out you realize that yup, that whole strand is broken. Or the lights look like one giant snowball all contorted together. Once you drag the big ole tree out of your basement or off of the top of your family car, you finally get to set the tree up for the further decorating process. So now you not only have some working lights but you have to get all of the tiny little delicate ornaments out one by one to hang them just in the right place. But you have to first get all of those lights undone so that you can wrap up the tree. Once all of that is done you step back and have a beautiful fluffy tree deck with lights and ornaments and maybe even a little fake snow to top it off. And the lights go on....and the tree just sparkles and you just love to see the Christmas spirit that is radiating off the tree as you sit by the fire. Christmas trees are one of the several traditions of Christmas. We all look forward to the holiday season... it means tons of food, presents, family time, Christmas movies. We also all know that Christmas is always thought of as a celebration for us and just a good time for us. Yes it is a celebration for us but NOT about us. I could sit here and ramble on about how today's society doesn't view Christmas as the thanking and celebration of God by his birth. But I am going to focus your attention on the Christmas tree. I want you to go look at a tree whether if its your own or a public one, the next time you see one I want you to stop and examine it to see if this lesson fits the description of the tree. Like I said, a Christmas tree is normally covered in millions of ornaments that are all different in shapes and sizes and beauty. The tree itself is normally a real tree (even though we all cheat and get a fake one) and do you know what trees do for us when they are still in the ground? God created trees with the mind set that we would get our breath of life from them. We breath because of trees! Can you imagine if we didn't have trees? How would we live? So now the importance of a Christmas tree truly comes through. If you have any kind of tree in your living room for Christmas that shows the life of God and the breath of life that he gives us everyday. Because God is alive and so are we!! Going back to the ornaments, we are the ornaments. Remember how I said there are millions of them and they are in all shapes and sizes and beauty? Doesn't that sound a lot like us humans? We are all unique and every single day we are pinned upon the tree of life that God holds so closely because its his heart. If you step back and look at the tree I have just created in your mind you will see a tree which represents the life that God has and has given us. And you will see the ornaments which symbolize every single one of us and how we are so close to our father in heaven. Now the tree might look great in our mind but to others wouldn't the tree look a little blah? That's why you need to place all of the lights on the tree so that you can radiate the light of Gods life through his and your life! This holiday season I challenge you to not focus on the perfection of the holiday or all of the little details of giving. But I want you to focus on putting up the tree of Gods life in your life and lighting it up so people all over the world can see it. Don't be ashamed of your God because he will out shine any broken bulb.



Word of the Day: " Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself."
                                                ~Revelation 19:7

Bad Signal

        Every single day we all encounter various people in which we communicate with. Over the years the basic communication from the mouth has evolved from things such as the Morris code into talking over the phone, email, text, video calls, instant messenger, Twitter, Facebook, and mail. These forms of communications has taken up more than half of our everyday lives for just social, business, or even spiritual reasons. Now I think that I can speak for everyone in saying that communication (electronically or verbally) always has mishaps. Sometimes communication goes south when we literally cant understand someone or we choose not to understand them. When we fail to connect to others fully it is because we don't listen. Just having some ones attention does not mean that they are listening to you. And to listen to somebody is to be engaged into the conversation or situation with respect.Ultimately in the end the person should be able to give their honest opinion about the situation. Unfortunately this normally isn't the case with our relationship with God. When we talk to God we normally miss a huge part of the communication, we don't understand first. We need to first understand in order to be understood. To put our own agenda aside to listen to another almost seems unthinkable to us. In order to focus on some one else's agenda you need to be able to focus your determined on an outward force. Now you might think to yourself, why is it so important that i understand God before he understand me? Well that would be like saying why do I need to pay for my takeout before I eat it? When we take the time to calm down and listen to God we get the most of the advice for the situation. Which ultimately allows us to apply that advice to go about the problem in a different way. When you actually listen to God or somebody else you go into a state where your mind is free from the chatter of the world and the agitation of your emotions. Clearing the mind allows you to view your altercation in a whole different light that may have been the right way all along and you didn't even know it. But once we don't tune out of our own little world we get sucked right back into our own world were we stop listening. It is hard to listen deeply especially with God since we cant verbally talk to him in person, because it takes courage to listen. This week I challenge you to listen to God and actually understand what he is saying to you ask him for guidance. Have the courage to not only listen to God but listen to those around you and they will listen deeply in return. So don't let the signal between you and others go bad...make sure its always going strong.




Food for Thought: A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something."
                     ~Alan Lurie

Put the thanks into the giving

        

           When you think of Thanksgiving you might think of the pilgrims and Indians for creating our holiday that we celebrate to this very day. Or you might think (and even get excited) about your favorite pie that your mom or grandmother always makes or you just love the turkey and the way that the holiday feels. My point is that, when it comes to holidays most people are cuddled up to the warmth that comes from their family, gifts, and food. Holidays just becomes about being together as one big family above all else. Now some people may stop and thank the Lord for everything they have on their dinner table at their Thanksgiving feast. But most people just focus on their family for the day and tend to not even think about one member of the family....GOD. It’s great to care so much about your family but know and be thankful for the reason why your there to celebrate the season. If it wasn't for God we would obviously not be here today to celebrate Thanksgiving because God would of never of led our early brothers to discover land. To me that seems so weird, to think that God actually helped people way back in the 1600's! That was forever ago and God helps us today in this "space age" time! As shocking as it may sound to you, God has been in the “guiding business” even when the cave men roamed the earth. So why can’t God sit at our table this year and all of the other years for Thanksgiving. I mean shouldn’t HE be the one annually cutting the turkey? I know God can’t literally sit at your family’s table this year but you can bring him to it. God has provided every single one of us with the opportunity to serve a beautiful meal this Thursday. HE HAS GIVEN US THAT. And in return we shouldn’t thank the pilgrims or the Indians but we should thank the Lord for guiding those men and women. And we should THANK the Lord for not only showing his mercy the days before but for the whole year! Once you sit down to dig into that wonderfully prepared feast stop and think about what has changed in your life for the better and the worst. Give thanks for those things no matter what and you will be revealed what good has come out of all of those things. We tend not to give our thanks that we rarely give to the Lord because it’s hard not to get caught up in our everyday lives and think about ourselves. I’m not saying to neglect yourself, what I am saying is that our thanks should go beyond the Thanksgiving Day. Once you fill your house with everything you are thankful for, make it a goal to carry out those words of thanks because we don’t deserve God but he does deserve our gratitude and plus some! We as a people are the luckiest people in the world, for one...WE HAVE A GOD THAT UTERALLY ADORES US!!! That in itself covers the whole reason for our luckiness. But we also have life, freedom of our religion, our family, and everything else you think of comes from the Lord. How awesome is that!!!! So this Thanksgiving I want you all to enjoy what the good Lord has given you. And when you sit down, if you don’t already, pray. But before your prayer…go around the table and have everyone say at least one thing they are thankful for. I can guarantee that your meal will mean a lot more than just food to you. So let God sit at the head of the table and if your grandpa is willing enough to hand over the knife…have God cut the turkey that will feed your minds this holiday and know that he GIVES that food of wisdom to you with all of his graceful love.



 

Word of the Day: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

                                                            ~Luke 19:10

           

A(acts) of R(random) K(kindness)

              

 

           I turned on the TV last night while babysitting and found nothing on to watch. As I kept scrolling I found that Evan Almighty was on. Now I have watched this movie before but I never really read into all of the lessons that pertain to God! As I was watching this a lot of scenes stuck in my head. This clip posted here was one of my favorites. When I sat down to watch TV I was also going to write this blog and I had no clue what to write about. After I had finished the movie I still had no idea what to write about. So the night went on and after a couple of naps I woke up to scroll for something to watch again. And Evan Almighty was on again! So I thought okay maybe this movie will help me....this clip (and the rest of the movie) gave me today's wisdom. Right now I want you to watch this clip above.

 

 

 

         The clip starts out with the wife of Evan who is upset to see that her husband believes that God told him to build an ark for a big flood just like Noah was told back in biblical times. This idea seems crazy to her because they aren't living in biblical times. But who says you have to be living in biblical times to have a miracle of God happen? Most people look back on the story of the great flood and Noah to say that its all about God having a wrath of anger on the earth. But as "God" states in this clip (aka, Morgan Freeman)....the ark is a love story. Its about believing in each other, if you read back in Genesis 7:14-15 it states "With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal-domestic and wild, large, and small- along with birds of every kind. Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes." The animals worked together through the love of Christ, they came in pairs to work together. The animals were committed to God and each other just like Noah was committed to God and the ark. We are all children of God that are one body. We are the body of Christ that is to represent God in the best way possible. If you think of us all as a literal body, each part of the body is vital. If you cut off the hand, the body is gonna have trouble functioning without a hand. It wont be able to grasp things as well with just one hand. And the dead hand is still a hand but it is still lifeless without its body. This is the same idea for us Christians. If we claim to be Christians and are not a part of the body them our faith is dying. We are to be together in this. Being there for each other through bothers in Christ makes one body. And when you hear that the body of the church...its not the building itself. Its the people in it that make it up. We need to come together to become one to build the body of Christ on this earth!! I don't have a challenge for you this week, but I want you to keep ARK in your mind. Act of Random Kindness....see where that takes you. Make ARK a part of you everyday lives....and remember. We are all the body of Christ and we are to be there for each other. Two by two.

 

 

 

Food for Thought: "Let me ask you something... If some one prays for patience, you think god gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does god gives them courage? Or does he give them opportunities to be courageous? If some one prayed for the family to be closer, you think god zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings? Or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"

                                                         ~ God (Morgan Freeman)

Romney vs. Obama

         Wherever you go I'm sure you see signs about the election. The signs might be hanging or in the ground or flashing on a billboard. But not matter what they always get your attention about a certain candidate like either Obama or Romney. And not only do you see these persuasive signs lining the road but you hear them on the TV or the radio and ads are plastered all over the Internet. Now these signs might not make or break your voting decision but they always seem to stick in your mind for a little bit. The main goal of a campaign is for a running individual to prove to the whole world that they are all that they need to run things smoothly. I myself have not watched the debates but I am sure several of you have. And I have heard that it was made very clear that Romney often held the holding ground on Obama. I think that's so crazy that even though Obama is the current President of the United States, Romney still managed to leave Obama speechless. After the first debate CBS News had stated "The first presidential debate of the 2012 general election cycle may have been the best night of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Romney entered the debate trailing the president in polls of battleground states, giving him incentive to be aggressive in order to close the gap against President Obama. And he was indeed aggressive, trotting out the much-discussed "zingers" he prepared ahead of time ("As president you're entitled to your own house, your own plane, but not your own facts") and repeatedly attacking Mr. Obama's record. He was enough of an alpha presence on stage that critics quickly took to attacking the debate moderator for letting Romney dictate the flow of the debate - despite the fact that he actually spoke for about four-and-a-half minutes less than the president." When you read most critics reports you read it with the mind set that all they say is not true. But a news report like CBS or CNN, you will most likely believe especially when it comes to politics. When you read this news report though...there is a sense of criticism towards Obama. Reports like this might sway your mind from your original vote just because some one else gave their opinion on it. There are plenty of people in this world that vote without even caring or vote for the candidate that looks or talks the best. Or you vote for the person that you were told to vote for by your parents standards or even your spouses standard. Ill admit, I have never been big on politics and I always thought we never needed a President because we had already had God. Well as much as I want God to physically be the President of the US, that is out of our control. Or is it? This Tuesday many of you will go to a certain place at a certain time to vote for a certain person of your interest. But when you go into that both and shut that curtain, who are you bringing in besides yourself? Are you bringing in the report off of CBS News? Or the report of a harsh critic you read the night before? Or are you bringing the vote that your parents would put down? Some people are told to always vote republican or democrat because their father or mother has raised them that way. But really your father has never raised you that way. God may not be sitting in the plush leather chair of the oval office making the calls for the US, but He is sitting in a much higher seat making the calls for the whole world. For most of you God is probably not the first thing that comes to mind while you are voting... but why can't you bring him into the booth with you while you vote? Even though being President is a materialistic thing of this sinful world which will fade away. The decisions made shape the outcome of our world. This lesson isn't to hound you about making the "right vote" for the better of humankind. Its about showing you the difference of a vote with God and without God. It often seems as if when the Presidents are brought into the light, they automatically get eaten apart by the world and their flaws because so much more visible to the world. And this effects what there are to ultimately do for the world. God is also in high authority and he never lets the the hate of the world attack his heart. The Presidents are no different from us and so they sin just like us. This is why we need to go to God for guidance on elections because God sees and knows the motives of each running candidate. He knows who is fit for the job and he knows what that person will do the next couple of years to keep his world running. For those of you that are voting this week....think with God, not against him. And even if you cant vote, pray for the wisdom of God to take control of every ones heart while making their vote. In the end we shouldn't be casting a vote for the people of this world. We should be casting all of our votes full heartily to our Lord, Jesus Christ to spread his word around the world like a virus.




Word of the Day: "And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires."
                                                                      ~2 Peter 1:4

Stone Cold Love

                We all have that one (or more) person that we do not get along with. That person that we don't "like" just always happens to say all the wrong things to us that makes us rage with anger. Or maybe someone doesn't like you because of a certain standard that is not true. But no matter what there can be tension and hatred between anyone. When we are encountered by people like this we normally don't enjoy it or look forward to it in any way. And when we do see these people that we just "adore" it is not a friendly exchange. The burning rage that hatred starts in your heart with effect the way you see a certain person that just pushes your buttons. This makes it extremely hard to humble yourself before that person and even the Lord. Can you imagine what the world would be like if God got even and gave into the hatred that was towards him while he was on earth? Our world would be the total opposite. Our lives would be all about hatred, death, greed, and sin. And we would all follow the example of anger being okay from God. Fortunately God didn't give into hatred and that's why our world is the way that he had planned.  God was in charge of saving us and he did his job. Ezekiel 33:7-9 states "So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel.Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning for me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to tun from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delievered your soul." These verses show the importance of working together. Like I said, we might not like everyone we come in contact with, but we are to love them no matter what. Keep those verses in mind... if we hate someone and know that physical or mental danger is headed there way then we are to warn them despite our feelings. If we don't warn them then we are for one not doing our duties as the children of God. And second of all, we will be held responsible for the outcome of that troubled person. Your probably thinking... well how is the people i hate the most my problem, they treat me horrible? As hard as it is to love those who persecute you... it is what you are called to do. The ones that show us hatred may not know God which therefore closes theirs eyes to the gentle way of life that we can see. Don't become angry or frustrated because others don't understand things because they might not be on the same level as you and that's okay! It we all only loved the people that loved us then we would not have any progress. We would all live the same life with the same people because we are scared to resolve problems with people we don't like. Now I'm not telling you that you need to let people walk all over you but you need to see the good side of every "evil person". When it is hard to love people that show you no love just remind yourself that your doing this for God's glory not your own. The people that are the most lost are those people that hate us and who would be a better teacher besides the followers of Christ! When you come in contact with a personal conflict with others...talk it out and evaluate the situation. Sometimes the conflict is not the problem, the only problem is the way you view the situation. Out of all of this you wont lose you integrity for humbling yourself...you will gain strength. And I'm not talking about having huge arms. Your heart will become stronger and that's far more rewarding that having a muscular appearance that will fade away. This week I present you with the challenge to find that one person (or people) that you never ever see eye to eye to and evaluate the way your relationship is. No matter what the situation is think if the way you view the conflict is actually worse than the actual conflict it self. Remember that you are to love your neighbors and reach to those that need help even when they shoot it down. All that is, is a cry for help. Put your personal feelings aside and help others. It might seem that their sins are bigger than yours but that's just an illusion.





Word of the Day:  “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
                                                       ~Luke 6:27-28

Falling Into the Darkness

         In the following context you will read a humorous but kinda of embarrassing story. (Yes it is about me and no... you better not laugh) So about a week ago I was pulling an outfit out of my closet to wear the next day. And as soon as I pulled out a pair of jeans and I started to walk away, my whole closet rack collapsed. Well talk about a mess that nobody ever should want to clean up! All I could do is turn around and just hope that a bunch of shoes just fell, but nope of course not. So I just stared at my disaster of a closet, which I tediously keep clean 24/7, and yell to my parents that the loud noise was just my whole closet falling through. My dad comes upstairs to check the disaster and laughs by saying " And you always ask for more clothes." Of course that would make any girl mad, and in my defense some of those clothes are my sisters old ones. But anyways! I was stressing because it was getting late plus it was a school night and I still had several things to do including joyful homework. So I looked at the closet and just took a big old sigh and went in and started to manage the rubble. For that night all of my clothes had to sit in piles on my floor until the rack could be fixed. I could sit there all night to fix it (which is what my cleaning disorder was telling me to do). But the one big thing that came out of it all was that, I never saw it coming just like we never know when we are gonna trip up. That night I just went to bed and turned off the lights to masked the huge mess in my room. And in the dark you cant see the mess, which was nice to pretend that it never happened. But have you ever tried to mask up a huge disaster in your life? I know I have (not my closet ordeal) and it ended up coming to the surface and breaking through and being worse than it was in the beginning. Right now I want you to think about light vs. dark. What can you do in the light that you cant do in the dark? But what can you do in the dark that you cant do in the light? In the light you can see everything. You can drive better, play sports, exercise, have a picnic or party, and anything else you do in your everyday lives that you don't realize we need Gods natural light for. Now if you add the night and its darkness to all of those things, you can still do them but you wont be able to see them as well or take part in it as well as you could if it was during the day. When I was laying in my bed I told myself "Now Kaitlyn, you have to remember that your whole wardrobe is on your floor so you have to be extra cautious when getting up tomorrow or you are going to be tumbling all over your clothes and it probably wont feel to pleasant with metal hangers." I was at risk for hurting myself, on my fashionable clothes, because I would be walking in the dark in the morning. I mean, I could still see my room but the darkness would impair my ability to see as clear as I would with all of the lights on. Sadly we cant make our disasters and stresses go away by turning the lights off on them and going to sleep. Because they will be there just like my clothes were still all over my floor. And they wont go away until you do something about it. I am warning you to not walk in the darkness physically and mentally. Physically because if you fall, well dang you don't know what your falling on! But if you fall mentally in the dark you will never know how far you have truly fallen from God. If you fall in the dark then how will you ever know which way is out? The thing is, you will never know. If I had gotten up and started walking all around my room without turning the lights on, my room would be a lot messier than just having clothes on the ground and I would never know what I hit until I turned on the lights. So think about this for the week, when you chose to walk in the darkness that the devil provides you will not be able to see the stress, evil, sin, or destruction laying around you. It will be at your feet waiting for you to walk right into its trap. And once your trapped you wont know which way is up and which way is down. This week I want to ask you to do a little exercise. Turn of all of the lights in one of the rooms in your house so it is dark, close your eyes, and spin around a couple times and walk around. Count how many things you run into, but please don't hurt yourself. And take that as a reminder of how easy it is to mask our disasters and how easy it is for them to end up hurting us again. The destruction in our lives can be caused by minuet things. Little did i know... my closet rack fell because it was missing a screw and the wood was cracking. If I would of payed close attention I would of prevented that disaster from taking its course. So look closely to your life. Are you walking into the dark where the sins lie lives knifes at your feet?


Word of the Day: "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?"

He only sees

      My apologizing for not being quick and trough in my blogs brings me to my lesson for the week. I have not been obedient in the word. Not doing quiet times and talking to God is something that thousands of followers of Christ struggle with everyday. It’s something we can’t control…but yet we can. We can’t control the part where we get caught in that struggle but we can control our actions leading up to that. I have found that once I don’t do a quiet time or my daily prayer, which just starts a downward journey. I don’t have much to say this week about this topic. But I will attach a video so you can see that even though you put God on the back burner He will always be the burning passion in your heart if you embrace it. We often don’t do our duties of Christ because of getting distracted by friends or relationship problems or things that we find better than worshipping God. There is many times where we make mistakes and do things that we don’t think about before we do it. No matter what we do God always shows us forgiveness and He is there for us when we aren’t there for Him. God is the only one that sees and knows your motives. I dont have a challenge for you this week because you are going to make one for yourself, make a challenge that will test you beyond measures through God.

I hope you enjoy this!

Little Wisdom

This past summer I signed up to help with vacation bible school at my church. As one of the “tribe leaders”, I was excited to do God’s work in my own community. It was also fun to spend time with my family and the younger kids as well as being able to partner up with my mom while helping. So since the theme was Babylon all of the leaders had to dress the part and of course I had to wear the long “skirt” with a Babylonian “smock”. Ok so I’ll admit….my costume was pretty dang awesome, but it was also not the first thing I would put into my wardrobe. But none of that matter because I was working with little kids and plus it was all for God, despite my fashionable “Babylonian wear.” My point of this lesson is kids. Little kids to you may come off as annoying or cute or just “not your thing.” Now some of you may have kids or are in the process of having kids or kids are not even in your future and that’s fine because we all have our own paths in life. But we are all called to be brothers and sisters through Christ Jesus even if the little ones get on your last nerve. While being a tribe leader I found out that those little kids can teach us the best things. At very young age, kids aren’t exposed to the things that teens and adults are exposed to. If you ask a 5 year olds opinion on their view of today’s world they aren’t going to tell you that the economy is going down the drain or that global warming is coming to a head or that the world is “going to end” in 2012 or that they are having trouble in work. Those are some outcomes of an average adult today. Most children still see the bright side of the world today, the side that we all once knew when we were little. But think about that…why did that ever go away? For most adults they lost the rainbows and butterflies by simply growing up. When you grow up you go through several test and seasons of life that change your view on the world. It may distort is or I might expand it. But no matter what our view on the world never stays the same from when we were 5. You can also probably remind your biggest idol. I might of being (and still be0 your parents, sibling, other family member, best friend, or a certain adult. We all looked up to those older than us in some way, and children do that till this day. But have you ever considered looking up to them? Their ideas and thinking is fresh…it’s new…and it’s not yet ruined by sin. Kids are still surrounded and being tempted by sin but it might not be as severe as the ones adults face. We always think that children should look up to us and they should because those older than them show them the ways of life. But keep in mind that kids have a way of thinking that takes away the “scary things” of the world that adults constantly worry over. It is a lot easier for kids to get sold into believing in God because adults make excuses not to follow God. Because adult sin is much more developed than the sin of little kids. I saw the devotion of kids to Christ through the VBS at my church, and it was a breath of fresh air to such young kids love God without hesitation. I would look around and some kids would be jumping up and down yelling during worship time because they love Jesus! How many times do you see adults jumping up and down for the glory of God? Yeah that seems a little farfetched to see any adult like that in public. What we can learn from this is that kids can see the glory of God just like adults can but kids don’t let anything in their way in doing so, unlike most adults. Now I’m not saying that 5 year olds are better believers in Christ because no one is a perfect follower. But I challenge you this week to watch the little ones around you and learn from them. Either if there your own children your students your nieces or nephews…look up to them for once because kids have a lot more wisdom than you think they do. We are all children of Christ and we always will be! Word of the Day: 2 Timothy 3:14-15 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ~2 Timothy 3:14-15 Question of the week: Am I letting the young me show through without hesitation for Christ?

PART 5: Profile...God Description...Comforting

Ahhh. Soft. Comfy. Cozy. Warm. A place where you can just sink into the warmth to get away from all days stress. It may be expensive but the time you spend there is worth it. It is also used to family times and your precious head will you take a nap even though you arent a child anymore. But about all else this thing brings you comfort even when your days dont. I hope i just described your favortie couch. When we do that running leap onto our favorite couch we dont even think about if it will be comfty because we already know that it will be. So we jump without the fear of falling. Just like we jump without the fear of breaking our couches we need to jump right into the arms of God without the fear of him dropping us. It might be hard to believe that such an important guy can comfort every single one of us, but he was made for that. we all go through those days that feel like life is worthless. And you wonder why you even are friends with those you call your friends. These are the times where you dont want to fight anymore and you just want to fall so someone can catch you. Chances are you dont have people that are running around waiting to hold you when your world crumbles. And even when you do, that doesnt always satisfy your hurt. We are to rely on people and be there for others so we can have relationships with our brothers in christ. But we are to be comforted by one that we cant physically see. When i go through those rough times i have some close friends that i can run to for a big comforting huge but that doesnt always satisfy me. There are times when i wish that i could just grab a hold of God so that i could just cry in his arms. We can! I know he isnt "here" like our friends are but he is in a different way. And i do "run into" Gods arms. It might sound dumb or corny but try what i do...when you lay down at night relax and just look up and close your eyes. Just talk to God in your head and just fall into his arms. Imagine that he has his arms around you and sooner or later you will feel a warmth take over your heart. When i do this, tears stream down my face because i know i am more than okay and i dont have even a 1% chance of falling once i am in his grips. God is our ultimate couch. He is beyond the quality of a lazy boy recliner without the extreme cost. The only thing you have to give up to him is your heart and he will craddle that with all of his love. this week think about what makes you cry out for comfort. Is it friends, love, family, school, sports, or just everyday life that tugs at your heart? No matter what it is we all need comforting even when we arent hurting. And its great to go to those that we have built a trusting relationship with. But this week whenever you need some sort of comforting, let go wrap his arms around you. Comforting is one of several characteristics that god carries around. We all have our own personality traits that describe each and everyone of us. But God has the characteristics that no human could carry around and that because he is the one that we get our personality from. We need to see that he has better insight and he wont drop us if he fall. so jump without the fear of falling. Word of the Day: "For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. " ~1 Thessalonthians 2:11-12

PART 4: Profile... God Desrciption...Loving

      One day you might describe your best friend as honest, loyal, loving, caring, and the best friend you have ever had. But the next you could be calling them rude, a liar, stupid, and the worse friend you have ever had. Here on earth humans cant keep a relationship without messing it up at least once. Think about all of your relationships you ever had...have any of them ever been perfect?? I know every single relationshipI have ever had has been far from perfect. And we should be glad they aren't perfect because when we go through trials in a relationship that allows us to have room to become stronger in ourselves and the ones we are close to. Right now evaluate your life...how much love are you getting from those around you? Are you getting sold short of the love you should be receiving from those around you? One solution to this problem is to show your own love so you can receive it. But did you know that there is one person that constantly shows you love without any delay? If you look at it this way, God was made to love us. And we were made to receive it and share it. "We love each other because he loved us first" ~1 John 4:19. This shows how we are to be expected to love each other. Going back to how we cant have perfect relationships...it is hard to love someone that can inflict any kinda of pain on us. We can love God, who we cant physically see but we cant love people here on earth which we can see. Do you see see pattern? God can love us unconditionally but we have kinks in the way we show love. We all know that God loves the world and everything in it. But I don't think we realize the impact of his love. If God never showed love...we would not be here. Can you imagine loving the whole world? That's a lot of stinking hugs and kisses! That seems so far fetch for us because we aren't expected to love the entire world perfectly. God is the only one that achieve that humanly impossible task. We are to look up to God for that and love as much as we can. Most people say they can't show love to a person because that person treated them wrong. Every half of a second someone sins and treats God wrong. But does he ever stop loving them? This is a harsh truth that we are faced with. Psalm 89:33 states the outstanding attitude that we should wear daily... "but I will never stop loving him nor fail to keep my promise to him." I mainly touched base on us needing to show love to others like God does. But also understand this, you need to love and respect yourself and God above all else before you spread it around the world. I don't want you to read this and think  " Wow Kaitlyn, this is a lot of rules I need to follow to just love people like God!" but don't think of love as coming with a manual because it doesn't! Nobody knows how to love. And that's okay! But I know this one big guy in the sky that does and when you rest your eyes on him, loving others even through the toughest times will become as natural as breathing. Gods character is based on love. If he didn't love us then he wouldn't be caring, faithful, forgiving, patient, or there for us at all. He is made for this love! Just think, if God didn't love us then he could of told Jonah "Hey get out of the whale yourself, whales gotta eat too ya know!" Or he could of told Noah "Oh yeah did i forget to mention there is gonna be a flood? Yeah...you should of built a giant arc and that's why all the animals came to you. Oops!" Yeah, God shows us love just when we need it. And that's why we need to embrace it and make it a part of ourselves and let that show through us above all else. If you ever think that God doesn't love you.... think again because your still breathing right? And he gave his only son for you and me. How is that love for ya, giving up your son? Once we don't feel loved or don't show it, we automatically drop our sense of realization. We drop our spirits and all that defines us because we don't feel loved. Not only is love a powerful 4 letter word, it also has a lot of power of impact on anything. If you feel loved in your life or not, this week I challenge you to evaluate your life and how love is incorporated in it. Once you find it, value that and expand that love. Next find how God shows his miraculous love to you even when you don't deserve it and hold on dear to that. It's inviting and comforting to discover the love shown to you in your life so why not find it. And once you find the one and only love of our Lord and Savior, you life will show you so many more open doors.



Word of the Day: "I have always loved you" says the lord...
                                                                   ~Malachi 1:2

PART 3: Profile...God Desription...Not of this world

      

    Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. You hear the soothing sound of the waves of a lake break the silence as a boat streams by on a Sunday afternoon. The sound is so beautiful. You begin to slip away. Surrounded in the fresh breath of life that the breeze is breathing into you so you can stay afloat in this life that is drowning you…How can something so beautiful be created for us?

    A lake looks so simple and you might think…it’s just water in a giant hole. But have you ever stopped and looked at that “simple” lake? I mean really LOOK at that lake. Where I live, there is a lake that’s a bike ride away from my house. I never took advantage of it. Yeah I always thought it was pretty and I wish I could go boating or just have fun on the water. But I never really stopped to realize how truly beautiful the lake was. The lake is now my place to connect with God during my quiet times and it’s also my go to place when I need God’s beauty to surround me. Just like the lake, there are several earthly items that get called beautiful but never get admired. Right now I want you to go outside and look very closely at a tree. I know I know, you’re probably saying “Yeah okay, I’m just going to keep reading. I know what a tree looks like.” Just do it! I will wait…….

   Vastly winding in a dark manner as the abundance of life consumes every corner. I see a splash of beauty. Its detail is unlike any other. The veins of small growing portions are over flowing with life. These leaves show me I have a God. This detailed trunk shows me I have a God. These invisible roots underneath my feet…show me that I have a God. This is what I see when I look at a tree. Did you see how much detail and thought is in one simple tree? When God created the earth He took His time. He knew what He was doing and just like how we all have little details about us, so does our world. But, did you know that the creator of the earth is not of our world? Chances are… you know that. BUT, did you know that God walked the earth but He is not of the earthly flesh?  “My kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36) In this verse, Jesus tells us that his kingdom is considered, not of this world. Now, put two and two together. The nature around us seems so amazing and our God is not of this world. Yes! He created all of that but His creations declare the mysterious about Him. Now I’m not saying that God is an alien because He is anything but. I challenge you this week to stop and smell the roses. Really dig deep to see how God is not of this world. Once you do that you will discover that Gods love, character, hope, and even His life are like no other. Remember that you can’t get a love like the Lords anywhere else. Our Lord is like no other, HE IS OUR ONE AND ONLY LOVE!!!

 

Word for the Day: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet he did not sin.”

                                                                                ~Hebrews 4:15

 

PART 2: Profile:God...Description: Patience

  Patience. " The power or capacity to endure without compliant something difficult or disagreeable: forbearance, long suffering." Was there ever a time when you just reached the breaking point with someone or something and you ended up saying something you shouldn't of said? I know I have and you don't recognize it as a bad thing at first. When we are faced with difficult times we automatically go into "beast mode" or "shut down mode." Some people can deal with difficult things, not always the right way, and some people just totally give up on the challenge they are being presented. I mean, who would find a difficult situation and say "Oh hey I am just gonna suffer through this long and hard time!" Yeah...I don't think any of you would volunteer for that. But did you know who did? Of course you guessed....God. " And remember, our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved..." (2 Peter 3:15) Of course God showed patience while He once walked the earth through His words and actions. BUT, did you realize that He still shows that same patience to us every single day? Its so mind blowing to think that, even though we can't find the smallest ounce of power of endurance through hard times, God cast patience on us. When God showed patience in 2 Peter 3:15, He used that time to allow people to be saved. Can you imagine if we suppressed our feelings by a matter of seconds and being patient with people, how many people we could save or come closer to? Its very hard to stay calm and be patient when something doesn't go your way. And you might be thinking, "Well its a lot easier for God to be patient with us and others because He is God!" Well that's true because He does not sin, BUT it is not impossible for us to have His patience. Once you realize the patience that the Lord shows in our everyday life I think it will become a lot easier for us to find our own patience. If the Lord did not show us patience we would not be here today. If God did not wait upon US, back when He was on the earth, when we did not believe in His glory we would of all been left behind...even if you were a believer. As average citizens we all make mistakes and that requires patience on both our parts and Gods part in our lives. We have to have patience with ourselves before we can see that God has patience with us the whole time. The bible always shouts out about how we need to be more like God and reflect that through our everyday lives. So this week I challenge you to first find how God is patient with you. How are you patient with yourself? And do you show patience to those around? This is gonna be hard to submit yourself to patience but don't look at it as a burden, look at it as a lifestyle as being a child of God. Pray that you can find the strength to be more like God everyday and be patient in order to see a whole new side to life and your relationship with God.

God explodes with patience...can we just have an ounce of it???



Word of the day: " We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience that you need. May you be filled with joy."
                                                                  ~Colossians 1:11

PART 1: Profile:God...Description:Faithfulness

  Before you buy a book or a movie you always read about it or you hear all about from friends or its all over the media. Most times, when you just go and buy a random book or movie you have a 50% chance of hating the whole thing. And once you realized, "Wow maybe I should of read the huge paragraph on the back cover" or "Gee I guess watching the previews for that X-rated movie would of been better before watching it with my teenage son." We all look into the whole story before we engage in it to prevent ourselves from being disappointed or being taken by surprise. Just like there is so much you can find out about the next best thing in the media. You will hear about the many different characters of God one way or the other. Believer or not, I am sure that you have heard some talk about this Jesus guy. I know that when I hear about God I hear people say "Oh yes! Jesus is just so loving, patient, faithful, comforting, and is just beyond our words!" Or in other cases, people question those characteristics by saying "I don't know why everyone bows down to this God, yeah He sounds perfect but if I am not perfect then how come this Jesus guy gets to be perfect." If your one of these people or the person that glorifies God...do you really know the true meaning of Gods characteristics? When I got the idea of writing this series for the month I got excited. Because I realized the true meaning of my blog and that is to not to just know God but to hear Him and love Him while being rooted in His love for you. I know this series is going to be eye opening and exciting because while you may be really looking into Gods characteristics I am too! I am always one of those people that praise the Lord and I think I just picked that philosophy up from others who praise Him. But I just realized that beyond the words of faithfulness and loving and comforting...I have no clue how that defines God. I am talking beyond the original bible stories of Jonah and the Whale or Daniel in the Lions Den. I'm talking about every single day of His life, and ours, and why He was created with those characteristics and how he shows them to us every single second of our lives. This week we will be talking about the first characteristic which is faithfulness. I'm sure you have already heard about how faithful God is to us and He will never leave us, this IS true but lets look deeper. Lets define the definition of what it means to be faithful. I looked up faithful on freedictionary.com and found these words, "Adhering firmly and devotedly, as to a person, cause, or idea; loyal. Having or full of faith. Worthy of trust or belief; reliable. Consistent with truth or actuality." Now take those words and connect it with your life. Have you every felt like God was being loyal to you? Like He is always consistent no matter what? Like He was reliable even when you weren't? That is the exact works of Gods faithful characters taking the stage in your life. The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, "Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness." (Exodus 34:6) When I first read this I thought... wow God sounds really confident in Himself there and it almost makes me feel a little downgraded. But then I looked deeper. Gods purpose of this message was not to be arrogant and make enemies. He wrote this with a hidden message of that we should look to Him as inspiration. He has compassion and mercy just like most of us do here but do we have that 24/7...nonstop?? No, I think I can easily say that most of us do not. But most importantly it says how He is filled with faithfulness. We need to look at God and follow that. He is faithful and He will show that once we keep His words in our lives!! Psalm 25:10 it states, " The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep His covenant and obey His commands." Again this shows that God is faithful but He will only lead those faithfully that keep His words and actually care about Him. God posses this faithful characteristic in hopes of passing it down from generation to generation. But we need to see it and accept it for it to be passed down. So Gods faithfulness is defined by the actual dictionary words...consistent with truth or actuality, reliable,worthy of trust or belief... All of these human generated words describe God and I can only expand it to a certain point. I don't know how Gods faithfulness shines in your life but I bet if you dig deep down, you will find it. I challenge you this week to take a small piece of paper and write down the definition of faithfulness above and copy it down and stick it somewhere you will see it everyday. When you see those words think of one way (a new way everyday) that God is faithful in your life. And before you know it, you will become one step closer to actually knowing what people mean when they say "God is faithful".

Word of the Day: "Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds."
                                 ~Psalm 36:5

In a Flash

   Everyday in the US alone 115 people die in car crashes, that is one death every 13 minutes. In a blink of an eye you can lose control of the wheel, a relationship, your attitude, your feelings, of God, and this all effects your time here on earth. Most times when we get into a car the first thing on our minds is not how we could possibly die in a car accident. But it happens. Just like any other disaster happens. Most people that leave the earth "too early" never get to accomplish their life goals. Every person on earth strives to discover what their purpose is here on earth. And 99% of the time we feel like we have found our "destiny". What we call our "destiny" is just happiness. First off we are not living for ourselves. And you might think "well God is very selfish if He thinks that we are all just gonna bow down and live for Him." If you are thinking that also remember this, if God was selfish do you think He would die on the cross for this sinful world? God once walked the same earth that we stand on today, and do you know why? God the father sent His only son to the earth to live our "humanly" life in hope that we would follow Him so that we would not perish but have eternal life. The son of God lived a life here on earth just like we do, and He also went through hardship just like we do everyday. But, just like car crash victims now, His life was taken too early. It happened in the flash of an eye. Did He really die because He claimed to be the one and only God? Yes, that is true but look deeper. God was sent to earth with a mission to bring glory to His kingdom just like we were born with a purpose. We are all not only different in appearance but our spiritual gifts and our spiritual missions are all different. The bottom line is that everyone was born for a reason, some times children are brought into and taken out of the world in a wrong way. Buy as crazy as it seems, God planned for all of that to happen because He knows everything that will happen and sometimes He doesn't prevent things for a reason. So let me ask you something...do you wake up every day and strive to discover yourself and what you are? Is there times when you just don't know who you are suppose to be? Well I can help. Chances are, you aren't finding "your" true meaning in life because you don't include God. Instead of waking up everyday to figure out yourself and your destiny. Wake up with the mind set that your are ready to discover who God created you to be. He set us here on earth for a specific amount of time and don't waste that time searching for the wrong thing. Once you discover the path on which will lead you to who God created you to be, you will live a more meaningful life. If you just live for yourself and get mad if you never get to experience things then you have no body to blame but yourself. Because your life will happen in a flash and then you will be carrying your cross. But will you be carrying the cross for yourself or for God? I challenge you this week to evaluate your life. Are you just waking up everyday for your own purposes, or are you actually seeking the destiny God has set out for you? It gonna be hard to follow His purpose for your life but I can guarantee that it will end up a lot better then what you had planned.




~Our life is easily displayed by a rope our time on earth is the very tip of the rope while the rest of the long unending rope is our time in heaven so don't get discouraged by the struggles of finding your meaning God has for you. I strongly encourage you to go to this link by Francis Chan, it will explain this more in depth in a different way from the lesson today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF_x8dsvb_4

Volunteer Slave

      It’s a Friday night and the local carnival is at its best. You go with your friends to have good time…ride some rides, eat great food, play games, and just have fun. As you’re making your rounds at the carnival you become enticed when you hear a man yelling “ladies and gentlemen, step right up to discover my one and only fun house attraction! And don’t forget that whoever gets to the end first gets a prize and it’s all for free!!!” Well just like any other person, you love to get free stuff, so you and your friends walk right in to have the ride of your lives. And guess what? You were the first one out, so you get a prize! Once all your friends are out you all go to exit until the man that was just enticing you to come into the extremely fun “fun house”, tells you that each of you need to pay $24.99 for your adventure. You and all your friends look at each other with pale faces because you have just spent your last $5 your parents gave you and now you had no way to pay for the “free” fun house. Just like anybody would run right into a free fun house adventure, we run right into sin without knowing the consequences. We only look at the appearance of what Satan sets out for us to fall right into. Once we are indulging in our sin we become blinded and drunk with happiness. But once our high is over, the true meaning will surface. And Satan then traps us. We become a slave to sin. Once we are in, it’s not long until we become buried in his shadow and God will no longer be seen in our lives. We choose all of this without ever knowing it. At some point in our lives we will all be a slave to sin, but whether or not you choose to break those chains for the truth is your decision. Sin is the only thing we can EVER be slaves to, we are never slaves of God….we are His children. So don’t view His instructions as commands that He gives you as a slave. If He wanted us to be His slaves then in all His instructions He would put a threat at the end. Now He often says “be careful” or “watch out” because He is looking out for us not casting a curse or pain on us. But remember we are only a slave to sin if we choose to sin. Now you must be thinking…”well we all sin so therefore we must all be slaves to Satan.” No, that’s not the case. Yes we all sin and we all can be a slave to sin but after you sin do you bring God back in for forgiveness? Or have you become numb to God? When we constantly sin and let that control us, because we feel like it’s the right thing to do, is when we become slaves to it. You have a choice to make your lifestyle pure. And if you make the decision to not have God in it then that is an open invitation for the devil to take control of everything. Just like the guy did at the fun house. The group of friends stepped right into a trap without even knowing it because they were blinded by what seemed fun. But if they really looked closely they could see that the man was also standing right in front of a worn out sign that read the price $24.99. And if they looked closely to the “free prizes” they would of realized that they all still had their price tags from Walmart that were just stolen, but nobody else knew any different.  We all get caught by the enticing trap of sin, so don’t feel like you are the only one. But we could also prevent from completely falling into the trap and coming out blinded. So do yourself a favor and don’t volunteer to be a slave. Have you ever looked up the exact definition of slavery? In Wikipedia the first two sentences are as followed: “Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation.” Just look at those underlined words……..can you see why it’s SO important that we make sure we aren’t slaves of Satan’s sin? Do you think you would go into that fun house or give into camouflaged sin if this definition was pinned to the front of it? I challenge you this week to be aware if you are making God numb in your life and reverting to slavery in sin. Get out now because God wants a relationship, not a colony of slaves.




Word of the day:  "You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master."
                         ~Genesis 4:6-7

Best Seller

    The hit movie "The Hunger Games" brought in a record $152.5 million in North America alone. The best selling book would make you feel as if you were in the arena running for your life. I got hooked on the books and the movie myself because I had heard so much rave about how outstanding the plot was. Some people even said it was better than the Twilight series! Now that I look back on it...it didn't take much convincing for me to read all of the Hunger Games series. Why is it so easy for me, and pretty much the whole population, to get hooked on a best seller so quickly? Well, because we hear about how great it is and we constantly see commercials about the special date of the opening show. So, if we can get on the Hunger Games bandwagon so quickly then why cant we do the same with God. Most "Christians" call themselves believers if they just go to church and they only get a sermon. But that means nothing if they don't apply it. Most people also don't realize that we need to develop a deep relationship with Christ. I talk to my God the way I would talk to my family. I try to treat Him just like He is my worldly family. In the past couple years I have had the worst luck with getting friends that truly care about me and ones that try to get to know me to become good friends. Almost every time I lost one of my past friends I felt let down and I felt like I wasn't good enough for them.That is exactly how God feels when you don't get to know him or take others peoples advice when they say the Lord is just so amazing. Now there is several movies about God but none of them are 100% true. The only book that is 100% right is the bible. It is a lot harder for people to get quickly attached to the bible than it is to get attached to the Hunger Games. But what if the same amount of the Hunger Games viewers became engrossed in God? We would all have some sort of deep family relationship with God. Doesn't that sound like it would last a lot longer than the effect of a good movie? So how do we make God our best seller? Get to know Him! You are never gonna have a full understanding of God if you don't have an amazing understanding of God. Get to know Him just like you would get to know someone before you start hanging out with or before you start dating someone. I know I said we should get so interested in God quickly but God wants you to get to know Him. Not rush into something that you feel like you need to do. Because just like how your favorite movie becomes your fifth favorite as more best sellers come out. God will become your fifth best seller if you rush into the relationship and don't get to know Him. I challenge you this week to think about what you favorite book or movie is. And is that book or movie the best seller over God in your heart? Because God cant share your heart with what your heart desires. Be that friend that tells others about the best seller who's main character is Jesus Christ. Because I can guarantee that they will get hooked on the events that are actually real unlike any other best sellers.



Word of the Day: "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death..."
                                                                        ~Philippians 3:10

What you do defines you

  I always thought that I could keep my thoughts to myself. That I could control what came out of my mouth even though if it was half of what I was really thinking. Just like we are what we eat....how we think is how we act. The human mind can not control what will pop up in our mind next, but we can take charge of our over all thoughts. Most of us think that whatever we think is done by ourselves. But did you know that God knows what your thinking before you do? I believe that is more than enough proof that God is the deliver of all our thoughts. Well then why do we get those sinful thoughts? Why do we think the way we do? Our mind is to be set just to let God fill it, but just like a virus Satan finds his way through to infect the process of our thinking. Have you ever struggled to hold back words that you think are to be said but somehow you know its wrong to act on them? Its almost impossible to know what God wants us to say. But I have a pretty good feeling that He wants us to tell nothing but the whole truth. Now I'm not saying if you think somebody needs to be put in there place that you should go up to them and cuss them out. Because we are to pray for those that persecute us.Our minds can become a battle ground when we don't confess everything, if we never tell what we really mean then are we ever living a truthful life? Don't trap your thoughts in your mind and never set them into action because God didn't put them in your head for no reason. Did you ever wonder why all of our thoughts are different? Our thoughts make up our character...so if we all had the same exact thoughts we would all be the same. When we choose not to let our thoughts define our actions we are cheating. You might think well if I put my thoughts into actions I would not want to be that person! Well that's not a good thing but, that is the case with everyone. Just stop and imagine what the world would be like if everyone acted out every single thought they had. Kind of terrifying to  imagine. One way God shows us our character is by giving us our thoughts so why not embrace it! And if your worried your thoughts are for all the wrong motives then change your thoughts! Because the thoughts that are wrong and bring nothing but sin are NOT the thoughts from God. Don't be blinded by that. The input will become the output. And I find it extremely hard to control the input, to make a better output. Because you need to tell the difference between the Godly thoughts and the worldly thoughts. And our mind deceive us into thinking that they are both the same...but the worldly thoughts are Gods thoughts that were twisted and altered till the human mind can recognize them for what they truly are. Romans 5:4 states, " And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation." This is words of wisdom showing us that if we endure the hard part of training our minds to see the difference of the worldly thoughts vs. the Godly thoughts then our character will strengthen. And just by having a strong character we will begin to develop a glimpse of hope that we have salvation. I challenge you this week to become more aware of your thoughts, can you see the difference between your Godly thoughts and your worldly thoughts? Don't get discouraged, find the ability to see the difference. And be prepared for your character to change, and let that change in. Because we could all use an opening eye to what God really wants our character to be.

Word of the Day: "Don't be fooled by those who say such things, for "bad" company corrupts good character. Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning..."
                                                                     ~1 Corinthians 15:33-34