Safe Thoughts

    It's easy to focus on the great things in life. Why would we want to focus on death when we have life? Why would we want to focus on divorce when we have marriage? Why would we want to focus on destruction when we have sunny skies? See, all those things are not pleasant things but they seem so horrible when we encounter them because half the time in life we don't face them. I am not pointing fingers and calling anyone a baby here...this is the matter of life that we have become conditioned to curl up to the sight of fearful things. Now, we have all been through horrible times and what not. But can you remember the time getting to that place? I bet there was a lot of drawing back and running for shelter or something more comforting. It is a horrible feeling when you can not confide in anything around you. Nobody wants to be uncomfortable!

    It sounds crazy to put into writing but one of my fears is death. I know what life after death is for a child of Christ. I think into it so much that I begin to scare myself of being in eternity of a place where I am, but yet not fully, myself. Of course I have several other fears but this seems to be the biggest of them all. It might sound silly or even alarming but who doesn't wonder what the end is actually going to be like? Just like any of my fears, I do not like facing them. But of course that is quite ironic that in order for our fears to not be fears, we must face them.

    Facing our fears is probably the hardest thing we have to do. But why do we have to face them??

The problem comes along when our insecurities define us and control our lives. I have seen people be so restricted by what they are scared to confront that they end up not living their lives truly. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7) God does not want us to mull our way through life dodging everything we can't face. When I try to face my fears or am even remotely close to it I simply doubt myself on conquering it. But then I look at verses like this one and try to tell myself what awesome traits God had create me in. And that he wants me to have a spirit of power and not fear. Now this doesn't mean that he wants me to have power over him and this earth, but over the things that encase us. He calls us to not be slaves of our sins so we can be full of love and self-discipline. 

"So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you." (Deuteronomy 31:6)

    The number one reason why we are able to seem like our life is all peachy is by thinking of the good things only. Of course it is easy to shrink back from reality but we must face the wind. It is in these times that we grow the side of ourselves that help protect us from this sinful world. We don't need to try to face the hardest dangers head on but rather stare them down. We never to be able to reveal them in order to be remotely okay with them.

Word of the Day: "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

                                                                  ~John 14:21

21st Century Fruits of the Spirit

    The first place you hear about the fruits of the spirit is in you grade school Sunday school class. Most elementary church classes will show kids a visual like a poster of fruit with words on each on. This would train kids to remember them by associating them with yummy fruit and well...the posters always looked cool. I remember thinking that those words were things I had to always live by in order for Jesus to love me and consider me his own. And if I did not practice those words then I would let Jesus and my Sunday school teachers down plus others would be nicer than me! It's assuming to look back and realize I tried to be the best child by living by the fruits of the spirit even by making a song to them. But I never really put them into action like God actually calls.

    When people talk about the fruits of the spirit some people might actually not understand the purpose of them. Or some might think they are little symbolizes to make us children of God as little kids. I am one of those kids that had that poster of the fruits of the spirit in my Sunday school classroom. But that is the one and only poster I remember. My teacher would even gives us candy or a prize if we could cite all of them at once without cheating. It was such a competition for all the kids and they never knew that they would remember them for the rest of their lives. So let us look closer to what it means to have these childhood lessons to become a part of our lives at any age today.

"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things.  ~Galatians 5:22-23

*Love: Of course we are to always love the Lord our God because he gave the ultimate price for us. We love each other because he loved us first (1 John 4:19). Christ gave us love not only for what he did and continues to do for us but to serve as an example. He knows that we are sinful and we often find it hard to treat others as we wish to be treated. This is such a promise that Christ has set and given us. We can look to him and see that he can teach us how to love others because that is what drives most of our connections everyday.

*Joy: God always wants us to have joy. Even though this world may seem messed up and we are constantly sinning. But God created this world for us to not only do his work but enjoy it! He doesn't want us to wake up everyday to be depressed but to be joyful in everything that we have. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne (Hebrews 12:2). 

*Peace: I know that our world is not the most peaceful thing ever but could you imagine living in a world where we couldn't even go outside because of constant wars? Those times have been real in this world but I can guarantee that Christ looks with a broken heart to them. He loves us so much and he wants to see us at peace with this world and ourselves. No he does not want us to settle thinking this world is enough but he doesn't want us to fear those around us daily. And he doesn't want us to be at war with ourselves.The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace (Psalm 29:11). 

*Patience: God gives all things at which the time they are due. He doesn't make us wait because he likes to see us suffer. What if we got everything we wanted and it wasn't given over time? We actually would not be happy because they would not come at the right and set time of our lives. This would make our lives all over the place and abnormal.

*Kindness: The bottom line about kindness is to simply be kind. There is no beating around the bush on this one. Christ wants us to be kind to Him, ourselves, and others. If we were not kind in all of our attributes then this world would be a bear to be around! 

*Goodness: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). God works all the things in our lives to better us as people. The good is always meant to win. All our lives we see good against evil. Christ wants to see the good in us rise up through the darkness.

*Faithfulness: Being faithful may be a lot of work. In order to be faithful you have to let yourself go  in order to gain another's control over yourself. We have to have trust several things throughout life but faith is what connects us to them. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:11-13).

*Gentleness: Christ has given us so many great examples that we can look up to. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great (Psalm 18:35). Let us take time to just sit back and realize how much he is the calming hand for us. God calms all our fears just when we ask him to. No matter what happens all around the world Christ is always calm and he always knows what to do.

*Self-Control: No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13). We all go through the same trials of life but that makes no excuse for our sins. He is always faithful is us and knows that he has the ability to tempt us to become stronger through him. We need to see and recognize the things in this world we fall flat to and put restraint on that. Self-control through things we love and things we don't is key in such a sinful world. 

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another."

~Galatians 5:24-26

Hazy Eyes

    Sometimes we walk through life with our eyes open. Well of course we do. But having our eyes open and having our eyes open for Christ are two different things. Even when we have our eyes open for Christ it is often hard to keep them from getting hazy. We need to be able to stand and rise for our God! For we often look for the light in dark places for we do not know where we are going. Make sure your ways are definite and propose it to the Lord and he will plan it out from there on out.

"I will seek God first and trust Him to  provide my needs." ~Matthew 6:33

"Do justly love mercy and walk humbly with your God." ~Micah 6:8

'Sin forsaken is one of the best evidences of forgiven sin."  ~JC Ryle

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."  ~Proverbs 4:23

"There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, "MINE!"  ~Abraham Kuyper

"God's word contains self-fulfilling power."  ~Isaiah 61:11

"He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations." 

~Deuteronomy 7:9

Don't Defend It

    We have all encountered that occasional non-believer that just attacks everything we love and know. Whenever we hear someone tell us that what we believe it false or that it is simply wasting our time, we get pretty angry. It really makes no sense though that non-believers may always think that people with a relationship with Christ are wasting their time by doing so. I am in no way trying to peg non-believers out as bad people or that they ALL believe exactly this. The interaction between Christians and those that question our motives, is a tough gap to tackle.

    There is just a feeling that I get when I encounter a non-believer. It all sounds crazy writing it out but even though I want my life to continually be filled with evangelism, I can't deal with non-belief. Just by walking through the halls of my small high school I see and hear the sad reality of the creation of non-believers. I have heard kids claim that the whole "Jesus thing" is all a scam and that believers are naive. And it is embarrassing to say that I just clam up when I hear this. Up until the very moment that any attacking my beliefs I totally freeze up and can't think of the very thing that I have always wanted to share with others every single day. I think it is the matter of that I have so many to share and so much that I have acquired that I planned to share with others that I do not know how to put it into action. I have gotten better with this but it is still a matter that I need to work on.

    On my winter retreat last weekend, the speaker talked about how we need to NOT defend God. We all find it hard not to fight back non-believers harsh words against us without facts from the word. But if you notice, the first thing we do is go into defense mode. Our God is the best thing to ever happen to us and we will stand by him and for him on this earth. But there is a huge difference between spreading the word of God as a disciple and defending God. We need to first know that God does NOT need to be defended! He is beyond powerful and he does not need our help in defending that! This is not meant to be rude this is meant to show us that defending our faith and God is not where he wants us to be centering our focus.

    Let us remember that Christ died on a cross for us. And not only did he take the brutal death but he CAME BACK!! That in itself is beyond any power this world could ever fathom. Yes God wants us to give the word of God to those that refuse it so they can personally hear the word of God but in a manner that we are meant to hear it. We aren't to jam the word down others throats and maybe this is why it comes off the way it did. Taking the shoes of God and defending him is why it all seems so wrong. He calls us to use our faith that we have built up. The whole reason why we have our faith and relationship is not only have eternal life and live in love with Christ, but to share it as our testimony.

    So what does it really mean to defend our faith and our God? It is simply the act of telling and showing others that our faith as well as our God matters. The harsh words are what gets us because they are what last a lifetime. Instead of acting like we are Christ and that we know everything as if we are God, we should be helping others explain it as believers of Christ. Yes we are the child of God and we hold and important role but only through Christ but he tells us how to do that in Matthew 28 after he had died and rose again. He instructed his disciples to go and make nations built on his word. And in that way we are referred to as the eternal disciples of the original ones.

    We should have faith in Christ that he can more than perfectly share his love with the non-believers but it is our job to lead them to the water to drink. There is to be no convincing in mind or defending of the matter of God. He can defending himself without coming off to others as if he is! God has so many better actions and ways about this whole matter that I can't even wrap my head fully around this lesson even. It is all so confusing at times. But I encourage you to keep looking at what it means to take a step back when needed so that we do not catch ourselves defending those that don't need it.


"You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 
                                                     ~2 Timothy 3:10-17

*For clarification, go to the following website written by other Christians.... http://mikefriesen05.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/why-we-need-to-stop-defending-god/* 

Word of the Day: "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him;bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations"       

                                 ~Psalm 100:4-5

     

RVR

     Just about all of the time...I never know what to write about. Yes, writers block it is indeed. I get so frustrated sometimes and I feel as if I often let others down when I can't sum up an awesome idea to ramble about. So then I go through the things I have encountered during the week and I ask myself if there were any lessons I had learned or if I impacted anyone. But there are those times where I just have a radical experience that I just need to share because God is just so awesome! Sometimes we just have to not just write about our encounters with Christ but to just yell it for all to hear!

    I realized that I used the word encounter. So let me explain myself and how encounter comes into it. This past weekend I spent the most amazing time at my church retreat. Now I have been on plenty retreats but this one...this one is the best one I have EVER been on. I would of never guessed that a place less than an hour from my home was the one place where I felt that I belonged. Now I don't have times where I am the outcast but you knows those times as a teenager there is always those confusing times for direction. Being at River Valley Ranch I had a spike to my relationship with Christ.

    There are plenty of times where I just hit rock bottom. When I brush over everyday things and the quite times slip right through my hands. I can honestly say that is the one thing I hate most. When I know for a fact that my life and relationship with Christ is slowly dying right before my eyes because of this world...and most importantly, myself. It is so easy to have the first initial belief in Christ to then get comfortable.This links back to the writers block. I feel like I can only write about so much and elaborate so much about Christ until the point where I am stuck at a road that has no direction. It is such a horrible place to be...to just wake up everyday having the Lord on your mind then the world drowns him out as the day goes on. He is the center of my thoughts and he is always there as I do good or bad. He is my strength and I am the weakness but he will always restore me. No matter how weak I become in my faith I always can make that turn around but it is NOT a relationship that I can just take from. 

    At the ranch I was able to reach new heights that I have never seen before. Being in the DR I experienced some crazy awesome things through Christ that got me where I am today. And I don't want to believe that I need out of this world things to keep my faith alive. But I do need to be on fire for Christ. When I arrived at RVR I was a little hesitant because I was coming with just the general group. I had friends in the group and awesome people to hang with but my friends that I usually hang with on the retreats and church activities all did the school musical. I had done the musical the year before and planned to do it this year as well but when I found out that it was the same weekend at the retreat...I thought about which one to choose and I chose Christ. 

    From band to cheer to school events...I tend to dwell in things of this world. God is definitely in the things I do but for once choosing the RVR weekend retreat was the one thing Christ had in my book. It is honestly scary to think that if I did do musical I would not be overflowing with God's love. I can never rap my mind around the reasons why He leads me to the places he does. But when I learn the key idea of the thing to be taken away I just get a rush of tears. I knew that I would truly be able to live out my worship for Christ as I entered to have the room just as loud as can be with the staff having there arms out wide with a high five tunnel. It was that time that I stepped into that building that I forgot everything. I realized that my head aches simmered during the weekend and I had not one thought of school. And I did not regret not doing musical with all my other friends.

    Man God is awesome! I love getting that smile on your face that takes its place without your control! It is those feelings that I find myself in my faith outside of what I am to be according to this world. I saw different views of my mind and new inclinations of what my future holds. I'm not gonna lie...I left there wanting to quit both my jobs to work there full time. For once in my life God is calling me to not pick what I want but what I need. And a place like RVR gave my heart the life that it needed. HE IS GOOD!!! I got back into quite times and I pray a thousand times that I do not drop it. I know my life and the way it works but I also know that my relationship with God was on a downhill spiral. 

    I ask for prayers in my decisions if I should drop all things this summer to pursue this desire of mine. I could not see me in a place that could get any better than this! Christ is more than everything and He is alive in me there. I don't want to look at it as a place where I can hide from reality all summer to see the ideas Christ has given me, come to life. They are my dreams but I am confident that Christ gave them to me to create a huge banner in His name.

    The speaker at the ranch was just flat out awesome. He is a high school teacher who teaches about Christ daily and questions teenagers while doing it. He knew my mind but applied to the whole group. It was so deep and flat out refreshing that I found myself becoming exhausted! I praise the Lord for bringing him to all of us and I ask a blessing over him for unending wisdom. All the ideas were nailed into my mind but I could probably not sit here and tell you what he talked about. First off...yes I did pay attention and I loved every minute he declared. His words gave me the comfortable feeling that Christ was there holding his arms around me giving me eternal comfort. He gave me the reassurance that Christ has the plan for my future in his hands and he will not let me down but impress me beyond belief. I feel as if I have so much more to say but the excitement and feeling I have experienced can't be put to words right now. Those words I have heard over the weekend will remain in my heart and mind that I couldn't comprehend right now.

    Bottom Line...Christ blew me out of the water this weekend and sparked a different fire in my heart. He is starting to share new sides of myself and go into uncharted lands that I have cried out for for a long time now. My summer let alone my college career is going to be a whole lot better than I thought it would be. But there is going to be a lot of mind changing possibilities and struggles getting to where I want to be this summer. If Christ wants me at the Ranch He WILL make the path so I can follow it...I pray that I know how to find it through my own desires.

Word of the Day:  "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so."

                                         ~James 3:9-10