I meant to post this yesterday and it completely slipped my mind, but the thought is still sitting right there bothering me.
Yesterday in church, a local man spoke about the Gideons and what they do. Their ministry is amazing and reaches so many people. I know we had at least one Gideon Bible in our house when we were growing up and we were a Christian family. If you don't know about them, please visit the link I posted above and learn about them.
Anyway, the thought that bothered me...
The man that spoke said America used to be known for sending out the most missionaries to other countries to speak about God and His Word. Now, however, of all the countries in the world America has the 3rd most missionaries coming into our country. What bothered me is, these aren't Christian missionaries. These are missionaries from the Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, etc religions.
That shocked me. I don't know the number of missionaries here or where they are, but it made me wonder who they are talking to and who they are "winning".
I don't know. It just struck me in all the wrong ways. I wonder how many of us are reaching out to other people? It stirred something up in me. I felt a need for action. I would like to get something organized so that we can reach out to people. I don't know if anyone would be interested in this, but I hope someone feels called to action. Comment or message me if you want to begin discussing something we can do in this area.
Mark 16:15 - And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
hello, friend
If you were to start a new health plan, do you think you would be more likely to stick to it if you had a friend come along with you to the gym or someone to talk with about your new eating habits? Accountability is a very powerful thing and something we all should use to strengthen our relationship with God.
One of the downsides of me being timid about my faith is never building those relationships necessary for support. It was very easy for me to let my relationship fall to the wayside because I didn't have anyone checking in on me. There was no one there making sure I was going forward or if I was falling back, no one was there to pull me forward with them.
Thankfully, I have been actively seeking "walking partners" as I work on my spiritual health. I am so happy to say that I have found people and a community of believers that will allow me to foster my new believe until it becomes a strong conviction.
I encourage everyone to reach out and find someone to hold them accountable and just to have community with. Especially if you're a new/rededicated believer like me. It's easy to lose sight of what's important without reminders as a newbie.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.
One of the downsides of me being timid about my faith is never building those relationships necessary for support. It was very easy for me to let my relationship fall to the wayside because I didn't have anyone checking in on me. There was no one there making sure I was going forward or if I was falling back, no one was there to pull me forward with them.
Thankfully, I have been actively seeking "walking partners" as I work on my spiritual health. I am so happy to say that I have found people and a community of believers that will allow me to foster my new believe until it becomes a strong conviction.
I encourage everyone to reach out and find someone to hold them accountable and just to have community with. Especially if you're a new/rededicated believer like me. It's easy to lose sight of what's important without reminders as a newbie.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Why Me?
We all have things that we struggle with. It could be any one of many things - commitment, faithfulness, obedience, jealousy, pride.
I am untrusting.
Through a series of harsh/painful events in my life, I have come to find it extremely difficult to trust people. This isn't the best way to live or have relationships. It causes constant stress and worry. I try to extend what little bit I do have in me to others, but if they do one thing that causes even the slightest of uneasiness in me, I head for the hills. If I think I am going to get hurt, I will basically shut down, back out, and just run. I don't have any more need for hurt or anxiety. I just quit.
This inability to trust has carried over in to my relationship with God. Trust with God is different though. I know God isn't going to lie to me or cheat on me, that's obvious. Trust with and in God is about care and love. It's about Him being there for and with me always. It's about knowing that the situations He's put me in are, in the end, always going to be what's best for His Kingdom, His Glory, or His Plan. I have a hard time with that.
This inability to trust in Him and His Plan has pulled me away from Him so many times. There was a particular time in my life where it seemed like I was being hit from every direction with pain. When I thought I had gotten over one thing, something else would happen, then something else. It was just neverending. I kept thinking to myself, "Why me? Why on earth would You allow me to be going through this? Surely if there was a God, He wouldn't allow one of His so called children to be suffering like I am." After a while, I totally stopped believing. I had no need for it anymore. God was supposed to love me and make sure I was always happy.
Scripturally, this isn't the case. No where does the Bible say that once you become a believer, your world and life will be perfect. It actually refers to our sufferings on several occasions and how they will help us.
Romans 5:3-5 ...we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Trials and tribulations are what help us develop into deeply devoted, faithful Christians. The trials and tribulations I have been through have wrecked my brain and my heart, but they were caused by humans. Imperfect humans. Our God is a perfect being, therefore His Will and His Plan by default are perfect. Who am I to question that? He will take care of me. He will provide for me. And when the going gets tough, stick it out. It will all be for the greater good and we will become better for it.
Matthew 6:26-27 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Psalms 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
I am untrusting.
Through a series of harsh/painful events in my life, I have come to find it extremely difficult to trust people. This isn't the best way to live or have relationships. It causes constant stress and worry. I try to extend what little bit I do have in me to others, but if they do one thing that causes even the slightest of uneasiness in me, I head for the hills. If I think I am going to get hurt, I will basically shut down, back out, and just run. I don't have any more need for hurt or anxiety. I just quit.
This inability to trust has carried over in to my relationship with God. Trust with God is different though. I know God isn't going to lie to me or cheat on me, that's obvious. Trust with and in God is about care and love. It's about Him being there for and with me always. It's about knowing that the situations He's put me in are, in the end, always going to be what's best for His Kingdom, His Glory, or His Plan. I have a hard time with that.
This inability to trust in Him and His Plan has pulled me away from Him so many times. There was a particular time in my life where it seemed like I was being hit from every direction with pain. When I thought I had gotten over one thing, something else would happen, then something else. It was just neverending. I kept thinking to myself, "Why me? Why on earth would You allow me to be going through this? Surely if there was a God, He wouldn't allow one of His so called children to be suffering like I am." After a while, I totally stopped believing. I had no need for it anymore. God was supposed to love me and make sure I was always happy.
Scripturally, this isn't the case. No where does the Bible say that once you become a believer, your world and life will be perfect. It actually refers to our sufferings on several occasions and how they will help us.
Romans 5:3-5 ...we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Trials and tribulations are what help us develop into deeply devoted, faithful Christians. The trials and tribulations I have been through have wrecked my brain and my heart, but they were caused by humans. Imperfect humans. Our God is a perfect being, therefore His Will and His Plan by default are perfect. Who am I to question that? He will take care of me. He will provide for me. And when the going gets tough, stick it out. It will all be for the greater good and we will become better for it.
Matthew 6:26-27 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Psalms 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
$800 > $2
Jesus is alive and well. We may not be able to see Him, but we all should know this. He lives in all of us and He lives in our surroundings. With this in mind I had a thought: What if Jesus decided to come to my house? What would He think of my home and my belongings?
These are some of my books. How many of these do you think that Jesus would like to read? How many of these would make Him pleased with me? There are a few books that are devotionals or general Christian living, but for the most part these are worldly books with worldly themes/ideas. Some have themes revolving around drug content, infidelity, and pretty much anything else you can think of.
These are our movies and CD's. My husband works at Best Buy so we have pretty much every movie you can think of. They are all filled with things that you and I both know aren't Bible stories. They all cover the same themes as my book collection above.
This is our 51" plasma 3D HD WIFI ready TV that cooks us mac and cheese. It doesn't cook mac n cheese, but it does pretty much everything else you could imagine. We got this for a steal - it's a $2,400 TV, one of the best TV's you can buy, and we got it for $800 on close out. We couldn't get over how great of a deal it was and neither could our friends.
Which of these things would Jesus be proud of? Which of these things should I be proud of in front of Jesus? Or anyone for that matter?
None.
None of these things would make Him proud and none of these things should make me proud.
As a matter of fact, none of these things should still be in my home.
When I made the decision to commit my life to Jesus Christ and His will, I did so, or at least should have done so, wholeheartedly. That means that anything that is opposed to His will for my life, should be out. I shouldn't continue to live in the way that I have.
God has expectations for our life. He expects that we obey His commands, He expects that we live for Him. He does not expect us to live for Him occasionally, when it's convenient, when it's Sunday morning or Wednesday night. He doesn't expect to see us on Easter and then maybe Christmas. He doesn't expect us to be Christians on Sundays and pagans on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
I looked up pagan before I put it here to make sure I was using it correctly. It is one of those terms that is frequently thrown around in church, so everyone assumes they know what it means, but it's always nice to know for sure. Dictionary.com says a pagan is "one of a people or community observing a polytheistic religion, as the ancient Romans or Greeks. synonyms: polytheist."
Those of us that live like this, half-heartedly, are basically pagans. We serve a few gods: the one True God, money, the world and ourselves.
I don't mean for this to be harsh, but rather to be a call. A call to everyone to reflect on your daily life, reflect on things in your home, things on your shelves, things in your mind maybe, and see what would or wouldn't make God proud. These things are in my home and they are deteriorating my relationship with God. Where do you stand with God?
Can you imagine the money and the time I have invested in the things above? I have spent countless hours on the couch sitting mindlessly watching garbage on the TV rather than reading the Truth or praying or reaching out to others to share His Word. As far as the money side of it goes, the TV alone - $800. People around the world don't make that in a year and I have an $800 TV sitting on the wall in my living room. Yet I put $2 in the collection plate at church this past Sunday and was rather content with myself. Priorities people. It's all about priorities.
Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing, perfect will.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Ezekiel 1:31-32 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live.
These are some of my books. How many of these do you think that Jesus would like to read? How many of these would make Him pleased with me? There are a few books that are devotionals or general Christian living, but for the most part these are worldly books with worldly themes/ideas. Some have themes revolving around drug content, infidelity, and pretty much anything else you can think of.
These are our movies and CD's. My husband works at Best Buy so we have pretty much every movie you can think of. They are all filled with things that you and I both know aren't Bible stories. They all cover the same themes as my book collection above.
This is our 51" plasma 3D HD WIFI ready TV that cooks us mac and cheese. It doesn't cook mac n cheese, but it does pretty much everything else you could imagine. We got this for a steal - it's a $2,400 TV, one of the best TV's you can buy, and we got it for $800 on close out. We couldn't get over how great of a deal it was and neither could our friends.
Which of these things would Jesus be proud of? Which of these things should I be proud of in front of Jesus? Or anyone for that matter?
None.
None of these things would make Him proud and none of these things should make me proud.
As a matter of fact, none of these things should still be in my home.
When I made the decision to commit my life to Jesus Christ and His will, I did so, or at least should have done so, wholeheartedly. That means that anything that is opposed to His will for my life, should be out. I shouldn't continue to live in the way that I have.
God has expectations for our life. He expects that we obey His commands, He expects that we live for Him. He does not expect us to live for Him occasionally, when it's convenient, when it's Sunday morning or Wednesday night. He doesn't expect to see us on Easter and then maybe Christmas. He doesn't expect us to be Christians on Sundays and pagans on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
I looked up pagan before I put it here to make sure I was using it correctly. It is one of those terms that is frequently thrown around in church, so everyone assumes they know what it means, but it's always nice to know for sure. Dictionary.com says a pagan is "one of a people or community observing a polytheistic religion, as the ancient Romans or Greeks. synonyms: polytheist."
Those of us that live like this, half-heartedly, are basically pagans. We serve a few gods: the one True God, money, the world and ourselves.
I don't mean for this to be harsh, but rather to be a call. A call to everyone to reflect on your daily life, reflect on things in your home, things on your shelves, things in your mind maybe, and see what would or wouldn't make God proud. These things are in my home and they are deteriorating my relationship with God. Where do you stand with God?
Can you imagine the money and the time I have invested in the things above? I have spent countless hours on the couch sitting mindlessly watching garbage on the TV rather than reading the Truth or praying or reaching out to others to share His Word. As far as the money side of it goes, the TV alone - $800. People around the world don't make that in a year and I have an $800 TV sitting on the wall in my living room. Yet I put $2 in the collection plate at church this past Sunday and was rather content with myself. Priorities people. It's all about priorities.
Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing, perfect will.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Ezekiel 1:31-32 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Your words may never hurt me.
I work with a pastor of a local church. You can tell by talking to him that he is very dedicated to his walk and his profession. Once he told me he works here so that he doesn't have to take money from his church. At the time I thought nothing of it, but now I realize how awesome of a thing this truly is. Anyway, point of the blog is this....
Yesterday we were talking back and forth, and he made a couple jokes about me, purely in fun. They didn't bother me one bit because I know what kind of person he is and that there was no way he meant any of it. I still gave him a hard time though because that's what I do. I made some comments about how he would need to get used to how hot it was in the office considering where he would be going and about how "the man of the cloth shouldn't be talking to me like that." So on and what not. I didn't mean anything by it either. Just two people joking.
This morning he came in and appeared to be upset. He walked up and down the hallway without saying anything to anyone. I thought it was my fault. Maybe he was upset with me or thought I was making fun of him for being a pastor (I have never addressed whether or not I had any faith directly with him, I typically just said ambiguous things). So I decided I needed to go check on him.
When I asked him if he was okay, he laughed to himself and laughed even more so when I apologized for picking on him. He said: "You know, more than anything else, it just got me thinking. You said something about man of the cloth and really all Christians should be men of the cloth. I was thinking of the verse in Ephesians about how your words should be filled with grace and shouldn't hinder anyone else's growth and I realized I probably joke too much here about things I shouldn't."
At this point I felt horrible because I don't want him to feel like he can't be himself. But...I definitely understood what he was saying. It's easy to make jokes or say things off the cuff that could be harmful to other Christians and nonbelievers alike. My poking fun of his being a pastor wasn't all that great either. I did this in front of someone who knows I had my doubts about religion and Christianity, specifically. So here I am still displaying characteristics of a nonbeliever when in my heart and my mind I should be totally devoted to Jesus and His word. I easily could have made her view me as a hypocrite if she were to be reading this or later hear me talking about God.
The behaviors we display against God speak far louder than any behavior we display for God. I have read recently and in the past that one of the biggest opponents of Christianity is Christians. People have such a negative view of Christians, one of the biggest complaints being hypocrisy.
The conversation we had today made me rather disappointed in myself, but was also eye opening. We didn't affect each other's faith in any way because we knew it was in fun, but what about other people in the office?
Hopefully one day between he and I we can reach a few of the people there, if only one.
Ephesians 4:29 - "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
Colossians 4:6 - "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."
Yesterday we were talking back and forth, and he made a couple jokes about me, purely in fun. They didn't bother me one bit because I know what kind of person he is and that there was no way he meant any of it. I still gave him a hard time though because that's what I do. I made some comments about how he would need to get used to how hot it was in the office considering where he would be going and about how "the man of the cloth shouldn't be talking to me like that." So on and what not. I didn't mean anything by it either. Just two people joking.
This morning he came in and appeared to be upset. He walked up and down the hallway without saying anything to anyone. I thought it was my fault. Maybe he was upset with me or thought I was making fun of him for being a pastor (I have never addressed whether or not I had any faith directly with him, I typically just said ambiguous things). So I decided I needed to go check on him.
When I asked him if he was okay, he laughed to himself and laughed even more so when I apologized for picking on him. He said: "You know, more than anything else, it just got me thinking. You said something about man of the cloth and really all Christians should be men of the cloth. I was thinking of the verse in Ephesians about how your words should be filled with grace and shouldn't hinder anyone else's growth and I realized I probably joke too much here about things I shouldn't."
At this point I felt horrible because I don't want him to feel like he can't be himself. But...I definitely understood what he was saying. It's easy to make jokes or say things off the cuff that could be harmful to other Christians and nonbelievers alike. My poking fun of his being a pastor wasn't all that great either. I did this in front of someone who knows I had my doubts about religion and Christianity, specifically. So here I am still displaying characteristics of a nonbeliever when in my heart and my mind I should be totally devoted to Jesus and His word. I easily could have made her view me as a hypocrite if she were to be reading this or later hear me talking about God.
The behaviors we display against God speak far louder than any behavior we display for God. I have read recently and in the past that one of the biggest opponents of Christianity is Christians. People have such a negative view of Christians, one of the biggest complaints being hypocrisy.
The conversation we had today made me rather disappointed in myself, but was also eye opening. We didn't affect each other's faith in any way because we knew it was in fun, but what about other people in the office?
Hopefully one day between he and I we can reach a few of the people there, if only one.
Ephesians 4:29 - "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
Colossians 4:6 - "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."
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