Well right off the bat I would like to apologize to those who misread the title and thought it said "Livin' on a prayer" like the Bon Jovi song. Maybe you didn't misread it but I probably would have. Tonight I'm going to talk about prayer.
Prayer can be one of the easiest things as Christians that we can do. No but seriously, if we are going through trials or tough times we can just lift them up to Him in prayer. But the part that some Christians struggle with, including me is the faith part. "Do I really believe God can get me through this trial?" "Do I really think God can heal me?" What's the point of praying if you don't believe He can do anything about it. Like honestly. Just save your breath and or time if you don't believe it.
God will always answer our prayers no matter what. Not always will the answer be the one that we will want. Some of the time we do not agree with the answer that he gives us. Some of the time we just have to be patient. But a lot of us want Him to answer it now and the way we want Him to. The thing we need to know is that the way that He answers our prayers will always bless us. I'll say this again because it's so important to know. God will always answer our prayers in a way that will bless us, even if we do not think the answer we get can bless us. At first we may not see why it will be a blessing but later on we will.
Another thing, our life needs to be a constant prayer. We need to be livin' a prayer. Seems weird but it really isn't. Who said you have to be on your knees, eyes closed, and hands folded to pray? There isn't anything wrong with praying with your eyes open as your driving down the road. Or when your on your way to the free throw line during a basketball game. But the thing is we need to be careful what we say to Him. Hold on with me for a second, I'm not saying we can't ask him anything or pray about anything. We just need to not turn him into a "vending machine god", and only ask for things we want. We need to remember that He is the creator of the universe. We need to praise him before everything and be thankful for who He is and what He has done.
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." 1 Timothy 2:8
God wants us to pray to Him. All the time about everything. Nothing is too big or to small. Don't ever be afraid to pray to him or too ashamed to confess something to Him. I mean He is God and already knows every single thing we have done. We just need to not let our pride get in the way and confess everything.
Well that's all I got tonight. Just remember to live a prayer.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Does it make us look good or feel better? Is this why?
OK guys this one is for all of us. We all struggle with this, even me. Why do we make fun of people? Do we do this to make ourselves look better when we are with others? Do we do it to make ourselves feel better? Or do we really just do it because we "hate" the person we are making fun of? Come on guys I know that's not the case.
Galatians 5:22-23
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
So whats the first fruit of the Spirit? Love. Does that mean only love certain people? Does it mean pick and choose when to love people? Love is not something that ends or is only for a little bit. Love is something that lasts forever, eternity. Is making fun of someone loving them? "It's just a joke they know I'm joking." It hurts being made fun of and embarrassed trust me it does. Do you enjoy when people do that to you? I'm sure you don't. How does it make you feel?
I know it doesn't really seem like a big thing, but it is. It can really hurt people. And how is this showing Christ's love? What do non Christians think Christians are after they see us putting each other down? This is not allowing us to be a light for Christ. Im guilty with this just as much as the next guy, but we really need to change our ways.
Imagine if we were all genuinely nice to people. I know it's really hard to imagine but wouldn't that be a great world to live in. No one to make fun of you for retarded things that don't matter much at all. We need to adopt this and take this to our schools and communities. I know its not something you can stop cold turkey because we are so used to doing this, but give it a try. Try to be more conscious of it.
Strive to build others up and not down, especially brothers and sisters in Christ, and everyone else too.
Galatians 5:22-23
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
So whats the first fruit of the Spirit? Love. Does that mean only love certain people? Does it mean pick and choose when to love people? Love is not something that ends or is only for a little bit. Love is something that lasts forever, eternity. Is making fun of someone loving them? "It's just a joke they know I'm joking." It hurts being made fun of and embarrassed trust me it does. Do you enjoy when people do that to you? I'm sure you don't. How does it make you feel?
I know it doesn't really seem like a big thing, but it is. It can really hurt people. And how is this showing Christ's love? What do non Christians think Christians are after they see us putting each other down? This is not allowing us to be a light for Christ. Im guilty with this just as much as the next guy, but we really need to change our ways.
Imagine if we were all genuinely nice to people. I know it's really hard to imagine but wouldn't that be a great world to live in. No one to make fun of you for retarded things that don't matter much at all. We need to adopt this and take this to our schools and communities. I know its not something you can stop cold turkey because we are so used to doing this, but give it a try. Try to be more conscious of it.
Strive to build others up and not down, especially brothers and sisters in Christ, and everyone else too.
Why do we walk in darkness?
This is my first ever attempt at a blog so please just bare with me for a little bit. So I was at my church last night (Christmas Eve) and the pastor Jim Zippay was talking about the light. The title of the message was celebrate in the light. It made me think of a few things and I thought I would share them with you.
First of all what is this darkness we live in? Why do we still live in it when we know the light. The darkness we live in is sin. It can be because of many things: maybe we don't want to give up all the areas of our life up to Christ, maybe you don't want to be "embarrassed" for being a Christian because its not the "cool" thing to do. Im guilty as charged for both of those. I have been there and done that and maybe you have too. Is it because we do want to give up the lifestyle we are living? Who knows, with each person it is different.
"This is the verdict: Light has come to the world, but men loved darkness instead of the light because there deeds are evil" John 3:19
Think of it this way. How many of you have tried getting changed in the dark before? Like when your at a friends house and they are still sleeping and you don't want to wake them up. And then we walk out of the room and go downstairs and realize your shirt is on inside out. Maybe its just me but its happened to me before. See we live in the dark sometimes. When we are in the dark we think we are living one way, but when we see the light it exposes whats really inside us. Like the inside of our shirt. The light exposes our weakness and sinful desire. Do we really want to live like that and walk around with our shirts on inside out?
Now lets talk about the light. Who is this light and what is it?
"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light in his life."" John 8:12
Jesus is the light of the world. He shines for all to see. Now see when we become believers he puts this light inside of us for the whole world to see in our daily actions. Others can see this light in us in the way we treat people, in the way we serve, in the way we love ect.
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"[a]made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
See he gave us the ability to see him and to shine for him. Which leads me to my next point. Why do we so many times not shine for him. Are we like that light bulb in the corner of the basement that we are to lazy to change after it gets burned out? Do we just try to push it aside and ignore it as if nothing happened. But then we realize our view gets a little dimmer with that light out. We can't see as well as we would if we would have changed it. See we can't see His face as well as we would if we didn't have that darkness (sin) there.
A lot of times we hide our light under a buschle. We need to let it shine. Others are watching the way we live. We need to be more aware of that. Is your light shining? Or do you need to change your light bulb?Thanks for sticking with me. I just thought I would share with you what God was putting on my heart. Have a good one.
First of all what is this darkness we live in? Why do we still live in it when we know the light. The darkness we live in is sin. It can be because of many things: maybe we don't want to give up all the areas of our life up to Christ, maybe you don't want to be "embarrassed" for being a Christian because its not the "cool" thing to do. Im guilty as charged for both of those. I have been there and done that and maybe you have too. Is it because we do want to give up the lifestyle we are living? Who knows, with each person it is different.
"This is the verdict: Light has come to the world, but men loved darkness instead of the light because there deeds are evil" John 3:19
Think of it this way. How many of you have tried getting changed in the dark before? Like when your at a friends house and they are still sleeping and you don't want to wake them up. And then we walk out of the room and go downstairs and realize your shirt is on inside out. Maybe its just me but its happened to me before. See we live in the dark sometimes. When we are in the dark we think we are living one way, but when we see the light it exposes whats really inside us. Like the inside of our shirt. The light exposes our weakness and sinful desire. Do we really want to live like that and walk around with our shirts on inside out?
Now lets talk about the light. Who is this light and what is it?
"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light in his life."" John 8:12
Jesus is the light of the world. He shines for all to see. Now see when we become believers he puts this light inside of us for the whole world to see in our daily actions. Others can see this light in us in the way we treat people, in the way we serve, in the way we love ect.
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"[a]made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
See he gave us the ability to see him and to shine for him. Which leads me to my next point. Why do we so many times not shine for him. Are we like that light bulb in the corner of the basement that we are to lazy to change after it gets burned out? Do we just try to push it aside and ignore it as if nothing happened. But then we realize our view gets a little dimmer with that light out. We can't see as well as we would if we would have changed it. See we can't see His face as well as we would if we didn't have that darkness (sin) there.
A lot of times we hide our light under a buschle. We need to let it shine. Others are watching the way we live. We need to be more aware of that. Is your light shining? Or do you need to change your light bulb?Thanks for sticking with me. I just thought I would share with you what God was putting on my heart. Have a good one.
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