Just something to think about.

In Daniel chapter 7 verses 9-10 there is a pretty gnarly discription of God sitting on his throne judging people. This was a drean that Daniel had, which you could read all about in your bibles :-) Anyways I was looking in the footnotes to get a little more insight on this discription and boy was that a mistake, a good convicting one of course. The foot note said this; if your life were judged by God today, what would he say about it? How would he measure it against his will for us? Man that stopped me in my tracks. As I finished reading I couldn't stop thinking about that question, how would my life be judged today? My first instinct was to tell myself that I was doing pretty good, I mean I read my bible, pray, serve in the church and live my life the best way possible I could. But as I think about that. is that a good answer? I'm not really sure.
I don't think the footnote was trying to make us feel bad or like we are failing. I think the purpose of that was to remind us of what we already know. We will stand before God and give him an account of our lives. That thought is pretty intense, but it's a good thing to be reminded of. I know people might read that and just think that they've gone this far without not doing much so they might feel like a failure and have a sense of no hope. Which could lead to giving up or just feeling like they are no good and have a fear that they are going to get hammered when they face God. Well I believe that instead of feeling like that I think we should look at where we are and what we are doing for the Lord and continue to do the best we can. I think that we should use that fear, which is healthy and the scriptures say it's where wisdom starts and should use it to shift our focus on what God is asking of us. What I took from this is that instead of focusing on all my problems and worries I need to put them behind me and keep putting God and his kingdom first.
So my prayer for us today is that instead of being paralyzed by this fear that we would use it as a motivator for us to do what God is asking of us. I pray that God would shed light on the areas we need to work on. I pray that we would continue to focus on God and God alone. I don't know about you but I'm thankful for this eye opener and that God would be gracious enough to let us know that we will have to give an account to him one day. That would suck if we had no clue until it happend. God is sooooo good!!!!

What about me?

Today I hope that this entry brings you encouragement. So last night I was talking with a friend and we talked about how we get mad or sad when we see good things happen to people all around us. Whether it's realational, financial, or whatever it maybe. We talked about how crappy it feels sometimes when this happens and we think that how comes these things aren't happening to us? We might feel that we should be getting these things because we serve God and that we should see the blessings of that. I know I've been struggling with this issue. I've asked God why can't I have those things, what about me God? As me and my friend kept talking I just was reminded of a thought my professor shared with us in class, I might have blogged about it before but the thought was is God just being enough for us? The correct answer is it should be but I know that's kind of a hard thing to swallow. How easily we forget what God has done for us in our lives, we can share countless hours of stories but here's one story that we should always remember. Next time you have that question, what about me, remember the cross. I could see God's answer for that question would be; " I did it for you". Now take some time to think about that. God died for me. He died so that we can have a relationship with him, so we can have forgivenss, and because he loves us so much that he wanted to make a way for us to spend eternity with him. Shouldn't that be enough?
So what about you, what about us? I know that we are humans and we are not perfect and sometimes we just forget about what God did for us. If we want to be free of this what about me thing, we need to remember how much God cares for us. Matthew 6: 25-34 helps in this area. I'm not going to tell you what it says because I believe that we need to read it for ourselves and that God will speak directly to you. To leave you with some encouragement I would like to tell you that God loves you and cares more about you and your future more then you do. God loves you so much that he wants to bless you with the desires of your heart. He wants to bring you comfort, peace, and blessings to every area of your life. I'm not just saying that, he did. If you didn't know that open your bible and see for yourself :-)!!!
So my prayer for us today is that we would be encouraged by knowing that God loves us, and is always there for us. I pray that we would trust him with every area of our lives because he know what's best for us and he knows exactly what we need. I pray for the strenght to continue to give him our hopes and dreams and that we let God be God.

Let's not forget who God is.

This is kind of a weird entry. So I was reading Daniel and in chapter 5 some thing happen that really got my attention. The first thing that happend in the first part of chapter 5. So this new king Belshazzar comes on the scene, he's the son of king Neb, and is having this party. During this party he get's this bright idea to get the silver and golden goblets that his dad king Neb took from the temple in Jerusalem and decided it would be a great idea to get his drink on with these sacred items. To make matters worse when he took the silver and golden goblets that were in the temple of the Lord instead of thanking the God who they were for he started to thank the gods of silver and gold. Talk about spiting in God's face. Talk about not being the smartest guy, but what the difference between us and him? We might say that we would never do that, but don't we do things just as bad? I look at the times I've sinned perfectly knowing that God told me not to do this but I did it anyways. When we do things like this we are underminding God's authority. I couldn't tell you what was going through the king's head but I believe it was something like this; God's not going to do anything because it's not like it's that bad. Or maybe even something to the likes of; if he was going to punish me for this he would have already done it by now. Well as we read along in the story we see that a human hand appears and writes on the wall. (You should read and see what happends next)
We see that in this story that the king underminds God and then God comes through and brings the hammer. What I took from this is that we need to be careful to make sure that we aren't underminding what the Lord is telling us to do. I know we have free will to do what we want but that doesn't mean that we should just do what we want. The temptation for giving in to what we want can easily be down played because we don't see God's punishment right away or it might not be as bad as we thought it would be. How about we learn from this not so bright king. Oh just to fill you in with what happend to this king, he was slain.
I'm not here to say that if you don't obey God you're going to die. But I just want us to remember who our God is.Our God is a God of love but that doesn't mean that he wont bring the thunder when needed. I pray that we wouldn't be scared of God now but we would have that healthy fear so we would make a conscious choice to obey God and never undermind his authority.

Has God got your attention yet?

So I was reading Daniel chapter 4 and I started to realize what an idiot king Nebuchadnezzar was. This guy still hasn't recognized that the gods he served are not the all powerful all knowing God that Daniel serves. So king Neb (don't want to spell it all out agian) had another dream that he couldn't understand and wanted it to be interpreted again. So he called Daniel because he knew that Daniel could so Daniel did. When the Lord revealed to Daniel what it meant Daniel was scared to tell him because he knew that this dream was about the king. You can read about it but Daniel told him that this would happen to him if he didn't acknowledge that Heaven rules. Of course he didn't and thought he was so great and all this stuff happend to him. I thought to myself how dumb king Neb had to be to witness Daniel interpret now two of his dreams, see that Daniel and his three friends ate only fruits and veggies and were better off then him and his people. Not to mention the whole gnarly fiery furnace event. King Neb saw first hand so many different miracles that God had done and still was to big of a bonehead to realize that the God of Daniel was the real deal.
After thinking about how I thought that King Neb was an idiot I was instantly convicted, and thought to myself that I do the same thing that he did. In fact I just read what he did and I still had some doubts on what God is doing in my life. The funny thing about all this is I could share stories for hours on how God came through in the clutch, and how many miraculous things God has done in my life and people I know. I'm sure that we all can say we are guilty of that. What blows my mind is how easily we forget the power of Jesus. Hello, the guy conquered death I don't know of anything more powerful then that. How many times does he have to do something for us to remember how powerful he is? The answer is one time. But before I make you feel bad I want to encourage you with this. Our God is a God of forgiveness. My pastor put it like this, Our God is a God of fisrt, second, third, fourth.... chances. Aren't you glad about that, I know I am. Even though we forget and worry and even doubt God he is there to forgive us and take us back.
So my prayer for us is that we would stop focusing on our problems at hand and we would focus on the goodness of God. I pray that we never forget the promises he has for us. One thing that helps is if we take the time to sit down, maybe even write out all the things that God has done for us, I'm talking about those times that he has rescued you or delivered you from something that only God could do. I pray that God would increase our faith and give us more strength to trust in him and his perfect ways.

Making a stand

"It's not that bad, it's only one time, don't worry it's just a little sin and afterwards you can just ask for forgiveness." These are just somethings that might run through our minds when we are faced with tough choices, I like to call it the good old battle between flesh and spirit. I know me personally there's sometimes I just want to do what I want or what the world tells me I should do. It's a battle that we face but it's a battle we have to decide which side we are on. To put it plain and simple we chose God's ways or our flesh's ways. I wrote a few days back that we need to decide who we are living our day for and today I want to go a little more into that. It's a great thing to decide each morning who we are living our day for but after read Daniel chapter 3 the Lord put on my heart that we need to remember who we are living our lives for. This is a tough thing because when we make the choice to follow Jesus Christ we are making the choice to live a life that isn't what the world would say is fun and it's a life that we have to constantly deny our flesh.
In Daniel chapter 3 we see three guys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego make one of the gnarliest stands ever. To sum it up the king tells them they need to worship the gold statue he made or die and they said no. Now I know that seems like the Sunday school version but what was so gnarly to me in this chapter is their response to the king. The king tells them to worship, they say no and then he gives them one more chance and tells them that there's no way any god could save them from the fiery furnace, they still said no. As these guys were staring death in the face they gave his the most BA answer ever, to paraphraze it they told him their God can save them but even if he didn't they still won't worship the statue because they will only worship God.(Daniel 3: 16-18) Talk about an instant conviction. I see these three guys put their lives on the line just to stand up for what they believe in and then I remember the time when I avoided a conversation about religion so I wouldn't be labeled the "Crazy Christian guy". After reading this I realize that I need to be more like these guys. Not because they are in the Bible but because I made the same commitment they did. I've made the choice to serve God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. I need to not care about what the world, friends, and co-workers think about me and my relationship with God. Yeah I know it might suck, we might get excluded, we might need new friends, and we will have to make choices that will cause us to deny our flesh. But just as the Lord blessed these three guys he will bless you if you make a stand to live your live for the Lord. Don't forget this though, God might not come through the way we want him to but just like the three we need to know that he will always be there for us and that even though he might not work things out the way we plan he's still worth it! (He died so we can have eternal life)
So my prayer is that we take a stand to live our lives for God. I pray that God will give us the strength to deny our flesh and chose his ways. I pray that we will have the courage to honor God no matter how bad or ugly the situations in our lives get. Remember this, God has control over everything and he is always on your side and he's just a conversation away.

Impossible or not?

Do you feel like you are in a situation right now that you feel is humanly impossible? Whether it's financial, relational, or anything that you feel that will never be fixed. Have you reached that breaking point yet? You want to talk about a rediculous situation, in Daniel chapter 2 Daniel was faced with a gnarly situation. What if someone came to you saying that they had a crazy dream that they couldn't understand what it meant and wanted you to interpret it for them, could you? Oh I forgot to tell you that this person wasn't going to tell you what his dream was and if you couldn't tell him what his dream was and what it meant then he would kill you. Sounds pretty crappy to me. How would you handle that? Well to be honest with you I would probably panic, think about it, pray out of fear, panic some more, and then hope if I prayed hard enough God would help me with that. And if God didn't step in then I would probably run away. But in this account that's not what Daniel did. He recognized that if he couldn't do what the king asked of him then he would die. He realized that this was humanly impossible. Instead of panicing and trying to find help in other people, Daniel went straight to the source. Daniel knew the power of the God he serves. His God is the One and Only True Living God.
Two things stick out to me in this chapter that are practical for us to do. First he found his 3 other friends who served the Lord and came before the Lord. It is important that we share our fears, concerns, and problems with other believers and do work!!! (That's damage to the enemy in prayer) Second and most important is that Daniel recognized that instead of fearing what was humanly impossible he knew who his God was and trusted that he would help him through this. If you find yourself in a situation that seems impossible it is, atleast without God it is. Remember nothing is impossible with God! (Luke 1:37)
So my prayer for us today is that God would open our eyes to see that we can't do anything without him. I pray that we would always remember that no matter what we are going through, no matter how hard and impossible it may seem that we would remember that we serve a God who is above all and that nothing is impossible for him.

Fabulous Friday

I'm glad it's Friday that means the work week is done! Well not for everyone, sorry Michael :( Anyways here's another way that we can have a fabulous Friday and just like the other things I've written about we could have just more then a fabulous Friday we can have fabulous days. So I'm doing a personal study in Daniel and this is where this entry is coming from. So in chapter 1 Daniel has just been taken into captivity and is on his way to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar would take all the good looking and smart people to Babylon and would make them serve him as men of wisdom and knowledge. When Daniel arrived they changed his name to Belteshazzar and would make him eat the food and drink the wine that the king would eat and drink. Nebuchadnezzar did this because he was trying to change Daniel and everything he use to be which included the God he served. So you might be thinking to yourself what's so bad about his situation? He get's to be in the kings court and eat what they called "royal foods", not so bad huh?
The thing that we get to take from Daniel's account is as the rest of the chapter continues Daniel refuses to eat the "royal foods". The footnotes says he did this because the food that they were eating was "unclean" which means that it was what God told them not to eat. He wasn't trying to make a scene he was just Honoring his God, the One True God. What spoke to me was that in this chapter we don't see Daniel trying to fight from being in captivity or resisting his name change. I saw a man who knew that where he was is where he had to be for this time. Also the most important thing is he had already made up his mind that no matter what he faces he is going to serve the God of Israel. At the end of the chapter we see him being blessed for his choice to follow the Lord.
So what I think we should do is what Daniel did, make up our minds to who we are going to serve. How this spoke to me was that Daniel recognized that no matter what he would face he knew who and where to turn to, the Living God. So let's start off our Friday like this, forget that let's start off everyday like this; let's make the first thing we do as soon as we wake up, make a choice who we are going to live our day for. I believe with all my heart that if we make that our first thing we do then our days will be blessed. The way I see it is if I make my day all about the Lord then when I face a rough spot I can think to myself that I'm living today for the Lord and that will force me to keep moving foward. Once again I know it's not easy but just as the Lord honored Daniel I know he will honor us.
So my prayer for us today is that we chose to live today and everyday for the Lord. I pray that we would always have on our minds that our days are not about us but they are for the Lord and for whatever he asks of us.

Don't stop

Won't stop never going to back down, can't stop no turning back now. This is the start of the chorus to a song called won't stop by a group called Shachah. What sparked this entry was just all the prayer requests I have been getting. It seems that lately everyone's request has been for strength. So many are going through so many different things in their lives and it seems like all of these things are just beating on us. When people ask for prayer for strength it seems like they are asking for this strength because they are on their last ounce of strength and are about to give up. In Psalm 46 we can read that God is our strength!!!
So are you about to give up? Do you feel like you can't go on anymore, do you feel like life is just too hard and you don't have the strength to keep on going? If you do then I believe your in the right place. What I mean by this is now that we realize that we don't have what it takes to go through life all by ourselves and that our strength just won't cut it, we can allow God to be our strength. I know it's tough but this is a place we need to get to. We need to come to the realization that God's strength is the only thing that will get us through this tough life. Do you realize that we as believers have the power of the living God in us? If we say that we believe that Jesus is all powerful and that he lives in us then why don't we live like this? That's like complaining we are poor, have no money to eat while there is a million dollars in our bank accounts.
So my prayer for us is that we start living with power because we have the power of the living God in us. I pray that we would live our lives, no matter how difficult or how tough it may seem and start walking in victory. I'm not saying it's easy but what I'm saying is that we need to recognize that God is on our side and that with his strength we can do anything. I pray that we ask God daily for his strength to help us with our every day lives so that we won't stop and wont ever back down and that we can't stop and won't turn back from whatever the world would throw our way.

Reckless abandonment

So I met this guy at my college group named Chris. As I started to get to know him I found out that he is a marine and is currently serving out of camp Pendelton. I asked him if he was ever in Iraq and he told me that he was in Iraq for 8 weeks and the rest of his answer is what triggered this entry. After he told me that he was in Iraq he told me that he is trying to get sent to Afganastan and when he comes back from there he wants to go back to Iraq. At first I thought this guy was crazy but then I realized how passionate he was about serving his country, serving side by side with his fellow men and women in combat, and most of all that he wants to fulfill his commitment of service. I told him how gnarly that is and then I told him that I could never do that because my biggest fear about going to war is the thought of never coming home. The thought of losing my life in battle is what scares me but to him he just realizes that could happen to him but his mission and purpose was to serve in the marines.
After thinking about how he recklessly gives his time, serive, and even his life to serve his country wouldn't leave my mind. The funny thing is that's because that's what God has asked of us. After being reminded of that I thought to myself, how am I doing in this area? To be honest I'm really not living like that. Don't get me wrong I work hard to do that but I believe I can do better. After talking to Chris, I want to live for the Lord like he serves our country. Instead of being ok with what God throughs my way, what I mean by that is not waiting back to engage until God says it's ok but start engaging now. God has already called us to a life of service to him and his people. Like Chris I want to do whatever I can to get back into the fight. And just like Chris I want that sense of "reckless abandonment" to do whatever and go where ever God wants me to do. We have to realize that God might put us in places and situations that we might not like but we need to have the confidence that God is our strength and that God has already gone before us and has given us the victory.
So my prayer for us today is that we can just say yes to whatever God would have for us today. I pray that we would have the desire to want to engage in the "battle". I pray that we would burn with such a passion that we would be willing to give up anything to achieve that. Whether it be our time, desires, dreams, and even our lives. I know that might seem scary but I pray that God would give us the strength needed for whatever it is that God has for us.

Where were you when...

Just want to say that I'm writing this tonight but when you read it, it will be morning :)
So tonight in class I totally got slapped in the face by God. I'm sure that most of you know what that feels like, if I could describe it it's kind of like when you get reminded of something that you know and feel like an idiot that you needed to be reminded of that. So we were talking about the story of Job. What spoke to me was how God handled Jobs complaining. First lets talk a little about his friends. His friends were telling Job that he must have done something wrong because back then they believed that if bad things happend to you it was because you were sinning. They knew that Job was a righteous man but since they saw all that happend to him they believed he was in sin otherwise these things wouldn't be happening to him. So imagine what Job must have been feeling? Knowing that he lives righteous in the sight of God yet still these things are happening to him? Can you imagine all the self accusations that must be going through his head? How would you handle that? What would you be telling God if you were in Job's shoes? How messed up would our minds be if we thought that since we are "following the Lord" why would bad things happen to me? Well let me tell you something that might rub you the wrong way. God didn't respond to Job with a loving, everything will be alright response he told him WHERE WERE YOU WHEN...(Job 38-41) God put Job in his place for four chapters. The way I would sum it up would be God was telling him who do you think you are? Your Job and I'm God, you don't know anything!
This leads me to the supreme back-hand from God. I pray and ask God for certain things that I need help in my life with. I give him my concerns and let's face it we want answers and results. Sometimes God might answer us like Job, what I mean by that is it might be an answer we weren't expecting or might not like. Here's a scary thought we might not even get an answer back. I know when this happens I'll struggle with excepting this or I'm even questioning God's answer or his timing. Even as we were discussing this in class I started to think why hasn't God answered my why questions. Two things came to mind. The first one was maybe it's not time or even better, maybe I wouldn't understand his answer. We have to remember we only know what God allows us to know. It's not because we are smart or we discovered something new, it's because God has allowed us to know whatever that is because we were ready or because he wants us to know. The second thing was WHO AM I TO KNOW!!! WHO AM I TO QUESTION THE LORD!!! I think this is the hardest thing because we want to know now and also we want life to go the way we've planned it. Reality is it's all God timing and God is going to do what he wants when he wants. SMACK!!!
Now I know I've probably haven't been so comforting but sometimes the truth hurts, sorry there's no way around it. I'm not here to say that we need to be afraid that we aren't going to get what we pray for and that God isn't going to ever answer us. The fact is that we need to be ok if that happens. Do you understand that if God never answers one prayer of yours ever he's still worth it? Just the fact that the creator of everything takes the time and effort to hear our prayers is incredible. Here's the good news, God loves you enough to hear and answer your prayers. The greatest thing about God answering prayers is that even though it might not be exactly what you prayed for it's exactly what you need and what's best for you. God's ways are ALWAYS, let me repeat ALWAYS BETTER! We might not believe it at first but put ALL your faith and ALL your hope in him and you wont be dissapointed. (Matthew 6:33)
So my prayer for us today is that we would grasp the concept that we aren't entitled for our prayers to get answered but we would have an understanding that by God's love and grace he cares enough for us that he does anwer us. I pray that we believe that God plans are best and that we would make his plans our plans and not the other way around. I pray that we would ask God to help us with our faith to believe this and that we would focus on him and let him bring everything that we need.

If you want me to

So last night at church my good friend Katie sang a song that was titled If you want me to. There was part of the song that really spoke to me. I couldn't quote it word for word but the song was about walking through trials and tough times and then it said that they would walk through all of these tough things if it brought them closer to God. When she sang that verse I started to cry. I was once again reminded of why I chose to keep pressing foward. Everything that I've been through in these past 6 weeks has brought me closer to the Lord and that's where I want and need to be.
So why does God allow us to go through these types of things? I strongly believe it's because he knows that's the only way we come close to him. Do you ever notice that when things go bad that's usually the times we are talking with God more? We seem to draw the closes to God when we are in need, hurting, and sad. Now I want to ask you a question, if you knew that the only way you would get close to God would be to go through a tough trial would you? If God said to you I want you to have a closer relationship with me but the only way you would do that would be to endure a rough season what would you say? The only thing I could think of after last night is this answer, If you want me to Lord. By making that declaration we are saying that we would do anything that God would have us do. Trust me I know that's super hard to do but here's something we can hang on to, God knows what's best for us. God isn't going to ask you to do something because he thinks it's a good idea. He will ask you to do these things because he knows what's best for you. Only God knows what you need and only God knows exactly how to provide for everything you need.
So my prayer for today is that we would have our hearts and minds set to the idea of going through our day today with saying yes to whatever God would have us do. It doesn't always have to be something so extreme it could just be being a better friend or coworker. Whatever hardship we might face today we need to realize that God has us on assingment where we are and we need remember that no matter what we go through and how hard it is as long as we are growing closer to the Lord it's so worth it.

Anybody been feeling lately that they are just stuck where they are? Do you kind of feel like you're trying to run away from your problems but feel like you're just running in place because they feel like they are right behind you? Well that's how I feel. I feel like just when I've ran so far away from my problems because I turn around and there not there but when I turn back around they are right infront of me. When that happens to us we have two choices. We could either chose to see that our problems are right infront of us and chose to turn around and just keep letting them follow us or we could put one foot infront of the other and take them head on. Which one would you chose? The first one seems easier then the other. I know there's a lot of people who don't like to deal with their problems so they will keep just putting them behind them. Over these past 6weeks I've been battling this. I chose to deal with my problems head on but there has been many times I've wanted to turn back or try and go around them because going through them I just feel like I'm getting beat up and hurt. But I keep chosing to keep putting one foot foward and keep pressing on.
Why keep pressing on? Why would I chose to keep getting beat up and hurt? Well it's because just when I think I don't have the strength to take another step foward God gives me the strength to take another step foward. In Phillipians 4:13 Paul says he can do all thing through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. But this doesn't mean that we can do anything and Christ will stregnthen us. Can he, yes. But does he, no. The context of this is before this verse Paul is talking about all the things he's been through like ship wreck, being stoned, beat, and being in prison. Paul recognizes that the only way he has gotten through all this and the only way he could continue pressing on is with the strenght of Christ Jesus. Do you think Paul was stoked about all those things that happend to him, I don't think so but he did realize that his strength comes from God and God would be the one to keep him going.
My prayer for us today is that we would be like Paul in the sense of knowing that God is the only way we could get through our tough lives. I pray that we always make sure that we allow God to be our strength, help, and hope so that we can continue to press on. Remember this we might not always like the way things are going, we might feel that they are too hard to handle. Know that God will never let you go through something that you couldn't handle and that he will give you his strength. Our ways might seem like the good choice but his ways are the perfect choice!

To the One

This entry is inspired by a song that I've listen to atleast once everyday for like the past three weeks. It's to the One and it's by a group called Shachah. (It's on itunes) The greastest thing about this song is that it's really been helping me refoucus my thinking when my mind and thoughts get out of wack. When I've been thinking about things and I start to get mad or sad and then I start to think things like; "God I know you have me at this place in my life but why does this have to be this way?" I also think sometimes; "why an I even doing this, why don't I try to do it another way?" When I hear this song I realize that I live for the One. The One who saved me, the One who is my strength, the One who loves me, the One who will never leave me! When I start thinking this way it really convicts me that I would ever question God. That I have the nerve to ever really think that maybe God doesn't know what he's doing. I'll only speak for myself but man I'm an IDIOT! To think that I would ever question the Lord God Almighty, the One who spoke all life into motion, the One who allows me to live, the One who forgives me, the One who allows me to take part in advancing his kingdom, and the One who died for me just so I can have a relationship with him.
My prayer for today is that we realize that we don't live our lives of ourselves. We live them for God first and formost and his people. I pray that the Lord would open our eyes so that we see how fortunate we are and how blessed we are so that when hard times come our ways we recognize that we have a job and a life to llive and that it's for the One.

Fabolous Friday

Do you have guilt or shame in your life? Do you ever feel like you have a past that is so bad that you feel that God loves you but he couldn't love as much as someone with a good past? Have you ever thought that you did something so bad while you were walking with the Lord that you couldn't be used by him? Do you feel that because your faith isn't as strong as some believers that your not doing right? I know those feelings because I've personally have delt with all of them. Well I'm here today to let you know that we don't have to be held down by any of those thoughts because we serve a God who came down and took the lowly form of a man, who took all our sin and shame with him to the cross so that we could be free of sin and death. Jesus has paid the price for our checkered past, he paid the price so we can be forgiven and freed from our pasts. It wasn't because you deserved it but because he loves us that much.
Now if your anything like me as much as I hear people tell me this I still don't fully believe until I see this stuff work. We as humans need to see examples of this otherwise I feel that it's harder to believe. If we look at the scriptures we see plenty of examples of this. We how Moses killed someone and he didn't tell God yes right away but God still used him to lead his people out of Egypt. We see in all the Old Testament how After God lead his people out of Egypt they constantly were turning their backs on him and worshiping other Gods but God still rescued them and restored their land many times. We see how Peter denied Christ three times and still Jesus told him that he would build his church on him. We also see how Paul use to persecute and murder Christian and God used him to spread the Gospel all over the world and he was responsible for 3/4 of the New Testament. These are just a few examples of people with chechered pasts that God still used and blessed.
My Prayer for today is that we can allow ourselves to be free of guilt and shame and not let our past hold us down. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that whoever is in Christ is a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come, so I pray that we can be freed by knowing that we are new in Christ Jesus and we are freed from our past no matter how bad it might have been.So go forth with a sense of peace knowing that you're not what you past was but you are a child of the livng God and that he forgave you and that you can be used by God as long as you are willing to be.

Being content part 2

I know I wrote about being content yestarday but last night we had a great discussion on this subject again. I think the hardest thing about being content is that first of all we have a bad idea of what it means to be content. I think we see being content as being happy and excited about going through our current situations. This reminds me how in James when it talks about going through trials that it builds character but no where in there doesn't it say that we need to smile and be stoked about it. The idea behind that is to see that there is a hope behind these things that we can look to that will help us to be ok with what it going on. I believe the main thing about being content is realizing that the current place that we are at in our lives is no accident. We need to realize that God has assigned us to be here or he's allowing us to go through a trial because he has something bigger and better for us. We need to take our eyes off of our current situations and put them on the Lord.
One thing I want to talk about real quick is the idea of being mad at God. We talked last night about how we get sometimes when things aren't going the way would want them to go. Whether it's hurt, depression or the feeling of dissapointment when your plans don't work out the way we thought they would. The funny thing about this is when we look back on the things that God has brought us out of, we see how his hand has been on us and how much his way was better then ours. Here's something to think of next time we get like this, the next time we get mad at God and feel that it's unfair that we have to go through something hard. The only thing we deserve my friends is death and punishment! We don't deserve God to help us, we don't deserve God to care about what we are going through, and we definately don't deserve him to love us. But he does help, he does care, and he can't stop loving you. We need to realize that even though we might be going through a tough season in our lives we need to be content/ok with what we are going through not because we like it but because we have a good God who is at work in our lives, who will never leave us nor forsake us in the midst of our trials, and a good God who loves us so much that he will turn all this bad stuff into good for his glory.
My prayer is that God would open our eyes to see that there is a hope and a purpose for what we are facing in this point of time in life. I pray that we would take our focus off all the pain, worry, and any other feeling that comes with our current struggles and focus on the hope that God has for us. I pray that we can our lives as we are and not want anything else other then God and help us to live out or lives with a peace and no fear/worry of what's happening to us.

Being Content

Last night we were in small groups at church and we had a really good conversation about being content with where we are in life. We started talking about the places that we are in life and how we are dealing with them. The issues we had were relationship issues, family issues, and just dealing with the stresses that life throughs at us. The question of contentment was brought up this way, are we content in the current situation(s) that we are in. So many time we like to get mad at God when we are in a place in life that is really hard. Whether it be a break up or someone has wronged you. We tend to get so caught up in the hard times and forget to realize who is in control and what it is the God might be doing with us. I'm not saying that God puts us through all the bad stuff that we go through but I'm saying that we should look at our current situations as ways to draw closer to God and rely on him more.
The idea of contentment we thought was something that we felt is something we need to work on daily. It's not like you pray to be content one day and then magically it happens. We as believers need to realize that where we are in life is not by accident, this is where God has you. It might be hard and unpleasant where you are at right now but it's way better then what we deserve. To touch on that point when we were having this discussion someone brought up the point that the Bible never talks about life being super easy the moment we accepted Jesus into our lives. Infact it talks about how it isn't easy, Paul says that we get to suffer with Christ. Last time I checked suffering isn't easy. We deserve nothing but death and punishment from the Lord. But the greatest thing about our God is that he paid that price so we don't have to. So look at it this way, though our current situations might suck but it's no where near what we should be going through.
So how do we find peace and joy in our situations so we can be content with our life.Get lost in Jesus!!! Fall in love with Jesus, focus on Jesus, Jesus Jesus Jesus! Looking to the Lord and focusing on all his promises is the only way we can do this. By focusing on him and all his promises we can have a hope and peace knowing that not only are we doing life with a purpose but we get to see that God is always there with us and will help us and give us the strength to get through our current situations.
So my my prayer for today is that we take our eyes off our current situations and put them on God. I pray that we would have the strength and courage to give him all our cares, worries, plans, and future to him and let him take control. Knowing that God is in control and that he's handling everything will help you realize that your life is good and you can start living life being content.

Ambassador

After having a devotion last night before bed I was really convicted about how I carry myself, how I present myself to others. I couldn't help but think of the way I've been this last month. I have been going through a rough season in life and I have been dealing with a lot of pain, confusion, and all those other emotions that come with a rough season. For the past month at work I have been a rollercoaster of emotions and I would show up to work one day happy then three days sad. It was a cycle that I was in and what sucked the most about it was that people were noticing it and they knew I wasn't myself. I'm not saying that I was wrong for being sad but what convicted me after my devotion was how I represented Christ to the people I encountered.
In 2 Corinthians 5:20 Paul calls Christians "Ambassadors of Christ". So what does this have to do with the way I carry myself? An ambassador represents another person, organization, or nation. So an ambassador needs to make sure that they carry themselves well and does everything in their power to make sure they give the best representation for who or what they are representing. How much more important is it for us as believers to represent Christ? We are called to be the representation of the God of the universe. That's a pretty big deal. I know it's tough but there are things that we can chose to do that would help us represent Christ better. When I was sad and mooping around work I feel that I wasn't representing Jesus in the light that he should be. Jesus isn't all depressed, he's full of joy and love and that's how we should be. Not everyday is going to be easy or full of rainbows and butterflies but we still need to do our best to check our attitudes and realize that life isn't about us, it's about representing/ loving Jesus and his people.
So my prayer today is that we asked Jesus to help us to represent him better. The only was to do this properly is first repent if you haven't been doing this, then we need to fall in love with him by finding out who and what we are representing. Like I said before it's not wrong to hurt or be sad but we need to make sure we give all our cares to the Lord and do our very best to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ.

Hurray today is Monday!!! How many of us thought that today? For many of us it's the start of another work week, a start of another school week or both. Many of us just finished a weekend where we didn't have to do either of the two. I know for me I got to sleep in a little both days so waking up 3hrs earlier then I did the past two days isn't something that I looked foward to. This entry was sparked by that feeling of not looking foward to Monday. Today I'm stuck in the mailroom at work. We all hate it and don't like being in there. As I was at the gym yestarday I started to think about being stuck in there and wasn't looking foward to going into work on Monday. As I was thinking that I was convicted in my spirit. I started to think of all the people who are out of work right now and how much they wish they could wake up and go to work. Then I remembered something I said to someone at work last week. She thought I was sad but I told her that I'm too blessed to be sad. Remembering that made me think way different. We are too blessed to complain about going to school or work today. We need to realize how blessed we are that God would give us another day of life and allow us to work and go to school.
So many times we think of all the negative stuff that we might face instead of focusing on all the positive things. I know one of the best things to do for me to realize how blessed I am is just verbally tell God what I'm thankful for. I say everything from life and family all the way to the bed I'm sitting on while expressing this. Pastor Rick said that if we can put a number on all our blessing then there's something wrong.
So my prayer for us today is that we start living with a heart of thankfulness and turn down the complaining. I know life is tough but if you stop and take the time to realize how blessed you are then the blessings totally will out weigh the complaints. Here's a few things to start with, first if you woke up today breathing you're blessed! Oh yeah one more little thing, You have a God who loves you and sent his son to die for us so that we can have a relationship with him and have eternal life. Looks like we are pretty blessed :)

Who do you think you are?

If you asked yourself the question, who do you think you are what would your answer be? There's two ways to answer this question. The first is who does the world say I am and second who does God say I am? Honestly I believe that many of us view who we are by the worlds standards. I believe that's why there's so much pain and so many broken people in the world today. We are always trying to live up to the worlds standards, we strive to be what the world tells us we need to be. "Your a failure because: you don't have a degree, a girlfriend, you don't look like that celebrity, your poor, you have no friends, you live at home still, you don't go out and party, you have too much of a troubled past." These are things that the world would tell you if your not doing them, but most important these are the things the enemy uses to keep you down. Satan loves to use these things because these are the things that hold us down and these things take us away from who we truely are.
So who are we? Pastor Rick(my pastor) said something this week that I believe we need to do daily. He said that we need to take back our identity in Christ and our joy as well. This might be a hard thing for us to do because we are constanly being showed and told who we need to be but it's something that is super important. We need to concentrate on who God says we are! So who does he say we are? We are conquerors (Romans 8:36-39) we are God children and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8: 16-17). These are just a few things, but I feel these are really important to know. We are God's children!!!! Just think of the love that parent's have for their kids, they would do anything for them. They will provide and do anything they can just to make sure their child has what they need. How much more would the God of the universe do for us. He has more love to give us then anyone else could ever try to give you. And if we are Co-heirs with Christ then let me tell you, we are way more valuable then what the world tells you that you are.
So my prayer for us is that we take back our identity in Christ. That we would no longer hold ourselves up to what the world says we should be, but we hold ourselves to what God has said we are. I pray that we take back our joy that the world/enemy has robbed from us and we start living the way God looks at us and then our joy would be restored to us.

One quick thing I've been needing to do, if there's anything that you've been wanting to talk about or anything that you would like prayer for you can always email me. If there's any questions or thoughts about something that was written  please let me know. God bless.
Email: gabetovar_25@yahoo.com

What's on your mind?

So this morning I wake up and my mind is consumed with the dream I had last night. First thing I did was pray and I asked God to take it away. As soon as I put my bread in the toaster I started to think about the dream and it started to hurt me and make me mad. As I finished my breakfast I prayed some more and then it hit me, why am I letting this bother me? Then the Lord spoke to me and said to renew my mind. So I found Romans 12:2, read it and took some time to put that into practice. I started to think about just the amazing services we have been having this past week at church and all the amazing things God has done and is going to do. That alone turned my whole mindset back to where my focus should be, on God!
So ask yourself this; what's on your mind? What is your mind so consumed with that it would take your focus off God? Is it bills, school, relationships, pain, worry, depression? These are all things that take our minds off God. The funny thing I've noticed about these things are instead of taking our minds off God our minds should be going to God. Now I'm not saying that there are things that you shouldn't be thinking about, I'm just saying that we shouldn't let those things consume our thoughts and lives. I know it's easier said then done but last time I checked we serve a rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyy BIG GOD!
So my prayer for us is that we would take the time today to renew our minds and shift our focus back on God. Ways that I do this is I talk with him, I read his word and find all those promises he has given us, and one thing that helps me is I fill my ears with worship music. I pray that we allow all our worries and thoughts that consume our minds to be  traded for the Lord's love and perfect peace.

Fabulous Friday

Hurray today is Friday, the end of the work week well atleast for some of us. What makes today (Friday) such a good day for everyone? Is it because this is the last day before we get two days off? Is it because we get a paycheck? What if I told you that your Friday, everyday could be a great day, would you want to know how? Have you ever tried to enjoy something with guilt/conviction in the back of your mind? You can't, it's impossible. What if I told you that you can live the rest of your life without the guilt and shame of your sins, would you take that and start enjoying your days? Well your in luck because you have a God that is in the business of forgiving. This was all brought up by a conversation I had with a buddy yestarday. He did something that brought him extreme guilt and he just felt bad because he knew he shouldn't have done that. He asked God for forgiveness but he was still carrying the guilt and shame with him. Anyone in that boat? Have you asked God for forgiveness but still carry the guilt and shame with you?
First things first, we all sin.(Romans 3:23) So don't beat yourself up because no one is perfect, if you haven't sinned please tell me I want to meet you, you should be righting this not me:) This doesn't give us the right to keep sinning but it just helps to know that no one is perfect. This next part is the most important part to having a great day, we have to release the guilt and shame of our sins. If God can do it, why can't we? Isaiah 43:25 - I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remember your sins no more. We see here that God is telling Israel, through Isaiah that he will forgive their sins and remember them no more. The crazy thing is he's telling this to a group of people the he rescued and they still constantly reject him and turn from his ways. If he can do this for them then he can and will do it for us!
So are you ready to have a fabulous Friday, I am. My prayer for today is that we all can have this mentallity that our sins are forgiven and that God isn't standing over us with a big check list and is going to remind you of all the bad stuff you did. Also I pray that if there is anything in our lives that we need forgiveness for that we wouldn't hesitate to give it to God. THERE IS NOTHING TO BIG OR TO SMALL FOR GOD TO FORGIVE YOU OF!!! So I'll close with two things. The first is that just because we know this, it isn't ok for us to just keep sinning. We still need to try our best to live righteous and do our best to avoid sin. Second is extremely important, now that we know that we are forgiven now it's our turn to forgive others. If God forgives you then we need to forgive others.

God's heart break

Last night after service I was talking with my cousin Jacob and we were just catching up on things. He asked me how I was doing and I shared with him my situation and how I was dealing with heart break. Then he said something that is going to stick with me forever, he said now you can see how God feels when someone walks away from him or rejects him. The moment he said that it opened my eyes to a whole way of thinking. I'm pretty sure that everyone has been through some kind of heart break. Whether it's break up or a loss of a loved one, maybe a best friend that your no longer friends with. We all know how much that hurts to miss that person. I would say times that feeling by ten and maybe we might know what it feels like when someone chooses to walk away from God. I say we might because there's no way we can know how God would feel because we can't love like he does. His love for us is indescribable.
I'm not saying this to make you feel bad but I feel that this is something we should realize. God does hurt for us, and those who choose to turn our backs on him. It's not because our God is weak, remember he doesn't need you and that's the beauty of it all. He doesn't need us but he loves us that much that his heart would break for us. So my prayer is that we realize if we ever feel like walking away or giving up on God that we remember that he cares for you and loves you no matter what. I also pray that as we remember this it would give us a passion to bring those who have walked away and those who don't know the Lord back to him.

How great is your God?

"Is anything too hard for me?" That was the end of Jeremiah 32:27, last night that was a verse that we prayed. I really feel this verse wasn't just a prayer, it was more of a word I believe that we need to be reminded of. I know we pray, maybe not as much as we should but we are always asking God for help and giving him our problems. I just feel that many of us are not getting the answers to our prayers. I'm not saying that we are not going to get those prayers answered, but during this time of waiting for God we get discouraged and maybe we might start losing some faith in God. We might be thinking in our heads, where are you God, are you even listening? I know during this season in my life I've been praying like crazy for God to fix my family and take all the hurt from my heart away, and it really hasn't been happening. When I start to think why isn't anything happening I simply remember that it's God's timing and not ours.
So if you're in a place of waiting and wondering about God answering your prayers I really feel that the Lord would say to us "Is anything too hard for me". My prayer is that we would all have the faith to believe this. That even though our prayers might not be being answered right now doesn't mean that God has heard them and that God isn't doing anything about them. The living and all mighty God hears our cries and loves us too much not to hear our prayers. I also pray that God gives us patients and a peace of mind and heart to keep giving him our requests. God is faithful and he loves us, so don't doubt and don't worry God is in control!

Last night I read 1 Corinthians 15:1-28. Paul wrote in this letter to the Corinthians about an issue they had about the resurrection of the dead. He argued that if there is no such thing as the resurrection of the dead then Jesus could have never risen from the dead and if he never did that then everything they believe and everything they have been doing is one huge waist of time. Paul tells them not only does he know Jesus had risen from the grave, he actually was one of the people who saw him after he had risen. Paul saw the physical evidence, the alive and ressurected Jesus so that would explain his super faith.
So what does this have to do with us? I started to think that I do believe in Jesus even though I've never seen him but I know that my faith would be that much stronger if I got to meet the man I've committed my whole life to. How lucky Paul was to have seen Jesus. Then I started to think about what I just said and I started to realize that Jesus has shown himself to me my entire life. I started thinking about all the things that I have been through and been delivered from and there's no way that I or anyone else could have stepped in and done this for me. God has been at work and always been there for me.
Some of us might be going through difficult times right now and might be thinking where are you God? Why haven't you shown up yet? God is always there, he is there now and has always been there for you. Paul had a gnarly ministry and he had the hope and the faith during the hard times and the good times. And Paul had many bad times, but he could always look back in his life and see that God has always been there and that he would be with him in his current situation. If you are struggling in an area of your life and are wondering where God is then takes sometime today to look back at your life and see where it is that God has brought you out of, healed you, delivered you from. So many times we forget that God is there because of or current situations, but God is always there for you. So my prayer is that we always remember that God is there for us and that just like before in our lives, he can and will help us through our current problems and struggles.

Are you willing to put in the hard work?

So this entry was inspired by two converstions I had in the last 24hrs. This morning I was talking with my cousin about getting back into shape. We talked about all the hard work, cardio, deiting, and other sacrifices that are needed to be made to get where we want to be. Last night I had a conversation with a friend and we talked about how do we get to where God wants us to be? My answer to her was God gave us two commands; Luke 10:27- Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. So I summed it up to my friend that we need to fall in love with Jesus first then our neighbors second. I told my friend that her main focus should first to fall in love with Jesus. She asked how does she do that? I told her that it's not always easy and that it takes work.
So why did I start off with talking about getting into shape? Because just like getting into shape, learning to fall in love with Jesus takes some hard work. There are sacrifices and things that you might not want to do but they need to happen if you want to fall in love with Jesus. We pray, we read his word, and we try our best to live our lives like him. And that's not easy. It takes time and effort to do these things. I know we all have busy lives and our time is limitted but what's really important to you? Like I told my friend, you don't have to read the bible or pray just like if your trying to get into shape you don't have to diet or workout but don't expect to get the results you are looking for. We as Christians can think about how much we love God and say that we want to fall in love with him but are we putting in the work that is needed? If you want to fall in love with Jesus we need to talk with him daily, we need to read his word and find out what he's all about and what he has and wants from us. So my prayer for us is that we take the time, put in the "hard work" to fall in love with Jesus, not because we have to but because our lives will be blessed for it and most important, HE'S WORTH IT!

Pray for your enemies

Matthew 5:44 tells us  that we need to pray for our enemies. So Jesus is telling us that we need to pray for those who are against us, those who don't like you, and the way I see it as those who wronged you. Man that is easier said then done. When I've done this I catch myself giving these prayers that aren't heart felt, pretty much I'm doing this because I feel like I have to even though I don't want to. So why do this? Is it because it's just something that Jesus told us to do which means we have to? Is there any benifit to praying for those who have wronged us?
I want to share the experience I had last night with this. Last night I got really sad and started to get upset. Right before I went to bed these feelings came over me I was ready to just have another night of thinking about these things, pretty much I would have these thoughts and feelings that would ruin my whole night. So after reading my bible I started to pray. I just asked God to take these thoughts and feeling away and as I was doing this I just felt like instead of praying for myself, I needed to pray for the person that made me feel this way. This time it wasn't a prayer that I didn't mean, this was a prayer that was totally heart felt and I prayed blessing and covered every area I could think of in this persons life. After I was done praying those feelings instantly went away. I had peace in my mind and peace in my heart.
I believe the reason why this happend was two things; first by praying for this person I released my thoughts and feelings and the person to the Lord, and second I acted in obedience to the Lord. I really feel that we as believers need to practice this idea of praying for our enemies not just because we have to but because it's soemthing that brings healing and benifits us. I figure if Jesus said to do it then we should do it because he knows what's best for us. I pray that we could all let our pride go and can humble ourselve to pray for those that have wronged us. Remember the second most important command that was ever given to us was to love your neighbor and your neighbor could be your enemy, so lets show our enemies love by lifting them up in prayer.

Something to think about

Last night I was at a friends wedding and had a great time. Went with some friends, danced, and just enjoyed the time with my friends. It was a good time. Then as we left something happend. What happend is personal but what I can tell you is that when it happend I got mad. I became silient and it was obvious that I wasn't myself. So when we got home I had to get it off my chest so I talked with a really close friend. We talked for a few minutes and she gave me words of encouragement and I got to just get it off my chest. But when I got into my car I was still angry so I wanted to put on some loud music and fuel the fire that was raging inside of me.(I'm sure we've all been there before) But as I started the car I was instantly convicted and knew that wasn't what I should be doing. So instead of putting on some music that would "fuel the fire" I put on the song "He loves us" by The David Crowder Band and boy did that help.
Just listening to that song made me start thinking about How God loves me. If you were to step back for a moment and really think about that thought, GOD LOVES ME, your whole mind set will change. I started thinking about how many times in my life that God was there for me. The countless time he's brought me through the valley of the shadow of death, so many places of darkness that he's saved me from. The idea of him loving me even after all the times I've failed him. And the most importanat thing of all that he gave his only son Jesus to die and pay my ransom so I could have a relationship with the living God. Do you understand that kind of love? God paid the ultimate price for us just to repair something that we humans screwed up. WOW!!! And the greatest thing of all is that God's love never fails, because he CAN'T, I repeat he CAN'T stop loving you.
So whatever it is you are going through, family problems, relationship problems, addictions, depression, worry, whatever it is know this, GOD LOVES YOU! He love's you enough to be there with us no matter what we are going through. So put all your hope, all you faith in God and walk in his ways the best you can and let God be God. Don't allow your situation to have victory over you, have victory over your situation because you have a God who has already given the victory to you.

First things first

What was the first thing that you did when you woke up? Did you stretch, go to the bathroom, turn the T.V on? The first thing I did was pray. I'm not trying to say that I'm super holy or I'm such a great Christian because the first thing I do when I wake up is pray. I do this because I'm not super holy, infact I do this because I recognize that if I don't ask God for the strength and help for anything that life may through at me then I know that I'll have a bad day. If I don't do this then I know that I'll want to be sad, I'll want to be angry, I wont be able to love people the way God has asked me to do. I know that I am a terrible person without God's help.
So, if you haven't asked God for help today, then you should. It's not a sign of weakness, actually it is. You are acknowledging that you can't but most importantly that you don't want to go a day without God. The greatest thing about our God is that he DOES listen to you and He CARES so much about you. So whatever we might be going through let's make sure that we ask God for help. Nothing is too big or small for our God! Oh yeah, this is something that shouldn't just happen when you wake up, this is something that you can do all day long. I don't know about you but I need Big G's help all day long. Be blessed and walk with confidence knowing that God is always there for you and will never leave you.

First Post

We don't know what today is going to challenge us with, but one thing is forsure and that is that God will be with us the whole step of the way. So instead of having our eyes on ourselves and current trials/struggles let's look to God and let him do what he does best, heal, renew, and bring victory! Praying for all you guys.

Why Im doing this

So why blog, why do this? Well for the last three days the Lord has just been giving me words of encouragement. They have been helping me through a tough season of my life but the great thing about God's truths are they aren't just for me, they are truths for everyone. I have been sharing these words via text but it's hard to text everyone so I thought this would be a great way to share with who ever would like to read. The whole concept of this isn't to bring attention to myself but to bring encouragement to our lives. This isn't going to be a bible study, it's going to be me sharing what God has put on my heart whether that's an event or idea or just what God has spoken to me through his word. I'll try my best to stay on it and do this everyday. I pray that this helps whoever reads it and that it brings nothing but glory to God!