Archive for the 'Life Experiences' Category
If you have been following my blog for awhile you most likely remember a post that I wrote about placing Christ as the center of everything that we do, just in case you don’t here is a link to check it out. But you know what I have been realizing? If you have at one time in your life before placed Christ in the center of all that you do, it doesn’t guarentee that you are still in that same situation.
I feel like I’m a person that does place Christ in the center of a lot of things in my life, but you know what? I have realized that I am failing at placing him in the center of ALL things in my life. So the question arises: How do you place Christ into the center of ALL things?
I will be honest. I don’t know exactly how. But I think I have some good advice. But first off, please forgive me for not having a Bible verse for this, but I know that we need to have him as the center of all we do, so anyway… How do we do this? How do we get to a point that Christ is thought of and centered in every aspect of our lives?
The first step I am going to take will be studying the Bible more thoroughly. I am going to study things that are in my life. By doing this I am taking the word of God and letting it teach me and guide me through certain situations. Another step I am taking is going to be fasting more. I want to fast just to seek God. I don’t totally understand fasting, but I do know that when people begin to seek God in the Bible, they often fast. And the last thing I can think of right now is getting an accountability system going in my life. This accountability system isn’t because I have such a hard time struggling with so many different sins, but it is a way for me to be accountable on a weekly basis for my walk with Christ. It will help me keep in perspective what I am actually doing.
How else can we keep our selves seeking Christ’s will in all things that we do? Any suggestions? Bible verses?
July 22 2008 | Christianity and Jesus and Life Experiences | No Comments »
Have you ever been in a good healthy relationship as a Christian before? Well… I have. Let me lay out the details for you. About 5 months ago, I began “dating” a girl whom I really enjoyed being around. I absolutely thought that there was more than just potential with the two of us. We had some extrenuating circumstances, and we both talked about it and we said that we were willing to not let them affect us. So as our relationship moved on, we got closer to each other. I thought it was great, and I am pretty sure she did too.
Through the relationship I learned something about myself though. I struggle with jealousy, and anger. As you may all know, these are not talked of very highly from a biblical standpoint. So as soon as I realized I had these issues I began to work on them. I found myself struggling with them, but I wasn’t ran by them.
This past week, I really had a hard time with it. I let my emotions control the way I acted, and I let myself treat that person whom I care about so much like she really didn’t mean that much to me. I saw this as a problem obviously, but I didn’t think that it would be so bad as to end our relationship. But it did.
I understand that my anger was the root of this. I am not sure what else could have been. Even if she doesn’t know it, I am pretty sure that it is what really moved her to make the decision. But whatever, I could sit around and wonder why forever. But I am going to just have to move on even though I don’t want to. I am going to have to trust God more than I have lately, and I am sure that he will bring me through this okay. I hope that he does the same with her. As much as I wish that this could all be undone, I need to stop worrying and rushing it. That will do no good because that is not God, that is me!
Do any of you have any encouragement? It would really be appreciated… Thanks!
July 21 2008 | Christianity and Life Experiences | No Comments »
So this past week, as most of you know, I was at youth camp as a counselor. At the least the experience I had was extreme. The services were great, to food was at best okay, and we had some sweet pillow fights and candy wars. I gotta say, it was not what I expected at all. Do you ever have an image of something in your mind and then when you actually see it, it looks totally different? Well that is what happened to me. But it was good. I really enjoyed to go to services two times a day for a whole week, and I hope that some of the lessons that we all learned will last for a lifetime.
July 21 2008 | Christianity and Life Experiences | No Comments »
I hope that you all had a great 4th of July weekend, because I know I did. On Friday I went and hung out at my sister’s house. While I was there I swam, got sun burned, hung in a chair like a monkey, and had some awesome bbq. After that I went and watched the fireworks with some friends and family. Then the next day I went to Lake Davis with a special someone and a friend. I got totally sunburned, it sucks! But then we went back to that special someone’s grand parents house and had some great food, and then we all went and watched the fireworks over a pond in Graeagle. It was a blast!
July 07 2008 | Life Experiences and Random | No Comments »
As most people do, I want more. I want to be more involved in larger scale ministry, I want to have a more serious “romantic” relationship, I want to make more money, and I want to know my future. But do you know what the funny thing is? If God wanted me to have any of these things, he would have given them to me, and he hasn’t.
Whether it is larger scale ministry, a romantic relationship, making money, or knowing our future; God will reveal it all in his timing. It is really helpful to think of it like this… Take what God has given to you, and grow with it. Be faithful with it, and prove to yourself that you are able to handle more. That is what God wants you to know. He wants to see you trust in him, and not in the things that he has given you…
What do you think? Does God want us to be faithful and patient with what we have now? Or does he want us to be impatient and strive for more?
July 01 2008 | Christianity and Life Experiences | 2 Comments »
How often do you really think of yourself as the dirty sinner that you really are? I mean, it is really easy to skim the surface and assume an understanding of your sinfulness which is extremely misconcieved. Let me explain…
I go through life knowing that all that I do isn’t enough to please God. I understand that I can’t work my way to heaven, and there is nothing I can do to get myself closer to God. But I don’t always understand the great contrast between God’s holiness and my sinfulness.
Through life it is easy, especially lately for me, to get caught up on irrational stresses. These stresses cause me to focus more on myself than God. While doing this I fall further and further away from what God wants me to be, but through it all it has brought me to a more realistic understanding of who God is compared to me.
Tonight during the praise and worship at our church I came to a point where I could almost taste my filthiness. It was crazy. I truly felt like everything I had to offer during my praise was worthless. I felt so extremely humbled as I began to reach out for God, asking him to forgive me for being the sinner which I am. I began to think of all the things I have done in my life: the wrongs, the rights, and the inbetweens. I began to realize that no matter how hard I try to please God I am always stumbling over some form of sin wether it be lust, anger, jealousy, gluttony, or whatever other sin I happen to get caught on, and the image and definition of the contrast between God’s holiness and my sinfulness became more than real to me.
I wanted to share this with you, because I think we too often get caught up on what we are doing, instead of what he has done. It is so amazing. I still have a hard time understanding why a God as perfect as our God would come down from heaven to redeem someone as sinful as myself. But then again, I guess that is why he’s perfect.
June 17 2008 | Christianity and Jesus and Life Experiences and Salvation | No Comments »
This week a lot of people I know are graduating High school. I just want to say congratulations to you all, and I hope that you are excited. Life after high school is totally different than you expect. At first you don’t feel like it is much different, but eventually you get sucked into the ways of post high school life.
Whether you choose to go to college, travel the world, or start working hard; remember that everything we do is intended to glorify God. Don’t waste your life traveling simply to enjoy it, going to college just to make money, or working hard simply for a pay check. You should instead travel to reach the lost and see God move in other parts of the world, go to school so you can do something great for God, or work hard so you can reach the average Joe working in construction.
I can guarantee that if you make the focus point of your life to glorify God, then you will not end up wasting your life. I hope and pray that you will all take the time to think about what it is that you can do to glorify God with all the time that you have been given.
June 06 2008 | Christianity and Culture and Life Experiences | No Comments »
I have came to a conclusion. I have little to no patience. Not in the sense that I snap at people if there not moving fast enough, but in the sense that I want to know exactly where my life is headed, RIGHT NOW! In my life I have a relationship which requires patience due to unusual circumstances, a job which requires patience because I’m uncertain of it’s future, and many other things which I’m anxious for that too require patience.
As I got on my computer this morning, I looked up “patience” in the ESV Bible. I found that the word is actually not used very much in the Old Testament, but it is used A LOT in the New. It is actually used in correspondence to faith and love. To me this is so interesting. That means that our faith and our love are shown through patience. Without patience our faith may not be what we think it is, and our love may not actually be love.
Being Patient Through Love
You may be wondering why I am saying that “patience” is used in correspondence with “love”. Well, I see it through the text of 1 Timothy 1:16. This portion of scripture is talking about Christ’s perfect patience. Well what was he patient for? He was patient for us. And why was he patient? Because he loved us.
I am learning more and more that if you want to show your love to a person or to a group of people you need to patient with them. Sometimes there are circumstances which are beyond our control. It would be ruthless to let a lack of patience destroy something that could become something great someday.
Being Patient Through Faith
There are many texts in the New Testament which are talking about faith, and while talking about faith mention patience. I would go as far to say that a fruit of your faith is patience, because if you have no patience, where is your faith? You can not be worrisome in your faith, because worry is faithless. Worry is something which sneaks in when you are unsure of a certain situation, therefore if you have faith you too must have patience.
In conclusion to all of this, we must all learn to have patience. Whether it is in your everyday life, or in special circumstances. I will be honest with you. Lately I have found myself struggling with a lack of patience, and I would really appreciate it if you could just pray that I would come to have faith and not worry about things which I know I must be waiting for.
Do any of you ever struggle with having patience? Do you sometimes feel like you have a lack of faith because of such worries?
June 04 2008 | Christianity and Life Experiences | No Comments »
Right now I feel down, and I don’t feel down because of God, but I feel down because of my emotions and thinks I want from this world. I feel down because I don’t know what to expect in the future, and I wish I did.
Have you ever been in a similar situation? Just feeling like things you wanted may not go the way you wanted them to? So, you end up just thinking about them and allowing them to distract you from many other things.
Well, I don’t think that as Christians we should let these thoughts distract us from our true joy, and that is Jesus Christ. If it were not for the price he paid on the cross, we would have no hope in anything. So, “set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2 ESV). If we get to worried about things on earth we will not be glorifying God in all things that we do.
May 21 2008 | Christianity and Life Experiences | No Comments »
This a sermon I just preached this weekend. I hope you enjoy!
Feedback is appreciated.
Colossians 3: You Are a New Creation:
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March 17 2008 | Christianity and Jesus and Life Experiences | No Comments »
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