Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. They are surprised that you do not join them in the reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regards to the spirit. The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gifts you have received to serve others, ad faithful stewards of God's grace in it's various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God if anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised though Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen,
All throughout the new testament we see our call for follow Christ. These calls shares all the same central themes ever time. We are to die to sin and be born again through Christ. We are to suffer as Christ suffered, and show our brothers and sisters the same love that Christ showed us. This passage is no exception to the rules. In this passage in Peter we see what we are called to do in a life in Christ. We are told that we are supposed to share the same mindset as Christ did. Christ suffered in body and so should be. Christ never once said that following him was going to be easy, he warned us ahead of time that people will hate you for it, families with have each other put to death as a result. But Christ also tells us of the greatest reward of all which is salvation through him, an eternal life in Christ.
We are called to die to our sinful nature and be born again through Jesus. But to do this we must give up everything, we must lay to rest our sinful lives that we once lived. We will all be judged accordingly to our lives. Christ gives us all the same message, to those who are saved through Christ and to those who choose not to be. We will all be judged accordingly and justly. We are called to give up our lives of partying, and premarital sex. We are called to stop putting our jobs and family before God. We are called to stop lusting after things that we do not need. This is where slot of us get snagged up. We want to live a life in Christ but we do not want to give up the life we are living. We convince ourselves that we can still live through Christ and in Christ and still party on the weekends, and still be living with out boyfriend/girlfriends and sleeping together before marriage. As my religion teacher, Mr. Lenzini, once described it: we want our relationship with Christ to be like a grocery store. We want to be able to walk down the aisle and pick and choose what is the most suiting to us. But this is not the case. A life in Christ is a all or nothing deal. He wants us to fully follow him and not to do it half heartedly.
As you continue through the passage we then see a call to love each other completely. The bible tells us the love covers a multitude of sin. We then see another call to use the gifts and talents that God has given us. We are all gifted in various ways and we are all called to use these gifts to further the kingdom of God and to serve one another. We all have different passions in this world that the Holy Spirit has placed in our heart on purpose. If you were to come into my house you would see 6 different passions for Gods people: Aunt Karen: cancers. Rachel: childrens cancers and illnesses, Anna: Africa, Uncle Tony: music, Me: helping others to realize their God given gifts and how to use them, as well as children's ministry. I'm my house alone you see a perfect example of just a handful of gifts and passions God has given us. Look around your house, what gifts and passions has God put into your family? Pretty cool huh!
We should always be warm and welcoming to each other showing hospitality to each other. We should always be examples of Christ, always showing love and grace. We are called to live a life in Christ every day and not just on Sundays, it is said that Christ is coming and not a single person, not the heavens not the Son himself knows the minute nor the hour but only God himself. We should always be on watch for Christ.
I think this passage is one that effects not just me but everybody. When trying to live a life in Christ it is hard for us to give up the comforts that we are used to. Over the past year I have not given as much time to Christ that he has called me to. He has placed "jobs" in my heart that need to get done that I have not given enough attention to. As I begin to find what it is required to live a life in Christ the more I realized how much more I need to devote to him. And the more I find this out the more the devil attacks my heart and ambitions. It went as far as the devil attacking my dreams of youth ministry. While I was at Urban Camp the devil continued to torment my mind making me think I was not cut out to do children's ministry. I actually heard myself think: you suck at this, why and who could I ever think I was cut out to bring children to Christ. But luckly through my prayers, and the prayers of my friends and family I pushed past those attacks and had an amazing week. With the path I am on I am happy that I have a job that allows me to get the time off to serve him for things such as VBS and Urban Camp. I am even happier to say that I get Fridays off every week (starting next month) to help with the Tims House Ministy and then help with Kids Klub (which I am super excited about ask anybody!) Christ works in crazy ways, we just need to stop for a few minutes to listen. I challenge you to take a few minutes and evaluate your relationship with him. Is it what you are being called to do? Are you using the Holy Spirits gifts to the best of their abilities? Are you showing loving compassion you are supposed to be showng? I know I need alot of work, so I asked for your prayers.
I pray for you and your walk with Christ.
Saturday 27 August 2011
1 Peter 4:1-11
Philippians 1:3-9
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,being confident of this, that he who began good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for weather I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ -to the glory and praise of God.
Praises be to God, Christ Jesus and all of Gods holy people! In this passage we see Paul giving praise to the Phillipians for the continual work in spreading the gospel message. He is giving them a blessing that God works through them as the continue to spread the message of Christ. That they may be able to travel with pure hearts not holding fault to those they may encounter. He holds God as his witness that he is sincere in his letter to them, that through Christ they share the same grace.
Do we know others that are constantly out there preaching the gospel, or living a life that Christ calls us to live? Who is that person in your life that you look up to as Christ example in your life? I urge to continue to pray for them, our bothers and sisters in Christ are very important people in our life. These are the people who hold us accountable for our actions, help us to stay on a direction path to God, they are Christ on earth for us. Pray for these people, turn to these people.
In my life there are a few strong Christ filled people in my life that are always there for me and continue to help me through life when I am struggle to always reach for Christ. The first is a friend from Church, the youth pastor, Tim. I have already mentioned him in a few other post so you might already know the significance of this friendship. Although I have only known Tim for a little over a year and a half he was the one who brought me to Christ. He continually checks on my directions in life and pushes me toward God. The second person is my Uncle Tony. When I was growing up I never would have thought that I would eventually be living in his house, or have deep heartfelt conversations with him about Christ. Over the past year I have gotten to know my uncle on a deep spiritual relationship as I opened up to him about my path to Christ, coming to find out we both had a lot of the same struggles. I love to watch him at church as he leads worship for the service and his heart for Christ. One of the strongest things that stands out to me is when he prays. Countless times my Uncle has prayed over me, and each time you feel the Holy Spirit working directly through him. These are just two people in my life that are my spiritual support and without them life would be just a little it harder.
God puts people into your life with a purpose. You never know quite who could walk into your life and how they might shake things up. The Phillipians were just some of the Pauls support in sharing the gospel. Who is your support? I challenge you right now email, Facebook, text or call whoever is Christ in your life right now and just thank them for being such a strong influence in your life. Ask them if there is anything you can pray with them for. These relationship are dire and a special gift from God.
I pray for you and your walk with Christ.
Wednesday 24 August 2011
Colossians 4:2-6
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too, that God may open a door to our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
In this passage Paul is writing to the Colossians while he awaits trials in jail. He is asking for their prayers for himself and others followers of Christ who are sharing the message of Christ. He is urging them to devote themselves to prayer, asking them to pray that the message of Christ might be spread freely and openly. He is also asking that they pray the the Holy Spirit work through him that he will be able to know what to say to those he is preaching. He then goes on to tell the Colossians that they need to make the most of every opportunity because you never know who might be watching. That they should speak to others with grace and understanding.
This request from Paul to the Colossians is something that we can do today. We should be praying for those Christians who are being persecuted today all over the world, just for spreading Christ message. We should be praying for those missionaries who are doing the Lords work every day of their lives. We should be praying for "secret churches" who have to meet privately to share the gospel knowing that if they are caught, they will be put to death. We should also be praying for ourselves that the Holy Spirit works in us and through us, that we may be able to share Christ with those we encounter, and do it in the way necessary to the listener.
We should be making the most of every encounter in life we have, we do not know the impact it may have on others. In high school, with the help of a few friends, I started a group called:A.R.K. It stood for acts of random kindness. If you have ever watched Even Almighty then you will know where I stole the name from haha. But the point of the group was that you never know how one event might effect and change somebodies life. An event as simple as opening the door for somebody could change their attitude for the entire day making their day more productive and positive. Eventually, through the grace of God the group was developed into the high schools community service program. We are told to make the most of every opportunity because you never know what kind of Christ encounter we might have. We do not know with who we will have the opportunity to share the gospel with today. Pray that the Holy Spirit moves in you to share the gospel with somebody you might not of thought of before
I challenge you for the rest of the week to pray, seriously pray for those who are being persecuted for following Christ. Then pray for the Holy Spirit to work through you, moving you to share the gospel with someone, or to be more Christ like. That the Holy Spirit works through you that people might look at you and think, there is something seriously different about the person, I like it, I wonder what it is.
I pray for you and your walk with Christ.
Tuesday 23 August 2011
Ephesians 6:5-8
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey the not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your hearts. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not man, because you know the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, wether he is a slave or free.
In this passage in Ephesians it talks about our attitude while we are at work. We are called to conduct our jobs to the best of our God given ability. As long as the rules of our job are within Christs law, we are to abide by them. We are to be always to do our best, working as if we were working for God. Not only will this give us favor in our employers eye, making us look good, but it also is another was to glorify God. We are called to be examples of Christ and to bring His word to others, and where do we spend the majority of our lives: at work. By working hard at our everyday jobs people will begin to take notice. Remember when receiving praise from those around you we must give the praise and credit to God our Father.
If you want to look at it simply from a human earthly prospective, by always doing your work to the best of your ability, don't you think that this would better your chances for a better position. But that is just one..little...small...kinda wrong way looking at this passage. We should always be doing our best at everything we do in life to glorify God. Our jobs are just one aspect of our life that we need to excel. We are called to be the best son, the best father or mothers, the best at our hobbies and talents to the best of our God given ability.
Another aspect of this passage is the we are servants of Christ. We are slaves to him, and we are to be doings Gods will from our hearts. This is a crazy concept to some of us, slave, who would want to be a slave? Well, as Christians we should be the first ones with our hands up. A slave is somebody who is owned by another person, who have no control of their own life, who owns nothing. We are slaves to God. We are called to give our lives totally and fully to God...every aspect of it. This is a hard thing for us to comprehend, and something I will discuss in a different post more in depth. But we are called to serve our bosses and our Lord, through Gods will, and with Gods will from our hearts.
I like this passage, it is one of my favorite. It I think of it daily as I go through every flight. Remembering that I am working for God and not for man. When the days get tough I know that I am to trudge through. This does not stop me from moaning and groaning about how unhappy I am from time to time though. (Just ask anybody in my house haha) This short coming is something that I need to work on to better myself with God and with my company. Although I already go out of my way for my job to make people's flights just a little bit better, there is still so much that I can improve on.
No matter what profession you are: a flight attendant, nurse, doctor, pastor, bag boy, or whatever you may be doing there we are always to be working for God. I challenge you for the rest of your week, before you get out of the car for work thank God for all he has given you. Then think about your day and what you are going to be doing, and figure out how you are going to do it to best of your ability. Make the rest of this week count.
I pray for you and your walk with Christ.
Monday 22 August 2011
Confession Entry #1
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
James 5:16-17
My brothers and sisters in Christ, I come to you with a broken sinful heart. I do not know how many people actually read this but to those of you who do I must confess a grave sin on my soul. It is a struggle I face everyday yet something I am constantly working toward bettering myself. The bible tells us to confess our sins before man and before God not hiding anything, for what is done in the dark will be brought into the light by the Son of God. So before you I confess, and come to you for help, advise, forgiveness and love.
As I continue through my path with Christ I am developing a deeper relationship, but at times feel like I treat him as my dorky next door neighbor who I do not acknowledge at school, yet am best friends with at home. For my church friends, they would never know that I was afraid to freely talk about Christ in front of my co-workers. Although I am not afraid to read my bible around some, or my Jesus self help book in front of others I still struggle with the fact that I am a follower of Christ. When asked am I a Christian I fully acknowledge that I am, but why does it take somebody asking me for them to know? Why is it that I wear my "What for God" bracelet yet at times make sure it is turned so that people can no see? Why am I so worried about what others think of me? I am constantly making the worst sin of all and that is not owning Christ. How can I be an example for my peers if some days I fall like I have? How can I be a vessel for Christ is I have no back bone to support it.
I would like to confess this sin, and my sorrow. I feel like I contently let people down by doing this. I write these blogs, I tell people to trust God and turn to God, yet at time I am a hypocrite and do not follow my own advise. I am sorry for such a two faced "follower" of Christ. I can not explain the hesitance in my life. Growing up with the faith background that I did, we did not voice our faith out loud very often. Christ was not at the center of our lives. It was not until I came to Chicago that I truly began to follow Christ. And with the help of Tim Ophus (and pushing Petes buttons at a bible study ;-D) I found Christ. A real Christ, not just a fact and answers, going through the motion Christ.
I'd like to share a story with you about the Holy Spirit talking to me and giving me direction through another person. Growing up Catholic we had a thing called Adoration. Catholics believe that the bread turns into the body of Christ, and during Adoration the host is present in front of you. This is a time when the living God was there with you, it was one of my favorite things in the world. (Now I have the knowledge that Christ is always present with us, but that's for a different post.) I was in the middle of prayer and the leader of the retreat I was on came up to me, I had never met him, had a single conversation with him, nothing. He began to tell me that during his time of prayer the Holy Spirit had come to him about me and gave him a vision he said: "The Lord sees you as a ship big and strong....but you have no mast, you can not go anywhere." The Lord at that time had already began to shape me to be the disciple I am mention to be. He was telling me that I was to be his ship, his vessel and I was to go places, but without the back bone to support it I will go no where. How cool is it that the Holy Spirit talks to us! God talks to us! But....then....why can I not listen?
So I confess this sin in my life before you and before God. I do not know if others struggle with the same sin. I don't know know if possibly you once did and over came your troubles. But just like in AA they say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Much is the same through Christ, you are never going to be healed if you do not confess you sins. I pray for the strength to get past this, to be all Christ wants me to be. I do know that through Jesus Christ we can have eternal life. Through Jesus Christ we are dead to sin and born again through him and in him. I pray that I become the vessel that the Lord wants me to be.
If you struggle with this problem, or others and need somebody to talk to, I urge you to find somebody you can confide in. I am always there for you if you are in need. And do not forget: turn to Christ! He is longing for you! Put all your trust and faith in him!
I pray for you and your walk with Christ.
Sunday 21 August 2011
John 21:15-23
"When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more then these." " Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you love me." He answered "Yes Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him a third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that that I love you." Jesus said "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me," Peter turned and saw that e disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (this was the one who hard leaned back against Jesus at the supper and he said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") when Peter saw him he asked, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." because of this rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not day that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return,what is it to you."
In this passage in John we see Jesus calling Peter back to him, it's the same conversation that Jesus has with all of us. He asked Peter three different times if he loves him, and three different times Peter replies "Yes Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus then commands Peter to feed his sheep. Then once again not listening to Jesus, and ashamed he then tries to bring the attention onto another disciple who once denounced Jesus. He tried to even the score by making another look bad, to which Jesus simply replies "What is to you." This to my sounds very funny, but a great answer that we must all remember. I think it sounds funny because I kinda picture Jesus saying it in a New York accent and has a bit of a hard core attitude.
We are all called to feed Jesus' sheep. The conversation that Jesus is having with Peter is the same exact one he has with us on numerous occasions. We all clam we love Jesus, and that we are all followers but are we doing what he is calling us to do? We say we love him, I mean: we go to church, we read the bible once a month, we say a few prayers, we have every David Crowder and Chris Tomlin cd on our iPod (that's about me haha), we volunteer at Feed My Starving Children once a year.....how can we not love him? It sure looks like we do. But Jesus calls us to feed his sheep. When he says this he is not talking about going to the petting zoo and putting a quarter into the machine, getting some pellets and feeding his sheep. He is calling us to bring Christ to all of his people. (Its like this Jesus= bread of life, aka feed....Sheep: Us!) We are all called to bring Christ to the world and take care of his people. It is not enough to just say that we love Christ, we actually have to show our love for him! We are all called to bring Gods glory to the world and each one of us has a unique way of doing it. Not all of us are called to be pastors, but some of us are. Not all of us are called to go to Africa, but some of us are. Not all of us are called to serve the homeless but some of us are. We are called to sereve to Christ and do it to the best of our ability!
We must be careful though not to judge and be condeming when we are serving God. Peter tried to take the attention off of himself and put it on others, and base his relationship with God off of another persons. Jesus simply tells him that, that was none of his business. We are called to serve God's people and to bring the glory of Christ to them, and that's it! No where are we called to judge others, to base our relationship with God on another's, or tell them they are anything but. God calls us to a life of love and servitude. He tells us that when we serve do it with love and compassion not judging anybody, only showing love and forgiveness. I will quote my favorite quote again because it fits everything: "It is the Holy Spirirts job to judge, Gods job to condem, and our job to love!"
Often times we help Gods people because it makes us feel God. I myself am guilty of this from time to time. When we do it because it makes us feel good, it's not about Gods people anymore. Look at the sentence again: "I am doing it because it makes ME feel good. When we serve it should be fully to serve God and his people. I am working my hardest to serve Gods people fully and bring the glory of God to others. Another thing I struggle with is watchig all these great people around me and their faith. I see "Christian celebrities" like Loui Giglo, and Chris Tomlin, or even people at church like my uncle or Tim (sorry guys hope this dosnt emberess you.). And maybe they don't have it together on the inside, I don't know but on the outside they look like they have this great relationship with God and I judge mine off of theirs at times, why can't I have that I think to myself. But Jesus tells us not to worry about them, why are you focusing so much on them, and their relationship with me, you could be using that time to build ours! That is why this is one my my new favorite verses, it's shows us our call, our thump on the head. Jesus saying: "Uhhhh HELLO!! YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME WHY ARNT YOU DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT??"
I challenge you to spend some time with God today. Alone. Turn everything off (well I love music in the background.). But put a movie on for the kids, send your spouse away, or better yet invite them to spend time with God to. Here's the hard one, TURN THE PHONE OFF (I struggle with turning it off I spend time with God to.) And talk with God, see where your at with him. How are you feeding His sheep? Is your relationship with him sincere? He loves you, but do you really love him. Just take some time with him today, he misses you, youve been far to busy for him this week, he's waiting.
I love you and pray for your walk with Christ.
Thursday 4 August 2011
James 4:13-17
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Let me start off by giving you a timeline of how my life SHOULD be looking right now:
But as of right now in my life I live in Chicago, at home, am not going to school, am single, getting by day by day can be a struggle and my timeline is years behind. In todays society we all have the ideal life planned out in our heads. Where we want to be on our life timeline and when we should be there. From early ages our lives are already being planned by our parents. We go to college prep schools, we participate in extra circular activities all to help warp and effect our future. In James 4:13-17 we see that we are spending to much time planning out our own futures and not putting enough trust in where God is leading us.