Been a while. Life has a way of doing that too you I guess, or at least that what someone once told me and I bought it. However, I am feeling the urge to begin this again, more my own words and experiences other then those of the influencer's who shape and mold some of my thoughts.
See how long I can keep this up this time.. should be interesting.. oh, I hope it will be interesting.. please, let it be interesting...
So, with out further ado, (what does that even mean?) my Thoughts from the Front!..
War is horrible.. not the war you see on TV, but the war that rages inside of me. The one that started over 20 years ago when I surrendered my life to Christ. You know, the one that screams at you.. "hey, you, come here, try this", or "look at that", or "this isn't so bad!" The one where you try to justify all your actions, those actions that you know are not pleasing to God, and that leave you a puddle of mess afterwards.
I have my fair share of war stories, and there are times I wonder, how much more could I have done for God if I would have just stayed true to the calling I believed He has on my life...
you know the drill..
the condemnation that comes after you fall short. That self beating up that you do because you know better, you are one of God's children, He set you free, and you treat Him like this, how could He ever forgive you again, how could he see past this sin, how could I let Him down like that.. all that garbage that you pile on yourself because you feel unworthy...
LIES!
How long will we buy into those lies the devil tries to cripple us with? God so loves you that even while you were yet a sinner, He died for you! His death on the cross paid for all of your sin. His resurrection 3 days later set you free from the condemnation and guilt.
Yes, there is conviction, and yes, there is consequence. There is NOT condemnation. Conviction is correction, for whom God loves He also corrects and reproves. There is consequence to your actions, because we will reap what we sow, but aren't you glad that he also says that all things work together for good to those who love God. But condemnation, that feeling of worthlessness, was nailed to the cross. Death, the penalty of sin, was paid when Christ died once and for all for all sin!
Yes, ALL sin!
And, yes, there is HOPE!
He said He will never leave you, never forsake you, that His joy is your strength. Rise up child of God, stop wallowing in the mud of despair, take your place at the right hand of God in Christ, and walk triumphant with Him who has called you out of darkness into His glorious light. Learn and embrace what amazing grace truly is. Love lavished upon you for HIS purpose and desires. Not because of what you have done, not because who you are, not because of anything more then this..
He Loves YOU!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Thursday, August 26, 2010
I stand corrected... kinda..
Ok, mark this day down in your books.. I stand corrected.. kinda.. What do I mean by that? Read on, and find out..
The last two weeks, I have been having a conversation with one of the youth that has revolved around this person's current physical state cease.. aka the other person dies. I have stopped her from saying these things, because, as a good Christian mentor, I recognize that there is power in the words we use. (See the book of James) And as such a good leader, I have corrected this person in order to bring them more appropriately in line with 'Christianity'.. (I use quotes because I am not talking about what Christ has called us too, but more along the lines of what we have deemed as appropriate behavior.)
Now, on the surface, to tell you the truth, I do not think I am wrong. As Christians, followers of the greatest expression of love ever given, and desiring to be more like Him everyday, we should not wish for another person to die, regardless of what they have done to us. My example in this is the following.. that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us... Jesus died for us to show us His love while we were still rejecting Him. We should imitate that, as much as we can.
So this leads to where I stand corrected. I was reading something today (found here), and it reminded me very much of what this person was expressing, and what the author was asking was something very simple. Is it wrong to express our feelings to other individuals? At first I was like.. woahhh.. not so fast mister, (he obviously hasn't been at one of my sit downs). Then it started to dawn on my like the sun coming up in the morning, and I realized what I had kinda been doing.
I was right in what I was teaching, because it was correct. However, I completely and totally forgot the part where, although what the person was expressing was harsh and raw, it was real. I wasn't allowing this person to acknowledge the feelings they had, feelings that unless worked out, can cause serious issues in the future (it's one of those deep roots things), and that can be even worse then just the vocalization of the emotion.
So, to summarize..
*Love others as Christ loved you.
*Don't ever forget that Christ is the example we follow.
*Vocalizing your feelings is not wrong, but allowing them to mold how you act is.
*Todd is not always right. (Ok, y'all already knew that I hope....)
*Cast your cares on Christ, for He cares for you.
*Find someone who can pray with you when you feel that your emotions are leading you away from a Christ-like character.
And to the one that this was inspired by (you know who you are), I'm sorry that I trivialized your feelings. I'll try to do better next time..
--
The last two weeks, I have been having a conversation with one of the youth that has revolved around this person's current physical state cease.. aka the other person dies. I have stopped her from saying these things, because, as a good Christian mentor, I recognize that there is power in the words we use. (See the book of James) And as such a good leader, I have corrected this person in order to bring them more appropriately in line with 'Christianity'.. (I use quotes because I am not talking about what Christ has called us too, but more along the lines of what we have deemed as appropriate behavior.)
Now, on the surface, to tell you the truth, I do not think I am wrong. As Christians, followers of the greatest expression of love ever given, and desiring to be more like Him everyday, we should not wish for another person to die, regardless of what they have done to us. My example in this is the following.. that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us... Jesus died for us to show us His love while we were still rejecting Him. We should imitate that, as much as we can.
So this leads to where I stand corrected. I was reading something today (found here), and it reminded me very much of what this person was expressing, and what the author was asking was something very simple. Is it wrong to express our feelings to other individuals? At first I was like.. woahhh.. not so fast mister, (he obviously hasn't been at one of my sit downs). Then it started to dawn on my like the sun coming up in the morning, and I realized what I had kinda been doing.
I was right in what I was teaching, because it was correct. However, I completely and totally forgot the part where, although what the person was expressing was harsh and raw, it was real. I wasn't allowing this person to acknowledge the feelings they had, feelings that unless worked out, can cause serious issues in the future (it's one of those deep roots things), and that can be even worse then just the vocalization of the emotion.
So, to summarize..
*Love others as Christ loved you.
*Don't ever forget that Christ is the example we follow.
*Vocalizing your feelings is not wrong, but allowing them to mold how you act is.
*Todd is not always right. (Ok, y'all already knew that I hope....)
*Cast your cares on Christ, for He cares for you.
*Find someone who can pray with you when you feel that your emotions are leading you away from a Christ-like character.
And to the one that this was inspired by (you know who you are), I'm sorry that I trivialized your feelings. I'll try to do better next time..
--
Friday, August 20, 2010
The Glory of Plodding
This is another repost. This time, from Kevin DeYoung. What a phenomenal insight into a lot of the current and contemporary ways of Christianity. I hope you find it as inspiring, challenging, and down right real as I have.
The Glory of Plodding
by Kevin DeYoung
It’s sexy among young people — my generation — to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul.
What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That’s my dream for the church — a multitude of faithful, risktaking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God’s glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency.
My generation in particular is prone to radicalism without followthrough. (read the rest here)
The Glory of Plodding
by Kevin DeYoung
It’s sexy among young people — my generation — to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul.
What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That’s my dream for the church — a multitude of faithful, risktaking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God’s glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency.
My generation in particular is prone to radicalism without followthrough. (read the rest here)
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Just a moment...
Ok, so, here's my scenario...
The phone rings. It's a business call, so I stop what I am doing to take care of that. Then, my son text's me at the same time that someone else sends me an email that I have been waiting for. So, I try to forward the email, but before I get hit send, my boss is calling me to do something. In the middle of that, someone comes in to the office that needs to see me, specifically, and as I walk back to my desk to take care of what they needed, I am confronted with the desk full of work that I was trying to take care of when the I got the phone call. Remember the phone call? Yeah, I had to go back up and look again too.
Does this sound anything like your day? Maybe not the same particulars, but the feeling that everything is way out of control, and you are just a soap bubble on the water tornado being sucked down into the drain. And to add to that.. the garbage disposal is on.
This isn't anything new, and for most of us, this isn't anything all that rare. Quite the opposite, this is the norm. So the question comes down to this.
In the middle of all the hectic-ness of our every day lives, do you ever just stop and take a moment and concentrate on nothing more then connecting with God. Taking that moment, and focusing everything you are on Him, allowing the rest of the world to 'become strangely dim'?
My moment today was what inspired me to write this. It was less then a minute, it was in a very hot truck, and it was awesome. No, their weren't any angelic tunes flowing through the radio, I didn't have this sudden burst of peace wash over me, and my day didn't get any easier. But, in the middle of my storm, I stopped, I gave God everything, and for the briefest of moments, it was just Him and I.
My encouragement to you is this, in your every day walk with God, don't forget that He is there, right there, waiting for you to recognize His presence, even in the midst of the chaos. So, take a moment, and seek Him, and you will find Him.
Take a minute to just "Be still and know that He is God."
--
The phone rings. It's a business call, so I stop what I am doing to take care of that. Then, my son text's me at the same time that someone else sends me an email that I have been waiting for. So, I try to forward the email, but before I get hit send, my boss is calling me to do something. In the middle of that, someone comes in to the office that needs to see me, specifically, and as I walk back to my desk to take care of what they needed, I am confronted with the desk full of work that I was trying to take care of when the I got the phone call. Remember the phone call? Yeah, I had to go back up and look again too.
Does this sound anything like your day? Maybe not the same particulars, but the feeling that everything is way out of control, and you are just a soap bubble on the water tornado being sucked down into the drain. And to add to that.. the garbage disposal is on.
This isn't anything new, and for most of us, this isn't anything all that rare. Quite the opposite, this is the norm. So the question comes down to this.
In the middle of all the hectic-ness of our every day lives, do you ever just stop and take a moment and concentrate on nothing more then connecting with God. Taking that moment, and focusing everything you are on Him, allowing the rest of the world to 'become strangely dim'?
My moment today was what inspired me to write this. It was less then a minute, it was in a very hot truck, and it was awesome. No, their weren't any angelic tunes flowing through the radio, I didn't have this sudden burst of peace wash over me, and my day didn't get any easier. But, in the middle of my storm, I stopped, I gave God everything, and for the briefest of moments, it was just Him and I.
My encouragement to you is this, in your every day walk with God, don't forget that He is there, right there, waiting for you to recognize His presence, even in the midst of the chaos. So, take a moment, and seek Him, and you will find Him.
Take a minute to just "Be still and know that He is God."
--
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