James 3:1-12 Words

James 3:1-12
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits in the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.


I am not a teacher. God is the Teacher, I merely learn the lessons and write them down. Nothing more. He is the More that could be seen in these writings. It was Jesus who came down and lived the perfect life. Only He truly tamed the tongue, for He is God. He could stand silent before Pilate and speak confidently of God's Word before the Satan the tempter. Jesus used His tongue to light the world on fire. He taught what no one else could about what no one could achieve: God's standards. I needed to read this passage today for I have very little control over my tongue. It has been a lifelong struggle and will always be lifelong. So I work harder and harder through God's Holy Spirit to tame my tongue.


I have learned that the words coming out affect the attitude and choices of the one speaking them. Jesus only spoke righteous truth and He lived the righteous life. I have spoken in spite and without mercy and found myself acting angry towards others. The tongue has the ability to steer one's entire life in any direction. Whether that is good or bad depends on the words coming out. A spring can be blessed or cursed depending on the water coming out of it. If a man is thirsty and comes to drink and finds the water bitter, he will curse it and leave with greater thirst than he had before. God's Word is a spring of water that wells up and satisfies us and all who hear it. If it is God's Word flowing out of our mouths, then we are satisfied and so are those who God brings to us to hear His Words. For God pours out His Word through those who are filled with it by taking control of our tongues. This can only be done by God for man cannot tame the tongue.


James writes that man can tame every creature on land and in the sea, but he will never tame the tongue. But if given over to God, who tames even Leviathan (Job 41), the tongue can be made a fresh water spring. We produce what we take in. We first must take in God's Words through the Scriptures and His Spirit, and then pour them out instead of worldly wisdom, crude language, and foul speech. We need God's Word inside of us, changing us, our desires, and our thinking. With these changed, our speech changes. God will show us through His Wisdom when we should speak and, if so, what we should say. The tongue is a natural evil set on fire by hell, but God can turn it into an instrument of His own purposes. He can use it to tame our lives and those around us. Proverbs 12:18 says, There is one who's rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. God works through His Love for us. He shows us Grace and His Words express that. His Words for us are naturally healing and for our benefit. Often times we only look at what we'd lose at God's commands, but what we should look at what we gain.


God's Grace is actively moving in His Words. Words that call us to take off our old selves and put on new selves in Christ. These are the Words that first call us to Christ, to Grace, to be Loved and to be accepted and Children of God. They are the Words that promise eternal life with God and King. These are the Words of God spoken with the tongues of man to Glorify His Name. These are the Words God has blessed me with, both in hearing and in sharing. The Words we all need: We are Loved.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen

1 Cor. 2:6-18 Holy Spirit says "Can you hear me now?"

Lord, please make these Your Words. Teach us and use this post for Your glory. Thank You for being an involved Loving God. 

1 Cor. 2:6-16 Wisdom From the Spirit

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him"--

but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but wisdom taught by the Spirit, expressing Spiritual truths in Spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are Spiritually discerned. The Spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:

"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?"

But we have the mind of Christ.

We saw in the last post that Paul did not want the Gospel to rely on the wisdom of man. He now goes more in depth in this passage. He writes that the Gospel is reliant on Spiritual wisdom. This is the wisdom that the rulers did not understand. A wisdom that evidently rulers today still do not understand. For they crucified Jesus Christ, and continue to persecute His people even today. Today, however, God has revealed it to many. To those who chose to accept that they are sinners and need Jesus Christ to save them. Those who believe in the Spiritual truth of what Jesus' death on the cross was really for. Those of us who accepted this free gift of Grace have now received the Holy Spirit. And this Spirit has revealed the nature of God to us. 

What no eye had seen, no ear had heard, and what no mind had conceived was known by the Spirit since before time. The Spirit has always known the mind of God. This Spirit now shows us the truth about what God has freely given us: Joy, Peace, Love, eternal life, acceptance, it keeps going. The more connected with the Spirit we get, the more it reveals these gifts to us. As we grow in the Spirit, it also shows us what to do with these gifts. It shows us that we should use our eternal life as wisdom and comfort so we can live this life without fear and be willing to do anything God asks. The Spirit shows us exactly what God would have us do, and we can trust whatever it says because it knows the mind of the One who created us. The Holy Spirit knows what's best in each moment. So why do we ignore it so often?

Today we fill our lives with distractions that end up working in the world's wisdom. If we continue doing this than one thing will happen, the ways of the world will start to make sense. Sins can become more appealing to us. As a result, God's true Wisdom will seem more like foolishness to us. Studying His Word will seem like a waste of time compared to watching a new episode of some TV show or an internet video everyone is talking about on Facebook. Once it's time for game on at church, nothing will make sense. We can think that we know just what to say to get by in our Bible studies, but God sees right through it. Eventually, the people around us will too. Spiritual truths can only be Spiritually discerned. If we're not connected to the Holy Spirit, God's ways make no sense. It takes time an investment to have a deep connection with the Spirit of God. It takes discipline and a lot of time spent listening to God. Paul, the very writer of this letter, spent 3 years studying in his home town after his conversion. After the 3 years he went out and started the works God was calling him to do. He spent 3 years listening so that he would know what God's voice sounded like. How often do we listen today? Not enough by the looks of it. If we were, we'd see it.

The person that is connected to the Holy Spirit has 2 defining qualities when it comes to their interaction with the world around them. The first is that they can make judgments about all things in the world around them. They see the world through the Spirit's eyes. Therefore, they have the Spirit's understanding of what is right and wrong. They do not themselves declare what is right and what is wrong. Instead they hear what the Spirit says about the things around them. The spiritual person is then able to use this in declaration and action. The second quality is that no man is able to judge them. The person living by the Spirit is living the life that God created them to live. Telling that person they should live another way is like telling God that He was wrong. History in the Bible shows that it doesn't work out for the people who try to tell God that He's wrong. The Spiritual person has an understanding about the world around them, and can act on this understanding in the way God Himself predetermined. This person cannot be judged for they are the work of God that is doing the work of God. My question is, how many self professed Christians look like this?

I don't look very much like this at all. This I also believe is very characteristic today. If it weren't, the American portion of the Church would be much more active in the world. But instead, as many other authors today write, we all seem to be asleep. Day in and day out I find myself doing little compared to what I should. It's frustrating to see a lack of zeal in myself that should be there. I believe we need to take off the earphones and listen to God for once so that we can actually hear the truths from the Spirit we claim to be connected to. I believe that if we do this, we will be united and we will be used by God for something greater.

It all starts with listening to the Spirit. Cut out the distractions and listen. Pay attention. Then go out and do. Remember though, you are not alone in this. God is with you, and over time, the rest of the body of Christ around will be with you as well. 12 people came together and changed a world. Just like those 12 and like the Church in Corinth, it's out turn to do the same through the Holy Spirit. Why? Listen to the Spirit list off the reasons each day you continue. A list that will keep growing. And the very top will always have Jesus Death and Resurrection for you listed. There's every reason to go and do this.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen 

1 Cor. 1:18-2:5 All God All the Time. What Else is There?

God, make these Your Words. We are what is not, and You are what makes us something. Thank You.

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 Christ Crucified is God's Power and Wisdom

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." (Isaiah 29:14)
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." (Jer. 9:24)
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.

God is foolishness to the world and the world is foolishness to God. But only one can frustrate the other down to its very existence, and that's God. The world was made by God. Of course God can turn the tables on the world. If God wanted to, He could make gravity cease to exist. That would throw everything into chaos, but He really could. What we know cannot compare. That is why Paul gives a stage verse at the end of the first real paragraph. There is nothing foolish or weak about God. Repeat that: There is nothing foolish or weak about God! So why did Paul say that? The reason is that it is saying if there was, it would still be greater than the world's greatest portions. But if you take into account that God is only strong, how much difference is actually there between the world and God? I'd say an eternal amount of difference. Today people seek wisdom and signs, but they think they will find it in creation. Because they look at the creation itself they miss the creator, the actual source of true wisdom and all signs. And He's right in front of us all. God's ways are impossible to understand, His creation is the same. God's wisdom and power will be a stumbling block and foolishness to the world until the very end. But to us who believe, He is just what He is: Wisdom and Power. Jesus Christ is the ultimate form of God's power and wisdom here on earth. Jesus Christ and Him crucified are God's most complex Grace plan that is easily shared in a simple paragraph for a child to understand. He is power and that power is in the world to break down the wisdom and ways of the world that all of us might see our need for God. And when we see that we are not, God comes and makes us something new.

This is the start of the next paragraph of Paul's writings. We realize that we are not much when we are called. And that is because it is not just things that are not that follow God's call; it's the things that know they are not who answer His call. We change because God's wisdom frustrates ours and humbles us. In this world, the things that call themselves weak and live according to God's Word are seen as weak. So Paul is also right in saying that we are the lowly things and despised things of this world, because that is how the world sees us. They see us as foolish beings. But the reason they see us as foolish is because they see God's power in us. God puts Himself and His Love and Spirit in us to use us to shame the world. That is why the disciple system Jesus created works, because it isn't human wisdom and eloquence, it is God alone. When we let Him work in us, He shows the true power of the Gospel in things that are not, going out and shaming the world's standards. In the process we are made righteous, holy, and clean. As we let God work, He humbles us and shows us our nothing so He can put Himself in and make us something new. This new creation shames the world and humble it until it goes to God more and more. But today we break the chain reaction after we become new. We get complacent and we don't go out to let God do the work He wants to do with us.

 We do what we want. Whether we're afraid of confronting the world, or we just want to spend our time and money on what we want. We're wasting God's efforts. He made us new so that He could use us to make others new. The only reason we're in Him is because He called us to Him. He wants to use us to call others. But we are refusing. There can't be any division in the church right? That's what we saw last. But there also can't be division in ourselves. We can't divide ourselves between earthly pleasures and God's will for us. You can't serve two masters. If you try, nothing will work. What does this mean? We have to choose God alone in each moment. That takes an understanding that God's way is the only way. John 14:6 Jesus replied, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." It comes back to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Wisdom and Power of God. It takes that understanding to be able to do anything in God. And it's the reason that we should only boast in Christ when anything is accomplished. 

Paul tested this by resolving to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified when he went to the Corinthians. He was afraid to go and preach the Gospel, just like we Christians often get today when we feel the calling to share the Gospel at school, work, or anywhere. Paul wanted them to receive the Gospel, but that is all He wanted them to receive. Not Paul's preaching method or words. Paul wanted to stay out of the way, so He made the resolve. He preached Jesus Christ alone. And that became the power of God and the wisdom of God among the Corinthians. A church was established and many came to Christ. This still happens today. Ridding the preaching of our fancy talk and our involvement is like purifying precious metal. With the Gospel of Christ, it allows the Gospel to be the only thing that reaches the ones being reached out to. That is all that is needed to save someone, God's pure power and wisdom and Love. It is God that calls, saves, changes, and uses us.

This system is perfect because it is not just made by God, it is God. He is in charge of the whole thing. And we get to be made a part of it. In fact, we're not just part of it, we reap benefits from it. God blesses us with it and shows us a glory that is not worth comparing to any present sufferings or worldly pleasure. So let us be willing to be used by God for His work. Let us boast in Him alone when He does a new work. Let God use His wisdom and power to mold us and work to mold those around us just as He used His wisdom and power to mold the creation around us.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen   

1 Cor. 1:10-17 Division's Destruction and Love's Unity

Lord God, make these Your Words. May Your Gospel Message be shared not in eloquence of speech or with man's wisdom, but with Your own speech and Wisdom. Teach us Lord what we need to know. Amen.

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Cor. 1:10-17 A Church Divided Over Leaders

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean in this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel -- not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

A lot going on here. Paul had gotten word from a devout household in Corinth that the church there was divided by different followings of Christianity. Paul addressed this first because nothing else could be done until the church was united. Eph. 4:16 says, From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in Love as each part does its work. The body of Christ can only grow when every member is united and building each other up in Christ's Love. The body must be connected to Christ. This goes back to the last post where we found Paul thankful that the church in Corinth were saved and had the Holy Spirit working in them. They have the Spirit, now it's time to use it. 

The division among the church seems to stem from members saying one teacher's way is different and more right than the others. Whether it's Apollos', Cephas', Paul's, or Jesus'. Paul finds this division so ridiculous that he asks his equally ridiculous rhetorical questions. "Is Christ divided?" "Was Paul crucified for you?" That's my personal favorite. Imagine your pastor having to ask you and the congregation, "Was I crucified for you?" Paul then takes the moment to take himself off the pedestal the church put him on. He tells them that Christ sent him to preach the Gospel. Now Paul was not an eloquent speaker. He saw that, and used it to God's advantage. He went out and preached the truth of the Gospel in its raw form of humble Love and mighty Grace. Paul let the Gospel speak for itself when he preached through the people who received it. The Spirit is the Gospel's own spokesman. Paul's job was to preach it in order to introduce it, like an announcer for the main event if you will. Paul also told the church that to preach it any other way would empty the cross of Christ and the Gospel of their power. The more man gets involved, the less that can be accomplished.

Division is dangerous because it is caused by an excess of human involvement and robs the Gospel of its power. Today the modern day church has division in both large and small scale. There are different types of Christianity and different churches based on the wants of man. Some of these followings are deemed unbiblical because of how worldly they are. They are focused on the single person's comfort. It's "feel good theology." The small scale is much more dangerous. This affects even the most Biblical church. I found that the largest source of division is in worship music. Of all things, music. Music that was gifted to the church by God through the hands of His musicians and writers. I've heard that one of the most stressful jobs in ministry is being a worship leader. You can't have too many hymn or too many contemporary songs or you could offend someone. And if you do offend someone, you hear about it in person or in letters or e-mails. When did a WORSHIP service become our personal Music Player? There's my "Paul question." 

That was an example of what can break down a church. When man gets too involved, it can have consequences. We are one body and should be united as one. Without complaining or arguing or trying to get ours. So if we're not focused on us, what should we focus on? Each other. I've heard said that Christians should go to church not to be filled, but to fill others. We need to go in order to serve others and build them up in Love. When everyone does this, the body is made full as a whole and grows together. Division destroys the church, but service and Love unites and grows it. 

When you get down to it, there was one reason the church of Corinth came together, and it's the same reason we do so today: Jesus Christ our Lord, and everything He did, is doing, and will do. My own church has been working on all of this for a while now. And it's growing even more awesome by the week. The more we step out of the way, the more God takes over and works. It takes a lack of worry and a Love for others to accomplish this. We can't be selfish, but selfless. Now I look around the sanctuary during a service and see 500 different faces and backgrounds around me and I think, we all have Jesus Christ in common. And if Jesus Christ is everything, we all have everything in common. Which is how we can all be deemed one in Christ. We all come from God, we are all living for God, and we are all going to God. Remember each part must do its part in the Spirit for the rest of the body, and then it will be united in Love and grow. Now let's each do our part. If you don't know what that is, seek God's Wisdom and guidance through prayer and follow Him patiently as you search for ways to serve Him. That's what I'm doing now. Join me in this Joyful walk.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen 

1 Cor. 1:4-9 Thanksgiving: Thanks for the Next Chapter

God, give us Your Words. Teach us the Truth within Your Truth. Please give us Your blessed Wisdom and Love in Your Speech. Take these hands and tongue to make this post Your own. Amen.

This is the start of a Corinthians series that I pray continue as long as God wants. What better way to start than with Paul's greeting to us all.

1 Corinthians 1:1-3

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the Will of God, and out brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be His holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ -- their Lord and ours:

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace is pure Love, Joy, and Mercy. Peace is contentment, a lack of turmoil, and rest. May they be to you from our Father in Heaven.

1 Corinthians 1:1-9 Thanksgiving

I always thank my God for you because of His Grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in Him you have been enriched in every way -- with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge -- God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

A series on the Church in Corinth seems fitting because the Church in much of the world now is very much like Corinth's back in the day. (Especially in America and Europe) Today we have much prosperity, but also a lot of complacency and immorality. The new age movement continues growing, but just like in Corinth, the Holy Spirit's influence grows too. And this is the source of Paul's thanks.
Paul's giving of thanks is always to God because he sees that all good things are from God. And His Spirit is very Good. Before he could give thanks for the Spirit he had to give thanks for the Grace that brings the Spirit. Paul thanks God for the Grace that He gave the Corinthians to bring them into His Kingdom. Jesus described the occasion of a sinner's repenting as a Joyful occasion that is celebrated in heaven by all who see it. In the same way I think we should celebrate and give thanks to God for the other saved people that are around us. Sing, shout, clap all you nations for the glory of God among you. His glory among us now is His Grace that saves us, and the Spirit it leads the way for. 

Once saved, the Holy Spirit enters the new believer. It brings a hunger for God's Word, Will, Way, and Love. It enriches the believer and fills them with unexplainable gifts. The Corinthians were given gifts in speech and knowledge. They became a living testimony that Jesus Christ saves, and then brings evidence of Salvation through the works of the Holy Spirit. Paul gave thanks because they were an established church in a city of trade with all the world, and were showing the world that Jesus' Words were Truth. He was also thankful because it was evident that God did not abandon them despite the problems, but kept them firm in Him.

The Corinthians were practicing a lot of wrong teachings that are described in the rest of Corinthians, but they kept holding onto Jesus Christ. Paul gave thanks for this, because now there is an opportunity to teach them God's ways and encourage them to take the better paths. He starts the letter already thanking God that they will accept the lessons he hasn't even written yet and that they will hold firm to God. Paul has such confidence in God's power and Spirit among the Corinthians. God has taught me lately that the best way to show our faith in Him is to thank Him for His works among us before we even know what they are. Paul have a deep thankful faith in God's work among the Corinthians. Do we have that in His work here in our hometowns? Our states or regions? Our countries? Sadly I haven't had this. A big part of it I believe is because I haven't participated in it enough. Those who I see doing the work of God by His Spirit are the ones who have the confidence in God's work among peoples. Paul was thankful because he could see the reason to be thankful: God's Faithfulness.

Paul's involvement allowed him the first person experience of God Faithfulness among peoples. He grew thankful, willing to suffer, Joyful, and Loving through the Spirit as he went out to do its work in Faith. God has plans for each of us to fulfill through His Spirit. Paul knew what it was for the Church in Corinth and gave God thanks for it before he even started to write the plans out.

Giving thanks to God before we even begin to do the work God's prepared for us is key to its completion. That's the reason Paul's letters always have such thanks written in them. I am personally entering a time of change and preparation for a new chapter to do God's work. Wherever you are in that time, join me in giving God thanks for His Grace, His Spirit, and His work among us for His Glory.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Chist

Amen  

Old Self, New Self, and Footholds

Lord, this servant's voice is Yours to use. Please takeover and speak the Words that You know we need to hear. I pray that we listen with open ears and accept the instruction You are giving. May we all follow Your ways through the ages.

Ephesians 4:22-24 says,

You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

The first question: What is the former way of "life?" The answer lies in the quotation marks. A false life; essence of death, that is sin. Through sin God taught us. He took our sins and showed us what they truly are. They separate us from God and kill the part of Him that dwells within us. It is regarding this former way of life that we are taught to remove all things that lead to sin. God teaches us that remaining with the things of our old life as part of the world corrupts us. Remembering the previous post, we see that the things of the world are meaningless and doomed to perish. That which finds death in the end, will corrupt us and lead us to our end in death. The desires we have in this life are for what what brings pleasure to our earthly natures. But these things are deceitful. They are desires that teach us how to make treasure out of rust and decay. We are not to seek the world. We own nothing in it. We control nothing in it. Nothing in this world can truly benefit us. God aims to teach us this by transforming our minds.

The force that brings the most change is God's Love. It was through His Love that Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for all of us. It is through His Love that our minds are changed. He teaches us through the repetition in the Bible. The repeated themes of His Power, Mercy, and Love are always repeated throughout the Bible. Even if many details seem to be missing and there are many mysteries in His Words, these themes are always present. They are always present so that the believer's mind might be changed and imbedded with the truths. God is Almighty. God is Merciful. God is Love. Our mind is changed and these truths become the foundation of all our logic. Our attitudes are turned from the world toward God and eternal life. Through the reading of the Word, Love and Mercy become the new mindset. If a mind is not basing its thoughts on the Biblical themes, then it is not renewed. It is still operating in the realm of worldliness, sin, and death. It is through study of the Bible that the mind is made new. With a new mindset, comes a new way of living.

As the old self is removed and the mind is made new, we become something new. We put on the new self that God created through the death and resurrection, and the joining of the Holy Spirit with our own. We become a new creation that does not die. This new creation was made to worship God by living according to His example that was set by Jesus Christ. We put on this new self with the desire to be like Christ our God. We pick a righteous and holy life over our death with the world. This life begins the moment we believe and is set to never end. It is the beginning of an eternal life. Our issue is that when we start, we are still on earth in mortal bodies with a sinful nature. Therefore, God gives us Grace through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Himself was tempted in his years on earth. He knows the power of the flesh over those who have fallen to it. He gives us grace when we sin. The grace is accepted through our hatred of our revealed sin, understood through the logic of our new mindset, and applied with the new self we have put on. It is seeing all of this that it is written in Ephesians 4:27, "and do not give the devil a foothold." I have found a foothold to be anything that leads to sin. It could be a small thing like watching a TV show, to something large and tempting. You can look at yourself to know what is your great temptation. A sin is anything that leads us from God. A foothold leads us to what leads us from God. I believe all footholds to be sin. This strict mindset is needed. A foothold is attractive because of its size. There is no harm in watching a single episode of a TV show right? It hurts no one. But what does it lead to? As the mind is transformed by God's Word, we see the immoral aspects of the show. We see what the 30-60 minutes of time could actually be used for. But still, it really didn't hurt anyone. As we take on more footholds however, the wasted time builds up, and the immoral ideas of the world penetrate our minds again. The mind is slowly brought back to what it was before, and the old self begins to show itself in us again. We soon remember that the word "foothold" means a stable point a person can grab onto in order to reach the goal. The "person" is the devil, and his "goal" is our most feared sin. The sin that takes us from God, and that truly brings us to our most ruined state. We all have one. Mine like many others is sexual immorality. The sin that attacks inside our hearts. Once this feared sin is committed, it feels like the long journey we have taken to be with God in this life has just been turned to nothing. It takes much prayer and renewing of mind to move us past our feelings of guilt and death. For myself, a small foothold is not worth this grief. 

I choose to leave the things I find to be footholds behind. It can be hard. Footholds tend to be the simple pleasures that allow us to relax despite to issues and pains we feel when we face the world. Relaxing with a couple recorded shows on my dvr after work was hard to give up. I still have trouble with it. But when I read God's Word and see how pointless and dangerous it is, I see that it is a foothold and it is dangerous. We are Christians, we should not turn to world to make us feel better. And we should not be ignoring the issues of the world, no matter how upset and troubled they make us. It is better to put off the old self and be made new in mind and heart and body and soul. Only when these are renewed can we use them to serve our God properly. God knows your needs as well. He has provided me with better ways to relax after work. Praying for those who trouble me, reading and indulging in His Word, singing the songs He has blessed me with. He knows our needs and satisfies us in ways that the footholds cannot. The footholds are not worth what they cost.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen 

 

"What do I have? What am I pursuing? What do I Love?" God's Answer.

Lord God, please make these Your Words, not mine. Teach all of us the lesson You desire to impart through this passage. And be glorified through its practice. Thank You. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:3-10 says,

If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicious and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

I haven't been writing anything Christian based for the past four months. What I have been doing is taking seven college classes and working a job to pay for stuff. I put some services for the church on hold, and even stopped attending church for a month. I pursued two things in the past four months, money and knowledge. I wanted A's in my classes and paychecks to buy stuff with. I pursued them both while reading the Bible everyday with a blank look on my face and saying, "I read today. I'm a Christian. I'm good." Wrong. I wasn't listening to God. That became evident yesterday when I was unwilling to help a stranger for a couple of minutes. I was disappointed in myself. I asked God why I was so unwilling to help him. God gave me my answer. For the past four months I wasn't pursuing God. I was pursuing my A's and paychecks. I was living by the parts of Scripture that got me what I wanted. As I gained knowledge in my classes and earned my paychecks my pride grew and I thought more of my actions. My belief that Grace could be earned grew. As I gained more I wanted more. I wanted to waste more money and time. I wanted more knowledge of music from my classes to show off to others. In the end, I wanted a richer future for myself each day. I was the definition of lukewarm. 

Everyone can fall into this temptation, for I have learned that no one is above any temptation. How can someone fall into this lukewarm living? Just the way I did. Take the credit. I did the homework and got the A's. It's not like God was the One who opened my mind to take in the knowledge. He didn't allow me to understand it and spit it back out on my papers and instruments. And of course it wasn't God who gave me the strength and ability to do my job well. Right? Again, wrong. I took the credit for what God was doing. I became conceited. When we become conceited we focus on ourselves and the world. There is no room for God in our narrow view. Over time, as we focus on ourselves and the world, we lose the understanding that God and His Love are the reasons for all life. The ultimate result is that we understand nothing. I am thankful to God for clearing the pride to show me that this is who I was becoming. Eventually I would have been another person bent on using Christianity for my own gain. I would've been absorbed by my worldly desires and my pursuit for money. 

The reason I went to college was to get myself a better job so I could make more money. There is nothing wrong if this is the path God has set for you and you're following Him to where it takes you. But to go down this path for the money itself is going to lead to more and more sins. Wanting to get rich leads us to temptations, traps, and foolish and harmful desires that will plunge us into ruin and destruction. It's clear in this passage that the pursuit of riches in this world will only result in a sinful and painful life. There is emptiness in selfishly gaining money. And it all leads to the love of money. 

The love of money is our willingness to do anything for money. We are willing to give up our stuff, our lives, our friends and family, our bodies, and God. I realize now that the previous list of what we give up should actually start with God. I didn't change it  because I thought it better to point out the fact that in order to start pursuing anything of this world, we first have to stop pursuing God. The love and pursuit of money is the want of the money and all the worldliness it brings. But the Love and pursuit of God is the want to be like Jesus Christ, and to be with Him.

Paul writes that godliness, the pursuit of being like Christ, and contentment are great gain. In contrast, the love of money and pursuit of riches and worldly gain leads to ruin and destruction. Contentment, the desire for what one already has, it what brings gain. So the trick to this is to be content with all the stuff we already have. So what do we have? I would say whatever we brought into the world and whatever we can take out of it. See what Paul did there? The stuff we have in this world is not ours. We own none of it. So what do we have? We have what God our creator gave us: Himself. We have God for now and forevermore. When we focus on the value of owning the Grace and Love of our Mighty God, the things of this world become just what King Solomon called them in Ecclesiastes, Meaningless! (Ecclesiastes 1). All that is left is God and our desire to be like Him and to be with Him. Paul felt content with God alone. He was able to say with confidence that if we have food and clothes we can be content with that. That is not counting any money, a job, or even a roof over our heads. All we need is God.

Now this doesn't mean to throw everything out and become a wandering homeless person preaching the Gospel. Unless that's what you're called to be by God, then bless you. The answer is what we are called to do and what we are supposed to use for God's glory. To pursue the things of this world is sinful. To use the stuff God has lent to you in your pursuit of Him is service. We are all called to serve our God with the gifts He has given us by His grace (Romans 12:3-8). This is our spiritual act of service and worship.

The pursuit of riches and the love of money will only destroy us. Being content with having God and pursuing godliness will lead to life. Remembering that we can't bring anything into the world or take anything out of it is key in knowing what we have. We own nothing in this world, but God is not of this world. So if we focus on what is unseen, God Almighty, then we can easily turn away from what is seen, which is temporary (2 Corinthians 4:18). Always ask at the beginning and ending of each day, "What do I have? What am I pursuing? What do I Love?" IF the answer isn't Jesus Christ, ask Him why. He gives the best answers.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen 

Stress Love, Not Someone's Grandpa

God, please make all of these Your Words. May You be Glorified through them and their teaching. May they serve Your purposes and allow You to reach out to us all and change us.

Titus 3:1-11 says,

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. 
But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. 

Paul opens this passage by asking Titus to remind the people to be obedient, to do good, to not slander, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility to all men. Paul's beginning of this passage of the letter is reminiscent his other letters in that, he is giving his teaching that God has given him to those around him. In this case, Paul is giving them to Titus, his true son in common faith. Paul changes the tone immediately to going to a contrast of his and other Christian's pasts before God's Call. 

Paul writes that they were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures, and lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating each other. They saw no good in each other and they lived according to their sinful natures. They were sinful and had no love for others. They were slaves to sin and were not interested in giving up themselves. We all start the same way in our sin. We are all naturally evil and hateful beings. We chase after our own pleasures and seek what we want. We don't see brokenness when we look in the mirror. We see something that is perfectly healthy and rich, not the naked and dying creature that we actually are.Our eyes are covered and we have no interest in cleaning them. But then one day it all changes.

The word "But" in the very next sentence separates the parts of this passage and changed the entire tone of the writing.  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us.... And so our whole world gets turned upside down. We become a completely different creation by God's Mercy. He looks at us and everything we've done, good and bad, and says that none of it matters. The bad doesn't matter, and the good doesn't matter either. In His Mercy, God takes our sin, forgives us, and then, having been justified by His Grace, He pours out the Holy Spirit on us to transform us with rebirth and renewing. God gives us the Promise of an eternal life with Him after death by allowing us to take part in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We become fellow heirs through Faith. God gives us all of this without our doing anything but believing in Him and allowing Him to change us and wash over ourselves. This changes us and makes us new. It makes the opening of the passage possible, to Love others and be obedient and to do good. Paul writes that this is a trustworthy saying. Paul writes that we need to stress these things so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. This means we need to constantly talk about them, wear them on ourselves, impress them on our children, and bring them up in all our conversations. Passively mentioning, "I go to church" isn't enough anymore. If we really believe this, then we wouldn't stop stressing it. I need to believe wholeheartedly. Doing this not only causes the other Christians around us to devote themselves to good, but causes us to do so as well. As we constantly stress these things it just reminds us over and over that God has saved us. That He have forgiven us in His Mercy be declaring everything we have done is worthless. God has taken over forever. In exchange we submit and receive even more through rest and peace and Joy and Love. He gives us more and more. And then we can stress these other examples of what He's given us and draw closer to Him and be more devoted to doing good in His Name. That is why these things are excellent and profitable for everyone. God is willing to bless us all more and more through this if we submit. 

Paul gives a warning though. He ends the passage with a warning to avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law. He writes that they are unprofitable and useless. Why is it that these are unprofitable? When was the last time any of us saw a debate bring someone to Christianity? Or helped encourage a fellow Christian? Or glorified God? The argument is the need to defend God and our faith in Him. But that is no reason at all. God is Almighty, He can defend Himself much better than we can. And as for our faith, we know what we believe, and God knows what we believe, and if they can see that already, their is no need to argue it. Our faith is set in something greater than stone, it's set in the Book of Life. There is no profit to debating these things. It hides God's Love behind a hostile argument that turns people away. Talk about useless. We must stress the salvation God has given us through His Mercy, not who the great great great great great great grandfather of King David was. Showing God's Love around us is what will show others, and ourselves, the Power and Love of God. Paul also writes that if we find a divisive person stirring up these debates, we must warn them. And then we must warn them again. If they still do not listen then it is clear that they are warped and sinful and self-condemned. I was the divisive person that was easily pulled into a debate. All it took was a small statement and I was turning the Bible into a weapon of anger and malice. I regret those arguments and times I could have been Loving people instead of hurting them. If not for God's Grace I would suffer greatly for those times, I know it. Those who live in debating the Bible do not have Love. We think we do because the subject is Christianity, but the truth is that we just want to win an argument. The fact is that we can't in the first place. We barely understand what it is we are arguing because it is the God who made everything. We can't understand Him in any measurable amount, how can we give a proper argument about Him? But we know His Love for us and His Mercy and Sacrifice, so let us talk about that. Let us sing about it and stress Love instead. 

We do not completely understand God's Love, but we know enough to share Him with those around us at any time. God called us to share the Gospel to spread His Kingdom and Glorify Him. God wants us to Love those around us and we can best do that by telling them about the Gospel and not stopping. Bringing up church isn't enough in this world. We need to be active Christians living in Love. We can't do that in our sin or in debates, only in God and His Love.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen 

Forgiving Encouragement

LORD God, please make these Your Words. These are what we need to hear the most. Thank You.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

What is the point of all of this? Why should I keep doing this anymore? I don't get anything out of it, so why should I take part? There's nothing for me in it. If I'm just gonna keep messing up then why continue since it just makes me feel bad? Why shouldn't I just give in and live the way I want? Why shouldn't I just end it now?

At some point we hear these words from someone who is having troubles and doubts with God. In fact there are probably times where we say them ourselves. I have found myself uttering every one of them at some point. The reason is that we live in a broken world that is constantly attacking us. On top of that, we are part of that broken world. We have sinful natures in our flesh that cause us to sin. And as we read the Bible we find that we sin in more and more different ways. We do recognize that God, in His unfailing Love, sent Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins and pay for them. But because of that Love we can feel discouraged instead because we see two things in our sin: 1 We are hurting the God and Father that Loves us by sinning so much, and 2 We drift from God more and more as we commit the sins again and again. These are always going to be true in sin, but the discouraging part comes in when we only focus on those two things. When we decide that we have done something too wrong and need to feel guilty and suffer because of what we've done, even if it means hurting ourselves emotionally, verbally, or physically. We start seeing God's Love and Forgiveness as something too beautiful and good for us to take. We treat it with contempt and only accept it when we think we've suffered enough. But clearly, that's not what it's about. If it was, God would pour out His Wrath on us and we would truly feel guilty. But He doesn't do that. God forgives us through His Son and wants us to Love Him back. God wants us to rest in Him, no wallow in self-loathing. 

Because we think making ourselves feel guilty and suffer is the right thing to do as a Christian, we start losing desire and Joy in being a Christian. We get so discouraged that we think God sees us the same way we see ourselves, an evil creature that cannot be forgiven. And so we ask, "What is the point?" I'm thankful that God didn't let me leave it at that. He wrestled with me to get me to see. It's been a long process to learn this, and yet it's the easiest thing to see in the Bible. The reason we all call ourselves Christian and believe in this in the first place, Lord Jesus Christ died for us and forgave us. As the passage says, we will be with the Lord forever. The reason for being discouraged is that we lose sight of this truth and believe what we find by our own faulty human logic. We think God sees us with human as as we see our reflection in the mirror. But God doesn't see us that way. He Loves us and He proved it. The problem we face, is letting Him. I haven't been letting Him because I think I make the choice of who I am.

God is the Judge. And through Faith, He has pardoned us of our sins. He made the choice to do so. It doesn't make it right to sin just because He forgives us, but it's also not about condemning ourselves in guilt. Paul felt freed of his sins and even said that he wouldn't let other men judge him nor would he judge himself because he knew it was only God's place to do so, and He does so with Mercy and Love. So yes we should feel sorry that we sin, but we should not condemn ourselves. God has already decided our sentence, and it's being forgiven and living forever in Him. That is our encouragement, that we are freed of our burden. We are able to repent of our sin and then immediately turn to God and praise Him for forgiving us the next minute. God wants us to do this too. Because if we turn to God in praise, it is then that we see Him with Thankfulness and Joy and desire to live for Him more. If we dwell on our sins, then we see only our sins and it will be inevitable that we will sin again. But if we accept the forgiveness and praise God in thanks, then we see God only and are better able to live for Him. 

The encouragement of God is that we are saved forever. It can be easy to forget this for some people. It is for me. God showed me this and Him alone and that is even greater Joy for me. But I can't help but feel that if someone had asked me about it, or if I had been willing to ask for help it could have been solved sooner. But it is my Joy and encouragement now. But now I can't help but think about the others who live this way too. Some may not want to bring it up either. They are not some people who believe the same thing we do, they are our brothers and sisters in God our Father who formed us all and has watched us grow. God wants us to encourage each other with these words, as Paul said above. So be vigilant and look for those who need encouragement, because sometimes people don't listen to God's last effort to encourage them back, and those people end up leaving Christianity. Accept His forgiveness and tell others about it at all times, because God might take the opportunity to use you right there for the other person.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen

The Father Loves His Child, Always!

God, my Holy and Loving Father, please let these be Your Words, wholly and completely Yours for You Will. Thank You.

Isaiah 29:13-24.

The Lord says:

"These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish." Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?" You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me?" Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?

In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest? In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down - those who with a word make a man out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.

Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob:

"No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale. When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction."

As I type this I still don't know what is going to be written about this Scripture. Today I fell to a sin I struggle with and spent the day in repentance while reading from Isaiah 29:13 - 44:5. I now see why Paul was willing to call himself the worst of sinners. The more I find is sinful compared to the Holy example set by God's desires, I see myself as worse and worse of a sinner as I find the things I knew but ignored when God told me not to do them. Now I consider myself as Paul, the worst of sinners around me. I read through the judgment of the people who did not follow God's ways and felt discouraged over and over today, but the summary of what I read is in this passage alone. With the judgment always came the mercy that abounded for God's people. 

God frustrated my wisdom and called me out because I would still commit the sins that I didn't think meant anything and I ignored so many others. I was like the pot telling the Potter, "He knows nothing." But He knew it all and laid it out for me today. He frustrated my wisdom and intelligence with words I have read before that He made seem so new and convicting. How could we ever think that we can ignore this or that and then go to church or Bible study or a youth group and sing songs and read our Bibles when we are doing this to Him? How can we when our hearts are far from Him? If we think that we can do these things without facing our sins, we are so wrong. We are the clay that God is trying to form into what He wants but we are doing our own things and disrespecting Him all the way. So if we turn to Him for an honest second, God will take that second and scream at us with more than we can take until we are falling on the floor begging Him for Forgiveness.

That second becomes the time when the fertile field becomes a forest. When we who are deaf hear the words of the Scroll, God's Word; and out of the gloom and darkness of our sin, and we see. He allows us to see and fall down and humble ourselves in our disgrace and look to Him in our neediness. We are able to rejoice because God has punished us for our sins and broken us with His Word and Truth that we so desperately need. He punishes us for our sins for one reason and one reason only: He Loves us. Proverbs 3:11,12 says, My son, do not despise the LORD'S discipline and do not resent His rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those He Loves, and He punishes the son (daughter) He delights in. God rebuked me today for mine and showed me so much of my sins. My thought about that now is, there's still more to see that I do wrong, and there always will be, because I am a sinner. But now I welcome His rebuke and I rejoice in His punishment because He brings it according to His Love for me. So I want to be crushed, I want my bones broken by His conviction. I need it, God. My prayer is that we find pure Joy in it and see that it is God's Love. So let us see out His Wisdom and the rebuke that comes with it, for such is God's Love for us.

Then we will be able to repent and be forgiven by our Loving God above, and we will be counted as His children and will no longer be ashamed or feel like we are dead, because as we find our sins God allows us to repent and be forgiven by our faith in His Son, Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. We will look around us at the lives surrounding us and keep God's Name Holy. We will see His Glory and Mercy. Have you ever gone to church and just looked at the other Christians that are around you every service? Then have you remembered they are each another person that has been saved by Lord Jesus Christ just like you? If you haven't yet, DO IT! There is no greater Joy than to see God's Mercy and Love for His people in great congregation, and while singing to God. There is no greater Love than this: to lay one's life down for his friends. Then there is no greater Joy than this: To see those new lives that our Friend also died for.

This passage has moved me so much, I feel the need to shout this at those around me and say, "Don't you know this Joy yet? This is my God, and yours! I pray that you feel this way too. There is one more detail in this for us all to remember, those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding, and those who complain will accept instruction. If any of us ever complains about what God wants us to change or we stray, God will do everything to us to have us listen to Him. I can account for this. He will bring change any way He can because He Loves us and wants us back in His presence for ever and ever.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen 

Psalm 130: Forgiveness

Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.

If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing Love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.

O Lord God, please make these Your Words. Your beautiful, powerful, and moving Words that we all need to hear. Amen.

It has been a long time since a post on a Psalm, but I have been inspired by the Words God has spoken through my pastor in a Psalm series. This Psalm has been on my tongue for a couple years for my sin has always been before me. But even in the darkest of sins and times, when I have thought that there was no way for God to forgive me, this Psalm has humbled and reassured me. God willing, I will now show you why.

The Psalm goes in sections spaced out in paragraphs. Starting in the first is a desperate cry for mercy. In desperation a cry is made to God in fear because the Psalmist knows that God can choose to condemn him, but also that God is the only One that can pull him from the depths. The depths of his misery that his sin has brought that break him down in pain. He is begging God to let His ears turn to hear his cries. He wants God's mercy because he knows there is no other way except in God's mercy and forgiveness. Even today I have felt this way, seeing no light in the depths of darkness I have fallen into by my own actions and thinking. Seeing no way for a Perfect, Beautiful, Almighty God to forgive me and Love me. To cry to Him with almost no faith in Him hearing me, almost.

The Psalmist continues facing the fact that if God kept a record of sins no one could stand. No one, by God's standards, would be able to keep from being crushed by the guilt and death of their sins. He points out God's Righteousness and Power and Purity. To feel this heart wrenching feeling of how unworthy I am and the ultimate fear of God's power that He could crush me instantly. But then the realization that the question the Psalmist asks has the word "IF" in it. IF God kept a record of sins. But He does not. For God is Love and 1 Cor. 13 says Love keeps no records of wrongs. God keeps no records, He throws them out with the sins themselves to where all evil goes, never to come against us again. This changes the fear of destruction to a fear of understanding that our God is Truly Powerful and able to channel that Power to our destruction, but has instead channeled it to His Love for us causing All Powerful Forgiveness of our sins. Trough this Forgiveness the God of justice justified us by His Son's sacrifice. Then He gave us the Holy Spirit that came together with our own spirit to bring it to life and make it into something new, to make us a new creation. 

This new creation, our new living soul within us, waits on the LORD. Why did the Psalmist write that he was waiting on the LORD? Because he knew that to wait on God is to wait on the time that God will take him up to Heaven, for the Psalmist knows now that he is forgiven. He waits, even his soul with its own conscience of the sinful nature of the flesh waits eagerly for God to come. Knowing this brings our souls, my soul, to wait and stir at the sound of Jesus Christ's Name because it knows the Salvation coming soon. Because of this instinctive knowledge of our souls we put our hope in God's Word that promises this in words. We hope in it and the commands and blessings written in it about the time we eagerly and patiently wait for here on earth. This is why our souls wait more than a watchmen waits for the morning. Because we are in the night, vulnerable, watching for attacks, but when the dawn comes and the King returns to relieve us and free us we will be free of the chance of attacks, of sinning again for our sinful nature will be gone. 

The Psalmist then speaks to Israel, the nation around him, and tells them to put their hope in God. He finds this Forgiveness and Love and then feels the need to use the end of the song to tell them all to choose this God of Forgiveness and wait for Him too. He tells them what he has found in His Word and Forgiveness, that with God is unfailing Love and full redemption. He needs to tell them to choose Him because he knows that all need Him. Don't we see this unfailing Love and full redemption and feel the need to tell all the people around us? If we don't, we need to. Because our God felt the need to tell us that He can save us, we need to feel that need to tell others to hope in God. We need to do this for the exact same reason as the Psalmist, because he knew that only God Himself could, and would, redeem Israel and all other nations from all their sins. And God did so by the sacrifice of Lord Jesus Christ.

This Psalm has meant so much to me, and I know it will continue to be all my life as I and my soul wait for Jesus Christ's Second Coming or my death in this life, both being my assured beginning of eternal life with my Lord. My pain now comes from others living without this security and their need for God. My own pain and hope drive me to share Jesus Christ with others. I start college classes and possibly work in less than a couple weeks. Those places to me now are my nation to share Christ. My prayer is that we all see the world around us this way and endlessly share the Gospel. God is so much more than Good, He is the only Way.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen 

The Answer is Always C:Joy

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

God, for mine, and all reader's sakes, let these be Your Words and not mine. I beg you, for i am small sinful man, but You are the Holy God. Your Words are what we seek God, please let them flow into us like sweet water.

There have already been a couple blog post on this Scripture, and many other references in the others. But I haven't thought of it the way that God revealed a few days ago. Going through it word by word and thinking about the mindset behind it. It gets insane.

To start, the first word is "Consider." To consider something, in this case, is to adopt the idea or mindset of what is presented. So there is a mindset to adopt now. What is that mindset? That it is "Pure Joy" to go through trials. In the past I've described Joy as an understanding that we are broken beings living broken lives, but do not have to dwell in that because our Lord Jesus Christ died for us and gave us a future. But the new part God pointed out more was the word before it, Pure. Something that is Pure is the essence of something, the definition of it. So "Pure Joy" is the absolute version of Joy that cannot be denied. So we need to have a mindset of Pure Joy. But when?

"Trials of many kinds." Trials can be anything in this case, small things that annoy us and make us lose patience, or they can be major life altering events that bring us to our breaking points and shake us to the core. They can become very destructive very quickly. But only if the mindset of pure Joy is not there. To have a mindset of pure Joy in trials sounded hard before, but now it looks almost impossible. To have a true mindset of Joy is to be able to recognize the price Jesus Christ paid for us to save us in all situations. I have found it easier to see Jesus in the big things, but not the little things. I have been guilty of being quick to anger over the little things in the day. It feels easy because they are little things that we think won't affect us later. But the thing is that they affect us just as much as the big things over time. The thing about having Joy in trials is that it is us turning to God when we can't do something on our own. It's us turning to Him remembering what He did for us with a desire to live a life worthy of the calling we have received (Eph. 4:1). That is how we pass the test. Because, as the passage says, every trial is a test. If we pass that test then it brings us just that much closer to God. 

Have you noticed that if you go through a major trial in life by relying on God, you grow closer to Him and your life is changed with Him? Every time we turn to Him in a trial, big or small, we grow closer to Him. The more we do so, the more natural it becomes to do so in similar trials. This natural turning to Him when our nature is pulling in the other direction is perseverance. Our persevering in life through trials brings us closer to God and changes us more and more in Him. Eventually though there will always be a trial that brings us to the brink. Even though God never lets anything happen to us that we can't get through by relying on Him, there is still the part where we have to turn and rely on Him. This can either be easy or hard. If we aren't used to turning to Him in other trials, then guaranteed, it won't be easy to turn to Him in that big trial. This is why it is so important to take these small trials and rely on God and grow the relationship and faith in Him. The lack of perseverance can end up costing us our relationship with Him. Anyone who thinks they are immune to losing that is a fool. We are all susceptible to breaking that bond. I've known people who did after having such a deep relationship with God, and I myself almost did so as well. The small tests are just as important as the big ones.

The more we persevere in God, the closer we are to Him. When we are close to Him, we are changed into a new creation that is constantly growing. When perseverance finishes this work we are made mature and complete, we do not lack anything. We do not lack, because we have put everything in Jesus Christ, who is our everything. So we must have Joy in the big trials and the small trials, so that we can pass the tests, and become complete.

This post was written with my next trial in mind, a jaw realignment surgery 3 days from now. I've been nervous about the pain and the mental strain I'll be under, but this Scripture helped me as it always has by God's power ever since He first brought it to me four and a half years ago. So I will face this trial with a reliance on God in Pure Joy thanks to His Mercy and Love. There will not be any blog posts for 2-4 weeks depending on my recovery rate, but prayers would be appreciated. Thank you, and find Joy in all times.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen 

Stop Holding My Breath

Romans 3:21-26

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His Grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

To weeks ago I gave a challenge to try to understand the attributes of Love in 1Cor. 13:4-7. It is now that I see how futile such a thing truly is. Who are we who are not good at all to try and understand any part of the God who made all creation and spoke each of us into motion? Who was I to think I was good enough to understand His Love? Does that mean to give up learning of it? No, but as far as thinking that we can understand it and express ourselves is wrong. If Love is ever expressed from us, it is not we ourselves who express it, but God within us moving and working by the Holy Spirit. For in this very same chapter of Romans, Romans 3, verse 10 says "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." It is the truth. None of us are good. None of us truly seeks God by His standards of seeking. We can read our Bibles everyday, pray everyday, serve everyday, but we are always going to be so much worse than we think we actually are. We will never measure up to God's standards because right now, by His standards none of us are truly understanding or seeking Him! How futile are our actions and words and thoughts! But that is why He stepped in. That is why He sent Jesus Christ, HIS SON, to die for us as an atoning sacrifice. Because He Loves us with this Love that is so beyond us to a point of true suffering and pain that we could never bear ourselves so that we might be forgiven. And I forgot that! I let that go to try to take Salvation by actions so that I could boast. But that is not what Love is. The tiny glimpse God gave us of Love in 1Cor 13:4-7 says that plain as day, it does not boast! So now is the part I humble myself for once and say that I am wretched and wrong and unwise. I am sorry that I thought and typed as if it were otherwise. But what then can I, and you do now?


God said that if we Love Him and then Love others as ourselves, then we will live according to the law. Well guaranteed we're gonna fail at that. But that's why that Love that we don't understand was given to us in Jesus Christ. To save us and to get it through our thick heads that Love is more than we could know it to be. Love is not a noun, it is a verb. Our bodies commit actions that we have no understanding or control over everyday like breathing. If think you have control over it that's because you have control over not doing it. We can hold our breath, but we almost never have to consciously tell ourselves to breathe. With Love it's the same. We have the ability to not do it. And guaranteed if you do it long enough it'll have the same effect as holding your breath to the end. But if we let go and let God take His course, then we will find this impossible element of Life moving in us. I can not explain what it will feel like, why it does so when we let it, or what the true benefits of doing so will be, because I am unrighteous. I can not understand Love, I can only accept it from God and give up myself to Him for His decisions. He is the Maker who Loves us, and He works in mysterious ways. It almost doesn't seem satisfying as an answer, but, the thing is that it is. This Love that we can't understand inspired the giving of Life eternal to all who just believe in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. He told us everything we needed to know already here on earth: We are sinners who are dead, He is the Loving Father that made us and will forgive us if we believe in His Son Jesus Christ, and He will make us into a new creation capable of allowing Him to work through us to Love others with the Love that saved us. Our sins are not held against us anymore. And the more we allow Him to Love us and change us, the more His Love will come from us. What that will mean in this life could be blessing, persecution, pain, it's not completely clear, but it's evident that it's worth it. 


Observing the law will not bring life, only God's mysterious Love will. And thankfully, like that passage above says, He gives it to us freely! I am not good, but the God I want to let work through me now is, I just need to stop holding my breath.

Thank You For Reading

LONG LIVE JESUS CHRIST

AMEN

Roots of Love

And now I will show you the most excellent way.

1 Corinthians 13:1-7 says,

 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not Love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not Love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not Love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

God my Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Please bless these words and make them Your own to move me and all who read them. Thank You.

The line at the top of the post is the introduction the Bible gives to this passage titled simply as "Love." A way of Paul telling us blatantly that Love is the most excellent way. Paul starts talking about this excellent way by using examples of actions known to Christians of the time with the apostles. He uses speaking in tongues first. 

Paul writes that if he were to speak in the tongues of not only men, but of angels as well, but did not have Love, he would the equivalent of a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. He would be nothing but a bunch of noise. To speak in tongues is to speak in the other languages. Paul's first example then is that if he could even speak in the language of angels, but didn't have any Love in it, he would just be making a bunch of loud somewhat irritating noise.

Next Paul gets more extreme. He writes that if he had the gift of prophecy and could fathom all mysteries and knowledge and if he had the faith that could move mountains, but had not Love, he would be nothing. So in other words, Paul is saying that if he could understand all the mysteries of existence and had all knowledge of the everything and had the faith that could move entire mountains, but did not have this Love, he wouldn't just be like a gong or cymbal, he would be nothing.

Paul then uses an example that easier to relate to for most of the Christians of the time. He writes that if he were to give up all his possessions and surrender himself completely but did not have Love, he would gain nothing. So even if he gave up everything for the sake of others, but didn't have Love, he would gain nothing from it at all. 


Paul no doubt rattled the Corinthians mindsets with this part of the letter. The instant response I think to this would be, what then is the Love that makes all of this worthless? The answer is next. The entire next paragraph of the passage is the description of the Love Paul was writing about. Go back and read it again slowly thinking about each part as you read them off...


Patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil, rejoices with the truth, always protecting, always trusting, always hopeful, and always persevering. The first thing to realize about this description is that there is nothing in this world that meets this full description. So what is Love? 1 John 4:8 "... God is Love." 

So no wonder you can't find this in this world. Only God could be all these things at all times. It's a happy thought to think that we could put our name in place of the word "Love" in this description, but no matter how much I change in God and try my hardest, I just can't even get half way before I have to stop reading. The only One to ever be in this world that could match that description has been Jesus Christ. He met it from birth all the way to His death on that cross to pay for our sins. So going back to what Paul said before, what does it mean to not have Love?

Throughout Paul's letters and in James letter, it says that you need both faith and deeds. But Paul gave examples of both at the same time with himself as the example as a way of stating, "If I am faithful and give everything but have not Love, then I am nothing." So then there is a third element to go with the two. An element that if missing, would make the faith and deeds worthless. So we have established that the element is Love, and that this Love is God. So 1+1, we need to have God in order for anything to matter. But wouldn't having faith and works already entail that we have God? Not always. Even if I believe in God and say start writing this post to serve, if I do not have God and His Love in it, then it's merely for me to do. The difference of having God or not is ultimately what is driving the uses of what we have. I could speak the languages of angels, but if I do not do it for God, then it's worthless. I could be a prophet and have true understanding and great faith, but if I do not let God use it, then there's no point. I could become rich and give everything away, but if I'm giving it away to make sure I do not feel bad or for the act of giving instead of because it's what God wants, then there is nothing to gain from it, except some people getting some new stuff. 


We need to be rooted in God and change our motives to fit His. I do believe, and I do serve in the church, but so often I find myself doing things and believing all for the wrong reasons. I do not give it up to Him. I find that things do not go well when I do this either. It ends up being all wrong. If I am not rooted in Him and planting myself in His Love, then all the fruits produced are worthless, they're sour. Whether it's talking to people, playing worship music, volunteering with children's ministries, or writing this blog, if I do not turn to God and let all of these attributes of Love come out with those things, then I'm doing something wrong here; then I AM NOTHING! But thankfully the faith I do have, is in a merciful God who's Name is Love. Without this Love and Mercy I would be dead. I am so convicted by this. 


The solution to this is to check on whether we are matching our actions with the attributes of Love in the passage. But wait, hasn't Jesus Christ been the only one ever able to meet this mark? Yes. Then how could we ever do so? We can't. That's why I bring up God's Grace and Mercy, because we could never meet up with what's expected. But even though we are forgiven for the times that we can't, it doesn't mean there's no point in trying. Would a soldier meeting impossible odds give up or fight to the end for what mattered most? I want to say that I would fight to the end for God in this life. I want to war against myself and my worldly desires and reasons for my faith and deeds. I want them to be changed as much as possible in this life to be a servant for my God. Not because I could gain something from it, I have already been given everything I could ever want by God through forgiveness in Jesus Christ. I want to do it because I already have everything. I do not need more. I want to give it all up for God, and I want to do it for Him and by Him. That means doing it with His Love. To know what that looks like though, I need to know what each of those attributes actually are. So I've given myself a challenge that I am now giving you. The challenge is to take one of the attributes of Love and each day write it on my wrist or a piece of paper in my pocket and have it there for 24 hours while I read in the Bible about it, pray about it, and truly ponder it and what it would look like in my life as a servant. So this is a 15 day challenge, but it could change the way we act for the rest of our lives and help us to let God base our actions in His Love. 


I really encourage you all to do this challenge. I started with patience today. This challenge must not however be for the wrong reasons either. As you do it, you realize just how easy it actually is to mess it all up. Which is another positive side to it, it brings me closer to God and helps me see just how forgiving and Patient He is. A Christian should always desire to get to know God more. He is our greatest relationship, we should work on getting to know Him more than anyone or anything else. Convicting words that even hurt me as I type them. My thankfulness for His forgiveness only seems to be growing as this goes on. One last thing to remember, is that these 15 things, are only an infinitely small fraction of what His Love is. We could all spend each day of our lives looking at attributes of His Love, but it wouldn't be enough. All the more the reason to start now. A statement to remember during this challenge and dare I say the rest of our lives, is this: "We can only grow and share Love, if we have our roots in it."

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen