The Proof is in the Small Voice

1 John 3:4-10

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

This passage has been a great deal of struggle and confusion for me ever since I first read it. I've even blogged about it before, but now I feel it was done wrongly the first time. At first I took it for what it said, if you sin you are of the devil and you are not part of God. So I thought, if I don't do everything right then I have no salvation. But I went through the law in the Old Testament and found that living without sin is impossible. I went through a time of doubt and depression and my speech was similar to that of Solomon in Ecclesiastes. But then I read Romans 4:1-11.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD will never count against him."

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

Paul says here that Abraham was declared righteous in his faith in God. He says that it is not works that saves a man but his faith in Jesus Christ's sacrifice that brings him salvation. And this is absolutely correct. But what was John saying in 1John 3:4-10? Further down the page in 1John 3:16-24 it says,

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jess Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us!

When Jesus died on the cross, He knew us. He knew every sin we would ever commit from our birth to our death. And He forgave us for them all. He took them all away forever. When we have faith in that, we are saved and receive His gift of Salvation. We come to Him with repentance for all the sins we have committed according to His Law. And when we repent for all of them, He takes them all away from the beginning of our life to the end of it. Therefore, we no longer sin in this life because they were all taken away before they were committed. The Israelites written of in the books of the Prophets were sinners because even though they brought the sacrifices, they committed more and more sins and repented for none of them. They sinned because they did not break or acknowledge their sin. So they were declared sinful. But those who had done the same actions and who repented for them were declared righteous. So through our repentance and faith in Jesus Christ we are no longer sinful, we are saved.

So where then is the room for works? They are the evidence that we are saved. When we are saved by Jesus and forgiven, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and fills us. The Holy Spirit's coming into us is the evidence of our forgiveness. Then the evidence of the Holy Spirit being in us is the condemnation we receive when we do something wrong. This condemnation brings us to repent and come to Jesus. It also leads us to stop committing the wrongs. When we do these two things, we are brought closer to Jesus. And as we grow closer, we hear the Holy Spirit more and more. He teaches us more and shows us more of what we do wrong, which He condemns us for. And this brings us full circle to Jesus in repentance with a desire to change and to live for Him. So our works are the product of Holy Spirit changing and condemning us, which is evidence of our Salvation in Jesus Christ. It's a cycle that never ends, because there is always something to change until the end of our days. Therefore it is truly not our actions that save us, but our faith. And our actions prove our faith.

There is one last part to go over in 1John 3:21. There are 2 times when we are not condemned by the Holy Spirit. There is an immeasurable difference between the two, but it can be easy to misjudge between them. The first is when we ignore the Holy Spirit's condemnation. As we ignore Him His voice grows quiet. If it's continued, eventually the voice is gone. We stop being repentant for our sins and we are given over to our sin. For forgiveness cannot be accepted unless the one who accepts that forgiveness acknowledges that there is something to be forgiven for. If we don't repent, then we sin. This is the case for a believer who turns away and thinks there is nothing wrong with the things they do.
The second time there is no condemnation is when we no longer do anything wrong in our lives and are able to see God's Will. That is why the passage says that when this is done, we can ask for anything and receive it. For we will be able to ask for God's Will to be done and truly have that be what we want.

This entire post can be summed up in Luke 6:43-45,

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts through faith and changes us to allow us to bear good fruit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. And against such things there is no law. So listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit within you as He overpowers the sinful nature of your hearts. And you will begin to feel the true power of the Salvation of Jesus Christ. Do not ignore Him for one second, for it could send you down a spiral of sin as I have experienced before. And it is not something that any of us should waste part of what little time we have on earth doing. So instead, listen to the small voice within. And as you do, it will grow louder and louder, and you'll find your voice saying the same things within your heart. Let us share our salvation with the evidence of our works through His Love.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Everyone Could Be Clean

Acts 10:9-35 says,

About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, "Get up Peter. Kill and eat."
"Surely not Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure of unclean."
The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."
Peter went down and said to the men, "I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?"
The men replied, "We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say." Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along. The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself."
Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?"
Cornelius answered: "Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, 'Cornelius, God has heard you prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.' So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us."
Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.

Almost the entire passage is from Peter's perspective. Remember this through out this post.

When the Lord gave Peter the vision, Peter acted the way he always knew he should according to the Law. He refused because the animals were declared unclean. But the Lord told him not to call anything impure that He had made clean. Peter had trouble understanding what this meant at first, as did I. Every time I had read this I glazed over it and thought that it meant that if it was a direct creation of God (animals, water, dirt, etc.) then it wasn't unclean. Which coincides with Jesus words about what goes into ma's stomach cannot make him unclean. But there was more to this passage in Acts. When Peter went with the men and met Cornelius, he heard of Cornelius' faith in God and his righteous actions. How Cornelius prayed to God, gave to the poor, and had himself been told by one of the Lord's angels to send for Peter. Peter realized the meaning of his vision and of the Lord's words: "But God has shown me the I should not call any man impure or unclean." This is all good, but why should no man be declared unclean I thought? Why should we not see a murdering rapist and say that he is unclean? Two reasons. The first is that we cannot see other peoples' hearts. There could be anything going on in another person's heart. That criminal could have asked God for forgiveness and became a Christian after his crime. And spend the rest of his time in prison seeking God and sharing the Gospel with others. I even doubt this scenario as I type it, but how do I know it hasn't happened? I do not know the hearts of all the criminals of the world, I barely know my own. Which leads to the second reason, we are all considered unclean by the Law. We so often forget just how bad of a punishment we deserve according to the Law. We don't even see our hearts properly. But Jesus has seen ALL of our hearts. He saw them all as He bled and suffocated on the cross. As HIS body broke when He took our punishment. We do not get to judge who is clean or not. We do not get to judge others by their past for we do not know whether they are saved by Jesus. We can only openly speak of the Gospel to any and all people. For it is as Peter said that God does not show favoritism, but accepts anyone who fears Him does what is right.
Cornelius was a Gentile who did everything God asked of him and in this became a Law for himself in God's name. Too often there are people like Cornelius in the world, but we act like Peter and say we cannot go near what makes us unclean. We pick and choose who we want to share the Gospel with. But we need to realize, that if God showed favoritism when He chose who to save, He could have left us out of the list of those who received His Grace. But He did not do that. So why do we? How do we stop?
Verses 25 and 26 say, As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him ad fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself." Cornelius was a Gentile, and ,in the opinion of the Jews like Peter, was lesser. But Peter told him to stand back up. Peter saw Cornelius as another man just like himself. He didn't have a greater regard for himself, but saw Cornelius as another servant of God. This is the answer. We don't talk about God with everyone else because we forget that they are all real people whom God Loves and who need forgiveness just like us. So the biggest change we can ask God to make in us is to show us how to see those around us as real people like us. Real people who could be lost without Jesus or who could be someone struggling with their walk with God, or who could be a fellow believer that God put there to give us encouragement throughout the day. Everyone is a person, and everyone could be anything. Everyone else could become clean. So until we know that everyone around us is a servant of God, we need to share the Gospel with everyone.

I pray this prayer as I walk around my peers at college. As I go about this life. I do not want to forget that my life could've been easily tossed aside in the mind of another believer. I put myself in the the position of the soul of another. The biggest lesson I've learned from this though is that we should not speak out of selfish ambition. We need to speak with a broken heart that is pouring out God's Love on the person we're speaking to. We need to not just tell someone about the Gospel, but earnestly beg them to accept it. Because the Gospel is the only way to Heaven, if someone doesn't choose to put their faith in it, they are lost. So ask God to speak through you and reach out of your heart into theirs.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Who is anyone but another face
Who is anyone but another soul
Who is anyone but another life
Who is anyone but another loved one
Who is anyone but another sinner
Who is anyone but another person that needs Jesus
Who is anyone but everyone.

Like Children and Sheep

Matthew 18:1-14

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills ad go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

When the disciples asked Jesus who the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is, they were probably expecting Jesus to say it would be a king or a great man who best followed the commands Jesus was leaving them. You could imagine the shock when Jesus called up, not just a child, but a "little child" and said that anyone who humbles himself like a child will be the greatest. Back then and even now, we adults look at children and we see immature little people who need to be taken care of and told what to do. Once we hit a certain point we stop comparing ourselves to children and we grow up. I believe this to be when we are able to take responsibility and gain personal freedom. We start feeling in control. We become the adult. We become prideful. Jesus saw through this and called the disciples, and now us, out on it. We've let our belief that we have control take over, when we are suppose to believe in the reality that we have none. We do not have control over even the hairs on our heads. But we've turned God's giving us free range of the things of this world misconstrue that. And the more we believe in the other things of this world, the less we believe in God and the more we come to doubt Him. So we are called to be like children in two ways: 1st we need to humble ourselves and remember that we're small and need God's help to live and do anything. We need to trust in Him and let go of the world. 2nd we need to have the faith of a child. A child will believe almost anything without doubting it for a second when an adult tells them. We need to strive for that same doubtless faith in Jesus.

The next part is Jesus saying that whoever welcomes a little child in His name welcomes Him. Now Jesus just got through saying that we need to be more like humble children because to God that's who we are. So in other words, all people are God's children. So anyone who welcomes any other welcomes Jesus. We must look at the other people in this world and remember them as God's daughters and sons and Love on them and we would with Jesus. We need to think about what we would do for Jesus, and then treat everyone like that. I fail at that too much. And that is why I thank Jesus for having Grace that I would not even give to myself.
Jesus does not finish there though. He goes on to say that if anyone causes any little one to sin, is better off having a millstone tied around his neck and thrown into the sea to drown. To cause someone else to sin is a greater wrong than sinning yourself, because you not only have your own blood on your hands now, but the blood of another. The news keeps playing stories about murder suicides done by families and students at homes and schools. Every time I see one of those stories I feel myself cursing the one who did it. But now I realize how little difference there is. For I know that I have led someone else to sin before. And I may as well have been a person holding a gun in a crowded store. We need to watch our words and actions around others. If they know we are a Christian, then we need to be the mirror image of Christ. If they see us doing something, they will see it as something anyone could do. This does happen. If people know you are a Christian, you have greater influence than you think. That title alone is a responsibility. So pray with me to start acting like it by listening to God and doing what He wants us to do.

Jesus continues by saying woe to the world and the people that cause others to sin. These things are suppose to happen, for that is what is prophesied in God's Word for the future. But even still, woe to those who they are done through. This is why Jesus continues by saying that if your hand or foot or eye causes you to sin, you must cut it off and throw it away. Not only can it lead us to sin, but since we are examples, it can lead others to sin. So we must cut off from ourselves what causes us to sin. In our world today, this could be anything. For those who have problems with lust it could be the internet, for those who drink or do drugs it could be those. It could be TV, or your clothes, anything. If you know it causes you to sin, it would be better to be rid of it than to "live" another day with it. Keeping these things in our lives only leads us away from God and leads others away. And that's not how it is suppose to be.

Jesus goes on to say that no one should look down on anyone. For all are seen by God and His servants. We must not judge or see ourselves as better than anyone else. Remember when you were so young that if you met any other child you would walk up and say, "Hi! Wanna be friends?" Just like we were as children so long ago, we need to be now: Accepting and Loving and Honest. Because if we're not, others could feel turned away. And to so many, we represent the character of Jesus Christ. Does that fit in with Scripture, no. But the people who haven't read it don't know that. They've been living according to the world. Unless we accept them and tell them that we all mess up and are nothing compared to Jesus, they will just see us and think that because we turn them down so does God. We have that much responsibility. That is why I pray for God to takeover my words and actions every time I wake up and leave my room. Because I want others to see Him, not me. I want to follow Jesus with everything that can be used for Him and throw away anything that can't. But of course, I get in the way. I fall away, and others do to. But Jesus knew that. So he told the parable of the sheep. Scroll back up and read it again.

He comes looking for us and for everyone else. When we call out to Him and He finds us hurt and ruined by the world, He picks us up and carries us back in His arms. When He comes back to the herd He rejoices that the one that was lost has been found. He is not willing to let any of us stay lost. He gives us each every chance to come back. It seems so easy to think otherwise when we see the world and how many people are not Christian. But, do we see the hearts or thoughts of those in this world? Do we know just how much recognizable influence God puts in other people's lives day in and day out? No we do not. So who are we to make a judgement about the way God works and what He does for others? We are naive, immature children, that's who. And so we must do what we can to stay as sheep in the herd that can rejoice with Jesus anytime another sheep is found.

There was a lot to unpack, and there is even more. I pray that anyone who reads this post goes back to the Scripture and unpacks more of it on their own. But all in all from this I have learned that we must have faith, humility, acceptance, and purity of a child. We must cut off what causes us to sin and can cause others to sin. And we must follow Jesus like sheep. Because, like I once wrote in another post, if we are not sheep who follow Jesus, we are wolves who lead others away.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

What do you value?

In Matthew 15:17-20 Jesus said,

"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"

When Pharisees asked Jesus about why He was letting His disciples eat without washing their hands, He responded with this. Jesus looked at the Pharisees and told them that nothing of this earth that God made could make them unclean. Things that are eaten pass through the body. But what does make a man unclean are his sins. The heart is the source of all of these sins because it is the source of our emotions and desires. All people have different desires depending on what is around them and what they are focused on. An example is that two people could be in a mall. One sees all the stores and wants to buy something, the other sees the food court and wants to go buy food. Someone who's very wealthy might want to remodel their pool. A poor child might just want to taste a piece of candy. We all desire different things at different times. The heart causes these desires. Are all desires good or bad? Well, it depends on what it is your heart is focused on. Matthew 6:21 says,

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Meaning, the things on which you place value, are the things you're going to desire. Jesus makes it clear that man's heart lies in this world. Wrong thoughts, lust, anger, lying, cheating, stealing, hurtful words; these are all the modern day terms for what Jesus listed in the verses above. Our sins come from our hearts, and they come from our hearts because we put our hearts in the wrong places by finding value in the world. What is the solution to this? It's to place our value in Jesus. To surround ourselves with Him and make Him our treasure. But the thing I struggle with is how to know whether or not I have put my heart in Him or not. 1John 3:19,20 shows me this.

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.

So what does this mean? It means that we know that we have put our hearts in Jesus because of the condemning guilt we feel when we sin. When you are thirsty, you know you are thirsty because your body tells you with your dry tongue. So what happens when you throw a bunch of salt in your mouth? Your body yells at you and you feel really uncomfortable and in pain. In the same way, when we put more value in Jesus we desire more of Him. If we go and sin, then we are growing further away from Him, and our hearts condemn us because it wants more of Him. God is greater than our hearts. This means that He is stronger than the earthly desires that plague us and He takes over our hearts. I said in a post a while back that God does not share room with our sins. He either leaves, or kicks out the sin. What He does, depends on what we're willing to let Him do with our hearts. If we choose to stay comfy, then He'll leave us be with our sins. But if we truly pick Him and make Him what matters, He takes over. When that happens, He overpowers us and no matter what our body or emotions try to say, He makes us choose Him more and more. But this isn't a complete 100% change in our desires. We still find ourselves picking the world over Him from time to time. So what does that mean? It means that in those moments, we're not choosing God, and we're making other things more important. In short, we're sinning. This is where His Grace and forgiveness are needed. Because we are incapable of not choosing God 100% of the time by giving Him every second of every day of our lives, we need forgiveness. That is why Lord Jesus came down to die for us. To take away our sins, and to bring us closer to God, by taking up residence in our hearts. Because of this, we are able to feel His Holy Spirit move in a us and bring us closer to Him, and further away from this world.

I have personally found that the closer I get to God and the more value I put in Him, the more guilt I feel and the more sins I become aware of. It is a curse because of how much sin I feel bearing down on my shoulders, but at the same time it's even more of a blessing because of how much more free I feel when the weight is taken off by His Grace. In short: The things we value are the things we put our hearts in. The things we put our hearts in are the things we end up desiring. And the things things we desire determine how we act. So, again I'll ask what God asked me, "What do you value?"

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Complaints OR Peace?

Exodus 15:22-25

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is call Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

The context of this section of Scripture is very important. The Israelites just came from the Red Sea that had been parted by the power of God so that the Israelites could cross it. Just before that, the Israelites had seen God send plague after plague on Egypt so that Pharaoh would let the Israelites go. All of this had just happened a couple chapters before this. Then the moment the Israelites get thirsty they complain and grumble against Moses and God. How ungrateful were they? That's the question I asked when I read this. But I soon found a better question to ask myself, "How ungrateful am I?"

Like the Israelites, God has performed miracles for us and has saved us from our sins forever. He also continually blesses us each day. Yet, when we find something wrong, what do we do? We complain, either internally or vocally, about what went wrong. Ever order some food at a restaurant and when it finally gets to you it was put together poorly or it was done wrong? What did you do when that happened. Odds are you complained about what was wrong and forgot about the fact that you are blessed enough to go to a restaurant and order anything at all. I've done this and I know I'm not alone. But what happens when these little complaints happen again and again? As we complain, about more and more things, we see more and more things to complain about. We continually add on until we are complaining about every little thing that doesn't exactly the way we want it to. Soon we become obsessed and start doing everything we can to make life go the way we want it to. We start storing up for ourselves on earth and making earthly things our purpose. Eventually, we forget all about the word "blessing" and only know the word "mine." This sounds like a long and lengthy process that takes time to take control of our lives, especially the way it's written. It's not at all a lengthy process. It's a quick and destructive one. It took 3 days of this past week for me to prove that. It started with a lost book, then a broken ring, then I couldn't get any of the food I wanted, then I had to miss out on being with some friends, and so on until I was at the point I described above. I quickly became selfish. That's the scary thing about this, it's easy to forget the good and to focus on the bad. It's natural to do that. So how do we make complaining unnatural?

The true answer is peace. You obtain peace through 2 changes of thought. 1st, you acknowledge that God is the Great Provider. Not just that he provides, but that He is the Provider. When you acknowledge this, you see that you have no control over anything and that it is God who gives you what you have. 2nd, is to be thankful for what God has given you. If you spend time being thankful for what He gives, you focus less on what you don't have and what doesn't go your way. These give you peace because you realize that none of the things you have are in your control. You can let go and let God do what He wants. And if you remember that He is Love and what He has done for you already, mainly Jesus Christ's Loving sacrifice on the cross, then you can see that His will for you is the best thing for you. This peace finally brings you contentment. You are able to truly "go with the flow." You see that God is in control of what you have in this world and are able to live with an open hand. You are able to stay true to God in any situation, whether you end up homeless or a billionaire. You trust God control and Judgement. Now I'm saying it's wrong to want something, but you need to have the right motives behind wanting it. If it is for yourself to serve yourself for your own pleasure, odds say that you probably won't get it. But if you see the way something can serve others, serve God, and/or further God's Kingdom and ask for that reason, God will provide for that service. It doesn't always mean you doing it, but as far as the act of service itself, God's will is done as He sees fit.

The thing about obtaining this peace and contentment is that it is what's hard to do. It goes against our nature of "mine." But it's worth the struggle to reach it. You find you worry less, you get less angry and frustrated, you feel closer to God, and you see things more positively. You pray differently, and you see just how good He is. Reaching this point is a struggle, but a worthwhile one. The ability to see just how blesses you are by God is enough, in fact, it's a whole new thing to be thankful for.

We are like the Israelites more than we think. But we need to do our best to change that. Not just for our future, but because of what God did in the past. He died for us with the pain of all sin weighing on Him. Who are we that we should be complaining about a sandwich that has mustard instead of mayonnaise? If that sounds silly to you, look at what you complain about. I did, and I stopped laughing pretty quickly. Start the change right now. Look around you and you will be able to find at least 10 things to be thankful for. If anything, you'll find more. It changes everything.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Thorn

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses; so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul said a mouthful. Paul had been boasting about all the things he had helped accomplish, but he received a "thorn of the flesh" that stopped his boasting. It is not known for sure what kind of affliction it was, whether his eyes or his writing hand, but it impaired him and caused him suffering. First off he mentions that the thorn was a messenger from Satan. All forms of temptation and suffering are from him. Does God allow these things to happen? Yes. And always for His greater purposes. Just like with Paul's. Paul was hurting and suffering from this thorn and pleaded with God 3 times for relief from the thorn. But God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." God gave a straight answer to Paul about his thorn. God told him, yes of course you are suffering, you have a weak mortal body and you live in a sinful world. You are weak, you will suffer this thorn and you can expect to suffer through more in the future. But, because you are weak, I have given you the power of my grace that is made perfect in you. We are weak. We are made of flesh and bone. We let ourselves get comfortable and forget that. I keep forgetting that. And like Paul, I am reminded of my weakness through my thorns, mainly my crohn's disease. And when I am afflicted, I am able to remember that I have a God who is stronger than my thorn. I have His grace that promises me a brand new life away from thorns and pain. And I remember than until the time when the pain stops, I have a God who is willing to put His powerful grace in me for His works. And this is what Paul realized when he heard God's answer to his pleas. Paul said that after hearing God say this, he boasted all the more gladly about his weaknesses. And he took delight in weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties. All these things remind us of God's power and why we rely on Him: Because we are weak, and cannot do anything on our own. Paul used this to spread the Gospel and encourage his fellow believers. Can great works and wonderful achievements spread the Gospel, yes. But when a believer hears that it's okay to be weak, then the burden to be strong and carry the world on their shoulders is gone. They realize, they were never meant to carry the world, they were meant to live in it as their weak self and point out that it is God carrying them and the world.

Paul ended by saying "For when I am weak, then I am strong." We forget how weak we are until Satan reminds us with a thorn. But when we have received the thorn, we have a choice of what to do with it. We can moan and complain about it until it goes away, or we can let it teach us a lesson and remind us that God is more powerful than our problems. We can use it to show the world that we don't care what kind of suffering we receive and that we don't have time to complain on earth. We can show the world that we are living for more than the time when we feel better on earth. We live for the time when we get to feel better forever.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Words of Comfort

John 14:1-4

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

This passage is appropriately titled "Jesus Comforts His Disciples." Jesus is speaking to the disciples on the night he is going to be arrested and taken from them. He then speaks words of comfort to the disciples. He opens by telling them to not let their hearts be troubled. No by his leaving or what else is to come. In the same way let us not let our hearts be troubled by this world or what plagues us. We have been freed from our sins by His sacrifice. So let us do what He says and trust in Him and the Father. Because it is by His choice that we are saved or not. Can God choose to not forgive us for our sins and cast us out? Yes He most certainly can. And that is why we fear Him. But we do not have to worry about that because He has shown us all throughout the Bible that He is a Loving and Compassionate God. So He asks us to trust in Him and the Father who sent Him. Because He has saved us from our sins. And now He is preparing a place for us in His Father's house. If He were not, He already would have told us so. But He did not say that. Instead, Jesus told us that He was preparing a place for us so that He could come back for us and save us. He is going to come and take each of us at one point or another from this world and bring us with Him to Heaven. So we have no reason to doubt. I have struggled with my doubts many times before as a follower. At one point I almost left Christianity to join myself with the world on the basis that God just could not forgive me. But He told me, and now continues to tell me, that no matter what I've done to hurt Him and what sins I have committed, He already died on the cross and forgave me for it all. So now I can take comfort in His words in this passage and many others throughout the Bible that I am free. And with this freedom and can worship Him freely. Not to pay Him back for what He has done for me, that is impossible. But just to live for Him out of gratitude and thanks for what He has done for me, and so that the world may know what He has done for me.

Jesus ends by saying, "You know the way to the place where I am going." ... "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him." To know a part of God, is to know all of God. To know God is to be with Him forever. Such encouragement is more precious than anything this world has to offer. My doubts still show and try to tell me otherwise, but such things are eclipsed by God glory when I read such passages as this. What are your doubts? Do you have Scripture like this that comforts and encourages you in your hard times of doubt? I challenge you to go find one and start memorizing it. Because when we are out in the world we are most vulnerable to doubts and we do not always have a Bible with us. Having the Words or God with us in our hearts is the greatest cure for our doubts. Let us stay in Him and continue living this life encouraged by Him until He comes to take us with Him to the place He has prepared for us.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Wings

The pain that's so strong

Of sin and all that's wrong

Brings us to cry

"I want to fly!

To grow my own wings

And flee from what stings!"

We make our own wings

of feather and glue

As we fly we discover

These wings aren't true.

We fly up high

And the light of the sun

Melts our wings

And our fun is done

We fall down

The earth calls us back

Our sin has

Ripped the wings off our backs

Living in a prison

Of thick liquid crimson

With broken wings, fallen

On earth we are calling

To the One who has wings

To the King of all kings

Who's wings can carry

The burden so heavy

These sinful things

We thought were wings

Now we fly high

And the Light of the Son

Brings us Life

Because our old one is done

We fell down

The Lord called us back

He took our sin

Upon His own back

We wait now

For Him to come back

To take us up

With the wings on His back

-God the Father through the hands of JoshJJ