Attitude of Gratitude

One of my favorite times is coming up rather quickly, Black Friday! It was this realization that stirred my heart. It is rather sad that I am more excited for a day full of shopping for the best deals around, trying to beat everyone else to that awesome deal on that wonderful...whatever it is, and yet I decide to ignore the oh so important day before.

One of the things I fail to realize sometimes is just how much God has blessed me. I have an amazing Christian family, an amazing group of Christian friends, a job, free college, and most importantly, I am redeemed by the blood of the lamb. I am surrounded by God's amazing blessings, I couldn't even be able to do a sufficient job of counting them.

Paul gave a very simple instruction in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Give thanks in all circumstances...as simple as it sounds, it's actually kind of difficult. Maybe not when everything is going just fine, and you couldn't have a care in the world. But what about those times when God seems far away, when we have lost a loved one. We are still supposed to give thanks. I think the reason is provided in Romans 8:18 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us." When I think about all of the hard things I have had to go through, all I have to do is think about an eternity spent with Jesus Christ, and those trials just fade away. Oh that wonderful day when I will get to be with my Lord and Saviour, those hard times don't even matter anymore.

At the heart of it all, when I find myself wanting something, or thinking how terrible my circumstances are, all I need to do is think about what Christ has done, and that the best is still to come, and I am filled with an attitude of gratitude.

"I had no shoes and complained, until I met a man with no feet."


Do you have an attitude of gratitude?

Entrapments

1 Peter 5:8 has never meant more to me than it does right now.

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

As I am sitting here right now, I have the TV on. I have been watching a DVD on the emergent church and mysticism, and why it is so dangerous. In one of the sessions it talked about a motivational speaker named Anthony Robbins. The name struck a strange bell, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I saw a few pictures of him, and I couldn't get this feeling out of my head that I had seen him somewhere before. Then it hit me, a video was shown, and the people in that video was wearing a lanyard, not unlike one that I have. I am involved in a student organization called BPA (Business Professionals of America). During their national conference in Washington D.C. last May, they had Anthony Robbins as a keynote speaker. That is where I had seen him before.

The DVD session went on to explain how this Anthony Robbins gets his ideas from mysticism. I will be completely honest, this scared me. I recalled last May as I was sitting there listening to him speak and thinking "yeah, this is really cool, I am starting to really like this guy."

Whiteout even knowing it, I nearly got caught in a very ugly trap. I was convinced that this guy really knew what he was talking about. I was so close to coming home and doing what this guy said. I can only thank the Lord that I didn't. Something stopped me, even to this point I can't directly say what it was, something just wasn't right.

This has taught me quite a valuable lesson. Even without knowing it, it is super easy to get entrapped by something evil. The Devil and his minions are around, watching, waiting for their chance to strike. We cannot let them have that chance. We need to rely on Jesus Christ...and only Jesus Christ.

So many things can feel right or sound good, people can even throw the name of Jesus in with it just to make it sound good. Jesus was telling the truth when He said that many would come in His name (Mark 13:6). There are even some prominent Christian figures who have started endorsing what is called Christian Mysticism. I have heard of so many Christians that have started doing Yoga.

The world is so full of these evil things that are made to look so good just for our benefit. We need to carefully watch what we are getting ourselves into.

Luke 21:8 "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming 'I am he' and 'the time is near'. Do not follow them."

Tell me the Story of Jesus

How many times have you heard the story of Jesus? I hope and pray that you will never cease to hear it. It is such a sweet story. Let me elaborate on that word. I am not necessarily talking about the word that would be synonymous with the word cool, awesome, radical, etc. Although those words do apply, I am talking about a different kind of sweet. Have you ever had honey? Mmmmm, I can almost taste it now. I am talking about that kind of sweet. The melt in your mouth sweet. Now, it has been said that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, but somehow I don't think that applies to hearing the story of Jesus. A Hymn has been going through my mind these last couple hours, can you guess what it's called? "Tell me the Story of Jesus" is it's title.

Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard. Tell how the angels in chorus sang as they welcomed His birth. "Glory to God in the highest! Peace and good tidings to earth." Fasting a lone in the desert, tell of the days that are past, how for our sins He was tempted, yet was triumphant at last. Tell of the years of His labor, tell of the sorrow He bore, He was despised and afflicted, homeless, rejected and poor. Tell of the cross where they nailed Him, writhing in anguish and pain. Tell of the grave where they laid Him, tell how He liveth again. Love in that story so tender, clearer than ever I see: Stay, let me weep while you whisper, Love paid the ransom for me. Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard.

What an awesome story! I don't know about you, but that is the sweetest story I have ever heard. And I don't care how many times it is retold to me...I could hear it over and over and over again.

Ephesians 1:13 "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."

Searching: For Love

The very first thing I want to happen before I start, is for you to read 1 Corinthians 13.

This is going to be the last post in my "searching" series. The reason why I haven't posted in a while is because I didn't know what to write about. However, after a 9 day inner city mission trip, reading a book, and reading 1 Corinthians 13, I finally settled on Love.

I will be focusing on how, if we ever expect to be able to minister to others, we have to love them first. At the end of 1 Corinthians we find out that Love is more important than even faith. At the beginning, we learn that even if we give our bodies to be burned, but have no love, it doesn't profit us anything(v 3).

Everyone going through life is looking for Love. Ever wondered why a dog his considered man's best friend? It is because of the Love and loyalty the dog has for it's owner. We have been given an incredible gift called Love. God sent His son to die for us, a terrible and nasty death that isn't even described in the Bible. Why should the people around us not hear abut it? What is stopping us from sharing this incredible love with others?

This is what God put on my heart in the past month. We can do all the right things. We can go to church, pray, rad the bible, even go on a mission trip. But if we don't have Love, it will do us no good whatsoever.

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends"

Romans 5:7 "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die."

Searching: For Fulfillment

All of us are searching for the same thing, almost all the time. We are looking for someone or something to fulfill us. What we don't realize, however, is that there is one and only 1 who can really fulfill us. His name is Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

This summer, I haven't really had a lot on my mind. I haven't been keeping very busy as of late. It seems I am always looking for something new to spend my time on. What I don't realize (or, maybe I do realize it but just don't want to take note of), is that these things won't really fulfill me.

Whatever you have been using to try and find fulfillment in, I'd wager that you didn't get exactly what you were hoping for. There is nothing that can get rid of the empty feeling that we have when we get done with whatever it is we were doing.

On the flip side of that, there is no better feeling we can experience then when we let Christ have complete control in our lives. This fulfillment is Awesome! I experienced this for the first time in a while last night. I had just gotten done with VBS preparation and was in my car on my way home. I turned on the radio to my favorite christian radio station and just sat there, silently, worshipping God. This truly was an amazing thing. God really touched my heart. I experienced an inner peace unlike anything I have ever felt before. All my worries had simply drifted away, and I truly felt like I was right there in God's arms.

My challenge to you tonight, is to let God have complete control of your life. Let Him rule. Stop trying to find fulfillment in other things, because I will guarantee you, it will never happen. The only place where you will find real, true fulfillment is in the hands of God.

Psalm 24:3-5 "Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holly place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation."

James 4:7-8 "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Searching: The Scriptures

Alright, before reading this, you should take a look at the first 11 verses of Acts chapter 17.
This is an interesting story. First of all, in this chapter, we are following Paul and Silas as they travel. They end up at Thessalonica after traveling through Amphipolis and Apollonia (verse 1). While there they start preaching the word, and Jesus as Christ, and they persuaded some (verse 4). But then trouble comes. The Jews see this and they get jealous and they form a mob. Things are starting to get a little ugly. They go in search for Paul and Silas and since they can't find them they decide to go after Jason. Eventually they end up releasing Jason; however, Paul and Silas slip away by night and head out for Berea.

A very brief background. Anyhow, the key verse for this post is verse 11. The people of Berea accepted the message. "Now these were more noble-minded than those in Tessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so."

First of all, they received the word with "great eagerness". They were thrilled, excited about hearing the word. How many times do we wake up Sunday morning and thing to ourselves "man, the last thing I want to do today is get up and go to Church this morning, I just want to sleep." I'd wager it happens quite often.

Second, they examined the scriptures, or in some other versions, they SEARCHED the scriptures. Not only did they search the scriptures, but they did so daily. Every day, or any new thing that Paul and Silas would preach they went straight back to the Word of God to see if what thy were saying lined up with Scripture. Are we doing this? If not, we need to be, and I greatly encourage you to start.

So many times our thoughts and views aren't based on what they should be. We have our viewpoints, or we allow other people to persuade our viewpoints, and we just accept them for the truth. Even our pastors can be wrong, they are only human after all.

We need to be like the people in Berea, we need to be searching the scriptures all the time. Not just when we hear something to go and check it out, to make sure that it lines up with what God says but, also everyday to see if our thoughts and actions are pleasing to God.

So, next time you are reading a spiritual book, go back to the Bible, and see if what the author is saying is correct. Next time you go to youth group, turn back to Scripture and make sure that it is right. Next Sunday when you go to Church, make sure that the pastor is speaking from the Word of God, and not just his own thoughts.

It's not what our friends, family, teachers, or pastors say that matters, it is the ever Holy, ever pure, ever right, ever sweet words of the one and only most awesome, eternal God.


Psalm 119:103 "How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

Searching: Introduction

I have felt led to start a series, the first one I have ever done, and I am 100% pumped for it.

As I have been reading my Bible and going through life, I have noticed that we, along with everyone throughout history, have something in common; we and they have all been searching. Whether it be searching for someone, something, or searching through something like a book, we have all done it before.

According to dictionary.com, the adjective form of the word searching means "examining carefully or thoroughly: a searching inspection. This is the form that my next post will be focused on. If you would like, take a look at Acts 17:1-15, this is where I will be coming from.

Luke 11:10 "Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find. And everyone who knocks will have the door opened."

Awesome Experience

On Sunday, I just got back from a trip to Washington D.C. Now, for anyone who hasn't been there, this is a very big city. I mean, I thought Minneapolis was big(the biggest city I live by) but D.C. is huge. One of the things I liked most about D.C. was the different kinds of people that were there. There were people form all the different races, and different classes. As I was walking down the street one day, a thought struck me, God loves all these people, so why don't we?

How many times do we go walking down the street, by so many people, and we don't even give them a second thought. Has it not occurred to us that God is concerned for every single one of these people. Why then do we choose to ignore them?

One of the experiences I had was getting to talk and pray with a homeless man on the side of the street. I had just stopped for lunch at one of those vendors you see on the side of the street. I had just bought some food when a man came up and asked me for spare change. He proceeded to tell me that he just got back from the hospital. I reached into my pocket and found the change I had gotten from the money I had just spent on my lunch. I gave it to him, but with a stipulation. I will give this to you, but I would also like to pray for you to, I said. He loved the idea, and thanked me very much for praying with him. As much as I would have loved to stop and talk with him more, I had to go before I lost the friend I had with me.

If you ever get a chance to talk with someone on the street, take it. In D.C. if there is a homeless person on the side of the street, you are told to ignore them and not to even give them a second glance. How often do we fall into this same trap, not only in big cities, but in everyday life. As we walk down the hallways at school, as we pay for our lunch, and ignore the people in line right behind us, or the cashier about to check us out at the store. Even smiling at them and telling them to have a good day may change their whole day.

God loves them all, how then shall we act do anyone, and everyone around us, no matter what walk of life they come from?

Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify the Lord."

Is God in the Center of your Life?

Around a month ago I went and visited a Bible college that I have been thinking about attending after I graduate. And while I was there, I heard a very interesting message from a pastor there. That is what has inspired this post.

We all get so wrapped up in life that sometimes God can just become a part of it. What I mean by that is, sometimes we allow God to simply become just a piece of our life, rather then our whole life.

Picture this:
You have two pies, this is what the first one looks like. It is divided into five pieces, each piece has a different word within it. The smallest one is Work, the next one which is, about the same size is School, the next one, getting a little bit bigger is friends, the next one, that may or may not be the same size, depending on who you are, is family, and the next one, the biggest one of all, is God.

Here is the second pie, this time there are only four sections of the pie, the one "missing" is the one titled God. This is because God is in the center surrounded by the other four.

The first pie is a prime example of where we tend to put God into the "pie of life". He is only a piece of our lives, when he wants, and requires, the Whole thing.

The second pie is a perfect of example of how it should be, but rarely ever is. God is at the center of our lives. Everything else we do revolves around what God says, whether it be through His word, the Bible, or through the Holy Spirit which he has given us as a guide.

So, my question to you is, Where is God in your pie? It is my hope and prayer that He is at the center, and if he isn't that He very soon would be.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart,and lean not on your own understanding; in all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Strange Prayer Request, #2

After returning home from a day spent in the cities with my mom and sister, I was fairly exhausted. However, I quite quickly got very energized by a letter that was sitting in a stack of our mail. I recognized the handwriting from about a year ago. Enclosed was a letter, not unlike the other one. It read the exact same thing: "Pray for Ethel Thomas, Gordon C. Gladden."
The question still begs itself, is this a hoax, or is it real? I have no idea, but I will still continue to pray for these two individuals, and I am hoping you will do the same.

To Know Him

What is knowing God really about? What does it require of us? If we really started to know God, what kind of a change would we experience in our lives? I have been pondering these questions for a while now.

As I was writing a paper for school, I decided to listen to some music as I did it. I decided to go with Casing Crowns. It was a cd that I hadn't listened to very much, and so I wasn't all that familiar with the songs on this particular cd. The song "To Know You" started playing. The line of this song that really hit me was towards the end of the chorus. "To know you is to want to know you more."

I stopped everything. I almost dropped my computer. I have never really thought about this before. To know Christ is to want to know Christ more. If we are truly in love with Christ, then the one thing that we are going to want to do is to know Christ more. We should be so in love with him that all we want to do is read the Bible, pray, and spend precious time in fellowship with him.

So then, why don't we? I think Mark 14:38 gives us a hint. "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
We do truly have this burning desire within us to be with our Lord, but there is a battle going on in the inner most parts of our souls. We have this spirit that wants to worship Christ and be with Him all the time, 24/7. But we also have this fleshly lust for everything that is unholy.
I direct your attention to Romans 7: 15 - 20. "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."

Wow! So then, if we want to spend all of our time with Christ, and be holy as he is holy, why do we not? We are given the answer. We have sin in our lives! And the one way to get rid of this sin is to nail it to the cross with Christ. This isn't a one time effort, either. Luke 9:23 - 26. "Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels."
The key word in this passage is DAILY. Repenting isn't just a one time deal, and then were done. Indeed, hardly that, it is something we need to do DAILY. Not just when we feel like it, but every day.

Once we start doing this, I believe we will see huge things happen in our lives. Imagine it, the thing that is keeping us from knowing Christ more is Sin. If we don't repent of this Sin daily, then our flesh still clings to it. So rather, we daily repent of these sinful desires, allowing our spirit to pursue Christ, without the flesh clinging to that sin. Wouldn't that be such a refreshing feeling? It truly is incredible! I have been there. It is not something you want to miss. If you want a spiritual high, don't feel like you have to go to church just to get it. Don't feel like it only happens once a year when you go to your favorite Bible Camp. This can happen daily. What we have to do is this. Daily pick up our cross, and follow our savior, Jesus Christ, up Calvary's mountain. And there, nail our sin to the cross with Christ, you will be a totally new person. And I promise you, the feeling will be absolutely amazing!

So what will this look like? We will be living our lives in total surrender. Surrender to Christ, and be willing to do absolutely anything for Him. NO EXCEPTIONS! NO EXCUSES!

I would like to close with a quote from a really good book. It's called "The Cross of Christ" By John R.W. Stott.

"We can stand before the cross only with a bowed head and a broken spirit. And there we remain until the Lord Jesus speaks to our hearts His word of pardon and acceptance, and we, gripped by His love and full of thanksgiving, go out into the world to live our lives in His service."

Valentines Day

It really amazes me what people are doing for valentines day. I wold have to say that next to Halloween, Valentines day is my least favorite holiday of the year. Let me explain why. We specifically set apart a "special" day to spend with our significant other. This got me thinking. on this day most specifically, although most days are included, we are trying to find ways to spend time with the people that matter most to us. But how about Christ. How come there isn't a day set aside specifically for Him. Why can't we be wanting to spend a whole day just adoring Christ, who He is and what He has done for us? That's what I would like to know. This is probably why Valentines day is one of my least favorite holidays, if you can call it that.

So what is valentines day? Well, here is what you would find if you looked on wikipedia: Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions." So what happened that "intimate companions" had to be 100% earthly? How come the focus is so much on a girlfriend or boyfriend? My goal with this post is to hopefully get you thinking. What would it be like if you took all of the time that you would have been spending with a significant other, and turn that into time with God? That would be truly amazing!

Here is a question that has been haunting me. Why do we set apart a day to buy flowers, candy, balloons, and whatever else we feel like throwing in there, and spending time with a certain someone, and yet there is no day set apart to just consider God? Have we really stooped so low as to push God so far to the back of our minds just because that is what society has told us to? I think this needs to be changed. Why don't we turn valentines day into a day to spend with God. Or even if you do decide to get together with a significant person in your life and study God's word together? Or how about spending time in prayer? Why is this such a problem for us?

Did you know that valentines day was named after a martyred saint named John Valentine? Did you know that the original intent of Valentines day was not to buy candy for someone? Did you know that Valentines day wasn't paired with romanticism until some middle age writer decided to put them together?

That is why I don't really enjoy the aspect of Valentines day. Maybe if it was set apart to remind of us of why John Valentine died I would enjoy it a little bit more.

Hopefully after reading this you have a burning passion within you to go grab your bible, find a nice quiet spot, and have a nice long time alone with your Maker. And I trust that this has provided some motivation for you.

1 John 4:10 "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."