Question of the Week: Is it possible for us to have absolute faith? What can, or better yet should, we do to help us come as close as humanly possible to absolute faith?

I think we can have absolute or certain-pure, unwavering- faith. By what faith is it only makes sense that when we display faith it is absolute. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Right their the author of Hebrews tells us that faith is being sure and certain. That sounds pretty absolute to me. However, I think there are definitely times where we can show lack of faith, or mistrust. This would be a time of not displaying faith. But fortunately the Bible tells us that even if we are faithless, G-d will remain faithful. WOW, how awesome is that?!
The only way I think that we can expound our faith is by knowing why you are who you are in Christ: You are His miracle, he has saved you and redeemed you!!! When we think about that, we should be living unashamedly faithful to our G-d and savior!

Lord, Help us to stand.

Moral Neutrality

My question, dear friends, is twofold: can to much of a morally neutral thing be eternally bad; and are there morally neutral things in your personal life that Christ is asking you to get rid of, or remove - things he just wants out, even though there is nothing evil about it?

Do we want to be "doing alright," or do we desire to have a deeper knowledge, love, hope - downright solid, relationship with Christ?

As I have thought about this whole morally neutral idea, I think of how much time I have spent not glorifying G-d through being a good steward of my time. I tend to get sucked into doing good things, but not necessarily the right things. For example, I have a test to study for, but I also have dinner with my family, and a prayer meeting with my brothers and sisters in Christ(the Church). I have many different statues: I know I am a student, and a son, and a part of the Church, and a Christian; but what comes first? Which one does G-d honor more? Or, does he not honor any one more than then next? Is he more concerned about how I approach these things? Another question I need to ask my self is this: what am I doing with the rest of my time? Am I spending a lot of time looking at videos on Youtube, listening to music, watching TV, blogging? Is the time I spend Making cakes, taking a shower, driving, combing my hair... are all things things morally neutral? I am sort of rambling and venting and truly questioning!!! In the gospels, Jesus tells people who approach him and want to know how to inter the Kingdom, or have eternal life, to sell all their possesions, give the money to the poor and follow him. He also tells his diciples when they go out to spread the good news in other cities to not take anything and to trust in G-d to provide for all their needs. Man, These are tough statements.
I think what I have been learning with Journey in reading through Matthew about doing things with the right heart-attitude is super important! I think that I need to begin to look at each situation, evaluate it and give thanks to our Father for where I am what I am doing and ask him to guide me, to open my heart-eyes to see how I can best serve him, where I am. For me personally, I do spend a lot of waisted time doing things that would take other people a lot less time. Maybe it is that I am just really slow at it, but I think I let myself become distracted, I give into the temptation of watching another Youtube video, I sit on Facebook and look at pictures of my friends for hours... Even now I think I don't have a good perspective on what is most important in my life. It is G-d, Who I need to be focused on, his will, his purpose. I think Colossians 3 really gets at what we should be living like: set our heart and minds on Christ; get rid of the our earthly nature; clothe our selves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; live at peace with everyone, and "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to G-d the Father through him (Col. 3:23)."; however, I don't think I live this way... therefore, I don't live fully for Christ.
I believe that when anything gets in the way of seeing G-d's salvation we loose out! I am convicted to get into the Living Word, to spend more time in self examination and in prayer... I try to do things on my own way to often... I miss out on the beauty of serving G-d when I do that!
I think we all need to be the most encouraging brothers we possibly can be!

May we all persevere in this: living fully in a deep love with Christ and each other!

Peace and Love in Christ!

Moral Neutrality... is there a middle ground?

This quote is taken from a Sermon by Matt Chandler. He raises a good point and I have some questions for you.

"The majority of us lack depth in Christ, not because of bad/wicked things but rather, morally neutral things - things that scripture wouldn't outright call sinful, but we just have so much of them [the morally neutral things] in our lives that we've kind of drown out the voice of G-d, drown out time to be with Him, drown out...[insert something you have drown out]. So we just busy ourselves with morally neutral things and then we think we're DOING ALRIGHT, because we're not doing BAD."

My question, dear friends, is twofold: can to much of a morally neutral thing be eternally bad; and are there morally neutral things in your personal life that Christ is asking you to get rid of, or remove - things he just wants out, even though there is nothing evil about it?

Do we want to be "doing alright," or do we desire to have a deeper knowledge, love, hope - downright solid, relationship with Christ?!

Peace, Grace and Love in Him who is worthy of all praise.

What Happens When Our Lives Collide with G-d's Word...

So this is the part of the story where Larry comes out and sings a silly song.... Wait, What?!

Ok well this Is what I have been mulling over for awhile: When our Lives collide with G-d's word? First What is G-d's word? Is it the bible? The spoken word of G-d? The truth of the written and spoken word? If these are true I would like to quote this: "Truth is not a set of rules to be mastered, but a is a man, Jesus Christ, to be known."

So I think when I look at it like this and then look at my life a few things can happen: First, through the Word grace is always extended! This being said, three things are now possible: one I accept his grace, I allow his beautifully life giving grace to "collide" with my heart and  I am moved by his grace and I intern extend his grace to others. Two, I reject his grace and the collision of his word hardens my heart, I am like Pharaoh, in the Old Testament when moses comes and extends G-d's grace by giving him a chance to let  his people go. But like Pharaoh, I take on the role of god (lower case because I am not G-d), and do things my own way... and as per usual I am rocked by his wrath, which is letting me do my own thing (Romans 1:18-32).

Thirdly, I can deceive my own self, read the word speak the word but not be changed by the word. Rev. 3:11 or 12. I become Luke warm and walk the fence... I am then "Spit from his mouth!" Which sucks! So I guess the last two are sort of the same but they Are different.

May we be moved by Grace! 

Open the eyes to my heart Lord, I want to see you!

A practical way My life has been moved is this: I have been struggling with fear of the dark and being out side and I have been seeking peace in this fear... more so freedom. And my mom showed me the verse in Psalm that says even the Darkness is like light to G-d... this is a hard thing to comprehend and I was still scared, wanting to trust G-d, (which was the heart issue, I didn't want to trust G-d!) but not seeing through the dark in to the fathers light. Then the other day my friend Pat showed me a picture that he had taken at three in the morning (when it was pitch dark!) The picture however showed full detail of the scenery!!! Green trees, A white barn, a black road... and I asked him how this was possible! he told me he left the shutter open for 4 minutes and let the light shine in... WOW! This was a G-d moment!!! I have been deceived that in the darkness Sight is not possible.... but I have been looking at it wrong! Light is there, G-d's pure good light! My "fallen" eyes just cannot seen what G-d has in store... My whole perception was changed! My trust in G-d renewed...(it is funny how often we fall, we don't trust in Jesus to never leave us nor forsake us...) Praise G-d for little moments like looking at a picture to see his plan and Word come alive!!!!

Be Blessed!

Peace and Love in Jesus Christ!

Of Bird's and Men...

I find myself speaking much and listening, dwelling, comprehending, processing, fully seeking to understand – to grasp the roots of what is being said. Many times I will read (see, hear of, partake of, view), this or that, and think to myself: “how interesting, or how odd, or how nice, or how beautiful, or how awful, etc. But rarely do I stop, sit and ponder – think back to my self, “self, why is this the way it is?! How did it come to be, and what is its true purpose? Where is it going, or what is it trying to accomplish? It looks beautiful, but what is its function? Was it created to do beautiful things? It looks odd, but is its whole purpose to make other things around it feel awkward or uneasy because of its oddity?

            Now there are two self-reflecting question I must stop and ask before I proceed. First, what caused my initial reaction and what is my reaction based on? And two sub-questions: Is it Natural or inherent, is it social, cultural, values, beliefs, primal? Is this a legitimate reaction? Secondly, if I had created this thing, (be it a bee a cow or the Eiffel Tower,) is this how I would react to it, or would I see it differently – what it truly is, and have a fuller understanding? Therefore, causing me to react in a more meaningful way?

            This now brings me to the thought of creation (and I am wondering about what else I am missing? Where am I not thinking through enough? What more could I say… I have this desire to be profound, to say things in a new way… but this is just pride sneaking in. Most of what is said has already been said before and I am not saying anything new… The beauty is that it is Christ alone who makes me anything, who makes me who I am, G-d who gives presidents and kings, rulers and authorities their positions – their wisdom. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made! Not that I should not seek to think more critically or Cleary, these are good things… but at the heart of everything is Jesus Christ and I want to make that clear. It is not mans knowledge.) and G-d and how he wired things – life, his workmanship, and I wonder if we (humanity) are missing something… say a better view? Here is an example: I look at creation and see a butterfly. It is big – the wings stretch out over my palm, and there are two dark rings on either wing and surrounding these spots are wonderfully, bright colors… which makes me smile. However, if I were a bug or a bird looking at the butterfly, I would not look at it in the same way. (And who’s to say what the best way to look at the a butterfly anyway!?). I also ponder that because we  (humanity) know the function of the butterfly (it’s role in the process of pollination), and we don’t instinctively want to eat butterflies like the bird might. It is easier for us to see beauty in the two dark spots on the butterfly wings. However, if I were again the bird I would view and perceive those two dots differently, and have a different reaction.

            Now G-d made use this way, and I can’t help but wonder if these were the initial functions (what I just described about humans and birds) of animals and humans before the Fall (Gen.3) and afterward, or if we have this limited view because we have all fallen short of the glory of G-d? (I can’t help but wander if I am missing something in respect to the butterfly that only G-d knows from where he is at, and because he crated it?) Also, can this be tied into human interaction as well? Or is that trying to hard?

            Well these are just a slew of crazy random thoughts… I hope you can wrestle through them with me?