Prejudices That Must Die

Galatians 3:27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like him.
This is a subject that is to some degree constantly on my mind. As I have grown up as a non-christian and now a large portion of my life as a christian there are many "Christians" who have confused me with their talk. Prejudice is a trait that I find in all races of people, but sadly also in alot of Christians.
I think it is time that the body of Christ acknowledges and confronts those we call brother and sister about allowing this characteristic of satan to have place in their new life in Christ.
Once a man had a near death experience, during that time he reflected on his life and had many regrets for the racial jokes he made on a regular basis. This same man, told myself as well as several others to keep him accountable, and he wanted to live the rest of his life with no more racial jokes or thoughts, he realized when facing death what a sin that the jokes were. Within 2 weeks time, this same man was feeling as if he hadn't almost died, and was back to his old self, with the old jokes. I pulled him aside and spoke privately with him, as he had asked me to just a couple of weeks prior. I thought all was well, but quickly found out that now the joke was on me, cause he went back to the crowd and told how I had pulled him aside and confronted him. I immediately became the punchline for the crowds jokes. People made fun of me then instead of other races. I didn't mind being picked on but it did bother me that the whole crowd claimed to be christian, they were all church regulars, some leaders.
I don't say this to say all Christians are hypocrites, I tell the story to confront the body and say this is a shame. If one part suffers or is weak, then the whole body suffers, you suffer and I suffer. We are called to strengthen one another, and to keep each other accountable, but do understand that when our wrongs are pointed out our flesh will not like it, but the spirit man craves it. Who do we desire to please more, the flesh or the spirit.
Before parting, some people may think the man in my story needs to not talk like he does, after all one human is no more favored than another in God's eyes. Jesus loves and desires everyone.
The real question is what about you and I, is there any racism in you? Maybe you wouldn't tell a racist or degrading joke, maybe you don't enjoy that humor, good for you. Would you have a problem with your child, grandchild, sibling marrying a person of another race? If so, then you my friend like it or not are racist. A sad fact I see in the church among parents is they don't mind their child dating or even marrying a lost person, or just a person who attends church but has no passion for Jesus at all. However the same parent would be upset if their child was dating or engaged to a person of another race who is radically in love with Jesus.
The old people say it would cause hardship on the children of the couple, or that society would give them a hard time. Hey people, the world accepted the interracial couples and children a long time ago.
Paul said we are all united in baptism. Paul said there is neither Greek or Jew once a person is in Christ. Have you accepted this truth from God's word? Until love sees no dividing lines among God's people, the body of Christ is greatly restrained and hindered.
1 John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," but hates a Christian brother or sister; that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen?
Some people think my view point on God's Word is to harsh or strong, I just simply see the Word of God as black and white with no room left for gray.

Scattered fun thoughts of the day

After a long day yesterday and a good nights sleep, it was a perfect time to get and spend in the Word this morning. But just as my eyes opened up to the world today, once I noticed that I had slept a little later than I like, I quickly noticed that my youngest son had discovered the new day as well. This is usually no problem as he quickly goes back to sleep, but today was different. Just as one son was anxious to play, so was another son right behind him. I love my children, but I love the fact that they have been sleeping so well in the mornings also. There is nothing like waking up and being very alert, and just sitting in the presence of Jesus Christ. Ahh I get refreshed and joyful just thinking about it.
This morning, I didn't get my bible time, I instead got to play with my children, which is good. After Calley came to the world this morning, we had a wonderful time visiting. In years past I have felt like maybe I wasn't quite as Chirstian if I had a busy morning and wasn't able to read my bible. Now when I say busy, I mean unavoidable things, like children, not just plain laziness.
As Calley and I visited a verse quickly came to my mind.
Lamentations 3:23
21. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22. Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

As Calley and I talked and enjoyed our time together, our minds dwelt and wondered to the fact of the more a person grows in knowledge and love of Jesus, the more we realize that there is always more to learn, and even very fun to learn. God is a big God, He is a loving God, and He is an very fun God. It is a blast when He reveals Himself to man in a way that man previously did not know Him. Discovering the God on a more intimate level on a daily basis, is so refreshing and so fun. His mercies truly are new every morning. His love is new everyday. No wonder God wants man to love his wife, like Christ loves the church. There are many ways this can be explained, but a huge overlooked way is for the love to be new every morning, to be fun and refreshing everyday.

Sorry this blog come out as some scattered thoughts, but it has been another fun day.

Calley will probably let me know when she sees this picture. This is how I see if she reads my blog.

What A Difference A Prayer Makes

Recently God has branded two scriptures on my spirit man.

1. John 15:7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted

2. Romans 8:31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

I have turned these Scriptures in my head like never before, and I can honestly say believed them like never before. Well a few weeks ago, I began searching for a dear friend that I haven't seen in probably 6 years and had no clue where he was. I searched the internet and couldn't find him, so I just casually asked God to help me find him. And look out within a few days I come face to face with him. A friend who had lived in the Dallas area, and has been living in Winnsboro for a couple of years now, and in Sicily Island God works it out. There are so many details to how God brought us together that would take hours to type, but the bottom line is God gave me exactly what I asked. And not only that, God gave far above what was asked and now it is obvious that God put the desire in my heart to look for my friend for a reason. God knows what we all need, right when we need it.
Sorry I can't go into great detail, but I will say this, the devil got kicked in the face by God bringing the friendship back together, and lives have been saved as a result.

I leave with this verse about the Holy Spirits purpose

John 16:14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.

The Holy Spirit, unknowing to me, was telling me that Jesus wanted me to find my old friend. And much Glory has been brought to Jesus Christ as a result.

Whatever we ask, truly will be granted!!! And when we are abiding in Christ, Christ is leading us in what we ask. Just think about it like this, if God puts the request that we ask in our Spirit man, why would He not answer His own request?

Isaiah 41:10 Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

It is has been a long time since I have updated this blog, but I think its time for one today.

Why is it that, the same struggles the Isrealites had when leaving Egypt are the same struggles most believers still have here 1000's of years later. Throughout the old testament, God was continually building up his people, by reminding them that He would hold them up, and that He was in control. God was continually telling His people "Don't be discouraged, don't be afraid, I am with you." Now here we are in 2009 and the believers of today are still getting scared or discouraged when we don't get what we think we immediately need. Maybe we need to remember that God knows what we need and when we need, after all He is God.
If God didn't mess up when He created the world, and Jesus didn't fail in carrying out his mission on earth, and the Holy Spirit has always given power to overcome, then why do believers freak out, stress out, worry and get bad attitudes when a situation is not what they want.
Remember the Isrealites, they didn't like being in Egypt and God delivered them, and they whined about the way they were delivered. Once the Isrealites got the reports of the giants in the land that God had given them, they whined and lost the land. Joshua and Caleb, didn't worry and didn't whine, and they possessed God's promise of the land.
Maybe we need to be reminded that there is no need to be discouraged, or afraid. The people of the bible who missed out on the promises God had given them, were the people who's attitude was based upon their situation. On good days, they were all good, on bad days they were all easily set off and upset. The ones who's personality and attitudes followed their faith and not their situation received great promises from God.

John 15:7 But if you remain in Me and My words remain in you, you may ask for ANYTHING you want, and it WILL be granted

Lambs Among Wolves

Luke 10:2-3
2 These were his instructions to them: "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. Pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, and ask him to send out more workers for his fields. 3 Go now, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.

This really nailed me this morning. What a crazy statement, what a non encouraging statement in the physical sense. Think about this, a lamb and a wolf, the lamb doesn't stand a chance. The lamb always gets eating by the wolf, the wolf always wins. I think a lot of christians think they are beaten and that the wolf is treating them like this.


or maybe sometime a christian has felt like this against the world.




It is the defeated attitude, like "oh I am just a poor sheep, help me Lord in this world of wolves."


But you know the beautiful thing about sending us out as lambs among wolves. The beautiful part is the impossibility, God works only on the level of the impossible. He heals the sick, He raises the dead, He rebukes the demon and He gives this power to lambs which is able to change or convert a wolf to a lamb. Do we realize that before we come to Christ we are all wolves, we are as the bible calls it "enemies of the cross." But by the saving power of Jesus Christ a wolf can instantly change from a selfish, arrogant, mean, filthy wolf, to a pure, spotless, beautiful lamb. A lamb is not a defeated wimp, maybe a more accurate picture of a lamb which has His/Her spiritual armor on would look more like this.

OK so maybe that's a little extreme, but I like the picture.


Maybe instead of feeling like we can't take it anymore at our job, or in our house, or in a place you have to be all the time. Maybe it is time we view ourselves as God looks at us. We are more than conquers, through Christ Jesus. In this lamb among wolves world, we are the strongest, we are the most powerful, we are called to reach the lost, we have the person living inside us who can change a wolf to a lamb.

And if the power God has given a lamb is not believable to you, well think about who the One is that protects the lambs. The Lion of Judah, God Almighty, is the One who strongly protects us.


And He treats His lambs like this
(I take no credit for my grammar skills, so please ignore them)

Forgiveness

Luke 17:1-5
1 One day Jesus said to his disciples, "There will always be temptations to sin, but how terrible it will be for the person who does the tempting. 2 It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck than to face the punishment in store for harming one of these little ones. 3 I am warning you! If another believer sins, rebuke him; then if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, forgive him." 5 One day the apostles said to the Lord, "We need more faith; tell us how to get it."
This is really a neat passage to me, if you think about it forgiveness is probably the area most looked over in people's lives. So often we are so quick to get mad when we feel like we have been done wrong, but Jesus basically says "who cares what anybody does to you, forgive them." Have you ever taken the time to think if God really wants us to forgive in every circumstance?
Well the amazing part of this passage is that Jesus is talking about forgiveness and the disciple's first statement is asking for faith. The disciples reply to Jesus seems to give the impression that they heard him and then said "yea, yea, that's nice but tell us about this faith stuff, we want to do some cool things." Today as I was reading this passage, I was hit with a whole different perspective. The disciples in their reply simply realized something far to many people never do, they realized that forgiveness at the level Jesus required cannot be achieved without faith. So often we are guilty of trying to make ourselves forgive, and yet it seems that the harder we try to forgive, the harder it is. Man does not have the righteousness level needed to forgive when we have been treated wrong. True forgiveness, complete real forgiveness, is only attainable by trusting Jesus to work through us, so that we can forgive people as he requires of us. What a great feeling to truly forgive someone to the extent, that even when they wrong you again, you don't remember about the past times that you have been done wrong.
What a wonderful, beautiful, and free life we can have if only we decide to believe Jesus in every single circumstance.

Oh This Is Good

Ephesians 3:10 God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

I have never understood the whole evil spirits in heavenly places stuff, but I accept it. The thing that gets me excited here is that if you put these verses together, you instantly get a complete package.
Many people are famaliar to some degree with Ephesians 6:12 but I would imagine Ephesians 3:10 is not very well known. Thoughout the Bible God is constantly telling us to get our eyes off the physical circumstances and physical obstacles and to look at things from a spiritual view point. For example, a person involved in adultery has a spirit problem and the physical actions are only because of the spiritual problem. To know God is to love Him, and to love Him is to obey Him. So therefore any disobedience to God, or any insecurity or selfishness problem or pride is not just a person's character, but the person's character is a reflection of their spiritual condition.
Well maybe it will be easier to fight off these evil powers and authorities if we recognize our high calling as the body of Christ. Ephesians 3:10 says that the purpose of the Church (followers of Jesus Christ worldwide) is to show off God, His wisdom, His power. What an awesome privilege to be the object that God points to, in order to show the devil why the evil powers and authorities are the losers. God has designed and appointed believers to be powerful people of faith, who walk and live in a manner that shames the devil.
To me that is a reminder of the high calling and responsiblity God has given, and also a reminder of the power He has given to those who believe, to cast out devils, heal the sick, raise the dead, and most importantly convict those who don't know Him and bring them to repentance. Let's walk in that power today. Let's honor Him as a people He can point to and tell the evil power and authorities "look at what I just did."