The past three months I have repeatedly read through the books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians with my two buddies and I wanted to just share some of the points I will take with me. I know that there are a ton more points, but these are some of the ones that I walked away with:
“I appeal to you, brothers. By the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in that same mind and the same judgment…one of you says, ‘I follow Paul’, or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided?” 1 Cor. 1:10-13
Is Christ divided? It seems so. Some say I follow the Pope, or I follow Luther or I follow Wesley, or I follow Calvin. Was it Calvin who was crucified for you? Was Luther the messiah that the Old Testament talked about? Did the Pope rise from the dead? Are Wesley words the ones that the Holy Spirit reminds us of?
Our salvation comes from Christ and it is his death and resurrection that gives us the opportunity to live with God forever in Heaven. I can understand the desire to explore different ways to worship God. Many people believe that they should worship God in a way that is comfortable to them, but many of these denominations were created and are maintained by that thought that there is a certain way to worship God. That is an earthly or fleshly thought process because I can’t imagine that a God as awesome as the one I serve could be worshiped one way. I look forward to spending eternity learning all the ways in which he deserves to be worshiped.
I don’t want to say it but I have to…I hate denominations! I do! What a horrible witness of the unifying spirit of Jesus Christ! The first part of Corinthians has really challenged the way I look at the full body of Christ or the whole Church in the world. I find that I don’t concern myself with the non-essential differences in the many denomination bases, but when I meet someone who says they are a Christian I seek to hear what Jesus means to them and how he is at work in their lives. He is our connect! He is what unifies us!
God forgive us for making this time on earth and the time on Sunday’s about anything else. God forgive us for not talking to our fellow Christian neighbor because their cross looks different than ours. God forgive us for spending some much time and shedding so much of each other’s blood over the liquid used for communion. God forgive us for the way we talk about each other in front of our non-Christian friends or on TV because some of us decide not to have a service if December 25th lands on a Sunday. And finally God please forgive us for denying membership into our believer clicks because we had water dropped on us instead of us being dropped into water.
This is in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. My we allow our non-essentials to be buried with Christ and through his resurrection may we be raised to walk TOGETHER in a new life.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Which is more "unjust": The Tsunami or Charlie Sheen?
Which is more "unjust": the tsunami's in Japan or that a guy like Charlie Sheen has millions of dollars and "gets" to live with two "goddesses" that are half his age?
Sort of a weird question I know, because the two don’t seem to be inner related. But I think that both of these situations bring to front a discussion on what some would call injustice.
Here is what I mean in the case of Charlie Sheen your answer will depend on your version of success. If you think that money and women are the end points of life then I would guess that you think a tool like Charlie Sheen doesn’t deserve such riches. It’s the old “Why do Good things happen to Bad people?” question. But, I think that would be arrogant of us to judge Charlie Sheen. He is just doing what everyone around him was doing. 1 Corinthians tells us that as a Christian I am never to judge those who don’t know Christ because how can I expect them to act like someone they don’t know. I as a Christian should however Judge those that know Christ because they should know better. Truth of the matter is there are many all over the world that are working to achieve Charlie Sheen's life. They really believe that is, as Sheen would say, "Winning" not knowing that the effects of that pursuit could devastate their lives and the lives of their families. And they are a lot closer to us than you think. That to me is heart wrenching! The people in Japan had that tsunami happen to them where as the Charlie Sheen's of the world are bringing it on themselves.
In the case of the tsunami’s in Japan is not really a matter of justice at all, It is merely a horrible natural disaster. The real reason why I have think I have heard the word unjust thrown around in the Tsunami situation is because people are bringing in the age old question of “Why would a Just God allow this to happen?” I will try this week to take a stab at that on this blog. So be sure to become a followers so you can get in on the discussion :)
Sort of a weird question I know, because the two don’t seem to be inner related. But I think that both of these situations bring to front a discussion on what some would call injustice.
Here is what I mean in the case of Charlie Sheen your answer will depend on your version of success. If you think that money and women are the end points of life then I would guess that you think a tool like Charlie Sheen doesn’t deserve such riches. It’s the old “Why do Good things happen to Bad people?” question. But, I think that would be arrogant of us to judge Charlie Sheen. He is just doing what everyone around him was doing. 1 Corinthians tells us that as a Christian I am never to judge those who don’t know Christ because how can I expect them to act like someone they don’t know. I as a Christian should however Judge those that know Christ because they should know better. Truth of the matter is there are many all over the world that are working to achieve Charlie Sheen's life. They really believe that is, as Sheen would say, "Winning" not knowing that the effects of that pursuit could devastate their lives and the lives of their families. And they are a lot closer to us than you think. That to me is heart wrenching! The people in Japan had that tsunami happen to them where as the Charlie Sheen's of the world are bringing it on themselves.
In the case of the tsunami’s in Japan is not really a matter of justice at all, It is merely a horrible natural disaster. The real reason why I have think I have heard the word unjust thrown around in the Tsunami situation is because people are bringing in the age old question of “Why would a Just God allow this to happen?” I will try this week to take a stab at that on this blog. So be sure to become a followers so you can get in on the discussion :)
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The 400 year nothing
Exodus 1: 6-8
“The Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new King over Egypt who did not know Joseph…”
If you have ever wondered about your importance in the Story of God you can discover it in the fact that over the course of these three verses 400 years passed. Think about that. We are in the year 2011 if we go back 400 years we find ourselves in the year 1611. Do you want to know some of the important things that were going on in time? In 1611 The first telescope was invented, people had just coined the word “Electric” but Ben Franklin would not discover how to use electricity until 150 years later. The King James Bible Translation was released. How many of thouest still readith that version of the Bible?
Now as we look on those events or accomplishments from a 2011 perspective we realize that the world has changed dramatically!!! So, image that God was writing a story and at one point he drops in on 1611 and tells the story of somebody inventing the telescope and then three verses later he begins telling your story in 2011 without referencing anyone in between? That’s crazy right? Think of all the “important” people and discoveries that God missed! Or did he? God doesn’t miss anything. The things that are truly important in the telling of his story, God zero’s in on with laser beam focus.
So, what does that say to how we should view our lives? For one thing I think we should stop taking ourselves so seriously! We spend so much of our time trying to climb the corporate ladder, further our education or prepare our kids for whatever we want for their future and even if we or our kids accomplishes something great, like discovering a new planet in our solar system or creating the IPad 3, if it’s not furthering God’s story, we might as well have just discovered an extra curly fry at the bottom of our Jack In A Box lunch bag. Our lives are just a blip on this planet and truthfully in grand scheme of things most of the worldly things we accomplish will have little effect in the Story of God. Sorry. Now it may have tons of effect and be of great interest to the other non-story worthy blips that will live on this planet, but truthfully it’s not that interesting to God.
Now before you go and throw yourselves off a cliff, do you want to know what is interesting to God? Look back at the verse above. In the middle of the passage he does have one sentence that describes what he took note of over that 400 years between Joseph and Moses. “…the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so the land was filled with them.” Do the words “fruitful” and “multiplied” bring any other biblical references to mind? How about the very first command of God to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it…” or what he told Noah’s family after the Flood “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Gen. 9:1) and in the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17:6 what did he promise to do? “I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you…”
God has always desired for his world to be filled with his people and since the fall of man his desire has not changed but how he would achieve this desire has changed because now we are born broken and so he has to fix us, for us to be his people and that is what Jesus is for. Don’t miss the main point of this multiplication. In the Old Testament covenants more Israelites born meant more people of God and the parents were to teach their children who God was. In doing so the people were fulfilling their part of the covenant with God. But, if they did not pass on their faith to their children then they would create useless generations who would forget about God and disobey him, which would lead to some catastrophic discipline by God because they were not fulfilling their end of the covenant. After the cross and resurrection, God establishes a new covenant that cuts the rest of the world in on the deal he had been giving the Jews for years and look at what he commands to his “New” people “ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (matt. 28:19) or be fruitful and multiply.
God is interested in more disciples that will be saved from the punishment of hell to spend eternity in heaven with him. So, to be a part of God’s story what should we be doing? 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 lays out the story of God and his “peoples” place in it the best:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us…”
Simply put God desires to see all his creation saved from their sin and back in a right relationship with him (reconciliation). We are whom he chooses to use for his marketing or we are his representatives of reconciliation. If we are not intentionally taking part in this job i.e. introducing others to God, or worse yet have no excitement or urgency in doing these things we may need to check whether we really have been reconciled ourselves.
“The Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new King over Egypt who did not know Joseph…”
If you have ever wondered about your importance in the Story of God you can discover it in the fact that over the course of these three verses 400 years passed. Think about that. We are in the year 2011 if we go back 400 years we find ourselves in the year 1611. Do you want to know some of the important things that were going on in time? In 1611 The first telescope was invented, people had just coined the word “Electric” but Ben Franklin would not discover how to use electricity until 150 years later. The King James Bible Translation was released. How many of thouest still readith that version of the Bible?
Now as we look on those events or accomplishments from a 2011 perspective we realize that the world has changed dramatically!!! So, image that God was writing a story and at one point he drops in on 1611 and tells the story of somebody inventing the telescope and then three verses later he begins telling your story in 2011 without referencing anyone in between? That’s crazy right? Think of all the “important” people and discoveries that God missed! Or did he? God doesn’t miss anything. The things that are truly important in the telling of his story, God zero’s in on with laser beam focus.
So, what does that say to how we should view our lives? For one thing I think we should stop taking ourselves so seriously! We spend so much of our time trying to climb the corporate ladder, further our education or prepare our kids for whatever we want for their future and even if we or our kids accomplishes something great, like discovering a new planet in our solar system or creating the IPad 3, if it’s not furthering God’s story, we might as well have just discovered an extra curly fry at the bottom of our Jack In A Box lunch bag. Our lives are just a blip on this planet and truthfully in grand scheme of things most of the worldly things we accomplish will have little effect in the Story of God. Sorry. Now it may have tons of effect and be of great interest to the other non-story worthy blips that will live on this planet, but truthfully it’s not that interesting to God.
Now before you go and throw yourselves off a cliff, do you want to know what is interesting to God? Look back at the verse above. In the middle of the passage he does have one sentence that describes what he took note of over that 400 years between Joseph and Moses. “…the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so the land was filled with them.” Do the words “fruitful” and “multiplied” bring any other biblical references to mind? How about the very first command of God to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it…” or what he told Noah’s family after the Flood “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Gen. 9:1) and in the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17:6 what did he promise to do? “I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you…”
God has always desired for his world to be filled with his people and since the fall of man his desire has not changed but how he would achieve this desire has changed because now we are born broken and so he has to fix us, for us to be his people and that is what Jesus is for. Don’t miss the main point of this multiplication. In the Old Testament covenants more Israelites born meant more people of God and the parents were to teach their children who God was. In doing so the people were fulfilling their part of the covenant with God. But, if they did not pass on their faith to their children then they would create useless generations who would forget about God and disobey him, which would lead to some catastrophic discipline by God because they were not fulfilling their end of the covenant. After the cross and resurrection, God establishes a new covenant that cuts the rest of the world in on the deal he had been giving the Jews for years and look at what he commands to his “New” people “ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (matt. 28:19) or be fruitful and multiply.
God is interested in more disciples that will be saved from the punishment of hell to spend eternity in heaven with him. So, to be a part of God’s story what should we be doing? 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 lays out the story of God and his “peoples” place in it the best:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us…”
Simply put God desires to see all his creation saved from their sin and back in a right relationship with him (reconciliation). We are whom he chooses to use for his marketing or we are his representatives of reconciliation. If we are not intentionally taking part in this job i.e. introducing others to God, or worse yet have no excitement or urgency in doing these things we may need to check whether we really have been reconciled ourselves.
Monday, March 7, 2011
My Personal Challenge for 2011 Part Four: Physical
This year I have decided to get myself Relationally, Emotionally, Spiritually and Physically in shape for the use of God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your Body.”
I believe that working on all these aforementioned things and getting them in shape will bring glory to God in my life. I realize that something this big in my life needs to be chronicled for my sake but also for the sake of others. For the journey itself could be a blessing to others. So, I will chronicle my journey right here on this blog for the 8 of you that may care ☺. I started this process New Years Day. So, let me take a couple of days to catch you up to where I am. Here is the last part.
Physically:
➪ I started working out 6 days a week with P90X and really watching what I am putting into my body and how much of it.
o As of today I have lost 19 lbs since the beginning of the year!! I have gone from 210 to 191 and strangely no one has noticed. I don’t know what that means about the way I looked before ☺ I’ve dropped two pant sizes and I am fitting into clothes I haven’t wore in two years! (Why do I feel like I am doing a commercial for slimfast ☺ )
➪ 1 Cor. 9:26 “so I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
o I have really been looking at my body and asking, “when someone looks at how I look and what I eat, is God glorified?” How can I stand up in front of people and challenge them to love God with everything when I can even practice the fruit of self-control in the area of my eating? Now I am eating to live, instead of living to eat.
• I realized that I was a Glutton. I was eating passed the point of satisfaction and in doing so taking food out of the mouth of others, Who did not even have enough to be satisfied. The more I consume the less there is for others. That is one part of my sin in Glutton
• Part Two is that I was eating as if I didn’t think I would eat again. This was not a conscious thought I had, but a revelation to me of a weakness in my general faith in God
o I ate so much because I didn’t believe that God would provide my next meal so I had to eat two or three meals at a time so I could ensure I would be good for awhile. I know it sounds silly but this was a faith issue and one that the Israelites struggled with in the Wilderness. God told them to only gather enough Manna for one day. This was not to be mean but to build up there faith that He would provide again the next day. This lack of faith in my eating also transfers to what I do with money. I try to store it all up just in case God doesn’t come through.
• Anyway, I have realized that how much I eat is a faith issue and so in controlling my eating I am growing closer to God in Faith.
• I also love to get up and work out. I have done P90X before and not had anywhere close to this success because I was doing it for me only. Now I see getting into shape as testimony to the power of God in my life for others and that pushing me through times in my workout that would have sidelined me before.
This is my journey so far and it has only been two months. I can’t wait to see what the next months hold!! Stay Tuned!
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your Body.”
I believe that working on all these aforementioned things and getting them in shape will bring glory to God in my life. I realize that something this big in my life needs to be chronicled for my sake but also for the sake of others. For the journey itself could be a blessing to others. So, I will chronicle my journey right here on this blog for the 8 of you that may care ☺. I started this process New Years Day. So, let me take a couple of days to catch you up to where I am. Here is the last part.
Physically:
➪ I started working out 6 days a week with P90X and really watching what I am putting into my body and how much of it.
o As of today I have lost 19 lbs since the beginning of the year!! I have gone from 210 to 191 and strangely no one has noticed. I don’t know what that means about the way I looked before ☺ I’ve dropped two pant sizes and I am fitting into clothes I haven’t wore in two years! (Why do I feel like I am doing a commercial for slimfast ☺ )
➪ 1 Cor. 9:26 “so I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
o I have really been looking at my body and asking, “when someone looks at how I look and what I eat, is God glorified?” How can I stand up in front of people and challenge them to love God with everything when I can even practice the fruit of self-control in the area of my eating? Now I am eating to live, instead of living to eat.
• I realized that I was a Glutton. I was eating passed the point of satisfaction and in doing so taking food out of the mouth of others, Who did not even have enough to be satisfied. The more I consume the less there is for others. That is one part of my sin in Glutton
• Part Two is that I was eating as if I didn’t think I would eat again. This was not a conscious thought I had, but a revelation to me of a weakness in my general faith in God
o I ate so much because I didn’t believe that God would provide my next meal so I had to eat two or three meals at a time so I could ensure I would be good for awhile. I know it sounds silly but this was a faith issue and one that the Israelites struggled with in the Wilderness. God told them to only gather enough Manna for one day. This was not to be mean but to build up there faith that He would provide again the next day. This lack of faith in my eating also transfers to what I do with money. I try to store it all up just in case God doesn’t come through.
• Anyway, I have realized that how much I eat is a faith issue and so in controlling my eating I am growing closer to God in Faith.
• I also love to get up and work out. I have done P90X before and not had anywhere close to this success because I was doing it for me only. Now I see getting into shape as testimony to the power of God in my life for others and that pushing me through times in my workout that would have sidelined me before.
This is my journey so far and it has only been two months. I can’t wait to see what the next months hold!! Stay Tuned!
Friday, March 4, 2011
My Personal Challenge for 2011 Part Three: Spiritual
This year I have decided to get myself Relationally, Emotionally, Spiritually and Physically in shape for the use of God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your Body.”
I believe that working on all these aforementioned things and getting them in shape will bring glory to God in my life. I realize that something this big in my life needs to be chronicled for my sake but also for the sake of others. For the journey itself could be a blessing to others. So, I will chronicle my journey right here on this blog for the 8 of you that may care ☺. I started this process New Years Day. So, let me take a couple of days to catch you up to where I am.
Spiritually:
➪ I began reading 30 chapters of the Bible a week. Then found two accountability partners that would agree to do it with me and hold me accountable to my reading challenge as well as other important areas of my life.
o Because of the way we have it set up, I have read through 1 Corinthians 14 times!!! Which has been incredible!! Every time I read it I learn something else or I get a deeper understanding on something I learned in earlier reads.
o I read a ton of books each year and because of my vocation they mostly about Christian topics. I have loved 1 Corinthians so much and have seen my love for God grow so vigorously in the past two months of reading it that I decided to make the Bible the only book about faith I am going to read this year! Call it my Daniel fast. I want to see what God will do in my life if I only get my views about his Word from Him. Funny thing is many Christian that I tell this to look at me as if I am about to spit on their child. I am not sure why. Many comments to me about this challenge seem to imply that I should not just read the Bible by myself without someone seminary trained to tell me what it means. There is some well intended wisdom in that for that is how many heresies came into existence. I also, know that most of the divisions in the Church today are inspired by seminary trained leaders. So I think I’ll take my chances with Paul’s writings to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:7 when he tells him, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” So I will present myself to God, “as one approved, a worker who has not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
➪ My Church is reading through the Bible this year starting at the Beginning.
o I am hearing new things about my life and about God from stories that I have known and read for years. It is unbelievable!! God reveals different truths to me from single words or phrases. I feel overwhelmed by the blessings of His wisdom in my life.
➪ I look forward to seeing who I have become at the end of this year with my steady diet of God’s Word.
Tune in tomorrow for the final area of my challenge and what God has done so far for me Physically!
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your Body.”
I believe that working on all these aforementioned things and getting them in shape will bring glory to God in my life. I realize that something this big in my life needs to be chronicled for my sake but also for the sake of others. For the journey itself could be a blessing to others. So, I will chronicle my journey right here on this blog for the 8 of you that may care ☺. I started this process New Years Day. So, let me take a couple of days to catch you up to where I am.
Spiritually:
➪ I began reading 30 chapters of the Bible a week. Then found two accountability partners that would agree to do it with me and hold me accountable to my reading challenge as well as other important areas of my life.
o Because of the way we have it set up, I have read through 1 Corinthians 14 times!!! Which has been incredible!! Every time I read it I learn something else or I get a deeper understanding on something I learned in earlier reads.
o I read a ton of books each year and because of my vocation they mostly about Christian topics. I have loved 1 Corinthians so much and have seen my love for God grow so vigorously in the past two months of reading it that I decided to make the Bible the only book about faith I am going to read this year! Call it my Daniel fast. I want to see what God will do in my life if I only get my views about his Word from Him. Funny thing is many Christian that I tell this to look at me as if I am about to spit on their child. I am not sure why. Many comments to me about this challenge seem to imply that I should not just read the Bible by myself without someone seminary trained to tell me what it means. There is some well intended wisdom in that for that is how many heresies came into existence. I also, know that most of the divisions in the Church today are inspired by seminary trained leaders. So I think I’ll take my chances with Paul’s writings to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:7 when he tells him, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” So I will present myself to God, “as one approved, a worker who has not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
➪ My Church is reading through the Bible this year starting at the Beginning.
o I am hearing new things about my life and about God from stories that I have known and read for years. It is unbelievable!! God reveals different truths to me from single words or phrases. I feel overwhelmed by the blessings of His wisdom in my life.
➪ I look forward to seeing who I have become at the end of this year with my steady diet of God’s Word.
Tune in tomorrow for the final area of my challenge and what God has done so far for me Physically!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
My Personal Challenge for 2011 Part Two: Emotional
This year I have decided to get myself Relationally, Emotionally, Spiritually and Physically in shape for the use of God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your Body.”
I believe that working on all these aforementioned things and getting them in shape will bring glory to God in my life. I realize that something this big in my life needs to be chronicled for my sake but also for the sake of others. For the journey itself could be a blessing to others. So, I will chronicle my journey right here on this blog for the 8 of you that may care ☺. I started this process New Years Day. So, let me take a couple of days to catch you up to where I am.
Emotional:
➪ I began meeting with a Counselor at the end of last year
o He has helped my work on my anger problem that caused the above event and has caused issues for me at work. We discovered that I am a perfectionist, which he says is one of the worst things a person can be because you can never enjoy anything you do because you always see the flaws. Praise God this year I have been able to be okay with mistakes and I have been able to recognize things that ignite that anger inside me go through process of evaluation that diffuses me.
Tune in tomorrow for my "Spiritual" progress!
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your Body.”
I believe that working on all these aforementioned things and getting them in shape will bring glory to God in my life. I realize that something this big in my life needs to be chronicled for my sake but also for the sake of others. For the journey itself could be a blessing to others. So, I will chronicle my journey right here on this blog for the 8 of you that may care ☺. I started this process New Years Day. So, let me take a couple of days to catch you up to where I am.
Emotional:
➪ I began meeting with a Counselor at the end of last year
o He has helped my work on my anger problem that caused the above event and has caused issues for me at work. We discovered that I am a perfectionist, which he says is one of the worst things a person can be because you can never enjoy anything you do because you always see the flaws. Praise God this year I have been able to be okay with mistakes and I have been able to recognize things that ignite that anger inside me go through process of evaluation that diffuses me.
Tune in tomorrow for my "Spiritual" progress!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
My 2011 Personal Challenge Part One
This year I have decided to get myself Relationally, Emotionally, Spiritually and Physically in shape for the use of God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your Body.”
I believe that working on all these aforementioned things and getting them in shape will bring glory to God in my life. I realize that something this big in my life needs to be chronicled for my sake but also for the sake of others. For the journey itself could be a blessing to others. So, I will chronicle my journey right here on this blog for the 8 of you that may care ☺. I started this process New Years Day. So, let me take a couple of days to catch you up to where I am.
Relational:
➪ My Brother and I have had an estranged relationship for close to 20 years because of a fistfight that happened between us when I was 14 yrs old. Through this journey God revealed that I was at fault for what happened. I got angry, which is okay, but in my anger I sinned by throwing a book at him that hit him in the face. Over the years I have blamed him for what he was doing that made me that angry. But the truth of it is that my actions are the only ones I can control and in that moment I lost control and Sinned. I had never asked God for forgiveness or my Brother. In January I did both and was forgiven by both. My brother said “I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me.” We have had rough times of the passed 20 years but I blame myself for all of the hurtful things we did and said to each other because I was the one that was continuing to allow the devil to reign in that part of my life. Incidentally, estranged sibling relationships are not new in my family. My father has problems with his siblings as well. I believe to some extent that the same demon that powers that estrangement was passed on to my siblings and I. Praise God that he revealed that evil me and now that generational curse has been brought to the light and exposed so now boys and his kids do have it lurking around anymore. I was embarrassed that I had not seen it in my life before, but feel blessed that now my brother and I can start again in love.
Tune in tomorrow for my Emotional progress!
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your Body.”
I believe that working on all these aforementioned things and getting them in shape will bring glory to God in my life. I realize that something this big in my life needs to be chronicled for my sake but also for the sake of others. For the journey itself could be a blessing to others. So, I will chronicle my journey right here on this blog for the 8 of you that may care ☺. I started this process New Years Day. So, let me take a couple of days to catch you up to where I am.
Relational:
➪ My Brother and I have had an estranged relationship for close to 20 years because of a fistfight that happened between us when I was 14 yrs old. Through this journey God revealed that I was at fault for what happened. I got angry, which is okay, but in my anger I sinned by throwing a book at him that hit him in the face. Over the years I have blamed him for what he was doing that made me that angry. But the truth of it is that my actions are the only ones I can control and in that moment I lost control and Sinned. I had never asked God for forgiveness or my Brother. In January I did both and was forgiven by both. My brother said “I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me.” We have had rough times of the passed 20 years but I blame myself for all of the hurtful things we did and said to each other because I was the one that was continuing to allow the devil to reign in that part of my life. Incidentally, estranged sibling relationships are not new in my family. My father has problems with his siblings as well. I believe to some extent that the same demon that powers that estrangement was passed on to my siblings and I. Praise God that he revealed that evil me and now that generational curse has been brought to the light and exposed so now boys and his kids do have it lurking around anymore. I was embarrassed that I had not seen it in my life before, but feel blessed that now my brother and I can start again in love.
Tune in tomorrow for my Emotional progress!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Oh, no you didn't..
Do we look down on the actions of God. Or said another way. Do we Judge the actions of God in the Old Testament. Who are we to judge what he does? I think we need to learn to believe the best about God. Do we pretend to know how to do things better than God? How can we say, “Man, God is so harsh in the Old Testament,” as if it is our place to label the actions of God as what is right and just. If we truly believe God loves us and will do what is right then we must look at all the things he does through this lens. It is fine to not understand and to even question, but we need to check our attitude in asking and make sure that we are really asking for God to give us clarity as opposed to using our question to condemn his actions.
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