Wednesday, February 17, 2010

cHaNgE

For Lent I'm doing something different- I'll be posting on a different blogspot . I'll just be writing about what I am doing differently during Lent to draw closer to Jesus. This may include some Bible verses that impacted me that day, or it might not, we'll see. So follow the link if you want to read about my Lent commitment.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Sleepless Nights and Gorgeous Sights

Last night I went ice-skating around midnight, it was such a great time with God, and so serene. I told him I would read his word when I got back to the room; I get back, my roomie's in bed, the lights are out. So I read it for a little bit and work on my memory verse with a little booklight I have. I close it, the room is dark, it is almost two: I want to go to bed. I can't. Ended up grabbing my bible, pillow, and a sleeping bag and just went out into the hallway and slept. There was something so comforting about it. I know people probably think I'm weird for liking to sleep on the floor more than on beds- but I've always liked sleeping bags more. Anyways, I got some more Bible reading in out there and ran into some great things!

A story I really like from Acts is the one where a Jewish high priest is trying to go around casting out demons "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out". So this day the evil spirit answers and says; "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you? The possessed man beats them up and they run out naked and bleeding. Now, what I've found is that stuff like that doesn't just happen for no reason at all- there's always a lesson behind it. The consequence? Everyone was seized with fear and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds, then publicly burned their scrolls Acts 19:20 says, "In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power".

Wow! The fear of God (forgotten a lot nowadays)and holding Jesus' name in high honor can cause people to confess their evil deeds (in public nonetheless!)and lead to an actual change of action. Yup- that all happened, and spread the word of the Lord even further, and it grew even more in power. Incredible!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Remain True

Today I was reading about some followers going out to the Greeks to speak to them. The Lord's hand was with them, and guess what that meant? A great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. The Jerusalem church hears this and wants to see it- to hear about it- (is this legit?) so they send Barnabas. What did Barnabas do? Acts 11:23 tells us;

"When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts."

What is the evidence of grace? The Amplified says that Barnabas saw the favor God was bestowing upon them. God bestows his favor on those who love, obey, serve, and call on Him. This made Barnabas very joyful- so what did he do with his gladness? He encouraged them to stay just as devoted to God as they presently were. Sometimes we witness many come to Christ but forget that it is also so important to encourage them to REMAIN TRUE to the LORD! An initial acceptance of Jesus is no good if we don't remain true to Him, and with all our hearts- none of this half-hearted remaining true...

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Why him??

Y'know what? I realized something. It's hard to do things on your own. There are some things I try to do (blog about my bible everyday, memorize James, pray more often, stuff like that) and it's just plain discouraging to feel like you're the only one doing those things. That's why I like going to Ron's office for prayer in the mornings- there are always people there- it's uplifting, times like that remind me that I'm not alone. I'm glad we're a body of Christians- that there are others- that I don't have to do everything all alone. I've been going back over the sermon on the mount in Matthew (Matthew 5-7 anyone who wants to memorize something, this is a great piece to memorize- do it with me!). But today I was reading in Acts about the conversion of Saul to Paul. When Paul is in Damascus (still blinded) the Lord speaks to one of his followers and tells him to go ask for Saul from Tarsus. His follower (Ananias) tries to tell God why it's a terrible idea.

Acts 9:15-16
But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and show the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."


I wonder what went through Ananias' head as God told him that this despicable, saint-harming, arrester is His chosen instrument to carry his name. I think I would have been jealous- this man, Ananias, had obviously been faithful to God, the power of the Lord was upon him- yet the Lord chose such a terrible guy to represent His name. I might have wondered what was wrong with me, why God wouldn't use me in that way, or why I had to be responsible for helping the man so many followers feared and disliked... God just goes on to say that He will show Saul (Paul) how much he must suffer for His name. So Ananias goes and prays that he may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit, he is and goes out to speak powerfully and prove that Jesus is the Christ. At first all the disciples were afraid of him and didn't really think he was a disciple, I can imagine that those feelings were a form of suffering for Jesus. His suffering increased as he grew in God and faith. I don't really understand why God didn't just use one of the many that were coming to Christ and truly following him- why didn't he use someone like Ananias or Barnabas in the role he gave to Paul instead?? Sure, the radical conversion of Paul really shows the glory of God, but this makes me wonder about my own testimony... it isn't radical- will God pluck a lost one from the sea of sin and work through that person more than he works through me, though I ask Him everyday to let his will come in my life? I suppose that's rather a selfish thing to ask, but still, I wish I understood God's ways better. In any case, I am grateful for all I've been given, and the chances to shine for Him that I do have, nothing else matters but to bring the most glory to God possible.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Acting Out

I remember a time, a year or two ago, when I stumbled upon Acts. I was in my studio, just reading the Bible, I'd finished whatever and just flipped to twenties of Acts, and started reading- I read everything- not to be "spiritual" or anything, but because it was SO enjoyable. The story totally drew me in, and gave me a desire to see something like the church in Acts here today. As I read Acts today I started making a list of what happened between God and his servants, starting in Acts 4:31, here it is:

-The apostles prayed (Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus)
-The meeting place was shaken
- They were all filled with the Holy Spirit & spoke the word of God boldly
- They were one in heart and mind
- Shared everything they had
- Continued to testify to Jesus' resurecction
- Much grace was upon them all
- Helped needy believers
- Some believers sin against God (Ananias and Sapphira)
- God and church leadership enforce consequences (God strikes them dead)
- all of the believers have a healthier respect for and fear of God
- apostles perform many miraculous signs and wonders
- highly regarded by the people
- more and more believe in the Lord
- healings (ALL the cords brought were healed- Acts 5:16), freeing from evil spirits
- persecution of the aposles - they are arrested
- divine deliverance -an angel opens the jails doors and gives them instructions
- they obey and stand in the temple and teach the people the message of new life
- brought before the religious leaders
- stand up for beliefs- "We must obey God rather than men!" (Acts 5:29)
- the Pharisees are furious BUT one stands up and reasons with the other Pharisees (his name is Gamaliel which means "benefit of God", he says (Acts 5:38-39)"Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." great logic!
- the pharisees are persuaded and flog the apostles, tell them not to speak in Jesus' name, and let them go
- The apostles leave rejoicing that they are counted worthy to suffer disgrace for the Name (what a different outlook than most of us "Christians" have!)
- day after day in the temple courts and from house to house they NEVER stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ

Notice how everything stemmed from a "simple" prayer? The apostles (truly obedient to God) prayed that the Lord would enable those who serve him to speak His word with great boldness. They asked him to stretch out his hand to heal people and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of his holy servant Jesus. And God answered their prayers (He said he would do this y'know), so maybe we should pray more - fancy that!

Friday, February 5, 2010

What is it to You?

I finished the gospel of John today. Y'know, it's been harder and harder to get enough of God. Kind of like eating- when you feast everyday you have more of a capacity to eat, and a greater hunger when you don't; but, if you are accustomed to starving, going a day or three without food isn't as hard and doesn't affect you nearly as much. Well, I want to feast on God every day, every single day- not just a tiny meal of Jesus- no, I don't want that to satisfy me, oh I pray that I may always hunger. There were so many significant verses, I think the following is particularly poignant though, it's when Jesus is asking Peter if he loves Him and telling him to "Follow Me". (John is following them)

John 21
When Peter saw him (John), he asked, "Lord, what about him?"
Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me."


Sometimes I think we ask God "what about so-and-so?" just to give us an excuse. If God has called us to something, if Jesus himself has requested that we follow him, why would we care about what anyone else would be doing? Jesus had just told Peter what would happen to him when he was older, and Peter responds by asking what the future of someone else is? Why? Jesus replies that it doesn't matter what his plans are for someone else when he has clearly told Peter the plans he has for his life. What Jesus plans in others' futures does not have ramifications on us- meaning it doesn't change the calling God has placed on our life. Certainly we are interdependent and function as a body, but EACH individual needs to obey what God has told them. If God has planned for us to be a medical doctor, or missionary, or businessperson, or pastor, or wealthy, or to be a martyr for his name it doesn't not matter that John Doe got called into something else- it does not affect the fact that we must follow Jesus.

Maybe your room-mate will live a comfortable life with all the amenities to a ripe old age of 106, but what those around us are called to does NOT change the fact that we are to follow Jesus. If God has given us a difficult route and others an easier path, what is it to us- should it affect the passion we follow Him with? Never.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

We do Not Belong- but Take us Not

In part of John 17 Jesus is praying for his disciples, He says some deep stuff; not surprising since He is divine... This part really resonated with me:

Jesus talks about how he has delivered God's message to his disciples, and now the world hates them - because, like Jesus, they do not belong to it. When God's message is given to us we have a message so much better than anything the world can say to us- how then could it hold onto us? The next verse is highlighted and circled multiple times (I guess it has always resonated with me):

I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one.

So, even though we don't belong to the world Jesus isn't suggesting that God come and grab us now (we have been given His message remember). Instead he prays that God will keep us from the evil prince of this world, that we will continue to be in it, but not belong to it. Jesus isn't of the world and those to whom he delivered God's message are not worldly either. Jesus has prayed that his Father will not take us from the world but will keep us from the evil in it, next he prays this;

Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.

Jesus wants us to be purified and made holy, to be set apart by his Truth-breathing Word. We kinda need to get God's word into us if we want to be purified by it.

Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

We've been sent into the world, not belonging to it, but we have been sent to it. This world needs to hear God's message too: on our behalf Jesus dedicated himself so we could be made holy by means of the Truth. He gave his life as a ransom for many - I pray that we never take His sacrifice lightly. He could have just told us the truth or made a movie out of it or written it down or told one person to tell everyone else- but instead, He lived out the truth- and he died and rose again so that the Truth of God's message would come alive.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Fruity Pruning

A lot of things stuck out to me in John today, I feel like this book is getting read way too fast- it will be ending way too soon for my liking. John 14:13-14 caused me to stop and think ("And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.") But that is not what I am going to write on today (though I really would like too). I thought this parable was really applicable to me-

In John 15 Jesus says;
"I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the gardener. Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit."

So we're Christians, followers and imitators of Christ, but say we're just chilling on the Jesus vine - are we really imitating anything about Jesus? He never stopped bearing fruit, the produce of sincere love, not even as he died. If we aren't bearing fruit (or if we have produced fruit sometime in the past, but stopped) we will get cut away, period. Less eternally painful is the process of pruning. God is trimming away the parts of us that aren't like Him, that don't bear fruit, if we stay connected an surrendered to Him. He continually cleanses and trims what is not in character with the True Vine away. God isn't cutting away the parts in us that are hard to give up to see the pained expression on our faces as we are asked to give something up- no, he trims us so that we may bear MORE and BETTER fruit. See- there's a reason we have to keep surrendering ourselves to God.

Jesus continues to say that if we live in Him he will live in us. Everyone then, and now, knows that if you pluck a branch off of a vine it will wither, at first you might not be able to tell, but that doesn't mean it's not happening. If we are not vitally united to the vine (Jesus)there is not going to be growth, we won't see the fruits of the spirit or any other good fruit. So if people have a hard time seeing the fruit in our lives we're going to need to ask why that is.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Notice Me!

Jesus did plenty of miracles, many believed because of them, and many would still not see the miracles as the signs they were (Pharisees and other religious leaders mostly). But some leaders did believe in Him. There's a catch though- they wouldn't confess their faith because they were afraid they would be kicked out of the synagogue. John 12:43 says this about the leaders who believed;

"For they loved the approval and the praise and the glory that come from men [instead of and] more than the glory that comes from God. (They valued their credit with men more than their credit with God)."

They cared more about getting ousted from the silly synagogue than ousted from their relationship with the God of the synagogue- ludicrous, isn't it? I kinda wonder what happened to them... Jesus says that if we are ashamed of Him now he will be ashamed when he comes in his glory (Luke 9:26) and that whoever acknowledges Him here and now He will acknowledge before his Father in Heaven, and whoever disowns him, that person will he disown (Matthew 10:32-33). So where does that leave people who won't confess their faith for fear of people?

It's nice to get acknowledged by important people here on earth, but it would be far better to be acknowledged by Jesus before his Father in Heaven...

Monday, February 1, 2010

Where does he hail from?

I was reading aloud from John today, practicing for my oral interpretation class, and I really enjoyed reading this part aloud. There is sarcasm, condescension, judgment, and truth. The people speaking are the Pharisees investigating the healing of a blind man (by none other than Jesus himself)...

John 9:29-34
29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from.

30The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and a worshiper of Him and does His will, He listens to him. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

34To this they retorted, "You were wholly born in sin[from head to foot]; and do you presume to teach us?"



The Pharisees are absolutely sure that this guy who was surely seeped in sin like a teabag in water cannot lecture there impeccable standards and ideals. That was their cheap reaction when they could think of nothing better to say. The man, once blind (and apparently clever too), is presenting some simple logic: God only listens to those who are obedient to His will, and only God can open eyes, so this man must come from God because of what he does, otherwise he couldn't do anything. Good logic on his part, obviously too good for Pharisees who enjoyed their blindness.

I wonder if people could logically deduce where my actions come from? I think it is pretty easy to see motives most times, would people see my actions and say that I could not do them without the strength of God? Or would they easily see them as something anyone could do in their own strength?