Wow it's been a while...

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm in the process of switching from a blogger account to a wordpress account. So I haven't had a whole lot of time to get on here and write any posts or update and declutter this website. For that I'm sorry. I hope to get on soon and either finish up getting the new website in order, or write a new blog post.
But for now here's some Scripture for you to think on...

Ephesians 5:15-17 "Be very careful, then, how you live -- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, the have divine power to demolish strongholds."

1 John 5:4-5 "For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world: Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
God bless and take care!

Trust God in Life

I'm confused. I don't know what to do. I fear going forward...I'm determined not to fall back. I close my eyes to try and block what I see only to find out that the images in my head are just as clear as the ones I truly see. I try to harden my heart to the emotions I'm feeling, but only to find it's no use.
The only thing I can do is trust in God. He holds my future. I don't see nor do I understand what my future holds, but God does. And for that I'm thankful.
I'm tired. I'm always "on the go". I want to stop and just give up, but I must run with endurance the race that is set before me. If I stop I will loose and fall. I have to plug along even though it's hard.
So what if I'm confused? So what if I'm tired" So what if I feel I can't go on? I'm an overcomer! I put my trust in Jesus. I have lived most of my life for myself and my own selfish ambitions. I will live whatever life I have left for God. He's all I need. He's all I should ever want...

Does that sound familiar to you? Do you ever feel that when it gets to hard that you want to quit?
I know that sometimes life gets hard. Sometimes you may feel like you want to just give up. DON'T. When things get hard, trust in God. When you're confused, trust in God. When you're tired, trust in God, and He will carry you through.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your pathes straight."

Will We Go?

Recently, in one of my courses for school; I needed to read through the book of Isaiah. There’s a scene in Isaiah 6 that caught my eye...

King Uzziah just died, and now the Lord showed Himself to Isaiah...
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I (Isaiah) said, “Here I am. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

Isaiah was willing to be sent. He was willing to go. Isaiah knew what it meant if he went for the Lord. It meant that he would have to give up everything that he held dear, and maybe even his very life.

Are we willing to forsake all else for the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Are we willing to give up the comforts of this world to go where the Lord leads us?

“He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Matthew 28:19

And now the final question is...

Will we go?



For those who commented on my last blog, I've replied to your comments if you want to check it out...God bless and take care!

The Importance of God's Word

How important is the Word of God to you? Co you make sure that you spend some time everyday in His Word?
When I meet a fellow brother or sister in Christ, one of the first questions I ask is, “What have you been reading in the Word?” Which is usually followed by, “Is anything sticking out to you while you read?” Most of the time I get a response of “I haven’t been reading the Bible lately,” or “I’m...uh...reading...uh... I forgot what I read this morning.”
“For I delight in Your commands because I love them. I lift up my hands to Your commands, which I love, and I meditate on Your decrees.” –Psalm 119:47-48
Delight- the source of pleasure; great satisfaction; joy (Webster’s Encyclopedia of Dictionaries)
Do you delight in the Lord’s commands because you love them, and Him?
Think of the Word of God this way... a letter written to you from the Person who loves you the most. If someone wrote you a love letter wouldn’t you want to read it every chance you got? (Personally I would especially if I said I loved that person back)
We as followers of Jesus Christ should want to spend time in God’s Word.
"Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long." -Psalm:119:97

Trusting God

Proverbs 3:5-6- “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all you ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

This a pretty straight forward passage wouldn’t you agree?

We can trust the Lord for everything. He knows what’s going to happen, and He knows why it’s going to happen.

I’ve told several of my friends the below paragraph several times before...

“Everything happens for a reason, and though we don’t always understand it at times; everything happens to the glory of God. He has everything in control; all we need to do is trust Him, and He will get us through.”

We must realize that sometimes people will fail us and break our trust, but God isn’t like that. He never fails us, He’s always there for us, and He’ll never leave us.

What an awesome God we serve!

Too Much Music

How many hours a day do we listen to music (whether it be CDs, the radio, ipod, or mp3 player)? I recently added up all the hours that I listen to music during the day and it ended up being about 10 hours a day. I was shocked! Now, I’m not saying that the music I listen to is bad and not God honoring, but it’s the fact that I listen to so much of it in a day.

How much time do we spend a day in God’s Word? For me...not nearly enough.

So I’ve come to the conclusion that
1. I’m going to cut back on my “intake” of music.
2. If I find myself having nothing to do; I’m going to use the time wisely, and read my Bible or a Christian devotional.

I would appreciate it if you (my faith readers) would keep me accountable.

A Wise Saying And Then Some

2 of my best friends came over this weekend, and this morning while we were all reading our Bibles; Amy wrote something down on a piece of paper, and read it to us. I found it very encouraging and asked if I could post it on my blog.

Here’s what she said...

“Pain is a beautiful thing that is hidden in the midst of our suffering. It brings out the worst in us and the also the best in us which isn’t really the best. It sharpens us or deadens us. It is our choice in how it will influence us. We must choose to either ignore it our learn from it. Jesus promises me that “He will never leave me or forsake me.” He is so worthy of my love, but I am so unworthy of His. Oh God, please soften this hard heart of mine. Make me like You. Wash me and cleanse me from this double-minded life. Show me Your ways. Lead me in the way of salvation. Open my eyes so I may see wonderful words from Your law. Please take the tension and fear away and replace it with peace. “For You are my God and I will only serve You.’”
Your daughter,
Amy Lesh

Well, on another note, Today I’m officially 17. Yipee!

I’ve been looking over this past year, and I’ve seen how much God Almighty has changed me. In June, I fell away from the Lord, and got into some really bad things that I wish I hadn’t done. A few months later I asked God why those things had happened to me. I then remembered a wise saying that I had heard before. “Everything happens for a reason, and to the glory of God even when we don’t understand it.” (not exact quote)

Not that long after, a friend of mine emailed me and told me he had tried to commit suicide. Later on, 2 other friends either called or emailed me and told me they too had tried to commit suicide. I was able to encourage all three of those people in the Lord during their time pain and suffering. I did not do it on my own accord; the Lord helped me.

Sometimes things happen to us that we don’t understand, but God has a reason for all that does happen. And it’s to His Glory.

God Is Closer Then You Think

At 8:00 this morning, I found myself sitting in a classroom full of teenagers.
I’m home schooled; so why was I in a class with a bunch of kids my age?

I was taking the ACT, and I was nervous as can be. I’ve never done well on tests before no matter how long I study. My mind seems to go blank every time.

So here I sat in chair 3. My heart was pounding as I look around the classroom till at last my eyes came upon a piece of paper on the tack board. It said this... “God is closer then you think.”
I smiled and let out a sigh of relief. Thanks, Lord! I thought.

So for the next 4 hours, I diligently worked on the test. Every time I felt a new wave of fear come over me; I just remembered that little saying on the wall, and thanked the Lord.

God is closer then you think.

What a very true statement! He is closer then we think and sometimes realize. In fact, He never leaves us. There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” He’ll never leave us (even when we do wrong) because He loves us too much. (John 3:16)

Sin and God's Love

What is sin? That’s a question that many people ask in the world around us.

In one of my homeschool courses, there was a quote by Susannah Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley printed on one of the pages. She answers the question of what is sin very well. She said this, “Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of you conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes your relish for spiritual things – that is sin to you.”

Sin is not just things like murdering someone, lying, or stealing. Not to say those aren’t sins because they are definitely sins, but sin is anything that displeases God or is a transgression against His law.

When you do something that you know you aren’t supposed to do then it’s sin. There are many things we do in just one day that we know we shouldn’t do but we do it anyway. Maybe it’s watching a bad show on TV, or checking out a site on the internet that you shouldn’t. These are called sins of commission.

Sins of omission are things that we know we should do, but don’t. These can include things like failing to read our Bible and praying, not truly loving those around us (our neighbors), and so on.

So why do we sin? It’s nature. We were born that way. It all started about 6 thousand years ago when Adam and Eve first sinned. Their sin separated them from God, and since we are descendants of Adam and Eve; we also sin.

“...Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18) “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)

Praise the Lord that He loves us so much that He would die for us! All we have to do is freely accept His free gift of Salvation. For those of us who have already done this; are sins were once like scarlet, and now they are as white as snow.

Can I get a praise God to that?

Truly Needing God

I’ve heard many people over the years who have said that they don’t need God. That they can survive on their own. I know I’ve done this plenty of times, but you know something? We can’t survive on our own. If it weren’t for God keeping His hand on this little planet we call home, Earth would practically destroy itself.

Think about it. A few thousand years ago, God took His hand off of Earth for 40 days and 40 nights and what happened? A catastrophic Flood wiped out all but 8 people and a few animals that God saved.

We can do nothing without the Lord. If it weren’t for the Lord we mortal humans wouldn’t even remember to breathe.

Without the Lord; there would be no hope. If there was no God, then when we die that’s it. There would be no life after death. There would be no Heaven or Hell. We would just die and turn to dust. Everything we did on Earth would have no meaning.

But praise the Lord, there’s hope! Jesus Christ is our hope. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and purchased a place in Heaven for us. Unfortunately, though, not many people know of this hope that we have.

Why?

Because we who have it aren’t sharing it with others! That to me is a very sad situation. We have the best gift that anyone ever needs, and we just hide it. We all know someone who doesn’t have this free gift; whether it is a friend, family member, or just an acquaintance. How very sad it will be when your friends or family stand before God and they don’t have their name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

The truth of the whole matter is we can’t survive without the Lord, and neither can your friends or family.

So what are we going to do about it?

Prayer As A Part Of Our Lives

I’ve recently been studying the Gospel of Luke during my quiet time with the Lord, and I came across this verse that really made me think.

“One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” -Luke 6:12

A normal person sleeps about 8 hours a night. Jesus spent at least 8 hours praying to the God of the universe that night. And I don’t believe this was some repetitious prayer that so many people repeat from memory.

How much time do we spend praying to the one who loves us so much that He died on the cross for us? I’d have to say that I don’t do it nearly enough.

Another thing that strikes me is the fact that He went to a lonely mountainside to pray. He went alone; no followers, no friends, no teachers of the Law, nobody. It was just Him and God; no distractions.

How many times do we as true followers of Jesus get distracted with all the noise around us? For most of us (including me) the answer is a lot. We tend to start praying then all of a sudden we hear something that catches our attention, and Jesus is forgotten. And then maybe a few hours later we remember that we never finished praying. “Oops, sorry, God. I won’t do that next time.” But odds are we probably will.

“When He (the Lamb of God) had taken it (the scroll), the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incenses, which are the prayers of the saints.” –Revelation 5:8

Focus on the last part of that verse for a moment. “...golden bowls full on incenses, which are the prayers of the saints.”

God loves us so much that when we pray to Him; He puts our prayers in a golden bowl. Our prayers must be really precious to Him if He does that with them.
Prayer isn’t just a quick thing you say before a meal, or bed. It’s a communication with God Almighty. He talks to us through His word (the Bible), and we talk to Him through prayer.
So why can’t we spend more than 5 or 10 minutes talking to Him, but we can spend hours talking to our friends?

He loved us enough to die for us. We can show our appreciation and love by spending more time in prayer with Him.

A Few Questions

This blog post is going to be extremely shorter than my normal ones this time. What I wanted to do for this post is ask you guys questions that I’d like you to think about.
These question are something that I’ve had on my mind for a few months now. I’d like to for warn you that these questions might offend you. If you are easily offended then please don’t read the following questions. Thank you.





Do you find yourself judging newcomers at church just because they look different from you?

Would you rather read a book, watch something on the TV, or surf the net instead of reading and studying God’s word?

Do you go to church to worship God, or just to hang out with you’re friends?

Do you thank God for the good things in life as well as the bad?

Are you afraid to share Jesus with your non Christian friends because they might make fun of you?

If someone who knows you’re a Christian comes up to you and said that you’re dressing immodestly or inappropriately; would you be willing to change how you dress?

Do you do everything as unto the Lord?

Do you find it easier to hate someone or forgive them when they say or do something to you?

Is personal Bible reading and prayer a part of your daily schedule?

If God asked you right now to give up everything you own and follow Him; would you?

The Love of Altruism

Altruism is the principle of living for the good of others; unselfish.

My Bible Study teacher had asked me to do a study on “The Characteristics of Altruism as Evidenced in the Life of Paul and How This Applies to Us Today” for a in-town retreat that are group of Bible Study girls were going to. That was about a year ago, and I thought it would be good to have it on here for you to read and think on.

Test all things hold fast to that which is good. - 1 Thessalonians 5:21

I want to begin this study with telling you that I had googled the word altruism and came up with 2,510,000 sites on the word altruism. I couldn’t even begin to look at all these sites, it’s physically impossible. So I got off the internet and looked in the one Book that could help me with this study of altruism. That Book is the Bible.
I turned to the book of 1 Corinthians, and that is where most of the biblical material is taken from. The versions used in this study are NKJV, NIV, and the Amplified Bible Version.
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How many times have you heard the word “Altruism” before? For a few, you might have heard this word before, and for some this might be the first time you’ve heard this word.

Note: You might want to check out 1 Corinthians 8-9 (It might help you understand more)

In the first 3 verses of 1 Corinthians 8, Paul talks about how we know that idols aren’t real or of this world and that it’s ok to eat the meat sacrificed to idols. But in the next verse it says that not all the Corinthian Christians knew this. So in the end some of the Christians were making the weaker Christians stumble, because it was going against there convictions. The weaker Christians thought it was wrong to eat at the idol feast, but as they walked by they might have seen some of there fellow Christians eating there at that feast. So they would question themselves and end up doing what they thought was wrong.

OK you guys are probably thinking, “Whoa, this girl’s nuts! What on Earth is she talking about?” I’m sorry if you’re confused; let me try to explain a little more in detail.
In A.D. 59 (The time that the book of 1 Corinthians was written) Christians in Corinth were having some serious problems. They were doing things that were completely contrary to God’s perfect law. Some of these sins included immorality, sectarianism, division in the church, idolatry, and so on and so forth. So Paul, being the one who started the church in Corinth, had to do something to help his brothers and sisters in Christ. So he wrote them a letter. Hence, the book of 1 Corinthians. Most of the Corinthian Christians were former idol worshippers and so most of them still thought that the idols were real to some extent. So they didn’t want to eat the meat sacrificed to these idols because they thought it was wrong. They were new Christians and they didn’t know that the idols weren’t real and that it was perfectly fine to eat the meat that was sacrificed to the false gods as some of the other Christians knew. So as I explained a couple of paragraphs before, the stronger Christians were making the weaker ones stumble and fall into sin. (I hope that helped!)

When you truly come to know Christ in a personal way, the Holy Spirit convicts you of things in your life that need to go. For me the Holy Spirit convicted me of some CDs that I had in my room. The songs on those CDs were not God honoring so I threw them out.

When you go against these convictions it becomes sin. Sin is anything that displeases the Lord or is a transgression against His holy, and perfect law.

You see, Paul was an altruistic person. What I mean by this is that he was free to go to the feasts at the temples and eat the meat sacrificed to the false gods, but he didn’t. Paul didn’t want to become a stumbling block to the weaker Christians.

Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.- 1 Corinthians 8:13

We are also free people, but like Paul we need to be careful about what we do. If you have a friend who you know is extremely addicted to the TV then don’t turn it on when you get together at your house. (Even if your favorite TV show is on.) There are plenty of other things that you could do. It is important for us not to make our weaker brothers and sisters stumble. This is a form of altruism.

1Corinthians 9:19 says, “For though I am free in every way from anyone’s control, I have made myself a bond servant to everyone, so that I might gain the more for Christ.” So Paul was free, he didn’t belong to anyone except Jesus Christ. But as my pastor has said numerous times, he became a bondservant or an under rower. (An under rower is a slave who would row at in the bottom of a large ship) Paul tells us the reason why he did this too. He said that he wanted to win the souls of as many people for Christ as he possibly could. We also as Christians need to become bondservants for Jesus Christ. It won’t be easy, but it is defiantly worth it.

1 Corinthians 9:20-23 says, “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak, I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share in it’s blessing.” Paul not only cared for these people but he also loved them. If Paul didn’t love these people he wouldn’t have taken the time to get to know them. That’s what he means when he says that he became like a Jew, one under the law, and so on. When you love and care for someone; you want to know everything about that person. Paul did this. He took time to listen and understand the people. Paul wanted to find common ground with these people before confronting them with their need to change.

We also need to do this. We as Christians need to take time out of our schedule (however busy it may be) to talk to and try to understand the people around us. These people would include your next door neighbors, friends that you hang out with, your teammates, even family members fall under this category. This again is another form of altruism.

Another way we can be altruistic like Paul is by not offending people with our life-style. What I mean by this is simply by the way we dress, how we talk, who we talk about, and where we go affects those around us, and we should be careful about these things. For girls, wearing an extremely tight shirt affects those around you. You’re probably say well yeah, that’s what I want, right? Sorry to say but this is wrong. We don’t please the Lord when we dress that way. Sure we please the world, but our top priority should be Jesus not the world. For guys, wearing your pants all the way to your ankles is not God honoring either (in my opinion). There is absolutely nothing wrong with wearing a belt every once in a while.
Now I’m not saying that girls have to wear dresses all the time and guys have to wear suits, but we need to honor God with what we wear. Some Christians find tight shirts, and baggy pants offending, and the last thing we need is to have a fellow Christian stumble because of what we wear.

I hope by the examples I’ve shown you that you can see that although altruism is not a common word it is a very important word, and deserves our time and study.

Unchanging Christ

I came across a verse recently in Hebrews that says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
I read this verse, stopped, and read back over it again this time more slowly. After I had read it for the 4th time; I sat there on my bed thinking about that verse.
Jesus Christ is the same always. He never changes...ever. That’s a difference between Him (God Almighty) and mortal, finite men and women. We change our minds so many times daily that it’s a wonder how we can keep up with anyone let alone ourselves.
Jesus never changes. He’s the same as He has been since He created earth about 6,000 years ago.[1] The cool thing about all of this is since He never changes; we can put our trust in Him. That truly is awesome when you stop and think about it.
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[1] Answeres in Genesis, Creation Magazine