Prayer!!

Hey my friends! Thought I would blog a little today after not blogging for like 5 years.  Anyway, I have been reading a book called Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets (I know, kind of a weird name) but it is way good.  I never knew there was so much depth to prayer and so much POWER! Learning to pray more effectively is something that I think we as followers of Christ must do.  Anyone can sit and mumble of a few random things at God a few times a day but this is not what He wants.  God wants people who are tired of being defeated by an already defeated enemy...who are willing  to get down and FERVENTLY release the power of His Holy Spirit on this earth to heal people, bind Satan and his demons, protect love ones, raise the dead, do other miracles, and then bind the darkness some more with His light!! Satan has already been defeated and now all we have to do is enforce that victory through the Holy Spirit.  We are able to do so many great and miraculous things through prayer by releasing God's power, yet for some reason, I, and I feel like many Christians today, don't pray nearly enough.

Anyway, thats a little of what this book is about and I encourage you all to read it!! Peace!

Long Time No Blog!!

Well hello all! I have not blogged...as you can see...in quite a while.  I don't know why, but the whole blogging just kind of stopped for me.  However, I do miss it...just sharing thoughts, mainly between the SBS.  So I am just sitting at my home that is fairly new to me, being bored, so I thought I would pay an old visit to the blog.  I don't really know what I am saying and I am just rambling on so I am going to go. Peace!

How Do We, As Christians, Look Different Than The Wold

Well as Keith said, many Christians look no different than the rest of the world, myself included at times.  However, the right answer would have to be that we should be different in all we do.  In all we do, Christ should be shown and as we all know, Christ was and is way different and completely backwards in the worlds eyes.  So if Christ is being shown in all we do and we are living absolutely for Him, then we in turn are different and strange, maybe even hated, by the world. Easier said than done. Some verses that come to mind and some I found speak to this subject:

John 14:31 - but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

John 15:18 - If the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first.

John 15:19 - If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is the world hates you.

Romans 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is; His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Titus 2:11-13 - For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say "no" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope; the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

James 4:4 - You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

1 Peter 2:11 - Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

1 John 2:15 - Do not love the world or anything in the world.  I f anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

 

Is Absolute Faith Possible?

To have absolute faith is to believe in something with no doubt whatsoever.  Do i think that it is possible to have this kind of faith in God? Yes!  I believe that God is God and that He sent His only son to die for humanity to be reconciled to Him...and I believe that absolutely.  I feel like when my faith is not absolute is when it comes to what God can do.  Such as miracles. I know that God can do miracles cause the Bible is full of them.  Yet if I were to go and pray over someone who was hurt and needed healing...i don't know if i would have enough faith to heal that person.  Or in Peter's case (as Jack sated) I don't know if I would have enough faith to walk on the water all the way out to Jesus...or faith enough to walk on the water at all!!  However, as we are learning in Journey, it is possible and essential for us as Christ followers  to increase our faith by drawing closer to God and learning more about His character.  The closer we get to God the closer He will get to us!  The more we know Him, the more we will trust in His love and power!!

Moral Neutrality

Ian's question for this week was on the subject of Moral Neutrality and if there are Morally Neutral things in our lives that God wants us to get rid of.  This is the first time that I had herd the term Morally Neutral and I didn't give much thought to it at first.  However, when I began to think about what I was going to write for this entry, I began to think about this term a little more.  The word moral or morality defined by itself refers to principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong.  Neutral or Neutrality means not helping or supporting either of two opposing sides.  So just by looking at these definitions, there seems to be a problem.  If Morality says that things are either right or they are wrong, how can there be Neutrality?  Are not these things either right or either wrong? The term seems to contradict itself!  Yet as I thought more about it, I realized that morals are not standardized, and it depends on what morals you choose to live by.  If we want to live by the world's morals, then we still live based on what is right and wrong, they just are consistent with God's standards.  There is of course going to be things that the world says are okay, but God says are bad.  This is an easy distinction.  If you want to live by God's standards or morals, the distinction should be just as easy...that God has His moral standards that He wants us to live by...morals that identify things as right and wrong according to Him and His word.  I feel like the term of Moral Neutrality comes into play and makes sense when we begin to mix the world's morals with the morals of God!  When we begin to say things are okay to do because they are okay by the world's standards, but not necessarily by God's...or maybe God's Word does not say anything against them directly, then I think we may find ourselves engaging in Morally Neutral things.  As far as the part of the question asking if  we have Morally Neutral things in our lives...the answer would have to be a big YES.  I am sure there are many things that I could get rid of in my life...video games, TV, Facebook, Myspace, etc... that would please God if I did.  Now then, if God would be pleased if I gave these things up...if these things aren't say "bad" yet they take time, or waste time, that I could be growing closer to God...do they cease to be Morally Neutral and swing to the side of the pendulum labeled Wrong? I guess I am just having a hard time with the term Morally Neutral.  Things are either pleasing to God or they're not.  If they are, then they're right if they're not, then they're wrong.  I don't know...the world says video games and TV and all that is perfectly fine but does God...are they really Morally Neutral or just wrong? I don't really know what I am saying or if any of this made sense to anyone but I am just rambling so I am going to go now!

When our Experiences and God's Word Collides!!

This is the topic for our SBS this week.  It is kind of a confusing topic for me but I am going to try and do my best to put in words what is means to me.  

To me, this starts with the realization that everyday, God gives us experiences and opportunities...at school, work, the store, etc.  It is easy to see these things as everyday life and not realize the impact that could be made if these moments and "God's Word collided"...if we took what we learn from God's Word and actually lived it out to the best of our abilities in all aspects of our lives. However, this now implies that we must be reading the Word to start off with.  As Christ followers, we need to be reading the Bible and drawing near to God every day.  Now, reading the Word, and living it out are two different things.  Anyone can read the Bible and say, "Ahh yes...this is good stuff.  If everyone lived like this the world would be a better place," and then continue their life unchanged.  Even demons or pagans could do this.  "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe there is only one God.  Good! Even the demons belive that...and SHUDDER" (James 2:18-19). Anyone can believe the Word, and that there is one God for even the demons...even Satan believes and knows this and it freaks him out.  The hard part comes when we have the chance to let our experiences and God's Word collide! 

So for me, I feel like this meant that other people are watching the Church and watching us as Christians to see how we are living our lives.  And when they look at us they need to see that our life is more so allowing the Word of God to collide into us and take over our lives.  So then it is no longer us doing anythings, but now Jesus Christ in us, using us as a representation of himself.  When this happens, there will be a "collision" and as we know, collisions are anything but unnoticeable.  When we let this happen, people are going to notice...our experiences with the world will become life changing and revolutionary!

Friends and a Good Fire!

So I have been sitting in Andy's office for the past three hours by myself just reading and waiting for worship practice to commence.  While waiting, my eyes caught site of a book on Andy's shelf entitled, "The Quotable Lewis."  The book, as you can probably guess, is filled with quotes from C.S. Lewis on different things.  Naturally, being a Lord of the Rings nerd, my fingers fumbled back to the index to see if there was any mention of J.R.R. Tolkien, knowing the two were close friends.  As expected, there were some references to quotes in which Lewis mentions Tolkien.  Amongst them there was one in-particular that I really enjoyed.  Lewis writes (about Tolkien and other brothers in Christ), "Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle or Christian friends by a good fire?"  Upon reading this, I could not help but let my imagination picture Lewis and Tolkien, sitting around the fire at their favorite pub, smoking some fresh pipe tobacco and sipping on a pint, talking about theology or maybe a few of their various literary works.  As I came back to reality, I reflected on the previous night...Mr. Holiday and I, sitting by the fire at our favorite pub, sipping on a pint of the finest ale in town, just talking about God and life and friends.  And I realized...there is not many things that I like more than fellowshipping with my brothers in Christ...just relaxing at the pub, talking about life.  I hope that more of my conversations are as rich, deep, and meaningful as mine and Ian's was last night.  I spend a lot of time talking with friends about random things, that aren't bad, but just aren't very deep.    I don't think it is bad to talk about say video games, or movies, but there is an enjoyment that comes from talking to my fellow brothers about God and questions about life that I do not get from talking about other things.  I know that most of my friends would agree with me so I can't help but wonder why we don't more often!  It's so easy, for some reason, for my group of friends to joke inappropriately about things, which has become the majority of all we do as a group anymore, yet so hard for us to get on the topic of God! Why? I don't enjoy that! I do enjoy having deep conversations with Christians friends around a "good fire"!