Friday, September 30, 2011

Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani



Pastor Yousef is being convicted of to Christianity and faces the death penalty. Go to http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=88&ea.campaign.id=12209 to send a letter to the Iranian Government requesting that he be spared and allowed to practice his faith.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Life Really is a Highway

You know the song. The one by Rascal Flatts. It was in a movie. Life is a highway. Interestingly enough, the Bible refers to Christianity as a journey. In Acts 9, we find Saul of Tarsus. He’s a zealous persecuter of Christians. In fact, in verse 2 it says: “and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. “

The Way. Interesting that it would say it like that. The word, transliterated, is hodos. Literally translated, it means a traveled road or a travelers journey. It can also mean, “a course of conduct.” Did you get as excited as I did? Christianity isn’t a one day trip. It’s not a drive down the street 5 minutes to the nearest Wal-Mart. It’s a life long journey of how we conduct ourselves. It’s a forever trip down the highway with the greatest driver in the universe.

You know, the hardest part for me is letting God drive. When I take the spiritual wheel, it would be like letting a 5 year old behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler. Yea. I cringe at the thought, too. But what we don’t realize is that we won’t make it far if we don’t let God drive. Let Him drive so you can enjoy the scenery.

I had this idea to make this blog self hosted. I wanted to design the website and make it go to a full blown ministry. There’s one problem. I can’t afford to pay for the website. I noticed the ones I was looking at want you to pay all at once in order to get a cheap monthly price. Confused yet? They want you to pay all at once and when you do the math it works out to a low price when you think of it by month. You just can’t pay it monthly. Cue the sigh.

*sigh*

So what next? I don’t really know. But you know the strange part? It’s ok. I’m not worried. Not really. I know God is in control and will lead me where He wants me. Sure, it’s a bit of a scary concept. Not knowing where I’m being lead. But I’m being lead by the all might, all powerful, all knowing God of love and compassion.
Until next time, my friends. Stay blessed!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

I Surrender All


I Surrender All

I surrender all.
All of the pain.
All of the sorrow.
All that this world has to offer.

I surrender my life.
All of my wants.
All of my desires.
All that I thought I was.

I surrender my plans.
All that I have done.
All that I am doing.
All that I will do.

I lay it at your feet, my God.
All that You are.
All that You want for me.
All that you want for my family.

I take up my cross,
To follow You.
To learn from You.
To love like you.

By: Gabriel Taylor
On: September 25th, 2011.



Thursday, September 15, 2011

Man Up - Part 1




This one goes out to the men. I've been thinking about this topic for a while. I'm just now getting around to writing about it. I know as a man I've got a lot of work to do. I fill a lot of roles. I'm a husband, a father, a brother, an uncle, a friend, and most important, a child of God. Specifically I want to write about the role of husbands in this post.

Husbands, we've got work to do. Yea, I know. I said that already. But it bears repeating. We've got work to do. Ephesians 5:22-33 talks about the role between husbands and wives. Now too many men read the part about wives submitting to their husbands and stop there. If there's one thing you need to know, it's never to take a scripture out of context. Especially one like this. Or you may be sleeping on the couch for a very long time.

Read further. Verse 25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..." As husbands, it's our duty to love our wives in such a way that they will want to love us back. Not so much because they made a vow to do so. Vows can be broken. Love your wife as Christ loves the Church. How does Christ love the Church?

He died for us. He served us. He gave us the example of being a servant leader. Gentlemen, here's the answer. Be the servant leader of your family. Lead in a way that you are serving them. By doing this, you will be an example to the rest of your family, perhaps most importantly for your kids. But we'll get to that in the next post.

Love your wife as Christ loves the Church. Christ did not oppress the Church. He does not force His love on us. He does not make us do things because He said so. He never tells us to do something and not give us the help necessary to accomplish it.

The story is told of a man and wife who went to a seminar on this very subject. However, the speaker preached very heavily on the wife submitting part and hardly at all on the husbands loving their wives part. The more he talked the more upset the wife became and the happier the husband became. So on the way home the wife was in the passenger seat fuming.

The husband finally broke the silence and said, "So what did you think?" No answer from his wife. They kept driving. Till he asked again.

"Well, what'd you think? I thought it was great." His wife sat silent staring angrily ahead. Finally they arrived at home. He decided to put his foot down, so to speak.

"Listen here woman! The Bible says you're supposed to submit to me! From now on I'm the captain and you have to listen to me and do what I say! Is that clear?!"

He didn't see his wife for about two weeks. Finally, after two weeks, one eye opened up just enough so he could see his wife a little bit.

My fellow men, let's love our wives in a way that they love us back as much if not more than we love them. Let's help them clean the house. Let's help them take care of the kids. Let's take them out every so often. Let's buy them flowers. Let's love them.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Forgiveness



What do you do when old feelings of resentment and anger resurface? When you thought you had forgiven someone of something a long time ago but something you saw happened to reignite the fire of anger?

From 4 years old till almost 11 years old, I was in a 3 child, single mother home. Mom worked hard to bring home the necessities. During those years, when mom had to work, I stayed other family. One particular family member would call me by my middle name and was the only one I would answer to when called by that name.

I loved him and thought the world of him. And then I found out some things. Things that I won't post on this blog, or likely anywhere. My respect for him dropped like a hot rock. I no longer wanted to have much to do with him. And once a certain event happened, he didn't really want to have much to do with us either.

For years I've kept the memory of being called by my middle name buried. I've almost resented my middle name for years. But this is where the power of choice comes in. I have to choose to let go of the past and forgive. I have to let go of the bad memories and attachments that have accompanied my middle name.

Forgiveness doesn't always happen immediately when practiced between sinful humans. In fact, we can't do it without God's help. It's a theme all throughout the Bible. When we genuinely repent, God forgives us and throws the memory away. It's as if we never did it in His mind. And having received this gift, shouldn't we pass it along to others?

Matthew 18:21-35 is the parable of the unforgiving servant. The lesson of this story is that we must pass on the gift that God has so graciously given us. If we don't forgive, God can't bless us. If we don't forgive, it WILL have a physical effect on our physical person. People have been known to have ulcers from holding on to anger. Some may even have a heart attack.

We have to let it go for our own sake as much as for the offender's sake. If Jesus, who did not deserve punishment in any way, died on the cross and forgave a criminal who justly deserved his sentence, then we have no right to refuse that gift to others.

I know it may take a while to forgive and not think about it again. And God will help me to get there. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13. Meanwhile, let's all give the gift of Jesus love and forgiveness to those who need it. Sure, it may take some time. But ultimately, we will be better for it and most importantly, closer to Jesus.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Letting Go of the Pain



Pain. No one likes it. No one likes to see a loved one experience it, however great or small. Just like right now. I hate to see how my daughter is not feeling well. She's teething. Teething can sometimes bring with it a fever. And those are no fun.

It pains me to see her hurting. As a father, I want nothing more than to take her pain away. I want to protect her from this pain and I would take the experience upon myself if I could. If you're a parent or guardian, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Nothing pains you more than to see your child in pain.

Our Heavenly Father is the same way. Nothing pains Him more than to see His children in pain. And the crazy thing is, all too often we choose to hang on to our pain. God wants to take it from us. He wants us to lay our burdens down at His feet. Life will be rough at times. But God promised to be there for us. He promised to take care of us.

You see? It's a choice to let go of the pain. A hard choice, mind you, but still a choice. We were never promised that we'd never go through trials. And trials bring pain. But our choice is this: will we praise God through the pain? Or will we mumble and grumble and complain?

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." James 1:2-4 NKJV.


Monday, September 5, 2011

Fear Not

trust
This is a picture of a magnet on a friend’s fridge. It’s one of my favorite quotes by E.G. White. And it’s a integral part of any Christian’s life. God has said countless times in the Bible that we have no need to be afraid if we are following Him. Let me give you an example.
In Numbers 13 & 14 the story is told of the 12 spies being sent to scout the Promised Land. They all came back. But only 2 had a good report to give. 10 of them said, “It’s great. It does flow with milk and honey. But there’s a problem. The people are powerful and huge! Let’s just skip out and find somewhere else to settle.”
Nevermind the fact the God had told them He’d be with them and protect them. They saw how big the residents were and forgot how big God is. Ever heard this quote? “Don't tell God how big your storm is, tell the storm how big your God is.” Yea. They forgot that. They even tried to pick a leader and go back to a life of slavery in Egypt.
Contrast them with the 2 spies, Joshua and Caleb. They scouted out the land along with the other 10. But they were the only two to remember how God had led them in the past. They were the only to that seemed to remember the promise from God that He would give them the Promised land if they followed Him.
This is what Caleb and Joshua had to say to the Israelites: “And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 8 If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. 9Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
Did you see it? “The Lord is with us.” This takes away our excuse to be afraid. It takes away our excuse to “be of little faith.” So be strong, y’all. God is with you! Follow His word, claim HIs promises, and you will someday enter into His eternal Promised Land. You will have trials still. He never promised you wouldn’t. But He promises that He will be with you every step of the way.
Here’s a few promises of God’s protection:

Psalm 34:7 (KJV)
"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."

Isaiah 43:1-3 (KJV)
“1But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee."

Psalm 27:1 (KJV)
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Thursday, September 1, 2011

But I don't want to be still...




I'm currently looking for a job. I'm signed up to substitute teach but it being the beginning of the school year, I haven't had any assignments. I love to teach.

Then there's the temp agency I signed up with. That was earlier this week. Still nothing.

And the job fair this morning. One company seemed to like me. We'll see what happens.

I really need work. But it brings to mind a scripture. "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10.

Be still. The hardest thing to do is to be still. My nature is to want to keep on keeping on. But God says to be still. Now I'm not saying to sit back and do nothing. But I know that God wants me to let Him lead. He wants me to see things His way. He wants me to sit back and watch Him bless me. I know He has something for me. But the whole waiting thing...is going to take practice, and prayer.

So here we go. Y'all pray for me. And I'll pray for you.