random thoughts Sunday evening..

man. God is so amazing. i try as much as possible to constantly remind myself of my situation (which is everyone else's situation). God is in heaven being worshiped by his angels and creations day and night. he doesn't need us at all. he dosent need our fake christian lifestyles. our fake worship. our half-hearted lives. our mediocore ways. but yet he does! so amazing is our great God!

you see its hard to keep think in the forefront of our minds when we are working, going to school, hanging with friends, hobbies, etc. its hard to stop and think that right now, in the middle of our sinful unworthy lives, God is being worshiped in spirit and in truth. in perfection. and he desires this from us. he wants us to constantly think on him and his goodness.

that is what keeps us going in life. not us. not our healthy habits. but our perfect holy God. nothing we can do can keep us going in life. only God can decide that. he controls our every breath. so praise him when you take a breath. i know its hard. our human nature doesn't really allow us to think in such a way. we are so spontaneous in everything. we like something then we dont. we want something then we dont.  and when we do want something, that is what we are focused on. and we push our God out the picture to the bottom of the pile. we only think on God when it "concerns us." you know what i mean.

there was a guest speaker at service today. he said this story and it was truly moving. he said that in his hometown (45min from mine), he is being attacked. not how you think. not the typical "man the devil is attacking me." no this guy is being attacked. he and his family were victims of a drive by shooting at his own home just before he was about to lay for bed. think about that. a modern day man of God, being attacked for the sake of the gospel. the police told asked him if he had any enemies. he said no, but, biblically, if we are true servants of God, we are going to be hated.

i just read the book of Acts recently. it is so good. God really spoke to me through it. but my point. this is what the disciples faced. persecution. death threats. rejection. all for the sake of the gospel. and yet. here we live. day by day. comfortable. at ease. money in the bank. clothes in the closet. a bed to rest in. we can barely say we suffer for the sake of the gospel. Paul wrote this many times in his many letters in the Bible. we will suffer for the gospel, but rejoice when you do.

we rarely think twice about being attacked for the sake of the gospel. it happens in india and many other middle east countries where Christ is truly hated and rejected. but not here. not in my city. its crazy

dont think anything you do is more important than God. he is the reason for everything. i know it. i have experienced the power of my God. im not letting that go. i know the capabilities of my God, the Creator.

dont take God for granted..you will regret it.

seek him wholeheartedly and true now! while there is health and breath in your body.

thank you Jesus. you sacrificed it all for me. let my life reflect you Lord. thank you for speakng through me. to whoever you wanted this to reach and change. let your will be done. amen

whew....good times

its been a really long time since i made a post. not that i didnt have antything to say. i dont know i just stopped. there goes that laziness again. or busyness. anyways..i was reading my old posts. man they punched me in the face! i realized that i have grown with God very much since then but i have also realized how much i have lost since that time.

we never know how much we loved something until its gone. that is very true. we take stuff for granted way too much. i include myself. man right now i have the ability to stand up on my two feet, walk somewhere and talk to somebody. many people wish they could do that. and yet here i am..too lazy to go across the street and start a conversation and talk a little about my Jesus.

i mean if we won a million dollars everybody would know. if they didnt know cuz you told them, they knew because they could tell by your stuff..or for this blogs purpose,,,your fruits. u got that? its good.

the bible tells us in matthew during one of jesus teachings that people know you by your actions and the fruit which you produce. you see many can talk the talk..but many cant walk the walk. walking requires more energy. it requires moving. it even requires thinking at times. but us lazy people...walking is just out the picture. ill sit here and talk all you want and tell you everything you wanna hear. but when it comes to walking...nah ill sit and talk.

now im not talking about physically walking and talking..sorta. im talking about your walk with god. get that? your WALK with God? not your talk with God. people dont ask you..."so how is your talk with God?" they ask "so how is your walk with God?" implying that we are actually walking in our walk with Christ. we gotta move!! always!! Jesus did. the disciples did. i just read the entire book of Acts. AMAZING! the discples were soo bold its crazy. but we gotta be crazy. cuz we are loved in  a crazy fashion by the Creator. back to Acts. the discples were moving. city to city. sailing. walking. spreading the gospel far and wide. everywhere. everyone who would listen. even everyone who wouldnt listen.

whew. we gotta walk. cuz when we start walking. were gonna start jogging. then eventually were running. there are a ton of verses in phillipians, acts and other books that refer to 'running this race'. we gotta crawl before we can walk.

crawl to God.

cry to him.

just likes babies.

he will raise us up.

we will start walking. we will definatly fall.

but he will be there.

sometimes he may wait a while before he picks us up.

but he's there.

then we got it down.

we start jogging.

we grow weary.

but we got our accountability to help us go on.

we start running.

dont stop.

we almost there.

keep going.

thank you jesus for your words. may they bless the heart you wanted to bless. whoever you wished to speak through using this message. thank you God. you are holy. amen.

random thoughts..

its wierd how people say that they are so thankful for God and what he has done in thier lives and that they are so glad to be saved..and yet..they live life rarely praying..barley reading the bible.. and almost never meditating on the thought of the Almighty Creator deciding to have so much grace and love for these imperfect people that he would send his only son to be sentenced to death for them. i mean..talk about the definition of a hippocrite. now im not saying that im the perfect Christian and i read the bible all the time..i pray without ceasing..and i am always meditating on God..and i never sin. that would be a lie. what im trying to say is..how can people who have been saved ONLY by the grace of God not have a desire to dig deeper into God?

i understand that people are busy. i am one of them. so what. that doesnt change who God is. God will never give you so much work that you dont have any time to meditate with him and just talk to him. he loves us too much for that.

another thought just popped in my head..how do we expect to be used by God if we are simply using him?

you see..what ive come to realize in my walk with God is that Christianity has become a fashion statement. people have the "jesus is my homeboy" trucker hat with the matching shirt but yet..majority of the time..jesus doesnt even know them. people see that "hey everyone seems to be into the 'god thing'..i think i will to just to fit in".

that recently has been bugging me so much. we want God to do these great things with us and our talents..yet..we dont do anything about it. we spend so much time making sure the outside looks good that we dont have time for the inside. wow.

i see it like this..i play guitar. but i know this. there are probly 34,895,713,457 better guitarisits than me in my city alone. and im ok with that. im ok with the fact that any given day an amazing guitar player can come to my church and melt the faces on the entire congregation until the walls melt because he is so good. i know this can happen. and as a muscian..yea that does motivate me to get better. but. the only thing that truly inspires me to play and grow in my gifts is God. afterall..he did give me the skills i have. and you see..growing in my guitar skills is not what is going to make me a better guitarist/musican. its growing in God.

im not trying to get better at guitar to showcase my talent..i do it to grorify God.

i always tell God before i play to empty my body of myslef and fill it with him and his beautiful sweet presence. that is what is gonig to change lives..

God changes lives..not people.

what we do as Christians for people is..

seek God wholeheartedly and constantly mediate on his word and presence..

then god will fill our body and take over..

then lives will be changed..

dont get too lazy for God..

like our parents always said..if u sit too close to the tv u will be blind..

think about that spiritually...

when we watch tv we are usually being lazy and being entertained by a secular program..

if we do that too much..

we wont even be able to see God anymore becuase we have been so lazy and infested with the world..

live for God....

what to do...

so you love God. you follow his will will joy. so what do u do when you dont feel like following God anymore? what happens when ur just bored of being a follower of Christ. many people walk away from God whenever they encounter thier first real problem as a Christian beacuse they think God turned his back on them. they are foolish. not that i am anybody to judge them. but thats what the Bible says. i once heard "if you're a Christian and you're bored..you're not completly sold out for Jesus". i love this quote. cuz its true. if u think u have done everything u have done for God..you're lying to yourself and making excuses to be lazy. the Bible despises the lazy.
whenever we get bored of being a christian..we need to take ourselves out of our comfort zone and go do something completly crazy for God. whatever he puts in ur heart..and he will put tsomething in ur heart.
are you bored?
for some reason..the Bible nevers seems to give the impression that the disciples were bored..
and if we are called to be disciples of God..we dont have a reason to be bored..
go do something for God..
go ..
now..
i guarantee you wont be bored anymore..

just something to think about..

have you ever thought : "man..i dont have that much to be thankful for"..
honestly..
think about it..
i know i have..but then i thought about it..
i have alot to be thankful for..
i have everlasting life..thank you jesus..i have woke up every day for the past almost 20 years..it wasnt an alarm clock that woke me up..it was god..thank you god..i have a family..thank you god..i have friends..thank you jesus..i have a church..thank you god..i have clean water and fresh food..thank you god..i have a choice to spend eternity with the Almighty god..wow..now think about that!

ok check it out....there is a being in heaven who, with a simple word, created the very earth you live on..think about that! he said let there be land and it formed..let there be water..bam h20..he said..now water..seperate yourself from land..and what do ya know...it did...dont forget that all he is doing is speaking and moving a finger..can you do that? i didnt think so...but you know...now this out..he created human beings with dirt and spit...and a rib for the ladies..wow..then you know what else he did..he saw that his creation was disobeying his word so he loved them so much that he didnt want them to go to hell so he came down in the form of a man..jesus christ..to die so that we could have a chance to be with him!!!!

think about it.....YOU CAN BE WITH GOD!! how crazy is that?!?! i mean..just imagine just waking up every morning and seeing god right in front of you..man!!

i dont know what my point is...so just take in what is written and literally think about it...

oh yea..i forgot to say...god is also inside of us.....literally.....

Religon??

i just had a sorta of odd conversation with a few of my family mambers. my mom, aunt, uncle (catholics) grandpa (prodestant) my dad (whatever he wants ology). i dont know really how or why we began talking about religon but we did. things were said about opposing views and i could feel the tension. it was mostly my aunt and dad. i even threw in a word or two..which i dont know why i said anything. after this conversation i thought about. as christians..we need to stop looking for what we believe and what is convientient for us..but rather..just simply follow jesus...after all...CHRISTian..?? i think we as christians need to just chill out on leading people to believe in religon..but just believe in god and his only son jesus. its funny becuase my aunts religion and my grandpas religion all believe in god and jesus..but they seem to have different ways to recieve and live for jesus.

what im trying to say is stop shoving religon down people's throat and just lead them to jesus. thats all jesus did. he told them who he was..who his father was..and just believe it. when people seek more into jesus and the word if his father..they will see what is of god and what is not.

after all..we are supposed to be like jesus...

oh the glory of it all...

well easter is arriving. it will be here this sunday. its funny becasue if you ask many people what they think about easter they will say something that has to do with easter eggs, an easter bunny or hunting for easter eggs. its funny because i dont know how a rabbit or eggs were brought into the real meaning of easter. actually..its not that funny. its not funny when we take the day our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ rose from the dead and acended into heaven and reduce it down to mere egg coloring and rabbits. but thats just me.

so ive been listening to this song i heard at the Passion conference i went to about a month ago called glory of it all by the david crowder band. the song really impacted me when i first heard it. i love that song. u should listen to it. anyways..
the song talks about.....well here are the lyrics:

At the start
he was there, he was there
In the end,he’ll be there,
he’ll be there
And After all
our hands have wrought
He forgives

Oh the Glory of it all is
he came here
For the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
for the glory of it all

All is lost
find him there,
find him there
After night
Dawn is there,
Dawn is there
After all falls apart
he repairs, he repairs

Oh the Glory of it all is
he came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
oh he is here
for redemption from the fall
that we may live
for the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all
the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all

After night
comes the light
dawn is here
dawn is here
it’s a new day
it’s a new day
everything will change
things will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same

Oh, The glory of it all is
you came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
Oh you are here
with redemption for us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
for the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all

pretty amazing i think. it goes down into the depths of what and who God is. but the part i want to take out it the part that says:

and after all our hands have wrought..he forgives

wow. think about that. this is what i want you to do. think about all the horrible crazy bad things you have done in your life. now think bout this. HE FORGIVES. after everything you have done in your life..Jesus simply forgives you. the bible says that God forgets your past. but you know something. the devil doesnt. he will bring up your past in a heartbeat..just as long as it gets you away from God. dont get me wrong..its not bad to look back on your past. but when you start to meditate on it and it clouds your mind and you cant think about moving foward anymore becasue its pushing you down deeper and deeper into a hole you cant dig out of...thats when you need to just call on God. becuase after everything you have done..He forgives. we serve a merciful father. wow. dont take that for granted. dont play with God. dont go do what you feel like doing knowing that God will forgive you afterward. it doesnt work like that. thats like serving two masters..your sin and your Savior. the bible says God is a jealous God and not to serve two masters. so you know what DONT DO IT. in the bible Paul the apostle was like the godfather of killing christians. he persecuted them and killed them all day long. and when God wanted to use him..he felt totally unworthy. man..i would too. you went around killing people becasue they loved God and then God says you know what..i want you for my kingdom. woah man. talk about grace. you know what..God used him.

and after all our hands have wrought..He forgives.

do u feel like you have failed god and are unworthy to serve him anymore?
do you feel like you have done too much for god to forgive you?
guess what..He forgives
make this easter be about the real reason
get right with God
forget the past
forget the pain
forget the screw ups

and after all our hands have wrought..He forgives.