Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts

Sunday, November 25, 2012

So you are a Christian...?

Hello dear readers!

It is 9:13pm - a much better time to blog then 2am when all of your thoughts are a bit skewed.  I will need to make this quick because I have to get back to studying for an exam I have tomorrow.  Yuck.  Anyway, I've been thinking a lot lately about this question - what does it mean to even be a Christian?  It seems like a relatively simple answer...right?  I've also had people ask me - .."so, uh, you are a Christian so that must mean you have to follow a lot of rules and stuff, right?" ... and other things like ... "your a Christian...so you are a 'goody goody, yeah?"...

So essentially, in the "world's eyes," Christianity can mean a few things...

1) You don't party, have sex, or do drugs.  So basically, you don't have fun.
2) You are a good person, and you try to do good things.
3) You are mushy, soft-hearted, and sentimental.  You love children, animals, elderly, the poor, and the environment.
4) You are wrong.
5) You are just nuts.

And to Christians, Christianity can mean a few things...

1) Just believe in Jesus and then you can feel free to do as you please.
2) You should do good things and try and be a good person.
3) You dress up and go to church on Sunday's ...and smile.

...and on and on.

Anyway - so this brings me to my main point: What does it mean to be a Christian?  Because I don't think the answer is as easy as posting "Christian" as your religious views on Facebook.

But... what does it mean to be a Christian at the grocery store?  At the gym?  At the mall?  While waiting in a line? 

If, as a Christian you believe that Jesus is the key to salvation, shouldn't this idea, this love, penetrate everything we do and say?  Yes.  But does it?  Not often.  Why?

In James it explicitly says that faith without deeds [or actions] is worthless

Did you catch that?

Worthless.

worth·less 
  1. having no value: having no financial or other value or usefulness
  2. lacking good, attractive, or admirable qualities: having no good, attractive, or admirable qualities at all
Having no value.  Lacking good qualities. Having no good qualities at all.

I will be the first to say I know my actions don't always line how they should  I know that I do not always display Christ the way I should.  I know that I am human.

But.  I don't want that to be an easy way out...an excuse. 

I want more passion, more persistence, more of Jesus - simply put.

The ultimate goal is to serve Jesus and glorify God.  I want to serve Jesus through my career, my life, my relationships, my money, my possessions... but I don't want any of those things taking the place of Jesus - because ultimately - all of those things will fade - but He will remain forever.

So my prayer is this...
1) I want more passion to serve more boldly and to live out the truth I read about...and not just let God's word be a nice thought in my heart.
2) I want my actions = my words = my thoughts.  I don't want to say one thing, do another - or even think another for that matter.
3) I want to see Christianity for what it really is...not some label or a title.  But what it really means.

Be blessed!

In Him,

Samantha 

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The Power of the Tongue

Hello dear readers!

Well it is currently 2:28am, so it seems we have a current theme of my blogs getting wrote later, and later, and later...

But today is my "Friday," so I'm going to okay with this for now.

I've been thinking a lot on the topic of "thankfulness" considering that Thanksgiving is right around the corner... stay tuned for a 'thoughts on thanksgiving' post coming soon.

If you've been following my posts these last few days, you'll know I'm currently wrestling through James.  I don't even feel as though my previous posts have adequately addressed the book and all of my thoughts on it - but a "tid bit" at least gets you thinking.

So here it is, James chapter 3.

The "overall" theme of James 3 seems to be the "tongue" and the power it holds.  I know we don't often think of our tongue having power...but the Bible clearly illustrates something much, much different.

"Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts."

"...no man can tame the tongue"

I read these and think - "yes, well that makes sense."  Words hurt, yep I get it.
I get to the next verse.  Then the conviction comes....

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.  Out of the same mouth come PRAISE and CURSING."

Woah.

I just have to pause there for a moment.

So much comes to mind: the angry words I said in my car when a driver cut in front of me, the bitter words I said as I read an unpleasant email from a boss, the comment I said to a friend that was rude without thinking, the way I treated someone to belittle them in order to feel more superior...

And the list continues...

While I've been meditating on that verse I all of a sudden am very aware of what I say, and how I say it.  The worst part is, sometimes it feels like things just keep spewing out - even when I'm consciously trying to watch what I say, and how I say it.  One thing that has come to mind recently is this: sarcasm.

But everyone uses it...right?  So what's the big deal?

Sarcasm may seem innocent, fun, easy... but in reality, I've realized quite recently that by using sarcasm I often cut people down, belittle them, all in what?  Good humor?

Another big thing I am convicted of is this: we curse men, who have been made in GOD'S LIKENESS

So God doesn't give me "approval" to talk badly about others - under any circumstances - no matter what they've done.

I think sometimes I feel as though I deserve to talk badly about another person because they hurt me.  But God makes it clear: they are made in HIS image as much as I am.  The topic of "deserving" something is one I will have to unwind in another post but I do believe we have an issue with the idea that we "deserve" this or are "entitled" to that.

So my prayer is this...

1) That I will be able to carry through the saying "think before you speak."
2) That I may not only be able to tame my tongue and what comes out verbally, but even purify my thoughts.
3) That I understand the true meaning that everyone is made in God's likeness and that hurt doesn't give me a "right" to use words to cut back.


Be blessed!

In Him,

Samantha

Monday, November 19, 2012

[James Chapter 1] - Thoughts to end a night

Hello dear readers!

This ones going to be a short one seeing as it is midnight.  But I wanted to jot down a few thoughts before they were forgotten into the dream world.

I've recently re-discovered the book of James in the Bible.  And, WOW.  I appreciate how blunt this book is because my personality is the same way.  It's convicting, to the point, and cuts to the chase.  Line after line spoke directly to my heart tonight during an evening of community worship at my house.    The following are a few (basic) thoughts on the first chapter of James...

He speaks about trial...

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you now that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." (1:2)

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial." (1:12)

In my life lately, I've been facing what feels like trial, after trial, after trial this year.  And in almost every dimension...emotionally, physically, spiritually, financially.  Recently, I've been "attacked" spiritually (which I will write about in another post), my mom was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer, my uncle was diagnosed with stage 6 skin cancer, I had $1,200 stolen from me, my car broke down several times (and cost several dollars) and the list continues...

I could complain.  I could choose negativity (and for a long time, I did).  I could be cynical (and for a long time, I was).  And, most people would say I have the "right" to.  But do I?

No.  I don't.  Because my sufferings are nothing in comparison.  Granted, Christ sympathizes with my sufferings and cares about them.  But how hard is it to consider your trials PURE JOY?  Hard.  But is it worth it?  YES, because BLESSED is the man who perseveres UNDER trial...

He speaks about sin and temptation...

"When tempted, no one should say 'God is tempting me." (1:13)

"...nor does he [God] tempt anyone." (1:13)

"each is tempted by HIS OWN evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death." (1:15)

This first verse is extremely interesting to me.  No one should say "God is tempting me."  I've heard it countless times.  People will be tempted and assume its some sort of crazy test.  But God isn't sitting up on a cloud going... "I wonder how much temptation Jane can handle this time.  I'll amp up the game and see what she does!"... no, no, no... GOD is NOT the one tempting you.  The verse goes on to say each is tempted by HIS OWN evil desire.  So...I will hazardly say that YOU are tempting YOU... and to some extent, I can see this.  We consistently put ourselves into situations that tempt us.

And do you notice the pattern?  Desire --> Sin --> Death

Interesting, isn't it?

He speaks about action...

"Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry" (1:19)

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  DO WHAT IT SAYS.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." (1:22)

"...continues to do this, not forgetting what he heard" (1:25)

The massive thing that is a red flag for me in these verses is essentially... you can't just go to church, pop a squat, hear the word, and then carry on back to la-ti-da life.. being a Christian means putting Christ into action.  I can relate to the mirror depiction given.  I used to go in and out of phases of reading the Bible.  Then when I'd come back to it I felt as though I forgot everything I read before, even though I'd go through my Bible and find hundreds of notes and marks, I couldn't remember putting any of them there or what those verses said.

The last verse I want to highlight is this... "...keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (1:27)

What does this mean to you?

I'm still pondering it...



Blessings!

In Him,

Samantha

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Wives and Husbands: Love & Respect

Hello dear readers,

Its been, well, almost a year since I've posted in this blog.  Today I decided I really need to "start up" this blog again.  No matter if people read it or not, I really need to write for me...

So here it goes.

It might not be consistent all the time, but I'm gonna give it my best shot. 

This one, is about a topic I've been pondering a lot lately, and to be honest, it might be a little all over the place.  But I'll try to write with clarity. 

...... on to the blog

One of the most famous passages in the Bible on Wives/Husbands is found in Ephesians.  Ephesians 5:22-33 addresses this concept.  For quite sometime (probably years), I would read this passage and my mind would center on the word submit when it says, "Wives submit to your Husbands."  I would stop there and think - me?  submit to someone else?  yeah, right, like that will happen.  My heart was icy whenever anyone brought this subject up.  Possibly because I've been in abusive relationships, but ultimately I just didn't like the idea of submitting to anyone.  Ever.  Period.  End of story.

Thankfully, God doesn't stop working on my heart even though I'm ignorant sometimes and quite frankly pretty stubborn.

So today, a pastor I was listening to preached on this passage.  And at first, those initial feelings of "here we go again..." came up... but I pushed them down and told myself I was going to listen with open ears.

I was surprised by what he said.  And I found myself nodding consistently throughout the message (nodding in agreement - not snoozing). 

The biggest thing that stood out to me was this -
1) God is and needs to be in control (and the center) of relationships
2) we are to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ
3) the wife/girlfriend/fiance relationship with God - and the husband/boyfriend/fiance relationship with God will determine the wife/girlfriend/fiance relationship with the husband/boyfriend/fiance

Submission doesn't mean coercive and one-sided... it is voluntary and mutual....this was my "AH HA! Light bulb" moment.

We don't submit because we have to...we submit out of love and service to Christ and others.

Bingo.  Win.  Breakthrough. 

I will want to submit to my husband/boyfriend/fiance out of love, respect... not because of force or obligation...

He said four things will cause breakups and divorce: criticism, contempt, stonewalling, and defensiveness (Dr. John Gottman from the University of Washington came up with these).

Wives/girlfriends commonly criticise their husbands/boyfriends, which will lead to the husband/boyfriend stonewallling (shutting down emotionally) against their wives/girlfriends. And the cycle continues until there is no communication left.

In the Bible it commands husbands to love their wives.  It never commands wives to love their husbands.  But it does however command wives to respect their husbands.  Because men see love as respect (so in essence, it does command this). 

So my prayer is this. 

1) I will never immasculate or disrespect my future husband.
2) I will let God determine my husband, not my fleshy desires.
3) I will let God be enough.
4) I will learn the true meaning of submission and how it applies to my future marriage.
5) I will seek God in everything I do so that when I enter into a relationship it will be about Him not us.

Be blessed this week! 

In Him,

Samantha













Sunday, May 8, 2011

Its About the Relationship

I grew up attending a Catholic church for the first 18 or so years of my life.  I have nothing against Catholics, its important for you to know and understand that right off the bat - but I state it for story sake.  Anyway, continuing on.  

I grew up Catholic, like I said.  My parents were terrific - we said prayers as a family before bed and dinners, we went to church each Sunday, my brother and I attended Wednesday evening service as well as Sunday school, and we were often involved in the church happenings.  I grew up a happy child, in a loving home, with great parents - which I feel extremely blessed for.  However, I failed to grasp something all of those years of my life - relationship with Jesus.  

Growing up, my understanding of God was that he was a big God, a good God, but far far away, in some distant galaxy.  My understanding of Jesus was limited to the fact that He was God's son, and He forgave me.  I understood "religion" as being a good person, being nice to other people, going to church on Sundays, and making sure to confess all of your sins.  That was my limited understanding of it.  

I could go on and finish the rest of my testimony, but today I just want to focus on what I missed out on growing up.  I built up this idea of God, religion, and Jesus, but it was for the most part, all no good - I missed the big picture entirely.  

Relationship with Jesus Christ is much, much more then a church visit on Sunday, a good Bible study, carrying someone's groceries for them, a spiritual high, a memorized Bible verse, a confessed sin, or signs and wonders.

Relationship with Jesus Christ is about pursuing Him wholeheartedly.  This means digging into His word, talking to Him, making Him top priority.  

If Jesus Christ is NOT occupying the top of our priority list and something else is - this is called idolatry.  

God says in Exodus to not have any God's but Him, and to not worship false idols.  

Sometimes I think that when we think of idols we think of statues of pagan gods, greek gods, sacrifices  rituals, or something of the sort.  I know that when I thought of "idols" I always thought of stone statues and people bowing down to them.  

The scary reality is however, is that there are probably more idols in our day in age then ever before. 

I realize this is a bold comment to make, but think about it.  Facebook, Twitter, texting, money, relationship status, technology gadgets - iPods, iPads, iPhones, cars, homes, fashion, food, singers, actors/actresses, books, models, movies, and so much more can be constituted as idols now - and we probably don't even realize it.  

Even seemingly "good" things can become idols.

My challenge to you is to take a serious look at your life and really examine if there is anything in your life that could constitute an idol.  Mine personally, was getting to be Facebook for awhile there.  I'd choose it over reading Scripture, soaking, spending time with God, ect... Before I realized it it was the first thing I checked in the morning and the last thing I checked at night.  Finally, I woke up to the reality that it was taking up more of my time then God was - that is an issue.  

Enough religion, more relationship.  More intentional, spirit-filled, wholehearted relationship with God.  

More reading His word - and less Facebook status's.
More talking to Him - and less texting, Facebook chatting.
More soaking in worship music - and less soaking in reality tv and movies with less then God-glorifying messages.  

To all in my generation: its time to take a stand!  The devil lures us by all of these "innocent," seemingly "less destructive" idols.... time to say no.  The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy.  Our God comes with plans to prosper, and bring love in peace... 

More of Him - less of the worldly.  

It may seem radical, it may seem harsh - but in the end, all else fades, and one thing remains.  

In Him,

Samantha 


Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Love for Enemies

Tonight, I just wanted to share a piece of whats been on my heart.  And I truly want to get better at this blogging thing, since I just noticed I haven't blogged since March!  So much to tell, and so little time.  I am committing to get better. 


Luke 6:27-36 has been on my heart lately.  Quite a bit.  Here is the Scripture:


 27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
   32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.


In the Christian culture it is said "love your enemies" - and everyone says it like its the simplest thing to do.  It is not.  Doing good to those who hate you, blessing those who curse you, and praying for those who mistreat you are definitely not the easiest things - at least not in my book.  


For a long time now, Jesus has been teaching me how to love other people.  And I mean it - love.  Not just tolerate or put up with but -  L-O-V-E.  


Our lives speak volumes to those around us.  If we begin to show others the love that Christ has for us, what a testimony that will be to others about Jesus.  


People don't want to often times listen to our words (take it from someone who makes public attempts at evangalization) - BUT - they can't help but gaze at our actions.  I say that with the intent of keeping Jesus at the forefront of everything we do.  


Challenge: try loving your enemies.  Really loving them.  Not out of self righteousness, not out of pity, or expecting anything in return...just genuine, heart-felt love.  


I will post soon - much to tell about YATEC! (Young Adults Together Encountering Christ)


In His name, 


Samantha

Monday, March 28, 2011

The Ultimate Treasure Hunt

So I've been reading this book lately entitled: "The Ultimate Treasure Hunt" by Kevin Dedmon.  Excellent book by the way, check it out if you have some free time.  Anyway, so the book describes a treasure hunt for the ultimate treasure -- people!  Its a treasure hunt like no other - thats for sure.  So tonight, along with a few close friends, we decided to go out into the city of Willmar and try it out for ourselves.


Simply put, each person prays and has his/her own list.  You write down six locations, six names, six appearances, six things people may need prayer for, and six unusual things that come to mind that God reveals to you.  After this, you start hunting.


So our first location came up to be Wal-Mart.  We did some neat things there, but nothing hit me personally there.  Then onto Cashwise.  This is where I really saw God start moving and revealing "treasure" to me.  Keep in mind, before this, I had hardly done any evangelizing and I was scared half to death.


One of my friends had "Abbie" on his list.  We knew our friend Abbie was working so we went to see if she  needed prayer.  Turns out, she was having knee pain - which of course - happened to be on his list.  Three of us prayed for her knee, right there smack dab in Cashwise.  As we were praying, her knee "popped."  Healing?  Perhaps.


After this, we traveled on some more.  I was getting excited now to find a treasure of my own.  I spotted a young boy wearing a sea blue sweatshirt.  That was on my list.  I trembled.  What do I do now! I thought to myself.  I selfishly ignored it - and walked on.  Minutes later, there he was again - right in my path.  I ignored it a second time.  I didn't see him again until we were about to leave.  We entered the video section and there he was once again, looking at video games this time.  I panicked.  Okay God - I thought - I'll do it, I'll do it!  So with the help of a friend, I approached him.  We began talking and it became easy.  By God's grace I knew he was in 7th grade and my friend Andy knew he liked math, this made the conversation more interesting.  Also, the three of us had all grown up going to St. Mary's church - another interesting connection.   Finally, I spat it out.  I told him that his sweatshirt color was on my list and asked if I could pray for him...he agreed!  Woofta.  So, I did just that.  Andy and I both felt like the young guy was going to be a leader so we just released God's blessings over him and said goodbye.


Now, I was really on fire.  I wanted more of God and I wanted to reach more people with the good news of the Kingdom!


Next, we went to Culvers.  Immediately I noticed a young gal (mid twenties maybe) wearing a bright pink shirt.  Sure enough, I had bright pink on my list.  I heard someone call her name - Sara - also on my list.  I asked her how she spelled it due to the fact there are a few ways to spell Sara.  She spelled it for me just as I had wrote it not an hour before.  I proceeded to tell her that I was on a treasure hunt, then handed her my list and asked her if she related to anything on it.  She held it for quite some time, really taking into consideration everything on it.


She then began to tell us a story of how her mom lost her job because of a false "money" stealing accusation.  And how her and her mom were low on "money" and how she was the only source of income currently.  And wouldn't you know it -- I had "money" under "things people need prayer for."  She allowed me the privilege to pray for her out loud.  After that, we began sharing Jesus with her....


God is so very good...and He is above the rules and the boxes we try and put Him in...