Do you take things for granted?

Ever stop what you are doing and ponder why you do what you do? Ever wonder what life without God and without his Son Jesus Christ would be like? Can you list all that he has given you? Do you realize all that he has done for you? Can you imagine?
What Grace, what mercy, what love?

I spent the evening hours last night and this morning studying Ephesians, and there is soo much in there, that talks about what Christ has done. For example:

Ephesians 2:1-10 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body [1] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But [2] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
• How amazing is it to realize what it really means to be saved by grace? How amazing is it to understand that God loves us, when we deserve eternal damnation? How amazing is it when we realize that God sent his son for us? How amazing is it when we comprehend that we were made in Christ Jesus for good works, and that God has already prepared them ahead of time? Grace Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me, How amazing is it to see the grace with which God poured upon me? Praise the Lord that he has not condemned us like we deserve, by his grace and through his son we are saved. Praise the Lord for without his never ending love, we are nothing.

I've just been reflecting in my own life and realizing how much I take things for granted. I'm so dependent for so many of the daily things I do, yet when do I take the time to thank God for the gifts he has blessed me with. Whether it be as simple as saying thankyou for a mother and a father, or saying thankyou for the air we breathe. Its always been there, but its only there because of God's design and for His purpose. I know I've failed here over the past few months, I just don't take time to thank God for all he's given me, and the list is endless. What about you?

Without the many blessings that God has given us, we are nothing, like dust we would blow around in the wind. At times I can get down because I feel like I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm going, but I'm starting to find comfort in that God planned it that way, He has his hand in it, and He is in control. None of the things that we take for granted would even exist, why we wouldn't even exist if it wern't for the love of God.

So I'd encourage you to take some time in the next few weeks to thank God for the mundane things in your life. They seem so meaningless, yet we are completely dependent on them. I know that I in my foolishness I have overlooked this aspect of the relationship I have with God and at times have viewed God as even needing me. He's got to be sitting up there laughing at my arrogance in thinking I can do something for Him. There is no thing that we can do to surprise God and nothing we can do apart from the gifts he's given us to do His will. What a fool am I!!!

DOUBT: Why do we do it?

DOUBT:

1 a : uncertainty of belief or opinion that often interferes with decision-making b : a deliberate suspension of judgment
2 : a state of affairs giving rise to uncertainty, hesitation, or suspense
3 a : a lack of confidence b : an inclination not to believe or accept

WHY DO YOU DOUBT?

Have you ever pondered why humans, at every circumstance, doubt? We have an opinion that often interferes with decision-making. Now when you think about Jesus's life, did he ever doubt? Did he ever think God had uncertainty or used hesitation when he gave him instructions?  Did he have an inclination not to believe or accept what his Father instructed him to do?

Tell me you haven't had a time in your life where you have been put in a situation with your boss, parent, professor and they instructed you to do FILL IN THE BLANK. You don't want to do what they ask you to so give an appeal, an alternative, a plan B. We do whatever we can so that we don't have to do plan A.

In MARK 14 and MATTHEW 26,
Jesus took his Disciples into the Garden of Gethsemane where he asked them to "Stay there and watch while he went ahead to pray." He went before God and fell down and prayed for he knew what was to come next. "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me......" And then Jesus says something that most people don't really pay attention to.... "Yet not what I will, but what you will." 

Do you realize what he said??? "Yet not what I will..." Emphasis on I. "but what you will." He didn't attempt to go for a plan B. The Father instructed him that it was not possible for he is a just God. Sinclair Ferguson comments on this passage saying,

"Jesus was about to be exposed to the one thing in life he really feared: not the cruel death which would end it (he knew he would rise again), but the indestructible experience of feeling himself to God-forsaken. He felt he could not live - indeed, that life was not worth living - without the consciousness of his Father's love for him.
Yet the fact that he entered that darkness and experienced such grief is the source of all our comfort. It assumes us that he understands our darkest hours. But more, it means that he has drawn the sting from our darkest hour for he has entered our God-forsaken condition so that we might share his God-accepted relationship to the Father!"

He took the penalty for us so that we might have a plan B. So why again do we continue to doubt him when he doesn't work EXACTLY when WE want Him to?
1 Peter 2:21, "Christ Suffered for you, leaving an example, that you should follow in his steps." His prayer should be our prayer everyday, in every circumstance, through every trial. "Yet not what I will, but what you will." (v. 36)

God has the power to change our lives so we why should we doubt Him to work? We should plan on it and look forward to it. Let us all be followers who have a stronger grasp of what he has done and live according to it. This is my prayer for my life and every believers life.

Dug Down Deep

 

 I think I can say that I am like Jim Donahue when I say I am not very good at reading books. Its never been a passion of mine and I never have had a great desire to read, no matter what the book was about. But this book was different. It was the first book I have ever finished (Or at least that it is the first one I can actually remember finishing). I am beginning my journey to complete reading 25 books this year, hopefully 2 a month. I am behind but this is the first installment. 1 down......24 to go!

The book is Dug Down Deep, Josh Harris's 5th book (Kissed Dating Goodbye, Boy meets girl, Stop dating the church, Not even a hint: Sex is not the problem lust is) and I think his best. He has a very different way of writing but that is why he draws you in. The book is on Understanding Doctrine: Why it matters and Why I believe it. I love this book because you get to see who Josh Harris really is and how far he has come in his walk and how God has been there through many idiotic decisions. His words really spoke to me because I could relate at times with the decisions he decided to make and how horrible they were BUT God used it for his good and showed him his weakness and where he needed to pursue God more. 

I would recommend this book to any male for it has alot of application points we all can be making in our lives and though he isn't perfect, Josh has a strong passion to teach others about the saving power of Christ. I was strongly encouraged by reading this book and think anyone who has ever been through a rebellious stage in their life (if you haven't, i think it will encourage you as well) will benefit greatly from this book.

This is an exert out of the book that was really encouraging to me.

              "The message of Christian orthodoxy isn't that I'm right and someone else is wrong. It's that I am wrong and yet God is filled with grace. I am wrong, and yet God has made a way for me to be forgiven and accepted and loved for eternity. I am wrong, and yet God gave his Son, Jesus, to die IN MY PLACE and receive my punishment. I am wrong, but through fiaht in Jesus, I can be made right before a holy God.

              This is the gospel. This is the truth that all Christian doctrine celebrates. This is the truth that every follower of Jesus Christ is called to cherish and preserve. Even die for. It is the only truth on which we can build our lives and rest our eternal hope."

This is the new challenge for my life. Look back at the doctrine I have learned for so many years and turn it into application for my life. Look for ways to take the scripture and use them to their full potential to truly shape and guard my life. Use his Word as the guide for my decisions and actions. This has always been a desire in my life and I have been pursuing it but God is calling us all to step up, our name has been called and we need to be ready to take a stand for him. 

One last thing I will add that the book does say is that we all should be asking people more of their testimonies. 1. Because we all need to be reminding ourselves about what Christ has done for us on the Cross and how God has saved us from sin and this world. 2. We will grow stronger with other believers just by seeing where each other has been at. So ask someone. It doesn't matter how old they are. "If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9. We are all brothers and sisters through Christ so find out others journey. You will be encouraged. So try it.

Read the book! Its amazing! I loved it and think you will too!

Afraid? Dismayed?

Afraid? Dismayed? by Mark Altrogge

Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s….Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”  (2 CH 20.15, 17)

When we face a “great horde”, be it actual enemies, financial problems, rebellious children, marital problems, sickness, or our own gigantic sin that looms before us, we can be tempted in two ways.  We can be tempted to be afraid and tempted to be dismayed.  God told Jehoshaphat two times not to give in to these temptations.
Do not be afraid or dismayed.  Don’t fear and don’t be discouraged.
God tells us not to yield to fear or discouragement,  for the battle belongs to him.  He is waging war against the sin in our life and in the life of that rebellious teen.  He is fighting the fear and unbelief in our hearts.  He is fighting for our holiness and joy.  The battle is not ours but God’s.
We must guard against this double-edged temptation.  We must battle fear and discouragement.
“Do not be dismayed” has to do with the present. We can be dismayed at the state of our marriage or how our kids are doing.  We can be discouraged at our slow progress to conquer a sin.
“Do not be afraid” has to do with the future. We fear for our teen if she continues the direction she’s going.  We fear there won’t be enough money next month.  We fear that this pain won’t go away.  God tells us not to be fearful for the future, nor be discouraged about the present.
A sister I know had been battling depression and was experiencing powerful emotions of discouragement and fear.  One day on her way into a store, she passed  a Salvation Army Lady collecting money.  She’d just heard a message about casting our bread upon the waters, so she went back and gave a dollar, and the lady gave her a little envelope with a card inside.  She opened it and the card read:

Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.’

God specifically spoke to her about the very emotions she was struggling with and greatly encouraged her that day, and he wants to encourage you today.  Do not be dismayed at what you see, nor afraid of what may be – the battle is the Lord’s.

5 Ways Sin is Serious

5 Ways Sin is Serious

By: John Piper In Psalm 51, as he laments and repents of his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, David confesses at least five ways that his sin is extremely serious.
1. He says that he can’t get the sin out of his mind.
It is blazoned on his conscience. Verse 3:

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Ever before him. The tape keeps playing. And he can’t stop it.
2. He says that his exceeding sinfulness is only against God.
Nathan had said David despised God and scorned his word. So David says in verse 4,

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

This doesn’t mean Bathsheba and Uriah and the baby weren’t hurt. It means that what makes sin sin is that it is against God. Hurting man is bad. It is horribly bad. But that’s not the horror of sin. Sin is an attack on God—a belittling of God. David admits this in striking terms: “Against you, you only, have I sinned.”
3. He doesn't justify himself.
David vindicates God, not himself. There is no self-justification. No defense. No escape. Verse 4:

…so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

God is justified. God is blameless. If God casts David into hell, God will be innocent.
This is radical God-centered repentance. This is the way saved people think and feel. God would be just to damn me. And that I am still breathing is sheer mercy. And that I am forgiven is sheer blood-bought mercy. David vindicates the righteousness of God, not himself.
4. He intensifies his guilt by drawing attention to his inborn corruption.
Verse 5:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Some people use their inborn corruption to diminish their personal guilt. David does the opposite. For him the fact that he committed adultery and murdered and lied are expressions of something worse: He is by nature that way.
If God does not rescue him, he will do more and more evil.
5. He admits that he sinned not just against external law but against God’s merciful light in his heart.
Verse 6:

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

God had been his teacher. God had made him wise. David had done so many wise things. And then sin got the upper hand. For David, this made it all the worse. “I have been blessed with so much knowledge and so much wisdom. O how deep must be my depravity that it could sin against so much light.”
So in those five ways at least David joins the prophet Nathan and God in condemning his sin and confessing the depths of his corruption.

9 Ways to Know the Gospel is True

9 Ways to Know the Gospel of Christ Is True

  By: John Piper 1. Jesus Christ, as he is presented to us in the New Testament, and as he stands forth from all its writings, is too single and too great to have been invented so uniformly by all these writers.
The force of Jesus Christ unleashed these writings; the writings did not create the force. Jesus is far bigger and more compelling than any of his witnesses. His reality stands behind these writings as a great, global event stands behind a thousand newscasters. Something stupendous unleashed these diverse witnesses to tell these stunning and varied, yet unified, stories of Jesus Christ.
2. Nobody has ever explained the empty tomb of Jesus in the hostile environment of Jerusalem where the enemies of Jesus would have given anything to produce the corpse, but could not.
The earliest attempts to cover the scandal of resurrection were manifestly contradictory to all human experience—disciples do not steal a body (Matthew 28:13) and then sacrifice their lives to preach a glorious gospel of grace on the basis of the deception. Modern theories that Jesus didn't die but swooned, and then awoke in the tomb and moved the stone and tricked his skeptical disciples into believing he was risen as the Lord of the universe don't persuade.
3. Cynical opponents of Christianity abounded where claims were made that many eyewitnesses were available to consult concerning the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
"After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:6). Such claims would be exposed as immediate falsehood if they could. But we know of no exposure. Eyewitnesses of the risen Lord abounded when the crucial claims were being made.
4. The early church was an indomitable force of faith and love and sacrifice on the basis of the reality of Jesus Christ.
The character of this church, and the nature of the gospel of grace and forgiveness, and the undaunted courage of men and women—even unto death—do not fit the hypothesis of mass hysteria. They simply were not like that. Something utterly real and magnificent had happened in the world and they were close enough to know it, and be assured of it, and be gripped by its power. That something was Jesus Christ, as all of them testified, even as they died singing.
5. The prophesies of the Old Testament find stunning fulfillment in the history of Jesus Christ.
The witness to these fulfillments are too many, too diverse, too subtle and too interwoven into the history of the New Testament church and its many writings to be fabricated by some great conspiracy. Down to the details, Jesus Christ fulfilled dozens of Old Testament prophecies that vindicate his truth.
6. The witnesses to Jesus Christ who wrote the New Testament gospels and letters are not gullible or deceitful or demented.
This is manifest from the writings themselves. The books bear the marks of intelligence and clear-headedness and maturity and a moral vision that is compelling. They win our trust as witnesses, especially when all taken together with one great unifying, but distinctively told, message about Jesus Christ.
7. The worldview that emerges from the writings of the New Testament makes more sense out of more reality than any other worldview.
It not only fits the human heart, but also the cosmos and history and God as he reveals himself in nature and conscience. Some may come to this conclusion after much reflection, others may arrive at this conviction by a pre-reflective, intuitive sense of the deep suitability of Christ and his message to the world that they know.
8. When one sees Christ as he is portrayed truly in the gospel, there shines forth a spiritual light that is a self-authenticating.
This is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:6), and it is as immediately perceived by the Spirit-awakened heart as light is perceived by the open eye. The eye does not argue that there is light. It sees light.
9. When we see and believe the glory of God in the gospel, the Holy Spirit is given to us so that the love of God might be "poured out in our hearts" (Romans 5:5).
This experience of the love of God known in the heart through the gospel of Him who died for us while we were yet ungodly assures us that the hope awakened by all the evidences we have seen will not disappoint us.

Prayerlessness is Unbelief

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2009/11/06/prayerlessness-is-unbelief/

Prayerlessness is Unbelief

Kevin DeYoung

Prayer is essential for the Christian, as much for what it says about us as for what it can do through God.  The simple act of getting on our knees (or faces or feet or whatever) for 5 or 50 minutes every day is the surest sign of our humility and dependence on our Father in heaven.  There may be many reasons for our prayerlessness—time management, busyness, lack of concentration—but most fundamentally, we ask not because we think we need not or we think God can give not. Deep down we feel secure when we have money in the bank, a healthy report from the doctor, and powerful people on our side.  We do not trust in God alone.  Prayerlessness is an expression of our meager confidence in God’s ability to provide and of our strong confidence in our ability to take care of ourselves without God’s help.
Too often when we struggle with prayer we focus on the wrong things.  We focus on praying better instead of focusing on knowing better the one to whom we pray.  We focus on our need for discipline rather than our need for God.  Almost all of us want to pray more frequently, and yet our lives seem too disordered.  But in God’s mind our messy, chaotic lives are an impetus to prayer instead of an obstacle to prayer.
You don’t need to work and work at discipline nearly as much as you need faith.  You don’t need an ordered life to enable prayer, you need a messy life to drive you to prayer.  You don’t need to have everything in order before you can pray.  You need to know you’re disordered so you will pray.  You don’t need your life to be fixed up.  You need a broken heart.  You need to think to yourself: “Tomorrow is another day that I need God.  I need to know him. I need forgiveness. I need help. I need protection. I need deliverance. I need patience. I need courage. Therefore, I need prayer.”
If you know you are needy and believe that God helps the needy, you will pray.  Conversely, if we seldom pray, the problem goes much deeper than a lack of organization and follow through.  The heart that never talks to God is the heart that trusts in itself and not in the power of God.  Prayerlessness is unbelief.
Prayerfulness, on the other hand is an evidence of humility and faith, which is why God loves it when we pray.