Thought for Friday

Here is a thought for you today...

If there is no bad in the world, no devil, no evil, why did God send His Son Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior?

My Uncle wrote a letter that stated the following: "In 2007 Barna’s survey concluded that only 9% of all American adults held a Biblical worldview. Among those between the ages of 18 and 23, only one-half of one percent had embraced a Biblical worldview. Furthermore only 27% of Americans believed in a literal Satan and his hideous influence in our day. Because of this basic spiritual ignorance, darkness is continually growing darker in its impact on our culture. Every day we encounter the forces of darkness emanating from people, conversations, the various situations of life, the news, the books we read and the advertisements we see, the music we hear and the videos we watch, as well as the internet and movies ."

What do you believe? We can't make our own religion, take out the bad and only leave the good. The Bible clearly states that we are not to change the Bible, that it was breathed forth from God. What are we then doing when we take out the bad?

Jesus was sent to save us from ourselves? Save us from the bad, because there is bad to be saved from.

Standing Part 2

I was reflecting on the things that have happened the last few days, the lessons I have learned and the way in which God has a way of teaching us things about ourselves. We can learn the lessons the first time, or we can go around the mountain again and again until we learn the lessons. God has a way of teaching us even if we don't think we need to learn, He instructs us and is there to help us live a fuller life.

It is easy to say the words, it is easy to repent, but true repentance comes from the heart. It is being willing to say you are sorry for something, must mean you are sorry. Just like saying the word love, the word sorry will you forgive me takes on a whole new meaning. All are easy words to say, but when you look at the meaning of them, you need to be willing to except that if you can't follow through don't use them.

Repentance means turning from the sins, not make a 360 degree turn, it means making a turn that is 180 degrees and walking away from it. So when you ask forgiveness for something, that means you must turn from the wrong you have caused, not turn back to it. True repentance is walking away from it, being willing to except the consequences and dealing with them as they come. It is taking the time to actually make things right.

When you ask someone to forgive you, it is then there choice if they will or not. You can't worry yourself with if they do or not, it becomes there choice.

The lesson here is when you stand, turn from your wicked ways, humble yourself and pray. And in doing so you can stand and trust God to do the rest. We can't change others, only God can do that, but we can be accountable for our actions.

Have a wonderful day.

Stand

Yes, if you read yesterday's post I failed to be honest, I failed to be forth coming with the information of my struggles. I was reminded that yes it is easy to talk the walk, but much harder to walk it. We will have failures, we will make mistakes, but praise God that there is the grace of God. I am thankful that God still loves me even though I failed. That His grace is sufficient for me, I will struggle, addictions are hard to break, it is easy to fall, much harder to stand and stand accountable to someone else.

I am not making excuses for my actions for what I did was fail, but what I want to do is walk with my head up knowing that God loves me so much that He sent His son to die on the cross for my sins, for my failures and has taught us how to love.

Yes, I am not perfect, but through my mistakes I hope that I can reach one person. I pray that my wrongs will help you walk according to how God calls us to walk. Through my struggles, my failures may you learn that it is better to be accountable then to have the consequences of not allowing the person God has placed in your life to stand with you, to pray with and to walk with you.

I can't change what I did, but I can learn from it and grow from it.

Failure

It seems that I have to learn the hard way for most things and again my learning was through my failure. A few weeks ago I had a very stressful week and I gave into the temptations of smoking once again. That wasn't the worst part of it, it was the accountability partner that I let down. See my girlfriend said she would be there for me, she said she would pray with me, but I didn't contact her, I allowed my own feelings to get in the way of what was the truth. I hid my failures from my girlfriend until today and in seeing the devastation I have caused I realize that ones sins can not remain hidden. I can't hide my struggles, I can't say I will deal with them myself and it was all because I thought it was better, but if I had been honest this could all be avoided.

Deception on any level is still deception, I hid the truth from her and I can't take that back. I can say I am sorry, but still she feels as if I could hide anything from her. You see how one little sin can cause a multitude of issues. My failure has cost me someone that I love and to say I love that means I trust and to say I trust that means I must tell the truth, even if I am struggling. I know what the bible says about a lying tongue and about deceit and it is so true.

I ask my readers forgiveness as I failed you as well by me preaching a good talk, but walking it is so difficult. It is much harder to stand, much easier to fall. I fell and I am sorry I fell. I know that struggles will come, but focusing on God, allowing the people who say they want to help, allow them to help. We can't do it alone and in this life we must allow others in. I didn't and I am paying for that. I don't want to do life alone.

I pray that you will learn from my mistakes, my failures and that you can avoid the same pitfalls as I seem to be struggling with them still. I want to stand, Lord help me to stand, help my failure to be a ministry to others to avoid the pitfalls of deceit and doubt. Let others learn from me as I don't want to fail at this again. Lord help me to live as an example, not as an example of what not to do. Lord teach me today through this and help me to walk this out with humility. In your name I pray Amen.

I thought through my having no struggles that made me strong, but it is actually allowing God in my struggles that makes me strong. It is seeking the help I need, asking for it and being willing to say I am weak, but you are strong. Paul went through this too and he realized even though he was weak, that God was strong. That though he may struggle, that God is stronger. It is allowing God in the struggles that made him who we read about, not because he had no struggles. We see this through the Bible, but for some reason I didn't see it. Though I may struggle, it is admitting that and allowing God. I don't know, but I do know God is in control, I need to let Him work. It is not my will but yours be done.