These past few days have been interesting in terms of what God is doing in my life and what he is teaching me.
I'll start with yesterday. I received an encouraging phone call from somebody from my church. He called to encourage me because he knew I had been discouraged lately. I really appreciate when people care enough to call and ask how I am doing and be genuine when they are asking...really cool. Anyways the call was encouraging but the best part of the call was when the man started to talk like he was God....I recognize this sounds weird..so hear me out. Throughout the call he was talking like himself saying things about God...such as "Your Father loves you and doesn't condemn you" etc etc.(this is a paraphrase...I can't remember he exact wording) But at one point the man on the phone started to talk as he was God...(not on purpose or trying to be like God...it just WAS God talking to me through this man). He started to talk as if he was the Father.saying things like "I sent my son to die for you and I have written your name in the book of like" etc etc. (again a paraphrase) Like...no joke...God spoke to me through this man. I wonder if this is making any sense...??? Anyway...when this was happening I was crying because God is so loving and encouraging. All I could do was thank him and tell him I loved him too (silently...not to the man on the phone). I felt so blessed tat God chose me to talk to....wow! How do you come down from a high like that? Maybe this sounds crazy to some of you...but I know it was God and it was so beautiful. I can't wait to meet him face to face one day :) *Hopefully the caller doesn't mind me posting this..and if he does I apologize!*
On to today. I listened to a sermon that was really good. It was based on Ephesians 2:11-13, which says:
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
These verses may not seem too significant...but they are! Paul is asking the Ephesians to remember to when they were not Christ followers...but why? He wants them to remember what life was like before Christ because it sucked and they need to remember that so they can see how great they have it now with Christ in their life. Also it is easy for us to because proud and to look down on others...but if we remember what life was like before Christ...we can see that we are no different from others. We're all sinners...we've all followed the devil at one point in time..nobody can boast. We can't even boast that we are Christ followers because we didn't save ourselves...Christ saved us. So we cannot boast. Remembering is a good thing because it humbles us and it makes up appreciate what Christ did for us.
Sometimes I forget what Christ saved me from. Since I became a Christian at a young age...I don't remember what life was like without Christ.I don't know the loneliness and hopelessness of it. But in the sermon, Matt had a good point. Sometimes when kids are separated from their parent(s) while in a store, the child panics. They start crying and are anxious to see their parent(s) again. When the kid finally sees their parent(s), they immediately stop crying, smile and run toward their parent(s). This was us. We were lost...now we're found. I now pray that God will show me what life was like before him whether in my own life or through other things in this world (such as a child being separated from their mom or dad for a short period of time) I think we often forget why Christ died and what He saved us from.
So remember because you didn't have hope..and now you do.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Made Alive - Really Knowing Him
If I were to guess, I would say most Christians do not have an exciting relationship with Christ. We allow our relationship to be stagnant. Does this describe your relationship with Christ? If it does..you are not alone! But it also means you need to make some changes. In the sermon I listened to today, Matt (the pastor) says he thinks people have a stagnant relationship with God because they don't take risks. We don't need to take risks if we look at our relationship with God as Sunday mornings and small groups, or Sunday morning and youth group...or church events...or whatever. If we are not daily walking with God, of course our relationship will be stagnant. If we're not sharing God with others...we're not taking risks.
A few weeks ago I taught the sr. high youth group about the need to spend time with God daily. I admitted to the youth that this is a struggle for me...to spend time with God daily. But every where I go, somehow somebody is talking about he importance of spending time with Go daily...and when I hear the same thing over and over..I conclude that God is trying to teach me something. So I taught this lesson to the youth too. I decided I can't teach on something and not follow through with it myself. So almost every day I have been reading the Bible, spending time in prayer and listening to sermons. (I find sermons help teach me the Bible..especially when I am confused). Already I can see what God is teaching me..and he is using me too!
There is a prayer in Ephesians 1 that I think is so beautiful. This is what it says:
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
I am still working on my prayer life. I do pray daily but I struggle with praying regularly for the people around me. I am always amazed when somebody tells me they pray for me often or even daily. I definitely feel blessed but also guilty because I have not returned the favour. Anyway, I can't pray the prayer above exactly because the first line....15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Let's be honest...I have stopped giving thanks and I do forget people in my prayers. So I'm not going to sit here and say I pray this prayer..because I don't. However, I love the message in this prayer and I want it to become my prayer. For my family, friends, the youth, Nathan, myself, the church...everybody who knows Jesus. Think if this prayer was answered....how alive we would be in our relationship with Jesus.
This is what amazes me...the same power that raised Jesus FROM THE DEAD..is the same power we have in and through the Holy Spirit. Just think...if we lived walking daily with God...and if we listened to what he was saying and if we took risks...and if we loved God and if we were honest with where we are at in life and if we stopped judging and gossiping and loved people...this world would be turned upside down. It happened when the disciples lived, it happened when Paul lived and it can happen now. Some people think being a Christian is boring....but I would disagree. If you can hear some of the stories of how God has worked and how God has used his followers TODAY and not just in Bible times...it's SO exciting.
Anyway...I've blabbed on or awhile. I hope I'm being made alive and you are too. May we REALLY know Him....and not just of Him.
A few weeks ago I taught the sr. high youth group about the need to spend time with God daily. I admitted to the youth that this is a struggle for me...to spend time with God daily. But every where I go, somehow somebody is talking about he importance of spending time with Go daily...and when I hear the same thing over and over..I conclude that God is trying to teach me something. So I taught this lesson to the youth too. I decided I can't teach on something and not follow through with it myself. So almost every day I have been reading the Bible, spending time in prayer and listening to sermons. (I find sermons help teach me the Bible..especially when I am confused). Already I can see what God is teaching me..and he is using me too!
There is a prayer in Ephesians 1 that I think is so beautiful. This is what it says:
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
I am still working on my prayer life. I do pray daily but I struggle with praying regularly for the people around me. I am always amazed when somebody tells me they pray for me often or even daily. I definitely feel blessed but also guilty because I have not returned the favour. Anyway, I can't pray the prayer above exactly because the first line....15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Let's be honest...I have stopped giving thanks and I do forget people in my prayers. So I'm not going to sit here and say I pray this prayer..because I don't. However, I love the message in this prayer and I want it to become my prayer. For my family, friends, the youth, Nathan, myself, the church...everybody who knows Jesus. Think if this prayer was answered....how alive we would be in our relationship with Jesus.
This is what amazes me...the same power that raised Jesus FROM THE DEAD..is the same power we have in and through the Holy Spirit. Just think...if we lived walking daily with God...and if we listened to what he was saying and if we took risks...and if we loved God and if we were honest with where we are at in life and if we stopped judging and gossiping and loved people...this world would be turned upside down. It happened when the disciples lived, it happened when Paul lived and it can happen now. Some people think being a Christian is boring....but I would disagree. If you can hear some of the stories of how God has worked and how God has used his followers TODAY and not just in Bible times...it's SO exciting.
Anyway...I've blabbed on or awhile. I hope I'm being made alive and you are too. May we REALLY know Him....and not just of Him.
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Awakening? + In Him
Today a man from our church called to encourage Nathan and I. Although there is a lot he said, one thing I would like to highlight is that he said an awakening is happening and the tides are turning. He then gave us this song to listen to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_J9BI6AFO0
I'm not positive exactly what he means...whether he is talking about us individually, our church, our country or the world...but whatever it means...it sounds exciting.
I still feel as though my walk with God is not the most exciting. I don't hear him often and when I read my Bible..sometimes I don't get much out of it. However I am trying to be diligent in following God and I think he honours that. Being at our new church has been an exciting experience for us. I have seen God work in many ways I have not seen him work before. Seeing God work makes me excited and want to follow him even more. Today I wonder why God would use me at all...but I feel privileged to know he wants to. I just need to remember to rely on him and when things get done it is by God's working and not my own. I also feel as though I can't do anything and have to remember that if I allow God to work, then I can be used. What a delicate balance between being humble and also being confident in God.
On another note,I listened to part 2 of the Ephesians series today..
Today we looked at Ephesians 1:11-14 which says:
11 In him we were also chosen,[a] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Hmm this sermon was a little more confusing than yesterdays as are the above verses. These were the main points Matt had:
1) In Him, the old passes away and the new shall come (based on 2 Corinthians 5:17)
2) We are made alive in Christ
3) There is no condemnation for us because of God
4) We are presented perfect before God because of Jesus
5) We are God's possession
6) God marks us and seals in us the Holy Spirit
I am going to put the above verses again but in the Message version. I realize the Message is not a proper translation...but it made a lot of sense to me....here it is:
11-12It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
13-14It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
I found this version helpful. I love that God had thought of us before we were even born. I also like that in Christ we have great plans..."we find out who we are and what we are living for". I think a lot of people wonder why they exist and what their purpose is...THIS IS YOUR PURPOSE!! I just want to shake people sometime and shout in their faces....but of course that would land me in jail...so I can't do that. I gotta laugh at the line above "signed, sealed, delivered" because of that song..anyway back on track...what amazes me is that the gift of the Holy Spirit is only our first gift....more is still coming! Which would obviously be being in Heaven with God face to face..
Anyway I don't have much else to say...I didn't find today's sermon or reading too life changing or thought provoking. Matt Chandler was quite excited by these verses though..so that's good. I guess I need to ponder more by what it means by being God's possession and also the fact that God thought about me and chose me before I was even born.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_J9BI6AFO0
I'm not positive exactly what he means...whether he is talking about us individually, our church, our country or the world...but whatever it means...it sounds exciting.
I still feel as though my walk with God is not the most exciting. I don't hear him often and when I read my Bible..sometimes I don't get much out of it. However I am trying to be diligent in following God and I think he honours that. Being at our new church has been an exciting experience for us. I have seen God work in many ways I have not seen him work before. Seeing God work makes me excited and want to follow him even more. Today I wonder why God would use me at all...but I feel privileged to know he wants to. I just need to remember to rely on him and when things get done it is by God's working and not my own. I also feel as though I can't do anything and have to remember that if I allow God to work, then I can be used. What a delicate balance between being humble and also being confident in God.
On another note,I listened to part 2 of the Ephesians series today..
Today we looked at Ephesians 1:11-14 which says:
11 In him we were also chosen,[a] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Hmm this sermon was a little more confusing than yesterdays as are the above verses. These were the main points Matt had:
1) In Him, the old passes away and the new shall come (based on 2 Corinthians 5:17)
2) We are made alive in Christ
3) There is no condemnation for us because of God
4) We are presented perfect before God because of Jesus
5) We are God's possession
6) God marks us and seals in us the Holy Spirit
I am going to put the above verses again but in the Message version. I realize the Message is not a proper translation...but it made a lot of sense to me....here it is:
11-12It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
13-14It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
I found this version helpful. I love that God had thought of us before we were even born. I also like that in Christ we have great plans..."we find out who we are and what we are living for". I think a lot of people wonder why they exist and what their purpose is...THIS IS YOUR PURPOSE!! I just want to shake people sometime and shout in their faces....but of course that would land me in jail...so I can't do that. I gotta laugh at the line above "signed, sealed, delivered" because of that song..anyway back on track...what amazes me is that the gift of the Holy Spirit is only our first gift....more is still coming! Which would obviously be being in Heaven with God face to face..
Anyway I don't have much else to say...I didn't find today's sermon or reading too life changing or thought provoking. Matt Chandler was quite excited by these verses though..so that's good. I guess I need to ponder more by what it means by being God's possession and also the fact that God thought about me and chose me before I was even born.
Monday, 20 June 2011
God's Eternal Love (Ephesians 1 - 3)
So I started to read Ephesians the other day..and I'm not going to lie...I got pretty frustrated after the first two chapters. Sometimes I wish Paul would just say what he is saying..more plainly! Why does he have to be so complicated? Anyway...despite being very frustrated..I decided to press on and I will finish the book. However, I don't want to read a book and not really understand what has just been read..so I decided to listen to a sermon online by Matt Chandler (http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/sermons?kw=ephesians&type=sermons&match=any/) Somehow there are 29 sermons on Ephesians alone...that's a lot considering there are only 6 chapters in the book...I may be in this book longer than the 6 days I expected to be!
Anyway..thanks to Matty C., I now have a better understanding of what the verses are talking about...at least chapter 1:3-6 so far. I semi-understood it before..but now it makes more sense. Here is what 1:3-6 says:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Here's what I got out of the sermon about these verses.
1) Before God created the world, he loved everyone of us. Before he made the earth and the sun and the moon and animals and dirt, etc...he loved us.
2) We are not mistakes. A lot of people are born into bad situations and may have been a surprise to their parents or not wanted by their parents or whatever...but everybody is wanted by God because he created them.
3) God can't love us based on what we do in life (or don't do) because he loved us before we were born. We can't win his love if we don't exist. Therefore, God's love must go beyond us and how we live our lives.
4) Many Christians think that God is up in Heaven waiting to judge us..and as soon as we make a mistake he is right there ready to judge. But Matt gave an illustration that I liked. It goes something like this:
When children are learning to walk, they get up...take a step or two and fall down. The parents don't sit there and yell at the kid for not being able to walk on their first try, instead they cheer and celebrate because their child is making progress. God is the same. We don't fall down only to be yelled at by God. Instead he is here to pick us up and help us.
So those are the lessons I learned from Ephesians and from Matt Chandler. It's nice to have online sermons to listen to when I am feeling confused. It is also nice to have people in my life that I can talk to about this too.
I just want to say one more thing...on point 4 from above. I often feel really dumb having to go to God to admit that I made the same mistake again. Sometimes I won't even pray because I feel so guilty. But recently I had a really cool God experience where I felt (without a doubt) God's love and gentleness. It wasn't guilt or shame or punishment...it was restoring and loving and kind and gentle...and simply beautiful. I think God is much more tender than we realize. I had an awesome moment of experiencing that love and I look forward to more in the future.
More on Ephesians another day...
Anyway..thanks to Matty C., I now have a better understanding of what the verses are talking about...at least chapter 1:3-6 so far. I semi-understood it before..but now it makes more sense. Here is what 1:3-6 says:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Here's what I got out of the sermon about these verses.
1) Before God created the world, he loved everyone of us. Before he made the earth and the sun and the moon and animals and dirt, etc...he loved us.
2) We are not mistakes. A lot of people are born into bad situations and may have been a surprise to their parents or not wanted by their parents or whatever...but everybody is wanted by God because he created them.
3) God can't love us based on what we do in life (or don't do) because he loved us before we were born. We can't win his love if we don't exist. Therefore, God's love must go beyond us and how we live our lives.
4) Many Christians think that God is up in Heaven waiting to judge us..and as soon as we make a mistake he is right there ready to judge. But Matt gave an illustration that I liked. It goes something like this:
When children are learning to walk, they get up...take a step or two and fall down. The parents don't sit there and yell at the kid for not being able to walk on their first try, instead they cheer and celebrate because their child is making progress. God is the same. We don't fall down only to be yelled at by God. Instead he is here to pick us up and help us.
So those are the lessons I learned from Ephesians and from Matt Chandler. It's nice to have online sermons to listen to when I am feeling confused. It is also nice to have people in my life that I can talk to about this too.
I just want to say one more thing...on point 4 from above. I often feel really dumb having to go to God to admit that I made the same mistake again. Sometimes I won't even pray because I feel so guilty. But recently I had a really cool God experience where I felt (without a doubt) God's love and gentleness. It wasn't guilt or shame or punishment...it was restoring and loving and kind and gentle...and simply beautiful. I think God is much more tender than we realize. I had an awesome moment of experiencing that love and I look forward to more in the future.
More on Ephesians another day...
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Life by the Spirit....Gal 5 & 6
So I finished reading Galatians today. Again I was not a huge fan of the book...I feel like it could be summed up a lot more quick than how much Paul writes...but hey that is just me. I guess I just felt that it was very repetitive.
Galatians 5 is what hit me the most in this whole book. There are two lists mentioned (which I will type out) because they are important. The first list is the acts of sinful nature, which are:
sexual immorality
impurity
debauchery
idolatry
witchcraft
hatred
discord
jealousy
fits of rage
selfish ambition
dissensions
factions
envy
drunkenness
orgies
The second list is if you live by the Spirit, which are:
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
self control
I've heard this list read many times which is titled "the fruits of the spirit". I have it memorized but I'm not sure I've ever stopped to really ponder the list. I guess that is something I can do today. To ask myself the question...how much I am living by the first list and how much by the second list?
Another question I need to ponder is how much am I living for God because I love Him and how much am I living for Him because I feel like I have to and was taught to. (So living by the Spirit VS living by the law..) I guess we live more by the law than we realize.
Many times I do things because I feel like I am supposed to as a Christian. Again it comes down to my heart and if I do "good things" because I feel like I have to...it is useless. If I do good things because that is Christ living through me then it is good because I am doing it in love. Just thinking a lot lately about my heart and if I am doing things for the right reasons or not. Also pondering what living by the Spirit really means.
So that sums up Galatians...I know I only started at chapter 3...onto Ephesians!
Oh one more note...it is because of the book of Galatians that Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses....he realized that we are justified only by faith in Jesus Christ and not by works.
PS - somebody pointed out that they can't make comments on here...not sure how to fix that...anybody know?
Galatians 5 is what hit me the most in this whole book. There are two lists mentioned (which I will type out) because they are important. The first list is the acts of sinful nature, which are:
sexual immorality
impurity
debauchery
idolatry
witchcraft
hatred
discord
jealousy
fits of rage
selfish ambition
dissensions
factions
envy
drunkenness
orgies
The second list is if you live by the Spirit, which are:
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
self control
I've heard this list read many times which is titled "the fruits of the spirit". I have it memorized but I'm not sure I've ever stopped to really ponder the list. I guess that is something I can do today. To ask myself the question...how much I am living by the first list and how much by the second list?
Another question I need to ponder is how much am I living for God because I love Him and how much am I living for Him because I feel like I have to and was taught to. (So living by the Spirit VS living by the law..) I guess we live more by the law than we realize.
Many times I do things because I feel like I am supposed to as a Christian. Again it comes down to my heart and if I do "good things" because I feel like I have to...it is useless. If I do good things because that is Christ living through me then it is good because I am doing it in love. Just thinking a lot lately about my heart and if I am doing things for the right reasons or not. Also pondering what living by the Spirit really means.
So that sums up Galatians...I know I only started at chapter 3...onto Ephesians!
Oh one more note...it is because of the book of Galatians that Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses....he realized that we are justified only by faith in Jesus Christ and not by works.
PS - somebody pointed out that they can't make comments on here...not sure how to fix that...anybody know?
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Galatians 4 - We create our own laws..
Galatians 4 is a little bit interesting to me. The whole chapter is Paul explaining to the Galatians that they are free in Christ and not because of the law. Again this concept does not always seem applicable in our time since we did not live by law like they did back in the these times...but we have been taught Christ from the beginning...and yet somehow we still make a law for ourselves.
Many Christians are caught up in doing what is right VS what is wrong. I'm not saying we should choose to sin because we have freedom in Christ...we shouldn't abuse our freedom. However what I am saying is that I think a lot of Christians make up rules like the Pharisees did. Then when Christians do something 'wrong', people look down on them and judge them. For example, I do not think it is right for a Christian to get drunk. The Bible is clear that Christians should't get drunk. However, if a Christian goes to a bar to socialize with friends, I think that is fine. But I know some Christians would look at that person and would judge them. Why is this? Where do these rules come from? We make up rules like the Pharisees did in order to keep ourselves as pure as possible but then in the moment we could miss great opportunities.
This reminds me of the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10). In the story it is a priest and a Levite who both see the man who was beaten up and they don't help him. They miss doing God's work because they are too concerned with following the law. It always comes down to our hearts and our motives. God put the law in place to lead everybody to Christ. We think we need to follow all of these rules in order to be good Christians...but really all we need to do is know Christ and he will show us how we should act.
Just a side note: Galatians 4 does not talk about the Galatians making up their own laws but them following the laws from the OT....but when reading it, it reminded me of Christians today making up their own laws since we don't really follow the laws of the OT like the Galatians did.
Just a side note: Galatians 4 does not talk about the Galatians making up their own laws but them following the laws from the OT....but when reading it, it reminded me of Christians today making up their own laws since we don't really follow the laws of the OT like the Galatians did.
Monday, 13 June 2011
Random Thoughts and Galatians 3
Recently I have been learning about the importance of spending time with God daily. Growing up as a Christian I know this concept, but its such a struggle for me to do. I make every excuse in the world as to why I need to do something else rather than read the Bible. But I know that if I don't read the Bible...it will be difficult to know Jesus personally. So I am on a journey..to read my Bible daily and to spend time with God and to really know Him.
The first change I made in my life today is by putting a trigger in it. I read on the internet that if you want to change habits then putting a trigger in your life is a good idea. So if I wan to read the Bible everyday and make it stick then I should have a trigger that reminds me that I need to read my Bible. I used to go on the computer first thing when I woke up...not anymore. Starting today...I read my Bible first. So my day should look like this: wake up, hit the snooze button, turn off alarm, go to the bathroom, wash hands, read Bible, spend time in prayer, blog....and so on. If I do this everyday at the same time and in the same order it should end up being a habit.
So each day I will blog my thoughts on life in general, what I am learning and about what I read in the Bible that day. I used to journal a little bit but I find typing so much easier...lazy indeed.
Today I read from Galatians 3. So far I am not a huge fan of the book. Probably because I just finished reading the book of Mark and I found Jesus so fascinating in how he acts and reacts toward people. Anyway I am going to stick it out and finish Galatians knowing there is some good stuff to learn in it.
Chapter 3 is all about how the Galatians (and us) are saved by having faith in Jesus as opposed to following the law. Sometimes I am still confused about why God put the law into existence in the first place..but Galatians 3 says that it existed to point us to Christ when the right time came (vs. 19 & 24)
I guess this chapter didn't teach me too much because we don't really live in a time where we think about the law much since we're taught about faith in Jesus now and not about the law. But one verse that really stuck out for me was this:
"You are all sons (and daughters) of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." (vs. 26)
What stuck out to me was the clothed with Christ part. Everyday we get up and clothe ourselves. If people look at me, they can clearly see my clothes. They may not pay attention to my clothes but they can see that I am wearing clothes and if they want to pay attention will notice what type of clothes I am wearing, what colour, style, etc. If I clothe myself with Christ..people should notice. This should be all they see on me.
So the question remains...do I clothe myself with Christ daily? I would like to but I know I haven't been. One good start is by choosing to read my Bible and getting to know Jesus better.
Until tomorrow.....
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)