Standing up with care,

"Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliever us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

Daniel 3:16-18

Godly men standing up for what God had said. A perfect picture of how things should be done in my life and in ours as Believers. These men talked to the King as a man who held the position. They showed respect even in the face of death. I can't even always maintain a certain level of respect when my ideas are opposed! We need to take this to heart I think. We as Believers need to be standing up for things God told us to stand up for in a culture that is longing to assimilate into what everyone else is doing. We ARE called to live a life that sticks out to a dark world but as that light we need to be careful with how we do it. What a great passage with a lot of things to mull over but I think it's so important how these men responded. They respectfully answer in the face of death acknowledging the outcome of their actions may end in death. We as Believers need to realize that when we face something just because we stand up for God doesn't mean we don't have to face whatever the consequences are that result from it. Here it was death and they accepted the punishment with respect to the King because he was the King! God saves these men but the thing is he didn't have to! If God allowed them to die it wouldn't change what these men where doing! We need to remember the way we as believers handle ourselves and our lives may be the only "bible" they see in a day, a week, a month or year for that matter. The way we handle authority in our life does matter! Their action of standing up against what God had said not to do in a respectful way fully accepting the consequences is something we as believers who live in America very well could face in the future. Right now it costs us nothing but that is not guaranteed and when our faith starts to cost us something will we still be standing firm fully accepting the consequences in a respectful manner worthy of our father?

Father your a good God. Your a good God because you define what good is and this world does not. No matter what the situation we face we have to remember as believers greater is He who is in you than he who is in this world John says. Father I know the end of this tapestry and story your telling and it excites me that you choose to use people in places all over the world in your plan when you don't have to. I pray that we walk with care as Psalm 15 says so that when you want to use us as tools we are sharp and ready even when it gets messy and not what we expect. Let us represent and stand for what you stand for and hurt for what you hurt for handling ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ as Phillipains 1:27 says.

Hello God.

The Priests and the Levites purified themselves; they also purified the people the gates and the wall.

-Nehemiah 12:30

As a believer I want nothing more than to meet with God and have a relationship with him. I love the fact that I get to communicate with him and worship him in my life at no cost to me. At the same time when I meet with God the creator of the universe I should be preparing much much more than I am. I want to be ready to meet with him and that involves a choice on my part to take the crap that I have in this world that has attached itself to me throughout the week and shake it off before I meet with him. I need to get myself ready to meet with God more than I am and its something that I want to do because my relationship with God is the most important thing being in this world has to offer.

Nehemiah!

Today we started doing the book of Nehemiah and I must say I think it's probably my favorite book of the bible so far. As a guy that is looking into a career choice of leadership in the church this book is like a leadership handbook as Pastor Randy put it. Not only does it excite me at learning and trying to put these things to practice in my life but it challenges me to strive even more so in my walk and relationship with the Lord. Every book is unique in it's own way and has it's own something that I love but Nehemiah is probably going to be my favorite and most used section of the Bible . In the words of my friend Brian Keogh " Nehemiah man!".

Look out in the plain it's a bird it's a plane...no it's my shepherd! Part 1.

"The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want He makes me lie down in green pastures He leads me beside quiet waters He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For his name's sake Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23

If you didn't know already I'm kind of a comic book geek. I am a huge fan of the whole super hero thing and I have many shirts in my wardrobe to testify to that. Of course now they are coming out with movies of the superheros that I had in my prime little 8 year old days which are trashy and depressing but none the less I'm a fan of the hero's not so much their movies. Though I do enjoy watching those hero's in cartoon form and yes I do know they are really only cartoon hero's but with that being said I also get to worship the greatest real life Superhero ever.

Oh you want a guy who saves people who can't help themselves and are stuck in a position of hopeless despair? Bam he did it. You want a guy who literally can withstand the most punishment that anyone has ever had to go through? Bam he did it.Oh you want a guy who defeats evil doers with just his breath? Bam....stay tuned because he's going to do it :) . I think you get the point. Not only does Jesus do all these things but I get to have a personal relationship with the guy and he cares about me! That blows my mind! Daniel says in Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd and I know the reaction we get when we hear shepherd " oh an Old guy watching sheep in a field". I thought the same thing but that is grossly understating their job to put it nicely! When we look closely at Psalm 23 we get to see God as a Shepherd and the man writing the Psalm knows a little about shepherding and is writing this Psalm with that on his mind.

In verse 1-2 " the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want He makes me lie down in green pastures He leads me beside quite waters." looks simple enough, but there is something you need to know about sheep....yes they're dumb but something else. Sheep don't just lie down easily. They actually need 4 things before they will lie down: enough food, enough drink, a clean nose + throat, and they need to feel secure. See sheep won't lie down if they are thirsty or aren't completely full so the Shepherd needs to take care of the sheep's needs, not wants but needs. In the same way when we walk with God our needs are met an he gives us what we need ( and sometimes it's not what we think we need but what he knows we need). Then the Shepherd will check if any mites are in the sheep's nose and check if any leeches are in it's throat. Its basically a check of crap thats in the sheep that shouldn't be and he takes it out if it shouldn't be there. Amazingly thats the same thing Christ does with our life! When we have things that shouldn't be there by walking through this world sometimes God has to "clean us" and its not always a pleasant feeling but its necessary in both scenarios. Finally the Shepherd needs to make sure the sheep feels secure. Sheep are terrified of running water its just something they don't like so the Shepherd is sure to stay clear of any running water because he knows that it scares the sheep. Thats why the second part of verse 2 is there. In the same way God knows what scares us! Its not something we always think about but it should help us feel secure that our Shepherd knows what scares us! It makes us realize that we are not alone even when we feel alone if we are walking with him and that should get us pumped that he cares for us in such a way!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0j3-tmQLjg

Gotta Love Sunday Mornings! Church activities all day and great fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ. Pumped!

Can you hear me....now?

Habakkuk 1:1-2, and (5-6) "The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. How long, O Lord, will I call for your help and You will not hear? I Cry out to You in "Violence!" Yet you do not save.

(5-6)"Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days - You would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs."

"Can you hear me now? Good." It's funny to think about how a completely easy commercial caught on so rapidly and from such a simple question that most would ask when their phone call was dropped. We all asked the question as the voice was going in and out as connection was bad "can you hear me? can you?". Funnier still to me is when we see this, how the same question and situation happens to us as believer with God. "Can you hear us? Are you even listening?". A common question but can he hear us? David sure seemed to think so with the writing of the psalms and through the interactions of Jonah praying to the Lord in ch. 2 he commanded the whale to spit Jonah out on the shore. Many even Christians have said Jonah is probably a fairy tale but in Matthew 12:40 Jesus sure believes in Jonah so if I'm going to take anyones word for it I'll take his haha! In Habakkuk 1:1-4 We see Habakkuk crying out to the Lord about the "injustice" going on and he makes a couple of questions known to God.

We look into Verse 2 and Habakkuk is asking God the same question the Verizon guy is asking on the commercial. Can you hear me? Habakkuk is asking God why he is not listening or why it seems like he's not listening to him. He's crying out that the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob has turned his ear piece off and his reasoning is in the second part of two. " I cry out to You, "Violence!" Yet you do not save.". Habakkuk is at the point where he's saying your not listening because I can't see your response and everything is staying the same. We all feel like this sometimes one way or another. "God are you there? I just don't see you in my life and all these things are going on and when I need you the most God you just don't seem to be here!" I've been there guys I have and its painful and its something no doubt all of us will go through and Habakkuk is feeling it here. God is not going to leave Habakkuk here though because when we truly know God and have a relationship we can ask him concerning our trails and he will answer us.

God gets to respond to Habakkuk in verse 5. In 5 he tells Habakkuk He does in fact have a plan he is listening and is doing something about it. In fact he tells Habakkuk he wouldn't believe what he was doing even if God told him! God's plans aren't always clear in our lives and sometimes we don't understand why things happen in our lives. Its easy to get frustrated with God when it seems a day is all going wrong and things seem to fall apart but remember verse 5 should comfort us. He is doing something in our days! God is listening to us but at the same time we have realize he is working his plan guys. Hardships are going to happen in our lives, its part of life, what we do with those hardships though matters. He is listening and he knows whats going on guys! My god is bigger than my problems but we have to trust him. I don't know why certain things happen I honestly can't always give an answer. I think of Job who God was actually bragging on to Satan and because of nothing Job did everything was taken from him. Job did right and got wrong and we don't like that but when we say Lord my life is yours and surrender it to him he has the right to use it any way he wants! Job's life was used to speak into his friends lives who didn't have a complete view of God and through all his hardship his life was used. Thats not an easy thing to swallow but thats what I signed up for as a Christian and its easy in my life as I see God's hand blessing me abundantly to say that. I can say confident;y that no hardship you go through is useless and just because we don't think God is listening doesn't mean he isn't So I pray whole heartedly that when we are going through things that don't make sense to us and it seems that God isn't listening to our prayers that we make sure we are right with him and then trust his plan for our lives. He's working a plan and we get to be used and be apart of it guys and we don't always get the best parts but when we are walking with him we can trust that his grace is sufficient and his hand is on my life whether it looks like it or not.

Danger!Danger! Running at 10% capacity.

"Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among who you appear as lights to the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run i vain or toil in vain." Philippians 2:14

Today GCBI mulched the playground and such getting ready to prepare for the Easter Eggstravaganza. I'm the kinda of person who loves to serve and not for the "hey good job" but because I love people and helping them. Why is this though? I was thinking and realized every things I do whether cleaning the floor at the institute or mulching the playground I can get away with doing a B job instead of an A one. I know I can and even further than that I can pass it off as an A job to other people but to myself and to the Lord he knows! Psalm 139:1 says he searches me and knows me! With verses like this I always see the scary and the exciting about God. Of course this means he knows whether I tried enough or not and whether I settled with less then my best. That scares me because how many times do we do the least amount of work possible? Then we pass it off as if we have done some great work for the kingdom of God when we literally gave 10% the effort we should have! He knows and we are fine with giving only 10% to our God our maker sometimes and as Paul says "may it never be". If we start doing that with one thing soon it will creep into another and then another and before we know it God is getting a "Hi God, Bye God" once a day and we are content! When we give less effort in one place inevitably it will show up in another so we need to keep fighting and striving because we know we are working for the King of Universe and he knows our hearts in all we do.

Father you are good. All you do is good because that is your character and you get to define what good is. Even saying this causes my heart to beat rapidly because it longs to contend with you in telling me what is good. I know however Lord sometimes it leads me down the wrong path but You never will. God search me and show me if in anything I do I'm not doing it to the best of my ability for You. You are truth Lord and apart from a relationship with you I will never know what truth and knowledge is because fearing you is the beginning of all knowledge says Proverbs 1:7. May I never despise your wisdom or your instruction because I know anything short of my entire life in complete surrender will hurt my relationship with you. I love you father.

My Father, My Shepherd

I'm going to be honest I don't always think before I talk. When I think about it I can say some just dumb things that don't make any sense and Doug and Elijah make sure I know when I do by laughing and joking with me about it. The thing is we all could profit from thinking before we talk. The same can go for when we talk to our Father. Not only should we be careful in the way we come to the father but the very words we come to him with as well. Ecclesiastes 5:2- "Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few." When I talk to my father sometimes I just want him to fix whatever is broken in my life so my comfort will be restored. We are selfish by nature thats true but when we look in the scripture at people's prayers what always sticks out to me is how they pray. I personally love when a man of God falls on his face and cries out to the Lord. My relationship with my Father is the single most important thing on this planet and communicating with him is a huge part of it. Some times I need to realize who I'm talking to. The creator of everything who is telling a story and I'm not the main role. He doesn't need me but he chooses to use me and I can honestly say I don't know why. I do know it's not anything of myself but the God of the universe can choose to use me. Thats scary and exciting to me. In one aspect not only do I need to be making sure my walk with God is carefully in check and on the other hand is that I'm doing?? Thats my responsibility and my hearts deepest desire IS to walk unblemished. My desire is to be a Psalm 15 guy who is constantly watching my walk, putting my energy to good work,checking my, being sure that the people I hang out with are those who fear and honor the Lord, making my commitment to to him and only him everyday, and keeping my priorities what he wants them to be.

Father these things aren't easy these things aren't what the world is telling me to do nor even my heart all the time. I'm a man God, you breathed life into Adam and I was aloud to have life because you said I could.I don't feel worthy to do the things you have put in my life to do because who am I? Psalm 19 says that heavens declare the glory of YOU and the skies proclaim the works of YOUR hands and you choose to use me to speak into lives of other people? Father my prayer is simple "Speak Lord for your servant is listening". I can only hear you adequately when I'm listening and not talking and sometimes I just don't do that.

*Waves hand* "You can control your mind"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1rlThKe1qo

"Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."Philippians 4:8

What we have going on in the picture here is Obi-Wan Kenobi waving his hand at the storm troopers using the "force". In the end of the video he says using the force he manipulated the mind of the soldier. An interesting concept is it not? I can only think that if the soldier knew what happened he would feel completely powerless to have his thoughts manipulated. What a powerless feeling that would be but also if we can control our own thoughts what a EMpowering feeling! It's easy to think that our minds are an untamable beast that we are powerless to defend against the filth in the world. When we look at Philippians 4: verse 8 however that's exactly what Paul is saying! Woah what? I can do that?I mean really last time I checked I'm not a Jedi who with a wave of my hand can tell myself what to think can I? Well in 4:8 thats what Paul tells us we can and are called to do. The cool part about this is we don't need to use the force luckily......we can still wave our hands if we want to but we do't need to. Paul tells us to dwell on things that are honorable(dignified), right(innocent), pure (not defiled or free from sin), lovely ( agreeable to the word of God), of good repute(well reported of ex.good testimony), excellence (of Moral goodness), and worthy of praise. These things are what we need to dwell on and when we do our minds are not dwelling on things that don't honor the lord! When we control our thinking and take every thought that we have captive thats when we can can say is this something that glorifies God or not? If not we rebuke it and throw it away and if it we cling to it.

Marian Wright Edelman put it like this:

“If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.”

With our thoughts this should be our attitude as well. If we don't like the way we are thinking (worldy) then change it! We have an obligation to change it and the way we do it is capturing one thought at a time.