Smiling with God...

“Therefore since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race that marked us for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 The writer is making a very good point here. In his last closing chapters in Hebrews, he challenges the readers to endure the hardships of life and think of Christ. Knowing that Christ suffered much for our sins the beckons the readers to put things in perspective of our lives. Nothing is more important then the life dedicated to Christ, and that He won the battle and now let us run like no other. To “fix our eyes” is an indication the he writer wants the readers to focus in upon the things of Christ. That is to focus in and hone in on what is important. To focus in upo...

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” -Jesus (Matt 10:39) This verse above follows some of the hardest verses when asked about discipleship. In these set of verses Jesus uses the illustration that a true follower of Christ puts everything behind himself except Jesus. Your family, your friends, your loves, your desires, your dreams and your goals, all are secondary to Him. Jesus commands nothing but the ultimate. He demands we pledge Him everything. Then after we give everything, He asks us to take up our cross and follow. The cross we bear are things we may not want to do, but for His Kingdom’s sake, we do it. We do it with out complaint, with out sorrow, without a nagging attitude, we do it with our whole heart and mind in it. Though this seems tough, and though it does not seem fair, Jesus gives us a glimmer of hope, that if we loose our life for Him, we will find it. Working for a church I always hear about how much someo...

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” 2 Cor. 7:10 I like this, it’s the politically correct way of saying, YOU SUCKED! YOU WERE TERRIBLE, YOU WERE LOSERS. I like it. Paul here explains that sometimes it is good to make people sad, not in an evil malicious way, but if done in a caring, Godly, and holy way, God brings you to sorrow it is good! I mean it is good. Prior to this in his previous letter to the Corinthians, Paul at some points of his letters basically tells them “hey you are doing terrible. You guys are not following, you are bickering, you guys suck!” But int his case, it swings the Corinthians to action. They become more keen to the areas that God needs them to be sharp in. Since they were offended and hurt they were able to have their eyes open. They were able to see what is good and what is not so good. They were able to see where they thought there were righteous, but were so wrong to beg...

“But by the grace of God I am what I am , and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary , I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but God’s grace with me.” 1 Cor. 15:10 Paul here in one sentence shows us how to work with God in our lives. Yes work with God, not God work for us. Paul also talks about how grace is good, but he shows us that though you may be saved by grace, and God may be moving in your life, it is important that you just don’t let His grace sit there. While you are saved by His grace but that you are moved to action, and moved to take His grace and impact the world around you. God’s grace isn’t supposed to be just a one time thing but a starting point for your life to move. Paul’s lesson here is quite unique. I am quite frequently a Christian of stillness. I sit rather than move. I am a slouch. I rest in the past and not moved to move. But here Paul refreshes me and says that God’s grace should move us, it should compel us, it should b...

“I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we told the king, ‘The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.’” -Ezra 8:22 Here in this situation Ezra was a bit ashamed to ask for the king for protection, so what he did was he asked the people to fast and pray to God for Him to be their protection. Their purpose was not for them to be safe, but their journey was necessary for the temple to be built and for God to be praised. The Persian king, Artaxerxes, told the to go and build back in Jerusalem, and he sent them off in the name of God. He sort of recognized that God was their God. So going out and asking for the kings protection did not seem like a viable option. The name of the Lord needed to be praised. Ezra knew that. What is most interesting here is that Ezra was not doing this to proclaim his name or make himself famous, he was doing all this in t...

“But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?” Luke 12:20 At first glance after reading this little parable, you think, “What is wrong with building storage sheds for extra riches?” Really there isn’t anything wrong with that. I was always taught that this passage says for you not to be greedy, which I just accepted as truth. But after reading this specific phrase, “You fool” does this begin to make sense. According to a commentary the word fool is not referenced to some one who is of low intelligence or stupid, but it is a direct reference to someone who does not obey God. So the issue of being rich was not the issue, the issue of storing up wealth wasn’t the issue, the issue was that God gave a direct command to this individual and he did not follow it. Instead the scripture said, “He reasoned with himself.” He talked himself out of God’s will and therefore paid a hefty price for it. It’s not a matte...

When he (King Darius) had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel. “Daniel, servant of the living God, Has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Daniel 6:20 Here it is King Darius comes with great concern for Daniel because of a order he gave while listening to his other men. It is kind of weird that a pagan king had great concern for Daniel. From what I can observer I see that it isn’t impossible because of the one phrase that is in this verse: constantly serve. Daniel served God throughout his life and did not falter form left or right. He didn’t give in or give up on God. His life was a living example of what is to be a man devoted to God. Now seeing his life I am inspired to want to be like Daniel. However in reality I know that it is difficult for me to do things like this. But the difference between Daniel and others, he followed through. He followed through in the difficul...