"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." - 2 Timothy 3:1-5
This describes our society today. Just watch the news for an hour. All kinds of terrible events taking place everyday. Maybe its just me, but it sure seems like we are facing way more tragic events these days than we did 10 years ago. So much more is aimed at our children. Everyday a new story about another child/ren suffering. Our children have become a huge target.
On a side note, our world is focused on pleasure. Everywhere we look, everything is geared to bring us pleasure. Colors are used to catch our eye and trigger a sense of pleasure in our brains to make us buy it. Our senses are constantly on Sensory Overload. Sex is used everywhere to entice us, to excite us, and lure us into what ever is being sold. We have been trained to love pleasure rather than God as He has made us to do.
But why is it so tempting to love pleasure in place of God?
-We can control our pleasure, God cannot be controlled.
-Pleasure can be obtained easily, Love for God requires personal sacrifice and effort.
-Pleasure has an instant reward, Loving God benefits us in God's time not our time.
-Pleasure often distracts us from the world around us and our problems, God reminds us of who we are suppose to be and of our responsibilities.
-Pleasure goes hand in hand with pride and selfishness. It wants us to look great in others eyes. God wants us to put away our pride and selfishness and to only be pleasing in His eyes.
Our world teaches us that our happiness is our number one priority. "As long as I am happy then it doesn't matter what I do." Our selfishness for our personal happiness has pushed God out of our world. It is time to take back what God created us for. To love Him and worship only Him.
But you do have the choice!
Pleasure or God?
Father, I pray that you will help us to make you our priority and see the areas in our lives where pleasure has pushed you out. Take back what is yours and retrain us to love you as you created us to do instead of what this world has to offer. Show us how to be pleasing in your sight. I pray for your kingdom come and your will be done.
In Jesus name, amen
With God's Love,
Christian
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
To Fulfill the Law
"On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise Him, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before He had been conceived. When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord" ), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons." -Luke 2:21-24 NIV
Jewish families went through several ceremonies after a baby was born. 1) After 8 days old, every boy was circumcised and named. Circumcision separated the Jews from the Gentiles and represented their relationship with God. 2) After one month old, the first born son was presented to God so that the parents would acknowledge that the child belonged to God who has the power to give life. Very much in the same way as baby dedications are done today. 3)For 40 days after the birth of a boy and 80 days after the birth of a girl, the mother was considered to be ceremonially unclean and must undergo a purification sacrifice before she could enter the temple again. After her purification time, the parents would take a lamb and a dove or pigeons as a burnt offering to God. The priest would then sacrifice these animals and declare her clean again.
Mary and Joseph performed these same ceremonies after Jesus was born. Jesus was God's son but His family still had to uphold God's law. Jesus was not born above the law, but instead came To Fulfill The Law! (information provided by niv study notes)
I am so grateful that our savior came to earth as our perfect example. He wasn't too good for His own laws, but followed them just as He expected others to do. I am also so very grateful that He came to fulfill the law and to be the very last living sacrifice for All of our sins.
Thank you Father, for loving us so much that you would send your son as one of us, to live as we live, to be the perfect example to us. I pray that we will follow His example and bring glory to your name. In Jesus name, amen.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
With God's Love,
Christian
Jewish families went through several ceremonies after a baby was born. 1) After 8 days old, every boy was circumcised and named. Circumcision separated the Jews from the Gentiles and represented their relationship with God. 2) After one month old, the first born son was presented to God so that the parents would acknowledge that the child belonged to God who has the power to give life. Very much in the same way as baby dedications are done today. 3)For 40 days after the birth of a boy and 80 days after the birth of a girl, the mother was considered to be ceremonially unclean and must undergo a purification sacrifice before she could enter the temple again. After her purification time, the parents would take a lamb and a dove or pigeons as a burnt offering to God. The priest would then sacrifice these animals and declare her clean again.
Mary and Joseph performed these same ceremonies after Jesus was born. Jesus was God's son but His family still had to uphold God's law. Jesus was not born above the law, but instead came To Fulfill The Law! (information provided by niv study notes)
I am so grateful that our savior came to earth as our perfect example. He wasn't too good for His own laws, but followed them just as He expected others to do. I am also so very grateful that He came to fulfill the law and to be the very last living sacrifice for All of our sins.
Thank you Father, for loving us so much that you would send your son as one of us, to live as we live, to be the perfect example to us. I pray that we will follow His example and bring glory to your name. In Jesus name, amen.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
With God's Love,
Christian
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Snowy Chrsitmas Eve
Below is a story that I used to teach in my Sunday class this morning, I hope you enjoy!
Snowy Christmas Eve
There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays like Christmas. His wife, however did believe and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus despite his disparaging comments.
One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked him to come, but he refused. "That story is nonsense!" he said. "Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That's ridiculous!" So she and the children left and he stayed home. A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked our the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. Then another thump. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet.
When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and could not got on. They were lost and stranded on his farm with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed. The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay he thought. It is warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and did not seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them.
The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them and they moved further away. He went into the house and came back out with some bread, broke it up and made a breadcrumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on. Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe. "Why don't they follow me?!" he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?" He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them." he said out loud. Then he had an idea. He went into the barn, got one of his own geese and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn. One by on the other geese followed it to safety.
He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind:
"If only I were a goose, then I could save them!"
"Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!"
Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done.
We were like the geese-- Blind, Lost, Perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us.
That was the meaning of Christmas he realized. As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered his wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about and why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer.
"Thank you Jesus for coming in human form to show me the way out of the storm!"
-unknown-
with God's Love,
Christian
Snowy Christmas Eve
There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays like Christmas. His wife, however did believe and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus despite his disparaging comments.
One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked him to come, but he refused. "That story is nonsense!" he said. "Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That's ridiculous!" So she and the children left and he stayed home. A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked our the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. Then another thump. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet.
When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and could not got on. They were lost and stranded on his farm with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed. The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay he thought. It is warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and did not seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them.
The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them and they moved further away. He went into the house and came back out with some bread, broke it up and made a breadcrumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on. Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe. "Why don't they follow me?!" he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?" He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them." he said out loud. Then he had an idea. He went into the barn, got one of his own geese and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn. One by on the other geese followed it to safety.
He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind:
"If only I were a goose, then I could save them!"
"Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!"
Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done.
We were like the geese-- Blind, Lost, Perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us.
That was the meaning of Christmas he realized. As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered his wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about and why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer.
"Thank you Jesus for coming in human form to show me the way out of the storm!"
-unknown-
with God's Love,
Christian
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Plans to Prosper us!
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart".
-Jeremiah 29:11-13
For so many years I have felt like God had no plans for me. When I quit working to be a stay at home mom, those feelings became stronger yet. I then told myself that God's plan for me must be for me to raise my boys. Of course that was and still is part of His plans. However, I still felt incomplete and useless in so many ways. Myself got lost some how, I didn't realize that my identity was fading away until I couldn't remember who I was anymore. To many times I felt like all I was good for was babysitting. It wasn't until two years ago when we started going to church every week. I started helping out with the children's classes just so I felt useful. After some time I became a regular helper as a supervisor for the class room. I started helping in the church office on Fridays. So I had Sunday and Friday each week that I was giving back to God. My feelings of uselessness slowly started to fade, yet for the first time in 11 years as a stay at home mom, I felt very restless. I felt like if I had to stay home by myself for another school year, I was going to loose my mind. So I applied for a job at the school. I thought for sure that is where God wanted me. It was the perfect job for a stay at home mom. I was gonna get the job! God had other plans for me.
Literally, within a week from being told that I did not get the job, God threw and I mean threw a food bank into my lap. I opened the bread crumb food bank on Sept 10th 2012 with 10-20 customers. Within three months it grew from just me to a board of directors with four of the five seats filled and serving 100 plus customers each week, With so much more growth to come. I have never felt so needed and loved in my life. Its funny how helping others really makes a person feel complete! Any how my point in all of this is, that when we think that God can't use us or won't use us for whatever reason, He will and does!
We have to remember that not only does He have to prepare our lives and hearts, but also the lives and hearts of everyone else that will be involved. See three years ago I wasn't ready to help in the church or anyone else. I knew absolutely nothing about being a leader and was scared to death to stand up and talk in front of others. (still working on that) Two years ago I would have told God no, I don't want to help people. I was pretty lazy and selfish. One year ago I would have given up before I really got started as it is a hard job.
God does have plans for each of us. "Plans to prosper us." Plans to improve us and make us better. Plans to enhance His kingdom and not ours.
Father, Thank you so very much for loving us like you do. For caring so much for us that you take time to make plans for our lives. I pray that whoever reads this will see that they are not just walking around this world aimlessly, but that you have a plan for them. That they are right where you want them to be, through the good and the bad. Help them to see that no matter what situation they are in, you are using it to make them better for it. They will come out stronger in the end. Father, continue to mold them and shape them in to the person that you made them to be. Into the person that you need them to be to use them for your kingdom. In Jesus name amen.
with God's Love,
Christian
-Jeremiah 29:11-13
For so many years I have felt like God had no plans for me. When I quit working to be a stay at home mom, those feelings became stronger yet. I then told myself that God's plan for me must be for me to raise my boys. Of course that was and still is part of His plans. However, I still felt incomplete and useless in so many ways. Myself got lost some how, I didn't realize that my identity was fading away until I couldn't remember who I was anymore. To many times I felt like all I was good for was babysitting. It wasn't until two years ago when we started going to church every week. I started helping out with the children's classes just so I felt useful. After some time I became a regular helper as a supervisor for the class room. I started helping in the church office on Fridays. So I had Sunday and Friday each week that I was giving back to God. My feelings of uselessness slowly started to fade, yet for the first time in 11 years as a stay at home mom, I felt very restless. I felt like if I had to stay home by myself for another school year, I was going to loose my mind. So I applied for a job at the school. I thought for sure that is where God wanted me. It was the perfect job for a stay at home mom. I was gonna get the job! God had other plans for me.
Literally, within a week from being told that I did not get the job, God threw and I mean threw a food bank into my lap. I opened the bread crumb food bank on Sept 10th 2012 with 10-20 customers. Within three months it grew from just me to a board of directors with four of the five seats filled and serving 100 plus customers each week, With so much more growth to come. I have never felt so needed and loved in my life. Its funny how helping others really makes a person feel complete! Any how my point in all of this is, that when we think that God can't use us or won't use us for whatever reason, He will and does!
We have to remember that not only does He have to prepare our lives and hearts, but also the lives and hearts of everyone else that will be involved. See three years ago I wasn't ready to help in the church or anyone else. I knew absolutely nothing about being a leader and was scared to death to stand up and talk in front of others. (still working on that) Two years ago I would have told God no, I don't want to help people. I was pretty lazy and selfish. One year ago I would have given up before I really got started as it is a hard job.
God does have plans for each of us. "Plans to prosper us." Plans to improve us and make us better. Plans to enhance His kingdom and not ours.
Father, Thank you so very much for loving us like you do. For caring so much for us that you take time to make plans for our lives. I pray that whoever reads this will see that they are not just walking around this world aimlessly, but that you have a plan for them. That they are right where you want them to be, through the good and the bad. Help them to see that no matter what situation they are in, you are using it to make them better for it. They will come out stronger in the end. Father, continue to mold them and shape them in to the person that you made them to be. Into the person that you need them to be to use them for your kingdom. In Jesus name amen.
with God's Love,
Christian
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