Journal of Faith: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Philippians 2:12

It takes a lot some days for me to realize the grace that God has given me. My pastor says all the time Christianity is the easiest religion in the world because all you have to do is believe and at the same time it is the hardest religion in the world because all you have to do is believe.  This is painfully true in my life, but I thank God for our relationship that I received when I chose to listen to has call in my life.  God doesn't want me or any child of his to be confused.  In the Bible is actually says that Satan is the author of confusion.  God doesn't save us just to leave us to our own devices because it is the inadequacy of our own devices that caused Jesus to have to live on earth, die, and rise again.  We don't cut it for ourselves or for the people around us. Our intelligence isn't enough.  We'll never be smart enough or clever enough to accomplish God's best for us without him, and who wants to settle for their idea of best instead of God's ...

        You know that weird achy feeling you get on your insides when something terrible happens to you or the people that you are closest to?  I am feeling that ache today.  I have found out one bad thing behind another this week, and it a has caused an inner exhaustion that I haven't felt since my family almost fell apart  two years ago. I feel like my heart has been pulverized and tenderized with malice.            I have noticed that, in my life, hardship either hardens me or softens me. This second major attempt on my families legacy and ministry has left me feeling worse than the first time because I became more sensitive after the first blow.  I believe that my having my son softened me, and the experience of a near divorce of my parents softened me even more.  I don't know what this last incident has done to me yet.  All that I know is that the hurt is familiar but...

There are so many ways to communicate with the Lord and with other people.  I often times write, but almost as often I sing.   The Lord places songs on my heart and I have to let them out.  Songs are my battle cry, my victory anthem, and my heart poured out.   Sometimes I get so caught up in emotional overload that my only way of talking becomes to sing. In the Bible it talks about the Holy Spirit interpreting our groans when we can't speak.  Well thank God that he not only brings me his word when I have none, but he also brings me songs to sing that lighten my load.  The great thing about me singing is that as I sing to God he kind of sings back to me.  It might be a song that my mother sings as she walks by me or something that comes onto the radio.  God has even sent me responses through my own voice.  Have you ever sung a song and not known why you were singing it until you listened to the words coming out of your mouth?...

I can't believe that I have written 200 posts!  There should be some sort of personal reflection for me at this point so I am going back to previous posts and reading them now to see where God has brought me from in the past two years.  It is really amazing how God can use our own words to remind us how to deal with situations that we've been through in the past.  If I find an old post that really prompts me I'll repost it.  Anyway, I wanted to share something that the Lord spoke to me yesterday at church.  I was having a difficult day because some business things were not working like I expected and my stress level was getting out of hand.  As I was lamenting to God he literally stopped my tears.  I was crying one second and then there were no tears left and all the emotion was just gone.  In that moment I felt the Lord telling me to never forget the God that I serve.  He quickly reminded me that nothing is out of his control and that whil...

     I have mentioned that I have a child before on this blog.  Those of us who are parents in this world in any hands on capacity would probably agree with me that there are a lot of things that happen that you aren't warned about.  On the other end of that though there are some great advantages that you aren't told about either.         A great blessing of being a parent is that it causes me to purposefully break down my life philosophies into the simplest form.  My son looks to me to get  his first understanding of the world, and I need to be able to share that with him.  I order to be an effective communicator I have to be able to talk on his level.  This is a great way to think about evangelism too.  If you can tell a child about Jesus in a way that they understand then you can talk to adults and they will most likely understand. I heard several people state that you haven't learned something...

There have been many presentations of the day that Christ went to Calvary.  Probably the most jarring example was in the Passion of the Christ.  When I think about the savior's cross I realize that the cross was his purpose.  When all was said and done Jesus was born for the purpose of the cross.  He knew it and he carried the weight of it not only physically (although by that time he was so weak he needed help) but also mentally and emotionally.  What if as a small child you knew that your purpose was to die so that someone else could live?  How would you cope with such knowledge?  Jesus wept, but he then gave himself over to the will of the father.            Do you think that your purpose is worth its weight?  When I read in scripture where it talks about taking up my cross and following Jesus I think about my purpose.  I need to pick up my purpose and carry the weight of it and realize th...

       Could you imagine being an archer?  It would take a lot of time and focus to become a great archer, but even then we would sometimes miss.  Sin is defined as missing the mark.  When we make a decision or have a thought that isn't perfect, then we miss the mark and it is sin.  Unfortunately for all of us God's standard is perfection, and to miss the mark once is enough to render us imperfect and ineligible for a life with him.  Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."  Fortunately for all of us Jesus Christ came to be perfect for us.  Jesus has covered our scores with his own, and he never misses the mark.  This does not mean that we stop trying to hit the bulls-eye, it just means that when we miss God allows us to see how far off we were and then he wipes out our score in exchange for Jesus' perfection.  All we have to do is say that we will take it.  Wherefore...