Friday, June 19, 2009

When I say, "I am a Christian,"

My Secret Sister from my church sent me this poem to cheer me up this week. :-) It really touched me.

When I say, "I am a Christian,"
By Carol Wimmer

When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I'm not shouting, "I've been saved!"
I'm whispering, "I get lost!
That's why I chose this way"

When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I don't speak with human pride,
I'm confessing that I stumble--
Needing God to be my guide

When I say "I am a Christian,"
I'm not trying to be strong,
I'm professing tha tI'm weak
And pray for strength to carry on

When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I'm not bragging of success,
I'm admitting that I've failed
And cannot every pay the debt

When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I don't think I know it all
I submit to my confusion,
Asking humbly to be taught

When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I'm not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are far too visible,
But God believes I'm worth it.

When I say, "I'm a Christian,"
I still feeling the sting of pain,
I have my share of heartache,
Which is why I seek His name.

When I say, "I am a Christian,"
I do not wish to judge.
I have no authority
I only know I'm loved.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

I serve God

2 Corinthians 6:6-10 (New Living Translation)
6 We have proved ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. 7 We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. 8 We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. 9 We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. 10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.


This makes me wonder. Have I proven myself by my purity? By my understanding? By my patience, my kindness, by the Holy Spirit within me, and by my sincere love?
From what I feel now. No I have not. Have I remembered to use the weapons of righteousness (Ephesions 6:13-17)?
How much have I given trials to God? How often have I given God the glory in the midst of them? How much did I pursue Him? Can I pursue Him more?
I make this vow:

I serve God
Not myself
I serve God
Not others
I SERVE GOD

As a Christian:
I will be ignored even though I am well known. I live close to death, but I'm still alive. I have been beaten, but I'm still breathing. My HEART ACHES, but I will always have God's joy. I am poor, but I have plenty of spiritual gifts to share with others. I no longer own anything, yet I gain everything.

This selfishness in my life I pray will forever leave me. This "God", I pray will forever come envelope me. Sanctify me oh God.

Erase my ways and put yours in its place.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The guys with the masks

I think I've had something similar to this dream for the past couple of nights. I haven't slept very well either. It must mean something. But possibly not.

The environment of the dream: We were inside this weird building. The whole building was HUGE in width and their were two story high walls. It was like a mall with no roof and we were inside. There were several doors. The second story had a fence around it. Just imagine you were in the biggest clearing of the mall with no venders except the clearing was as big as the mall itself.. On tiled flooring. You look up.. there is no roof. I didn’t see an escalator. But you could see the second story from the inside with a fence by the walk place so people can’t fall from that story.
I was a guy trying to protect this girl. These guys in white masks and black suits where trying really hard to capture her and block her in a white cone looking thing. Like a styrophome cup. When I finally got her free the guys would go back somehow on the roof (on the top of the walls) and they would pace around on the walls waiting for the right time to try and capture us again. Then at a moment they would come, jump down behind her and grab her. She would struggle as hard as she could but their weight and strength were too much for her. They would bring her to a vehicle… I don’t think it was a car.. it was either a tank or a boat with a hatch. The dream shifted and I was no longer the man trying to protect her, but an onlooker. I could see him on the boat/tank with the girl about to sneak up on the guy with the mask. He is about to pounce on the guy with the mask but then this man seas that he will get captured so he noticed the dirt or weeds that he had been puzzled about the whole time he was trying to save her. They look like a rare kind of weed. And every time the guy was on the tank/boat trying to save her he would wonder about the weeds.
So now the guy/rescuer notices that there is a guy behind him and he starts struggling with a guy in the white mask who sneaked behind him to capture him. He now notices the white cups coming to entrap them (him and the girl on top of the tank/boat) so they can’t get away. The guy remembers the weeds in the place they are trying to put him and he happens to kick some off the tank/boat so the good people (kinda like crime investigators) trying to find them will notice the weeds and be able to test them and see where they are from and be able to find them. Cause the weeds/dirt in the tank/boat are the same as the place where the guys in the masks are taking them. Then they are completely captured by the cups. Now they both feel desolate and alone.

I know this dream means something... and now I am trying to ask God to interpret it to me. I just thought I would share this..

Monday, June 15, 2009

Prayer? ~ What do we pray? When do we pray? Does God ever listen?

Is there ever a point when we don’t need to pray about something?

Philippians 4:6
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for what he has done. If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 5:7
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.


Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!


Philippians 4:6 is a wonderful verse. Wouldn't it be wonderful to give God all our thoughts, all our worries, and all our needs? This verse clearly states that when we do give (tell) him all our thoughts, worries, and needs, we will experience a peace that is "More wonderful than the human mind can understand". A piece of heaven's peace.


How should we pray in front of people?

Sometimes I feel the pressure to pray a marvelous prayer to God… to show other people that I am a Christian.. that I read my Bible everyday and that I earnestly search for him all the time. This is not entirely true. It is REALLY hard for me to sit down and read the Bible… or spend some quiet time with him. I have found that God only searches for the heart of the person praying. He cares about what is being said aloud but also takes into consideration the heart of the person praying. Who is the ultimate person we are praying to? WHO is it that we are carrying the conversation with? It’s not with the other people around us… it is only with the one and only true God. We are praying for other people yes… but we do not need to show a mighty prayer to be healed. Only what God wants us to pray is sufficient. We don’t heal the person hurting with our marvelous words… God does.

Don’t be a hypocrite and pray only publicly so everyone can see them praying, cause that is all the award they are ever going to get (Matt 6:5)
When you do pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you (Matt 6:6)
When you pray don’t babble on an on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! (Matt 6:7-8)


Doesn't this verse contradict the other verses about the persisten widow (Luke 18:1-8)?

In Luke 18 it says that God will give justice to his chosen people. We will have no idea what His justice will look like. But, if God always knows exactly what we need... why pray?
As I have said before its the heart God looks after. God has opened a way for us to communicate with him. He is always listening. How do I know? When I went to Cloud 9 (A Vineyard youth retreat), I had this impression put on me that I need to know more of God, specifically through his many names. So I bought a book at the Family Christian stores and I went partially through a book called "Praying the Names of God". This is the second name in the book. The time when this name is used is when Hagar is lonely in the desert because Sarai has become harsh towards her. The story is in Genesis 16. Hagar is noticed by God and told by him to go back. That he will make her son a growing nation of thousands. Hagar then used his name.......El Roi: You are the God who Sees me. God noticed her when no one else wanted or was able to. He turned her from her destitutness and told her to 360; to turn around and go back. God is always watching and cares.
We should be greatful God lets us communicate with Him. We are but a speck of dust yet he cares greatly and deeply for us.
Why do I say communicate? Well.. We aren't just talking to God are we? Since God is always watching we can communicate our love for Him by the way we act in the world. God doesn't always talk to us... does he? No. I have had strange feelings come over me... or some people have had someone in their thoughts and know God wants them to be prayed for.

"He is watching you, I know because I asked Him to."

Friday, June 12, 2009

Replace All things with Jesus

Half-heartedly I do imitate God.
Half-heartedly have I trusted Him.
Indifferent is what I have become.
Indifference I? God please change me.

I need desire to come overwhelm me
I want persistence to envelope me and never change
I need Your verses to make me stronger
Distortion of God in my life? Stay far away.

Over-heartedly I do imitate others
Over-heartedly have I given them
My thoughts and fears and worries
Anxious I? Stronger I shall become.

Replace the world with Jesus
Overwhelm the brain with His words
So when we face confusion
God’s love will speak stronger
and won’t be left unheard

Substitute those worries with prayers
Regain a Joyous, peaceful composer
Gain trust when the toughest gets harder
Gain love when your haters come closer

Clarity can never be acquired
It is always too hard to grasp
Trust in God is what we should long for
Our trust in Him is what we should have

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Confusing Trust

I am greatly confused
my mind feels so abused.
What is this great fight,
over my mind's plight?
One thought says yes
One thought says no,
another thought says maybe
the other one says I don't think so

God why can't you give me a clue?
This clue I will so longingly pursue!
I want to skip the hard rotten times
I just want to hear those joyful chimes!

I have heard from godly men
that you will guide us
because we have asked you
to be inside us.
but this must be a myth
becuase I am still waiting on you

God why can't you give me a clue?
This clue I will so longingly pursue!
I want to skip the hard rotten times
I just want to hear those joyful chimes!

This I have learned from many days
of me waiting on you to act
it's not only you that does stuff...
it's me that should learn how to react
to these seperate thoughts that keep coming my way
to these several things that have lead me astray
the only way I can learn this
is by watching for things that bewareingly are amiss
these things should not be in my brain
so my authentic beauty can no longer be stained

God, trust is the treasure I need now
not clarity, not fame, not to be proud
Yes trust is the greatest treasure to pursue
this trust will lead me nearer to you

I have longed for clarity for too long
The hard rotten times will forever come
no matter which way I turn or run
the best thing that I can do
is learn discernment, hope, and God's true love
the only way I can learn to do what I've stated
is by praying, listening, reading what God has baited

God, trust is the treasure I need now
not clarity, not fame, not to be proud
Yes trust is the greatest treasure to pursue
this trust will lead me nearer to you

These are not myths but words of truth
don't yearn for clarity
yearn for trust, surrender, and wisdom
trust will capture God's heart
clarity will make one depart
God doesn't want things easy
neither does he wants things cheesy
God isn't training a robot for life
He is training a neatly knit together individual
one He created, one he sees through
one he can say with GREAT passion
"I LOVE YOU!"

God, trust is the treasure I need now
not clarity, not fame, not to be proud
Yes trust is the greatest treasure to pursue
this trust will lead me nearer to you

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Prayer? ~ Mindset

Does it matter what kind of mindset we use?

Yes. But it doesn’t matter what kind of words we use. We still need to be able to put our thoughts into words but we don’t need to say “holy” words. God can read our heart and he knows.

From my previous post I mentioned something I had been talking with someone. “I’m going to pray hard about this” Hard meaning that I am going to think hard on it and trust a lot (this time) in God for the answer and guidance. Does it matter how hard we pray to God?
I’m thinking yes cause of all the reverence we are giving him at that point. He notice how humble we become. He notices how much we give Him the decision cause we cannot handle things ourselves. He notices how much we have realized our strength isn't efficient or enough. We must come to him and admit our dependence on Him.

Lamentations 2:19
“Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lift up your hands to him in prayer. Plead for your children as they faint with hunger in the streets.”

Esther 4:1-3 – Mordicai being upset about Jews being killed. He tears his cloak and puts on sack cloth and ashes and wails by the city gates.

Psalm 55:22
Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

1 Peter 5:6-7
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

James 4:10
When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor
.

Do we need to approach God with awe and reverence?

Exodus 3:5-6
“Do not come any closer,” God told him. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he hid his face in his hands because he was afraid to look at God.

We are praying to the God of many devoted people. The God who not only handles our problems but has been a devoted listener, creator, lover, hero, and friend to many of the jews ancestors. God deserves our reverence. He deserves us to “take off our sandals” and humble ourselves in reverence and awe for his great majesty and amazing holiness.
This passage above makes me wonder how I will act if God made himself known to me like he did with Moses. Will I cower? Will I shake tremendously? Aren't we always in the presence of God? Shouldn't we always be fearful of him?

Exodus 30:17-21
17 Then the Lord said to Moses, 18 “Make a bronze washbasin with a bronze stand. Place it between the Tabernacle and the altar, and fill it with water. 19 Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there. 20 They must wash with water whenever they go into the Tabernacle to appear before the Lord and when they approach the altar to burn up their special gifts to the Lord—or they will die! 21 They must always wash their hands and feet, or they will die. This is a permanent law for Aaron and his descendants, to be observed from generation to generation.”

We must prepare our mind and heart before we enter into God’s presence. God deserves this. God does't deserve any kind of unmindful behavior. More specifically he deserves us to check ourselves.

One more thought: The name “LORD” or “God” is sooooo holy we do not have the right to say it.

Please give me your thoughts on this :-D