Personal Time with God

After reading the title, you are probably thinking, "oh great.. another one of those devotions talks... wonderful", or you may be saying, "here he is, acting all high and mighty... " Well, I am here to inform you that I am not here to bash you, make myself look better or anything like that. I want you to know that I am a perfect example of a guy that screws up all the time. If God were not gracious I would have been in hell about 21 years ago... Yeah I know, I am 20 years old. Ya Get my point?

My personal time with God has been a struggle for me throughout my Christian walk. To be very honest, there have been times that I have thought about it and said "nah, I would rather do other things", and then there were times that I didn't think about it at all. I am ashamed to say it, but it is true. God showing me unmerited favor has been a reoccurring theme in my life. Praise Jesus it is unlimited. Time with God has been a series of mountains for me, highs and lows, consistencies and inconsistencies... You know the drill.. there have been some days where the devil has tempted me to do other things and just, ya know, skip one day. What's the harm, right? WRONG!! Don't do it. No matter what keep striving towards Godliness! When you don't feel like it, push through! On those days, I don't feel like doing it, God has taught me the most. It is incredible. "Don't give up. Don't ever give up."- Jimmy V- Throughout all of this, God has been building something up in me. Through all of this, He has brought me to the place where I can say, "I am truly nothing without God, and I need him every day". He has taught me discipline and devotion in my relationship with Him. He has brought different people and situations into my life that have been very instrumental in my journey towards Godliness. Some of you know who you are, some of you do not. Some of you may find out some day ;-). It has been an exciting process!

In this last paragraph, I want to share a little tidbit of what I have read over the last two days in my book, Morning and Evening, by Charles H. Spurgeon. Morning and Evening is a devotional book that has a morning and evening devotional for each day of the year. Over the last two days, spurgeon issued a challenge to the reader; he challenges us to, first, ask God to prepare our hearts and to teach us things during the time we spend with Him. And to, second, not make it an empty formality, but ask God to make it a time of redemption in our lives. So... enough of my words.. they stink compared to his! The highlights of the devotional for the evening of June 17: "This evening let's ask that the scripture we have read, and our devotional exercises, may not be an empty formality, but a channel of grace to our souls. O that God the Holy Spirit would work in us with all His mighty power, filling is with all the fullness of God... Let's then, move quickly, awaken ourselves to seek Him in whom are all our fresh springs. The highlights of the devotional for the morning of June 18: To us our gracious Lord communicates the spotless virtue of stainless character; to us He gives the meritorious efficacy of a devoted life... He makes the unsullied garment of His life our covering beauty; the glittering virtues of His character our ornaments and jewels; and the superhuman meekness of His death our boast and glory... All His thoughts, emotions, actions, utterances, miracles, and intercessions were for us. He trod the road of sorrow on our behalf, and has given over to us as His heavenly legacy the full results of all the labors of His life... Christ everywhere and every way is our Christ, forever and ever most richly to enjoy. O my soul, by the power of the Holy Spirit, call him "Your redeemer" this morning. Soo, as you can see, Spurgeon was a brilliant and Godly man. And as you can see, there is a great need for each one of us to be committed to God through our personal time with Him.

I don't know who reads these posts, but I will be praying for you all in general. If you think about it, pray for me, too. I would appreciate it very much! Feel free to leave comments about posts, also. I would like the feedback! Thanks, and God bless!

Ha..

Yeah... as you can tell, my grammar isn't that great at 4:30 in the morning. I apologize! :-(

Some random thoughts at 4:30 A.m.

Well.... Gotta work at 6:00 A.M. today.. Not really looking forward to that at all. The reason I am writing this now is because I was out pretty late tonight at a friend's house until about 3:00 A.M. Ha, I am not complaining at all; I really enjoyed myself!

Tonight was the first night that I attended the "Quest" group at Immanuel Baptist Church in Maple Shade; I got there late because I had to work until 7:00 P.M. For the limited amount of time that I was there, I really enjoyed it, because it was a laid-back setting where the leader, Bart, just shared from his heart and told of his own experiences and wanted input from all of us. It was great because I got to witness first-hand what the people around me were going through! Most of the time I do not have the luxury of this because all of my friends go away to school and I am left here to rot (haha jk). But seriously, it was very refreshing to be able to participate in a group like that! Afterwards, a few of us went over to Bart's house to play rock band, eat and talk. That was even better because it was even more casual, and we could talk about whatever was on our minds. It was great to be able to spend quality time with some of the oldest and best friends that I have in the world :-).

As I was riding home, I came to realize that God does really listen to our prayers and answers them according to his will for our life. He constantly reminds me that He is faithful to me, and unfortunately, I constantly forget that.. I feel like such an idiot sometimes... The most amazing part about his answers to prayer is that I can see where He has brought me to and the different circumstances/situations that I have been in. Some of the work He has done in me has been years in the making, since the seed was planted. God uses the trials in our lives like the water that we would fertilize the seed with. During the trials it doesn't feel like anything good will come of it, but after they are over it is fairly easy to see what God has done! *AND WHAT HE WILL CONTINUE TO DO* We need to come trust him and following him no matter what happens! Praise be to God, and thanks for reading!

Blessed are the "Paupers"

"We will have yearnings and desires for certain things, and even suffer as a result of their going unfulfilled, but not until we are at a limit of desperation will we ask... A pauper does not ask out of an reason other than the completely hopeless and painful condition of his poverty. He is not ashamed to beg- blessed are the paupers in spirit." (Chambers 187). It makes perfect sense, those who are wealthy do not beg, and they certainly do not need charity. But on the other hand, people who are poor (paupers) beg for help, from people who have more than they do. How often do we, in our sinful nature, feel like we are all right. We got it all together, because we are making good money, just bought a new car, got a new girlfriend/boyfriend, or an infinite number of other pleasures that this world supplies. We need to live with the mentality of a pauper, someone who is destitute and needs constant help from Christ to survive.
Believe me; I know, this world and everything in it is an endless roller-coaster of highs and lows. One minute you have it together, the next, you don't.. It is tough! For instance, in earlier posts, I have talked about different things that I am and have been praying for. Also, in earlier posts, I have said that I do not know where God is leading... Soo... Those things sometimes feel like they are coming together, and other times they feel like they are not even a possibility. Ha... It is a sad process.. It is also a great example of the roller-coaster ride. I just have to keep trusting and praying that God will bring everything together in due time. I just hope that "due time" is soon.. I often have growing feelings of impatience... :-0.. Jeremiah 29: 11-14 has become one of my favorite passages.
Sooo, what does becoming a "pauper" mean? To be honest with you, I don't know.. It is a hard thing to fully grasp. There are so many different things that we go through every day. It is hard for me to humble myself in every situation. When I do something good, I get high on myself and think I am all that. But when something bad happens, I do not hesitate to turn to God and beg for help. So, I think that when something good happens we need to automatically turn to God and give him the glory for it, and at the same time, ask for guidance, even if everything is going well. It is a tough thing to do!!!!
P.S. I have no idea who reads these things. Ha, I don't know if anyone does. But if you do and would like to talk about anything with me, I would be happy to do that.. Thanks for reading!

Fair Weather Children

I coined this phrase from the old phrase, "fair weather friend". If you do not know what this phrase means, it means being friends with someone when the going is easy, but when the ride gets rough, you abandon ship. So, i designed the title, Fair Weather Children to mean that when the going is easy we seem sooo committed to following God, but when the going gets tough, we are nowhere to be found or are running away as fast as we can. Over the last couple days, I have been led to a couple different Biblical stories that go-along with this phrase. They are Peter betraying Jesus 3 times, the story of Job, the many times in the book of Revelation where it says that only those who overcome the hardships will inherit the kingdom, John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." and finally in the book Morning and Evening by Charles H. Spurgeon. I want to focus on what Spurgeon says about being a Fair Weather Child and then look at John 16:33(above).

The evening devotional for June 6th is based on the passage of 2 Corinthians 11, specifically verse 22. In this passage, there is argument over who is a true Israelite and who is not, based on blessings and good things.. The apostle was fighting with the other people because he knew his claim was indisputable. After Spurgeon laid out the foundation of the passage, he expanded on it, and he critiqued it in a way that we could apply it to our lives. He goes on to say, "... there are many persons who have no right to the title who yet claim to belong to the Israel of God." Spurgeon suggests that, before, we make these claims and confess it in-front of many witnesses we truly think about what we are doing and commit ourselves. He suggests that we search our hearts and let God work in them so that He can help us through difficult situations, this is where the Fair Weather Children come in. Many people lift their hands towards heaven when they sing a worship song, or say "amen, praise Jesus" when they hear a good thought in the sermon. But when the going gets tough, they are nowhere to be found. In the New Testament, Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruits." How many times are we the Fair Weather Children? When everything is going good, we are as happy as clams and are praising Jesus just about as fast as we can breathe, but when the going gets tough, we throw a pity party for ourselves and invite all of our friends. We need to ask God to change our hearts, and give us the mentality of praise no matter what the circumstances.

John 16:33 is a great passage because Jesus is confirming with us that we will face trouble in this life-time, but He also says that we shouldn't fear anything we face because He has already overcome everything that this world can throw-at a person. John 16:33 is a great encouragement to me, because it reminds me what my true character should be like. If we let it, it will affect every facet of our lives, because our attitude and the way we treat others are big parts of our lives. If we truly are committed to God, then people will truly see that commitment. This is a great way to be a witness to non-believers.

One final, short thought.. think about the story of Job and everything that happened to him.. His reaction to the bad things that happened to him was, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." -Job 1: 21-22

What is your reaction during hard times? I know mine needs a lot of work! Thanks for reading

Old Friends are the Best Friends

Tonight, A bunch of my old friends from high school and I went out to celebrate Josh Bier's birthday.. I'll tell you what... I can't remember the last time I had so much fun.. It is not even like we did anything super special.. It was just very good to be able to reconnect with people that I spent a lot of the years of my life with. Throughout the night, many different memories came to mind.. Memories from all over the place. 1st grade, 7th grade, 8th grade and all throughout high school. It all started just standing out in the parking lot and watching everyone walk through the parking lot.. To be honest, it kind of felt like another life because, over the last two years of school, I haven't had any close friends to shoot-the-breeze with or anything like that.. It has been a pretty lonely time. I am not trying to feel sorry for myself here; on the contrary, I am more stating how much those people mean to me and how many memories I have with them. God truly has blessed me in that area. Lately, I have been praying for increased joy, because, a lot of times, in my mind, I feel like I have a daily check-list that I have to complete and once I complete that I can shut down for the day.. Whenever that happens, I am always led to the numerous times that Christ talked about Christians possessing and displaying joy and living life to the fullest.

To be honest with you all, I don't even know where I am really trying to go with this entry.. To sum it all up, I can honestly say that God does listen to prayer, and God is for each one of us. He wants us to have joy! Like I stated in other entries before this one, I have been praying for certain things in my life for a long time, and I do not know how God is going to lead me. I have a plan in my mind that I would like to happen, but I do not know where God is going to lead me.. With certain things, I can see how God has developed the situations over years and years and has brought me to this place. I know that the feelings that I have towards certain situations God has put there! More than anything, I want his will to be done, and more than anything, if my will isn't his will, I pray that He will give me joy and satisfaction with whatever the circumstances may be.
Great Passage: Psalms 5:7-8 "But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies-make straight your way before me."


Thanks for reading!