Friday, January 27, 2006

Comments

Many of you e-mail me your wonderful comments about my blog. I really appreciate that but please leave your comments on this blog as well. Your comments may help and encourage someone else. Thank you.

Erase The Dividing Line

There are many issues Christians have over non-Christians such as abortion, politics, homosexuality, how to raise your family etc. Most Christians are so bent over proving their issues and snubbing their noses at non-Christians that they forget the ultimate goal of God. He loves all His children and He wants us to come to Him. We can not lead others to Christ by telling someone what they believe is stupid or shaming them for it. What they believe is apart of the sin that is still within them. Which is the same sin that was in you before you became saved. Which is also the same sin you still need to repent for in your walk with Christ. It may not be that specific sin but God sees sin the same so your sin is equal to their sin. "The wages of sin is death" All sin. We need to stop judging and start loving one another. If we lead others to Christ in a loving manner then everything else will come after.

The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. Galatians 5:14-15

Monday, January 23, 2006

Confession is everyday

My husband was raised catholic and he was telling me today how the one thing he did like about it was how he could talk about everything he did wrong (in confession) and not get in trouble for it. It's interesting how he felt that way and yet didn't realize all these years we have been Christian with no denomination that he had his own personal confession. He could confess to the king of kings and not be in trouble. Because of Jesus Christ we are not condemned for our sins. Because of Jesus, it's okay for people to come straight to God and confess their sins. There is no need for a imperfect human mediator. Jesus is the mediator. Jesus can be our mediator because He came to earth as the only perfect person and took on all our sins.

It's easy to forget that when you felt as if you done something terrible. You want to hide and hope God didn't see. But He did see, and if you ask, He will forgive.

Romans 8
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Get a Life

The phrase "Get a Life" is used to be hurtful to someone who doesn't do the things of the world. The person who is home on the weekends instead of out partying, the person who is not boozing, cursing or what the world calls "having fun" But those who give up their life receives a much better one in return. Jesus said, " everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first."(matthew 19:29-30) I don't believe Jesus means to forsake your family but He is saying those who put Him first in their life will have so much more meaning and blessing in their lives. Jesus also talks about the opposite of "getting a life" in matthew 10:39 "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." As a Christian we need to learn to reach for what God wants us to do first in our relationships, money, family etc.

So how do we do this? It seems so hard to reject what is going on around us. But actually it is very simple. "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."(Galatians 5:16) When you live by the fruit of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith the strong desires of sin, the sin you struggle with, will begin to disappear. It will no longer be a battle. When you have love pouring out of you, you won't be able to help changing your life for Christ.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Following Jesus/MLK DAY

I know I am behind but I wanted to blog about Martin Luther King Jr. His birthday just passed and I was thinking about all the things he did to change the world. Martin Luther King is a respected and revered man all because he simply followed the words of Jesus. He was the epitome of WWJD (what would Jesus do) From his spiritually motivated speeches to his non-violent approach He followed the words of the king of kings and changed the world. So simply put we can all change the world in some way by reading the Bible and following the commandments of God, and His son Jesus Christ. Amen!

1 Peter 2:21+23 "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."

Attacked on Every Side

I have been attacked every since I started this magazine. It is complete but because of constant technical difficulty and financial difficulty it will have to be put on hold. I was promised a certain amount of money and I never received it . Also the money I did have set aside was stolen from someone I thought I could trust. Am I crying about this? Am I screaming and yelling why? No. I am holding on to my faith that God is a good God and He will come through on His plan. His time is the right time and all I have to do is wait on Him. I praise God now and thank HIm for what is going to do with Beyond It All Magazine. It will touch millions of teens lives and bring them to the love of Jesus Christ. This magazine will be successful and will glorify God. I am not afraid.

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" 2nd corinthinas 4:8-10

Thursday, January 05, 2006

The Miners

I had to repent for my stubborness this morning. I didn't want to blog about the tragic mining story. What was I going to write? was what I asked God after the third or fourth time it was put on my heart to blog about The Miners who were trapped and then killed in the mines of West Virginia. After seeing so many pray for the miners the tragic ending is baffling. But after persistence I let go and allow God to give me the words to write.

We should all pray for the comfort of those people and that they have faith that their tragedy will be used. God always has a plan and it's good. In 2nd Corinthians 1:3-7 it says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort."

Suffering is sometimes something a believer can not avoid. But we can always trust that if we keep out faith that our lives are enriched by our pain and that God will bring us through and use us to glorify the kingdom.

Staying in 2nd Corinthians let's also focus on the passage in chapter 6:4-10, "Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; thinhaving nothing, and yet possessing everything."

As we can see the scripture above states a long list of tragic things that can happen and test our faith and love of God. Instead of questioning why things happen, pray that those suffering will be used and continually blessed.