Tag: FAITH

God and Relationships: Healing, Forgiveness and Love

Last night before I went to sleep, when I prayed, I asked God if He would inspire me with something meaningful to share because I haven’t written in this blog since June, I wanted to write, but I haven’t felt inspired for awhile. Well, God answered that prayer at 6 am this morning when the title of this was the first thought I had as soon as I woke up.

It amazes me how the Bible shares wisdom with us “scattered” throughout the book, through different messengers, but all giving the same message.

This topic is consistently timely because we interact with people on a daily basis and need God’s help “dealing with” people, and more appropriately “dealing with” ourselves. I’ll explain the image for this article and how it relates:

We need God in our relationships: any relationship with God as a part of it equals love.

God is love.

MAKING EXCUSES

I believe in being accountable for my own actions, not making excuses (understanding what leads me to something, but not blaming my actions on someone or something else). I’m responsible for my own actions no matter what happens around me. I personally choose to react the way I do. So why is it that I allow different standards for others? I allow excuses for them. Excuses justifying other’s actions or behavior, when I wouldn’t allow myself to act that way. I made excuses because I thought trying to be a Christian meant accepting other people as they are, and not being judgmental of others, which it does, but there is more to this:

A Christian should help others be aware of the wisdom from God through the bible (awareness only -not judgement nor retaliation- that’s reserved for God) – don’t be silent, speak up, but don’t do this in anger, do this in a loving way to build up the other person, in the knowledge of God, not tear them down.

DO NOT JUDGE:

GO TO THE BIBLE AND IN PRAYER GO TO GOD FOR ADVICE, STRENGTH AND WISDOM:

HEALING

I had to think: which comes first: healing or forgiveness? It’s a challenge to forgive someone if we haven’t healed from what happened. But we also can’t heal from it unless we forgive it (let it go). So maybe it’s a combination of healing and forgiveness, but first and most importantly seeking God. This is where we NEED God: to heal and to forgive. There is no question about that. I often think of this simple statement which is so true:

Hurt people hurt people.

Pastor Rick Warren

It’s something I keep in mind whenever someone hurts me. It’s important to have that perspective, it makes it easier to accept someone for who they are. We can’t know everything that happened to someone during their life. If someone was loved throughout their life, they wouldn’t hurt. So because they have been hurt (and haven’t healed), they hurt other people. So it’s so important for all of us to heal from the hurt other people caused in our lives.

FORGIVING

If we want a great relationship with anyone, we need to be able to forgive, regularly! Forgiving someone doesn’t mean allowing what they did to continue as if it doesn’t affect us. But if the other person who hurt us is truly sorry, that person will do their best to not do it again and ask for a second chance. If the person truly wants forgiveness and tells us how they have changed and why they have changed, then we need to offer forgiveness. (If this is an abusive situation, we may need to offer forgiveness but not remain in that person’s life for safety reasons. This type of situation requires other qualified individuals’ assessment of the situation.)

WHY WE NEED GOD FOR HEALING, FORGIVENESS AND LOVE (and Eternity):

HOW WE GET THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

On our own, we are going to fail, that’s the truth, but if we have the Holy Spirit in us, we will succeed. So how do we receive the Holy Spirit? God sends the Holy Spirit to us if we ask and OBEY God:

And this is why we need God in all of our relationships. We need a relationship with God so that we can have good relationships with other people through the strength of the Holy Spirit in us.

Once we have a relationship with God, he will protect us until the end of times.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN TELL IF SOMEONE HAS A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (these qualities will be evident in that person’s life):

We obviously need God as the priority in our life, so the rest of our life can fall in place. As in any good relationship, there is an exchange of giving and receiving. This is no different with God, we aren’t going to receive the power of the Holy Spirit unless we obey God’s commands (sin keeps the power of the Holy Spirit from us). God always loves us, but the power of the Spirit is reserved for those who obey Him. The power of the Holy Spirit makes our lives more peaceful, provides joy, wisdom and enables us to love in a more godly way than we could on our own.

I hope you found this helpful for your relationships!

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Am I a “Fake Christian”?

In some parts of the world, being a Christian is acceptable and has a positive connotation; but in other parts of the world, being a Christian is not acceptable and people are persecuted for it. Thankfully, in the US, we currently have freedom of speech and don’t fear referring to ourselves as a Christian. However, being a Christian in today’s modern world has lost its some of its meaning; many think, if I say I believe in Jesus, I’m saved. (But don’t forget, even the demons in the bible believed in God, and you probably know they won’t be in eternal life with God.) Therefore making it to Heaven by believing in Jesus, including his death, resurrection and ascension (faith) is part of the truth, but not the whole truth.

Throughout this article, links to verses from the bible are provided, supporting the statements made.

Many may not know, or never paid attention to the next part: faith without action is dead, or they never heard Jesus’ talk about the wide gate and the narrow gate. I was one of those people who thought believing in Jesus and being a “good” person was enough. But being “good” is not enough, and no person is “good”, only God is “good” – Jesus said that. We can’t get to Heaven just by being “good” because we would never be that good to be in God’s presence. Jesus was the sacrifice, God’s gift to us that makes this possible, but throughout the Bible, we are told to be obedient and change our ways. I didn’t fully comprehend what this meant for many years, so it made me think: maybe there are more people like me who are not fully aware of this either?

The word “Christian” is used very casually today, many of us calling ourselves Christians/Believers, but not acting like Christians/Believers (aka “Fake Christians”). “Fake Christians” give practicing Christians a bad reputation to those who don’t believe anything or follow a different religion. I say practicing Christians because let’s face it, no one is or will ever be the perfect Christian and that is why God sent Jesus as THE sacrifice for all of us who call ourselves Christians. I write this for an awareness most importantly because knowing this affects our eternal life/salvation promised by God. Knowing if we will make it has been so diluted by so many religious authority figures, in an effort to become “politically correct,” it concerns me, especially when it comes to the question: “Will I make it to God’s promised eternal life?” this subject becomes important for every single one of us on earth.

So what is a true Christian, a true believer? A follower of Christ. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ, a believer? If we believe what Jesus taught when He was here then he told us what we need to do. He didn’t just say “believe,” in His first teachings He told people to “repent.” So being a “believer/Christian” means doing a lot of things, such as:

So after reading this above, it’s probably pretty easy to see that being a Christian isn’t easy or effortless. But it’s also important to not become discouraged, to know that no one will be perfect; it’s the true intention we have that matters to God. That’s why regular prayers and connecting with God is important. And correcting our mistakes as soon as we realize we made one.

Studying the bible showed me I had a lot of work to do. It’s much easier to say we are all saved by grace and we don’t have to do anything else…but I don’t believe that is the full Truth: we have a choice, an obligation, and a commitment to make.

We have to have a relationship with God, if we don’t we may hear Jesus say to us: “I never knew you.” The other important part to know is that only one sin is unforgivable: blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, but no other sin is too bad for God to forgive. He willingly forgives and encourages us to do the same with each other, when someone asks for our forgiveness. It’s never too late and it’s what God wants: a relationship with us in eternity.

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I hope you read this and it makes a Difference!

I woke up early this morning with this on my mind: in the midst of “social distancing” and “isolation” caused by this rapidly spreading #coronavirus …you’re like me right now, if you don’t want to see or hear that word again, and feel “exhausted” by it, wanting to “social distance from that word!” but yet learn from experts, it’s a mental tug-of-war between the two: avoidance and seeking information to be informed.

Getting back to the thought I had this morning: “FOG”…”Emerging from the Fog” We are “in the fog” right now: things are unclear, uncertain, we can’t see what’s ahead of us, we are fumbling while trying to move forward, we aren’t quite “blind,” but are having trouble seeing ahead. There is no doubt, in my mind, that this is an unprecedented situation for something even greater than what our current focus is on.

When was the last time the ENTIRE WORLD came to a “halt” at the same time?

Pay attention to this! It’s more significant than you may realize right now. Have you ever focused so much on a detail, that you didn’t get the main point? What we are experiencing right now is exactly that: the virus is the detail, but it is not the main point. The virus will pass, just don’t miss the main point of why we are going through this now. History repeats itself; we have the same experiences in life when we don’t learn from them. This is where I may loose you….

But I hope you read this and it makes a difference:

Let me first explain, I am not a “religious” person. I’ll define that by example: I grew up with a religion, went to a faith based school, but honestly, I rejected that religion. I never felt connected, struggled with the religion, but I did have faith in God somehow. I became “affiliated” with that religion, and then defined myself to others as a “non-practicing” ….this is not something to be proud of; it’s embarrassing, but true. I tried to participate more because that was “the right thing to do,” but I failed often yet believed (what little I learned from) the Bible; this wasn’t an intentional rejection of God, but in a way it still was rejecting God, because I didn’t have God as my priority, and I didn’t realize that at the time (I was in a fog). So as I say what’s next, try to understand coming from my perspective.

I believe what is happening is a “wake up” call. Only God could manage to DISRUPT/HALT THE ENTIRE WORLD in a very short time frame (a matter of weeks). I’m NOT saying God CAUSED this; but I am saying God is USING this, turning something bad into something good for us. None of us have seen anything like it in our life time. It has global reach and is affecting each of us individually.

So how is God using this? He is using this to turn our attention to Him. Our world has (we have) become so corrupt, we don’t even realize it, we’ve begun to accept things that are completely against the Bible as normal and believe those things are “right,” “justifiable,” in our minds and we are headed on a path of destruction, but don’t even realize this. I was in a fog about this too, going in the same path; BEFORE reading the Bible for the first time recently, late summer 2019. This statement isn’t only my opinion (that God is trying to turn our attention to Him), it is biblically based. There are many historically documented times, where God used natural disasters, events, plagues, healings, miracles, angels, etc. to get people’s attention, this is His REPEATED mode of operation, documented in the Bible:

  • The flood and Noah’s Ark (growing up, I thought this was a fable to teach us something, but I realize while this was to teach us something; it isn’t a fable). There are well educated archaeologists, historians and scientists who can back up this statement; believe me, I had to find them before making a statement like this because of my initial belief!
  • The plagues in Egypt during Moses’ time in the Old Testament
  • The destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
  • Angels sent by God to warn people or inform people, messengers, protectors
  • The miracles Jesus (and the Apostles, through God performed)

I don’t think this is the end of the world; I’m not an extremist. Just like all those times thousands of years ago, it was not the end of the world, but it was a wake up call. This virus is something that will pass, in my opinion, but right now, we don’t know if someone we know will get this, or if we will get it? Will we recover? Or will God decide: “your time’s up”?

Are you prepared for this?

What we are experiencing right now is enough to cause concern in me about people who haven’t been “fortunate” enough to have some event in your life “wake you up.” Take advantage of this downtime to connect with God. This is personal between each of us and God; you will learn the significance about this, if you read the bible. It affects every person’s future.

Long Range planning? This is where our long range planning needs to be, everything else is short term planning, don’t be misled by distractions in life.

Remember: you don’t take it with you. In the end, it is just your spirit that God breathed into you when he gave you life. You get to decide where your spirit ends up; it’s your choice. If you haven’t thought about that, now is a good time.

My personal note to you: As I began to read the Bible, I started an Instagram account (link here) to save things I read that stood out to me, things I didn’t know before reading the Bible, to help me remember them, and for future reference. I thought if anyone else reads them and it helps someone else that’s even better. The only people/accounts that I follow are people who have contributed (unknowingly) to the growth of my faith. I’m hoping that if you read this and you want to learn more, maybe these accounts will be a good resource for you too? There are a variety of personalities, you may connect with some, and not others. I’ve watched these people/accounts I follow for awhile and over time they have been authentic, teach from the Bible and seem to have integrity too, and seem to be “servants” of God with good intentions. As for my account, it has now become a “responsibility”/”accountability” I gave myself: to make me read something from the Bible every day, and create a post, truly thinking about what I just read (journaling) which I never did before. I know it’s important to stay connected daily, or naturally, our priority of God will be replaced with something else. Whatever we focus on becomes our priority. The greatest commandment is to keep God as our #1 priority. When I first read the Bible, it was a “race to the end” for me to “get the main point” of it, but now I’m getting into the details. I’m relatively new to this but learning more every day from committing to daily reading. Doing this truly has transformed my beliefs/thoughts/priorities, in ways I never thought possible.

Other resources:

For Hope/Positivity: I rarely have anxiety about anything now, but occasionally if it starts, it ends quickly by listening to a YouTube video, specifically by Rick Warren on that topic and how the Bible addresses the subject matter. He has an incredible library of helpful topics to get through anything in life, based on the Bible. His stated intention is to give people hope. I’m actually reading his book right now, The Purpose Driven Life, and even though it’s been a #1 Seller that topped the Wall Street Journal’s chart, Publishers Weekly chart and was a New York Times Bestseller with 32 million copies sold in 85 languages as of 2019, for me, his videos have more personal impact and daily application of Biblical teachings, but everyone responds to different things and different people.

For Historical and Scientific support of Biblical information along with real life application: Greg Holder and the weekly YouTube online broadcast of each and every service of The Crossing is a great resource.

For the honest biblically based truth: If you have pride, or think you are “good enough,” don’t need to change, you should listen to Marcus Rogers for a wake up call. He talks raw truth about the bible, doesn’t “sugar coat” anything, doesn’t care how people react to what he says, he says things most people are afraid to say because it is not what people want to hear, isn’t
“politically correct”, afraid because they will be looked at like they are crazy (talking about the spiritual world) when this is actually in the Bible, people don’t want to accept it as truth because it makes them uncomfortable. His style is not what I grew up with, yet I appreciate what he is doing and like him because I believe he has good core intentions and he does make me think or research something, reflect on my short comings.

For reading the Bible on your own: (this app reads it to you also); you can search any topic, find reading plans based on what is applicable in your life at the time, download the YouVersion app available in ios or Android versions. This app was created by Life Church.

For questions about anything in the Bible: www.GotQuestions.Org offers an app resource which answers different questions people may have coming from different faith backgrounds into the exploration of Christian faith and provides the scripture references for questions, so you can read them for yourself and decide.

My hope is that this helps at least one person! #faithoverfear #trustGod

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What is my (our) Purpose in Life?

About five years ago, this question became more important to me: “What is my purpose in life?”

(To be honest, this question was lingering in me, unrecognized as a teenager too, but I never put much thought into it. I would make decisions about my future when I felt like I was running out of time, and had to choose something, then I’d quickly make a decision, go with it, figuring out how to make it work over time.)

As time passed, I truly wanted to know the answer because I felt like there had to be more to life. I felt like I had been wasting time, and didn’t want to continue this way, so I started searching for the answer. I can remember thinking: “We can’t just be here to eat, sleep, and do whatever it is that keeps us busy during the day and night?” There should be something more important, more meaningful in life, than “existing and taking up space:” a Purpose.

I finally stumbled upon the answer to this question in the Bible:

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

So the answer is: God created each of us with a specific purpose to fulfill. But when we find an answer like this, let’s be honest: “Who is looking to do MORE work and have MORE responsibilities than we already have?” Probably not many, UNLESS the REWARD is worth it, right? So is the reward worth it? YES! For this answer to be personally true, meaningful and understood for each of us, it requires a relevant context, because without that, we are probably not interested.

So why is this information relevant to each and every person?

It is relevant because it affects our future: what happens to us and is something that only we, personally, can direct, through our daily choices. To receive the reward, we must have faith in Jesus, however we will be judged on our faith through our actions (our works and obeying the Ten Commandments). “Faith without works is dead.” James 2:14-26

So why would we trust what the Bible has to say?

The information in the Bible is from God, our creator, Who speaks only in truth, and reveals some of the mysterious aspects of our existence through the Bible about what is happening and why it is happening. The Bible is an historical book providing reasons why some events took place, giving proof of God through miraculous events, prophesies that came true and through living proof when Jesus was present on earth and teaching, died and rose from the dead. All of this was done to help us, strengthen us and for God to see what choice we will make once we find out and learn about this. (Think about this: Have you ever evaluated a relationship to see if it was worthwhile? That’s what God’s doing with us: He’s giving us a choice about a relationship with Him.)

The Bible is like an “open book test”: the answers are there, but will we seek them and then apply them to be successful? What we are experiencing in our lives right now is something more significant in process: it is a test with a significant reward (heaven/eternal life), if we are successful and horrible consequences (hell) if we fail. So this is why it is important to know what’s in the Bible and apply what we learn.

This is personal: the best way to get answers to our individual questions is by reading the Bible and praying for the understanding of what we read, because this is how God communicates with us; God will provide clarity, directly to each of us when we are looking for answers in the Bible and through prayer. Seek God first in everything. (Matthew 6:33)

So getting back to our purpose in life, I wondered: We were created to do what specific “good works”?

Doing these “good works” and obeying is evidence of our Faith, which is required to receive God’s reward and our life right now is a TEST. The day-to-day “worldly” things that we experience and worry about are truly UNIMPORTANT and INSIGNIFICANT when we understand the high level reason we were created and what we should have our focus. There is so much to focus on in life, but if we make God the priority and focus in our minds, everything else will fall into place. That’s why the Bible tells us not to worry: God provides what we need in support of His plan for us. (Side note: this also explains the reason for some unanswered prayers.) This also requires faith; we have to have faith in God to really believe that He provides, but little by little as our faith grows, we start seeing this come true, which grows our faith.

Getting back to “good works” I also found this answer:

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” Romans 12:6

The gifts, given by God for the purpose God determined when He created us, are:

  1. Prophesying: boldly proclaiming God’s word
  2. Serving: physical and spiritual help provided to others
  3. Teaching: applying information from the Bible in a clear, accurate and understanding way to others
  4. Encouraging: motivating others to take action and fulfill their purpose
  5. Giving: providing material and financial resources to others
  6. Leading: various Leadership Roles
  7. Showing Mercy: comforting those in need

What gift is mine?

When we work using the specific gift we were created for, our actions happen with ease, we are comfortable and enjoy what we are doing, using the gift feels natural to us, personally. The specific gift we were given is also something that others will notice in us, and likely tell us we seem so “natural” in our actions when operating in that way.

Life is complicated, but the overall simple goal and purpose for us is to Love. Love God and each other.

In summary: God created each of us for a specific purpose of His, and provides us unique gifts to fulfill His plan; which also means every person is very important and is here for a reason!

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7 Fascinating and Important things I learned from the Bible

I was surprised to find out how much I didn’t know about what is in the Bible, even after going to a religious school from grade school through high school and attending various religion based churches throughout my life. I thought I knew all the “important parts” but what I found out was: I was missing the details; the very important details! I only knew the “big picture” mainstream biblical stories. These details from the Bible answered several questions I had:

1.  "Spiritual Warfare" (This explains why certain things happen)

I never heard of this “spiritual warfare” or understood this until reading the bible. So this topic may immediately make you think, “uh oh, she’s one of those crazy people!” That would have been my reaction too, before I read the Bible. But after reading the bible, it became clear that we are the subjects of the spiritual war: between God and Satan (a.k.a.the devil, Lucifer and other names…) We were created by God but given freedom in our choices but Satan continues to try to gain people turning us against God through sin, because sin separates us from God. (God gave Moses the 10 Commandments for us so that we could identify sin and stay away from it.) The book of Job mentions Satan being in the presence of God, telling God he was “roaming the earth”, in fact the entire book of Job is about Satan testing Job, trying to turn him from God. Peter also mentions Satan roaming the earth in a similar way. (1Peter 5-8: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”) Jesus was also tempted by Satan for 40 days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)

Why is this happening? Satan had once been a high ranking spiritual being, but filled with excessive pride, wanted to BE God, wanted to be worshiped and was disobedient, so God cast him from heaven. Satan is described as intelligent, the father of lies, deceitful, clever, the accuser of us in God’s presence, the prince of the earth, and powerful. Also, the bible states one third of the angels were cast out with Satan and considered fallen angels, and these spirits also align with Satan’s efforts. But God/Jesus/the Holy Spirit is more powerful than Satan or anything evil.

From the beginning of the Bible until the end of the Bible there are stories of the ongoing spiritual battle: sin vs. obeying God. It is also stated that if we are not for God; we are against Him. If we do not have the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit), we are at risk. In the bible, Jesus cast out spirits that no one else could conquer, but then his disciples and apostles also were able to do this after Jesus ascended to heaven. (This was after the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and the casting out of spirits was done in the name of Jesus, not by any other power.) But then there was this unsettling story about some Jewish people who knew of this “power” and thought they could do the same as the apostles, casting out spirits in Jesus’ name, and they were successful until one demon actually spoke to them and attacked them terribly (Acts 19: 13-16)

The spiritual war is mentioned in Ephesians 6: 10-12 (written by Paul an apostle approximately 60 AD) which states: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power…For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against…the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

2.  God uses unexpected people for His purpose (This explains how important "insignificant" people are to God)

Growing up learning about religion, I always thought the famous biblical people were special, different, good, holy people, but in reading the bible, they were not, or maybe they were good at some point, but they failed at some point also. Some examples: Moses, who delivered the 10 Commandments actually killed a man (but it was a man mistreating someone), Moses also surprisingly had no self confidence in fulfilling God’s request, but God kept pursing. Moses was chosen by God to further God’s purpose. David was also God’s chosen one but he arranged for Bathsheba’s husband to be killed so he could be with her. God punished David for that (by their first child’s death) and David accepted God’s punishment, repented and never turned from God. David and Bathsheba’s next son, Solomon, became a great leader and built a phenomenal temple to worship God, but he also had numerous wives and relationships and later worshiped idols, but he also fulfilled God’s purpose and had a significant role in the Bible. Joseph was the youngest brother and was mistreated/treated like he was insignificant by his own brothers, but God gave him the gift of interpreting dreams and put him in an important role in Egypt. Paul had persecuted Christians, but Jesus appeared to him and temporarily blinded him, calling him for God’s purpose, then Paul changed. Paul is the one who wrote most of the Letters to the people of various cities found in the New Testament. The main point is the people who were significant in the Bible, were not who we might have expected, but God chooses people for His plan and purpose and Jesus often said “the least will be the greatest” 

3.  How to get to Heaven? (Good question to know the answer to!)

I have to admit, growing up I also thought that we had to be “good” to get to heaven. But after reading the Bible, that is not how we get to heaven. We could do all sorts of good works, but still not get to heaven if we don’t have saving faith in Jesus. The only way to heaven is faith in Jesus, but faith without good works is not the saving kind of faith. If we have true faith, it will be demonstrated by our actions. (Ephesins 2: 8-10, James 2:26, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10, Matthew 7:16-23)

4.  Believer defined (And it's not what most of us think/thought!)

This was significant to me because I, like many people I know, thought that if we say “I believe in Jesus,” we are saved. But that is not how the bible defines a “Believer.” Finding this out truly changed my mind and also made me realize, it’s not that “easy.” This is also something that I think a lot of people don’t understand: the biblical definition of a “Believer.” It makes a tremendous difference too. A “non-practicing” person is not a believer according to the Bible (Read: 1 John 1, 1 John 2, 1 John 3, 1 John 5)

A true believer:

  • has friendships with those redeemed and Jesus
  • lives as Jesus instructs
  • admits and confesses our sins (we do not think we are sinless)
  • keeps God’s commandments
  • loves God, not worldly things
  • does what is right
  • seeks to maintain a pure life
  • experiences less sin in our lives overtime; we don’t keep sinning
  • shows love to other Christians
  • “walks the walk” not just “talks the talk”
  • has a clear conscience
5.  Repentance (John 3:3, 5)  (It's necessary)

Repentance is defined as: deep sorrow or regret felt for a sin we committed, followed by deeds that demonstrate repentance (Acts 26:20) Repentance matters each and every time a sin is committed (Ezekiel 33:12) Jesus preaches repentance (Matthew 4:17) John wrote: “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the Godly person who does his will.” (John 9:31) It sure sounds like getting right with God comes before God will consider answering a prayer we say!

6.   Obedience (It's necessary)

This is repeated over and over in the bible: follow the 10 commandments, which can be summed up as love God and love your neighbor (if you practice “love” then you will be keeping all the 10 commandments). Love is another word that is defined in the Bible and is probably more comprehensive than what we typically think “love’s” definition is. (Read: Romans 12: 9-21 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

7. Our Purpose? (This was an unanswered question in my mind for years)

Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Daily reading and prayer: After reading the Bible, I realized how it can transform a person’s mind in a good way. Like anything we repeatedly pay attention to; we begin to absorb. So it’s important to me to have something “good” as a focus. The Bible is God inspired, so this is a way to begin and continue building knowledge and understanding of who God is and more. I read the Bible out of curiosity and ended up realizing there were many important things I didn’t know. As I read the Bible, I began summarizing sections, impactful statements and creating a visual that I can go back to in the future to find a quote that stood out to me, my goal is to post daily eventually, to keep me focused on reading the bible. You will see there are quite a number of posts already made from when I first started reading the Bible. (This is a link to the page.) I hope you found some of this information as beneficial as I did.

by Categories: FAITH, Improvement, Love, RELATIONSHIPSTags: , , , 1 Comment

The Game of Life

Here we are in this game called “life.”

The stakes are high, but we are told a lie:

“It doesn’t matter if you win or loose; everyone gets a prize.”

This strategy works well for all those “lost”: “quit trying,” but “quit trying” really costs.

So many get side tracked and really don’t care, but they don’t know what their future will bear.

“A prize for all”, what’s wrong with that?

But the prize is a “surprise!” and the value: “not all that.”

So moves go unnoticed, while the strategy plays out. Winners think they’re winning, until the game’s figured out.

Everyone loves an underdog to win, and this game of “life” is where it begins.

The least expected will figure it out, but goes unnoticed, because they have no clout.

Attention is on the star players who trained, but little did they know: they weren’t given the reins.

The underdog appears defeated and dismissed ‘til the rules of the game shine through the mist.

The rules of the game are not what they thought, and the strategy itself is not what was taught.

We are pawns in a game, til we figure it out; it’s not what we expect, there is no doubt.

God wins.

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