Who is my neighbor? Part 2

Who is my neighbor?

       God is love, remember this always. No matter what you do, or don't do God still loves you, but He loves you too much to leave you the way you are. God loves everyone equally and He wants you to do the same to those surrounding you in your life. Love your neighbor as you yourself want to be loved, I mentioned this last night, and I am going to go a little bit more into detail of how to carry it out with those around you.

       What are the main things people need to survive? Food, water and shelter, these are the 3 basic needs of every human being, but can we function without love, compassion, friendship? We can but we cannot live life to it's fullness without them, the same can be said when it comes to showing these things to others, we cannot live full rich Christian lives unless we show these things to our neighbors.

       So what can you do as an individual to love your neighbor? "I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." Matthew 25:36. This is how you show love to your neighbor. We have been entrusted by God to heal the sick, care for the widows, and comfort those who are suffering, to feed the hungry and pray for those who need to be saved. I will admit that I am not very good at any of this, in fact I am going to share 2 stories with you.

       I was going to 7-Eleven one night to grab some snack stuff, usual routine. When I got out of the store I was approached by a homeless man on bike, asking for money or something. He told me he was embarrassed and he was staying in the shelter but needed some money to get some food. I told him I had nothing to give him and drove away.

       My wife was going to the Dollar Store to pick up some odds and ends, and before she went inside she was approached by a homeless lady asking for money, my wife said she had and went into the store. While in the store though she bought her some socks, and a few other items and also a Bible. She walked out of the store and the lady was no where to be found, she drove around and tried to find her, but couldn't. She was crying over the fact that she couldn't find this lady.

       Who loved their neighbor in these 2 events? My wife of course. These are actual events that happened, and they happen to all of us on a constant basis. My wife chose the right action, she had the proper follow through and even though she could not find the homeless lady, her heart and compassion went to her and God will reward her for it. I on the other hand feel extreme guilt over not doing anything for the homeless person that I encountered. 

       I'm not saying to you to go out and find a homeless person and buy them food or anything, if that is what God is telling you to do, great! But He may be calling you to volunteer at the local soup kitchen, or to go to the old folks home, raise money for a local shelter or donate items to a food bank, work on a crisis hotline. There are many ways to show love to your neighbor. Like I said yesterday the concept is easy, it is the follow through that matters.

       I leave you with one more Bible passage that God has put on my heart in regards to all of this, and it weighs heavily on my heart. "I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me." Matthew 25:45. It hurts to write that verse and realize that that was me.

       Don't let opportunity pass you by, show love to your neighbor the first time you have a chance. Bless others, raise them up and the same will be done for you when you need it.

       Thanks again everyone, keep the faith and God bless! 

Who is my neighbor? Part1

Who is my neighbor?

       "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself." Luke 10:27. Repeat that, love your neighbor as yourself, seems simple enough, the person next door, mow their lawn cook them a meal every now and then. So very wrong, the concept is easy, it's the follow through that is so much more. So, who is your neighbor?

       The answer like I said is easy, everyone you come into contact with is your neighbor, everyone that you meet, talk to, interact with and even pass by on the street  is your neighbor. You can love your neighbor, in fact most of the time they are just as easy enough to ignore them, but can you love them as yourself, can you love them as much as you love you yourself wants to be loved. 

       We as humans long to be loved, not only do we long for it we need it. If we do not feel love and appreciation we do not function right, and if we do not receive love we cannot give it in return. If a child is not shown love from it's mother when it is first born, it dies and the same thing happens to us as adults, something in side of us dies and we cannot do the things we normally do. That is why God is love, His very nature is love, and He gives His love to us freely. In return though we need to show the same kind of love to our neighbor.

       I will continue with this a little bit more in detail tomorrow night. Just think about it for a while tonight, and ask God to reveal your neighbors to you, and to help you show them the same love that you want you and that has been given to you.

      Keep the faith and God bless!

      For those of you on facebook, remember to share this if you like it. :)

       

Mercy

Mercy

       Last time I talked about grace, so it seems only reasonable that I should do something about mercy, you can't have one without the other.

      "But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life." 1 Timothy 1:16


       Even the worst sinners have been shown mercy, and this mercy is only given to us by God's grace. God is the almighty judge, and judges everything in truth, And the truth is that we are all deserving of severe punishment, and condemnation, but he is also a righteous and merciful judge. God has granted us mercy because He loves us so much! He shows mercy to us and we should do the same for others, it is the whole "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven" Luke 6:37. 

       Even we do not forgive and show mercy to others, even if they are deserving of it, we are not being Godly people, remember the mercy that you were shown, even though you were so undeserving, before you choose to cast judgment on someone else.

      

       If we do not show mercy to others, it holds us back from a true relationship with our Lord and Saviour, we are not fit to cast judgement on others, so do not even bother going down that road. Forgive, forget and move on. We are meant to be an example to others, and show them how God wants them to live, if you can't show mercy in even the smallest of things, you are not being a good example.

       And believe me, it is not easy, at all. In fact most times it is fight to do it, but you have to choose to do it on a daily basis, you have to choose to show mercy every moment you get, you have to fight the human urge to not show it, and not forget it. If you succeed though, you will find yourself growing closer to God, and you will find it easier every time to show people mercy.

        I am going to leave you with one more Bible passage, read it, repeat it and remember it:

Psalm 136:

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever: 

And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever. 

Thanks again for reading. "Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love." 2 John 1:3


God bless and keep the faith!

Grace

Grace

        Grace:

       1.an allowance of time after a debt or bill has become payable granted to the debtor before suit can be brought against him or her or a penalty applied

       2.mercy; clemency; pardon:

       Now, I gave you 2 definitions but in regards to our Christian walk they are one. This is what we call divine grace, this is the grace of God.

       We are all sinners, we sin everyday and for the most part we don't even give it a second thought, that's even if we notice the sin in the first place, and because of sin we deserve to die. Harsh, isn't it. Something that is essentially human nature for us makes us deserve death, and literally separates us from God, from hearing His words to us, and have a true relationship with Him.

       "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son; that whoever believes in Him, will not perish but have everlasting life." John 3: 16. This is divine grace.

We had a debt to pay for our sins, and that debt was death, but Jesus paid for that debt for us, He offered us grace with no penalties, and an infinite allowance of time. He showed us true mercy, and He pardoned us from debt that we could not pay even though we deserved it.

       

       We have an awesome gift and often times we forget about, we beat ourselves up about the sins that we have committed and we rarely forget it. That is the devil's most powerful tool against, and he uses it often. We take grace for granted, it is one of our most powerful things, (in fact it is why we are alive today), and we waste it. It is the best thing to use to convince people that they need Christ, and to be saved, and it satan's best  thing against us to bring us back down.

      Do not forget about Gods divine grace, ask for forgiveness and you shall have, He will wash away your sin's whiter than snow and remember them no more. But only if you choose to let them go. Tell the devil to back off and leave you alone! Your sins are forgiven and always will be, so long as you bring them to the cross.

      His grace is sufficient for you, for me, for all of us but only if we accept it. A pardon can only be valid if we choose to accept it. 

       My thoughts and prayers go with you all tonight, remember grace a don't ever let the devil tell you otherwise.

       Keep the faith and God bless!

Lead Me

Lead Me

Today is Fathers day, a day to honor the men who raised us, taught us and disciplined us and where those of us who are married and have children are honored by our family. But it is also a day for us as men to reflect on our Heavenly Father, and all that he has done for us and what he expects of us as the heads of our families. I have a short video to show that shares exactly what I am talking about. The video is band named Sanctus Real, and the song is called lead me.

            We as fathers and husbands and men of God have a great responsibility and a vital role to play in our family’s lives and the lives of those around us, and it is a role that is not a light undertaking. God has blessed us with great and wonderful gifts in our sons, daughter’s wives and in the friends around us and it is our job to lead them down the right paths. To train them and instruct them in our Fathers ways, to raise them up when they are down and to catch them when they fall. Just as they are a gift and a blessing to us, we to must be the same to them.

            Our wives and children are crying out for us to lead them, Matt Hammitt, the lead singer of the band Sanctus Real wrote this song when he and his wife were going through some difficult times and he wrote the first 2 verses from his wife’s standpoint and his daughter’s standpoint. This is a real cry, we all married strong women who can handle the hard times with great determination but they need someone to lead them through it, and if you aren’t there it makes it all the harder to get though. We need to be the ones standing beside them and holding them up when things are hard. You may be just getting home from work but she has spent all day at home with a screaming baby, the 2 year old decided to redecorate the hallway with crayons and the 14 year old has locked herself in her room and refuses to open the door because her life is over. You have to be strong for your wife in these times and all times.

Our kids need their fathers to be there for them, to teach them how to seek the Lord, to encourage them in trying times and comfort them at their weakest. You don’t have a kid one day and the next realize you are walking your daughter down the aisle on her wedding day, it would be a lot easier to skip those teenage years where everything causes her life to be over, but it doesn’t work that way. There are countless steps from birth to marriage and many more after marriage. We are called to lead them.

Our friends need us to help guide them, Christian and non-Christian alike. With our Christian friends, they need our fellowship, our love and our understanding in their difficult times, in their happy times, and just plain any time. With our non-Christian friends, they need our guidance, our compassion and our strength and prayers. We need to show them the right way and lead them in a way that no one else can, we need to shoe them the love of the Father and that he is there for them no matter what.  

            But my challenge and question to you is this, who is leading you? Is your job, your money your hobbies your school work, dictating to you what you are doing with your time? Or is our Father your guide? I am telling you honestly right now that you cannot walk this road alone; you cannot lead your wife, kids and friends unless you are following Gods lead. When the one that are close to you are going through life’s roughest spots God can give you the strength to lead them through it. I have been blessed to have a great Dad who was strong in his faith, and his love for his wife, 6 daughters and 1 son. It was his influence in my life that helped me to become the man that I am today. But I know that he spent many a night in prayer asking God for strength to go through each day. I have been even more blessed to have another Dad added to my life through the marriage of my beautiful wife who has given me guidance in a lot of things and encouraged me in trying times, and with Him too I know that he is a man of God and spends time talking to him and relying on his strength to get him through.

            This message is not only for husbands and fathers but to the future generation of men of God in our midst. Don’t start letting God lead you once you get married and have kids, start now. If you are a man of God it is your responsibility to train up the young men in your life in the way that they should go, they are watching you to see how you do things and what you say, and they are looking at how you treat your wife and kids, and they are influenced by it. This is for all men, rise up take a stand and let God know that you will let him lead you in all areas, now and forever.

        Thanks again everyone for reading, keep the faith and God bless!

Who comes first?

Who comes first?

        Good evening everyone! I know, my post is late but it has been a little hectic around my house. I hope that everyone has had a chance to reflect on some of things that I have posted in past little while, remember that unless you put what you see hear or read into action there is no point to it, you are just going through the motions. I am not trying to beat anyone up either in this, it is something that I have be constantly reminded of as well, and we are all just human.

        But enough of that, lets get to my post for the night, we have all heard the phrase "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" A question that plagues mankind, and something we will never have the answer too. I have another question for you that plagues the Christian mind, and pushes us harder than most other things, "Who comes first, God or your family?"

        

        Take a minute and think about that.

        Think of your own life, you can be married, single, divorced, young or old, this question needs to be answered by all of us and you are better off making the choice sooner rather than later. Right now in your life, who comes first? 

        A while ago, my answer was; I thought God, because I thought God wanted me to put my family first, in fact I had never even thought about this question at all, it had no relevance in my life; because I thought it was on in the same. Love your family and put them first and in that you are putting God and what he wants first. Boy was I ever wrong in that, and I had to do some deep soul searching and spend a lot of time in Gods word to find the truth in this. The stupid thing is actually, is that it has been taught to us all at a very young age, but we have neglected to see the meaning behind it all and take it at face value.

        "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." Luke 10:27. 

        Do you see it there? Do you see what we have all been blind too? It is the truth that God must come first in your life. Above your spouse, your brother or sister, your mom or dad, even your kids. I know, its a hard pill to swallow, and a lot of times, when we see the question it sets us in a tail spin. We begin to reflect on what that means, especially in marriage. I am going to be honest with you, it can wreck your marriage..... if you go about it wrong.

        I speak from experience, it will shake the foundation that your marriage was previously set upon, and often times in a Christian marriage this is where things take a turn for the worse. It is that sink or swim situation, and we often end up on the brink of drowning, but do not fear, have hope, it is only as bad as you make it. Let me explain.

        We are human and are therefore unable to grasp the mind of God right? We have a helpmate to help us understand it though, and that is the Holy Spirit. He can make sense of all that confuses us about God. If you think about this question from a human perspective, sure it will shatter your fragile little mind, but if you think about it in the spiritual sense it will seem a lot better.

        

        God wants our full attention on Him and the plans that He has for us, married, single, young or old. You cannot do His will unless you put your full attention on Him, and He will never steer you wrong. When you are married God has to be at the center of your life as a couple and that is a choice you as a couple has to make, and it is choice that you have to constantly be making.  When you are single, it is a little easier to make the choice to put God at the center of your life, not much, but it is a little. 

        Just because God is first does not mean that your marriage is doomed because you have to focus all of your attention on God, far from it. Your marriage is blessed if  God is the focus of it, and if your are single your life is much better off if you make that choice now to put God as the focus of it all, if you have God at the center you will obey His commandments, you will listen to His will and obey His word. 

        This is why God must come first, we are not fit to run our lives, we mess up royally when we are without His guidance. It may seem like a hard task, but you will be better off once you make the choice to focus on Him, His glory and His love for you and those around you.

        Take some time to pray about this, pray with your spouse, your kids, your mom and dad, your friends. Make a choice to put God in His rightful place in your life.

        I want to take this time and offer this to anyone out there who needs prayer, I am happy to pray for any ones needs, concerns, or struggles. We need each other to lean upon and to give each other support and prayer. If you are not comfortable asking for prayer in a post below, drop me a line at muizelaarmitchell@gmail.com. 

        "May the Lord bless you and keep you,

         The Lord make His face to shine upon you

         And be gracious to you

         The Lord turn His face toward you,

         And give you peace." Numbers 6: 24-26

        This is the blessing that I leave you with, and my prayer as well. Keep the faith, I am praying for you. 

        Happy Fathers day to all you dads out there for tomorrow, if you drop in tomorrow I have a special blog intended just for the men out there.

        God bless!

Walking in faith Part 3

Walking in faith

        Where was I? Oh yeah, FAITH WITHOUT DEEDS IS DEAD!!! Got it yet? I could probably spend the rest of my blogging life talking about faith, but it would be without point and without prevalence, I can talk about faith till I am blue in the face, but if I do not back it up with my actions it is pointless. And I guess that is part of the reason that I started this whole blog. This is part of my action, this is me flexing my faith muscle. I am doing this to change the world, I do this for the encouragement of others, to build of their faith and too build up my own.

        Let's go back to the point that I made about God being your pilot, and letting Him have control. You have to have faith in God in order to let Him have control, you have to let Him take control in order to gain faith. Huh? Endless cycle eh? Confusing? Yes, it sure is, but have faith because God is at the center of it. Like it says above, faith is not hoping God can, it is knowing He will. 

        Have I lost you yet, are you keeping up? Good, because I hate to break it to you but it is all complicated and confusing. That is where God comes in though, and faith in Him comes in handy, God brings the chaos to order, He brings light to your darkness, He is your firm foundation through the fiercest storm. Faith moves you, faith keeps you going, and holds you up when life has become to hard to stand through.

       "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13. You cannot have faith without hope, you cannot experience true love without faith, you cannot love others unless you have hope in them. Faith revolves around so much in our Christian lives, without faith we as Christians cannot get though life, we cannot face the ungodly world, and we cannot persevere through it.

         A Godly person in a Godless world, if you want to walk a Godly walk, walk in faith, walk in righteousness, and persevering through the struggles of life. 

        Tomorrow night, I will be talking about family and what God expects of you in regards to your family.

         Remember to post your comments, also if you like the blog start following. I appreciate everyone who has been reading and I hope that it brings a little light to your life.

         So God bless, and keep praying, and have faith. 

Walking by faith part 2

Walking by faith

        I didn't think that one night would be enough to cover walking by faith, so I decided to continue with it. I think that this subject cannot be covered in one blog post due to it's vastness and the amount of stock that we as Christians should be putting into it.
       I finished last night by saying have a little faith, so what have you done today to increase your faith? Have you worked on that faith muscle at all? I know I know, why so many questions, but I ask you these questions to challenge you and to keep you motivated to walk by faith. 
        Remember that pilot that I was talking yesterday? I want you to put yourself in his place, you are the pilot. You see a pilot has to walk by faith, he believes that the engineers did a good job in building the plane he is flying, that the flight attendants are doing their job looking after the passengers, that the air Marshall is doing his job by protecting him, the crew and the passengers. God expects that type of faith from us. Oddly enough there is an analogy that I hate that kind of goes with this.
        God is my co-pilot, you know that bumper sticker that everyone seems to have. I HATE that bumper sticker, the co-pilot is only there in case of emergencies, he does nothing but sits there and makes casual conversation to the pilot. GOD WANTS TO BE YOUR PILOT! That is part of walking in faith, it's letting God have complete control of your life, and putting all of your faith and trust in Him. And as it is with human nature for the most part, it is an impossibility, all because we cannot see or touch God. We have true faith only in the things that are tangible to us. I can taste this, see that, hear over there, that is how I know it is real. 
        But God has called us to apart from the world, we are in the world but not of it, and it is hard for all of us to draw a line between the two. Once again you need faith to see past the ways of the world, you need faith to help set you apart from the world. "How foolish! Can't you see that faith without good deeds is useless?" James 2:20. Faith can only be achieved by acting upon it.
        


        But that is enough for tonight, it is late and I need to go to bed. So good night and God bless, remember to leave your comments below. 


        Remember to flex that muscle, and try and let go of that steering wheel.

Walking in faith Part 1

Walking in faith

        One of the hardest things that the world cannot understand and accept is faith, and it is also one of the biggest things to hold us as Christians back. Jesus said "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you." Luke 17 :6, but we seem to be lacking in the faith department now a days. We have faith in the things of man, but the lack faith in the things of God. Christians are being absorbed into the world because we have taken out the line that was between the ways of the world and the ways of the Almighty God. In fact, we put more faith in thing of the world. Let me explain it in a way that it has been explained to me.

        You are flying over seas on a large airplane, do you know that the pilot has been well trained? Do you know that all the engines are in perfect running order? Are you sure that the landing gear works properly, or that the flight tower is in constant communication with pilot in regards to on coming planes? No, but you have faith that all of these concerns have been looked after and there is no need for you to worry. My question is this, would you get on a bus if God told you too? Would you give up half your paycheck if He asked you too? More often than not, our response is no, because we lack faith in Him and in His plans for us.

      The scripture verse at the top of this post says it all:

Faith  

Hearing 

Hearing

Word of God

        We lack faith, because we are not hearing God, and we are not hearing God because we are not immersed in His word and His word does not coincide with what we want. 

        Faith is a muscle.  You have to use it in order for it to get any stronger. And what does it take to grow your faith? Hearing God and following his word. Once again, we come back to a definite struggle that we as Christians face, we are great at listening for the most part, but we suck at the follow through, because it is too hard to face and most of us lack the faith to see it through to the end. My mother had a great saying though, God will never throw anything at you that He knows you cannot handle. It takes great faith to walk the Christian walk, and trust God in all that he is doing, and that He knows best.

        So next time you are going through a hard time, or you are struggling with something, it could be temptation, envy, greed, pride it doesn't matter what. Flex that muscle of faith, trust in God that He will see you through it, even if the choice isn't the one that you normally would make, have a little faith in His plans. A little faith can go a long way.

Thanks again for reading, if you have any suggestions, topics or opinions, leave a post. I am happy to hear from anyone. If you like what you have read, and you think you know someone  else who should read it, pass it on. I am not doing this for myself, but for those Christians out there who need encouragement, who uplifting, and who need to know that they are not the only ones struggling in their Christian walk.

You are not alone in your struggles, God is with you, and we have all been down that road before. But together, we can get through it.

Keep the faith and God bless.

Mitchell

Walking In Righteousness

Walking In Righteousness

        What does it mean to walk in righteousness? The dictionary's definition of righteousness is this:

— adj
1.	a. characterized by, proceeding from, or in accordance withaccepted standards of morality justice, or uprightness;virtuous: a righteous man
	b. ( as collective noun ; preceded by the ): the righteous
2.	morally justifiable or right, esp from one's own point of view:righteous indignation

(taken from www.dictionary.com) 

        Notice how point 2 says from ones own point of view? I find that very interesting, that we justify our actions as righteous because it is from our own point of view. This is how society justifies right and wrong, "I see it this way, so it must be right, or I see it from this way so it must be wrong." But by Gods definition through His holy word, it is not by our own standards but His standards. Walking in righteousness means to walk in purity, holiness, the act of being right with God. 

       We can come to this by several verses in the Bible, but I am going to use one to prove my point. Acts 13:10 says this: "And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" With this scripture verse can we not assume that every work that Satan does is the opposite of walking in righteousness? 

       Of course we can, does Satan embody holiness or purity? No, but Jesus Christ does, and He is our example, He has shown us how we are to live our life, how we are to be righteous, to be right with God. So now I come back to my original question, what does it mean, and in turn how do we do it?

        The choice is simple, but the path is hard. Yesterday I mentioned the struggles we face as Christians, and that is part of what happens when you walk the path of righteousness. The world will hate and despise you, you will be persecuted for the path you choose to walk, and you are sure to stumble along the way. We have to learn to pray for those who persecute you, we show love to those who have no love for us, we need to care for the elderly, widows, those who are sick, and show love and compassion to the sinners of this world, even when it is really hard to do so.

        I can hear what you are saying, and who am I to say this? What right do I have? I have no right to say this, I am far from being perfect or righteous, but I am trying. We will never achieve true righteousness until God calls us home, but we can strive to achieve it we can work on it every day. And that is exactly what I am doing, I am taking it day by day. It starts with one small step, that first leap of faith.

       So what are you waiting for? Take that first step if you haven't already. 

        Thanks for reading, remember to post you comments questions and concerns. I expect nothing but complete honesty from any who wish to post. 

        I am going to tackle a hard subject tomorrow. Faith, so I hope you read tomorrow. 

        God bless.

The Struggles We Face

 The Struggles We Face

        I have had the urge to start blogging, and have been struggling with what to do. A lot of this comes from the fact that I am afraid of other peoples opinions and what they might think of me, both my Christian and non-Christian friends alike. I guess it is something we all face at one time or another, do you show your true self to everyone who knows you or are you going to keep up the charade that you choose to show only certain individuals.

        So I guess it is time for me to come out of my shell and show my true self, and unfortunately only those of my Christian friends know who this actually is. I am a Christian, and I am proud of it, and now thanks to this blog, I am held accountable to it. This is public, and I cannot hide from it, or choose to ignore it, or pretend like it never happened. Which means that I have to live up to what it means by being a Christian.

        Wow! That is a lot! This is one of the greatest struggles we as Christians face, being a Godly person, in a Godless world, it is the daunting task and the responsibility we have to live our lives as Christ lived His. To show perfect love, understanding and forgiveness to all of those around us. To reach out with compassion and understanding to those that are in need. 

       Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people out there who do not believe in God and carry out all of these things, which is great! We as Christians need to be doing this, and we are being shown up by those who are not! People see us all as a religious organization, a place of rules, regulations and crazy fanatics, and we are doing nothing to destroy this image. We play along with what the world perceives us as because it is easier to deal with and we will not face persecution for it.

       This is how Christ lived His life, He lived with persecution. He was hated, despised and rejected by man, and He died because of it, Jesus told us that it would not be an easy road to follow and that we would face hard times because of what choose to believe. Isaiah 43:2 gives us a promise though: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." 

       Notice how it says when not if, it will happen, where you will have to go through the fire, but His promise will remain a constant, it will never change. He will always be with you, even in the worst of times.

        Thanks for reading, I plan on doing this at least every other night, so keep looking for new blog posts.

     Remember to leave your post below, I want to hear whatever it is you have to say.