Stop, Pray, Love

We all get temptations. Some are harder for us to avoid than others. The key with temptations is stop, pray, love God. Most of the time, when we are dealing with temptations and fall into them, we are wandering. Wandering in our thoughts, not thinking critically, etc. The key with a temptation is to deal with it. Don't continue to wander towards it. Identify it. Pray about it. Then deal with it. Joseph identified that Potiphar's wife was seducing him. He immediately left. This is very important. Don't hang around a situation where you feel tempted. Whether it's lust, or anger, or envy, being unloving, or laziness, etc. If your brain is going towards a place it shouldn't be, take out the Word and meditate on it. You have to control your mind. You have to control your body. Proverbs says "A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." This is so true. 

Self-control is extremely difficult. But with the Lord's help, and if you aren't constantly putting yourself in situations where self-control is harder then it should be, you will grow more self-controlled. Self-control is a character trait that we all need to work on.

Love

Love is about others. It's not about you. Until you love someone because it's about them and not about your own desires and feelings, it's not love. Of course, it's never going to be perfect. But, yeah.. Something I'm working on.

Why Feminism is so Destructive - Rant Thursday

Feminism. I hate it. I really do. Not because I hate the people who subscribe to such a belief. But I hate the idea of it. Feminism is in many ways a spawn of the sins of our day. Women no longer have any respect for their husbands. If you're a dude who wants to get something done in life. Do not marry someone who calls herself a feminist. She will tear you down so hard, and trust me, you will hate life. These men (which I've noticed more men are angry feminists than women) and women who buy into the ideas of equality of roles for men and women are number one, fools. They don't live in the real world. I spend a good amount of my time managing projects, managing people/relationships/etc. If there's one thing I've learned, there needs to be a manager in any relationship. There needs to be someone saying, let's go here. Let's go there. Of course, you're a team. You have to work hard to keep unity. Which means you don't treat your team members like trash. But you need a leader, you need vision!

Feminists have this fallacious idea that when men get married, they are looking for a toy. A real life woman who acts like a porn doll. Are you kidding me?! Any man worth his salt wants to marry someone who will be a good team member. A good support. If you've ever played LoL you'll understand this. There are two roles that reign in bottom lane. One is adc (attack damage carry). The other support. Adc = builds damage. Support = keeps adc alive and gives adc kills. Can either one survive without the other? No. Do they play different roles? Yes. Is one more important than the other? No.

Still not convinced, 100 games of adc, 100 games of support for you. Then come back to me. :-)

On a more serious note, feminism undermines the very roles that were established by God. That's why if someone were to come to me and say, well you just need a manager in a relationship, the woman can be the manager. Were you born blind sir? What kind of ideology do you subscribe to? The Bible from the very beginning, clearly demonstrated the roles of man and woman. If you don't believe in the Bible, I don't understand why we are even talking about this issue. You have a more basic problem.

In the garden, the curses that were given by God equaled that (Matthew Henry quote) "If man had not sinned, he would always have ruled with wisdom and love; if the woman had not sinned, she would always have obeyed with humility and meekness."

When a woman begins to complain about how her husband is not ruling with wisdom and love, do not say that her option is to become proud and rule over her husband. Do two sins make a right? No! Also, if your wife is proud and wants to rule over you, does that mean a man should not rule with wisdom and love? No.

Feminism is destructive because it gives men and women license to their sinful natures. Our sinful natures should be smacked across the face, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Not given license to live by immoralistic ideologies created by angry and proud men and women.

I pray the Lord blesses me with a wife someday, I'm not sure who would like me, with rants like these... ;-P. But I want someone I can spend time with. Someone who is my best friend. We can talk about our dreams and vision for our lives. I can, Lord willing, lead her and help her grow her gifts and talents God has given her. I can pray for her and wash her with the Word. She can follow my imperfect leading with imperfect humility, and we can be a team that takes on many battles together. But also, we can enjoy the good times, and watch our children grow up. We will disappoint each other. I will be tempted to be angry, unloving, or not lead. She will tempted to be unloving and unsubmissive as well. But through God's grace, we will come out on the other side of the river, bloody and bruised. But redeemed by the blood of Christ.

And that is a much more beautiful image than any of the trash the quiverful complainers post.

And thus ends my epic rant. w00t. lol.

Live in Unity

One balance that as Christians, we have to balance involves cliffs. Number one, if someone else is jumping off a theological cliff, a moral cliff, basically any cliff that involves sin, unity is not jumping over that cliff with them. Also, unity is not you jumping off a cliff and wondering why no one else is jumping off with you. Unity would be seeing someone jumping over a cliff, and tell them "Nuh, uh dude. Not cool bro. You jump over cliff. You die. ..."

Also, if the cliff is only six inches tall, it's okay to continue to hold their hand. But if it's a 100 foot cliff, sometimes you have to let them go. :-(

Opens My Eyes

There are times when I feel God's hand reach into my life more than he does at any other time. Those moments, when you aren't struggling to focus when you're doing your morning devotions, or pray without other images or ideas flash into your head, are so beautiful. A peace from God. I pray God gives me more of these moments. Moments to think on how good and wonderful he is in my day to day life. The feeling that I can sit in His lap and see His amazing work around me. But at the same time, the ability to go out in the battlefield and take on the enemies of the world, flesh, and the devil. However, I don't do it alone. And I can't do it alone. God is good.

Confess Your Sins

I live in a bedroom. And in that bedroom there is a bed. And too often, under that bed there grows a disgusting pile of dirty clothes, worn out socks, tattered books, happy dust bunnies, and the occasional used plate. ... At some point, this combination of items begins to have more and more negative consequences on the entire state of the room. The room slowly begins to smell like sewage lite, the contents under the bed slowly begin to grow legs and scoot their way out from under the bed, and my entire family decide to put a radioactive sign on my bedroom door.

In many ways, this relates to our lives in a very real sense. It's very easy to take a sin, and stuff it under the bed for no one else to see. You pretend that it's okay to put this sin under the bed. Thoughts begin to flash through your mind. It's just one little sin.. It's too much work to confess this sin.. It's going to hurt my reputation.. I want to just savor this sin a little more later..

And ever so slowly, these sins begin to pile up. And maybe those around you haven't noticed, yet.. But the pile that started as one little dirty sin, eventually grows to this enormous toxic waste heap. And in some sense, you can't tell. It's similar to when you walk into someone's house that has some sort of odd odor. Initially, you perceive the odor, and it may be pungent. But as time goes on, your senses accept this to be a new state of normal. It doesn't smell to you. But as soon as someone else comes close to you. Immediately, they can tell that your life reeks.

But what do we do? Start confessing sin. Start taking that dirty underwear, those food crusted plates, and begin to take them out and deal with them. Get a mentor, or someone who is willing to wade into the filth and help you clean up. You may not know how. You may have no idea how to clean this stuff up. But through God's grace, as you reach under that bed and feel the morass of filth, you will begin to pull out pieces and expel them from your life. And your room will start to smell less rancid. Your life will be filled with mercy, as Proverbs 28:13 says, "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy."

And remember, this doesn't happen without the mercy and faithfulness of God. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

God is faithful to forgive. He will cleanse. 

Making Us New

As Christians, God is making beautiful things out of the dust. We are dry bones. And God breathes life into those dry bones. And he will continue to make us new. We are complete in Christ and in Him, we are beautiful. Otherwise, we are cracked and dry bones. Quite the image. 0.o

We Are Weak: But He is Strong

We as humans are weak, fallible, finite beings. It's easy to forget that. I know, when you're down in the dumps after you made a mistake or fell for a temptation, you definitely feel the weight of your finite and fallible self. But when life is going "good" and you're on top of the world with work, relationships, fun, etc, that's generally when we forget our true reality. But we can't forget. We can't forget our situation. We are nothing without God. We need Him all the time. 

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. ~ Philippians 4:13

Hard to Love: Easy to Find Joy

In many ways, those who are closest to us are the hardest to love. We see their faults. We wade through their sins. We see the acne, the bad hair days, and the cranky attitudes. But at the same time, those who are closest to us bring us great joy. We can share our thoughts with them, our hopes, and dreams. We face life looking together. We know they'll be there when life hits the fan. People bring joy. Big families are, much of the time, full of energy and life. You will have hard times, but you'll always have joyful times to.

Be there for your friends and family in the tough times. And enjoy the great ones with them too. ^_^

Caring

One of the fruits of the spirit is kindness. Kindness to those who are easy to love and those who aren't. Kindness when we don't feel like it. Kindness when we've had a bad day. Kindness is such a beautiful character trait. Let's all be more kind and loving as life hands us bigger and bigger reasons not to be kind and loving. :-)

How Do I Do This?

I think many times, when we sit down to a new job, or a new hobby, we wonder exactly how to get started. How do we do the best job possible? Then, we'll go find some books, or maybe watch a couple Youtube videos, and then get started. What I find interesting is that many of us do take the time to look at the books, but after the books it's still hard to getttt movvviiinggg. For instance, there are certain professions, such as sales where sure, you can get a few tips and tricks from the pros but it comes down to your ability to get past your fear. Your fear of men, your fear of being wrong, your fear of "looking stupid" are all fears that many of us may play with in our minds, from time to time. Yes, knowledge is extremely crucial, but we also need the courage and character to work out that knowledge in our daily lives. :-)

Tempted

All our lives, we will be tempted. Tempted by some sort of sin. Whether it be pride, lust, envy, hatred, etc, we will have moments in our lives where we will be tempted. Maybe it will be our flesh, or maybe it will be others who tempt us. But the question isn't, will you be tempted. The question is, what will you do when that temptation presents itself. Will you give in? Or will you run to Christ? Really, those are the only two answers. Maybe we will run from one sin, into another. But that's just giving in. Turn to Christ. He will help you. He will deliver you. You may feel that you fall over and over. But get back up. Take that next step. Stay on that narrow road. Don't fall asleep. Just Do Not Stop. Don't Stop Fighting! This is not a road that is filled with flowers and soft moss. It's a road filled with bandits, rocks, thorns, thistles, and critics.

Love you all. Have a great Thursday. ^_^

And I do apologize, I haven't been posting every day. I do try to, but sometimes I forget or as in the last couple times, I wrote up a really long post and then decided against posting it.. And the offer still stands, if you can catch me the day after I miss a post, I'll mail you something. My e-mail is in my profile. ;-P

Humility

It seems that many of my sins end up stemming from pride. I haven't struggled with sin for all of 10 minutes. YES!!!!!! Let's have a party. And, pride shows up. And then fall into more sins.

Humility is of utmost importance. Keep God in perspective. God is infinite, we are tiny, finite creatures. We fail all the time. God doesn't. Stay humble. Stay on your knees. Love God. Love others. Serve others. When others are first, and you are second you won't have time to get proud. If you're always looking for ways to serve others, why would you serve yourself with a little pride?

And, I will probably go fall on my face once again tomorrow. But Lord willing, I will obey Him better than I did today.

God Cares for You

Everyone will let you down. They won't be perfect. But God doesn't. He is always perfect. Rest in that hope tonight. :-) Have a wonderful Sunday!

Think Big: Think Today

It's easy to get burned out, especially if you're always thinking someday. Someday this, someday that. When you look at how many millions of steps it is going to take to get there, oftentimes those tasks will seem completely overwhelming. However, if you can break it down and make it a bunch of mini journeys it becomes much more doable. If you can break it down from 5 years, to 3 years, to 1 year, to 6 months, to 1 month, to 1 week, to today, all of a sudden you're good to go. ^_^ You know what you're doing today. You know that it's going to be taking you toward where you want to be in 5 years, but at the same time it's easy to accomplish today.

Trash in Your Life

I run this stretch of road next to the highway 2-3 days per week. There are all these little pieces of trash that have been there for 1-2 years. The disgusting towel, the sock, the piece of packaging, the broken beer bottle, all make up a part of this assortment of oddities that litter the side of the road. In many ways, I think we all have these little pieces of trash in our lives. The things that are small, but that over time just become part of the scenery. We get used to them. They make the place feel like home to us. But they're still disgusting and make the roadside look like a dump. Oftentimes, in our lives there are sins that are this very thing. Maybe they're small, maybe they've just become part of our daily lives, but they still need to be cleaned up.

Take a look at your life. What needs to be cleaned up and tossed into a garbage bag? And don't worry. There will always be pieces of trash. Just keep that garbage bag open, and keep up the good work. ^_^

And, I'm going to go get a garbage bag on my next run and start cleaning up the road I run on..

No Perfection Here

Most people I've met who have apostatized from the faith have told me that the reason they apostatized was because of all the hypocrisy in the church. It's the living a lie, that they hate. So they left. But no Christian is ever going to be perfect. They will always fall. But I think the important thing to remember is that, a Christian is one who sins, but repents and confesses their sins. It's no longer swept under the carpet. It's not kept hidden from others, because of a sense of shame and a wanton lust to continue living in that sin, it is confessed and repented of. We see this repentance in David's Psalm 51, after Nathan the prophet reproved him for his sin. 

First, David cries out to God with a heart that needs God's grace and compassion. He asks that the Lord wash him of His sin. We need to remember that we have no part in this washing. We can't wash ourselves. It always reminds me of when Eustace, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is turned into a dragon and attempts to scratch all his scales off. It's useless. But then Aslan offers to tear the scales off, and he rips them off. 

"The very first tear he made it was so deep that I thought it had gone right in to my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know—if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh, but it is such fun to see it coming away. He peeled the beastly stuff right off—just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt—and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been… and then I saw why, I’d turned into a boy again."

Remember, all our sins are just against the Lord. David says, "Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge." In a sense, when all the hullabaloo that goes on in the large sectors of the world about our complete moral breakdown is brought up, we just need to remember that these sins are against God. He is the only one that we have sinned against, because it's His law that matters. When we hide our sins under the carpet, or "in the closet" it doesn't matter. God sees everything. And His opinion is the only one that matters. That's why scouring God's Word is so earnestly important. We need to find that which is evil in His sight in our lives and expel it. Praying on your knees and with hope in the grace of God like David does in this prayer is so needed. Going to hear the preaching of the Word and the encouragement of the saints is of utmost importance. We are weak, but through God and the means that He has given us, we are strong.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." ~ Philippians 4:13

Leadership

Most people feel lost at times. They feel discouraged, insecure, and unfriendly. If you have these feelings, don't worry everyone does at times. We need to take a stand and be leaders. Encourage others. Make them feel appreciated. Be friendly to them. Bring the Word to them. Pray for them. Be a good friend and leader.