Don’t Mess it Up for the Rest of Em’

“Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,

O Lord God of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,

O God of Israel."

            I must admit that I am usually very hesitant to use one verse out of a huge chapter, especially in using the book of Psalms. The reason is that there is a danger of misusing a verse without considering the context of the entire chapter. Looking throughout the rest of the Bible though, this verse seems to apply to a larger usage.

            This Psalmist is being true and honest with his cry to God. He is being pushed and prodded by his enemies but in this moment he is sincere and this verse is evidence of that sincerity. He cries out to God on the behalf of the people and the image of God itself. He does not want to be responsible for being that negative example that often so many people have. For instance, throughout the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) Israel constantly brings dishonor by God for how they live. It seems to be a common occurrence. Israel’s enemies mock God and defame him constantly all because they see the often corrupt and hypocritical nature of its people.

            I am not being harsh on Jewish history; this same thing happens today in Christianity. The biggest hindrance for people to become Christians, or even to entertain the idea of its truth claims, are the Christians. It’s really sad, but a lot of people see the hypocrisy and the violence that Christianity has brought and continues to bring.

            We can’t right the wrongs of all history; however, we can show people the truth by how we live our lives. My challenge for you today is to look at yourself and see if you are bringing this shame on the image of God, his message that is found in Jesus, or your fellow believers who are really trying to live the right way. Does this verse ring true in your life, or do you just call yourself a Christian but live in such a way as to bring shame to the message that God has for others? It is a harsh challenge, but we all have to look at our lives and the way we live to see if we are doing more harm than good. You might be a sincere follower of God, yet there might still be things in your life that are giving others the wrong impression. It can range from how you treat your family to what you do outside of church. I know that for myself, I need to check my own heart as well because there are still things that I do that may give people the wrong idea.

Anyway, sorry for the super long message, but I hope you will accept this challenge and see where God can bring you.

Sincerely,

Just another dude.

Giving a lot up then grabbing what appeals

Letting go of security

King Amaziah is an interesting charater in the Bible. He was one of the kings of Judah after Israel split in a Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom. Amaziah was a person who dedicated his life and kingship to doing things God's way. There are many lessons that stick out with his life but there are two that I want to mention (ill post the other one later tonight).

The first crazy thing is Amaziah did something not many people do today. He was about to wage war on a foreign kingdom; however, to be more assured of the victory he hired soldiers from the Northern Kingdom (Israel). He spent tons of money hiring 100,000 soldiers, but after he bought them and before the battle, a prophet of God told him to send all these troops home and rely on God to do the work. Remember, Amaziah already paid a fortune for these soldiers; however, he obeyed and place faith that God would lead his army to this battle. He sent all those troops home and then he destroyed the enemy. The question I have for you today is would you be willing to give up something that you invested in and took great pride in. For Amaziah, he found security in expanding his military, yet he let that go to put his trust in God instead. Could you give up your car (if you have one), your savings, home, job, or even plans to trust in God? It's interesting to see that in many cases we just make excuses not to; however, in this passage.

So what is it in your life taht God might be challenging you to let go in order to put more trust in him? I challenge you today to examine what's in your life and open up your heart to the potential request that God has been making all along in your life. 

This is something that I personal have to do in my life

Peace out homies

Today's reading is found in 2nd Chronicles 25

Messed up Christians

 

 

This week I have been wrestling with a few things about myself. Constantly, I continually see my flaws and shortcomings. My biggest issue right now is just being lazy. In Romans 12:11 it states “Do not be slothful (it means extremely lazy…. Like a sloth lol) in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” (ESV). This is the essence of my life, I constantly want to do things for God and serve him, but I am to dang Lazy… anyway, I have a point to this. God likes to use people like me that have problems or have major screw ups. So if you a person that keeps messing up in life; God has a plan for you.

Take Jacob, the Son of Isaac who is the Grandson of Abraham. Jacob’s name is actual Israel and he became the father of the Israelites (hence the name). However, do you know who this man actually was? All this favor that was upon him in life he stole. Literally, he stole the favor of God. See, Jacob had a brother named Esau who was technically the first born. The first born in those days would receive all the inheritance and birthrights, so if there was any blessings, Esau was meant to get it; however, Jacob was a deceitful fellow and stole all that inheritance with the help of his Mom. Thus, this sly fellow became the founder of the Israelite people by stealing all of the inheritance from his brother. Now I won’t get into the whole story for it is long and you can just read the Bible for it, but essentially after the theft his brother wanted to kill him. I mean he was full of rage and his bro was one of those muscular hairy guys that like to go hunting with his bare hands. So Jacob ran (I don’t blame him lol)….

The crazy thing is that even though Jacob stole all of this, God began to do an amazing work in him. God took a man who was technically not supposed to be the one with his entire father’s inheritance, and transformed him into a man of God. This is shown in Genesis 33 when Jacob runs into Esau after seven years of running. He walked up to him, gave him gifts and repented. I mean this dude was preaching to Esau (they had a very emotional reunion). Anyway, this Jacob ended up being the father of the Israelite people, which if you don’t know the story, is how we essentially get Jesus lol.

See God takes people like me, you, Paul (he was a killer), Peter (he was a liar and abandoned Jesus in his time of need), and many other messed up individuals and uses them for his purpose and glory. He transforms us from the inside out and all we have to do is seek him first. So if you have been discouraged about your usefulness, take heart knowing that God has got you. He is going to take you and use you in such a way that is it is going to blow your mind. All you have to do is seek him first. As Christians we say that phrase a lot, but it is completely true. There is no way that you are going to find your true worth, confidence, acceptance, (fiil in the blank) to the extent that you desire in anything else but him. So yea… this is my spiel and I know not many people read it, but I just had to share all this with my peeps… peace out people…

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 Chronicles 16:9

Don't Forget

“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” Psalms 13:1

                This thought is kind of a short one tonight. This weekend I have really struggled with this. Not in what you think. I did not struggle with crying to God about him forgetting about me. I struggled with just the opposite. It was  me forgetting about Him. If there was a theme form my week it would be about my forgetfulness of God. Many times during the day, or even throughout the week, we completely forget about God. We don’t think about him, we don’t wonder what his will is for us on a given day, we just go throughout our day in a haze. We get distracted with life and the business; however, he doesn’t forget about us. We have to constantly remember about God. It’s like when you first fall in love, you think about that person throughout your day; my challenge to you, is do the same thing with God. There is plenty to think about when it comes to him.

                There are some of you reading this that might honestly feel like what this verse says. I just want to encourage you to seek God out in the mists of the suffering you’re going through. He is there and he is listening. The harder it gets to bear, the harder you should seek.

                Peace out playas.

Scratching the Surface

I found something cool tonight while I read my Bible. If you notice, there are many instances where there are numerous gaps. It is found in the history and even in the teachings and thoughts of certain individuals. For instance, the Gospels do not give a detailed account of Jesus’ life. Yes they have stories about him, but they don’t discuss ever single healing nor every single place he visited. He spoke to multitudes of people at a time and we don’t know about most of these people.

            The Bible tends to only scratch the surface in many instances, not just in history but even the qualities of God. It leaves these stories open for us to discover and realize. God wants you to discover him, and learn about the things that he loves. One of those things, are the events that happen in this world. He wants you to know and see what he sees. Not only this, he also wants you to take an interest in his message he has for you. There are secret things that on certain day’s only you would see. You and I can read the same verse, but we can be impacted in completely different ways. It’s amazing how God can do that; how it is almost written into our very DNA, where we get impacted differently by certain things.

            I challenge you today to pick up your Bible and read it. Let your mind and heart wander through each text and verse. Think and meditate on what your reading, and I am telling you, that God can take the most boring scriptures (to me it’s the genealogies lol), and reveal something to you.

God Is Straight Up Laughing!

“He who sits in heaven laughs;

The Lord holds them in derision.” –Psalm 2:4

Life can really suck sometimes. I mean it can be riddled with a multitude of issues. Bills might not be getting paid, ends may not be getting met, and people are dying, while some are sick or just straight up starving. In a world with a plethora of problems this verse is an immense comfort. “He who sits in heaven laughs…” in this Psalm it is talking about a massive problem with people rebelling against God. It’s a crazy thought to just picture God sitting in heaven just laughing at this problem. It’s not that he doesn’t care; it’s that in his eyes, it’s really no big deal. In comparison to his power and majesty, the problems on this little spec in the infinitely vast universe, is dismal.

Imagine the laughter God has when the problems in your life are put on the table. It must be hysterical. However, there is an interesting dialectic about to happen. Your problems and those of the World might be small, but God, in his infinite power and might, cares about them. God cares about you, he cares about those that are starving, and he cares about your needs. In Mathew, Jesus states that God cares for the sparrows, yet how much more are you worth to him. God’s energy and passion are placed in you and what happens around you. When you put these little issues at his feet, he takes them up in his huge hands and deals with them.

The point of this little spiel is that God cares about you. The issues in your life is so dismal that it might bring a little chuckle out of the ‘big guy in the sky’, but that is to just show you that he can take anything you throw at him. Nothing is too big, or too small for him to deal with. It could be an issue in the world (poverty, war, etc.) or it can be something in your life (pain, drama, sorrow). Regardless, God still wants to hear about it.

There is something important to state though. There is only one requirement for God to start doing something. God is not Santa Clause who will fulfill your wish list or a genie who will fix every problem. God’s effort is not something that is free of charge. Yes I said it! It’s not FREE! The thing that he wants is you. He just wants you and your heart. He wants this relationship with you and he wants to interact with you. If there is a requirement that would probably be the only thing. I am not theologian, so I can’t prove to you on some intellectual level. I just know God loves you and I know that he wants you to love him as well. I hope this has encouraged you today.

Peace out peeps! Sorry for the long reading. If you got through it then thanks for reading.

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you,  ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.    By this my Father is glorified, that you  bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” John 15:7-8

It's all Good in the Hood

In Genisis 1, the story of God's creation is told. He makes all these things; the sky, water, earth, etc.. In essense, he creates our physical reality. Im not here to debate if it literally happened or not; however, I want to shed light on one phrase that is repeated 5 different times. After each phase of creation, the Bible says that God saw that it was good. That right there really speaks volumes about life. God looks at everything around us as good. Everything he created has goodness and beauty in it. Even this little monkey that looks like many people I know is seen as Good.

I just want to encourage you today to take a minute or two out of your busy schedule and see all the Good God has created. Right now, for the few that read this blog, you are breathing. That breath has so much physical complexities involved in order for it to happen; I am no scientist, so i can't really explain all of it to you lol. But even something like your heart beat is amazing. Did you know that your heart beat is unique? Out of the 6 billion+ people, no one has a heart beat like yours! In God's eyes you are good and beautiful. So take a minitue or two to see your surrounds and the goodness in it. Then give some praise!

"And God saw everything that he made, and behold, it was very good..."-Genesis 1:31