I just found the neatest website for daily devotions. I thought I would share.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/8dBUao/www.soulstrength.com/Devotions.html
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Hmmm.
Last night, I was speaking on the phone with one of my dear friends, and we spoke for quite a while and traveled through many subjects. And while we were talking, the thought suddenly came to me: What was Jesus' last name?
My friend was raised in a very religious home, and she always seems to have an answer to my religious questions. So I asked her, and she didn't know. So we looked up the chronology lists in both Mathew and Luke, and of all the names listed, none of them included a last name.
Does that mean that people in the bible days didn't have last names? That would be a logical reason as to why you never hear of Jesus having a last name. And for people to identify themselves, they always said "I am ____, son of _____" or, "I am ______ of _____" you know? So maybe they just didn't keep last names. But if that's true, who first decided to start last names? When did that tradition begin? Interesting stuff, right there.
That's probably the dumbest thing I've blogged about yet :p
My friend was raised in a very religious home, and she always seems to have an answer to my religious questions. So I asked her, and she didn't know. So we looked up the chronology lists in both Mathew and Luke, and of all the names listed, none of them included a last name.
Does that mean that people in the bible days didn't have last names? That would be a logical reason as to why you never hear of Jesus having a last name. And for people to identify themselves, they always said "I am ____, son of _____" or, "I am ______ of _____" you know? So maybe they just didn't keep last names. But if that's true, who first decided to start last names? When did that tradition begin? Interesting stuff, right there.
That's probably the dumbest thing I've blogged about yet :p
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The cross.
Easter is coming up! I'm excited to watch The Passion on Easter Sunday and really take in why we celebrate Easter. I've never really sat there and thought about what it means, and how it affected Jesus and all that. But the other night, I was praying and just trying to think over Easter, and I thought of some pretty amazing facts.
1. The cross symbolizes my sin. 2. The cross was heavy, and Jesus carried it. 3. There was no better way for Jesus to be put to shame, than by carrying the cross down the streets of Jerusalem. 4. In Matthew 26, Jesus prays to God when he is very scared, and he asks God if there is any way that he could take away the cup of suffering, but then he ultimately says that he wants God's will to be done and not his own. 5. The incredible pain. 6. That should have been me.
1: The cross symbolizes my sin. My sin is why Jesus was crucified in the first place. I couldn't be forgiven if Christ hadn't willingly given up his life for my own.
2: The cross was heavy, and Jesus carried it down the streets. This one kind of ties into the first. I realized that the weight of the cross (my sin) is the weight that sin has on us. When I sin, I ask Jesus to forgive me and of course he always does. But depending on the seriousness of my sin, I sometimes can't forgive myself. When I ask Jesus to forgive me, he does immediately, and the Bible says he doesn't even remember it anymore. But when it comes to letting the weight of your sin off of your heart, it is so much more difficult. But Christ carried that weight for me. He takes away the weight if we let him.
3: There is no better way for Jesus to be put to shame, than by carrying the cross down the streets of Jerusalem. If you think back to the way things used to be, there would be huge crowds watching people being put to death. Huge groups of people stoned others in the streets depending on what sins they committed. Can you imagine the shame that Jesus endured? He walked through the streets, and was probably seen by everyone in the entire city. (he was a pretty well-known guy, after all). The Bible says people spat at him, and some people were punching and slapping him. He never did anything wrong!! That always gets me.
4: In Matthew 26, Jesus prays to God when he is very scared, and he asks God if there is any way that he could take away the cup of suffering, but then he ultimately says that he wants God's will to be done and not his own. Jesus knows what is about to happen to him. He knows everything, even the caliber of pain he is about to be put through. If I knew all of that was about to happen to me, I would probably be begging God to take it away and rescue me. But instead, Jesus asks if it is possible for his cup to be taken, but then he basically says, 'but really, I just want what you want. So if it has to be this way, then let it be.' Could you imagine saying that if you knew exactly what horrific things were about to happen to you, knowing that you never did a single thing wrong?
5: The incredible pain. Think about it. First, they whipped Jesus many times. They tore open his skin in many places and he was a bloody mess. Then they made a crown out of thorns, and shoved it onto his head. Thorns! I whine like a baby if I get just one in my foot. But he took several, and they were shoved into his scalp. And then, as if that wasn't enough, after he was weak and almost broken already, they forced him to take the enormous weight of the cross and carry it through the city. Past every single person that spat on him and hit him, up to the hill where they proceeded to take four nails, and shove two of them into his wrists, and two into his ankles. Just stop to think about that for a moment. The pain is incomprehensible. Surely none of us have ever taken on such pain, as he did. And he did it for me, and for you.
6: That should have been me. All of it, from the beginning, he endured just to buy my pardon with God. What he, a completely innocent man, took for me, is what I deserve for the things I do every day. It should have been I who endured a kiss from a friend who betrayed me, who was judged guilty, who sat there while people whipped me and shoved thorns into my head, who carried the immense weight of the cross with a week and beaten body. The shame should have been mine. And most importantly, the pain of my body being hung on two pieces of wood by four nails should have been mine.
Yet he takes all of it away completely. This is what I am going to remember on Easter Sunday. What are you going to remember? What are you going to think of? Are you going to be focused on getting a day off, being able to take a nap, or being lazy for a day?
1. The cross symbolizes my sin. 2. The cross was heavy, and Jesus carried it. 3. There was no better way for Jesus to be put to shame, than by carrying the cross down the streets of Jerusalem. 4. In Matthew 26, Jesus prays to God when he is very scared, and he asks God if there is any way that he could take away the cup of suffering, but then he ultimately says that he wants God's will to be done and not his own. 5. The incredible pain. 6. That should have been me.
1: The cross symbolizes my sin. My sin is why Jesus was crucified in the first place. I couldn't be forgiven if Christ hadn't willingly given up his life for my own.
2: The cross was heavy, and Jesus carried it down the streets. This one kind of ties into the first. I realized that the weight of the cross (my sin) is the weight that sin has on us. When I sin, I ask Jesus to forgive me and of course he always does. But depending on the seriousness of my sin, I sometimes can't forgive myself. When I ask Jesus to forgive me, he does immediately, and the Bible says he doesn't even remember it anymore. But when it comes to letting the weight of your sin off of your heart, it is so much more difficult. But Christ carried that weight for me. He takes away the weight if we let him.
3: There is no better way for Jesus to be put to shame, than by carrying the cross down the streets of Jerusalem. If you think back to the way things used to be, there would be huge crowds watching people being put to death. Huge groups of people stoned others in the streets depending on what sins they committed. Can you imagine the shame that Jesus endured? He walked through the streets, and was probably seen by everyone in the entire city. (he was a pretty well-known guy, after all). The Bible says people spat at him, and some people were punching and slapping him. He never did anything wrong!! That always gets me.
4: In Matthew 26, Jesus prays to God when he is very scared, and he asks God if there is any way that he could take away the cup of suffering, but then he ultimately says that he wants God's will to be done and not his own. Jesus knows what is about to happen to him. He knows everything, even the caliber of pain he is about to be put through. If I knew all of that was about to happen to me, I would probably be begging God to take it away and rescue me. But instead, Jesus asks if it is possible for his cup to be taken, but then he basically says, 'but really, I just want what you want. So if it has to be this way, then let it be.' Could you imagine saying that if you knew exactly what horrific things were about to happen to you, knowing that you never did a single thing wrong?
5: The incredible pain. Think about it. First, they whipped Jesus many times. They tore open his skin in many places and he was a bloody mess. Then they made a crown out of thorns, and shoved it onto his head. Thorns! I whine like a baby if I get just one in my foot. But he took several, and they were shoved into his scalp. And then, as if that wasn't enough, after he was weak and almost broken already, they forced him to take the enormous weight of the cross and carry it through the city. Past every single person that spat on him and hit him, up to the hill where they proceeded to take four nails, and shove two of them into his wrists, and two into his ankles. Just stop to think about that for a moment. The pain is incomprehensible. Surely none of us have ever taken on such pain, as he did. And he did it for me, and for you.
6: That should have been me. All of it, from the beginning, he endured just to buy my pardon with God. What he, a completely innocent man, took for me, is what I deserve for the things I do every day. It should have been I who endured a kiss from a friend who betrayed me, who was judged guilty, who sat there while people whipped me and shoved thorns into my head, who carried the immense weight of the cross with a week and beaten body. The shame should have been mine. And most importantly, the pain of my body being hung on two pieces of wood by four nails should have been mine.
Yet he takes all of it away completely. This is what I am going to remember on Easter Sunday. What are you going to remember? What are you going to think of? Are you going to be focused on getting a day off, being able to take a nap, or being lazy for a day?
Monday, April 11, 2011
Changing for God.
I have not always been an actual Christian. I was raised Christian, so I've always known about God and I called myself Christian, but I was living quite a worldly life. I didn't really get the concept that being Christian means that you are in a close relationship with God. My very Christian friends always tried to win me over, and the message would really affect me and I would think "Oh, yes. I am going to DO this this time. I am going to be a REAL Christian now!" and then the message would fizzle out and completely go away. I struggled with that for years, and I had no idea why. I didn't understand why it ALWAYS went away. Then one night I was reading my Bible and I realized that if I died right that moment, I wouldn't go to heaven. I knew it. So I thought, "If I know that I'm not going to make it to heaven right now, then what am I doing?" And that is when I gave my life to God. And that was only about a year and a half ago.
After that, I began to see that it was going to take sacrifice. A lot of sacrifice. I also saw that it isn't called "sacrifice" for no reason. A sacrifice is meant to be difficult - it is meant to show how devoted you are. If you just give up stuff you don't care about, that doesn't really show devotion, does it? For a few months after I officially gave up my life for Christ, I felt so different. It's not even something you can describe, you just know that you're different inside. I had given up my bad music and bad movies (to clear up: "bad movies" refers to movies with an R rating) because I literally had no desire to taint myself with those things any longer, I started reading my Bible every day, and praying all the time. But then, I started to miss my music (because.. let's face it. Christian music isn't really that great.) I started to listen to just ONE non-Christian band again. But once that gets into your heart, it plans the seed and it grows. That is exactly what happened, too. So I started to listen to all of my bad music again. And then eventually I went back to watching bad movies.
Obviously, the new and amazing feeling of belonging to God completely went away after that. This went on for a few months until I noticed that the feeling was gone. I noticed that I never thought about God anymore. I didn't pray anymore. I started skipping my devotions. I remember after I figured all that out, I would just cry and pray all the time and tell God I was sorry that I drifted away, and I kept asking Him to let the feeling come back. The happy, glowing feeling that makes you feel so amazing. I kept asking for the feeling, and to feel His presence. I started forcing myself to read the Bible again every day and I started praying a lot more again, but the feeling never did come back. I started to wonder if that was the only chance I'd had. Just the first one. And I messed that up. This went on for much too long.
About a months ago or so, I gave up bad music and movies again. I don't even remember why. I think it was just a feeling of, if I wanted to get closer to God, I had to sacrifice my piddly, stupid desires. Last weekend it all started to make sense to me. About a year ago when I was all upset that the feeling was gone and that it didn't feel the way it used to and I was constantly praying for God to come back and forgive me, I hadn't gotten rid of the things that drew me away from Him in the first place. I was still listening to bad music all the time and watching bad movies, but I expected God to come back as fully as He had the first time. God has to think I'm so dumb. It is a wonder that He is so patient with me, honestly...
So far the sacrificing has been going well. I don't really miss the movies anymore, and the music.. I still kinda miss. But I'm hoping God will help me to discover some Christian bands that I just love, because that would make it so much better :P. But last night I thought of the fact that not only will I have to sacrifice those things, but I have to sacrifice EVERYTHING. There has been a conflict in my small group of friends recently and everyone is always complaining about the other behind their back and I don't really like to get involved and I always feel really bad afterwards, but I always do it. I'm not smart enough to change the subject or something. Ugh. Last night I was flipping through Romans and each verse I read said things like "Their mouths are full of cursing and hate," and "They don't know how to live in peace," and, "There is no one who always does what is right. Not even one." I thought that was pretty much a huge hint from God that I had to stop gabbing about people. So now I have to do that.
Movies affect the mind. The bad things you may see in an R rated movie, or the things you hear, will flutter across your mind for weeks, even months after. You find yourself thinking words that you never thought before, and you have images going through your mind that you regret.
Music affects your heart and your soul. When you listen to music full of swearing and bad messages, those things plant themselves in your heart. They grow there, and change the feelings you have in your heart. Your devotion to God, your love for people, anything. Bad music changes those things.
But your tongue has a mind of its own. If you curse people with your mouth, it is hard to get it to stop. The tongue is the only part of you that is easily affected that hurts others. Your mind, heart, and soul are your curses to bear. But the tongue hurts others more than it hurts you.
After that, I began to see that it was going to take sacrifice. A lot of sacrifice. I also saw that it isn't called "sacrifice" for no reason. A sacrifice is meant to be difficult - it is meant to show how devoted you are. If you just give up stuff you don't care about, that doesn't really show devotion, does it? For a few months after I officially gave up my life for Christ, I felt so different. It's not even something you can describe, you just know that you're different inside. I had given up my bad music and bad movies (to clear up: "bad movies" refers to movies with an R rating) because I literally had no desire to taint myself with those things any longer, I started reading my Bible every day, and praying all the time. But then, I started to miss my music (because.. let's face it. Christian music isn't really that great.) I started to listen to just ONE non-Christian band again. But once that gets into your heart, it plans the seed and it grows. That is exactly what happened, too. So I started to listen to all of my bad music again. And then eventually I went back to watching bad movies.
Obviously, the new and amazing feeling of belonging to God completely went away after that. This went on for a few months until I noticed that the feeling was gone. I noticed that I never thought about God anymore. I didn't pray anymore. I started skipping my devotions. I remember after I figured all that out, I would just cry and pray all the time and tell God I was sorry that I drifted away, and I kept asking Him to let the feeling come back. The happy, glowing feeling that makes you feel so amazing. I kept asking for the feeling, and to feel His presence. I started forcing myself to read the Bible again every day and I started praying a lot more again, but the feeling never did come back. I started to wonder if that was the only chance I'd had. Just the first one. And I messed that up. This went on for much too long.
About a months ago or so, I gave up bad music and movies again. I don't even remember why. I think it was just a feeling of, if I wanted to get closer to God, I had to sacrifice my piddly, stupid desires. Last weekend it all started to make sense to me. About a year ago when I was all upset that the feeling was gone and that it didn't feel the way it used to and I was constantly praying for God to come back and forgive me, I hadn't gotten rid of the things that drew me away from Him in the first place. I was still listening to bad music all the time and watching bad movies, but I expected God to come back as fully as He had the first time. God has to think I'm so dumb. It is a wonder that He is so patient with me, honestly...
So far the sacrificing has been going well. I don't really miss the movies anymore, and the music.. I still kinda miss. But I'm hoping God will help me to discover some Christian bands that I just love, because that would make it so much better :P. But last night I thought of the fact that not only will I have to sacrifice those things, but I have to sacrifice EVERYTHING. There has been a conflict in my small group of friends recently and everyone is always complaining about the other behind their back and I don't really like to get involved and I always feel really bad afterwards, but I always do it. I'm not smart enough to change the subject or something. Ugh. Last night I was flipping through Romans and each verse I read said things like "Their mouths are full of cursing and hate," and "They don't know how to live in peace," and, "There is no one who always does what is right. Not even one." I thought that was pretty much a huge hint from God that I had to stop gabbing about people. So now I have to do that.
Movies affect the mind. The bad things you may see in an R rated movie, or the things you hear, will flutter across your mind for weeks, even months after. You find yourself thinking words that you never thought before, and you have images going through your mind that you regret.
Music affects your heart and your soul. When you listen to music full of swearing and bad messages, those things plant themselves in your heart. They grow there, and change the feelings you have in your heart. Your devotion to God, your love for people, anything. Bad music changes those things.
But your tongue has a mind of its own. If you curse people with your mouth, it is hard to get it to stop. The tongue is the only part of you that is easily affected that hurts others. Your mind, heart, and soul are your curses to bear. But the tongue hurts others more than it hurts you.
Check-up on the whole "doubts" thing.
I have been spending a lot of time praying and reading my Bible and doing devotions and asking God to help me with all of the stuff that was going through my head. And again, he has come through for me. I realized that the things I was thinking weren't doubts at all. I never doubted the existence of God, I just questioned it. All of the things going through my mind were just questions, and He answered them for me. Now they are completely gone, and I am back to the way I used to be. Completely accepting of Him and His word. That was horrible, when I wasn't sure about things. I am so thankful that it didn't last long. Only a month or so. When you aren't sure about God, or when you don't believe in Him, your life feels worthless and like there is no point to your existence. Along my small journey I knew that was true. When you aren't serving God or constantly looking to Heaven in anticipation and love, you have nothing to live for, because we are alive to live for God. (cheesy as that sounds, if you think about it, it is completely true.) If there wasn't a God whom we needed to serve, none of us would be alive. And when you don't believe in the God who you were made to serve, then you literally have no purpose. I felt this way while all of my questions were constantly plaguing my mind and tainting my thinking. I felt like since I was having questions about God, my existence was becoming meaningless. And that is a horrible feeling.
I also realized that you can always come back. When I was questioning things I felt myself getting further and further from my relationship with God. I was getting angry quickly and always really sad. But when I decided to stop being an idiot and take care of the problems, God took me in again with no questions asked. Just that easily. And when I apologized, the Bible says he doesn't even remember it. Not only does He forgive me, but He doesn't even remember it anymore. That is astounding.
I also realized that you can always come back. When I was questioning things I felt myself getting further and further from my relationship with God. I was getting angry quickly and always really sad. But when I decided to stop being an idiot and take care of the problems, God took me in again with no questions asked. Just that easily. And when I apologized, the Bible says he doesn't even remember it. Not only does He forgive me, but He doesn't even remember it anymore. That is astounding.
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