Christmas

While going to college I am experiencing a myriad of different views of Christmas and the holiday season. I have heard several people say they don't like Christmas or they don't do the holidays. When I asked them why, their reasons were heartbreaking. Their reasons ranged from lost loved ones, to rude words. The fact that these reasons even exist is just so sad. I know that we all have had rude words said to us, we've all lost loved ones, and we have all been hurt by people and we do remember the date that people died. But we often don't remember the date that someone hurt us. So why is it that when these things happen at Christmas we don't like Christmas?
When we create a bad memory, do we not remember the surroundings? People who have been hurt will remember whether they were outside, inside, sitting on a couch, by a desk, on the computer etc. How much more will they remember a Christmas tree, or the stockings, or the smell of pine and cinnamon?
I remember the morning my grandpa died. I had just gotten out of the shower I was drying my hair with a towel and I walked into the entry room. My mom was sitting on a chair at the desk, she was on the phone and she looked concerned. My sister was standing a little behind her, to her side. My sister looked at me and signed in ASL "grandpa died". I remember exactly what happened, the exact surroundings, I remember the towel I was drying my hair with was white. All of those little details. But I don't remember the exact surroundings when my sister yelled at me, or when my mom yelled at me. I remember it happened but not the details. But when someone yells at us on Christmas, we remember the details. Why do we remember that? On any other day, we wouldn't remember those details three or four years later. But we always remember the little details about Christmas 3 or 4 years later. Christmas, whether good or bad, is usually grained on a persons memory. So when something bad happens, those memories are that much deeper, and that much more encompassing.
When people used to tell me they didn't like Christmas, I would get a bit offended because they were "dissing" one of my favorite things. Now that I've actually asked why, I can relate to them.
I have a friend who has consistent bad memories about Christmas time, so they don't enjoy Christmas, because those memories are what comes up. I have another friend who has lost numerous friends around Christmas time. So Christmas time to them, has become a time of mourning and sad recollection.
Their reasons for not liking Christmas, comes out of deeply ingrained memories of hurt and sadness. Why are we deepening those bad memories by getting upset at them?
Why not give them a reason to heal and enjoy Christmas, rather than add to their hurt.

If you have a friend who does not like Christmas, I encourage you to come up with a tradition, or something fun to do. Build them up, give them reasons to find joy in Christmas, reasons to heal and enjoy Christmas every year so that eventually you can jointly enjoy Christmas, completely healed, those wounds filled with the joy of good memories you have created together!

If you are reading this and you are someone who does not like Christmas. Please let me encourage you. Your past Christmases, and maybe your present Christmas is filled with hurt. But I would encourage you to make an effort this year to find one thing, or one person you like, and make a good memory with them. Start to heal. Use this Christmas to create good memories. You have every right to mourn, and I encourage you to not lock your sadness up, but also make sure that you have joy too. Hurt and pain are so encompassing and rightfully so. Being hurt, is like getting stabbed. It takes time to stop the bleeding and sometimes the wound reopens. But this Christmas, find someone to help you stitch that wound back up. Don't keep bleeding. Please start to heal. I'm not just saying this because I love Christmas. I'm saying this because I would love to see you happy and healed, running instead of limping, laughing instead of crying in pain, dancing, instead of crippled. Enjoying life, instead of dreading the reopening of your wound. I want to see you filled with joy, not trying to hide the hurt.

May God bless you and heal you and fill you with His joy.

Gospel Neglection

Which elements of the gospel, as the word is used by Paul, are neglected in today's church? What can we do to bring them back into focus? If the essence of the gospel is “good news”, how can it be heard in our community as truly good news?

6 uses of Gospel:

• the gospel is the story of Jesus in the light of the scriptures.
• the gospel is a new redeemed humanity, a single family of God
• the gospel is a message to be communicated to the whole world
• the gospel is ethical transformation
• The gospel is truth to be defended
• The gospel is the power of God transforming the universe

     Today, in the church as a whole, none of Paul's 6 uses of the gospel are used, or enacted, to their fullest potential. This being the case, I believe all the elements of the gospel, as Paul describes them, are neglected, and certainly misinterpreted/misunderstood, to a certain extent in every church. This is also true for the church of Christ as a community, and a nation.

     The church understands that the gospel is the story of Jesus in the light of the scriptures. I agree with that statement. However, where that statement and truth is neglected, is in the fact that churches usually only recognize Jesus in the light of the New Testament Scripture, with brief reference to Him being mentioned in the Old Testament. This is neglect by way of incomplete interpretation and understanding. When we only see Jesus in light of the New Testament we cannot begin to comprehend the entirety of Jesus being good news! Yes, what Jesus did is good news, it is fantastic news. However, if we only look at the New Testament, we miss a huge part of the depth of how wonderful this news was and is.

     The Jews already knew of the redeemer, and they were eagerly awaiting His arrival. They knew because of the Old Testament. All throughout the Old Testament, God made promises to redeem His people and to bring them a Messiah. These people were now desperately waiting to see the Messiah.
Luke 2:25-32 “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was       revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”

     Simeon saw the Messiah, and responded with joy, and blessing. The Messiah had come, what they were waiting for had finally come, and he had seen the Messiah with his own eyes. That is wonderful news. When we as a church merely look at the New Testament of what Jesus did; died on the cross, we miss such a crucial part of the good news; the Messiah, God, came, and was seen, and He was known.

Luke 2: 36 – 38”

“And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”

This woman essentially never left the temple, and yet when Jesus came there as a baby, she knew it was the Messiah, and went and proclaimed Him as the Messiah. This is wonderful news. The Messiah had finally come, and in coming and being witnessed, part of the Old Testament gospel was fulfilled.

     When we as a church only focus on the Old Testament works we miss the fulfilling of the Old Testament gospel; the coming of the Messiah. The gospel does not begin with the NewTestament, and the works of Jesus. It begins in the Old Testament when God promises a redeemer.

Genesis 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” The New Testament is the fulfilling of the gospel. If we only focus on the New Testament, we're only getting the fulfillment of the gospel, not the whole gospel.

     Wright defines another of Paul's usage of “gospel”, as; “the gospel is a new redeemed humanity, a single family of God”.¹ This means that the Jews and the gentiles will no longer be separated, there will be peace between them, because God has literally torn the veil between the sinners and the presence of the Holy God. Now, not only the chosen can be sanctified, but all people can choose to be sanctified. “Jesus is our peace, made peace, and preached peace.”² There is no longer has to be enmity, or separation between the different people of the world because God has bridged that gap, and now we get to choose whether we cross that bridge or not.

     The church neglects this by forgetting that we are not a people borne of dissension, arguing, and bitterness. We are a people borne of love, sacrifice, and peace. We as Christians stand so far on opposing views that we get on our soap box, stay there, and refuse to come down. This often costs people friendship, and always causes hurt, and sometimes even splits a church. How can we say we are living as a single family of God, if we decide to hold to our opinions so hard, it leads to resentment and brokenness; the opposite of who God is and what He intended.

     Thirdly Paul uses gospel to overview the idea of a message to be communicated to the whole world. Individual church bodies neglect this in one of two ways: the neglect to spread this in their daily lives, or the neglect to spread this across cities, nations and the world. This comes from a misconception of mission. Some churches focus on “mission trips” to Mexico, the Ukraine, Taiwan, South Dakota, somewhere away from their home – state or home – town, while they neglect to live out the good news in the actions and words of their daily lives.

     Other churches focus on “Evangelizing” their home-town or home-city. They go about this, usually by brashly walking up to someone and gently attacking the world they live in with the words “hi I'm a Christian, can I tell you about Jesus?” Now this may not be so offensive if the church did not neglect the gospel as ethical transformation. However, because of the neglect in that area, evangelism needs to be approached far more eloquently. While it may get the job done sometimes, often it is based off of attacking the basic routine, or beliefs of another person and telling them Jesus is better. While this may be true, it is often not a very good idea if you want a receptive response from your listener. Evangelism could be approached better by treating it as an everyday mission trip. On mission trips the idea behind them is to help a people group in a way that touches them so deeply with the love of God that they cannot ignore his presence, and cannot help enjoying, and feeling safe in your company. If evangelists made this their mission, instead of verbal debate, I think many more people would be reached! The churches who focus on cross state/ over-seas mission trips, they need to be more aware of living in that state of mission everyday, reaching out to people in a way that “touches them so deeply with the love of God that they cannot ignore his presence, and cannot help enjoying, and feeling safe in your company.”

     If churches as a whole did this, it would affect and possibly resolve the damage from the neglect of the gospel as ethical transformation. We have neglected the gospel as ethical transformation and, as I said before, when we mention God or Christianity, we are stepping onto a battlefield firing arrows at an unprepared citizen. The reason this is, is because we have turned ethical transformation into a dogma. Churches either pound their fists and cause havoc and pain for non-Christians, or they ignore any and all sin, even among their own believing body, and excuse it with the phrase God is love. This all comes from the neglect of ethical transformation, in the form of misunderstanding.

We Christians as a body of believers, have failed to understand that in becoming Christians, we enlist in the army of God, going from citizen to soldier. We so often fail to understand two things; we are not warriors, and the un-beleivers are not our enemies! They are citizens who we are to protect from our real enemy; Satan.

     I say that we are not warriors because a warrior is someone who goes into battle for the personal glory and wealth he/she will gain from it. We should NOT be warriors. However, I believe that there are several “Christians” out there who have become that. They have stopped serving as a soldier under the “Mighty Warrior” (Zeph. 3:17), God, and they have gone off on their own, choosing and fighting their own battles for their own profit and glory.

We as a body can resolve all of this by merely recognizing God as the Warrior in front of our army, and Satan and his cohorts as the enemy. Ephesians 6:12 “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

     Now this is not to say that there will not be times when we have to defend the gospel against flesh and blood. “The gospel is truth to be defended”³ However, the key word is defended. We are not on the offense, we should never use the gospel to attack a citizen. We are defending the gospel against a citizen, who has been mislead by the great deceiver, and sometimes given themselves over to him. “the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:9) “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8) “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14)

     These people have been deceived by Satan. They have given themselves over to his power and ideals, whether knowingly or unknowingly. They have allowed themselves to be defined by the evil of Satan, that they have allowed to dwell inside them. The church, as a body of Christ, neglects the gospel as truth to be defended, is either they are silent about Christ everyday, not acting out of His love, or they are using the gospel as an offensive tactic against a citizen. Once again, to prevent not acting out of love, we must treat everyday as a mission trip, because that is what it is. To resolve attacking citizens with the gospel we must first separate our understanding of who this person is, and who they have allowed themselves to become. This person is a citizen of the God we serve, and we fight to protect them. However, they have allowed themselves, knowingly or unknowingly, to be sold into slavery to the devil.

     When we have to defend the gospel we have to remember to only defend. If we attack, then we are defying our mission as inheritors of Christ's kingdom, as the inherited patriarch of the family of God, charged with the responsibility of caring for the family, and buying back any lost, any one sold to slavery, and any land that has been bought out of the family, and renewing it's fruitfulness. As soon as we attack this enslaved citizen we are essentially violating the prime directive, given to us by God as His inheriting patriarchs; to bring our family home safe to Beth Ab. If we violate this then it would be better for us “to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around our neck” Luke 17:2 [paraphrased] The simple way to avoid this; do not neglect the defense of the gospel, and depart from an fleshly offense of the gospel. (Use the gospel as an offense against Satan as Jesus did in His trials in the desert Mathew 4)

     The final usage of the gospel, recognizes the gospel as “the power of God transforming the universe”⁴ Creation itself is a witness to the goodness of God and to His gospel. “ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?” (Job 12: 7 – 9) Merely by looking at creation we should see the evidence, goodness, and gospel (good news), of God. “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

     We as Christians do not have an excuse to ignore the glory of creation in all that it is, because it daily declares the glory of our God! “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1) Yet constantly we walk through the world daily, not stopping to notice the birds singing, usually grumbling about the whether, not paying attention to the vibrancy of color, even when it's dark and dreary out. “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.” Isaiah 40: 26

     In spreading the gospel, in teaching the good news, we miss one of our biggest tools that, through it, every person in the world has personally witnessed God; creation. How do we as Christians viably say we don't neglect the gospel as the power of God transforming the universe, when we take for granted the stars, grumble about the whether, don't use it as tool to spread the good news, and worst of all, slowly destroy the witness, creation, God has given us to use.

     In order to resolve this, we need to renew our wonder, and thankfulness at the beauty and awesomeness of creation. We also need to be more active in preventing the destruction and pollution of it. Part of why people take stars for granted is because we have polluted the atmosphere with so much light at night, that most, if not all, city people, have never seen the milky way, or even the big and little dippers. The church as the body of Christ needs to take more care in protecting and preserving the witness God has given us to testify for Himself.

     The essence of how we as a body can cease to neglect all of these aspects of the gospel is by; being more aware of our own ignorance, preserving our witness, and openly listening to others, as well as the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We as a people cannot continue to suffocate ourselves, and the world, in our own ignorance, pride, and strength, by attempting to be warriors for Christ. We need to relieve ourselves of the megaphone, and give it over to God.

     Once we give God the megaphone He will begin to project His good news through us, and we will become the megaphone, instead of a scarred warrior screaming a battle cry. It is only through becoming the megaphone that our community will begin to understand the good news of Christ. In being the megaphone for Christ, we allow Him to take our hurts, turn them into good. We allow Him take our despair, and turn it into peace. We allow Him to take our anger, our fear, our bitterness, our hate, and turn them into compassion, understanding, and love. When we become the megaphone, we witness and experience the much needed peace, hope, and love of God that our world needs. When we witness that and allow God to project that out of our megaphone lives, then people will know that there is hope for them. They will know that there is peace. They will begin to see and experience, that there is love; unconditional, and abundant love, that they can know on a daily basis. That is the good news that our broken world needs so much to know. Our world waits everyday for another disaster to hit. However, they're looking, watching and waiting, in faith, hoping that peace will follow.

1Wright, The Mission of God's People, (USA, Langham Partnership International, 2010), pp 191

2Wright, The Mission of God's People, (USA, Langham Partnership International, 2010), pp 192

3Wright, The Mission of God's People, (USA, Langham Partnership International, 2010), pp 196

4Wright, The Mission of God's People, (USA, Langham Partnership International, 2010), pp 197

Free of the Masque

heart felt tears 

unspoken fears 

living in regret

thinking life is set

A word a smile 

its so worth the while

you never know who's bleeding.

a lie a curse 

a world full of hurt 

your the abuser shouting, screaming

pain so sharp it sears

a life that's set in fears

and yet we don our happy masques

ignoring the cracks 

in our porcelain masks 

we go on make believing.

a smile a tear 

all powerful fears 

living out regret 

but your life is not set

take off your fear 

you will be safe here

no need to hide

open up inside 

be free from that porcelain mask.

That's all I ask 

be free

be free to shout 

to cry and pout

don't fester it deep inside

be free to live 

to laugh to love

be open, please don't hide.

festering fears grow infections and tears

that grow worse and worse with every year

so please be free 

open up to Me 

live in genuine love 

as calm as dove 

safe from festering fears.

that's all I ask 

be free 

be free

     So often we give fear all the power in our lives without even realizing it. Things have happened that we have accepted as true, accepted to be un-changable, and as a life determinate. But that is just not so. Don't live beneath the cracks of your masque. Stop hiding behind what fear has deemed the inevitable. Be free to love, to live to dream. Don't hide. be open, with God, and with yourself. Sometimes things hurt, and sometimes you cry, sometimes things make you laugh, some bring you joy. But the things that seem set in stone are just not so. Your father called you a failure? You can prove this "NOT SO". Your husband left you, and you feel no man will ever love you again. Honey. Your life is NOT set. People make choices everyday, that affect you in many ways. But their choices do not determine how your life will run. You don't know what the future holds, so grip tightly to each moment, because you'll never have one quite the same, and look forward to tomorrow.
     Stand firm in who you are. and know that your future is not determined by others actions. It is determined by your choices. So choose today to take down the masque. don't live behind a facade. Be free to live each day in the joys and pains and fears of each moment. Be free to love unconditionally, and receive it back. Be free to laugh through each moment. Be free to cry over pain. Be free to re- determine your future. with every moment of every day through the wisdom and grace and power and love of Christ your Lord. 

Prosperity Gospel vs. Blesing

There is a vast difference between the prosperity gospel and the Biblical conception of blessing. The first obvious difference is that the prosperity gospel, is the gospel based on a sociological idea of salvation and it is most often used to prosper the subsidizer. Whereas the actual definition of the gospel comes from the Bible, rooting from Genesis 12:1 – 3 with God's promise to Abraham and His call to Abraham's descendants.

In Romans 10: 9 – 10 it says “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” This chapter clearly describes that salvation is found through a personal profession of faith in the name and being of Jesus Christ. The idea of the prosperity gospel is that one can buy, or do enough to get into heaven. However, from a biblical standpoint, this is impossible. If one attempted to buy his/her salvation with works or money, he/she would be dedicating that money/works to a person, or purpose on earth.

In Acts 4:12 it states that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” If one were to dedicate his/her money to a person preaching the prosperity gospel, then he/she would be dedicating that money to a name under heaven. This recipient of said money is not Jesus Christ our savior and Lord, and the dedicator would not have salvation as promised.

The Biblical conception of blessing is that when God blessed Abraham he was to go out and be a blessing. God says to Abraham “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12: 2 – 3) In Wright's book The Mission of God's People, he points out that the last phrase in verse two “is actually an imperative in Hebrew - “Be a blessing!”, though it is most often translated simply as a consequential statement from the preceding phrases, “so that you will be a blessing.””¹

Wright goes on to describe the fact that through Abraham, the call to spread God's blessing was born. God's ultimate blessing is Jesus Christ; the propitiation of our sin. "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world" (1 John 2:1, 2)

Blessing, specifically in reference to salvation, is a gift from God that only requires faith in Him. The prosperity gospel, in reference to salvation, is a deception from a mislead, or greedy subsidizer, literally attempting to sell you what he does not own to sell; salvation. The ultimate difference between the two is that one is a gift from God, and one is a deception, ultimately from the great deceiver himself.

Wright Christopher J. The Mission of God's People, (USA, Langham Partnership International, 2010), pp. 72

peer reviewed 

Undivided Loyalty

“Undivided loyalty”. What are the things in your cultural context that threaten your loyalty to the one true living God and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ? What do you now recognize as subtle forms of syncretism?

This chapter calls for a robust refusal to renounce the claims of Christ, even under threats. What are the pressures- cultural, secular, or religious – that could tempt you to do that? How do the texts studied in this chapter help you resist?

Syncretism – the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles,practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion.

There are several things in our current culture that can divide our loyalties, or excuse what God's word actually says. The most prominent issues I can think of that accomplish this, are gay marriage, sex before marriage, sports, politics, and technology. Each of these can easily work their way into our lives, and we can deny parts of the Bible, and in doing so God, to justify them. The others can be excused because they, in themselves, are not sin, but the way they are held, and treated in our society is sin. The commonality of these things being treated as they are in our culture, normalize and rationalize them, so we don't see a warning sign, all we see is what our culture has accepted as normal.

I know several Christians who, because of its social normalcy, have excluded portions of scripture in their lives to justify living with their significant other before marriage. I also know several Christians who have done the same in their lives to justify gay marriage, or their own gay inclinations. This most definitely compromises their loyalty to God.

When we exempt portions of scripture we turn a blind eye to pieces of who Christ is, and therefor turn our loyalties from Christ's decision making, and His sovereignty. One must ask the question, am I going to be loyal to myself, and/or my desires, or am I going to be loyal to Christ, and His decisions, and desires?

This is particularly well illustrated from the skit we saw in chapel on Friday, October 9. We as Christians come to Christ, understanding it is the correct decision to give Christ our life, our decisions, our everything. However, when we do that, we often steal back the seat of power for many moments in our lives. When we divide our loyalties between Christ and the social normalcy's of our culture, then we are no longer fully loyal to Christ. This is not just true of the subjects of gay and premarital sex, it is also true for our attitudes concerning sports, politics, and technology.

The sports industry has glorified the name of the players. We as a people have agreed, and supported this. We even get angry, sometimes violently angry when the referee makes a call we don't like, or our favorite team doesn't win. Sometimes we even organize our schedule around sports. (I personally have yet to see this done in a way that doesn't set God off of His throne in ones heart.) However, I have seen people love sports, and not hold it higher than God in their hearts. My old pastor loved sports, however, I never once saw him get upset or angry over a game, maybe disappointed or excited. However, he never let the sports or his emotions/prejudices of sports or a team, supersede his mood, or who he was called to be in Christ.

It is when we do let our emotions/prejudices supersede who Christ has called us to be, and what Christ has called us to do, that we are dividing our loyalties. Christians often divide their loyalties between God and politics. We can get so uptight about who's running, or who won, or what bill they just passed, that we react the same as we would for football. We get vehemently angry, and do not reflect Christ. In doing this we are holding our understandings, our partiality, and emotions, higher than the sovereignty of God, thus again dividing our loyalties.

Technology, as I mentioned earlier, is a huge tool for Satan to divide our loyalties. Technology has allowed invented forms of music, forms of entertainment, forms of visuals, that don't reflect God, to become prevalently accepted in the world. The secular radio is primarily filled with songs about sex, most often premarital sex. Now one might say just turn it off and don't listen to it. However, in my personal opinion, music is a way to express ones soul. I have found, in my observations and experience, that when people don't study music, they often need a form of music to listen to, or they get angry and/or depressed more often. The difficulty in this, is that secular music offers catchy, inappropriate, songs, that have been normalized. Whereas, Christian stations use the same music over and over, and they have often become shoved as the last resort, because their songs are not catchy enough. (that, in my opinion, is something that ought to be fixed. I think that Christians who write music, often write it on a “holy spirit high”, which I dislike, but that's for another paper, and what comes out of that high often still needs to be honed to be a lovely piece of music. I know of few, if any, contemporary composers, who write anywhere near to the beauty of what was written even half a century ago.)

The Christian music industry is beginning to realize that their audience is un-reached, and have responded by incorporating even more secular styles into their music. Now the music is becoming more chaotic, confusing, and just plain weird. It is becoming more of a reflection of our world, instead of a reflection of Christ. So not only do we need music, in my personal opinion, but our everyday options are often limited to music that does not reflect God, or just poorly done music. This has resulted in the secular stations becoming far more accepted, and normalized. Thus numbing us and dividing our loyalties.

The same thing has happened in the movie industry. It has become filled with violence, sex, sensuality, and chaos. With mostly poorly done options to substitute for them, although less than that in music, that they have become the norm, and have split our loyalties, between quality, and God honoring movies. Syncretism has run rampant in our society, primarily through the 5 resources previously listed.

We are so often tempted by these things because they are of better quality than things that don't divide our loyalties, or because they have become normal. We are to run from the things of this world so that we do not become numb to them and slowly accept them. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15) “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8) “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 John 2:16)

I think a fantastic way to avoid getting an “anesthetic” from the world, is to become aware of what the Bible says about these things, and to flee them in the world, honoring God as the one and only Sovereignty, deserving loyalty and honor. “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” (1 Samuel 2:2) “There is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45: 21 – 22) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
(Deuteronomy 6:4 – 5)

Turn to God, run from the poisons of the world into the glorious light of the one Holy God. Do not become angry, “because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” (James 1:20) do not become bitter, yet “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

Does God Say Wait?

The speaker in chapel the other week said something that I very much like. (I'm not quoting word for word. and I'm definitely explaining in a different way but the main point is still the same)

When we pray God doesn't say wait. When He says yes, sometimes we have to wait to get His answer, because we are bound by time, and sometimes His answer has to travel through time. So when we feel like God isn't answering us. It's not because He hasn't, it's just because it hasn't gone through the time layer.     :)

(and this is me now)
I was thinking about it and ya know, I think sometimes the angels have two layers to go through: time and Satan's army. Or maybe Satan's army is the layer of time (Because Satan is the ruler of all evil and time is a consequence of evil so ya know... maybe. I'm still processing this.)
In Daniel, Daniel was praying for a long time before the angel came to him. And the angel said that he was sent directly but couldn't get there because he was warring with Satan's army and had to get through them first, before he could get to Daniel.
so I don't think God says wait. I think I very much agree with this speaker.

but anyway these are my current thoughts on this subject. Like I said, still processing.      :)

Prayer

So often when I hear people talk about prayer the way they describe it is like they are talking to some big distant creature. Or like they have to have this assigned prayer to be heard. \

No. Stop thinking of prayer as prayer. I know this sounds really weird, and I haven't entirely developed my thoughts on this yet. But here's the start. 

You guys, prayer is not a time where we sit down, shut our eyes, and talk to "the big man in the sky". 

It is not a time that allows us to get what we want. like a little girl fluttering her big eyes at her daddy for the stuffed unicorn. No. Not like that at all. 

It is not something that we have to do to be good enough. 

Prayer is a time when you can get to know the man who died for You. Who gave you the breath to breathe your words to Him. The one who is closer than your next heart beat. because He makes it beat. 

Prayer is about building a relationship with Jesus.Your  Pappa. 

Prayer is sitting on your Pappa's lap and talking about the day with Him. 

Prayer is spending alone time (or going on a group date) with Jesus! 

Prayer is building a relationship with this guy we call God. 

All relationships are built off of talking to one another. Sharing, with mutual love and honesty. They are built off of tears, and laughter, sorrow and joy. 

You guys. Prayer is the time that you get to build your relationship with our Pappa God. When you get to hang out with Him! 

throughout the day if you see your friend at school or something, you make side comments all day to them. "oh my eye is twitching!" "I spelled Galatians wrong!" "you broke my physics final." "oh cheese! I broke your kite! let me help you fix that!" 

God is just like your friends. You don't build a relationship with any friend by saying hello in the morning, and goodbye at night. You build a relationship by sharing the random things that happen. By sharing responsibilities. Telling them "I'm tired" or "I feel like dancing down the halls" 

Jesus is the same way! We don't build a relationship with Him by saying good morning and good night and thank you for the meal. We build a relationship by talking to Him throughout the day. Sharing the big things AND the little random things that are funny or weird or hard. 

So. Stop thinking of prayer as prayer my friends. Think of it as time to hang out with the man who loves you the most.