The calm after the storm…..

This is the last installment of the three part series about how to deal with storms in our lives. It is interesting because right now I am sitting in the airport writing this and thinking to myself how is this applicable to me. I am reminded of the continuous struggle that we all go through. A little something called spiritual war fare. Recently I had a couple of very weird dreams. Thinking about it they all had to do with spiritual war fare. The last dream woke me up and I felt a need to pray and rebuke the dreams, the images and the thoughts. I know I was half asleep but while I was praying I felt this sensation of heat around my forehead. It was like when you have something real warm next to your skin. You don't get burn but you feel the warmth emanating from it. It was real strange. I know that we all are in the midst of a spiritual war fare. I also know that we have the victory already.It was won by Jesus on the cross. With this I will end the series.

In the book of Mathew Chapter 8 verses 23 – 27 we see the disciples going into an unexpected storm. We can read how unprepared, anxious, scared and insignificant they felt. I can also image what a relief they felt when Jesus came out and spoke to the wind and the waves and they subsided. I can just imaging their faces going from a frown and haggard from worrying to a relaxed look. In one of my new songs I have a line that goes

"
"Is not about the struggles or how you getting there, is all about the travel and the lessons that appear and what you learn from them will help you persevere building character up every single year"


I wrote this thinking about the verse in Romans 5 that says we should rejoice in times of suffering because suffering produces perseverance and perseverance produces character, and character hope. Hope will never disappoint us. I believe that Jesus wants us to persevere. I believe He allows trails to come to our lives so that we can learn to persevere and thus build character. With this new found character there is hope. Hope that He will be there during our most trying times, hope that He will not abandon ship when the waves are pounding and the wind is tossing us around. Hope that no matter what is going on outside He has everything under control. I also believe that with this hope we will be able to see the promises of God come to past. With this hope you will be able to see dry land. With this hope you will be able to know that there is a rainbow at the end of the storm.


One clear example that comes to mind is Noah. Can you believe the ridicule he and his family suffer because of the ark? Can you image the difficult times he endured? It was not for a week or for a month or even for a couple of months. He was under scrutiny for a long time. He literary saw the storm coming, lived through the storm and saw the promises of God fulfilled after the storm. He held fast to God and his promises, no matter how ridiculous it must of sound. He was faithful to his calling no matter the situation. He concentrated on the task at hand and the voice of God rather than what he thought was reasonable. He lived through it the best way he could and at the end he saw that rainbow. He was able to set foot on dry land. He was able to see and enjoy God's promises at the end.


I believe that after every storm you should ask yourself a couple of questions.
What did God want me to learn from this?
How am I different after this storm?
What can I do different next time?
and How can I help some one else who might go through the same storm?


Believe it or not there is a rainbow at the end of the storm.

Puking overboad part2

Secure the hatches! Tie down the sails! Man your positions! Bottom out the anchors!

This might be some of the expression/commands that you might have heard back in the days when a crew in a ship might be on the verge of going into a storm. When there is not where else to go or to do but to weather the storm. Many of us go through storms weathering them. Some just waiting it out, yet others are tossed all over the place by storms.

Like I mention on my the first part of this three part blog, a believers life can be split three stages. Going into a storm, in the middle of a storm or coming out of a storm. We are going to be talking about how to maintain during a storm. Not to weather, cause when you weather the storm it implies that over time things might erode. We will not wait out a storm because that implies that our hands are tied. We will not be tossed around because that implies that we are at the mercy of the storm. We will be talking about how to maintain in the middle of a storm.

Matthew 8:23 talks about a storm that came upon the disciples without warning. Now keep this in mind. Some of the disciples where experience fishermen. They where used to predicting the weather. Not only that but I am sure that they might have been in a middle of a couple of storms during their fishing experience. These men where season sailors/fishermen. In verse 24 it says that a furious storm came without warning. Ain't that true with a lot of our storms? We never saw that accident coming. We never saw that legal situation growing, or we never imagine the health issue popping it's head now.

It's interesting because knowing that the disciples where fishermen you would figure that they might have been calm, cool and collective. They might have know what to do and how to navigate through it. On verse 25 it says that - The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" This struck as normal at first... you are in the middle of a storm and you feel like you are about to drown so you go ask for help, right? But wait, the person that you go ask for help is in the same boat you are in.... not only that but this person in asleep!

We can take away many things from this illustration but the one I want to mention is that the disciples not only had little faith as Jesus mention on the following verse "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" but that they really did not think about who Jesus really was. Here is the Son of Man, the Savior, The Almighty, The Lion of Judah, the Light of the World on the same boat and they are afraid that the boat is going to sink? Think about it, this man has healed, made miracles, taught with authority yet the disciples overlooked what they had seen and live through when a sudden storm hit. They let their fears cloud their judgment and knowledge of who Jesus really is/was. Many of us go through the same thing. We encounter a storm in our lives and all of a sudden we forget how much God has done in our lives. Our spiritual eyes get clouded by fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of not knowing the outcome of the storm. We forget that when we are going through a storm Jesus is in the same boat with you. He is riding the same wave you are riding. He is feeling the same up and down motion that you are feeling. The difference might be that If we have faith that He is there with us then we can have peace that no matter how bad the storm is, no matter how hard the wind blows, no matter how big the waves are we will not sink.

I want you to remember that the outcome is already determined. The end result is already worked out, and if we hold on to Jesus and have faith in who He is then know that we have the victory. We do not have to weather the storm, we should be ready for each and every storm. We don't wait out the storm, we have faith out work out our fears with his help and the knowledge of who He is. We don't get tossed and feel helpless in a storm, we should stand firm in the promises and the victory that God has already given us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When we understand the authority of Jesus over everything, including our lives, then we can maintain through any storm. When we have unwavering faith in Jesus, then we can feel that supernatural peace in our lives during the hard times. When we trust God completely with our safety we will then be able to believe that whatever happens in our lives is the best for us according to His will.

Puking overboard!!!

Ok I have not been slacking on posting I've just been real busy.... but I am back and have something more to say. This one will be in 3 parts.

About a year ago I was introduce to a show called The Deadliest Catch. The idea of the show is to bring cameras on board a boat that is going to sea to trap crabs. They only have a certain amount of time to trapped them and they have to follow some guidelines. When the boat returns to the harbor and it cargo is full of crab they can make a good amount of money. The down side to this is that the time alloted for them to go and trap crab can be one of the most challenging times weather wise. Most times is freezing, snow builds up on the side of the boat, the boat can experience mechanical failure and on a couple of occasions some boats have sank and lost an entire crew. It's an interesting show to say the least.

Watching this show brought back a quote from a choir director and good friend of mine, "as a believer you are in one of three stages/positions in your life, either you are going into a storm, in the middle of a storm or coming out of a storm".

It really had me thinking about where my life was and is within this quote. Regardless of where your life might be when it comes to this quote, i believe that are some steps/notions that we need to keep in mind. Let's look at the first one.

Not sure if you have ever been on a boat in the middle of an ocean and you look to the horizon and instead of seeing a beautiful sun set, bright and orange silhouetted by a blue sky and some nice fluffy clouds you see the sky darkening to gray, the clouds look heavy, the winds in picking up and you smell a storm coming. It is a overwhelming feeling knowing that you are in the path of an oncoming storm and there is really nothing you can do but to ride it out and hope for the best. Most time this how we feel when we see that storm coming. It reminds me of the story in Matthew 8:23-24 where the disciples got on a boat with Jesus and a storm took them.

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.
Matthew 8:23-24

First we need to remember and understand that following Jesus is not something that is easy. We need to take up our cross daily. We need to sacrifice who we are. Finally, we need to remember that their is a cost following Jesus, storms will come. Unexpected storms will always come. In this particular verse the disciples where following Jesus. He told them to get into the boat and it says that a storm came without warning. Is this not what we experience a lot of times? Unexpected storms in our lives. Car accidents, The baby fell, I lost my job, I hurt myself, etc. Storms will come and storms will go, is how you ride them out that will make a big difference in out lives.

You might be looking at a storm coming to you right now. You might see the skies getting dark, the wind picking up the water getting rough, you might not even see the storm coming at you. But, knowing that we will always face these types of circumstances should help us to be aware and prepare for anything. If you know what to do when the storm hits, if you are prepare when the first gust of wind hits your sail, if you have everything buckle down then the outcome is a lot better. If you know who you are in Christ, if you believe the promises that He has for us. If you keep his word in your heart, then the storms become more bearable

Be aware that storms will come. Some storms will appear when we least expect them and with out warning. Being prepare before hand is a blessing that we have and that we should take advantage of. How are you prepare when that storm hits? Are you getting prepare? or are you just leaving it up to chance? Hoping that things won't be as bad as then seem. Pray that God can help you get prepare. Take it upon yourself to be always prepare for the storms.



On the next blog we will talk about riding the storm.

God bless

Are you a nibbler or a stuffer, a sipper or a gulper?

If you where to classify your self as either a nibbler or some one who munches, or a sipper or a gulper. Which one would you be?

Do you like to nibble on your food? Or do you like to chomp and enjoy taking mouthful of bites like someone is going to take your food if you don't finish fast.

Do you sip your drink? or do you gulp down as if you are quenching a thirst like if you just ran 5 miles under the sun with no wind and no cloud cover.

I need to be honest... I am a stuffer and a gulper. Sometimes it feels like I can not get enough of what I am eating or drinking, especially if it tastes so good that I want more. I want to stuff myself.

I started to think about this and how does it relate to me and God. I came to me that when we don't have a close relationship with God it manifests itself in different ways. One of the ways is on our hunger and thirst for his word. In all seriousness, how many of us spend more than 15 minutes reading, meditating and memorizing the word of God? How many of us truly believe that the word of God is essential to our survival?

How many of us live our lives like if we don't have the word of God there is a huge part missing in our lives?

There is a saying: Eat to live, don't live to eat.

How true it is for all of us. In order for us to truly live we need to eat. If we want to have the kind of life that God wants us to have, the abundant life we need to eat of his fruit. We need to take in his word like out lives depended on it... cause at then end our lives do depend of his word. I want to feed my spiritual life the way I feed my physical life..... devouring all I can get my hands on... in this case His word.

The greatest aspect of this is that the more I hunger for his word, the more I thirst for His truths the more I want to be nourish the more He has to give. His bread will never finish. I will never go hungry. There are always seconds, and thirds enough for a life time. I will never thirst again either. My throat will never be parched. My mouth will never be dry. There is enough of His living water for the rest of my life.

John 6:35
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

I don’t know about you but I want to stuff my self with His word and gulp down everything that is in the bible. I hope that you can all join me in this great feast that He has prepared for us.

Round and round we go....

"Round and round we go, where we end up no body knows"

Not sure where that phrase came from, I know I've heard it before, but i believe that it can be indicative of our life. We go round and round with work, family, friends, responsibilities etc. etc. but we don't have a clue where we going to end up. It's funny in a not so funny way, how we let everything crowd our lives. I sometimes wonder if we where to make a pie chart of our life, how big of a slice would God have in it? I am not talking about the work we do for him... rather the time we actually spend with him. Talking to him, praying to him, praising him, meditating in his word.

Sometimes we get so busy taking care of all our responsibilities in life that we forget to stop and take in what God has for us. The bible tell us something very significant when it comes to this.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"

We should not live our lives apart from God. We should not compartmentalized our lives. God should be able to have full access to all of our life. He should not be bound by time, day or availability but should be in every decision, every thought, every word, every look and every move that we make. When we start to lock God out of certain parts of our lives, our lives stop revolving around him and he start to revolve around our lives.

When God stops being the center of our lives, when He ceases to be at the core of who we are, we begin to loose focus, purpose and meaning in our lives. When God starts to revolve around our lives we are basically saying to Him, try to find a place to fit in because I am too busy to find a place for you.

Life is temporary... but it should revolved around God.



Does God revolve around your life? or does your life revolve around God?

Something wicked this way comes...

I guess I am not one to rant too much... though it makes me wonder why I would have a blog if it's not to share my rants lol.

Anyway there is this thing... this observation that has been nagging at me for a while now. Something that I have noticed but in the past just glossed over. Not really paid attention to it. It is something that for better or for worse we have all suffered or we are in the middle of it. I want to share a verse of a track that will come out on my next cd that talks about it.

It creeps up your back giving you a yellow tone
eyes wide open witness was to come
dilate your iris to take in more light
like when you try to gain focus in the middle of the night
muscles tense up and your breathing is erratic
flee or fight you sensing all the static
like when hairs in your neck begin to stand up
something wicked this way comes
so do you fight do you run give up or stand strong
face the situation or turn and be gone
do you stand your ground with no hesitation
or cast the blame in every tough situation
with no way out cornered for the kill
fear got a grip now you standing still
or do you plan you moves when you sense a loss
something wicked this way comes

If it's not too obvious the verse talks about fear. I described the physical aspect of when some one is gripped with fear. Their iris dilate to see the danger that is coming, the muscles tense up and breathing becomes a bit more labor and erratic. Basically is not a good feeling. I also describe the spiritual aspects of fear. When you let fear take over it does not matter how wide your eyes open, your spiritual eyes will be surrounded by darkness and unable to focus. When you let fear in, you start to doubt whether you can stand and fight this and come out victorious. When fear creeps up our sense of responsibility goes out the door and we look to throw blame on someone else. When fear has a hold on your life you will always feel like a corner animal with no where to go.

Fear is the root of all other negative feelings. Hate, anger, bitterness, despair, anxiousness frustration. What causes fear? When we start to pay attention to the lies of the enemy more than the truths of God. When we hold on to what is whisper in the darkness than what is spoken in light and truth.

I am sick and tired of seeing so many believers walking around defeated. Totally and utterly defeated. It breaks my heart to know that many believers choose to listen to the lies of the enemy rather than to hold on to the truth that they know come from God. It hurts to see so many demoralized and down casted like they lost the great battle when THE WAR IS ALREADY WON!

"For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5 4-5

Let's stop feeling sorry for ourselves, let's stop walking around like we have lost everything. Let's stop talking and acting like there is no hope and all is lost. Let's start claiming the promises that God has given us. Let's start walking with our heads high knowing that the War has been won already. Let's start living empowered by the Holy Spirit and letting it's fruit be manifested in our lives.

LET'S START LIVING IN VICTORY AND TRUTH!

Whos line is it anyway?

I have felt in my heart to write about this for a while now... i know that timing is everything and I think that God has chosen this time for me to write down some thoughts about drawing those though lines in our lives.

I have been thinking about this for a while now and it has been nudging at my heart for a couple of weeks. I have had some time to think about it and the more I think about it the more passionate I get and the more convince I am about the dire need to draw borders and having the tough lines drawn out in our lives.

Let me start off by saying this... the more this world or society becomes liberal the more we look like radical conservatives. Not sure if you follow me on this. Basically what I am saying is that the more this world or this society is liberal or open to things that go against what we believe or against the word of God the more we are going to look and be labeled radical conservatives and narrow minded. The interesting thing is that this change happens in such a slow pace and in a very non-threating way that when you realize what occur you are either "open minded" to accept what society is doing or go against it and be "narrow minded".

I believe that this is the point where we need to stand firm and draw the line. I know that I suffered and still suffer from wanting NOT be looked as conservative, or narrow minded or old fashioned. I guess that is the equivalent of been called a nerd or geek or dweeb... and we all know that once you are labeled is hard to separate yourself from it.
That got me thinking about our lives and how much we are willing to compromise in order to fit in the right label. Most times we compromise without even knowing or giving it a second thought. I have this image of a person drawing a line in the dirt and constantly moving it back to accommodate things/people/habits that happen to appear.

"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial."
1 Cor. 6:12

Sometimes I think that we get blinded and up in arms about the things we believe we have a right to do because we are free to do them. We take on this air of martyrdom and and think some sort of injustice has been done if we are in any way shape or form deprived from this. We forget that with that freedom comes a responsibility to know and discern what is good and what is not good for us. We need to understand that even though we have freedom to do, say, live, think, feel the way we want to, not everything is going to benefit our physical and spiritual lives.

Here is where we draw lines.... here is where we need to swallow hard and be honest with ourselves and with God and either commit or continue to compromise.

I want to put it in a more practical sense. We have the freedom to do whatever we want, to go to clubs, to go dancing, to go to the movies, to stay up as late as we want, to drink (alcohol), to smoke, to over eat, to not eat, to have sex out of wedlock, to choose the friends we hang out with etc. etc. but how many of these things are we taking part in? and we feel that it's okay for us to do them? How many of us constantly compromise, shift our beliefs, cater to friends, cave to peer pressure when we are faced with a though decision? How many of us are really concern with what we see in the movies, the horror, the gore, the depravity that we subject to ourselves to in the name of entertainment? How many of us compromise or time and priorities to cater to friends? How many of us are more committed to work than to reading the word of God? How many of us split hairs about drinking if we don't we drunk? or smoking because we just can't seem to kick the habit? Besides the Bible does not clearly states that we should not smoke.

This precious freedom that we are talking about here has a huge bearing on our spiritual lives. What places you go to... the people that you hang out with, the type of things you see and hear all have a direct bearing on your spirit. We sometimes neglect to remember that we are fighting a spiritual battle...

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly realms.
Ephesians. 6:12

Just cause we are believers does not mean that we are far away from the front lines. On the contrary we are the front line. We are in the battle! If we don't know where we stand, if we don't draw our boundaries, if we don't commit to the good fight then we are bound to loose ground and compromise our spiritual lives. I beg of you, not to over look this. I plead not to take this with a grain of salt. This is vital for our having and abundant life with God. This is important for you to always keep in your mind.

I know that right now some that might be reading this might say "Oh please... you sound like my dad. I can't do the things that I like to do" Or "You sound like a conservative. This is soooo boring". Some of you might even be thinking "You ain't perfect. Who are you to judge me!". All I can say is that if we don't know where we stand with God, we will fall for anything. If we don't draw lines and boundaries in our lives, we will always be in retreat. If we don't commit our everything to God then we will compromise our spiritual lives every time. This goes beyond something to do... this has everything to do with life.

Where have you drawn your line?

Quotables

So I think I am going to take a stab at making a quote....

"intelligence is only but a measure of men, faith is a measure of God in man"

Now, I am not sure if this is self evident, if this statement makes sense or even if it's too profound or
too simple to even be worthy of being called a quote, but the more I think about it the more I see it's truth come out!

Humans in general have a tendency to be self-reliant. I believe that to a certain point it is a good trait in us. Besides who really wants to be needy all the time not able to make decisions for your self. We, and I included my self in this, are sometimes in awe of what man has been able to achieve, at the advances in medicine, science, technology. The movies iRobot and Minority Report among others come to mind and I can't help but to think that we are no far off from what they depict. We measure the worth of a man by his intelligence above all. If he is intelligent he will succeed, if he is intelligent he will overcome, if he is intelligent he will persevere. This is where we lose sight of how we should truly measure a man... by his faith.

Don't get me wrong intellect is something worthy to strive for, something that once you have it no one can take it away but it is also something that is limited. Limited to the advances of technology,
limited to time and limited to ones own capabilities. Faith on the other hand has no limits. Faith is a true measure of a man because it is what he has faith on that is limitless. God has no limit, and if man has faith and faith comes from God in man then there is no limit to what man can do through faith in God. The possibilities are endless.

How much intellect does it take to move a mountain? How much faith do you need to have to move a mountain?

Think on it....

Is not about the plan is about the man!

I know, the title sounds a bit cliche, but it's so true.

How many times have you prayed and asked God to reveal to you his plans for your life?
How many time have you said to yourself

"If I knew God's plans for my life, things would be so much easier!"

We seemed to be in a constant search for God's will, but we never realize that His plans for our lives are written in plain and simple English. We have not realized that His plans for are in black and white and are one of the most recognizable words he left us with. I believe that God has a general plan for all of us and He has specific plans for all of us.

The general plan for all of us can be found in Matthew 28:19-20
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

His general will for all of us is to carry out the great commission, to go out and make disciples, to go and spread the word of God, to go and baptize those who are willing. This is His general will for all of us. Nowhere in this verse do we see a time frame/limit or a best time to do it. I really like to get behind the meaning of things. The word "go" in "therefore go" at the beginning of the verse has a very important meaning in Greek. The word "go" in greek means to do as you live life. In other words the disciple making, the teaching, the baptizing, the sharing the word of God should be done in our everyday walk. We should not wait until the weekend when there is an evangelistic event or only on designated times and places. This should be done throughout the course of our lives.

The second will or the personal will that God has for our lives can only be reached or known if we are doing God's general will in our lives. See through doing God's generals will He can then guide you His personal will in your life.

The next time you want to know what is God's personal plans for you, ask yourself this question. Am I doing God general will in my life? See is not about the plan that God has for us but is comes down to our relationship with the Man. If you are not in a good place with him, you are not living out his general plan. If you do not have a close relationship with The Man, chances are you will be confuse about what is His plan for you. We need to put the Man before the plan.

It does not matter how much we plan out for our lives. What school to go to. What friends to have. What job to take. What career to pursue. Who to marry. Where to live. If we don't follow the Man our plans are bound to get jumbled up!

So put God first and he will make your path straight!

Truth hurts... or does it?

Through our everyday walk we will encounter different people. Some we will like or get along with, some we will be polite to and wave from a distance. One of these type of people that I am sure that you will meet, if you have not done so already are those who believe that are call to be truthful no matter how it comes out.

You've might of heard this before....

"I am just being honest, or I am saying the truth and if the truth hurts then it's no my fault."

or something to that effect.

I understand that our best policy and what we have been called to do is to tell the truth. There should really be no type of deceit, double minded or intentional misguidance form us. I am sure that you heard the saying, "The truth shall set you free!" I totally agree with this. But does the truth have to hurt or rather can we hurt someone with the truth? I believe we can. Should we hurt them with the truth? I don't think we should.

I know that we are called to say the truth...

Ephesians 4:25
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

I guess what we forget to think about is how to speak in truth to one another. Truth in itself should not be used to hurt it should not be said to demean others and certainly not to appear to be better than any one else. The truth should be used to correct, to teach, to guide, to lead.

Galatians 6:1-2
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

The key word in this verse is gently. We get caught up on trying to be right and be truth full and forget that purpose and the way we should go about doing it. Is not just about being blunt and truthful is about restoring someone with the truth.

2 Timothy 2:1-2
Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of truth.

Is not about beating people over the head with the truth until we feel like it's either working or it is hopeless. Is about sharing who Jesus is and leading them to the knowledge that will change their lives.

Truth is something very powerful.... but it should not hurt rather it should restore, build and edify.

Welcome

If you are reading this then one of three things happen.

1. You know me and found out about this blog through me
2. You know someone that knows me and you were pointed to this blog
3. You got too much time in your hands... so the big guy above got you here

Regardless of how you got here I am glad that you are here. The purpose of this blog is simple. This is meant to be a place where I will share my thoughts on different topics that are relevant to me, to my friends or to the average person looking for a deeper meaning in life. I hope that you will take part and become part of this. Please feel free to comment and add to the post so that we can all share and build a community where we can edify, build and therefore better ourselves.

I will be updating this blog at least once a week... though God willing it will be more often than that. You will also see the look of it changing from time to time to reflect the purpose of this blog, to kunstruct one another.

So enjoy and contribute.

Be Bless