Temple Cleaning

I think we could all learn something from King Hezekiah. In 2Kings 18 when he realized that Judah had sinned against God. He began to remove things in the temple that were unclean and not acceptable to the Lord. I think us as believers should do the same in our lives. We should look inside ourselves and see if there is anything in our lives (temple) that are unpleasing to the Lord. Just as King Hezekiah, recognized how far Judah had fallen away from God, we must shake ourselves today as believers and realize how far the church has fallen from God. Most churches today look more and more like a social gathering, rather than a body of believers who hunger and thirst for rightousness. A friend of mine once said to be relevant is to be in touch with your surroundings or community, not to be culturally trendy. If we are trying to be trendy we are not building a solid foundation, but as one fellow said, God is our ROCK. Any other foundation for your life is like trying to stand on Jello. This boast's well of the church too. We need to be in touch with our community or city, but do we really need the church to look like a dance club in order to see people saved??

Searching for Significance

To long have I looked for significance in my own life. Either thru the friends I tried to make, the car I drive, the clothes I wear, the house I live in. If we will admit it or not we all have a need to be needed. It is very important to a person's emotional, spiritual and social stability to be siginificant. Our self worth is the very thing that motivates us to be who we are. The problem we face is that we define our self worth from our performance and other's opinions and that is were inlies the problem. We can not allow other people's opinion determine in our lives who or what we are. We don't have to be that person every body says you are or who you will be. It is our choice to be freed from those traps that are so easily laid before us. The other side of this is the performance trap, let me say this, you can never be good enough, work hard enough to be siginificant. We work so hard in to being accepted by people that we will do just about anything to gain approval of others. I don't know about you, but I have struggled from time to time with this problems of feeling significant in my life. In the end though I have to realize that I will fail and I will succeed every day. If I fail that does not make me a failure, If I am not accepted by certain people that does not make me unlovable. Because I know if no one accepts me, I know God will always accept me, because he loves those who love him. So in short, do not look for your significance in other's, but only in God. Because to him you have value and you are significant in his eyes.

What are we afraid of ??

Why is it that those of us that claim to be Christian, seem to be the one's most afraid of change. Yet this is why Jesus came, to change us from a sinner to a saint, but we still have this phobeia of being transformed (as Paul said) or changed. I understand that we are a creature of habit, but why should the people that should trust the Lord the most, are the same one's who trust him the lest. I know what most are thinking, that I do trust the Lord, just not in my situation. You see Jesus came to change us on the inside, the way we act, feel, think, and relate with others. Because change on the inside is the only real change. We paint our faces and clean up our outside actions, but are still as miserable as we were when we gave our life to Jesus. This happens because we dont allow God to change us on the inside. If we as believers will allow God to change the inside of us, the natural by-product of that will cause a change on the outside. Then we will not have to live these plastic lives. When it comes to change, we as Christians should be the first to step up in line and say Lord here am I. Not praying Lord I can't change this, I have been this way for to long. I believe with all my heart that this lifestyle of the Christian (of not wanting to change) is what really drives the unchurched away. They can not understand how someone can say they believe in someone or something like an all powerful God and act the same as before giving their life to Christ or not willing to share this great news. The question I have to ask myself is would I be willing to die for what I believe to be true. I believe God to be true therefore, I can honestly say I would be willing to die for him. This is not just speaking of a physical death, I believe it is a death to myself as well. Dying to myself brings change to my life, therefore let us die to ourselves as Christians and begin this new or old journey with change on the inside by letting go and letting God have his way in our lives............

Transparncy

To be transparent is a hard thing for leaders to be. If you are to transparent with some people, they will think you are a head case. On the other hand if you are not transparent at all, you will began to build this somehow perfectionist mentality that no one can see you in your imperfect state. This is the very thing that keep me from going to church for several yrs. I thought if I had to be perfect, then there was no way I could ever be good enough for God. But as I begin to see in God's word that he expect's perfection and I could not obtain that perfection, is where the real beauty of Jesus came through. I began to understand that it was Jesus that made me perfect in God's eyes. Not that I will ever be perfect, Romans tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but I can be made righteous in the eyes of God because Jesus died on the cross in my place. Now this is freeing to me, because when I realized I can never and I mean never be GOOD enough on my own, it makes it easier for me to be who I am in Christ. With my flaws and faults that I have, I can run to God and ask him for help,(not so we can stay in our flaws and faults) because Jesus loves us to much to leave us where we are. We must grow. I think this is the very key that unbelievers are looking for. Not a perfectionist, but a flawed and brokeness that reflects us in our truest state while still loving Jesus. I heard a pastor say one time we need to lead by our weakness and brokeness. I feel the same way, because in our broken state is where we can relate to those who are broken and hurting the most. I want to hear from someone who has been there and done that. Not someone who has no idea what I am going through. I want to know that it is ok for me to be flawed, as long as I am growing in Christ. Now I am not talking about blatin sin of course, but we as Christians need to let people see us go through our struggles, so they can see God help us through our times of need. Then and only then can we really bring Glory to the Father as Jesus did.............

Call me simple. When I think about how good God has been to me in my life, that means all the times I should have perished without the Savior, I am still amazed at how he thought it fit for me to come to the knowledge of Christ. For me it is a thought that if God chose not to reveal himself to me, it would be his choice and there would be nothing I could do about it. But still yet he has done so, and I will be eternally grateful. The more I think about Jesus and what he has done not only for me, but the whole world, there is nothing in this world I would choose over him. I mean think about it for a moment, if a person was to die for you so you could live, how would you feel towards that person? I would hope eternally grateful! That means I would do anything and give up anything that was asked of me for that person.