Diamond In The Dust

Over the last several days I have learned a lot about myself but I have also learned a lot about prayer. I think I am growing in my faith in prayer and hopefully in strategy as well.
I heard a guy once explain that saying “I guess all we can do now is pray” is like saying “my pistol, rifle, shotgun, bazooka, and tank are all out of ammunition, I guess I better pull out the nuclear bomb.” We have a prayer as a last resort sort of mindset that forgets that it’s probably our most potent tool.
In December Jerra has lost the diamond from her wedding ring. While I wish I was able to buy her a diamond that is easy to find because it is as big as a rock this is not the case so we spent a week searching for the sparkly grain of sand around our house. I had searched the entire house in the dark with a flash light hoping to catch a glimpse of the sparkle but never did. Hours crawling around on my belly wasted. The next step was to put a new bag on the vacuum (it probably needed done anyway) and see what happened, but I didn’t want to do that so I decided I would sweep the kitchen first. As I swept I prayed maybe the most honest prayer I have ever prayed. “God I don’t know if you even work like this, but I have heard others tell about lost keys and stuff that they prayed about and found, so it would mean a lot to me and to Jerra if we could find this diamond.” I found the diamond within seconds of the prayer leaving my mouth and I spent the rest of the time sweeping trying to wrap my head around what just happened.1 Did God just find the diamond for me? How had I missed it all the other times I looked I the same spot? Now what am I supposed to do if my prayer actually worked?
For me that day was the start of something that I have not totally figured out yet but I like where it is going. The Bible talks about praying with expectation and I don’t think I did that much. I knew God was capable just not sure he cared enough for me. I think this effected the way I prayed, what I prayed for, and how often I prayed. Praying every hour for the last several days as shown me again the power in prayer and I want to start praying offensively instead of defensively. Here is what I mean. Most of us probably pray reactionary prayers, this person is sick, this thing needs fixed. There is nothing wrong with them but it’s probably only half of the equation. What if we prayed proactive prayers. Can we pray things into existence? Can we pray in anticipation of what God could do? Could we pray in such a way that we give God the opportunity to surprise us, to blow us away with grace and with His creativity?
I want to find out. What are you praying about now that is bigger than you?

1 Also it should be noted that I never changed the vacuum bag and probably still haven’t.

Matt Murphy is the Lead Pastor at Arkeo Church and writes on his blog everyday

How to Know God Personally

What does it take to begin a relationship with God? Devote yourself to unselfish religious deeds? Become a better person so that God will accept you?

You may be surprised that none of those things will work. But God has made it very clear in the Bible how we can know Him.

The following principles will explain how you can personally begin a relationship with God, right now, through Jesus Christ...

Principle 1:
God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.
God's Love
"God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." 1

God's Plan
[Christ speaking] "I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly" [that it might be full and meaningful]. 2

Why is it that most people are not experiencing the abundant life? Because...


Principle 2:
All of us sin and our sin has separated us from God.
We Are Sinful
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 3

We were created to have fellowship with God; but, because of our stubborn self-will, we chose to go our own independent way, and fellowship with God was broken. This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference, is evidence of what the Bible calls sin.

We Are Separated
"The wages of sin is death" [spiritual separation from God]. 4

This diagram illustrates that God is holy and people are sinful. A great gulf separates us. The arrows illustrate that we are continually trying to reach God and the abundant life through our own efforts, such as a good life, philosophy, or religion -- but we inevitably fail.

The third law explains the only way to bridge this gulf...


Principle 3:
Jesus Christ is God's only provision for our sin. Through Him we can know and experience God's love and plan for our life.
He Died in Our Place
"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 5

He Rose From the Dead
"Christ died for our sins...He was buried...He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures...He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred..." 6

He Is the Only Way to God
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.'" 7

This diagram illustrates that God has bridged the gulf which separates us from Him by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.

It is not enough just to know these three principles...


Principle 4:
We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives.
We Must Receive Christ
"As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." 8

We Receive Christ Through Faith
"By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast." 9

When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth

We Receive Christ by Personal Invitation
[Christ speaking] "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him." 10

Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for your sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. You receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will.

These two circles represent two kinds of lives:



Which circle best describes your life?

Which circle would you like to have represent your life?

The following explains how you can receive Christ:
You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer
Prayer is talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

"Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be."

If this prayer expresses the desire of your heart, then you can pray this prayer right now and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?


Yes, I just asked Jesus into my life »


I may want to ask Jesus into my life,
but I have a question I would like answered first »




(1) John 3:16 (NIV); (2) John 10:10; (3) Romans 3:23; (4) Romans 6:23; (5) Romans 5:8; (6) 1 Corinthians 15:3-6; (7) John 14:6; (8) John 1:12; (9) Ephesians 2:8,9; (10) Revelation 3:20

Adapted from Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws and Would You Like to Know God Personally, by Dr. Bill Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. © Campus Crusade for Christ. All rights reserved.

Personally, My relationship with God became what it is now when I started taking prayer seriously. Every night before I go to bed, I turn off my tv, music, any distraction, and I write a prayer to God. I tell him things that happened throughout the day whether good or bad, write of things bothering me, ask for forgiveness of any sins from that day, and thanks him for all his many blessings. I started doing this after my girlfriend shared her prayer journal with me. It was amazing how she could talk to God and how much she loved him, and I wanted that too. So if prayer is tough for you, I suggest writing your prayers as well.
God bless,
-Tim

Attitude is Everything By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man. " I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply.. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

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Saosin-You're Not Alone

Love; What is it?

What is love? This is a very hard question to answer; there is a multitude of answers, and you kind of have to find that out on your own. People are always trying to define it, but love is just a word we use to try and explain an unexplainable feeling. There are many types of love. There is the love you feel for your family, your friends, your spouse or bf/gf, but the most important love to know is the love of God. What does the bible say of love?

1 Corinthians 13
Love

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

So, let’s try and break that down: Starting with verse 1-3, If you speak not the words of love you’re just making noise. If you have miraculous abilities and faith, but you do not love, you have nothing. If you give all of yourself, but not in the name of love, it is for nothing.

Now verses 4-7: Basically this means that love is pure. There is only good in love. That is why God triumphs over evil, because the evil do not have the ability to love. This is the greatest weakness of evil.

Verses 8-12: Love is the end all. It never fails it is the greatest gift given to the world by God. His Promise of never-ending love will hold true. It is because of the love of the Lord that we may have eternal life. He loves us so much that he would put all of the sin of humanity on the weight of his son’s shoulders, and that he would sacrifice his son on the cross that we would live forever, and it is through love that God was able to bring his son back from death.

Verse 13: If you have ever asked the question, “What is the meaning of life?” this should answer your question: It is simple really, we are called to have faith, hope and love. To have faith in our Lord. To have hope for ourselves, our families, our friends, our neighbors, in humanity, but most importantly in God. Lastly, and most importantly to live the life of love that God intended us to live. You might hear people say, “Be like Jesus” if you want to be like Jesus all you have to do is to live a life of love.
Spread the love

-Tim Masters