Being A Witness

                What does that mean?  Not only what does it mean to Christians in general, but what does that mean to me?  How do I “be a witness?”  Many Christians confuse “being a witness” with “bearing witness,” or “witnessing.”   In bearing witness, you testify what you have experienced in your walk with Christ, and His healing power in your life, and possibly what you have seen in the lives of others.  This is the definition of testifying.  The definition of witness is different.  The actual definition of witness is “one who publicly affirms religious faith.”  Now I realize there are definitions for law, and also general definitions to the word “witness,” but for Jesus, this was the only definition.  Matthew 5:14-16 states this plainly, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”  We are to live and our lives should show Christ’s love to all who see us.  This is how to “be a witness.”   To be a witness does not consist engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one's life would not make sense if God did not exist.  Does this mean that the Great Commission is negated?  No, it does not.  We are still commanded to “bear witness,” but we must first be a witness in order to bear witness.  1 Corinthians 13:1 says,” If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”  How can we expect to bear witness to something that is not evident in our lives?  Paul even takes this notion one step further when he explains, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).  This is often the part of witnessing that often goes unnoticed.  As Christians, we cannot expect to spread the gospel to a lost and dying world when we do not represent the very thing we teach.  This applies to pain, suffering, temptation, good times, bad times, all of the time.  In everything we do, good and bad, God’s glory must be the “city on a hill” that cannot be hidden. 

God Bless

Stress Management

When I was 22, I read a book about managing stress.  Although I wasn't a believer at the time, it was a tremendous help to me and has been up to now.  This is what I remember from the book (I am unable to remember the name of the book, which, is stressful *smiles*).  I have added some Biblical realities to the methods discussed in the book.  I hope this can help someone be able to better manage stress in their life.

The definition of stress is actually a reaction to a person, event, or demand.  Stress management is defined as the ability to maintain control when situations, people, and events make excessive demands.  There are a few things you can do to better assess the situation and be more able to handle stress.  The main thing you must do before you do any of these methods is to take 5 minutes and breathe.  I know that sounds like a long time, but trust me, it helps.  Set the timer on your phone to go off in 5 minutes and just sit down, breathe, and focus on clearing your mind of everything.  This calms you down and allows you to look at the situation more rationally.

Prayer is one of the most weightlifting methods for relieving the bonds of stress.  Pray without ceasing. 

 - First, look around.  See if there is something you can change or control in the situation.  If there isn't, then there really isn't any reason to worry or stress about it because there isn't anything you can do anyway.  You just have to pray and have faith in God to work all things to your good.

 - Set realistic goals for yourself.  If possible, reduce the number of events in your life to lessen the load that has been placed on you.  The best way to do this is to prioritize everything.  List out all of the things that are stressing you out and number them in order of importance, 1 being most important, 2 being the next, etc...  Once you have done this, list the REALISTIC consequences of not completing each task.  After listing the consequences think about the list from a love standpoint.  Think about how each task relates to someone you love.  After doing this, 9 times out of 10 the importance of tasks will change.  Change them and make a new list.  Always remember to pray and put God above all else.  Relate your list of priorities to scripture.  Are the top things on your list what you should really be focusing on?

 - If possible, remove yourself from the situation, even if it is only for a few minutes. This allows you to calm for a moment.  This is a perfect time to pray (of course, all the time is a perfect time to pray). 

 - Selectively change the way you react.  Don't do too much at one time.  Start by picking one thing, event or person and focus on changing the way you react to them.  Focus on changing your reaction to positive rather than negative stressful reaction.  Relate the situation to scripture. Is there someone in scrupture that has struggled with a similar situation?  How did they react?  Was their reaction positive or negative?  

 - Change the way you see your situation by seeking alternative viewpoints.  ACTUALLY LISTEN TO THEM.  Open your mind to alternatives and listen to how someone else sees your situation.  

 - Avoid extreme reactions.  Don't fly off the handle immediately, don't jump straight to hatred, don't immediately fall into depression.  Focus on scaling back your emotions so that they don't overtake you.  You cannot function properly and rationally if you are a slave to your own emotions.

 - Get enough sleep.  This is an extremely important thing to do.  No matter how you have to rearrange your schedule, be sure you get at least 7 hours or more per night.  Make a routine before you go to bed.  Do the same things every night to help you get yourself in sleep "mode."  Brush your teeth, wash your face, breathe and clear your mind, and pray.  

 - Work out.  If you are feeling super stressed, then work out.  Focus that anxiety into physical activity, whether working out, playing a physically demanding sport, or cleaning, or whatever.  This will release endorphins and will allow you to better approach the situation afterward.

 - Avoid self-medication or crutches.  If a stressful situation arises and you go straight for the alcohol, don't.  Whatever habit you have or whatever is your gut reaction to stress, don't.  It just furthers this compulsion and addiction.  Although this might seemingly relieve the stress, it is only making it worse for later and also making you dependent on something else other than God. 

 - Manage the effects of stress.  Don't overwhelm yourself.  Focus on one stressful factor at a time, and work until you have the ability to control your reaction to this factor, then move on to the next.  Prayer through this process and reading scripture references on how you should deal with the situation is best.

 - Try to "use" stress.  If the stress is unavoidable, then try to channel it into something productive.  Use the nervousness you feel to propel you into further application towards the result.  

 - Be positive.  Negative thoughts are like a disease, they take over your mind and if you let them they will be a part of every thought you have.  Give yourself messages as to how well you can cope rather than how horrible everything is going to be.  Stress can actually help memory, provided it is short-term and not too severe.  Stress causes more glucose to be delivered to the brain, which makes more energy available to neurons.  This, in turn, enhances memory formation and retrieval.  On the other hand, if stress is prolonged, it can impede the glucose delivery and disrupt memory.  Create good memories of how you think everything will turn out, and the stress will be positive rather than negative.  Focus mainly on faith in God's love for you.  Trust in Him to be your mighty Father and Lord over your life.

 - Finally, this is perhaps the most helpful method.  Do something for others.  Doing something for others gets the focus off of you and your perceived problems.  Not only will you feel accomplished, but seeing someone else's situation might help you see yours in a new light.  

God Bless

Common Church Mistakes

   Over the past few weeks, my discussions have revolved around church and the role of the church.  I have been studying and reading on this subject, and have realized some of the most common mistakes churches make.  I have discussed some of these previously, but here they are all in one place.

   The first and one of the most common is embracing the building.  A lot of churches are greatly distracted by their desperate need for a building.  They believe a church cannot be a church unless they have this great "house of God," complete with steeple and maroon carpet.  The New Testament emphasizes a church "not made by human hands," but instead made of of people.  People are themselves Temples of the Holy Spirit and a church body is comprised of a group of believers, plain and simple.  The actual meeting place is completely irrelevant.

   Another common mistake is to be confused about tithing.  Biblical mandate for tithing is an Old Testament law and was intended to maintain the Jewish Temple system and support the Levitical Priesthood.  The New Testament church neither taught it, and they also did not practice it.  I realize this may cause some contention and major disagreement, but read on before you disagree completely.  The Christian Church did not mandate tithing until the 7th Century.  Over 700 yeas with no tithing.  If you read the New Testament, the offerings in the church were freely given out of love, not as a mandate for tithing.  Some even gave more than a tithe and sold everything they owned and shared it with those around them.  Tertullian, in his "Apology" in the 2nd Century confirms that no offering was taken out of compulsion but:

"Even if there is a treasury of a sort, it is not made up of money paid in initiation fees, as if religion were a matter of contract. Every man once a month brings some modest contribution- or whatever he wishes, and only if he does wish, and if he can; for nobody is compelled; it is a voluntary offering…to feed the poor and to bury them, for boys and girls who lack property and parents, and then for slaves grown old."


   It wasn't until Constantine, that the clergy were paid for their services for the first time in Church history, and the payment was provided by the Roman government, not by the Christians themselves.  


   Another HUGE mistake churches make is ignoring the poor.  There are over 2,000 verses of scripture in the Bible that speak of God's heart for the poor, and that we should love and bless the poor among us.  Deuteronomy 15:11 states, "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”  A church community should be active in their community helping everyone and showing everyone Christ in them.


   Still another mistake many churches make is over-emphasizing the role of the pastor.  The pastor was not the head of the church in the New Testament.  The word "Pastor" only appears once and non of the epistles to the churches are addressed to the pastors, they are addressed to the church, the people themselves.  Christians of the New Testament Church could not point out one man as their "Pastor."  They could not even point out a priest.  This is because everyone understood from the Apostles that they were the Priesthood.  The people are the Priesthood.  


   Finally a mistake churches make, especially in larger churches, is yearning for political power.  We cannot "Christianize" our society by legislating our Christian values.  The New Testament Christians lived under an oppressive government, and were killed and persecuted on a daily basis.  Instead of trying to reform the government, they obeyed God's word and loved their oppressors.  They did not verbally abuse people with a sinful lifestyle, they did not form a coalition or a lobby group, they did not even pick up a sword and fight back.  They simply loved the people around them.


   Churches should focus more on the people that make up that body, and showing Christ to the whole community through love.    


God Bless

You can see Christmas coming from a mile away

    This time of year the thought of Christ's birth is at the forefront of most of our minds, especially when we are reminded by the popular phrase, "remember the reason for the season."  We marvel at how miraculous this birth was.  We breathe new life into this story we hear year after year.  Through all of this, the Old Testamant is rarely mentioned.  Few people come to grips that the prophecy of this awesome and amazing birth was foretold all the way back in Genesis 3:15, (God speaking to the serpent in Eden) "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel."  Much later, the prophet Isaiah wrote these words centuries before God became man: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).  I remember hearing a story of a pastor going around to his staff and asking them to read verses he had written down without citing the verses. The verses were as follows:

   "He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied ; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

What verses are these?  What book are they from?  If you guessed any book in the New Testament, you would be wrong.  These verses are from Isaiah, Isaiah 53:9-12.  When the pastor asked who these verses were talking about, every staff member said, "Jesus," but when asked where the verses came from all said a book in the New Testament.  How amazing is it that Jesus' story does not start in a manger, but in the garden of Eden?!? 
    When man first plunged into disobedience, evil entered into humanity, and we were forever changed.  Many struggle with God because they do not understand how a good God can allow evil and pain to continue.  The answer is simple: because He loves us.  He could have put an end to evil even before the forbidden fruit was plucked from the tree.  When saying that God should put an end to evil, do not forget that by saying that, you are also saying that you would have Him put an end to you and me.  Man is evil, and all have fallen short of the glory of God.  If God puts an end to evil, then all of humanity is doomed.  God must punish sin, and the punishment of sin is eternal death.  In order to carry out this sentence, God loses the very people He loves.  Just as one man led all of humanity into rebellion, another must reconcile us.  But who?  Who among us does not deserve the penalty of sin?  Only a human who is also God would be capable of bearing the weight of the sins of all humanity.  This is God's amazing and beautiful plan.  A plan that has saved you and me from the punishment we surely deserve.  One man saved us, and this man was Immanuel, "God with us."

God Bless

Guard My Heart

    I do not know if you face the same struggles.  I do not know if you have the same doubts.  I do not know if you worry about the same things.  I do not know if you have the same longings.  I do not know if you are........like me.  The one thing I do know is that I trust that sharing my innermost thoughts, doubts, and struggles as I continue to strive to be ever closer to our almighty Father, I have one hope: that it will help you in your walk. 
    I recently reached a point where I felt comfortable in my walk with Christ.  I felt comfortable in my role in my Christian community.  I felt comfortable in my life.  Then......something unexpected happened.  A small voice inside me kept saying that something was missing.  It kept telling me that there is more than this.  It kept telling me that there is much more to experience.  At first, I felt this to be my body craving something more, and pushed it away as sin, but it was persistent.  Then, I tried to silence the voice by becoming more involved in church, school, social interaction, etc...  This, muffled, but did not silence the voice.  I prayed night after night for an answer, for help, for something to make me realize what I needed to do.  While reading my Bible, I came across Proverbs 4:23 which says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."  I read this verse again, and again, and again, and again.  My heart.  That's what was wrong.  I looked for more verses concerning heart and found a TON of references to heart in Scripture.  The main verses that really stood out to me were Proverbs 21:2 "All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart," Matthew 15:8 "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me," and most of all Luke 10:26-28 "'What is written in the Law?' he replied. 'How do you read it?' He answered, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' 'You have answered correctly,' Jesus replied. 'Do this and you will live.'"   First, Proverbs tells us that God is most concerned with our Heart.  He knows your heart.  He knows your true heart's intentions.  When you accept Jesus as your Savior, you accept Him into your whole being, but mainly into your Heart.  Jesus even states in Matthew that while certain people may honor Him with what they say, their true hearts are not for Him.  Finally, the most profound of all, God says to love Him with ALL YOUR HEART.  "All" is a very large word.  It encompasses everything that could ever possibly be thought of to do with the subject with which it is being used.  Every facet of your heart should be for God.  Love for Him.  Complete and total love for Him.  Now here is the kicker......is that easy to do?  No.  Personally, I am working everyday to love Him with all my heart.  I know I haven't reached that point, but I am trying everyday to get there.  Jesus offered in John 7 the key to the Christian life.  He says "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture said, streams of living water will flow from within him" (37-38).  I first responded to Jesus for the longing in my heart.  Now that I reached this point of confusion, chaos, and constant, ever present spiritual warfare, I realize that my heart is my refuge.  My heart is my greatest asset.  My heart....is His.  I now pay attention to my heart, and I guard it with as best I can.  I guard against complacency, I guard against anger, I guard against anything that will hurt His heart.  I am trying to get from obligation, back to desire.  I desire to know Him.  I desire to serve Him.  I desire Him.


God Bless

Glory Days

    The old Bruce Springsteen song "Glory Days" might seem to only apply to people in their 30's to 50's who look back on their accomplishments in high school or college.  Whether it be sports, relationships, status, or anything, they live in the past.  One of the lines in the song says, "...but time slips away and leaves you with nothing mister but boring stories of glory days."  Now apply this to your walk with God.  Apply this to the Great Commission.  How have you been thinking and talking about these two subjects?  Do you sit around and talk about the "Glory Days?"  Are you living in what God has done for you in the past?  Are you a long time member of a large church, and sit around talking about how hard the struggle was to start and grow the church?  Are you stuck in your walk with God, and your spreading of His gospel? 
    Paul's missionary work is far reaching and extensive.  Many of the places he went had never heard the gospel, and some did not want to hear it.  From Antioch to Rome, he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to far and wide.  Although Paul did not forget those churches he helped establish, he did not remain in his past accomplishments through Christ.  He was always dreaming, he was always moving forward. Anatole France said, "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe."  Paul was a master dreamer.   In Acts chapter 16, Paul has a vision while in Troas of a man in Macedonia (which is across the Aegean Sea) pleading with him to come and help the people of that city.  Of course, he goes to Macedonia and continues to spread the gospel from there. 
    This is not to discount what God has done, this is only a warning to not become like the Church of Laodicea.  Do not be lukewarm, and do not stay in past accomplishments.  Our dreams must be greater than our memories, or we will fade into the past.  While past blessings and accomplishments through Christ give us stronger faith and grow our relationship with Christ, it should not end.  We should never reach a point of contentment.  The Church of Laodicea were lukewarm Christians.  They were content in their relationship and their duties.  If you reach this point, you stop growing.  Not only do you stop growing, but you have a very real danger in actually going backwards in your walk.  Our constant longing to be closer and closer to God is what keeps our mind on Him.  Our focus on the Holy Spirit's guidance and counsel is what keeps our mind on things of heaven and not of earth.  Do not live in the "Glory Days."  Make every day a "Glory Day."

God Bless

Authentic Love - A Continuation of Holy Kiss

    I feel led to continue the discussion on interation in the Christian community:

   How many churches have you attended where you felt "processed?"  You walk in, receive a program, receive a few greetings, take your seat, hear worship music, hear a message, and then are herded out like cattle of the building all the while hearing "we're so glad you came!"  When did worship become so impersonal.  When did gathering together with our brothers and sisters in Christ become so routine and so seemingly meaningless?  Too many times do we get an intellectual explanation of Love and following Christ, and not even physically touch one single brother or sister in Christ.  No hand shake, no embrace, no......Love.  A worship service shouldn't "process" people.  This isn't a waiting room in a Doctor's office.  This is a Christian community of believers who love each other.  Why then is it so hidden from view?  Why are we afraid to show our love?  Why aren't we authentic in our love?  Our love should be evident.  It should be bright.  It should be OBVIOUS.  It should be a beacon of light not only in worship, but also in the community.  Our interaction with others should make them feel welcome, not only into the church, but into our lives.  Care for people.  Show them you care. 

God Bless