Grace
How many times have we messed up, lied, judged and sinned knowing full well that we are sinning? How many times have we ignored our conscience and that tugging of hearts telling us not to act that way? Yet we still end up giving into our sinful desires. However, all that was washed and cleansed with Jesus blood and his body broken for us because we are children of God. No matter what we did, or is doing or have yet to do it’s covered with Jesus blood and that when God sees us He does not see our past and present but Jesus’ perfect life. If it were not because of God’s grace, we would all receive the punishment of death, but because of God’s grace we can be immersed in His love and have a relationship with our Father.
I Believe...
I believe God is wonderful and a savior. He is my savior because he has done so many amazing things in my life. I didn’t grow up in a strict Christian family. My parents didn’t go to church a lot and if they did go, I just followed them. I went to church every Sundays, but I never wanted to go. Most of the time, I was dragged to church by my mom. I was young and naïve back then and didn’t understand why I had to go to church. Even when I got into high school I never went to church. I went on with my life without thinking about God, but my life changed during my senior year of high school. One of my good friends invited me to go to church with her. I was thinking whether I should go or not, but my friend literally dragged me with her. Now that I think about it, it seems as if God had sent my friend to reach out to me. I attended church during the summer, but I didn’t feel that God was with me. But I think I found God again and I feel that he is with me today. God sent me so many people who has helped me grow spiritually my first semester at UIC and I hope that my relationship with God continues to grow even more.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
woo hoo more!
two more guys!
How is God necessary in my life?
A million thoughts are running through my head right now. I am seeing so many instances in my past where what I needed was God. I think it all starts back in my junior year of high school. I was a tri-sport varsity athlete. I had many friends and I had a faithful and loving girl, who was waiting for me to commit to her. I was nowhere close to being ready, because I was taking in my newfound popularity with women. To my friends I was all-star pimp and I enjoyed the praise they gave me. I felt like I was on top of the world and that I owned it. Of course all of this was superficial, because when I walked away from the sports, and my girl walked away from me (for the reasons that I’ll never change and that I’ll never be able to commit to her), my friends all slowly walked away from me too. The popularity ride was over for me and who could I turn to? Who could I depend on to be there for me, listen to my problems and just mend my heart? It was none of those so-called friends and for a while I thought alcohol was it.
I drank daily before my first class, in hopes I would forget the pain and emptiness in my heart. It took a while for me to remember there was a Savior right there waiting for me to call on Him. It had been a long, long time since I prayed or gone to church. Then one day I was invited by a friend to come to a Friday night large group and there I heard the Gospel again and I felt change beginning in myself. It took awhile for me to make changes in my life and yes they are still going on as I learn more. A broken man I was and God was putting me back together, making me realize there is more to life than just myself.
One faithful night at large group the lyrics on the overhead appeared and the song was called, “Give Us Clean Hands.” As we begun to sing along I just felt my heart drop because my soul needed some cleansing. I fell down on my knees and I cried like a newborn baby. It was like I was being reborn again. I was on fire for Jesus after that and the fire has become milder since entering college, but I hope it rekindles. God was necessary in my life to take away things and persons who separated me from Him and He still is. He is necessary in healing my broken heart and listening to every word I have to tell Him. He carries me through the good times and the bad. He has my back even when the world is against me. God is necessary all the time.
God's Faithfulness
When we come across the word faithfulness we often think about someone who is constantly reliable, loyal, and true to one’s word. It is often a relative, a friend, maybe a spouse, but have we taken the time to acknowledge the One who is faithful, faithful in all things and at all times? Faithfulness is one of the many attributes that God wears. Since biblical times He has made clear that He is a God who is greater than anything and anyone imaginable. The fact that He never lies, forgets, fails, falter His own word shows that He is not like us. He is the one and only that will stay committed to His own word and to His people as well. He is faithful in preserving His people, disciplining His people, sending sorrow as well as giving joy, glorifying His people. There are times when we as Christians fall away from Him because of the struggles that they go through. Our God is a faithful God who picks us up when we fall down, a God who brings us back to Him. God is true and He is and remains faithful to us. If we acknowledge this, why are we so reluctant to believe that He knows what He is doing in our lives? Why are we continuously worrying about the future and how we are going to live when we know that He will take care of us? What is the reason for us taking in His chastise when we know that we have to acknowledge our flaws and humbles ourselves before Him – when we know that he fully deserve His correction? Why do we get angry when certain circumstances happen to us? Do we trust that our God is a God who does everything good? It’s perfectly clear that God loves us and wouldn’t do anything to harm us – the random struggles that we face are the trials that enable us to spiritually mature. Our trials don’t only tame wisdom and knowledge but faith as well. God has a plan for us – we accept that and accept the faithfulness of God as a Pure and Divine truth. But it is one thing to accept this and another to act upon it. We need to learn how to have confidence within our Lord and His word and to really act upon it as well. God always gives us what is good and we must doubt in God.
"Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God" (Deut. 7:9)
"God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" (Num. 23:19)
“God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense.
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own Interpreter,
And He will make it plain.” ------William Cowper
"Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God" (Deut. 7:9)
"God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" (Num. 23:19)
“God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense.
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own Interpreter,
And He will make it plain.” ------William Cowper
How is God necessary in my life?
A million thoughts are running through my head right now. I am seeing so many instances in my past where what I needed was God. I think it all starts back in my junior year of high school. I was a tri-sport varsity athlete. I had many friends and I had a faithful and loving girl, who was waiting for me to commit to her. I was nowhere close to being ready, because I was taking in my newfound popularity with women. To my friends I was all-star pimp and I enjoyed the praise they gave me. I felt like I was on top of the world and that I owned it. Of course all of this was superficial, because when I walked away from the sports, and my girl walked away from me (for the reasons that I’ll never change and that I’ll never be able to commit to her), my friends all slowly walked away from me too. The popularity ride was over for me and who could I turn to? Who could I depend on to be there for me, listen to my problems and just mend my heart? It was none of those so-called friends and for a while I thought alcohol was it.
I drank daily before my first class, in hopes I would forget the pain and emptiness in my heart. It took a while for me to remember there was a Savior right there waiting for me to call on Him. It had been a long, long time since I prayed or gone to church. Then one day I was invited by a friend to come to a Friday night large group and there I heard the Gospel again and I felt change beginning in myself. It took awhile for me to make changes in my life and yes they are still going on as I learn more. A broken man I was and God was putting me back together, making me realize there is more to life than just myself.
One faithful night at large group the lyrics on the overhead appeared and the song was called, “Give Us Clean Hands.” As we begun to sing along I just felt my heart drop because my soul needed some cleansing. I fell down on my knees and I cried like a newborn baby. It was like I was being reborn again. I was on fire for Jesus after that and the fire has become milder since entering college, but I hope it rekindles. God was necessary in my life to take away things and persons who separated me from Him and He still is. He is necessary in healing my broken heart and listening to every word I have to tell Him. He carries me through the good times and the bad. He has my back even when the world is against me. God is necessary all the time.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
First assignment!
well i hope everyone else is turning theirs in soon... cause uhmm i only got one person so far... but it's a good one!
Unconditional Love
Only you, one person on this earth can see into your soul. You can have best friends, boyfriends, husbands, parents, or other loved ones, but they will never truly know all of your thoughts, dreams, insights, feelings, or genuinely know the complete essence of your soul. Only you can see, feel, and know. It feels lonely to know that only you can truly understand, you, to the fullest, but with that comes a sense of comfort. Because I know for me, there’s a lot more evil and darkness that I would rather not expose about myself. Secrets about my past and how I really feel, how I perceive others, even myself, those thoughts are only for me to know how truly evil spirited I can be. And I like that I can hide that from anybody I want. I can shield myself of the humiliation and disgrace it would bring to me. I don’t think anybody, no matter how much they loved me, even my parents, could stand to see inside of my soul. So when people say those words. Those three extremely simple ones that I let out a littler quicker than I should, it never fully penetrates my heart, knowing that they say those words with the amount they know.
Love, on this earth is conditional.
I really don’t feel that humans are capable of unconditional love and even the mere idea of it is so abstract. But, if we actually think about what unconditional love means, there’s no human capable of having that much love inside of them to give it in the first place. And how we maintain relationships with each other is a wonder. Friends, lovers, family, we’re all sinners, innately filled with so much darkness, how we can stand to love each other to the extent in which our miniscule hears can is still a wonder. But, there’s something to change all of that. He completely destroys our selfish hearts that don’t know how to love, and He loves. He loves with an unconditional love. A love that has no end, that has no exceptions, a love that knows everything in your soul, every dark thought and desire, and still loves. He reaches into the darkness of our souls and cleans it and helps us to love. And we run away, we’re embarrassed, we pretend like we don’t know of his love, we don’t share his love with others, we abuse his love, we test his love, we even throw it away at times, and yet, He still loves. And that love isn’t any less than what it was before. It isn’t any less every time we stab His heart with our sin. His love remains the same, unchanging, incapable of decreasing in value or worth, incapable of limiting His grace or mercy, incapable of ever turning his head from us and forsaking us. No matter how much we run away, His love captures us and brings us home, it is always in our hearts, always comforting and taking care of us. Always telling us that it’s okay, that whatever we’ve done, its okay and He says I know, you’re going to hurt me more, and try to run away again, but that’s okay too…because, I love you.
And that, is God’s love. His unconditional, never failing, more than we will ever be able to feel, love.
Unconditional Love.
so here it is...
Unconditional Love
Only you, one person on this earth can see into your soul. You can have best friends, boyfriends, husbands, parents, or other loved ones, but they will never truly know all of your thoughts, dreams, insights, feelings, or genuinely know the complete essence of your soul. Only you can see, feel, and know. It feels lonely to know that only you can truly understand, you, to the fullest, but with that comes a sense of comfort. Because I know for me, there’s a lot more evil and darkness that I would rather not expose about myself. Secrets about my past and how I really feel, how I perceive others, even myself, those thoughts are only for me to know how truly evil spirited I can be. And I like that I can hide that from anybody I want. I can shield myself of the humiliation and disgrace it would bring to me. I don’t think anybody, no matter how much they loved me, even my parents, could stand to see inside of my soul. So when people say those words. Those three extremely simple ones that I let out a littler quicker than I should, it never fully penetrates my heart, knowing that they say those words with the amount they know.
Love, on this earth is conditional.
I really don’t feel that humans are capable of unconditional love and even the mere idea of it is so abstract. But, if we actually think about what unconditional love means, there’s no human capable of having that much love inside of them to give it in the first place. And how we maintain relationships with each other is a wonder. Friends, lovers, family, we’re all sinners, innately filled with so much darkness, how we can stand to love each other to the extent in which our miniscule hears can is still a wonder. But, there’s something to change all of that. He completely destroys our selfish hearts that don’t know how to love, and He loves. He loves with an unconditional love. A love that has no end, that has no exceptions, a love that knows everything in your soul, every dark thought and desire, and still loves. He reaches into the darkness of our souls and cleans it and helps us to love. And we run away, we’re embarrassed, we pretend like we don’t know of his love, we don’t share his love with others, we abuse his love, we test his love, we even throw it away at times, and yet, He still loves. And that love isn’t any less than what it was before. It isn’t any less every time we stab His heart with our sin. His love remains the same, unchanging, incapable of decreasing in value or worth, incapable of limiting His grace or mercy, incapable of ever turning his head from us and forsaking us. No matter how much we run away, His love captures us and brings us home, it is always in our hearts, always comforting and taking care of us. Always telling us that it’s okay, that whatever we’ve done, its okay and He says I know, you’re going to hurt me more, and try to run away again, but that’s okay too…because, I love you.
And that, is God’s love. His unconditional, never failing, more than we will ever be able to feel, love.
Unconditional Love.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
WOO HOO UP AND RUNNING!
alright everyone! this is where we'll be posting up our writings.. please email them to me by FRIDAY! NEXT WEEK! FEB. 15!
And if you are still interested in joining...please do the following:
Please make a list of 10 Things that God is to you...
EX. I believe that God is.... (so forth)
After making that list pick one word or phrase from your list and expand on it minimum half a page.
When done email it to me...and i will post it on here and we can dialogue and critique each other!!!
that is all!
(I sound like a teacher....gross)
Friday, February 8, 2008
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