It's War!

I do not mean a physical war but a spiritual war. So in my previous blog "Filled for Battle" I talked about how being filled by the Holy Spirit equips you for battle. But there's more to it. Once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you actually are enlisting yourself in the greatest military in the world. No, I'm not talking about America's military or any other military in the world, because one day it will pass away. I'm talking about the everlasting military, the military that is victorious even though the war is not over.

I would like you guys to read part of this introduction called "Kingdom's Heart" to the book Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lion by Chuck Black.
It says "Those who love him must travel to the far reaches of the kingdom of Arrethtrae, tell all people of Him and His imminent return, and rage war against Lucious and his Shadow Warriors.
Thus we wait in expectation. And while we wait, we fight against evil and battle to save the souls of many from darkness.
We are the knights who live and die in loyal service to the King and the Prince. Though not perfect in our call to royal duty, we know the power of the Prince resonates in our swords, and the rubble of a thousand strongholds testifies to our strength of heart and soul."
So why did I put this in my blog? Well because it's true, we are called to tell everyone about God and Jesus. Called to rage war against Satan and his followers. We as followers of the KING and PRINCE can knock down any evil kingdoms and cities through the blood of Jesus Christ.
It is war! Why? Because Satan does not rest while ruining lives, So we should never stop rescuing and saving lives. We, serve the King of life, the God of wonders, and we are the child of the King. We are called to be a warrior for God. Things can be tough, we might be scared, might get hurt, or even killed serving God. We might get  scared of what Satan does. But what all the evil doers and even Satan is scared of is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace. The best part is He is our God, He is on our side!
So war is waging right now. Even though war is tough, painful and scary. We are on the winning side!
Let me say this, the war will get harsher and harsher, it will get harder and harder to see a silver lining. But we will prevail.

Is God Real?

Some times when you talk about God with someone who does not believe in God they bring up this one point, God is not real. Why is this? Well there's a few reasons why.
The first reason why is that you can't see Him. They believe what they can prove and see. So since they can't see God, they belive that there must not be a God. So they turn to something else like drugs, drinking and all that bad stuff.
People also say that there's no God because they think that it's to far fetched. Why? Well,because they think that it's impossible for anyone to live a perfect life. Also it is impossible for anyone to rise up fom the grave. Not only that but they think that nothing or no one can speak the universe into exscistent. What do they do instead? They could turn to the Big Bang Theory and evolution. The Big Bang Theory is more far fetched than the Creation Story!
 Let's see how God is real. God is real because you have a conscience, you have emotions, and you love. Another reason why God is real is because you can't live with out Him. One other way is that when you are afraid you sometimes have an overpowering since of safety, peace and happiness. Where does that come from? God. The two most important reasons are that He loves and and the Bible says He's real. The Bible does not lie.
So if you are one of the people who think that God's not real He is. God wants a relationship with you and He loves you so much that God sent his son Jesus Christ to live a perfect life and die on a tree.

Stone Wall

So, since it's football season, I thought that I would do something with football in it. So, here I go.

The offensive line is the wall around the heart. The QB is the heart and the defense is sin. Let's say the defense is doing really good this game and they've been sacking the QB a lot. Basically, if the offensive line is weak, the wall around the heart is weak and there is a lot of holes in it so sin gets to the heart. If the defense causes a safety, the heart and the whole spiritual body is impure. That's what can happen when Satan keeps tempting us. If we let him do that, he will screw us up and we will stray farther away from the path that's straight.

Now let's say that the offensive line is doing great today and they aren't letting the defense guys get to the QB. The quarteback doesn't get sacked to the ground and he (the heart) will be clean.  When the offense scores a touchdown the heart and the whole spiritual body is clean and pure. When the heart is clean and pure that's when Satan has no hold on your heart or life because you are on the right path and you only do what God calls you to do.

Stay strong in the Lord and keep a strong stone wall around your heart.

One more thing................. GO PACKERS!!!!!!

Go Extreme

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins  are forgiven." (Mark 2:1-5, NIV)
So these guys could have decided to wait for the group to go away, or to go to Jesus when he comes out. But they didn't, they climbed up on the roof - which was flat - and started digging a hole for the paralyzed man. The hole must've been huge because they lowered the bed with the man on it. Talk about a serious skylight!They did it because they had faith in Jesus.
Now here's an example that happened to me. One night, I wanted to get some pizza. This pizza wasn't ordinary pizza, it was Pappa Johns pizza.So anyway, when I got there, the line was HUGE, so I go away thinking that the line would shrink. But the second time I went back it was still long so I went away the second time. The third and final time I went back and it was closed. So I didn't get any pizza. If I just waited I would've got pizza, but it would be cold. What I should've done was taken the initiative and been in the front of the line.
So the guys that brought the paralyzed man wanted Jesus right then and there. So they took the initiative and dug a hole in the roof. They didn't wait because chances are they wouldn't have did what they came there to do. Jesus might have been gone when they came back.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately he bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touches my  clothes?"
This lady who was really ill walked up behind Jesus in a huge crowd and just... touched him? She had so much faith that she knew that she would be healed. And she was healed. Did you notice that Jesus looked for her? He was being touched by a bunch of people but he looked for her. Why? Because of  her faith and that some of his power left him and healed the lady. He felt that because when that lady touched him, she had faith.
The men and this lady both went to the extremes to get to Jesus. Would you? Or would you go and wait in line for him, or let the line get shorter?

This is a video in contrast with my latest blog "Are You a Fan or a Follower?"

Are You a Fan or a Follower?

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
(Mathew 16:24, NIV)
How far will you go with this? You may deny yourself, but will you take up your cross and follow Jesus?
The cross is not a pretty thing. It was a torture method used by the Roman government to strike fear in the people so they don't go out of line. Your cross is anything that causes you to sin.
You see, there's two types of Christians.
The first one is a fan of Jesus. A fan of Jesus is someone who does not take up his cross. A fan could be someone who accepted Jesus into his heart, but limits Jesus in parts of his life. They may say, "I'm going to a restaurant to eat with my friends tonight. So Jesus, don't come with me." Or a fan could be someone who is a "devoted" believer of Christ, but won't stand up for what's right, or doesn't stand up for his faith. Now I'm not just talking to you guys, I'm also talking to myself.
Now the second one is being a follower of Jesus Christ. A follower of Christ is someone who will take up his cross daily and follows Jesus. He's also someone who gives Jesus his all and gives him his heart. Not part of his heart, but all of his heart. He's also a person who walks by faith. A follower is someone who lives according to the Bible.
Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.  (Mathew 16:25, NIV)
A fan could be someone who wants to save his life. But the truth is, he'll lose his life. The reason being is, they accept Jesus just as their savior, not their Lord.
A follower is someone who may lose their life for Jesus. He will find his life in Heaven. That's because he accepted Jesus as both his Savior and his Lord. Now I'm not saying followers will be killed but in some countries they could.
The fan and the follower will each get the rewards they deserve. The follower will receive a greater reward than the fan.
Let me say one more thing, a fan is someone who denies Jesus before his friends. The consequences of that is, Jesus will deny that person in front of his father, and he he will not enter the Kingdome of Heaven, unless he becomes a truly devoted follower of Christ.

Qualified?

 As Jesus was walking besides the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come follow me" Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Mathew 4:18-19, NIV)

Now I think Peter and Andrew tried to become Rabbis but sadly, they were not able to become Rabbis. In other words, they failed. So when the greatest Rabbi in the world asked these two fishermen to follow him why wouldn't they?

The Bible says they immediately left their nets and followed him. Let me point this out, they were not qualified. Jesus did not call them because they were qualified. He qualified them when He called them.
You may feel like you failed in life because you lost your job, or something else like that. Guys, God doesn't care about that. I mean He does care about you, but He cares more about your heart. Maybe you are in the situation for a reason. God will do something great in your life. If you feel like you fail, think about Peter and Andrew.

God will still call you. There's this saying that says "God doesn't call the qualified,he qualifies the called." You don't get a call from God because you took a test and you answered all the questions correctly and you qualified. God calls you so He can qualify you.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.  (Revelation 3:20, NIV )

Let's review this passage. It's about God standing in front of your heart and He's calling you. He wants to be in your heart. If you answer Him, He will enter your heart and stay there forever.
So those who are reading this and think that you're not qualified or that you failed, when God calls you just answer his call and He will qualify you

Now let me ask you something, will you answer His call?