Daring to Believe

Click or No Click

It seems like every day that I see a picture on Facebook that says, “Like if you love Jesus. Ignore if you don’t.” If you “like” those that is perfectly fine! But if you don’t, that is perfectly fine too! Our love for Christ is not determined by liking a picture on Facebook.

Our love is determined by how we love Him, not how we “like” Him. We do not earn eternal life by clicking a picture of Jesus on Facebook and live our lives however we want. Our youth pastor told us we all have a Death Penalty. We are all dead before Christ enters our lives. However, we are also given a second chance, redemption. This is possible when we pick up our crosses and follow Him. Now I’m not saying to make a cross and carry it around. This cross is a symbol, a symbol of witnessing to others, helping others, loving others, and pushing through when times are tough. 

We all have choices we make every day whether it is Subway or Sonic, Fries or Tater Tots, or even Click or No Click. Whether we click or not Christ loves us the same. You could click a million different pictures and still be as lost on the last one as you were on the first. Our love is determined by our actions. Yes, clicking is an action but not the right one. Loving, caring, and being compassionate are some of the actions we need to carry out in our day to day lives.

I have trouble with these just as much as you. I fight with my siblings quite regularly, is that showing love? Compassion? Every time I fight I take a step away from Christ. I can improve this, I know I can, He doesn’t put more on our plate than we can handle. If I can improve myself you can too, we are both human, we are both imperfect.

Salvation doesn’t come from a picture; salvation comes from your love for the One in the picture. I dare you to love not like. I dare you to believe…

Overcoming Our Giants

The other night in VBS we talked about overcoming our giants. Everyone has giants and our giants may be different from others. This got me thinking about my own giants. 

In my day to day life I battle a giant, his name is Selfishness. I’m sure others giants have different names because they are different giants. I find myself thinking about myself more than I do about others. I tend to grab a plate and load up diner first, cook for myself first, etc. This isn’t right for me to do by other people and it really puts a damper on my character. 

David also had a giant, his name was Goliath. In 1 Samuel 7:23, David notices Goliath for the first time. Surprisingly, little David does not fear Goliath. We shouldn’t fear our giants either because we can overcome our giants. God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. 1 Corinthians 10:13 states,"....but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

My giant tries to tell me that it is all about me. However, God doesn’t think the same way. We are put here to serve others, not ourselves. I still have a hard time putting others first. But I’m trying to think differently. You could say I am fighting my giant one stone at a time. 

We all fear our giants. David did not fear his giant and killed him with one stone. We should not fear our giants either and there is a reason for this. God is always with us and he can deliver us from any situation. When we learn to fear God and not the giants our lives will be much easier. Learn to trust Him and pray about your giants. A very familiar verse says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” –Philippians 4:13.

Battling our giants can be a challenge. I dare you to overcome your fears. I dare you to believe…

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a holiday that honors all of the soldiers who have died in a war. Just think about how courageous each and every soldier was. No matter the rank or job they all served equally because they served us willingly. I do not think I have the courage of those men. I do not think I would be able. Just the thought frightens me. That is why I have so much respect for our service men and women. 

Some may think that they would be fit to be a soldier because of how good they are at “Call of Duty”. This is game is far from a real military experience. The closest thing to serving I would ever like to do is play that video game. For the men and women who serve and die I want to take a part out of my day and honor them. They were willing to put their own lives on the line so that we would have an easier life here. That is a true act of valor. They answer the Call of Duty.

If you are reading this post and have served or currently serving I want to honor you as well. I know this is Memorial Day but everyone deserves recognition. You also put your life on the line daily. I want to thank you for that. 

We all take our freedom for granted. We go through our daily lives and rarely stop to think about how good we have it. In some countries, women cannot even ride bicycles. We have it good. We often forget about our soldiers overseas, away from their families, making sure our women can still ride bicycles. We forget about the lost also. 

Take today to remember the lost. I dare you to say a prayer for the lost and also for the ones still fighting for us. I dare you to believe…

LOL

Today the slang phrase/term “LOL” stands for laugh out loud. Almost everyone knows what this means, despite their age. This term is often used in text messaging as a substitute for “ha ha” or “very funny.” But lately I have noticed a change in the use of the term. I’ve noticed that this phrase has being used after almost after every sentence; even when the sentence has no comical value what so ever. I have noticed God being used after a lot of sentences as well… 

In Exodus 20:7, it plainly states "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain." I will go ahead and tell you, as I have many times before; I am defiantly guilty of this. I can make excuses and say “oh it slipped!” Or “I was just so angry at so and so!” But I want to own up to it because one day we will be judged by The Creator (you’re going to have to one way or another). In our daily lives we are surrounded by a very different group of people. Not everyone you are around is going to be a Christian; God NEVER promised us that our walk with Christ would be an easy one. 

When we are around non-believers we are sometimes influenced by them. Whether we want to admit it or not this does happen. I have done things that my friends have just like you. We are all the same. We are all human. It is a matter of self-control (which I still struggle with). As I said earlier, God’s name is being used as an average, everyday, phrased used when we are mad or excited (both are still just as wrong as the other). I have tried to use replacement words like gosh and goodness but they aren’t good enough. Our society has made us feel like saying His name is fine. They may think this is okay to do because they may have felt abandoned at one time and cursed him and abused His Holy Name. They think this is okay so in turn (if they have some influence over us) we think the same.

Say one of our friends say His Name and we “LOL” about it. Exodus 20:7 says, “… the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” There is a serious punishment for what we consider clowning around. We don’t take this seriously because the people around us have dethroned God in their lives and we conform to whatever they do. Where will they be on you judgment day? Will they be there to back you up like they do now? Could they, in any way, get you out of your judgment?

We place all of our faith in the things of the world (friends, laptops, gaming systems, etc.). But when we are judged by the One true Judge we are empty-handed. Things of this world wither. However the treasures of Heaven are here forever.

Mathew 6:20 states, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

It’s easy to go along and just say it a few times. I dare you to believe that you can overcome this pressure. I dare you to believe…

(Don’t let the picture of this cheesy 80’s band prevent you from reading the post!)

The other day I was working on the blog and I had Pandora Radio on in the background. I love the band The Police so I put it on The Police radio and started working. On Pandora you pick and artists and their songs play as well as similar artists. In the middle of my work the band Tears for Fears came on playing their hit, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” As I was listening to the song I got to thinking about what the song was saying… 

This post may sound similar to “On the Radar” but I have so much to say. The song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” simply talks about a person who is blindsided with their own plans. What I mean by this is that they are only concerned about themselves. I think everyone does this sometime on their lives. As I said in my last post, we sometimes get on these “highs” and think we are all that and no one can tell us what we should/shouldn’t do. Sometimes it goes to the extent where we think we could just rule the world (this is typically not the case but it has happened: Kony, Hitler, etc.). I know being on top of the world feels great but sometimes when we’re on top we tend to forget or not care about others and hurt them.

When we are “on top” we have a bad case of tunnel vision. We are almost like a train heading in one direction and it would take a lot of force to pull us off the track. That’s when prayer and self-control are our best friends. I believe that God can lead us out of anything (no doubt about it). But sometimes, I have done this, we feel like God can care less and we cut him off. You may not be able to see The Big Guy, but He is here. Some people may sever communications (or they think they do!) when they’re mad. However, some people don’t believe at all. I asked someone once how people could believe that we just popped up, how they could not believe in God. I received a simple response; it went something like this… “They do know something is here. I mean just look around, you have to know something is here, they just think they are above it.” That really hit home with me… 

Guys, we all have our moments when we feel we are above everyone. It is ok to admit it; it is good to admit it! In fact, James 5:16 states it plainly, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” We should not take refuge in our status or possessions because they aren’t accepted In heaven. Our status may stay here and we might be remembered by it, but in the long run it is totally worthless to us or anyone else. 

We may feel like we can “rule the world” sometimes and we have it all (but we really have nothing). I dare you to reach for God in these times of selfishness. I dare you to believe…

“On the Radar”

Thanks to today’s social media and a few friends my little blog is finally getting out there in the world! I’m not going to lie; I have kind of enjoyed seeing the views go up. Today was an all time high and I feel blessed to have such a great group of people viewing my blog.  However, the fame isn’t for me, the fame is for Him. 

I think people get caught up in these little “highs”. I was excited myself but I sat down and told myself that the glory is for Him and not me. The purpose of this blog is to reach out to all, believers or non-believers; all. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We are here on this earth to praise the One who put us here. We are not here to praise the things of this earth, but the One who made the things of the earth. See guys, each and every little thing (no matter what it may be) involves God whether we realize it or not! 

Some of you may be thinking that I’m saying we must praise God 24/7 and never do anything fun or for ourselves. That is not at all what I’m saying (*Writer’s Note*we will cover that subject soon). God does not call us to spend every second praising and worshipping us. He calls us to fear Him and show love and mercy upon people like he does to us. And when we are on these “highs” we are fast to forget about God and only focus on our success.

Forgetting about yourself and thinking about God can be a challenge. I dare you to take time and realize just what He has done for you. I dare you to believe…