Tough questions

I have some interesting questions for you guys today. Of course, these questions are straight from my Beth Moore study.

What good is your faith? Think about that for a second. What good is your faith? Do those we encounter benefit from it? Does the world benefit from it? It's kind of like the old hymn And they know we are Christians by our love. Or you can think of it this way. If we lived in a time (or region currently) where being Christian was grounds for great persecution, would we stand up? Or would we crumble? I don't want to elaborate much today because I want you to elaborate for yourself.

This came from the book of James. At this point he is talking about the link between faith and works. He puts is bluntly when he says:

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. (James 2:19)

Kind of scary isn't it? I asked it to myself this way, what makes me different than a demon? Sounds silly, as well, but it hits the nail on the head.

If these questions are hitting you hard (like they did to me), don't despair. God loves you and can create any change He wants to in you. Ask Him for a fruitful faith! God won't stop at one second chance... I believe that He will keep giving them to you.

Daily living

I feel like this James bible study is very hard hitting. James writes about life issues in very black and white terms. There doesn't seem to be a lot of gray issues with him. It's been difficult for me to look at my faith and choices under James' microscope and evaluate myself. But who am I to judge, even myself? I can say that doing this has prompted me to take action. I am trying *key word trying* to live out my faith like James describes. Although, I feel like I mess up everytime. But, Jesus still loves me!

Some of the points from the study over the last few weeks:

Ya know how when you have a scab and it's healing, but you have to go and pick at it until you break it open again? Isn't temptation like that? We all have temptations and we keep returning to them and ripping them open a little more, and when we do, we are screwing it up by ripping it open. I do believe that temptation is a process. Maybe you think about it once, then return to it again, then imagine, then act, act again, pretty soon it's a habit. It's a slippery slope no matter if your temptation is food, a person, drugs, you name it.

But, a silver lining in my pessimistic rant today, ALL GOOD THINGS ARE FROM GOD! Think of all the good things that have happened in your life. Maybe just all the good things from today. You woke up. You have your health. You have a home and a family and friends. I petted my dog. All good things. And God gave them to me. I can tell you that I definitely haven't earned them! What good things can you think of? On the same hand, don't we feel that sometimes God is holding out on us? We feel that we aren't living up to our full potential or that we need something and we will just take what we want? I have A, B, and C, but I want D and I want it now. Trying to force a situation that isn't in God's timing can have heart wrenching consequences. Waiting on God's timing can seem like the hardest thing in the world, but won't it be worth it when our D does happen?

I had a moment 2 Sundays ago where I really felt angry at Satan. Our laypastor went in for a major surgery for her colon cancer on Thursday and they announced it on Sunday. I thought, this is an attack from the enemy! Can't anyone be cancer free anymore? I feel like pretty soon everyone will have it. But you know what. He cannot break us. No matter what he does, we are God's children. He cannot take us from God's hand. In our earthly terms what is the worst case scenario? Death. Well guess what, where are we then? HEAVEN. Forever. An eternity with God. Satan cannot win.

It is easy for me to say these words when I am not close to the situation. I would hope that my words would remain the same if it was my situation. ( And I pray that it won't be.) But what simple thing can we do when we feel hopeless and angry at God? We can ASK for an increase of faith. That has never really occurred to me. I thought of faith as something you have that is given to you at a certain level, but no, we can change it. God wants to give us all these great things, and all we have to do is ask!

God, increase our faith.

Full

Well, hello all! It's been awhile. I just started a new bible study (another Beth Moore) about James. So hopefully you'll be hearing a whole lot more from me now!

A visiting pastor did a sermon at our church on Sunday entitled "Dumping the Mind Trash." It really made me think about how much junk is really floating around in our heads. For example, I sleep with my cell phone on and iPod right beside it. When I wake up the first thing I do is check my phone and then my favorite apps on my iPod. Why do I really need to be reading the top news from IMDB every morning?? Think about all the negativity that comes from your own head. It is true that you are your own worst critic. Then all the things that you pick up from society and our culture. Whispers telling you what to think and feel and how to react. Let's DUMP all that. What would happen if we could forget all the voices but the one who matters. His voice. God telling us that He loves us and that we are His beautiful children.

Random thought: So, I like sleeping. I really enjoying just being all wrapped up in my bed and waking up and drowsily rolling over and going back to sleep. As we all know, you are kind of outside time when you sleep. You don't know that 8 hours are passing; it happens in the blink of an eye. (Or maybe 5 or 6 hours!!) Ok, so God is outside of time too. Because He made it. So, I wonder if heaven will kind of be like sleeping. :)

More randomness. Sorry, this blog isn't very coherent or cohesive! In Monday's video session at bible study Beth talked about bringing our joy back. James starts out his letter saying, "Consider it pure joy my brothers..." When was the last time you felt joyful? James is even speaking about joy when thinking about your trials... we can't even be joyful when we are happy. Let's try and be joyful at least once this week. I wonder what will happen.

We talk about faith a lot as Christians. About how we are saved by faith and not by works. And James is in agreement with that fact, but he speaks a lot about doing works as well. The concept that if we don't have fruit from our faith, that it is meaningless. He brings up a good point. How are we acting in our lives? We can talk the talk but are we walking the walk? When was the last time that you (or me) stepped out of our comfort zone and did some good works? I really do want to do something, so those of you in this area, let me know if you have any ideas! On the same note, my "homework" from the study talking about giving to the poor. Now we don't have to think of it in monetary terms but it is a simple comparison. Remember that the "poor" are out there and we should be giving. Whether we are giving encouragement, money, time, or knowledge.

P.S. My new favorite website is pinterest.com-- Check it out. Warning: it is going to be a girly website :)