Rooted

Lately we have been experiencing alot of storms in our town. These storms would consist of anything from large rain downfalls, hail, and wind. Well, one morning after one of our big storms, I rode  through town and I saw several disasters caused mainly by the winds of the previous night. There were several trees on the ground, limbs missing, a building missing half its roof, and a fallen billboard. Yes, a billboard was down for the count. But as I was on the road, God gave me a thought. I wonder why all of those things fell, came apart, etc.? The conclusion... they weren't rooted well enough. Also, the aftermath of the storm reminded me that we don't only go through natural storms, but we go through spiritual storms too. And if you haven't, you will. Trust me on that. So, God gave me this verse:

"As ye have therefore recieved Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." -Colossians 2:6-7

In this day in time, we as Christians seem to be becoming few and far between. So many people will get saved and be on fire for God, but, when the first storm comes, they fall down and give up. We need to make sure that this doesn't happen to us. We need to be rooted in Jesus for he is the true foundation. If we aren't, then when a storm comes along, we will fall over and never get back up.

Sometimes, in a storm, we will see the trees swaying back and forth. I don't know about you, but that makes me a little uneasy no matter how big the tree may be, and it's never a pretty sight. It's never good for Christians either. When the storms of life come our way, we get down and defeated, and we just feel like throwing in the towel. During this time in our lives, we may begin to sway back and forth on some things. There are many things involved with this statement, but, for example, the things that would convict us or the things that bothered us wouldn't bother us as much as they would without the storm. It happens to the best of us. But, the Bible says:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." -Galatians 5:1

We need to stand fast and stand firm to the best of our abilities given to us by Christ. Those are the only abilities capible of withstanding the storms. Because under our own power, we would fall. We need to dig our roots down deep so that we can stand in the midst of the storm. I'm not saying that the storms will stop coming because they won't. They may even seem to get worse at some times. But, be of good cheer. If we are rooted in Jesus Christ our Lord, we will stand. Oh, and don't forget your umbrella!

Cloudy With a Chance of Fog

A couple of weeks ago, me and a few family members went to a chicken sale. Yes, a chicken sale. Well, we did really good with our sales and stuff. However, on our way home we ran into a bit of fog. Well, now that I think about it, that's an understatement. It was a bunch of fog. This huge blanket of fog was also on a mountain that I'm not too familiar with, so that in itself made me quite uneasy. But, that's besides the point. Finally, we toppped the mountain and the fog cleared causing me to breath a sigh of relief. However, as we travelled down the mountain, I looked a little ahead and saw a deer crossing the road. Don't worry. The deer made it, and we didn't even come close to hitting it. But, it made me think. What would have happened if that fog on the other side of the mountain hadn't have been there? Here I was really wanting to hurry and get home while complaining about how terrible and unnessesary the fog was. However, it could have been there to protect us from the dangers we could have faced by hitting the deer. The fog had slowed us down just enough to avoid a collision. Well, have you ever wondered what God has sent our way that has kept us out of trouble, and all we have done is saw the bad?

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:"   
-Ecclesiastes 3:1

Sometimes we get in such a hurry to do or go somewhere. Then all of a sudden something comes up to hender us from the task. It may frustrate us and make us wonder why. Well, do you ever think that this thing that you consider a burden could really be a blessing? Sometimes, God will send us through vallys because there very well could be a danger (deer) up ahead that he's protecting us from. At the time, we may look at the problem and think of it as unnessesary and bothersom. But if we just stop and look ahead, we may see that it was for the best. God knows what he's doing, and he has our best interest at hand. Plus, just think how much damage that deer could do to a car!

A Greater Yes

The Dixon's ~ A Greater Yes 

Really Inspiring Song :)

Bright Blush

Ok. It's time for the final item of makeup in the count down: Blush. You can have a little more fun with this item. When you generally think of blush, what do you picture? Do the words bright, radient, or happy come to mind? Well they do for me. When you put blush on your cheaks, it seems to add a bit of character to your apperance. The blush brightens up your face and gives you the look of overall cheer and gladness. Well, I have decided to related this one last product to our spiritual lives. I know the past ones have included the more major and probably more difficult tasks that we should do as Christians. But, I believe that blush should represent just being happy because we serve the Lord. The Bible says:

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." -Psalm 118:24

Is there any other better reason to be happy that you can come up with? I don't think so. This verse simply says to be happy just because God has created this day for us to live. It sounds like a simple thing. Then why don't we do it. We take so many things that God gives us for granted. We should instead be rejoicing for all that he has done for each of us. Hopefully we all have clothes on our back, shoes on our feet, a roof above our heads, food to eat, etc. And even if you still can't think of a reason to be happy, just think harder. Well here's the best one for you.... Jesus died on the cross to save the sins of the world! That includes you. And hopefully you have excepted his gift of salvation. To me, that is worth praising him and being happy as we live our day to day lives.

"But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are the partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." -I Peter 4:13

I know we as Christians, myself included, do not have a happy look about us most of the day. And we wonder why there doesn't seem to be as many of us around anymore. Well here's an idea...Nobody wants to be like anybody who looks like they hate life all the time and never seem to crack a smile. So instead, we should go around wearing a smile and showing the world that we are happy serving Jesus. Without us, how will they ever see the true joy of surrendering your life to God?

"A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken." -Proverbs 15:13

So, don't worry. Be happy! You'll never know who's life you can touch with this one simple task.

Maximum Mascara

Now it's time for number three in our makeup line-up: Mascara. Amoung many other products, I seem to see alot of commercials, ads, etc. advertising mascara. Well, it's important in our daily makeup routine, so why shouldn't it be in our daily walk with God. To me, mascara is a big indicator that somebody is wearing makeup. I have related this product to something we should be doing every day: Standing. We all know mascara makes our eye lashes stand up bold and tall. Well, we should have some of it in our Christian walk to help us stand up and be bold. As the Bible says:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." -Galations 5:1

We all need to stand up proud and unashamed of the Gospel of Christ. We need to be bold and let everyone know where we stand and who we stand for.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it: to the Jew first and also to the Greek." - Romans 1:16

Mascara also serves the purpose of seperating your lashes and preventing them from clumping. This symbolizes that we as Christians need to be seperated from worldly matters and not clump up with the wrong crowd. Sometimes that part of it seems so hard to do. But, once you think about it, it pays off in the long run and gives you a closer walk with God. Here's some encouragement:

"Wherefore come out from amoung them, and be ye seperate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will recieve you, " - II Corintians: 6:17

So, if we wear our Spiritual mascara, we will be bold, tall, and seperated. By doing this, God will recieve us or be proud of us. What would be better than making God our Father happy? So, will you wear your mascara today?

Everlasting Eyeshadow

So on to the next item in the makeup group: eye shadow. This one was a little more difficult for me to associate with God. But God, amazing as always, gave me this thought. "Keep your eyes set upon God and the things of the Lord." When it came to my mind I was like, "Duh!" It was one of those 'shoula had a V8' moments for me. This statement seems so simple doesn't it. I mean we've heard it all our lives. "Live for God no matter what." And, "Do God's will." We say it like its something that just naturally happens. However, in reality, it's really not that simple. It should be easy for a Christian to live for God, but, somehow, we always seem to let our flesh get in the way and hender the task. Here are some verses I found about setting your eyes upon God:

"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wonderous things out of thy law." -Psalm 119:18

"Blessed are the pure at heart: for they shall see God." -Matthew 5:8

Sure, there is much more scripture to cover this subject. But I just chose a few. Basically, we should set our eyes upon God and the things concerning him. So many times, we will set our eyes on what is going on in the world around us, and we will completly miss little signs sent from God. How often does that happen. My answer: a bunch! Once you think about it though, look at all the little things God does for us. It can be as simply as allowing us to breath this very second, telling the birds to sing us a song in the calm of the morning, or even just keeping us safe from harm and danger when we are driving down the road. God does so much for us every second of every day, and we don't seem to give him the time of day. I know I fall into that category. When our eyes are fixated on the things of this world, they can't be set on God. It's either one or the other. We arn't Spritually cross-eyed! If our eyes are fixed on him, we will be more apt to see blessings and miricles that he's performing all around us. And the more we look to God, the more we notice his love toward us and begin to fall deeper in love with him. So, make sure you apply your eyeshadow today!

Flawless Foundation

I have decided to start a series of entries based on one topic. I entitled it "Spiritual Makeup." I will cover things like eyeliner, foundation, blush, etc. So, today, I will be focusing on foundation. As we start our Spiritual walk for Christ, we must first build upon a strong foundation. I have a couple of verse to help get the point across.

"According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have layed the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay that that is laid, which is Christ Jesus." -I Corinthians 3: 10-11

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." -II Timothy 2:19

"He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon the rock." -Luke 6: 48

Generally, when we apply our makeup, the foundation is the first thing we put on. It sets the stage and wipes the slate clean, giving us a good starting point. Likewise, when we got saved, we trusted God, and our slate was wiped clean. We need to continue building our lives upon Jesus before we even think about doing his work, or else it will fall apart and create a huge mess. Without the foundation, the house can't stand. If we don't start with the right foundation, what good are the works we do? They will never stand up to the test. We wouldn't be doing it out of love but rather out of habit or even selfishness. And,when the storms of life come our way, we won't have a strong foundation to keep us safe and grounded. Foundation also covers up blemishess and gives our face a clean, even tone. When we build upon the foundation of God, we will develop a desire to do God's will. When we have a change in our life, our spiritual walk becomes greater, thus making some of our blemishes dissappear as we go. We could get so much of God that, when our spirit is full, our flesh will benifit, and we will serve God on the outside rather than just on the inside. This foundation will be just the begining of the greater features to come.