The Ultimate Gift

So I just watched the movie the Ultimate Gift, and wow it was amazing.  I am so amazed at how this movie touched my life.  It was so encouraging to see how God can still work through pain.  In the book one character speaks that something can always be learned even if pain is present.  I think and believe that God has our best in mind always.  I recently had the chance to see God at work in my own life.  I was stuggling with school, and possiblely failing a class.  I was so suck on failing that I could not get past this.  After talking with my parents I leanred that Christ will get me through whatever I encounter.  Then I read in Romans that if we are called by God then whatever we encounter will be for the God.  Just as the movie states sometimes the best learner is pain.  In my situation if I were to fail a class, it would have been better for me.  I found rest and peace in this and in Christ.  I pray that he continues to guide and direct me and you as well. 

Something New

So I have changed the entire purpose of this blog.  This is a place where I can write about something and I would like people to either comment or just simply read it.  The next part is I would like people to if they have prayer request, either post them and or email them to me.  I am a firm believer that prayer works and I think the more prayer we have the better off we will be. 
Coming soon the church will have a website and you will be able check out what the youth group is doing and a better way to pray for them. 

Psalm 107:8

We are to praise God because he his good, and part of Him being good is His lovingkindness.  We should praise God for what he has done in our life, and I can promise you that the good out weigh the bad.  What wonders has he done in your life.  This verse explains that he has done wonders to the sons of man!  How amazing is that.
Have we honestly praised God for His lovingkindness, or do we just take that for granted?  Is God at work in your life right now, if yes then praise Him for that.  But if He is not they why, look inside and really see what the problem is.  Then be ready because he will do wonders in your life!

Psalm 106:1

How encouraging is this verse, praise God for this simiple but yet very powerful verse.  This verse starts off with an explanation point of a statement.  Praise God!  How often to we come before God with an attitude like that?  We are to give thanks to the Lord because he is the only person the only being who is worthy of thanks.  I know and understand that is hard to wrap your mind around.  As kids we are taught to say thank you to everyone, and we should but to give our thanks to someone that is powerful, and God is the only one worthy of that honor.
Then it goes on to what I would believe is the best part of the verse.  It says that His lovingkindness is everlasting.  It will last forever, Praise God!!  How awesome and comforting to know that God will be good and his lovingkindness will last forever!

Psalm 69: 30-31

This verse is explaining to the reader that there are other ways other than giving an ox or a young bull to praise God.  Verse 30 deals with praise God in a new way with song and that we will magnify Him.  This I believe referrers to making him more and making us less.  When we praise God we should be doing that.  Are we honestly thankful for what God has done in our life, and if so have we told him?

Verse 31 says that when we are honest and really thank him for what he has done and honestly magnify then that is more pleasing to God than the old way of sacrificing.  This is a small picture into a true relationship with God.  I would challenge us to do that.  The old way of sacrificing was a law that is just what you did.  Now you can choose to honor God with your life or to not honor God with you life.  It is you choice!

Psalm 50: 23

The first part of this verse deals with a sacrifice.  If we offer a sacrifice of Thanksgiving to God, this honors God.  We understand now that to honor God we have to sacrifice something.  In the Old Testament we see that they sacrificed the firsts of everthing, which was usually considered the best.  So are we offering the best we have to God? 
The second part of this verse is awesome.  We see that if we keep him straight in front of us, then he will show us salvation.  If we walk his path and walk the straight and narrow then he will show salvation.  Praise God for showing us salvation when we walk the straight and narrow.  Are you keeping God in front of you and are you offering the best you have to God to honor him?

Psalm 32:5

In this verse David is confessing his sin and not hiding or trying to hide that he had failed God.  We see him looking back and remebering saying to the Lord that he would confess his sin to God and the second part of that is when he confessed his sin he was forgiven.  From this verse we see first hand that David in deed was forgiven from his sin but he was not taken from the consequences from his sin.  He still had to deal with the descions or lack of desicion he made, but God forgave him and made him white as snow.
I look and see David as a man after God's own heart.  I believe he is an example of how to come to God and confess our sins.  If we do confess our sin and not hide them from God then he will surely forgive us.  Praise God that he forgave David and was able to use David as an example in our lives today.

Psalm 103:12

Praise God for this perfect verse to end on!  We see that David really understood what it meant to be forgiven.  Sometimes we see forgiveness as just a word and then we move on but it is so much more than just a word.  I believe forgiveness is a word first that requires action.  To say that we forgive someone and then we bring it up again, that means that we really never forgave them in the first place.  God is the perfect example of how to forgive.  He has seperated us from our sins as far as the east is from the west!  Along with that he forgets all of them! 
God will forgive you if you will confess your sins to him.  This means that we cannot hide things from him or try to not tell him the whole story.  We have to be up front and honest with God and then and only then will he forgive us.  Praise God for forgiving me of my sins!!

1 John 1:9

This verse is a conditional verse.  That means that we have to do something in order for the rest of the verse to come true.  The first part talks with confessing our sin.  This is a rather difficult thing for us to do.  Pride is a constant thing that gets in the way of us confessing our sins.  On paper it seems so easy to just say that yes I am a sinner but in a group of people it is tough.  I know everyone else is a sinner and the Bible tells me that their sin is no different.  But me being a stupid human I can't help but judge or rank sin.
The second part of this verse is what we so desperately need to come true.  If we confess our sins, then He will forgive them and this verse makes a note to say that God is faithful to forgive our sin.  Whereas humans are not always faithful to forgive each other, God is.  This doesn't mean that we will not have to suffer the consequences but we will be made righteous with God in heaven.  Praise God for his faithfulness to forgive even when we don't deserve it.

Proverbs 28:13

This verse is very encouraging to us in our everyday life. If we try to conceal what we do from God this verse says we will not prosper. First we cannot hide anything from God, and most times it is hard to keep things completely concealed from others also. If we confess and give them all up to God then we will find compassion from God.
This verse doesn't say that if we confess our transgressions that we will not have to pay the consequences but that we will find compassion and find refuge in God. Only he can forgive you and give us compassion. There is nothing we can do to receive compassion. Compassion is to have someone feel sorry for you and for someone to want to take away the pain. I praise God that I have the ability to bring my transgressions before him and that he will give me compassion.

Hebrews 4: 15-16

At the begining of this verse the written of Hebrews is telling the audience that we do not have anyone who can sympathize with us as human beings. Then he goes on to say that we have One who has been tempted just as we are tempted. This is where wee find peace and refuge in our day to day stuggles. Knowing that God was tempted just as I am tempted gives me hope that I won't fall into the temptation. This is what verse 16 is all about the writter is ecouraging us to draw close to God. When we do we will find mercy and strength when we come into times of trouble.
I believe Jesus had to be tempted so we could have a closer and better relationship with him. So he will be able to better understand what we go through when we are tempted. I praise God each day that He understands my temtptation and will help me go through it.

1 John 2:1

This verse is amazing. The writer in 1 John does not want people to fall into sin. Much like a parent or guardian doe snot want their children to fall into sin. This is a message of precaution. But like the rest of the Bible he does not leave us with just not wanting us to sin. He explains that if anyone sins with have an Advocate in heaven on our behalf. The definition of an Advocate is to speak plead or argue in favor of. That Advocate is Jesus himself. He is in heaven to plead for us and to explain to God that he does know us. When we get to heaven we want God to say I know you, come on in.
This Advocate is very special though. It would do us no good to have an Advocate who did not come down here. He is an example to us on how to live our life's, which is sin free. Praise God that he loved us enough to send His Son to die for us, that we might have an Advocate on our behalf.