Eating my Own Dog Food

I talk a lot on this blog about love, compassion, selflessness and caring but my own sinful nature wins out more often then when I give over to God's will and even when clearly being told the Lord's will I often say no. I feel like Paul:


15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
Romans 7:15

My prayer:
Lord, Please fill my heart with you to the point where I am not even there anymore. Thank you for the realization that I am sinful and incapable of good, smash me down and rebuild me as you want me. 


This I pray in your name,


Amen

About Love - God Does the Hard Work for Us

“[More on Love and Hatred] For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”
1 John 3:11

 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:7-12

44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
Matthew 5:44

The Bible is amazing! We are not only given instructions, we are aided each step of the way to complete them. When I first read in the Bible that we should love our neighbors (even our enemies) I felt like I was being asked too much. Since my mind was always focused on earning my way to salvation the concept of loving everyone especially people I don't like and people that have wronged me seemed impossible.
Through sin the human race was barred from contact with God. We couldn't be close to him any more but through God's gift to us, we are open to God and able to know him.
John explains in his first book that God is love. Since we can know God we can know love. The exciting thing about this is God commands us to love but he also set things up so we can know love through him; HE IS DOING THE WORK FOR US!
I love the Bible; every time I read it I get more excited about God's gifts of grace and what that means for me.

My Prayer: 
Dear Lord, Please help me to let go and let you take over. Thank you for doing the hard work for me. Amen

About Love - Listening and Understanding

James 1:19
 19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry
Understanding, listening , and seeing things from another person's perspective are hard things for me. I find myself often in conversation with someone, and find that instead of listening I am just waiting for my chance to speak, to be heard, and am not really trying to see the other person's point of view. This really bothers me as I want to be an example of understanding, I want to be a good listener, in fact I want to be there, I don't want to be the selfish guy who just wants to talk. What can I do?

1. Affirmation: The Person I am Talking to is the Most Important Person in the World at That Moment
The first thing I do is constantly remind myself of the affirmation, "This person is the most important person in the world" and in that conversation I am going to treat them that way. I am not only going to listen, I am going to pay attention to what they have to say verbally and non verbally and I am going to be sincerely interested because if I am not sincerely interested, I will retreat to my own thoughts and not listen to what they have to say. I learned this technique from my Mom, she taught me a prayer before talking "Dear Lord, please remind me that this person I am talking to is a child of God and my brother or sister in Christ"

2. If it is over the phone - take notes. For real, this is awesome because of the conversation get's off topic you can ask questions about things talked about earlier in the conversation. If I am talking to someone and they reference things earlier in the conversation, I know they care.

3. Get Things off your mind - Taking personal time to meditate, journal, and reflect can help put you in a centered place which will help have a more present frame of mind for a conversation.

4. Be a lifelong learner - There are lots of resources available to help you learn to be an active listener, look into them and always be open to new techniques. This, in itself is an act of love for those around you because learning how to be there, learning how to understand shows that you love others.

5. Ask about feelings. Understanding requires paying attention to more than just the content of a subject, it also requires analysis of the emotional product of the subject. How did an event feel? Learning about the feelings involved shows the speaker that you care about them, not only about the information.

I am not the best listener, in fact I can be an example of the worst but I want to be better and these are just a few tips that I have learned; please share your tips for listening, understanding, and being a more loving person.



My Prayer: 
Father God in Heaven, 
Your commandment to us is to love one another and I thank you for that, I thank you that we are commanded to do something that brings me so much joy and brings joy to others. Please continue to talk through me and help me to show the kind of love you desire. In your ever present Holy name.


Amen

Who am I in Christ?

The question of identity lead me back to the Bible.

With a quick web search I found:
Romans 8:14,15
because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
Galatians 3:26
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus
John 1:12
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

To revisit the question, "Who am I?" I can truthfully answer that I am a Child of God because I believe it in faith and it is stated in the Word but, what does it mean to be a Child of God? It means we are heirs to his kingdom! Through Jesus's sacrifice we are able to inherit eternity!

Romans 8:16-17

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.



My Prayer:

Father God, I can never comprehend the full sacrifice you made through sending your Son to die for me, but I can read your Word and see the message that I am your child through that sacrifice and feel your Spirit well up in me. Thank you for eternity Lord! 


Amen

Who am I Without Using Labels- a recent paper for communications

My Comm103 class required us to write a paper on who we are without using labels. This was a tough assignment and thought it would be a good thing to share here.

The purpose of this paper is to describe who I am but without using labels. I will explore who I really am and then write about what I learned in the process of describing myself.

To start, I am oversensitive and too hard on myself; perfection is the goal and when I can't reach it (as it is impossible to reach it) I beat myself up. The drive to make myself better leads me to physical activities like riding my bike, going to the gym, and practicing yoga as well as learning how to listen, control my emotions, and improve my abilities to be empathic to others.. Having personal ambition isn’t all bad in that it leads me to be in good physical shape, to learn, and to treat people around me with love and compassion.  It has also driven me to have a relationship with God and to make the decision to serve the Church working in the pastoral ministry.  

To the point of what I learned; I learned that striving to be perfect and beating myself up for my mistakes is a big part of who I am.  This process I explored in writing this paper continually reminded me that I can’t be perfect and by exploring who I am I can conclude that it doesn’t matter because my imperfections are a big part of what makes me who I am. I also learned that I am more than just labels; describing myself through exploring my activities, faults, and strengths is a lot more complex than a plain label. For example, describing me as a Christian is simple and easy when compared to talking about being on a path to serve God and what my plans for my faith are. I also learned that I may not like myself at times, but generally I do like who I am especially when I explore myself in the manner of this paper.

Another way to talk about what I learned is to describe my feelings about the process. It was anxiety ridden.  It doesn’t just require hard thought to describe myself, it requires tension, and feelings from the gut. It was a tough process, but I enjoyed the end result. Through these feelings I learned that this paper didn’t just describe me, it explored who I am which has taken me a step further in developing my self-concept.

In conclusion, this paper helped me to learn how to explore who I am and taught me that my own concept of self is important; I believe that this process if repeated periodically will help to improve my relationships through helping me to understand myself.

Bible Study

Bible study is important, it allows us to listen to God, align our mind with his, fill our hearts with him, and bring our lives in line with his will. Bible study can be a tough thing as it requires discipline, taking time out away from our lives, and a full focus on God rather than on ourselves. Ways to make study easier.

Make it a Routine

Pick a time every day when you are focusing on your study. This time will be different depending on you, what you prefer and you’re routine. You can try fitting it into existing routine like studying in the bathroom as part of morning hygiene, reading a bible verse in addition to your nightly reading, reading from the Bible to your kids, adding bible study blogs to your daily RSS reading list. The key isn’t using one of these tips, the key is analyzing your routine and seeing how you can fit the Word into it.

Make it Easy

Bible study may seem intimidating but something is better than nothing and something tends to lead to more. One verse a day, one daily bible verse from a web site, or devotion from a small devotional is all you need. It never matters how little it just matters that you are going into the word.

Find a Buddy

Reading with a spouse, friend, or group can make it easier. Through a periodic reading buddy mutual accountability is kept and it will help both of you. Your church will have bible studies either at the church or listed, ask your minister.  And remember, if time is a problem it can be over the phone,  or a shared verse through e-mail or chat, just because it isn’t in person doesn’t make it diminished.

Daily bible study is a heck of a commitment but it will change your life, when the lord fills your heart, nothing bad is strong enough to break through. 

Colossians 3: 1-2,16

 ¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

My Prayer

Father God,

I praise you and I invite you into my heart. Please help me to practice my own word, please help me to continue to focus on your word and to align your will with mine. Father God I love you and I love the paths you guide me upon, please fill my heart and help me to continue this wonderful path you have led me upon.

Amen

Can't do Good on my Own

Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

This is a tough one for me because when I read something like this I try to do it myself. I continually put my foot in my mouth and cause harm and realized I was thinking more of myself then the others around me. Sin makes it so I can't do good on my own, I can try all I want but as a sinner I can't. Only through God can I do good and I remember that in prayer.

Father God,
On my own I try to do good and always I fail. I do and say the things that cause pain and hurt and don't do good where I should. Dear Lord please help me to remember that you are with me at all times and are even in me. Please help me to be loving and kind and to be like you. Please help me to be helpful, supportive, and to contribute to building up others. Help me to let go of my selfishness and to walk in your ways. Amen.