Before I went to sleep last night, I read a story.
(Excerpt taken from By Their Blood,: Christian Martyrs from the Twentieth Century and Beyond by James C. Hefley, Marti Hefley)
One of those who escaped the camp was a young girl of eighteen who stumbled into an American camp. "Are you in pain?" a nurse asked when she arrived.
"No," she replied, "but I have learned the meaning of the cross." The nurse thought she was mentally disoriented and questioned her further. Pulling down the one garment she wore, the young girl exposed a bare shoulder. There, burned deeply into her flesh, was the figure of the cross.
"I was caught with others in my village. The Turks stood me up and asked, 'Muhammad or Christ?' I said, 'Christ. Always Christ.' For seven days they asked me this same question and each day when I said 'Christ', a part of this cross was burned into my shoulder. On the seventh day they said, 'Tomorrow if you say 'Muhammad' you will live. If not, you will die.' Then we heard that Americans were near and some of us escaped. That is how I learned the meaning of the cross."
This incident happened during the Armenian Memorial Day Massacre on April 24, 1915. Even though this scenario happened almost 100 years ago, this level of persecution is still prevalent today. But for us living in our comfy homes, nice cars, and more luxuries than we can count, we face the same question the young girl did. It might not be choosing between Muhammad or Christ...but between the music you listen to...or Christ. Hanging out with your friends....or Christ. Being quiet....or Christ. What would you choose? In every scenario, do you choose Christ? Always?
Think about it...
God bless,
Jobbin
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Jesus Paid it All!!
"Jesus paidd it allll, alll to Him I owweee... Sin had left a crimson stain, He wasshhed it white as snow, HE washed it white as SNOW!" (hear the music? feel the slow, but steady build-up? can't wait to jump into that excrutiatingly loud bridge line?? - OH PRAISE THE ONE WHO PAID MY DEBT, and RAISED THIS LIFE UP FROM THE DEAD!)
Ahh... good 'ole worship... we know what's going to happen, so we plan for it, we practice it, we stick to the moment and get all that we can out of it......... and then Monday hits and we find ourselves, on our knees at 10pm, prayyyying to God, "God, please forgive me! Take away my sin, wash me and purify me, make me whole once again!!" - possibly cry out and shed a few tears (possibly) until we feel reassured and feel a little better that God has once again provided His amazing mercy and grace over our lives...
The days go by and the weekend hits, and what feels to be a dry spout again in our life begins to become a BUBBLING spring!! (it's bubbling, it's bubbling.. it's bubbling in my SOUL!) YEY, the weekend!! A time of deliverance, revival, fellowship with our Christian friends, a time of meetings and church services.... another opportunity to be fake in the prescence of God all over again!!! YEY!! .......
Some of you might have caught that. Others.. not so much :) That's okay, I have yet to 'preach' or tell a person something that I have not struggled with myself. This is how I know that even the "least of these" can be used to bring God glory.
But I've been thinking about all that God has done for us. The amount of Love that He had for us to give up His Son upon that cross - with each and every hammer slammed against the nails, our flesh, our SIN, was being hung up on that cross...
I recently read a devotional about how our God is The Good Shepherd - you see, shepherds don't beat their sheep and hope they go in the right direction that he wants them to go... NOPE, instead, the shepherd would spend every moment of his life taking care of his sheep, whether awake or asleep, he is there among his sheep. If the pen that the sheep are in doesn't have a gate, the shepherd would actually sleep in the opening of the pen, so that none would get out (or come in) without his knowledge. He is their protector and he lays down his life for his sheep. Spending time amongst his sheep, he develops an amazing relationship with his sheep, and in turn, the sheep look to the shepherd for guidance because they acknowledge he is their master.
With all that God has given up for us, although we will never be able to fully repay Him, shouldn't we at least offer up ourselves to Him as a "reasonable sacrifice" and devote our time and efforts to Him? Not JUST on the weekends? Maybe with all that God has given up for us, shouldn't we at LEAST be adament in our walk with Him to not stray off His path that He wants for us? Maybe... just mayyyybe we can sing a song to Him and not just mean it for the moment, but also mean it come Monday morning, and all throughout the week JUST by living it out in our lives??
Maybe. I encourage you guys - be conscious of all that He has done for us, live a life pure in His eyes, and not just because we're "supposed to" - becuase it's not about the rules, it's about the relationship. So... let's bring truth to this statement:
"Sin has left a crimson stain, HE WASHED IT WHITE AS SNOW"
If it has been washed, and we believe it, let's not turn back to it. He deserves more of us than this...
God bless
Ahh... good 'ole worship... we know what's going to happen, so we plan for it, we practice it, we stick to the moment and get all that we can out of it......... and then Monday hits and we find ourselves, on our knees at 10pm, prayyyying to God, "God, please forgive me! Take away my sin, wash me and purify me, make me whole once again!!" - possibly cry out and shed a few tears (possibly) until we feel reassured and feel a little better that God has once again provided His amazing mercy and grace over our lives...
The days go by and the weekend hits, and what feels to be a dry spout again in our life begins to become a BUBBLING spring!! (it's bubbling, it's bubbling.. it's bubbling in my SOUL!) YEY, the weekend!! A time of deliverance, revival, fellowship with our Christian friends, a time of meetings and church services.... another opportunity to be fake in the prescence of God all over again!!! YEY!! .......
Some of you might have caught that. Others.. not so much :) That's okay, I have yet to 'preach' or tell a person something that I have not struggled with myself. This is how I know that even the "least of these" can be used to bring God glory.
But I've been thinking about all that God has done for us. The amount of Love that He had for us to give up His Son upon that cross - with each and every hammer slammed against the nails, our flesh, our SIN, was being hung up on that cross...
I recently read a devotional about how our God is The Good Shepherd - you see, shepherds don't beat their sheep and hope they go in the right direction that he wants them to go... NOPE, instead, the shepherd would spend every moment of his life taking care of his sheep, whether awake or asleep, he is there among his sheep. If the pen that the sheep are in doesn't have a gate, the shepherd would actually sleep in the opening of the pen, so that none would get out (or come in) without his knowledge. He is their protector and he lays down his life for his sheep. Spending time amongst his sheep, he develops an amazing relationship with his sheep, and in turn, the sheep look to the shepherd for guidance because they acknowledge he is their master.
With all that God has given up for us, although we will never be able to fully repay Him, shouldn't we at least offer up ourselves to Him as a "reasonable sacrifice" and devote our time and efforts to Him? Not JUST on the weekends? Maybe with all that God has given up for us, shouldn't we at LEAST be adament in our walk with Him to not stray off His path that He wants for us? Maybe... just mayyyybe we can sing a song to Him and not just mean it for the moment, but also mean it come Monday morning, and all throughout the week JUST by living it out in our lives??
Maybe. I encourage you guys - be conscious of all that He has done for us, live a life pure in His eyes, and not just because we're "supposed to" - becuase it's not about the rules, it's about the relationship. So... let's bring truth to this statement:
"Sin has left a crimson stain, HE WASHED IT WHITE AS SNOW"
If it has been washed, and we believe it, let's not turn back to it. He deserves more of us than this...
God bless
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
His Calling or Your Comfort?
Hey guys, hope all is going well on your end. God has been good to me since I posted last, and He continues to be a great God in my life.
Today, I woke up wanting to listen to some good ol' Christian tunes, so I jumped onto Youtube and began to search away. I came across a band named BarlowGirl...yes it is an all-girl band but for those who know me well, know that I listen to anything and everything:)..There was a song title that jumped out at me..Stay with me...I was wondering what that meant exactly so I clicked on the link.
The video began with the lead singer talking to a crowd they were playing for. She told them a story of a time when her band was going through some tough times. I don't want to spoil the true essence of her words by mixing it with my own so I'll let you watch the video and take from it what you will and what God wants you to learn from it. But, when I watched this video, alot of things started to make sense in my life. I learned that God is not going to pick you up and take you directly to your purpose and your final destination in His calling. And many of us hear this all the time but, God never places us in front of a wall that He knows we can't overcome. And Alyssa (lead singer of BarlowGirl), said that she wanted to quit serving him because He was making life so difficult for her.
Sometimes it might seem like a problem the size of the Great wall of China is standing before us, but we must remind ourselves that our God is a living God, and he already overcame this "Great wall of China" before and He can do it again. We as humans become so distraught by the laziness we feel and begin to forget that God isn't here to make life the most comfortable experience. We as Christians, must put our comfort on the back burner as we walk in the faith.
As she was sitting in her car complaining to God, she felt Him ask her something. He said that He hears from alot of Christians asking Him to get them out of hard times. But at the same time, they want to know their purpose and pursue their calling. They don't remember asking Him for His hand to work in their lives.
The message that I received from this song and Alyssa's brief testimony was that the hard times are what makes us stronger in the faith, it exercises our patience and makes it flourish so that when we come to face other roadblocks in this walk with God, we have the strength and the tools to overcome them with ease.
Thanks for reading and meditating on this:)
Jonathan
Today, I woke up wanting to listen to some good ol' Christian tunes, so I jumped onto Youtube and began to search away. I came across a band named BarlowGirl...yes it is an all-girl band but for those who know me well, know that I listen to anything and everything:)..There was a song title that jumped out at me..Stay with me...I was wondering what that meant exactly so I clicked on the link.
The video began with the lead singer talking to a crowd they were playing for. She told them a story of a time when her band was going through some tough times. I don't want to spoil the true essence of her words by mixing it with my own so I'll let you watch the video and take from it what you will and what God wants you to learn from it. But, when I watched this video, alot of things started to make sense in my life. I learned that God is not going to pick you up and take you directly to your purpose and your final destination in His calling. And many of us hear this all the time but, God never places us in front of a wall that He knows we can't overcome. And Alyssa (lead singer of BarlowGirl), said that she wanted to quit serving him because He was making life so difficult for her.
Sometimes it might seem like a problem the size of the Great wall of China is standing before us, but we must remind ourselves that our God is a living God, and he already overcame this "Great wall of China" before and He can do it again. We as humans become so distraught by the laziness we feel and begin to forget that God isn't here to make life the most comfortable experience. We as Christians, must put our comfort on the back burner as we walk in the faith.
As she was sitting in her car complaining to God, she felt Him ask her something. He said that He hears from alot of Christians asking Him to get them out of hard times. But at the same time, they want to know their purpose and pursue their calling. They don't remember asking Him for His hand to work in their lives.
The message that I received from this song and Alyssa's brief testimony was that the hard times are what makes us stronger in the faith, it exercises our patience and makes it flourish so that when we come to face other roadblocks in this walk with God, we have the strength and the tools to overcome them with ease.
Thanks for reading and meditating on this:)
Jonathan
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Hold on to Jesus
Hey guys I was just thinking how amazing Jesus spoke to the people about life matters within practical everyday analogies that the simple minded people knew. For example, I've been looking at John 15:1-8, the parable of the vine and branch. He knew the majority of everyone were farmers so he chose a topic that everyone understood already. Basically, in a nut shell you have a vine which is what the branches are attached to. If the the branches are not attached to the vine, the branches will not get stronger and not produce fruit and will die. Spiritually speaking we are the branches and Jesus is the vine. When we hold on to Jesus, we are able to be sustained and able to produce fruit. Also, something that has been on my heart for awhile, I feel we as the youth in the church we start losing connection with Jesus the moment we compromise our values/beliefs so that we can " hang out " with people. Don't ever forget who you are and in any situation HOLD ON TO JESUS.
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