Visitors

On Saturday morning my doorbell rang. When I opened the door my visitors were excited to see me. I gave them an enthusiastic "Hey!"...(while thinking, "Who are you?!"). I kind of recognized the guy as my Grandpa's brother...though I wasn't sure why he would be here. I invited them in and after a few minutes of conversation, and me wracking my brain trying to figure out who these people were, they asked me what my name was. I was pretty confused because they had come to visit me. Anyway, to end this story quickly they were Jehova's Witnesses. We had a 25-30 minute conversation. They gave me some magazines and left.

Have you ever thought about how you would defend your faith to someone who believes differently? Have you trained yourself in the basics of Christianity? Are you ready for the person who looks at you and says you are wrong?

This might be an ongoing conversation, but I want us all to be prepared to defend our faith. My visitors were very smooth, and very deceptive. If you aren't grounded in the Truth, you could easily be decieved. Let's talk about their beliefs. For example...they do not believe that Jesus is God.

DISCLAIMER: WHAT FOLLOWS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM "THE WATCHTOWER" (A JEHOVAH'S WITNESS MAGAZINE) AND DOES NOT REFLECT MY BELIEFS OR THE BELIEFS OF THE CHURCH I ATTEND

"The Scriptures do at times refer to actual persons as gods. However, a careful examination clearly reveals that the term 'god' in these instances is not intended to designate these individuals as deities. Rather, in the original languages in which the Bible was written, the term 'god was also used to describe a mighty person or an individual who is divine or closely associated with the Almight God.

For example, some Bible verses allude to Jesus Christ as a god. (Isaiah 9:6,7; John 1:1,18) Does this mean that Jesus is to be worshipped? Jesus himself said: "It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service." (Luke 4:8) Clearly, although Jesus is mighty in power and divine in nature, the Bible does not portray him as an object of worship."

OK- it is me again. ONCE AGAIN I WANT TO STATE THAT THE PREVIOUS QUOTE DOES NOT REFLECT WHAT I BELIEVE OR WHAT MY CHURCH BELIEVES. I posted the quote to stimulate discussion about what is true.

So, what do you think? If you have a Bible handy, look up the verses. I'd love to hear everyone's responses to this.

Walls

I have put up some pretty high walls around my relationship with Darcy. I don't ever want to be unfaithful to her. I never want to put myself in a situation where: I will be tempted to be unfaithful, someone will question if I'm being faithful, or Darcy will question if I'm being faithful. So I've put up some walls.

Here is an example. There is a high school girl who is shadowing me at work. One day she got here before anyone else. I decided that we should go to a coffee house to work so that there would be other people around. I know that nothing would have happened, but I didn't want to give anyone else a reason to question my faithfulness to Darcy.

Last week I was getting ready to email a girl who reads this blog. I was trying to decide how to do it appropriately- should I CC her husband, or should I CC Darcy (which I did). In my mind I was talking through how I'd explain to this girl why I'd CC'd Darcy. My thoughts went like this:

"I've put up walls around my marriage to defend it and so that noone can ever question my faithfulness to Darcy. I do this because our relationship is the most important thing in the world to me."

Then I think this: "Well obviously my relationship with God is THE most important."

Then God chimes in and says: "Really? What kinds of walls have you put up to defend our relationship? Are you ever unfaithful to me? Do you do things that would make other people question your faithfulness to me? Do you do things that would make me question your faithfulness to me?"

OUCH! I have to admit that the tv shows/movies I watch and the music I listen to would leave the door open to questions. There have been times that I've been at Blockbuster and hoped that kids from our youth group wouldn't walk in and see the movie in my hand.

Why is it that I can so seriously defend my relationship with Darcy, yet be so flippant with my relationship with God?

What do you think? How big are the walls that you build around your relationship with Christ?

The Voice of Truth

This week I want to talk about two related topics: how does God talk to us and how do we know that it is God talking.

Within the past two weeks I have had numerous people ask questions like, "how does God answer prayers," or "how do I know what God is trying to say," or "how do I know what God wants me to do in this situation?" These questions all are related to the question: how does God speak to us?

This is a list of ways that God spoke to people in the Bible (there may be more, but this is what I found): audible voices, signs, dreams, nature, miracles, giving us peace, and speaking through other people, and through the Bible.

The bad news is that Satan tries to confuse us by using the very same methods. Now we have a problem. How do we know who is speaking to us?

I'll share first: over the past week I've really noticed how spiritually dry I am. My relationship with God is not what it should be right now. In the past three days I've been really convicted of this. I've had this feeling that is telling me that I need to get back on track. Then yesterday afternoon I was over come with a feeling that said "You can't do this. You can't be a youth director, you can't be a spiritual leader, and you are failing in your calling to ministry." This feeling stayed with me for several hours. Then I had to ask myself...who was speaking to me?

I came to see that the initial conviction was from God. My spiritual life is not where it should be right now, and God was reminding me of it. He was being a good coach to me and reminding me to give 100%. This was a reminder that I desperately needed.

However I also saw that the conviction and the voice telling me that I wasn't good enough was not God. The Bible tells us that there is no condemnation for people who are in Christ. It also says that God will complete what He has started in you.

Romans 12:2 tells us that when we renew our minds (prayer and Bible study are two great ways) we will be able to know what God's will is- we will be able to know who is speaking to us.

I'd love to hear any comments, but here is a specific question. Has God ever answered a prayer or spoken to you in one of the ways that was listed earlier? If so, could you share a bit of the story. It is awesome to read how God touches our lives!

Accepting Help

Well thanks to anyone who still reads this. We haven't stopped doing it, it is just that 20-somethings can get busy. Last week was crazy for me and I just didn't have the time/energy/inspiration to write anything. I can tell that many of us are in the same situation.

Anyway in my busyness last week I found myself falling into an old pattern- the crazier things get- the more I try to do everything myself. I see accepting help as a sign of failure. After all, if I was really competant, shouldn't I be able to handle things? Seriously- I'm the helper. I'm so great that I can help other people. I don't need people to help me in all my greatness (I hope you can sense my sarcasm). Unfortunately, though I don't feel this way, I often act this way. Why is it so hard to accept help?

One of my favorite people of all time is Elijah. You can read about him in the Bible in 1 Kings 17. This guy was a stud. He was important. He was a big shot. He was bold and he was used by God. Yet immediately after his public ministry starts, God puts it on hold. God tells him to go hide in a ravine doing nothing except drinking from the brook and eating food that God would provide. Doing nothing like this would be a stretch for me. Next God tells him to go to a starving widow, tell her that he is hungry, and ask for a meal. This must have been tough for Elijah. After all...he is really important...he should be helping the widow...it shouldn't be this way.

Yet this was God's plan. This is not a story about laziness and taking advantage of other people. It is a story of someone who relied totally on God. Elijah didn't let his pride get in the way of God. He was faithful in all ways.

I hope we can continue to help and support each other. My greatest desire is that we could help each other as we try to follow God and grow our relationships with Him.

What are your thoughts?

By the way...I'll go first with asking for help. I could really use some prayers for me and my family. The reality of loosing Dad is setting in. Thanks. Also, I could use some more people to go to Acquire the Fire (this asking for help thing seems to get easier as you go).