Hey everyone! So I'm going to start using my blog as my new note pad as I go through my bible study. I decided to start out in 1 Corinthians. So I'm going to take it pretty slow here... Like a few verses at a time. Let us begin...
"This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes. 2. I am writing to God's church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus,just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. 3. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace." -NLT
So. This is an introduction. Most people skip introduction or become too familiar with the term "skimming" when reading one. I'm slightly ashamed to say I am one of those people. But there's things you miss when you skim. In the passages above, a couple things I picked up are sort of hidden. It's like playing find the hidden object, without necessarily having a key.
In verse two something that stuck out to me, is where it says "chosen by the will of God". Other versions say "Called by God's will". Please, allow me to chase a pair of rabbits here. Paul, previously known as Saul, had a complete 180. He went from cursing God, and killing Christians ruthlessly, to praising God with every fiber of his being. That's freaking awesome. God specifically CHOSE Paul, for His plan. I think it's really amazing that God picks the people we least expect to be used in the craziest ways.
Another cool thing in verse two is when Paul says "to be his own holy people." God not only chooses us to be apart of His plan but also be apart of His family and His kingdom. And also, note that it says "holy". That's really awesome.
My favorite thing about this passage, is verse 3, Paul's closing statement (to the introduction anyway). He says, "May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace." He uses the illustration of God being our Father again. I still love that. And then he says "give you grace and peace". That's really cool. So many words he could've chosen. But he picked grace and peace. These words are the same words I try to put into action everyday. No, I don't often succeed. But think about it. If we should the people around us a quarter of the grace God showed us? Exactly. BOOM. Mind. Blown. And peace. This is a bit of a struggle for me. Peace and trust are quite similar. More than you might realize. You have to trust God to give you peace. I struggle too often to wholly surrender to God. But when I do, I feel this sense of calmness wash over me. Because I know that He is my savior and protector and He will not harm me. Now. That being said, I still struggle with it. The flesh part of me usually grabs my attention back and I start to freak out. But God's still with me. And that. Is quite amazing.
-MJR
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
To be or not to be? Stupid Question.
Hey everyone! So... for those of you who read my last post.... The "Let's Blog Everyday!" commitment fell through. Soooo. I'm thinking I'll start out on a once a week basis. I'm going to attempt to blog every Monday night. So, now to get to the point of this blog..
Recently in my life, I've been feeling slightly discouraged. For those of you who know me, you might describe me as bubbly or energetic. Well you haven't been around me recently. Here in these past few months I've been quite negative. I took a trip to North Carolina with my mom, Aunt, and Cousin. I had to miss the first youth group of 2013. I had to miss youth group in general! Bummed does not even begin to describe my feelings about that. So I spent almost the entire night very very very grumpy. I decided to read 1 Timothy 4, which is where our youth group band was studying. I figured just because I wasn't there, didn't mean I should get off without reading it. I opened up the massive book and started reading. Verse 2 says: "Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke and encourage your people with good teaching." This is when it dawned upon me, that I'm not the most encouraging person... That totally discouraged me. So I started praying about it. I asked God to not only help me be more encouraging, but to provide me with encouragement throughout my week. And I totally just realized how much he has.
1). He's provided me with the opportunity to use the talents He's given me to share the gospel. I mean how awesome is that?! 2). He's given me a best friend to provide daily encouragement, and to help me in my life. We won't even get into how thankful I am for him. 3). He's done random things throughout my day that have made me smile. 4). This is something that I can only describe as a God thing. For Christmas, I received a phone docker with a clock radio built in (it's so awesome!). My iternet radio wasn't working for whatever reason, so I decided to listen to the radio. I flipped on the radio switch and it turned on to where I have it set: K-Love. Whatever song they were playing ended, and the DJ's came on. They started talking about this 30 day challenge they were doing. The challenge is to listen to nothing but christian music for 30 days and see how God speaks in your life. I remember one of the DJ's saying "And see the different ways God encourages you during that time." I perked up. SO. I've decided to take the challenge.
Being encouraging is a difficult thing to do, when there's so many discouraging things going on. Being encouraging is hard in this world. It's being the light in a dark room. It's standing out. The word encourage has the word courage in it. It takes courage to be encouraging. The word encouraging means to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence. We as Christians are called to encourage not only the lost, but our fellow believers. So lets go shine our lights! Lets be encouraging!
-MJR
Recently in my life, I've been feeling slightly discouraged. For those of you who know me, you might describe me as bubbly or energetic. Well you haven't been around me recently. Here in these past few months I've been quite negative. I took a trip to North Carolina with my mom, Aunt, and Cousin. I had to miss the first youth group of 2013. I had to miss youth group in general! Bummed does not even begin to describe my feelings about that. So I spent almost the entire night very very very grumpy. I decided to read 1 Timothy 4, which is where our youth group band was studying. I figured just because I wasn't there, didn't mean I should get off without reading it. I opened up the massive book and started reading. Verse 2 says: "Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke and encourage your people with good teaching." This is when it dawned upon me, that I'm not the most encouraging person... That totally discouraged me. So I started praying about it. I asked God to not only help me be more encouraging, but to provide me with encouragement throughout my week. And I totally just realized how much he has.
1). He's provided me with the opportunity to use the talents He's given me to share the gospel. I mean how awesome is that?! 2). He's given me a best friend to provide daily encouragement, and to help me in my life. We won't even get into how thankful I am for him. 3). He's done random things throughout my day that have made me smile. 4). This is something that I can only describe as a God thing. For Christmas, I received a phone docker with a clock radio built in (it's so awesome!). My iternet radio wasn't working for whatever reason, so I decided to listen to the radio. I flipped on the radio switch and it turned on to where I have it set: K-Love. Whatever song they were playing ended, and the DJ's came on. They started talking about this 30 day challenge they were doing. The challenge is to listen to nothing but christian music for 30 days and see how God speaks in your life. I remember one of the DJ's saying "And see the different ways God encourages you during that time." I perked up. SO. I've decided to take the challenge.
Being encouraging is a difficult thing to do, when there's so many discouraging things going on. Being encouraging is hard in this world. It's being the light in a dark room. It's standing out. The word encourage has the word courage in it. It takes courage to be encouraging. The word encouraging means to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence. We as Christians are called to encourage not only the lost, but our fellow believers. So lets go shine our lights! Lets be encouraging!
-MJR
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