Theology Class & Some Prayer: Week 3

Another great week at class.  We learned about Baptism, What Does It Mean to commit Blasphemy, and Gifts.  To be honest it blew me away.

I don't before tonight I thought about all the different kinds of Baptisms there are, What does the Bible say about it, etc.  I just knew I was baptised as a child and then again in August 2010.  Of course I knew I needed to be baptised after giving my life to God but I don't think it was important to me until God convicted me of it.  I didn't ever want to be one of those people who are just "going through the motions" of being a child of Christ.  I wanted to know it was right to do it in my heart.  Besides what good is it if it's not coming from your heart.  God knows the truth and that's what mattered to me.

Blasphemy.  That is a word that I thought I understood.  What I really didn't understand is, is it really unforgivable.  What if a person who committed blasphemy but then later in life became a Christian, would they be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven.  What if I committed blasphemy in my youth and never realized it.  My pastor posed a great statement though.  If you are thinking about what if I did that before I was saved you didn't do it.  Blasphemy is a reference to people with hardened hearts who keep refusing to see God's goodness, God's miracles, His Son.

The Pastor also talked about receiving the fullness of the spirit.  What Gifts do you have and how to receive empowerment for them.  I think you can read things in the Bible about Fruit of the Spirit or reaping the rewards of fruit.  For me I didn't really understand what that all meant.  My Pastor really clarified it all through a simple drawing.  Imagine a lush fruit tree.  There are 3 elements which are needed for that tree to bare fruit.  Sun, rain, and good soil.  The tree by itself can't force fruit to grow from it's branches without help.  With the help of these elements it has beautiful fruit.  Similarly to our faith.  Without God's word and the Holy Spirit we can't bare fruit.  We can't experience empowerment with our spiritual gifts if we don't ask God to help us desire out gifts.  We don't choose our own gifts.

That lead into a beautiful closing of the class.  Another class next door to us at the church is on Prayer and Healing.  If we wanted we could get prayer for empowerment of our gifts.  My flesh wasn't really wanting to but I felt my heart said yes.  So I went and 2 wonderful ladies layed their healing hands on me in prayer.  It was awesome.  I left with an intense warming feeling that I couldn't quite comprehend.  On the drive home God really solidified my gift for helping other women. 

Theology Class: Week 2

Where do I begin.  It was another great class.  I just wish it was longer.  Tonight the class was on Repentance, What is Faith, and Who is Christ.  It was a really abbreviated amount of info.  This is just what was on my mind about these things.

I've realized I've never gone further than looking up the definition of repentance.  Tonight's class really made me look at things I need to repent on.  I use to think because I wasn't committing a major sin that I was a "good person".  With some things I felt guilty or I just understood what I was doing was wrong.  When really that is just the beginning of repentance.  I really need to have an emotional connection (crying out to God) and finally a personal decision to renounce the sin.  The main question I really need to keep asking myself is How is my sin offending God.

In retrospect I face a lot of temptations but to fight temptation, that's the true test of character.  Even Jesus was tempted.  I think you can get a better grasp on this idea by watching the beginning scene of the movie "The Passion of the Christ".  Jesus is praying and being tempted by Satan.  I think too often we think that Jesus didn't experience the same emotions as we do.  So often we can miss temptation in our own lives because we give into feelings of resistance.  For example I LOVE food.  Especially at night I get this sweet craving and become tempted to eat or over eat.  So many times I don't think of the temptation part...just the part of how "good" it will taste.

What is Faith??  To me it's more of a feeling, sometimes an action word.  Since I was young I've always known God was near me.  It wasn't until I was 24 did I really experience His love but I've always known God created me for a special purpose.  So faith to me was knowing what is in my heart.  I've always felt my heart was connected to God.  Faith to me is also an action word.  It's a confidence in knowing that God is in control.

Who is Christ??  What a loaded question.  I'm sure I'll always be trying to wrap my little brain around who Christ is.  Like I mentioned earlier Christ faced the same temptations we do everyday.  One question that I'll be praying about is did Christ have a super strength when it came it temptation.  Of course he was Jesus and as John 5:58 says, "before Abraham was, I am".  He is the foundational belief of being fully man and fully God.  How awesome is that!!
He had human weakness and limitation.  When I think of this I think of all the rejection Jesus faced as a man.  Yet He had enough strength to know He was the ultimate sacrifice.  He didn't resist the temptation to flee from harm.  He was the example of a perfectly obedient life.

I could probably write so much more but I'm emotionally and physically tired from everything going on.

Until next week...

My new Theology Class

Just got back from my first ever Theology class.  Lets just say it answered a lot of questions of mine but I feel like I really don't know much about God.  For starters have you ever just sat and thought about God's everlasting, his eternal presence.  Look to your left and just keep looking and looking and he is there and all the things you can's see, he is there.  Now do the same thing but look to your right.  We can't understand how vast, wide, or that His love is big.  But how big is it??  It's not something you can contain.

My only emotion right now is WOW.  It hurts my head to think how he loves us.  As it says in the bible his love stretches from everlasting to everlasting.  To try to understand this in the physical world we live in is mind boggling.  IT doesn't make sense because His LOVE is so HUGE!!!!

I feel like I've been running a marathon and now God has given me this new strength, this new perspective of what he wants to reveal to me.  How AWESOME IS THAT!!!!

A big question that has bothering me to try to understand is:  THE TRINITY.  And also what are the differences between Body, Soul, and Spirit.  What do they mean and how do they relate to how God wants them to line up, to synch.

We all have bodies.  But what is your soul, and your spirit??  Before we were saved christians we may have a body and a soul but have a spiritually dead "spirit".  That made so much sense to me because I know what it's like to be spirtually dead.  Maybe a more appropriate question is how to wake up our spirit.  How can we learn how to connect with the body and soul.
We can be surrounded by the most perfect spiritual experience but have no feeling in that area.  It takes God drawing you into Him to awaken that deadness.  So you can cry and feel connected to God, possibly not knowing how you got there but nevertheless you are there and your "trinity" per se  is in unison.

What an eye opening night filled with feeling like I'm surrounded by HIS love!!

The Spirit is Willing but the Body is Weak

The Spirit is WILLING but the body is weak!!

That one sentence has been in my head all week. The spirit wants me to spend more time with God. My brain sometimes chimes in and says, no I have so much to clean or organize. I can't do that right now.

I think many people face these same struggles. Life has become so busy we forget how important it is to sit down and relax and think. Instead our schedules won't allow us to clear a space for the Lord.

Lately, I've been setting goals for myself. I can clean and cook and organize until 12pm. Then it's time for God. I feel so much better not just because I get to spend some great time with God but I always react to situations better and with more love.

With all the things going on in our lives it can be hard to spend a time of reflection with ourselves. A time to be truly honest with ourselves, about ourselves.

I'm sure many addictive personalities people know they that are making bad decisions but they do it anyway because it's what they know. We are creatures of habit. When it feels right it must be the way right???

Life won't always feel "right". Sometimes you have to go against the grain to get past a hurt or addiction and it won't feel right at first. You have to create a new healthy habit. The Spirit is always willing. We just have to tell the body what to do.

My Help Comes From The Lord

I think the title really sums up everything. My Help Comes From THE LORD!!! The latest couple of weeks I've been attending a really great church and it feels like a "home church". Today we heard a testimony from a man who attend Saddleback church in California (Rick Warren's church). It was so refreshing to hear brutal truth from someone who comes before the Lord and proclaims how imperfect they are. In a world that concentrates on perfection and looking good this man confessed to all of us how his life fell apart but then how God put it back together in a much better way. How awesome is God!!! How awesome is He to help us to live in a way that He prefers and that we truly desire.

I was thinking of what is one thing that makes me truly happy when life seems to make me stress (and even when it doesn't)...it's God. God fills me with the strength, love, and joy that makes me whole. God makes me whole!!

Rain

I sometimes will have times when I get this overwhelming feeling God is with me and He gives me great knowledge. I got this feeling yesterday as I was getting ready to go walking with a friend. I was thinking, as I have been, about certain people who challenge me when it comes to my faith in the Lord.

I'm sure we all have people or situations that have challenged or tested or knowledge about our faith. I have been preparing for my next "encounter" by reading the Bible and praying more.

So I was praying and thinking about what I would say if my faith was the hot topic once again. Then I got this beautiful message...

Rain. Rain can be a great comparison to how we have faith in our Lord. The smell of rain and the clouds in the sky is like our faith in God. We know HE is around us because of things that are happening in our environment. The smell of rain is like no other smell. We know what it is and we don't question it. When someone's questions my faith it's like someone telling you, "maybe you don't smell the rain, I can't see it so it's not rain".

We can't see the smell of rain and sometimes it's even hard to see rain, say, when it's sprinkling. However, we know it's there or it's coming. As children we were taught and learned that rain is imminent when we see dark clouds, we can smell the moist air and feel the humidity change.

It's very similar to what we are taught about faith. We can't see our God currently but we can feel His love and sense his presence. When we are asked to prove our faith in our almighty God it can sometimes be difficult if people want a physical answer. They want us or God to perform miracles. Would they even believe the miracle? Jesus performed many miracles and some people still questioned Him. Statistically it will take 25-50 miracles or acts from God for a non Christian person to actually believe it came from God.

Matthew 16:4

"A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah."

Forgiveness

"Forgiveness is giving up the possibility of a better past."

Forgiveness means different things to different people. For me I am always learning more and more about forgiveness and what it means to me and my growth.

We all need forgiveness. Whether it's to forgive others or to be forgiven. I have found when I think I have forgiven someone a situation arises to test me.

The Bible also talks about forgiveness.

"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." --Colossians 3:13

I think there are also great examples of forgiveness we can follow. Not only did Jesus forgive everyone that wronged him, he commanded us to forgive one another.

Forgiveness is needed on so many levels of our lives. Whether it's with your spouse, parents, siblings, children or even co-workers.

You can have so much more peace in your life when you learn how to forgive others. Afterall, what good does it do for you for holding onto all those feelings that are preventing you from forgiving that person?

Are you a stronger person?? NO

Most of us, especially if we feel hurt, want to move on from those feelings. Forgiveness is the quickest, easiest and long lasting way to enjoy life again.

Another thing forgiveness does is it helps us grow. Sometimes we have to experience the same lesson more than once. No one is excused from experiencing hurt and in turn forgiveness.

For me, forgiveness has been both easy and hard. It's been very easy to forgive certain people yet so hard with a couple of people. I thought I had forgiven these difficult people yet I had this horrible pride preventing me from loving them. I felt they didn't deserve my forgiveness. I felt so hurt by their actions that I created a wall that prevented me from truly forgiving them and loving them for the way they are. I know God created each one of us and gave us beautiful talents. Yet the thought of one of these people made me so mad. I wanted these people to be something they were not.

At one point I even acknowledged my unrealistic expectations but was still expecting them to be someone different.

My pride kept me from forgiving them and embracing the gifts God has given them. When I heard of things they were doing my pride made me angry at people praising them. In my mind they needed to be punished.

I had been praying for a few months about my stubbornness and my pride. Hoping God would soften my heart so I could love them and love life. This one quote kept appearing. Thats when I knew God was up to something. He sometimes has to put things in front of my face a few times before I get it. This is what I read:

"When you refuse to love people because they're hard to love, you forget the fact that God always loves you, even though you're not always easy to love."

When I read that I really was so full of peace. It was like a burden had been lifted. I know I'm stubborn and not the easiest to love so this made perfect sense to me.

No one is the same you have to learn forgiveness in a way that brings you peace and fills you with love. Once you learn how to forgive one person it helps you with other challenges in life.

"Our only security is our ability to change."