It's an amazing World

Today will you please look up 1 John 1:5-10

I have been studying this section of 1 John lately, first for school (Hurray for Christian homeschool curriculum!), then on my own time. It is a wonderful section of scripture that basically sums up everything about confession and forgiveness, while touching a couple of other subjects.
I think today I’ll mainly cover verse 7, I actually like the King James version best, which is unusual. It says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I love that! And it’s true! By sending Jesus down to die on the cross for us, God took away the punishment for all of our sins, as long as we confess.
It is very important we know what this word means, so here goes:

My definition of confession: Telling God that you did something wrong and admitting it was wrong.

Rooted and Grounded* definition of confession: Confession means that we agree with God about our sin. That is, we say, “Yes, God, I was selfish (or proud, or boastful, or whatever), and that was sin.”

Dictionary Definition: A statement acknowledging guilt.

*Rooted and grounded is my Homeschool devotional that I have been doing for the past few weeks. It is really good! It encourages me to dive deeper into subjects that are kind of considered the basics, subjects that I wasn’t really paying that much attention to before.

 It is important to confess with more than just our words, God can see our hearts, you know, and if we don’t mean what we say then it doesn’t count, to us or to Him.

Amen.

OK, today I am going to approach  a difficult subject, one that I have been meaning to write about for a while now:
Family.

Now please don’t judge me; I have never run a family, I don’t know how hard it is, but for even as the oldest of four children in my household I still do my best to make a difference. For those of you who are parents, I am not sure how much I can offer, but for those of you who are the young adults of the household, I have a few tips.

Families today, oh where do I start? The hatefulness? The lack of understanding? The lack of forgiveness? The addiction to electronics? These are problems I have in my family, mainly with my siblings. How about we start with hatefulness? I can be really hateful to my siblings, if I am in a bad mood, or if they make me mad I usually am. And they can be just as hateful in return. In my house, unfortunately, my siblings and I are all rivals against each other. Sometimes we form allegiances, sometimes we can get along, but I guarantee that at least once a day we get mad, and frustrated, saying and doing things solely to make the other person mad. We are all very fierce towards each other, always waiting for the someone to mess up, to do something wrong, like four countries, on the brink of war. Always.
I pray everyday that this will get better. That we can set our differences aside and love each other like God meant us to love each other as siblings, as family.  And, in the past month it has gotten slightly better.

Next, lack of understanding. Also mostly my siblings and I. After an argument, when trying to talk it out, I usually cannot really understand my sisters side. Mainly because i don’t try to, another thing I am working on.

This brings me to the lack of forgiveness, AKA, stubbornness. When arguing with my siblings it is really, really hard for me to just drop the subject. I tend to want to keep going until they admit I’m right. Why? Because I’m very, very stubborn. So, when they don’t do what I want and admit that they were wrong, I do nnnnnnoooooooooottttt want to forgive them. I have been working and praying particularly hard on this one. Because it is, very much, a problem! Yes it’s good to correct somebody if their wrong, so that they know what’s right, but I tend to go about it the wrong way, forcing people to admit they are wrong. And guess what? My siblings are as stubborn as I am, so this takes a whole lotta head-butting, resulting in hatefulness. Stubbornness is the #1 problem, mainly because it causes or triggers most of the other problems that my siblings and I have.

Last, but not least, is the addiction to electronics. Now my family in general, has not had much of a problem with this, yes we probably spend a little more time on the computer than we should, but it is not an addiction, we can survive without it. However, I was really spending way to much time on the computer solely to be on the computer back in October, this means that I spent more time with my laptop than I did with my family that month. It got really bad. I was missing out on the healthy family I was blessed with because I was plugged in to electronics all the time. Now I don’t have a cell phone, but I know that a lot of people have that problem with phones. They are on their phones all the time, and they miss out on what really matters.

Look at your family: Do you see any of these problems? Are you hateful to your family members? Do you treat them with love and respect like God wants you to? Are you trying to be understanding? Are you stubborn or unforgiving towards your family? Are you addicted to electronics?

How do you think about yourself every day? When people ask who are you what are you going to answer? Are you:

1. A Christian.
2. Redeemed.
3. A humble servant of the LORD.
4. All of the above.

The correct answer is 4. You are all of those amazing, wonderful things. God has redeemed you, and Psalm 107:1-2 says this, “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD proclaim that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe.” (Emphasis added)

OK, so pretend somebody just saved your life, are you going to be silent about it all the time? No! Jesus saved your life, not only that, but He made it better! And how many of us tell people that whenever we get the chance? Not very many I can tell you that much. Now I don’t mean we all have to stand on the street corner and shout to everybody within hearing range that they are going to a very bad place if they don’t straighten up. Where in the Bible does it say to do that? In fact Jesus says that He came not to to condemn the world, but to save it.

And aren’t we supposed to try and be like Christ?

How many of us Christians have turned are life around with the help of Christ? How are people to know that we are here to help if we are yelling at them all the time? They won’t know, that’s the problem.

We, as Christians, have a duty to perform, and that duty is to show people what true love, like in 1 Corinthians 13, is. A love that comes from not only us, but from God. Not only does this help other people but in doing your job you are helping yourself.

Dear LORD,

Thank You for all that I am blessed with. Thank you for a wonderful day, in this wonderful beautiful world, that You made. Thank You for a sun to keep us warm, and stars to guide us by night. You are so amazing and awe inspiring. I don’t know how anyone can look up at the stars while out in the middle of nowhere, when it’s so, so quiet, and think that you do not exist. It makes no sense to me, but please help me to understand it better so that I may go about spreading your word with more knowledge of what I’m up against here.

amen.

Exodus 15: 26 says that God will heal us. “But I am not sick,” you might be thinking. Well, nobody is perfect (except Jesus) , and whatever issues or bad habits you may have are things that keep us from getting closer to God. Saying “Oh that’s just a bad habit,” Is basically excepting whatever issue you’re addressing as natural, saying that it’s a problem but your not going to work on it. Worse is when people say “Oh, that’s a bad habit, I need to work on it.” yes, you do need to work on it, and if you say that you need to then actually make steps towards untangling that knot. You must understand that, although you will never be perfect, God is there to help you break those bad habits, and you will always have habits to break. Always.

About two months ago I had gotten really bad about complaining, about everything. I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until one day my best friend Hannah pointed it out to me. I felt so bad, nobody enjoys being around somebody who complains non-stop. When I got home that day I took it up with God. I asked Him to please help me realize all the good things in my life, and to help me focus and point out those things. I went through my Bible, looking up verse after verse that addressed the issue of being ungrateful. After all, by complaining I was ignoring all the things I had been blessed with and it was becoming a knot between me and God. Now, almost two months later, I don’t complain half as much as I did before. I am still working on it, but the knot has become a whole lot closer to being undone.

In the same way you can ask God to help you untangle those knots, those bad habits in your life. And instead of being offended when a friend points out your flaws, embrace it. How would I have known that I have had a major issue if somebody had not pointed it out to me? It’s like going to the doctor, they tell you what’s wrong so that you can treat it, make it better. When somebody tells you about a problem you have you have to learn to treat it.  If your doctor told you you had cancer would you just go on with your life and let the problem get worse and worse? No! You would treat it, try to make it go away. In the same way when a friend tells you that you have a problem don’t ignore them, or be mad. Treat the Problem.  After all you don’t get mad at the doctor he tells you you are sick. I sometimes ask people what my issues are, so that I can fix them, we should try to fix as many of our issues as we can, so that we can become better people. I have a lot of issues that need to be fixed, but it’s never to much for our Heavenly Father.

Dear LORD,
I have problems. I am not perfect. I am not always the person you want me to be. Please help me to fix my issues. Please help me to not ignore my issues, so that I may become more like your Son, who died for me. Please help me eyes find the right verses in the Bible to help whatever issue I may have. Help me to be grateful for what You gave me. Thank you for all the innumerable blessings you have bestowed upon me.
Amen.

Love Still Exists
Today I was listening to French music, and I came upon a song called ” L’Amour Existe Encore” which means Love still Exists. It paints a beautiful picture of feeling safe, and at peace, and at home, and even though there is chaos and terrible things going on in this world, because the singer is safe in the arms of someone who loves her she is not afraid, and she knows that in this messed up world, love still exist.

It’s really a beautiful song, and it reminds us that sometimes things get so bad, we get so tired of fighting the horrible things around us, that God is with us, and He won’t leave us behind. Sometimes we can just lean on Him and rest, before we go back to fighting for His cause He won’t let the Enemy win. God has won, as long as we stay on His side, we are safe. And to stay on His side I believe we must at least try to learn more about Him, and do more for Him.

If we don’t feel safe with Him, will we ever feel safe in this crazy, chaotic world? No! Not really.

Should we feel safe anywhere, because God is with us? Yes, we should. God is Everywhere.

Psalm 46:1-7  tells us to be brave, and strong the the turmoil and chaos and hurt and pain and rage around us.  “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though it’s waters roar and foam, and the mountains quake with it’s turmoil. ” (Psalm 46:1-3)

We are to be brave in God, to trust Him to take care of us no matter what the situation. God loves us. “Look at the birds. They do not store food, grow grain or harvest, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable to Him than they are?”  If God takes care of birds, then won’t He take care of us, the people made in His image?

This morning I was outside, it was about 5:40 a.m., so I’d been out there for about an hour, and it was very quiet and peaceful, the only sound was the wind through the branches of trees and crickets, and I felt complete trust that God would take care of me. Then I heard dogs barking, the kind of barking you hear when dogs are angry, and then a gunshot. It echoed through the valley, and I was not brave, I was very scared. I grabbed my blankets, my Bible, and my prayer journal, and my flashlight and I walked down the driveway as fast as I could, it was when I was walking that the howling started. All over the the valley the coyotes howled, deep into the night. I was praying on the whole walk down the driveway (About a tenth of a mile) that God would keep me safe. I was quoting Psalm 27:1 “The LORD is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?” I was replying in my head, People with guns, rabid animals, coyotes, snakes… etc, etc, etc,

I was not brave in this situation, all I was thinking about was getting to my house and shutting the door tight behind me.  At least I had somebody to ask to keep me safe! I don’t know how people who don’t believe in God live through that kind of situation!

I encourage you to memorize Joshua 1:9, for these situations, where you don’t know what to do, you’ve got that tingly feeling of your spine, and you are just so, so afraid. I pray that you feel God with you in these situations. I pray that you can be brave in God.

Sincerely,

Aubrey Carr

We need to be kind to the people we love; we need to be kind to everybody. One thing that is not kind, that everybody needs to work on, is speaking kindly.

Your are probably thinking, “Well, I talk fairly kind to everybody.” What you might not realize is how to talk to the people you love. Can you go 24 hours without saying something unkind or negative about anybody? If so, then you are doing a good job, if not, you have lost control of your tongue and are not saying enough loving things about the people you love. I would suggest getting a poster and writing a list of all the people you love, and all the things you like about them. Whenever you catch yourself about to say something not very nice about somebody, go and look at the list.