The Priviledge of Prayer

Not too long ago I was watching a sports special on television. It was featuring a fairly famous basketball player and they were allowing people to talk to him through skype. While one kid was talking this basketball player a question, the thought came to my mind about how much of a huge occasion it would be to be able to talk to a basketball star like this person. However, the Lord just seemed to speak to me about how if I think that talking to a mere human just like I am is special, how much more special is it to talk to the very God Who holds the universe in His hands. There is no person on earth who is more special, great, powerful, or famous than He is. It such a priviledge to talk to Him! However, if this is true, why do we not appreciate it as we should? I am terribly guilty of this, yet I pray that I will not take for granted the priviledge of prayer. We  are all unworthy to have any fellowship with this great and holy God, but He has given us the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, so that by His shed blood and ressurection, we can be justified and reconciled to Him. Let's ask God to help us truly appriciate this priviledge that is ours.

Letting the God of Peace Do the Job

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the evrlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen" - Hebrews 13:20-21

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." - Philippians 2:13

 I just have something quick but important to say about these passages. As time has gone on, God has been teaching me the importance of these verses. They tell us that it is God who is the One who produces in us the desire (will and right motives) and power to be what He would have us to be and consequently do what He would want us to do. Our job is to submit to His rule in our lives and to daily exchange our will for His. As we do this and read God's word, pray, and go to church, God begins to work in our hearts and produce what He would have in us. So join me in seeking to let go and let God work our hearts and lives.

His Heart for the Lost

 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway[s], even unto the end of the world. Amen" - Matthew 28:18-20

This passage from God's Word is known as the Great Commission. Every believer in Christ who has been taught the basics of the Bible has heard of and read this passage. The trouble is that we have heard it so many times that we forget about the urgency of its message. Jesus has commanded us to go and make disciples (that is what the word teach means in this passage). Why? Because there are billions of people in the world who are dying and going to hell. They need to hear of the living Savior, Jesus Christ who died and rose again for their sins. The Lord has convicted me about how I have not had the heart that He has toward the lost. I need to have the love of Christ toward the lost. When we all let God produce that love in our hearts we will truly be a more effective witness for Christ.
Here is some song lyrics that my brother Jesse wrote having to do with this same topic:


Emergence



I see you there again layin' in the low light,

You're sayin its okay, I've got bigger better plans tonight,

But if you can, just take a look around

You see a world thats shaken up, dragged around, and beaten down,

So...shake the dust off, we're scraping all that rust off,

Tonight we're breakin' out to show this world what we're all about.



Chorus:

Ohhh oh Emer-emergence now we're surfacin'

Emer-emergence, Lord for you we're shinin',

Emer-emergence yeah we're through with hidin',

We'll never know the difference we make,

Until we start living our faith,

So father won't you give us your grace.

(Ohhh ohh so Father won't you give us your grace!)





You're sayin that you're strong, but I feel the pressure rising,

The grip of fear thats captivated you from realizing,

Our God, our Shield has given everything

For us to live out loud and show the people what His love's about..

So shake the dust off, we're scrapin' all that rust off,

Tonight we're breakin' out to show this world what we're all about!



Chorus:

Emer-emergence now we're surfacin'

Emer-emergence, Lord for you we're shinin', Emer-emergence yeah we're through with hidin'

We'll never know the difference we make,

Until we start living our faith,

So father won't you give us your grace.

(Ohhh ohh so Father won't you give us your grace!)







Ohh, though this world tries to break you,

I will never forsake you,

I will...never leave you.

Oh! though this world tries to break you,

I will never forsake you,

I will never leave you!



Chorus:

Emer-emergence now we're surfacin' (Ohhh, though this world tries to break you...)

Emer-emergence, Lord for you we're shinin' (I will never forsake you...)

Emer-emergence yeah we're through with hidin'(I will never leave you...)

We'll never know the difference we make,

Until we start living our faith,

So father won't you give us your grace.

(Ohhh ohh so Father won't you give us your grace!)

Lessons from the Baketball Team

As some of you may already know, I play basketball for the Clermont Christian Academy Chargers. Being apart of the team has been great for many reasons. It has been a great outlet that the Lord has provided and it has also taught me some valuable lessons. For instance, when you play basketball, you don't always do everything perfect. There are some mistakes that are made (sometimes pretty embarrassing ones). If you let them, these mistakes will drive you nuts with thoughts like,"I can't believe I just did that" or "I don't how I'm going to recover from that one." However common sense tells you that those thoughts are to be put away and focus needs to be re-centered on the game and and what needs to be done now not what should have been done in the past.

If this simple principle is common sense to us, why do we not apply it to our spiritual walk. When we mess up, we tend to beat ourselves over the head and then sit and wallow in our mistakes. However, when we do this, we wind up being of no good to God or to others because we are so wrapped up in ourselves. God's grace is there to hold us up spiritually even when we mess up. For us who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ alone as our Savior, we do not loose God's love or His salvation just because we messed up no matter how big or small that mistake may have been.God still loves us and holds us in His hand no matter what. The Lord has given us the guarantee in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sin to Him, He will forgive us. Don't get me wrong, we do need to be take sin seriously and be grieved whenever we do wrong. In reference to the proper attitude a believer should have towards sin in his life, James 4:9-10 says,"Be afflicted and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." Whenever we do wrong we should be truly sorry for that sin, ask God for forgiveness, look at how we can do better, and then move on in the forgiveness of God with that knowledge of how we can do better in mind so we do not commit that sin again. So next time you fall, even if it is with that same old thing you have battled for so long, get back up and move keep moving forward. God's grace will always be there for you.

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Instead of having a usual post, I wanted to tell how you can know subscribe to Pillars of Grace via email. Every time something new is posted you will automatically recieve an email of that new post. If you would like to do this just look to the left side bar where it says "Subscribe to Pillars of Grace via Email" click on it and it will bring you to a new page where you will type your email adress in. Thanks!

Strong on Your Behalf

"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him." - 2 Chronicles 16:9


Have you ever felt like God is a distant God? You may think,"Other people talk about how God has showed Himself mighty in their lives, but He never seems to do the same for me." Many people ask this question in their hearts but fail to ask themselves why it seems to be the case. You see, God wants to show Himself to be mighty on your behalf even more than you do. Second Chronicles 16:9 says,"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect (loyal) towards him."

If God desperately wants to do great things in our lives, then why doesn't He? Well, one very possible answers to that question is that we may not have a totally surrendered to God. If we are holding on to the controls of our life, God cannot have His way and as a result, we will live a sad life of mediocrity in which we will not see God as our defence, strength, and sustainer. The verse in 2 Chronicles validates this when it talks about how God looks to shew Himself strong on the behalf of those who are loyal to Him. Surrender is absolutely necessary for us to see the mighty hand of God the way we should.

God uses trials to shows us that He is with us and that He is our Strength. It is the unwillingness of many of God's children to go through the trials and valleys that keeps them from seeing the Lord's mighty hand in their lives. You see, in order for us to be able to say,"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me"(Psalm 23:4), we have to first be willing to go through the valley. The Bible is filled with examples of people who went through difficult circumstances. However, they remained faithful to God and trusted in Him. As a result, the Lord showed Himself strong on their behalf. Afterwards their hearts were filled with joy and peace because of their confidence in the Wonderful One who proved himself to be for them. These people in God's Word had to first go through a trial in order to be able to experience the joy of having the Lord prove Himself mighty to them. The same is true with us. God is not going to let the trials that He, in His good and sovereign will, allows into our lives to destroy us. God is good in everything He does and He just wants to use trials for a far greater purpose in our lives (Romans 8:28).
With all this in mind, I encourage you to make sure you have surrendered your life to the Lord. Tell Him that You are willing for Him to lead you where He would have so that your heart may be filled with a joyful song about your strong Redeemer. Believe me, you will not regret it.

Something To Think About...

Where would you be at this point in life if it were not for Christ?

A Holiday Tradition Re-done for the Better

I don't know about yours, but my family has tons of holiday traditions. Some have faded as we have become a little older, but most have remained the same. One of the traditions that we do every Christmas is that my family and I go out to the Olive Garden on Christmas Eve. That tradition had to be somewhat changed this year due to complications with my ninety-two year old grandmother who is currently living with us. She is on Hospice of the Comforter, and we do not know how much time she has left on this earth. Because of her inability to go out anywhere and her having to have someone with her at all times, we all knew that we would have to change our Christmas Eve tradition in some way. One night my family and I were talking about the situation and my sister-in-law Rachel suggested the idea that since my Grandma could not go to Olive Garden we would bring Olive Garden to her. We planned to carry-out from Olive Garden and take in to the house where we had the dining room table all made up and some Christmas music playing in the background. Rachel and my mom volunteered to be the "waitresses" of the event and they served the meal in just the order they do at Olive Garden: salad or soup and bread sticks, main course, and the optional dessert.
In a big way, having our annual tradition at home was better than having it at the restaurant. It felt good knowing that we were giving up what was special to us in order that we could make this Christmas more special to Grandma. We all knew and still know that this Christmas will probably be her last on earth, and we wanted to make it a great one for her.
The Lord really gave my family the opportunity to exercise the attitude that Christ had at Christmas: the attitude of servant hood. There were many times we had to sacrifice what seemed to be best or most fun for us and in turn, do what was best for my grandma. That is exactly what Jesus did for us. He gave up the worship of angels and the glories of heaven to come to earth and die for our sins and rise again so we could live with Him in heaven forever. Christ set the example that we need to follow: the example of servant hood.