When the Bible Blows Your Mind

Link: When the Bible Blows Your Mind

I am in one of those valleys

And I just want to go back up, but I keep pulling myself down.

I suck at change

The Creation of the World

That is the first subtitle in the Bible. I didn’t even get through the first verse before I was in shock. I am reading about the creation of this world! How blessed are we to have God’s word describe the beginning of the entire universe!?!? Even if you take it as largely figurative, it is still awesome. That is how I want to approach the Bible every time I read it — with awe. God loves us enough that he puts TRUTH down in written form so we can abide in it. Praise the Lord!

Karma doesn't exist.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/why-was-this-child-born-blind

This sermon isn’t by any means working towards that point, but as a Christian, we cannot believe in karma or the like, and Jesus affirms that.

“… suffering can only have ultimate meaning in relation to God. … [For} our suffering to have ultimate meaning, God must be supremely valuable to us. More valuable than health and life. Many things in the Bible make no sense until God becomes your supreme value.”

Too much time spent updating online junk

My life is updated pictorially. Q: And why did I feel the need to create a Twitter? A: To get text messages from John Piper.

But God uses it for his glory!

But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”

-1 Corinthians 2:9

"This is the most painful thing in the world: to see someone destroy their own life. You can’t save someone from themselves. They need to repent and walk with Jesus for themselves. But some of us are just too cowardly. We don’t like conflict. We don’t want our friends to not like us, and so we don’t say anything. That’s a sin. That’s a sin of pride and cowardice." -Driscoll

We must help our Christian brothers/sisters in Christ in humility, and if they don’t repent, we will be sorrowful, but it is not in our hands, yet we cannot do nothing. I need to work on humility.

Do we really have ADD?

Our generation is known to not be able to focus. And I know there are divisions. There are the more intellectual readers, who like to sit and think, and then a large chunk of not sitting and needing flash and bang. Mark Driscoll is a pastor of a church (a big church) that is largely for male singles from 18 to 34 (or somewhere around there) and he has some of the longest sermons I have heard. Either he only gets all the people who like to sit and think, or he is generally blessed with being a good orator and we need to stop dumbing down our generation to only being able to handle 5 minutes at a time.

Mark Driscoll is awesome

“And if you’re a guy here who’s saying, “Are you talking about me?” Yes. You are the idiot of which I speak. And repent, and don’t be an idiot, …” -Mark Driscoll

I love how he just unashamedly calls people idiots, but he does it so they can move to correction.

My new favorite punctuation‽

The Interrobang Alt+8253

It doesn’t work on Tumblr for some reason, but I could copy it over.

Isaiah was called to preach to those who would not listen.

What if we were called to the same thing?

Right now I am just confused. Maybe if I wait, things will just clear themselves up.

Psalm 111:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

If I seek the fear of the Lord, I must “practice it”? That seems to be actually more literal than the NASB which substitute that phrase for “obey his commandments.” I think that would be the natural conclusion of how to practice it, for even if I don’t feel the fear of the Lord, I can kinda imagine how I would act if I did have a good understanding. So if I am to have a good understanding, I just have to obey his commandments in recognition of who He is. Now there are entire books written on who He is (though if looking for a good one, I suggest the source: the Bible), but I won’t go into that. Now I’m not suggesting legalism, but that I need to practice fearing the Lord, all the time.

It's funny...

when I seek advice from trustworthy people, they all tend to give me the same advice. Maybe I should start listening.

Praise the Lord!

I have been accepted into the Honors Program!! $$

The Bible is not a pep talk. It is good news.

http://theresurgence.com/2011/03/31/transform-your-bible-reading

Thanksgivings, Prayers, and Benedictions

In my seeking of how to pray for and encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ (Note, many great lessons about prayer are also found in the Psalms, these are just a few selection from the letters of Paul and John):

Philippians 1

³ I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. […] ⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

• I kept verses 3-5 in there because of the importance of thanking God for having fellow believers who are also pursuing Christ and spreading the gospel. And if we don’t, then you need to start praying for your friends. Verse 9 is so important! Love is so crucial, so so crucial. I hope we never forget that, but what we need to also seek is knowledge and discernment. And why? so that we may be pure for Christ and to be filled with fruit (including: love, joy, peace…, and also: good deeds and the like) that only comes from Christ. But it cannot be forgotten that this is all for God’s glory. “The ultimate end of man is to glorify God”

Colossians 4

² Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. ³ At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— ⁴ that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

• We are to pray steadfastly, all the time. Not just for meals where we say thanks, but to prayer continually for everything (In addition, 1 Thes 3:10 talks about praying night and day). I should be praying, and asking others to pray, that God opens doors for the spreading of the gospel, and that I be speaking clearly so that people understand.

1 Thesallonians 5 - Benediction 

²³ Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

• Let’s continue to pray that God sanctifies us, so we can work towards being pure for Christ. Encourage each other to be mindful of this pursuit of purity and integrity.

Philemon

 ⁶ and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

• Again, praying that our words are effective so that people are brought to Christ.

3 John

² Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. ³ For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. ⁴ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

• We need to still be concerned about the health and wellbeing of others (as can be summed up in the wishing of “Shalom”), but with given respect to the importance of our soul’s health, that is measured by our walk in the truth.

I am good at friendships, but suck at relationships.

I think. The problem is I don’t even know. Which is why I am terrible.

37 x 13 x 7 = Judgment, tomorrow. Who would've thought!?

This is a great injury to the truth.

Source: http://www.the-latter-rain.com/other-time-clues.html (Don’t bother looking at the website, it’s all trash, I just thought I should cite the post)

Nothing is funny when you're hungry

Starting to miss being constantly in a Christ-centered environment

I think I need this little taste of the real world

Thanks God

for the lesson in humility. I need to be reminded that just because I have things more set in my head, (like how the ESV Bible is boss) doesn’t make me absolutely right and in any way superior. 

Wisdom from the Proverbs

(ESV) 15:33 The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. 

16:1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. … 3Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. … 9The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

What I get from this:

God is sovereign. Hallelujah! The Lord God almighty establishes my steps, even when I am all screwy. I want to know what to do this summer. I want to know how I can serve God and spread his glory and work for his Kingdom, so fearing God is instruction in wisdom. I need to fear God more. And it is no accident that 33b links humility with the fear of the Lord. True humility only comes from truly seeing who He is, which naturally leads to fear (and also to worship).

In 16:1 and 9, I want to say that it is just saying that man can make his plan, but the Lord has the final say since he has absolute sovereignty. In the NLT, 16:1 says, “We can gather our thoughts, but the LORD gives the right answer.” Although that isn’t incorrect, the more literal translations (ESV and NASB) use the word “belong”, which seems to say that the plans are supposed to be there. I want to work for God this summer, to bring him glory and work for his kingdom, but I always doubt my plans and ask God what he wants. But here it says that these plans belong. Now when I went to look at the original Hebrew, it appears that there may not actually be a verb there, so I don’t want to stress it too much, but if I make my plans, pray about them, willingly desire God to take my plans and have the final say, then I will be doing right. Most importantly verse 3, if I commit my work to the Lord, my plans will be established. So right there these same plans will be established by God if I just fully commit my work to the Lord. And I have no problem with that. Nothing could bring me greater joy that having my work be for the Lord!

Where did the last 3 hours go??

oh video games

Bye bye following the Bible

In response to the new decision listed at http://www.pcusa.org/news/2011/5/11/pcusa-relaxes-constitutional-prohibition-gay-and-l/: 

(Note, not all church’s that are Presbyterian are in accord with this decision or are even part of Presbyterian Church USA)

So earlier, they required church leaders (deacons, elders, etc) to have “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.” That phrase has now been replaced with having “submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.” As listed in their other resources, now “a person in a same‐gender relationship can be considered for ordination as deacon, elder, or Minister of the Word and Sacrament.” Previously, “there was never a prohibition against a person being ordained based on sexual orientation, as long as that person was celibate”. 

Everything about this is saddening. Their previous position wasn’t quite biblical, but now they are fleeing even further. Apparently submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ doesn’t include submitting to the Word of God. In fact, the majority that has made this change occur is submitting to this society, and not submitting to God.

It is so apparent everywhere!

Thank you God for bringing this understanding into my heart. I don’t know how I never got it before. I just want everyone else to get it too!!

Wow, I have way too much stuff at college.

I need to get a wardrobe like Arthur, where its all the same and I have like 7 sets

I kinda want to go skydiving, because it seems super peaceful according to the video

WOAH!!! WATCH THIS!

Later I will write a defense for Humans vs Zombies

Hmm... español

"No era, ni soy, ni seré perfecto, pero Dios está en mi vida, me ayuda cada día, incluso cuando yo no lo veo."

The ending line in my testimonio. I think I might start blogging in Spanish. I don’t know whether I should solely blog in Spanish, or translate it (without a translator). Qué debo hacer…

God is good

I am at peace with my decision. Praise the Lord.

"For God alone my soul waits in silence;

from him comes my salvation.

He only is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.”

-Psalm 62:1-2

My heart is broken either way.

Whether it is working at Little Eden or going back home, whichever I think on my heart yearns for that, and so I will be content wherever I am at. I could go to Little Eden, be surrounded by God loving and God searching people, be an witness to my faith there and be a servant the whole summer, or I could go home and be a witness there among an equally mixed crowd, also be a servant (though I would have to seek out the opportunities), and do whatever God needs me to do. I really don’t know. I pray that as time goes on as I prepare to leave college that the Lord gives me an assurance that isn’t of my own. That in this decision I can just bring praise and glory to the Lord. That in the end, all that matters is that I follow God. I am torn, but Jesus is faithful and is my solid rock even when I am a mess.

I don't know!!!

Lord, help me!! I need you. I don’t know where I should be this summer, and yet, I am deciding right now. I don’t want to have regrets.

But Lord, in you I am FREE!! Free to desire you, be satisfied in you, be used by you, and to take these opportunities you set before me. I am free from regrets, Lord, for how can I be sorry when I am pursuing you. Lord, I want to desire you, and in that never regret my decisions. 

All I know is that I have you.

"Daily kill the idea that Christianity is a religion"