Confession

                1 John 1:9 says, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Confession is a time worth having. Not just alone, but with fellow brothers and sisters of Christ. It helps keep you accountable to others and for others, it helps give you a different perspective on what is going on, it gives you support and help from others, and if builds the sense of community that the Christian body should have. Confessing your sins is not about gossiping or finding dirt on each other. It is about coming to your Christian family, being raw, and helping each other through rough times.

                James 5:16 says, "therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." We confess our sins also for help. Sometimes, we are struggling with a sin or a problem that is too big for us to handle alone. God gave us a Christian community to give us each help from one another. Sometimes we go through problems and we feel alone, but confession helps us to see that we are not alone, and that others are going through the same things supporting your growth. It also allows those who have overcome the sin or the issue to give you advice and help you through the rough time. If you do not seek help, how can anyone help you? 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with temptation He also provides the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

                "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy." (Proverbs 28:13) By confessing our sins, we help one another and pray for each other. Confession is scary for many, because of the fear of judgment or of trial. Who knows what the person may think! Well, if you do not feel that the person will be loving and accepting, then do not confess to them. Confess to a true Christian brother or sister who will keep your sin secret, pray with you, love you, and not judge you for what you have done. Someone who would judge you for your sin is not a follower of the forgiving and loving Christ.

                Do not be afraid of confession. It can be a powerful tool against sin. Instead, find someone you trust and be willing to open up step by step with them. You do not have to spill everything at once, unless God says otherwise; but build that relationship of trust so that you can begin confessing bit by bit. No one will force you to confess, but life will be so much easier when you allow your brothers and sisters in Christ to help you remove your burdens.


                                                                                                                                         -D

Freedom in Christ

                "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:36) When Christ gives freedom, He gives it in a way that most people do not see. He gives freedom in a way that is not like human freedom. When someone sees a Christian saying that they are free, it is not uncommon for said person to disagree and bring up the rules and regulations and commandments. Is a Christian truly free?

                I say yes. Jesus did not come to give us more laws and more commands. He came to change hearts. That is the point of Christianity! To allow Jesus to step into your life and change your heart, not to get a new rule book. Christianity is not about rules, but about love and gaining a new heart. "That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." (Romans 8:21)

                So, can there be freedom in Christ Jesus? Yes, there can be. It is not freedom from rules and order. Freedom is not chaos. When it comes to Christianity, freedom is about Jesus Christ wiping away our past, our sins, our dirt, and everything bad in order to start over new. We can walk blameless and sinless in the eyes of God because of the freedom that is found in Christ Jesus. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And it is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)

                "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the Law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2) The freedom is not a way to say, "go and do whatever you want," but Jesus Christ cleaning you from your sins and giving you eternal life so that you can start over and make your own choices according to who and what you want to follow. It is not freedom to do as you wish. You have free will, you have always had that freedom, even when it didn't feel like it. This freedom is the freedom from the old self and all of your past mistakes that you have already learned from. This freedom is the freedom from the worst of ourselves.


                                                                                                                                         -D

What is the Definition?

                Yesterday, while talking to a few friends of mine, one of them asked, "what does it really mean to be a Christian?"

                He began to elaborate upon his question, saying that he could ask ten different people and would probably get ten different answers. I agreed, partially. I would agree that asking ten random people will give you ten random answers, because not everyone knows scripture and what Christianity is. I agreed with that much of his argument; but, I believe that the definition of Christianity should not be made by man, but instead made by Christ Himself. If anyone should tell us what it means to be a Christian, it should be Christ.

                Well, Christ isn't walking the Earth in the flesh right now, so what is next? Well, Christ gave us a helper (John 14:16) so that we could better understand. He is the word, so we must look in the word. We must pull from the vast resources that we have. The definition of a Christian would be in the Bible, so we would first look there.

                John 14:6-7 says, "Jesus answered, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me. If you really know Me, you will know my Father as well...'" First part of Christianity is to believe that a right relationship with Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation and the only way to get to know God.

                Romans 10:9 says, "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." We need salvation because, "the waged of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord," (Romans 6:23) and "we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23) so we have all sinned and need salvation. Sin is death, but Jesus says that He is the life. If we confess the Lord, meaning you confess Him as your Lord and Savior, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, meaning that there is saving power in Christ, then you will be saved.

                Now, the idea that the Bible has shown so far is that we have all sinned and sin leads to death, but because Jesus came and died for us and rose again in three days, we can be saved and our sins can be washed clean if we confess Him as our Lord (the supreme force of our life) and Savior (the one who saved us from our sins and the death it would cause through the Resurrection). There is one piece left. All of this is showing how to become a Christian with a process of steps, but how can a process be useful if you don't apply it to your heart and mean it? It is just facts.

                Jesus asked Peter three times, "do you love me?" and every time Peter replied, "yes I do." In response, Jesus answered to all three, "If you love me, you will take care of my sheep," "If you love me, feed my sheep," "feed my sheep." (John21:15-17) Why was Jesus saying this and why is it important? He is not speaking of literal sheep. He was referring to the idea of following the commands that He was leaving for them. He was telling them that "if you love me you will obey my commands." (John 14:15)

                This is the last piece. So what is the command? Why is it important to follow? Well, in order to be a Christian, you must be saved. In order to be saved, you must be reaching out for a right relationship with God by confessing Him as Lord and Savior of your life. How do you confess it? You confess something from the heart and verbalize it. he must first be the Lord and Savior of your life. He can be your Savior by confessing that you repent of your sins and that He has made you clean from them. You make Him your Lord by obeying His commands. What is His commands? Someone asked Him this very question, and this was His response.

                "He answered: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27)

                I believe, looking at scripture alone and no other sources or people aside from Jesus Christ, the definition of a Christian is this: You are a Christian if you have CONFESSED that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.

                That means that nothing comes before God. If something is conflicting with His commands, you put aside whatever it is to follow Christ. You make Christ first out of love. That is what it means to have a right relationship with Christ. Your relationship with Him is in the right place: He is Lord and Savior and you both love each other. God comes first above all. That is what I pull directly from the words that Jesus Himself spoke.


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True Segregation

                Sometimes, we feel alone or separated. We feel as if no one is with us, as if no one is there to comfort us or hear us or carry us through a situation. Sometimes, we feel as if no one is around, and as if we have been cut off.

                The definition of segregate is: "to separate or set apart from others or from the main body or group; isolate." Jesus Christ experienced the ultimate form of segregation. We may loose our friends, family, loved ones, and everyone that we know, but God is still with us. When Jesus was crucified, His closest friends had denied knowing Him, His other followers had chosen a slave to be freed over Him, the government sentenced Him to death, His mother could not even recognize Him up on the cross due to His disfigurements, and the guards at the cross gambled for His clothes. Worse than that, the whole world, literally, was against Him. He had no one on His side. Not even an old time friend.

                Why should we care, though? Jesus came back and since His resurrection, millions, if not billions, of people have loved, adored, and followed Him. Who cares that He was all alone for a little while?

                You should care. It is because of the loneliness that He experienced that He is able to relate to you and understand you. It is because He experienced the worst separation known to man that He can understand any pain that you go through. The separation that Christ went through was physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional. Any pain of feeling alone that you have, He has experienced worse, and loves you so much that He wants you to know that He is always with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deuteronomy 3:16; Hebrews 13:5)

                Well, all of this sounds sad. Why are you mentioning it? Because it is important to know that the almighty God of the universe understands your pain and suffering better than you know. His love is not superficial. He knows your pain and wants to heal your heart. He does not love you out of need, but out of the kindness of His heart and out of pure love. He knows your pain better than you think. He has experienced every form of pain to the worst extent. His segregation at the cross allows us to know that He understands our pain first hand. He is here for us because He has been through more than us. His love is genuine because the pain that He went through for you was serious.


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One Christian Body

                "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ." (1 Corinthians 12:12). As Christians, we are all one in Christ. We may be individuals, different in one way or in every way; but because we all serve Christ, we are all one part in the body of Christ.

                "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink one spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:13) God does not look at race, money, class, worldly power, or anything like it. He knows us and has always known us since before we were even birthed into this Earth. If we are with Christ, we are one with Him and it does not matter what the world says. We all operate in the one true Spirit of God. No matter what the world sees, we are one with Christ, equally important in our different roles. "For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, 'because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'because I am not am eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less part of the body." (1 Corinthians 12:14-16) Just because you are not doing what your Christian friend is doing does not mean that you are not a Christian. Just because you are not healing people or guiding people to Christ personally, does not make you any less a member of the body of Christ. It just means that God has a different role for you at the moment. Will you be obedient to Him or to your own desires to be holy and "important?"

                "If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body." (1 Corinthians 12:17-20) We must not all strive to be like Pastor so-and-so or Bishop what's-his-name or elder what's-her-face. God has a specific role for you in His life! Maybe He wants you up stage and maybe He doesn't. Whatever He is going to have you do is something that only you can do, just as He has people doing things that only they can do. We must not all try to be the same, but unified in our differences.

                "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need for you.' On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greatest honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with great modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the parts that lack it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another . If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." (1 Corinthians 12:21-26) There is no division within the body. No one role is more important that the other. The one who leads a person to Christ is no more important than the one who planted the seed in the first place. The one on stage preaching or singing is no more important that the one at the door or cleaning the toilets. Every role is essential, and no one person can run a whole body. Everyone has specific roles that they must do to the fullest; but never be discouraged, because God honors your heart, not your title.

                "Now you are the body of Christ and individually member of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way." (1 Corinthians 12:27-31) We are all individual members of Christ. We all bring a specific role to the body. I have never spoken in tongues or healed before, but I know that God has put me in another place. Because I was seeking my gifts, God has shown me where He wants me to be and what He wants me to do.

                No one person can run a whole church, and no church body can all be run by musicians or pastors. There must be an array of different people to bring different qualities to the body of Christ. We must not get jealous of someone who does something for God that we wanted to do. Instead, praise God for that person and ask God, "what is my role in your body?" Even if you do not know yet, God will show you once you are ready to learn it.


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Working for Good

                Yesterday, at lunch, my friends and I were talking about life. Somehow, my blog was brought up and I mentioned how there was a time when I was thinking that no one was reading it. My friend said, "yeah, my sister felt the same thing but now she has her own blog and people are donating so that she can give money to good causes."

                Instantly, my eyes blew open wide. I had never thought of a blog being able to go that far from someone like me. The closest thing that I would have been able to think of for that would be the Nickelodeon show, "iCarly," but of course, I do not fashion my life after television shows. It was amazing to hear about someone putting something as simple as a blog to such a powerful use. She was raising money for charities and still giving glory to God.

                The amazing blog that I am speaking of is called liferearranged.com. It is a wonderful blog that is written by a powerfully motivating woman. Although I am not here to advertise, I cannot help the inspiration that raises up within me when I see God doing something glorious in someone's life. When God is glorified in a work or an area that not many look at or that I never think of, I get excited about the things that God can do.

                This website motivates me to make everything that I do glorious for God and open to Him as well. I want Him to cut off what needs to be cut off, prune what needs to be pruned, and bring growth to what needs to grow for Him. I want everything that I do to be able to glorify Him, so I give everything that I can do work hard and let it be for God.

                My thought is, why not make everything for the glory of God? If there is an area in your life in which you need some inspiration or you want God to step in, work your hardest and pray to God to move in in His direction, not yours. I need God to direct everything in my life because that is the only way that everything will be operating at its best for Him. I cannot do well on my own. I need the Father's help. So, in all that I do, I will work hard and let God get the glory, as He rightfully should!


                                                                                                                                         -D

Electrons and God

                I was in my chemistry class yesterday and my teacher brought up how scientists thought that atoms were the smallest forms of matter, and then we found electrons, and then smaller then that are quarks, and then we found dark matter, and so on. I was interested in electrons because I had heard a statement before and wanted to know the validity of it, considering he had gone to college for many years.

                I raised my hand and he called on me. "I had read that no one can see electrons with their naked eye or with a microscope of any kind. Is that true?"

                After three or four seconds of thinking, he gave me a response. "Well, yes, no one can visually see an electron, but we can interact with it. We can use light to play with an electron, or shoot an electron against something then have it bounce back. We have been able to do that for years. We can see it, by playing with it; but we cannot visually see an electron, no. So, yes and no."

                I nodded, smiling from cheek to cheek. He was so passionate about making sure that I knew that electrons were real. He wanted me to know that even though no one could physically see an electron, there is no way that it is not real.

                It takes the same amount of faith to believe in God as it does to believe in an electron being real. We cannot see either, but both have an unchangeable way about them. We cannot see God, nor can we see an electron, but there are mountains of evidences for both.

                While I was researching about this topic, I discovered the reason why most people do not make this connection. Electrons, although they cannot be seen, have a specific nature. If you use light in a specific way, it will always react in a specific way. Most people do not believe in God in the same way because they feel that God is constantly changing and if you pray a prayer one day and then another, one may be answered and the other may not be. This argument is invalid.

                Just as electrons can be shot against a wall and bounce back using specific devices in specific ways and using specific materials; God shows us the guide lines of the prayers in which He will answer and how He will step in. If we shine a flashlight at thin air, we are not going to make electrons form a lightning bolt, or even react noticeably, because you are not using light correctly with the electrons. That is misunderstanding electrons. Just because you never saw a flash of lightning when you shined a flashlight does not mean that electrons do not exist. The same applies with God. God is not an imaginary figure. He has His own ways and He is alive. He does not change with our opinion; and when you do something that God does not say to do, and God does something you do not expect, or He does not do what you expect, you question if God is real.

                Both electrons and God have specific attributes that do not change for any reason. We cannot see electrons, but we took the time to learn about them so that we know how they operate. We can do the same for God. He will not change or be who you want Him to be. He is God, independent of man's thinking. You can learn how to interact with Him and learn about His attributes and how He works the same way you can for electrons.

                We study, we test, and we ask. Study the word, put to test the things you've read from the word, and ask God to show you who He truly is. Just because an electron does not do what you want does not mean it is not real. The same applies to God. It takes the same amount of faith to believe in an electron than in God.To say that one is real and to brush the other off as false is to cut off logic at its core and to ignore the pursuit of knowledge.

                A scientist will not say, "because my experiment did not go as planned, everything that I believed in is false and science is for fools." It takes the same amount of faith to believe in an electron as it does to believe in God, so to give up on one and believe in the other is the destruction of logic at its core.


                                                                                                                                         -D