We Are ONE

"He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?" --Micah 6:8

"Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." --1 Thess. 4:9-12


"The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." --2 Peter 3:9

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall." --2 Peter 1:5-10

Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with Him and towards others. Work hard, mind your own business, have knowledge, control, steadfastness, godliness, brother affection, and love. He is not slow to fulfill his promises.

This is hard to do, isn't it? Sometimes we like to keep to ourselves and not rely on anyone. However, God designed us to be able to lean on each other in the good and bad times.

In fact, 1 Cor. 12 explains exactly what I've been thinking lately, specifically verses 11-31 which you can read here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor.%2012&version=ESV. Unfortunately, I think the American church is far off from Paul's message; we've lost heart. The heart of church is failing; if it were working, we'd be loving. If we were loving, we'd be aspiring to help each other out more! But I digress ... 1 Cor. 6:7-8 says it better than me: 

"To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!"

Yet, we don't even seem to care. We just enjoy living lives in our comfortable little bubble called "our life." We hurt each other, take offense, and leave the body or make bad choices. As 1 Cor. 6:15-17 says, 

"Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.' But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him."

The real problem lies in ourselves. Individually, we are selfish by nature. If we weren't, we'd be actively serving with the gifts God has given. Who knows the limits of the church except God, if we actually did something?

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift ...
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." {emphasis added}

In the above verses (Eph. 4:1-7; 11-16), it specifically states we are one. 
Today, we need to start encouraging, building, loving, working, and trying for the church. We do NOT sit back. We step UP to the plate and the challenges God has brought into our lives and come with open hands to be molded into what He needs.

If becoming one with the body starts with us, it means we need to get rid of the bad in us. More living like Jesus, less selfish living like myself. I believe God created each and every one of us uniquely and for a different purpose. However, He wants us to purge ourselves of the bad and then flourish in the good He's graciously given us. However, with all the good in ourselves (which isn't much, might I add), we can only accomplish so much. Thus, the reason for the body of Christ.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus promises, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

When we are too tired, WE are to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Ephesians says so. When Jesus says "come to me, " He means to go to Him, as well as rely on the body of Christ.

We wonder why so many people leave their faith, yet at the same time, we know exactly why. So today is the day to make a change and make an eternal impact. Find out your strengths and your weaknesses OR just get involved SOMEWHERE in the church, and you'll quickly find you aren't a superhero and will have many weaknesses. However, you will bring a freshness and audacity with whatever strengths you didn't even realize you had. So start on your knees asking Him what He needs from you. Then, get involved somewhere, have a little faith, jump in with a few seconds of courage, and He'll be ready to set you up.

Thursday Thoughts and the 30 Hour Famine

I promised I'd write more regularly! :) First, I'll start with some thoughts I had on Thursday. Every Thursday I drive about 2 hours at least. Thus, I have a lot of time to think haha. My thoughts in this post will consist of why good people die, a misfit army, and then my 30 hour famine (that I didn't do alone of course haha).

1) Why do good people die?
One of the most trying, difficult question a Christian must face. Non-believes consistently ask this question and Christians consistently don't have an answer. I don't have the answer. Honestly, the question is valid and isn't easy to respond to. Of course, whoever said the answers were supposed to be easy? While I was driving, I was thinking of how sad (obviously) it is when someone dies. For some reason, this deceased person always seems to have the most potential to change the world. Or they seemed to be one of the best people you ever knew or came across. Something makes them stand out from the world as superior to the others and all you can say to yourself sometimes is, "Why them?" Out of all people, they had so much life to live. Even the not-so-great people still could've turned their lives around and you ask yourself, "Why so soon?" But as I was driving, I realized something. We mourn about good people dying. There isn't anything wrong with that. Yet, at the same time, the GREATEST man that ever walked this earth died for us -- but Christians and non-Christians alike don't mourn about it. I'm not saying we don't care about His death -- we do. I'm also not saying we need to walk around in black, crying our eyeballs out of our sockets. Instead, I'm saying if we truly cared, we would be devastated. If we cared, we would rejoice in Christ's resurrection every single day. If we cared, we would tell the world about Him. If we cared, life's circumstances wouldn't get us down. If we cared, we could change the world. If we cared, we could stand up from the hilltops and proclaim Jesus like nobody has before. Let the lost ones in this world inspire you.

2) Misfit Army
Don't laugh. I find my tag clever ... Actually, that phrase, "Misfit Army," kept pounding in my head. Usually, that means I'm supposed to take action on a recurring idea. A lot of times, for me, it means to write about it. Basically, I was just admiring God. He is so anti-world. It's great! Haha. I was in awe. Well, I still am I guess ... God uses the weakest to be His strongest. Some of the most broken, messed up people are the people God uses for His glory the most. For example, take a girl who has done drugs, cut herself, gotten pregnant out of wedlock, nearly commits suicide, but finds Jesus instead. Those types of people have a fire like I've never seen for Jesus. Not only do I love that, but I love that Jesus uses the weakest to lead -- by the world's standard -- the "strongest." Can you imagine a chief officer placing his weakest men in the front? Weird strategy, right? Why would someone place a guy with a missing arm in the front row? Exactly; it makes no sense. Yet who uses that strategy and EXCELS? Jesus. And it only works with Him ...

3) 30 Hour Famine
Food never tasted so good after that famine (which, for the record, I actually went 31 hours! ;) For me, it showed how selfish I am. I was SO excited to eat ... and it was only 30 hours. Usually, I can't go 30 minutes without eating. And I whined and complained because I'm a weenie. So for me, yes, it was an accomplishment. I shouldn't have complained and focused more on what matters. So what matters? People around the world who go much longer than 30 minutes from eating. In fact, it kills men, women, and children alike everyday. What do I do? Sit on my couch and eat Goldfish. COOL. I'm a great Christian :P I think what I'm trying to say is ... after the famine, I realize how much time I waste thinking of myself.

I'm not in the Misfit Army -- I'm misfit FOR the army. I suppose that makes me the perfect candidate for You, doesn't it? Lord, train me to be worthy of your army of love that proclaims not ourselves,  "but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 4:5-6).

Where do we keep our treasure? In "jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us" (1 Cor. 4:7).
And this is how the army stands: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but no driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies [...] So death is at work in us, but life in you [...] For it is all for your sake, so that s grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart [...] For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (1 Cor. 4:8-10, 12, 15-18).