A Peace only found in Christ

On of the most important aspects of being a Christian is salvation.  I was saved during a wild game dinner which was hosted by the church that I attend, John 14:6 says this:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Jesus tells us here that the only way to reach heaven, is by knowing Him.  When you know Jesus, you acknowledge that you are a sinner, that you ask Jesus to forgive you for your sins, and ask that Jesus come into your heart and be lord of your life.  You may ask, how do I know if I am saved?  If your like me, i went to many different vacation bible schools(VBS) and I remember one that I thought I was saved.  I realize know, that i wasn't at that time, I don't know that I fully understood at the time what it meant to be saved.  When I started attending church regularly just over two years ago i learned the real meaning of being saved.  It was also the first time that I heard 1 John 5:13:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

This scripture reveals that we can know for certain that we are saved.  I realized that although I though I was saved during a VBS years before, I didn't know that I know that I was saved.  During the wild game dinner that I attended there were several speakers, men who were telling their testimony.  There were men who come from different backgrounds all who discovered Jesus in a different way.  When the Pastor started speaking that night during the invocation, I felt drawn to pray, and to ask Jesus to become the lord of my life.

I heard many times that night, and before that night, that when you are saved you will feel a peace like you have never felt before.  That peace comes with knowing that you are saved, that you have been forgiven and that your home is in Heaven.  You know that God is in charge of your life.

If you don't know that you know that you are saved, don't depend on my words here, seek out your pastor, or someone that you trust from your church, learn more about salvation and what it means.   Feel free to share your testimony!

Rest in a Chaotic World

Life today, can be a whirlwind of activity. Our lives are sometimes spent racing from one responsibility to another, and sometimes it's hard to find time to enjoy the small things. Sometimes, our busy lives can also get in the way of our relationship with God. Our lives can be filled with worry, worry about money, our jobs, our families, the list can go on and on. Psalms 37:7-8 says this:

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.

The author is telling us here not to fret, not to worry. He is telling us that for all of our worries to rest in Him, not to fret. He is in control of all things.

When the Psalmist tells us here to "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him", I don't believe we are just supposed to prop our feet up and just relax, no I believe that He is asking us to rest our worries in him, hand our fears, worries, and fretting over to Him and let Him take care of them. It is difficult sometimes to hand things to God, a lot of times we like to hold on to things, control or at least attempt to control things in our lives. A lot of times though when we attempt to control things it seems like the more we try to control it the more chaotic the situation becomes. We have to learn to open up and hand things over to God, say a prayer and and just put the given situation in God's hands.

The next line in the passage, "Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way" I think speaks to those feelings that we all have sometimes. When we look at others and all that they have and wonder why we can't have everything that they have. I think the word here would be envy. There are many things we are envious of, the list can go from possessions to a person's abilities. I think that God blesses us with unique talents and provides for everyone differently. The reason for this comes back to God's perfect will, in that God provides specific things for specific purposes. For example, he may bless one person with an amazing singing voice, but another with the ability to witness to young people. The singer will have the ability to connect with young people through music, while the other person has the ability to connect with the young people because of the different experiences that they've had in their live. Both people would be able to connect to young people and minister to them, but in two completely different ways.

You also see the line: "Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass." I think this is again looking at our lives and the people who maybe commits crimes against us or it may be as simple as someone spreading rumors which are untrue. On the heals of these lines we read

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm

I can speak from my own experiences when I am worried about something... or fretting over something, that other things in my life tend to drop to the back-burner. Which a lot of times does end up causing harm. In a lot of cases when I come back to those things that were dropped to the back-burner they have gotten out of control and it takes much longer to take care of the task. An example that pops in my mind is that if you are worrying about other things and wait a while to cut your grass, you end up with weeds everywhere, the grass is tall and takes much longer to cut.

If you are struggling with situations right now, try to slow it down, take time out to talk to God about the situation, ask him to come into the situation and guide you so that you are within His will. You may not understand why what it is, is happening to you, but we don't have to understand. Our God is all knowing, all powerful and all loving. He controls everything that occurs in our lives. Our challenge is to rest in the fact that He is in control, that he does have a perfect plan for our lives, and that we don't have to worry because He is with us.