Not Getting Burn

It is finally summer, and with that most of us know to wear sunscreen when we go outdoors. If we don’t sunscreen, then we can end up badly burned. When I think about being badly burned, I think of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Daniel 3:19-25 tells the story,

Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”  He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Once you read the story, you see that God clearly saved the three of them from the furnace. And for this reason, I can make a comparison to God and the sunscreen we wear. They are both meant to protect us. God can protect us from so much more than just the sun’s UV rays. There is a sense of dual accomplishment when God protects you like sunscreen. When you protect yourself with sunscreen, you are blocking the UV rays, but you are also help prevent skin cancer. When God protects you, he is also using the protection to glorify his Kingdom.

But they both don’t protect every time you need them too. If you don’t cover your body completely with sunscreen, you find that you can get a weird burn pattern, or if you don’t reapply sunscreen then you still get burned. God also doesn’t protect you 24/7. He allows things in our lives to “burn” us, but he is doing that so that we may grow. If he always protects you, there will be no chance to learn and to grow. Everyone of us need a good amount of Godly “burn.” God knows what he need, and he would not “burn” you for the fun of it. There is a purpose behind it. Where just normal sunscreen just leaves you burn with no benefits. (At least for me. I burn then I turn white again. I don’t really tan.)

The last connection is that you need to put on sunscreen every day, to keep from burning. You need to put God on every day too. If you don’t have a strong relationship with Jesus, and if you don’t connect every day, then you can “burn” more easily, because your protection is weak. When you build a strong connection to your protection, then you are less likely to get “burned.”

As summer continues, I pray that you put on both kinds of protection, God for day to day life; sunscreen, for when you are going out in the sun.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you Lord for protecting us from getting burn. Help us to trust you in all we do. Amen. 

Worship is more than singing

Many of us go to church and think that worship is only during the part of the service where we stand and sing. Many of us sing, but we don't often think about what we are singing or who we are signing to. Isaiah 29:13 says, "The Lord says: 'These people come near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.'" Even though we stand and sing, that doesn't mean we are worshiping God. If there is no heart behind it, then all your doing is singing, not worshiping. Many of us has became accustom to standing during worship and clapping, but that is some of the rules taught by men. You don't have to stand and sing, which is what men taught us, but you can do more like dancing or cheering. Worship isn't a time for everyone in the audience to look like a choir, but to be excited to praise our Lord and savior.
I love the message in "The Heart of Worship" by Matt Redman. My favorite line is "I'll bring you more then a song, for a song in itself is not what you have required. You search much deeper with in through the ways things appear, you're looking into my heart." I love this because God doesn't say that worship is a song, but your heart praising Him. God can see through you standing and clapping, but he can see your heart, and if it is really praising Him. So be aware when you stand and sing in church and make sure your heart is praising God

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for all you have done for me over the course of my lifetime. Help me to worship you in all that I do. 

Giving it to God

Many of us get time in our lives where we are anxious about something. Whether it is a big test coming up, or speech, or maybe the championship game, we all get anxious about something. With that, we tend to worry or get angry or just get plain out confused. So over this past week, these verses have come up a lot, and they fit the situation on which I'm writing on. Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ." This verse is saying that when we get anxious about anything, we need to let God know and give the situation to Him. When we pray to God and thank Him for taking care of our anxious hearts, He gives us peace. With this, he will guard your heart and mind against anxious thoughts. If you don't give God your troubled heart, then there is no way for Him to guard you and give you peace. And for me, I would like to have peace, then an anxious heart filled with worry, and hatred, and confusion. So whatever you are anxious about, just give it all to the Lord.

Dear Heavenly Father
Thank you for allowing me to lay all my trouble at your feet and that you will take care of it. I lay all my worries at your feet. Amen. 

Spiritually Alive

I was listening to Casting Crowns Song "Spirit Wind." I haven't listened to it before, and when I heard it, I wanted to read the bible verses that were behind this song. When I looked it was the story of Ezekiel in a valley of dry bones. The first three verses in Ezekiel 37 goes,

"The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' I said, 'Sovereign Lord, you alone know.'"

 Just stop and imagine for a second. You are led into a valley of dry bones, and God asked you if the bones could come back to life. To be honest, I would say no because these bones are bare bones lying in the middle of no where, how can they come back to life. But I like Ezekiel's answer when he says, "Sovereign Lord, you alone know." He wasn't going to rely on what he knew and the knowledge he had, but he was going to rely on God and what God could do. It would be cool if we could have the confidence of Ezekiel, to have the ability to know that only the Lord knows what is going to happen. We wouldn't have to live in fear or worry, because we know God has it.
The next three verses is God telling Ezekiel what to do, which goes,

"Then he said to me, 'Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord, says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath it you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.' '" 

It might have been weird at first just talking to a field full of dry bones, but Ezekiel did what he was told to do in the nest two verses which goes, "So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise,a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone by bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them  and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them." That must have been a cool sight to see. Imagine you are out in the middle of no where, talking to dry bones, and all of a sudden they start to form bodies with tendons and flesh. That is truly something only God can do.
As the story continues, the next verses are about getting breath into the bodies.

"Then he said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord, says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' ' So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet--a vast army." Now we have living, breathing people that came from a pile of bones in the middle of no where, and the bones turned into an army. This is amazing in itself, but what God says next truly amazes me. "Then he said to me: 'Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off '" 

All of this that just happened was to show Ezekiel how Israel was. No they weren't a pile of bones, but spiritually, they were dead. They were living without hope. They were no better then zombies, because they were living but there was no emotion, or any hope, or joy. Verse 14a says, "I will put my Spirit in you and you will live."
Now this did happen a long time ago, but today there are still people who are spiritually dead. They are no better then a pile of bones. Our job is to speak life into them. We do this by sharing the gospel. When we share about the love that Jesus freely gives, then we give a chance for the Holy Spirit to enter, and make them Spiritually alive again. With the Spirit in them, we are able to create an army for the Lord. So who are you going to share the gospel with so that they too may be spiritually alive, and able to serve in God's army?

Dear Heavenly Father
Help me to wake up these dry bones in my body and to live and serve for you. I am tried of sleeping through life. Help me to live with purpose. Amen.

Siblings Day

This week was National Siblings Day. I love my weird younger brother and I don't know where I would be with out him. Many people have siblings and they can either be your friend or your enemy. Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." A different version of the Bible says, "As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend." God puts certain people in your life not to be enemies but to be a friend and help you grow. It can be great to have a sibling as a friend. They know what is going on at home. Also, because siblings normally live in the same home, you don't need an invite to come hang with them. My brother and I are friends. We love to hang out in our basement, and we generally love the same shows on T.V. We each help each other with our homework. Of course we fight, but fights can happen between anyone. When siblings work together, they can do some amazing things.
Siblings can be a friend and help build each other up, or they can be enemies and cause problems to the whole family. If you have a sibling who is your enemy, it is never to late to make them your friend.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for my sibling. I pray that we can work together to glorify your kingdom. Amen.

Captain America- Civil War

Recently I went with my brother and my dad to see Captain America: Civil War in theaters. It was a really good movie. One thing I noticed is that the two people who should be on the same side, Captain America and Iron Man, ended up fighting each other. They are the heroes and when heroes fight amongst each other, that leave no one to help the people. This fight divided the Avengers. I was reminded of the saying "United we stand. Divided we fall." When the Avengers were divided, they weren't as strong as they were together. 
How does this conflict with the Avengers reflect the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 says, 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. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

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 a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 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.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of 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 greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked 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.

I know that it is a long passage, but it is full of good stuff to contemplate and meditate on. If we are one body, then we need all parts to work smoothly. We need the eyes to do their job and cooperate with the hands and the feet. Every person has a specific job to do in the body, and it is important to find out what your role is. As a body unified under God, let's learn from the Avengers and not turn against each  other when we are suppose to be the light to the world. 

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you my individual gifts. Help me to use them to glorify you, and that I can use them to help out the body of Christ. Amen.