Standing Firm

Many of us know that as Christians, we are suppose to stand firm in our faith. We shouldn't bend under the weight of what the world has to offer. But we often do compromise our values for what the world has to offer. We lie to our parents on where we are going just so we can go to a party. You might lose your virginity just to keep the boy/girlfriend that you finally got. You may cheat on a test in school just to get the grades you need. It is so easy to fall into the trap of this world, but that isn't what God wants us to do as followers. God doesn't want cowards who aren't going to stand up for him, he wants people who are going to stand with him through thick and thin.

At our small groups were were going over this idea of standing firm and we looked at a couple of stories from the book of Daniel in the Bible. The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is the first one in the book of Daniel. (3:13-30) A brief summary of the story is that the king at this time, Nebuchadnezzer, made a gold statue to be worshiped every time an instrument was played. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, disobeyed this order and they kept on praying and worshiping God. The king found out, and he ordered that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be thrown in the furnace that was heated seven times hotter than before. The second story we talked about was Daniel in the lions den(6:1-28). The summary of Daniel is that Daniel was a high ranking officer to King Darius. Daniel was an honest man, and the king liked Daniel. The other officers didn't like Daniel so much because he was good, so they attacked his faith by telling the king to write a decree that would put anyone in the lions den, if they prayed with in the next thirty days, to anyone but the king. The king agreed, and the decree was made. Daniel didn't change how he prayed and he prayed three times a day, so he was arrested and thrown in the lions den.

The thing is, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Daniels story didn't end there. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were saved from the furnace by an angel, and they walked out without a single burn. King Nebuchadnezzer saw what happened and made a decree that if anyone had something bad to say about the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, then they were to be cut up into pieces and their houses turned to rubble. In the lions den, and angel kept the mouth of the lion closed so that Daniel wouldn't be eaten, and when King Darius saw this, he made a decree saying that people must fear and have reverence for the God of Daniel.

Here we have two examples of people who were faced with the choice to stand firm to God, or to go with the crowd. The consequence for standing firm was death, but they stood firm and God saved them. Not only did they show that their God is mightier than anything in this world, but it lead to decrees being passed to honor their God. Most the time when we are challenged to stand alone, our lives aren't at stake, but it might be our popularity, or our friends/dates, or whatever you value, but God can give you so much more for standing with Him. You just have to trust that He has a plan for you that is going to glorify him, and not completely destroy you.

Dear Heavenly Father,
I pray that you will stand by me when I face persecution in my life Lord. I also pray that you are close to the people who are facing death becasue of their faith. I pray that you will be with them, and that you give them strenght to face everyday. Let them know that they will be rewarded greatly in heaven for the persecution that they face. Help me to share my faith, and not hide behind the fear of persecution becasue, you want people who will stand for you. THank you Lord for everyday that I live Lord. Amen.

Renew

My brother showed me this video over the summer and it is very well done. It tells the gospel of Jesus Christ, but it does so in a way that makes sense to the modern man in a developed country. If you are a Christian than you know the gospel, but some times in our faith we forget the foundation of what we believe. We fall into a regular routine with God, like go to church on Sunday, pray when I need it, and then just continue with your life. We all need a reminder every once in a while of what we believe to reinvigorate our relationship with God. So I pray that you watch the video and that it helps your relationship with God to be more than a routine that you mindlessly follow.

Falling Plates
http://www.fallingplates.com/

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this day that you have made. I pray that I can break this routine that I have created when it comes to having a relationship with you. I want to be more than someone who is a robot when it comes to having a relationship with you. Help me to grow closer to you, and to break this cycle that I have created. Amen.

Break

I am sorry, but I have had to much going on to write a post for today, I will have a post up for Saturday. Thanks for the understanding.

God is Good

If you have been following my recently, than you know that I have been going through some struggles, especially in math. I wrote a poem last Wednesday about surrendering to God. Well I did surrender everything to God that week, and let me say that it actually works.  Psalms 9:10 says,
"And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you." When you put your trust in God he will never leave you. It is just taking the first step to trust God.
I want to share some of the blessings I have received over the week once I placed my trust in God to show that he is there.
-First, I had a throbbing foot pain that made it really difficult to walk. I prayed that God would heal my foot, and slowly he did heal my foot. Now I can run, skip, and walk with ease.
-Second, my field hockey had a really tough competitor (they have been undefeated for three years) to play, but we tried our hardest to only let six of their goals in, which was better than when we played them in the first game. (It was 13-0) We also spent time together as a team and watch a movie because our season is ending.
-Third, my math grade went up enough so I could watch one episode of Austin and Ally. This made me really excited.
-Lastly, it is homecoming week for me, and I had fun dressing up, going to the pep rally, and the football game with some of my friends. (The dance is tonight.)
These are just some of the great things that happened when I surrendered to God. God is out there and he will take care of you, all you need to do is surrender.

Dear Heavenly Father, 
Thank you for always being with me Lord. I surrender everything to you and I pray that you will use my life for your glory God. I know that you have my best interest at heart Lord, so I give everything I am going through to you God. Amen.

Love to Learn

For this post, I would love to start off by describing a scenario for you. Imagine that you are a famous musician, dancer, actor, or what ever you would like to be. You are playing a sold out arena for millions of your fans. During the show, you make a mistake, and it is very clear that you have messed up. Someone in the audience saw your mistake, and for that you deserve to die. you take a bullet in the chest, and you collapse on the ground. Your most devoted fan jumps on stage, and they try to save your life. The only way for you to survive is for your fan to die for you. So they die and you can now live. You didn't know this fan before hand, so wouldn't it be natural to find out who they are, and who their family were, and how many friends they had. Wouldn't you try to figure out as much as possible about this fan who just saved your life?

Now, this will probably never happen. But this scenario reflects your relationship with God. You are famous in God's eyes. If you have heard the song "He Knows My Name" by Francesca Battistelli, then you have heard how much God adores you, and how you don't need to be famous on Earth, because you already have your number one fan. Another thing is that no matter how much you mess up, God is still going to love you. Romans 5:8 says, "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We totally mess up every day, but God still died for us. If an artists makes too many mistakes, than they start to lose their fans. But God isn't going anywhere. His love is constant yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow." He still loves you no matter how much you mess up. 

Now the questions that I asked earlier need to be answered. most of us would want to learn as much as possible about the fan that sacrificed their life for yours. The thing is that when it comes to our faith, we don't tend to want to find out as much as we can. Sure we can just Facebook the family of the fan to see what they were like. But God gave us his word, the Bible, to learn all we need to know about him. He died on a cross for our sins, so shouldn't we at least read his word. Shouldn't we give him the respect to find out about him, after he willingly died for us. I know that it may not always be exciting, but the more you learn, the more you act like Jesus. 

Dear Heavenly Father, 
I know that it is important to read your word Lord. I just find it hard to find time, or even find interest sometimes to read and learn. Please give me a heart that yearns for your word, because you did die for me and my sins and you are always going to be a fan of me, through the good and the bad. Thank you for being so constant in my life when my life is changing moment for moment. Amen.

Stressed

Let me start of by saying that this wasn't the post that I originally had in mind for today. I had this really good post on how I was going to relate something I learned in my Theory of Knowledge class to our faith. But we all know that life gets in the way and we can't always do what we planned. I am keeping this post short because I have so much else I need to do that is just not getting done. If any of you read my blog last year, than you know that around this time last year I was super stressed out, and so far this year is exactly the same as last year. So I am posting the links to those articles, because you don't always need to write something new, but you might needed to remember that is God was there for you then, he is still here for you now. The verse below is a common verse that we look to in times of stress. I'm not going to write how I interpret the verse, but I want you to interpret it for yourself. Thanks for your patience and I will try to get as much done today, so I write the post I wanted to for Wednesday. 

1 Peter 5:7 says, "Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."

Posts to go to:

I'm Still Standing Here-8/31

http://thekaitlynshow.blogspot.com/2013/08/im-still-standing-here.html

Tests-10/5

http://thekaitlynshow.blogspot.com/2013/10/tests.html

God's Will-10/9

http://thekaitlynshow.blogspot.com/2013/10/gods-will.html

AHHHH!!!!-10/19

http://thekaitlynshow.blogspot.com/2013/10/ahhhh.html

Peace-10/30

http://thekaitlynshow.blogspot.com/2013/10/peace.html

Stumbling-11/16-MUST READ

http://thekaitlynshow.blogspot.com/2013/11/stumbling.html

Asking-12/28

http://thekaitlynshow.blogspot.com/2013/12/asking.html

Semester Review-1/22-MUST READ

http://thekaitlynshow.blogspot.com/2014/01/semester-review.html

I Surrender-10/1/14-Born from all that is going on this year. MUST READ

http://thekaitlynshow.blogspot.com/2014/10/i-surrender.html

Dear Heavenly Father,

I know how stressed I am. i pray that you will step in to my life so that I may find peace in this storm. I need you right now so please be close to me, and help me every step of the way Lord. I need you right now. Amen.

I Surrender

I wrote this poem during a really stressful time in my life, and it is really good and I hope you enjoy it. If you are going through some stressful time in your life, I pray you find comfort in this poem.

I look up.

Everywhere I look I see

Red.

Weapons surround me.

The opponent,

Stronger than a pack of lions.

Me.

All by myself.

No weapons,

No one to back me up.

But I have to fight,

For I can’t afford to lose.

The opponent knows well my weaknesses.

They bury me in ten feet of homework.

They yell worthless every time I miss a ball on the field.

They whisper that I will never be as good as anyone I look up to.

They stress me out to the point where I make myself sick.

But I can’t give in.

I fight and fight

But for every step forward,

I take ten steps back.

I back up farther and farther,

Until I am in a corner, stuck

But I continue to fight.

The opponent feeds on my fear.

They get stronger while I get weaker.

I am losing everything I have.

But I keep going and going

And going and

Going,

Until

I SURRENDER!

But then everything stops,

I see a hand reach down.

I look at the face of my savior.

“Take my hand” he says.

I take his hand.

We land in a nice clearing.

“What took you so long to surrender?”

“Why didn’t you step in sooner?” I ask

“I would have but you were stuck in your ways.

You were persistent in fighting this battle.

But don’t you know I have already won the war?”

I now feel guilty.

I can’t do this all by myself.

I look up to see him fading.

“Wait what if I need you again?”

He smiles and says,

“For I am always with you.

All you need to do is surrender.”

And with that he was gone,

But I felt him closer than ever.

I surrender.