Not to think visually

"Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to met him" John 12:18

As I was reading about how Jesus entered Jerusalem after he had risen Nazareth from the tomb, this verse suddenly disturbed me. In our everyday life today, we continuously hear how faith is about believing in something without seeing that it is there. This is a very difficult concept for many people to understand in this time and age due to the ability for us to research, and understand multiple concepts, from simple things like gravity to the miracle of birth. 

This was interesting to me because it shows me that the people in the past also had the same difficulty. Even though God was literally in front of their eyes, they still needed the visual of seeing the miracles for themselves in order to believe in Jesus. Even after all his miracles. This makes me think that in the same way, Jesus and God is always there in front of us performing miracles to others and our friends, yet we still find it difficult to believe. Therefore, we just need to open our eyes, and understand that faith is not full of visual proof but the sole belief that he is living and within us as of right now. We need to know that God is alive and that he is helping us through the difficult times and we just need to reach out and accept him in our lives. 

Trusting

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." John 9:3

This verse really spoke to me because I related it directly to my eye surgery. This verse was the same idea that popped into my head when I was going through the long and gruesome recovery period. I was able to get through that surgery because I thought God was using it as an opportunity to show me his power and it really did appear. This surgery really taught me that I'm not alone. I have God, my friends, and family. I rely on them to help me do things so i won't injury myself. I rely on them to give me strength. As I recovered I never realized how difficult it was to rely on others especially because I'm always trying my best to help others.  I need to realize how to take people's offers and their help without over judging and boosting about myself and how correct I am. 

God please help me remember that I'm not always right and that my knowledge solely comes from you and your gift to me. I need to know that I can't rely on myself and need to begin relying on others to help me complete my tasks and many other obstacles that I face. Help me start this by trusting others with their work and how they will contribute especially if it is a group project. 

Throw If You Dare

"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." John 8:7

God is once again reminding us that we should not be fast to judge but to love one another as we love ourselves as well as to think before acting. Jesus says this statement in a way to get everyone around him to examine themselves and what they've done. We all know that no one is perfect and we all have sins within us. Therefore, what power do we have to judge another sinner as a sinner ourselves, to be worse? 

God indicates that all sin is equal and all and instead of judging another sinner, we should be helping our brothers and sisters stay away from sin and work together to prevail from sin and continue to strive towards God by building up our relationship with him. 

Hidden things already seen.

Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him" John 6:64

For Jesus already knew who was believing him and who was there just for free food, or to see him do miracles for them. This shows a characteristic of Jesus and of God. How they only want believers because the non-believers just walk away or attempt to take the most out of him. God knows when you believe and does not want useless arguments to people who do not believe that Jesus was the son of man. 

Eternal Bread

"you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the son of Man will give you." John 6:26-27

God explains here in an analogy that you shouldn't do things for worldly possessions or material items. He talks about how they spoil because they will never fully satisfy you or what you need such as happiness or any other hole you're trying to fill with these "foods" that you're purchasing. God explains that all you need to be satisfied is to go to him and to feast on him. This can be done by working for food that doesn't spoil. Meaning working for him. Working for him will provide eternal life that Jesus gives you. 

Grades are not Everything

"How did this man get such learning without having studied? Jesus answered, My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." John 7:15-17

Even though this wasn't right after what I read yesterday, I actually thought I was reading accordingly to schedule. However, once I read this, I knew God was speaking to me.

By having trouble in making decisions in school. I've complained about my knowledge and how I don't study. This is exactly stated towards Jesus by a random person amazed by his knowledge. In the same way, I feel like people look at me as being smart. As pointed out by my friend, this is actually a gift from God and I didn't believe her words until I read this verse. 

I need to remember that everything I've learned, the ability to learn quickly and to have all this knowledge is because God has provided it to me. God gave me this brain and my body to give back to him. I need to remember that everything that comes from him is perfect and I should not worry about what my marks are and the outcome of them all. 

Play Of The Year

"Jesus knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself." John 6:15

As I continue reading through John, this verse stuck out to me when I was reading the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Jesus isn't afraid of showing his power given to him by God and to help people to the best of his ability. He showed off this amazing miracle to a wide audience of five thousand men not including the children, or women. 

I think the major reason that this verse stuck out to me was because after being the producer of such an amazing thing with a bunch of spectators, he did not want to boost, show off, or prove his power. He just isolated himself to humble himself and to give glory to God in anyway he can. I think that in the same way, I should apply this to my daily life of studies and sports. I always dream of doing amazing on tests, by sounding smart, helping others. I also dream of catching the last goal or doing major highlight reels during sport games. However, I need to remember and realize that all this is for God and its through God that I'm capable of such actions. Next time I have success, I need to isolate myself pray and give glory to God. 

Jesus' Testimony

"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid." John 5:31

By reading this verse, I realized that Jesus knew how people would react to his actions, his preaching, and more. Right from the beginning, he understood that by claiming he was the son of man, would not get anyone to follow him. He had to rely on another, John, to testify for him in order to get people to believe and fully understand that he was the Christ. 

Even during his execution, he was unwilling to claim he was the son of man because he knew people would still not believe. He understood how to gather favour in other people's eyes and continued this throughout his life straight to his death. 

Following God's plan, Jesus never faltered and never testified for God's plan.

Darkness Spreads

"See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." John 5:14

After playing volleyball today, I realized I sinned by lying that I didn't touch the ball when I went for a block. Instantly I felt guilty and upset at myself because I sinned at my church and not lying was something I was proud of myself about. 

As I reflected upon why I did it, I could not find a valid reason. Therefore, I realized that God is telling me to be careful. That I need to continually repent on my sins, watch and understand when I sin. To pray once I sin and ask for forgiveness because if not done, many more things can happen to me that would not be good for me. 

I pray that I'd remember this for a long time and to help me stop doing the simpler sins such as swearing and lying. 

Living Water

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water i give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 5:13-14

As I continue to read through John, I read through this verse where Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman. He explains to her that water in the well can only quench your thirst momentarily while his water will last an eternity. In another sense, I began to realize that this can also be related to earthly and heavenly possessions. 

On earth, everything is given to us through God and these possessions can only satisfy us for so long until we get bored of it and want something else. We as christians need to continue to remember that God can satisfy us in any way. God has everything we need and these earthly possessions are useless because how many of these things can we bring with us to heaven after our death? 

Secondly, if all these things are given to us by God, is it not morally right for us to use these things that he gives us to give back/praise him? We need to continue to use everything we have to glorify God and to remember to centre our lives and put him as our core. 

Gift Giving

"A man can receive only what is given him from heaven." John 3:27

As I was reading John chapter 3, this quote stuck out to me. As I reflect upon this verse, I realize that everything I have, everything I own, my thoughts, my body, my clothes, my money, my food, etc. Everything that I own was given to me because God has blessed me and gave me these things.

I'm known in my school for knowledge and the capability to teach and help others with their course and the material being taught by the teachers. I need to remember that every time I teach, I need to remember that this was all given to me. That nothing I do is mine but should be done to praise God. Recently, I've forgotten about that. I've forgotten that my marks and knowledge is used for God and not for my own pleasure of being able to explain, sound smart, and understand everything in front of people. 

I need to be able to maintain my humility while teaching, and learning to the best of my abilities. I need to stop judging, and still help people no matter the circumstances. God has blessed me with many talents and abilities. Now I need to give it back to him in every way possible. To praise him with everything he's given me because that's the least I can do when it comes to his everlasting love.

Believing what's not there

"I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?" John 3:11-12

This verse really reminds me of us humans and how we continually grow up, we continually need proof to believe even though God continues to say our faith should be child like. As a child, they instantly believe whatever they're told. This ability of theirs to solely live their life based on statements should be what we humans should strive for when it comes to God. Jesus did many miracles but did not want to be known for the miracles because believing through your eyes is not truly believing. By truly believing, you need to be able to believe in something you can not see. Hence the term faith. God sent Jesus in an attempt to reconnect with us, to save us, and to help us remember of the amazing power and what he's done for us ever since the beginning. 

As Christians, we need to continue to build this faith, without the need of proof. God works in miraculous ways and its only through faith that we are able to see these amazing things that he does for us. By believing, we can only get the most out of what God wants from us. 

40 DAYS: Day 28

James 5:19-20

If your friend has begun to wander off away from God, the person who brings him back will cover many sins. 

This verse really speaks to me to be more open and to be more out going to people. I have a tendency to think of thoughts but never able to actually act upon them. Therefore, I want to be able to actually act and show God's love through my actions. This hopefully, can also bring back people that have wandered away from God. Which relates back to the verse. 

40 DAYS: Day 24

James 1:22-25

Paraphrase: 

Don't just ignore what the bible says. Do what it says because God has promised to bless you when you do.

 This was a great reminder of the whole purpose of this 40 DAYS in the word. The sole purpose of this campaign is to allow us to get into the habit of daily devotions and to clearly understand his word better. However, you are only deceiving yourself if you don't do what you learn. Even in school, you need to be able to have some application of your learning into your daily life or into a situation. 

Through this, through our love for God, we should want to continually spread his word. This is only accomplished if we clearly understand and do his word first before we get others to do it to set an example for them. 

40 DAYS: Day 23

James 1:19-20

Paraphrase: 

Everyone needs to be able to quickly listen and slowly speak and get angry because anger is not a part of the life that God desires from you.

This verse reminds me to stay patient and try not to lose my cool. I've realized that when I recognize people trying to take advantage of my help, I get frustrated and disappointed becuase I'm giving up my time for nothing. However, I need to remember that true love and help is providing a service to them without a goal for anything back. I need to remember to stay patient, continue to help everyone as best as I can and let me control my emotions better. 

40 DAYS: Day 22

James 1:2-4 

Paraphrase it: 

Whenever faced with difficulties, consider it as a joyful time because when your faith is tested, it creates perseverance which results in maturity and completion. 

Whenever someone is forced with trials of tribulations, naturally, as humans, we tend to react to this as "why me? I did nothing wrong. I don't deserve this kind of torture." 

This verse is weird because it completely contradicts that but instead tells you to rejoice because it is giving you an opportunity to grow, learn, and mature in your faith and as a person as well. 

God promises us many things and this verse really touched me when I first got out of my retinal detachment this year. I am happy I was able to be still considered joyful but I realized that even though I didn't lack insecurities on the results, I did lack joy. I wasn't happy, and that's the difficult thing we need to learn. 

Prayer:

Dear God, I thank you for today. For this amazing day that you have provided us God. I just wanted to pray that you help me learn to be JOYFUL and not just deal with tribulations but rejoice in you that this obstacle was put in my path and I am able to learn and mature because of it. Thank you for everything you provide us with from the good to the bad times. You are always there omnipresent and never changing. Amen.

40 DAYS: DAY 21

Mark 16:1-20 The resurrection

Reading this passage, the major thing that stuck out for me was near the end when it says the disciples went out to preach his word and God was with them all making sure the people they preached too understood and believed.

This really reminded me that God works within you if you let him and that's the only way that we are able to reach out to friends and family that haven't already believed in him yet. We need to understand that its' not just us but God who plants the seeds and who grows the plants. We just need to be able to understand that growing plants takes time but we need to be patient and continually look after them in order to ensure the eventual growth of these plants or these people in faith. 

40 DAYS: Day 19

Mark 14:3-9 A woman anoints Jesus with Perfume

S (sin ... not giving everything to him)

P (promise to remember to do my devo's on a daily basis, not getting distracted and giving him my full attention)

A (attitude ... am i really giving everything to god?) 

C (command ... "")

E (example ... follow the woman in the story)

P (pray for strength and courage to put everything on God)

E (error to avoid ... don't be overcome with pride and take over everything)

T (truth ... God is almighty, you can't do anything without him)

S (something to praise god for? For my talents, skills, and knowledge that he's given me to use in school)

As I put myself in the position of the woman, It is really hard to comprehend her actions because it is completely opposite of my lifestyle today. I've been extremely blessed by God with all these amazing things and with a wonderful life to live. Therefore, its hard for me to relate to a poor individual who has nothing but still is willing to give everything to God. I'm wondering If I could do the same during that situation. Being spoiled, we usually take for granted what is given to us and It's really bad actually. 

I need to learn to be more thankful with everything I have and don't complain as much about anything that is small and insignificant in comparison to other people's lives. 

40 DAYS: Day 18

"And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." 

Mark 11:25 

We must forgive to be forgiven

S (sin to confess? Am I holding anything against anyone?)

P (is there a promise that I should make?)

A (Do I need to change my attitude towards something?)

C (Is there a command I need to follow?)

E (Is there an example to follow?)

P (What prayer do I need to pray about?)

E (What error do I need to avoid?)

T (What's the eternal truth?)

S (what is there to praise god for?)

Through this simple verse, I've realized how little I've asked God to forgive me on anything. I need to remember that as a sinner, it blocks my path and light. I need to be able to relent to god meaningfully and remember to consistently do it on a regular basis to show my deepest apologizes to God. So my attitude change is to be more humble, to be more trustworthy in him. I need to follow these examples of my friends and my families. Lastly, I praise God for being constantly forgiving and for giving up his son so we are given this true blessing that we are clearly not worthy for. 

40 DAYS: Day 17

Mark 10:17-31 Jesus meets the rich young man

This passage is basically about how Jesus explains to the rich that in order to have a place in heaven, you need to use the commandment of "love your neighbours" This is done by giving all you have to the poor. In our society, this is very difficult because the mindset nowadays is to give and get something in return. No one really gives and expects nothing else in return. 

Therefore, we need to understand that we should be humble and willing to sacrifice everything we have all for God. This is because, once we die, what do we have? We don't have any materials or anything on earth but God alone. We lose everything except God and that is why we should put our entire focus on him and to do what he says because without him we are nothing. 

40 DAYS: Day 16

Mark 9:33-35 Who is the greatest in the kingdom of God?

Through this verses, I learned that the greatest in the kingdom of God is anyone who is humble, willing to be a servant for others and not just God. One who is helpful, loving, and caring is something that is well known and well recognized in God's view. 

I can apply this in my life by changing my attitude towards helping others. I find that when I help others, I will look for something in return in the future and I also get annoyed after a while if they take advantage of my help or they're not putting enough effort into my help for them. Therefore, I need to find ways to change this attitude and to continue to learn how to love them no matter how hard or how difficult it gets. I need to remember that everyone is God's children and that I should love them all and "welcome him in Jesus's name". 

40 DAYS: Day 15

Mark 8:34-38 Jesus teaches about taking up your cross

After this week's lesson on "Probing the text with questions" It really interested me and I was curious on how I'd encourage myself to continually apply the questions of S.P.A.C.E.P.E.T.S into my daily Devotionals or whenever I read into the bible. 

Sin to confess?

Our father in heaven, I thank you for all the wonders and amazing things you've given me in my life. I want to continually learn more and trust in you more God. However, I still find it difficult for some reason and I need to learn how to be able to apply the concept of "trust" towards you and also the concept of denying myself and taking up the cross. Please forgive me of my sins of pride that continually overcomes me everyday. In jesus's name I pray. Amen.

Promise to claim?

That my life will be saved if only I give my entire life to God.

Attitude to change? 

Continual efforts to rely on myself and no one else.

Command to follow?

Love the lord with all your heart, soul, and mind. (includes trust because love is based on trust.)

Error to avoid?

Being prideful in my knowledge and my skills and talents that God has given me

Prayer to pray?

To forgive me of my sins, to be less prideful, to understand that God is the one for me and that I am absolutely nothing without him.

Example to follow?

Jesus Christ and my friends and family that continually follow him.

Truth to believe?

He is almighty, everlasting, and will never change. He knows all about me and all I need to do is trust in him.

40 DAYS: Day 13

Mark 6:45-51 Jesus walks on water

Once again, I feel that God is constantly sending me messages and ideas of finding ways to trust him and why I should trust in him. I need to continue to find paths and ways to succeed in this and fully give my trust to him. I always ask people to trust one another but it seems contradictory when I can't even trust in the Saviour and God I love and gave my life to. This concept is actually  a lot harder for me to understand and put into action then I thought. I will continually pray for the support that I will learn to give my trust to him knowing that he has a plan for me and to know that whatever happens is his will and I need to be able to do things for him as he wishes me to.

40 DAYS: Day 12

Mark 6: 35-44 Jesus feeds the 5,000

This very well known miracle that Jesus shows everyone again spoke to me about my faith in Jesus. I seem to be constantly reminded that Jesus is the almighty saviour and that I am nothing without him. That I should put all my trust into him in order to see his amazing miracles and ways that I have never seen before.

I continue to learn about this and continue to struggle to find ways to completely give myself up to him and put my complete trust in him. I need to find ways and new goals for myself to slowly put my almighty trust in our amazing, just, righteous, and almighty God.

40 DAYS: Day 10

Mark 4:35-41 Jesus calms the storm

As I read this passage, it was clear that the disciples still had very little faith and had only just begun on their journey with Jesus. I guess the typical main passage or idea that you get away from this story is to have complete trust in God when faced with terrors that can even lead to your death.

We have been promised eternal life if we follow Jesus and believe that he is the one true God and Saviour of our lives because he died on the cross for us due to the love that God has for all. 

Therefore, when we go to funerals, as Christians, it is a joyous occasion because you are rejoicing that instead of death, your friend/family has gone to heaven where she gets to stay and live their life with God for the rest of their lives. 

With this in mind, it is hard to understand the real situation when you are placed in a possible death situation but the question comes to will you stand up for what's right in our belief of God? The answer is yes you should and we need to continue building up our faith in the preparation of Satan's evil temptations of rebuking God but saving our lives. 

40 DAYS: Day 9

Jesus heals a man with a shrivelled hand Mark 3:1-6

In these verses, it tells us of a story of when Jesus healed a person with a shrivelled hand. During this time, some of them were just constantly looking for excuses to accuse Jesus and his acts. So he would get arrested and wanted by the nation or the city. 

Therefore, during the Sabbath (holy day) they placed a man with a shrivelled hand to see if Jesus would do a miracle on him during the Sabbath. However in verse 4 he asks the people around him "Then Jesus asked them, "which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" but they remained silent"

This really confused me. I understood that it is the law to do nothing but worship God during the Sabbath but why does Jesus relate this to good/evil and life/death? Is miracles really considered "work"? Knowing the concepts of Jesus, one of his commandments is to love your neighbour as yourself. Therefore, it is understandable to not just ignore the people in need because there was the parable as well about the good Samaritan. 

Another thing that stood out for me was the constant aim of the people to find faults in Jesus to sentence him to death or to get him sent to jail. This reaction of Jesus really shows me that if you want to be like him, you must be willing to get out of your comfort zone, don't go mainstream but to do what's right.

40 DAYS: Day 5

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

Straight from God's word, God is telling us that we should not be "anxious" or worry about anything. Even though it's hard to because our requests may feel selfish, embarrassing, shameful and more. 

However, we need to all remember that our God is good, forgiving, and just. He understands all of us and he is never changing today, yesterday and tomorrow. He has suffered the most and because of his son, he understands all the pain and sufferings we have to go through. We shouldn't hide from him when we do something bad or sinful. We need to be able to accept that we are completely hopeless without him and in order to regain the hope, we need to continually ask for forgiveness without fear or pride but humbly bow down to him and surrender ourselves so we can put our complete trust towards him. 

40 DAYS: Day 4

"I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."

Philippians 3:12

The topic written above in this paragraph was called "Pressing on towards the goal" 

Reading this, it was very hard for me to understand at first but after reading it over, I began to understand it a little but find it difficult to describe in words. 

What I took out of this passage is that our main focus should be continually focusing our lives towards Christ, building a foundation and a firm relationship with him. Therefore, we should have the willingness to press on and grab what we can and to learn what we can from what Jesus has given us.

In a literal analogy, if Christ Jesus came down to grab hold of you from dying (saving your life) a typical human response is to grab back holding firmly to the person who has just saved your life. We should not take him saving our lives as a burden but should be continually holding on, thanking him for everything he's done for us. For sacrificing his own life just to save us from danger. 

40 DAYS: Day 3

"For god is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him." Philippians 2:13

This verse was a great reminder to me about how God is in control and how he does amazing work through and IN you. It is also through his power that allows us to get the desire and the will to work and to help serve him. Therefore, with this will, he will give us power in order to do great things for him. 

However, you need to understand that this power comes with responsibilities and challenges. This could be going out of your comfort zone, giving up a good amount of your time and so on. 

As my friend Samantha Lee has said, God does have great plans for you but he doesn't necessarily call everyone to be comfy, happy, and do what they want. He allows this but his full purpose and call for you may have different plans then your own. You just need to understand the difference. 

40 DAYS: Day 2

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ"

Philippians 1:27a 

In this section of Philippians, Paul is thrown in jail because of his beliefs and his continual support for Jesus Christ. He writes this letter to explain to people how his actions of even being thrown to jail has allowed many others to courageously be more outward with their beliefs, sharing the gospel with the willing heart and following the steps of Jesus Christ like we are suppose to as disciples of Christ. 

This verse specifically talks about how living a life of Christ is difficult and the bible does say to be prepared to be discriminated against by the world because of satin. However, Paul explains that no matter what happens in any scenarios, we should continually prove ourselves and act with a heart that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. Therefore, even in the most painful or excruciation times, we should never contradict our beliefs and show others the true love and gift that Christ has given to us. 

40 Days: DAY 1

"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" Philippians 1:6 

The book of philippians is a letter written by Paul and Timothy to saints at Philippi.

In this verse, Paul and Timothy are explaining to the saints that God has been working in each and every one of us once we allow him and give him to opportunity to do so. Once we accept him and proclaim him as our Lord and Saviour, we need to ask him to work in our lives. 

Saying once you allow him, he will begin his work and once he begins, he will never stop. 

Our God is forever good so all his work will be good as well. Therefore, good is being produced within you

It's his "will" to continue working and

"carry it on" he will support, he will provide, persistence. 

Will never stop until it has been completed. 

Through emphasizing and finding these particular words in this verse, I have realized that once God has been accepted in your life, his aim is to continually produce work and be with you forever until the day of Christ. With God on my side, I am able to be satisfied and understand that all of my work should be a reflection of Christ for all of his work is good and I want to help him produce the good works that he provides each one of us!

Total and Complete Submission

"Submit yourself, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded" James 4:7-8

After coming back from Retreat, I've realized and learned many things I've never thought of before. The verse above practically sums up my experience and my new perspective in my spiritual life.

Through scouts, and my willingness to help others, I have become known and have become used to being the dependable one. Without knowing, this became my main goal and I've never thought of myself this way either. Therefore, hearing that I need to be dependent on God and he will lead the way, It's a very hard concept for me to accept because of my background. 

I feel that God has shown me this verse to explain to me that running from the devil will create a closer and better relationship with God and all I have to do is give my Total and Complete Submission of my life and values to him. This is because if we don't, why are we aiming to do all these things such as high marks and such? We should look to do all of this in his name and to use these skills and marks to give them all to God and his glory. 

My goal is to continue to learn about him and to give up my life to him and to give him my complete trust. 

"man"

One question I have always wondered about the bible is "why does God always refer his commands and rules to man". I've been always wondering why God has chosen specifically males and not females even though he is willing to accept anyone because he made both man and woman in the beginning.

It was through the website http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/08/10-interesting-word-phrase-facts/ that allowed me to realize that the word "man" was refereed to as gender neutral and it wasn't until the late twentieth century that we began to use the word "man" for males. This shows me how our media and traditional ways have continued to be lost as we continue to grow in our generation and we begin to develop new ideas and ideals that cause us to forget the original origin or root of the word.

Wisdom

"who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life  by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do no boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil" James 3:13-15

In relation to what I learned Sunday, This passage is about two different kinds of wisdom. An earthly wisdom and a heavenly wisdom. Heavenly wisdom comes from humility and earthly wisdom is from false humility. Such as showing off or even lowering yourself to make people compliment you. 

As humans, these are natural urges we all want from others and it is difficult to mix both or get confused by what your true intentions are. However, to overcome these, we need to be able to understand our strengths and weaknesses, accept our faults, and be content with who we are as God's masterpiece. If we cannot do this, we become envious or jealous which means as said by Pastor Kelly, "discontent on what God has given you". This means you are telling God that everything that he has given you is not enough and you need more. However, we should be greatly blessed for everything God has given us and we should find ways to continually thank him and not judge or yell at him for giving us these things. 

TCBS1

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23

As our first bible study for TC13, we were given a long passage with other passages in relation to the entire verse. Thus, we were given an assignment of reflecting on each verse. 

This verse is simply explaining that we are hopeless without God and Jesus Christ. We are all sinners and should be condemned but it is through God's costly sacrifice that allows us to continue to have a relationship with God. We need to understand how much we need Jesus Christ and God because that is the core to the faith of Christianity. As said, we are reaching out and trying to grow new churches in developing countries because the suffering there is a lot more extreme than we can ever imagine. Thus, the people and civilians in those countries need a sense of hope and that is where Jesus comes in and helps give them this hope. These people fully understand the power of God because they see the amazing grace but we, the spoiled generation in the developed country, are blind to this knowledge because we are filled with so much media and materialistic items that Satan has given us to tempt and distract us from our real goal of filling God's purpose in our life. 

The Horrific Beauty of the Tongue

"no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be." James 3:8-10

This verse is explaining the faults of man and more specifically the tongue. God explains to us that it is impossible for something to do two opposite things at once such as praising and cursing with the same tongue. Even though this is what;s happening today, it should not be as it is said in the bible. However, we need to understand that "no man can tame the tongue" as in we are hopeless in trying to make everything better. This also shows how we need to be more reliant on God because it is only through him that we are able to see him and have a relationship with him even though we are undeserving of his love and grace. 

The verse that stuck out to me in this was "we curse men, who have been mad in God's likeness". This was surprising to me because it reminded me that all of us as humans, are made to look like God or shaped to God's perfection. Thus, we should not find the faults and judge, insult, and complain about others because they are God's creation and we should be thankful and see the beauty and masterpiece that he has created in everyone. 

God's love

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers" 1 John 3:16

I decided to reflect upon this verse because in a week's time, my band will be leading worship for a sermon based on this verse.

Simple enough, this verse is obviously about Love. The thing that popped into my mind is the question many people ponder in our society today which is "what is love". Does it not clearly state the answer in this verse?

Yes, when you think of Jesus Christ laying down his life, you think of his death and resurrection. However, I do not believe God is asking all of us to die for our brothers. The bible specifically uses the words "laid down" instead of the word "gave". When you lay down or put something down, you usually put the item down so you can do something else first. Meaning, that Jesus gave us priority over his own life because he loves us. This verse is asking us to put our brothers (others) over our own life. Meaning, we should be willing to go out of our way to show compassion and love to others no matter who and why. We should always approach them with love

"We love because he first loved us" 1 John 4:19. I think I am finally beginning to understand the reason or the significance behind this verse. I have noticed that many people now a days have become more selfish which results in less compassion for one another. However, they still love their friends and family because they love them back. We learn things because we see others do it. Thus, the only reason we are able to love is because he showed us how to love first. Ultimately proving that he is the one and only God that is all loving and loves us more than anyone else can imagine.

Faith through Actions

"You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did." James: 2:22

In this part of the book of James, it talks about faith and deeds. How faith is accompanied with deeds because it is your actions that complete your faith. If you don't do anything about your faith, then it's dead.

This small verse really hit me on how Christians should be living in our modern day world. We need to be able to do what we say we are. Thus, if we say we are Christian, we must do actions that show the life of Christ. We are his ambassadors and we need to represent him well as you would for a team if you were wearing their uniform. 

Overall, you need to make sure you do what you say and to not become a hypocrite because nobody listens to hypocrites. However, if you do fall into this trap, you need to be able to accept your faults, understand your sins and be willing to confess to our God because he is loving and will always forgive you no matter what.