No Partiality

I want you to think of this thought throughout the entire post:

Someone or something can influence you but cannot add anything to you. 

There are people everywhere you have influence. The POTUS has influence over billions of people. The president of your university or college has influence over thousands of people. Pastors have influence over hundreds of people. Professors have influence over a hundred people or so. Your coach has influence over your team. Your parents have influence of your family.

It is good to have an influence over people, it usually means that you are doing something right and that you are in a position of leadership. If you have influence you have definitely made in impact on people or society. Whether someone has influence over the entire country or a family, influence is influence.

Think about the people who influence you. I bet those people are some of your favorites. You enjoy listening to them talk, you enjoy seeing how they act, you enjoy interactions with them because people of influence are usually what we want to become. I believe we all have andesire to have influence.

There is one common thing about people who have influence. They can influence you and have an impact on your life but they can't add anything to you.

Picture this, you are at church listening to a sermon about serving others. It's a wonderful sermon and it's a sermon that you were able to pay attention to and be attentive to the entire time. (those are the best) The pastor may say some encouraging words to really make you think about serving others, but the desire or conviction that we feel isn't coming from what the pastor said. The desire we feel and the conviction we feel comes from the Holy Spirt.

Another example, I watched a movie called Poverty Inc. a couple weeks back. This movie was about poverty and they way we should look at it all over the world. It was an excellent movie that really made me think about a lot of things I have never really thought about. That movie had influence over me but didn't add anything to me. The conviction I felt didn't come from the movie, but from the Holy Spirit.

With these examples, the influence was great! God definitely puts people in our lives to influence us. I have no doubt in my mind. If those people weren't influencing us, then we wouldn't think about the things that we think about. Does that make sense? People of influence, make us think, and the Holy Spirit is what adds.

Where did this come from? Paul writes in Galatians 2:6: "And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)-those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me." 

Paul understood that influential people didn't add anything to him. Just what I talked about above. Influential people weren't changing Paul's heart. The gospel of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit were what added things to Paul and what changed his heart.

Paul reminds us that God doesn't show partiality to those who have influence. Partiality is defined as: unfair bias in favor of one thing in person compared with another. God isn't going to show you favor because you have influence because God understands that we can't change people/we can't add anything to people. Only God can do that!

We can be influenced, but not changed by people. The Holy Spirit changes us, and our hearts. Everything is the work of God. The gut feelings we get, the fire we feel in our heart, that comes from God, not others. That deep down feeling is the work of the Holy Spirit. I can promise you that.

I encourage you to have a desire to have influence with the mindset not to add something to a person, but to influence them and to get them thinking in a positive and encouraging way or to confront them and to get the thinking in a way where they realize they have to change.

So I Say it Again

Saying things two times vs. one time usually means that it is something that is very important. If a professor talks brings up an assignment twice it is probably more important that something that would be brought up once right? Think about sitting in church listening to a sermon, when a preacher has a main point the preacher usually says the same thing over and over again right? Now, think about those things that your parents say to you over and over. If your mom tells you to make your bed when you wake up in the morning than you should probably make your bed in the morning. If you have been told once in your life to make your bed, then you probably don't make your bed.

I hope that you get my point here in what I am trying to say.

I just started reading the book of Galatians and I am super excited about it. I am going to give you a little intro about the book of Galatians just so things make a little more sense to you. Galatia was a Roman province in central Asia Minor. Paul traveled there on each of the three journeys he made to spread the message about Jesus. The Galatians received both Paul and his gospel announcement warmly. But later some people Paul calls agitators came and challenged Paul's leadership as well as the foundation of his teaching. So Paul wrote to answer the threat to his status as an apostle and to reaffirm the core message that faith in the Messiah is the basis of membership in God's new community. Paul insists that the gospel that was preached was not of human origin...rather, received by revelation from Jesus Christ. Paul was very compelled to share this revelation that he has. The main argument that Paul had was that the Gentiles did not need to be circumcised. Paul closes by emphasizing the main theme of his letter once more: Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.

I hope that background on the book of Galatians really helps you understand some of the things that I share, not only in this post, but in future posts involving the book of Galatians.

In Galatia there were some people who becoming quick to desert the one who called them to live in the grace of Christ. Paul was astonished by this. He couldn't believe that people were turning to other ways rather than the gospel of Christ. I picture this being much like things are today. We can read the truth right in the bible but there are still so many people out there who don't believe it. It's sad to think about. There are hundreds of millions of copies of the bible and there are still so many who don't believe, or they choose to believe in other things.

I believe that sometimes, people base their beliefs on pleasing people. If you come from a family who isn't rooted in Christ, or you have friends who aren't rooted either, you might do what they do to please them since they're your family and your friends. Don't get me wrong you can be in that situation and be rooted in Christ. That is totally possible.

We just get in the habit of pleasing people. Whatever it takes to make others happy, we have a tendency to do. That can be both good or bad. We get caught up in seeking the approval of humans rather than the approval of God. I am guilty of that for sure. It's definitely easier said than done. Before God became number 1 in my life, I wasn't good with this at all. For me, what others thought about me or fitting in was more important. I knew God was always going to be there, I just didn't have him at the top of the list.

So what is being said again?

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse! Am I trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:6-10) 

I underlined what Paul said twice: "If anyone is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse!" There is a lot of importance in this since he said it twice. If we are preaching ant other gospel other than the gospel of Christ, we all be under God's curse! I don't know about you, but I don't want to be under God's curse.

I really liked what Paul says when he finishes that passage.  "If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ." Have you ever thought about that before? If we live our whole lives trying to please people, that is not being a servant of Christ. Being a servant of Christ is sharing the gospel and loving people like Jesus. Are we doing those things? It sounds like there are two options. Preach another gospel and be cursed? Or preach the gospel and be a servant of Christ. Sounds like a no brainier to me.

I hope this passage encouraged whoever read it tonight. I hope that it was clear and made sense as well. If you can take away one thing, take away that when something is said more than once, it is most likely very important. There is only one gospel, and one Jesus Christ. Don't get caught up in Satan's schemes of thinking that getting the approval of humans is what's most important.

So I say it again!

Quick to Worship?

I want to start this post be defining the word 'worship.'

Worship: the feeling or expression of reference and adoration towards a deity

This post today is to get you thinking about something you might not usually think about. I want you to think about this question:

What does it take for you to worship God? Or in other words, what does it take for you to express or feel adoration towards God? 

This idea came from reading scripture that I have read many times in my life before. As I was reading it, this idea hit me out of nowhere and I loved it.

It actually comes from the Resurrection story. I wrote in my journal that the way this idea came from this passage is something you might not have ever thought of when you read the Resurrection story. I know that I have never thought this until today.

The Resurrection 

Now after the Sabbath, toward the down of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, and he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you." So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." (Matthew 28:1-10)

What stood out to me more than anything is that when Jesus appeared and said, "Greetings!" they came up to him and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. This scene is incredibly powerful. I am sure a lot of people would have reacted this way. But the thought that came to me while I was reading is what causes us to worship God? Do we have to wait for a miracle to happen? Do we have to see a prayer answered before we worship God? I think it is a pretty fair question to ask and a fair thought as well.

I know for me, I really used to struggle with the concept of being quick to worship. This quick to worship idea is kind of like being optimistic and seeing the light in all things. If you know me fairly well, I would like to think that you see me as a positive person. I strive to be a positive person in all that I do! Positivity is something that is noticed and is a direct representation of your heart. Something bad could happen to me, but why dwell on that? It might suck, it might hurt, but why should something bad affect every other aspect of my life?

Maybe for you, there might be a lot of difficult things you are going through. I guarantee that if you make a list, you can come up with more positives. If it helps, make a list!

Why all this talk about positivity and what not? I believe we should always be worshipping God through the things we say and the things that we do. No matter what we are going through. There is always something that we can be thankful for. I believe that too often we wait for a miracle to happen or something that is just good. All good and perfect things come from God.

When I hear somebody talking about how terrible their day is going, I always like to ask this question, "Did you wake up this morning?" Good and perfect things happen the second you wake up every single day.

I challenge you to worship God through it all everyday. Don't wait. If we wait it could be too late. God is good. Life is good. Get in a habit of saying those two things and your mindset and outlook will begin to change.

Imagine a life where we are quick to worship...

Sleeping in Gethsemane

Do you ever read stories in the bible and they don't make any sense to you. Or have you read certain verses before and they just seem to never make sense. No matter how hard you try to think about them or how badly you want to understand. I believe that we aren't meant to understand everything all of the time. I could read a verse right now and have it not make sense, and then I go through something this week, and I come across the verse and then it makes sense. It's funny how God works sometimes.

This morning I came across a passage in Matthew that I have read through many times throughout the years and I never fully understood it. This morning, when I was reading, it finally made sense. 

You probably saw the title of this post and thought it was a little weird. Mostly likely because you've probably heard about Jesus praying in Gethsemane, not somebody sleeping in there. 

I will try to tell this story to the best of my ability. During Jesus's last days on earth, he was doing a lot of foretelling of what was to come. The end of Matthew covers the signs of the end of the age, the abomination of desolation, the coming of the Son of Man, nobody knowing the day or hour, the final judgment, the plot to kill Jesus, Judas betraying Jesus, the passover, the Lord's supper, the betrayal and arrest of Jesus, and Peter denying Jesus. 

So yes, there are a lot of significant stories I just listed off. Right in between the Lord's supper and the betrayal and arrest of Jesus, Jesus goes to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. One of the coolest things about this is that while everything was going on, Jesus was able to step away and pray. Imagine having that intuition. When everything in your life seems to be falling apart and then being able to step away and pray. That isn't how most people think when times are rough. Imagine being Jesus and knowing you are about to be betrayed, arrested, and killed. Yet, he was able to go to the garden and pray. 

What in the world actually happened in Gethsemane? Jesus decided to go there to pray, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray." While Jesus was talking to peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be very sorrowful and troubled. I believe the reality of everything was starting to sink in as the day approached. So Jesus said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." Jesus must have really been in a very sorrowful spot if he felt the need to be watched over. Jesus then went on a little further and he fell on his face and prayer, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." So after this prayer, Jesus came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." So, I find it so interesting to me that Peter fell asleep while Jesus told him to watch over him while he prayed. Was he really that tired to give into temptation like that? I love when Jesus says, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." I love that because there is so much truth in that. The spirit is always willing. Our flesh is just so weak. Over and over again we run into that problem. No matter what, the spirit is always willing. We just have a certain weakness to us and it is our flesh. After this all went down, Jesus went away to pray again and his prayer was, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." And again, after the prayer he found them sleeping. Then Jesus went away for a third time, saying the same prayer again and then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand." 

To me it seems like Jesus is a little disappointed that the disciples gave into temptation when their time with Jesus was winding down. They new that the time was winding down and they were still weak. I think this story can be lesson for us all. For only God knows the day and the hour. He wants us to be ready when that time comes. So I encourage you to be ready. Be strong in your faith. Don't be the one who isn't ready when that day comes and don't be that one who is spiritually asleep. 

Front row Christians

This might seem a little lame, but one of my biggest fears throughout my entire life has been the fear of sitting in the front row at church. I don't know why, but it has always scared me. I think there is a common misconception that if you sit in the front row everybody just stares at you. Me being tall, sometimes I do get a little self-conscious when I stick out like a sore thumb. Concerts and church are two settings where I sometimes get a little self-conscious. I usually feel bad for people behind me because they can't see over me, and I know everyone can see me. 

I think of every concert that I have been to at church back home. Whether it's my family I go with or my friends, they always want to sit as close as possible. No matter which concert it is, the next day when we go back to church, I hear it from everyone how they saw me at the concert. I just think to myself..."come on...the concert wasn't for me it was for the people on stage!" I have even been accused of my head being right in the way of where the lead singer is standing. It's all good though! It really doesn't bother me too much.

Where does a fear of sitting in the front row at church come from? Maybe some of what I just talked about. Maybe a fear of what others think. The front row just isn't a very popular place at some churches. Usually the back rows fill up first. Part of the reason I usually want to get to church a little early is so I don't have to sit in the front. Yes, that sounds terrible. But it's the truth. It's tough! We think that it is scary up there! 

The church I attend up here by school, Harvest Bible Chapel, they have it figured out. They don't let the back rows fill up until the rows up front are filled up first. They clearly do it because there are a lot of people that attend each Sunday and that is what orderly works best. I don't think they do it so you sit closer. It just helps with the flow. It's something so small, but so unique in so many ways. I know when I think of church back home, the first 4 rows are totally empty! It's like a ghost town. 

Today I got the experience to sit in the very front row at church. I was a little nervous about it. I have yet to see someone in that congregation who is taller than me. I think it's a thing for tall dudes to be aware of where other tall dudes are at. It's like a secret code we have. So I knew that people would see where I was. Walking form the back of the church all the way up the front was pretty intense! You don't realize how far the front is when you have been sitting in the middle to back your entire life. So I finally made it to the front with a couple of my buddies who sit up there every Sunday. 

Once I got up there, it was like a feeling I really cannot put into words. It was like a taste of heaven and how things should be. During worship it is so much louder in the front. You are really close to the worship team and you can hear everybody's voices from behind you. It was powerful. It was like a worship experience that I have never experienced. I think one of the things that made the front row so powerful was that there is no one else in front of you. Yeah, we show up to church, find our seats, worship, listen to sermons, fellowship and leave, that is usually how it goes. But when you sit anywhere else in the church there are always people in front of you. No matter how hard you try to put all your focus on what is going on during the service, you are still going to notice those people in front of you. You are still going to think about those people in front of you. It honestly makes it harder to focus. Sitting in the front, there wasn't any of that. It was me, my buddies beside me, and God. Nothing else in between. My focus wasn't on the people around me or in front of me, my focus was directly on the worship and the sermon, or in other words, directly on God.

I am not writing this to tell you all that you need to sit in the front row. That would be almost hypocritical because I have sat in the front row once. I am writing this with the thought of that is how things should be. We shouldn't care what other people around us think at church. We shouldn't care about the way other people do things. When we go to church our focus should be only on God and not what is around us. Same thing if we aren't in church, who cares what other people think. God is all-knowing. He knows what we think before we even think it. That is what matters. 

To me a front row Christian is someone who isn't above any other Christian or anybody else, a front row Christian is someone who doesn't let the opinions of other and the thoughts of others determine what their lives should look like. It's you and it's God. It's a simple as that. I encourage you with that. I believe this is a taste of what it will be like in heaven someday. Just us, and God. No thought of anyone else but God. This whole front row Christian idea, is what being a Christian is all about. 

I read onetime that fearing what people think about you vs. fearing God is like fearing a mouse vs. a lion. What is a little mouse going to do to you? A mouse is scrawny, small, and has no power. Then a lion, a lion could change your entire life. That is what God does for you. So next time you worry about what others think about you, they're just mice. 

I hope this post was thought-provoking to you. I pray that it didn't sound arrogant, or boastful or like I was grouping Christians. That wasn't the point. The point was to paint a picture in your mind about what church and being a Christian should look like. 

Sitting in the front row today was one of the best decisions that I have made in a long time, because I saw things from a new perspective. I encourage you to make a decision like that in the near future. It's a way that we grow and a way to conquer fear. 

The difficult questions

First off, I am a little bummed out that I haven't posted in two days. Whenever there is any sort of break from classes we have two-a-days for basketball so that is how my days are spent when we don't have class. It's just hard to find time on those days, and I am not just making an excuse, that is normally just how it is.

I am okay with being too busy to post one day, but when I get too busy to post two days in a row, I start to feel anxious. It might sound crazy to some people that I get anxious when I don't write a blog. To some people that feeling might be anxiety, but honestly, to me it's a feeling of soul-longing. My soul longs to spend time in the word, journaling, and then writing a blog post. My soul longs for that fulfillment that I get when I can share what I learn. My soul longs for the growth that can happen everyday. My soul longs.

Today when I woke up, my soul was longing. I was thinking, I have to get up and write something before church. My soul was longing. I couldn't wait any longer to write another post.

I titled this post: "The difficult questions." I want to touch on difficult questions for one specific reason. That reason is that difficult questions lead to meaningful relationships. How many people in your life would you consider yourself to be friends with just because you like to have fun with them? I know for me there are a decent amount of people that I know who I have that sort of relationship with. Now, think about how many people in your life you know on a deeper level. Why do you know those people on a deeper level? Most likely because of the conversations you have with them.

I am not saying it's bad to have friends that you just like to have fun with. There really isn't a probably there. As humans, it's a blessing to have those people in our lives. We all have those friends who we hit up if we want to go to the store, go watch a sporting event, go out to eat with, etc. If you think this isn't you, trust me it is. I promise. It's how we are. We choose who we want to do certain things with. I have friends who I would way rather sit down to get coffee with compared to doing something fun. That is based on the conversations and the type of friendships I have.

Think about the friends who have an extra special relationship with. How did that happen? Like I mentioned above, probably based on conversations that you have had with them. Right! Most of those conversations probably started out with a difficult question. Something you probably didn't want to ask but you did anyways. I think we automatically have this wall put up when we first interact with someone new, and when a difficult question is asked, that wall is torn down. Have you been there before? My intuition tells me yes.

What are some of these difficult questions?

"What do you struggle with?"
"How was your time with your family over thanksgiving break?"
"How can I pray for you?"
"What do you do to strengthen your relationship with Christ?"
"Do you read your bible?"
"What church do you go to?"
"What is one of the things you have learned about yourself this year?"
"What are some of the things you are thankful for?"
"What do you fear?"
"What do you desire?"
"What are some of your gifts?"
"Tell me about your family."

Those are just some of the examples that came to my mind. Difficult questions don't have to be questions that deal with God. Difficult questions are ones that make you think. Difficult questions make you get into your feelings. They're questions that tear down those walls we have built. Difficult questions are a key to a persons heart. When you ask these sorts of questions you build trust with somebody because you are showing that you really do care about them. How often do you get asked one of these questions, and you feel special just because someone asked you? I know for me, I love it! Most people nowadays shy away. That's why it's difficult. Or, most people shy away in person, and then have no problem texting about difficult things ya know?

It's amazing how when certain people are placed into your life, you become inspired by the smallest of things. I encourage you to ask the difficult questions, tear down the wall, share your feelings, and that is when you will make somebody feel treasured. There is so much power in going beneath the surface. Going beneath the surface is when you truly get to know somebody and their heart.

Try it out, I promise you won't regret. I also promise you it's not easy. If you read this post and it makes sense to you, you are going to be placed in a situation today at some point where you have the opportunity to ask a difficult question. It's funny how God works. You're going to be faced with it. What are you going to do? Ask the question or just stick to what is easy? If you stick to what is easy, it's okay. Just ask the difficult question next time. But don't get in a habit of that. It's a battle between meaningful vs. meaningless. Don't give into meaningless. It will be hard, it will make your stomach have butterflies but it's how we form meaningful relationships. Meaningful relationships are a way to be obedient to the second greatest commandment: loving your neighbor as yourself.

Why journal?

Sitting here after reading some scripture, I was stumped on what I was going to write about tonight. I read some really good things in Matthew and in Psalms but nothing really significantly stuck out to me. I was sitting here and was texting back and forth with a special friend about journaling. I just received a text about journaling that really left me speechless. So I was inspired to write a post about the importance of journaling. It's more so significance rather than importance if I am being completely honest with you. There is power in journaling more so than importance.

Before you get to deep into this post, I just want you to know that I am not writing this as a how to journal type of thing. I am just sharing the way that I do it and the way that it works for me with that hope that it encourages you to begin journaling. You don't have to journal like me at all! You could literally journal about whatever you want. You could write about your day, your thoughts, feelings, what happened, funny conversations, what you ate, etc. Heck, I encourage you to journal in whatever way you want too!

Journaling for me is one of the most relaxing and rewarding things that I do. To sit down, with my favorite pen and a nice journal and be able to write down things I am learning about God and myself on a daily basis is incredibly rewarding. It's also extremely peaceful and fulfilling.

So how do I go about journaling?

For me, I have always wanted to get into journaling at a fairly young age. I think when I was a freshmen in high school I had that desire for the first time. I would get a new journal for Christmas or my birthday and I would be so excited to write in it. Each time I would start a new one, I would envision finishing it and being able to go through it and see pages full of my writing. Well, that vision seemed to be pretty far off in the distance. I think I probably started like 10 different journals and I never finished a single one. I honestly didn't really know what to write. In some I wrote prayer requests, in others I wrote down things about my day, etc. Nothing really seemed to work. As a high school freshman, I also was not very disciplined yet. If I didn't feel like writing in my journal I wouldn't do it. I wasn't very good at developing healthy habits like that yet. It seemed like the same thing would happen over and over again. New journal, write 10 pages, new journal, write 8 pages, new journal, 7 pages. I was so terribly inconsistent. But for me at the age, I experienced growth in different ways, it just wasn't through journaling. Even though I wanted it to be. I think we can take something away from that. We have desires to grow spiritually in certain ways, and sometimes those desires aren't quite working for us, but don't give up, someday, those desires could change your life.

Two summers ago, I began journaling on a consistent basis. I finally had a plan figured out. I would read two chapters from two books in the bible and the write about what I had learned. Every journal entry I have consists of six different things to write about.

1. Thoughts
2. Application
3. VOD (verse of the day)
4. Question
5. Prayer
6. Blog

I leave a space in my journal for every one of these things. I write about my thoughts. What did I think about this scripture that I just read through? What stuck out to me? The thoughts section is usually whatever comes to mind when I am reading through scripture. Sometimes, it doesn't have to do anything with what I read in scripture. If I had a rough day or am going through something, I write about how the situation is making me think.

Application is my favorite section to write about. The application section is where I write about what I can take away from the scripture. It's where I ask myself, what I can learn from this. At first, this section was just for me. But once I started to write a blog, it became more of a how can this apply to other peoples lives in ways that they can be encouraged. The application section really gives me a chance to think about what I had read.

The VOD section is where I write down the verses that stick out to me the most or the verses that I am going to use in a blog post. It's a pretty simple thing to do, but for me, I found that when I write down which verses mean the most to me, I find myself being able to engrave those things even deeper into my heart and mind.

The Question section is simple. I write down any question that I have for God. It can be anything. For me, I usually ask about how I can have an impact on people and be of encouragement. My heart is in a place where I want to see others around me grow and succeed so a lot of my question relate to how I can have the most impact.

The Prayer line is also very personal. I recently started another journal where I write out a prayer for the entire day, but in my main journal, I think of the one think that is at the top of my prayer list and that is what I write down.

Lastly, I have a line for my blog title. This might not be very useful for you. But as I journal, that line usually fills up with possible blog titles for the day. It's simple, but can be tricky sometimes, because I like to choose titles that are appealing.

For me, this is how I journal. This is the process that I go through on a daily basis. Sure, it seems lengthy...but it really isn't that bad. Your thing might never be journaling and that is okay. It's not for everyone. There are not many people out there who enjoy spending time writing. Reading the bible on a consistent basis has changed my life and so has journaling/writing. I challenge you if you are feeling dead in the water and really want to jump start your walk with Christ, try to journal. It's hard at first, trust me. But once you get something figure out, everything will change. The key isn't doing something like journaling or reading your bible once in awhile...the key is to being disciplined and consistent to your approach. Once your relationship with Jesus and growth become an everyday thing, your life will change. Anybody can do something a couple times, that's Luke-warm. God does't want Luke-warm Christians, he wants us to be on fire. To me, a daily disciplined consistent walk with Jesus is what it means to be on fire.

So why journal? Imagine the feeling you get when you look back 10 years from now when you read through some of the journals that you wrote in. Think about what it would be like, reading through the lessons that God taught you and the things you learned in the bible and then telling your kids. Imagine the power in that. Imagine reading your first journal entry compared to journal entry 100. Just think about reading how you used to feel about things compared to now. It's a marathon, not a spring. Writing 1 page won't having you feeling satisfied. Stick to it! It's so worth it.

I want to close and encourage you with some of what my special friend said about journaling. This is what inspired me for this post tonight. "And of course, I remember the big things that happen, but it is so fun to write down the little things about your day that you don't think make any difference, because those are the kind of things you don't remember...but those are exactly the kinds of things I never want to forget. The small, seemingly insignificant details of every day life that make up one big life." 

It's honestly quite the coincidence that this verse was on the bottom of my prayer journal tonight.

"You should use whatever gift you have received from the Lord to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." (1 Peter 4:10) 

God has given you a gifts. I promise you that. I never thought I would be writing as much as I do, and I am going to use that gift to the best of may ability to serve the Lord. Whatever your gift may be, utilize it and serve the Lord.