Life of Purpose

God has really been teaching me recently how you have to serve to be a disciple and a leader. The bible says in Galatians that a man reaps what he sows, gives what he puts out. If you serve and give everything good your all, then you will get something good out of it. I am honestly, not a good servant. I'm lazy, procrastinating, and usually complain. I really need to do it more. In my last blog I said that I looked down on people often, but instead of looking down on them, I need to serve them. In Jamaica, my youth pastor was teaching us about discipleship, and one night he made us wash each others feet as Jesus did. Even though it seems so simple, it was so inspiring, not necessarily then, but now. When I was doing it, I was complaining in my mind, I thought myself to be better than the task I was asked to fulfill. Looking back now, I realize that to be great, you must first serve. Look at Jesus, He was the savior sent to save the world, the Son of the Most High God, He was greater than His disciples. Yet He still washed their dirty, filthy feet. I want to serve like that, to step down from my arrogance and pride and be willing to serve people of this earth as an ambassador of the kingdom of God. In the same way Jesus served us when He died to save our sins, He washed our dirty, filthy hearts. I really want to spend my life serving the Lord, I'd rather die for the sake of Christ than to live for the sake of myself. Because in death, I'd find more life than I would living. I really want to live for Christ, wherever He wants me. Honestly my faith hasn't been as strong as I want it to be. I haven't been spending enough time in God's word and in prayer. My life is meant for Christ and Christ alone. I've made mistakes in the past, there's things I regret. I have tried to go my own way, living on my own abilities and desires. Let all who read this know that that road of this world, is nothing compared to the road to the kingdom of heaven. I've tried to satisfy myself with worldly things, things that everyone says makes them happy. And yes, they can make you happy, but only for a short time. You keep having to go back and get more and more to be satisfied. But unless you're with Christ, you will not be satisfied. You may work all the time and get money to support your family, have a nice house, drive a nice car, and not be happy. That is because you are without Christ. He is the one who WILL make you happy! Nothing on this earth compares to the joy that comes from and in Jesus. And He is the one who gives your life purpose. Don't try to find satisfaction in things of this world, because your search will be in vain. If you live for Christ, then your life will be a life of purpose.

Wayumi: A Trip to be Remembered

Throughout my trip to a camp called Wayumi, God has taught me not to be selfish. In thought it seems so simple, so small. Nonetheless, God has shown me that I am selfish in so many ways. There's two specifically though, in mind and in spirit. In mind, my thoughts were selfish. I looked out for only the betterment of me. I never put anyone but myself in first. In spirit, I considered myself greater than those who were smaller in faith and even those who have not heard the good news that Christ died to save them. God showed me, humbled me to the point where I realized, that I am a sinner just as much as the ones who have not heard. I am in the same boat as those who I have been commissioned to save! If it were the Titanic, I thought myself to be first class, top of the line. Even though the ship would be sinking, I wouldn't risk my life to help save those who were stuck in the lower levels of the ship to help them be saved. In the same way, I considered myself higher, greater, than those below me and not as mature in my faith. Even thought the Bible says that we cant do anything to earn my salvation, and even though I knew that, I didn't act like it. God really challenged me on this trip to put myself behind and put Him first. In one of my journals I wrote, "I know I have faith of some sort, faith that God exists and did what His word tells us. But even that is not enough faith. I need to have faith to let God do with me what He wants, and for faith to know that in whatever that may be, everything is under His control and that I will be safe in His arms. I've realized that this life is not about living, but dying. Dying to sin, myself and this world, to be crucified with Christ. And through the death of those earthly things, to find life of the eternal kind in Jesus' blood." This has really been the call of my heart ever since I wrote it. I need to be focused on Christ only, for once you eat of His bread and drink out of His cup, you will never have to eat or drink again because He will satisfy you. That has really come into play this week. I've realized through God that earthly things may satisfy you, for a short time. With sin you keep having to go back and do it more and more to be satisfied while in Christ you only have to go once. There is nothing on this earth that will satisfy you  more than Christ. I hope to spend the rest of my days glorifying Him, whether in speech or actions or both. This life is not yours to live for yourself, but for God. And even when your living for God, you may be called to sacrifice your earthly body because of Him, but it would be so worth it. In all honesty, I would be honored to give my life up for Christ because through that death, life would be gained. This trip has showed me a lot more than that but that's all that's on the top of my head. Don't be like Jonah, and don't waste your life!

Perspective

Throughout my short lifetime, I have had incidents that my initial reactions were, "Oh God, why are you putting me through this?" "Why me?", among other questions. The more I thought the situation over though, the more I realized that God is putting me through this so I can grow. God is a sovereign God, He will not forsake you, ever. He gives us trials and temptations in life we can grow. In James chapter 1, the author tells the reader to consider it pure joy that we face trials because through those trials we gain perseverance. What I gain out of that passage is not only that we can gain perseverance, but in everything we do we can smile. "Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because You are with me." This goes to say that even in the toughest of times, we can still have joy because we have the Lord on our side, and we also know that we will persevere. So even in the face of death we can smile, we can laugh at Satan because even if we are killed, or even if something bad happens to us, even if everything is taken away from us, we still have all we ever want and need. Going back to what I was saying before, God puts us through tough situations so we can grow. I know that I have asked for more faith, more wisdom and more strength spiritually. After I pray that, I have it worked out in my mind how I think God will work it out or how He will give what I ask for up front. But that's not how God works, if we get what we ask for every time, we won't really learn anything. What I'm saying is that you should be looking for ways you can learn things even through tough times. That's one thing I've learned, and am still learning, to look at things from an outside perspective, because sometimes that's the only way you will learn something.

This is my first blog so if its bad, oh well =)

I've heard people talk about Christianity as if it's something that you take lightly, that if you do enough to get by yet also indulge yourself in as many sinful ways you will still get into heaven. Although I am not the judge on this, thankfully, it does hurt the testimony of real Christians who follow the Bible's commands and those of Jesus. It hurts me to see so many people not understanding or just flat out ignoring His word and His love. Then they go so far as to say God's not real. Have they never opened their eyes to look at the world around them?! They say that there is no proof that God exists, if, IF God didn't exist, we wouldn't either. Whether you want to follow Him or not, you can not say that He does not exist, that's the dumbest thing ever said on the face of the earth. To go along with that, you can't run away from God, Jonah tried, and he ended up in a fish. That's just one example of the fact that God is in control, of everything, He is our Maker and also our sovereign God, He will not leave us. I've been through tough times in life before, everyone has trials and temptations, but if you use those to grow rather than beat you back and make your life seem worthless, life will become so much better than before. My father passed away when I was 14, that was two years ago. Since then, I have rededicated my life to Christ multiple times, and I now have a faith that is stronger than it's ever been. I used that experience to help me grow, I persevered because I saw Him who was invisible working in my life around me. I have faith that I will see my father again in a better life when it's my time to go to heaven. I agree that life seems like its getting too tough and the wheels of your life feel like they're going to fall off sometimes. And to get through that you need to turn to the only one who has control over your whole life, and believe or not it's not you. God will help you grow in so many ways, if you're not a follower of Him and a disciple of the only God, I pray that your heart will be softened and that you will accept as your Lord and Savior. And if you are already a follower of the Lord, then I rejoice with you that there is one more person to see in Heaven. I also challenge you to be unashamed of the gospel, to spread it to the world, whether it be locally or in some distant lands. Listen to God's call for you, even if you don't want to go, because God is sovereign, He will not forsake you, everything He has planned for us is good, whether we see it or not. Have a great day and know that God loves you, and thanks for reading my blog. =)