Change

Change is a difficult thing isn't it? When you've lived your life the same way for so many years, trying to change is nearly impossible, especially when you are surrounded by the same environment that has helped to shape the person that you are. How do you stop doing everything that you know?
This is the challenge when choosing to follow Christ. He calls you to be different, to be not of this world. That means when all your friends are getting drunk, you are staying sober, when they are looking at women and ogling them and talking about them you are keeping quiet or if you are strong enough, telling them not to. When they are making lewd jokes and swearing you are choosing not to participate, or better yet you are walking away.
So how do you do this? How do you just quit behaving the way that you are so used to? I know i can't do it. Every day i wake up and think that today is going to be different. I'm not going to take part in these actions, these actions that i know God would not approve of. And every day i find myself wishing i were stronger. Wishing i could actually change.
I guess this is another lesson from God. I can't change. I'll never be strong enough to change. But if i let Him, he can change me, from the inside out. You see that's where the real change needs to start. Inside ourselves. If we can't change our thoughts, if we can't change our heart, then all the "good deeds" we do are worthless. Jesus mentions this in Matthew 23:27 when he is speaking to the Pharisees. He calls them out as hypocrites, declaring them white washed tombs. They are beautiful on the outside but full of dead men's bones and uncleanliness on the inside.
So we need to realize, I need to realized that only God can change what's on the inside, and He can only change it if I choose to let Him in. So Lord today i let you in, i pray that you would change my heart, and change my mind. Give me a forgiving heart, and a clean and righteous spirit. Lord be my strength, that i may rely on You always.
In Jesus Name,
Average James

On a side note, i'm going to be trying something else also. In order for the Lord to strengthen us, we need to be in fellowship with Him. So with that said, i am going to try and be in constant prayer and study of the Word. As i do, i will use this blog to keep me accountable, and share the things that the Lord has revealed to me. Wish me luck and please keep me in your prayers.

Who I Am

Well its been a couple of weeks since i posted on here and it kinda sucks. I was doing so well in the beginning. Again distractions are the main cause. But anyways i'm back to writing away. This one is a little different today though. This is who I am.

I am a Christian. Born again, by the grace of God. I am not perfect, i've never claimed to be. I am just like you, and every other person in this world. I am a sinner that has been saved by grace. I don't have all the answers, and I've never claimed to. I do claim to be better than you, i'm not holier than thou, in fact i probably struggle with things more now than before. But i am saved by the grace of God, just like He promised.

I believe that I was born a sinner just like everyone else. I believe that if not for the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ i would go to hell just like everyone else. I believe that the reason i am not going to hell has nothing to do with being a "good person." There are no good people. We are all sinners, we are all separated from God. I believe that God requires perfection to get into heaven and there is not a single person on this earth that meets that requirement, which is why Christ died on the cross for us.

I believe that the bible is the divinely inspired word of God. And because i believe the bible, i believe that there is only 1 God. I believe that there is only 1 way to go to heaven, and that way is through Jesus Christ. That may sound narrow minded but it is what the bible says, it is what God says.

With all that being said, i believe that the hardest part of being a Christian is staying true to the word of God. Staying devoted. I know i need to read my bible, i know I need to pray. I know i need to go to church and be in fellowship. I also need to watch what i say, what i watch what i listen to. I need to be wary of those around me. It is too easy to fall back into old ways, to get back into old habits. Making crude jokes, allowing anger, envy, jealousy to creep in, and turning away.

But i am human, and we all make mistakes. We all are tempted and we all stumble and fall. What i need to remember is that i need to get back up, turn back to the Lord and give it all to Him. No matter how hard we struggle, no matter how hard we fight, no matter what we try to do, we can never overcome ourselves or our sin without God.

So this is me giving it all back to God, kneeling before his throne, and submitting to Him. I can never win, but that's okay because i don't have to. God has already won. I just need to remember that when i try to fight on my own. Well til next time,

Faithfully submitting,

Average James

p.s. Karla God Bless You & I love you. :)

Distractions

Wow. Its amazing how quickly things can change. One second I'm doing the will of the Lord, serving him, humbling myself, working hard, the next minute i'm slow, lazy, and losing sight of my goals. I'm suffering, i'm wondering where i'm going, i'm wandering down the wrong path.

Distractions can be a dangerous thing. They can cause you to stumble, lose focus, get lost, and so many other bad things. Distractions can cause you to sink, just like Peter when he was walking on the water with Jesus. When he first stepped out of the boat, he had his eyes on the Lord. He was walking to the Lord after he was called to by Him. But once he got out there he realized what he was doing, where he was at. He began to look around, see his surroundings and when he took his eyes of Jesus, he began to sink.

I too, took my eyes off the Lord. I was so excited with what i was doing that i forgot why i was doing it. I allowed satan to distract me. I allowed temptation to overcome me and i took my eyes off the Lord. In that split second everything changed. My drive was gone, my motivation, but most importantly, i couldn't feel the Lord as strongly as before. I lost my focus on Him, and started focusing on the world again and i didn't like it.

Thank the Lord that he doesn't leave us to our follies. He calls us back. He lifts us out of the water. He returns our focus back to Him that way we can continue to serve Him. I'm glad he pulled me back. I'm glad He lifted me up, kept me from drowning. Hopefully i can keep my eyes on Him and continue to serve Him.

On a different note, He has me showed me something else. I began dreading my hair as a reminder to be humble, and selfless. An outward portrayal of what i want to be and how i want to be. But since i've had them i've been covering them up. In the same way, i've kinda been hiding my faith. It feels like i hide my dreads out of fear of what people might say or think, and in a way that has been represnting my faith. No more hiding. I want to stand up for the Lord and not be ashamed. Not be afraid of what others think. I want to stand for Christ. I have no reason to be ashamed.
Til next time God bless.

Standing in faith,

Average James

Stepping Out

So today was an interesting day. If you've been following my previous posts recently, you can see that i've been trying to serve the Lord and be in His will. Well today, i believe i did God's will. It was actually a rather interesting experience. You see i went out to lunch today, and i went to wild wings. The thing is, i don't like to go out to eat by myself. I feel like a weirdo. I feel like i stand out. I feel like everyone is staring at me thinking look at that loser eating lunch by himself. The interesting thing about eating lunch by myself, though was that it gave me a lot of time to think and i behaved did things that i may not have normally done had i had company.

I have to admit, i felt kinda weird speaking to the waitress, especially when she would keep coming up and asking me if everything was okay and if i needed anything. I know she was doing her job, but it just kinda made me feel uncomfortable. Anyways, as i sat there listening to the drone of random conversations and listening more intensely on my thoughts, i felt something in my heart. It might also have been the flyleaf video that came on in the middle of the country music, but i felt something in my heart. Basically long story short, when i paid my bill, i left a small message on the receipt. It said "God Bless John 3:16 Whosoever".

Now i've never been one to leave notes, messages or thanks, aside from a quick thank you as i leave. Shoot i barely have enough courage to order my food and talk to the server to ask for something as trivial as a refill. But for some reason, today, i felt like God had a message for this waitress. Whether she knows Him or not, or whether she seeks the verse out, i believe that this is the message God wanted me to leave for her. So being the obedient servant that i'm trying to be i stepped out in faith. Granted i practically ran out of the restaurant after i wrote that, i wrote it nonetheless.

I wrote it because i believe in my heart that God wanted me to pass along that message. I have to admit its a strange feeling when you can hear the Lord speaking to you, but it gets easier as it gets quieter. Thats one of the things i noticed. That if you can be still and be quiet you can hear the Lord a lot easier. The other thing that i learned is that if the Lord calls on you to step out in faith, the best thing you can do is take that step.

Stepping out in faith God Bless,

Average James

Who's the Boss?

So yesterday i was out cleaning my yard getting things straightened up a bit, and the way things are going this year, i began thinking about a bible verse. Colossians 3:23-24 "23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for[a] you serve the Lord Christ."

As i began thinking about this verse, i kept being reminded of sermons i've heard on these verses about working. What everyone always says is, imagine God is your boss. Now if God is your boss, are you going to go through the motions and do just enough to get by or are you going to give it your all? Granted some of us will still only go through the motions, and thats disappointing.

But as i was thinking this, i began to think, okay, what if this was God's yard and I was his gardener? Would He want his yard to look messy? Would he want to see trash, dirt and junk lying around His yard or would he want it to look nice and respectable? I would think God would want His yard to look beautiful, to be clean and organized. So i did everything i could to straighten up my yard to what i think He would hope it would like. Later i came inside and saw dishes in the sink and the kitchen kinda messy. My first thought, is this how God would keep his kitchen? So i did what i could to clean and organize the kitchen as best i could.

My point is this, I've never really taken pride in anything. I am not a proud person in the sinful way of pride, but nor do i offer up much in terms of appearance. My hair is never combed, and my clothes are usually faded and/or torn. And as for my personal belongings, i don't really take care of that stuff either. I have it, its there, if it works, great, if not oh well. But with this verse, every time i do something, or i have something, i now try to ask myself, is this how the Lord would want it to look? Is this how God would take care of it? Am i giving 100% of my time and energy? Knowing that God is my boss, am i an employee worthy of praise? So now everything that i do, i do for Him, to bring Him honor and glory. Everything that i have belongs to God, and no matter where i work i work for Him. And because i work for him, and take care of his things, I will give him my 100%.

Til next time God Bless

Average James

Goals Updated

So since this is a new year and a new beginning, I'm going to review my goals and "update" them. Back in 2010 i created a list of goals that i wanted to accomplish. They were mostly personal, some regarding my family, but overall they were simple, random goals.

This year my goals are different. In fact, there is only one goal that i wish to accomplish this year. It has nothing to do with videogames, work, weight loss, weight gain, travel, or anything else like that. No this year, my goal is to serve the Lord. Everything else that i wish to accomplish will be accomplished if i can do this one thing.

I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man, and a better person all around. I want to be more humble, more selfless, more patient, slow to anger, quick to forgive, I want to be at peace with myself and my surroundings, and rather than try to accomplish all these goals individually, I am going to focus on serving the Lord, with great awe and fear, and know that as i serve Him, he will change me, mold me and conform me to His will.

Besides, by serving the Lord, all these things are accomplished anyways, because these are the things, as well as countless others that we are commanded to do. I want to serve Him because I love Him and i want to be in His will. I want the peace of the Lord upon me, and the joy of the Lord within me, that He might use me to share His love and His light with others. I have faith that He will use me, and I look forward to serving the Lord my God.

Well, til next time, farewell and God Bless,

Average James

New Year New beginnings

As part of new year and new beginnings, a new do. Dreads started today and hopefully i can update in a month or so after they've really begun to set in.

Now i have several reasons for doing dreads, none of which is because they are cool trendy or "in." I believe that dreadlocks are a symbol of humility and selflessness. They are a reminder to me to be humble, to be selfless and to put others before myself. They are, in my eyes, a symbol of servitude, and to me servitude to the Lord.

Another thing they represent in my eyes is patience. In order for my dreads to set properly, i have to leave them alone. I can't be messing with them constantly, i can't be playing with them or hurrying them along. They are going to set in their time, and nothing i can do can really speed that process along. In fact many things that i would do actually slow the process down. So i have to wait patiently while they do their thing.

I also have to accept that, for a time, they may look funny, funky, crappy, weird, and/or all of the above. I have to be willing to look past this and accept that it is what it is and the final product will be awesome. Kinda like what God does with us. He shapes us molds us, breaks us, teases twists and crumples us, all in the process of making us more Godly and more Christlike. So here's to the beginning of one of my many adventures in this new year.

God Bless and Happy New Year,

Average James