The Importance of a Father

Lately I have been thinking about the important role parents play in their children's life.  Ok honestly, this issue has been burning my heart, as an issue that I am "on fire" about.  I recently had the wonderful opportunity to see the movie Courageous and it made me think about my own childhood.

There was a clip in the movie where this man hadn't talked to his dad ever and he took some flowers to his grave to tell him what was truly on his heart as a grown man.  it was heartbreaking to see how the hurt he suffered as a boy carried over to adulthood.  It made me think about all the grown men who still carry that hurt.  What example do they emulate when teaching their own children about respect and what is right?

Parents are given a wonderful job ordained by God to protect, love, and guide their children in the way they should go.  Kids see how their parents act and will copy that behavior because that is what they know to be right.

What are your actions teaching your children?

" Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."  (Proverbs 22:6)

"Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged." (Colossians 3:21)

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4)

"Pleasant words promote instruction." (Proverbs 16:21)

"A wise man's heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction." (Proverbs 16:23)

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him." 

(Psalm 127:3)

The Night

I feel there is a peace that comes from the night.  Most people are asleep and it just feels so quiet and perfect.

In that darkness some people get scared because of the absence of light.  However, it is a wonderful break in that light that we are tempted and can see the fruits of our labor.  It also makes you realize how much you miss that light.  How much you miss the warmth on your face when basking in God's glory, in His will.

The night can be very lonely thinking about what is next in your life and more importantly where are you at right now.

I love writing at night because it gives me that peaceful atmosphere that I need to concentrate.  However, this also reminds me how I can't shut everyone out of my life.  I need to jump in feet first and experience life.  I think i love writing at night because it is some sort of protection from others critizing me.  The whole time I am just in the deep pursuit of God's presence.

Living by the Spirit

God has given us a wonderful choice once again.  He graciously gives us free choice when we decided to have faith in Him or not.  And here again he is giving us another choice.  Do we want to life in the "Flesh" as Apostle Paul describes it? Or do we want to live life by the Spirit?  Similarly James touches on this issue as well but instead calls it earthly and heavenly wisdom.


Below I will list the scriptures for reference of these particular characteristics.


My first question is: Why do we even have a choice?  Imagine that choice once again.  This question is more geared towards non believers who think Christianity is merely about legalism.


God is always giving us options whether it would be about salvation or even what the Christian Principles look like.  


First let's look at living in the flesh.  What do you accomplish or long to attain when you satisfy your sinful desires?  Galatians describes these as sinful natures, "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious; sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you as I did before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God".


On the other hand Paul describes how to live in the Spirit, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, and kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.  Against such things there is no law."


Again we do have a choice to make.  In choosing this option of living by the Spirit, it is not going to be pretty and entails suffering.  It will mean we have to learn what it means to "take up our cross" on a daily basis.  


By choosing to live with the Spirit it produces blessings.  These qualities are from God and not earth and more certainly not from man.

Memorial Day: A Day to Remember

Today is not a happy day.  In fact I really do not like when people tell me have a happy memorial day.  It is not about the sales or what kind of grilled meat I have on the menu.  It is a day to remember the ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice.  It is a sad day because it reminds me of all the brave men and women we have lost to war.  War is not pretty and it is stressful to say the least.


On this day I remember the families affected too.  It is the families left behind that are struggling with the pain of remembering their loved one.  Some do not even know how to cope with a day like today and how can they?  People are out celebrating a day off work while others deal with extreme sadness.


I am a volunteer with www.familyofavet.com and I urge you to visit their site to see what veterans and their families are dealing with.  

Christian Unity

Lately I have been praying for God to help me to use my gifts.  God never disappoints and He has been bringing people into my life that is not just coincidence.  It has been heavenly to say the least.  On Friday I went to get my hair done and I brought some books to keep me busy because it takes a few hours when I go to the Salon.  I thought it would be a great time to catch up on some reading.  


God obviously had different plans for me and my hair dresser.  When I initially made the appointment earlier in the week I asked for a certain lady but she was booked so they gave me another woman.  Sadly the whole week before my appointment I just prayed this woman would not butcher my hair since it is so thick.


Anyway, the moment I sat down this woman commented on the fact that I was a Christian.  Honestly, I thought she was going to attack my faith but was pleasantly surprised at God's plan.  We had a wonderful talk about our life experiences and how she grew up in the church but did not like the church's rules.  She grew up with a church that created a lot of man made rules that are not of God.  I could clearly see how someone like this would reject all church's thinking that is what church is about.  I felt sad knowing she is not the only one who feels like this.  


What are we doing as the body of Christ to reach out to our fellow Brothers and Sisters in the Lord??  Apostle Paul wrote a whole book on how we are to encourage and love them.  


Apostle Paul tells us it is not up to us to judge others.  We are to love them as God loves us.  Now that does not mean we should not encourage others to turn from sin.  We are called to help them live in The Way.  Just like an older sibling seeing their younger sibling making a mistake or what could lead to a mistake we want to guide our brethren away from danger.


So what does love and encouragement look like??  Pastors are great at conveying The Bible and helping us understand certain scripture.  However, it takes experience, either your own experience or hearing of someone else's experience to learn how to apply that to your life.  In other words it takes being vulnerable and showing your heart.  We cannot be concerned with other people's opinions of us.  In our weakness we may be able to show other Christians and non believers the love that God has for us.  As Christians we of course should be pursuing God with all of our being.  Next to that we should be creating relationships with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ.  We were created for relationships and to learn and help one another.  


We can rejoice with one another during times of great success as well as times of deep pain.  Struggles create bonds on a deep spiritual level.  If you do not believe me ask any combat Veteran.  They are a prime example of the importance of relationships and the bond humans can have.


"Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."  (Romans 8:17)  

How do you Define Faith??

How do you define faith??  What does it mean to you and how has it changed you?

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  -Hebrews 11:1

First off two phrases that jump out at me is “being sure of” and “certain”.  We are sure of God’s word being The Way and truth.  We are also certain that God has the last say and will ultimately defeat Satan so that he has no say in our life.  So faith is believing is God is who He says He is.   As Pastor Waxer from One Love Ministries in Honolulu, Hawaii says, “God is not just His name but His job description”.  In knowing that we have that comfort and in turn our faith grows.

The New Testament uses the word faith as a word to describe our comfort in His knowing or in His truth.  I felt it was needed to check my concordance as well and the greek word for faith in this scripture means, “firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing” (The New Strong’s Concise Concordance & Vine’s Concise Dictionary of the Bible).

Faith has a huge impact in our Christian community.  

It serves as our foundation in how we live our life as Children of God.  Faith has a huge importance on every day life because it helps to guide us and keep us on the right track. I believe it also helps our fellow brothers and sisters to deter them from making sinful choices. We must stick together as children of the faith and really encourage others like what Romans teaches us to do.  

Faith is one of the biggest roles in my own life both personally and professionally.  Through trusting God during some difficult times I can see now how those times have molded me into a much stronger person .  In turn, God has shown to give me more faith by showing me miracles in my life that further prove His goodness and His love.  Without faith I would be nothing because it holds me together.  God holds me together and that is the only way I am able to live.  Faith is His promise to us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. 

Who is Meant to be Courageous?

How unnatural is it for the single Mom to stand up and fill in for the courageous parent (Dad).  Those shoes were not meant for her to fill.  God has not equipped her to do this job like He has equipped men.  What is happening to our society that we allow the Dad to bow out of the picture all together and put all this responsibility on only the Mother.  The woman can only handle so much.  If Dad isn’t in the picture than what is expected of him?  What are his responsibilities as a Dad?  No wonder we have outspoken women mainly single moms who either turn into divas or think they are some top advisor to the world.  We have created this chaos because what else is the woman to do.  She sees no one else taking the initiative so she feels inclined about doing something.  After all she has little mouths to feed and characters to build.

Granted there are some outspoken women who are married and just don’t know when to let their husbands take the lead.  For the most part I feel this all stems from a reaction somewhere in their personal life where a father figure has left and now they feel no one else will fill that job vacancy so they better get on it.  When will this vicious cycle stop?  God created us for a particular job.  He equips, mentors, and gives us discernment for that particular task.  He does not do that for everyone.  We must humble ourselves and realize the job we have been chosen for.