you've got a friend in me

Thinking back to earlier this month, when I got the topic memo, my initial thought was, “Oh no.” The second thought was, “What a shame. I don’t know the Holy Spirit.” As I began to devote, I did my small bit of research and everything slowly began to come back to me.

Think back to elementary school for a second. (You’ve had to have made it past that to be reading this far!) Now think about all your little friends, and their little faces. Now I don’t know about you, but I really can’t remember those faces to well. But imagine if someone you knew back then came back into your life, and automatically you remembered! Okay well that’s how the Holy Spirit just came back into my life.

I think back on my Christian walk and remember how tight the Holy Spirit and I use to be, and I can’t remember where we lost one another. I want to illustrate for you how powerful a force and righteous you can be with the Holy Spirit on your side.

Now, I’m not real sure how often you go to church, but for those who do go regularly, you know that every once in a while (sometimes even after every service), there’s this thing that the church folk call an “altar call”. That’s the time near the end of church when the Holy Spirit plays a game called “Guilty Conscience” with you, making you think back over the wrong things you’ve done since the last time you went up for prayer. You know you need to, but you either are too embarrassed to, or you don’t want to look like you just go up there every week. Think about it like this though. Honestly, if it’s so bad that someone sees you going up there every week, they’re in the wrong for not offering you prayer or a helping hand. It’s hard struggling alone.

The point is, you’re not the only one going through it. Aside from all this though, (this is a message for the winners) you know that feeling – that cleanliness – you feel after you’ve gone up and received prayer. I believe that’s what it feels like to be spirit filled!

The mistake I make, time after time, (and I’m sure I’m not the only one) is that I rely on the feeling – not the Spirit. The moment I mess up, I feel the feeling go away, and it’s back to the old me, not caring, and dreading next Sunday when I’ll have to go back up to the altar for more prayer. It doesn’t have to be that way though!

Try this! (Don’t even wait for the next altar call to get this going either! Do it now if you have to.) Ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit. From there, discipline yourself to do the right thing. (I find it a lot easier to do so, when I know and feel I’ve got a Coach [the Holy Spirit] that’s got my back.) If/When you fall, pray asking the Holy Spirit to lead you and lean on that feeling of cleanliness that’s close to you, and allow that to help you do the right thing.

The other thing I wanted to get in to was how you pray, and I know if you’re like me, you probably need a break. I can completely understand that. That’s why I’ve made a Part Two of this devotional, about being filled with the Spirit. So go on and relax your brain, and come back for more when you’re ready. I highly encourage you to do so. I’d just appreciate it if you did anyway!

we're not alone...

Jesus came to earth for only a short time. He came here to preach about God's kingdom, about how to live on earth and then he died for our sins. He was born and he died. But before he died he told us that he was not going to leave us alone.

John 14:15-18 (Amplified Bible)

15If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands.

16And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever--
17The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you.
18I will not leave you as orphans [comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, helpless]; I will come [back] to you.
He was talking about the Holy Spirit! When Jesus went back to Heaven he told us that he would not leave us alone! The Holy
Spirit is like God's "bodyguard" for us!
The Holy Spirit is intimately involved in our lives. He is here to guide us as we live out our lives for God. Think of a specific time in your life when you've needed one of these things:
A Counselor - someone to help you work out your issues, to give you advice and help you see things you wouldn't see by yourself
Helper - someone to help you!
Intercessor - someone to pray for you or on behalf of you
Advocate -someone to speak up on your behalf, to defend you
Strenghtner - someone to help you be strong!
Standby- someone ready to act, respond, or be used immediately when needed.
We have what we need! If you've ever felt lonley or alone... you're not. The Holy Spirit is in us willing to help us live our lives to the fullest for the Glory of God.

Ask him to help you. Want to be a better Christian? He is here for us and with us!

the wild...

God created everything with purpose. Just like Henry Ford created the car so that we could travel farther and faster God created everything with purpose and for a reason. He is the manufacturer and we are the design. Think about a car for a second. Somebody made that car. So in order to know what the purpose of the car is (if you've never seen a car before) you would have to go to the manufacturer to figure out why that car was built. And if you can't get in touch with the manufacturer, what does a car always have in the glove box? That's right, an owner's manual. This manual has everything you need to figure out the purpose of the car and not only the purpose but how everything in the car functions.

Well, if you were a car then God is your manufacturer and the bible is the owner's manual. If you want to know your purpose you have to develop a relationship with your manufacturer and you also have to read your manual. I hope you get the point.

One more thing before I go on to the next topic. Before you try to figure out your purpose you have to know why you were created. If you try to find your purpose before understanding why you were created you will base your fulfillment in life on what you do. This will lead to frustration and an unhappy life. Do you know why you were created? I'll tell you why, to know God and to have an intimate relationship with Him. He says in the bible if there is anything you should brag about its that you know and understand Him (Jeremiah 9:24). That's that on purpose. Now to our next lesson.

We are past the halfway point of our devotionals for this year and we have covered much ground. I know some of you may be asking how can I take all this in, or who is going to help me remember and apply these lessons in my life. I don't like going to church and if I go I feel like falling asleep. I understand where you are coming from. We have talked about going to church and I strongly believe that you should find a good church that you should attend. But if we were honest with ourselves we would find that we spend most of our time outside of the church.

So if I only spend 2 hours in church on Sunday what about the other 166 hours out of the week. Well a lot of it will be spent sleeping. Lets say you spend 56 hours a week sleeping. Some of us don't even get that much. That would give us 110 waking hours. I don't know how accurate these numbers are but my point is that we spend a lot of time outside of church and so how are we going to get the help to apply these lessons into our life. What if I told you that there was a person who would be with you at all times and His purpose was to help you remember all those lessons and apply them to your life? What if I told you there was someone to lead you in your purpose in all your waking hours if you let Him? Well, I am here to tell you that there is such a person and His name is the Holy Spirit.

I struggled with whether I should talk about Him or not. He is not talked about much but He is the only one from heaven who is here on earth to help you. We talk about God our Father, which we should...we talk about our Lord and Savior, which we should...but we don't here much about the Holy Spirit and I think you should hear about Him. Like I said, He is the only one who is here on earth and He is here to help you. The bible calls Him the Helper and the Comforter. He has a few purposes and I will give them here. (1) To help you remember what Jesus said. If you read the bible or hear a preacher and you ask the Holy Spirit to help you remember the lesson He will do that. (2) He will teach you all things. If you don't have a preacher all the time He will be the one to teach you everything you want to know that pertains to life and Godliness. (3)And He will show you your future.

Now having the Holy Spirit is conditional. What I mean is that it is not guaranteed that you will get His help. Do you know why? Because you have to WANT to be helped by the Holy Spirit. If you don't have a strong desire to be taught by Him and led by Him He won't do it. He is not your servant He is your helper. You have to want Him. He is a gentleman. If you don't want Him He will just stand back waiting. If you put a demand on Him He will come into your heart and help you. I challenge you today. If you have given your life to Jesus Christ ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. It might take a while. It might take some determination on your part. But if you are willing to wait it will be the most powerful experience of your life. The Holy Spirit came on Jesus before He started His work. As soon as the Holy Spirit came on Jesus He started working miracles.

If you are hungry enough to be filled with the Holy Spirit He will lead you on a wild ride. When I say filled, that means He will come to live on the inside of you and lead you and do those things that I mentioned above. He is not boring. He is the coolest leader you will ever have. He is wild. He is so wild that those in the old days who had a good relationship with Him would call Him "the wild goose" because He would just lead them in a fun and adventurous life. Get hungry for God and ask Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit and your life will never be the same.

Mickey

the secret to life

Purpose is defined as the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc. Since everything had to be made and/or created at one point, it’s understood that everything has to have a purpose. So why was I created? Why were you created?

The LORD has made everything for his own purpose…
(Proverbs 16:4; God’s Word translation)

Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds a lot smarter than one thing evolving from another. If evolution did exist, why does purpose exist? That’s a different topic, but it’s something to think about.

Growing up in the church, I have to admit I was blind to “purpose” until maturing and it wasn’t until I began attending youth ministry (teens, yanno.. what comes after children’s church), before it became as serious as it was supposed to be to me.

I remember the exact time it hit me too. It was the first time I realized I didn’t know what my purpose was. I was sitting in the sanctuary (either before or after the service) and my youth leader Deacon Daniel, who was sitting next to me, looked over and asked me, “C.j., do you know what your purpose in life is?” (Well… so maybe I don’t remember every exact detail… but it sounded a lot like that. You get the point!) I really didn’t at the time, and I didn’t want to seem like I was worthless, so I began spilling what I thought and wanted my purpose to be. I easily said I wanted to preach God’s Word through rap – although, I knew in my heart it wasn’t a great talent of mine. I continued to spill what I thought God had planned for me instead of what I should’ve felt in my heart was for me. At the time I didn’t even know what purpose was – let alone my personal purpose. So – if you’re still lost to why you’re here on this earth ( your personal purpose) – lets review why God put us here.

The one who had gone down also went up above all the heavens so that he fills everything. He also gave apostles, prophets, missionaries, as well as pastors and teachers as gifts to his church. Their purpose is to prepare God's people, to serve, and to build up the body of Christ. This is to continue until all of us are united in our faith and in our knowledge about God's Son, until we become mature, until we measure up to Christ, who is the standard.
(Ephesians 4:10-13; God’s Word translation)

So we’re not only here to prepare God’s people… but to serve and build up the body of Christ as well. Imagine this for a moment: “You are the only person on earth.” Scary thought, eh? I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie I Am Legend (starring Will Smith) but long story short, Will’s character was alone in a big city, and to cure his loneliness he placed mannequins (those stiff model things in clothing stores that wear the clothes better than you do..) all around the city, in different places and stores, and talked to them as if they were normal people. Yes people, loneliness can drive you crazy.

This movie is a superb example of the affects of loneliness. But what I’m getting at… is even God gets lonely. He put us here on this earth for the same purpose Will’s character placed the mannequins around the city. God’s purpose however, was more divine - obviously because we can move, talk, and think. But he gave us this free will because it makes him proud when we turn to him. When sin came into the world, we were put to the ultimate test. It’s now a challenge to serve God and live for Him (Thanks a lot Satan!). And it’s so much easier to fail than win. But you’re stronger when you do choose to win and choose not to give up. This makes God a proud creator, and this is pleasing to him. A lot more pleasing than a lifeless mannequin! And because there is so much sin in the world, we as strong Christian’s are responsible for helping our brothers and sisters of this earth stay on the right path, as well as lead them to this path. We do this by becoming ministers, pastors, teachers, and missionaries. And the best part about this is, within this purpose, we all are put here to reach out to different people. Our individual gifts will reach out to different people, because not everyone learns the same way. I assure you, that if you weren’t special my friend… You wouldn’t be alive today. So don’t hesitate think about and find out what your purpose is. Talk to God about it, search deep inside yourself, and stay in the word. God talks to me the most when I’m reading the Bible, or in church. So seek God in these places and he may turn up for you as well.

I’ll tell you, the only thing I fear about death is not fulfilling my purpose before my time on this earth is over. I pray God keep me here long enough for me to fulfill it, but I realize tomorrow is not promised. So do what you can, whenever you can, to work towards your purpose. My ultimate goal in life, is to hear “Well done my good and faithful servant,” after I enter the gates of heaven. Yours should be the same!

Be blessed, be a blessing, and stay blessed!
C.J.

what am I here for?

Why am I here? What is my purpose? It’s one of life’s biggest questions and for years I felt like the answer eluded me. I looked around and saw that it seemed everyone had a talent or some big dream they wanted to accomplish. I looked around at church and it seemed that everyone knew their purpose, what they wanted and why they were here.
I was scared that everyone else had talent, everyone else had a purpose but I was just here slipping through the cracks with time just going by with no real purpose.

Psalm 57:2 says, “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me.

I began asking God what MY purpose was. It didn’t come overnight but I began understanding how to fulfill my purpose and what it was. I began hearing the Word of God (through preachers and by reading my Bible). God put us here because he wanted to enjoy our company. He wants us to have a relationship with Him. That’s my purpose - to have a relationship with God. God also wants to use me to tell others about Him and that he wants a relationship with him. That’s also my purpose, to help bring others to Him – my testimony, witnessing.
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands. (Psalm 138:8)
God has blessed each of us with gifts and talents. There’s something that you do well that God will use to fulfill your purpose. Whether it’s music, sports or whatever career you choose, whatever talents you have, he will use this! That is good news! You don’t have to turn yourself into anyone else. God has made you unique! He will use your humor, your love, your life, your music, your comedy, your business sense, your sport to help reach out to others! He gave you all these things to help fulfill your purpose and while you’re doing that you can also enjoy your life.
May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose. (Psalm 20:4)

Be Blessed,
Arlene

Gay Christians?

[below was a 'letter to the editor' I sent for an article about "the Gay Christian debate"]

********************************************************
"Firstly, I wanted to say you did a good job on the article. You presented both sides of the issue clearly.
On the issue, however, I think it's a silly argument.

You HAVE to change things (or add a little imagination) to even begin to take the side of believing God doesn't call homosexuality sin. I mean if we're talking from a Christian mindset and viewing things from a biblical perspective. The bible is clear that God calls the act an abomination. I don't believe God creates people homosexual. There's no biblical point to stand on that said that He does or would.
Is homosexuality the ultimate sin? No way, but what makes this issue so important is this very article. The fact that people justify it and say "God made me gay".

Stealing, murdering, adultery... sins that hurt people, there's no issue there because large groups of people aren't starting churches and debating that God made them that way.
Paul, in writing most of the New Testament, mentioned how some of his writings were to set things straight where others were bringing false teaching into the church.
The Bible does mention that in the last days people will seek after teachers that "itch their ears".
(I'm at work rushing this email, so I don't have the scripture reference with me at the moment)
In these last days people are looking for Pastors who can make them feel like they're okay, just the way they are. This just isn't going to work when they're facing eternity.
God wants us to come to Him just as we are, but He doesn't leave us that way. We become Born Again and our old nature is "buried" (represented when we're baptized), and we're new creatures in Christ Jesus. "Old things passed away, all things created new."

Homosexuality really is a perversion. I know gay people who I love and respect, who are REALLY nice people. I've had loved ones that have stolen cars, do heavy drugs, addicted to pornography, but we're discussing homosexuality.
I've heard the discussion that they're in love and God see's that (why would God want to deny them their happiness???):
It's one thing to truly love someone. You can be loyal, faithful, express appreciation, and share in life's experiences, but what God calls perverse is when that man or woman enters into a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex. He calls it unnatural. Like if a dad entered into a sexual relationship with his daughter (her being consensual); he could argue all day long about how they're in love with each other, but don't try to call yourself a Christian saying God made her for you.

Gay people say He created them that way.... No, the parts of their body they'd been given are literally created to join with someone of the opposite sex, and God ordained that for marriage.

Can a gay person be a Christian???
I don't think so, but I could see their being a Christian who struggles with Homosexual desires.
I'm a Christian, and I still have struggles and weaknesses. Some I'd be to embarrassed to discuss.
But I'm prayerfully trying to live Holy. Not saying "God created me this way, so it's okay."
**************************
If I wanted to try and say God made me to be that way, I'd have to find a different religion to support that because the Bible just doesn't.

I am compassionate to Gay people because I know the confusion and the struggle they must be facing, but just like with anyone else- we have to call sin "sin", and accept God's word as the truth.

Atleast for those of us who call ourselves Christians...

[please don't mistake my words for "Gay bashing" or that I hate Gay people. I certainly do not. I only meant to discuss the issue of what God's Word says about homosexuality]

What am I doing?

There is a question that people have been asking for years. It has been a mystery to some but to others who have answered the question it has made all the difference in their lives. I believe it is a question that we should all be asking if you have not asked it already. Schools try to answer this question as best as they can but are missing a big part of the puzzle. College universities attempt to make a stab at it, but without the main ingredient it doesn't work. What is the question or the questions that people have been asking since the beginning of time? The questions are...
"What am I supposed to do with my life?"
"What am I here for?"
"Do I have a purpose? If so what is it?"
These are all good questions that we should all be asking. These questions sit deep inside of us. They sit deep inside of every man and woman. Some of us have seen the people we have grown up with and those around us as models for our lives who did not seek out their life purpose and it has made us believe that we do not have a great purpose in our lives. I am here to tell you that statement is a lie. You do have a purpose. And you are alive so that you can make sure that you do that purpose. God was talking to a pretty young man one day and He said "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...I have ordained you to be a prophet unto the nations." This means that before that young man was born God already knew him and He had already planned out what he was going to be. Wow!!! Sometimes I really don't understand that statement but for this guy (Jeremiah) God knew who He was and had made a plan for Him before he even came into this world.
You are alive in the greatest times the world has ever seen. You are not here on accident. You were born on purpose. I don't care if your parents did not want you or if they say you were a mistake. THAT IS A LIE. You were born on purpose to do something that would have a great impact on the lives of others. If you are breathing that means that your life has meaning and you better get going with finding the thing you were born to do. God turned to the same man and said "I know the thoughts and PLANS that I have toward you, thoughts of good and not of evil, and thoughts of an expected end." If you want to know those plans for your life, if you want to know your purpose, do not be afraid to be who you are. Stop trying to be like someone else. Do not be afraid to follow your heart. God has wired you to do the very thing you were born to do. You only have one life. Build a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, learn how to hear from Him, and He will take you on the ride of your life. It will be hard at times. It's supposed to be but it is all worth it. It will be an adventure that you will not want to miss. He will direct your wildness and use it. He is not boring. He is wild Himself. You really can't contain Him in the thoughts that you have about Him. He is not what you think or what you have heard about Him. You have to get to know Him so that you can get going with what you are supposed to do.

-Mick
Youth Leader
//Cross Over Y.M.