Mawwiage and Wuv, Twue Wuv

   So I know it's been almost a year since my last post. You may have thought I disappeared. Maybe you thought I died. Some of you may have shed a tear or two over my absence....Okay let's get real, you forgot all about me didn't you? Well guess what? I'm back!!
  So a few things have changed in the last year. For one, I now live in Sarasota, Florida with my beautiful wife Terri...... Oh...did I forget to mention I'M MARRIED NOW! And that's what this post is about. I've been married for 6 months now, and I while it's only been a short amount of time, I wanted to share with you some of the things I've learned. So sit back, grab your spouse or significant other (even if you have to force them to read this with you) and learn from my mistakes.

Frustration

   It's easy to get upset or frustrated when you're first married. You'd just moved in with another person. They have different tastes, opinions, and habits than you, and it's not easy getting used to them. That ugly Dollar Tree poster you want to hang on the wall (Sorry Honey!) may not be so appealing to your significant other. Maybe they chew really loudly, want to watch a different movie, or talk too much. My point is, at some point you're going to be annoyed by the person you vowed to love forever. And that's okay. It happens. My advice to you is don't hold it all in until you explode. Sit with them and talk to them about it in a calm gentle matter. Ask your husband/wife if there's anything about you that annoys them. If it's a woman, chances are she has a list, in alphabetical order, with dates and proof. Be honest with eachother. I fully believe there isn't anything you can't work out if you truly love one another.

God First Spouse Second

   After God your wife/husband must come before anybody else. Before your friends, your siblings/parents, kids, yourself. Ephesians 5:31 says "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." Your spouse is your partner for life. Until death do you part. Their needs must become a priority. 

   On the other side of that, God must come before them. Which, take it from me, is not an easy thing. As a husband, I tend to prioritize my wife before God. It's a daily struggle. But if you study God's word together, and worship God together, the closer you will both come to Him, and in turn you will grow closer to each other.

Strength

   One of the biggest things I've learned about marriage is that sometimes it's two people taking turns being the strong one. When one is weak, the other is there to lend a comforting arm. Some days both of you are strong, and other days neither of you are. On those days you lean on God's strength, Who is always strong. 

   Be there for your spouse on the bad days. Wipe their tears, hold them, listen to them. 

   So those are a few of the things I've learned since being married. There's a lot more I've learned, and I'm sure I'll learn tons more in the years to come. Some things I probably will never learn (I am a guy). But I love my wife, and I love making her happy.  I cannot wait to see what our years together bring! 

P.S. I plan on writing a lot more often now. Don't forget to subscribe and share this blog!

Add to Your Faith: Part 2

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 2:5-11

     As promised, here is part 2 of “Add to Your Faith”. I will go over the final 3 characteristics Peter says we are to add.

Godliness

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

-1 Timothy 4:8

   Godliness is the next characteristic Peter says we are to have. We are to be more like God. And no, that does not mean we are expected to be exactly like Him. Though that is what we should strive for; to be a reflection of Christ in everything we say and do. You know that phrase “What Would Jesus do?” How many of us are actually willing to stop and ask ourselves that? And then to not only ask that, but to actually follow through and do it? For a lot of people, we are the only representation of Christ they may ever see. If somebody knew you were a Christian, and they watched you, what would they think about God?

“O to be like Thee! O to be like Thee!”

Mutual Affection

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

-1 John 5:1

  Next is Mutual Affection, or Brotherly Kindness. We are to be kind and loving to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to encourage, help, pray with, and fellowship with one another. If you are a child of God, that makes you my brother or sister. We are a family. If you saw a family member in need, what would you do? Would you just ignore them, or would you help them out?

Love

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

-John 13:34

   I don’t know how much I really need to say about this last one: Love. It’s that simple, yet that difficult. Love one another. God commands us to love many many times in the Bible. “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). “For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another” (1 John 3:11). If God is love, and we are to be like God, then we are to be love, too. I believe to love is the most important of all the characteristics. We can have all the others, but if we do not love, we have nothing. I won’t go over it now, but if you have not read it, I encourage you to read 1 Corinthians 13.

  

   So there are all 7 characteristics or traits that we are to add to our faith. If we do these, and continue to grow in them, we will be fruitful in our Christian walk. I won’t lie to you, this can’t be easy. But if we do these things we will gain a rich welcome into the Kingdom of God. If that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is.

Add to Your Faith: Part 1

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 2:5-11

   This passage has been repeating itself in my head a lot the past couple of weeks. It’s one of those that I’ve heard many times, and I know it, but it just recently stuck.

   There are seven qualities that Peter mentions in this passage that must be added to our faith if we are to grow and be fruitful before God. Seven traits that, if we are willing to work hard to obtain, will bring us closer to Him and keeps us from stumbling. I am going to split these up into two parts. I will briefly cover each quality, and give a referencing verse. This first part will be the first 4 qualities…

Goodness

Whoever walks in integrity (or uprightly) walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.
-Proverbs 10:9

The first quality Peter mentions is goodness. I think this one is pretty self explanatory. Walk in goodness. Do what is right. Be virtuous. Do what is pleasing to the Lord. He is not asking us to be perfect here. He is asking us to strive to live a life free of sin. And no, it is not possible for us as humans to be completely free of sin. But that should not stop us from being the best we can for God.

Knowledge

The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.

-Proverbs 18:15

   The second quality mentioned is Knowledge. Not just a general knowledge, but knowledge of what is right and wrong; discernment.

   Look at Solomon in 1 Kings 3. He became king at a very young age. Nobody really knows, but most guess around 11 or 12. So he was just a child when he had to lead an entire nation. What little he knew about being a king was from watching his father, David.

   Solomon understood that this was a problem. One day, the Lord appeared to him in a dream. He asked him “What do you want me to give you?” Solomon’s answer…was wisdom. He says:

 “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.  So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” (vv7-9)

   Judging by that answer, Solomon already had a considerable amount of wisdom at such a young age. He asked for wisdom and knowledge; to distinguish between right and wrong. This pleased God so much, that God not only made him the wisest man ever, but also blessed him with riches and honor.

   And that is the type of knowledge we should strive for. We are called to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. (Matthew 10:16)

Self Control

Like a city whose walls are broken through, is a person who lacks self-control.

-Proverbs 25:28

   Third on the list is self control. In 1 Corinthians Paul likens it to a race (9:24-27). Anybody competing in a race must undergo a lot of training. You don’t just wake up that day, ready to run. You must practice; discipline your body every day. A boxer does not just jump into the ring, punching at the air, hoping to strike a blow by pure luck. He trains vigorously. He practices his punches over and over again, so that he knows when he does get in that ring, every punch he throws is going to hit its mark.

   And that is how we are to live. We must discipline our own bodies. We must make it our slaves. Like Paul says in verse 27, “No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

   Keep your eye on the prize, train your body and mind. Do not give in to temptation.

Perseverance

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.

-James 1:12

   Perseverance is more than just having patience, which I know is difficult as it is. It is having the right attitude while you wait. It is continuing in the faith and trusting God, even when everything is falling apart around you.

   God says we are to count it all joy when we are under trial. (James 1:2). When we go through trials, it produces steadfastness.

   Picture a huge storm. Rain is pouring down, wind is blowing, and all these houses are being torn apart. But there is one, in the middle of the town, that is still standing when the storm is over. It was built with the right materials and on the right foundation. That is how we are to be. Stay strong, stand firm…the storm will end.

   Well this is it for part 1. I promise I will try to have part 2 out sometime next week, where I will cover the last 3 qualities: Godliness, Mutual Affection, and Love.

   Please don’t forget to subscribe by email, and share these posts with your friends and family.

May the Lord bless,

-Justin

Where Does Your Faith Lie?

   The presidential election is coming up this year...Duh! Everybody knows that. You can't go on any social media site without seeing at least a dozen posts about somebody's political stance. You can't read the news without hearing about the latest debate or speech. I get that it's important, but to be honest, I'm already sick of it...

   Let me start out by saying I do believe that we have an obligation to appoint ourselves a leader. Now, that being said, I do not believe we are supposed to obsess over it. If you have a favorite candidate, great! You have that right. But don't put your faith in a person. There is One more powerful, more worthy of our faith, than any other.

Faith in Man

Do not put your trust in princes, (or) in human beings, who cannot save.

-Psalm 146:3

  We do this. We pick one candidate and basically put them on a pedestal. We watch all of their speeches and debates, and hang off their every word. In our eyes they can do no wrong. We tell ourselves and everybody else "They're our only hope...The only one who can save this country!" Really? What does that say about your faith in God? Doesn't He deserve our faith more than these people?
   God is the only one who can truly save us. I don't know about you, but I have never seen any of the candidates turn an entire river into blood or raise somebody from the dead. God is so powerful, and yet we'd rather put our faith in a human being.

   Now I'm not saying don't vote or don't support any of the candidates. Please do. I'm saying trust God more. He will take care of us.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humans.

-Psalm 118:8

The Battle for Control

   Control. We all want it. It's human nature to want to be in control of our lives. To want to steer our "destiny" in the way we want it to go. 

   "I know what's best for me!" Something I've said to myself more times that I can count. "If I can just change this one area of my life, everything else will fall into place!" It never does; not because we aren't trying hard enough, but because maybe we're trying too hard...

The Quicksand Effect

   Have you ever seen a movie that takes place in the jungle? A character falls into some quicksand. He struggles to get out, but the more he does so, the more he sinks. Before he knows it, he's literally in over his head. But if the character calms down, takes a deep breath, and thinks rationally, it takes a lot longer for the quicksand to do it's thing, giving the character enough time to find help. 

   That's a lot like how it works in our life. We want things to work out just right. So we struggle, we fight, we work so hard to get our lives under control. We don't even realize that we're starting to sink, so to speak. Before we know it everything's a messing. But when we stop and say "Lord, I need your help," then God will come down and help us out. 

Giving Up the Controls

   We need to learn to give God control over our lives. Not just parts of it, all of it. This is something I am learning. And I've gotta tell you, it is not easy, especially as a guy. We just want to fix everything ourselves. We let our pride get in the way. That's why we don't like to stop and ask for directions. Asking for somebody else's help is just too embarrassing. It makes us look as though we're incapable of doing anything... or so we think. What we fail to realize is that admitting that we can't do it ourselves, and actually asking God for help, is a sign of true spiritual maturity. 

God is in Control

We have to trust that God knows what He's doing. He's been doing it for a loooong time. He's the only One who is truly in control of everything.

Let's take a look at Psalm 46:7-11:

The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Come and see what the Lord has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    He burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

If God can do all that, He can surely take control of your life. All we have to do is let go of the wheel.

   

Toe to Toe With Life

Photo Courtesy http://www.photl.com

   I know it's been a while since my last post. I've had a lot going on over the last couple of months. Some of it good, some of it not so much. You have to take the good with the bad, I guess.

   

   What I've learned is that life is a lot like a boxing match. Life is the toughest opponent you will ever face. You're gonna get knocked onto the mat from time to time, there's no avoiding it. But you've got to get back up. Don't just lay there. 

   I know, I've been knocked down more times than I can count. Each time it takes me a little bit longer to get up than the last. Believe me, there are times when I just want to lay there and quit. But I know that each time I go down and get back up, I end up a little stronger. 

   Now I'm at that point where I can get back up, but I'm barely strong enough to fight back. I'm just taking the punches, waiting for the bell to ring. 

   And that's okay too, just don't stay down. Keep getting back up, even if you only get in a light punch or two. I know it looks like there's no way you can possibly win the match. The opponent is a lot bigger than you. It's stronger, faster, and tougher. 

   It's not going be easy, but that's when you need to rely on God's strength. Let each of His lessons teach you something. Every time you hit that mat, you get back up, and learn from that mistake. Otherwise those same punches are going to be thrown, and you will fall into them every time. You keep God in your corner and there's no way you can lose.

For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.

Deuteronomy 20:4

All Or Nothing

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

- 1 Corinthians 10:31

    We are commanded to do everything we do, as working for the Lord (Colossians 3:23), but are we actually giving God 100 percent? Do we constantly seek His will, ask for guidance, and read our Bibles diligently? Speaking personally, I fall short of that command given in Colossians. Those questions have been on my mind a lot lately. Am I giving God my all?   

   Reportedly 77 percent of adults in the US claim to be Christians. That's over three quarters of the people in our country. The keyword there is "claim." We may say we are Christians, but our actions and our beliefs may say otherwise. For many of us Christianity can be defined as going to Church on Sundays, opening our Bibles once a week, and talking to God when we need something. But God asks so much more of us. He wants us to build a personal relationship with Him. He wants us to be a reflection of Him when we walk, when we eat, when we sleep, in everything we do. It is not enough to be a "Sunday Christian," we need to be an everyday Christian!
  

  Imagine a man who is so full of the Holy Spirit, so in love with God, that even the most worldly people can see God through him. That's the kind of man I want to be! I am no longer satisfied with being the world's definition of Christian, I want to be God's definition. Who will stand with me? Who will give God everything they've got? God will not accept lukewarm Christians. He will spew them out. There is no room for them in the Kingdom of Heaven. That place belongs to those who give God 100 percent. So it's time to choose....All or Nothing?