If you go to LCC then you will know I'm blatantly stealing this from Pastor Allan. In our walk with the Lord the first step was admitting guilt for our sins and then asking for forgiveness. As our walk progresses we begin to find more and more things in our lives that have become unacceptable behaviors or practices and we mature in our walk by giving these things up as acts of submission and true repentance. The more we grow the more we are able to see what is and is not acceptable in God's sight.
The problem comes in when we continue to do things that we know are wrong in God's sight and assume that just asking forgiveness is enough to get us by. My Pastor says a quote that sums up this way of living, "In life we find that it's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask for permission." This is no way for a Christian in a healthy relationship with the Lord to act. I'm not saying it's easy to do, I'm just saying that if we truly rely on God to change our hearts, He can help us bring these things under submission and remove them from our lives. That is true freedom!!!
I will be honest enough to say that I had major issues with cursing like a sailor and drinking alcohol way too much. It was hard for me to curb my language and it was a constant struggle to keep from saying something that I knew I shouldn't. I asked God for help and I asked Him to change my language so that I could be an effective witness for Him. When I truly repented of my filthy mouth and submitted my tongue to Him, He changed my speech.
I also drank like a fish.. It wasn't easy to curb my appetite for alcohol. But, again I gave it to God and He gave me the strength to change my habits. The key point here is that only by true repentance can their be change. Sure we all slip and fall from time to time, but using the excuse that you are trying is not enough. Continuing to commit the same sin over and over again should not be acceptable to us. We have to stand up and submit our flesh to the Father and ask Him to change us a little every day so that we can grow and be effective tools for Him to use. There's nothing worse that feeling the daily guilt of failure over a sin that we continually commit. If we are willing to ask, and to submit our lives to Him, He will help us to change and live in the freedom that only He can give. So today ask Him to change your heart and to help you to be a truly repentant person who walks in obedience to Him. It's not easy, but it's worth it and with His help we can all grow in Spirit and in Truth!!!
Luke 24:47
New Living Translation (NLT)
47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations,[a] beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Courageous... More Than Just A Movie
Have you heard of the movie Courageous? It's a Christian movie that chronicles the lives of four police officers and their buddy as they go through life as fathers. It makes you take a hard look at how you treat your wife and children and how you as a father affect your family.
I can honestly say that over the last year of growing in my walk with Christ that I have become a better father. I also know I have a long way to go. I openly admit that before I gave my life to Christ that I wasn't a good father, husband, or a good example to my family. All my buddies told me I was a great Dad and that I was doing the right things... I see now that spending all my time working, riding my motorcycle, drinking, and ignoring my family to chase an immoral lifestyle, was the farthest thing from being a good father. I realize now that I have to be a father that is courageous and bold enough to do the right thing no matter what the consequences. We as Dads have to love our family enough to be involved in their lives and to help direct them down the path that God wants them to go down. We have to tell our daughters that they are special,that we love them and that they deserve to be treated with respect. We have to train our sons on how to be men of honor, integrity and faith. We have to take the reins from our wives and show that we will be the leaders of our families and that we will support them courageously. We have to follow after God with all our might and set the standard for our families. We have to be bold, strong minded, and willing to do the right things for our families everyday with out question.
If we don't this generation of children will lose their way just as mine has. Every where we look we see people who are in deep despair with major personal issues and a lot of them are there because they never knew the love of a father or because their father was too busy for them. It's time for Dads to be Dads and lead our families to Christ as we follow after Him. I hope that you will learn as I have, that my families souls and their lives are special gifts that God has given me responsibility over. It's my job as the spiritual leader of my home to do my best to lead them to Christ and to provide for them courageously. I hope you feel the same way and that we can help our families run to Jesus versus running to the cesspool of sins and problems that the world has to offer.
1 Corinthians 16:13
New Living Translation (NLT)
13 Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous.[a] Be strong.
I can honestly say that over the last year of growing in my walk with Christ that I have become a better father. I also know I have a long way to go. I openly admit that before I gave my life to Christ that I wasn't a good father, husband, or a good example to my family. All my buddies told me I was a great Dad and that I was doing the right things... I see now that spending all my time working, riding my motorcycle, drinking, and ignoring my family to chase an immoral lifestyle, was the farthest thing from being a good father. I realize now that I have to be a father that is courageous and bold enough to do the right thing no matter what the consequences. We as Dads have to love our family enough to be involved in their lives and to help direct them down the path that God wants them to go down. We have to tell our daughters that they are special,that we love them and that they deserve to be treated with respect. We have to train our sons on how to be men of honor, integrity and faith. We have to take the reins from our wives and show that we will be the leaders of our families and that we will support them courageously. We have to follow after God with all our might and set the standard for our families. We have to be bold, strong minded, and willing to do the right things for our families everyday with out question.
If we don't this generation of children will lose their way just as mine has. Every where we look we see people who are in deep despair with major personal issues and a lot of them are there because they never knew the love of a father or because their father was too busy for them. It's time for Dads to be Dads and lead our families to Christ as we follow after Him. I hope that you will learn as I have, that my families souls and their lives are special gifts that God has given me responsibility over. It's my job as the spiritual leader of my home to do my best to lead them to Christ and to provide for them courageously. I hope you feel the same way and that we can help our families run to Jesus versus running to the cesspool of sins and problems that the world has to offer.
1 Corinthians 16:13
New Living Translation (NLT)
13 Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous.[a] Be strong.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Past...
We all have a past... Some of us have a tough time letting it go. I have been guilty of that myself recently. I continue to refer to myself as an ex-club member... Is that really how I define my life? Just some guy who was in a small one piece Riders Club who had delusions of grandeur about becoming the baddest of the bad as an outlaw club member with a 1% patch. I'm so much more than that. Yes, God did a mighty thing by delivering me from the club lifestyle and from all the alcohol and the perversions that I allowed in my life. He also healed my family life from some of the poor choices I made regarding how I treated my wife and children. But do I really need to tell every one that I was a club member? Do I really need to continue to label myself for some kind of street cred? Have I really left my past where it belongs, in the past?
I'm guilty of letting my past continue to creep up on me. I'm guilty of letting the stories of my past sin and misdeeds over shadow what God has done for me. I realize now that in order for me to do the things that God wants me to do I have to let my past stay in the past as a testament to His glory. If you are struggling as I have been, remember the future is bright and the past is only a reminder of His power to deliver us and send us on a new, productive, path to glorify HIM!!!
Mark 2:15-17 NLT
15 Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) 16 But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees[a] saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?[b]”
17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
I'm guilty of letting my past continue to creep up on me. I'm guilty of letting the stories of my past sin and misdeeds over shadow what God has done for me. I realize now that in order for me to do the things that God wants me to do I have to let my past stay in the past as a testament to His glory. If you are struggling as I have been, remember the future is bright and the past is only a reminder of His power to deliver us and send us on a new, productive, path to glorify HIM!!!
Mark 2:15-17 NLT
15 Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) 16 But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees[a] saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?[b]”
17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
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