Hello Everybody! It’s been forever since I’ve posted, so apologies for that. I’m going to get right into this post if that’s ok though.
Does anyone like the music artist called Plumb? I do, and I bought her latest cd called Exhale, which is a worship album. Overall it’s a fantastic album, full of real awesome lyrics. One lyric in particular stood out to me though. I’ll admit I was kind of just in the zone and not paying attention when I heard the lyric, “We give You permission, our hearts are Yours.” I think it was just the word “permission” that caught my attention. It’s not something we usually hear in a song, so I definitely had to really listen to the song and look up the lyrics. If I may, I would like to break down the song a little to see what it’s all about. I will post the song at the end then. The song is called “When You Walk Into The Room.” It’s a free reign worship song, so you may have heard it from another musical artist.
The first verse starts as follows:
When You walk into the room, everything changes
Darkness starts to tremble at the light that you bring
How awesome is this? The first thing I think of when hearing that the darkness trembles is of James 2:19 which says, “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.” The dark demons of the world tremble when the Lord comes near. He is just that powerful that whenever His shining light enters the room the darkness vanishes. As John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” No matter how terrible our situation, as long as we have the Lord, there is nothing to fear, for His light will shine victorious. Such a comforting thought!
The second part of the first verse is:
When You walk into the room, every heart starts burning
And nothing matters more than just to sit here at Your feet and worship You
Burning hearts reminds me of Luke 24:32 which reads, “They said to each other, ‘Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?'” The voice of Jesus speaking to the disciples burned into their hearts as it was that holy and powerful. Have you ever felt that way, being deep in worshiping God that your heart burned for Him? I don’t think it happens very often, but when we really delve into the scriptures or sing with all that we are to the Lord, our hearts are on fire for Him. I’ve been at that place where all I want to do is just keep singing song after song in worship. I never want it to end as it is the greatest feeling you can ever feel. We were made to worship God, and for good reason. Whether it’s at a concert, alone in your room, in the car, wherever really. If you spend some quality time with Him, you can feel that awesome burning feeling too.
The song then goes to the chorus which is as follows:
We Love You, and we’ll never stop
We can’t live without You, Jesus
We Love You, We can’t get enough
All this is for You, Jesus
Again, this is just a continuation of us kneeling at the feet of the Lord and worshiping Him. Jesus is our almighty Savior and Redeemer. I think Plumb’s other song “Great is Our God” is a great supplement to the chorus of When You Walk Into The Room:
Come let us praise Him
Let us kneel at the throne of our God
Through His son our salvation was bought
With mercy and grace
Come let us bow down
In His hands are the depths of the earth
With one voice we proclaim His great worth
Lord our God
And we will seek Him
Our rock of salvation
Morning by morning
With thanksgiving we come
And we will bow down
With creation we cry out
In daylight and darkness
We sing to the Lord
Great is our God
Great is our God
Great is our God
Lord of all nations
We will stand at the end of our days
In Your courts and declare Your great ways
In spirit and truth
We long for Your kingdom
Bring Your thunder and gather the earth
All who tremble will tell of Your worth
Lord our God…
Such amazing, worshipful lyrics. Here is the lyric video for that song:
The Second verse of When You Walk Into The Room is:
When You walk into the room, sickness starts to vanish
Every hopeless situation, ceases to exist
When You walk into the room, The dead begin to rise
Cause there is resurrection life in all You do
I think every song on this album relates to another because Plumb’s other song Resurrection ties in nicely with these lyrics. Beautifully crafted. Here is a taste of the lyrics from Resurrection:
Oh I believe in resurrection
Everything that’s dead will come alive
I believe in restoration
Better than before
Stronger and secure
Oh I believe in resurrection
All the lights come on
Everything is new
All the demons flee
Your promises are true
Here is the lyric video for Resurrection:
Everything comes alive when Jesus is around. His power heals the sick, raises the dead, and brings hope into life. As Psalm 33:20 reads, “We put our hope in the LORD. He is our help and our shield.” Such truth.
The bridge for When You Walk Into The Room, which is the inspiration of this post is as follows:
Come and consume God, all we are
We give You permission, our hearts are Yours
We want You, We want You
Now my first thought on hearing this was, “Why should I have to give God permission to do anything? He’s God. He’s allowed to do whatever He wants.” But then I thought about it, and don’t we tell people to ask Jesus into their hearts? Isn’t that saying the same thing? I think it is. We all have a choice as to whether we choose darkness or light. If we choose not to allow God to work in our lives, then we will miss out on all of His splendor and majesty. We must choose to let Him into our lives in order to receive His glorious blessing of Heaven. We must give Him permission to enter into our hearts and make us new. We must give Him permission to consume all that we are.
When I hear the word “consume” I think of the Third Day song “Consuming Fire.” Part of the lyrics are as follows:
and yes our God, He is a consuming fire
And the flames burn down deep in my soul
Yes our God He is a consuming fire
He reaches inside and He melts down this
cold heart of stone…
…Did you realize that inside you there is a flame?
Did you ever try to let it burn?
Here is the lyric video for that song (excuse the typo in the video):
Remind you of burning hearts from above? It’s amazing how all of these songs are intertwined with each other. Never ending worship! The whole point of this post is to invite you to worship. Whether it be reading scripture, listening to music, or just wandering through nature, the Lord is ever present and wants you to spend time with Him. Will you give Him permission to enter your heart and consume you?
I couldn’t actually find a video of Plumb’s version of the song, so here is Bryan and Katie Torwalt’s version. I would definitely recommend looking into Plumb’s album “Exhale” if you get the chance. 🙂
It’s totally been forever since I’ve last posted, and I apologize. This has been a crazy busy year. Right now I actually have some time though and feel like writing some thoughts, so here goes!
I have been reading through some of the Old Testament, and it seems that a common occurrence was people turning away from God and worshiping idols. For example: “You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back.” -1 Kings 14:9
These are the unhappy words of God. It’s crazy to think that these people to whom God had performed so many miracles and saved them so many times would just turn away from the Lord and worship idols. It seems in most cases that when we hear the word ‘idol’ we think of a little statue, so when we hear the word ‘idol’ it doesn’t really mean much to us. We couldn’t be more wrong though.
In this day in age, I believe we have more idols than the people back in the Old Testament ever did. Idols are really anything that we focus more on than we do on God. Idols can be people, shows, websites, toys…you get the picture. Recently I went to Uprise Festival in Shippensburg. There were a lot of great bands there, and it was a great time of worship. On Saturday night, Emily had gotten us to the front row of the middle section, so we were in a fantastic spot. However, there were a bunch of girls around us that didn’t seem very enthused. Family Force 5 was pretty crazy and we were dancing around, but the girls barely moved. Then TFK and Red rocked the stage, but the girls only sat down and complained that the bands were taking too long. We figured they were there for Lecrae, but when he came on they still just stood there and didn’t sing or dance along. All of a sudden though, when Skillet came on, they went absolutely crazy! They were screaming and jumping around and shouting for the lead singer John Cooper.
You would have thought these girls were at an Nsync concert or something the way they kept screaming that they loved John Cooper. Now John Cooper is a pretty cool guy if you don’t know him. He plays the bass and sings and has a unique voice and just knows how to rock and worship the Lord.
Well these girls thought he was the hottest thing on the planet and wanted him to marry them. Unfortunately for them though, John is way older and already happily married with kids.
Anyways, it just really bothered me that these girls were only there to see John Cooper. It seems they totally missed the message John and the rest of Skillet were bringing and were only focusing on how hot he looked. Now I don’t know their hearts and I have no room to judge; I’m merely just pointing out my observations. I mean I love Skillet. They can really jam and I just love worshiping the Lord with their music. But I don’t worship them. They are mere mortals who are talented musicians that help people like me to worship God. It is wrong to worship anything or anyone other than God.
It’s the first commandment actually, that you shall have no other gods before the Lord Almighty. If you’re going to go to a concert so you can scream at a member of the band that you love them and want to marry them, that tells me that they are an idol to you. I don’t think it’s wrong to admire them though. If God has blessed them with an awesome talent that they are using to bring glory to God, then yea, cheer them on! But obsessing over them and not focusing on God is the wrong way to go. I’m not perfect in any way concerning this. It’s very hard not to keep our focus on God when there are so many things in this world that bombard us for their attention.
But we have to press on. We need to remember that the Lord is our one and only God and nothing in this world compares to His glory. As 2 Samuel 7:22 says, “How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.” And 2 Samuel 22:32: “For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?”
These two verses were David speaking. It’s just so awesome how much love David had for the Lord. I would very much recommend you read 1 and 2 Samuel and the Psalms. They really show how much David worshiped and loved the Lord (They also show his sin to let us know that he was human as well). If we can turn our focus away from silly worldly things and give all the glory to God though, how much more we can get out of it!
As Jonah 2:8 says, “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.” To worship a person other than our Lord is to deny God’s love for us. Why would we want to do this? I’m not saying stop everything and become a monk. Let’s be realistic. Look at your life and look at the things you love. Is God in there at all? To get the key phrases in 1 Kings 16:13, 26: “…they provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols.” Worthless idols. Do you have any? Of course you do. I definitely do. I challenge myself and I challenge anyone who reads this to seriously take a look at your life and the things you spend most of your time with. Do these things turn you toward God’s love? Yes, we are human and therefore we are sinners. But the first step to righteousness is turning your focus to the Lord. Make God your obsession, not your worthless idols.
It seems fitting to put a song dealing with obsession in here, and who better to do it than Skillet? Enjoy! Leave a comment and continue the conversation! Thank you for reading, and God bless! 🙂
Hello everyone! Sorry to anyone who actually reads my posts; it’s been forever since I’ve last written. I finally have some time to devote to writing and I actually have something to write about! I was driving on 741 the other day, and I drove past the one elementary school that always has an inspirational saying on their sign. I actually wrote another post called Attitude and Altitude, which can be read here: https://mujrdblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/attitude-and-altitude/. Their saying stood out to me again, and I wanted to share that with everyone.
The sign said, “Great hopes make great men.” Immediately I thought of some Bible stories involving great men of God. I thought it would be interesting to go through the Bible and pick out a few men and share why they are “great.” My first instinct was Noah. This was the one guy that God chose to save in the entire world, along with his family.
As Genesis 6:8-9 says, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord…Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” Now to be quite honest, the Bible does not say anything about what Noah actually said or thought. It only says that “Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22). You have to wonder what Noah was thinking this whole time. Build an ark that all the animals of the earth will be on to survive a massive worldly flood. I don’t know exact dates, but Genesis 5:32 says that “After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” The next time we see anything about Noah’s age is Genesis 7:6 which says, “Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.”
So there is a possibility that it took Noah around 100 years to build the ark! We can’t even fathom this because most of us barely even live to be 100. But just imagine, Noah was building this ark in the same amount of time that we are alive. He had to have had doubts at some point in this project. But I believe that he pressed on because he had great hopes. He was a follower of the Lord, and he trusted God. God told Noah that He would make a covenant with him, and Noah believed Him. How cool is that, having God speak to you and want to make a covenant with you?! Noah loved and worshiped God with all of his heart, and he had great hopes for the future. This is what makes Noah a great man. He put his hope and his trust in God, and he survived the flood and God made a covenant with him. Hopefully the new Noah movie will at least have this message of great hope…
The next man I want to look at is Abraham. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in Abraham’s life, so I’m just going to focus on one story. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Abraham and Isaac. God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son (from Sarah) as a burnt offering. That has to suck. Your only son, your pride and joy, the one given to you in old age is to be sacrificed. But Abraham does as he is told, and takes Isaac to the mountain to be sacrificed. He ties Isaac up and puts the wood around him and gets the knife out to slay his son. But just as he is about to do this, the angel of the Lord tells Abraham to stop. He knows now that Abraham truly fears God and a ram is provided instead for the sacrifice.
Now the Bible says that Abraham feared the Lord. I also think that there is hope in there. As Abraham says in Genesis 22:8, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son…” He has great hopes that God will provide for him. He believes that the Lord is true and just, and he is willing to do whatever it takes to be close to God. Abraham must have been absolutely crushed when he heard he was to sacrifice his son. But his great hopes (along with his fear of God) got him through. This is one reason why Abraham is a great man; that he was willing to sacrifice his beloved son because God asked him to, in great hopes knowing that God would provide.
Skipping ahead I look to Moses next. Moses is chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt. Though Moses doesn’t totally understand why God chose him, he still follows God’s commands. Through all of the miracles that Moses performs (with the help of his brother Aaron) and with putting up with all the Israelites and just everything that Moses goes through, Moses continues to obey God. Moses has great hopes that the Lord will provide for him. There is just so much scripture dealing with Moses that I will not go into detail. The bottom line is, Moses is considered a great man because of his great hopes. His desire for the Lord is so great and strong that he is a man to look up to. All of these men are ones that we should look up to. They are remembered because they obeyed the Lord out of hope that he would provide for them.
The next man I look at is Joshua. In short, Joshua was a leader of the Israelites that were freed by Moses from Egypt. He had a strong faith in the Lord and was appointed the leader after Moses died. God instructed Joshua to fight in many battles, and through God’s help, Joshua leads the Israelites into the promised land. As my Bible states about Joshua, “In his farewell speech Joshua challenges the people: Choose to serve yourself, and you will be defeated. Choose to serve the Lord and you will conquer.” I love this quote! Joshua had great hopes that the Lord would help him in leading the Israelites to the promised land. He had great hopes that he would conquer in battle. By himself he could do nothing, but through trust in the power of God, he conquered. His great hopes made him a great man, a great leader to follow. For Joshua chose to follow the Lord, and through his confidence in God, he succeeded in all that he did.
Next I skip ahead to David. Now David is a really interesting guy. I haven’t really mentioned it before, but all of these men had faults. None of them were perfect, and David is just that. He had some really great moments, and also some very bad moments. Particularly though, I would like to look at the story of David and Goliath. This is such a cool passage, and if you get the time, really read through it.
My favorite verses in this section are 1 Samuel 17:36-37, 45-47. Paraphrased, they read, “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine…David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head…and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give all of you into our hands.'”
David’s faith in God is incredible in this story. Here is this crazy giant man who wants to destroy David. The rest of the Israelites are terrified of Goliath, and the situation just does not look good. But David has an enormous amount of hope that the Lord will deliver him. He is willing to sacrifice himself so that the Lord’s army can continue to do what they need to do. David has faith that he will kill Goliath, and he does indeed chop Goliath’s head off. Makes me think of the song Fall, Goliath, Fall by Project 86. A good song to get fired up to! I will post it here for your listening pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKGtfOrtJ1s
The main idea of this story is that with great hopes, David was a great man. Now he had his great faults, so we shouldn’t strive to be like David in all aspects of his life, but his attitude when going after Goliath is one to admire. Throughout his life David wrote a lot of psalms as well. These psalms are excellent ways to help us keep our eyes focused on the Lord above. They are great praises and laments, to help us in times of happiness and in times of hardships. David’s love for the Lord is worth mimicking, as God delivered him from times of extreme trials.
Speaking of extreme trials, Job is the next great man to look at. I don’t think there is any other man in the Old Testament that faced as many hardships as Job. Job 1:1 says, “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” Because of his utmost devotion to the Lord, God allowed Satan to destroy everything that Job had. His family, his friends, his wealth, his body; everything except for his actual life was taken away from him. We all go through many disasters here in this world, but nothing we face compares to what Job went through. Job’s life was a living hell, but yet he had nothing but praise for God. He had great hopes that God would be there for him, even though he didn’t understand why this was all happening to him.
As my Bible states, “God’s sovereignty is a fundamental fact of the universe. As you read Job’s story, remember that God may not always answer your why questions, but He’s always there, and He’s in control.” I love that first sentence. God is the ruler over all, and everything He does is with purpose. God allowed Job to be tested to show us that we can trust Him in all circumstances. In the end, Job 42:10,12 paraphrased says, “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before…The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first.”
Job trusted and hoped in God before all the catastrophes. Job trusted and hoped in God during all the catastrophes as well. Because Job did not stop trusting and hoping, God blessed him even more. Just like in our lives today, we go through many difficult situations where we have no idea why certain things are happening to us. But instead of pouting and giving up, we need to have great hopes that God will deliver us. We just need to trust that God has a purpose for everything, and we need to worship Him no matter what. We may feel like Job at times, and our attitudes should reflect his as well. Job was a great man because of his unrelenting faith and hope in the Lord.
I skip ahead to Daniel now. Daniel was another man that worshiped God alone. He had a gift for interpreting dreams, and was highly regarded with the king. Some of the administrators of the king were very jealous of Daniel and they “tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (Daniel 6:4). They figured out that the only way to get him out of the picture was to convict him on something having to do with God. So they tricked the king into making a decree that no one was to pray to any gods or men except the king for thirty days. I love this part. David learned about this decree, but “Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10).
Daniel had great faith in the Lord, and he was not about to stop praying and worshiping. Well the administrators saw this, so they had the king throw Daniel into the den of lions. I love this paraphrased verse: “And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God” (Daniel 6:23). Daniel was most likely terrified. I mean I like lions, I think they are a really cool animal, but they can be very fierce and I would not want to mess with them. Frightened as he was though, Daniel had great hopes in the Lord. He trusted that God would get him through the night, and he survived. Daniel is considered a great man because of his constant devotion. God spared him his life because of his great faith and hope.
There are so many other great men that are in the Old Testament that I missed. I’ll admit that I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to the Old Testament. Actually, I don’t claim to be all that knowledgeable about the whole Bible in general, I just do my best at interpreting and sharing the good news. But the men that I have listed so far are the ones that I am more knowledgeable about than others, and if you can give me your input on them and any others that would be great!
The last great man that I want to talk about is Jesus. Jesus was fully human as he was fully God. So He’s kind of both and in between, but without Him there is no point to any of the stories I mentioned earlier. All of the men I previously mentioned were all looking to the future. Their present situations were confusing and terrible. But instead of dwelling in these situations, they looked on to the future. They had hope in the promises of God; the promises of deliverance. Jesus’ coming into the world is the final promise of deliverance. Jesus is our future, our everlasting hope in life.
God brought Jesus into the world so that we may join Him in heaven. Jesus is the only one to surpass Job in measure of extreme disaster. God did not allow Job’s life to be taken away, just his possessions. But God allowed Jesus to actually die. Jesus was very troubled and distressed because of this. As Mark 14:35-36 says, “Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but you will.'” It’s amazing how even in this horrible time of knowing that He is going to die, Jesus has great hope. If it is the will of the Father, than let it be done. It’s very difficult and trying, but He trusts that it is God’s will. So Jesus goes through with it all, being crucified as an innocent man. Truly blameless and without sin, Jesus died so that we may have life everlasting with God.
In the end, Jesus had great hopes. His confidence in His Father was so great that He sacrificed Himself for the world. He knew that He had a purpose to fulfill, no matter the cost. Though we will never be perfect like Jesus, He is still the best example we have to follow. It is because of Him that we even have hope. No matter our circumstances, we can know with full truth that God will deliver us. We will never always have just good moments or just bad moments. Hard trials and times of joy may last minutes or years, but our great hopes will never fade. For our ultimate goal is eternal life with God in heaven. As long as we trust Him who delivers us, we shall be blessed.
So what will you do with your life? I know I have only posted stories about men, but there are many stories about women with great hopes in the Bible too! If you feel obligated I would love for you to share your own stories of hope, or share a person from the Bible that was not mentioned. My ultimate challenge to you though is to put your trust, your faith, your hope, in God. I challenge you to be the great man or woman that God has called you to be.
Hello everyone! Sorry for not writing for so long, I’m such a busy person and don’t have time to write much. It’s kind of hard to think of some good topics to write about anyway. But I just heard something today and was like man I have to write about this, so here goes! I was listening to this new CD I got the other day by a band called We Are Leo. The song in particular is called “Colors” and I heard a lyric that I thought was just the coolest thing. The lyric simply went like this: “You wrote my name on your hands.” I thought about it for a little bit to see what that meant to me. I’m sure the band has their own meaning to it, maybe their interpretation is the same as mine though, but who knows. To me this is such a powerful phrase, because really, it defines my life.
Let me explain. To me, the “you” and “your” refers to Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross for me, so that I could be forgiven for my sins. His hands were pierced in such brutality by nails into this cross. To me, this lyric is saying that Jesus wrote my name on His hands so that when the nails pierced His hands, He was directly telling me that I am forgiven and loved. Even if I was the only person on the face of this earth, Jesus would have still died on the cross so that I could be forgiven. He loves me that much that He wrote my name on his hands; telling me that He died for me. Those nails signify a beating out of the old life and into the new life of love and grace. Does this make sense to you?
Now of course Jesus didn’t die just for me and for only me. He died for every single person on this planet. Of course He literally did not write anyone’s name on His hands, but He died for all of us, and you could say that He wrote all of our names on His hands for this most gracious act. The most gracious act of all time, I should say. Jesus was absolutely perfect. He never sinned or did anything wrong, but was crucified on the cross just like any other convict. There is so much power in this, that a perfect man died so that I could be free from sin and receive His precious gift of love and grace. It was by His hands that we are saved. The Lord even said in Isaiah 49:16: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;your walls are ever before me.”
“You wrote my name on your hands” was the lyric that really stood out to me, but as I looked further into the song, I realized all of the lyrics are just so wonderful!
The first verse goes as follows: Calm me down/And lift my eyes/And you remind me/Things will be alright/I look in your eyes/And you look back at mine/And whisper to me/We can leave it all behind/We can leave it all behind.
I think this applies to everyone, not just me. Almost everyone has had some sort of rough past. We’ve all sinned and done things we didn’t want to at least, and so this applies to everybody. Lots of people think that because of what they’ve done in the past, Jesus can in no way forgive them or love them. Maybe this is you. No matter what your situation, Jesus is telling us to just lift our eyes and look to Him. When we put our attention on Him and put all of our focus on Him, you can hear Him tell you that you can leave everything in your past behind you. No matter what you did, or what happened to you, Jesus can give you a fresh start.
To help explain this I’ll list the chorus: You light the dark with your words /When you say that you love me/And I can feel you in my heart/See you in the sky above me/And with beautiful strokes/That will shine when/All the stars have burned out/You wrote my name on your hands.
When we accept Jesus into our hearts, we can really feel it. When we receive blessings, read the Bible or just snippets of scripture, or listen to powerful worship music, there’s a feeling that grows inside of us. That feeling is Jesus saying He loves us. This feeling is the greatest feeling in all of the world and can really brighten our lives even though things may seem dark. I’m speaking from experience here. I’ve had some rough moments in my life, and it’s only when I’ve let Christ take control of my life have I really felt His most gracious love. I can feel Him in my heart and I can see glimmers of Him almost wherever I go. You can experience this wonderful feeling if you let Jesus give you a new life by letting Him into your heart.
I feel like this song is such a big encouragement that everyone needs. I see so many hurting people every day. Satan is constantly around wreaking havoc. There’s a lot of things in this world that can make life suck. But life doesn’t have to suck. With Jesus there is a happiness beyond words. Now I’m not saying things will never go wrong and you’ll never be sad ever again. We are human, and therefore we experience all emotions all the time. But with Jesus we can learn to control our emotions. We can find blessings in the midst of hurting, we can find joy in the midst of sadness, we can find life in the midst of death. I think of a song by one of my favorite bands, Skillet. The song is called “What I believe” and I will post it here.
This song pretty much sums up what I’ve been saying. Jesus can really change your life for the better if you let Him. I can gladly say that I’ve accepted Him as my personal savior, and I have not regretted it since. I wish that everyone could feel the same joy that I feel every day. If you don’t feel enough joy and love in your life, it’s time to bring Jesus into it. By following Him and living your life for His glory, you can experience a most joyous life. Oh and there’s this awesome thing called eternal life that goes along with it too. Once you have accepted Christ into your life and choose to live your life for Him, heaven has a place for you when your time on earth is over. I’ve posted about this before, but it never hurts to repeat. I can’t wait to go to Heaven and experience an even more joyous eternal life. If you haven’t let Jesus control your life yet, now is the time to let Him in. You will be much the happier and will experience the most wonderful feeling of love and grace that Jesus has to offer.
Here is the lyric video for “Colors” by We Are Leo. Enjoy! 🙂
I’m terribly sorry for not writing for a long time. Ive been so busy, and just haven’t really known what to write about. I’ve been really meaning to write something and now the will to write has become stronger for the topic I have been thinking of is strength. I don’t mean physical strength here though, I’m talking about spiritual strength. But what does spiritual strength mean? It can mean different things to different people. I will share my thoughts on the subject and hopefully give someone better insight into it too.
When I think of strength I tend to think of being able to lift heavy objects. I haven’t worked out for a long while, mostly due to my very busy schedule, but when I did work out I could tell that I could lift heavier objects. It’s a great feeling really, knowing your muscles are growing bigger and stronger and that you will be able to lift heavier things, and that it could prove to be quite useful. This is almost exactly how I envision spiritual strength as well, except instead of lifting heavy objects, my faith can reach further and I can better fight spiritual battles. I think a really great way to explain this is with a song, and the first song that came to mind was Reach That Far by Eleventyseven, which I will post here.
I really like the part of the song that goes: So teach me how to kneel/When I don’t know how to feel/And show my where you are/When my faith can’t reach that far. To me, this is a great little prayer. Spiritual strength and faith go hand in hand. In order to be spiritually strong, you have to have faith. Faith is to have an unshakable belief in the Lord and that He will be there for you even when you don’t think it’s possible. As Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” This song and prayer is asking God to help reveal Himself to us when we don’t believe we can see Him. If you don’t believe your faith has blossomed very much, this would be the perfect prayer for you. Even if you think you have a strong faith, this still would be the perfect prayer. In my mind, spiritual strength is what helps us get through the day. We are being constantly bombarded by negative people and events that bring us down. Spiritual strength helps us lift the negativity off our chest and brings us hope.
This song is a perfect example of how we can get spiritually strong. Just asking God for strength is a great way to get it. I’ve probably said it before, but talking to God is one of the best things that we can do. You don’t have to say lots of fancy words, just talk. God wants to give you strength, all you have to do is ask. Reading the Bible and reading devotions are other great ways to gain strength. Immersing yourself in God’s word will only help you. There are many stories in the Bible about people dealing with faith, such as Daniel in the lion’s den, or when Jesus and Peter walk on water. Reading these types of stories will give you inspiration for your own faith and will help strengthen it.
Interacting with other people who have a stronger faith is another great way to boost your own strength. It’s just like physically lifting weights with a friend. Most times that other person will make you want to lift more, and that person will be there to help you if you are unable to lift something. When you are going through a tough spiritual battle, asking for help is not a bad thing, in fact it is a really good thing! Asking for help can be really hard to do though. One thing you have to keep in mind, is that the person you are asking help from needs help somewhere in their life as well. Nobody in this world is perfect, and we all struggle with something. Just like people are specialized in different work fields like teaching or accounting, so people are specialized in spiritual matters like depression or addiction. Like I said though, nobody is perfect, so in this case, other people can at least be a great guide for you.
Having spiritual strength can help you with all kinds of situations. For me, work can be extremely busy and stressful, and just knowing that the next day will be rough can bring me down. This is where spiritual strength comes in. Coffee may help me stay awake throughout the work day, but it is my faith in the Lord that really helps me get through the day. I usually hum a song and pray throughout the day to God to help me survive through it, and it works. Other situations can involve battles with sin. Prayer is always one of the best options in these cases. Talking with fellow believers, listening to inspirational music, and reading the Bible are also great options. The point is, you can’t get through your battles without spiritual strength. You are able to resist sin, though it may seem impossible. Fellow believers are always willing to help you, and don’t forget that God will never leave you either! When in a tough situation, a quick and simple prayer can bring you through it. One thing we all need to realize though is that we will never be able to win every single battle. You will fall sometimes. But after falling, we get right back up and try again.
The best part of spiritual strength is the feeling after. At the end of the work day or after resisting a temptation, the satisfaction I get from knowing I survived is amazing. God is so great, and when you put your faith in Him, your battles will be much easier. I’m not saying everything in life will be easy, but having that spiritual strength will make life a little easier to get through. I would like to end with a new song that I think deals perfectly with this subject. The song is called Hard to Find by Skillet.
I think the lyrics in this song really express what I’m trying to say here. Through the Lord we receive strength in spirituality, which is the best kind of strength you can get. As 1 Corinthians 16:13 says, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” 🙂
Every so often I like to get on my bible app on my phone and try to look up a random passage to find some awesome obscure verse or two. This time as I was looking around, I stumbled upon the book of Lamentations, chapter 3. I discovered that there are some really amazing verses in here and just had to share them.
The main idea around these verses is the subject of hope. Hope is a matter of belief. It accounts for something we desire, in most cases something positive. In our lives we all have bad days and bad circumstances that happen. Sometimes situations are just so downright awful and we feel lost and broken. I’ve felt that way before as I’m sure you have as well. Maybe you feel like you’re drowning right now, and you’re not sure if there’s a way out. Well there is, and that is hope; hope in the Lord.
I’m not a scholar, so please correct me if I’m wrong, but what I understand is that the book of Lamentations is about the destruction of Jerusalem. There is much sin and judgement and overall it’s just a mess. I believe Jeremiah is writing this, a poem of lament for his beloved city of Jerusalem. Through all the destruction, Jeremiah says in verse 21 of chapter 3, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.” Because of what is said in the next few verses, he believes that there is a way out. He has a hope in salvation.
Verses 22-25 say, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.”
Wow, so powerful. Because of God’s love for us, we don’t have to be consumed by the fires of hell or even just consumed by a bad situation. God’s compassion and mercy towards us never fades. Each morning as we awake, God grants us a new day full of His mercy and compassion for us. God is forever faithful to us and will not rescind on His promise of love and mercy. God is everything we need to survive. But He only does this if we have hope in Him. If we actually believe in what He says He will do and actively seek to claim His great love and mercy, we will receive it.
I know when I read that passage I thought of the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” Here’s the link to the hymn beautifully sung by Chris Rice:
I would assume that at least part of this hymn was taken from the verses I just posted from Lamentations. This is such a lovely song with comforting lyrics. And as I see it, it all comes back to hope. When we put our hope in the Lord, when we put our belief and desires in Him, He will rescue us.
Lamentations 3 has more verses that I really like, going down to verses 31-33: “For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.”
We are all sinners, and as sinners we are cut off from God. But when we ask Him to forgive us our sins and when we put our trust into Him, He welcomes us with open arms and we are no longer outcasts. God loves us so much and does not want us to be lost from Him. One thing I like about these verses is it gives us the truth that we will have affliction and grief. Living on this planet there is no way of getting around that, and God knows it. God doesn’t want to see us hurting or in pain in any way. But because Satan is the ruler of the world, there will be pain and suffering.
Continuing, I lastly found the passage of verses 54-58 which read, “The waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish.I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit.You heard my plea: ‘Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.’You came near when I called you, and you said, ‘Do not fear.’You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life.”
It is usually in our darkest moments when we cry for help. When everything is crashing in against us and it feels like there is no escape, what can we do? We can call out to the Lord. We can put our hope in Him. He rescues us from the darkest of our situations. God said, “Do not fear,” so we need not be afraid. Even if everything seems to be falling away and everything good seems to perish, as long as we hope in the Lord there is no need to be afraid. With God’s everlasting love and mercy, we will endure.
I thought of another song called New Hope Generation by Falling Up. The chorus reads as follows: “We’re a new hope generation/We can see the wasted lives in your faces/But we can see Messiah rise in these places/Until the tears are gone” When I read that I take it that now is the time to put our hope in God. We can be the generation that hopes. Though we see there is pain and affliction all around, by hoping we can really see God going to work. God can rid us of our tears as long as we put our hope in Him. Here’s the link to the whole song:
I really like the line “Just hold him close he won’t ever let you go.” It’s so very true. God has promised to love us and forgive us, and He will never back out of that promise. When we choose to put our trust and hope in Him, we will see results. We can get through any situation that life throws at us by putting our hope, our belief, in God’s everlasting promise. God is faithful and true, more so than anyone here in this world. If He says He’ll do something, He’ll do it.
I don’t know what your situation is right now. Maybe you’re filled with joy. Maybe you’re filled with sadness. Or maybe it’s some other sort of emotion. Whatever the case may be, you can always renew or begin a new hope in the Lord. The threat of being consumed by darkness can be replaced by being consumed in God’s love.
As long as we can truly believe that God can save us, and as long as we can truly desire His love and mercy, we will get it. As Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Keeping this in mind, hope in the Lord. For as Jeremiah said, “You redeemed my life.” 🙂
Hey everyone, it has been super long since I have written last, and I apologize for that. I guess I have been quite busy, and just couldn’t really think of anything good to write about. Recently though I have been going through a bit of a rough time, so that gives a topic to talk about. So as I have had a little time to think, I feel the need now to share at least with someone a few things that are going on in my mind. Mainly my thoughts on love, life, and my love life.
As some of you know, my girlfriend broke up with me a little bit ago. I am not going to go into details, but after dating for over two years, it is a painful breakup. Well all breakups are painful. After sacrificing so much time and devotion and such to have it all be taken away is extremely painful. I am not new to this though, as I have had a few breakups earlier in my life.
I thought about it the other day and I realized that I have been in the dating game for about 9 years. I first started dating when I was 12, and I have had 6 girlfriends since then.
As I look back on all of this, I realize my heart has been broken a good number of times. Every single one of these breakups in these relationships had an effect on my heart. I realize that even though some of these relationships didn’t last that long, that was still time that my heart was a flutter and I spent time and devotion and such on these girls. And they did the same for me. They had also sacrificed their time and their hearts for me. So when I broke up with some of them, I caused them a good amount of pain and heartache as well.
From all this experience, I suppose I have learned a few things about life and love. One thing I have learned from all this is that waiting to date is probably the smartest thing you can do. Perhaps just being in all these relationships is just making me stronger and showing me the right and wrong things to do in a relationship. But it has caused a great deal of pain that I would rather not have. So I realize now, that maybe I should have waited to date.
Dating in the age range of 12-21 is probably the worst age range to date. In this time period, we as humans are discovering who we are and what we want to do with our lives. I know I am a different person than I was 9 years ago. Back then I didn’t really think about the long-term future, or what I wanted to do with my life. Nowadays I have a clearer picture as to what I want to do. I feel that you should start dating once you discover yourself and who you are.
Now this takes a good amount of time. Some people know what they want to do when they’re very little. Others go a long time before they figure out what they want. I didn’t know what I wanted to do til I was a senior in high school. Even now though I still question if accounting is what I really want to do.
When you are dating someone, you want them to see who you are and what you want out of life, and vice versa; you want to know who this person is and what they want to accomplish in life. One thing that goes along with this is similarities. They say opposites attract, but really, two completely opposite people in a relationship isn’t good. One example is politics. If you can’t agree on who to vote for, your relationship might not go so well. I consider myself a pretty conservative person. I could not date a girl who was very liberal. These views are so different I just couldn’t get past it.
Now this doesn’t mean that being completely identical is the best way. Too much similarity isn’t always the best thing. Too much similarity can get rid of individualism. We are each our own person, and to be with someone that is exactly like us, to me that loses my sense of self and how I am different than everyone else. In similarities I believe major issues such as religion and politics must be the same. But smaller issues such as favorite movie or favorite flavor of ice cream really don’t matter that much. It’s hard to find that balance and where to draw the line on things. It’s just something that has to be discussed. Which brings me to another point: communication.
Communication is extremely key in a relationship. This can go a few ways. In a relationship, telling the other person that you like or dislike something is important. You can not be afraid to speak out. And you can not hope to wait something out. For example, if the other person tells a joke that you do not like, you need to speak up and say something about it. If you stay silent and just hope that they won’t say the joke again, it won’t work. They will say the joke again and you will start despising them for it. One extremely important point I have learned is that even though it may hurt, it is better to hear the truth right away than hear a lie. Because that lie will be uncovered some day, and hearing the truth after being lied to hurts much more than hearing it initially. Trust me on this.
The other thing about communication is just the fact of interacting. Human interaction is such a precious thing. Through this breakup I have realized this fact. Just talking to people can help get your mind off things, and improve friendships. Friends are wonderful. Just knowing that there are people who have your back and are there for you is comforting. It’s very nice to know that when you need something, your friends are there for you. My suggestion is to find people that share some commonalities with you. The best kind of friends are those who you can really connect with, and can really understand you. Most especially though, the best kind of friends are those who can help you along in your faith.
Faith is probably the biggest, most important aspect of life. Remember when I said before you date you need to find out who you are? Well another thing you need to do before you date is find God. Before you can have a relationship with another person, you first need to have a relationship with God.
What does this mean? It means giving your heart to Him and spending time with Him every day. It means giving up a life of sin for a life of salvation. I may be going through a rough time in my life, but there is one simple truth that I will never lose sight of. This truth is that God will always be there for me. God is the almighty creator of this world. He created humans and therefore will not forget about us.
Another big truth that needs to be realized is that God has a master plan for us all. This is an extremely hard concept to deal with. I’m dealing with much heartache right now, how can God want that? Though He doesn’t want me to be hurt, He has a plan for my life. I have absolutely no clue what will happen in the future, but the main thing that I must do is to trust in Him. Perhaps this breakup is just to get time for both of us to further our relationship in Him before furthering our relationship together. Perhaps this was just a lesson for both of us to learn in order to make another relationship better. We may get together in the future, but we may not. The only thing to do really is to trust that God will lead me in a way that is most suiting to His needs.
I went to a concert recently, and Jon Micah Sumrall of Kutless talked about this very subject. At the time I figured my life was going great and it didn’t apply to me. But it turned out to be most applicable. He said that whatever you’re going through is just the smallest part of God’s overall plan. There are so many people in this world, and God has a plan for every single one of them. So this breakup that I am going through is rather insignificant compared to the overall aspect of life. Actually right now I am listening to a song by Falling Up called Bruise, and some of the lyrics go as such: Oh God, who am I but a lily in a field?
But that doesn’t mean I’m not affected by this breakup. I am certainly not over it right now, and it will take a very long time for my heart to mend. And it certainly does not mean that God doesn’t care about me or my situation. God doesn’t expect me to automatically get over something like this. God wants to help me get through it. Because our God is love. He created us so that He would love us. He sent His son to be crucified because He loves us so much. And that’s somewhat of an encouraging thought. God loves me so much that He sent His only son to die for my sins. No person in this world is capable of doing such a drastic action.
As Romans 8:38-39 reads: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
That right there sums it up. God loves us so much and will always love us. As Joshua 1:5 says, “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Even though God was talking to Joshua in this verse, I believe that He was saying it to everyone. Obviously people here on Earth will leave us. But God in heaven will always be there for us.
It is this mindset that we must have, coming in to a relationship with another person. For a real and true relationship that is to last, God must be in the center of that relationship. Not just a side thing, but the very center. This is another very important point that I have learned. When dating these girls, sure we both had a good faith in God, went to our churches, read our bibles, and prayed. But we didn’t do these things together. And that was a huge reason none of these relationships worked out.
To establish a good faith in God together, I said earlier that we must find Him for ourselves first. This is so we can find another person who shares in our beliefs. I could never date a girl who wasn’t a Christian. Because my life is all about living for God, how can I be with someone who doesn’t live their life for God? It just can’t happen. So finding a person who shares our beliefs and values in the Christian faith is most vital. Once that is established, other items of the faith must be put in to play immediately. One particularly important item is prayer.
Prayer I have learned is a most powerful asset that we as Christians can use. Prayer is a way of talking to God, and telling Him our needs. Many times when we ask for something in prayer, God will grant our needs. As it says in James 5:15-16, “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
Now of course this doesn’t mean that every single prayer will be answered the way we want it. We can’t expect God to always give us what we want. But this doesn’t mean we can’t try. It will not hurt you to pray; it can only help. For just talking to God gives out a good feeling. Though if you are praying for forgiveness, God will always grant you that. Because Jesus died on the cross, our sins will always be forgiven. All we have to do is come to God with a faithful heart and ask Him to forgive us. And He will do it. One thing I don’t really like about Catholicism is their view on forgiveness. They’re the ones with that box that is always in movies where the person sits beside the priest and confesses their sins and the priest forgives them. In my opinion, the priest or pastor or whatever you want to call them does not have authority to forgive a person of their sins. God is the only one who can truly forgive us of our sins. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t confess our sins to others. If we have wronged someone, we need to seek their forgiveness. If you make a mistake in a relationship, confess to your partner what you did and ask them to pray for you. Though another person’s forgiveness doesn’t wipe your sin away (like I said, only God can truly do that), it will strengthen the relationship.
As 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Likewise as Acts 3:19 says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Prayer is such an extremely important thing. And not just praying at the dinner table. We should pray to God more often than that. It is when we pray that we are in close quarters with God and we can share our most intimate thoughts. And praying with other people is something we should be doing. In my relationships there was prayer said at dinner, but that was it, and it was rarely done by me. Praying in front of other people has always been a little uncomfortable for me. I always figured it was best to do it privately and that’s it. But I realize now that I need to be praying with other people more.
When we pray with other people, we are gaining support from the people we pray with. The power of the prayer is multiplied as well. As Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” God encourages us to pray with others. I haven’t understood that until now. If you and your partner pray together, God is present, and it lets Him know that you both are committed to Him. And like I said, it gains us support. When we pray, we are sharing our heart with God and whoever we are praying with. The other person is there to help lift you up and give you support. It is with this support that we can grow stronger.
As 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” The Bible clearly tells us that we are to support one another. A plant cannot grow if it is not given sunlight, water, and nutrients. Just as we as humans cannot grow if we do not have God, His word, and other believers. Prayer is the thing that holds it all together. I’m not saying to never pray by yourself anymore, no we still need to do that. Some things we only want to keep between ourselves and God. He still wants an intimate relationship between Himself and our own individual selves. What I am saying is that we need to pray with others as well. We can only grow so much by ourselves. We need other believers to help us as well.
And a good place to find other believers is at a church. This is another important part of a relationship, agreeing on church. To me, I really don’t care about denominations. Brethren, United Methodist, Baptist, I don’t care. To me, church is all about worshiping with fellow believers. To me, the reason we have different churches is because everyone has different styles of worshiping. At my church we have two different services; a traditional service and a contemporary service. The reason my church does this is because we realize that we can’t force people to worship in one particular way. Some people like to worship only with piano and organ and a choir, some people such as myself like to worship with guitars and drums. And this is something that needs to be established in a relationship.
In a relationship you need to figure out each others style of worship. And you need to respect that style. I like to worship at full volume, and I will probably never change. If I’m ever with someone again, they need to know this and respect this. And I need to do the same for them. Which comes down to choosing a church that you both can agree on. Now I love my church very much, but I am willing to go to another church if that’s what it takes. But she needs to want to do the same. Compromising is important in a relationship. In this case it is almost essential. If neither of you care for the others church, then you need to compromise on finding another church that you both like. If you can’t decide at all, then you could just go to your church and your partner to theirs. It’s not recommended, but it can work. The main point is to try to compromise. Because not everyone worships the same, and no one should be forced to worship in a way that they don’t like.
To which no one should be forced to do anything they don’t like in a relationship. This oftentimes happens with being physical. I’ll admit, I’m a physical guy, and I probably should have stepped back instead of pushing forward many a time. This is a weakness of mine, I won’t deny it. Initially though there’s nothing wrong with being physical in a relationship, but you both need to set some ground rules on where to draw the line. And this should be done near the beginning of the relationship. Because when you’re already far into the relationship without discussing boundaries and start getting physical, things can move quicker than they should. I have learned now that it’s best to avoid tempting situations in the first place by talking about it at the beginning. It might be a little weird I suppose, since getting physical shouldn’t happen til later. But it’s best to get both people to share what they believe boundaries should be, and then make a pact to stand by it.
And probably most important about being physical is to save sex until marriage. Of course this is not an easy thing to do. Society has distorted the idea of sex. I’m sure sex is a very pleasurable activity, which society really brings out. But, the most important thing is that it is a gift from God for married couples, which society does not endorse. There are so many movies and t.v. shows out there that show people having sex with all kinds of people all the time. This is not what God wants. Plus, there’s always a chance of the woman getting pregnant. Condoms aren’t totally effective, and really, is the pleasure really worth the risk of getting pregnant?
The point is that boundaries should be discussed. In the heat of the moment it might feel good, but you have to think of the possible consequences. Besides, you have the rest of your life to be really physical and have sex and such. You can wait a few more years for that. I can’t tell you what is too far and what isn’t for you. You and your partner have to decide for yourselves where you draw the line. Just make sure you discuss it and then stick to it!
Another observation that I have discovered about life and love and such is the idea of expectation. Expectations in this case are just things that we wish to happen. This is the area in which I feel I have really struggled in. I come up with plans for an evening for example, some activities that will make it the perfect night. But of course things never go the way we really want them to, so when something doesn’t happen the way I want it to, I get mad. I have learned that this is not the way to go. Things will never be the perfect way that I want them to be. And this is something that I need engraved in my mind. Though I don’t think I’m the only one.
I hate it when people describe their perfect boyfriend/girlfriend, and then turn down anyone that doesn’t fit their description. Like for example, someone might say their perfect girl would be tall, have blonde hair, be able to sing and cook perfectly, like a certain movie and a certain band, etc. It’s fine to maybe want a girl who possesses some of those qualities, but that doesn’t mean that should be the only type we ever want. Or one thing I really hate is when girls say they won’t marry a guy unless he gets her a certain ring from a certain store. Seriously? You can’t put that kind of pressure on someone. Because if you always have these high expectations, you will always be disappointed. Now I’m not saying you should settle for a plastic ring won at Chuck E. Cheese (though who wouldn’t want that?). But what I am saying is that at least for me, I need to stop expecting things to go my way and go perfectly. Sometimes things will go exactly as I want them to, but other times not. I need to learn to handle the situations that don’t go the way I plan.
Such is life though, always throwing things at us that we don’t expect. The best thing that we can do is to trust God in all of this. I know I already said it, but it’s an extremely important point that many of us forget. We always want our lives to go a certain way, but we have to remember that God has a plan for us. As Psalm 9:10 says, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” We may not like the situations we are put into, but as long as we trust in God, He will provide for us.
This is such a hard thing to grasp though. We all have bad days, and times where we just feel down and that nothing is going right. And that’s ok. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t feel down at least sometimes. The main thing is how long we stay down. Like I said, we all have bad days. On those days we question God and we just can’t seem to trust Him. But the reason for these feelings is so that we can become stronger in our faith. It’s ok to question God, for that is how we learn. When we have a question, we ask God and then look to the bible for the answer. Now the bible doesn’t blatantly spell out all the answers of life. They have to be read between the lines. It takes studying and most importantly, it takes time.
When we get a cut or some other sort of injury, it doesn’t heal within a day or two days usually. It takes a good amount of time to heal. Such is with our hearts. When we go through a breakup or just a tough time in life, it is going to take time to heal. I don’t think my heart will ever be 100% again, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t be able to love again. I will forever carry these memories, but I still have room for many more to come.
We don’t have all that much time to live here in this world. I might live to be 100, but I might die tomorrow. We will never know when it is our time to leave, so we have to make each day count. I’m not talking about that stupid yolo stuff. I’m talking about making a difference to the people around you. You were put on this earth for a reason, so live like it. The ultimate ending is to go to heaven. So live like you want to go there, and live like you want everyone else to go there too. Jesus made it easy so that all we have to do is accept Him into our hearts. When we live with Jesus in our hearts, our lives are much better. Sure there will always be pain around us, and things will not always be perfect, but with Jesus, earthly things shouldn’t matter that much.
Life will be tough, I can certainly attest to that. And there are plenty of other people who have it even more rough. But as Hebrews 10:36 says, “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” And what He has promised is eternal life in heaven. I know I say it many times in this blog, but I say it because it is important and true.
Relationships are a huge part of life. We all have relationships with our family, friends, and sometimes a significant other. But the most important relationship is the one with God. When we have a strong relationship with God, all our other relationships are strengthened as well. When we have strong relationships all around, life is made much more simpler.
I’m not saying I know everything there is to know about life and love. I’m only 21 right now; I still have many years ahead of me to learn and grow even more. But I just felt the need to share what I already have learned so that I may help anyone else who may need it. Life is tough and love is difficult. But I have learned that when God is at the center of your life and is the foundation for your relationships, things will go much smoother.
I could probably give some more pointers on life and tell some other things I have learned. But this post is long enough already, so I will just write other posts along the way. I hope in some way this post has helped you or at least got you thinking. I don’t know everything there is to know about life and love, but I’ve at least learned a few things and have grown a lot. I still have many more things to learn and still more growing to do.
I will end with a link to the song Take Me Oh Lord In Thy Hands by Matt & Toby. I will post the lyrics as well. Please take the time to look over them, as I feel they really apply to this post and to our lives in general. Feel free to question and/or comment then as well, and I will be happy to answer or discuss anything. God bless 🙂
With each passing day I am certain
That I need my life in Your hands
This world that I cling to is never enough
To bring me the joy that You can
Words always fail in my trouble
And my hands seem to lead me a stray
But Your sweet forgiveness is waiting for me
It’s the reason for hope
It’s the reason I’m free
Take me oh Lord in Thy hands
Make me a part of Your plans
Take me oh Lord in Thy hands
So that I may find my rest
In Your strength, in Your mercy
In Your love
Please set my eyes on Your glory
And help keep my hope on the cross
Never let me stray to far from Your reach
Never let Your word be lost
We call you the King of all kings
Mighty Lord and Prince of Peace
But more than all other names I call you Jesus
The name that I cried and You came to save me
Take me oh Lord in thy hands
Make me apart of your plans
Take me oh Lord in thy hands
So that I may find my rest
In your strength, In your mercy
In your love
With all of my voice I cry Jesus
Please forgive this heart I held from You
I’m weary from wasting my life on myself
Take it and make it brand new
Take me oh Lord in thy hands
Make me apart of your plans
Take me oh Lord in thy hands
So I may find my rest
In your strength, In your mercy
In your love
So I’ve been wanting to exercise now that I’m home for the summer, and just haven’t been able to get into the groove like I was at school. My one friend at my work rides his bicycle to work quite a bit, and he lives pretty close to me. I figured riding 7 miles to work would be great exercise for me, and if he could do it, why couldn’t I? So I decided today that I would ride my bicycle to work.
I put on my exercise clothes and put my work stuff in my backpack and headed off. I immediately realized that I was going uphill from the start. I was peddling hard while trying to stay close enough to the side so no one would hit me. I made it a mile up the road and realized that I could not do this. I was out of breath, my legs hurt a lot, I felt sick, and I just didn’t feel safe on the road. So I turned around and peddled home to take my motorcycle to work instead.
Of course at work I felt wore out from my excursion. My supervisor pulled me aside at the end and asked if everything was ok with me, cuz I seemed quieter than usual. I said everything was fine, because really I was quite alright. I thought about it on the way home though, and I figured that I unconsciously felt the emotion of defeat. This bicycle ride got to me more than what I thought.
Oftentimes from working a lot, having a ton of school work, something stress related, or in this case a failed bicycle ride, I feel the feeling of defeat. I feel like giving up. But I wonder, why? Well I recognized the fact that the reason I feel this way is because I have not spent ample time with God. Reading scripture is one of the best ways that we as humans can connect with God. I like reading my Bible, but most of the times I just forget to read it, or feel I don’t have time to read it. Reading scripture daily is one of the best ways to calm stress and give hope for the day.
When reading scripture though, you don’t want to just mindlessly read. Sometimes I think that I should read a big passage every day, and I think that that inhibits me from reading most days. But I just ascertained that reading a big passage is not necessary. Lots of times even reading one small verse can make just as much impact. So I have decided to look at a number of individual verses and short passages that we can turn to when we are feeling the emotion of defeat. Of course there are many many many verses that can help us through feelings of defeat, so I will only be looking at a small number of them in no particular order.
I first look at a popular passage: Isaiah 40:29-31. It reads, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
This passage is pretty self-explanatory. God is just amazing, and when we put our hope in Him we become strong. To reinforce this, I look to Isaiah 40:8 which says, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” God’s promises are forever, so with reinforcement of our hope being that long, this can make us stronger in our faith and bring us up from defeat. Knowing there is no expiration date to God’s word, there is no limit to our strength.
Another popular verse is 1 John 4:4. It reads, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” I think of Peter Furler’s song “Greater Is He” which the chorus is based off of this verse. I will post the link to hear the song here:
I encourage you to listen to this song if you have the time. It’s about 3 minutes long and has the lyrics on the screen. Not the best video ever made, but it gets the job done. The way I see this verse is that God is greater than all the things in this world. If we have God inside of us, than nothing in the world compares to this. Our earthly matters should not control our life. If we feel defeat, it should not control us. We need to recognize that God is greater than this defeat we feel.
The next passage here is a bit long, but I will break it down. This passage is also popular: Philippians 4:4-8 which reads, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.”
Starting with verse 4, I think of the song I learned from Sunday School and VBS. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say Rejoice! You know you just sang it right there. To rejoice is to feel joy or great delight. When we think about God, we should immediately feel joy, because God is full of hope and love and life. When we feel defeated, we need to remember these things. They will help bring us up.
Skipping to verses 6 and 7 which again say, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
When I read this, I hone into “present your requests to God.” I think too often we want help but don’t ask for it. If we are feeling down, we need to tell God this and ask Him to help bring us up. Just taking a minute and talking out loud to God can really do a lot. God wants us to talk to Him and ask Him for things. He delights in giving us what we want. In verse 7, this gift we are getting is the peace of God. When we feel defeated, peace is often something we need. The feeling of defeat can come with stress and depression. Peace gives us strength in that we have no conflicts and God is our number one.
Verse 8 lists things that we should think about. I don’t see the word defeat in there. To help us get away from thinking about being defeated, thinking about things that are noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy will help lift us up. If we try to think about something that is praiseworthy, how can we feel defeat? They are completely opposite.
Going back to strength and joy, Nehemiah 8:10 comes up. The last part of the verse says, “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” I think of a popular praise song that has these words in it, can you? I already mentioned rejoicing earlier, but this is just another way of putting it. We can use our joy as a strength in whatever we do. It should make us happier to do a certain job and therefore help us put as much effort as possible in it.
I like to listen to music when I write, and the particular song that came on was Back and Forth by Lanae Hale. I found a video on youtube that has the lyrics to the song, which I think goes along perfectly with the subject that I’ve been discussing. I’ll post the link to the video here:
I encourage you again to listen to this song. It’s only about 4 minutes long anyway. My favorite part of the song is when she sings “Cause You’re my light when the dark gets colder So take my hand and don’t let go.” Whenever we feel down and defeated, we just need to reach out to God. He will take our hand and carry us through whatever turmoil we are facing.
Another verse to look at is John 14:27 which reads, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Here again is the peace I mentioned earlier. Jesus here tells us that He does not give as the world gives. I take this as the eternal peace that we can have in Him. This everlasting peace should calm our hearts instead of troubling it.
Another great passage I found includes some verses from Lamentations. Lamentations 3:22, 25, 31-32 to be exact. Lamentations 3:22 says, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” When we feel defeated, the feeling of consumption also arises. This consumption can feel like hell itself coming to enshroud us. But when we think of God’s love for us, this washes away this consumption. God doesn’t want hell to consume us. He wants us to join Him in Heaven, so he sent his son to die for us.
Going to verses 25 and 31-32, they say, “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him…For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.”
I don’t think any one of us has ever not experienced some grief in our lives. It’s going to happen. But as verse 32 says, after the grief, God will show us his compassion. All we have to do is put our hope in Him. And when you feel that nothing is ever going right and you are under so much defeat and everything is hopeless, look at verse 31. “For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.” There will be a brighter day ahead.
As it is getting late for me, I will list one more verse. Proverbs 17:17, which says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
Most of the times when I am feeling down or defeated, just talking about it with someone can make all the difference. This bodes true for most people. When you are just swamped with work or school or some issue, talk about it with a friend. A real true friend is someone who will listen to you and give you comfort. A real true friend will always be there for you as well. I’d like to take this time to say that I will make time to talk to anyone if they need someone to talk to. Granted I have work and other things that I am not available all the time, but usually at night I am the most free.
As I have mentioned in an earlier verse, talking to God is one of the best things you can do. If none of your friends are available to talk to, then just talk to God. God is available all the time and will always listen to you. God loves you more than anyone else and doesn’t want you to feel defeated.
Since there are so many great verses, I may have to do a part 2 to this post at some point. But I hope the verses in this post help you when you feel down and defeated. Your defeat may be more or less extreme than a failed bicycle ride, but no matter the extremity, God is right there to help you. 🙂
So it has been a very very long time since I have written, and I apologize to anyone who reads my stuff. I’ve just been busy with school and work, and just haven’t been feeling the whole writing thing. But now that school is over and I’m living at home, I now am feeling writing again. So I would like to just cut to the chase.
Going through the bible verses of the day, I found one that caught my eye. It was in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and knowing me, I like to expand around and write about a particular section. The section that this verse was in really didn’t appeal to me, so I looked around and found verses 23-33 in chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians. The title of this section is called “The Believer’s Freedom.” It’s an interesting section, so if you would like to read what I have to say on it that would be great, and I thank you for reading this. Also if you have anything to add or have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment or question.
Starting at the beginning of the section with verse 23, it says, “‘Everything is permissible’-but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’-but not everything is constructive.” This right here poses an interesting thought. If you think about it, everything that you do is allowed. Now of course we have laws prohibiting certain actions such as murder and drug use and the like, but forgetting the fact that there are laws, you can do anything you want to do. But as the verse says, not everything is beneficial or constructive. For example, you are allowed to do drugs; God is not going to stop you. But is doing drugs beneficial to your body? Is it a constructive action that brings you closer to God? No, of course not. I just really like this verse in that it makes you think, but yet it’s just very straightforward.
Going to verse 24, it says, “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” Again, this is a very simple verse, but yet it is difficult in acting out. So often we are always trying to pleasure ourselves as much as possible. Now I don’t think it is wrong to pleasure ourselves, just as long as we don’t overdo it.
There are many people in this world that are struggling. The cool thing is, is that we can help all these people. When we look out for our friends, family, or even strangers, we are making a difference. Someone is always having a bad day, so if we look out for everyone else over ourselves, we can make sure that we help out the ones who are struggling. Now the really cool thing about this is, if we do it for others, they will do it for us. So if we help out someone when they are having a bad day, they will help us out if we have a bad day, most of the time.
To me, it gives me such a good feeling when everyone around me is feeling good. When we put others before ourselves, the whole atmosphere is brightened. And this can be a simple gesture, such as getting someone something to drink or something to eat. In looking at verse 23, looking out for others is something I consider beneficial and constructive.
Moving on, verse 25 and 26 say, “Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.'”
When I see this verse, I think about all the old traditions of eating certain kinds of meat on certain days, and vegetarians. The way I see this verse, is that we should be totally alright with everything that we eat. Way back when, and also in current times, some people didn’t eat meat on certain days, or didn’t eat certain meats, and well, the whole list of all that is just extensive and complicated.
To me, this verse says that we should forget all that, and eat what we want without questioning whether we should or not. Now of course this is different for candy and such sweets. I’m talking about meats and veggies and grains and things like that. Which leads me to vegetarians. I have nothing against vegetarians, it’s just I don’t agree with them. I’m not saying that all vegetarians have to eat meat because of this verse; some people just don’t like meat, and that is fine. But I just see this as that God provides us with many animals and plants in this world. Since God provides it, why not eat it?
Now of course the way some animals are butchered, or some chemicals put on plants may cause me to not want to eat something, and that is fine. The main point of this verse is that we should not be afraid to eat anything. The earth and everything in it belongs to God, and He allows us to eat everything in it without guilt.
Next is verse 27 which says, “If some unbeliever invites you to a meal, and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.”
Again, this coincides with verse 26. We should not feel guilty about eating a certain animal or vegetable, even if we are eating with an unbeliever. To which, there is nothing wrong with eating with unbelievers. It’s just we should not make it a habit of only eating with unbelievers, for this could weaken our own faith.
Going into verse 28 and 29, they say, “But if anyone says to you, ‘This has been offered in sacrifice,’ then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience’s sake-the other man’s conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another’s conscience?”
This is a sort of strange couple of verses, mostly because nowadays most people do not offer up sacrifices. But the way I see it, is that if something is offered up in sacrifice to someone or something other than God, then we should not eat it. And we should not eat it for the sake of the person who offered it, and their conscience. The person who offered it up as a sacrifice obviously does not have a relationship with God. We should hope for their sake that the action of us not eating their sacrificed food makes an impression and helps them turn to God.
Again, this is just a strange verse, because this rarely happens in this day in age. I hope to never have to experience anything like this. I don’t think I will though.
The next verse, verse 30, is a bit more applicable to our lives. It says, “If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?”
The way I see this verse, is that we should not be criticized for thanking God for our meals. Which we should thank God all the time for our food. For He provided it for us, so we should give Him the credit and thank Him for it. Not like we have to make a big show out of thanking God for our food. Just a simple thanks will do, as long as we mean it. I know I have gotten in the habit of not meaning my prayer at dinner. Most of the times I have just repeated the same prayer over and over just so that we could get to the food faster. This needs to change. Our prayers should be full of meaning. As the band Sent By Ravens sings, “You better mean what you say.”
Verses 31-33 wrap up this section. They say, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the church of God-even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.”
Looking at verse 31, I go back to the first verse in this section. Whatever we do, it should be beneficial and constructive. It should be rewarding and positive. It should be helpful and effective. Whatever words work best for you, whatever we do should always glorify God. We should always look out for everyone else, making sure we don’t cause anyone to falter.
One main thing about looking out for others over yourself, is that the unbelievers will notice. It may take a while, but when they see us believers in action, they will do something about it. It’s been said many times, but it can’t be more true. Actions speak louder than words. When we actually do something and act on what we say, people notice. We want those who do not believe to see what they are missing.
So the main thing I get out of this section is that we should always look out for everyone around us before ourselves, and that our actions should be beneficial and constructive. This goes for eating, in that we should thank God for everything he provides us with, also we need not feel guilty about eating anything unless it is sacrificed to anyone other than God.
The challenge I give you then is this: take care of everyone around you. See to everyone’s needs acting in love and kindness. Make sure everything you do is glorifying to God. And ask yourself when you do something, is it beneficial and constructive? 🙂
So it’s been quite a while since I have written last, so I felt it was time to do something about that. I was looking through my bible trying to find a good passage to write about, and I just couldn’t find anything. The first page I looked at was John 14, which is a lovely chapter, but I just wasn’t feeling anything there. I was looking around again, but couldn’t find anything. I had to go somewhere, so I just flicked some pages and my bible opened back up to the page John 14 was on, so I took another look around and discovered a great passage in John 15. So I pretty much ended up where I started, but that’s alright cuz reading God’s word is fun. But anyway, I would like to share my thoughts on the passage of John 15: 18-27 if you would like to join me.
Starting at verse 18, it reads, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” This is Jesus talking to his disciples. Back in that time, Jesus did all sorts of miracles and preached a new way of living. These miracles and such were against the norm though. It’s not every day that people get raised from the dead and are healed from diseases. People in this time were resistant to these radical things Jesus was doing, and so hated him for it. But this isn’t very far from how things are today. If some new person comes in and starts changing things around, usually they are not welcome at first. People don’t usually react well to big changes, and Jesus was a big change.
Verse 19 reads, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” This is pretty simple. If you do what everyone else in the world is doing, the world will like you and accept you. But if you go against what the world is doing, the world will hate you and be against you.
Verse 20 follows: “Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” Concerning the first part of this verse, the way I look at it is to picture myself as the servant and Jesus as the master. We are in no way greater than Jesus, for we sin and he does not; therefore the servant is not greater than his master. In the second part of the verse, we see a connection between the servant and the master though. The servant comes in the name of the master. So the servant is associated with his master, and so people will treat the master and the servant the same. If they did not like the master, they are not going to like the servant, and vice versa. Verse 21 is a follow up to verse 20. It reads, “They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.” This one is a little tricky, but the way I see it, the people of the world see Jesus just as Jesus. They don’t involve God in their thinking. If they really knew God they would look at the big picture, the trinity, instead of just looking at Jesus and his ways.
Verse 22 reads, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.” Jesus tells us that we sin, heck he came to save us from our sins. But in order to be saved from our sins, we must first realize that we have sinned. I mean everyone sins, but when we sin, we should feel guilty about it. The only excuse for sinning that I see is the fact that we’re human, and way back when Adam and Eve sinned. But really though, that’s not a good enough excuse. We should be ever trying to stay away from sin, but when we do sin, we must realize that Jesus was right in telling us that we sinned, and we must ask him to forgive us.
Verse 23 is pretty short, saying “Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.” This is going back to the trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You can’t love one and not another. They are all three connected and must all be loved and accepted. If you are against God, then there’s no way you will be for Jesus. It just doesn’t work that way, you’ve got to love all three.
Verse 24 ties in verses 22 and 23. It reads, “If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.” Jesus is the ultimate righteous man. And because he is righteous and good, he shows us the righteous and good ways of doing things. He came into the world and performed miracles and showed compassion to everyone around him. Referencing verse 22, Jesus came and told the world that they were sinning. If he didn’t do that, then the world wouldn’t know and then wouldn’t feel guilty about sinning. Going to the second part of the verse, the way I see it, is that people still hate Jesus because he’s telling them that they’re sinning. He’s doing all these things that are against what the world has done, so even though we as Christians think the miracles of Jesus and everything he had to say was absolutely wonderful, the world hates this radicalness. Verse 25 follows reading, “But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.'” It has been written before in a few places in the Bible that the world will hate without any reason. People usually just need something or someone to hate, and even though what Jesus was doing was the greatest thing to happen to the world, the world doesn’t see it and just chooses to hate him.
Jesus then goes on in verse 26 to say, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.” I see this just as the Holy Spirit of God which is in us. It helps us to see the truth in Jesus and to help us better understand about him and what he has to offer, which is eternal life. Verse 27 follows saying “And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” Though Jesus is talking to his disciples, this verse is really important and applies to us in our every day lives. What Jesus is doing is issuing a challenge to us to go out and testify to the world about him.
This is no easy task though. The world hates us for being servants of Christ, because the world is of Satan. So what do we do when the world hates us? Well first of all, we must put our faith and trust in God. God is with us always, and will help us with this arduous task. Once we put our lives in God’s hands, we can then start communicating to the world. Communicating begins with our actions. We will never reach the world unless we act like Jesus did. Be happy, and show lots of love and compassion towards people. When we copy the actions of Jesus, the world will notice and then ask us questions. Once they start doing that, then we must tell them that Jesus is the reason.
Like I said, this is no simple task. I found a great verse of encouragement that can help us though. “But I thank God, who always leads us in victory because of Christ. Wherever we go, God uses us to make clear what it means to know Christ. It’s like a fragrance that fills the air.” -2 Corinthians 2:14 (God’s Word Translation) We are to make it known to the world what Jesus has to offer. The best part in this verse I think is the word victory. For through Christ, there is always victory.
So let us embark on this journey of a task together. Let us show this world full of hate what Jesus has to offer, by acting like Jesus and testifying his wondrous ways. 🙂
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