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| I've been wanting to post on my blog, but I've been procrastinating, which is something that the Lord is dealing with me at the moment. I have a few things that I would like to share with everyone. Today, I will share some things that I have learned from the Lord as far as the Holy Spirit is concerned. Since I've been saved, I was always opened to learning more about the Holy Spirit. I remember being in a Holy Spirit emphasis service about a month or two after getting saved. When I was a lifegroup leader at UL, I studied up on the Holy Spirit and taught on it in a couple lifegroups. I loved whenever the Holy Spirit would move at TNL and in church services. I loved going to Fall Breakaway and S.A.L.T.s so that I could get my Holy Spirit fix. I love Breakaway and S.A.L.T.s because I would get on a spiritual high, I'd feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, confess all my sins to God, promise to never do them again and feel great about myself. But, whenever I got back to my normal everyday life, I would fall back into the same sin, I wouldn't spend time with God. I wouldn't pray as much as I needed to, especially when it came to praying in the Spirit. The next year, it would be the same cycle all over again. Recently, I've begin questioning whether I truly love the Holy Spirit or just the warm tingling sensation he provides when He shows up at church. This semester, I studied the book of Acts and how the Holy Spirit works in the lives of believers. I began to realize the need that I had to be constantly filled with the Spirit and to pray in the Spirit on a regular basis. My first semester at Sam, I found myself missing the warm tingling of the Holy Spirit. I have to ask myself, why I don't have this warm tingling feeling and why I want it. Do I want just so I can feel good. Is the Holy Spirit there to only please me and to make me feel good? I believe that the answer is resounding "NO!". So, what is the point of the Holy Spirit? Apparently I missed the memo dated "Acts 1:8" This is where Jesus says: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." He didn't say, "You will receive power to feel all warm and fuzzy, to make promises to me that you cannot keep. NOT AT ALL! He gives us the Holy Spirit so that we can be witnesses, where we live, and to the ends of the earth. God calls me to be a witness to my family, to SHSU, to Texas/Louisiana, and to the ends of the Earth. With the baptism of the Holy Spirit comes a great responsibility! What are you doing with the power that you have. The power to change lives, the power to have an affect on the future, the power to make a difference in eternity. I can tell what I'm doing, not nearly enough. The Holy Spirit is more than sensationalism, speaking in tongues, among other things. He is in us so that we can be in the continual presence of the Lord. He is in us so that we can be witnesses. The church has so much power, when we realize all the power that is entrusted and what we can do with it, that's when Satan will piss his pants and run scared. In the famous words of He-Man, "I have the power!" and so do you. | | |
| As I approach my eighth month here with Chi Alpha at The Sam Houston State University. I begin thinking about some things that I like about Texas. Coming to Texas from Louisiana was more culture shock than I thought it would be. I never thought that crossing the Sabine River would be like going overseas. So here is a random list of things that I like about Texas. I still love Louisiana, but while I'm here, I might as well enjoy the advantages. This list may not be exhaustive, but only pertains to state of Texas. I will bring an update about what I love about the wonderful Chi Alpha group here. Without farther ado, here's the list: 1.) LSU isn't here. 2.) Cheaper (relative) gas. 3.) No sales tax on food. 4.) Cheaper car insurance. 5.) 70 mph speed limit on two-lane highways. 6.) State highways built like interstates. 7.) Non-corrupt state government. 8.) Smooth roads. 9.) 5 times the population of Louisiana with half the amount of drunk drivers. 10.) Mexicans! 11.) State government that cares about higher education. 12.) Daniel Savala. | | |
| This is my first entry of the year 2007, and it comes 86 days into the year. Anyway, I've been thinking about what I wanted to write about. I just finished yet another book entitled Suprised By The Power of the Spirit. It is a great book, I had to read it for class, but I knew that God was going to speak to me through it. The book is about a man who taught at Dallas Theological Seminary and he didn't believe that the gifts of the Spirit were in use today. Anyway, long story short, God did some amazing things in his life and now he believes in the gifts. One of the chapters was entitled "Passion for God". Now this is toward the end of the book and I had not realized that I was supposed to be reading the book for class and I thought about skimming through it and BSing the book report. But, I decided against that because I knew that God was going to teach me something. Anyway, as I'm reading this chapter, I begin to question myself, asking "God, do I really love Jesus?". Honestly the answer would be probably "No" or "Not nearly as much as I should". I haven't had a consistent quiet time since I've been saved. I have been trying to figure out why I haven't been having a quiet time and my answer was that I was just fat, lazy, and undisciplined. That's why I wasn't haven't it, plus I wasn't a morning person and everyone knows that the best quiet times happen before 8am and since I hardly ever wake up before 8am, there you go. Now when I was a student at UL, I had quiet times (QT) sometimes. Mostly, the reason I had QT was so that I wouldn't have to lie to the person who I was having one-on-ones with. Ya know, "I don't want so and so on my back so I better have this quiet time." Anyway, I would have these QTs but I didn't really feel any closer to God. It was like, "Okay, I've reach my God quota for today, now let me continue my day without even thinking about Him because I've did my God deed for the day." I beginn praying about it and I've realized that the reasons that I don't have QTs is because I don't have the passion for God or His word. I don't love Jesus more than my friends, my family, heck even Facebook. That's why I don't see it important to set apart time to spend with Him, because I don't love Him enough. It has nothing to do with discipline. All the discipline in the world won't bring my heart and mind closer to God. I could get my lazy butt up at 6am every morning jog around my neighborhood and then sit down and have my quiet time but still have my heart be far away from God. Growing up as a Christian, I saw QT as just another step of things to do now that I am a part of Chi Alpha. Along with discipleship, TNL, going to church, and bible study. Don't get me wrong, discipline is great, I just don't believe that its an acceptable alternative to having a heart and mind that's in love with Jesus. So, I've been praying that God will help me have a passion for Jesus, and I know that passion, once I get it, will be reflected in every part of my life. Then, I will be able to have more than I quiet time, I will have daily experiences with someone that I love and someone who loves me to death. I don't need discipline to spend time with my friends and family. I don't need discipline to watch sports, read about the latest in UL athletics. I don't need discipline to check facebook 45 times a day. I do things because I love them, not because I have discipline. Discipline is very important to the Christian faith, I believe that if the church as a whole had more discipline, we would be a lot better off. I'm just saying that I desire the passion to love Jesus as much as he deserves to be loved. I want to be in his continuing presence throughout the day and to walk by the Holy Spirit not to just set aside an hour in my to-do list to squeeze Him in. I want to think about him all the time. I want to talk about Him all the time. I want to be guided by Him all the time. I want to make Him the only thing in my life, not the first thing. I want everything I do to give Him glory. Once I begin to love Jesus, everything else will fall in place. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you. How much do you love Jesus? Is He lord of your life or is he an item on your to-do list? Why do you read the Bible? Why do you pray? Why are you saved? Do you love Him? Is He friend to you or just some far off deity? Jesus loves you and He doesn't want your left-over time, He wants all of your time. He doesn't want to be in an compartment in your heart along with cars, girls, school, etc He wants all of your heart. How much of your heart does He have? These are questions that I've been asking myself. I want to love Jesus and to love His children, that is my desire. | | |
| So, I've been back at home for 2 weeks now and it has been great! I'm really enjoying my stay at home, more than I have in many years. I never thought that I would miss Louisiana, let alone Lake Charles, but after living in Huntsville, TX for five months its great to be back. Not to knock Huntsville or Texas, but this is home. And home is where the heart is. I'm looking forward to next semester and spending even more time with my freshmen and growing closer to God. Happy New Year! | | |
| I awoke from my slumber to read today's edition of the Lake Charles American Press. I found an interesting column in the Opinion about a modern day Virgin Mary. Here's they story courtesy of Bill Press:
"In
the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Alexandria, a town in
Virginia.To a virgin pledged in partnership to another woman, named
Heather. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
And the angel said to her: “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found
favor with God. You shall be with child and give birth to a son. And
you shall call his name — Dick!”
And Mary said: “How will this be, since I am a lesbian?” The angel
answered: “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born to you will
be called Little Dick, the grandson of Big Dick, and the son of Unknown
Dick. For nothing is impossible with God. Under God, even lesbians can
have babies — as long as they’re Republicans.”
So Mary and Heather went from Alexandria in Virginia up to Washington
in the District of Columbia, the home of Big Dick. And while they were
there, Mary gave birth to Little Dick. She wrapped him in swaddling
clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in
the White House.
And suddenly a host of angels appeared in the heavens, praising God and
saying: “Glory to God in the Highest. And on earth, peace to gays and
lesbians of good will — as long as they’re Republicans.” "
I find this funny it two ways, number one is the Ha Ha funny and the second one is "what a minute, what the heck" funny. President Bush's respond to this is, "I think that Mary is going to be a loving soul to her child and I'm happy for her." To me this is the equivalent of a high up in the KKK saying in response to his daughter marrying a black man, "I think that they're going to be a great couple; I know that he's a good guy. I can't wait to see my grandkids." We all know that would never happen. If your against something, be against all the time no matter what it is. I know that politics is all about double-talk and pleasing those who give you power. This is just another example of it. All the more reason we need to put our faith in Jesus and not in politicians who like to sweet talk us in order to get our vote. We need integrity in the world today. Let me be the first to say:
FATHER-SON-HOLY SPIRIT-08
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