Sickly

Sickly

Matthew 9:12(NIV)
 “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick"

This has been the worst month for me as far as sickness goes.  I am typically pretty healthy other than an occasional cold, but this month I have been sick most of January it seems, a bad chest cold and a stomach virus and in between of tired, achy, and weak feeling.  Not sure what the reason? I'm getting old? Different climate? I'm a wuss? I don't know, but I'm hoping next month is better.

I was thinking about all the sickness, even if our small church we'd had some sickness going around, we even had to cancel a wed. night service about a month ago due to several being sick.  Seems many illnesses and viruses can be contagious and spread around.  Your kids go to school and daycare and pass them around and then they come home, to church, to a restaurant or store and keep passing on the joy.

It's really how sin is.  Sin is an illness and a sickness that spreads around and keeps many people sick. Some people are even terminal with it, it seems because they refuse to get help and go to the Healer/Great Physician.   There is a cure to sin, but we've got to seek out the help.

Sin does make us sickly doesn't it? It's hard to recover sometimes from that secret sin or bad habitual sin or lifestyle that is causing us to sin.  Sin has been compared to a cancer because it comes into our lives starts out small and slowly(or quickly) spreads throughout our lives until it destroys us and even kills us(both physically and spiritually).

If sin compares to the sickness I've had this month in a spiritual sense that isn't good.  Because sin does weigh us down, wear us out, keep us sick, and makes it hard for us to recover and get healthy again.  If we aren't careful and do not take care of ourselves or find ways to recover for our sin sickness then we are just going to stay sick.

Like we take antibiotics, medicines, and all sorts of remedies to feel better from physical sickness and ailments, we also need to seek out treatment for our sickly sin nature.  Our medicine is not in a pill or a bottle, but our medicine is sought out through prayer(talking to the doctor) and through reading His word(prescription) and or through His Holy Spirit and the prayers and support of others.

Sometimes in order to get sin out of our lives when it's keepin us sick, we've got to make some drastic changes, maybe end some bad relationships, or change places we go or visit or hang out, or maybe it's more suttle and we just need to change our attitude and outlook,but either way, I can promise you there is only ONE cure for SIN and it's through Jesus Christ and only He can heal you from your sickly state.

Seek Him, go to Him, allow God to heal you and help you so that you are healthy and vibrate in your relationship with Him.  Yes, we all will still get colds, the flu, and viruses on earth, but regardless of our physical nature, we can be healthy, vibrate, and thriving in our faith by overcoming our struggles with sin.
1 Peter 2:24(NIV)
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

Gossip

Gossip

2 Corinthians 12:20(NIV)
For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

It's a pretty simple term, but has very huge consequences.  It's spreading rumors, whether true or lies,  It's hard to tell sometimes, but it typically involves people talking about people and situations that they aren't involved in, do not know all the facts or details, and don't seem to care.  Webster's defined it as "idle, often malicious talk".  That's what it is, idle, people who have too much time on their hands, and malicious, meaning it hurts people.

We all may form opinions of people based on meeting them or being around them, we may think they are a jerk, or friendly, or quiet, or whatever,  and we may joke and talk about people for humor, but when we get to the place where we start "talking about" people to other people, to spread gossip, it's plain wrong, no way to justify  it.   We are spreading half-truth, hear-say, and garbage to other people without first hand knowledge, accurate facts, or most of the time not even knowing the person, situation, and basing it on our biased opinion of the person or because it makes us feel important to tell others about "people". Not Cool.

Sad thing is it's everywhere, on the internet or social pages, message boards, websites, etc...and it's at work, in our family, at our schools, and sadly of all in our churches! Yes Church! We have people who go to church who love to talk about people and get and give the "scoop" on people.  We do not think of the consequences, how it makes us look, how it makes God or the church look, or what affect it has on others.

Let me give you some examples.  Just because a person has money, doesn't mean they got it illegally.  Just because a person loves working with kids doesn 't mean they are a perv or pedofile.  Just because a person is not married by a certain age doesn't mean they are gay.  Just because a husband is friendly doesn't mean he's cheating on his wife.  Just because a wife is outgoing doesn't mean she's a whore or a tease.  Just because a person dresses a certain way doesnt' make them in a gang, a druggy, or a drunk?  Just because a person is related to someone who is bad, doesn't mean they are.  Skin color or nationality doesn't make a person a terrorist, a murderer, or a thief.

Do you see how we label people? Start rumors? Or spread lies? Just because we see something or hear something? It's sad, it's wrong, it's sinful!  Stop it!  If someone comes to you with gossip, let it end with you, and if you know this person is a gossip, stand up to them and tell them to stop spreading it.
If you want to know whether something is true about someone, go directly to the person and ask them or tell them what you heard so they can deal with it.  If you hear people talking badly and unfairly about someone, defend that person if you know it's not true and stand up FOR them.  We are just as guilty of gossip, if we don't end it, stop it, or stand up to it!

There is not one good quality about gossip.  There is not one level of it that is ok or acceptable.  The only way gossip is going to stop is if we stop being a party to it, do not have relationships with people who are gossips, and confront people when they are gossiping. 

Gossip destroys communities, schools, work places, homes, churches, and lives.  Sometimes it doesn't matter whether it's even true or not, enough people spread something around a person is guilty whether it's a false or not.   We need to spread less gossip and spread more love.  We need to put an end to godless chatter and start doing more good for others.  Encourage and pray for people with your words.  Help others, don't tear them down, talk about them behind their back, or run your mouth about them, especially when you know it's garbage.

Things are even worse now with technology, between texting, facebook, and the internet  gossip spreads faster than ever before.  Gossip doesn't honor God.   It's still gossip even if it's true or even if you type it and you are still responsible for your actions and be judged by God for it. 

Do you want to honor God with your lives? With your words? With your actions?  Put an end to gossip!  Stop slandering and spreading rumors about people.  Let it end with you.  Don't put up with it in your home, your church, or your lives!  Gossip will stop when it has no where to go.

Proverbs 26:21-23
²¹ As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.
²² The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
they go down to the inmost parts.
²³ Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware
are fervent^[a] lips with an evil heart.

Prayer vs. Prayer

Prayer vs. Prayer

Romans 12:12(NIV)

¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

I often wonder about my prayer life?  Or lack there of?  I pray daily, but like many I'm not as consistent as I should be.  Or better yet,  it's not that i don't pray enough, but maybe I don't pray in the right way or with the right attitude. Can you relate?

What I mean is we can pray regulary, religously, and set aside a time to pray, but if we are praying with a bad attitude or selfish motives, or only because we want something, I think it sort of defeats the purpose of prayer.

Prayer is communication with God and we can communicate with God anytime we want. His ears are always available, but one thing we need to understand about prayer is that it's not request hour.  And just because we ask, or ask repeatedly doesn't mean God is going to answer our prayer in our way or in our time.  Praying is giving something to God and trusting Him to do what is best according to His will and sometimes His will involves us not getting what we want, our way, or when we want something.

Secondly, prayer is not only our opportunity to communicate with God it's our opportunity to offer Him praise/worship.  We don't like it when we have a friend or family member who only calls us when they want something.  I can imagine God kind of feels the same way.   Now God wants to help us, He wants to talk to us, and He wants to bless us, however, as part of having a relationship with Goid we must spent time daily praising Him, worshipping Him, thanking Him, and just talking to Him because we enjoy His presence. I am guilty of going to God with all "my junk" or "to do list" but not taking the time to just enjoy Him or spend some time gloating on Him.  God doesn't have an ego or insecure like we are, but God is creator and sustainer of life and giver of salvation, He does deserve and demand praise. If anyone deserves to be praised it's Him, He's God, only one who is perfect!

Thirdly, we need to learn God isn't Santa Claus, an ATM, or a Jeanie.  We can go to Him anytime, but we can't never go to church, never read our Bibles, not have a relationship with Him and think we can just go to Him and expect instant results.    I see so many times, people do not go to church or claim any relationship with Jesus, yet they think they are Christians (I guess because they aren't Jewish or Catholic?), but Christianity is just a name, it has to be given to us by accepting Jesus, only when you follow the salvation process are you then a "christian".  People nevre pray or seek God until they are in a bind, then they go to God and pray and don't get their way and they just confirm in their minds God doesn't care? But, let's be honest, if someone treated you like crap, used you, and talked bad about you, then came to you for a favor, would you want to help them?

  I don't think God answers our prayers according to our goodness, but I do think He considers our faithfulness.  You can't go to God with your christmas wish, or like running to the atm to get a withdrawal, or rub a lamp and get all your wishes.  God desires a relationship with you and once we realize that and learn to talk/communicate/pray to God on a regular basis, not based on what we want or will get, but because we love God and want to praise Him and trust Him with all our lives, then we are starting to get what real prayer is about.

I encourage all of us to pray to God daily, multiple times daily, but strive to learn to talk to God just because, take moments just to praise Him, or thank Him.  Take time to ask God for things you want or need, but let God know ahead of time regardless of how or when He answers our prayers, we trust Him and know He will do what is best for us.

How is your prayer life? How often do you pray? How do you pray?  Some things for us all to think about, maybe we've been going about it wrong?
Ephesians 6:18NIV
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Together

Together

Ecclesiastes 4:10-12(NIV)

¹⁰ If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
¹² Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken

We are not the only church, we are not the only christians, and we do not have all the answers. We are not alone. I'm talking about the church.  The body of Christ.

Though there are many church denominations out there, God never designed the church to be so many different bodies.  God designed "one" church. ONE body of Christ.  God wants us to be together. 

There are many christians, preachers, churches, etc...that seem to have their sole focus in proving other churches or christians wrong, pushing their opinions or relgious views, and that is not promoting togetherness.  That does not promote unity, one, or being together.  It isolates, separates, and divides. I know sometimes we are wrong, or get it wrong, and there are some people or churches teaching things we may not agree with, but we always have to ask ourselves is this a salvation issues? Does heaven and hell hang on this issue?

With all the people in the world and all the christian views and ideals, we are not going to agree on every topic, every situation, or every view.   However, I think if we'd stop being so dogmatic, egotistic, fearful, or insecure,  I think we could agree on alot more and be alot more together than we are a part. 

Imagine how powerful and what an impact THE church could have if our only agenda was God.  We only preached Jesus, we were only guided by the Holy Spirit, and we'd stop making every issue an issue of division, fellowship, or faith? We would actually BE the ONE true church.  We'd be TOGETHER! Even with our faults, sins, and differences, we could still be ONE!

So many different churches and individuals spend so much time worrying about being "spiritually" correct, or offending someone, or proving themselves right, or worry going to hell over every decisions, or being wrong, or Lord knows what else we worry about?  In the mean time, when we are focused on things like that or our individual church denominations or personal agenda's or "passions"(I use that term loosely), people are dying and going to hell, people are leaving the church, or people are missing Jesus. 

It's hard to be the Body of Christ when we pulling the body in different directions or even more creating more than one body.   We need to use common sense, prayer, study, and lots of love, grace, and patience with one another. 

I'm not saying every "church" out there has it right or got it all together, but I also realize no matter what "church" you attend or are a part of, they all are full of good and bad people, people who are serious and people who are lazy in their faith.  People who go to church for the wrong reasons and people who are there for the right reasons.  No church has cornered the market on every single verse in the bible, every doctrine, or has every command down.  I'm being honest here, it's the truth.

The baptists, the methodists, the churches of Christ, the Catholics, the Lutherans, Episcipals, the chrisitan churches, the Presbyterians, the penocostals, the evangelicals, the charismtatic, the liturgical, and many of these groups have several splits or divisions, and that's just the main stream protestant and catholic churches, this isn't even considering  many other denominations, or those that are way out in  left field in the name of Jesus or other cults or religions.

My point is, most bible believing mainstream churches have their good and bad. We need to get it together an be together. While we stand around worrying about if someone is a member of our denomination, using our version of the bible, believes the same as I do about speaking in tongues or the end of times, or using music, or sings contemporary or hymns in worship, or calls their preacher pastor or minister, or takes communion every week or month, or pushes women's role in churches, or whatever the topic, while us church body parts sit around bickering about many questionable topics that God never meant to be divisive, people are simply dying and going to hell, communities aren't being impacted, the good news is not spreading, and the great commision is not being fulfilled.

Let's get it Together Folks!  Let's be the One church! The Body of Christ!  Do you part in the boyd and work with the body! Let's work together to reach the lost, make disciples, overcome satan, and bring glory and honor to God.  Heaven is waiting!


Philippians 1:27 NIV[ Life Worthy of the Gospel ] Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel