Story of My Lack of Faith

This summer has been incredibly different; not like any other I've had. I have been working at a Christian Camp in Idyllwild since June 19th..and never expected it to go this way. Come to think of it I had no idea what was going to occur, but I knew that God was going to do some work on my Christan walk with Him. I just didn't know exactly how He was going to do it. It's true, God does work in mysterious ways, and sometimes I am so amazed at how He gets His work accomplished. I do believe he is perfect and omnipotent, but it's deeper than just believing when I see Him working directly in my life. Me of all people. God threw in some great experiences so far this summer, painful at times, but oh so worth it. I went through enormous stress at some points, causing me to have self doubt and internal pain. I felt this way for the last part of June up until a couple of days ago. God relieved me. He lifted the heavy burden that lay upon my shoulders. I could finally breath in His goodness with a clear mind, and let me tell you, it's the best feeling I've ever felt, which is the Holy Spirit giving me clear directions of where to head next in life. The first book that came to my mind this morning during my devotions was Psalm. So I flipped over from Jonah to Psalm, and read the first page I landed on. It just so happen to Psalm 106, and the first verse in NKJ says this: "Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." This verse can't be more true. It hit me hard when I read this. God wanted me to read this. He wanted to remind me of all that He's done in the past couple of days. And praise be to Him for everything! As I read on I came to verse 3, which is basically saying, blessed are those who are righteous until the end, no matter what. No matter what I go through I really do need to reflect on what God has already accomplished in my life, and let go of any doubt that Satan tried to slip into my life. When I read this verse I thought of another verse to go along with it, and that is to leave all judgment to God, (1 Cor 4:5). I need to have persistent faith that God will take care of my problems, and that He will give people what they deserve; it's not up to me. And praise be to God for that! The next part of the passage that stood out to me was verses 6 and 7, when David reminds us about how the Israelites lacked faith in God, even after He promised to lead them out, and even after He has shown them many miracles, signs, and blessings. Through all of that, the Israelites still lacked faith, and I can't blame them, for I have lacked faith many times in my journey of life. And I've come to the realization that lacking faith and trust in God is an utter waste of time. It does nothing but draw us off course with our relationship with Him, only to come back to the same place that we started at, only so that God can show us the true, pure way. Back to the verses, God kept His promise lively, and He did eventually free them from Egypt, but only after struggles from disobedience from the Israelites. I can see God doing this in my life actively; giving me what I don't deserve and keeping His promise that He'll never leave me. In verses 11 and 12 God proves His way is better; His way of obeying Him and trusting Him. I'll have to agree with that. Things are better God's way. As this summer persisted, so did my weariness and lack of faith. But again, God provided a way out of my suffering, all I had to do was suck it up and grasp on to the small amount of faith I had. God reminded me that He's in control of my life, and just like that, the pain in my life vanished; gone. Even when I had some occurrences which made me lose complete confidence, God was there holding my hand, and lending a shoulder to cry on. All I needed to do was let go of my desires to make room for God's. But God showed up plain as day, and clear as a starry night. I try not to lack faith, but sometimes I fail at it. Then I ask myself, "how could I not have faith in my perfect God? And why is it that I lack faith, even though I know God is sovereign? Why do I let myself slip into Satan's lies so easily? It may be that I need more experiences in life; more chances to say yes to god, and no to me. Until I can hold my head up high and say with utter confidence, "My faith is found in Christ alone. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." But through this experience I gladly stand up and give God the glory that He is worthy of, for delivering me out of pain and burdens too heavy, even when I lacked the slightest amount of faith. This leads me to verses 13-15, how the Israelites failed to put in God's best interest, but rather, their own. Which caused them to stumble and made the journey more difficult. Even though I lack faith at times with my walk with God, it grows immensely through my struggles. And isn't that better than enduring those same struggles, yet not growing? I would boldly say yes. My relationship with God shouldn't be selfish. God keeps his promises and faithfulness in me, so He expects the same back. I have no problem with this system of life. I am no longer the same person I was in the beginning of this summer. And i will proudly stand up and say so. I admit I have my downfalls, but I'm not going to let my sin, or others' sin pull me back from the kind of beautiful relationship I can have with my Lord and Saviour. I won't let Satan take the reigns no longer. God is in control of my life. Whatever He says, goes. And wherever He goes, I go. I will continue to look back on this summer, and how God changed my life. And I'll continue to let Him have His way in me, wherever that may be. More to come.

-R

Servitude

Serving appears a ton in the New Testament, mostly because Jesus came and showed a perfect example of what a disciple of God is supposed to look like. After He came and died, His disciples continued in His footsteps to share the Truth. And in doing so, they made sure to include serving and giving of themselves for God's glory. With serving, comes giving.

Serving:

• shows I am a follower of Christ
• confirms my faith

Committing my life to Christ means that I gave it to Him to use me however needed to bring glory to Him. And giving my life to Him means it's no longer mine to live; means to die to self; putting God's wants before my own.

*Jesus Christ emptied Himself

• I need to empty myself and rid of the things that pull me away from God
• I need to be obedient to Christ until death; just as Jesus did

*I need to give:

• with the right heart
• because it shows love and selflessness, (step closer to being like Jesus)
• because it shows separation from the world
• because it shows Jesus' love through action

***Find contentedness in Christ alone.
Jesus Christ is: peace, love, perfect, patient.
I need to allow God to work through me in this life.

Faith is Needed; God is Holy and in Control

"We cannot escape the simple and obvious truth that God must be the main thing in my life."
- John Piper

1 Corinthians 3

Fact: We're all going to die someday. With that in mind, I need to focus on having a strong faith that my life is in God's hands. It's also important to comprehend how important my beliefs are, and how important they should be.

*My beliefs matter:

• Determines the way that I live my life
• Every action that I make is because of what I believe
• There's a belief behind every motive
• All of my thoughts need to be of God's truth

*Beliefs worldly= worldly actions; Beliefs of God= godly actions.

Verse 1-4 : There's a point in every Christian's life where they need to stop and think, "I need to grow up in my faith." This "growing up spiritually" means that you're able to seek God on your own. That you're able to talk to Him, read His word; without having someone hold your hand the entire time. To grow up spiritually requires that, in a sense, you're able to feed yourself. This should result in a lifestyle that's pleasing to God. Another crucial thing to keep in mind: Motives must be right. Meaning, don't do things to impress man; do it to impress God.

Verse 12-15

• Authenticity of faith will be tested
• Live for God if He dwells in you

***Beliefs lead to action
v18 - Remembering humility is important
v19 - Wisdom of the world is STUPID
v23 - I belong to Christ. Christ belongs to me.

James 1

How you can be certain that God is working in your life: by the fruits that are produced.
James 1

• Things to remember:
• I am dead to self
• I am alive in Christ
• It's okay to not feel at home on earth

Verse 2:
Count it all as joy- praise God in everything.
Everyone wants to be like Jesus, but not everyone is willing to go through what Jesus went through. I looked up the definition of "perseverance" and found this:

per·se·ver·ance /ˌpɜrsəˈvɪərəns/

–noun
1. Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.
2. Theology. continuance in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.

The key is perseverance :)

Verse 3:
Trials make us stronger if we keep the faith

Verse 4:
Instead of complaining about struggles, use them as opportunities to grow in Christ.

Verse 5:
I need to ask God for His wisdom....not my own.

Verse 6:
I need to have faith. If you don't have faith when abiding in God, you're not really abiding to Him because He calls us to have faith.

***Wisdom: seeing things through God's perspective.

Knowing God

A little someting mustered up:

It's not what you know. It's who you know. And who you know will determine what you know. Therefore, know Jesus and that will determine what you know.

Make sense?

In a nutshell, it's important, as a Christian, to know the God I'm living for.

John 14:9-21

*The darker things get in the world, the brighter Jesus should get in my life.

*Knowledge of God will determine what God is revealing in this world through His Word.

*Jesus calls me friend because He wants to reveal His plan for me so that I can carry out His will that He already has planned for my life.

 *God will only do His work in people He trusts

John 2:23-25
Jesus already knows me. He knows what I'm all about; He knows whats in me; sin. He came because He knew what was in me was the very thing that was keeping me from knowing Him completely.

*It's a sin not to trust God.

Things to remember:

• Trust God always with all that I am.
• Remember that Christ is always with me and always in me; always a part of me. He's the very thing holding me together.  

Unification

1. Christ Unifies
He calls us to set aside pettiness and love each other
We're all connected through Christ
Love as Christ loved
Romans 12:4-5

2. Baptism Unifies
Signifies one as turning from old sinful ways
Turning away from flesh, and turning Jesus
 Romans 6:3-4

3. Gospel Unifies
Message of the gospel is either foolish to those who's hearts are hard-
or it is wisdom to those who accept Jesus
1 Corinthians 1:26-31

4. Humility Unifies
Don't think you're too good to go associate with other groups in order to tell them about Christ
Goal: Exit comfort zone.

Additional Goals:

1. Focus on Christ
2. Remember the meaning of baptism, and why I got baptized
3. Gospel of Christ should be the only thing on my lips
4. Talk to people  about God and remember, you're not too good for them, and they're not too bad.

It's Not About the Easter Bunny

Luke 23:21- Luke 24:53