It has been a while since I have actually posted on my blog... hehehe. Hehe, and a certain someone predicted that I wouldn't be consistent with this blog.... (*Stares at screen with sinister look*) I'll show him.............
For the past few weeks things have been busy, and I have had alot on my mind, but I have been taking breaks during every chance that I get, and now I am done with exams lol. So I'll give the run down of what's been happening.
I've had a hand full of finals to study for and a couple of papers to write. I also have decided to apply for an internship with GCM, and that application was sent in yesterday. Since things have been busy, it seems that my passion for God has been stressed alittle bit, but with the testing, that leaves room for growth in faith. In the midst of my busy time, deep down inside I realized how much I want to give my life completely to God and how much of a passion I have for the gospel. In fact, I want to see a revival right here at the University of Florida.... I want to see many many people some to Christ here, so much that it flips this place upside down. This is on my heart, and I'm pressed with the question of "how does this get done?" "What do we need to be doing?" Even though I am finished with exams and have the opportunity to rest, the spirit within me is not at rest because of my thoughts on a revival. This is all that I will say about this subject for now...
This is the end of today's entry. This is just alittle bit of what I was thinking, but there is more that I will put up on a later date.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Monday, November 28, 2005
Boldness in Prayer/ Warning Godless men
11/28/05
The organization of this blog may be off, hehehe...
It is now 9:47 am, and I think it's alittle early to be typing this now, but with thoughts from this morning I just couldn't wait. I woke up early this morning and had a quiet time, and had some interesting thoughts about Godless men and Prayer! (By the way, the two subjects aren't linked in anyway.)
I started off reading Daniel Chapter 9 this morning and Daniel's prayer really popped out at me! I was intrigued by the way he prayed to God. Daniel completely humbled himself before God with fasting, sackcloth attire, and ashes. Daniel began to praise God for what He had done in the past, and also admitted his faults and the faults of his Countrymen! In addition to his humility, Daniel came boldly before God with requests on behalf of Israel! But what really got me was the fact that Daniel wasn't just plainly asking God for forgiveness of his countrymen...no... he was demanding it! He came before the creator of the universe demanding blessings!!! How cool is that? He was extremely humble in the process of it too, and God granted his request! When I think about this there seems to be a wave of irony associated with this! How can a mere man come before God with total confidence and demand blessings?! Lol. This is found specifically in Daniel 9:15-19. Prayer in this Fashion is also done by the believers in Acts 4:28-30, by the Lord Jesus Himself in John 17. There are more examples all over scripture, but those were some of the ones that came to mind immediately. Approach God's throne with boldness believing that he will answer! If God doesn't give us what we request, he may be telling us no, or wait, but I trust that it will make sense to the saint why God will not answer a prayer.
Afterwards I read some of the book of Jude, and again something caught my attention....Godless men!!! Jude 8-16 Talks about Unrighteous/Godless men and the judgement that will eventually come to them! I will make this short. Everyday we are surrounded by unrighteous Godless people, alot of us are close friends with them. Now the point I want to make is that we should warn these people of God's judgement... Yes! We should warn them, and this reminds me of Ezekiel 33:7-9. Following this warning, we should follow up with the truth of the gospel. Many people have been told that they are a sinner and that they are going to hell, and they have been greatly offended by this. I've run into individuals who were bitter towards Christians because someone has told them that. This is because the truth was not fully spoken and was not spoken in love! In reality the unbeliever may have been told that he or she is going to hell out of malice and cruelty or just plain coldness. We must speak the truth in love! While it is true that if someone is not trusting Christ they are headed for hell, but WE MUST TELL PEOPLE WHY!!! We must give them the whole truth, and the truth is that we are all transgressors of God's law. God does not overlook sin but instead, he must provide punishment for those sins. For the wages of sin is death. By no means will God let those who are not forgiven of their sins into heaven, and there are two places where one can only go after judgement! We must warn people of this and speak the truth in love followed by the gospel! Now by typing this, I am reminded of what I talked about with an acquaintance during my ride back down to Gainesville. Here is the Gist of the story......
I was in the car with a friend and his friend. I'll call him D. I opened up a spiritual conversation with D and he told me that he was an agnostic/athiest, then he told me that someone told him that he needed to repent or he was going to hell......ok....But then he proceeded to proclaim his goodness. He told me that he was no Hitler, he only stole once, he was honest MOST of the time, and that he stayed away from extreme stuff. Now what's wrong with this picture? Someone warned him of God's wrath, but he did not indicate that he knew why God would send someone to hell!!!!! D is like a blind man headed toward a cliff!!!!! He thinks he will be ok if there is a God when he is judged, but in reality he is not forgiven for his sin, and only through Jesus can he be forgiven!!! We must warn these people of God's wrath, but we must also tell them WHY they are headed for God's wrath following this with the gospel. We must speak the truth with love!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We must not abstain from telling our friends and family this vital truth followed with the gospel!
Now I want to mention one more thing.
When speaking the truth of the gospel to people there will be persecution. Jesus said so himself...... No servant is greater than his master, and if they persecuted Him they will persecute you too. You can look back at history and in scripture, and you will see all kinds of persecution. People have been ridiculed, boiled, beheaded, hit, kicked, spat on, crucified, and stoned. But these are the marks of Christ, and we will not be exempt from the cup that our Lord Himself drank from. Besides if you are rejected for the name of Christ, you are blessed. (1 Peter 3:14 ; 1 Peter 4:14, 16).
I know this was alittle extreme, but this is what was on my mind today and for the past few days.
More to come......soon
The organization of this blog may be off, hehehe...
It is now 9:47 am, and I think it's alittle early to be typing this now, but with thoughts from this morning I just couldn't wait. I woke up early this morning and had a quiet time, and had some interesting thoughts about Godless men and Prayer! (By the way, the two subjects aren't linked in anyway.)
I started off reading Daniel Chapter 9 this morning and Daniel's prayer really popped out at me! I was intrigued by the way he prayed to God. Daniel completely humbled himself before God with fasting, sackcloth attire, and ashes. Daniel began to praise God for what He had done in the past, and also admitted his faults and the faults of his Countrymen! In addition to his humility, Daniel came boldly before God with requests on behalf of Israel! But what really got me was the fact that Daniel wasn't just plainly asking God for forgiveness of his countrymen...no... he was demanding it! He came before the creator of the universe demanding blessings!!! How cool is that? He was extremely humble in the process of it too, and God granted his request! When I think about this there seems to be a wave of irony associated with this! How can a mere man come before God with total confidence and demand blessings?! Lol. This is found specifically in Daniel 9:15-19. Prayer in this Fashion is also done by the believers in Acts 4:28-30, by the Lord Jesus Himself in John 17. There are more examples all over scripture, but those were some of the ones that came to mind immediately. Approach God's throne with boldness believing that he will answer! If God doesn't give us what we request, he may be telling us no, or wait, but I trust that it will make sense to the saint why God will not answer a prayer.
Afterwards I read some of the book of Jude, and again something caught my attention....Godless men!!! Jude 8-16 Talks about Unrighteous/Godless men and the judgement that will eventually come to them! I will make this short. Everyday we are surrounded by unrighteous Godless people, alot of us are close friends with them. Now the point I want to make is that we should warn these people of God's judgement... Yes! We should warn them, and this reminds me of Ezekiel 33:7-9. Following this warning, we should follow up with the truth of the gospel. Many people have been told that they are a sinner and that they are going to hell, and they have been greatly offended by this. I've run into individuals who were bitter towards Christians because someone has told them that. This is because the truth was not fully spoken and was not spoken in love! In reality the unbeliever may have been told that he or she is going to hell out of malice and cruelty or just plain coldness. We must speak the truth in love! While it is true that if someone is not trusting Christ they are headed for hell, but WE MUST TELL PEOPLE WHY!!! We must give them the whole truth, and the truth is that we are all transgressors of God's law. God does not overlook sin but instead, he must provide punishment for those sins. For the wages of sin is death. By no means will God let those who are not forgiven of their sins into heaven, and there are two places where one can only go after judgement! We must warn people of this and speak the truth in love followed by the gospel! Now by typing this, I am reminded of what I talked about with an acquaintance during my ride back down to Gainesville. Here is the Gist of the story......
I was in the car with a friend and his friend. I'll call him D. I opened up a spiritual conversation with D and he told me that he was an agnostic/athiest, then he told me that someone told him that he needed to repent or he was going to hell......ok....But then he proceeded to proclaim his goodness. He told me that he was no Hitler, he only stole once, he was honest MOST of the time, and that he stayed away from extreme stuff. Now what's wrong with this picture? Someone warned him of God's wrath, but he did not indicate that he knew why God would send someone to hell!!!!! D is like a blind man headed toward a cliff!!!!! He thinks he will be ok if there is a God when he is judged, but in reality he is not forgiven for his sin, and only through Jesus can he be forgiven!!! We must warn these people of God's wrath, but we must also tell them WHY they are headed for God's wrath following this with the gospel. We must speak the truth with love!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We must not abstain from telling our friends and family this vital truth followed with the gospel!
Now I want to mention one more thing.
When speaking the truth of the gospel to people there will be persecution. Jesus said so himself...... No servant is greater than his master, and if they persecuted Him they will persecute you too. You can look back at history and in scripture, and you will see all kinds of persecution. People have been ridiculed, boiled, beheaded, hit, kicked, spat on, crucified, and stoned. But these are the marks of Christ, and we will not be exempt from the cup that our Lord Himself drank from. Besides if you are rejected for the name of Christ, you are blessed. (1 Peter 3:14 ; 1 Peter 4:14, 16).
I know this was alittle extreme, but this is what was on my mind today and for the past few days.
More to come......soon
Sunday, November 27, 2005
What is really inside?
11/27/05
This is a collection of my thoughts, it may not even make sense!Hmm... many things have been running through my mind for the past few months. I can't get into all of them right now, but I would like to through a few of them out there.
I woke up alittle later than usual this morning at 10 am, went to church (GCL). The information from the teaching was wonderful... I always wondered why the gospel of Thomas was rejected hehehee. It sounded like the gospel was mixed with a bit of Eastern philosophy........... is God everything? Is the creator also the creation? Nope! I just thought that was interesting to point out.
I feel like I'm standing at a cross road right now on where God wants me to be in the future. There are a handful of options and I know what my heart wants right now. It would be easy to just follow it and make a decision right?! I wish it were, but it's not....... let me explain what some of the deal is yo. Here is some Background.When I first came to UF during the Summer of 2004, I already had it set in my mind what I was going to major in. I wanted to be a microbiologist. This decision came with no guidance from God seeing as though I was not a Christian at the time, but it seemed like the right choice according to my interests. Now lets fast forward about year and a half. Its fall of 2005, my heart has changed because of the outpouring of God upon me, I no longer look at the world the way I used to, including people for that matter. But let me cut to the point! My heart for God and this lost world is BIG! My thoughts, aspirations, goals, dreams, ambitions, desires, and whatever else stem from what God has put on my heart. I want to direct my future according to what God wants, but at the time I am not 100% sure on which way I should go. I believe the rumblings of my heart provide a good clue though *Smiles*. The big question is... should I enter full time ministry or should I pursue the career as a microbiologist?
At this point I see science as nothing more than a kind of hobby. My interest in it has taken kind of a plummet, but my heart for God has grown exponentially lol. Hey, check out Matthew chapter 10! I could totally picture myself doing what Jesus sent the Disciples out to do yo!!!!!!!!!!! Every time I read that I get a wave of excitement, heheheheheheheheeheh! I want to do what would honor God the most though!!! I want to lay down my life!!!!! Judging from where my heart is, I want to serve God full time. My heart aches when I think about the decay that is all over the world...........I have many more interesting thoughts and what not, but I will come with more later! Until next time!
This is a collection of my thoughts, it may not even make sense!Hmm... many things have been running through my mind for the past few months. I can't get into all of them right now, but I would like to through a few of them out there.
I woke up alittle later than usual this morning at 10 am, went to church (GCL). The information from the teaching was wonderful... I always wondered why the gospel of Thomas was rejected hehehee. It sounded like the gospel was mixed with a bit of Eastern philosophy........... is God everything? Is the creator also the creation? Nope! I just thought that was interesting to point out.
I feel like I'm standing at a cross road right now on where God wants me to be in the future. There are a handful of options and I know what my heart wants right now. It would be easy to just follow it and make a decision right?! I wish it were, but it's not....... let me explain what some of the deal is yo. Here is some Background.When I first came to UF during the Summer of 2004, I already had it set in my mind what I was going to major in. I wanted to be a microbiologist. This decision came with no guidance from God seeing as though I was not a Christian at the time, but it seemed like the right choice according to my interests. Now lets fast forward about year and a half. Its fall of 2005, my heart has changed because of the outpouring of God upon me, I no longer look at the world the way I used to, including people for that matter. But let me cut to the point! My heart for God and this lost world is BIG! My thoughts, aspirations, goals, dreams, ambitions, desires, and whatever else stem from what God has put on my heart. I want to direct my future according to what God wants, but at the time I am not 100% sure on which way I should go. I believe the rumblings of my heart provide a good clue though *Smiles*. The big question is... should I enter full time ministry or should I pursue the career as a microbiologist?
At this point I see science as nothing more than a kind of hobby. My interest in it has taken kind of a plummet, but my heart for God has grown exponentially lol. Hey, check out Matthew chapter 10! I could totally picture myself doing what Jesus sent the Disciples out to do yo!!!!!!!!!!! Every time I read that I get a wave of excitement, heheheheheheheheeheh! I want to do what would honor God the most though!!! I want to lay down my life!!!!! Judging from where my heart is, I want to serve God full time. My heart aches when I think about the decay that is all over the world...........I have many more interesting thoughts and what not, but I will come with more later! Until next time!
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