Shaky Relationship with God

We have different reactions to trials. Some become stronger and hold on to their covenant in God, while others crumble in the face of tribulations and denounce their faith in the Lord. Because we are but humans after all, more often than not, we tend to loosen our grip and sway in our discipleship.

When we encounter troubles in our lives, we become adamant and unyielding in following the Lord, but when we are experiencing the joys of life, we become so immersed in our good fortune that our faith takes the back seat. Even during the time of the Lord, this cycle of dwindling faith had been happening. It was said once that their faith was like shifting sand that changes depending on the direction of the wind. This can be read in the stories in the Bible that illustrate the people’s on and off relationship with the Lord. The story can be summed up like this: God blesses them and they become too complacent and too proud that they forget about God and start to sin. Then, God realizes this and gives them trials as some form of punishment. When the people find it hard to breathe, they call upon God for help, plead for forgiveness. G od forgives them, and the whole process goes round and round like the rain cycle.

On the other hand, wouldn’t it be nice if we could be constant with our faith, remain single-minded about being God’s disciple, and entrust our life in the hands of the Lord? However, that is not exactly the easiest thing to do for Christians living in a world filled with temptations. It really requires a strongly grounded faith to be able to fulfill God’s covenant for faith is what propels you to follow God’s path without questions or doubts.

A Lesson from a Christian Magazine

I have read from one of Coelho’s book cited in a Christian magazine that the funniest thing about human beings is that we contradict ourselves for the most part of our lives. We are in so much hurry to grow up but when we are old, we reminisce the old times and wish we were young again. We work like horses to earn money and put food on the table, making ourselves ill. Then when we are already sick because of working, we spend all those money we earned to make ourselves better again. We always prepare ourselves for the future and in the process, we tend to neglect the present and not experience the joys of our existence. We simply exist and don’t live and we die as if we never lived.

This is all because of our insecurities and our insecurities lie in the fact that we have not fully surrendered ourselves to Him. It sounds easy and all to let God take the wheel, but living in a troublesome world makes it really difficult for us to do. Many people are doubtful about the miracles that God can bring to their lives and this is not at all a surprise. Many are called, but few are chosen after all.

Those who choose to put their lives in God’s care are the ones who experience the genuine joys of living. They go on with their lives knowing that no matter what happens, God would always be there to catch them when they fall. Even when life throws the most ruthless trials, they would not be fazed because they feel secured in the fact that God would never abandon them. And as one Christian magazine would say, If you put your life in the hands of God, he would give you peace in your heart.

If we experience the contradictoriness of life, let us find strength in the promise of God.

If God sees the sparrow’s fall,
Paints the lilies short and tall,
Gives the skies their azure hue,
Will He not then care for you?

Fighting Temptations

Temptations are around us. No matter where we go, there will always be a situation that requires us to choose between two paths – the road to righteousness or the path of self-righteousness. Sadly, temptations come in different forms so there isn’t exactly any roadmap out of temptation island.

But then again, that does not mean that we do not have the capability to resist temptations. We are given the best gift that God could ever bestow upon his creations – free agency. As His children, we were given the freedom to choose for ourselves, and in the midst of temptation, we have the choice to resist or give in. Although a lot have dived in to the ring of faulty consequences of giving in to Satan’s trap, it’s a good thing that there are still people who are steadfast in choosing the right.

Traversing the road to righteousness is not always bees and sunshine. In fact, living in the straight and narrow path is the hardest life to live. This is choosing God’s way comes with priceless gifts. If we follow the commandments and listen to the voice of goodness, our lives will be blessed. We will save ourselves of the repercussions of sins and we will get to experience fruitful existence. We will not aimlessly sleepwalk through life. The path to righteousness will bring meaning to our every day dealings.

This bible passage moved me from the moment I read it from a Christian magazine.
"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers." - James 1:12-16

Pixar’s UP – wholesome and high quality entertainment for the family

Pixar’s UP is one of the films that I am raring to watch today. There are a lot of movies out there in the market but this is one movie that you should not miss especially if you want fun as well as quality time with your family. Here is what Mark Earley, President of Prison Fellowship Ministries has to say about the film:

In recent years, Disney’s Pixar Studios has been something of a godsend for parents looking for wholesome, high-quality entertainment. With great films like WALL-E, The Incredibles, and many more, Pixar has provided family films with heart, films that tell genuinely good stories and avoid the crassness that’s so prevalent in many children’s films today. And their films, without being “message movies,” usually provide plenty of food for thought for both kids and adults.

Pixar’s latest effort is simply titled Up, and it’s well worth seeing. Up tells the story of an elderly widower, Carl Fredricksen. Faced with the prospect of being sent against his will to a retirement home, he decides to fulfill a lifelong dream of his and his wife’s, and heads off to Paradise Falls in South America.

From the advertisements for the movie, you’ve probably seen how he gets there—via an elaborate, only-in-the-movies gadget, made up of his house and an enormous bunch of balloons. But Carl’s journey also has something to tell us about the dangers of hanging onto a dream—even a good dream—too long and too hard.

Taking work seriously

Christian magazines are always bad on Christian Bale. However, what they fail to see is Christian Bale’s dedication to his craft this is an excerpt on the things that we can learn from Christian Bale as an artist:

You enjoyed it because...?
It was uncluttered. The Machinist changed me. I learned that I really enjoy, literally, not saying a damned word for days at a time, except for what was in the scene. Whole days of…nothing. Just…standing still. I know a lot of people found it bizarre, because they’d be standing right next to me thinking, Why aren’t we talking? What’s going on? Hours would pass and I wouldn’t say a word, not even to Brad [Anderson], the director. And then it would be like, All right, I think I heard “Action.” Talk now. The purity of that, the satisfaction. Now I fall asleep on sets all the time. I’ve done it in the middle of scenes where they’ve had to shake me because I’ve missed my cues.

Really?
In Batman Begins, in the first scene I had with Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, I fell asleep. In the scene, I was meant to be waking up, so I laid down and just fell asleep. And I didn’t hear “Action.” So Michael and Morgan were talking, and I was supposed to join in. I woke up with Michael Caine poking me in the ribs and going, [pitch-perfect Michael Caine accent] “Look at ’at! ’E’s bloody fallen asleep, ’asn’t ’e? ’E’s bloody fallen asleep!”

The Race

In scanning a Christian magazine that I once owned I remembered the article entitled “The Race of Faith and the Scenery of God's Grace” written by Mike Pohlman, Editor, Christianity.com. Here are some of the excerpts from the article:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
1 Corinthians 9:24

The only thing keeping my feet moving was the scenery. As I ran through my new city of Richmond, Virginia what I lacked in energy I made up for in curiosity. What scenic treasures awaited me along my route?

I stumbled upon the historic “Canal Walk”—a partial restoration of Richmond’s historic canal system begun in 1785 and completed in 1840. Various monuments along the way tell the story. It is billed as “George Washington’s vision come to life.” Before the railroad made the canals basically obsolete in the 1880s (at which time they stretched 197 miles as far as Lynchburg), the waterways teemed with hundreds of boats carrying various goods such as tobacco and wheat along with many passengers.

Singing Your Tales

Writing poems and songs that concerned your daily life has been mostly a hobby to some of us. Whether it may be inspirational or a slightly tendency of being down and depressed, we find ourselves that writing is the only way to expressed what is going on through your mind and deliberately share it to others. Heartbreaks and hardships, success and happiness, it helps us get focus more on our problems and release them to make a day brighter and lighting up a shade of sorrow in our hearts.

Molly Jenson, an accomplished songwriter/singer has been recognized by fans with her inspiring songs that literally she, herself has experience it first-hand and was recently featured from a Christian Magazine. Her lyrics that contained various experiences in her life has brought more success in her career, because the fact that every downfall in life, there is always success and that particular success in her life is the songs she made that made the fans adore her. Exceptionally, some of us doing the same thing Molly did, composing songs, writing poets that we ourselves have encountered in life and mostly in our endeavors in the past.

This is what God wants us to do, instead of sulking yourself in shame, let yourself rely on God and He will give you strength to endure the pain inside your heart, eventually if you are a artistic person like some of us, you will come up with poems and songs that inspires not only you, but also the people around you. Helping others that every circumstances we encounter in life, there is always a solution, in every way. Dedicate yourself to God and He will help you in your life, thus making you help others in different problem.

source: msn.com

Love Your Enemies

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

-Matthew 5:44-45 (NRSV)

I was reading the newspaper and an article caught my eye about strife in the world. In almost every country, nation of different ethnicities make use of violence to express hatred and fear of each other.

Yet Jesus Christ commands everybody to love our enemies. For me, Jesus is just telling us that we must show warm feelings for our enemies, but that we can demonstrate our enemies respect due to all human beings. Each of us is created in the image and likeness of God. Visualize how the world would change if everyone lived by Jesus’ teachings instead of considering it as a suggestion. No more child will be orphaned, no more bombs explosion, no more flying bullets, no more throwing of stones. Mankind would talk through each others differences and try to see each other’s point of view.

Do you think this could happen in our planet today? The answer is definitely yes. We can all pray to God to help us open our hearts and minds so that we will all become the type of humankind worthy of the name Christian. Let us have strong faith. We can also ask God for heart and mind opening of those who sinned against us and to turn their hatred to love and understanding.

source: biblegateway.com

God is always by our side

People have its way of coping from their mistakes in life and of course we ourselves, have endured some of it by sharing it with a friend or talking to God to led Him lend you strength to go pass the struggles you are encountering, and also, some of us likely to do it the easy way around.

I’m saying that some people drink to evade their struggle for their losses or others take drugs to ease the off the pain and grievance in our hearts and mind. But that is not the way to handle it in times of despair and resentment that’s been haunting us. Jay Adams, once a popular pro skateboarder who people claimed that he revolutionized the method of modern day skateboarding has that kind of dilemma. He encountered it during the loss of his parents, his brother and grandmother who happens to passed away during a short period of a year and a half.

It made shocking blow to him that he resolves his problem in inducing prohibited drugs. The reason why Jay Adams did this and suffered the consequences later on is that he has lost the faith in God. With no one to turn to or share his problems with, he eventually turn to his vices, believing that it can make his sorrow disappear.


I think it could also happen to anyone of us, but with the right actions and decisions to surrender yourself to God and devote your time during your despair, He will answer your call and will lead you to the right side. I've once read a statement from a Christian Magazine - God is always there to support you at times of need, He is always by our side and He will never leave you, as long as you have faith in Him to help you out in your problems.