God changed my circumstances and plans

This post I will be discussing certain times in my life in which God was at work but I didn't know it.  During these times, God changed my circumstances for his good and purposes.  He uses these times in my life to conform me to his image or likeness.

The first instance I am going to discuss is the time that  God changed the my plans from doing a Young Life year long internship at Young Life camp to doing Discipleship Focus the summer after I graduated from college.  I thought this year long internship was where God wanted me in that next year after I graduated college.  I pursued this opportunity so diligently at the end of the spring of 2010.  I did not know God had a different plan for me that summer and into the next year.  God used one opportunity that didn't work and led to a greater one that summer.

At Discipleship Focus, I grew in my walk with Christ.  I become able to trust God more quickly and with more things in the process of God revealing himself to me that summer.  He made me aware that he is in control of my life despite what happens to me in certain situations.  He helped me realize that his eternal good is to conform us to his image and have a deep, walk with his Son Jesus Christ.  I went through a study called God's Answers to Our Deepest Questions that, throughout the study, helped me realize me spiritual bankruptcy without my relationship with Jesus Christ.  

During the summer, I also grew in my walk with God in a small group of people that deeply cared me and my needs.  We became like a family that summer united by what God was doing in our lives at the time.  This constant community helped us push each other toward Christ in all that we did that summer.  I also gained deep fellowship with the guys in my cabin since we eat together, hung out after work, and cleaned the cabin every week together.  As my teacher in seminary Dr. Lee says, "we became a living, loving, and learning community."

In that next year, I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life but God had other plans for me and my future.  I thought I was going to do into broadcasting but God kept closing down those doors or opportunities with each job I didn't get.  I was able to trust and depend on God during this time in my life through the these things I learned in that summer at D-focus.  Even though this was a very hard time in my life, God helped me realize that he was in control of my life at the time and I just needed to trust him more.  Through this circumstance in my life, God wanted me to realize that I need to be desperately dependent on him with everything in my life.  

The first verse that illustrates God's uses circumstances to conform us to his image is in Romans 8:28-29. Paul says this, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."  God was working throughout those times in my life and had a bigger plan than I could imagine; to conform me to the image of his Son Jesus Christ. Another verse that illustrates God using a circumstance is the example of Joseph, he says to his brothers in Exodus 50:19-20, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Joseph acknowledge that God was in control of his hard circumstance in his life and God was using it for his glory. 

God used that circumstance in my life to lead me to seminary and back to ministry.  I feel that God gave me a wake up call in my life during that year.  He helped me realize what my real passions in life are and how he wants to use for in my future.  

We need to remind ourselves how much we need to desperately depend on God daily for everything in our life and abide in him.  God is in control of any and every circumstance in our life.  He can use any circumstance to conform us to his image.  I as a Christian in my sinful, depraved, state cannot produce Godliness on my own,  our God in heaven and earth has to be the only thing we depend on make in this life.  The only thing we will take with us when we go to heaven is the depth of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  

September 11th

Yesterday was the anniversary of September 11 one of the most historic days in American history.  A day which caused us to examine our freedoms as Americans.   That day showed how Americans can come together in the midst of tragedy.
I am not specifically going to September 11 today.  I will discussing how 9/11 showed us as Christians today.
Looking back on this event in our past it shows me how we are all sinful creatures.  The suicide bombers at 9/11 didn't take into account they were killing numerous people that day.  They only knew that they had to carry our their mission of bombing the World Trade Center. They thought they had to carry out the mission of bombing the buildings that day because Osama bin Laden ordered it.  Bin Laden's kind of Islam was the very extreme form.
Bin Laden's terrorist group was called the Al-Qaeda.  It was the highest form of extremism sect of Islam.
This event also causes us as Christians to remind us that we have to love all people despite they believe.  In this way, we will be able to model Jesus Christ to other people of other religions.  Georges Houssney, the author of Engaging Islam, says the if we shows other Muslims the authentic love of Jesus is the key to reaching Muslims.  Through this they will see that our God is different than the God that Mohammad portrays in the Kor'an.  If we as Christians can love and get to know Muslims Houssney says then they may open up eventually to want to know more about how to have a relationship with Christ.
This book taught me it is essential to get to know other people's religions in order to tells others about Jesus Christ.  We also have to get to know who people are and what Muslims believe.  Houssney emphasizes we have to be aware of the differences in Islam and Christianity.  We have to use discrepancies in order to reach  Muslims.  The most important thing Houssney says is that God loves you my dear Muslims brother.  This last sentence emphasizes that God loves everyone and wants all people to come to know him no matter race, religion, color or sect.
The mission trip I went on this summer reminded me that God wants everyone to come to know him deeply.   God has a deep passion and concern for all those that have fallen away from him.  He loves us all deeply no matter if we are steeped in sin or struggling with hard times.  God is too big to be able to comprehend what he can do if we let him work through us. A verse that shows the bigness of God to do anything is Ephesians 3:20, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."
9/11 made me realize we are all sinful creatures in need of God redemption into right relationship with him.

One true God

For the past week and a half I have been in Chang Mai, Thailand.  This trip has been a whirlwind of things that God has been teaching me lately.  Some of these things I will discuss will help mold me in the future.
First, God has reminded me that he is the one true God in the midst a culture here that worships idols and uses meditation to gain perfection.  God has imparted to me that he is bigger than Buddha and all these idols Buddhists worship.  Christianity is a self less way of life while Buddhists only care about doing good for themselves.  At monk chat yesterday, I got the impression that these monks only cared about themselves how one of the monks describes the process of doing good in gaining good karma for only themselves.
Second, God helped me become me patient with others in general.  God gave me patience when discussing the frustrating things about Buddhism during monk chat yesterday.  God also worked through me in giving me patience in sharing Jesus with the students at Chang Mai, University.
God has been using me in two ways: through my testimony and just telling the students about our sinful nature and, how Jesus had to die on the cross for us, was put in the tomb, rose on third day, and through believing in Jesus we have eternal life.  We have also been using Christian Thai translators on the trip, which has been really helpful.  One of the days we were out at Chang Mai University one of the translators told her testimony to one of the students.
As I end this blog remember that our God in heaven and earth in the one true God.  We also have to let God give us patience when ministering to others that don't know him.

Thailand trip

Today I will be blogging on the upcoming mission trip I will be going on to Chaing Mai, Thailand.  I have always wanted to go to a Asia and Thailand ended up being a country in Asia.
I still one day have the desire to go to China.  I was going to go after I graduated from college but it didn't work out, God had a different plan for me that summer.  That summer he wanted me to go to D-focus so I could grow in him.
The Thailand trip this summer will be my first overseas mission trip.  Also, my my first time in a long time to experience four flights in a day and a half.  It will be a great experience in a new culture, new language, and new people, considering I haven't met most of the people that are going on the trip before. It will be interesting to see the Buddhist temples, the monks, and eat some spicy Thai food.  On a random side note I am excited to show them my American musical instrument, the harmonica.
I have been working hard to try to learn and understand the Thai language.  My friend from seminary, Rob, who was a missionary there for two years, taught me the Thai to English gospel presentation of leading them to Jesus Christ and a relationship with God.  There will also be a translator there to help us along the way.  It is a hard language to learn and to master.  My best friend, Andrew Boone, who's a missionary in North Africa, has taught me some Arabic and I feel as if it is a bit easier than Thai.
Another thing about the trip that I will be discussing is how God will move this July during the mission trip.  We will be working to minister to students from the college in Chaing Mai while in Thailand.  One of the leaders of the mission trip said there is an outdoor basketball court by the college in Chaing Mai there.  So, my plan is to start up some pickup basketball games and meet some Thai people that way.  We will be using an Evang-a-cube in order to share the gospel with the Thai people.  This presentation through the cube will lead them our sinful nature of how we are separated from God to how Jesus died on the cross for their sins and rose from the dead out of the tomb to give us life in him.
It will something totally new to be speaking a language that is not English.  Thai seems like a really diverse language and I can't wait to experience their unique culture as well.
I hope all my friends online will be praying for my trip this summer.  I am super excited about going to experience Thailand and what God will do on the trip.  Have a legendary day everyone!

Psalm 40

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry." -Psalm 40:1ESV.  
What kind of hard times does God bring people through?  David describes how God brought him out of hard time in his own life.  David waited on God patiently and trusted him.  God then brought him out of this time in his life to a solid ground where he could rejoice.  After he had brought David out of this time in his life, he praised God for his faithfulness.
God brought me out of two hard times in my life that have defined me.  During my junior year of high school, I was in a car wreck.  The wreck caused the other person to be hit and they were injured.  I could not judge the distance in front of the car between me.  From that time to through the summer of the year I went into a depression.  I felt as if God was not on my side and there was nowhere to turn.
God spoke to me in the beginning of my senior year, and I started reading the Bible again.  It was almost like  he revived me from the pit of where I was in.  It is also like the times where God revived David from the pit that he was in.
Another hard time in my life that God brought me out of was after I had graduated from college and was out in the world looking for a job.  God used the past summer at Discipleship Focus to help me desperately depend on him for everything.  I was able to present things and abide in Christ in this time.  God was revealing to me that I needed to be more reliant on him.  To use a cliche phrase God closed one area of my life that I thought would be my direction and God led me to another path in life.
David describes God's faithfulness in bringing him out of this time in his life by saying, "he lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord." Psalm 40:1-3 NIV.
We do not know exactly what event in David's life he is writing about at the moment.  David saw God's faithfulness when God helped him defeat lions and bears tending his fathers sheep.  He trusted God and he helped me through this time.
David describes this event when he says, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep.  When a lion or bear came and carried off a sheep from its mouth, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth.  When it turned on me, I seized it by  its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the bear and lion; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the had of this Philistine."  1 Samuel 17:34-37
Another hard event in David's life was when he took on Goliath.  He went out to fight David with just five stones and his sling in his hand.  Goliath came out to battle with his huge sword, trying to intimidate him by yelling at him with insults upon insults.  Goliath only cared about himself and trusted in himself to defeat little David, while David trusted that God would lead him through this time and defeat Goliath.
David describes his trust in God to bring him through this time by saying, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head.  Today I will give you to the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands."  1 Samuel 17:45-47
The character is the Pursuit of Happyness   struggled through a hard time in his life with trying to find a job and support his son.  He knew what it what like to be stuck in a pit like I did and David.  He did what he could to make it until he found job.  
Another hard event in David's life that God brought him out of was when he was fleeing from Saul.  God led him out of the hands of the King of Achish in Gath to the cave of Adullam.  David fled to Gath a second time to get away from Saul and time it was for a year and four months.
Ted Williams, the homeless man, who was a radio announcer and did voice-overs for a while before falling prey to drug and alcohol problems.  Somehow someone heard him on the street and record his voice.  The person from the newspaper that recorded his voice put it on the internet. From that he gained instant fame across the world.  Though he still struggles with his alcohol and drug problems, he has a job now as the official voice with the New England Cable News.
David heaps praise upon praise on God during Psalm 40.  He praises him of his faithfulness in Psalm 40:10.
David says "I have not kept the good news of your justice hidden in my heart; I have talked about your faithfulness and saving power.  I have told everyone in the great assembly of your unfailing love and faithfulness."  Psalm 40:10 NLT
What has God has done in your life?
David told others of what God had done in his life because of the fact that he trusted God and he brought him through those times.  David acknowledge that God was in control of all of his situations in his life despite what he was going through.  After God had given David a peace after those troubled times, he praised God for his faithfulness in his life.
We have to consistently tell others about what he has done in our life on day to day basis.  If we do this more people would want to come know what is different about us.  David praised God in Psalm 40:16, saying,
May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout saying "The Lord is great!"
Will you tell others about what God has done in your life? This is what I ask you my readers wherever and whoever you are.

Free-Will and the concept the God's in control

The main topic I will be discussing is the topic of free will and the fact that God is in control of our daily life.  This topic is very central to how we view life and God on a day to day basis.  This topic was bright to my attention by the movie the Adjustment Bureau.
First, I will begin my discussion my discussing the main Scripture references I see in this topic. These verses help you distinguish and sort out this topic of of God's Free Will in our life.  They also show how we do have free will in some aspects but God is in control of others.
The main verse about this topic is Ephesians 1:4-5.  This verse deals with free will in how God chose us before the creation of the world.  The verse says, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure his pleasure and will."
This verse describes how God chose us before the creation of the world.  He knew certain things about us before we would even be created.  It also reveals we have some measure of free will in deciding to follow Jesus but ultimately God has the greater plan and purpose.
Another verse that deals with these concepts is Romans 8:29-30. It says this on this concept, "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." This verse also deals with the fact that God chose us before we had decided to follow him.  It's almost like God knew what would happen in our life and what we would end up going through.
The last verse I will discuss in this post is Philemon 1:14.  It says this on this topic, "but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be by compulsion but of free will." Paul was saying to Philemon that it was his willing desire to keep Onesimus with him.  Paul inquires Philemon of his choice to give his slave Onesimus to him.  He hopes that it is his desire to release Onesiumus to him.
The first chapter of Romans discusses how we did not choose God because of our sinful nature.  Before we knew God we were consumed by our sinful nature and desires of our flesh.  It says in verse 1:21, For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."  This shows how we do not have to capacity or desire to choose God before we entered our life with him.  He always choose us even before time.
This movie describes Matt Damon, a politician, who sees this girl randomly in the bathroom before his concession speech after he had lost.  They kiss in a very quick way and she is chased by some people we would later find out are the Adjustment Bureau.  A short while after he makes his concessions speech he gets on a bus and randomly sees the same woman again.  Some would call this chance while others call this  coincidence.  The Adjustment Bureau said that this random event that occurred did not follow Matt Damon (the character)'s plan for his life by seeing this woman again.
The Adjustment Bureau was place to make sure things that were supposed to be in order happened.  The Bureau has this set plan that has to happen in order for each person's life to be in correct order.  Sometimes they are right, while other times they can guess wrong.  In some senses, the Bureau could be compared to God.  God wants this specific plan for our lives and at times we turn away from it.
All throughout the movie, the Adjustment Bureau does things to make sure that David Norris would not see the girl he falls in love with early in the movie (Elise).  They burn her number that they gave him.  Years later,  David Norris sees (Elise) on the street and ends up re-connecting with her.
David Norris leaves her in the hospital when she was hurt while dancing because the Bureau said that their relationship would hinder her future plans of dancing.  The Bureau says that somewhere (Matt Damon's character and Elise) are not supposed to be together because she takes him away from what he's supposed to be. Thompson said they gave humanity free will after the height of the Roman Empire but humanity brought the Dark Ages down.  This led to the Renaissance Thompson says.  One of the people in the Bureau that helps Damon finds out that there is a change in the plan where they are supposed to be together.
At the end of the movie, David Norris finds out she is marrying her ex boyfriend.   Harry from the Adjustment Bureau helps David Norris get to the courthouse where Elise is getting married through these doors that the Bureau uses.  David Norris finds her in the restroom and they go through all sorts of mazes before they are at the top of this building.  David Norris and Elise kiss then Harry and the chairman head guys from the Bureau shows up.  Harry then says something that stood out to me, he says something to the tune that we all choose our path in life though we may stray sometime we are always lead back to our path in life.  Harry concludes the movie saying that the Chairman has a bigger plan of restoration of humanity in the world.
God's in control of our daily life.  2 Chronicles 29:11, says "Yours O Lord is the greatness and  the power and the glory and the majesty and splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.  Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all."  God knows the paths we will take as evidenced by these verses above but he allows us some free will to choose our life if it lines up with his plans for our life.  If it doesn't he will align us back to where to where he wants us to go.

Thorn in the flesh in my life

This blog post is about a frustration in my life that has been going on for quite some time.  This frustration I will relate to a passage in the Bible when Paul discusses his Thorn in the flesh.
This Thorn/frustration in my life has plagued me since my high school years.  It has been my Achilles heel wherever I go and whatever that I do.  It is one of those where you just get so frustrated that you go crazy inside because it won't allow you do other things.  Thorn in flesh is a very simple act but involves a lot of quick thinking.  It takes a lot of reacting on the fly to things.
This Thorn in the flesh that I am describing is one of a problem dealing with my ability to drive myself.  It has been a frustrating thing for me all of my life.  It started my junior year in high school with a car wreck and then I had another wreck my senior year of high school.  The wreck in the middle senior year of high school wasn't my self though.  In between the first and second wreck I was really frustrated with my life though I ended up using my weakness as strength as Paul as in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.
Scholars debate what Paul's thorn in the flesh was.  Some believe it could be the result of physical conditions such as an epilepsy, convulsive attacks, malaria,and Malta fever.  Paul's thorn in the flesh also may be the result of an something to do with bad vision.  This is due to the reference to Paul's writing in large print in Galatians 6:1.  It is also discussed that Paul wrote the salutation to 2 Thessalonians 3:17 and 1 Cor 16:21.
Paul says this thorn was put in place in order that he not be conceited.  He believes that it was used as an instrument for his faith.
 In verses nine and 10 shows how God uses him in his weakness,he says in verse 9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."    "For when I am weak, then I am strong."
The apostle Paul gives us an example of how God used this frustrating thing in his life to grow in faith.  We are the delight in these hardships and frustrating things that are thrown at us in our life.  Paul was able to trust God in any and all situations.
God helped me my my strength in my weakness after I went through a hard time in my life at the end of junior year of high school before my senior year.   He gave me the strength to trust in him again when I was going through a hard time in my life.  God gave me the ability to trust in his power in my life again when I couldn't trust in him from the end of the spring that year to the summer of that year.  I was before that time in a mood of depression and despair of not knowing where life will take me anymore.  I wanted to be left alone before this awakening in my life occurred.
I still battle this thorn in the flesh today.  It still frustrates me that I am not able to drive by myself.  I have tried everything and it still has not worked out for me. I drove with a police officer while attending Alvin Community College.  I drove with this women from a driving school in the Fort Worth area and did well for a while before my bad reaction time came back to hunt me.
The only to do really is to try to trust in God's plan for the future.  That, God will use my weakness to help me  grow in some way though it is a frustrating thing for me right now.