Saturday, October 31, 2009

A Simple Prayer

Here’s a simple prayer that I start my daily conversations with God with;

“Glory…. Glory….. Glory….. to my God, the creator of the universe and all things in it…hallowed is He that through Him all things are possible. And blessed is His son, my personal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who bore the weight of my sins and the sins of all mankind while being crucified on the cross…and through His death and resurrection promises everlasting life to those who accepts Him as their Lord and Savior, and follows the Word of God (The Holy Bible).”

Saying this one simple prayer puts the rest of my conversation with God into perspective. To me it respectfully identifies with the Deity of our living, and the sacrifice of our savior.

In the last few weeks in particular I have been trying hard to connect with God on a more personal basis. So I have changed my attention and affection in which I ask God for help everyday.


God Bless you All………

Friday, October 30, 2009

Logical Learning

I had talked to a number of friends and fellow bloggers in the last day and I am still in the midst of discovering what type of Christian I am….I’ve heard the terms mature, teenage, toddler and even baby Christians. And I can agree with that when you are describing a place where someone is in their development and knowledge of the Bible. In comparison to how much someone is educated in the word of God, I believe there are also different types of learning. There are people that read and acknowledge the word of God in the bible, just as they would with their studies in school…Then there are people who learn purely through the way they experience God physically (a more logical approach based on what has transpired in their lives.) Then there are those who learn both ways. Just as God loves all levels of Christian based on their knowledge I contend that the same is true based on how we learn.

I believe that I fall within the category of a logical Christian. And when I think about early Christianity I have to believe that the people who were to become Christians in the time of Christ were logical as well, what they saw and experienced is what they knew to be true.

A friend of mine sent me a message yesterday that puts the trials and tribulations that our Lord Jesus Christ experienced leading up to the end of His mortal life into perspective. I’d like you all to read it:

THE (SCIENTIFIC) DEATH OF JESUS

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.

At the time crucifixion was the "worst" form of execution used. Only the worst criminals condemned to die were to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus, unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion Jesus because He was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.

Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.

The nails were driven into His wrist. Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist that the tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breath.

Both of His feet were nailed together. Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain so He was forced to alternate between arching His back and using His legs just to continue to breathe. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, and the courage.

Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.

Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of suffering? A few minutes
before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding. He simply began pouring water from His wounds.

From common images depicting the scene, we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side. But do we realize there were other wounds that were actually made in His body. A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even large nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear. But before the nails and the spear Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. The beating was so horrific that His face was torn and His beard ripped from His face. The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp.

Most men would not have survived this torture.

And remember after 3 hours of enduring this brutal act. He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds.

The human adult body contains about 3.5 litres (just less than a gallon) of blood.


Jesus lost all 3.5 litres of His blood; He had three nails hammered into His arms and feet; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest.

All this without mentioning the humiliation, He was forced to pass angry crowds carrying His own cross for almost 2 kilometers (about a mile and a quarter), while the crowd spat in His face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight (66 pounds), the cross that he carried across is back was the cross-section where His hands were nailed).

Jesus had to endure this experience, so that you can have free access to God.

So that all our sins could be "washed" away. All of them, with no exception!
Don't ignore this situation. JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR YOU! For you, who now read this message. Do not believe that He only died for others (those who go to church or for pastors, bishops, etc).

He died for you! It is easy to pass jokes or foolish photos around, but when it comes to God, sometimes you feel ashamed to forward to others because you are worried of what they may think about you.

Accept the reality, the truth that JESUS IS THE ONLY SALVATION FOR THE
WORLD.

God has plans for you; No matter where you are in your faith or how you go about learning, just know that God Loves you so much that he gave is only begotten son….Could you imagine sending your son to an automatic death sentence for strangers.

Think of life today….do any of you know ANYONE who would endure that kind of punishment and terror just so someone else could be close to their Father in Heaven. Ashamedly, we live in a world that doesn’t care about their immortal souls…We all have to follow what others thinks is cool.

If you look logically at the story that you just read you have to believe that only God incarnate would have the conviction and compassion to forfeit His life for you.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Journey has Begun

Thank you all for your comments. I am very new to blogging and am even newer to discussing religion. I ask that you bear with me if I make protocol errors or am unable to quote scripture. And actually for those you can quote scripture about something I may talk about I would appreciate your comments.

There are three people in my life I want to acknowledge. First, my gorgeous wife Teresa is the best person I’ve ever met, you see I have been dealing with life changing health problems for 14 years now. I have had a lot to go wrong and the rock that has been there throughout all of this is my Teresa. I Love her unconditionally, I hope that God allows us to continue our relationship in heaven.

The second person is someone who reached out to me just two weeks ago, she is my wife’s niece, Robin, you see God, I believe sent Robin to me, because I was without hope. Robin is a beautiful person inside and out. She is in the process of bringing back from the abyss. I have trouble expressing in words how I feel about what she’s done for me.

The third person is my wife’s cousin Beverly, she is my blog mentor and she too has a beautiful soul that truly cares about others. One message I feel like I’ve been given by God is that people miss the importance of compassion, as I wrote about earlier. Compassion is the key word to life it is the intent of the golden rule. It also applies to those who are will to sacrifice their lives for others and much more.

I was thinking last night about the idea of God talking and directing us in our life. I have heard that pastors and priest have talked that God talks directly to them to tell them what to do…..I think that is why I was feeling left out….because I couldn’t hear him….no matter how bad I tried. Then it occur to me that God speaks to us all continuously, because He is the one that makes sure you are near help when trouble is on the horizon, He is your conscious that tells you what you ‘re about to do is right or wrong he also the compassion you exhibit to others.

I believe that God has a plan for us all, and to top that off through the Holy Spirit that he injected into our hearts, is willing to share the trip with you good or bad. Our Lord and savior has told us that he will be with us always….let’s all commit to let him in and know that we don’t walk alone.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Finding my Religion

For many years of my life I have been struggling with my religion / spirituality...so I wanted to start a blog where I can share my thoughts and hope all of you will share yours as well....One rule....no judging.

To start this off I would consider myself as someone with a deaf, Dumb, and blind soul.....I want with all my heart to believe that Jesus Christ has forgiven my sins and is guiding and protecting me.

Food for thought based on some thoughts I had the other day:

I think the first time I accepted the Holy Spirit into my life was when I went to a Joel Osteen presentation with my family. First because of my physical limitations I was unable to sit with my wife and robin…so I found a seat in the disabled section….I remember during the sermon that pastor Osteen had asked all those who wanted to commit their life to God to stand up. I stood for the first time in front of thousands of people, exposed in my denial of committing to God. When pastor Osteen lead us through the commitment prayer I felt something that I have never experienced before or since. The best way to describe it was tremors…my feet, than legs, waist…all the way up my body shook and a lady sitting next to me said that I was being consumed by the Holy Spirit.
Until lately I have not felt that God was guiding me…The Holy Spirit has come to me again, but this time he has inspired me to think about my connection with God. Things like, a man who has accepted our Lord Jesus Christ cannot possibly be separated from God. God resides in us and he experiences what we experience in life. So we serve God on Earth and then in Heaven when we pass. I believe this is so that God can know what we experience and what trials we face so he can take them from us.
In two thousand years since our Lord has been crucified and resurrected we have lost our way and our purpose. We can only survive with God as our center and with the understanding that compassion is what makes it all work. If it weren’t for Gods compassion for man, he would not have sent his son to redeem us…If it was Jesus Christ’s compassion for us we would not have sacrificed his physical body for us and fulfilled the prophecies of the resurrection to reconnect us with God.
I Believe that we are tested in faith and in action on our ability to feel compassion for each other. So next time you are in church, and you are thinking or your fellow parishioners’ see how many you truly feel compassion for knowing that you should feel compassion for all. That’s what God wants from us…you see we think that we are alone in life but we create our loneliness God gives us the freewill and the ability, all we have to do is act.