Expressing our anger or hurt via facebook post

I see what people say, I see them later delete it...Is it because they were in the wrong, or are they ashamed of what they said, and hope no one had spotted it yet. Did a misunderstanding hurt your feelings?

The world will rip us apart from each other, it gets us to live our lives by its standards rather than God's. Luke 16:15 "And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."

It causes us to claim things are good that are not of God. Romans 3:10 tells us, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" Yet we claim to stand for righteousness. Man's way is not God's way, and when we start believing in man's way, we are heading the wrong way.

Someone asked if I was talking about them when I posted this earlier to facebook. The answer is in part, yes.

A lot has been on my mind lately, things going on, and how to conduct myself as a Christian in confronting these things, before so much has happened that it makes healing difficult.

The pride of man will get in the way of bridging that gap. 1 Peter 5:5 says, "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."

We will continue to think in our hearts that we are right, and not be willing to swallow our pride. Col 3:12 says, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;"

Longsuffering, think about that, what it means, but we too many times follow the path of man and when we feel we were wronged, start casting aspersions on the person we think is in the wrong, one problem with that is, we are all wrong, just go back and look at 1 Peter 5:5 again.

Eph. 4:2 "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;"

What does forebearing mean? "showing patient and unruffled self-control and restraint under adversity; slow to retaliate or express resentment"

In Matthew 6: 14-15 right after the Lord's prayer we can read this, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

As man, at times we will forgive with our lips, but our heart holds to the hurt we felt.

I know how hard it can be to forgive with you have been wronged greatly, and I don't want to debate who has forgiven a greater wrong, but I will tell you this, my wife of six years, that I have been separated from for a year, and am getting divorced from because of her infidelity, I have forgiven her completely. In my heart it is as if she did nothing to me. I don't spend time with her, or desire to be around her because she has continued in a life of sin. Psalm 1:1 says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."

There are too many today sitting in that seat of scorn, a lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike.

And once we lose respect for each other, we say things that may hurt them, be it out of our own hurt, or with the intention of hurting them. And it becomes a cycle.

If someone gets mad at me for not talking to them, and then doesn't talk to me, what if I get mad at them for not talking to me and then don't talk to them.

As Christians, we have to have the love of God in us. We have to be Christ like. Rather than being hurt, we have to have that longsuffering love we have to be forebearing with one another, and if we feel we have been really wronged, pray, ask God for guidance, get in your Bible and follow the instructions it gives.

Matthew 18:15 "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother."

Go and tell him between you and him alone, seems pretty clear to me, yet many of us choose to plant seeds of discontent and build an army of people to agree with us in private and never confront the person in the wrong, but crucify them in the court of public opinion.

It continues in verse 16, "But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."

We want to get our witnesses and sit around and talk about what the person did wrong, but if they are wrong, we do them a dis-service by not showing them where they are wrong.

But what of forgiveness, how many times should we forgive, if we read further, down to verse 21-22, "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

Verses 23-35 reads, "Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."

Do we have no wrong in us, have we not needed forgiveness form our Heavenly Father, forgiveness that he gives us freely, how then can we with hold forgiveness from our earthly brothers?

Love one another, forgive one another, live a life of service to God, not for our own praise, but that others will see His light shining in you, so that the darkness of the work has no place to hide, so that satan has no corner of our lives to reach in and tear us apart from each other.

Give it all to God, Don't waste your life, and by His grace you can put your faith in the place that rules your days and nights.

Comfort to be found (a song)

Was reading the newspaper and was inspired to write a song, this is what came out.

Comfort to be found

Falling down
to the ground
with life slipping away
in a moment
in a blink
you're left to wonder why

did it have to be me
did it have to be us
why this time
where do I turn
where can solace be found
when your child
is taken before their time

calls of shared
tears and laughter
from good times that we shared
can't console
broken hearts
that sit and wonder why

did it have to be me
did it have to be us
why this time
where do I turn
where can solace be found
when your child
is taken before their time

And yet there is
comfort to be found
just turn your eyes to Jesus
and lay those burdens down

it wasn't meant to be this way
lives of heartache and pain
but with the love of Jesus
we can be made whole again

It happened to me
It happened to us
and even though I'm hurting
I know where I can turn
for solace in my pain
and though my child is gone
I'll see him once again

How do you live your life?

"Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place"-Flame-Joyful Noise

I'm a different kind of dude, always have been, wasn't a follower of fashion, that's not where you'd find my passion. I didn't run with the it crowd, didn't know where I fit in. I didn't understand then, but I was set apart for a reason.

Been pondering a lot on how better to live my life for God, and this occurred to me today, when I'm about to do something, just take a moment and ask myself, "how does this glorify God, how does it bring honor to Him rather than me, how does it glorify His name?"

And if it doesn't, then don't do it.

I'm working on something right now, and was told that people would think I was crazy, I said that's okay. Hey, I figure most people have thought I was a little crazy for a while now.

But as I thought about it, I remembered, unbelievers already think we're crazy, they can't think me any crazier for what I'm about to do, than they do just because I go to church, or say I love Jesus, or praise God.

So I press on with my project, and pray for it to come to fruition and bring honor and glory to God who created me, set me apart, and sent his only begotten son to shed his blood for me.

I also had a conversation with my cousin Justin today. He had said he wanted to come to church Sunday, but didn't want to go to Sunday School. I think he didn't really want to go, and knew that he could claim to want to go and still not have to go, because he knew if he didn't go to Sunday School he wouldn't have a ride.

Something was said or done, and I told him he was an example, the way he lives his life is an example, that he has nieces and nephews that won't go to church because he says he's going to heaven and never goes to church. I didn't go into the fact that he drinks, smokes pot, pops pills, etc. and that they will think they can, or even should do those things too.

I told him he was an example to them, and did he want to be the reason they didn't go to church and ended up in hell.

He accused me of being like my paw paw, and I told him I wasn't, I was just speaking the truth, then I think he got mad, because one, he cussed, used mf.

You know, there was no reason, and I should have asked him then and there if he thought me or Josh wanted to hear that kind of language. I know my church family has never, to my knowledge, heard me cuss, excepting the ones that knew me before I got back in church. You don't know how foul my mouth was. It was my biggest weakness as far as sinfulness goes, and still is a challenge for me now at times. I hate it about myself. If I stub my toe, there's a good chance I will say something offensive.

And I hate that, because I don't think, that if you never cussed, that upon stubbing your toe for the first time, you would cuss then. I think you would cry out, but I don't think you would resort to a word you didn't use regularly.

That is a burden for me to carry, the world clinging to me as I try to do right by God in my daily life, that I may let those words slip occasionally, and when I'm around others that use them, they seem to flow so easily towards my lips and out of my mouth. I hate it.

And I remember my justifications for it way back when, "who decides it's vulgar, it's just man made words." Well guess what James, if you are going to use the fact that they are man made words and therefore not that bad, you also have to use the fact that man decided they were vulgar, you can't pick and choose what things of man you want to use when it suits you.

But I didn't say anything to him about it.

But he continued, telling me they were living far away from him and he didn't have anything to do with them anyway.

I don't know, I remember when he used to want to get them into church, back when he was going, wanted his brother in church, back when they lived closer, but now they don't know anything about him because they don't live close.

Does he think they don't hear his brother talk about what he's going through, does he think they aren't around when his brother and mother talk about the struggles he faces, the troubles he get himself into. His cousin's know what he gets into.

He walked out, I want to think the words I said were making an impact on him, making him think about his nieces and nephews.

I think about it, and wonder, if I knew them that close like him, and knew they were seeing the kind of life I was living, I think I would lay in bed at night and cry, for fear that I was leading them down a path straight to hell, when all the while I had the keys to the kingdom and could more easily lead in the direction of heaven by the way I choose to live my life.

I know I've kind of jumped around tonight. If you don't know Jesus Christ, get to know him, if you know someone that doesn't know Him, introduce them, plant the seed, water a seed that someone else has planted, watch them grow and flourish, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the lord.

Tell someone about Jesus today, you could be saving them from hell.

One day, every knee shall bow, don't you want your family there with you?

Slacking off and renewed vigor

This get's posted twice because I put it in my wrong blog first.

I've missed the past few days, really I should work on this during the day rather than at night when I should be getting ready for bed, but no, I wait until I am fighting sleep as I write half the time.

Been getting more hours at work these past two weeks, which is incredible, but it has thrown my schedule off a little, should be back to normal by next week though.

Went and heard my pastor preach at a tent revival this past Monday, it was good. Preached on Abraham and Sarah and how God gave them a child in their old age. And one of the things that jumped out at me was this in Genesis 18:14 "At the time appointed I will return unto thee."

It got me to thinking about my years out in the world, and the timing of my return to church.

When I was young I believed I was to be a preacher, don't know why, but I did. Years went by and I fell away, but God never abandoned me, and I know he has a purpose for me. When my life was turned upside down, before I set foot back into a church I said to an uncle that I felt like I was being pushed to do something, I just didn't know what.

I wonder now if it is the appointed time and God has called me back into service to fulfill his plans for me. Whether that be preaching or something else, I don't know, but I do know it's something. I am here in this time and place, having been brought through the fire, tested and made ready, to do what is required of me.

I'm looking forward to being used of God.

In the past I would ask for people to share my blog with others if they liked it, share it, subscribe, but today, I want to ask you instead to share the Gospel of Christ with someone.