"I will sing a new song to You, O God; on a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You." Psalm 144:9

We cannot walk the line, we cannot have the best of both worlds. Following Christ must be a lifestyle, many times I like to look at it like playing a sport. A professional athlete is required to train, study, and work every day...the amount of time that they put in determines the results. "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." Galatians 6:7-8. Our spiritual life in many ways, is just like that of an athlete. The amount of time we put in, through prayer, meditation, praise, and exemplification of Christ determines the level of our relationship with God. God commands us to pick up the cross and follow him, he challenges us, clearly stating that life will be difficult, that we will face trials, temptations, and tribulation. But what we are doing is storing up for eternity. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. We must live for God, in everything we say and do. The bible can be one of the most complicated books ever written, but we have to just take it as it is written. If we always look for a way around things, if we always ask ourselves, "what did God really mean?" Then we will always find an excuse, or a reason to argue. God did not command us to overanalyze his word, he did not command us to pick apart every sentence and the context of every word within the sentence. God commanded us, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his live will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it." Luke 9:23-24. Notice that he doesn't say take up his cross when he feels like it, Jesus clearly says daily...every morning we wake up we face the challenge, do we want to live for us? Or do we want to live for Christ? Are we willing to deny ourselves and follow him, daily? Are we willing to lose our lives in order to save it in Christ? Jesus poured out his blood on Calvary. He made the ultimate sacrifice, he allowed himself to be beaten, whipped, brutalized, and nailed to a tree to cover our sins, past, present, and future.

"The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." Exodus 14:14

People change, all the time. Good, bad, sometimes indifferent, but change occurs every second of every day. I know that I don't understand life, I know that I don't have a slightest idea compared to God, but I know that as a Christian I have a responsibility to Christ, and I know that God outlines that within the bible. "But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth." Exodus 9:16. Christians have a responsibility to God and others just as government officials have a responsibility to look out for the people. We cannot allow our view of Christians, or anyone for that matter, to be tainted by the bad sheep. Every group, every organization or body of people has someone that they do not wish to be associated with, someone that threatens to ruin reputations and burn bridges. I apologize if I lose some of you who do not believe in God on this one.

"Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." Romans 8:27-29. Although we won't always know what God's purpose for us is, we know that all things WILL work together for good. God has purposed us to follow him, he will fight for us, he will raise us up that he may show his power within us, for all to see. Even if you have the slightest belief in God you must understand that, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39 Nothing in this world can separate us from God except for ourselves.

Doing Something Great

Great things define legacy, legacies define memories, memories defines history, and history defines the future. Everyone wants to do something great, the difference is the motive, the attitude behind the desire. Great things never come easy, they are never simple, just as doing the right thing is never easy. Sometimes the greatest things we will ever do will be the most complex tasks we encounter, sometimes the hardest decisions we make, will be the most right decisions we will ever make. In writing things like this it is not an easy thing to not come across as a bible beater or "prude." However, the only way to tell the truth is to tell it strait forward, and yes, many times it will be laced and engraved with personal bias and opinions, but the important thing is being able to pick through that personal mark and find the real, hardcore stuff. When breaking down the bible it has to be looked at as a history book, I can't sit here and provide you with tangible facts about God that you can see, the bible is a history book of faith. But when you look at it from that view, you realize that it is the foundation for Christianity, and that at some point someone was faced with the same choice that you are faced with now, to believe, or not to believe. The bible specifically outlines many examples where those individuals made different decisions, and it provides the consequences for those choices. For me its just been something that I have always believed, my trust in God has been something that has just always been there, but my faith, however, has not. I wish that I could put all of this in a way that you could understand, but I know I won't, I just hope that in some way you are able to decipher this into something that is halfway understandable. As a Christian I never really imagined or took into account what it would be like for God the Father to watch his son be beaten, mocked, and crucified. It never crossed my mind that there was another way to view the crucifixion of Christ...But there is, through God's eyes.

The Beginning

So I've pretty much figured out by now that no one is ever going to read this...at least not anytime soon. But maybe it will act somewhat as journal for me, or at least be a venue for me to get my thoughts out. These last two weeks have been incredible within my walk with Christ. On April 1st I broke up with my girlfriend of six months. It wasn't easy by any means, but I was comforted in knowing that it was what God was telling me to do. My whole life I have been begging to hear him, to be able to actually make a decision based on what God was telling me. But until this point in my life I was never able to hear him.
One day when I was listening to Richard Ellis online http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/richard-ellis-radio/listen/the-final-foe-262563.html. I heard him quote James 4:7-8 "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded." This verse made me realize why I could never hear God, why I always felt close to him, but yet so far away. I knew at that point that this whole time I had been telling the devil to flee from me, but I hadn't been submitting myself to God. I realized that it was like trying to make lemonade without lemons, I knew that I could mix water and sugar together as much as I wanted but if I never went and got lemons, and squeezed them into the water, I would never have lemonade. As it says in James 3:2 "For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body." From that I knew that I would never be perfect, I know that I will stumble every day. But I realize that I have to allow God to control every single aspect of my life. Until that point where I submit myself to him, the devil will not flee from me.