Seeking Sonship 101

  It used to be so easy! I remember when I was a newly converted Christian. It seemed like I would barely pray and my prayer would be answered. When I went through problems, God would immediately come to my rescue. I truly felt loved and protected by God during those times, and there was never much uncertainty and fear when it came to God working in my life. However, I started to be in the Lord's presence much longer, and it seemed like He didn't respond the same. He still provided, but it was often at the last possible moment. He still protected me, but it seemed like I still was allowed to get some scratches and bumps along the way. What in the world is going on here? Since I had father issues, much of the times when God didn't "sprint" to help me, felt like abandonment. Getting sick for a long time; putting in over 30 applications, and not being hired right away; seeking housing stabilization. All of these times felt like God was not keeping His promise. Hebrew...

  I just wanted to make God proud of me. I was in college, and I needed a job to be able to live off campus. The school was more expensive if you lived in the dorms, and I already was borrowing a lot of money that I knew I would have to pay back someday. What better job than to work for a church. I had already cleaned with my grandparents from the time I was ten years old, and now I could be paid for making God's house look good. It was a win-win situation. Boy was I wrong. At first, I just swept, vacuumed, mopped, wiped, lifted, organized, moved, and thrown out with a song of praise in my heart. I knew that I was cleaning "up the temple for my Lord", and I felt like what I was doing was pleasing to God. Then things changed. At our work meetings, we would be told things like "You should be happy to even have a job at all". The pastor would find trash on the other side of the church, walk up to me, and place the trash in my hand to throw away. Then, during servic...

  Nope, I don't even measure up! Often times when we see someone being more "saved" than us. or when we sin and feel ashamed, we often don't "feel saved". I know at times, for me, when I really blow it in traffic, or in my marriage, or in my life, I feel as though I will never live up to a godly standard. I often look at where I wanted to be, and realize that I have fallen short every time. How will I ever be the man of God that I desire in my heart to be? When I first started working out again, it was easy to become discouraged when the scale leaped up and down like a bucking bronco. It would have been easier to just do cardio, but lifting weights was necessary to becoming healthier as well. However, doing it the rigt way caused me to struggle. What helped is that one trainer stated, "Don't focus on where you want to be, focus on where you were before you started." Where I want to be is on fitness model status, but I had more muscle and less f...

  I met my wife nearly thirteen years ago. I met her on a Christian dating site, and we talked for about two months before we decided to meet. I had put my original search for up to two hours away, so I had no problem driving up to see her. However, when I started to drive up to see her, I realized that it was actually a 6.5-hour drive from where I lived in San Diego. At first, I could only drive up to see her every other month, which meant that the majority of our communication was by phone. The distance made it harder for us to truly know each other. Once we were married, over six years ago, our level of intimacy increased. We were able to truly know each other. We learned our likes and dislikes, triggers, joys, loves, and fears. Putting time in daily created a deeper level of relationship. This deeper level of relationship has created a deeper level of love and trust. It is not just because we live together, but because we spend intentional time together. It is not about the amo...

Sometimes in trying to win people for Christ, historically, we have made promises to people that God's word had never made. Furthermore, sometimes we have been told that we can give enough or have faith enough to avoid tribulations. While there are instances where giving can turn things around, often we are left disappointed when we still have to walk through trying times. Sadly, sometimes we are made to believe that when we go through situations it is due to our lack of faith or because of sin in our lives. We can sometimes have buyer's remorse because we were led to believe the Christian life would be smooth sailing. Jesus never promised that following Him would remove every obstacle in this world, in fact, sometimes following Him creates new problems. Look at the lives of the disciples of Jesus, all of them were killed for their beliefs. Paul lists all the stonings, beatings, and shipwrecks he endured of the gospel. We can lose friends, family members, spouses, children, job...

  Video games were something I thoroughly enjoyed when I had time for them. Back in the day when all I was responsible for was good grades and myself, video games kept me entertained for hours. Eventually, the game got old, and it was time to exchange it for a "new to me" game. I would STOP by, a store I will not name, to exchange my GAMES. When I bought a game from this place it was normal price, or a bit of a discount. However, when I would sell a game to them, I would get a small store credit or cashback amount. I would even see the same game I just traded on the rack for much more than I was given for the exact same game. The majority of the time the exchange favors the entity with more power which makes it an unfair exchange for the one in need.  Rarely, does the unfair exchange give the needy one more than they had to bring. Jesus is the true exception to this rule. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says "He made Christ who knew no sin to be sin in our be sin on our behalf so tha...

I love to watch thunderstorms from the comfort of my own home. I love to smell the moisture of the air, watch the puddles as they form on the ground,  and listen to the soothing sounds of the rain against the objects outside. I love to have a storm around me, but be safe in my covering to fully enjoy it. I don't like to be the person running from the car to the house with groceries in my hand. I don't like to have my clothing drenched in water. I don't like running past puddles to avoid electrocution. Basically, I love thunderstorms that don't affect me.  In Matthew, we read about how the disciples were in a storm that made them fear for their lives. They became so afraid, but when they came to Jesus, He commented something interesting. Jesus said in Matthew 8:26, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" How they responded to the storm in fear, elicited Jesus's assessment of their faith. The word used there is  oligópistos which means little in number...