Priorities and Prayer

First of all, I haven't looked at this blog in two years, so it was soooo cool to jump on and see all the posts. I hope everyone's been great, and that God's been working in enormous ways in everyone's lives. I know He has in mine. Lately He's been asking me what my priorities are. My priorities can be seen in where I spend my time. And my conclusion was, that I haven't been spending enough time with Him. That is the only way to  gain that closeness and intimacy with God. If we aren't getting it in Him, that's when we stray off towards sin. Also, the power of prayer. It is insane how powerful prayer is, when we do it in complete faith, and we pray for something that benefits His kingdom. A lot of Christians struggle with complete faith, but remember, living for God is our only purpose. That was the decision we made when we chose to follow, and deep down we all know that nothing could be more true. I pray for all of us in leadership camps, that we continue to fervently serve the most amazing, beautiful, loving, gracious, awesome, saving, incomprehensible, perfect God that made us, and loves us more than we'll ever understand.
If any of y'all see this, could you pray for my Grandma? Her name is Rosalie, and she means a lot to me. She is starting to slip, mentally, and she is very unhappy in life. She is not a believer, and I know that having a relationship with Christ is the only way for any of that to change. She has really been on my heart lately, and I know that God can turn her life around, and send her on the track to heaven. Thanks guys, love y'all!

Words vs. Deeds

Ever heard the famous quote by St. Francis of Assisi?

"Preach the gospel always, and when necessary, use words."

Have you every thought about the fact that the Bible calls us to share the Gospel with BOTH our words AND our deeds?

Here's a cool video about a book by a guy who knows a TON on the topic:

http://vimeo.com/36917416

Easter Thoughts!

Can you spot all of the issues with this post?  There are a LOT!

Looking at that picture reminds me of 1 Corinthians 15:1-34.

This is a really cool passage where Paul is writing to the Corinthians about something they were misunderstanding:  The Resurrection of Christ.  Since Easter is completely about Christ’s resurrection from the dead and his defeat of sin and death in that, I thought this passage really applies to Easter well.

Here’s what I see:

Verses 1-11

Paul is laying out for them the TRUE gospel, reminding them of the truth.  Paul is kinda saying “let’s define what we’re talking about here right out of the gate” so that it’s not confusing.  There is one Gospel, One Christ, and if there is no resurrection then all of it is a lie.  Why?  Because the entire gospel hinges on the defeat of sin and death through Christ’s resurrection.

Verses 12-32

Reminders, history, and theological truth about why it’s so important to our faith that Christ was raised from the dead.  This is where Paul explains the reasoning behind WHY it’s so important that Christ was raised from the dead.  It’s a necessity for all of it to make sense and fulfill the word of God.

Verses 33-34

To me, this is the real issue with why the Corinthians were believing weird things about the resurrection.  This is a major reason why anyone believes in false doctrine.

This is just a good reminder to me to keep my eyes on the prize, Jesus, the perfecter of my faith (Phil 3:8-14 and Hebrews 12:1-2).  We have to be careful of letting the world influence and twist the truth.  That picture up top is a great example of how wrong thoughts and ideas can start to creep in and become what we believe.  You know how to fight that?  Keep the truth up front and the Bible on your minds and hearts (Colossians 3:1-4)

Discipleship

Hey guys!
I was reading John last night (quite possibly my favorite gospel, I LOVE IT so far), and I came across a thought that I thought was really interesting about his earliest disciples! If you read it, it's interesting, because the disciples all came from different walks of life, had different personalities and views of Jesus, were looking for different things, and were all called in different way...but they all found everything they needed in Jesus! I also think they do a good job of representing all different kinds of followers, even today.

• Andrew left a former teacher (John). Jesus asked him what he was looking for, and he basically said all he wanted was Jesus. Jesus didn't answer all of his questions, but he still followed him.


• Simon Peter was brought to Jesus by his brother Andrew's witness. He was told of the Messiah, the anointed one, and was BROUGHT to Jesus. There, he was renamed.


• Jesus asked Philip to follow him, and Philip thinks of him in terms of Scripture.


• Nathanael was a great Jew, but he doubted when a friend (Philip) told him the Good News. Jesus told him who he was and said he'd always been there in his life.

To me, Andrew and Simon are converts, and Jesus and Nathanael are the cradle Christians who have come to really believe it, but of course, that's just what I saw! I personally think I am a Nathanael, by the way:)

Anyway, I just loved how Jesus calls EVERYONE to his side! If you want to read the rest of this passage, it's John 1:35-51...enjoy!

God bless! -Erin

Cross Centered

Hi ya'll! Just wanted to share something really cool that happened to me today!
For the past couple of months I've hit a really really dry spot in my relationship with the Lord. I was going through a really hard decision, and wasn't sure if I was walking in God's will about some stuff. Even after Christ showed me that I WAS actually walking in His will, I didn't trust Him completely. It was kind of like God had gone from my best friend to someone I was afraid (but not the good kind of fear) of. Thankfully, God has been awesome as usual and, even though I have  an extremely hard time trusting him, began to heal my heart anyway. But still I just didn't want to get too close to God, if that makes sense. I was afraid of even just spending time with Him because I was afraid He would reveal something to me that I didn't want to hear. So it's been rough! For awhile I felt like I couldn't go to God because I was just so afraid of what He had to say. It took a lot to realize how He is sovereign and isn't going to change His will after He has shown me that is where He wants me.
ANYWAY all that great background...These past couple days I've been finishing up 1 Corinthians. There's a lot of really awesome stuff in there! But finishing Corinthians one thing I've really gotten out of it was the importance of Jesus. I know that sounds silly, but it's taken awhile for me to sit back and remember WHAT makes me a CHRISTian! I had gotten so worked up in trying to make decisions for myself and 'following God's will' that I forgot that the reason I'm on this earth even able to PRAY is because of Jesus! Last fall in my youth group we talked about living cross-centered lives. Guys it really is just now starting to hit me how important that is. I had spent three months making my faith based on my good works, and guys that's idolatry.  I was putting my works above what Jesus did on the cross, and I've had to do some major repenting of that.
SO about what happened today!
Most of ya'll know that yesterday started lent. I'm actually doing this thing called the lent guide at the village, where instead of giving up one thing, each week of lent you give up one thing in particular. Like one week it can be TV, next week facebook, etc. This first week is a food fast. This can be fasting all week, or just a meal fast. So I'm fasting from lunch. Yesterday since I wasn't eating I decided to just go to the special needs room with a friend all class period. But today I actually went to lunch, and in the time I should have been eating, I put in headphones and listened to worship music and just focused on the cross.
Best.thing.ever.
I haven't felt the Lord's presence in so stinking long, and today in the middle of a cafeteria at a table with my friends I was hit with SO much humility-It's like, who am I for the God of the universe to have died for me??? It was so cool being able to experience his grace again! It's better than ANYTHING!
wow that was a lot! I love you guys!!!! Take care!

Hannah Becker
PS-if you guys could be praying for a friend of mine, Emma, that'd be great! She's not a believer, but I htink the Lord is working on her heart! Thanks guys!