Why Church?

 Why church?  Should we go to church because of what they can do for us or to grow as individuals and encourage others?  Many of us struggle with this.  There are so many things churches can offer, but is that really what church is all about?  

Are the Christians of Today too Comfortable?

Are Christians Too Comfortable?

Romans 12:2 (NLT)
"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

Proverbs 6:6 (NLT)
"Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.  Learn from their ways and become wise!"

1 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV)
"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."

1 Timothy 4:1-8(ESV)
"Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.  For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.  A Good Servant of Christ Jesus.  If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.  Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."

Compassion International is an organization that recognizes different states that are serving others admittedly for their beliefs.  I was part of the effort to help my city become one.  I have never really been a part of a religious organization without Christ being at the center and was a little skeptical at first; but I found that actually, it allowed me not only to step back and embrace the many differences with love and respect, but also to be bold in my walk with the Lord.  While the effort encouraged us to reach out to others in need, it also enticed us  to do that  through encouragement rather than persecution or condemnation.  

Are the Christians of today too comfortable?  My youth pastor told us once that something is wrong with us if we are comfortable.  I didn’t understand this at the time, but later realized that stepping out of our comfort zone creates humility.  We are all human, so our souls need to be constantly fed and nourished just like any other part of our body, so as to not stunt our spiritual growth.  When they are not nourished it is like someone who is told to lose weight, but does not put in the recommended exercise and still expects results.  Putting into practice the spiritual discipline of being willing to be taught and led nourishes our souls; it grows and sprouts abundant fruit for a healthy spiritual growth.

         Compassion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmRoyqDDs1g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wktlwCPDd94

 Do Something - Matthew West

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RjndG0IX8

We are Cathedrals Mike Donehey Video Journal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0l2UmNy5wA&list=PLrq5kfc63lHdyJ7sHMNwKKqGXmMO4G-OA

Too Comfortable

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=JMFM9MNU

VERBALIZING your GOALS tells you they're ACCOMPLISHED!?

Simply VERBALIZING your GOALS tricks your mind into thinking they're ACCOMPLISHED!? Changing my major last year, blogging and sharing about goals I have to get there, I have found it a good breather, but am now striving to put it to practice. Talk is cheap and too often do I plan a routine more than doing it. On the radio someone said that sharing that you are going to say skydive once in your life or any goals tricks your brain into thinking you already did them, but I never really believed it until it actually occured to me and I read an article about it. From the gathered responses of friends I have heard some interesting points. My roommate said when she has a goal she does not share it with anyone until it is finished if at all or unless it is brought up in a conversation. Many of my friends agree as do I that it is good to set goals; whether mentally, written down or verbally. Accountability partners, whether friend, teacher, or simply someone you look up to can be very useful in these situations. As some have mentioned this article may not apply to goals specifically, but rather dreaming about the future, ideas, or dreams, but isn't that where goals come from; however I do agree that it is not healthy to stay in the dream state and not set any goals. When you set goals you create a challenge for yourself. Carrying out the goal depends on how motivated you are to do it. So quit the chatting and get to doing it. Yes it's good to ask for prayer, but sometimes answers come in doing. And if you're like me don't worry about looking at every option to attack the goal correctly. Sometimes it's just trial and error. As I have said in other blogs: sometimes mistakes are our way of getting where we want and we can't do more than our best. Maybe doing things as they come to mind instead of simply talking about them. What about proper preparation before I say I will do something such as sharing my testimony and just winging it even if I feel unprepared. I know having accountability partners helps, but it's up to me to actually do it right? Maybe that's why people say talk is cheap...
What do you think? I would love some thoughts and opinions...

Other resources:
https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself

Living Inside Out!!

Introduction

         There are a lot of people who are still talking about the movie Inside Out!!  I had the chance to see it when it came out in theaters and was inspired to write this amazing blog about how the we all needs to gain a better understanding of how to expresses themselves or use their emotions appropriately.  This being said I apologize as I let time get the better of me.  Through the courses I have been taking at school as well as the course of my years as an adult, I have come to realize a few things: There is a time and place for everything (see Eccl. 3) discussing my fears or emotions is one thing, while conquering them is another.  It may seem obvious when you put it in such plain words, but as much as I thought I knew this I guess I thought writing about it was how I could deal with it.  While writing about what I am going through may inspire me to change or help me come up with ideas to do so, but it will not necessarily solve the problem unless I allow it to.

Living Inside Out!!

 Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."

Titus 3:9-10
9 Do not argue with people about foolish questions and about the Law. Do not spend time talking about all of your early fathers. This does not help anyone and it is of no use. 10 Talk once or twice to a person who tries to divide people into groups against each other. If he does not stop, have nothing to do with him. 

 

Fail or Success

          In order to move on to my future, it has become necessary to look at my past.  There are times I dwell in my past and have not been able to see any hope in my future, but with one step at a time, I am getting closer to a goal for a much happier and brighter future.  Not living in the past or dwelling on it, but remembering the past and learning from it, so as to better live in the present for a better future.  I find it interesting that often "The enemy fights the hardest when he knows God has something good in store."  I love how it is best put in Season 3 of the TV show Nikita—The Guardian: “…to think about her future…she needs to be completely clear-eyed about her past.  After all, we can’t know where we’re going until we know where we came from.  It’s not an easy journey, it can be painful, arduous, but if we have the courage to face the truth it can lead to the right path…[sometimes we just need] clarity.  Our minds can be unreliable narrators.  You may think you know with absolute certainty what’s in your past and then you find out you don’t know the past at all.”  I have been through a lot   
         

The best thing anyone could say to me is you're not going to make it as a singer, you can't sing.  Many leaders were told of their insignificance.  Take Moses for example, he was convinced he had a speech problem when in the end it turned out he was just scared and didn't see it until he tried.  Albert Einstein was thought to be mentally handicapped and anti-social because he did not speak until later in life, but became to be a great scientist.  Plus if you ask me it's better to listen more than speak and I think he said something about that.  No in all seriousness telling me I couldn't sing was what pushed me to realize I wasn't living up to my fullest potential and ever since I began to see I never really pushed myself when it came to the I don't really care to do.  Like for instance, I am now in a Jazz class and I realized I am having a lot of fun with finding freedom in my voice and I should just let go and not care what I sound like.  Isn't that true with life as well, live, learn, and grow?  That year I found myself looking at other areas in life and putting more effort to learn from my mistakes.  Sometimes it takes a mistake to learn what we shouldn't do or don't want.  It was as if God was asking me if I was born walking and talking.  Well, when you think about it we have been learning from our mistakes since birth, we needed to fall before we walked correctly and mess-up our speech before we could form words.  I like how Eric from Friday Night Lights puts it, "Every man at some point in his life is gonna lose a battle.  He's gonna fight and he's gonna lose, but what makes him a man is that in the midst of that battle, he does not lose himself."  In other words, it's not what we go through, but how we respond to it.  I hope to one day I learn to carry the freedom I learn in Jazz to all the music and in life as well.  As I said once before true freedom is when we are comfortable with vulnerability.  That way I can learn to give my all through all I seek out in honor and reverence of the Lord.  For as it states in 2 Corinthians 10:17 "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."  Now I am not saying life is all about the achievements in life; however, it is often full of surprise and sometimes we need to work around them with what we have.  A lot of times we go through struggles that may bring us down, but it should only move us to push harder from another direction.  Now the teacher I had the conversation with may not like my answer, but there are plenty of times teachers have said this and I seek to do this, but only on a momentary standard, so it's about time I made a change and learn my lesson.  This being said don't let anyone convince you that you can't do something until you try.  Hard may not be easy, but it's not impossible.  For it's only as hard as you make it, so why not make it fun and as enjoyable as you can.

Confession

1 Corinthians 6:12-13, 19-20 (New Living Version)

“ I am allowed to do all things, but not everything is good for me to do!  Even if I am free to do all things, I will not do them if I think it would be hard for me to stop when I know I should...The body was not meant for sex sins.  It was meant to work for the Lord.  The Lord is for our body..."  Do you not know that your bodies are a part of Christ Himself?  Am I to take part of Christ and make it a part of a woman who sells the use of her body? No! Never  Do you not know that a man who joins himself to a woman who sells the use of her body becomes a part of her?  The Holy writings say, 'The two will become one.'...Do you not know that your body is a house of God [other versions say temple] where the Holy Spirit lives?  God gave you His holy Spirit.  Now you belong to God.  You do not belong to yourself.  God bought you with a great price.  So honor God with your body.  You belong to Him."  

Luke 9:23(NIV)

“Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."

         Confession relationships have not always been my strong suit.  Yes I'm great at building friendships, but what I am referring to is a relationship with the opposite sex.  In my family, my age group is the next to get married, so it is a topic I have been thinking about a lot lately.  I've only been in one relationship, but it did not end well.
         My first year of College I saw a great spiritual need, but not many outlets to offer help.  I was ministering to others so much there were times I forgot to take care of myself and was drawn into the attention I was receiving from guys.  At first it was simply conversational, but then lead to a friendship and it was not until it was too late that I realized I had a problem.  I thought I was putting the needs of the other first.  I had the right intentions, but let my emotions get the better of me.  I looked to man instead of God.  As Mike Donehey puts it, "When I realize I don't want that thing
[, but] it's really the one who made that thing [or person] that's the one my soul longs for I can trust Christ [with my life]."

          OK, so let me start off by saying too many people in society portray the wrong idea of a relationship and it is almost nauseating.  Too often do I see people rushing into a relationship without getting to know the person.  In a discussion in one of my classes a student said people questioned why her and her fiance had not lived together before they got engaged or even talked about marriage.  What happened to getting to know one another?  As we see 1 Corinthians 6:16, "a man who joins himself to a woman...becomes a part of her."  Science calls it a releases of oxytocin and vasopressin creating a strong bond between one another lasting regardless if they want it or not.  The release of these hormones are often believed to be the reason some people stay in an abusive relationship.  Knowing this is it really worth pushing the limits in a dating relationship when you are not sure will last?  I love the way singer/songwriter Tyler Ward put it, "You're never going to find the right person until you are the right person."  This being said we don't know what we have to offer or sometimes even what we want until we know ourselves.
       Marriage is more than a simple companionship.  It is a relationship with one another designed to glory God by showing the full image of Christ.  If dating is practice for marriage, how can we know our role if we don't know who we are in Christ?  I love how the movie Not Easily Broken ends, "God didn't make me to be a husband [wife], coach, or daddy [mommy].  These are just titles not who we are as men [women].  But I guess, sometimes he has to let life turn you upside-down so you can learn how to live right side up".  To be honest for the longest time I always thought I was a Tomboy or one of the so called, "tough girls".  It's not so much that I liked to hang around guys.  In fact I avoided guys until my Junior year of High School.  It was as if I saw them to be "fairly useless and unhelpful" as Courtney Reissig says in her book, Accidental Feminist.  I was also afraid of doing anything girly as if it would make me seem weak.  Culture has many stereotypes on the roles men and women play in both the world and home.  It doesn't make any girl/guy less or more of a girl/guy if you do or don't do the things every girl/guy does.  As long as you are being yourself and are not afraid of who you are that's all that matters.  So don't hold back just be yourself no matter what others think.  If someone doesn't like it that's their problem.  Besides all that really matters is what God thinks of you right?
       I didn't know what true love was until I knew who I was in Christ or what I really wanted.  I sought after affection and comfort from others to fill what only God could.  Then coming from a broken relationship I believed a lie that the broken relationship was all I knew; that I couldn't love and wondered if I ever did.  I began to learn that as C.S. Lewis puts it, "humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less."  I've had a rough start and I don't know about you, but I want to start new, to save myself for someone special and I'd go as far to say till marriage.  I have no problem with falling in love with my best friend and wouldn't mind if he loved God more than me.  There is more to a relationship than the physical and sometimes all it takes is to really get to know yourself before you know what you have to offer or even what you want.  So who are you really and are you believing a lie keeping you from seeing the real you, (who God made you to be) and how does that affect your relationships?

Sources:
I Suck, You Suck, Let's Date! Tyler Ward

Sex Tips (my hope for young women) Tyler Ward:

Where Life Will Never Die Mike Donehey

Beloved: The Last Supper - Mike Donehey

Other Resources:
Why It's so Important to Marry a Godly Man!!

Don't Settle When You're Dating Jefferson Bethke:

Fear or Humility

Romans 8:31-39
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"  

        We are to fear God not man.  We should not be afraid of God, but we should fear Him in reverence to who he is as Job learned to do.  Fear can promote humility with the appropriate response!!  Don't get me wrong, fear is not of God; however overcoming fear is not accomplished without humility.  Too often are we clouded by pride.  When we fear we feel vulnerable and vulnerability reminds us of our mistakes.  Overcoming our fears allow us to Trust God and fear him rather than man.

True freedom comes when you're not afraid of vulnerability.  Then and only then can you fully surrender; giving God full authority.

If you are interested in more these are published in a devotional on Amazon: link to come

   
#Kalei #Blogs #Fear #Misunderstood

Sources Used:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZL2tAWcGj8&list=PLrq5kfc63lHdyJ7sHMNwKKqGXmMO4G-OA&index=2