Currently Listening Live from Atlanta [Bonus DVD] By Casting Crowns Beautiful Savior see related

"But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for you. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as a shield." Psalm 5:11-12

This world is nothing but crap (pardon my bluntness). However, I stand by my statement. This world has become nothing but pure evil, ever since the fall of man really. Everywhere you turn though, you will find evil, temptation and sin. It's because of this evil that our battles as Christians are multiplied to even greater extents. Praise God for it, though. If God were to have allowed us to live the simple life, where we could just go about our daily lives, and once we accepted Christ into our hearts as our personal Savior, then never had to deal with temptations and battles any more, then how in the world would we ever come to love our God for who He really is?? That's the point, we wouldn't. We are human, and we are fallen; our natural instinct for us is that when things are going well or "perfect" in our lives, we begin to take advantage of those things around us, including God himself.

That's exactly why it is that we have to work so hard at what we do as Christians. Have you ever noticed that?? I've been thinking lately that out of all the jobs in the world, out of all the businesses that exist, the hardest job that any one person could ever be employed to is living the life of Christ.

What we don't realize though is that it's not neccesarily our temptations and the evil in this world that make our spiritual journey's so seemingly impossible, but the sheer fact that we are living the toughest life of anyone on this earth. And it only feels that way because it always seems the we, as Christians, are suffering the most because of our faith. AND WE ARE! It's not that it just seems to be that way; it is that way.

However, David provides us with some of the most encouraging words revolving around this spiritual struggle we attend to: "But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for you. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as a shield." (v.11-12)  Did you see that?? God has found favor in us and has blessed us. Every day, God blesses us with something new. The question then becomes, are you opening your eyes to what God is showing you, or are you acting so blindsided by your constant struggles?? Would you ever say that Paul was more blindsided by his struggles, or did he have his eyes open at all times to realize God's glory being done. Um...hello there. The answer is the latter! Paul could have cursed at God and rejected God so many times during his travels, but did he ever allow his sufferings to get into the way of him praising his maker?? Never!

Just yesterday, I was having another one of those rough days. Trust me, my days are still very rough, but I make it through only by God's grace. Now, I have this tendency to think on extremes. When I say that I think on extremes, I truly mean it; I think of every possible extreme that exists that may relate to any problem or struggle I may be battling with. So, with my current major problem going on, I've been thinking of every possible thing that could happen and every possible emotion that everyone involved may be going through. Finally, God spoke to me yesterday, and He came in the form of my other best friend. As we sat inside a local Bojangles (always the best way to solve a problem...over a Bo's biscuit and some Bo's Sweet Iced Tea), we has already been conversing a bit about my struggle, and finally my friend asked me what I was thinking. So I told them everything I was thinking about...until finally he broke in the middle of my sentence and said: "You know Doug, by you just sitting here and mentally thinking out your problem, you're still idolizing your [other] friend and the probem you two are going through." Once he said that, I stopped for a moment, and then for some odd reason began talking again about what was goingon in my mind, until he broke through my sentences one more time, this time more sternly and said: "Doug, I don't think you got what I just said. If you keep thinking about this as much as you do, then you are still idolizing that person and then you're idolizing the situation at hand." That finally got through my head and it hit hard. He was righ though.

Remember what I asked earlier: "Are you opening your eyes to what God is showing you, or are you acting so blindsided by your constant struggles??" You see, when my friend told me what they said last night, I could have very easily just blown off what they had said and just called them a "nincompoop" thinking that what they said was complete rubbish. But as I thought about it, I then realized He was right about me idolizing the person and situation still. I became disgusted yet once again with myself, and thought heavily about what he had said for the rest of the night. Then I realized that it wasn't just him talking, but God was talking through him. God used my friend in order to talk some more sense into me, and that was an absolute blessing.

We have to be ready for God when He comes to us with His blessings and His favors. Sometimes they come as pain, other times, they come as comfortable situations. Either way, know that when you are going through good times and bad times in your walk with Christ, that if you keep your eyes focused on Him, then He will do nothing but continue to bless you.

I'm going to leave you with the lyrics to a song that has vastly become one of my favorites lately. It's entitled "Beautiful Savior" and is sung by Casting Crowns on their live album. I pray that for each of you seeing this, that God will allow the Holy Spirit to come down in each of your hearts to open both your physical eyes, and the eyes of your hearts that you may be prepared to receive Him and His blessings when they come in your life.

"Beautiful Savior"

All my days I will sing the song of gladness
Give my praise to the fountain of delights
For in my helplessness, you hear my cry
And waves of mercy poured down on my life

Beautiful Savior, wonderful counselor
Clothed in majesty, Lord of history
You're the way, the truth and the life
Star of the morning, glorious in holiness
You're the risen one, heaven's champion
And you reign, you reign over all

I will trust in the cross of my Redeemer
I will sing of the land that never fails
Of sins forgiven, of conscience cleared
Of death defeated and life without end

Beautiful Savior, wonderful counselor
Clothed in majesty, Lord of history
You're the way, the truth and the life
Star of the morning, glorious in holiness
You're the risen one, heaven's champion
And you reign, you reign over all

Beautiful, beautiful Savior
Wonderful counselor, beautiful risen one

Beautiful Savior, wonderful counselor
Clothed in majesty, Lord of history
You're the way, the truth and the life
Star of the morning, glorious in holiness
You're the risen one, heaven's champion
And you reign, you reign over all

I long to be where the praise is never ending
Yearn to the will where the glory never fades
Where countless worshippers sing one song
And the voices of the nations
Sing worthy, worthy, worthy
Worthy beautiful, beautiful one
Jesus you are worthy, beautiful, beautiful one
Jesus you're worthy, beautiful, beautiful one
You are worthy, beautiful, risen one

Currently Listening Worship By Michael W. Smith The Heart of Worship see related

"How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?" Psalm 4:2

This verse was like a punch in the stomache when I first read it. Considering the fact that seeking false gods was practically what I have been doing the past couple of months, I have to say that I took this verse rather personally and hard when I read it.

The best way I can apply this verse, is to present my own personal life into this picture. Most of you won't even get ANY of what I'm talking about. However, a select four of you will gather what I am speaking of.

Yesterday, I had briefly mentioned how my closest friend in the whole world and I are currently under a "no more talking to each other" thing. There's no time limit on this thing, so for all I know, this will go on forever and things will never be mended (however, I pray that doesn't happen). It took me a week or so however to realize just exactly why it was that God had placed this grief in my life. To point out something however, not all of the grief came from just the simple fact that we are no longer talking, but many other things that had ensued from the preent situation. But there was a reason God had decided to take this person out of my life for now...maybe forever. It was simply because I had idolized this person to be my sole dependency on getting through my days. When I tell you that they were my "dole dependency," I promise that I do not stretch any of this by any means. If I didn't get to talk to that person at least once (usually more times though) during my day, I would feel like my day had sucked and then would end up going to bed feeling like crap. Eventually, this person became the person that I went to with every problem, even if it did regard them, which was certainly not always the best decisions. Finally, as the final weeks came, I found myself longing to be with this person every day. Forget talking, I wanted to actually be with them in person, which was completely impossible for legistical reasons. When the night finally came to blow where the two of us blew up at each other (mainly them at me however), I was terrified, shocked and became a complete mess. And in the week or so that followed, I felt like I didn't know what to do.

Yes, I did have God in my life, however, I was completely neglecting his wanting for me to come to Him and depend solely on Him. I became like Peter, when he stepped off that boat and began to walk on water towards Christ (Matthew 14:22-36). At first, he stepped off the boat with complete disregard to the storm surrounding him and he kept his eyes on Jesus. But then, his focus shifted, and he focused more on his fears of the storm, losing complete dependency in Christ that He would sustain his life from the waves, and he disregarded Christ being there with him.

When I finally realized what had happened, I became thoroughly disgusted with myself. My feelings and emotions were no longer shocks and appaulments towards what God had done, but what I had done. I made an idol out of this friend of mine; my best friend to be precise. I had placed all my trust and dependency on that person to help me make it through my days instead of seeking after God and placing my dependencies on him and him alone.

To that friend of mine, should they be reading this, at this time, I can only offer you my sincerest apologies for putting you in that kind of a position. I should not have pushed on you that kind of responsability to make you think that if you didn't talk to me, then I would be sad or depressed. Please know, that I am horrified and disgusted by my actions in that regard and know that I am still working harder every day to replace my dependencies where they should truly be, on Him. I can only pray that one day God will allow us the opportunity to once again talk so that I may offer my apologies to you face-to-face.

It's so easy to get caught up in emotions and begin to place those emotions on earthly things. I, myself again, have felt convicted of yet one other thing over the past week. I have but realized how I have helped to idolize Hollywood by my continuous viewing of movies, and purchasing of them on DVD. For those that did not know, my DVD collection is currently at 182. That is not to brag, nor am I any longer proud of that. I have taken the initiative to rid myself of these movies (well, the majority that is), by asking some of my friends if they wish to purchase any of these films from myself, and then send the rest to Ed McKay's or something like that. I can not tell you how much valuable and precious time with God could have been spent in His word instead of spent at the theater or on my couch for two to two and a half hours. In case you're wondering, yes, this does explain why I am no longer gearing this website towards films.

Everyone has their thing: movies, tv, sports, music, books, clothing, relationships, smoking, alcohol, school, sex, etc. The list goes on my friends. Lest we not forget that it is blasphemous to God's name when we take these earthly items and make them to be more than they are not. Hence, we find it in the 10 Commandments: "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." (Deuteronomy 5:8) It's hard not to get caught up in doing those things, but it does happen to each one of us. Think about it! Think about the thing(s) in your life that are the most important to you. Doesn't matter what it is. Now, if it's boys/girls (for instance), how many times a day do you spend thinking about how cute someone is or how you want to score a date with that person?? In that same time span, how often do you think about how much you love your God and how you can't wait to come back home just to read His word??

David makes an excellent point towards the end to contrast the rest of Psalm 4 "You have filled my heart with a greater joy..." (v.7)  When we begin to fill our hearts with God and place our dependency on Him, and only Him, He will begin to fill your heart with a greater joy, a joy far better than what any relationship can give you (even a marriage), or what any movie can perform on a screen. But you have to take the initiative.

So are you ready?? Can you finally bring yourself to get rid of that one thing you have been so blantantly idolizing in your life??

I want to challenge you to something. A test, if you will. I want you to think about that one thing that, on this Earth (besides God), matters the most to you. It can be anything. Now, once you have that thought, I want you to think about how often you think about that one thing, during the course of one day. Is it all the time, often, not so often, or very rarely?? Here's the test...tonight, when you go to pray, or now or whenever it is you pray, I want you to pray that God will give you the strength to stop thinking so much or participating so much with whatever it is that you might be making an idol of. As your days go by, try to back away sloooooooowly from this thing. I can promise, most of you won't be able to knock this out of the way in a day, it takes time. But as each day passes, try and spend less and less time with that one thing. If you're ever tempted to go and be with that one thing, go read your Bible, or just pray that God will give you the courage to overcome this temptation. I promise, Satan will use this "important" thing in your life to try and convince you that you are "nothing without it." (Believe me, that's where I stood only a few weeks ago with my friend). But it's a lie that Satan is trying to tempt you with to make you think that there is no way that you can live life without it. But you can, if only you pray for God to grace you in this matter. Some days will seem tougher than others (talking from three weeks experience), others will seem like a piece of cake (also talking from three weeks experience), but regardless, you can do it! And I will be praying for each of you in this battle that you may begin to face in your life.

My final thought here is as simple as a verse: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Matthew 22:37

Currently Listening Worship Again By Michael W. Smith Step by Step see related

"From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people." Psalm 3:8

Pain and suffering is a requirement as a Chrisitan. It is a guarentee that you will be placed in situations that will cause you much grief and turmoil (believe me, I'm currently in that phase of my life). "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you." 1 Peter 4:12

At this point, we find David fleeing from his son Absalom. To clue you in on why he was fleeing, I must provide a brief summary of the events. Absalom is a son of David; Absalom killed Amnon (another son of David's through another marriage), due to the fact that Amnon raped Absalom's sister (Amnon's half sister); once David found out about what Absalom had done, he hated his own son "Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king's heart longed for Absalom." 2 Samuel 14:1 (The word "longed" here, means "loathed" or "hated"). After three years of exile from the land, Absalom returns and he and his father speak to reconcile their feelings and animosities. However, immediately after this reconciliation, Absalom turns around to form a conspiracy against the king. He gathers as many Israelites as possible to in turn begin a riot to go after and kill king David "...and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel." 2 Samuel 15:6 ("He" speaking of Absalom). When David finds this out, he flees from Israel. From this incident, David writes the third chapter in the book of Psalm.

From this, David cried out to God for delieverance from the hands of his plotting son. The point however, does not come from the concept that David is crying out for deliverance, but that God DOES deliver us. "Many are saying of me, 'God will not deliver him.'" (v.2) When we, as Christians get into tough situations, we place ourselves under the influence that God will not "deliver" us from our miseries. However, David disproves that theory. "From the Lord comes deliverance..." (v.8) Even though our situations, no matter how big or how small, God will take care of us.

The best example in the scriptures of someone who suffered, but endured through God's grace is Job. To sum it up, in ONE DAY, Job lost his house, his possessions and his family. The only thing he was left with was his relationship with God. One of the greatest praises to God comes from the mouth of Job immediately after he is sent word of all his losses "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." Job 1:21

Although, God never promised it to be easy, our suffering that is, God did promise that our suffering is only temporary and brief "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore to you and you strong, firm and steadfast." 1 Peter 5:10    Peter makes it a point to prove that we WILL go through trials and sufferings, but he also points out just what I said earlier, that the pain will be brief. Something that I will discuss later for Psalm 6 that I will at least put out on the table now is that God does things on His time, and His time alone. But look at how Job ended up. In the end, after all the pain and misery Job had to endure, he ended up with twice as much as he had before (and he was one of the most prosperous men in the land at the beginning of the story). That right there is proof, and should be proof enough, for us as Christians that our suffering, though painful, is only temporary. And should our suffering take us to our grave...praise God! Because you will no longer be suffering for you will be joining your eternal Father for the rest of your days.

In the meantime, let us not forget that regardless of the suffering that we go through, God will still take care of us. David makes sure to point this out to us in this chapter "I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me." (v.5) Through any tough problem, regardless of how painful it may be, do your best not to lose sight of the fact that God is working through you. It is easy to get wrapped up in our emotions and easily blow off the idea that God is causing us to suffer because He loves us and because He wants to make us stronger, to find dependency on solely Him.

I'm going to give you guys a personal example of the suffering that I have been going through recently (although, it is more of a VERY condensed version), it's still the battles that I have been struggling with.

First of all, my closest friend and I are no longer talking. Much of this my fault, however, it was God's way of pointing out something deeply important that I had been overlooking in my personal walk with God that was not made clear until after God pulled that person away. But, the night that this friend and I had our final blow before we decided to "no longer communicate" I felt devistated, as well as completely heartbroken. God placed me through so much suffering that I felt like I couldn't bear the emotions and the guilt that I had on me. After a week and half of not having communication with this person, I get home to gather news that somone had gotten a hold of my pin number on my bank account and decided to spend $2,000 on it (which I didn't even have that much to begin with). This has put me in the doghouse for sometime because I no longer can access my account until the whole matter has been solved and I am sent a new debit card, which can take a total of three weeks to fix all together. Finally, I get home from work one day to receive news from my parents that my grandfather had a massive heartattack and that the doctor's believed he only had about a 15% chance of making it (just as an update, he made it...and he's doing fine...praise God!). Now, I know it may not seem like a lot to most people, but you have to know more details about everything (but you're not getting them). Regardless of my lack of details, do know that leaving this friend is sincerely the hardest thing that I have had to do, so far in this lifetime (and I'm only 20). I would never wish the same heartache and heartbreak on any other person as I had to deal with that now, and still do. Only to find out later that my grandfather, whom I love and admire so much, a man who's heart has always been seeking after Christ, which I aspire to have a heart like his, has been labeled with a 15% chance of even living. This, for me at least, is my own personal experience of living proof that suffering does not come easily. In fact, it usually comes where it hurts the most. But God is there, and He will provide a way of delieverance.