Prayer then and now

So have you ever sat back and wondered why prayer and talks with God work so differently now than they did back in the time of Moses? I mean seriously, when was the last time that God spoke to you thru a bush that was on fire but no burning up or visited you at your house (as he did w/ Abraham)? I don't know about you, but those things don't happen to me and I've always wondered why not. I think I may be on to something as to the reason.
If you look at relationships and how people communicate, it doesn't stay the same. For instance, a man and woman when they first start their relationship, they stay up all night talking on the phone, visiting eachother, always talking and learning. Then as the relationship grows the talking starts to change to more serious matters and different events take place. Then comes the maturity that is reached in marriage when husbands and wives will sometimes complete eachothers thoughts and will be more in tune with eachother. Sometimes speaking isn't even needed when two people are in the same room and they want to get a point across.
Where am I going with this? Stay with me.

In the OT God came and spoke. The patriarchs, prophets, and people heard the voice of God. They said it was like thunder in the sky. They saw the pillars of smoke and fire leading them. They were visited by angels and other means. This was the beginning stages of the relationship w/ the human race and God.
In the Gospels, we see a completely different method of communication. God comes down and is in the flesh with us. Jesus interacts with people in different ways than the God of the OT did. He walks among them and heals them and prays for them. Again, the relationship has changed in some way. OT God is around us speaking. Gospels Jesus is walking with us talking. What about later in the NT and today?
The answer, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Does God still talk to us today? Yes, but not in the same way He did in the OT and the Gospels. In Romans it says that the "Spirit speaks on our behalf in groanings we cannot understand for do not know what we ought to pray for". The Spirit of God lives inside of us and works thru us. In the OT it was pretty obvious to see where the work of the human ended and the providence of God started. In the NT we have verses that talk about Paul doing things only b/c the Spirit of God compelled him to do them or helped him to do them or worked through him. In the NT the lines get blurred as to where our actions end adn the Spirits begin. In one word, intimacy. Just as in a human relationship, intimacy grows and reaches out through every part of the relationship over time. The same has become true of God and us. His Spirit living in us is more intimate than ever before... much more than a bush that is on fire. The Spirit speaks not in words our ears can hear but in nudges our heart feels, leadings our own spirit and soul follow, and thoughts that spring to life in our heads.
Does God still speak to us today? Yes. Does he do it in the way he use to? No.
This way is so much cooler!

Love God... Love people... Serve the world...
Jpack

p.s. This is something that i have seriously been struggling with lately. I actually sat in my car this morning before work during my quiet time and looked at the sky and simply prayed "God.. where are you? i'm trying... but... i don't know where you are... why are you not speaking?" and then over the course of my day... this came to me. I had to share it. To be completely honest with you (and myself mostly) i've been angry with God for a little while. I don't understand Him or what He wants sometimes or why he wants what he does. But the more and more i look to him... the more that i feel my knees scrapping the ground and getting cut up, the more i know that He's God... and I'm not.

Blink of an eye...

So something happened today at the dealership that really shook everyone around.
An elderly man had just had his A/C fixed in his car and had paid and was pulling out from our service dept. He was backing out into the road.
At the same time, two young guys were coming down the same road in a mustang going 94 mph. They were driving in the wrong lane due to passing every car in their way. They did not see the elderly man pulling out in a silver car and T boned the car, knocking the silver car 35 feet. The service techs and parts people were standing there and had just waved to the man and was watching him pull out when this happened. Dozens of people ran out from here and the Honda Shop across the street. Cops came. Ambulance came. Everyone lived. Everyone was banged pretty bad. Our security cams at the dealership caught the whole thing to give to the police.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. One minute Mr. SilverCar was excited about having his A/C working in his car and thinking about how he wouldn't have to ride w/ his windows rolled down. Then BAM! Knocked out cold. Mr. RedMustang and Friend were racing along laughing making fun of the slow drivers they were passing... BAM! Waking up in an ambulance.
We never know whats going to happen. Things just sort of jump out to us. I write this mainly to say be careful. If something is keeping you from having that bond w/ God, do what you have to do to get it. Get over the obstacles that satan has out in front of you. Get out of the way and let God come and do what he does.
My car is in the service dept today. It is parked right next to where Mr. SilverCar was parked and pulling out from. I will have to pull out from the same spot today where he was hit. That could have been me earlier, but thank God it wasn't.

Love God... Love people... Serve the world...
Jpack

Unanswered prayers?

Have you ever sat back and wondered why your prayers weren't being answered? Odds are you have, and if you have, odds are you've been told that they're being answered, it's just not the answer you want. Right? Sound familiar?
Well, something came to my attention today that I never thought about. So many times we sit back and wonder what the point is of prayer. If we pray, and God is going to do what He is going to do anyways, why pray? Sure we can influence him. But after all, He's God. He knows what we're going to pray for anyways. Well, why should we pray?
Simple: Because Jesus did.
Now, (here comes the part that caught me off guard). In the book of Hebews it says, "he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death". Did you catch that? It's talking about Jesus. He prayed to God to save him from death. Did God save him from death? No. Like the person who prays for a cure from a disease and does not get it, Jesus is no stranger to not having his prayer answered the way he would like it to be answered.
If Jesus did not always get the answer he wanted, what right do we have to get all bent out of shape when we don't get the answer that we want?
Philip Yancey's book "Prayer" is seriously reconstructing my mind and view of prayer. I highly suggest that if you don't have it, you check it out or buy it or borrow it or something.

If there is anything that you would like prayed about, please feel free to leave it in a comment here. It doesn't have to be just for this post, but any post. Feel free to leave prayer requests, praise reports, or just whatever when you want on here. I promise, it will be prayed for!

Love God... Love people... Serve the world...
Jpack

Stop... Be Still

So I've been doing this small devotional time each morning before I go to work. After I drop my daughter off at school and my son at my grandma's, I have about 15 mins or so before I have to clock in for my job. I figured, this would be a perfect time to connect with God on a daily basis.
In my devotionals, I've been looking at stopping.
An analogy was refueling a car. You wouldn't drive by a gas station and try to refuel your car w/o stopping would you? Of course not. You know that you must stop the car, get out, and put the hose into the gas tank. The same is true w/ refueling w/ God. You can't do it in a drive by kind of fashion. You need to stop sometimes. Just be. In the psalms, the psalmist wrote from the mouth of God "Be still and know that I am God". Too often we overlook this aspect... be still.
So i've been finding small amounts and little moments of time each day to simply stop. When I sit in my car, I stop. I let God be God and i stop in his presence.
It's an awesome thing to simply be still for God...
Try it today. before you go to bed, be still and say "God... I'm still.. and you are God".
after one of your classes, pause in the hallway and say it. before you eat your dinner. after practice... during practice... turn off your computer screen and just be still for a minute... then continue..
it doesn't have to be long. just a moment of stillness. Go on. Try it. Be still. And know that He is God.

Love God... Love people... Serve the world...
Jpack

Update and such

well it's been a few days since my last entry... let me catch you up to speed.
May 4th was my Christian bday. I turned 10 :)
I started work at my new job on that day as well. I'm not the head of the Internet Sales Department for Logan Chrysler Jeep Dodge and Suzuki along w/ the Charleston Suzuki store.
Not bad. Bit of a change of pace and atmosphere from what I'm use to, but I think it can turn out well. I have the dealership I work for on twitter ... if you have it, check us out at twitter.com/loganchrysler. We even have a youtube channel where we're going to be posting videos and commercials and customer testimonials that we film.

As for family life, my lil boy is starting to almost crawl. He'll be sitting and then lean forward and get into position to crawl towards us... and wind up going backwards. He's getting there!!
My daughter is doing awesome in school. I really do believe she's a genius sometimes lol.
We're still trying to find a place to worship where we feel God wants us and can use us. I know he can use us anywhere... but ... you know what I mean? We're going to be checking out a church in Charleston this weekend. It's about 1 hour away from where we live. But who knows.

We don't have cable here at our house (we could have it, just choose not to at the moment). So thank goodness for hulu.com lol

no deep thoughts for tonight. just wanted to type for a bit and clear out my head.
please keep me and the rest of my family in your prayers. Jenny's teaching 7th and 8th grade science at the local middle school. She needs prayers for strength and encouragement.
And really just for the whole family in general. For health, faith, closeness. All the good stuff :)
Well, leave me some comments and let me know whats goin on in your lives. I'd love to have some to read.

Love God... Love People... Serve the world...
Jpack

Prayer

Wow. I'm reading Philip Yancey's book "Prayer: Does it really make a difference?" and I have to admit, this book is kicking my butt. Praying has never been a strong discipline for me, so I figured I'd tackle this book since I'd heard so much about it. I highly recommend this book. I'm only part way through and I'm already having to re-view how I see prayer and how I see God in general. I want to give a few lines from the book just to give you a hint:
"A human being is not someone who once in a while makes a mistake and God is not someone who now and then forgives. No, human beings are sinners and God is love".
Another aspect that got me was this in speaking about "Helplessness": "What a stumbling block! ALmost from birth we aspire to self-reliance. Adults celebrate it as a triumph whenever children learn to do something on their own... As adults we like to pay our own way, live in our own houses, make our own decisions, rely on no outside help, we seek out self help books... All the while we are systematically sealing off the heart attitude most desireable to GOd and most descriptive of our true state in the universe - Apart from me you can do nothing - Jesus told his disciples, a plain fact that we conspire to deny".
He goes on to talk about how when he was in 1st grade he hated having his teachers stand behind him and correct him when he was reading. But w/o them he would never have learned to read and never wrote this very book.
Prayer forces us (if it's done w/ the right heart) to drop all of our independance, and depend wholly on God.
TOOOOO long in my life have i been the person that has tried to be independent. I've taught lessons and given advice numerous times about how we need to depend on God. But I've not always been the best person at following through with that. I'm going to work on that (with God's help... after all... I'm depending on Him).

Love God... Love people... Serve the world...
Jpack

Hate Crime Bill and Free Speech

So I admit, I go to foxnews.com to get my news updates. Well, there was an article on there tonight that struck me as scary and a bit prophetic (if any of you remember me talking about certain bills getting passed that could make it illegal to be a Christian). Here is a link to that article.
The gist of it, homosexuality will be protected under a bill that is about Hate-Crime speech. In this new bill, it will be illegal to speak things that can be considered hate crimes. Did you catch that? It will be illegal to speak against homosexuality.
Where will this stop?
I had talked in the past to my former youth group about bills that were close to being passed that would make it illegal to display offensive material in public. We discussed how this could lead to making Christianity illegal (after all... a lot of the things that Christ stands for ... they're offensive to the world). Well, this isn't the same bill, but it's pretty close.
A quote from the article reads as such, "Social conservatives, including former President George W. Bush, have fought the legislation on the grounds it could be used to prosecute religious groups who say homosexuality is morally wrong."
With Democrats now controlling the White House and the House of Reps, its looking like the bill is now going to be passed. The House of Reps passed the bill on Wednesday with a vote of 249 to 175. All that needs to happen now (if I remember back to my History classes correctly) is Obama to sign the bill. His past remarks and background already speak about his approval of same sex marriages.
So I want to pose a question for anyone who reads this. Leave me your answers in a comment.
Q: If this bill gets passed, will you still (in the words of the article) "say that homosexuality is morally wrong"? How (if at all) will this change the way churches or individuals who proclaim Christ as their King speak about homosexuality?
A: leave it in the comments

Love God... Love people... Serve the world...
Jpack

p.s. I don't want anyone to think that I'm a homo-phobe or go around bashing homosexuality since this is my 2nd posting about the topic. It's just a topic that's huge right now in the news and in the media. For my views on homosexuality, look back to my first posting about Miss California's response.

Wiped Out Hard Drive...

So a local college here in Logan had a free "Computer Clean Up" day. You took in your computer, and they would clean up any spyware, viruses, malware, etc... that was on the machine. I thought "sweet" so I took jenny's laptop in to get it cleaned up and my daughters computer (which use to be my old college computer). This was at 8:30 this morning. I got the computers back at like 7:00pm. The head of the IT department informed me that my wife's computer was so bad, it wouldn't update any new updates or drivers or anything and was so bogged down with viruses that he had to format the whole computer (luckily for him... and for me... he backed up all of her pictures and resume stuff and documents first). Then he proceeded to start w/ a clean computer and put back on the stuff that we wanted/needed to be on there. So now, her computer works like a brand new one. This guy, the head of the IT department, worked on this one computer for 10 1/2 hours. This was the only one that he touched (he had a group working with him on other ones). This got the gears in my head turning. (for some reason i can't stop that from happening... i always gotta connect the dots to God)

Wouldn't it be nice to have your life be a lot like a computer? Well, actually, when you think about it, it is. We learn new applications, save stuff in our lives, get bogged down, things rarely work the way we expect them to work, and we get caught up in viruses and spyware (sin and temptations). The awesome thing that exists, is when we sit back and realize how messed up our hard drives (lives) are, we have a way of formatting ourselves. If we're already a Christian, its looking to God and laying it all out before him and asking him to help us and forgive us, wipe us clean. If we're not a Christian, then there's a lot more virus infecting us. We need the original boot disk. We need the washing of Christ to take away all the junk and make us new. And again, just like the computer, we can save the pictures, the documents, and the things from our old lives. The bad part about that, a lot of times, (just as in computers), the very things we try to bring over to the clean slate with us, are the very things that are infected w/ the virus. Does that make sense? If in a computer, you want to bring over a file called, oh i dunno, friends.exe you can do that. You can have the file backed up and installed on the new hard drive. The problem however, is that the file, may be corrupted with the virus or whatever that you are trying to get rid of. So guess what happens when you put that file back on the clean computer. Right, it gets all messed up again. Well, with our lives, we try to carry over the same friends, the same lifestyles, the same bad habits we had when we were infected. The result? The same as with the computer.
My moral for this story? You've got to be careful what files you have backed up and re-installed. They may be the very files that got you into the mess in the first place.

Love God... Love people... Serve the world...
Jpack

Things To Never Do: #41

So, you know how in books and movies it's always funny when someone feeds a baby, then kinda gives them a lil jiggle, and then hands them to someone, letting them throw up all over the person? Yes, you'd think I'd learn after the first time.
Tonight, my son had just finished eating his dinner (sweet potatoes and chicken) when I picked him up and started doing this over the head spinning thing I do w/ him that makes him laugh.
In the middle of me doing this, I look up and get ready to say "come on.. say 'da-da' " when what comes from his mouth? That's correct, his sweet potatoes and chicken. Where does it land? Right in my mouth. Not just in my mouth, but it goes down my throat.

yeah... never... ever... ever... do that lol
Jpack

Not sitting well... pt 2

Okay, so now for part 2 of my little rant.

Another thing that was said during the sermon was that when we become Christ's, we are given a blood transfusion (I'm ok with that statement). We get new DNA and have that of Christ (on a spiritual level.. yes I agree). But then it went on and was said that when we get this new Blood DNA, we no longer have to worry about family histories of illness. And I quote "My family has a history of diabetes, a history of cancer, a history of heart problems... but not me... not any more... I've been given a new DNA... a new blood in my body... I don't have those problems in my life b/c I have Jesus..." and ending the quote b/c this next part will be paraphrased, but he said that as a follower of Christ, we don't have to worry about getting sick, or illness or terminal illnesses b/c if we truly follow Christ, none of that will happen to us. We'll always be healthy.
What? Seriously? Interesting. Paul at the end of one of this letters talks about his handwriting and how he was writing this part on his own and how that showed the specialness of it b/c Paul had bad eye sight. Guess Paul didn't really follow Jesus then. What about Moses (I know, he's OT but still)... He had a stuttering problem. Guess he didn't really seek God. What about people I know in my own personal life who struggle w/ arthritis in their backs, who have complete deafness in one ear, who have cancer at this very moment and fight for their lives? Do they not follow God? I was angered by this man's statement. I even have a friend who is a member at this church who suffers from seizures and has almost lost her life to these struggles. How can she sit and honestly hear this and feel good about being there knowing she still has the seizures?
Nowhere in the Bible my dear friends does it say that we'll never have illness or hardship or struggles. It's actually quite the opposite. Jesus even said people will hate us b/c of Him. Numerous times we see people sick in the Bible. We see people who are downcast, people who have physical ailments. What happens to these people? They push on even with their problems and serve God and go on to write books of the Bible, to lead nations back to God, to bear children when there is no way they should be able to give birth.

I could go on and on and talk about the "healing classes" the church teaches on how to "divinly heal physical handicaps", the woman who ran 3 laps around the auditorium during the sermon when the preacher said he was "getting happy in the spirit" and started stomping his feet, or how they had everyone take communion (even the little children all the way down in the nursery). But those will be topics possibly for future posts.

Now please understand, I did not write these two posts as a bashing of this church. Not by any means. In all honesty, my family and I were made to feel very welcomed there. The building was beautiful, the people there were extremely friendly and went out of their way to talk to us and show us around and even to show us where our children would go for their classes. One man even let us know that he would be walking the halls of the church checking on the classes, and would come and give us updates on our daughter in her class if we would like. People came up and shook our hands, welcomed us, ministers, elders, deacons, members... a lot of people did. Even some of the younger people. I know a lot of churches that could learn a lot from the friendliness of this congregation.

However, all that aside, those few things I talked in detail about, I could not overlook. These are problems with doctrine in my eyes. You can agree with me or not. It's up to you.
But as for me and my family, we're still looking for a church home here. Let's see where God leads us.

Love God... Love people... Serve the world...
Jpack

Not sitting well...pt 1

So this morning, my family and I visited a church in the Logan area. Needless to say, some things did not sit well with me that occurred, and I'm wanting to figure out a way to bring some things up to the minister.
Now, I understand that some things are going to be different. This was still a nondenominational church, but it was charismatic. Meaning, they believed in baptism of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts (such as tongues and healings etc...), and the sinner's prayer. I knew all of this going in to the Sunday morning time.
The singing was very uplifting and I quite enjoyed it. The music minister had a choir behind him in robes and all and was singing to recorded music, but none of that is still the matters that made me uneasy.
What I'm talking about is some of the things the minister said during his sermon.
He was teaching a series about the Tabernacle. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert on the Tabernacle, but I know a few things. Of course, like with most ministers (I can say that b/c I 'm one of them) he got off on side topics and chased white rabbits. But one of the things he started talking about was how God has not only promised us 70 years, he's promised us 120 years of life on this earth. That we should want those long lives and that we will live our lives until we are satisfied on this earth, and thats what its all about. I have some MAJOR issues with those statements. God does tell us that our days are numbered. Nowhere, that i know of does he make the promise that all of mankind will live at least 120 years or simply until we're satisfied. And I know for SURE that's not the purpose of this life. Paul wrote that "to live is Christ, but to die is gain". (Phil 1:21) In this passage, Paul is telling us that while we live here, it's for Christ - to teach about Christ, to spread Christ, to further the Gospel of Christ (not for us to be satisfied), but that to die, that's even better b/c we'll be w/ Jesus! So the question is now, "Do I want to live 120 years on this earth?" No way jose! If God wants me to, then I will, and I will do everything in me to live it for Christ, but I LONG for the day that I get to be in heaven and worship God as He was meant to be worshiped.
(to be continued in another post)...
jpack

Leave it to me

So nice weather has hit and leave it to me... I've already got poison ivy on my arm. Yes. It's true. It started as one little blister on my arm, now its like 6 on my forearm and a few on my elbow. I haven't even been around it (at least I didn't think I had). For anyone who remembers my episode w/ Poison Ivy in Louisville a few years ago... yeah... that wasn't pretty. Looked like I had leprosy. So say a prayer for me that this doesn't engulf my whole body (and I don't pass it on to anyone in my family... specially the kids)... Thanks!!!

Love God... Love people... Serve the world...
Jpack

p.s. leave some comments peeps.

Like a child...

Today I did what few men would ever venture to do. I took my 8 month old son to walmart, just us. lol. As he and I were going through the store, just looking around and picking up some carrots for a roast I was making (yes... i cook), everyone in the store it seemed was walking by pointing at my son and saying "aww look how cute the baby is" and "its a baby!" (a few times i felt like saying, "no... he's my twin.. he's just really little for his age")
And this got me thinking...
Typically when you see a cute little kid anywhere, what's your first reaction? To look at the kid and do the whole "awww" thing. In some people seeing a child will either make them want one or want to be one again.
So many different times in the Bible we see Jesus talking w/ his disciples and children coming to him. The disciples start telling the kids to get lost, but Jesus rebukes them and tells them to let the kids come to him. He then even goes on to say that if we want to get to heaven, we've got to be like these children.
Now, I've heard a lot of things gleened from these sayings of Christ. (believe things the way a child would, be curious like a child, etc...) but something dawned on me today as I pushed my son through walmart in a cart and everyone was looking at him. Be like a child. As Christians, when we walk through this world, we need to live our lives differently than how the everyone else does. We need to live in such a way, that when someone sees us, they stop and go "awww look at that... it's a Christ-follower... I want what they have".
When was the last time that people stopped what they were doing and wanted to know why you were different from the culture we live in? Has that ever happened? Why not?
Be like the little children. Be the person that catches the world's eye and makes them either want to be around Christ or want to be his follower.
Love God... Love people... Serve the world
Jpack

Miss California and Gay Marriage

Ok, I read an article on FoxNews.com and it made me want to start my own blog. I've had blogs before... but this will be one of my own.
The article I read referred to Miss California's response when asked by blogger Perez Hilton about gay marriage. Her response was, "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised." Now my problem is not w/ her response. It's with the backlash Miss C is getting from practically EVERYONE in hollywood and in the beauty world.
The guy who runs the Miss C pagent said that he was saddenned by her response and that it hurt him deeply. Heidi Montag from The Hills said that she is a strong Christian and, ""Lesbians should have the same government rights that Spencer and I will when we get married. So, yes, this blonde Christian believes in gay marriage. God says not to judge and I would never try to judge ANYONE! Nor should our "free" country." An anchor for E! News called Miss C a disgrace. Many in hollywood are saying that Miss C should be stripped of her crown.
First, WHAT?!? Seriously? The question asked for her opinion. She gave it. Period. Agree with it or not, she gave what she thought. Secondly, Heidi Montag... "this blonde Christian believes in gay marriage... God says not to judge" God also says (actually I'm pretty sure he says it more than the judgement verse that you misquoted and misapplied) that homosexuality is a sin in His eyes. Premarital sex is a sin. Murder is a sin. Lying is a sin. It is very clear in God's Word. Homosexuals, murderers, liars, cowards, etc... will not inherit the kingdom of God. I do not understand how a person can stand and call themself a Christian and in the same breath say that they approve of gay marriage.
As for the anchor for E! News and for the guy who runs the Miss C thing. Wow. I think it is a far cry of being a disgrace and causing saddness. I could see if she stood up and said "I think it's perfectly fine to beat women and murder children." Then yes, that would be a disgrace and would cause me saddness. But honestly, the fact that she believes marriage is between a man and a woman?
To make a long rant short (well not really... it's pretty long) this is but an example of what is wrong with our culture. Where is the morality that existed a few decades ago? It's also being said that her statement is what cost her the crown of being Miss USA. I bet that makes the winner (Miss NC) feel really good. "Hey Miss NC... you won b/c Miss C doesn't like gay people."
Whatever comes of all this, I hope that those who support her will let her know. I hope that this will not cause people to hide their true feelings and beliefs.
As for me, I believe very strongly that marriage is between a man and a woman. I also believe it is wrong to steal, kill, lie, and be mean to puppy dogs (unless they go # 2 in your yard). You can agree with me or disagree with me. Its up to you.
Love God... Love people... Serve the world...
jpack