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.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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
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
Friday, May 8, 2009
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
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
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
Thursday, May 7, 2009
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
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
Sunday, May 3, 2009
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
"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
Thursday, April 30, 2009
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.
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.
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