Looking back...

I like to look at my old posts to see how I was touched by my God to write them and one of the posts that I found that touched me most in the past was this one. I loved using the analogy of roads to represent our lives. So why don't you take a visit to the past and click on the black "this".

I have decided to follow Jesus,

I have decided to follow Jesus.

I have decided to follow Jesus,

no turning back,

no turning back.

The cross before me, the world behind me.

The cross before me, the world behind me.

The cross before me, the world behind me.

No turning back,

no turning back.

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If Your Hand Causes You to Sin, Cut it Off

Sometimes it's hard for us to get rid of things that may seem important to us. For me, it was my Ipod. I didn't realize it but it mattered more to me than anything else. I had even gotten to the point where I told myself, "I don't know what I'd do if I lost this." And now, that thought sickens me. Yesterday, I did a lot of thinking, and I realized, nothing should be more precious to me than unraveling new found mysteries about my Lord and saviour and getting to know him personally. I found that my Ipod took me away from what gave me life, it took away my life. My marks in school didn't matter to me anymore, I found no time to practice piano(one of my passions) because of spending too much time on my Ipod! I was texting too much and because my Ipod gave me social access, I spent way too much time living out my social life, which is fine, but I needed to prioritize myself. I was making my social life my priority over my relationship with my Creator and Heavenly Father. So yesterday as I was thinking, the verse,

Mark 9:43

 ^"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off."

popped in my mind. It's amazing how God gets your attention by putting thoughts and verses in your mind that you normally wouldn't think about. So I realized that I have been idolizing my Ipod, I needed to cut it off. After I thought these thoughts I decided to consult my mom about my idea of getting rid of my Ipod permanently and she told me something really interesting. She told me that getting rid of it won't change anything, I have to make that change within me. So I need to be committed to Christ and on fire for him always and if I won't do that, then getting rid of my Ipod won't change anything. So I made the decision inside that I'm willing to  live for my Lord and not idolize any more material things.

So here's my challenge for you, I want you to think of the following things during the year:

• what are your priorities
• how important is reading your Bible to you
• how long do you spend praying to your Heavenly Father
• is there something in your life that's taking up too much of your time
• are you finding yourself not having enough time for important things like The Lord, school, work, talents,, etc.
• do you want to serve the Lord with all your heart but find that it's not going to be easy for you and requires a lot of dedication

If you find that your answers are not satisfying and are ashamed of them, then I want you to re-evaluate yourself and see what's standing in between your main priority(the Lord), your other priorities and you. Is it a hobby that you need to get away from for a bit? Or a material object? A sinful act?

My mom also mentioned something that night as well that never came to thought. She said that anything, good or bad, that stands in between you and God is not good, and might need to be prioritized. It could be electronics, reading books, maybe studying. As long as it takes away time for you to spend with your loving Father, it is something you would need to change in order to restore your relationship with God. It doesn't mean don't spend time studying or don't read books. But instead of reading one of your books, read the Bible in between. Instead of straight studying, read God's Word and hear his encouraging loving words. Pray to Him to guide you through your studying, then it wouldn't be taking away time from the Lord, instead it would be learning from him and seeing his work in your studies. Sometimes though, the situation could be like me and my Ipod and could require a permanent action in order for you to get back on your spiritual walk with the Lord. Whatever it is, I do not want you to wander away from God without you realizing it. I want you to figure out if something in your life is taking away time from your relationship with God and do something about it. Do not let the problem grow, control it. 

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The Imperfect Loved By The Forever Perfect

And that gives me an even GREATER reason to rejoice

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Did You Know That You Could Find Pretty Cool Christian Quotes On The Internet?

I was looking on the internet for some friendly Christian encouragement, and I found some pretty cute quotes. Like one says "A real man prays". This made me think that sometimes we think we could bring one to Christ through a relationship, but since God is our rock and foundation, it's easier to be pushed off that rock than to pull someone onto it. That is because so many people are against us. As Jesus says in Matthew 5:11:

"People will insult you and hurt you. 

They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you 

because you follow me."

If this is the natural reaction towards our faith, then being in a relationship with someone who does not follow God as well will discourage you and it would be very easy to lose your faith. Even if you don't lose your faith, there's no guarantee that your partner will follow Christ as well and that will be a hard relationship for you to live through. So the "real man" that you should be looking for is not just someone who loves you because of your heart and mind, but loves Christ more than he will ever love you. That relationship is a relationship that will grow and be fruitful and healthy.

There's another cute quote that I found that says, "You call it religion, I call it a relationship." I really liked this one because being a Christian shouldn't be because your ancestors were Christian, it should be something that you want to be, you choose to be. Being a Christian is all about your devotion to God and the Son of God, Jesus. It should be this relationship that you want to take over your life. That defines who you are. You are a Christian because you realized that without the death of Jesus Christ, you were nothing, you were on your way to eternal death, but he gave you eternal life. And you accepted it, and now you're living your life all for him, praising him because of what he did for you. That's what Christianity should mean to you. If it doesn't mean that, then maybe you need notice that what you're doing is creating a stereotype because the true Christian is what I just explained previously, they aren't a person that just carries the title, they live it out. Which leads in to this other quote I found, "I'm not a Christian because I'm strong and have it all together. I'm a Christian because I'm weak and admit I need a saviour." 

This other quote I found is probably one that you've seen before, but I really like it. I'll just let you see it first: 

I really like this because if Christ is everything to you then praying should really be your "go-to" when you're struggling in life. You know, when you pray,  you are actually communicating with God. That's pretty insane! Like you are having a one-on-one with the God that created you! I find that pretty awesome. 

This last picture I have is just this really funny/interesting thing I found:

Haha I thought the last one was pretty cute. 

Well God bless you all and it is the time of exams here in Canada so I just wish everyone God's blessings as they head into their exams, and turn to prayer when you're too weak to stand. ;)  

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