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Social Media Fast

After some extended time of prayer yesterday, I realized that I hadn’t been spending enough time reading Scripture or praying.

Since I started a new job a few weeks ago, I’ve been pretty busy. I’m still trying to do the same amount of things I did before, but with 9 less hours a day to get it done. At least I don’t have to work weekends!! Thank God for that- but I have to focus more to get the same amount of stuff done.

God brought to my mind the fact that in September, we’re going to be helping launch a new church campus here. And He (ever so gently) reminded me that I need to focus on preparing for that, to which I replied “God, what can I do to more fully focus on this new church plant?” to which He replied “you don’t really need to be on social media, now do you?”

*Gulp.*

“God, do You mean Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Gab.ai, and internet forums? Those social media sites?”

Yeah, those.

So, I’m going to be taking a (mostly) sabbatical from social media in order to focus on the task God has laid before me.

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3

I won’t completely isolate myself from social media (and I’m not even sure that’s possible in this day and age) but I’m severely scaling back my time spent there. I don’t need to have news stories, drama, stupidity, and whatnot distracting me from my purpose. Yeah, there’s plenty of encouraging things I see there too, but I have almost no way to filter that, thanks to Big Social’s inability to discern what’s good and what isn’t.

In the meanwhile, I’ll be able to work on music, prayer, and writing. This is probably for the best all around. I’ll post updates here as things go, so stay tuned!

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Struggling With The Spirit

When we believers struggle with the Holy Spirit in our lives, it doesn’t mean we’re fighting against God- not just against Him, anyway- it also means we’re fighting against our own nature. Our war is a spiritual war, according to Ephesians 6:12

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but but against rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Our nature as sinful people can’t be trusted. On our own, we’re weak. Our minds lie to ourselves, telling us we don’t need God, we don’t need redemption, and we don’t need help.

But we do need help. And that help comes in the form of the Holy Spirit.

Over the last 20 years, I’ve learned a lot about God and Scripture. I learned a lot about Jesus Christ, and the early church in the book of Acts. But one thing I was hardly taught was The Holy Spirit. And the sad part is, I don’t think it was intentional.

I think churches today fall into two main camps: those who completely ignore the Spirit’s work in believers’ lives, and those who overemphasize it to the point where even other believers think they’re crazy. There seems to be no middle ground, no in-between. No common sense approach seems to have taken hold.

I’m just now, after 20 years in the faith, realizing that I knew next to nothing about the Holy Spirit. And that shouldn’t be the case- certainly not in America.

What then, do we know about the Spirit? What does the Scripture say about Him? What is His role in my life? Continue reading “Struggling With The Spirit”

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Thoughts on Wisdom and Intelligence

I was reading in the Bible the other day, and I ran across this passage:

“6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” – 1 Corinthians 2:6-8

This rings true, even today. The “wisdom” of the World is at odds with God’s wisdom. And I’m not talking about science- I’m talking about worldly “wisdom” that says the only purpose of man is to acquire wealth and power. That there is no absolute truth. That Self is all that matters.

Sometimes I wonder why more people don’t understand that their actions are leading them to destruction, but again, the Disciple Paul knows why:

“14 But a natural (worldly) man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 2:14-16

Wisdom isn’t the same thing as intelligence. I keep telling my kids they’re smart, but inexperienced- and wisdom is the application of experience. You can’t make wise decisions unless you either 1. learn from personal experience, or 2. learn from someone else’s experience. The Bible is full of wisdom, if one were so inclined to read it. But be warned! It might not make sense if you’re not trying to follow God’s ways.

On that note: Intelligence is a fact, a statistical number, not something to be egotistical about. I’m no more proud of it than I am proud that I have blue eyes… I had no influence in the matter. But like any other tool, it must be honed to a fine edge in order to get the most effective use out of it. If you possessed a powerful weapon, but never trained with it or sharpened it, how effective would it be in an emergency? Not very effective at all, I’d imagine.

Ego says “I deserve to be treated better because I’m smart. My life should be easy.”

Reality says “you don’t have to tell people you’re smart.” Simply do what you need to do. Those who are also smart will recognize it in your actions, not your words. Plenty of people say they’re smart. Precious few act like it.

The Dark World doesn’t care if you’re smart. In fact, much pain and suffering were meted out to me because of those who were jealous of my academic standing. I would have been better off playing along and learning advanced math on my own. I eventually figured it out, but those harsh lessons stay with me even to this day.

If you’re smart AND wise, then you’ll recognize the truth in what I’m saying.

If you’re not sure, then you might want to listen to someone who’s learned from experience…

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The Nine Laws: Part Three

If you haven’t read them, start with my review of The Nine Laws, and subsequent part One and part Two.

The Third Law is Purpose.

Without purpose, we are no different than animals: instinctively roaming about, completely at the whim of the Dark World.

Purpose is something we can change. Purpose is something we can decide for ourselves. We are not bound to mere survival, as are the beasts of the Earth. We have possibilities. Without Purpose, there is no point to accomplishing anything.

What is your life’s purpose? Do you even know?

Don’t be surprised if you can’t explicitly answer this. I couldn’t either, for a very long time.

At some point you’re probably going to stop and think, “What am I doing with my life?” which is code for “I don’t know what my life’s purpose is.” And if you’re a Christian, the answer isn’t necessarily simplified. As a young believer in the faith, my thoughts went something like this:

“What is my purpose? To do whatever God wants me to do.” My purpose is to… to what? Provide for my family? Glorify God?

Those are all pat answers. I want to know what my singular, most powerful purpose really is.

But what does that mean, exactly? What does it mean to “fulfill God’s purpose in your life?” Can you give specifics? Can you quantify “Love thy neighbor as yourself?” Do these look the same for every person? Of course they don’t. Over the years, God has given people purpose in many ways, for many different reasons. And He’s even changed people’s purposes over time. So again, what does that mean for you and me? Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Three”

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Simplification Isn’t Simple

Apologies to my faithful readers. I’ve been quite busy! But in my business, I found that my brain was cluttered.

I also found my phone was cluttered, to the point where it was having a hard time keeping up with everything I wanted it to do. And that’s when I realized: I was trying to do too much stuff at one time.

I’m always thinking of some project or another I want to get done. I even have time to do most of them! But my downfall is that I attempt to do too many at once, thinking I can cram more in if I multi-task.

And I really, really stink at multi-tasking.

I’m also realizing that with unlimited time to get things done, I don’t want to get so busy that I can’t enjoy the time I have at home while it lasts. This, too, is difficult.

I don’t really have control over as many things as I’d like. But every now and then, I can do something with my time and make it count.

Blogging isn’t something that I really make a lot of money with, but that’s because I haven’t made it a major priority up to this point. It’s not that I couldn’t… but till now, I’ve been up to my ears with other, more important things to do. Continue reading “Simplification Isn’t Simple”

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Old Technology Is Best

For a few months now, I’ve been wanting to get my hands on an old typewriter. Preferably, a manual (non-electric) one. And what happens to show up at the local Goodwill??

A mid-1960’s Underwood Touch-Master 5. It’s crusty, dirty, and needs a lot of cleaning, but it works! And it was a steal at $15.

My 11-year-old secretary couldn’t resist playing with it. It’s so tactile! And it makes a nice, solid “clack” noise every time you type a letter. What’s not to love?

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The Nine Laws: Part Two

In my ongoing quest to delve deeper into the methods of The Nine Laws, I’m moving on to the Second Law. (If you haven’t read it yet, check out Part One.)

The Second Law is Concealment.

This immediately throws up red flags. “Concealment? Are you being sneaky? Are you trying to hide something, or be dishonest?”

Let’s try a thought experiment. You go into a job interview, for which you’re barely qualified. You’re riddled with doubt, but you really want this job. Are you going to go into the interview with doubt and fear written all over your face? No, of course not.

You conceal your real feelings. You smile, you act confident, and you do what it takes to accomplish your goal.

The opposite of concealing is revealing. Do you really want to reveal everything about yourself to everyone? No, of course you don’t. The problem is, we do it all the time without even realizing it. And so, the Second Law urges us to pay attention to what we reveal about ourselves- and conceal what is necessary to ensure our survival in the Dark World. This doesn’t necessarily mean deception, lying, or things of that nature. It is a simple evaluation of how we unwittingly make ourselves vulnerable by revealing too much. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Two”

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The Nine Laws: Part One

I recently reviewed Ivan Throne’s The Nine Laws, and while I tried to encompass as much about the book as I could, there’s just no way I could cram everything I wanted to say about it into a single blog post. I promised my devoted readers that I would delve into each of the Nine Laws individually, and so, we’ve come to Week One: The First Law.

The First Law is Survival

Simply put: if you’re dead, you can’t do much of anything. Therefore the First Rule of the Dark World is “you have to survive.”

Is this in opposition to the Christian faith? Hardly. At the very core of Godly beliefs is the sanctity of life. We are created in the image of God, and so our very existence is a proclamation to the veracity and tenaciousness of life as we know it.

“But Sensei,” I can hear you saying, “doesn’t it also say in the Holy Word that those who lose their lives will gain it? And those who are first shall be last? Wasn’t Jesus a pacifist?”

The Scripture says:

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” – Matthew 16:25 (also in Luke 9:24 and Mark 8:35, emphasis mine)

Jesus very clearly says that anyone giving up their life for His sake will find it. And by “find it” Jesus didn’t mean suddenly not being dead anymore. No, He means giving up your physical life for Jesus’ sake means securing eternal reward. But the inverse isn’t so clear: does Jesus mean if we try to save our own physical lives, we’ll lose our eternal ones? Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part One”