reflekt(ive)

deadFAITH

So as James states  in chapter 2 verse 26, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

What does that mean?

Does it mean that if I claim to have faith in Jesus but continually struggle through sin, that my faith is not real and that it is dead?

Does it mean that, if I have a faith that takes me to church every week but I fail the read my Bible or pray regularly, that the faith that I have is dead and useless and possible not real?

Faith is, as Hebrews 11 states it to be, “The assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.”

So if faith apart from works is dead, then how is it or when is it ALIVE?

Faith is like a sea…

Whether that sea is the so called Sea of Galilee or The Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is a body of water, this sea has an inlet, so it is constantly full, full of salt.  There is so much salinity that it prevents any kind of life form on or around it. So the issue here is that it stays full, doesn’t have an outlet.  Water has to continually evaporate from it.
So it is called The Dead Sea.

A lot like Dead Faith.
Dead faith is still faith, it is a faith that still has the essence of salt (Matt 5:13) but the water (John 4:10) isn’t living and is continually evaporated.  Dead faith is when we get filled up with the truth(s) of God but when we turn around we forget that truth, a lot like when we look at ourselves in the mirror and once we walk away, we forget what we look like, or the essence of who we are (James 1:22-25).

On the other hand ALIVE faith can be resembled like the Sea of Galilee, it not only has an inlet but it has an outlet.  It is constantly being pour into but it also constantly pouring it self out.  Which is makes it ALIVE and well.

A lot like our faith.

Faith that is ALIVE is not just about getting it’s 2 cents in, it is not just about going to church, reading the bible, or praying to be filled.  There must be an outlet!!!
Alive Faith is a faith that is self-less and not selfish.  It’s not about personal growth but kingdom growth.  It doesn’t hold on to it’s salt like its loosing something (like this parable) but gives the world a taste (Psalm 34:8).

DEAD vs ALIVE faith isn’t about sin or not sinning but about giving and receiving the most abundant fullest life you could ever give or receive.

It’s about Jesus!!!  He came not to be served but to serve. (Matt. 20:28)

Are you ALIVE or are you dead?

Feeling Testy

Am I testing You right now?
How will I know?
Is it me or just a mindset
A mind set on me
Pleasure-filled
fleshly thought-filled

How often do I play Annanias?
or am I Saphira?
Do I not seem quite happy?
or am I a liar?

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit

Acts 5:9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?

Matt 4:7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Psalm 139
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

Replant

this is the life, the one I did lead

Picking it up and throwing the seed

Thorned and thistled, scattered beyond

Hoping and wishing, but now you’re too gone

-  what such hope, do I have left?

-  Something to pair, this brokenness?

-  Or shall I just, see it a cleft?

-  All but leave, it a scattered mess?

Still I feel beat, and under the knife

Full of anger, due to my strife

I had forgotten, I gave you my life

Just for stomping and romping, I guess…

  - Though I do know, that i’ve been redeemed

  -  For You went down, and picked up my seed

  -  Giving, holding, and Planting anew,

  -  Just for me, for me to lean-to

For trust is now,  the avenue of life

No focus self, or focus on strife

For I’ll need you, to wherever i roam

So guide me, see me, till I am home.

April Fools!!!

Wow!!! Have you ever April fooled yourself? My answer is Yeash!!!… Well I guess it could’ve been God throwing a little April fools joke my way…who knows… So I ordered I new projector bulb for my church since the warning light, “change bulb” would come on during the start up… though  the projector said it still had about 20-30 hrs left on it.  So I figured I would milk down to the last few hours.  And so finally the day came for me to change it(April 1st), the day before our Good Friday service, something we had been planing for quite sometime, a service where we need a projector.  So I grab a box that had the bulb in it and I go to take down the projector and as I open the box to insert the new bulb, my heart sinks, I crap my pants and nearly almost throw up, the bulb didn’t fit!!!  It was the wrong bulb,  Sharp had sent me the wrong bulb!!!  I was sooo pissed!~!~! GRRR!!!!  So I open up the email confirmation looking for a telephone # of who to call, so I could ream someone for sending me the wrong bulb.  but for some reason I couldn’t find the #.  So then I figured I would check the shipping label, so I start looking for the box that it was shipped in.  I find it and guess what….???  The correct projector bulb was in it… Apparently I had grabbed an old box with an old projector bulb and didn’t realize it!

And that was my April Fools day!

A fool, getting fooled!

The Life

This is the life we’ve always wanted

The life you’ve always dreamed of

Now we’re looking into the distance

To see what can come next

This life of satisfaction doesn’t last

For who am I and who are you

To know what we really want

To figure who we really are

What’s over that mountain

Is down in the valley

This circumstantial life

Brings nothing to fill

Marvelous One

This life can’t describe

the wonders of your grace

Nor can words

reach the depths of your heart

///

So high are your ways O’ God

So deep is your love for me

For none can comprehend

The beauty of your majesty

///

You reached out 

for me to feel grace

And died so I’d 

glimpse upon your face

///

So high are your ways O’ God

So deep is your love for me

None can comprehend

The beauty of your majesty

///

Wonderful-Marvelous Savior are You

O’ Great and Marvelous One

Safe

So what does it mean to be safe in the arms of God?

When people are martyred daily for standing for His name.

When this life takes advantage of us.

The Struggling. Fighting. Gnawing, Grappling.

Confusion. Worry.  Depression.

Of this Overwhelming life.

How can I be safe???

I am convinced that being safe is not objective

but subjective.

We focus way too much on the fact that the crap continues to hit the fan

and that God is not “blessing” us, even though we gave Him our life.

Job says it best,

“Though they slay me, I will trust in Him.” 13:15

Being Safe is a mindset

A mind set on Christ; who He is and what He had done for each and everyone of us.

The fact is, is that we already have God’s blessing; which is that Christ died on a tree for you and me.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33

So even when the world is falling apart.

We can have peace

We can be safe in His arms.