I believe in offering up very specific prayers. The Father, in all his grace and mercy, has answered some very specific prayers this past year. Spring is coming, and winter is about to end. It is time once again that I offer up some very specific prayers, through Christ Jesus, to the Father – Creator of all reality. That is a deep concept to think about. I know that practically everybody on earth has their own concept of how this world came to be. I understand that. But what can totally blow a person’s mind is how God, the Master and Creator of all that IS, can answer the smallest, tiniest, humble little prayers of a nobody, in a small town in the middle of nowhere, who otherwise has nothing to offer mankind. It boggles the mind. In perspective, I am in a “humbled” position in life. I’m not a leader in anyway (other than my family), I live on disability, I don’t pay hardly any taxes (because I only make $2000 + of taxable income per year), I’m incredibly unhealthy (but much better than many), I have an average intelligence (compared to many; and struggle with my sanity through medication and therapy), and own very little possessions.
However, that being said, I have an amazingly loving family, and am RICH in relationships: my two brothers are amazing individuals; my best buddy in Chicago is a life long friend who I trust more than any other man; I have great friends who are never afraid to tell me the truth in Columbus, Michigan, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Phoenix; I have a wife that is the most amazing woman I have ever met (short of my mother of course, well, let’s just say it’s a tie); and my padawan learner (daughter) is the apple of my eye. That doesn’t include my relationship with churches as a whole. However, my greatest treasure is God Himself. I have no greater desire than to please God. I love God with all that I have and all that I am. If it doesn’t please God, I don’t want to do it. I would gladly surrender my own “will” and become a divine automaton for God. But that is not what HE wants. He wants me to choose Him. We are in His image, so some of the best reminders of who God is, can be ourselves, our own emotional needs. Although God is infinitely Greater than us, he is also the origin of our own ability to be jealous, joyful, angry, hopeful, indignant, zealous, filled with rage, and consumed with love. Most of these expressions of God are in the Jewish Bible, otherwise known as the Old Testament.
The best way to know God is through Jesus Christ. In fact, the only way to reconcile to God is through Jesus Christ. There is a line of rationality in the New Testament: Jesus is God; God is love; Jesus IS God’s expression of Love; Jesus is the Word of God; the Word of God is the bible. Ergo, the best way to get to know God is through the bible. There are other ways to get to know God, as described by the bible, but the surest way, is the Holy Scripture. “Faith comes from hearing the Word.” is a famous verse. The more we read, the more we obey, the more we partake, the more faith we have.
Faith is the goal of almost all mankind. We can put our faith in just about anything; if we don’t put it in God, then in Man, if not in Man, then in ourselves, and if not ourselves, then in something external (perhaps money?). Religion is one of the main COGS in the machine that is mankind. Faith is one of the most powerful forces in this world – along with sin, and love.
I don’t believe in blind faith. Few people actually partake in blind faith. There is almost always a reason that somebody will have faith in something; it can be experience, trust, history, knowledge, or love. Usually, it is a combination of the above mentioned. This leads me to my faith in God, through Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ Almighty. There is much to having faith in having one’s prayers answered. There must be a balance of not asking God to break His own rules, and, not asking God to indulge our sinful natures. Many times, I can feel that I ask too much, and have so much faith in my Father, that I’m afraid to ask. Sometimes I feel as though I might be taking advantage of my Holy Father, and in fact, curb my prayers. HE spoils me, so incredibly much. I have so much more than I have ever could ask for, and he continues to give to me. He shows me that he trusts me with things, that I don’t deserve His trust with: marriage, parenthood, money, possessions, influence, family, and what could there be more? All these things God has trust me with. In many area’s I have failed miserably. I know this, and am grateful that God hasn’t given me more to have. I see with my eyes the miseries that have more than what you can be trusted with comes with (poorly stated). In other words, having more than what you can handle brings misery, and it is all a matter of Trust. Corruption, temptation, over indulging, and extreme failure are the fruit of having more than what a person can handle. I am thankful that God has and only will give me what I can handle. I know this because I have extreme faith in God’s love for me individually as a person. Our personal relationship is so great, that I only experience small portions in life. I also know that soon, not knowing how soon, but soon all that I go through now is training ground for what is to come. I know in my heart that I am on the verge of accomplishing great things*. But I know that I must first show the Father that I can handle the little things. Because of this interaction that I have with the Father, my faith is the greatest gift God has given to me, and is my greatest quality as a person.
AT the end of winter last year (2006), I made a series of specific prayers concerning my family. God in His grace has answered each one of them. I am blown away by his attendance to my hopes. He humbles me in many great ways (to bad I am so prideful to start with). I don’t want to share what these prayers were, but I will if you ask me to. Recently, I asked God for a very specific gift, and he granted it. Amazing! This happens to me over and over again. Over and over my prayers are answered, and over and over I stand amazed.
Please don’t get me wrong. I internalize and struggle and am tormented with almost everything I do and am responsible for. Rarely am I at peace. Rarely am I contented with areas dealing with “The” Faith, and the Church here on earth. Rarely am I satisfied with how Christianity is portrayed in the media. Often I agonize over the state of reconciliation with my closest relationships. I am an extreme obsessive. I am an extreme sycophant. I am an extremely selfish person and an abuser of my relationships. I am commonly narcissistically inclined. I am opposite of my greatest Advocate. Yet, here I am…in the middle of nowhere, somebody that nobody has heard of, or heard from in a long time, and my prayers are being acknowledged by The most well known name in the world – Jesus Christ.
There is an interesting word that I have been contemplating, and that word is community. I think that the word community is the sum of the quintessential human experience. I know what you are saying – “Life cannot be summed up in one word!” That is true; however, community is what we experience from day one. Recently, they found a girl in the Philippines or Guam or somewhere that has spent the first nineteen years of her life living in the wild. She was found, or she found them, and they have been trying to integrate her within their community. Every photo I saw of her, she had a great big smile on her face. I’m sure there are times when she isn’t smiling, but I can help but think that there has been a deep need in this woman to find community most of her life. She is a rare exception to the human race. Even these Catholic/Orthodox /Tibetan /Buddhist monasteries have a semblance of community. We weren’t meant to be solitary. It is as basic as any other part of the grand design. Biblically speaking, God’s image wasn’t complete until he made both Man and Woman. Man/Woman is the complete image of God. That is why God made man, so that he could have companion. With the multimillions of multitudes that will be joining Christ Jesus in our new post Judgment life, we will with God, be “community”.
However, that being said, I have an amazingly loving family, and am RICH in relationships: my two brothers are amazing individuals; my best buddy in Chicago is a life long friend who I trust more than any other man; I have great friends who are never afraid to tell me the truth in Columbus, Michigan, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Phoenix; I have a wife that is the most amazing woman I have ever met (short of my mother of course, well, let’s just say it’s a tie); and my padawan learner (daughter) is the apple of my eye. That doesn’t include my relationship with churches as a whole. However, my greatest treasure is God Himself. I have no greater desire than to please God. I love God with all that I have and all that I am. If it doesn’t please God, I don’t want to do it. I would gladly surrender my own “will” and become a divine automaton for God. But that is not what HE wants. He wants me to choose Him. We are in His image, so some of the best reminders of who God is, can be ourselves, our own emotional needs. Although God is infinitely Greater than us, he is also the origin of our own ability to be jealous, joyful, angry, hopeful, indignant, zealous, filled with rage, and consumed with love. Most of these expressions of God are in the Jewish Bible, otherwise known as the Old Testament.
The best way to know God is through Jesus Christ. In fact, the only way to reconcile to God is through Jesus Christ. There is a line of rationality in the New Testament: Jesus is God; God is love; Jesus IS God’s expression of Love; Jesus is the Word of God; the Word of God is the bible. Ergo, the best way to get to know God is through the bible. There are other ways to get to know God, as described by the bible, but the surest way, is the Holy Scripture. “Faith comes from hearing the Word.” is a famous verse. The more we read, the more we obey, the more we partake, the more faith we have.
Faith is the goal of almost all mankind. We can put our faith in just about anything; if we don’t put it in God, then in Man, if not in Man, then in ourselves, and if not ourselves, then in something external (perhaps money?). Religion is one of the main COGS in the machine that is mankind. Faith is one of the most powerful forces in this world – along with sin, and love.
I don’t believe in blind faith. Few people actually partake in blind faith. There is almost always a reason that somebody will have faith in something; it can be experience, trust, history, knowledge, or love. Usually, it is a combination of the above mentioned. This leads me to my faith in God, through Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ Almighty. There is much to having faith in having one’s prayers answered. There must be a balance of not asking God to break His own rules, and, not asking God to indulge our sinful natures. Many times, I can feel that I ask too much, and have so much faith in my Father, that I’m afraid to ask. Sometimes I feel as though I might be taking advantage of my Holy Father, and in fact, curb my prayers. HE spoils me, so incredibly much. I have so much more than I have ever could ask for, and he continues to give to me. He shows me that he trusts me with things, that I don’t deserve His trust with: marriage, parenthood, money, possessions, influence, family, and what could there be more? All these things God has trust me with. In many area’s I have failed miserably. I know this, and am grateful that God hasn’t given me more to have. I see with my eyes the miseries that have more than what you can be trusted with comes with (poorly stated). In other words, having more than what you can handle brings misery, and it is all a matter of Trust. Corruption, temptation, over indulging, and extreme failure are the fruit of having more than what a person can handle. I am thankful that God has and only will give me what I can handle. I know this because I have extreme faith in God’s love for me individually as a person. Our personal relationship is so great, that I only experience small portions in life. I also know that soon, not knowing how soon, but soon all that I go through now is training ground for what is to come. I know in my heart that I am on the verge of accomplishing great things*. But I know that I must first show the Father that I can handle the little things. Because of this interaction that I have with the Father, my faith is the greatest gift God has given to me, and is my greatest quality as a person.
AT the end of winter last year (2006), I made a series of specific prayers concerning my family. God in His grace has answered each one of them. I am blown away by his attendance to my hopes. He humbles me in many great ways (to bad I am so prideful to start with). I don’t want to share what these prayers were, but I will if you ask me to. Recently, I asked God for a very specific gift, and he granted it. Amazing! This happens to me over and over again. Over and over my prayers are answered, and over and over I stand amazed.
Please don’t get me wrong. I internalize and struggle and am tormented with almost everything I do and am responsible for. Rarely am I at peace. Rarely am I contented with areas dealing with “The” Faith, and the Church here on earth. Rarely am I satisfied with how Christianity is portrayed in the media. Often I agonize over the state of reconciliation with my closest relationships. I am an extreme obsessive. I am an extreme sycophant. I am an extremely selfish person and an abuser of my relationships. I am commonly narcissistically inclined. I am opposite of my greatest Advocate. Yet, here I am…in the middle of nowhere, somebody that nobody has heard of, or heard from in a long time, and my prayers are being acknowledged by The most well known name in the world – Jesus Christ.
There is an interesting word that I have been contemplating, and that word is community. I think that the word community is the sum of the quintessential human experience. I know what you are saying – “Life cannot be summed up in one word!” That is true; however, community is what we experience from day one. Recently, they found a girl in the Philippines or Guam or somewhere that has spent the first nineteen years of her life living in the wild. She was found, or she found them, and they have been trying to integrate her within their community. Every photo I saw of her, she had a great big smile on her face. I’m sure there are times when she isn’t smiling, but I can help but think that there has been a deep need in this woman to find community most of her life. She is a rare exception to the human race. Even these Catholic/Orthodox /Tibetan /Buddhist monasteries have a semblance of community. We weren’t meant to be solitary. It is as basic as any other part of the grand design. Biblically speaking, God’s image wasn’t complete until he made both Man and Woman. Man/Woman is the complete image of God. That is why God made man, so that he could have companion. With the multimillions of multitudes that will be joining Christ Jesus in our new post Judgment life, we will with God, be “community”.
*Greatness with Christ can come in the most humble or unseen ways. True greatness is being born in a barn, raised in the country, being disresepected by the people that you want to help, and even hated by authorities. True greatness comes in giving ones life for those who least deserve it. Greatness in GOd's eyes is much different than greatness in ours!
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