Matthew 11:6

“And blessed is he who is not offended because of me.”

Too many times I've heard the devastating story of someone praying for something fervently day in and day out and never getting what they prayed for, leading them to there unbelief in God. It's a tragic story to see such a potential heart be turned away due to lack of understanding in God's plan. I went through a period in my life where I was not given what I asked for and I prayed hard. I chose anger and disobedience to comfort the pain of being ignored. I was weak and hurt and hated that God wouldn't come to me in my time of weakness After getting kicked around back and forth by my sins and the sins of the world I found myself screaming out to God once again. I came back to Him and found the peace I had once had. Although having that peace the unanswered prayer that troubled me for so long stung in the back of my mind. Instead of running away with anger, I ran to Him for answers. I realized that I knew the answer all along and only needed to look at the situation in a different way. He had been giving it to me but I was not mature enough to see with the right perspective. Often times we want an answer from the Lord, and he gives us exactly what we ask for, just hardly in the way we expect. It's not that he gives us encrypted messages, it's usually that our hearts are not in the right place to understand. It can be compared to a carpenter and his wood. The wood must be taken from its comfort, shaved and cut down to where it is standing naked and vulnerable into the hands of the carpenter, sanded, polished, and eventually assembled into a functional piece of furniture. If the wood were to run away at the point of being vulnerable and naked it wood never know what it's beautiful purpose was for, leaving him alone and naked for the world to scar and beat. I was that wood that ran away while I was naked and I was scarred. But Christ took me back in and sanded them away to use me once more. When I come across a situation or a heart break where all I want to do is run, I will remember to fall on my knees and not let my feet take me anywhere but His word. In applying this, when I call home and here the troubles of my fellow loved ones I will not look to God and ask why, I will look to myself and ask, what am I supposed to learn?

With a vibrant mind and a dull heart you are a weapon of destruction.

With a dull mind and a vibrant heart you are a weapon of peace.

With a vibrant mind and a vibrant heart you become a peaceful destroyer.

This life is meant for Him.
To indulge in sin only leads to an emptier morning.
Only leads to another crack in your glass reputation.
Only sticks knives in the ones you love.
Only pours salt on the wounds where the knives have been.
Destruction leads to destruction.
Foundation leads to design and stability.

I do not want to die in this world rubble that scatters the earth giving myself to all creatures that walk by.
I want to be made a structure where I can invite those creatures in and offer them the peace I have been given.

Galatians 6:8

“For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

When I read this verse the concept of Pride comes to mind. When I was younger I had a complex with Paul. I read his letters and couldn't help but think how prideful he was in the way that he would always say be more like me for I am a man of God. A man who states be more like me doesn't always come across as the most humble of men. Through the eyes of the Holy Spirit it is an act of humbleness, in the flesh it comes across as prideful. When man does good on his own terms, and takes pride in the good he has done, it becomes pride. When we see men in our culture today telling everyone to be more like them, Charlie sheen for example, we think him prideful, insane, and simply crazy. We all have our own gifts and talents, who are they to tell me to be more like them. Why should Paul be any different? Paul takes pride in what he does for the Spirit, and only the Spirit. I believe Paul fully grasped this concept he wrote so many years ago. Because he knew that things he sowed were of the spirit then he didn't speak that he was a man of God through his own sowing, but because he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, he was made great. We can see that Paul is humble enough to say I am a great man, but give no entitlement to himself. From that point of view it makes us see Paul as an exceedingly sacrificial humble man instead of a man seeking recognition. I struggle with doing things for the Lord and remembering I had little to nothing to do with it. We are given these great tasks in the name of the Lord but we are so quick to forget that it was only through Him we were blessed with the task. It's easy to sow to the Spirit and desire to reap in the flesh.

Galatians 6:7

“Do not be decieved: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

We see this theme written with different names all throughout culture. Acknowledging this concept in almost every religion, it is mostly referred to as Carma given name by the Buddhist culture. When most people are introduced to this concept they take on the idea that they just need to do more good and therefore the punishments won't be as strong. The only ones who “succeed” at beating Carma are guys dressed up in orange garments and separate themselves from society for the rest of their lives. Even then, they never escape this vicious concept. God created us to be perfect, but we failed. And we continue to fail everyday whether we do it in the mountains of Tibett or in the cities of Boston, we fail. Adam and Eve initially was at fault for bringing sin into this world, but it is us that keep biting that fruit every single day. We can't escape it, we were born into sin. Many will try to bend and make rules explaining why this law of nature doesn't exist to them, but only one answer stands above all the rest. Christ. Only because Christ came in and payed our ransom. Only because he stepped in and became our ultimate get out of jail free card. If it were up to us to conquer this concept, you would be a fool to think we can defeat it alone. Only one of us was perfect, and He who was perfect loved the rest of us enough to be beaten and crucified, so we can be perfectly covered by His blood. He who was never bound by jail, became bound so we can all be freed. That, and that alone is the only answer to this age old question. We do reap what we sow with or without Christ, but with Him we win, without Him we lose tragically. The good we reap within Christ is good for God, the good we reap without Christ is a hamster in a wheel, thinking he is gaining, but only thinking.  

Galatians 6:5

“For each one shall bear his own load.”

I am called to pick up my cross everyday, and I should try to never complain for the path I have been given. Christ's cross bared more weight than any of ours and He is who we must look too. Not turn around, look at each others cross, and envy the size of others, but look to Him who carried the most. My cross is heavy yet the yolk is light and I will strive to run this race with endurance and without complaint.  

Galatians 6:5

“But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

Jesus Christ was our perfect example. If he were to ever say, why can't I sacrifice like John the Baptist? He would not have been amongst the people in the cities. If He were to say, why can't I be perfect like the Pharisees? He would have let the deception of religion backslide him into a white washed tomb. If He were to say, why can't I speak poetically like faithful King David? He wouldn't have been able to relate to the people of His time and love them exactly how they needed to be loved. Why do we find it okay to follow the great men of our nation and call it justified? Often we cry out to be more like this pastor, or if I can only think like this guy, sacrifice like this guy, love like that guy. It is good to respect a quality within a man, and admire his strength but never to think him great by his own works. Firstly, it will only lead you to be stumbled in your walk. If you follow the way of man he will inevitably fail you in one way or another and all the faith you had could crumble over one mans sin. Second, God does not call us to follow the sheep around us, He calls us to follow the shepherd. We are given a perfect plan for our life. Although we will never follow it perfectly, it is still singularly one path and one path alone. If Christ would have looked to others for heavenly guidance instead of heaven, my sins might not be washed by His blood today. I can't even fathom the repercussions. By conforming to others work we are cheapening His personalized will for our life. I need to rejoice in the realizations and plans God lays before me, for they are sweeter to my soul than any other. I am guilty of this type of idolizing because of it's tangibility, it is so easy to see the fruit they bear, taste it, and plan our lives around reproducing from our own lives. C.S. Lewis's fruit taste really really good. I mean really good. I would love to recreate those fruits. But God asks me to conform to His Son's fruits, and that is what I will try and do. Once again, Jesus Christ is our perfect example.

Galatians 6-3

“For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Funny that this is the verse that comes up now. I have been very caught up in my judgments lately. I deceive myself just about every moment of everyday. It is one of my greatest falls as a human being. I love the art of studying individuals, figuring out exactly what it is that makes them tick. My favorite past time is to simply sit and watch the reactions and decisions individuals make everyday. Everyone is a huge puzzle and I obsess over finding all the pieces. With this, my passion is based on judgment. I am in a constant state of comparison and judgment. It gives me a face of pride and wards off many with my first impression, often making them feel judged and insecure. Although never my intention, I hurt and offend many individuals. Jesus judged individuals righteously. He saw there flaws, he studied there behavior, and corrected them in there ways. But because he was perfect all judgments were perfectly used for the glory of God. That is my prayer. To continue to perfect and use this perceptive skill, not for the satisfaction of my pride, but for the glory of God. If we come from a place of “something” we look down on those who we are judging and find the flaws to hate instead of the qualities to love. If you come from a place of nothing you see clearer for one, but you strive to find the good qualities and meditate on the beauty of an individual. When the flaws are revealed, we only shall fix and correct, if it is toward the glory of God. I pray to judge righteously, and humble myself to see everyone in the way that I want to be seen. I want my very few qualities to be seen and loved enough to be loved through my flaws. I want to handle others as Christ handled me, through the layers and layers of sin, look at the qualities that make people beautiful in the eyes of the Lord.

Psalm 23:4

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for You are with me,

Your rod and Your staff comfort me.”

He often has seasons of life in which the Valley of death seems to have no exit. The faint Son that shines through the trees grow more and more dim. To keep the warmth within him he chases after the Son to keep the fire of life alive. He watches the Son diminish behind the mountainous heights of distractions. He takes each step chasing with his eyes, his skills, his feet, ultimately his sense of direction. He composes rituals and traditions that give him the idea that the Son will stay in the sky longer. This wandering traveler will exhaust himself to the point that he gives justice to the name of the Valley, swallowed by death. What he did not know was that the Son was with him all along. Christ is not an object in the sky that we must work for, He is a loving God that only wishes to shepherd your heart with His warmth, His living water. He lives within you, longing to hold your hand as you feel tired and hungry. When we travel through the valley with our own skill, the Valley of Death will take another victim. We are only asked to stop, turn around, and call out to Him. He will do the rest. I can be this man at times, searching for outside sources and influences to sustain my walk with the Lord. I often forget that I simply must stop and look within to find the direction without. Notice David says though I walk through the valley, not when I walk through the valley. It can be interpreted that we don't only come in and out of this dark time but this world is that dark time. We are constantly trudging through the shadows and evils of this world. We don't have to do it alone.

My application is to remember that My savior is always wanting to hold my hands through these dark times. Today, as I walk, I will remember.

Psalm 23:5

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.”

We are merely instruments of the Lord. We are not our own, we were bought at a price. I see the table before me as an allegory to the relationship that God offers to us everyday. A guitar has no life of it's own. It was crafted by the hands of man, shipped to a store, and was given a price tag. With quality of wood, sound, and percussion the guitar may range in price. Depending on the musician, the guitar may come alive at anytime, at times used in the small confides of our room, sometimes in front of the people we truly care about, and sometimes used on a stage for all the world to see. The guitar does not take fame, or take credit for the sound it had made. I am having trouble on the actual application of this verse but this is what I have found within it. That my God desires to play the strings of my talents for His glory at any opportunity. We were crafted by the Lord, we were shipped to earth with a mission, we were given a price and sold to the evils of this earth, but yet the Lord sent His most precious son to buy back that which was already His. And now, He only desires to play. He wants me to play in the confines of my room, before the ones I love, and on the stage of the world. Although the guitar can play for all the world, that is not it's soul purpose or even ultimate goal. It is only called to be played. In acting we have a quote that is ingrained in all our heads “all the world's a stage.” I can use His relationship in this world to present it to my enemies so they can stand in awe at the table that I was blessed with. My cup runs over proves to me, that my God is always willing to shower me with the blessing of being played for His glory. We were anointed, we were called, to the battle of being played as loud as our strings can ring. This world is a stage, and God has called us to perform.

My application is to remember that people are always watching and listening, and that the music I play comes from my musician, not from my own strength.

Psalm 23:6

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”

Forever is a long time. It is not bound by time, it is not subject to decay or rot. We are on a constant destination towards death, all things out side of God we know, love, and find refuge in will disappear. Forever is not a measurement of time, it is the completion of time. Fortunately, this earth is bound by time, we were given roughly 28,579 days to learn and grow before our bodies are given to the earth for forever and eternity. The reality of being controlled by this time, makes the word Forever that much more of an impact. It puts a whole new meaning in running the race for the Lord. We often focus on how long this race is, we grow weary and tired, but if you compare to what we will be given in the end it all becomes silly. Often we enter challenges to get the prize in the end. People will train 12 hours a day 6 days a week to win a title of pride or a check with a lot of zeros on it. They often work this hard because they are fueled by passion. We are fueled by a promise, and on top of that the most perfect relationship we could ever long for, each step we take we grow in strength instead of growing weary. We will receive the most amazing price above all, living forever in the realm of perfect love. How can we not run as fast as we can! The race is short! God bless those who devote their lives to running this race and doing your best to find those who don't know there is a race to run.

Today I will run as fast as I can.