Random in Christ

Simplicity

randominchrist — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:09:19 +0000

I love it. Though I often call it boring, I like a simple lifestyle. I often find it too easy to get all hustley and bustley, and then I need to calm down and make myself like a “weaned child”. Here’s the Psalm from which that phrase comes:

Psalm 131

1 My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.

2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore.

Simplicity and nostalgia go almost hand-in-hand for me. I go back to the old things I grew up doing: singing to and dancing for the Lord, talking to Him, writing to Him, reading a good book, taking a walk (which often turns into a time of talking to my Father), listening to music (like I’m doing now) or even watching a little kid video, like The Doughtnut Man or Vegetales! The lessons from there are timeless.

This seems to be kind of a nowhere post, but I’m going to publish it anyway. And the point of it is…

Return to simplicity. Meditate upon your bed and be still (Psalm 4:4). Take a break from arguements, activities, or anything else that would crowd the Lord out, and go sit in His lap. Rest in His love. Obviously that doesn’t mean neglect responsibility. It just means remember Whose glory you’re doing it for and keep Him first.

Return to simplicity. Return to the Lord.

Random thoughts from the past few days

randominchrist — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:54:44 +0000

Bye bye July, hello August!
God’s Word is Living Water. I’m like a ball of sand. When I take of His Word I remain moist and “together”. When I don’t, I start to crumble away.
Do animals only communicate about eating? If not, what else do they talk about and how (they’re language seems so limited)?

I like ancient history, especially the parts where swords (not guns) and horses (not tanks) were involved.
“The Screwtape Letters” is a really good book.
I have to get over being so self-conscious and caring what people think about me.
Designing/making stuff with my own hands is fun!
I want to be closer to Jesus.
God loves me, He’s pleased with me, He’s not surprised by anything I do (and He still chose me!) and He wants ME!

Free Stuff

randominchrist — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:40:39 +0000

*Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m cheap. I don’t like to pay for stuff, and if I do I want to get a really good price on them. So for a while I’ve been amusing myself by looking up free web stuff. Besides what’s already on the homepage, here’s some of what I’ve found:

Proxify.com – surf the web anonymously

Wix.com – make a free flash website. With everything from drag-and-drop tech and search engine optimizedness (sorry about the English) to custom EVERYTHING, it’s the most versatile website-making tool I’ve seen yet.

Smartdots.com – free domain name. I found lots of sites like this, but this one is my favorite. You have more than ten options for a domain name, you can have your own email like email@yourdomain.net.tc, your own forum (don’t know how that works yet though) and lots more!

Of course, I know I have to be careful with free stuff, but so far these people have been reliable and I’ve had lots of fun!

*Please note: I didn’t do this for money. I simply told you this because I wanted to share the info. If you try anything, you do so at your own risk. Please don’t blame me if something goes wrong. Thanks!

Thorns

randominchrist — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:55:27 +0000

I read this in my quiet time today:

Learning Liberator,

Those who shy away from my power are like young eagles that shy away from soaring. They have yet to understand their identities and destinies. I put thorns in the nest to nudge them out into discovery. Exciting, isn’t it?

Yours Chuckling,

Father *

The part about the thorns pricked my mind and stuck there I thought it was a great analogy and I wanted to share it with you. What comes to mind when you read it?

Isaiah 40:3:

But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

* By Charles Slagle from his book Power to Soar

“8 reasons why I don’t share my faith”

randominchrist — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:33:13 +0000

I found this at the blog drumofadifferentbeat.wordpress.com. I thought it was a really great encourager to share our faith (and boy do people need to hear!)

8. Might get beat up. Dude, Jesus died for you! And you’re worried about getting beat up? Romans 5:2-5; 2 Cor 1:5, Philippians 1:29; 2 Tim 1:8, 1 Peter 2:20-21. Suffer for Jesus. Count it all Joy.

7. I Won’t Make Sense. Store up God’s word in your heart. Know the gospel, know your message.

6. I might be made fun of. See number 8.

5. I don’t know how to get started. Pray for opportunities. Know the basic message, practice working your faith into normal conversations.

4. I’ll be a bad witness. Again, know your stuff!

3. I’ll say the wrong thing. Pray God will give you wisdom in choosing your words. Use scripture.

2. I don’t want people to think I’m a religious nut. Don’t be ashamed. Romans 1:16

1. I don’t know enough. Worst case scenario? Say you don’t know, but you’ll get back to them. It doesn’t hurt to ask for outside help, does it? Nobody knows everything.

It comes to this: Know the gospel, remember Christ’s sufferings, pray, and don’t be ashamed of your message.

But why worry? These are just excuses, nothing more. And ’sides – God is on our side.

That’s right, God is on our side. And if God is for us, who can be against us?

What Should I Read?

randominchrist — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:34:28 +0000

Hey everyone! I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions of Christian books, fiction or non-fiction, that I could read. I usually enjoy reading, but lately I haven’t felt like it, and when I have, I don’t know what to read. So…any suggestions?

Space and the sea…

randominchrist — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:54:26 +0000

…are two of the most beautiful places one can see, in my opinion. God obviously appreciates beauty; this you can see with some of the pictures from these places.

Some sea pictures:

Truly, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork! (Psalm 19:1) Humans have no excuse for not repenting and placing their life in the hands of the Lord, for “since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead…” (Romans 1:20).

Do you know what I think the most brainy, excellent, intricate, complicated creation is?

People.

We can think, feel and create. God gave us minds that could understand simple and complex things. How can you even see the pictures above? Because of the way God made the brain to conceive and bring to pass cameras. He’s allowed us so much knowledge that we’ve been able to see far into space, even go to space!

But best of all, we can relate with God.

Imagine that: a creature that can live in the physical and relate with the spiritual. Animals can’t do that. Plants can’t do that. But we can. By faith, we truly can.

Imagine being in Heaven, where He’s reserved an inheritance for us. One thing God isn’t is boring, and neither are the things He creates. So you can be sure that all He’s been preparing for us (John 14:2) is glorious, grand, heavenly.

Hold on, then. Satan doesn’t want you to have what God’s got for you. He’ll fight you hard at every angle that he can. But ” greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). When you’re so overwhelmed, don’t give up: “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” (Isaiah 59:19).

Our God loves us dearly, dearly. Proof of this: He preffered to die to save us than to leave us in the dark. But He lives again! And He will soon call us to be with Him!

So hold on. Hold on.

Chilling out…can be dangerous

randominchrist — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:51:16 +0000

Sometimes I really struggle with keeping some of my standards. True, some of them are sometimes ridiculous, but the problem comes in when I want to “fit in” a little bit, “tolerate” a “little”. . . nonsense. Looking back, I see how horrid things became recently when I allowed myself to chill out a bit; an insignificant thought here, a tiny action there. Well, after about two weeks of that, I was a broken mess.

Yesterday morning, my family and I read the parable of the wheat and the tares. After a lot of thought and expounding, my mind got to thinking about compromise and how the church has been significantly altered by it. All the little decisions add up, if only to make a person be more accepting of wrong things.

“Satan doesn’t lead you off the path in one big leap. Instead, he takes you off one tiny degree at a time…”

That’s the essence of something I once heard. Don’t let it happen to you. Believe me, it can cause a lot of grief. Establish your standards between you and the Lord and whoever else ought to be involved and hold fast to them in the strength of the Lord.

Philippians 2:13-”[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.” (Amp.)

In Christ The King

Meshaay

Why Worry?

randominchrist — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:59:22 +0000

Look at Luke 12:25 – “And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” I know I can’t. Verse 26 goes on to say, “If you are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?”

These verses really hit me the other day, and this is how my thoughts went after reading it: As top-of-the-range as I am as a human, I can’t do the simple thing of making myself grow up a little taller. Neither can I naturally turn just one of my hairs a different color!

But God can. And He can do oh, so much more.

The little things and the big things are all done through Him, by His strength. If He chooses, He makes a new person. If He chooses, He takes a person (Psalm 104:29,30). He’s well able to do anything.

So I say, why worry? Our King can do anything and “…it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” So instead of worrying, ask of Him in faith for whatever it is, and accept that He will do it, or do even better than what you could have imagined.

After all, He is our Daddy.

I am clean!

randominchrist — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:42:26 +0000

For the longest time I’ve struggled to understand and accept that I’m accepted in Christ, that I have peace with God, that I am now truly pure in His sight, and things like that. But last week it finally hit me: I am clean! God looks at me and sees me as clean and pure and He calls me that! I’m as much pure as an apple is an apple. It is now who I am. Old things truly have passed away and everything about me is new. That’s what it means that I am a Christian: I love and follow Christ, He treasures me, and I AM CLEAN!! I thank God for having such mercy on me as to make that clear. I sincerely hope He will do the same for you.

If you’re a Christian, you are clean too! Once, you were black, but now you are white. You can be absolutely confident that you are treasured by a real God Who created the beauties of space and the sea. He loves and wants you more than all those other things. He preferred to give His life for you than to leave you alone.

If you’re not a Christian, you can be. All I’m saying is true; you can ask the Lord to show you. I’m sorry if you’re put off Jesus because of hypocrites you’ve seen, but there are true Christians out there. You can become one right now. And in your fellowship with the Lord, you can choose to be real.

In Christ (who loves us so)

Meshaay