In case you haven’t noticed, it tends to start getting a bit cold outside this time of year. It is important to not only light the fire in the furnace but to also light the fire for Christ within. Paul’s final instructions in his first letter to the Thessalonian church (5:12-28) were to work together to keep moving forward and not to become complacent in the church. Encourage, rejoice, pray, and love were his words of choice. These words are verbs, verbs require action, action requires motivation, and this motivation comes from the Holy Spirit. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18) No matter what is going on, we are called to keep our hearts warm by the fire of the Spirit.

In the book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (but were afraid to ask), Eric Metaxas points out that this internal fire can take shape in two very different and yet two very similar ways. The fire of love and the fire of lust. No, I am not talking ‘birds and bees,’ I am talking about love for Christ and lust of religion. These are two very different perspectives that are quite often lumped into one category – “Christian.” Yes, we are called to be passionate about what we believe; we are called to be passionate about the love story between Jesus Christ and His bride the Church. What we are called to be passionate and zealous – ‘sold-out’ if you will – about is our relationship with Jesus Christ; not merely a religion, not a moral code, not a social club, not a particular style of music, not someone’s age, gender, or ethnicity, but the love and mercy of the cross.

“It only takes a little spark to get a fire going; I know the fire is in your heart, so go ahead and show it!” – (Audio Adrenaline – “Start a Fire”) I don’t know about you, but this winter when the wind blows and the clouds get dark, I am going to let the Son shine through it all and warm my frigid heart. The spark can be the easy part; the real challenge comes with the feeding and sustaining of the fire once it is lit. This is where Satan comes in and tries to snuff out your flame. Be like the children who sing: “Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine! Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine!” Stay grounded in the Word and in prayer. Winter can be tough, lots of sports to get excited about, extra time surfing the increasing dangerous internet, and the over-secularization of holidays that used to be dedicated to family and to the worship and thankfulness of the grace of God.

Revelation 3:15 tells us that God does not like lukewarm; He prefers us to be either hot or cold. So this winter, are you going to be hot with the fire of the Holy Spirit? Or are you going to be cold with a heart of stone. Hot or cold, it’s your choice.

History teaches us that standing up for what is right is not always the most popular thing to do.  From ancient prophets to today’s sincere Christians, bad things happen to good people because of mean-spirited people who equate being good to being weak.  Jesus teaches us that only the spiritually strong can stand for righteousness - to be salt and light.  It is easy to just “go with the flow,” but it is difficult to live life upstream, which is how followers of Christ are called to live.  The world doesn’t like strong people; no matter who you are, all leaders will be shot down by those around you.  But if you hold true to your values and earnestly try to live the life that God called you to live, then the Bible promises us that we will receive a reward in heaven that will be greater than any prize that this world can offer.

The Sermon on the Mount can be summed up by “Christ’s Kingdom First.”  We are called to live for His glory, not ours.  We are not called to follow the crowd but instead to be the salt and light of the earth.  People are supposed to look at us and see Jesus.  What do people see when they look at you?  Does your life reflect the world or the Word?  Are you living for the Kingdom, or are you just trying to get by day by day?

God has a plan for you, but you have to give yourself over to His will.  However, this is not the easy road; you will be persecuted and torn down, but God promises to be there with you no matter how dark the world is around you.  Look at what Jesus went through!  He was brutally beaten and executed even though He committed no crime.  But He conquered death!  He rose from the dead and offers new life to us as well!  God wants to restore us spiritually, but we will have to sacrifice some of our physical comforts in order to receive this new life.  The Bible goes on to say that we should rejoice when we are persecuted!  We must let God shine in our weakness, let His strength carry us when we feel like the world is crashing down around us.  If you can stick it out and live for the Kingdom, then your inheritance will be waiting for you in heaven!

Treat: The practice of “trick or treating” exploded in the U.S. during the post WWII years, but its origins are rooted in Medieval and even ancient traditions.

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Trick: The name “Halloween” comes from “All Hallows’ Eve” which signified the night before the Catholic holiday of All Saints’ Day.

Treat: All Saints’ Day was moved to November 1st in 835 AD. Its original spring-time date is still celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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Trick: Halloween dates back to 5 BC with the pagan Celtic harvest celebration called Samhain.

Treat: Samhain also served as a festival to the dead, which can be seen today in many different cultural contexts: Halloween (USA, Canada, Europe), All Saints’ Day (Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist), El Dia de los Muertos (Mexico, Latin America), etc.

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Trick: The most popular Halloween costume in 2009 was Michael Jackson.

Treat: The tradition of wearing costumes originated with the ancient Celtics, who were afraid of ghosts and spirits, hence the tradition of hiding their humanity.

If you want to be known as a child of God, then you must live your life in a way that stands out from people of the world. We, as the “children of God,” are called to love God first and to love others second, period. The Bible teaches that our lives should be built upon those two simple commands. This cannot happen unless we have hearts of peace. The Greek word here for “peacemakers” can also be translated as “ones who love peace.” Do you love peace? Or do you love to fight and argue with those around you? Think about how you treat others – do you earnestly try to get along with others, or are you always looking for ways to cause division and tension?

Think of God like you think of your parents. Do your parents like it better when you are respectful to others? Do you respect their authority peacefully, or do you constantly rebel against them? God loves you, and He wants you to return that love. The best way to show your love for God is to obey His commands and to respect His authority. Give your anger and hate to Him; let the Almighty Lord deal with your problems. The Bible teaches us not to worry about the future but instead to trust that He has a greater purpose and a greater plan for your life. There will be time for judgment, but that time is reserved for God’s perfect judgment. We are called to be peacemakers and ambassadors of heaven – “children of God.”

Let me ask you again, do you love peace? Do you trust in God’s ultimate plan? Do you respect His authority? Do you love Him? Do you love your neighbor? Only you can answer these questions. And remember, it is never too late to make a change. God loves you, and all you have to do is love Him back and trust in Him in order to find life everlasting. Turn to Him, for His love is the source of strength for His children. It is human nature to struggle and fight with others, which is why we need God’s divine grace in order to know how to truly be peacemakers and light-bearers in our cold and dark world.

As Christians, we are called to live with an unwavering confidence in our Lord and God; however, we all know that this is much easier to say than to live.  David was a man that was constantly under attack.  Throughout his life, there was always someone out to take his life, but he never wavered in his trust of God’s protection.  All you have to do is open up the book of Psalms and you will see his heart.  Yes, David knew fear, but he also knew that he served a God who is bigger than his fear.  David may be considered one of the great heroes of the Bible, but he was really no different than you or I.  He fell prey to many of the same things that men today face, most infamously his lust for Bathsheba.  Yet throughout his well-chronicled inner turmoil, David always had a strong sense of God being his rock.  With that foundation alone was he able to go on to become one of the greatest kings in human history.

The Bible promises us that if we are earnestly seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, then we have nothing to fear.  If we build our lives on the rock-solid foundation of God’s covenant made through the blood of Jesus Christ, then there is no power that can separate us from His unending and unconditional love (Romans 8:38-39).  However, this does not mean that being Christian means easy living, quite the opposite in fact.  Being Christian means being tried and tested all the more because the world is designed to make Christians fall.  But, we are to rejoice when we are tested because that is how our faith is made pure (1 Peter 1:6-7).  Be encouraged because not one biblical hero made it through life without being tested – trial by fire is the only way we can become more like Christ.  Go forward, be disciplined, and be free.  If you struggle with fear, feel free to make this your prayer:

“Dear God, please hear my heart.  I want to be free from this fear, please allow me to see myself the way You see me, and pour out Your Spirit on my life.  Test me and try me, but never let my eyes leave heaven.  Give me the strength when I am to endure, and give me an escape when I am to flee.  Gracious Lord, protect me from evil and allow me to forgive as I have been forgiven.  I lift up my burdens, my fear, and my struggles to You and lay them at the foot of the cross.  Allow me to let go of my old self as it has been crucified with Jesus and put on my new self, which is made pure by the blood of the Lamb.  And God, wrap me in Your spiritual armor and equip me with the sword of the Spirit, Your Word.  In Jesus’ name, I declare victory and freedom from all that binds me.  Sin and death no longer have power over my life in Jesus’ name.  Amen.”

Jesus is a heart guy.  He doesn’t care who you are or what you’ve done; He cares about the motivation behind your actions.  Everyday, we all make decisions about how we are going to live our lives.  Sometimes we make good decisions, sometimes we make bad decisions, and most of those decisions cannot be taken back.  However, each new day brings new decisions, and each new decision brings new opportunities to help you get to where you want to be.  Learn from your past, but don’t live in it.

The Bible tells us that if we seek God, then He will welcome us in.  We must earnestly seek His purpose for our lives – that is how we stay pure.  If we are totally committed to living life the way God wants us to live, then we will stay pure, and we will see God.  You have to believe that there is something bigger than yourself to live for.  God has a plan, He has a purpose for you and for me.  But we all have our own dreams and desires, our own vision of “the perfect life.”  We have to be willing to give that up and trust that God has something even better in store for us.  Only by giving up our hearts can we truly see God.

God wants us to love Him.  This is why we have free will because forced love is not real love.  The relationship between Jesus and His Church is to be like the relationship between man and wife – two becoming one.  We must let God’s Spirit into our hearts, and we must give ourselves over to Him.  There is s freedom and a strength in God’s love that can be found nowhere else – and this love is openly offered as a free gift via the blood of Jesus.

However, Columbus’ legacy is stained because of how he treated the indigenous peoples that he encountered; his heart was set on making money, and the native people were viewed as tools that he could use to achieve his dreams of wealth and power.  This has led to many Hispanic communities adopting Dia de la Raza (“Day of the Race”) as an alternate celebration in order to commemorate the plurality and unique culture that developed as an outgrowth of the Age of Discovery.

The spirit of the holiday is not meant to be divisive but to be celebratory of  the history of how the New World was opened up to become the world’s melting pot.  We are all free and united today because of the courage of the many explorers that set out to settle in the Americas.  This is not about one man or one race; this is about how we, the free people of the Americas, were given the opportunity to build up our own societies.  Let us, at least for one day a year, come together as one people in remembrance of how we got where we are today.

]]> http://www.rightchoicetoday.com/paradigmshift/archives/fall6/feed/ 0 http://www.rightchoicetoday.com/paradigmshift/archives/fall5/ http://www.rightchoicetoday.com/paradigmshift/archives/fall5/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:00:54 +0000 dmcxiii http://www.rightchoicetoday.com/paradigmshift/?p=135 Fall: Week Five
Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
~ Matthew 5:6 ~

The words hunger and thirst have lost a lot of their meaning over the years. In the land of dollar menus and water fountains, we do not know what it is like to be truly hungry or truly thirsty. How blessed are we today to be able to stop for a drink at a water fountain while out running in a park? That’s not how it was back when Jesus used this metaphor. To be hungry meant that you were starving, having gone days without a decent meal. To be thirsty meant that that you were literally dying of thirst; it is mostly desert out in that part of the world.

When you take this verse in its original context, the meaning changes a bit. The people who are blessed here are those who are longing and yearning for complete righteousness. They cannot be filled with just a bite of righteousness, but need the full meal. Their hunger cannot be satisfied by a mere snack of justice; their thirst cannot be quenched by a mere sip of honesty, but only be total and absolute goodness.

Absolute goodness cannot be found in this world. No one is completely righteous. This hunger and thirst for righteousness will never be fully satisfied by this world. The only way to be fulfilled is to be filled with the bread of life and the living water of Jesus. – “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35) Please read all of John chapter six to see this whole story:

Jesus starts out by feeding five-thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. Then comes the scene of Jesus walking on the water. Now after the crowd at Tiberias realized that Jesus and his disciples were gone, they went looking for him. They found him at Capernaum and start to inquire about the previous day’s events. This is where Jesus separates his true followers from those who are just coming along for the ride by claiming that he was the bread of life and that the only way to eternal life is through him.

Ask yourself if this is how you live. Are you yearning for complete and total righteousness? Do you find yourself left unsatisfied by all the things of this world? The only comfort is found in Christ, the bread of life.

Blessed Are the Meek:

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

~ Matthew 5:5 ~

The English word “meek” is misleading.  It is often defined as being submissive or even spineless, but the Greek word “plaus” that is used here is a much deeper word.  “Meek” is not something that we often want to be known as, but “plaus” was an honorable adjective in ancient Greece. Some versions of the Bible translate “plaus” as “gentle,” but even that in the English fails to convey the whole meaning of this word. So as I was researching to try to get to the root of this mysterious word, I stumbled once again upon William Barclay’s The Daily Study Bible and found this interpretation: “O the bliss of the man who is always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time, who has every instinct, and impulse, and passion under control because he himself is God-controlled, who has the humility to realise his own ignorance and his own weakness, for such a man is a king among men!”

The theme of humble, gentle people rising to the top of society runs throughout the narrative of the Old Testament; from Adam and Eve, to Abraham (Dt 4:38), to Moses (Num 12:3), and to David (Ps 37:11). Jesus uses this radical ideology to demonstrate that His followers were to be set apart from and not to conform to the way that the world is run. In our society, we our taught at a very young age that the only way to get through life is to cheat, fight, and do anything and everything to win; ‘the end justifies the means’ if you will. That mindset is not compatible to Christ’s kingdom. It is different, and we as members of that kingdom are required to live different.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). This verse is a rally call, it was for ancient Israel, and it certainly is for the members of Christ’s kingdom. If we are going to ‘take this world back for Christ,’ then we must humble ourselves before the Lord and let Him do His work through us. Strive to be meek, strive to be humble, strive to be different, but most importantly, strive to grow closer to Jesus Christ, for He is our Brother, our Friend, our Savior, and our King.