Faith

Okay, so a few weeks ago when I said I was going to try and keep this up to date, I didn't imagine all the moving of stuff and unpacking I would have to go through as well as all the welcome week stuff and that I would be so busy meeting new people. School is finally settling down and I cleaned out the binder as well as the backpack so that as the 2nd week starts, I am able to stay more organized and get things going smoothly as soon as possible. God is doing amazing things and I know that he is at work in many of the kids here and in my life. This weekend some of the guys and I hung out and talked a little and we learned a lot about each other. Our baseball team sees adversity on the field everyday and each one of us learned about some struggles that our fellow team members face. As individuals, we could judge each other and say we are bad people or that we have made poor choices, or we can hold each other accountable and understand where our fellow "brothers" come from. As I have written about before, the past should not hold us down and when we deal with things with God, He cleans us up and makes us new again. It is not easy to share things with fellow believers face to face but being that we are bonding and forming lifelong friendships, we have to be open and we have to be willing to let each other know what we are struggling with. In regards to being forgiven from God, it takes the faith and willingness to accept responsibility for our decisions otherwise we can never find forgiveness.

Now you may think that I am crazy and that all it takes is to ask forgiveness from God and it is automatically done. Well, let us take a look at Romans 10:9-11 which states, "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' " I have been reading Matthew because in one of my classes this semester, we have to read the whole New Testament afresh and if the Romans reference was not enough, let us take a look at Matthew. I have noticed that in Matthew, the central theme seems to be Faith. There are several times in the book when Jesus talks about the faith of people, "Your faith has healed you," or, "According to your faith will it be done to you," and another time, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would," yet again in Chapter 9, "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." These are just a few examples about how the book's main theme is faith. Without faith we are nothing and Hebrews 11:1 states, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." This verse illustrates the Matthew examples very well in that the people who came to Jesus did not know whether he could actually do what they had heard, but they had faith and even if it was small, they still had what Jesus was looking for. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus states, " 'Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Faith is so crucial to living a life that God is looking for. The disciples had the power to cast out the demons from the little boy but they did not have faith that they could actually do it and we have the power to turn the world around for God but we have to actually believe it is true and have faith that our efforts will bear good fruit. Until we completely grasp this concept, we cannot do anything.

Hopefully these posts will become more of a regular occurrence but we will see how school and baseball goes tomorrow. I hope you are all doing well and if there is anything you would like for me to pray about for you, I will most certainly remember that and please continue to pray for me. I know God is here for me but I still struggle and I still need to hold onto him 100% of the time.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Repentance

I am beginning to realize that I leave for another year at college in just about a day. I am packed up and will probably load my car tomorrow night. It has been an eventful summer to say the least and I am very excited to see what God has in store for me this school year. Last year it was growing closer to him and diving into his word more and this year I expect more and to really undergo a huge transformation in Christ. Sure I have had my share of mistakes and situations to learn from but that is what makes me unique as a Christian. My downfalls and triumphs make my testimony relate to the unchurched and show them the hand of God on my life. While I do not condone sin or purposefully making "mistakes" in order to make your story good, I do think that we should take our experiences that have hurt us and use it for the glory of God in how is has changed us. Sometimes we feel like we have to be on the outside looking in just to fit in like everyone else but honestly who sits outside when there is a party going on inside that they could join? The answer is simple, those who are too afraid to join and those who feel like they will not fit in. The nice thing about God's party is that everyone is invited, it is just a matter of whether or not you choose to join. Sure people might look at you as if you do not belong but the Bible says it is not our place to judge and that God is the ultimate decider. I might spend my whole life striving to do good and end up making mistakes everyday until I die but if God looks at me and says, "You did everything you could to live for me and stayed out of situations you should not have been in, and I thank you for that,"then I know that I have done a good job. I cannot be disappointed for doing my ABSOLUTE best and failing when I know that occasionally I will fail. Ted Williams once said, "Baseball is the only field of endeavor in which a man can succeed 3 times out of 10 and be considered a good performer." It has to be noted that failure is a part of life, how we view that failure and how we bounce back is probably one of the things people will remember most about us.

God warns us about repentance and the consequences of having a hard heart as well as sin. The one thing that brings sadness to God is sin. Sin is responsible for all that is bad in the world. Sure people make decisions and carry out that sin but without sin, our world would be perfect. People could not die because there would be no penalty for sin. In regards to temptation and sin, those of us who know better and have sinned are able to help those who struggle with sin and do not know better. Just as Jesus was tempted so he could sympathize with us, we are able to do the same. As I stated before though, we should not praise our sin or that we have downfalls but we should use them to build others up and be teachers as we experience what every other human being experiences. When it comes to repentance, God had some very stern words that he spoke through Zechariah in chapter 1 of Zechariah. Starting with verse 2, he states, "The Lord was very angry with your forefathers. Therefore tell the people : This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'And I will return to you.' says the Lord Almighty. Do not be like your forefathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.' But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. Where are your forefathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever? But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your forefathers? 'Then they repented and said, "The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.' " You see, it is not just Christians today saying, "Turn or burn," this has been going on for year. While not the most effective way of ministry, it should be noted that everyone know their fate should they choose a path of destruction. Whether you are a Christian or not, EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue WILL confess as stated in Philippians 2:10-11. The clock is ticking and nobody knows when it will run out, or if it will in this lifetime but as we read the other night, "The Kingdom of heaven is near." why wait to make sure that you are going to heaven?

I hope you all read this with a sincere heart and Christian or not, think about dedicating/rededicating yourself to the Lord if you have made some mistakes but you have not thought to seek forgiveness. Please let me know in a message or comment that you did so. You can remain anonymous, but just know that I DO care and that I want to see God move in a radical way across this world. You can even text/call me and let me know, my number is 480-292-1754. I hope you all have/had a wonderful day and I hope to hear from some of you.

God Bless,
Joseph Robinson

Blessings or Curses Pt. 2

So as I said, I would be back late in the night to finish the second part of Chapter 18 of Deuteronomy. As I said at the end of the last post, verses 15-68 of this chapter are not the most encouraging words in the Bible if you are looking for comfort. The warning could not be more clear and the reality of what will come upon those who disobey is rather harsh. Now this was written to the next generation of Israel as they prepared to enter the promise land and God wanted to make it very clear to them how important obeying is. Sure we hear about respecting elders and honoring our father and mother but what about honoring God, our heavenly father? It takes a lot of work to be obedient every second of every day because we like to go out and do things on our own or one could say it is in our human nature to be defiant. From the time we are infants, we do stuff we are told not to do because we are curious as to where it will lead us. The idea though is that we learn as infants what leads us into trouble and we stay away from those things as we grow up. This is why the Bible says we need to stop taking the milk at some point and eat solid food. Spiritually we must grow and we must move towards the throne with every passing day otherwise we will go on making the same mistakes and never moving forward. I know that it can be tough to accept that we need to grow up but it is apart of life and it needs to be a part of the Christian walk. If we choose not to grow or to continue being disobedient, then God wants us to know that we will not be welcome into his kingdom and that we will live a life of sorrow, regret, and complete unhappiness.

What kind of stuff is waiting for those who disobey? Well, the rest of the chapter is rather long so I will just point out a key paragraph that I believe is applicable today and illustrates God's point rather well. Verses 45-48 state, "All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you." If this is not enough of a warning and does not show the wrath of God, I do not know what would convince a person to make a lifestyle change in order to follow God. Just to understand the difference between receiving blessings or curses is great wisdom. Being able to discern what is best and to live a lifestyle that not only makes you happy but also brings joy and honor to the Creator is a great way to go about life. Why do we not always live an obedient life? Well as I stated before, human nature. We are just so caught up in what we want and what our body and mind tell us, that we tend to forget about the spirit or we just ignore the spirit for awhile. Hiding from God or the spirit can make getting back on track tough because just as Satan tears you down, he does not want you to get back up and will try to convince you that you cannot get back to the point you were at before so you should just stay down. The truth is that if you want to get up, God is still there with open arms and will allow your spirit to be renewed so that you can fight the devil and his evil schemes. I will be honest that not a day goes by where I do not face some sort of decision that could lead to sin, whether it is old decisions that have hurt me in the past or new decisions that could lead to a whole new world of trouble, I go up against temptation everyday and I cannot stand up against it without the help of God. Until I am willing to let God take control and guide me, I will never be able to get by and be obedient to him.

Read Mark 14:38. If you do not have a bible, search online for the verse, if you would like a bible, let me know.

God is at work and we need to acknowledge him, keep pressing on and do not ever give up. Please continue to pray for me and I will pray for the blog and those that read it. Hope you all had a great day and leave comments if you would like.

God Bless,
Joseph Robinson

Blessings or Curses?

Today's post or rather yesterday's post would have been up last night but I was busy spending time with my family yesterday and got side tracked. When I finally was going to post, I was unable to get on the computer so I thought I would just post early this morning and again later tonight. I still have to work out getting into habit of making time to post everyday like I used to and prioritizing things that are beneficial to me so that I can complete everything that I want to everyday. Yesterday my post talked about following the Lord and doing what he commands rather than simply just saying, "I know him." Unfortunately if you do that he will say in the end, "I do not know you, depart from me." Life appears to be a walk in the park for many as they find it relaxing yet sometimes stressful and they just have to go through the routine everyday to get by. Just getting through the grind every week is enough for most people and they think nothing of it. As Christians, life is a constant struggle against fighting Satan and sin. We can make the choice to follow God but sin will come knocking when it has the opportunity and how we respond to the temptation shows us how devoted we are. I myself can make decisions and when a tough time arises or I know that I want to change my decision, it becomes a struggle. Sticking with the original decision and following what is noble, trustworthy, and pure will be much more rewarding than choosing to give in the answer is found in the Old Testament.

We see in Deuteronomy 28:1-14, we see that obeying the Lord not only makes you the quality of person that he is looking for but he also promises to bless you and look out for you. Verse 9-10 states, "The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you." How can people know you have been called if you do not show the difference in a life following the call and someone who has not heard the call? People look for something different in Christians and Christians always have the spotlight on them. I do not believe it is because people are looking for flaws but because people want to see the good and perfect but they come up disappointed by those who simply say they know and do not follow. I cannot call out other Christians as I am guilty of this at one point or another but it is a warning to step back and analyze the life you live in private as well as when you are around others. We have been called to a higher standard because an example needs to be set for all to see and if we hide in the shadows for fear of persecution or just simply being alone, we should know that God is in control and he will never leave us so we will never be alone. In regards to standing alone, if the church stood with common ground and everyone together made a stand, one person would not have to live the "called" lifestyle alone. The truth is that we have all been called and if we answer the call we will receive the blessings as stated in chapter 28.

In closing, I would like to make some statements about the closing paragraph of the first section of Chapter 28. Verses 12-14 state, "The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them." The blessings are endless and God tells us that we will give, give, give, to others and borrow from none. Our blessings will be rich with his love and he will never forsake us. It is important however to understand God's time and to let his plan take it's course because we cannot force him to give us what we want. He also says we will always be at the top, never at the bottom and if that is not comforting to hear, I do not know what is. Most people would kill to be at the top of something but to be promised to be at the top is most certainly a blessing.

Later today, I will post regarding the curses should one choose not to follow his commands and let me warn you, that it is a much longer section than the blessings. We might enjoy the blessings we receive but we most certainly do not want all the curses for being disobedient. I hope you all had a great day and that Monday has started off well for you. Please let me know of any prayer requests you may have.

God Bless,
Joseph Robinson

Picking it up

As you all have noticed, I have taken a sort of hiatus this summer from the blog. I took time to relax after work and have done many things such as playing baseball and hanging out with friends I have not seen in almost a year. I had my girlfriend Chelsi come to Arizona and visit so that she could meet my parents and some family and I have spent time in California with my brother whom I love very much even though he tries to boss me around and he can get on my nerves at times. I find that during the difficult times, it is easy to be in the word but not necessarily easy to be an imitator of the word. We make plans and we know how we always want things to turn out but sometimes we have to step back and let God's plan and his work take it's course and guide us through life. If we are in line with his plans then what we have planned should not be a problem but if we force the issue, that is when we need to step back and take a long look at what we are trying to do. It is never easy to walk alone or to make major plans on our own but that is why God IS always there and he is waiting with open arms for us to return to him when we walk away. I would not say I have necessarily fallen this summer but I have not exactly been seeking God with my WHOLE heart like I know I should have been. I know this blog has been a blessing to many people and it has also helped me when I am going through rough times because it helps me actually evaluate the word for what it is worth and actually apply it. I want to (seriously) get back on track with this and pick up right where I left off. I want people to expect great things from God and to know that there will be something for them to read every night or whenever they come on here to read it. Sometimes I forget that it is not just me being a blessing unto others but God being a blessing through me and that cannot happen unless I do what he has asked of me. We see in 1 John 2:4-6 which states, "The man who says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." This illustrates that in order to know him, we must follow him. It is not just a statement of faith or a simple "I know him" but it is truly following what the word says and doing one's best to uphold the truths found within His word. We all make mistakes but how we respond to those mistakes is what our integrity and wisdom is made up of. Do we continue to be foolish and make the same mistakes or do we learn from our mistakes and move forward?

John the Baptist is quoted as saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Most people would probably say he was crazy just as some of the people of that time thought. He was quoted saying that thousands of years ago and the Lord has not returned. However, the Bible also warns to always be ready and we should not go to bed on any night with any doubt in my mind where we would go if the Lord returned in the night or the next day. When you make a mistake or sin, it is easy to say that you will ask forgiveness later but why wait when you can make amends with your creator right then and there. Sure you feel like you are not worthy but he feels as though you are. We serve a patient, loving, understanding, and humble God who cares about us very much and will welcome us with open arms as long as we are sincere. 2nd Peter 3 talks about the day of the Lord and the return and I find comfort in verses 14-18 which state, "So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that out Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes in the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of out Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. " My bible acknowledges that sometimes the Scriptures can be hard to follow but they have been written so that we can gain understanding in Christ and grow in knowledge and depth of insight. We all have within us to do whatever God has called us to do, I mean people wrote the Bible based on what was inspired in them by God. They could have just said, "oh no, that is too hard and I do not think I could ever do something like that," but they believed in what they were being told and they believed in their purpose and they never gave up. If you look at great people in the Bible throughout history, the ones who persevered and never gave up were the ones who are remembered for what they did. If you want to be remembered before the Father and leave your mark on people in this world, you have to keep pushing and fighting the good fight because perseverance is key in the fight to never giving up on God or the plan he has for your life.

I know it has been a long time but like I said, I am going to get back on this and we will make another run at what God has in store for this blog and the people who read it. Please keep praying for me and if you need anything please let me know. I have a friends and family overseas in foreign countries who need prayer and I pray for them daily. Keep pressing on and seeking his plan for your life. I hope you all have been doing well and I hope you all continue to read and start reading again.

God Bless,
Joseph Robinson

Responsibility

I have been thinking about my first we here at work in California and I have to say that I was not really happy at first with what I was given my first day on the job and I was rather bitter about it all day. As the days have progressed though and I knew what was going to be expected of me during my day at work and there were no complaints from me. Next week I will have new tasks and one might even venture to say an "easier job" but it will still be work and I will have certain responsibilities bestowed upon me by my employer and I must not only to it with a good heart but do it to the best of my abilities as well. In the same way, we are given responsibilities with God and in our Christian walk, how we handle ourselves determines how much we grow and how much we can do with the tools we have been given in life. For instance we can only help others if we first have set ourselves straight with God and are striving to do his glory. Sure you can reach some but you will not know the full benefits of what God has in store for what you are doing and what he is doing for others unless you have a firm walk with him. Other times we tend to think we can take on more than we can and we end up getting burned or falling down, this comes along with knowing your limits and what is expected of you. It is not bad to exceed expectations but it is also foolish to do much more than you really can.

A verse that conveys this message is Luke 16:10 which states, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." I think that this is telling us that no matter what role we are playing in working to build His Kingdom, we should understand that when we show what we can handle and have proven we can handle it, God will increase our load. For instance, you might think you are management material when you get an entry-level position but until you show what you can do and people see what you can and cannot handle, then you will be relegated to just doing what you have been given. If the management sees that you are excelling and have great promise, then you might just have a shot at receiving that position that you wanted at first. In the same way with our Christian walks, we cannot just try to jump in and say "God this is what I am ready for and this is where I want to be." We need to realize that our Christian walk is determined by our pace (in a sense) and we should be looking to grow everyday but not try to skip steps along the way. God gives us guidelines that will increase our passion for him and for changing the world but we have to follow his plan and let his Word guide us. I know that God is watching me carefully in certain areas because he has a reason not to trust me at certain times because I have not proved I am worthy of trust in certain areas. However, I am working at pushing myself and showing him that I can be trusted and that I am seeking him with all aspects of my life and I am seeing good benefits from it, but it is just the beginning.

I hope you all had a great day and hopefully some of you are getting back into reading this daily but I am praying for all of you and hope that God is continuing to guide you as you seek him.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Working toward the goal

I have been wondering for months and months about the things that I do that please God in my everyday life and there are plenty of things that reflect God in my life but there are still some areas I need to work on. One thing I have discussed with my girlfriend, Chelsi, is that no matter what, God needs to always be the focus when things are good and when things are bad. Even when we feel like we have it all figured out, God needs to be the center of our relationship because without him we are nothing. We cannot do stuff that is not pleasing to God not just because we feel like we want his blessing and so we should please him, but also because we want to and it is the right thing to do. We have discussed that it is not just enough to go to church every Sunday, whether it is together or separate. We have to be in the word individually and together and we must pray individually as well as together because everything we have between us and everything we are as individuals comes only from him. We do not want to act like we are living for God to please everyone who wonders if we are good bible-believing as well as FOLLOWING Christians. We want to be just as Christ was in reaching out to the world and living a life worthy of the calling he has placed upon our lives. We have individually had pasts that we are not proud of but we have discussed the fact that we need to leave them behind us and work for the glory of God and use our pasts to help people who struggle with similar things (mainly teens). Recognizing that God needs to be the focus not only in a relationship but also individually in your life is a major step but it is just the first step, he actually needs to become the focus 100% of the time. When you have God being the focus and you are living your life for him, you will see the benefits of it, no doubt. Just be careful that you do not think you can do it on your own or that you are bigger than temptation by yourself because that is when you tend to fall and Satan tries to grab ahold of you.

I finally got my devotional book back that I lost last December and I do not remember where I left off but I turned to Day 12 and found this verse which is something that me and Chelsi have discussed from other passages but this one gives pretty clear instructions for us. Ecclesiastes 2:26 states, "To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God." I do not know about you, but I do not want to work my whole life only to find that everything I have ever done was all for nothing and that it was just so someone else could benefit because they lived a life that was pleasing to God. Obviously we want to do things for the benefit of others but when you have been working and storing up, you do not want to have it taken away because you were not faithful or you did not follow what you were supposed to. It is one thing to have something stolen from you, but to have your master take something from you because you were not obedient is enough to make anyone want to please and follow him because they do not want to see all their hard work taken from them. If we just take time to acknowledge God and give him his due, then we do not have anything to worry about, he will take care of us. We cannot expect a huge house with the most expensive cars, but he will take care of our needs because we remained faithful to him, in his timing everything will work out and we need to constantly to remind ourselves of that. We tend to get caught up with what we want and when we want it, but God is trying to tell us to just be patient and to see that he has something for us but we can be stubborn and close our ears because our plan is SO much better. In the end we feel empty and then we turn to God and we are surprised when we see what he has for us. It is not a matter of opinion, it is a fact that God will provide given the circumstances, all he asks for is what he is due, nothing less, nothing more, he demands so little of us when we look at the big picture but we tend to think that he has this giant laundry list of things for us to do. I know that when I turn to God, my life runs at a much easier pace and even though I have not swerved off the path too much recently, I need to make sure that I stay on the straight road that leads to the narrow gate and that I do not deviate from it.

That being said, keep seeking him no matter what and do not be discouraged if you hit a bump in the road because God is ALWAYS there just waiting for you to listen to him. I am praying for all of you and praying that people will start reading again. It killed me everyday that I did not post but for some reason I just could not do it and for that I am sorry but I hope I can get this going again and can expand the reading group even bigger than before. Tell your friends who might be saved or unsaved, if you think that there is a day they REALLY need to read, recommend it to them or send them the day in a message or e-mail but spread the Word, that is all I am doing and if you can, you should do the same.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Back again

So I know it has been over a month since I last posted and in the last post I said I was not done but I got rather busy with finals and trying to get everything done for admission to my new school and I just could not find time to post. A lot has happened in the last month and I will bring some of you up to speed for those of you that do not know what is going on in my life. I am attending North Central University in Minneapolis, Minnesota next year where I will be majoring in Sports Management and getting a minor in Youth Ministries, I will also be playing on the baseball team there and most likely will be a starter. I met an amazing girl during my last month in Kansas and not only has she become my girlfriend but she has also become my best friend. We talk everyday and in the past few weeks as our relationship has grown, we have begun to make God the center of everything we do and we have changed as well as set boundaries in our relationship to ensure that God's will is being done through us and that we are following his plan for us. We try to have a bible study nightly or at least send verses to each other to read and sort of review so that we can talk about them or at least look at what the other is reading and see what God is speaking to that person. Lastly, I am in California for 5-6 weeks until I head home for a few days to a week before I head back to California (possibly). Busy busy I know but I am trying to get things reorganized so that I can post on a daily basis and continue to receive what God has for me daily instead of just in church or when I feel like I NEED him because I am wavering from the path. This post might be a little out of the ordinary for me and some of you may not agree but I have had this on my mind for almost a month now and feel it is something that should be discussed among believers and non-believers alike.

Today it is my opinion that the Christian world tends to shut out anything that does not tailor to the building up of themselves which is exactly what it needs to be doing, but at the same time, it does not look at the messages the world is trying to convey which can tell us that they are desperately looking for something and are lost. I understand it is rather impossible to listen to any secular music being a Christian because I would say 90% of the time the lyrics are demeaning or have curse words in them and you cannot build yourself and maintain a holy place for God while listening to it but I think that though very much distorted, the secular world can convey good messages you may ask where I am going with this and the song "Dead and Gone" by T.I (featuring Justin Timberlake) is a good example of this. Some of the lyrics are, "I turn my head to the east I dont see nobody by my side

I turn my head to the west still nobody in sight So I turn my head to the north, swallow that pill that they call pride That old me is dead and gone, but the new me will be alright Ohh I've been travelin on this road too long (too long) Just trying to find my way back home (back home)

The old me is dead and gone, dead and gone " and these lyrics in my interpretation are saying that no matter which way we look in today's world, we are usually left standing alone and sometimes we need to just swallow our pride and look to the one who CAN do something for us, obviously this will not be pulled out of the song by those who could not see a reference to God or the writers/performers might not have even noticed it, but the cool thing is that God works in ways that we could never imagine and sometimes he uses people who have influence without them even recognizing what they are doing. We see in Ephesians 4:22-25, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put of falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body." No matter how much you want to, until you leave your old ways behind, you cannot move on in the new body and new life. You can ask forgiveness but until you take off that old self and commit to the future and living a pure life, the changes are not evident. Our past will haunt us as long as we let it but when we say no more and move on, God will guide us and move us closer to him with each day and moment that we choose to seek him.

I hope you do not take this the wrong way but I felt that the world is trying to convey a mixed message in it's media but the undertones are there. If somehow we as Christians can relate to the world and show them that we are not all that different, we just choose to follow something that we believe has a lifetime and an eternity of fulfillment, then maybe, just maybe we can find that common ground and bring them in. Trust me when I say from experience that when you look for fulfillment in the world, it is not all that it is cracked up to be and it leaves you unsatisfied in the end, I have a few friends who would concur with me on that as well. But when you seek God and fulfillment in him, nothing brings a better feeling of satisfaction and peace then that, and I have friends who can attest to that as well. I hope you all enjoyed this post and I look forward to posting daily again.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Not Over

I know I have not posted in a while and I said I was not done and I want you to know that I am not done. I have had a hard time getting things straightened out recently and have not been spending ALL my time very wisely. I have been studying and bringing my grades up to what I know I am capable of by proving it on my tests. It is not that I was slacking, it is just that I was not trying my best on tests because I just have accepted that I am not a good test taker but that does not have to be the case if I put more time into it. The past week has sent many tests my way and Satan has tried to fight his way in but last night i put my foot down with the help of Christ and I told Satan that he has a foothold no more. I finally decided to "Man Up" and make changes that I have desperately needed to make in order to grow in ways I never thought I could. I explained things to someone and I had no idea what I was saying except for what God was speaking through me. I was not speaking in tongues but I know the words coming to my lips were not just my own thoughts but they were Christ speaking through me so that someone could better understand something and understand where I am coming from. I have made excuses to not post in the past week or so and I have shut God out, I apologized to him because he deserves to be first in my life because he sent his only Son to die for me because he cared that much about me. Jesus hung on the cross for me even when my mistakes were already known, even though he knew I would take advantage of grace without even RECOGNIZING that I was. The grace of God is enough but when we abuse it, it loses it's meaning to us and no longer has the power it had (on those who take advantage of it) until changes become evident in their life. We cannot keep on sinning so that grace may increase.

I do not want to pose any new verses or ideas really but I want to address an old one and bring a new philosophy that I have probably already addressed and since I know that I probably will not go back and read it, I will quite possibly post it for a second time tonight. I posted a while back on Romans 7 which states, "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do." I have struggled with this and it crosses my mind every time I find myself in a situation I should never be in to begin with or when I sin and know that I did wrong, I think if we look at this in a negative way and think that we are going to just continue living like this and we can do nothing about it, then we will continue to sin and just think it is apart of our human nature because we sin, we are human. But why not think of it this way? "For what I want to do I do, but not what I hate to do." Why would we do something that we despise or hate anyway? I do not think that it makes sense that we would continue going on doing things that we hate to do or that make us feel bad afterward because in the end there is no reward or satisfaction, just temporary satisfaction. I know that every time I sin (no matter what it is), I get temporary happiness (fake happiness) if you will and then it goes away and I am left unfulfilled. But Jesus tells the woman at the well to drink his water and she shall never thirst again and we should long for the water and bread of Christ so that we will never go unfulfilled again. From here on out, I do what my heart in Christ wants to do, not that which I hate. If I am filled with the desire of Christ and long for it, then I am going to make sure that I pursue it and do not ignore it. Too long has God gone unnoticed in my life and on my campus, I have been talking about change and revival, well it starts here and now, we press on toward the goal which we have been called heavenward and we will see it to the end!

I am going to get back on daily posting, this weekend will be hectic as I will be heading to Minnesota to visit a school but I am excited to see what God has for me. My prayer has been lacking lately, so please pray for me about that and I will remember all of you in prayer tonight. Have a great evening and keep seeking Him!

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Hold Fast

Tonight was a wake up call to me. No matter how many times you tell yourself you will not do something, you never know until the time comes to make a decision. Sometimes it is God's plan that opens your eyes and tells you to search yourself and go back to your roots. We work so hard everyday to cut down evil in our society but when it comes to us, what are we doing to cut out the evil from our lives. I woke up this morning with a great idea of what today was going to be like and it turned out to be nothing like I had expected. God showed me that when I think I'm safe, I need to guard my heart and turn back to him. I was walking from my car to my dorm and told God that I knew he was walking right next to me and I needed to spend some time with him because I wanted him to know that I had not forgotten about him, I had not left him behind for other things or other people. We tend to get distracted easily and when God "brings" something or someone into our life, we thank him but sometimes he still tends to get pushed to the side when he should be the center of our focus. Promises do not mean a thing unless you uphold them, we need to hold firmly to the faith we profess and not let anything hinder us. Just as in the past, God has been trying to get my attention and it finally took something big for me to realize that I need to stop trying to do it on my own. I am saying, "Jesus I surrender it all to you and I'm ready to let you take 100% control, I am not going to do ANYTHING on my own anymore, you will be the center of my life."

There are many sayings, "Good things come to those who wait," "In the end everything will be okay," "Do not give up, just know that the end is near." I know a few of them are a stretch but in one form or another, they are all true. Galatians 6:9 says it best, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." God has a plan, a time, and a place for everything. He wants us to be happy and he wants us to grow, he also wants us to have patience and see that everything he has for us will be great as long as we work on his time. He does not hide things that are beneficial to us, instead he teaches us to find our desires by seeking him and becoming lost in him and we takes care of the rest. I have lost sight of that before and I do not want to do it again. I serve a God who is all things, above all things, and through all things, and I am not ready to give up on him. It takes an earthly man to fulfill the desires of the sinful nature but it takes a mighty God to fulfill the desires of the heart and of the spirit. Let us not forget that he paid the price so we do not have to. We account for all things we have done on the day of judgement, what will you have to account for?

I hope you all had an awesome day, please keep praying for me as I need it for sure. I am praying for all of you and will be posting regularly as I know God will strengthen me through it. Keep seeking him and do not lose sight of the reason why we are here.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Smart

This past weekend was amazing. The retreat I went to in Kansas City was one of the best experiences I have ever had. Applying what I learned will be a tough task but I know that I can and that I need to do it in order to really seek God and allow him to move in the ways I have been talking about on here since last October. God has showed me a lot of things in the past week and he has definitely showed me that I am strong but not that strong. He has showed me that I need to watch out not only for myself but also for others so that I do not allow them to slip. God brings great people into our lives but he also allows us to decide what we do when we meet those people. Making promises is a big thing and keeping those promises takes a lot of work and restraint sometimes in order to make those promises come through. Sometimes where you feel you are your strongest, you are at your weakest. The verse that keeps standing out to me is Mark 14:38 because even though the disciples were with Jesus, he still told them to watch and pray so as to not fall into sin. Talk is great but the actions that back up that talk are what truly shows your character and it can define who you are or who you become. When people begin to trust you, they look to you for guidance and help in situations they are going to have a hard time getting through but you have to stand strong and allow that trust to develop because at first they have faith that they can trust you but until you show that they can trust you, they will never know. If there is one thing I learned away from the conference, it is that when people make mistakes, they tend to regret them and if they find God or turn back to him, they know that when he made a promise or said something would be better if they just listened, he was telling the truth. When we make wise or smart decisions (however you want to say it), we put ourself out of harm's way and we do not put ourselves into situations in which we will not be tempted. Even when evil is knocking on the door, we have to overcome and stick to our promises and hold to the promises that God gave us.

I struggle everyday as I would assume most of us do. There is a constant spiritual battle for our souls and Satan desperately wants to win so he will throw anything at us. I can tell right now that Satan wants me, and he tries to whisper to me and put things in my head that I do not want to be thinking. I have God with me and have been doing a MUCH better job of listening to him. I am not only grateful that he has empowered me to do this but I am proud that I have been able to actually listen for once and not keep screwing up. No matter how hard I work, there will always be more to do and it will be an uphill battle until I find myself at a point in which I am completely serving God 24/7. I know that I will still be tempted and Satan will try to pull me down but I will be stronger and will be ready to stand against anything that he throws at me. The Bible says that we prowls around like a lion seeking to devour those who are weak. Well, I have news for him. With the help of God and the strength that he provides, I am going to be waiting for him when he comes out of the cave and the rifle will be cocked and loaded. When we have the the tools to overcome him, we had better use them because they are there for a reason and God has not given us stuff to just sit on. I am excited to see where God is leading me and I am continually seeking his guidance.

I hope that you all had a great day! Sorry for not posting over the weekend, a conference 2 hours away, 3 baseball games, and some studying made for a busy weekend and free time that was spent with friends. Please keep praying for me and if you would like prayer please let me know.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Wait, What?

So I have decided to take a different approach to how I do this in that instead of just reading and then posting, I am going to take more time and sort of let the reading digest into my soul. Also, I think that I have not been doing a good job of spending time with God but instead I just get my food from him and dash. I think that reading and then allowing myself to process what I have just read as well as spend time actually talking to God about it, I will not only get more out of what I am reading but I will also grow closer to him in regards to listening to his call and having a relationship with him. Too long have I sat around and just prayed asking for guidance and then moved on not even waiting for an answer. I tend to just wait for him to "send" me a sign through an everyday situation and if I do not get it, then I guess i just tend to make a decision on my own and carry on. It is not enough to just pray, but to listen closely for the voice of God. Sure we get our bread at church and we might receive a calling or hear his voice but what about the other 5-6 days of the week? Do we just go about living life on our own accord and just look to God on Sunday or do we actually talk to him as if he were a person right in front of us? Are we afraid that if we talk out loud to him in our room people will think we are crazy? We tend to pray out loud during a dinner prayer, why not do it when you talk to him on a daily basis? I know that I tend to pray to him in my head so as to not be labeled "crazy" but if I am talking to someone who I believe is right in front of me in the from of the Spirit then why should I whisper or just have thoughts that he can "hear." You do not whisper to a friend unless you do not want others to hear, why be ashamed of God or of what you have to say to him?

I know there are a lot of questions but the questions are there to get you to think rather than just mindlessly read another post. I want to stimulate your mind just as God seeks to stimulate mine everyday of the week. Jeremiah 13:15-17 states, "Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the lord your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to thick darkness and change it to gloom deep. But if you do not listen, I will week in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord's flock will be taken captive." I think the second statement which is about glory discusses what we are to do before the return of the King, It is our job to listen and wait for our leader in order to grow and become who we are meant to be and then only way it will happen is if we step out and do it. Time is running out and we see this in that everything will be changed to darkness soon and there will no longer be the hope that the light brings. What a sad day that will be when time runs out and there is just not enough time to reach the rest. I noticed today that when I asked God how much I had listened to him in the past few months, he answered by showing me that I have been selfish and only been focusing on my friends and family in prayer when there is a whole world dying out there. My focus was outward but it had blinders on and only allowed me to see so far. I am to pray for people all over the world, not just the ones in my life because everyone who does not know him needs to and those who do know him need to continue to seek him.

I hope you all had a great day and have understood what I am trying to say. It takes more than just reading and being a part of the church, it takes being intimate and really getting lost in God in order to grow everyday. I hope that you are continuing to pray for me as I am praying for all of you. If you have any requests or comments please feel free to contact me.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Forgetfulness

I had an interesting conversation with one of my friends the other night. We talked about how people judge you based on your past and even though we are commanded not to judge people because it is not our place, it still happens in the world around us everyday. I think initially as Christians there is sort of a shock factor when we find out things against people and we might tend to judge them but then we have to remember that not one single person is perfect (except Jesus) and that we need to accept the changes they have made in order to overcome the ways of their past. If we hold things against people forever then we can never make any progress with those people and we will always think of them in a condescending way. Now if we meet someone who keeps wronging us in the same way or has not turned from their ways then we do not judge them but we should be careful around them because they can lead us astray. I am talking about people who have made things right with God when it comes to forgetting things of the past and moving forward even when it seems like there is no possible way to. The number one excuse for people not apologizing or asking forgiveness in my opinion is that people simply state "I did not think you would forgive me or I just thought that you did not want to talk to me anymore." This is very sad especially when it comes to people who are talking about not feeling like they would be forgiven by Christians. It should be known and pretty much stated that someone is forgiven if they are willing to ask for it, there should be no timidity on the side of the person asking for forgiveness because they should know they are going to be welcomed with a warm heart. I know it is hard to forgive people for certain things and we can sometimes be filled with anger but we are commanded to love just as God loves us and if we do not show that unfailing love that forgives us no matter what, then are we truly being a servant of Christ?

When I think about things of the past, I wish I could change things but in reality I cannot and I myst learn to live with my decisions. I have made myself right with God and even though I might have hurt myself as well as others who might not even know it or who did not know me at the time, I have to let them know what is up and ask them to forgive me. Secrets are probably the number one killer in friendships, relationships, families, and life in general. When we keep things from people because we do not think it will affect them, then we are just adding to the pain and could be hurting them more than we could have intended. We are told that in Hebrews 10, the Holy Spirit testifies to a new covenant saying in verses 16-18, " 'This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.' Then he adds: 'Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.' And where these things have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin." It is so nice to know that the by the grace of God we have been forgiven if we ask for it and he will remember it no more. Now we do have to account for our actions when we get to heaven because judgement from him still comes into play but as long as we live a life that is pleasing to him and we do not stray from the path, we have nothing to worry about. In the same way, we should be able to go through life and ask for forgiveness from people and receive it. If we are being asked to forgive someone, we should do what we can in order to forgive them just as Christ forgave us and understand that people are human and they DO make mistakes. Forgiving and forgetting is a tough but sometimes you have to look past the surface in order to see the person underneath, which is exactly what God does.

I hope you all had a great day, mine was so so because we had our game cancelled tonight but I know that God is going to do something amazing tonight at Chi Alpha so I am fine with that. He knows what he is doing and knows what he has in store so I am preparing myself for that. Keep praying and trusting God, he will lead you in the right direction.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Listening

I have talked so much in the past about how we are on the brink of something that could change the world. We can sit around and think about what is going on in our world and the terror as well as turmoil that is present all over this planet yet we do nothing about it. I have talked about those times when we think about what we should do and yet we do what we would not do and neglect to do the things we would do. It is rather funny that we say how much our world is dying and yet we do not take action (myself included). We hold so much power with Christ on our side because with him anything is possible and he will guide us through his Spirit so that we can grow and successfully do the work he has called us to do. We have all the tools we need in order to act but I know that I simply just lack the discipline to do so. Whenever a decision in life or an opportunity comes up, I only think about what is best for me and what am I going to get out of it instead of really just jumping into prayer and fervently seeking God, essentially I just look for the easy way out. Let me tell you that when we look for the easy way out, it is usually not God's way and it leads to disaster in the end for us. We can give up so much for one decision but if it is not in God's plan then we end up shooting ourselves in the foot when it comes to living life. We find ourselves grinding at the very core of who we are feeling like there is no hope, no way out, every decision leads to destruction but in reality we just need to take time to slow down. Even when it seems like time is running out, God will take care of things for you because he ultimately controls the balance of the universe and he will create opportunities for you.

Sounds pretty typical right? We do things our way and it leads to destruction, we do things God's way and then we prosper. This goes much deeper though, not only does he give us instruction for what is best for us, but he listens to us, he knows what we desire and what we seek. Even when we think we can hind it from him, we have to remember that we are essentially made through him and in him and he knows everything about us because he created us. We see an example of this in Genesis 4:6-10 which states, "Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it.' Now, Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let's go out to the field.' And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.' Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' 'I do not know,' he replied. 'Am I my brother's keeper?' The Lord said, 'What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.' " Here we see that even though Cain is trying to play off that nothing is wrong and that he is fine but God knows something is up and he confronts Cain but he just ignores God and commits an act that he is sure to regret forever. God listens and gives us advice but at the same time we have to listen to his advice because even though it seems like God is torturing us (as I joked yesterday), he really just wants what is best for us and sometimes it is hard for us to see that. When we feel like we are being tortured by God it is Satan trying to tell us that he is just trying to show us that he does not care about us and he does not want to meet the desires of our heart. This is far from the truth and it should be noted that God wants to give us everything we could hope or dream of in his time and within the parameters of his word and plan. The verse that really stuck out to me in regards to sin was verse 7 which began with "If you do what is right..." and the phrase that stuck out about sin was, "it desires to have you, but you must master it." Not only should we rid ourselves of sin and ask for forgiveness but we must be bigger than sin and master it so that it cannot harm us in the future. The past is the past and it only makes us stronger, we know what we need to do so let us listen and take action.

I hope you all have had a wonderful day and I hope that you are trusting God and following his guidance for your life. I am continuing to pray for all of you and I still ask that you do the same for me.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Pathway

Everyday I tend to find myself in the same spot in my prayer time, always praying the same thing over and over, no substance to my prayer life, just tons of praise to him (which is great) and then the same repeated things being asked for everyday. I just cannot seem to find the words to say that will help me grow and understand what God has for me and my life. I get frustrated because I know he has this awesome plan and I am beginning to follow it but I am having such a hard time trying to stay on track. When I fall down I wonder how I can be called to do something when in my own life I constantly show myself that I am not good enough by falling back into the same things over and over, it is like an endless cycle. I wonder why he brings people to me that only last a short while, it is like they are meant to give me something or show me something but I just cannot seem to take ahold of that. It seems that every time I meet someone that I think could be a huge part of my life, I end up having to leave them behind because I am moving on to other things. Part of that could just be on me because I am not listening to God's direction, or the other part is that I am just blinding myself to what they really have for me and am not gaining anything from them because I am too busy being bitter. God brings great people into my life all the time and I am not saying that if I have not left you behind before then you have not or will not make a big impact on my life or that you are not great, it is just that there are some in which I feel I should have more time with but it just never seems to work out. I know this is just me being selfish and I need to see the big picture but it does get hard every once in a while. God is showing me that I need to have patience and that is something I just realize as I was typing this. I do all this talk about God's timing but I still tend to think about things on my timing. I wish my pathway was clear and I could see ahead for miles and miles but the truth is that I have to take life one day, one step, one second, one moment at a time. Last night I had a hug that only comes from the heart, the ones that just warm you even when you are the coldest, the one that seems like it came in the comfort of your own home, the ones that mom's give (but not quite as good as mom's :-) ) the one that lets you know that God does exist and he has brought people into your life to show you his greatness in the midst of all your doubt. I tend to think that only people who do not have God are the only ones who need someone to push them along but in reality, we ALL do and sometimes a dose of him through someone else is just what we need to keep going.

Today is not so much of me reading and posting my thoughts but it is more of me reminiscing and pushing myself through some things I have been struggling with. When I need comfort and guidance I have said that I need to go to the Bible and to God and that is what I did today when I had some free time. Psalm 119:33-40 states, "Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness." As I read this it hit me that this prayer applies directly to me. I tend to say many of these things in one way or another everyday in prayer but usually it is me saying help me do these things or when I sin I say it because I think it feels right. The truth is that this should be my prayer everyday and when I get to that point where I met this, then I should be praying that I retain these gifts and not forget them. This is my prayer, I have been searching for what to pray and I finally found something that I need to do in order for God to transform my life completely. I have been trying hard but not hard enough. I have just been sitting on a fence that I built about 90% of the way a few months ago and I was waiting for him to pull me the next 10% but he has been waiting patiently for me to jump off and keep going. Too long have I been working on my time, I literally get goosebumps when I think of all he has done for me and all that he has given me in recent months. I am so undeserving yet he still shows his love and grace to me and for that I could not be more thankful.

I hope you all have had/are having a great monday, please continue to pray for me. I am praying for all of you and if you need prayer about anything then please do not hesitate to ask. If you would like a bible because you do not have one, I will do what I can, just let me know. If you want to discuss anything on here from this post or recent posts, feel free to text/call me at 480-292-1754.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Enjoyment

Today being Easter Sunday and all, I wanted to try and get away from the conventional resurrection post just because I think I covered that pretty well the last two days and if you went to church today you do not need me to reiterate the same points you heard today in church and possibly on Friday if you attended a Good Friday service. I have notice that recently I have been going through the motions with my devotional and just feeling like I have had to get in done in order to feel accomplished. I know this is not the way to go about things because I should be in the word and doing exactly what I am doing on here regardless of whether or not I want to post because it takes "time." Being in the word is probably the single most enjoyment we could ever get out of our day because it is the one time of the day where we actually take time to discover what the Creator of this universe has to say to us and we can openly communicate with him. Feeling obligated to gain knowledge is just foolish because we should want to gain good knowledge that will help us prosper. One way I look at it is that if I am in the word, at least I am not spending time on the internet sinning or finding other ways to get into trouble which will tear me away from him. I would rather be building towards his kingdom rather than tearing myself away from it. Unfortunately I do not always think like this and so even when I could be in the word, I find myself struggling to get through and overcome sin because I forget my roots or something like that and I lead myself into trouble. The good news is that I know that if I do remember, God has provided a way out through his word and he wants to spend time with me during my hard times and not just when things are going easy.

I try to find words of encouragement and write them down as often as possible and I have been making notes on my computer as well as in my bible to help me remember things that could be beneficial to me as long as I utilize them. We see in Jeremiah 15:16, "When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty." This is such a great verse in that we see that we should be glad to read the words of God because they are his and they are for our benefit. They have been set before us in order to assist us on our journey through life so that we do not have to make it alone. No matter what happens, his word is timeless and it applies to us yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Just like him, his word never changes and it has the same power and meaning as it did when it was written thousands of years ago. The words we read were written by others but they were empowered by God and were given the words to write so that the message could be conveyed to people all over the world. I have searched in many areas to find happiness and I just cannot seem to find it other than in God. I am still surprised at how he unexpectedly brings people into my life when I would least expect it. Some of these people have a small impact and others have a large impact but then only way I can truly know what I have received from these people is to find out how it applies to my life in terms of what God is using me for. The happiness his word provides is unmatched in this world because his words bring hope, love, comfort, wisdom, and understanding. His word is the one thing we can lean on when times are bad and we have nowhere else to turn for guidance. It is one of the ways he speaks to us and we should take full advantage of the gift he has given us and we should find enjoyment in his word.

I hope you all had a great Easter and I pray that you will have a good rest of the day as well as a fresh start to the week. God is doing amazing things and speaking to people all around me as well as those that are close to me. Keep seeking him in his glory and do not lose sight of the prize for which we have been called.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Get Back Up

Today was a pretty relaxed day but it was rather long and it was very busy. I know that relaxed and busy do not really go together but I played to baseball games so it was relaxed in that sense and busy in that I was gone all day playing baseball. I have had a lot of time to myself this weekend due to the fact that just about everyone went home for the Easter weekend and I am one of the few that is left on campus. I honestly do not know what I would have done today had it not been for baseball. I would have had to spend tons of time with God because I know that without him I probably would have been in a wold of trouble with so much free time. I still found time to stumble but was quick to get back up because I knew better than to be in the state in which I was. It is funny how you can spend your whole life trying not to elevate your status and you just go out and be yourself and people wonder why you are not somewhere else. The thing is that we all have plans and we all have God's plan for our life and he leads us on the Journey that he sees fit for us. We make decisions but he sets those decisions before us and provides us with the opportunity to follow certain roads that will give us experience as well as guide us in our adventure. When we fall down he is right there and his grace is enough for anything that we do. He is almighty, alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, he is all-knowing, and he is the one who provides for all our needs. No one can match him in size, love, power, wisdom, grace, greatness, or any other category you can think of. The God that I serve is the only one who is sufficient for everyone. The key word in there is serve and I need to do a better job in fulfilling that role.

Whenever I struggle I tend to look for verses that will speak to me and give me additional assurance that he is still there for me as long as I continue to work towards him. Feeling like you just can never do right when in reality you do not mess up that much is a hard thing to overcome. It is so much easier to focus on the bad over the good because our conscience is the one that is dominant in our minds and when we mess up we think about it more that when we are successful. In baseball, hitting a home run or even just getting a hit can be one of the best things to do, but the joy of that only lasts a little bit because if you strikeout in the next at bat then all you think about is the strikeout, the home run or hit means nothing in your mind because you struck out and you feel as though you are better than that. The same holds true when it comes to sin, you can spend so much time without sinning but when you do, it sticks with you for a while and it is hard to let go of. We see in Proverbs 24:16, "for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity." When you strikeout, you have to just get back up to the plate again and forget about the last time. Just keep fighting and striving for perfection because that is where true happiness lies. As Paul stated, we must fight the good fight and finish the race, do not give up on the calling that has been placed in front of you. You are stronger, you can overcome, and you will be a better person because of it.

"And if you should fall again

Get back up, get back up
Reach out and take my hand
Get back up, get back up
Get back up again

I hope you all had a great day and remember the resurrection, the death is meaningless unless he came back and the good news is that he came back! Enjoy Easter with your families and be thankful for the day which we commemorate what Jesus overcame!

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Provider

One thing I always think about it money, I know that sounds like a bad thing but I do not think in terms of how much I can have or how much I "need." Instead I tend to think of how I am going to pay for certain things and how I am going to get certain things done when I know that they cost money in order to do them. Even when I think I will not have enough, God always finds a way to provide for me, whether I am going to be in debt for a while or not, he will find a way for it to get done and he will provide me with a way out as long as I am not going in way over my head. I just find it hard to trust sometimes because things can look as if there is no way I am going to get them done but then God provides. It is not just with money but it is with health, family, friends, food, and many other things. Whenever I need something, he is always knowing of what I truly need and what is going to truly make me happy and if it is in his plan, then he provides it for me. When I doubt him, I tend to panic and wonder what I am going to do because it seems as if I have am hitting a dead end. As I have said before though, God works in mysterious ways and we could only hope to have a glimpse of the things he sees and the way he does things because he is that great. We will never fully understand how or why things happen but we should be grateful for the things that are given us and for the spectacular things that God does for us.

We see a great example of this in the old testament with the woman the the oil. It is told in 2nd Kings 4:1-7, "The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, 'Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.' Elisha replied to her, 'How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?' 'Your servant has nothing there at all,' she said, 'except a little oil.' Elisha said, 'Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars and as each is filled, put it to one side.' She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son 'Bring me another one.' But he replied, 'There is not a jar left.' Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said 'Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.' " Even in a tight bind with nowhere to go, this lady was provided with something to pay her debts and keep her sons out of slavery. The man was faithful to God and he as well as his family were blessed because of it. Remaining faithful to God has so many benefits that we cannot even imagine how blessed we truly are. Most people think that believers only believe because they are just trying to avoid hell. The truth is that there is so much more to it. Happiness, love, completeness, blessing, truth, understanding, and peace. Those are just a few of the things we have in Christ when we remain faithful and trust in him. It is not all about the rewards because we should not live in hopes of getting a treat for every little good thing we do but we should look to the prize for which we have been called heavenward. Let us remember that 1,976 years ago, the blood of Christ was shed for our sins so that we might live, but 3 days later he rose again.

I'm sure you have seen this or heard it a few times but it is nice to be reminded from time to time. The real reason for this holiday.

I hope you all had an amazing Good Friday and that you are all excited for Easter Sunday! My prayers are with you all, please continue to pray for me.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Wandering = Dangerous

I have mentioned that from time to time I let my mind wander and that usually leads me into trouble. No matter how hard I try, I never can seem to escape it but that is a problem that I need to deal with when it comes to asking God for help because I still find myself trying to overcome things on my own. The problem is that I cannot take care of it on my own because I am not Jesus and I am not strong enough to resist the desires of the sinful nature on my own. Whether I am working for Christ or just trying to live a Godly life, I should strive to be as clean as possible when it comes to living life, if I get caught wandering in the middle then I am asking for trouble. It is like in baseball when a runner gets caught in "no mans land" they are caught between two bases in what is known as a pickle, there is no place for safety and they are surrounded on all sides by the opposing team trying to get them out. In the same way, I tend to get caught out in a danger zone without Christ and leave myself vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. This is warned about in the bible as we are told to stand firm and put on the armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil's evil schemes. I have not been doing a good job of this and I find myself in situations that I should never be in because I push the situation on my own until I back myself into a corner and make the wrong decision. By the grace of God, he has bailed me out several times from situations that I should have never been in because he cares for me and has a bigger and better plan for me. He just wants to know when I am ever going to fully listen to him.

Several times throughout the Bible we are told to be careful and to not test the waters with God because we cannot willingly sin because we know that grace will be in effect, we need to control ourselves and try our best to live a life that is pleasing to God. He does not want us on the fence, he wants us to be all in or all out because mediocrity is not good enough. We are reminded of this in Jeremiah 14:10 when it is stated, " This is what the Lord says about his people: 'They greatly love to wander, they do not restrain their feet. So the Lord does not accept them; he will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.' " This is a warning that if we wander between God and the world, it will come back to bite us in ways we should never want it to. I have found that there are times when I wander out in the world because like Adam and Eve, you could say that I am curious and I want to know stuff that I do not need to know. I need to remember that if I were supposed to know it or experience it, then God would not speak out against it. There is a reason as to why he has set laws in place and it is not because he wants us to miss out on all the fun or because we have to be good, it is because he knows what is best for us and he made things special for us that others might not ever get to experience but are even more enjoyable and life changing then the ways of this world. It is such a tough concept to grasp but if we can take ahold of it and put it to use, then we should be able to work with God everyday to say no and avoid falling into the things of this world.

I hope you have all had an amazing day and I pray that God continues to bless you. Thank you for sticking with me even when I have not posted and for continuing to read. Please keep me in your prayers and thanks in advance for your prayers.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Stubbornness

I went in today to talk to my advisor and we discussed the possibility of me returning next year but I did mention that I have other schools at the top of my list and am open to just about anything. I have not yet officially changed my major but I am about 95% sure I am switching to some sorts of sports administration/management. I met a new person tonight and have to say that she seems like a very nice girl. Very friendly, easy to talk to, definitely someone I would not mind having around to talk to. Sometimes you meet someone and you just know that they are someone that you would like to get close to and be really good friends with because you can relate to them and you share things that bring you together even when you just met. It is funny how God works and brings people right to you that you would never expect to meet. As I was sitting in XA tonight, I heard "why do we treat the things that easily pass like they will last forever, and why do we treat things that will last for eternity like they are temporary?" I thought about that and said to myself, "why do we live for things in this life when we should be living for things that will carry us into eternity?" I have already touched on this before but I think it goes back to how we tend to live "for the moment" rather than "in the moment." I should be setting goals to achieve that will carry me into eternity instead of just setting goals that will get me to tomorrow because tomorrow is not guaranteed. I keep forgetting that I cannot push things off until tomorrow because tomorrow might not come, my time to shine is now, there are no second chances or do-overs, just here and now. God has made the call, how will we respond?

It was written by Paul in 2nd Timothy 4:3-5, I think I might have used these verses before but here they are again. "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry" I have noticed that I have not done a real good job of representing God because whenever I go to a Chi Alpha related event I just tell people I have stuff to do instead of just telling them I am involved in the Chi Alpha ministry. Occasionally I do mention what I am doing but in general I try to avoid some questions that people ask because I just do not want to spend time answering questions. What if someone did not want to give you the time of day? What would you do? I need to take time and give people the time of day to understand where I am coming from and to understand what I am all about because it might be the only chance they get to hear the love of God. Too long I have sat on the sideline and been stubborn, only to wish I had taken that opportunity when I had the chance because the moment is lost and I do not know whether I will ever get the same opportunity again. Our world is turning from sound doctrine and making everything politically correct or making everything seem like it is fine and all we have to do is worry about the economy or the environment. Sure those are great things to have on your mind but why to we have to believe it is possible to "coexist" the definition of coexist is "to live in peace with each other especially as a matter of policy." Unfortunately we cannot live in peace especially in a matter of policy because we will always disagree which will lead to turmoil and tension throughout our world. One thing that has struck me in the past week and I am sorry if this offends anyone, but I find that people tend to believe that all their friends become angels when they die or they just go to heaven and look down on them but when it comes to themselves they believe they are going to hell. This is sad to see because the reality is that all of our friends do not go to heaven and you do not have to go to hell. I am not saying that everyone I know has had all their friends go to hell (if any) but we have to come to terms that just because a friend died does not mean that they went straight to heaven and that hell does not have to be the place that we choose. We need to stop being so stubborn and accept that we make a choice and so do our friends. We do not live in a perfect world where nothing goes wrong and that God is just an imaginary figure who everyone gets to live with when they die, he is very real and he has a calling for every single one of us.

I am excited to see where God is going to continue to lead me. I hope you all had an awesome day and I know that God is looking out for all of you. I pray that you continue to seek him and his plan for your life.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson