Journey

When I begin to think about the journey of my life and the gifts God has given me, I realize that I am truly blessed in everything I have and do. My spiritual life has been a gift in that I have salvation because of the perfect sacrifice of the one who laid his life down for me. Also, I know that God is always right there waiting for me because he has given me the opportunity to fall back into his arms after I have been struggling or have run away from him. I truly am the "prodigal Son," and in some ways, we are all "prodigal children." This journey has not always been easy because my flesh wants to take over and I sometimes let the flesh win. If I develop a stronger willpower and let God be my source of strength, then I will overcome the flesh because He is greater than anything that I will ever come against. When it comes to listening, I tend to distract myself with music and school work, or games, but when I open up my ears and my heart, I know that I will begin to hear God because I know he is always speaking to me especially when I am having trouble.

Sometimes we need to remember that our journey is marked with gifts and struggles, but in the end, it will be worth more than anything we could ever imagine. The gate is narrow but people pass through it everyday, but I believe that the wide gate is seeing more and more pass through it everyday, in fact, it may be backed up for all we know (and it's the wide gate!). I think God weeps for his children and for those whom the Christians continue to ignore but I know that his will is going to be done on earth AS it IS in heaven and this generation still needs to get the ball rolling because pretty soon people will start looking to the next one, and the next one, etc... The problem though is how long we can wait for a generation to rise up to take a stand? How much time do we have to change the world for Christ? or the best question, Who is the next person you will never get a chance to speak to again.......

I hope you are all doing well. Please let me know if you would like prayer. I would like for you all to pray for me as I am dealing with a lot of homework and baseball and just trying to balance things.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Following

Sometimes I can sit on here and it seems like I write and write and write but there are some things that just never seem to get through to me. I can work so hard at making changes but if I try to do it all on my own I will continue to fail time and time again until I put God at the helm and allow his guidance to take over. I am not talking about predestination or "meant to be", but I am talking about simply listening to what God wants for you, putting the thoughts and direction into action, and then giving him the power to work through you in everything that you do. When I came to NCU, I wanted God to work through me and use everything for his glory. In most ways, I have been able to let him do that but I think I am holding back in some aspects and what he really has will be so much greater IF I just give it all over to him. We can only get so far in life on our own and then we realize it is too much work and the uphill battle is just not worth what you are putting into it. God only wants to renew our minds with the focus of putting him first. When he accomplishes that, let the floodgates open because he has work to do. It is our job to serve and follow, it his is direction that will take us to the "promised land."

Too often we get caught up in the pressures of the world and we fall short over and over but Christ can lift that pressure so that you can overcome. Whether or not you give him the opportunity to do that work is the real question. When we give up our life for the one who gave up everything for us, we see the true value of what is at stake. You do not just walk into a room and decide who to give your life to, you build relationships and then you know that you would die for certain people. Well God knew each one of us before the world began and he has a relationship in one way or another with everyone on this earth. He knows everything about them but they may not know everything about them. Jesus LAID down his life for every single person and whether they choose to accept his gift is their own choice. It is our choice to give him what he is due, many people "owe" something to someone but it never gets paid because some people are just selfish and prideful, the same principle comes into play when it comes to salvation and living for Christ.

I hope you are all doing well, if you have any questions/concerns, or prayer requests, feel free to let me know.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Last Night...

I feel like what I posted on last night was reaffirmed today in one of my classes. It did not necessarily address the specific topic which I had discussed. However, my professor did talk about worship and how most people believe it just relates to singing. He also mentioned that we should try to never forget why we worship. It is all about Christ, not about us, and the sooner we realize it, the better off we will be. I feel that God is continuing to do his work in me and that recent changes will lead to me being stronger in him than I have ever been. Not only do I think this is good, but I am excited for God to be a more important part of my life. Too long have I been excited about what he was going to do through me. My focus needs to be more of how much Christ is involved in my life, do you think that yours might need to be that too?

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles... Let us FIX our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." (Hebrews 12:1-2 paraphrased or quoted enough).

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Worship and the Church

Recently I have been thinking a lot about worship and not only what it means to me but just how other people worship. I have seen some people sit silently, some people dance, some people sing, and some people just stand with their arms folded and not a word comes out of their mouth the whole time. One thing that really gets to me though is when people only raise their hands at an emotional part of a song. There is nothing wrong with it but when a hundred pairs of hands go up at the same time it seems almost scripted. I might be alone or just plain dumb but it seems somewhat fake to me. I know that God displays his power and glory in awesome ways but I just feel something is wrong with the way we worship when it comes to this. I have no problem whatsoever with people raising hands, I just feel it should not just be done when it comes to a part of a song you like or when it comes to the most uplifting part of the song. Yes, raising your hands can be a testament to what you believe and you are reasserting the fact that you agree with the song or that it moves you but I guess I just am not too sure how to tackle this issue. Maybe I need to pray about it more or maybe I just need to let it go and stop being so judgmental. I just feel God has been laying this on my heart and that we need to be more genuine in our worship with him rather than just doing it to put on a show for HIM... I do not think people generally think people put on a show for others, but rather for God so that they can feel good about themselves. Reggie Dabbs put it perfect in a sermon here at NCU awhile back when he said, "How can you be crying and wailing and then all of the sudden in one moment go to laughing? It's because your crying and your wailing wasn't real. You are a pretender. You are a fake. You just there crying and wailing because everybody else is. You can't be a part of this because of everybody else is, you gotta be called by God." How powerful of a statement to say to students who go through everyday in chapel and some of them never reflect on what they just heard which means they just leave God's presence without letting him speak to them. Reggie had a valid point and I think we should all take note of the message he was trying to get across.

One of my textbooks says, "Service as a substitute for worship is idolatry. Activity is the enemy of adoration." We must not get caught up in just the ritual part of worship but we should dive into genuine worship with our creator who deserves our praise whether we feel like giving it to him or not. We cannot stand around as our generation dies around us. We have to seek God and his will through worship which means meditation, prayer, service, and so much more. Why would a professor curse to make a point in class that people care more about his words, then they do a country in need? Partly because he has a point, but why can we not just wake up this generation and see that there is a genuine need. We do not need to be extreme, we need God to take ahold of our lives and transform all of us. I heard today that the Christian church should be worried about what they may face in the next 15-20 years and it is not good. However, I will be darned if I am going to stand around and let it happen. If we are afraid of what the government will do in the next 2 decades, why do we not step up and make the change as a church. We still have a voice in this country and we can either die with the passing day or we can take a stand by letting God move us in worship and understanding so that his will can be played out for this country. Too often we just believe that America is a lost cause and we should pretty much think about going underground. Excuse me, but we came over the sea to get away from that because we wanted freedom. The reason the church has lost it's hold on the country and the church is at fault. You can't blame the devil because God turned nations/cities upside down in the Bible because the apostles would not stand for what was going on. If we believe the Bible to be true (and we should as Christians), then we should live with the premise that God can empower us to turn this country back to him, but it all starts with the church.

I hope you are all doing well, that is enough for tonight. I could probably go for hours.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Confessions

Today's post is going to be a little off script. I have to write reflections for one of my classes and I decided that today I was going to post my reflection on a certain topic. When it comes to confession, I know that I am always sincere but I do not know if my confession actually achieves what it is supposed to. I understand that God will forgive me for what I do but there are times when I confess without the intention of making a change to prevent doing it again. I have realized this and am making necessary changes in my life right now so that the things I have asked forgiveness for, will no longer be a hindrance in my life.

One thing I really liked from the text was the comment about needing to have, “A determination to avoid sin.” When I read this, I realized how true it was that your confession must also include the important trait of avoiding sin. Romans 10:9-10 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 that you are saved.” In you heart, you must not only be sincere but you must also have the intention of showing God how much you love him by avoiding sin. This is a key component for me in growing closer to Christ. As I continued to read another one of my text books, I found something by Augustine that was really profound. He said, "How long shall I go on saying, 'Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow?' Why not now? Why not make an end of my ugly sins at this moment?" I do not understand I would want to continue living in the misery of sin sometimes and my only answer is because the world can be so enticing. But, if one truly loves God, they will reflect upon their sins and take the steps to overcome their faults.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson