Rooted

Each day just sees improvement over the next and I am so overjoyed about that. I have spent so much time with my head down that I just have been out of it for a long time. I can be so exhausted but still find strength to do the things that I love the most and I never want to let that change. As I was sitting in PG tonight, I realized a few things and I just began to pray for people whether I knew them or not. God moves in miraculous ways and a lot of times he works in the shadows of our lives when we are not paying attention and that is when we really need to be on the lookout. Everything in our lives makes us stronger even if it tears us down first. I realized tonight just how vulnerable I need to make myself when I come before God. He has created so many options for me over the last few weeks that I hardly know what to do with the opportunities any more and I am trying to sort through all the information and discern what is best for me. I also realized just how strong I am with God in my life and combined, we are unstoppable. Now of course he is unstoppable without me but I can be his tool in the world and I want to be used in every way possible because he is the one who created me to do what I am supposed to do. I can simply just go through the day and go through the motions or I can dive in deeper with every opportunity. Whatever the case is, I am going to be prepared for God when he chooses to work in and through me. I know I say it everyday, but I am really excited for what God has in store for me and I cannot wait for his plans to begin being revealed to me.

I was just looking for a verse tonight and I found something that was comforting and uplifting to me as I was going through Ephesians 3:14-21 which states, "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. i pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses all knowledge -- that you may be fulfilled to the measure of all the fullness of God." This verse really resonates with me because it is not only a prayer from Paul for the church in Ephesus but the key words are rooted and established as well as to know this love that surpasses all knowledge. I spend so much time trying to learn more that I forget about the love that he has for me and the love that I should have for him. If I just put to work what I know how to do, I would be able to accomplish so much more in my personal walk with him and I probably would not make as many mistakes as I am accustomed to. I know that the higher purpose and the life which God wants me to live are in my grasp and the sooner I take hold, the better off I will be. My desire each day is for more and more of him and I am going to keep that up because I feel so great when my only aim is to serve him with everything that I am.

Keep praying for me and my ankle please and that I will continue to grow each and every day. I am praying for all of you and please let me know if you have a need or are struggling with something as I will take extra time to pray for you. Keep seeking him and never give up.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Stepping Up

It is funny how things start to get better when you start changing things in your life and sometimes it occurs in your everyday interactions with people while other times it occurs in the activities we partake in. The last week for baseball has been much better and people are definitely noticing that something has been different over the past week and I can attest to the fact that I am just so much more excited everyday and I love how carefree things have been for me. School has been so much easier to get through and baseball is much more enjoyable because there is nothing to weigh me down, no regrets to think about, and no major problems in general. When you spend so much time dwelling on something that has been holding you back for so long, you find yourself consumed and down all the time and that is not how God wants us to live. Spending time in the word, talking to friends, and praying has been so beneficial to me and I will continue to follow what God wants me to do. I have had some setbacks and have wanted to question certain things but I know my answers will come with time and I do not have to continue to stress out about anything. God is watching over everything and he knows exactly what he wants to happen over the next few weeks and months so I will just continue to seek his guidance and do what I believe he wants me to do. I have finally focused on the task at hand and I am seeing huge gains in my personal walk and in the stuff I do everyday. I never imagined I would be at this point but God is doing a great work and I am so thankful for that.

I have a new goal because I know I have made mistakes and people can say what they want but as I stated the other night, I do not care what they think. Titus 2:6-8 states, "Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you will be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us." I think this sets forth a good way to live life in that we should live a good life that is commendable in every way so that people will not have anything bad to say about us. I am sure I have used this before in a post but I think it is something that I needed to be reminded of and I want things on here to be reflective of my life. If I am not completing what I post on here, I would not mind being called out on it because I need things to change and I need to strive for perfection everyday. I am sick of routines and I want to grow as much as possible everyday and the only way I know I can do that is by applying the things I am writing about because some of it is really profound while other stuff is just common sense. I am ready for the next step in my life because I know that it will help me grow up and start doing things the right way all the time.

I hope you all had a great day. My ankle is doing better but still a little unstable. I played 2 games on it today and performed fairly well. We have 2 more tomorrow so we will see just how well it holds up on back to back days. Please continue to pray for me and for my family as they are preparing to travel to MN for my sister's graduation. I will continue to pray for all of you as well.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Nobody Knows

I truly had a great day today even though I was held out of practice. I just was able to walk a little taller and know that God is right next to me. I know I could seek him more when I need help but I know that it will come as I being to trust him with more and more in my life. I spend a lot of time wondering what will happen next or what will be my next defining moment and I need to get away from that, I just want God to work and let things happen naturally. I am always trying to make things happen in my life but I just want to step back and let them happen! I'm just smiling right now because I could not be happier with what is going on right now and the best part is that there is nothing special going on. I have been kicked down, beaten, and left for dead but God picked me up and said, "you're better than that" and I am just ecstatic right now. Nobody knows what tomorrow holds and you know what? I am definitely okay with that because it is all in God's hands, all I want to know is that if I die tomorrow I am going to be in the place that I have always wanted to be but have just gotten distracted from when "running the race." I let someone cut in on me and pull me off course but God rescued me and he is continuing to show me people in my life who can help me and he is bringing people in to help me get through all of this. I have talked to several people about whether we know where we are going, how do we know that we ARE saved? I mean if you think about the little mistakes you make, what is the threshold? Should we go to church and ask forgiveness every time? Well, I do not think you need to take that route, you just need to live a respectable life in God's eyes as much as you can and then you will have nothing to worry about. He did not call us to be perfect, but we are called to strive for perfection and if you are honestly doing that everyday then you can rest easy at night.

Zephaniah 2:3 states, "Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility, perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord's anger." Now this may seem like we cannot be sure of anything but I would venture to say that it is telling us that we should not settle when we think that we are saved. See we should not come to a point in which we are content with where we are at in our walk just because we can be sure that we will go to heaven. We should live everyday as if we are not saved in the sense that we should be trying to get saved. I do not think it is healthy to be a cyclical Christian in that you go from being on fire for God and then fall away and then come back and fall away, just letting the roller coaster go tends to create many problems and I think will ultimately lead to a crash. Maintenance needs to be done every once in awhile to keep things running smoothly and God is always there to be the mechanic to our loose nuts and bolts. When we get into a daily habit, it bothers Satan and he does whatever he can to bring us out of it and trust me he will try to every back door possible until he finds that they are all locked. I have seen an increase of temptation knocking at my door since I have been back on this routine of posting and getting deeper into the word and I am ready to stand with God against whatever comes my way. I am willing to live above the standard in which the world considers to be okay because I want people to see what God is doing in and through me by my actions and not just by what I say. We will see where it leads over the next few weeks.

Please keep praying for me and my ankle as I will be putting a lot of stress on it over the next few days. I will continue to pray for all of you who are reading this and if you have any requests please let me know. Also, if you would like to talk about stuff I post or just need an ear for what ever is going on, do not hesitate to contact me. My phone number is 480-292-1754 and it is on just about 24/7 and I will do my best to talk to you or at least contact you back in a timely manner if I am not able to answer right away. Hope to hear from some people!

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Washed Clean

I can say for certain that I have had one of the most interesting weekends in recent memory. I learned that I can still have fun no matter what is going on and that no matter what other people think, God is ultimately going to bring me joy because to him our circumstances just bring him more reason to love on us. It has certainly been a long time coming but I think I am finally getting the hang of the idea of clinging to God even when things seem to be falling down. I have talked about it a lot but all it has been is talk. I feel like that is what my baseball team does a lot and until changes are made, nothing will change. When I begin to let God work then I see what He is doing, but when I try to do all the work, I sometimes pull in the opposite direction and not only am I not seeing what He is doing, but I am also making things more difficult. When you can get to a point where you understand that only God can judge you (rightfully), then you have nothing to be afraid of from this world. That is not to say that people will not look down on you for things you have done but if you move on from them and you move in the right direction, they need to let it go and hold you accountable for what you have done. It is so easy for us to say, "look at what he/she has done or is doing" and then we go and do something similar in nature in that we are doing something we should not be. We all have mistakes in our lives and when we tell people what we have done and then we move on, it is at that point in which our sin no longer binds us. In a video blog, TenthAvenueNorth addresses this and I agree that sometimes when we confess to God we feel like it is not real because it is easy to whisper to yourself and imagine you are telling God what you have done. On the other hand, when one has to tell another person what they have done, then it all the sudden becomes real and it is one of the toughest things to do. God has put people in place to help us grow and we need to utilize those people because sooner or later they will be gone and we will be left standing and wishing that we had done something sooner.

In my time reflecting on the troubled times I have faced over the last year, I have been continuing to look for comfort because I know that God will restore me and he will provide me a way to stand up on this and move into something greater than I could have ever imagined. Titus 3:3-8 states, "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone." I think many times we focus on specific verses for atonement when some of the letters to the churches have their own forgiveness message and are just as powerful as those found in the Gospels. Let us stress the idea of moving forward and giving up our past because what other people think is trivial when it comes to what God thinks. I am at the point where I could care less what happened in the last 14 months because God is right here with me NOW and he has something new for me just around the corner and I cannot wait to see where he is leading me. I took a path and fell down but there was a hand right next to me telling me to get up and switch paths because the road would be easier traveled but still require the dedication and hard work of the other road. All I can say is do not try to stop me right now because God is at work and I will not give up what he has for me. I did that a little over a year ago and I am so upset that I did because he was right there telling me to just keep holding on a little longer.

Back to this weekend, we played baseball on Friday and I messed up my ankle and have been trying to take it easy, should be ready to go on Tuesday though. Took an 8 1/2 van ride back from Chicago area and then went and watched a movie with some of the craziest people ever and then spent 4 hours just talking about life and it was funny but at the same time one of the greatest moments that you know you will never forget. God is truly at work and I am so excited for the results to start showing up soon.

I am praying for all of you, I hope that you continue to do the same thing for me. Pray for my ankle and for my summer as I am deciding on where to go this summer over the next few days. God is great and I am giving it up to him.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson