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