Footholds

Every so often, you let a habit grow and grow on you and then it becomes a problem. Some people call it an addiction and usually an addiction would be something you just cannot live without. I would not say that I have addictions to anything whether it be media or some sin in my life, but I do struggle with some things that tend to be a problem for me and they need to be brought under control. Only I can control my thoughts and the things that come out of my mouth and when you say things that do not reflect a firm lifestyle in Christ, then you become a hypocrite. I do not want to carry this label and I will say that I have my struggles, overcoming them is tough and I need to continue to work at using God's power to overcome certain things. I put effort into many areas of my life but this is one area that I really struggle. As I continue to go through my days, I get frustrated that I do not always stand firm and I end up letting things become a huge problem. I let Satan get a foothold and I have a hard time pushing him back out. The same routine gets old and I need to keep looking for fresh things from God. I know I am not the only one who struggles with it. I know there are non-christians who feel the same way when they keep doing stuff but end up with similar results every time. One of the biggest roadblocks is trying to make the necessary changes in order to correct things and keep them that way. We all find trouble in different ways in life and we have to find a way to fix things before they get out of control.

Hebrews 2:1-3 states, "We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received it's just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him." Therefore, we must take action because of the salvation that has been given to us. We do not have to suffer for the sinful acts that we have committed in our life because as this verse says, we should receive our just punishment but we have a chance to make things right because of the price that Jesus paid for us. Our life without Christ would be nothing because there would be no hope and without hope, we would have no purpose for living. I believe that people still have a Christian conscience in their heart even if it is deep down because we are God's from the beginning and THEN we fall away. We have Christ ingrained in us but whether he is dominant is our choice. You cannot give the devil a foothold if you want to win. Just like you do not reveal your game plan before a football or basketball game other wise you will most likely get beaten.

I hope and pray that those of you reading this will take it to heart and understand the meaning behind it. I believe that God has powerful things he wants to do in ALL of our lives and we have to provide him with the opportunity and atmosphere to do it.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

What do to?

Busy, busy... Long day of school, baseball, working out, and homework and I am just about to go to bed. I am going to spend a few minutes with God after I am done with this and then I will be getting my rest to prepare for another long day tomorrow. I must say though, I am blessed that God has provided me with all that he has and I know that I would not be bale to get through some of my days without him. Sure I might not always be where I should be at with him but I know that he still cares about me and I need to do my best to show my love for him. I sometimes just sit around and say, "If I could just eliminate this one thing from my life, I would have no problem serving God to the fullest and I would just be such a good Christian." I find myself in this situation a lot but for some reason I will not change that one thing. Call it apathy, selfishness, whatever... but for some reason I am just content with letting that one thing pull me down constantly. Now I know that there is never just one thing that people struggle with but let us just say that this is a "main" problem in my life. The things that could get categorized as lesser problems seem to be just that, lesser problems, until we have to deal with them and then they get pushed to the forefront. Some of these might include jealousy, anger, honesty, obedience, etc. The truth is that these can be just as detrimental as that "main" thing, I just feel that the main thing prevents me from taking care of some of the lesser problems. Over the past few weeks, I feel like I have done a better job at taking care of the lesser problems and I have spent more time on the small stuff. I definitely have improved in some of the areas I just mentioned but now I have to tackle the "beast."

As I look to overcome this, I need to recognize the problem, and then I need to develop a plan to overcome it. If I fail at first, I need to be persistent in eliminating it because it will just continue to cause me problems. The goal is not to keep falling down when we have problems but if we do, hopefully, someday we will overcome it and realize that we have been foolish. Now I am not justifying continuing to live the way you are but some people just take time to mature in their faith because they are not ready to take that step for whatever reason. I encourage you to find out what is holding you back and determine if it can be changed as soon as possible! Titus 3:3-8 says, "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 out savior appeared, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy, He saved is through the washing of the 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 will leave you with that verse so that you can meditate on it and pray about it. I think God is speaking to us who are in a comatose state spiritually and we need to snap out of it.

I hope you are all doing well, please feel free to contact me and discuss issues with me or just post a comment and let me know how you are doing. I will continue to pray for God to speak to those of you who read and for his blessings to be upon you.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Lost

I spend so much time thinking about things everyday and I wonder if I just changed some of my thoughts, how much easier my day would be. Also, I could just eliminate some of my thoughts and keep things from being so hectic and I would just be more relaxed all together. I try so hard to be perfect and instead I just end up falling. I think it would be better to just not worry about what I am not supposed to do and just focus on what I am supposed to do. This is a huge problem for me because when I think about what I am not supposed to do, it gets me thinking about doing it. If I were to just avoid the thought of certain things, then I could be more successful in avoiding those things. Picturing yourself doing something right or overcoming temptation of any sort will increase the likelihood of following through with your decision. God empowers us to overcome temptation and when we allow him to continue to work, we see exactly what it is that he has for us. In the end, we ultimately have to use the strength that God gives us so that we can stand strong and let the spirit guide us throughout our day.

It says in Titus 1:15-16, "To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for doing anything good." Let us not get caught up in being with the corrupted because these are harsh words that Paul uses but they are very realistic words. We should not just claim to know God, but we should have relationship with him and grow in him everyday. As we continue to get closer to him, he will reveal himself to us more and more and Satan's attempts to bring us down will become more frequent, but God protects those whom he loves and he will make it possible for you to overcome what Satan has in store for you, but you have to make the choice to stick with your first love which is Christ. "Let us not grow weary in doing good..."

If you would like to talk or have any comments, please post or get ahold of me via cell phone/text message. Hope you are all doing well and I will continue to keep you in my prayers.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

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