Jacob

PrayerMasters

Ahyeah.

This video is basically the theme for what we're doing at the youth group in Portland. We are doing a 30 hour famine thing in February. We won't be eating for 30 hours and I have not yet confirmed if we will be outside in cardboard boxes. We doing this as a fundraiser for World Vision and what they're doing with poverty around the world. We'd be glad if anyone would like to join in....

Cool. Good bye

 The two blogs I have chosen are "A Good Story" and "Hope". I have pasted them both in this post down below if you wanna read 'em. Okay, time to reflect.

I actually ripped "A Good Story" out of a paper I wrote a while back in January. If you anyone wants to read it then just ask and I can give you a copy. The blog basically talks about complacency and how God desires is for us to write a good story with our lives. Most people (especially here in the U.S.) live lives in their little boxes of fear. And life is REALLY boring when we live stuck in fear. I pulled this very interesting story off the internet a while back(and put it in a blog that I believe nobody read):

"at the end of WWII, the Japanese government was faced with a massive problem. There were thousands of Japanese soldiers in the mountains and the jungles of the South Pacific islands who would not come out of hiding, surrender their arms, and return to a life of peace. They fully believed surrender would mean either torture or instant death. Finally, the Japanese Emperor made a speech explaining the situation and pleading with his men to come home. The speech was broadcast by radio and also recorded, and was repeatedly boomed toward the mountain caves and the jungles by loudspeaker. After some years, it was assumed that all the living had been accounted for. However, it was not until March of 1974 that the last soldier finally came out of hiding, 29 years after the war was over! This man wasted 29 years of his life in hiding! When they asked the man, now in his sixties, why he had waited, he said it had taken him that long to get over his fears. Imagine being trapped for 29 years! Being trapped not by an invading army, not by enemy threats, but by your own fear! Twenty-nine years in hiding will rob you of a lot of life and many dreams."

Fear has been a HUGE wall in my life. When God gives me direction in life, I don't follow it. My life becomes an endless cycle of fear; a cycle that keeps my life stuck in first gear. First gear is easy as pie but slow as vegetables. Fear keeps me from the higher, MORE EXCITING, speeds on this bike that God has given me. And you know what, I honestly consider a lot of my fear to be totally logical and justified. The specific stuff I'm afraid of is stuff most people don't have to deal with. And I don't want to talk about it on this blog because of 1 Corinthians 1:10 (I promise I'll clear it up within the next 2 years). I've made decisions in the past to get over myself and act on Holy Spirit instinct and I don't regret it, and never have; EVEN when I feel the rejection. God made the promise to me a couple months ago that: no matter what, if I choose to follow His voice and I feel the rejection and confusion after, He WILL comfort me. It will all make sense in a couple years now. I feel like I'm almost there and I think I'm in about 4rth gear out of the infinite that I have. That's all for that blog.

Blog #2 "Hope". I do not know why I chose this blog. I think as "Christians" a lot of us don't nearly understand that God is really real. If all of us as a class in VCS really had full understanding of God's hope then we would have shared the gospel with atleast one other person by now. I wish I could understand why I'm not as hopeful as I should be. I wish I could have more affection for people and for my Father in Heaven. I wish I was more passionate. I just read in a book today that the word 'passion' literally means "to suffer". To be passionate for Christ is to suffer for Him. Suffering for Christ in Western Culture equals rejection while suffering for Christ in the Eastern Culture commonly means physical pain. America has a stronger government and more freedom than countries such as China where Christians are commonly persecuted with violence; Christians are often persecuted with words in countries like the U.S. I find that interesting. Okay a little off topic. I will definitely write more blogs through the summer to let you know what's happening. End of transmission.

A Good Story

Imagine a story about a man who never changed, who had no ambitions. It would be a pretty boring story. This man was unwilling to "venture" out of his comforts and pursue something new. This type of story is like listening to someone play the same musical chord and never "venture" out to a different chord. My dad for instance; he's had some experience with playing musical instruments, but he's never written any music before or composed his own songs. My dad, every once in awhile, likes to sit down at the piano and improvise. My dad is actually pretty good at improvising music, but there's one problem with his technique: he never changes chords. The music he plays sounds stale and stuck. When I listen, my ear itches to hear a new chord, I expect the music to change but it doesn't; it's just plain boring.

This brings me to my point: Maybe God feels the same way about our lives. Maybe God feels that our fear, complacency, and apathy are holding us back from actually writing good life stories. Too many times in our lives are we too afraid to change chords and pursue something worth pursuing. We are afraid of what our lifesong might sound like. People walk around with their little fear boxes. They are unwilling to change, unwilling to risk, unwilling to live the life they were called to live. When God created us he handed each of us pen and paper and told us to write a good story with our lives.

The world is running out of good non-fictional stories. When we look at the lives of our friends, our family, and people in the newspaper, what we see isn't inspirational; what we see isn't as compelling as it should be. But God created us to live amazing lives; He created us to live impossible lives. But people are stubborn and don't want to face change because of the fear of pain. Everyday before I walk into school, I could tell you almost exactly what would happen that day, every detail. Life is stuck in endless patterns. Nothing is ever surprising; nothing is ever new. Humans are afraid to pursue something totally ludicrous for God. People are afraid of the impossible; they have forgotten that nothing is impossible with God. If we don't do something about it, our dreams will die in our comfort zones. Donald Miller - "The best stories have to be risky. The best stories are the ones were you might lose your life. The best stories are the ones where you might die, or you might end up alone, or you might end up rejected, you might end up terrified, you might end up ridiculed... That's the good stuff, we're on to something. The best stories are not the ones where you say ‘I want to be safe.' Nobody writes a story about that stuff..... God has given us permission to risk our lives." Where would we find courage and character if we were always safe? God allows us to risk our lives and have a good story.

 Hope

Alright, so imagine you're outside practicing basketball. All of sudden an angel of the Lord comes down in a giant fire ball and says to you " [your name here], when you grow older you will become an MVP in the NBA." So you're like in total flabbergastation. Now,,,, if all this really happened, how would you react exactly? Would be like "oh, this is my destiny" and then decide to become lazy and you kick back and not practice at all? Or would you practice harder? Would this prophecy inspire you to work harder or would you decide that you can sit back and watch as your basketball skills soar?

Most "Christians" today are like, "ope, after I die I'm going to this place called heaven.... yep." People don't seemed very excited about Jesus' return. This amazing hope we have is supposed to drive us to work harder for Jesus and not slack off. God created hope in a way that it changes the way you act, feel, and think. You ever noticed how certain events or activities later on in the day or week seem to drive you and give you a good mood? Jesus' return should drive us into joy and strength. We should be like "OMGsh, Jesus is coming back soon!" God wants us to be excited about Him. He wants us to be like that girl who sits in the classroom at the beginning of the day talking about how amazing her date was the night before: (e.g.) "and so Jesus was like... and I was like... and then He was like..... and it was sooooooo amazing.... *long exhale* " Our prayer times should be like that. He wants us to be romantic with Him like that.

1. What do the poor and the sick have to do with the "means of grace"?

Wesley talks about these "means of grace", or these ways of receiving God's grace. Some of these ways he talks about are: "hearing and reading Scripture, receiving the Lord's supper, public and private prayer, and fasting." Then he goes into Matthew 25 and talks about the sick and poor. The poor and the sick are our access to Christ. As the verse goes, whenever we clothe, visit, feed, or help in any way those in need we are helping Christ. The Bible says that the sick and poor will always be with us (Matthew 26:11). God has placed the poor and the sick on this planet so that He will always be with us. God is in the hearts of the sick and the poor in this world.

"The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He delivers those who are discouraged" Psalms 34:18