Shine Like Stars...

(Isaiah 58:10, ESV) 10 If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

Hunger is one of the biggest and most preventable issues in our day and age.  According to the World Food Program (WFP), Some 805 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That's about one in nine people on earth, Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five - 3.1 million children each year, and in 2013, 49.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 33.3 million adults and 15.8 million children.  The crazy thing is, hunger has been an issue forever.  These statistics are staggering to me, however, biblical hunger was just as real.  Deuteronomy 15:11 tells us "For there will never cease to be poor in the land.  Therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land."

God is telling us, this opportunity to shine our light for Him, to show grace and mercy on His behalf in this world where darkness is prevalent, will never cease to exist.  Hunger and affliction will always be here, and God does not command us to ignore it, because we won't be able to break the existence of hunger, but He commands us to "open wide your hand"

It is a little difficult for me to give to the homeless person downtown, especially after seeing the 20/20 show, where it shows these "homeless" people begging all day, then getting up and driving away in a fancy car, living out a luxurious life, feeding off the mercy we are asked to give, but also taking away from those that truly need it.  But at some point, I must become an adult about this, and look at the big picture, that those fakes do not represent the hungry in this world, they represent the evil in this world that wants us to turn away from what God commands of us.  There unfortunate act does not diminish the fact that there are millions of others that are truly homeless, hungry, and afflicted.  Those individuals represented on 20/20 will have their day of judgement with God, however, how we act and represent the commandment of God will also fall upon us in judgement.

God has commanded us to "open wide your hand", "then shall your light rise in the darkness."  Meditate on this verse with me for a moment, Matthew 25:45 "Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."  We must understand that we are presented with opportunities to feed the hungry everyday and there will be those that misrepresent the mercies we provide.  We must be smart and Spiritually discerning, and prayerfully give to those that we see in need.  There will be times we judge incorrectly and someone will misuse our generosity, but there will be more times that you will be giving to someone who truly needs it.

My fellow brothers and sisters, let "your light rise in the darkness" and as Phillippians 2:15 says, "Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky."

God's peace to all of you - Joshua

Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Confidence and Boldness | It's a Journey

Reflections on: Hebrews 10:33 & 35

"33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who where so treated." ... "35 So do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded."

No matter where I stand in my faith journey, I sometimes still find myself tending to lack confidence when trying to speak about or even live out my faith.  Do you ever find yourself in the same position or find yourself in that position right now?

2 Types of Confidence Lacking

It could be that we are new to this whole Christian thing, and we don't feel like we can contribute to the conversation or we feel in adequate because we don't know as much as the person in our small groups feel we can't answer a biblical question if a person asks it.  Can you relate to this?  In this circumstance, we lack the confidence because we feel inadequate.  Well, we shouldn't be so scared, we should gain confidence and boldness in growing in our faith and knowledge.  Boldly stand up and say, "I don't know what that means, can we go deeper in understanding?".  I have a good friend that when confronted with a question, he boldly says, "Well, let's unpack that together."

It could be that we find ourselves in the position where we have confidently and boldly proclaimed our faith only to be challenged, and like me, start to avoid the conflict called "religion".  Remember, your faith and hope may be classified as a Religion by the secular world, but your faith and hope in God is your own.  Have confidence my friends, as we proclaim our faith, conflicts are unavoidable, we must be willing to stand up for our faith.

2 Types of Confidence Growth

If you find yourself in the place of the growing and not feeling adequate in knowledge place, scripture tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:20 - 21, "20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good,".  When we read God's living Word, especially in prayer, the ideas and beliefs jump out as prophetic teachings from the Holy Spirit.  If you do not have the confidence to dig deeper, trying leaning on a fellow Christian to "unpack" your questions.  More importantly, pray to God for understanding and truth.  This confidence and boldness in testing and questioning is extremely important to growing your faith.  It prepares you for the confidence needed to proclaim your faith.  2 Peter 1:5 - 8 helps us to understand the progression of confidence, "5 For this very, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

If you find yourself in the place of being the Christians that has felt burned by your confidence, let's reflect a little on that and see if there is a way to objectively grow in our confidence.  As Christians, we must be careful when we reflect on those times we have felt burnt, because we can walk a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and one is definitely more productive than the other.  In my reflection of my past, I did not practice the meekness we are called to when proclaiming the gospel of Christ, which means for years I lived up to the persona of being an arrogant Christian.  It wasn't until I personally felt the words from the Spirit of Romans 1:11 - 12, "11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong-...", this next part was the part I was missing and the most important lesson to learn, "12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith."  I was boldly being arrogant as opposed to being meek with a bold confidence, as is captured in 2 Timothy 2:24 - 25 "24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness...".  The Greek word used in this text is , meaning consideration, gentleness, humility, and meekness.

Final Thoughts

Gain in confidence my friends; ask questions, test your faith, seek for the truth that you may gain in knowledge and understanding.

Grow in in confidence my friends; gently, meekly, and boldly proclaim your faith and hope so that others may have the chance to feel and partake in the loving and saving grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 3:15

"15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect,"

God's peace - Joshua

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Patience as a Virtue

How often do we live our lives with wanting God to ensure our prayers or showing Himself to us happens NOW?  Well, I think the answer to that question is, yes, everyday. 

It says in 2 Peter 3:9, "...He is patient with you,".  As we look to emulate the character of God, patience is the virtue we have lost track of as Christians.  Verse 9 goes on to say, "...not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."  We lose track of the fact, we are not the only ones in the race for righteousness, but their are others God cares about and want to provide grace and salvation to. 

Do you feel like today you're doing enough or are good enough to get to heaven?  Do you wish God would just come right now so you don't screw it all up?  Well two things to consider there.  One, God is patient with us, Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by [His] grace you have been saved through [your] faith."  God is grace filled and continuously forgiving us through our repentance.  The second thing to consider is, 2 Peter 3: 14 - 15 instructs us, "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 our Lords patience means salvation..."

Be patient my friends, let's lean on God's word and strive to live by His character, knowing that salvation is here, and the answer to our prayers and our time with God will come.

Through thought, word, and deed, continue to be like our lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Peace - Joshua