Tag: Life’s struggles

I Don’t Have The Answers

thearrowpreacherLeave a comment

I Don’t Have The Answers

With so much pain in the world, and so much selfishness, I can honestly say I don’t have all the answers. I see people when they are low, and I see people when they are on top of the world, but the only answer I have is Jesus Christ. The only hope I have is knowing that I’m not alone and even at times when it feels like the whole world is against me, I know I have Christ in my corner. There’s never been a moment I have been without Christ. I have been through Hell, and I’ve seen horrible things happen to people all around me. The only answers I have are those I find in the Holy Book. I have walked this walk for so long and doing it my own way only led to disaster. Trying to rebuild from catastrophe after catastrophe is exhausting. While I may not have all the answers, I can say with authority what not to do. I can say what I’ve ended up with, and if I’m being completely honest I have lost nearly everything, twice. I know that Satan pushes us, Sin pushes us, the world pushes us, and God pulls us. We are fools if we don’t seek Godly counsel in our paths. Proverbs 12:15 15“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.”In my walk I found I had gotten lazy. I put off going to church, I put off my studies, and shortly after my life fell apart. As soon as I put down my armor the attack came and I was ill prepared to face it. My lack of preparedness was evident as my fall from the tower I had built.

Life is hard, and it can be cruel and unforgiving. Mistakes can haunt us for the rest of our lives, and we sometimes have to live with the foolish decisions we’ve made. What I can say is we must turn to God in our foolishness and ask for forgiveness. We must repent with our hearts, and trust that God will take us just the way we are. When we accept Jesus into our lives, He changes us. We are reborn like the phoenix, the fire burns away the old self leaving what God put in us all along. 1 John 4:1“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” When we follow Christ we are often tested, and people may come into our lives as part of that test. We must realize that not everything is as it appears. Some things that may look like blessings on the surface may not truly be, and it’s up to us to test that. Do not be caught unawares. Be careful whom you become attached to. I have failed in this more time then I care to admit, and each time I have felt the sting of rejection, and it’s led me to a dark place inside myself. Not everyone we meet will lift us up, some are there to tear you down. It’s up to us to let scripture and the Holy Spirit guide us. When we stand apart from the world, it will be harder to find those to lift us up. Do not allow your loneliness to compromise your integrity for the companionship and lure of the flesh you so long for. Be earnest in your prayers to God, follow His plan for you, trust in Him, and submit yourself to know when the time is right, God will take care of you.

I Am One With The Force, The Force Is With Me

thearrowpreacherLeave a comment

I Am One With The Force, The Force Is With Me

Being a child of the King I know where my worth is. Knowing I belong to God sets me free in so many ways from the bonds of darkness I once lived in. Being a child of the King gives us forever hope. No matter what happens to us in this life we will always have eternal salvation in the end. Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” No matter how bad things seem to be we have hope. Psalm 71:14 “But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.”

The Devil will try again and again to break you, and to bring you to your knees in defeat. The Devil wants us to fail, he wants us to step away from God, to blame Him for our sorrow. The Devil will try and sway us, to persuade us that the darkness is better then the light. The Devil wants to try and hide in the shadows, that our sin if no one knows is okay, and it’s better to indulge and be free of worry. That’s when you look at the Devil and respond “Every word that you just said – is wrong.” (Luke Skywalker) We have to have faith in the Lord. We have to have faith the lure of the Dark Side is not stronger, that we can overcome the pull and remain in the light. Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

IMG_6676

As long as God is with me, I know I am one with the force for good. I cannot be defeated so long as I keep God in my heart. When you feel as if you’re about to crumble under the pressures of this world close your eyes, take a deep breath and feel the light of the world inside you. Feel it flowing through you. The Holy Spirit is all around us, it is inside of us, and when you open yourself to it, it can help guide you through any struggle you may encounter. There is no greater force in this universe, but the force and power of Christ. I know I am one with the force, and the force is with me.

Following the World Phenomenon

thearrowpreacherLeave a comment

Following the World Phenomenon

I recently saw Star Wars Last Jedi and let me start off by saying it was amazing! This however will not be a movie review. Instead it will be about how we as a society follow the flow.

Society changes what’s accepted over time, and when we base our values off of societies acceptance. So without making to many waves, and pissing everyone off, let me just say this. The bible says what it says. We need to realize first and foremost that we are all sinners. We live in a fallen sin world, and no matter where we turn, or what we do we will sin, our neighbors will sin, and there isn’t anything we can do about it. We instead must accept that we are sinners and in turn accept that there’s only one way out of that, and that’s following the one true light of this world Jesus Christ. We have to remember that in God’s eyes not one sin is worse then others. In our mind of course adultery isn’t as bad as murder, but the fact is, they are on equal footing at the cross. We can only hope in the Lord, accept we sin, ask for the forgiveness for our sins. We must try to live our life as sinless as possible and for the times we do, ask for forgiveness, from both the Lord and those whom we’ve sinned against. We must seek for repentance of our sins. This means we apologize from our hearts, and actively try to make it right. What does that mean?

When we wrong someone we think in our society today that all we have to do is utter a few words and it’s all better. I’m sorry doesn’t hold a whole lot of weight if the person doesn’t mean it. It doesn’t hold a lot of weight if that person never does anything to make the wronging any better. If you break something of someone’s I’m sorry is nice but it doesn’t make anything right. Replacing it and maybe a little something extra is repentance. We don’t do that anymore in our world.

Someone who stood me up and flaked on our plans we had made has hurt my feelings recently. Over and over this person made plans and failed to follow through. Finally I said something about how my feelings had been hurt, and I received an “I’m sorry.” Just a couple days later I sent a text about new plans we had made and I sat back and I waited to hear back. 2 hours later and I’m still waiting. 4 hours, and still nothing. 8 hours had passed before I finally heard back. I was unhappy to say the least and this time I wasn’t as passive as I had been in the past. I was hurt, and I expressed that pain, and how decency would have been to call or text me to let me know what was going on instead of making me wait all day. Instead of an apology, the friendship was dissolved right then and there. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but instead of trying to make up for it, or even apologizing for it, the friendship was ended. (Yes I can hear many of you now, then they weren’t a real friend, and yes I get that, but it doesn’t take the sting away.)

We as a society have become cold, and callused. We no longer have empathy, or sympathy for those in pain. We feel everyone’s pain is either brought on my their own doing, or just a part of life. I’ve had many people tell me ‘Why feel sorry for it, it’s just life.’ Isn’t it a sad day when we offer empathy for someone’s situation and it’s deflected as a simple matter as it’s life.

We must remember that to follow Christ is to let go of the world. We must learn the difference between what society says is right and what the bible says is right. While I absolutely love the Star Wars phenomenon and other big names, it’s important to keep in mind the difference between enjoying a movie or show, and conforming to the acceptance of the world. Don’t forget what real truth is.