"Do Hard Things" Conference

Tomorrow, we(some of my family and I)will be leaving to go to the "Do Hard Things" conference in Colorado. If you already know we live in Texas, then your probably wondering why we don't just go to the Dallas conference. Well, we're also going to see our friends who live up there(we knew each other when we lived in California). We haven't seen each other in a long time, so we will be staying there a few extra days.

Please pray that we have a safe flight there and back.

Due to our leaving, I will not be able to post until Monday.

-cj

Trust in the Lord

Prov. 3:5 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. God's love is steadfast, he never changes. He is the only one who is completely trustworthy, there is nothing that lasts forever or anything that can save us from our sin except for God. The more we put our trust in other things, the more apt we are to fall. It seems as though the more stable and comfortable our earthly circumstances are, the more we trust in them and the less we trust in God; but the more uncomfortable and unstable our circumstance, the more prone we are to trust in God. We should trust in God for he is everlasting and will never break his promises nor will he let you go.

12 ways to improve your blog

There are some great tips about blogging at the blog, Between Two Worlds(Justin Talors blog), they really helped me. Read them at Between Two Worlds

The post is actually by Abraham Piper from Desiring God.com

God's pleasure

"There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." -Jonathan Edwards. This thought is so humbling. We are not in hell because he takes pleasure in us, and he takes so much pleasure in us that he killed his only son who was completely perfect, so that we might live with him for eternity.

But what in us does he take pleasure in? We are so sinful! Well, to me this is a mystery. All I know is that he loved us so much that he was willing to pay the ultimate price to save us.

Chapter eight, "What Jesus Demands from the World" by John Piper

Jesus demands us to follow him, even if it means leaving everything behind and/or suffering persecution; our lives should be totally focused on him. Being joyful in persecution shows Jesus' worth, it shows how valuable he is to us. When Jesus suffered the ultimate persecution he showed how valuable we are to him. He loves us so much and we don't even come close to deserving his love.

Jesus demands us to pick up our cross and follow him until he returns, and he has sent his spirit to guide us until that time. Jesus didn't mean a light and easy cross, in John 15:20 he said that we will face persecution. So he knows that it will be hard for us, but not so hard that we cannot bear it. That is why he sent his Holy Spirit, to strengthen us in those hard times.

We will receive eternal life and that is much greater than what we must suffer down on earth. So it is totally worth it to take up your cross and follow him.

Prince Caspian

We(my family and some friends)went to see Prince Caspian last night, the action was awesome. The story, even though some of the time it did not follow the book, was done very well. I thought it was definitely a great movie and I'm looking forward to seeing it again when it comes out on DVD.

Favorite Fiction books

OK, next question, what are your favorite fiction books? please comment and tell me.

I don't read that many fiction books, but Here is what comes to mind:"Safely Home," "Lord of the Rings," and "The Chronicles of Narnia".

Favorite non-fiction books

What are your favorite non-fiction books? please comment and tell me.

Here are my favorites:
"Holy Bible" by God,
"Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris,
"What Jesus Demands from the World" by John Piper,
"Quest for Character" by John MacArther,
and "Christ our Mediator" by C.J.Mahaney.

"Safely Home"

We(our family)recently finished a book called, "Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn. It was honestly, the best novel I have ever read. It totally changed my perspective on being martyred. I used to be very scared of dieing for Jesus but through this book God has shown me that dieing for him is a glorious thing and that I should be glad to do his will, even if it means dieing for him. I highly recommend that you read this in the very near future.

"You need to read"

"You need to read...the best way for you to spend your leisure is to be either reading or praying." -C.H.Spurgeon. If we want to grow in our faith we need to pray, fellowship with other Christians, read God's word and read other Christian books by Christian authors. When you read a good Christian book, you receive information from other Christians that you might not have considered before, things are explained to you that you didn't understand before and your mind is filled with godly thoughts. When you read ungodly books your mind is filled with ungodly thoughts. It's the same thing with blogging, reading good blogs helps you grow in your faith. God created good books and blogs so that we may become more godly, so lets use these tools that God has so graciously given us to expand our minds for him.

Chapter six. What Jesus demands from the world, by John Piper

Jesus speaks with authority great enough to give and take away physical life. More importantly he has the power give us eternal life, this is why we must listen to him. His words are so powerful that even demons obey him, for example in Mark 1:25 when he commanded the demon to come out of the man, the demon came out. Jesus' authoritative words threatened the pharisees so much that their only alternative to end the threat was to kill him. But the only reason why they did eventually kill him was because he allowed them to. Jesus' authority is not threatened by death because as I said earlier he has authority over life and death. After Jesus died, he rose again.

In order to obtain eternal life you must hear and believe him. Many hear him but do not believe him. They do not believe him because they have no room in their hearts for him. God alone creates room in our hearts for him, but not just a little room, he deserves our entire hearts, in fact he demands that we give every last bit of our hearts to him. We shouldn't refuse him, we should let him clean out our hearts of all our impurities and sin. We should let him, so that we may be fit to enter his kingdom.

Interview with Director of Prince Caspian

Mark Moring interviews Andrew Adamson director of Prince Caspian. Prince Caspian will be in theaters may 16. Read the interview at www.christianitytoday.com

Shine!

Luke 8:16- ''No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.'' We are a light in this world and God wants us to stand out in it so that those who see us will give glory to God. Matt 5:16- In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. What a privilege that we get to point people to God, for God doesn't need us to bring people to himself, yet he is kind enough to use us.

Chapter five, What Jesus Demands from the World, by John Piper

Love is a feeling and our feelings should be based on whatever Jesus commands them to be. One of his commands, is that we love him. Not a weak love, but a love that exceeds even the love of our family.
You might be wondering, ''How do I love someone who I've never met before, more than my family?'' Well, if you are in the family of God, you can't help but love him more than anything else John8:42- Jesus said to them, ''If God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.''

Love is an action as well as a feeling and it is an action because when you love God you obey him Jesus said ''If you love me you will obey what I command(John 14:15). But loving God does not just mean that we obey him, we obey him because we love him.
We were God's enemies, yet he loved us and made us his sons and daughters and now he commands us to love our enemies as he did. He has forgiven the ultimate debt, our sin. We can never love as he loves nor can we ever forgive as he does. But we must still strive to forgive and love more.

Matt 10:37- ''Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.'' Being worthy of him does not mean that we deserve him, it means if we love him more than anything then we are loving him as he deserves to be loved.

I know that I do not love God as he deserves to be loved, my selfish desires and sin cloud his worthiness. My only hope is in Romans 5:5- and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. I don't have the ability to love God, God gives me the ability to love him. As Augustine said in Confessions, ''Give me the grace [O Lord] to do as you command, and command me to do what you will.

National day of prayer!

Happy national day of prayer! I'm so glad God gave us the gift of prayer and that he let's us have an intimate relationship with him!

Do you have any prayer requests?