Christ Daily

There’s a song lyric that goes “If you need more love, well you’ve got to get closer to me“. And how true that is in any relationship. But it applies best in our relationships with God. Yes, God does love us, and yes, He loves us all the time. But if we want to feel that love – genuinely feel His love and love back, we need to be close to Him. Million dollar question: How do we get close with God?

If you’re going to get close with anyone, isn’t the most important thing to communicate? Communication allows us to be heard, and to hear others. It’s the backbone of relationships (and why some relationships fail). Communicating with God can be done through prayer. We’re supposed to communicate with God on a daily basis – he loves us, and wants to hear from us, and wants us to hear from him. As Matt has said before, set aside some time every day to just pray to Him - talk with God. I’m sure you love talking with your best friend, and God is no different – He is the ultimate person to talk to – because he’s not a person – he’s God!

Another way to get close with God is to read His Word, i.e. the Bible. It is a great manual for life and tells so much about God. (And is great for recreational reading too – lots of great stories on there.) And you’ll find that once you pray and talk enough with God, you’ll want to read His Word; it helps us grow even closer to Him. Think about it – would you be close with your girlfriend or boyfriend if you didn’t know anything about them? That’s what the Bible does – it tells us everything we’d want to know about God, and more.

And once you get close, stay close. Don’t leave – don’t let Him out of your site! Through prayer, through reading your Bible, and through fellowship with others, stay close to the Lord. Remember, if you’re feeling far away, realize that God doesn’t move – we move.

I hope these can help you get a little closer with God, and here’s a great verse for today:

Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.

- James 4:8

written by Josh \\ tags: communicating, God, grace, Love, prayer, relationships

Today I want to talk about Prayer and why it’s important to each and every one of us.

Prayer is the lifeline of our relationship with God; it is the direct link between us and Him. When we pray, we are talking to God – and what better way to keep up a relationship with someone?

Think about it – you have good friendships with your friends because most likely you talk and communicate with them. That’s just as important, if not more important, when it comes to our relationship with God. Ever here the phrase “livin’ on a prayer”?

⁸I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

- 1 Timothy 2:8

Before they call I will answer;
       while they are still speaking I will hear.

- Isaiah 65:24

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

- Romans 12:12

Indeed, prayer is the lifeline of our relationships with God.

written by Josh \\ tags: 1 Timothy, God, Isaiah, prayer, Romans

1 Timothy 2:1-5

¹ I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. ² Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. ³ This is good and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. ⁵ For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.

This is certainly one of my absolute favorite passages of scripture.  It covers so many things, that I thought it’d be a good idea to do an entire post dedicated to it.  Let’s look at it verse-by-verse, shall we?

¹ I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

This is straight-forward and a truly vital part of any Christian’s faith.  Pray for others – wish them well.  Not just your friends when they have a prayer request, but for your enemies; like Jesus said.  Love your enemies.  This is a very difficult concept for many people to grasp, because we all deal with hate, rage, and general dislike of many types of people.  However, we are to pray for them.  Ask God to bless them.  They may make out lives hell, but Jesus loves them, and if we are to be like Christ, we are to love them, too.

² Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

Whoo, boy.  This is a hard one.  If you frequent ChristDaily, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out we’re not the biggest fans of the current Presidential Administration.  Let’s face it.  It’s downright awful.  Our President has spent more money in his first few months in office then the previous 43 Presidents COMBINED, he’s forcing a Fascist Government on us all, and he’s apologized for our very Freedom in every international meeting  he’s had.  But this verse, 1 Tim 2:2 tells us to pray for our Kings and Leaders the same way we are to pray for our enemies, because nowadays, that’s pretty much what they are.  They have authority over us.  It may seem cool, romantic, and even the right thing to do to be a rebel or an ‘Anarchist,’ but we see that’s not what the bible says to do.  Romans 13:1 says:

¹Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

We seem to think more about the Government’s relationship with God, rather then God’s sovereignty when he picked that person for power.  Our Leaders might not always follow the plan God has laid out for them, but God is always in control.

³ This is good and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.

Take THAT, Predestinationists!  I’m definitely going to be writing a blog post eventually about the wrong and evil doctrine of Predestination, because frankly, it’s a very touchy subject that will take much writing, and I’ve already hit 600 words as of this point.  Some other time.

⁵ For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.

This is one of the core beliefs of any Christian.  There is one way to God, and that is through Jesus.  We see here that Jesus was not 50% God and 50% man, but 100% God, and 100% Man.  He was tempted by Satan like we all are, and he COULD have given up.  In fact, the urge was probably more then any of us could ever endure, but he did not – thus being a suitable sacrifice for our sins.  He did what we could not do.  He ‘put on a body like we sinners have’ (Romans 8:3) and saved us all.  The slaves of the old South used to sing a hymn talking about Jesus ‘Puttin’ of skin, and walkin’ ‘mong men.’  I love that.  That’s exactly what he did, so we wouldn’t have to pay our debt to him, so long as we accept his ‘transaction’ for us, if you will.

That’s all for 1 Timothy 2:1-5.  The bible is so fresh, so relevant if (1) You read it in context, and (2) you apply critical thinking when reading it.  Daily time in God’s word is ESSENTIAL to the life of a Christian.  How are you going to say you know God well enough to spread the gospel if the only part of the bible you know is John 3:16?  What church dares call itself part of the body of Christ if someone can go an entire church service without opening the bible once?  What Christian author or writer dare call himself a Christian if they can write an entire book or article about God without even taking the time to crack a bible?  Remember, the Bible is God’s WORD – it’s him SPEAKING to you each and every day.  Take the time to LISTEN.  LISTENING to God is not just sitting, and inhaling.  That’s meditation.  Listening to God involves reading what he’s saying.

Whoo.  Nearly 1000 words.  Sorry so long, but I think this is a very relevent subject that a lot of people need to hear.  Thanks for reading, friends.  Be sure to check out the FIRST official ChristDaily podcast up sometime this weekend.

Lots of Love,
-Matt

written by Matt \\ tags: America, Bible, Christ, church, Doctrine, government, Jesus, Obama, politics, prayer, Predestination, Romans, Timothy, World

Stop! Take a deep breath.

Just breathe for a second. Relax. Forget about the world and all that’s going on in your busy life. Forget the things your struggling with. Just forget it all, and take a breath – God’s got your back.

Sometimes we get too deep into things. We start a week off fresh, ready for anything. During the weekdays, we start struggling with projects or the like. By the end of the week, we’re so deep into those things trying to figure them out ourselves that we have forgotten all about God.

Today is the first day of the fall semester at my school. Coming from someone who is not really nervous, it can still be very easy to overlook God. Even though today has rather small significance for me, I still want it to go well, and for this semester of school to start off well. And rather than stressing out about anything, why not take that time and instead use it to go to God?

written by Josh \\ tags: God, prayer, stress, Worry

Short and simple today. Wellington Boone about sums up what I want to say:

"When we’re alone with God, there are no more distractions to the development of intimacy. It is just us and Him. The rest of the world must wait." -Wellington Boone.

And it’s true – when we go to the Lord in prayer – in true prayer – there are no distractions. It’s just us and him. These lyrics from a Snow Patrol song also capture the feeling:

If I lay here If I just lay here Would you lie with me and just forget the world? – Snow Patrol, "Chasing Cars"

When we’re in true prayer with God, nothing else matters. It’s just us and Him.

written by Josh \\ tags: control, God, life, prayer