rob12870's Blog

1 Samuel 16:7 - But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."



When you hear the word cool what comes to mind? Is it words like tough, popular, vicious, rowdy, rough, stylish, strong, identity, power, authority. Looking back on my teen years I can say I spent a lot of time trying to be cool in order to win the approval of others. I mean let's face it as a teen you can spend a lot of time trying to do things to fit in. It's in the way you dress, the stuff you own, the car you drive, the people you hang with and some of the stupid choices you can make. We all want to fit in. Have you ever stopped for a minute to think about what God thinks about the whole cool issue? Do you think He really cares about whats cool or not? I mean lets face it cool is something we wear on the outside, it's all about self image, it screams HEY WORLD LOOK AT ME I'M COOL!!! In the verse above Samuel was sent to Jesse of Bethlehem because God had chosen one of his sons to be king. When Samuel got there he saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed stands here before the LORD." v.6 Now Samuel was going simply by appearance he never even questioned what was on the inside. Isn't that what we do sometimes. We take one look at someone and decide right aways if they are worthy of friendship without ever even getting to know what is truly on the inside. In the next verse God responds to Samuel's silly way of thinking But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Here's a scary thought, what if God would have taken one look at us and said you know what I reject you... your not worthy of my kingdom, man would we be lost. But God doesn't reject us based on appearance so why should we feel like we have the right to do it to each other? How could anyone especially Christians feel like they have the right to go around claiming to be cool? IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT YOU!!! We don't sing it's all about me in church, we sing it's all about you Jesus.



Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.



God's word says it's not supposed to be about you.



If your striving to be cool

your just playing the fool

2 John 1:9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.



One of the things I have started to do again this year is running. I would have to say without a doubt the hardest thing about running is starting. I mean who likes to run anyways? It seems like such a worthless waist of energy to go from point A to point B all for the sake of running. In the end you feel out of breath, sometimes your chest burns, your legs ache and your knees hurt. Well at least if your my age this will happen. Probably the reason I run the most is because deep, deep, I mean way deep down inside I know that running is good for me. It's good for my heart and it keeps me in shape for when the youth want to play sports. Now in order for me to keep running I need to keep convincing my self that it's worth it. I need to keep reminding myself of all the good it's going to do for me in the long run and that it's really worth it.. Our time with God should be like this. We may not see all the good that's going to come from it now but man is it going to pay off in the long run. Life throws so many curves our way. Things don't always go the way we planned or expected but it is God's word in us that gives us the strength to keep on going. The more we get into His word the better we are able to handle life's curves. Kind of like running, the more you do it the farther you will go. You just have to ask yourself one question... Is it worth it!



Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;

blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.



God Bless,



Rob

John 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.



I remember the first time I heard these words. I was about 17 and I was with a girlfriend at a Stryper concert In Hershey Pennsylvania. For those who don't know who Stryper is well they were one of the first true Metal bands in Christian music. Anyways we were watching the concert and Stryper was awesome. At the end of there show I can remember them throwing bibles into the crowd and as they were walking off the stage the lead singer shouted out "remember you can't get into Heaven unless you are born again". Those words cut through me like a hot knife through butter. I needed to know what that meant. There was something so powerful about those words when he said them. As a small child I can remember crying myself to sleep at night because I was afraid of going to Hell. I often wondered what a person needed to do to get into Heaven but the problem was I didn't know anyone who knew the way. That's probably why those words hit me so hard at the concert. They were a piece of the puzzle I was trying to put together. I mean we all go through life searching for things like love, joy, happiness, acceptance, peace. The only problem is we try to find it in all the wrong places. We think we can just fill the void in our life with stuff like people, girlfriends or boyfriends, drugs, alcohol, !#@#!. These things might take away our pain for a little while but sure enough that void, that longing for something more or better comes back again. That longing that your feeling is for God because He is the only one who can truly fill the void in your life. I know because I tried all those other things and all they did was make me feel like I didn't have a chance. I mean lets face it most of us weather we know God or not know what sin is. So why do we try to fill our lives with it and think that it's going to make everything all better. It doesn't make us feel better it makes us feel worse because that's what sin does. In the long run we end up feeling like were scraping the bottom of the barrel or like we've hit rock bottom. It's only when we realize that it is God who can fill the void that we can have true peace in life. When you come into a relationship with God and realize how much He cares about you and how much He has done for you and you allow His word to transform you and show you how to live there is know way you can't have peace in life. I'm not saying you won't have struggles but you can have peace in the midst of those struggles. It was about 2 years after that concert when I met a guy at my first real job who in the middle of sharing his faith with me used those same words I had heard at the concert "no man can get into Heaven unless he is born again" It was like God used that concert to set me up for what this guy was sharing with me. Again those words pierced my sole to the core. It was that night after talking with this man that I went home and fell on my knees and cried out to God and asked Him to save me from myself. To forgive me of all the rotten things I had done in my life and to come into my life and help me to live my life the way He wants me to. After I prayed that prayer I knew my life was sealed with Him. Never again would I worry about where I would spend eternity because now for the first time in my life I knew.I was Born Again!!



God Bless,

Rob

1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.



When I became a Christian at the age of 19 nobody told me I had to give up alot of the things in my life that I enjoyed so much. Things like drinking,smoking,swearing,lying,premarital %#,listening to music that was totally against God and His word. You could say I carried a lot of baggage into my new found walk with Christ. It's funny how God works some times. To one person he may make radical changes almost overnight and to another for some reason it can take years to really see progress (from a human point of view that is). Me, unfortunately I went the slow long road. It took years for me to lose a lot of the baggage I brought into my Christian life. Part of the reason was because it took me so long to start attending a local church. As Christians we need other believers in our lives to keep us accountable. Good Christian friendships can really help you grow. Some of my first Christian friends really made a strong impact on me. One guy in particular was Daryl Baker. When I first met Daryl I noticed right aways that he was driven to serve God. I also noticed that Daryl liked to challenge people. He was always challenging me to get involved and just do something for God. I would have to say that Daryl has played a big part in who I am today and the funny thing is he probably doesn't even know it. Another reason it took me so long to come around was I had a hard time applying the truth of God's word to my life. I mean I had a lot of head knowledge when it came to God's word. Some would say I absorbed it like a sponge. My problem was I struggled with application, of course when you don't have any Christian friends around you holding you accountable and reminding you that Hey!! this stuff is for real and you have to live like you mean it. You can be pretty sure your going to be taking the slow long road to. So if you have a strong desire to serve the living God, if your aching to get rid of some of the childish things still left in your life, if your ready to grow and I mean really grow in your faith then remember 3 things. 1. Stay in the word. 2. Pray always. 3. Get yourself a good christian friend and hold each other accountable and together you will both become the men or women God wants



Maturity comes when we start to realize just how immature we are



God Bless,

Rob

Hebrews 2:1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.



As a young Christian I spent a lot of time reading my bible. Everything was new to me and I wanted to learn as much as I could as fast as I could. I can remember coming home from work early in the morning and just reading for hours before going to bed. There was a lot of good quality time spent with God back then. I can even remember some of the prayers I prayed back then because I always prayed before I read. Perhaps one of the most important prayers I can remember praying and believe me I prayed it a lot was this one. Dear Lord please don't ever allow me to drift to far away, always be their Lord to bring me back when I wander to far. As a young believer I knew I needed God watching out for me because I knew I was prone to drift. Even today if I'm not careful I can drift. It can be real easy to get so busy with other things that before you know it your drifting. So what causes drifting? Well doing nothing can cause drifting because drifting requires no effort. Think of a boat on the water, as long as the person is rowing he can control where the boat goes. It's when he stops rowing that he allows the water and the wind to take control of where his boat will go. As Christians we need to be busy in the word and busy in prayer because it is those two things that keep us from drifting the most. It is God's word and prayer that keep us from conforming to the image of this world. If you have lost the desire to be in the word or in prayer and if you feel yourself being pulled more in the direction of the world, then be very careful you may be drifting and the end result of drifting if one is not careful is always going to be a shipwreck



Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.