With Thanksgiving and Praise

This past Sunday my pastor preached on "living with an attitude of gratitude". Since Thanksgiving was this week, I wasn't surprised that the sermon was about being grateful, and since I grew up attending church I have heard sermons every year that attempted to drive this concept home. However, I am finding that since I was saved in August many things that I have heard and experienced for years are now holding new meaning for me, and this message was no different. I wanted to talk about all the ways that this message touched my heart this week.

The first thing that I was able to truly understand and identify with is that praise and worship should be shouted triumphantly. I always thought people were a little strange for going so "overboard" with their worship. I have since found that there is really no other way to praise God! Sometimes I am so overwhelmed with God's goodness and glory, and what He has done for me, that I find myself singing and dancing with joy just as David did. I don't think I could be casual about the grace that I have experienced, or the blessings that the Lord has heaped upon me.

The second point that really made me think was the 3 step plan that I can use to become and remain grateful.

1. Take note - Live a life of awareness, and truly pay attention to all the things that I am blessed with everyday, big and small.
2. Take inventory - Count your blessings is a beautiful hymn, and just as true today as when it was written. If I am constantly counting my blessings, I will find it very hard to feel that I am lacking something, or to want for more. The Lord promised to provide for my needs, not my wants, and I need to stop confusing the two. And to be brutally honest, all I really NEED is salvation, so the Lord has kept His promise. Everything else is icing on the cake.
3. Take action - If I live a life serving the Lord with joy, not only will that bring me joy and show my faith by my works, but it will also keep my heart where it is supposed to be: humble and joyful.

I also wanted to look at the verses my pastor used in his sermon, because he used Psalm 100, and those are some truly beautiful and amazing verses. I have read them several times since Sunday, and I am loving them more and more.  

• Psalm 100:1  I love that this verse doesn't say to have joyful thoughts. It says to make a joyful noise! The kind of fire that I feel for the Lord is impossible to keep inside, and even if it was I shouldn't hide it away. It is a blessing in itself. We should be verbal with our joy, to the point of overload. 
• Psalm 100:2  This verse makes a point to say that we should serve the Lord with gladness. We shouldn't just do what we feel is our part, and then check that off our to-do list. We should be constantly searching for a way to tell about the Lord, to love our neighbor and our enemy, to help those less fortunate, and to keep the building that houses our church running smoothly and drawing the lost to it. And if that is a person's goal when they serve, then I don't see how they can walk away with anything other than a large grin on their face.
• Psalm 100:3   Know that the Lord He is God. This one is pretty simple: give credit where credit is due. None of the things happening in my life are due to me. I ran my own life for many years, and it went TERRIBLY. I was a chain-smoking, cussing, people hating, drinking, over-eating, crying, depressed, hide in the corner until everyone went away kind of person. Now that the Lord is running my life, I am a singing, loving, laughing, outgoing, joyful, church attending, free of addictions, praying, bible reading, participating in life person and I couldn't be happier, so I better make sure He gets all the praise for it! 

To sum up, I am so thankful for everything the Lord has done for me and given to me, and my biggest wish is that I always remain the same. Even if life treats me like Job and I lose everything, I still want to wake up every morning grateful to the Lord! Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving, and are enjoying the start of the Christmas season! Till next time!   Angela

What Communion Hath Light With Darkness?

Let me start off by saying: no, I am not going to be talking about marrying a non-believer. I know that is what this verse starts off talking about, and that has always been the part that I have focused on when I read this verse. I was reading an article on a different subject, and the author of that article quoted this verse, but focused on the last part of the verse instead. The author's point was that this verse does talk about starting a commitment with a non-Christian, but it also touches on the fact that, if we are to be a bright and shining light in the world, then we cannot willingly tie any part of ourselves or our lives to darkness.

When I became a Christian I had to start over. The way I thought, the words I spoke, the way I treated people, the movies I watched, the music I listened to, the way I worked at my job, even my day to day routine: it all changed completely. This was partially because my life before salvation was focused on running from God, but it was also because all of my dreams for my life, and the motivations for those dreams, had changed completely. One of the things that I had to do is reevaluate all of my habits and assumptions, and check to see if they matched up to scripture. While this was very easy at first because there were obvious things in my life that had to go (such as the drinking and the movies that were practically demonic), it is now becoming much harder. Why? Because the questions I am asking myself are different.

When I was first saved and was purging my life of the things I could no longer have or participate in, the question I always asked myself was "Is this thing bad for my life and/or walk with God?". However, as the Lord is helping to grow as a Christian, I realize that question is no longer good enough. My question now: Is not being "bad" good enough? Is it enough to strive to be not-unrighteous, or should I work towards righteousness. I am finding that there is a big difference between the two. If something is "not bad", all that means is that it might not hurt my walk with God, but that doesn't mean that it is helping my walk with God. 

So now I have to decide what my ultimate goal is: to avoid things that are bad for me, and do what the bible says I must and nothing more? Or should I be striving for something else, something better? Should my purpose now to make sure that all my actions and activities are more than just not harmful to my life, but that they are actually good for me? But how do I deal with my pride and my longing for the things that I enjoyed as a non-Christian? I think it means that, instead of just eliminating the "bad" things in life, I have to run towards the good things. So what does this mean for me, practically? 

I think this is going to mean even more changes, and is going to require even more determination and prayer. It means that things like Halloween, Santa, the Easter bunny are going to have to go away when I celebrate holidays. Sure, the way I celebrated these holidays wasn't directly harmful to me or my life, but I don't believe that they helped me either. All holidays have the potential to be secular, but if I chose to only celebrate the birth of Jesus instead of Santa, the resurrection of Jesus instead of the Easter bunny, and completely ignore Halloween, then I will be able to enjoy these celebrations and have true fun. Now, this does NOT mean that I am going to run screaming at a person for dressing up for Halloween. It also does NOT mean that I am going to tell every child that mentions Santa that he is not real. It also does not mean that I am going to condemn others for doing these things. I have no right, or wish, to rule anyone else's life: I have my hands full with my own. At the same time, if I am being convicted of these things I have to listen and obey. 

This also means that any music that is not Christian is going to go. I know that is an unpopular notion, and will probably catch me some hate. No, there is nothing inherently bad about some of the music I listen to, but if it doesn't help forward me down the straight and narrow, then it is not serving a positive purpose in my life. This means that the way I treat my bible study and prayer time has to change. I have been doing well with both of these things, in my opinion, because I made sure to set aside time most days for these tasks. However, instead of being something I make sure to carve out a certain amount of time for every day, this needs to be the priority of my day. 

So, long story not short (feel free to laugh) I have found new questions to ask myself. Firstly, does it bring glory to God? Secondly, does it bring me closer to God? If I can't answer these questions with a definite yes, then I am going to avoid whatever it is I am questioning. Does this mean I can't have any fun? Absolutely not! It means I have to redefine my definition of what fun is. Sure, if fun is getting so drunk that I can't remember what I did the night before, or watching movies that give me nightmares, or chain-smoking my money away, or meeting random people in the hopes of fulfilling the unrealistic idea of romance that the world provides, then yes: I won't be any fun. But if fun means spending time with the Lord who loves me and created me, working hard and being able to have pride in the job I do, volunteering my time and getting to make a difference, having donuts and conversation with my fellow church members in between Sunday School and sermons, playing cards or at Chuck E Cheese with my nieces and nephews , and having dinner with my friends, then I am having more fun that most people. I can be loud and happy and a little bit crazy without sinning. 

Well, that was long, but to be fair I haven't posted in almost a month because of computer issues, so I have had a lot of time to think and write. :) Have a blessed day!