Thoughts to think about #1

"It only took God 6 days to make the universe, and he has been working on our eternal home for more than 2000 years. Man this life is like living in a garbage can compared to what's gone on up there." ~Keith Green

Power of Prayer

It was early Sunday morning, I had to play piano that day. I got up early (at least for a Sunday morning) about 7:30. We had some friends sleeping over, perfect. No doubt this will be the worst day I’ll play the piano, I just know I’ll make some nasty mistakes. I reflected back on my fourth time playing in church, I had made some errors because I was too confident that I had practiced enough. Oh well I think today will go wel,l I have been practicing for quite a while on these couple songs. As I walked to our church to practice early, I worried a bit. On the very last song I found that I hadn’t had it down as well as I should. O great, I thought. I walked back to the house after about 20 minutes of practice. There was no way that I was ready to play that last number. Near the end of the sermon I prayed, God, I know that I can’t do this on my own. You’ll have to help me, even if I won’t get the credit for my skill, I want you to help me. During the closing prayer, doubt started to overcome me. Suddenly I heard my pastor/father say during his prayer, "All we need is faith the side of a mustard seed." The doubt was swept away, and I felt ready. I played well, almost perfect, I new that God had helped me through. Sometimes He does that, He shows us how weak and helpless we truly are. The more we realize how useless we are without Christ the closer we grow to him. Pray that the Lord will show you how sinful people, even Christians are. The more rotten you feel about your sin the better your relationship with Christ will become. Pray in all things, don’t try to hinder God from to controlling your life, He has given it to you. What do you have that he hasn’t given you? Even talent, gifts in certain areas of life aren’t so people praise you! It is to bring glory to God. Let God humble you by showing you that in and of yourself you are worthless, but with Christ you are everything.

One think I think about the nowadays Christians is that we have little realization of how sinful we truly are! We here of people who have murdered, raped, robbed etc.. When we see this, our immediate response is, "I'm glad I'm not that bad!" But in reality we are! In the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee in Luke 18 we see a perfect example of someone looking down on others for something they are just as guilty as. Sin is a problem that everyone has, not just 'bad people'. The 'bad people' are the ones who have been discovered in there evil doing. We are just as bad! If we truly look into our life we will see the extreme strength of sin! We are dipping our feet in it, and tasting the bit of temporary sweetness it gives and looking down on those who are drowning in it! We must realize that the reason we are different from them isn't because they are 'the bad people' because everyone knows their sin! It is because we have been saved by grace!