In today’s society we use the words “guilt” and “shame” interchangeably.  In daily language, both mean an uncomfortable feeling after you’ve done something wrong.  They don’t  actually mean the same thing though. Both are a result of sin, true, but it goes way deeper than that.  Here’s the difference:

Guilt happens when you sin and then you feel like you have done wrong.  Shame happens when you sin and feel like you are wrong.  When you feel guilty, you want to make things right, but when you feel ashamed, you want to hide.  Guilt is God whispering in your ear calling you back to Him.  Shame is Satan whispering in your ear robbing you of hope.  The end result of these two emotions is drastically different.  Shame leads to you running from God, but guilt brings you to your knees in repentance.

The one tricksy thing you should know, is that when you sin, you will automatically feel guilt first, but if you try to fix it on your own instead of crying out to God for forgiveness, that guilt will morph into shame.  So be careful.

Of course, no matter which one you’re feeling right now, guilt or shame, God will always, I repeat, always, take you back into His arms, if you ask Him.

    The craving for the unknown has been a source of curiosity and trouble since the garden of Eden. The Harry potter books for instance, have a level of mysticism and spiritual adventure that has drawn in over 1 Billion dollars to date. People want to know what is really out there, stretching for more, sick and tired of the mundane day to day living… or is that what they want you to think? hmmm

One interesting thing about REAL spiritual warfare, is that we get attacked- daily. Lies are one of the biggest weapons the devil has to attack us, and the thing is, we believe most of them. It’s just like a snake if you think about it (I know it’s ironic), but when we believe the lie- that enables a poisonous thoughts to flow though us and cause us to be angry, rebellious, confused, lost, un-trusting, unforgiving, basically- a whole pile of negative emotions and thoughts.

What lies do you believe? Have you believed them so long you believe it’s fact? Chances are, you believe some lies in your life. Time to pick up your sword and fight!!  Sit down this week and write out any negative thoughts that come in your mind about yourself, then ask “Does God believe this about me?”

Bible verses to help you attack back:

James 4:7 (Resistance is worth it)
Genesis 1:27 (Don’t hate what God made)
Ephesians 6:10-20 (Get the goods on)
Ephesians 5:5 (Dont hide stuff!)
2nd Thessalonians 2:7-16 (Who we fight against)
Revelation 12 (Who we fight against- Intense)

If you have any verses that helped you, post them here. Lets keep this post going- Lots can happen in this one.

In a discussion about contemporary worship music, someone said that a lot of it is just  ”creepy, mushy love songs”

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 

A Father, so desperate, that He’d go to the extreme to save the ones He loves.

A Groom, so in love with His bride, that He’d leave His place on high to come down and die for her, to bring her into His righteousness.

That is so much more than a mushy love song, and it’s not creepy at all. How privileged are we that our God chose to show us real love. He defined it for us in a way that no chick flick or pop song could ever come close to. And maybe that’s how warped we’ve become, that we think our heavenly love story could be put on the same level as a crush.

I was waiting impatiently for the doors to open onto the indoor ice rink.  I had been skating for three years, and I was good.  Better than most kids my age anyways.  I was so excited to get out there and fly over the ice like a graceful bird, Victoria, the future Olympic gold medal winner.  The doors open and I shoot out, only to fall flat.  I wobble to my feet and push myself off the wall.  Thud!  I fall again.  I couldn’t get my feet to stay under me, they kept sliding out of control.  I fall to the ice again and almost burst into tears, my 8 year old pride was wounded.  I stared down at my skates.  My blade guards were still on!  No wonder I couldn’t stay up, the sharp blades of the skates were encased in hard plastic, so no matter what I tried, it wouldn’t have worked.

I was feeling very proud that day, I didn’t double check to make sure I was ready to go on the ice and my attempts failed.  Just thinking back on this makes me want to ice skate again, but it also reminds me about purity.  Sometimes you feel so ready, so able, and then you fall flat, scrambling to gain control.  You will fail in staying pure if you don’t have the right motivation, if you’re doing it because you’re “that good”, or you haven’t prepared yourself to take on the challenges of purity.  Look into your heart right now.  What is your motivation for staying pure?  Have you equipped yourself well enough to stay vertical in a slippery world?  Make sure you are on target or you will end up like 8 year old me, face down on the ice.

Ok- So it turns out that “Jesus coming into my heart” when I was 8 years old is a cute and heartwarming story, but testimonies keep growing and changing… Mine just took a big swing, and needless to say- it hurt. Here’s the short version of it.

I always thought idolatry was bowing down to golden calves or choosing to worship stuff other than God, but as long as I went to church on Sunday- I was fine! but I wasn’t. I had a deep rooted emotional problem that I seemingly grew up with. I loved love, I wanted people to show me approval, clap for me, give me gifts, hugs, encouragement, It all felt so good- so good I craved it more than God- and didn’t realize it. I looked to everyone to make me happy, because if no one “filled my love tank” I felt very empty. You could imagine how fearful I was when that got pointed out finally. I was afraid God wouldnt love me, because I was finding love from everyone, and I could get it whenever I wanted it… but it was wrong. I tried (almost) everything to feel loved. God is a jealous God, and now I’m choosing to deny my emotions and self, and finally reaching out to God with my heart bowing to Him.

Search your heart- are you just trying to fill the void with everything but God because it’s “more real”?

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”

Last week I got a wake up call. A few of the resources I was counting on having weren’t available any more and the person I was counting on to help me in the transition wasn’t able to come through. As I surveyed my situation, my reality hit me like a train. I don’t really have anything on this earth free and clear. Every friend, responsibility, and dollar I have could all vanish in an instant. Now don’t stop reading because you’ve heard this before and “know the christian answer”. More than what you would do if you lost everything, I want to know what you would have? So stop reading and think about that for just a minute.

While my mind was whirring around things like “I’d have my thoughts and memories…” or “I’d have my future…” God stopped me in my tracks and said “Dearest daughter, don’t you know that all of that can also be taken away?” I looked up towards the sky and finally asked Him “Ok daddy, what’s the answer to this riddle?” and then my hand reached down and picked up my bible from where it sat at my side and I had my answer. The word of God is living and He has promised that it would not ever pass away. The word of God has power and the ability to “be” when nothing else “is”. That is worth living for, dying for, memorizing, utilizing, and spending time cultivating every day of my life, and it is an investment that will always return a value in every situation.

Divorce is pretty common in this day and age. Couples who are just barely staying together are even more prevalent. And this leaves us. You, me, and the rest of this generation. Our friends, our neighbors, our cousins, they all are trying to make it out of broken homes. But of course none of us have really seen marriages that work. So we’re bound to just make the same mistakes, right?

Wrong.

This is our chance to break the cycle. And it doesn’t start on our wedding days, it starts right now. We have the opportunity to do something different, to be a generation that stands on the word of God and believes His promises. If we form our single lives around the truth of the cross, we’ll be drawn to a spouse doing the same thing. And if as a couple, we’re dedicated to serving and glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ, we will see a big change in our world.

The enemy wants us to believe it’s not possible. He wants us to look at the brokenness we see and give up. But that’s not what God has in mind. He has an incredible plan to redeem this generation, and to give us hope. And that’s something I want to be a part of.

When my mom came home from the Department of Motor Vehicles after taking my sister for her permit test, she told me, “You should have come Victoria, you would have gotten LOTS of blogging material there!”.  They both proceeded to tell me vivid stories about how people just don’t listen to instructions or read the signs.  The whole story was summed up with exclamations about the stupidity of mankind.

But we do the same thing.  The Bible is filled with all kinds of “choices have consequences” guidelines (just read Proverbs), but we ignore them most of the time.  Sin leads to death.  It’s a huge warning.  Sort of like the “DO NOT ENTER” sign that people kept passing at the DMV.  It is the same with the warnings God put in the Bible, but to us they are just a flashing red sign that we bypass on our road to sin.

God didn’t put up those alerts to keep you from having fun, He put them up so you wouldn’t die.   So read the sign:

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”  Matthew 7:13-14

And if you’ve already past the flashing sign, God can always save and forgive, if you ask Him, no matter how far down the wide road you are.

Yesterday I committed a dark, nasty, man sin.

I did the unthinkable, and even though this is an unspoken rule when any man is around women, I still decided to do it anyway… I’ve only ever done this once before in my past, and almost got slapped on top of the verbal abuse I endured. So what did I possibly do?

I started digging in a ladies purse (Sara’s purse).

I KNOW! I KNOW! It’s like the protective area of security that no one (especially a man) is allowed to dive into. Im pretty sure fights and world wars have been started by acts of this nature. But there I was, digging for what I needed, and feeling like some sort of big time thief.

I couldn’t tell why I felt like this, was it because of my “good son” training my mom gave me growing up, was it my own conscious telling me I was doing something bad? I had no idea, but I just knew that at any moment I would activate the purse security system (that every woman’s purse has). I just knew this was the unpardonable sin. But there was one thing…

I had permission.

God wants us to ask Him for what we need, and not be scared to approach His throne in honest prayer. Don’t be afraid to ask God for something.

God says “Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and you will find” Matthew 7:7
(Also read the story of the prodigal son’s brother in Luke 15:28-32)

If you are reading this blog, you have probably already dedicated you life to Christ. At some point in time you consciously wanted to do God’s work and live a righteous life.  But sometimes that point in time feels far away, maybe you did it when you were young, so I want to propose to you that you rededicate you life to Christ. Here’s what I mean.

Set up a time when you talk to God and tell Him, “Here’s my life, take it and use me”, even if you have done it before, human memory and emotions are fleeting and it is good to cement it in.  Make it like a private ceramony with you and God and do whatever you do to get close to Him.  Sing some worship music, take the Lord’s Supper (you are allowed to do it out of church you know), build a bonfire, go for a walk.  Make it special, personal, a time when all facades fall away and it is just you and God and nothing else.  A time when you can become undone by His love and want with all your being to do His will.  The more intimate and real it is, the better you will remember it in the future.

Earlier this year, I rededicated my life to Christ.  I went into the woods, and there I built a small alter.  I knelt and prayed, once more giving God my heart.  I then stuck my short sword in between the stones of the alter, giving it to Him to use through me.  I can now look back on that time and remember the peace I felt and the assurance that God would always be there to lift my sword, even when I couldn’t.

So, let me challenge you, rededicate your heart and life to God, not because it will make you “more saved” but because it will remind you, when the battles start raging, where your allegiance lies.