Christ and Marriage

I'm back. It's been several years since I've used this blog. It's not that I haven't had anything post-worthy, it's just that I am terrible at keeping up with things sometimes.

Since I last was on here, a lot has changed in my life. A new marriage, a new job (perhaps soon to be another), and a baby on the way, just to name a few things. But the point of my post today has nothing to do with my life status; it merely is a hope to be an encouragement and perhaps a lesson to those reading...

Recently, during a disagreement with my wife (yes, those happen), she made a point that had me thinking harder than I had in a while - and if any of you know me, deep/over thinking is one of my specialties. The point was, "Is there any chance this is a spiritual attack?" (The details of the issue are not important, but I should clarify that in this case it was something I was frustrated about). Of course, I didn't want to admit in the moment that my argument was anything less than correct, (pride has a way of taking over), but I had to step back for a while and consider her question. I did for days in fact. I came to a few realizations:

First, she was right.

Second, I was blowing things out of proportion.

Third, this was an intriguing example of Paul's comment, loosely referenced from Ephesians 5, regarding the parallel between earthly marriage and Christ's relationship to the church, meaning those who are saved.

Now to expand a little.

1. My wife has a way of gently pointing out flaws in my thinking, by making me think even harder about whatever is my concern at the moment. I both love her for it and hate the mental pain that often follows. But the best part is she always points my thoughts to Christ, which is why it hurts sometimes. It's often easy to convince yourself you are right against another person, but there's no honest way to beat God. It's merely a loss waiting to happen.

2. I realized something critical after talking with my wife. Something I knew for a long time, but didn't realize until now, mostly because I didn't want to admit to her or even myself it was true: I was led to think things about her motives that just were not possible. I knew they were not possible, yet it took days (yes, literal days I'm sad to admit) to argue with myself to the point of accepting the truth - I was allowing myself to be deceived about her. This is not the first time, either. I get so worked up over an issue that I let my mind wander and start assigning motives to actions that just simply aren't there. I'm sure at least a few of you can relate to that.
The thing I realized though, and only after she challenged me, is this: perhaps Satan, in his ever-present desire to separate us from each other, and more importantly Christ, is the one fueling these lies in my head. I mean, who else would be so bent on creating chaos where there is none, trying to convince me that my wife, who loves and cares for me in such consistently selfless ways, would knowingly and intentionally do something to hurt or frustrate me? I will point out here that in this case as well as past times, I have considered things being out of line based on her character. It just hasn't occurred to me that it is more likely a spiritual attack. Somehow I keep forgetting that this is a regular part of the Christian walk...
Anyways, to get back on track, even though I knew in my heart that these lies were, well...lies, I still was inclined to give them half a thought (at times maybe more than half), and admittedly they initially affected my attitude toward the situation. But here's the thing that I could keep coming back to, to help resolve the issue, and keep this in mind for my next point - these lies were clearly not consistent with her character! Even though it took a decent amount of time to sort through my thoughts, the thing (through prayer I should add) that eventually won the argument in my head has been who I know her to be. Take chocolate for example. It will always be chocolate. You might eat it and try to convince yourself that it is something else, but at the end of the day it will always be what it always has been: chocolate. Lame example..I know.. but it get's the point across, and hey, who doesn't appreciate chocolate?

3. This leads nicely into my final point, (not as much the chocolate specifically) and really the point that I was most impacted by out of all of this: how this earthly marital situation points so closely to our relationship with Christ. You see, Satan isn't just bent on ruining individual lives, or separating married lives. He is bent first and foremost on destroying relationships with our Savior. Day in and day out he will find any vice he can to pull us just slightly away enough, so he can slip in the doubt. He did it from day one with Eve by convincing her that God merely wanted to keep the "god-likeness" to himself, and wanted her to be left in the dark. He told Eve a lie to get her to disobey a clear command from her Master. He does it every day at every opportunity he gets with us, to convince us that God doesn't love us - because what loving God would allow death of loved ones, or cancer, or financial ruin? Or that God doesn't pay attention to us - why else could it be that we pray for years and years for reconciliation in a family, or maybe a better president, but nothing appears to happen? Or maybe even so far as that God doesn't exist - that human life is no more valuable than that of a dandelion, we just decompose once we die so who cares if we kill thousands of unborn babies every single day, or murder a classroom of students, or even ourselves out of depression and loneliness? Satan's entire job description centers around convincing us that God is not who He says He is. But the great news for us is this: no matter what challenge or lie comes our way, God has given us a name for Himself that speaks far louder than any words we could try to contain Him with. He has called Himself "I AM". What a powerful name! As Max Lucado point out in his book "Traveling Light",
"Do you know anyone who goes around saying, 'I am'? Neither do I. When we say 'I am,' we always add another word. 'I am happy,' 'I am sad,' 'I am strong,' 'I am Max.' God, however, starkly states, 'I AM' and adds nothing else."
God never changes. Ever. Satan wants to convince us He doesn't love us? God reassures us "I am love, and I love you." (1 John 4:8-10) Satan says God doesn't care about us? God says "Cast all your cares upon me, because I care for you." (1 Peter 5:7, Matthew 11:28) Every lie Satan has about God, we can turn to the Bible, God's written word, to dispute.

My point in all of this is simply this: don't let Satan get between you and the truth. I challenge every one of you reading this, and myself, if you have a dispute against God or even a brother or sister in Christ, don't let emotion take over. Don't let Satan take over. Let the truth conquer all.

Random Poetry...

I wrote a poem today for homework, and I thought I might just share it. Enjoy:)

Flowing Rivers of Grace

Poetry is like a river,

Flowing, cutting a path

Through the wilderness of your mind.

Poems are water,

Smoothing the rocks of pain

As the words pour from your heart.

But not just words,

Poetry erodes the very sand

From your soul,

The sand which is found in the deepest pools

Of your emotion.

It washes away the crashing thoughts.

In a massive waterfall,

Your deepest anger is forgotten at the bottom,

And your greatest joy bubbles to the surface.

Only to repeat itself again,

Till you reach the bountiful oceans of Heaven.

(more later I'm sure;)

"I will never leave you nor forsake you"

For the last several months I've been feeling rather spiritually dry. I don't know exactly why, but that's how it has been. If I had to put a guess on it, that guess would be because I think I've been letting God slip away lately, partly (I'm sure) thanks to negative influences I tend to have at work. Anyways, I want to say how amazing God is for not letting me slip away.

Basically I have been recently having trouble focusing on anything, and I could feel something that wouldn't seem to be quiet in my head. No, I'm not schizophrenic:P But there was definitely something that was causing my thoughts to always be confused and trying to find a solution to a problem I couldn't identify. Very weird feeling I gotta say. Unfortunately God never came up in my thoughts during all that, even though I am fairly certain it was Him all the time trying to talk to me.

Saturday night, it was worse than ever, and I couldn't even sleep because of it. I even ended up pulling an all-nighter to church, because no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't sleep. I figured music might help some, as it often does, and suddenly this song from Disciple got stuck in my head. The song was I Feel You, but that's not really the important part entirely. See I always listen to my iPod on shuffle, because I like the random selection deal. About two songs later, the song No End At All played, and I think God was leading me to that song. The chorus says, "There is nowhere I can go, even in the depths of the sea You're not too far away. When I wake, when I sleep, you are capturing me with a love that knows no end at all." I was speechless. Not necessarily because of the concept that the words spoke, but because it reminded me that God never leaves us, even if we push Him out. I asked for a sign to be shown to me at church in the morning. I felt like I had pushed God out for a long time, and wanted to just be positive that I was still His, or rather that He was still mine. Everywhere I went at church that day gave a clear sign that He never left me, even the sermon was about that exact topic! I'm so amazed that instead of just one simple sign, God gave me many huge signs. Even more so, He knew I would ask for a sign this week, and He gave John Piper the exact words I needed to hear at the exact time I needed them.

I pretty much want to say, it's amazing to be loved by God, because you never have to worry about being forgotten about or left behind. Just like He promises, He will never allow His children to be taken from Him, and will always take us back even if we leave Him for a time.

Good Times

The last couple of days were pretty amazing. Now, unfortunately my "amazing" days very often have something to do with a large amount of money spent, and this is no exception.

On Monday I bought used, but practically brand new snow tires for my car.

The picture is not of mine, but still the same kind as mine. They look even more impressive in real life, and I can't wait to get them installed and have a 12 inch blizzard! Retail is around $76 per tire, but I paid $185 for all four, coming to $46.25 per tire. Sears will install them for $12.50 each, bringing the total per tire to $58.75, which is still far less than buying new.

I also went on a whim and bought a large metal trunk for $15. Dimensions are 16" x 16.5" x 32", and I think the metal is brass. It has a brass colored under color, which was attempted to be covered by black spray paint. I rather like the effect, sort of an antique finish. I can lock it with a padlock, so now I can keep dangerous items out of little children's way without trying to just hide things...that never works.

Tuesday I had a random finding as well. A guy was selling a box of around 50 lighters, Prometheus brand, and ranging in worth from $35-$95. I bought the whole box for $10. Now, a slight problem is they seem to have been unused for so long it will take some effort to get them all working again, but I already have 6 in fine working order, and I figure when I sell them anything I make over $10 is a profit. I hope to get almost all of them working, and use the money to finalize payments on my car. If everything goes as I hope, I could get over $2,000 for the lot of them, but that depends on getting them all to work.

These were all purchased on Craigslist, and I payed cash for all of them.

Oh, and one final thing. My car now has a new DieHard battery. The old battery was quite bad, and the car would be dead within literally minutes of turning it off, even with no accessories running at all. Now, it runs beautifully, and (tho I had no idea batteries affected this) performance is much higher (I'm guessing the estimate will be around 20mpg, usually it's around 18), the transmission has stopped jolting finally, and the car just feels healthier. Oh, and I also gave it brand new brake rotors and calipers on both back wheels, the old ones were seized and causing problems.

And finally, a non-expensive amazingness. Sunday, of course, I got to help with leading worship by playing my electric guitar. That was fun:D And I got to see friends. That is always a good thing. And I had coffee, but that wasn't so amazing. Just kinda happened.

Learning Something New Every Day

I am not necessarily known for my cooking skills. The only non-pre-packaged foods I can consistantly cook well are any things (mostly meats) over an open fire. But today I learned how not to make cookies;) Butter never comes in at the end, always among first ingredients, and NEVER add water! I feel much more knowledgeable on cookie making now:)

Telekinesis

As I am typical to do, I have been having somewhat random thoughts lately. My mind wandered to the topic of telekinesis, or the ability to move objects with your mind. It is a fascinating concept. I have one basic puzzlement however on the subject. I have done much research, and gotten almost an exact number of opinions which say that TK (technical abbreviation:P) is or is not a form of witchcraft. A common opinion is that it isn't, and rather it's just taking advantage of an ability our brains have, but is not known much about. The theory in this case is where the law of gravity has a "magnetic" type of attraction to everything on the planet, TK allows our brains to send signals which disrupt gravity, and allow us to physically change that force in our favor, and to our desire.

However, other people say it is witchcraft. They say it has some relation to Wiccan type magic, or the occult, and that it is of Satan. I am gathering that they say this either because they believe it requires some form of magic for TK to work, but also possibly because it requires an intense "meditation" to learn and effectively use TK.

One verse FROM THE BIBLE I saw quoted once, in favor of TK (as risky as it may seem to point this out): Matthew 17:20, "He said to them, 'Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." I realize this is rather a stretch from the intended purpose of this verse, but it begs the question, "Does this mean we can physically move objects, even as big as mountains, by speaking it?" Yes, I know, TK is thinking for things to move, not speaking. But what's the difference really? Thinking in that sense could be speaking with your mind.

I'm just curious for more opinions on this subject. Is telekinesis a form of Satanic magic, or is it a God given ability our brains have, and few people know about. That is...if it even exists, which has yet to be documented with solid proof...

That's What Amazes Me

Ok so I was listening to Go Fish (yes, I do like them;) and as you might have guessed their song "That's What Amazes Me". There is one verse in the song that goes "There is a place inside my heart I'm thankful no one else can see. Thoughts I've had, wrongs I've done I wish I could take back every one... But like a Father who loves His children, You see my faults, and You've forgiven me. The one I wish I was is the one that you see, and that's what amazes me." I just kinda re-realized how incredible that promise is! As God tells us in 1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Wow. It takes incredible love to give such an incomparable gift! To think that after all I've done, that God would look on His perfect Son as the one who committed my sins, and let me go free??!! It's a dizzying thought...it's just like that other song goes, "It makes me wanna shout, 'Hallelujah, thank You Jesus! Lord You're worthy, of all the glory, and all the honor, and all the praise!' " I think I'll keep it down for now in volume though as the natives are sleeping;) But my heart is shouting with joy right now! I want to encourage anyone who reads this to join me in this Joy by laying their burdens down at His feet and rejoicing in His sovereign grace!

In His Mighty Name alone...