The Three Gifts

God gave me a very profound message for you guys today on the way to church this morning. It's about three gifts that God has given us that are so easily looked over. Now, these three gifts may be the most important things that god has given us in my opinion.

Prayer: Prayer is hugely underestimated today and is often passed up as unimportant. But the power of prayer is ridiculously strong! A lot of the time it seems like your prayers drift off into space and are forgotten. You're not alone because I've felt that way a lot in my life. But we've got a big problem presented to ourselves as well. We don't truly believe that our prayers will do anything at all. No you might say that you mean everything you say to God, but do you really? How many times have you asked Jesus to come into your life again? It's the classic crime of Christians today, we don't mean what we say. We pray in a moment of need, but then forget what we've prayed and go on with our daily lives. Matthew 21:22 tells us "Jesus said 'If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." The key word there is believe. This is when faith really kicks in. When you pray, do you have faith, do you believe that God will give you what you ask for? I'm guilty of this on several thousand occasions and I can bet you aren't clear of it either, no offense or anything!

The Truth: God's holy word is our tool to guide us through life. It's our manual, if you will. I know that a lot of the time it's difficult to read it, especially in the Old Testament, but it's filled with many good stories that will help you, really. Faith comes into this as well because you have to have faith that God will teach you something. Don't read is just because you feel obligated to or are told to, but read to learn something! I mean, before I open it, I pray to God to give me something that will help me with what I'm going through which is amazing because he usually does.

Fellowship: I know that it's difficult to stay strong sometimes by yourself, but God gives us the gift of fellowship. We weren't put on earth to be alone, but to spread the love of God. To make friendships and to be happy. Even Jesus had friends, take Lazarus for example! And didn't his disciples often go out in pairs? He knew that we could be stronger with someone else! Ecclesiastes 4:10-12 says that "If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man that falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." Two are stronger than one! Do you get it? You have friends to help you! It's pretty rad and really does NOT need to be looked over.

Don't overlook these things. They're truly importand and will help you in your life. They will help keep you from stumbling. Print this out and hang it on your wall maybe, remember it always though.

What happend to us?

High school can change a person dramatically if you let it. What sucks is having a front-row seat to it all. I used to have three AMAZING best friends in eighth grade, but we've drifted apart since the summer after it. Summer was great for each of us, but it changed us all as well. We became different people and it seemed like we were almost in different worlds. We basically stopped talking completely. I wanted to move in with my dad and the others weren't so hot about it at first but they said that it was fine. I had to move back with my mom where they were but we never hung out. I did once with Paisley but Samm and Sams I never saw a glimpse of. I miss them tremendously and I wish we could laugh like we used to and talk to each other. Those three don't even talk to each other at all. My heart feels broken because our friendship is broken and I'm afraid beyond repair. I wish we could go back to trying on Prom dresses with each other in JCPenny and going to the park on my birthday. Back to making fun of Samm and all the boys she liked and being in awe of Sams and her intelligence. Back to wishing we were as tall as Paisley and if they wanted t be like me at all. As tears fall down I pray to God that he'll somehow keep us together. We said we'd be friends forever and go to each others weddings, but I'm afraid that that won't happen. I need you guys, but you're not there.

Shut it down before we're all out of time

I've most likely written a blog on this before, but you know how I am, I like to repeat myself because I have the memory of a tank of goldfish! Today, with all the cool new gadgets we're surrounded with, they practically consume our lives. Think about it though. How many hours do you spend on the computer, texting, or watching television? Compare that with how much time we spend with our families! Does the scale tip towards technology? Well, I love the song by MxPx: Shut It Down. There's a verse in the song that I simply love because it criticizes the way America has turned to.

It says: "Throw away your cell phone, you can talk to yourself. You need a real friend, not some digital image. So what's it gonna be? A chat room or your family? Don't let the TV screen turn into your reality"

There's a HUGE nugget of wisdom in those words. We become so wrapped up in our worldly goods that we forget about really living. It says later in the song "I don't want to die but I'm having trouble living." Our attachment to the world is slowly killing us because we aren't relying on God anymore. Matthew 6:24 says "Jesus said, no one can serve two masters. Either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Are you more devoted to your possessions than to God? I find myself in the position all the time when I could be studying God's word instead of sitting online talking to my friends or just doing absolutely nothing because I'm to lazy to do anything for God! God offers things for us that won't wear out which is eternal life in Heaven. Why is it that we're willing to earn money for an iPod or a laptop and not willing to earn our place in Heaven. Sure, when you're saved and baptized, you reserve a room up there, but does it feel right to be working for worldly things and not for something even greater? I challenge you as I challenge myself to give up something worldly that you could live without like TV or your cell phone and instead spend that time doing something for God. Spend time with your families because you don't know how much longer you may have with them. Be a friend that's there instead on the other end of a computer.