Why I Believe – Psalm 12

Today’s reading:  Psalm 12

I’ve experienced events I never imagined would happen in my lifetime during the past 10 months.  When we turned the calendar to 2021, I naively thought this nation, ravaged by the pandemic, racial tensions and a huge political divide, hit rock bottom in 2020 and only had one way to go – up.  Things had to start getting better, right?

Wrong.  With the president inciting an attack on our nation’s capital building last week, and his impeachment this week, the first two weeks of 2021 have NOT started out any better than last year.  Without faith in a God who has power over it all, it would be very easy to sink into hopelessness.

Why do I believe?

Through his death, burial and resurrection, Jesus overcame sin and death.  Because I put my faith in him, I am not stuck in this world.  Rather than a life of hopelessness, pain and heartache, I can choose a life of joy and fulfillment.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

In Psalm 12, King David was also fighting battles he wasn’t used to.  Remember, King David was a mighty warrior.  He was skilled at fighting battles against strong armies.  In this instance, however, David had a new enemy.  The war of words in which he found himself was against boastful, lying, deceitful, and manipulative people not other armies.  Can you relate?  Unfortunately I can.  This sounds a lot like the environment and people I work with every day.  It is exhausting!

Note David’s response throughout this passage –

Help Lord… (verse 1)

May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue… (verse 3)

You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and protect us from the wicked… (verse 7)

David knew the Lord had power over sin and darkness.  He took his cares to God and trusted him for deliverance.  What a timely reminder as we begin 2021.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

 

 

Why I Believe: Psalm 11

Growing up we went to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. Summers were spent looking forward to church camp and mission trips. I remember my parents reading their Bible’s, having their own quiet time and praying with us through all the difficult decisions and situations of life. I am so thankful that I was introduced to Jesus at a young age. For me, life was easy growing up. I wanted for nothing and I cannot recall any real struggles that kept me down. It wasn’t until I was off on my own that I began to wrestle with the place Jesus had in my life. Even though I grew up knowing Jesus there was still the moment that I had to choose it for myself.  I honestly thought that life with Jesus was supposed to be easy and pain free and bad things were not supposed to happen if I loved Jesus and followed Him. I have since learned that this is not true. There hasn’t been one defining moment, but instead millions of little moments that have brought me to the feet of Jesus…at the end of me. I always end up on my knees falling into the grace and mercy of Jesus. I believe that God loves me and sent His son to die for me and my faith is always deepening as I continue in this imperfect world. There is opportunity to draw close to Him and to pull away. The beauty is that I get to choose. I have chosen both in my  life and the times I have chosen to draw close to Jesus are hands down the best moments. It’s the trials and difficulties in this life that are my refining moments. They are my opportunity to see God. I look back and see my immaturity and wonder how God could even look at me, but he does look at me (and you) as a father looks at their child with love and grace. Always drawing me in and never pushing me away. It’s a daily decision to live for Christ instead of trying to keep up with this world but it is one that is full of peace and joy that cannot be found elsewhere.

In Psalm 11 David was in a dangerous situation where he was forced to flee for his safety.  He says in Psalm 11:1 “I trust in the Lord for protection”, while everyone was telling him to flee to the mountains for safety and run away. David did not let his fear stand in the way of the situation. Instead he let his faith override his fear. Our hope in times of trial can only come from knowing that God is in control of every moment….even the terrifying ones.

I have to remind myself daily that God is in control and it is my choice to choose to trust Him. I am not perfect and everyday I am learning. But He is always faithful to reveal Himself in any situation that I give back to Him. He is bigger than my fear! And as I raise children in an uncertain world I am encouraged by the example of my parents.  I pray that our lives would be a reflection of the love and grace given to us by our Heavenly Father.

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.

 

 

 

Why I Believe: David LaFrance

Today’s Reading:  Psalm 10 

Psalm 10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

At a young age, you only know what you know. We went to church at times but what happened, what I heard, and what I witnessed was different than my experiences at home.  The worldly choices made by my family and self got in the way of any connections the Lord was calling us to.  Selfishness, lies, and addictions took the front seat and we did the hiding from God. I would become a master at hiding physically, mentally, emotionally, and most importantly spiritually.  Still only like God can do, He would find me.  

According to my study bible, Psalm 10 is one of the Lament Psalms. Laments typically have five components which can appear in any order: (1) an invocation, or cry to God; (2) a complaint – description of a crisis; (3) a petition; (4) a statement of confidence in the Lord; and (5) a vow to praise God. Laments typically arise from a specific situation, and understanding that situation can help readers apply its truths to their own experience.  

For me, I remember literally crying out.  Poor me, why this, why that? I had lost my earthly father at an early age. Even before this memory, I could remember the addictions and fallouts from that.  It impacted our whole family. This was the path I knew.  My desires to live a life about myself and in the world filled me with an emptiness that no earthly pleasures could fill.  Trouble surrounded me. The only answer was God.  God saw my arrogance, my afflictions, and humbled me to my knees. ( I still need this more than I want to admit.) He showed me through my wife, family, and others that this vapor of life should only point to Him if you want any fullness and peace. In any moments where God seems hidden and you are needing to cry out, know He is always there. Just like you, just like me,  I needed to open my eyes, listen, and have faith in His plan for my life and not try to do everything for myself and by myself. 

Christ’s love can break any cycles of the past. 2 Corinthians 5:17 If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone, the new is here! 

Why do I believe? I believe because God’s grace, love, and plans for my life are bigger and better than I will ever know or imagined. Jesus changes everything.  He transformed my life, my family, and He can change yours. 

 

Psalm 10: 16-18  The Lord is King forever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.

Dear God, thank you for changing our downward trajectory. Thank you for loving us and making us new. I know Your work in us is ongoing. Please take away our pride so we can be more like you. Amen  Be Blessed

Why I Believe: Lynden McGriff

Psalms 9:1-2;13-14

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

13 Be gracious to me, O Lord!
See my affliction from those who hate me,
O you who lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may recount all your praises,
that in the gates of the daughter of Zion
I may rejoice in your salvation.

Why I believe? This is such a profound question that it cannot be nearly summed up in one passage. For me, my belief can be seen through the eyes of a gardener. In the eyes of a gardener you have the preparation with the seed, the plant, the fruit, and the pruning.

Matthew 13:3-9

And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears,[a] let him hear.”

I want to start out with the seed. In the parable about the seed, Christ talks about several different grounds and soils, which the seed has been sowed. I’ve been able to see that the seed that is been planted or sowed is the seed of the Holy Spirit. But I also recognize that in me I have all of the soils that Christ has spoken. In each different part of my journey the soil has changed.

There are different times in my life that I’ve had good soil there are different times in my life I had rocky soil and there’s different times in my life that I have had thorns as well. But it is when the seed finds the optimal soil and right time to produce a plant. This has happened several times in my life where of the seed has found some good soil, but it also has landed on some of the troubled soil as well.

So what I believe is that the seed that is the Holy Spirit never changes in us, but as we allow the Spirit to move in us the soil with change.

As in gardening you have to continuously and constantly check the pH of the soil because the soil that may not be optimal for this year’s crop. The soil needs to be adjusted for the next crop. So what I believe is God is utilizing his Spirit to work in me constantly to cultivate me constantly to change me into the person who he wants me to be and to give him the glory and show his presence in my life to be a reflection of his life.

An example that can illustrate this seed growing when it’s optimal was revealed to me from a visit that I had with a friend last week. Last week, a dear friend of mine showed me one of his pets. He showed me a tadpole that he had rescued from a small little pond. So as we were conversing he informed me that this tadpole was two years old. This knowledge baffled me because in my limited perception as being a scientist, I thought that tadpoles only lasted for a small amount of time. But I understood that tadpoles will only change will transform into a frog when the conditions are right. This tadpole is two years old. This tadpole is approximately 4 to 5 inches long. This was a complete intriguing for me. For my 39 years, I had some new information that I’ve had assume were true.

With this new knowledge I have an enlightened view of absolutes. The seed, as with the tadpole, will find the right time to prepare, mature, and produce a plant at the correct time in which it is ready. The seed of the Holy Spirit will activate and produce when it Optimal. This can be two months, five years, 10 years, or 70 years. No matter how long the seed is there God will allow the seed to mature and transform and metamorphosis into the new creation in which He has ready for us.

This is what I believe that God is in the changing and growing of each individual at the each individual’s time no matter what time do restraints or limits we placed on Him. Be blessed.

Lynden McGriff

Why I Believe – Psalms 8

While living in Green Valley, Arizona many years ago, I got to experience the wonder of God’s creation in ways not experienced here in the Midwest.  In our town there were “Light Ordinances” so that nothing impacted the view of the stars.  We lived at the base of Madera Canyon and the majesty we saw everyday from sunrise to sunset was incredible.  Our favorite family activity was to sit in the hot tub at night and gaze at the millions of stars overhead.  We couldn’t help but be astounded at the hundreds of thousands of tiny pinpricks lighting up the sky.

Who is God that He created all the majestic creation and yet He still cares about me…and you?!?!  

In Psalm 8, David declares the Heavens and the earth Majestic!

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

Psalms 8:4

David would have been able to sit under the stars nightly and experience the majesty of God as he kept an eye on his sheep.  

My awe and belief in God is renewed when I take time as David did and gaze up at the sky in the early morning or the setting sun in the evening.  I look to see how God’s majestic name shows up in every corner of His creation.

I don’t know why God cares so much about us but, I believe God put the stars in the sky as a visible reminder of His presence and his desire to have a relationship with us.  We feel how small we are and yet God still thinks of us.  He sent His own Son to give His life for us.  What is man that you are mindful?  Next time you wonder about God, go out and gaze up at the stars.  Remember that the God who created the stars also created you!

Why I Believe – Psalm 7

Throughout David’s ordeals on his way to becoming king, I can’t imagine the extent of the feelings he battled. The fear for his life from his enemies; the anger towards his father-in-law’s behavior; the frustration of those who twisted Saul’s ear with deceptions against David; the deep resentment over the betrayal of Saul after all David did for the kingdom of Israel; the loneliness and exhaustion from fleeing danger across the country all on his own. As faithful a man as David was, I can only assume in his human condition he fought these things the same way I imagine many of us would. I imagine most would people nowadays may feel a thirst for justice or desire for revenge in David’s shoes.

Psalm 7 is an incredible song of deliverance from these captive chains of revenge. David demonstrates an incredible surrender of his own accord to God’s judgement; as he states in verse 8, “The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.” God will shield the righteous from destruction, and will rightly punish those who do Him wrong and refuse to repent. David could totally get mad and go all Goliath round 2 against those chasing him and take his rightful throne by force. But even as death chases him, he knows his opinion of who is in the right and wrong is purely subjective, and instead sings for the Lord to judge according to His standards, even if it ends with David punished for wrongdoings of his own.

The freedom from hatred within the heart, the recognition of an authority over right and wrong beyonds our capabilities and judgement, the practicing of God’s control over our lives; David’s words speak to reasons my own faith is essential. When the world feels so saturated with evil, full of men only after the desires of their own selfish hearts, my belief in God’s continued sovereignty and righteous judgement calms my heart and assuages my reactions towards these things. In David’s actions and words of mercy towards his pursuers (1 Samuel 24:12-13, 1 Samuel 26:19), I see faith in action. I see the Lord healing the scars borne of our fallen humanity and bringing a righteous calm to a raging storm.

This is one thing I think clearly demonstrates God’s existence and the enacting of His will. I have borne the burden of a fallen human heart myself, and empathize with the feelings David must have felt. To hear him take his burden to the Lord and praise His righteousness and judgement above all else – to experience this lightening of burdens when I likewise bring my own troubles and failures to the Lord – this is more than proof enough for me that God changes the hearts of those who believe. Knowing the condition of our sinful hearts firsthand, I know no one and nothing other than God could possibly put minds at true peace and fill hearts with joyous praise, despite our natural inclinations otherwise. This is part of why I believe: from experiencing firsthand the refuge and deliverance David describes when we right ourselves with God.

Like David in his time of need, we must hold firm against Satan whispering in our ears, encouraging us to overstep our bounds over God’s rights. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also (Matthew 5:38-39).” Our culture encourages – and often even celebrates – vengeance and payback against the perpetrators when we are wronged. We as Christians demonstrate our belief  when we defy this and surrender our need for justice to Him – not that we should at all tolerate or accept wicked deeds, but knowing recompense for wickedness extends beyond our human reach. When our actions display our trust in God’s judgement and we relinquish our pursuit to ruin those who wrong us, we defy the way of the world and show faith in the Lord’s deliverance. The world needs a ridiculous love, and I can attest we offer proof of a ridiculously loving God when we trust in Him to right things when we are wronged – if not in this life, then the next. And let us always sing alongside Psalm 7:17: “I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.”

Why I Believe: Chet Bandy

Today’s reading is Psalm 6.

I’m a little embarrassed to say when reflecting and preparing on this topic of “Why I Believe” I struggled a bit. I’m blessed to have been born into a Christian home with great parents who told me about God and Jesus at a young age, took me to Sunday school and church, and sent me to vacation Bible school amongst many other things to help establish my faith early. A friend of mine and someone who I would also consider a mentor, Tom Lipscomb, says that his mom would comment about certain things, “I know it in my knower.” Many believers have had a fork in the road moment where they remember turning to God when they had no where else to go, and they felt God save them, renew their soul, and rescue them from these challenges. This is similar to what David describes throughout Psalm 6 and especially in Psalm 6:1-2, Psalm 6:4, and Psalm 6:9. In fact, the titling in my Bible above Psalm 6 is O Lord, Deliverer My Life. For me though, I’ve never not believed… it’s more like Tom’s mom said, “I know it in my knower.”

Some reading this may say if there was never a time you didn’t believe and the flip was switched so to speak, how do you really know it’s true and God is real? I will say there was a period of time around my college years when I did reflect and think to myself, “Do I really believe the Bible and what I’ve heard all these years? Or is this just something I’ve always taken as true because my parents believe and not let my mind question or think otherwise? Do I really believe myself?” As I let my mind become more open to wondering if it was true and become more cognizant to the information I was taking in, I continued to come back to what I heard and the truth I read in the Word.  Yes, there are the questions that science brings up about creation, evolution, and the miracle of the virgin birth. But, science is changing every day. Things that were believed to be scientifically true for years and years are being disproven, revised, and changed. Heck, we still don’t know fully how all the facets of the human body works today, let alone the truth about things that happened hundreds and thousands and even millions of years before any one of us were even born. I believe most of what science says just describes the way God engineered and did things. Science and God are not in opposition necessarily. For other things where science and God don’t seem to jive, I arrive at two conclusions. First, how do we know the so-called science is true? Again, science is being revised constantly. Secondly, some things we have to just say happened by the miracle of God because He is God and can do what we can’t.. and can’t even explain for that matter (Romans 11:33-34, Isaiah 55:8-9). More than anything, the love of Jesus and His grace on the cross continued to be a magnet that would not let me go away. Again, I just “know it in my knower.”

While there hasn’t been a watershed moment where I can say I first believed, I can say that almost daily I become more and more convicted as to the truth of God’s existence and the Bible. It happens when I see someone decide to break the chains of their past and the shackles of their sin and lead a changed life once they discover the love and grace of Jesus. It’s seeing the beauties of a gorgeous sunrise or sunset and looking up at the stars and moon and thinking, “There’s no way all this could happen by chance.” It’s seeing the birth of my children and reflecting on the fact that life is truly a miracle. Just think about all the things that have to go right for a baby to be born and the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of chemical interactions and nerves firings, all of which happen simultaneously without us thinking about them, just for us to live. It’s seeing how something that seemed terrible at the time like a relationship split or job loss years later proves out to be a great thing by finding an even greater relationship or career path. It’s how what seemed to be a small and insignificant decision at the time later turns out to change the trajectory of your life such as my decision to pursue finance instead of orthodontics not knowing that years later I would lose fine motor skills in my hand.  How do these things happen without a greater power? How do they happen without God? My simple conclusion..they don’t. When you believe and develop awareness and look for it, you can see God’s hand on nearly everything…eventually. For other things where we never see it ourselves, we just simply have to trust Him, and I’m confident we will find out in Heaven that there was in fact a great purpose we just couldn’t see.

What is the greatest miracle though and the reason why I believe? It’s the grace of Him sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross. As Andy Stanley described in a recent series I listened to, when we as created beings question and doubt our Creator in any way, we deserve eternal punishment. But, God did what man cannot even fathom doing if we were God.

“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:7-8

Before some of us believed while we were rejecting Him, and while some us believed yet are still sinning by the day, hour, and even minute now…He suffered and died in an unimaginable and gruesome way for you and for me. Knowing what we would do and are still doing today..He did it anyway. It’s that sacrifice and His unfathomable grace which restores and renews me when I mess up constantly to bring me back together with Him..that’s why I believe.

Please take a few minutes to watch this lyric video. I promise…you won’t regret it.

https://youtu.be/C2U7ffUM5Ec

Why I Believe

 

Psalm 5

 

Psalm 5 has God’s personhood written all over it. As we read though this chapter we see the thoughts and actions of the Living God.

~God hears

~Listens

~Takes no pleasure in wickedness

~Hates all who do evil

~Destroys all who tell lies

~Detests murderers and deceivers

~Leads

~Is refuge

~Spreads protection

~Fills with joy those who love Him

~Blesses the godly

~Surrounds His people with His shield of love

These thoughts and actions must come from a living being. No figure or dead person can think or take action. I have to believe that David would not have written this chapter had he not experienced all of these actions. The only other explanation I can come up with for Him to write these things if were not true, is that he could have been a lunatic and out of his mind, but I find it hard to believe that a crazy persons words would have lasted more than 2000 years. There is no point in preserving nonsense, so I choose to believe that this list accurately describes who God is and what He is capable of doing.

 

 

 

This chapter also shows us that David had a personal relationship with God because he spoke to Him as he would any other human in his life. David asks God to:

~Hear him

~Pay attention to him

~Listen to him

~Lead him

~Make His way plain to follow

~Declare his enemies guilty

~Let his enemies be caught in their own traps

~Drive away his enemies

Why would David cry out for help from someone or something powerless to save him? He was running for his life from a powerful king and the king’s armies whose orders were to kill him. David was a desperate man who needed supernatural power to protect him and he knew Who to call on. His lifetime of relationship with God made it second nature to ask for help from the One he knew was his only hope. You can see David’s respect for God, reverence for God, and friendship with God all throughout. He knows what pleases God and what God hates. David knows what God loves and how God loves His people. David knows what God is capable of and who God blesses. This chapter speaks of a real relationship between two living beings.

 

 

I want to experience God, trust God with my life, and know God as intimately as David did. I want to be characterized as one who:

~Cries out to God my King for help

~Brings my requests to Him

~Knows that the proud may not stand in His presence

~Experiences His unfailing love

~Worships Him with deepest awe

~Rejoices in His refuge

~Loves His name

 

It amazes me how much of God’s personhood and character are revealed in just 12 verses. We are given thousands more to explore and learn from. We get to see hundreds of people’s relationships with God throughout the Bible so we can learn more about who God is and how He responds to us. He wants to make His way plain for us to follow, but we have to want to follow Him. We have to spend time with Him. We have to choose Him as our King. Do today’s verses give you a deeper understanding of how God interacts with you? Do you see more of what He wants to be allowed to do in your life? You get to decide…He won’t choose for you even though He could.

Why I Believe: BJ Armstrong

Dwight D. Eisenhower says “plans are useless.”  I agree with him.  Do you need any more proof than 2020?  I made great plans.  You probably did too.  Nothing, absolutely nothing went the way that I planned.

So, what did I do at the end of the year?  I made great plans for 2021.  Same as you.  There is a second part of Eisenhower’s famous quote.  He continues by saying, “planning is everything.”  Guess what?  A thousand things will go wrong again this year.  How do I know?  Its been happening since the beginning of time.

Take a read through Psalms 4.  What do you hear?  I hear a man crying out to God because his life is not going according to plan (v1,2).  I hear a man searching his heart for righteousness (v3).  I hear a man placing his hope in God’s wisdom (v4).  I hear a man grateful in his current circumstances (v5).  He knows God is in control.  Only in Him, does he find joy and peace (v8).

Why do I believe?  I believe for the same reason David did.  In this crazy world, there is only one constant and only one surety.  Peace and joy are not found in planning for abundant harvests of grain and new wine (v7).  They are found only when our confidence and our faith is placed in the Lord.

Living With Hope

Life provides us daily challenges and difficulties.  The unexpected, the hard to understand, the situations where we have no answers, and the challenges that seem to have no end.

How can we believe there is a God when the world we live in is so troubled, sinful, and sad?

Our reading today is Psalm 3 in which we learn of an unimaginable challenge in David’s life.  As a leader who had done many good things in the name of the Lord, he was also a man of God who committed what seemed like unforgivable sins. In this chapter, David is attempting to escape from his son, Absalom, who is attempting to overthrow his father and kill him.

Psalm 3

1-2 – David cries out to the Lord in trouble

3-4 – David recognizes God’s grace

5-6 – Dave acknowledges the rest God provides in troubled times

7-8 – David gives thanks

For me, faith boils down to one word…HOPE.

  • The Bible exhorts hope that God is with us, all the time, and there is a reason for strife and challenges. (Colossians 1:5)
  • I believe that the bad things that happen have a purpose in my life. I will learn from them. I believe bad things can be used for good.  (Hebrews 11:1-3; 2 Thessalonians 2:16)
  • I believe that our struggles will not last forever. (Romans 5:1-5)
  • I believe that the disappointments and failures in my life do not define me. (Romans 15:13)
  • No matter how bad this world gets, our Father has a plan and purpose for everything. (Romans 8:24-25)
  • All of things that are awful and unexplainable will someday be explained in Heaven. (Romans 12:2; Hebrews 10:23)
  • I believe that we cannot look for happiness and fulfillment in this world, because we will always be let down and disappointed. (Hebrews 6:18-19; Titus 1:2; Titus 2:11)

I encourage you to read the Bible and study scripture regularly.  God will provide you hope in troubles, strength in difficulties, and “pull you through” when it feels like you cannot go on.

Formula for Hope

  1. Cry out to God when you are troubled
  2. Recognize that God provides hope in the worst situations
  3. Acknowledge that God will provide you “rest” if you turn to Him
  4. Give thanks to God for what He has provided you – know that He is with you and ask Him for strength

When writing this, I am aware that those reading this fall into different levels of faith and belief in Christ.  1.) You may be a devout believer, 2.) You may have have believed in the past but are wavering, or 3.) You do not believe in God and Christ at all and think those of us that believe are “brainwashed.”

I would encourage you to open a Bible and read the scripture listed in the Bible Journal posts like this one. Seek information so you can make an informed decision about Christ. Think about scriptures you read each day and try to apply them daily to situations, decisions, and interactions.  Find a great church community with leaders that walk you through explanations and study the scriptures. Attend church regularly in person or online.  (Cornerstone Chapel or Eastview Christian Church) The more time you spend learning, the more you can use the information to make an informed decision about your faith in Christ and most importantly, allow your faith to impact your daily life.

I have learned that my relationship with God is similar to my relationships here on Earth.  The more time I spend learning and listening, the stronger the relationship.  I find hope and faith when I seek answers. If I do not spend time reading and studying scripture, then my faith falters and fades.

My prayer is that we do not let our faith be framed by the place we live now.  My prayer is that our faith is built based on the HOPE and belief in the place where we want to live, Heaven.

The Bible was written by 40 different authors over 1600 years.  It is complex and it is can difficult to understand.  Seek guidance and interpretation of how to understand scriptures and you can learn how to utilize the message to impact your life today.