Music

Music is a very influential and powerful thing. It has been passed down through generations as an object of entertainment and praise. First off, I must say that although the instrumental part of most secular songs is really amazing, and the beat is "sick", the words are inappropriate, and repulsive. Some songs are sweet, while others are gross. The music itself, (not the words) is good. What you MUST realize is that although people say they only "listen" to the music and don't hear the words, after listening to that song once the words will be stuck in their heads. This is absolutely true. The thing is. is that when we listen to music that is not God-honoring, then we are polluting our hearts and minds. The Bible says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things." Philippians 4:8 The Bible is very clear about what we should meditate on, focus on, and out our attention towards. Is today's music true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy? If the music isn't one of these things, then why are we filling our heads with it?  With the same ears that we hear God, we start polluting our minds by hearing wrong things. This should not be. Satan has been trying to steal the beauty of music and turn it into a stumbling block. Music was created to praise God, but now, it mocks God. The majority of secular music denies God, and distorts who God is. We as Christians need to take a stand against everything that is not true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. Music (and media) is a good place to start. I encourage you to ask God for self control, and for sensitivity to impure things. Try not listening to secular music for one month, but to Christian music.  (I do have to say that this isn't easy at all. It is extremely hard. But when was surrender easy?)  Once you listen to even a song that has questionable lyrics, I am almost positive that you will want to turn the song off. You don't have to listen to nothing for a month though. Two of my favorite bands are Jesus Culture and Hillsong (Hillsong United is my favorite of all the Hillsongs). Check out my profile for other great bands too. As a generation and a people of God, we need to rise up and take a stand. Although we may loose friends, get laughed at, and get spiritually attacked, God has called us to be set apart from others. We are to be holy and righteous people of God.

Love,
Katherine

God's Complete and Perfect Will

Human will. To do whatever we desire, whenever, no matter what it is. Our society and world right now says that you should get whatever, whenever. They bend the rules to make their will be done. God's will. He sees the big picture of our lives. He knows what id best for us. Only He does. A lesson I have learned: God will not give you what he has promised you until you are ready. The hard wait or silence that he allows is so that you will be ready to accept what he has for you. My family has gone through heartbreak, long waiting periods of silence, and disappointments. For 3 1/2 years we waited and God prepared us for a dramatic change. I am so glad that he had every detail worked out, and let his will be done and not mine. Our family learned to say, "Not our will but yours be done." Though it was painful and we were walking into a new season, God prepared us, and said, "My will is to be done. You can't comprehend what is in store for your life. You must rely on me, and let My will be done." Even Jesus said to is Father, "Let not my will, but your will be done." Before the Romans took him to die. Jesus new that God's will and plan was so much bigger and more important than his own, even though he faced death. God does everything because he loves us. If you are waiting and are wanting your will to be done, remember, (1) God is preparing you  (2) There is a reason, though we can't comprehend it, for everything God does (3) You aren't ready for the change God is bringing.

Love,
Katherine

The Change

Some people say that once you get saved an amazing change takes place in you, so much so that everyone can tell. I know that personally I had never felt that. Being raised in a strong Christian home, I always had a head knowledge of Jesus, but never really a heart knowledge. I knew that Jesus died for me, I knew all of the Bible stories... I even had a dream of someday becoming a missionary. I was one of those kids where those who did not live with me thought I was incapable of committing sin... (but only those who didn't live with me). Obviously, I didn't think much of a personal relationship with Jesus. I mean, I hadn't committed any "big" sins, I wasn't addicted to anything (accept for chocolate, but that's mostly a girl thing and not a life or death issue... most of the time.) I wasn't even exposed to what the real world was like. My life was guarded, and I had my parents to help me with my faith. About 5 years ago, my family left the church that I (almost literally) grew up in. We left friends and our church family behind. It was one of the hardest things I have gone through. We soon began looking for a new church. About a month later, we came to a place, and I knew this could be my new family. after about a year, I attended my churches annual camp. There I saw that God was a personal God. He moved in amazing ways and he healed every part of me. He touched me. However, even with that real experience, I was still so immature in my faith. I was so distracted, the Bible seemed, well boring to me. I left the change behind me, and focused on other things that caught my attention. God directed my family into a new season of waiting for 3 1/2 years for 3 children. That grabbed my attention once again. I found that God was pursuing me, but I needed to chase him. He was trying to instill a love and passion in me for him, but I was blocking him out of my life. I realized that the change that people felt, was because they changed their perspective of God, of life, of the world, and of the Bible. I needed to change my perspective and beliefs about who I was and who God is. God isn't a god who just waits for us to come to him. He wants us to come to Him... he shows himself to us. We need to seek him too though. We can't just wait for him to find us and capture our hearts. The change only comes when you allow God to be your Lord, your master, and your leader.

Love,
Katherine

Evangelism

I guess this is a dreaded word to shy people. I even dislike evangelizing sometimes because it honestly scares me and is out of my comfort zone. I don't feel capable of writing this, but I feel like I must.

• Why do we need to evangelize?

Because Jesus instructed his disciples to go out into all the world and preach the good news of Jesus Christ. That isn't a good enough reason for alot of people, so I am going to expound on it. Say your best friend is on their death bed and they aren't saved. They are scared because they don't have a clue as to where they are going, or maybe they act like they know where they are going but in their heart they know they are wrong. Would you tell them about Jesus? What if they weren't going to die, would you still, because you love them, tell them about Jesus? You know, this doesn't just apply to friends... it aplies to everyone. I know of one person whose child died and a pastor told her thet her child wasn't saved. She turned away from God because she wanted to be with her son. Things like this happen all of the time. The enemy is getting more souls to torment everyday. If someone had reached out to that woman's son, she might still believe.

• We aren't the only ones trying to evangelize

Mormans, Jahova's Wittnnesses, Budists etc., evangelize. There is a religeous "war" over souls. Even though many religeons (other than some denominations, like Methodist, Baptist, etc.) , acults, and cults claim to be another "form" of Christianity, they are not. The false religeon's "god" is really Satan. He has many people under his rule. But, even though it seems he is powerful he trembles in the light of God. He was created by God. And God is stronger than everything he has created. Not only that, but Satan has used many different religeons to snare people, but God doesn't need to.

• Don't wait. Make the most of every opportunity God gives you.

I am convicted even as I say this, but it is selfish to keep and hide the gift God has given to you and to all people. He has given us salvation. Eternal life with Him forever. That is the greatest gift we could ever receive, and we aren't giving anyone a chance to receive it. Whether they reject God or what you say, when they stand before God on Judgment day, they won't have any excuse. Don't give your responsibility to someone else when God has given you a command to do something. Ignoring God won't get you anywhere, waiting is dangerous because we don't know the number of our days.

• Out of my comfort zone

A lot of things seem to be out of my comfort zone, but when people or God push me to do something that scares me, I become stronger and it becomes easier. We need to overcome our fears. In our weakness, God shows his strngth. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We are running out of time, but God has a plan. Don't worry. God won't give you more than he knows you can handle. I know from experience. Everything in this post is biblical, and the Bible is nothing but truth. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

I hope thie atricle has changed your view or helped you see evangelism different. If I have left anything out that you thought was important, leave a comment. :D

Love,
Katherine

Love of My Life

The love of my life:

He was born to a young girl, about 15,
She was still pure though pregnant with him.
It was a miracle that wouldn't happen again.
At 12 years he was devoted forever to God,
And showed it by seeking his everything.

He became a teacher that many looked up to
but one that some people hated
He healed the sick and restored sight to the blind.
Deaf for once could hear the words he spoke.

He performed miracles by the power of the one who sent him
He never rejected any one, for they were is beloved people.

He was depised and rejected by the holy people.
He was labled as a sinner, though he did nothing wrong
he was shammed to the sinner's cross,
And could have saved himself,
but he took on our sin and shame and let the people mock him.

He died once, and once for all people
His father sacrificed his son for those he loved on earth
it was part of his plan.

Death could not hold him down,
he conquered the grave,
and rose frorm the dead 3 days after his death
He defeated our sin no matter how great or small
and it's nailed to the cross.

Jesus, the love of my life is he.
He was there when the before the earth was made,
He has been here and active since then and always will be.
He never leaves those who call on his name,
and he holds us when we can't stand up.

Love,
Katherine

Repentance

This is a little bit of a follow up on surrender. These two concepts go hand in hand. Repentance is basically like asking for forgiveness, but sometimes when we ask for forgiveness, we don't turn all the way around and leave our sinful ways behind us. We just say, "God I'm sorry I got caught in my sin. Wash my sins away because I don't want to go to hell." But with repentance we turn 180 degrees around and forget our sinful ways. In a way, when we repent, it is also like surrendering. We give our sinful ways up, and never take them back again. It's fake surrender if we take back what we've surrendered. Repentance is bridging the gap between you and God. Sin totally separates us from God. The more sin in our lives, the farther away God is. I don't know about you, but I want to be as close to God as I can possibly get. Surrender gives God a complete open door into your life. When you get rid of things in your heart/life God can work even more through you because you are allowing him to do it. Your heart must be in the right place. In a place of surrender. I am guilty of not surrendering things to God when I should have, and I'm also guilty of not repenting. But when I surrender things to God, I open doors for him, and he does things. If you hold onto sin or anything that needs to go away, even though you think it will be too painful to give it up, in the end, it will hurt even more. It is Biblical to surrneder, and to repent, just so you know, and He will forgive you for everything you've ever done, but don't put it off.

Love,
Katherine

Surrender

Note: I'm a little hesitant to touch on the subject of surrendering. I just thought to put that out there. I'm taking everything straight from what God says. in this subject.

I know that the phrase "I surrender God" is sometimes cliche. No doubt it is one of the most powerful phrases in the world, not only in the spiritual but in the natural, but I don't think we completely realize what we are saying. What is surrendering? It is giving up... In a strong way. It is saying, "God, I know that you are bigger and that I can't do this alone." Or saying "I'm going to stop fighting your hand in my life." "I'm giving up what I want for what you want."  As you can probably tell, surrendering isn't a warm fuzzy feeling. It hurts. It is hard. It is sometimes extremely scary. Now that you understand what I'm talking about, lets move on to how it is becoming cliche. It's because some people sing in songs I surrender, even if they don't mean it. They say "I surrender God" but sometimes in their hearts are still fighting God. They say I surrender, but don't understand what they are saying. Surrendering in some churches is never taught. However, it is one of the most important things that needs to be done in our relationship with God.. Sin SEPARATES us from God. How can we follow and have a mutual personal relationship with someone we are separated from? Surrendering our worries, anger, frustrations, feelings, and hurts to God are not always as easy done then said. Surrendering our plans, lives and will to God is so hard.

Fighting against God is fighting for the Satan. We MUST surrender everything. If not our relationship with God is severed.

That is also where it becomes cliche. We say, "Surrender to God!" but don't teach what it means to surrender, therefore people are "surrendering" without truly meaning it. You aren't failing to be strong it you surrender to God, but you are realizing your weakness and his perfect strength. You are saying "I am small and I am weak, but you are a big God, I give everything into your hands. Remember, it's not complete surrender if you don't follow through with it or mean it. Without a heart of full surrender those words are empty. The most powerful words that can change nations are empty without a willing heart.
I realize that this article is a little repetitive, but I believe that if you repeat things, it will get ingrained in your heart and mind.

I am praying as I write this that anything that is not the truth or that is not of God or Biblical with fall away and not be remembered. I do this with all of my articles. Even though it is from His point of view, I, like most writers tend to add a little bit of their opinions.

Love,
Katherine