My Call (to the ministry)

Sorry Guys its Been A Loooooong  While

So I gots something special for you today, my first paper of the semester, hopefully my testimony will speak to you!

My Calling

     Growing up I had always struggled with deciding what I wanted to do when I “grew up.” A person’s life purpose is often hard to define and even harder to find. My dreams were lost in the mixed-up nothingness that my life used to be. I was not a believer in the whole “epiphany” experience, but I soon became an advocate. It was not until two years ago at summer camp that I developed my dream to do something.

     Many people, I come across, tend to have these epiphany experiences when they are on some sort of high. Growing up in the church I found the “highs” to be of the spiritual sort. Whether fake or real, these highs never seemed to rock anyones world. The “epiphany” experience, because of hypocrites at the church, became an action that I saw farced and pushed, in many cases I would even go along with the crowd and have one too. In those moments I was caught playing church, playing my life to be what others formed it to be. It went far enough that it even affected what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. That was, until that fateful week of church camp.

     Again, prior to that defining moment I had flip-flopped on what I wanted to do: I had moved from professional basketball player, to lawyer, to doctor, to etc., etc. Based solely on the fact that it was what other people wither wanted me to do, or the potential that they saw in me. Summer camp redefined the way looked at my life forever. At this summer camp I struggled with the subject of what I needed to do with my life and how God was going to use me to further His Kingdom, because I had an epiphany one night! I realized that it was nothing that anyone else could say or do, but my God given talents and personality that defined me and what is best for me. Needless to say, became a believer in the process of epiphany. The conclusion that I made during my time at camp was that until I let go of everything I held to myself in life; other peoples desires and my “people pleasing” attitude, needed to be handed over to the Lord. I have never been good at letting go.

     Letting go became harder for me when my parents got a divorce. It was ultimately my dad and mom that crumbled under pressure. He was a pastor, she is a chaplain at a hospital; the spiritual-put-together sort. I grew up a pastor’s kid, I saw the stress related to the vocation, the stress put on the family was too close. So the stress, mixed with neglect, to our Heavenly Father, tore our family in two. My dad and my mom got a divorce when I was fifteen (a freshman in high school). Until that eventful summer I had ran from the possibility of becoming a vehicle in which God could deliver His Word to the people of this depraved world, because of everything I had seen. The fact that my family was torn apart by sheer stress is a daunting thing, and to come to grips with the fact that, the very thing that stressed by family apart is what I am supposed to do for the rest of my life, is unnaturally awesome. I realize that with God’s omnipotent strength behind me everything is going to be alright, and nothing is impossible!

     During that summer, that I keep pointing towards, I finally came to the said “grips” of the sheer awesomeness of God, and I do not use that word lightly; truly AWESOME. It is one of those words like Love, amazing, or Great, that we as humans have grown to just throw around and use to describe food, a person, or something else that in all relativity, is nothing of the sort. God in truthfulness was someone I kept in my back pocket, and pulled out whenever I needed Him. Over this summer camp I grew afraid of Him, not in a horror film sort of way, but in a way where I was afraid to let him down. Aforementioned to this camp I was concerned with letting other people down and pleasing them, because of a fear of being rejected. I had been putting the interest of my life, my focus, on people here on earth! I was giving my worship to the creation instead of the Creator?!? To me, now, that seems like insanity. God revealed His purpose for my life: to let other people know this God, the One who is “awesome” enough and “great” enough for our total sacrifice and worship.

     That is why I’m here at North Greenville University, to train and become someone that He may use to further His Kingdom. It is now His dream for me that I am seeking, not my own; His life that I am following, not my own. He can work in any way He wants to and does. Even if it is not the way I would like him to. Now that I’m “all-grown-up” I know that I just have to stay on the path that he made for me, and His glorious plans will be revealed to me.

This blogs scripture was too long to put directly on here: Isaiah 41:1-14; tell me your conclusions drawn from it!

Praise Elon!!!! (Another Name for God [our God] that I Found Recently [I like it])

Joy and You! (corny I know but it fits)

So the college experience can be best explained by a personal rollercoaster of emotions. While at college, during the scholastic semester, every fiber of my being desires to get away from the work and hustle and bustle of the overcrowded life. Yet, whilst I’m away, I always desire for that very same hustle and bustle back. I don’t really get it; can’t i make up my mind to choose one over the other? 

College, in this aspect, relates to my entire life experience. Every day I spend in the world, I enjoy things to a certain extent, but I long for something more. I want things to be better, I want to be better, I want to do so many things for the Lord, but my human-ness tells me that the things that are better for me here, in the flesh (a lie from the devil). God has no greater plan for us than to be "in His Will" living in His spirit and experiencing true joy! 

Joy, --joy is the thing that I regret to say -- is one of the things that, for the past couple of months – has been lacking in my life, and I hadn’t realized why until recently: Why had I "lost" the joy I had grown accustomed to?

 It was the very fact that I had grown accustomed to it that got me in trouble. I had grown so comfortable that I had fallen out of the presence of the Lord!

 Lev 9:23                Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.

Lev 9:24                Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.

That’s the kind of joy I want to experience; where the presence of the Lord is felt so heavily that I have to fall on my face in undisputed, undignified, unnatural worship!

Now, God (probably) won’t appear to us in this way when His presence comes down, He’s got the Holy Spirit for that now, but the effect should be the same ;-).

In order to not grow comfortable and slide away from God, we need to surround ourselves with other Christians; the kinds that are going to build us up and hold us accountable (make us uncomfortable sometimes).

 I have a great friend that just happens to be my roommate, and just being around him is my encouragement: to not be comfortable in life and to have joy!

1Th 2:17               But, brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you.

1Th 2:18               for we wanted to come to you-certainly I, Paul, did, again and again-but Satan stopped us.

1Th 2:19               for what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?

1Th 2:20               Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

 

I felt this same way over the break; I was away from all the people that I considered my accountability partners, those who kept me in the constant joy! Satan found every way to keep me away. “Indeed you (my friends) are our glory and joy.”

We are the hope and glories of the Lord Jesus until he comes back again, are you exemplifying that?

·         We need to be there for each other, lift each other up!

o   Are you doing that?

o   Are you being accountable to those around you?

o   Reminding, just with your presence, that God is the primary in your life?

o   Or are you worshiping something else?

o   Bringing your friends down?

o   Are you worshiping God? Or putting the creation before the Creator?

Searching for You (free verse)

Searching for You

Always seeking you,

 Every clear blue sky,

 Every ocean wave,

 Every starry host of night,

 God is there,

 Always searching!

 

 You can run and hide,

 But He will be there waiting,

 To scoop you up in his arms,

 God is there,

 Already waiting,

  So stop your running!

 

Painted skies,

 Spinning earth,

 Aren’t enough?

 To tell His story,

 Heaven's host and atoms wonder,

 Are revelations incomplete?

 

His face couldn’t bee seen,

 Until He came to earth,

 To complete His search,

 And redeemed the fallen man,

 Accepting or not God came,

 

 He's Coming!

 I'm not worthy,

 Yet he still comes!

 

Yeah, so I tried my hand at some free verse after reading more of Louie Giglio’s book. Feeling inspired, I came up with this. Since the lyrics are pretty straight forward they won’t need much explaining.

Most nearly, what I was thinking was: How do I express God’s ultimate search for us?

The truth is that I can’t even begin to understand what God has done/is dong for me! All I know is that I have to stop running from Him and run to Him! He see’s past my unrighteous ways to the spot inside of me that accepts His truth. When He sees that, all of my imperfections wash away. I am His and He Loves me, unconditionally.

Tis a B-E-A Utiful thing!!! Even though we deny Him, He strives for us; that’s amazing, because He is God, He doesn’t have to!

Isa 65:1 "I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.'

Isa 65:2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations-

And still He loves and searches for us ...

I Wear Shorts in the Cold?

So i was thinking about how the title of my blog relates to the Christian walk, so I came up with a few things:

 

This winter, I woke up and got dressed one fine morning. It was only until one of my housemates asked (somewhere along the lines of), “Are you really wearing shorts outside today? It’s like 20˚out there!” Then I realized that my wardrobe probably needed changing. Since that day I’ve bought a few more pairs of pants, but still, every now and again I find myself wearing shorts in the cold out of habit.

 

Now why do I tell you this? Yes it is a silly, random story and you probably are thinking about where this is going, but I’m going to tell you so stop thinking and just read ;-).

 

The truth is that I had grown so accustomed to wearing shorts during the year that it was inevitable that my habit would roll over into a climate that wasn’t suitable for wearing shorts. I didn’t want to be cold. In fact, I’m one of those people that will talk to random people without hesitation.  So, one day, I told someone in the Cafe (Cafeteria) that I was extremely, unbearably cold, and with a blank stare, they just looked at me as if to say, “Duh! You bimbo! You’re wearing shorts and its freezing outside!” Words couldn’t express that face, and I finally got the picture.

 

I tell you this because it relates to our Christian walk:

 

Romans 7

                14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. [fn] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.

                20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

 

I didn’t want to be cold, but I had grown so accustomed to wearing shorts that I ended up being cold because of the trend that I had fallen into. It’s the same thing with sin; we fall into trends that are hard to get out of; sometimes we fall into things that we’ve put so much effort and time into that they are hard, and often costly to get out of. Just like when I had to pay for pants, to get out of the shorts cycle, we sometimes have to pay up and sacrifice to get out of that sin.

 

Ever since the garden of Eden we were born into sin, so by nature we are wholly worldly, and slaves to sin -- it’s what we put time into, value and worship (see previous blog) -- and yet there is a part of us that says at some point that it’s wrong to sin:   the Holy Spirit speaks to us and says that our sin is shameful to God. Those who have this pull/desire to do what is right are the Christians in the crowd. Yet, Paul, a man after God’s own heart, counts himself as the chief of all sinners and even goes as far to say that evil lives within him (what’s up with that? I thought he was a good Christian guy…)

 

The truth of the matter is that evil, just like good, lives within everybody, it is up to us to accept either, what is form God (the good), or what the devil has brought (evil). So Paul find fault in himself because he still chooses the evil, even though HE KNOWS WHAT THE GOOD THINGS ARE! (sound familiar). Most of the time we find the evil to be more appealing, even though that’s completely bogus (yet I do it too). A war is waging in our minds, the battle for good over evil :   the human paradox!

 

All of this sounds quite depressing: evil is what we choose --and such -- but it gets better: on our own we can’t choose the true good!   The “good”-news -- here comes the heavy! -- is that there is a way out! It is true that on our own we will fail, but with God Good prevails! In my mind (by myself) I am a slave to sin, BUT God alone has the power to rescue me from this body of death (the wages for our sin) and cleanse my worth and make me whole again!

 

The Good News that we have, and are supposed to share, is that God is the way, the truth, and the life.

 

Questions from this blog:

 

·         Have you ever felt the pull to not do the things you do? (sin)

o    If yes, did you put your trust in the Lord to help you overcome them?

o    Do you believe?

·         Are you aware that you in nature are evil and can’t do anything without God’s help?

o    Are you worshiping God?

o    Are you putting time and value in the Creator? Or the creation?

·         If you do believe, are you sharing what you know to be true? (often we share what we value and hence worship [addressed in future blogs])

The Air I Breathe

I'm going through this profound book named: The Air I Breathe, by Louie Giglio.

 

This book's goal is to explain what worship is and explain how it relates to God. More importantly it tells the reader how to worship God in a greater fashion.

 

I'm only a couple of chapters into the book and I have found that my perspective on worship was completely misconstrued.

 

                "We are all worshipers ... of something. But are we spending our lives and filling our days with what matters most?"

 

I went on to read that worship was putting value on something, and that we are constantly in worship ... or something. 

 

We show our value by spending time with someone or something. So, quite literally today I worshiped my Wii and my book of Shakespeare plays, the problem that Christians are posed with is: Are we worshiping our reason for life as much as we should? Or are we putting the creation before the Creator?

 

Rom 12:1             Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.

Rom 12:2             Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Time, in any instance is a sacrifice, so in essence to give all of ourselves we have to relinquish all of our time to the Lord.

 

The world will tell us differently:             You only have to give up some of your time.

 

In reality our life is a gift, so in order to not be a “re-gift-er (Indian giver)” we need to thank and share our life with the One who gave it to us!

 

Each moment should be spent in worship to our Creator!

 

This bothered me, in the good I need to get on my face and pray to be forgiven way. The truth is that we spend more time spending time with materials and people than we do with God. The whole praying without ceasing thing comes into play here; you have to make a conscious effort to praise your heavenly Father all day long. (Later in the book it is supposed to help you understand how to do that better.)

 

I guess the purpose of this post is to pose a few questions to you:

 

• What are you worshiping based on the value and time you are putting into them?
• Are you putting God's creation before the Creator?
• Are you praying?
• Are you reading your Bible?
• What are you going to do to change the way you spend your time?

(Notice: these questions are just as much for the author as they are for the reader)

First Actual Blog

Letter to the Reader:

So I've been trying to get one of these to where it works for a while now, but nothing ever turns up right. This time hopefully things go smoothly.

Intro: This blog will be used for several purposes, the links that I hope will be on this site are for anyone yo see and comment on things that I write. These "things" can range from poetry, to spouts of -- what I think to be -- wisdom. Also I will be posting whatever I write for classes on here (hopefully under a different section [I don't know if the site provides that yet]). In this situation don't hesitate in suggesting how to make my papers better.

Now I know that all of this sounds boring and formal, but hopefully you can find some form of enjoyment out of this Blog, and if it is boring an formal let me know so i can spice things up.

Please and Thank You,

Jonathan David Bishop, Jr