Why America Loves Duck Dynasty

Duck Dynasty, just about everyone has heard of it. That crazy television show that is sweeping across the nation and pulling the redneck out of people one viewer at a time. We can all agree that there are many intriguing things about this popular TV series that keeps us coming back week after week, but I think behind the beards, camo, and duck calls there is more. 

I woke up this Wednesday morning with some random thoughts in my head. First was the VMA's and Second was Duck Dynasty. Now give or take the reason I was thinking about Duck Dynasty could be because this is Wednesday and I subconsciously knew that a new episode would be airing later tonight. Whatever the reason, I still found myself thinking about Duck Dynasty. 

I started thinking about how in the world a family of rednecks could be so popular and win the hearts of so many who live in a culture that would normally find the Robertson's life style boring? 

|| Let's get this straight, a family with three generations, who sit in a warehouse, make duck calls all day, fish, and pray before meals, is going to produce a television show that is more popular than American Idol? 

No, that can't be, not in today's society. Where is the shocker? Where is Snooki? Who is going to cause drama? What about the cat fight? Surely the viewers will get bored? ||


Or maybe not. Maybe the United States will not get bored of this family. Maybe the camouflage, beards, and duck calls draw us in, but I guarantee you those are not the only reasons people keep coming back to watch. 

America Loves Duck Dynasty not because they are a bunch of crazy rednecks. It's not because they wear camo all day, or because of their incredible beards that half the men in America are jealous of. Perhaps the reason why America loves Duck Dynasty is because the life the Robertson's lead points to something deeper. There is something about this family that people long to watch, keep up with and even, "be a part of." Our culture is longing to get back to our roots, there is something appealing about it, after simply watching a episode of Duck Dynasty you are filled with joy and peace! Perhaps it's because the Robertson's represent something long lost to the American people. A Healthy family structure. 

A family that encourages, loves, eats, and prays together. A family who through thick or thin is going to support one another. A family who lives their lives conducted by rules, morals, and hard work! A family that emphasizes the importance of children, protecting and pouring into them, training them up in the way they should go. A family that stands for something, and knows who they are, and could care less what other people think. 
Perhaps it's a family who seems to be unaffected by today's culture. That when they get, fame and fortune, they still focus on the important things in life: God and Family. 

At the end of the day the camo will fade, the duck calls will be forgotten, the series will eventually come to an end, but no one will forget the Robertsons. 

Incline your ear to the sound of Heaven.

Music.

We are drawn to it. The Lord has created us to worship. Isn't it evident in our culture though? Everyone is worshiping something or someone. It is so true. Look at what you spend your time doing? You worship something.

Let's be honest we worship all kinds of things. I think we need to more properly examine idols in our lives and not be so quick to laugh at the stories in the bible.
We look at the story of the Golden Calf and easily can wonder how in the world the people could so quickly forget about worshiping the God of the ages, the God who had delievered them out of Egypt. Split the Red Sea, provided mana from heaven, and allowed water to spring out of rocks. This God.. the only one worthy of worship was quickly put aside and was replaced with a calf formed out of metal.

We worship, facebook, computers, beauty, cars, sports, books, magazines, etc. You name it.. but think about it. We feel like we can some how justify that it is different than a Golden Calf..

a golden calf seems just out there. and weird .. like they couldn't find anything better to worship?

But if you strip down the things we worship in our society.. it is much more similiar than we realize.
Facebook? Computer? that is metal. with some weird form of connection in space haha i don't even know.
Magazines? paper and a bunch of lies. (now when i say magazine I am not talking about you are in the place of .. you actually like the people and want to catch up on the hottest trends and who is engaged to who. I am not referring to "those" people who actually care about it. I mean even if you just find entertainment in it. Like to see how foolish people are.) I believe that is just feeding a greater evil. Put it down. Meditate on whatever is holy, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely. forget the junk .. don't glorify it even for your "entertainments" sake. Dear Lord same thing with the television.
Do not watch stupid shows to entertain yourself. I think we all are aware enough to realize that we don't actually like or agree with most of the shows on t.v. We just watch it because it is fun to see how dumb people are.

stop it. Don't continue to worship them. When we enable the media to continue to profit off of wickedness and immorality we are in agreement with it!

This tangent is all leading to a point i promise. It comes back to worship. We see the life of a celebrity. More often than not. It will end in disaster. Simply because of one reason.

Humans cannot be worshipped.
God is the only one who can handle being worshiped. (please excuse my grammar.. i don't care about right now.. worshiped worshipped.. who cares.)

God is the only one .. who has a capacity to be worshiped.
Humans will fail. We cannot handle it.
It goes to our head.. and you are setting someone up for distruction by setting them on a pedalstool equal or higher than God.

Anyway.. I look at the America and because of the abundant resources and comfort that we possess we can be passionate about ANYTHING. There is nothing holding us back.
I think it is an example of our raw desire. "If we could have anything in the world what would it be? If we could find delight in anything in the world.. what would it be?"

In the United States we have been able to ask ourselves those questions with no limit to the answer. Anything you want.. your delight can be created.

I firmly believe that we (overall as a society) have decided music is the most important thing to us. Or most of us. The coolest, most admired, lusted after, and coveted people in our society are Musicians.

I am making a statement.. maybe it is a generalization. I might be completely wrong. But overall. (IN THIS GENERATION) I believe it is music that people delight in than anything else.
There are many styles and genres as there are people. Whatever you taste in music is. Chances are you can log onto itunes and find it.

So here is my point.

How do we reach Generation? How do we display the Love of Christ to people in such a way that they grab hold of it and want to know the Lord? I think one major way we can do this is through the place of Music.

Music is clearly a part of everyones life. And for good reason! It was created. (yes! created!) By God, and For God. created. placed inside of you.. a longing to sing. a longing to express yourself. It is God Given!!

Now think about this. I am not trying to be legalistic here. Bare with me.

If music was created for the sole purpose of worship then I believe we would stand in agreement that not all of the Music that is being sung, rapped about, screamo-ed about, is all glorifying the Lord. But that music too, (if we stand in agreement that music was created for the purpose of worship) infact is worshiping the enemy.

Just a little bible history for you.
Lucifer was the head angel of worship .. he got prideful wanted to be worshiped.

God (big awesome baller God) was like uhm not up in here. I walk on fire and control all of the universe. there is again.. NO ROOM for anyone or anything else to be worshiped. THE GREAT I AM . THE LORD. BEGINNING AND THE END ALPHA AND THE OMEGA. I am to be worshiped.

you, lucifer, whom I created, you are not to even be thought of worshiped. In fact, you cannot even handle being worshiped. it will lead to pride and destroy you. (seeing the similarity here?)
We can look at the Character of the Lord. Good, gracious, holy, and set apart. He knows that his glory cannot be shared. its too great. it would only corrupt someone if they couldn't handle it.

Kinda reminds me of a part of Lord of the rings when that girl elf like freaks our on frodo? remember with the pool of water? she is like i CANNOT take the ring. 

That elf queen knew that she already had power. If she had anymore then she would be overtaken with it.

Goodness this is why these blogs are so long is cause i start talking about lord of the rings.. ugh

okay so i hope i have conveyed this properly.

God is the only one who can be worshipped because anyone else who is will be corrupted by it.

So again back to music being created to worship god. Lucifer.. was thrown down from heaven.. he is the devil if you didn't know.
and he is still determined to be worshipped.
and guess what.
He is being worshipped.
There is absolutely music that is being poured into hell.. i believe it. He is being worshipped. in a sick twisted.. and failed copy of God way.

Again im not saying burn all your music. Just be aware.. are you glorfying the Lord or something else.

Now here is the exciting part!

I was created to worship!!! So as followers of Christ this is what we do. We live lives of worship unto the Lord. I have the most to sing about, as a follower of Christ. I have the most to sing about!

I have been saved. I have eternal life.

And the Lord is so holy and worthy beyond comprehension.. that all i can do before him is worship.
it is proper of me to do so.

I believe and want to see a group of young people so consumed with the Lord that intimacy abounds in their hearts and minds. I want to see out of the place of sitting at Jesus's feet we hear HIS heart for his people. For his children who are distant from him.

He wants to call them home it is evident.
Now as followers of Christ this is our Job. to help, content for a generation in the place of pray and ministry to bring his children home. So we have talents.. different talents that have been given to us by God. Music. it is one of those talents that we do not want to stand before the Lord and say oops sorry i buried it!

What if we could hear the sounds of Heaven!? Oh what if we could hear the songs being sung in the holy room.. wow. in the courts of the Lord. I can only imagine the noises and harmonies that are being sung up there! out of this world.

We need to hear Gods voice and heart for his people. Would we acknowledge what the place of worship is? We BRING heaven to earth in the place of worship.

WE join with the angels! Something much larger than ourselves. We are literally doing the same thing in the place of worship that is happening in heaven. RIGHT NOW. Anytime you stop and sing to the Lord you are doing something heavenly!!

There are elders 24/7 saying holy, holy, holy, holy,
bowing down before the Lord and looking back up and receiveing NEW revelation of who God is.

They see new Glory every single time they look up.
do NOT think you will be bored in heaven. it is going to be revelation after revelation of who the Lord is.

compare it to this. you are in love with your .. spouse. oh this is great. i love comparing things of heaven and putting them on earthly standards.

okay so i am going to put it this way.
It would be like me, looking at my husband, and EVERY single time I see him, i see another incredible feature about him. Another muscle, another facial expression, and it is always good! Always a good feature. I would be falling more and more in love with him every second. its like every time i turn around DANG you are looking better and better!

okay grasp that feeling too.. the butterflies.. the melting feeling. times A MILLION KAZILLION.
the Lord is an unknowable God. yet he is knowable in a small capacity. and we have eternity to learn and find out about it.

So now that you understand it will be constant revelation of the Lords splendor, majesty and goodness.. DONT YOU THINK.. hahah
don't you just begin to say to youself.. oh if we could only hear the praises in heaven and bring them to earth.

I want my generation, my peers, my friends, my loved ones to know the God i serve. I WANT AND EVEN DEMAND THAT STEREOTYPES of my BELOVED Jesus would be BROKEN and that people would being to see him for who he TRULY is.

That they would see him with unveiled eyes. .. eyes that have been enlightened by the power of the Holy Spirit.. to grasp how wide and high and deep is the love of christ.

this God who went to hell and back to save our souls. literally.
This is the God I serve. know him.

I want to hear the sounds of heaven and bring them to earth. to draw his children in.

Be inspired.
incline you ear to hear the sounds of angels.

Learn to hear his heart for his people. For such a time as this you are hear.

Sing to him! Sing to your God! Sing to your creator. He is longing to hear your creative voice.

I even prophecy right now. That new heavenly inspired songs will consume our generation and that we would usher a generation of people into the holy courts of the lord.

isn't that an incredible thing. WE HAVE BEEN CHOSEN FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.

sing to your lover.

Power of the Gospel

I believe we are in a time where we must begin to live our lives completely dependant on the Holy Spirit.

God has given us the gift of the spirit. We need to see the fullness of it.
Laying our hands on the sick and they are healed.
Opening the eyes of the blind.
Giving prophetic words to people we have just met.

It is time that the gospel once again becomes accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Not just words that are spoken out, but partnered with action.

For the longest time I was thinking that when we share the Gospel it was just us going to others and sharing the Word of the Lord. That is so so important. But the Gospel was also made up of actions.
Jesus HEALED the sick.. did not just speak of the sick being healed. He did it.
He did not just talk of the blinded eyes being opened, he opened them!

We need to be a people led by the Spirit. Listening to the Lord to guide our actions and steps. We have got to start looking different than the world. I believe the way we can best do this is love radically, and without limits. Bless the people around you. We must be marked by The Spirit of God.

We need surrender all to the Lord so he can do as he pleases.

I want to see the power of the resurrection. See the sick be healed, the captives set free, and a generation of people who have EXPERIENCED the abundant goodness of the Lord.

Only good things come from Him. He is good in all things. There is nothing good, apart from Him.

Prepare your Bride

I was made to gaze, all of my days, to gaze on beauty.
I want to see the Beauty of the Lord. The beauty of my Beloved.

I cannot begin to describe the wonder and awe of the Lord, my Jesus.
He is the grandest obsession we can have. It is so wonderful, to fall deeply in love with him. It is the best thing you can ever do.

Not the best thing you can ever do. It is the most important relationship you will ever be in. Your relationship with Jesus Christ defines everything about you. You are consumed with it.. whether you believe it or not. The day you stand before his holy throne is the day you will give an account.

Suddenly everything else you ever pursued in your life besides him.. becomes worthless.. you finally have a deep revelation and sorrow of how much more time you could have spent with him.
However you were too busy seeking success.. popularity.. even "ministry"

If we forget the point of why we are here on earth.. if we forget that its ALL about JESUS, we lose everything.

Paul knew it. He states it bluntly in Philippians!

Philippians 3:8
"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the SURPASSING GREATNESS of knowing CHRIST JESUS my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."

Beautiful..
Paul understood the Joy of surrender!

When we truly understand.. the greatness of the love of God. When we understand how much the Lord Almighty loves us.. how much Jesus.. our High Priest and intercessor loves us.. suddenly.. everything else in our lives become nothing in comparison to knowing him.

When you are in love.. you go to great lengths to please your loved ones.
Not even please them.. just do little things to make them smile.
I don't think I am explaining this properly.

When you love someone.. going out of your way to do something doesn't even matter to you. Because you love them. It's like.. when your friend or loved one travels miles and miles throughout the night or something to meet you.. its like driving for hours without sleep and then its all worth it because you just get to see their face.

This is what Paul is saying. Suddenly.. laying down your live for Jesus.. becomes nothing! Because you know the reward is Him.

Once we truly understand the greatness of the Love of Christ for us and this wonderful beautiful perfect relationship we are in.. that is when we can begin to follow him whole heartedly.. with our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Okay.. so my point in all of this.. is
I don't even know.
haha

This whole thing is extremely unorganized and that makes me sad.. but I feel like the Lord is preparing all of us for something.

Obviously.. our Nation is in a time of change. I believe that the United States is straying further and further away from the Lord... and something needs to change.

I haven't watched the news in months so I am not talking about anything political necessarily.

We look around and we see that there is a lack of God.
Where people "claim" God is.. His presence isn't truly there.

Many of us call ourselves Christians but fail to follow out that lifestyle very well.

Whatever.. God is on the move .. the end times are near .. and we need to prepare ourselves as the bride of Christ.

Regardless of how soon that is .. it doesn't matter. Jesus will not return to a Bride that is not calling out to him day and night and isn't love sick.
We need to begin to listen to God.. and hear what he is telling us.

My prayer is this.. that you would begin to prepare your Bride! Purify our hearts! Let us begin to walk in pure and holy ways.. sanctify us God. Increase our capacity to love you.. to be longing for you and your return. Things are not okay with how they are! We want to see the kingdom of the Lord come to Earth. Let your Kingdom come and your will be done. Jesus.. we want you. So raise up hearts like Davids and Marys!

God help my heart long after you! After your sweet presence, Jesus, we want to know you better. I want to hear your voice. I am terrified, Jesus, that I don't know you well enough. I don't want to be thrown out with the weeping and gnashing of teeth. I want to be a sheep.. a stupid little sheep that just follows after my Good Shepherd. I am not my own god.. The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob! That is the God I want to serve and be obedient to..

So Lord strip us of ourselves.. that we would long to sit in your presence.. that we would have hearts like Davids and Marys.. those who truly see the value of your love! That your love is all we need.. that we lay down our live to know your love and fight to understand the surpassing knowledge of that.

God prepare us to do your work.. that we would be in step with the spirit. Again.. to hear your voice.. like a sheep knows his Shepherds voice.. that we would know you so well Jesus.. that we would only respond to you.. that we wouldn't respond to the voices of this world God. But that your Bride would rise up.. that she would become unified and one! We want to see the Kingdom come to earth.
Give us burdened hearts Lord.. to see the world through your eyes.. so see your children who are so deceived walking in darkness! Oh that they would see the great light!

Jesus that you would break the deception that this world has of you, it breaks my heart Jesus.. that people don't know you like I know you! My Beloved one. Jesus that they do not acknowledge you as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.. or they claim it but don't live it at all!!!
You say Jesus, "if you love me, then obey my commands," Help us.. give us the grace and the holy spirit to obey your commands. We confess lord.. that we are dependent on you and your strength to walk out our salvation. Jesus we need you! We must fill ourselves with you every single day to do anything. If we don't mediate on your love.. then we are lost.. we have nothing. We cry out as Moses did.. God if your presence doesn't go with us.. then we won't go. Don't send us without your spirit.

We can do nothing without you, Jesus. But I want to know you better God. How can the world know Jesus if we who profess ourselves as Christians don't even know him. If we don't know you.. then we can't truly love you.

Open our eyes .. give us the grace to see you for who you really are. Give us further revelation of your Love Lord.. our hearts cry out to you.. make our hearts cry to you. Day and night.. to prepare ourselves for the Return of our Loved one.. the glorious creator.. alpha and omega, king of kings and lord of lords.. everlasting father, prince of peace, wonderful counselor, mighty God.

We need more of you. Show us what that looks like Jesus.. let that truly be the cry of our hearts. To know the love that our beautiful savior has for us.

I ask you to examine your heart. Do you long for Jesus.. to meet with him daily?
It is the MOST important thing you will ever do. Spend time with him. Fall at his feet and love him. He longs for that more than you ever will.

God longs for you .. more than you could ever long for him.
Satisfy Him today by entering into his courts. He is waiting for you. Your beloved is waiting.
Step into your role as a bride anxiously awaiting your bridegroom.
You were made to gaze on beauty.

a call to obedience

The Lord Almighty calls His followers to Obedience. That we would pick up our cross and deny ourselves of everything expect Christ. 

We must seek Jesus with everything that we have. I don't think in this culture it is necessarily materialistic things. I think we have so much junk that we honestly don't value very much of it. In my life personally I don't think I have idols of anything materialistic that I have. (I want to be careful saying that because I don't want to deceive or blind myself) But over all I believe the main thing that strikes me when I read the verse Luke 14:33 "In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has CANNOT be my disciple."

What? Jesus! Come on man.. Jesus I can't have anything? You really want me to deny everything and have nothing but to follow you? That is a little over the top don't you think?

We think this way. I think this way. I don't want to put Christianity into some cute little feel good religion thing, as we have done in the American culture all too often. 

Jesus demands everything we have. I am going to kind of use and example of something that Dana Candler said the other day in relation to Jesus being the Husband coming for His bride.

The example was the first and greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God will all your mind, soul, heart.. strength right?

She said that normally we get almost offended sometimes like.. God is selfish or something. That is a very demanding thing to ask. But think of it this way.

(I think i may have blogged on this a little before) But if you are going to get married, and your spouse tells you that they only want .. ehh 20% of your love. They say.. you can do whatever else you want with the other percent. You can love someone else.. another man or woman. Or something. I only demand 20% of the full capacity of your love. Is that okay sweetie? Do we have a deal?

I hope I just got that point across to you. Like we would feel "genuinely unwanted" if that is what Jesus asked of us. Would we feel special? Would this Love be the deep all consuming fire that it is if it didn't require EVERYTHING.

In the same way that Jesus requires all of our heart soul mind and strength he requires all of us. 

Oh that we would be a people to quickly deny ourselves of our wants and desires and to seek the Lord and His will for our lives above all things. 

So going back to the Verse about giving up everything to be Jesus's disciple. 

If Jesus isn't worthy of giving up our "everything" then he wouldn't be worthy. If he only required us to lay down part of our lives to follow him WHAT is the point?

So now the call to obedience. I believe being obedient to the Lord is what I have been convicted of lately. 

That is my personal conviction. I want to please God. I want to follow the will He has for my life as closely as I can that way I don't miss the things and tasks He has planned for me. 

I feel as though.. God is preparing me for something, and that if I miss the things that he is calling me to do, then I will miss the end goal. 

This is true for EVERYONE. God has a plan and specifically designed and created each and every one of us to be a part of advancing His kingdom. 

When I am talking about this Obedience business.. I am not that excited about it. haha It isn't going to be glamorous. I don't think I am going to be tested by the Lord where I will be called to do something great and see an immediate fruit or harvest from it. 

God will begin to test me in small ways. In the little things of life. Depending on how I respond to what I am being called to do will determine in the end if I am going to have the opportunity that I have been essentially training for. 

I just thought of a soccer season while writing that. It's like this. You have practices, games, and then BIG games.

Practices. Going to practice is how you cultivate discipline. Basically our practice is getting into the Word. Spending time with the LORD. God time. Practice is meant to PREPARE you for the Games.

So then Games come.. this is the little stuff that God is calling you to be obedient in. I don't have any specific examples. Pray about it if you want to know what your games look like and let the Holy Spirit speak for you. The Game is when we have the opportunity to be obedient. Its at this moment when we have been called by the Coach. We have heard the Lords voice. He has called us to go into the game to do something. A specific position. Do we go in and complete the task or not? 

Hearing the coach (God) and then actually listening and responding to that is different. 

I believe we can distinguish the times in our lives that are like the Games when we have that "feeling".. you know? the one where you feel like you need to do something? At that moment.. this thing you feel God is calling you to may be silly or stupid or pointless but we have a decision to make. Will we respond and be obedient to the voice of the Lord?

You decide.. (Keep in mind God is preparing you for something.. Testing you to see how you preform! Just like a coach would track how well you do in completing what he is calling you to do on the field.)

Now.. comes the Championship game. This is the big test of Obedience .. the thing that you will see immediate fruit for! You have been preparing yourself for this. You weren't prepared before all of the practices and games. If you didn't push through those then there is no way you would have even made it to the Opportunity that the Lord has presented you with!

God has been tracking how you preformed in the games.. hard work in the practices. (Keep in mind also that when you are going to a championship game.. none of the steps stop. They continue to build on each other. You don't stop practicing once you start playing games..)

Same thing.. you must continue to spend time with the Lord every day. The little Stuff! Hear the voice of the Lord! You won't be able to be obedient if you don't give him an opportunity to speak to you!

Anyway.. back to the Championship game. You have been preparing for this. You have been intentional with the Games .. you have been expectant to be there! 

That should be motivation for us! When we don't want to be obedient keep in mind you are working towards something! So my point is.. be expectant. Say this to God, "I don't want to do this right now, but even though I don't see the point of it.. I will trust in you God because you have a plan for me, and I will press on to meet the time when you are calling me to something great."

God is calling us to some great things. great great things. We should want them to be greater things than we could imagine! Let's not limit the God of the ages. He can do the impossible through us! How lucky are we. 

Anyway.. stay the course! BE obedient in the small things that way the Lord can trust us to be obedient in the big things. 

I want to be obedient. I want to hear God's voice and respond quickly. 

I was reading today the story of Christmas a little bit. Joseph was told to flee with Jesus and Mary to go to Egypt to escape Herod. 

IF JOSEPH HADN'T DONE WHAT GOD WANTED HIM TO DO. WHAT GOD HAD TOLD HIM TO DO AND QUICKLY.. THEN THE LONG AWAITED MESSIAH WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED. 

What? I mean I am sure God would have done something about it.. or I don't even know! What if Jesus had been KILLED? Would God have sent him again? 

We must be quick to hear the word of the Lord and act on it. The rest of our lives might look dramatically different just by missing something the Lord was speaking to us. 

Deny ourselves of everything for the sake of the Lamb. He is worthy.

Hear the Lord's voice and act on it quickly. 

John 10:27 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."

I want Jesus to know me. I want to know Jesus. I want to follow Jesus. 

Jesus wants to know you, and he wants you to follow him!

That's all

-Mali 

a time of testing

Hello all!
This is just me talking about Jesus. I don't know if it is anything in specific.
It has been quite sometime since I have been blogging. I need to update part three of the Gospels. (Sanctification) Which is a big deal and is basically evidence in your life to test and approve your salvation. Good to know I would think!

Anyway I just wanted to let you all know that we are called to be SO obedient to the Lord.
Now this is a challenge but it is something that we need to strive for and press on. We need to FIGHT to know Jesus and who he is. There is no such thing as being stagnant.. you are either gaining ground or losing it.. (Dan Perkins was talking about this the other day) How in 1 Peter I believe the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. That is what we are up against as Christians.

We are playing against.. the dirtiest, roughest.. bunch of cheaters and malicious.. catty team you can think of!
There are no rules.
The enemy wants to crush you.
We need to be walking in Jesus's protection. His will for our lives and pursing the Lord protects us. Follow the Lord! FLEE from sin.

Paul says that all the time. FLEE from immorality. Not turn away, not walk the other direction. No, we are called to run away from things that will tempt us.

Jesus longs for us to sit in his presence. Jesus is a person.
He is a PERSON! We think of God as this big idea or .. concept and it is really hard for us to love a concept. It isn't hard for us to love a person.

It is hard for us to love someone we don't know.
Same thing with Jesus, get in the word! Read about how Jesus answered questions! His wisdom, his love and compassion for the lost and sick! He loves you!

The more we know about something the more we love it.. its true.

I seriously encourage you all to spend time with the Lord.
OWN YOUR FAITH. IT IS YOURS! DO NOT GET FED BY ANYONE ELSE.
don't live off of someone else's food and relationship with the Lord.
Do not think that because your friends know Jesus and you go to youth and you sing the songs and all this stuff that you KNOW Jesus.

We need to spend time with Jesus on a personal level. Lets think of it this way.. So Jesus died for you.
Specifically you, and so .. he clearly wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to spend time for you to get to know him.

He loves it when his children meet with him at youth, but guess what.
Let's turn this into a personal relationship.
With your best friend or your boyfriend or girlfriend.
Do you want to spend time with your friends alone ever? YES.
If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend you go on dates because you want to be intimate with that person, get to know them on a one on one level!

JESUS WANTS TO GO ON DATES WITH YOU.
How shallow of us to just meet with him when .. "well everyone else is going to be there."
wait. okay i have an idea. hopefully i can get my point across.

So .. your boyfriend/girlfriend wants to hang out with you..
He invites you to spend time with him/her.
You say.. yeah.. I will.. but who all is going to be there?
I mean is anyone else going to hang out with us? Or is it just going to be me and you? Cause I kind of think it would be more fun if other people were there. (Youth) I don't want to go if its just going to be me and you.

This is what we do to Jesus, we are good at meeting with him at .. "movie night" or a "party" but .. ehh I don't really know if I want to hang out with you alone Jesus.. that could be awkward.
We are friends.. in groups but .. not THAT kind of friend..

Do you guys no what I mean?
I am not trying to be like accusing but I really think we just want to spend time with Jesus when everyone else is doing it.

Pursue the Lord!!!
He is eagerly waiting for you. Get to know his voice! He is calling you! We just can't hear it.

It was weird .. the other day I was just sitting with Jesus thanking him for how much he loved me, and I was crying. I got down on my knees and was bowing before him.
But suddenly.. for some reason.. I had this feeling, I my head I thought..
"get up my child, I want to hug you, don't kneel before me, this isn't the time."

WOAH. haha It was kind of crazy I broke down crying! The Lord LOVES LOVES LOVES US! He wants to wrap his arms around us. There is a time and a place to worship him! and there is a time and a place to RECEIVE his love!!!

It was like.. Maybe the Lord was speaking to me.. "I know you know I am worthy of being praised.. but how about you just sit in my love for a second and soak it up."
It was good stuff.

This is a very random post.
But give Jesus the time he deserves. He loves it and smiles when you turn your face to his. He CAN see you. He is always watching .. more intently than Santa Claus..
He see's you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake.

He wants you to look up to heaven and seek his face! Look to the sky! Say Jesus! I am looking for you where are you! I can't see you but I know you are there! But I am a little kid, I am trying to see you but I just can't yet!

Someday we will see him. How glorious it will be.
Do you want to be someone who had been looking for his face all the days of your life? So that when he finally reveals himself and comes down from heaven.. He will feel your appreciation and excitement.
Or will your reaction be.. oh! Jesus you surprised me I wasn't expecting you.
or YES!! HERE YOU ARE! MY MESSIAH! My Savior!!!! Lover of my soul!!!!
YOU ARE HERE!!!!

I have no idea if this stuff makes sense. I think it does haha
Anyway .. that's all.
-Mali

The Gospels, Part Two (Justification)

Recap..

God is Holy and Just.. meaning that if he is Just righteousness is rewarded and wickedness condemned.

We are wicked (Man) we have fallen short and missed the mark and the plan God had for us. We are sinners. 

So if God is a Just God, how can we be in his presence.. how can we reach the Father? We come to the Crisis Moment.. where we understand we are desperate NEED of a savior. And we realized Jesus Christ is the only way we can be justified.

Justification is a court term.. you are either Justified, or Condemned. 

So.. God is more holy and just than we can ever imagine.. we cannot begin to fathom it..

We need to properly understand (more like try to understand) all the different attributes of God. Or not attributes necessarily.. we need to know who God is .. and everything that he is.. or strive to know the REAL God.

We know that God is love, he is kind, he is, slow to anger, but we also need to remember that the LORD is HOLY, and RIGHTEOUS, and JUST. (don't create an idol)

Now yes the fear of the Lord is important.. but we do not come to repent because we are.. scared of him.. and that he is some mean ruler. 

We are drawn to the Lord because of the kindness we have received through his great love for us.

If you have a hard time understanding or viewing God in a certain way.. or one of his.. qualities or attributes of who he is.. then ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you!

Ask for the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom while reading the bible or a better understanding of what is being said.

So God hates sin and hates evil because it hurts us.. same thing.. Tyrel said that if someone was trying to hurt his child.. he would pay. Tyrel wouldn't let someone hurt his little girl.. and then get away with it. 

Or there is a strong desire to protect our loved ones from things that hurt them.

God hates SIN. Sin hurts us. Sin keeps us from God. God hates sin because he loves us. 

(hate the sin, not the sinner)

So.. Justice is us getting what we deserve.

When wickedness is justified and righteousness is condemned it is an abomination to the Lord. 

In this world.. I think we see it pretty often.. we see things Glorified.. we see sin in our lives in the .. media or wherever.. schools.. Sin is glorified.. Wickedness is "okay" and doing the right thing is either made fun of or .. condemned.. looked down upon in our culture and GOD probably HATES it. 

It is stripping Justice by rewarded evil. That is not just. Anyway.. that isn't really the point of this Blog its about OUR justification and being made pure through the sacrifice of Jesus. 

But this is kind of one of the points.. we are not justified through God's kindness.. 

God wasn't like okay well i love you children.. so i am going to just pardon your sins because of the kindess i have on you.. NOPE. 

God is Just :  righteousness must be rewarded and wickedness condemned.

Our sin is NOT pardoned through kindness. 

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We should be dead. The payment of sin is death. We sinned.. we should be eternally damned.

We don't understand the GOOD NEWS of the gospel because we don't truly understand how fallen we are..

I was thinking about this the other day.. or while he was talking about all this.. and I was like you know what its absolutely true.

Ever since we are little.. we hear about Jesus.. 

We already know the good news.. we don't understand the magnitude of the sacrifice!

Our culture.. our our era's view on like the bible is we skipped ahead to the climax and the ending of a movie. We know what happens! We are like everything is okay! If we would have grown up reading the bible from front to back (obviously when we are little we wont understand) But like if we read the bible like a book. From beginning to end.. i feel like we would understand the LONG AWAITED MESSIAH a little better.

People were waiting for thousands of years! They were living under the law having to sacrifice animals and try and live a perfect life! They couldn't do it, and it was hard! But then! Prophets like Isaiah speak of a messiah.. someone who will come and set them free! 

The people asked Jesus.. like John the bapstist.. "are you the one we have been waiting for?!" is it you! Is it true? has the time come!?

Jesus is HERE!!! He has come to set us free from our sins and our transgressions! 

I think we take the bible for granted. At least I have.. I want to read about Jesus today.. okay yeah.. lets see here what do I want to read.. Mark? Luke? hmm i read Mark yesterday.. how about John!

We can just flip open the New Testament and read about him! and people before him were longing for him to arrive! 

Anyway.. sorry about the tangent.

We are condemned Criminals being declared Justified (innocent) in the eyes of God.

1 John 2:1-2 "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense -- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

(pretty sure i have been spelling atoning "attoining" WAY incorrectly haha whatevs learn something new every day)

 So how thankful should be be! Jesus speaks in our defense! Awesome, thank you thank you thank you Jesus!

In other versions it says he is our Advocate which is like a mediator or helper. His sacrifice has been appeasement for our sin. He has made amends and reconnected what has been disconnected.

So then in Isaiah 53 Well first of all you should absolutely read it. But the Lord was PLEASED to crush Jesus. Pleased to put him to grief. Because at that time.. Jesus bore the weight of all of our sin. God hates sin.

Blood must be shed for our sin.. someone must die. Jesus shed the blood and died for us. Pure, holy, Jesus, his blood has washed us clean. Nothing more precious. 

Leviticus 16:8-10.. Read it.. but I am going to summarize

So there are two Goats.. one must be sacrificed for payment for the sin.. and they other is called the scapegoat.. they send the scapegoat into the desert and that symbolizes that all of their sins are carried away from them. 

So Jesus is both of those for us. He payed for our sin.. and bore our sin.. he took all of our sin and took it away from us. Or this Goat thing is symbolic of Jesus.

Okay so.. Justification. Jesus died for us ONCE and for ALL! no more sacrifices.. no more payments. it is done, it is finished. we are made pure through him and accepting him as our LORD and SAVIOR.

Again.. Matthew 5 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." We must must must acknowledge that we are poor in spirit. We are depraved. We are sinners, and evil and bad and have fallen short of the glory of the Lord! But the Lord so loved us God so loved us that he sent his one and only son.

So that we could become purified again and take part in the Kingdom of Heaven.. to have relationship with the most Holy and Almighty God. Wow. How great is this love?

The love of God is the most powerful thing in the universe.

Romans 8:31 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Like .. you know the sacrifice made.. that is the representation of God's love. God's love is seen through Jesus! We get to .. have a glimpse at the Love of the father.

Ephesians 3:18-19 "may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled tot he measure of all the fullness of God."

Amazing, our Lord's love for us surpasses our knowledge.. I think my only response is why. Why? Why? What can we offer you Lord! I must offer you my life and dedicate my life to Glorifying you for you have given all for me. Thank you Jesus. 

By the blood of Jesus alone we are saved. 

Thank you for dying for us that way we could inherit you Kingdom! 

Let my life be pleasing to the sacrifice you made.

-Mali