My God

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19

Recommended Reading John 20:26-28

Often today we hear people make reference to "their" God: "Well, my God would never want me to be unhappy!" "My God would never send someone to hell!" "My God would never say there is only one way to get to heaven!" Contrast these statements with the words of a small child: "My daddy promised to take me to the zoo, and he always keeps his promises!"

What's the difference? The child is speaking about a father whom she knows personally, with whom she has had past experiences, whom she has learned to trust. On the other hand, individuals who refer to "my God" are usually creating God in their own image. And while they're usually referring to the God of the Bible, they are usually wrong in what they so confidently assert. Paul used the phrase "my God" in Philippians 4:19 on the basis of years of knowing Him and His promises. He told the Philippians that God would supply all their needs because he knew God to be a loving Father who would bless the Philippians' sacrificial spirit in giving. God invites you to call Him your own as you learn to trust Him for your every need.

If you refer to God as your God, make sure you know Him for who He really is.

What in humans gives God most pleasure? Knowledge of himself.
J. I. Packer ----from Turning Point

Jesus Freaks Response

The following is a response recieved regarding the last "Jesus Freaks" article:

I was reading a dear friends' article on Psalm22.net entitled "Those Jesus Freaks". Upon reading the title of the article I recalled several times those words rang in my ears by both those who I didn't know and those who are all too close to my heart. I began to wonder exactly what the word "freak" meant. Upon looking it up, here is how Webster's Dictionary defines the word "freak": a sudden and odd or seemingly pointless idea or turn of the mind; an ardent enthusiast; a person who is obsessed with something.

So, yes, those who called me a "freak" were indeed correct. I have had a turn of the mind. I am not the same person I was before I became a Christian. My mind has been renewed. My actions are no longer that of someone living with no hope. I am filled with a joy and a hope that fills every part of my being. Does it bother me that people I know have called me a freak in some form or fashion to my face or behind my back, no, not at all. Christ said himself in Matthew "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 10: 34-39)

I take great comfort in these verses. I know that my duty as a Christian is to serve the Lord whole heartedly. Have I at times been bothered by what others think of me, especially those very close to me, absolutely, I am human. But after hearing everything from "I believe in God, but I don't believe in going overboard" to "are you in a cult?" I've begun to understand that His opinion of me should be the only one that matters...period. The Lord has begun to help me understand that those who do not now Him will not understand my "obsession" at all. You see, scripture tells us that "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)

As Christians, we must understand that those around us will not always understand our dedication and faithfulness towards Christ. They don't have to. All we can do is pray and ask the Lord to draw them closer to Himself so that they might also have the hope of salvation that was given to us as a precious gift.

Lord bless

Those Jesus Freaks!

"Man, so and so used to be pretty cool to be around, but now everything is about God. I mean, I believe in God and everything, but he/she has become some sort of Jesus Freak."

Many of us have all heard the phrase or something similar. You may have even said it yourself.

From the time I was small, I have always been "in" to something. Another word for "in" would be "obsessed." They were different phases that I went through. First, there was wrestling as a young boy. My father took me to the wrestling matches quite often and I had tons of the WWF action figures. Then, it was sports, football in particular. I played in high school and loved (still do) to watch the NFL. Any conversation about sports could go on for hours without running out of things to talk about. Music was another huge obsession. Though I never have played any instrument consistently, the art of music is one of the most beautiful things in this world. When I found an interest in a certain musician, everyone and their mother would hear about it. I could buy a CD, sit down with the lyric sheet, listen and dissect the whole album.

Those are a few of the things I have been passionate about at one time or another.

One day, I realized that I forgot about God. That changed me. God changed me. Now, I'm obsessed with Jesus Christ! I can go on for hours without running out of things to talk about. I love sit down, read and dissect the Bible. It's not a phase…..it won't pass. Everyone and their mother will hear about it.

Jeremiah 20:9 (NIV) Jesus Freaks

9 But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

John 12:26 (NIV) Slaves to Christ

26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV) All About God

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

This Easter is a perfect time to renew your relationship with Christ. He is risen! Repent and trust Him today and He will save you. God is good.

Oprah's New Easter

On March 3, a live 10-week webinar hosted by Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle, author of "A New Earth," began. Both the book and the online course purport to be able to awaken you and our world to life's grand purpose.

Since Oprah's endorsement of Tolle's book a month ago, about 3.5 million copies of his spiritual self-help guide have been sent out to enlighten the minds of people around the globe. More than 500,000 people in 125 countries have signed up for the World Wide Web seminar.

But will this religious text and its subsequent Internet churchlike gathering really lead you and our world to God's gates of splendor? Is it merely a coincidence that Winfrey and Tolle's spiritual quest aligns with one of Christendom's most sacred times of year? To me, it is more evidence of the paradigm shift in our culture from its moral absolute and Judeo-Christian basis to a relativistic worldview, in which anything goes and everything is tolerated. The fact is Tolle's "A New Earth" is being adopted and transformed into Oprah's new Easter.

Like most self-help spiritual texts of this type, it is a blend of half-truths and half-fabrications. One easily could save the purchase price of "A New Earth" -- and subsequently avoid its misleading remarks -- by reading the Bible, which gives a much more thorough and accurate picture of life's purpose and the methods for overcoming its obstacles.

Tolle himself doesn't align with any one religion but blends tenets of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Sufism, Christianity and other faiths. A review in The Vancouver Sun said of Tolle:

"His spiritual outlook has become more complex since (his earlier book) The Power of Now, when he dismissed external reality as an illusion and made it sound as if 'living in the now' was a panacea for all the world's problems. …

"In addition, Tolle believes outer realities -- including politics, war, poverty and even the climate -- will magically be transformed when individuals change their inner consciousness. This may be true, but only to an extent."

The reason Tolle's psychology and spirituality is marketed so easily is that it is an eclectic mix of conventional and unconventional wisdom, and Western and Eastern beliefs, presented in a tolerant, non-threatening and nonsectarian way. In other words, it's Religion Light, in which one can be spiritual with little down and no credit.
Tolle only quotes relatively benign sayings of Jesus, avoiding the more difficult ones. For example, Tolle notes that Jesus taught that the "kingdom of heaven" is already present on earth and can be experienced right now, but Tolle overlooks Jesus' teaching that one must be born again (by believing in him as the Son of God and Savior) to see that kingdom in the future.

When will we learn? Our pursuit and attainment of truth is hindered most by our subjective (or a la carte) selections of religion and refusal to consider tougher commandments that call us to higher accountability and our true purpose. That is why I'm endorsing -- and even have written the foreword for -- an upcoming (April 15 release) revolutionary book, "Do Hard Things," written by Alex Harris and Brett Harris. It offers real insight and rewards for life by commendably calling us to rebel against the low expectations of culture and choose to "do hard things."

My battle is not with Oprah; she has her guru (Tolle), and I have mine (Jesus). The real war is between those who assert to be bearers of the truth, such as Tolle and Jesus. And the question is: With contradicting truths, will we believe a mere man or one who claimed to be so much more? As C.S. Lewis -- the great Oxford scholar and writer of "The Chronicles of Narnia," who was once an avid atheist -- wrote:

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. …
"You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

That might not be what Oprah, Tolle or others around the world want to hear on their webinar, but he is everything we all need to obtain peace with God and peace with one another.

Again, the question is: Will we turn from what's easy, what's new, what's popular -- even what's "Oprah" -- and take a step back and rediscover the answers that have been there all along? As C.S. Lewis also said: "We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."