Believe

Believing...

It is so simple yet it is so difficult...

Why is it so difficult?

Why do we question it?

Sunday mornings we sit in Church and it is so easy for us to say, "Yes I believe, I want to go serve the Lord with everything" but yet on Tuesday morning when the hammer hits the thumb we flunk and fall back into our old ways.

Hey, I am with you I know what it's like to battle with this, week after week, after week to be honest I still struggle with it. The simple yet powerful word believe could so dramatically change us  that we would hardly recognize the old you!

Oh I pray, that I that we could allow this simple seven letter word to capture our whole being to the point where we would not live without it. If we were to try to live without it, it would destroy our whole being.

Jesus says, "I want to see you believe!" The disciples wanted it, they said "Lord, increase our faith." Luke 17:5. Jesus  responds so beautifully, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to the mulberry tree be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea and it would obey you." Luke 17:6NKJV. 

Do you have any idea how tiny mustard seed is? If we could only put our belief in action do you have any idea how much could be done for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ? I do believe it will blow our minds. 

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith' " Romans 1:16-17NKJV

The Bible continues on and so does life. God inspired Paul to write these words in Romans as a commandment to His Follower, His Believers, "The just (the one's who follow Me) shall live by faith." If you are going to be a Follower of Jesus Christ you have to live by Faith, there isn't an option.

Ok, So I am thinking right now that that's pretty radical of me, to think I should have faith in such a way that I could look at something in my life and say "be removed" and it would be gone. It blows my mind. Now God is saying "Live like that everyday." Not just Sunday, not just Saturday, not just Tuesday... but every single day of the week.

Oh... Ouch... Scary.... Awesome... Isn't God simply amazing....

"Faith is to Believe what we do not see, and the reward of this Faith is to see what we Believe." -Augustine

Jesus is asking you, "Do you believe, I am able to do this? (Matthew 9:28) and He is looking for a response from you and from me. 

"I am surprised at how calm I am. But then, if God has decided that my time for serving Him with the Motilones is over, who am I to question Him? And so I wait for the explosion that will end my life..." Bruce Olson, from "Bruchko and the Motilone Miracle"

Oh to have faith like that, to only Believe with that mustard size of faith. Jesus says, "Do not be afraid, only believe." Mark 5:36...

I pray that each one of us would find ourselves with the response of the father, where his son had a mute spirit(Mark 9) when Jesus asked Him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said with tears, 'Lord I believe; help my unbelief!' " Mark 9:23-24

Only Believe

Do you believe?

They were down by 21 in the last half of the second quarter! The announcer had already called his opinion on how the game would end, and it was not in their favour at all short of a miracle. The team was disheartened as they slowly dragged their already weary bodies out to do the next play all the while complaining to the one beside them how much they were going to loose this game and how they would be the laughing stock  of the town for the next five generations since they could not win a single game even to the easiest of teams.

Hearing the complaints of the team, the couch got discouraged, "how could he let his team get down this much. They still had a fighting chance. It wasn't over yet!"

Wrapping up the second quarter and still down by 21! The couch pulled the team aside in the dressing room instructing each one to take a seat and pay attention. 

Walking to front of the dressing room where a chalkboard rested against the wall and where many plays had been drawn out before. he simply wrote the word "BELIEVE".

From the back of the group of players a teammate asked, "Are you going to tell us one of your stories again?"

Without turning around the couch took his piece of chalk and drew a line underneath of the word. "You better BELIEVE I am." 

Shoulders sank, as they realized they were in for along one again. The couch went on to say. "This story is about a football team, from the beginning they had huge potential and ability." 

Turning around he took his chalk and drew another line under the word on the board. "But there was one problem, they didn't BELIEVE they could win. Then a dog came along and this dog could do great things and suddenly the team started winning but you see with or without the dog they were winners, each and everyone of them. So if you believe that a dog can play football, than you better believe that we can and will win this game!"

Now some of you may know where that story comes from and in your mind you are saying, "ok, Erica has gone completely crazy now." Hey, that's fine I likely have, but don't tune me out yet, let me finish.

You see the story is true in our Christian lives as well! If you don't believe that you can make it to Glory with the help of Jesus Christ, you aren't going to!

I know that is speaking harsh language here, but if you don't believe that the Blood of Jesus is sufficient to cover all of your sins and that Jesus is really Who He said He was, is and will be, you have but in jeopardy everything in the Bible and relinquished your right to Heaven. That my friends is a dangerous place to be.

Likely one of the most famous verses in the whole Bible sums it up. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16NKJV

But often we stop there because that brings the "comfort" that we in this "western world" (if you will) want to feel. I want to continue:

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." John 3:17-21NKJV

So the question I ask you today is... Do you Believe?

And if you Believe how is that going to change you?

What are you going to do differently in your life, because you Believe?

When God asks you to love your neighbor, how does that change the way you respond when his dog eats your flowers? I know, simple problem but change that story as it needs to be changed to fit your need of the hour.

God asks us to simply to Believe on Him. 

Do you believe? And if you BELIEVE what are you, what am I going to do about it?

Feel free to comment your ideas on what you are going to do because YOU BELIEVE.

God Bless,

What Do You Believe?

What do you believe???

Well, good question. When have you sat back and re-evaluated what you believe, and why you stand for the things that you do, what your future may look like, and at the end of it all what does God think???

I had such an experience; I began thinking and pondering on the things of this life. I had to think also of my eternal life. If I would die today were would I go?

What would God say to me right now if I was kneeling before Him?

Would He turn me away saying that “I never knew you” or would He welcome me with open arms and welcome me into His Kingdom?

I wonder. 

It also suddenly dawned on me that either we except God now; for who He said He is, and what He can do in our lives or we can reject Him and someday admit on bended knee who God really is when He says “I never knew you” and then casts us into udder darkness.

It’s a sobering thought and it brings me to tears just thinking about it.

Where will I, where will you stand on that day? You know these questions aren’t just for us to think about they are for us to take action on. This is life; we don’t just live in a dream. If this is just a dream what does that say about life then? If this is just a dream, than please pinch me and wake me up because I want to get back to the real world.

You see sometimes we think we believe merrily because we have been taught from little up what is “truth”, we have never had to search it out for ourselves. This is what we do, this is how you explain this scripture, if you don’t understand it, talk to your ministry! Above all do not question your belief, just simply believe everything you hear across the podium! 

The result is, what we have today, we have adults in our churches who have no idea what it is like to experience an ever growing, and everlasting relationship with Jesus Christ, therefore generating youth who don’t know what its like either, they believe that works will save you and therefore we do all the right things and we talk about the things we have read about, but never apply any of it to our lives. Further more, we have children who make fun of the Bible and really don’t know that they are doing it and they think its “cool” because Christianity isn’t their belief, its Mennonitizm, Catholism, etc. They have never been taught and we have failed desperately at teaching them.

We may say we believe in God, but do we believe merrily for the blessings and to say that we do, or do we believe because we truly understand what God is saying, that His Word is really, truly, real and we know what Jesus has done, is doing, and will do in our lives in forming us into the people He wants, not the people we think we should become.

I know that this speaks home to many of us seeing as I, and most people I know have been raised in a Mennonite home of some interpretation. I know that my home isn’t perfect and that we have much to learn but I know that my parents have always taught me a balanced view we are Christians we aren’t following a doctrine of Mennonitizm. 

I wonder sometimes if God really likes the name Mennonite the name some use to describe themselves. Why are we ashamed to describe ourselves as His/Christ's followers? It is almost like we hold some shame as we stand there and honestly trying to admit that we follow Jesus Christ and yet on the backside hold onto the ways of a man. Do you believe that He is the Way, The Truth, and The Life?

I have personally dropped the title in recent years because I would, based on God's Word, never want to follow after a man because even Menno Simons was human and made mistakes and fell short of the Glory of God. I ask you why would you want to follow any man?

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then , because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'-and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked- I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcome and sat down with My Father on His throne. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." ' " Revelations 3:15-21NKJV

I believe that Jesus is calling all people to rise up, stand for what they believe in Jesus Christ, and not for the "lies" they have been taught, yet holding fast to the Truths of God’s precious Word for in it is eternal life and salvation and it is only through Jesus Christ that we can find full redemption, freedom from sin, and complete peace. 

I encourage each one of you to sit down pen and paper in hand, and write out your personal statement of Faith. This may take you awhile... It will not just be a Sunday afternoon job. It may take you months, but the exercise will be worth it as you discover "the lies we believe and the Truth that sets us Free."

God Bless,

Traditions #mashedpotatoesonmondaynight

If I was to finish that title it would include:

The Good side and the Bad Side

I could start by listing you off a long list of reasons why I hate traditions and maybe I should, but I won't. I'll let you search in this blog post and discover my reasons.

If you have read my all-famous About-Me page(which I hate) you will know that I grew up in a Mennonite Church. I respect the fact that some of you may still be there. I just want to say this... It is likely one of the first places one could refer to when discussing Traditions. This would also be the spot to reference back to the sub-title "The good side and the bad side".

You see, you can have a good tradition of always having mashed potatoes on monday nights, there is nothing wrong with that. Mashed potatoes are good, and if its something your family or you always do and it's a tradition you have put in place, there is nothing wrong with that. But now to all you anti-tradition people I ask the question. Did doing the same thing a couple months in a row make it wrong? Or what makes a tradition wrong?

What makes a tradition wrong?

Back to our mashed potato example. If my family decides to have mashed potatoes every monday night(which we don't) and then all of a sudden one monday night we missed it because Mom ran out of potatoes in the house and now we all feel guilty and feel like we have sinned not only towards our family but towards God and we feel the need to confess to God over missing mashed potatoes on monday night, is that not wrong?

You see the tradition had no point to it. It was simply something that the family decided to start. There was no spiritual value one way or the other... It wasn't a point where our relationship with Jesus Christ was put in jeopardy if we by chance didn't have mashed potatoes on monday night, but rather just a simple decision that we as a family are going to have mashed potatoes on monday nights.

Let's take this a step further... and don't laugh we will continue with the mashed potatoes on monday night scenario.

Let's just say my Dad's Grandparents had the tradition of mashed potatoes on monday night, and their reasoning behind it had no spiritual meaning, but was simply the fact that because of the Great Depression, Grandpa only went to the General Store in the Big City every monday to exchange enough corn from the garden for enough potatoes for one meal as long as they were mashed and whipped. This became a standard by which was passed onto my Grandpa which passed it onto my Dad. Who when starting his home insisted on having mashed potatoes on monday nights. with simply the reason of carrying on a generational tradition in hopes that each one of us children would do the same.

Now if I don't carry on that tradition for mashed potatoes on monday night. Have I sinned?

Should I go back and confess to my parents and to God, for not carrying on the tradition of mashed potatoes on monday night?

Excuse #1: We have done it for years, why change it.
Excuse #2: We don't know anything different.
Excuse #3: Coming from my Dad here, "your mother adjusted" she used to have rice every monday night in remembrance of her Great-Aunt Once removed's trip to India in the year of 1902 which she never returned from because she died of a terrible disease.

You are all likely for sure laughing by now, but do you get my point of how ridiculous this can get and how quickly we don't even know why.

Why do you wear a veil on your head if you are a women? My Church has done it for generations.... AHHHH that makes me want to scream.
Why do you wear a veil on your head? Is is not to show honour and glory to God, and a sign that you respect and believe in God's perfect design(and much more could be added to that).

Or has it simply become nothing more than a tradition, where all you do is make mashed potatoes on monday night because Great-Grandpa did? Or you wear a veil on your head at a certain age because your previous 8 generations back Grandma did the same thing?

That's why I believe it is so important for each one of us to discover what you believe, why you believe, how it is going to change the way you operate, and what are you going to help instil the Bible and its instructions in the next generation so that it doesn't become nothing more than mashed potatoes on monday night.

If you haven't had the opportunity in your lifetime to discover on your own what you believe? What do you believe about God? Who is He to you? What has He done in your life that has changed You? any of those I encourage you to do so. You will be so amazed by what you learn.

All of a sudden a tradition with a spiritual meaning, which you have newly discovered will take a whole new meaning.

Do I say all this to say I am in favour of traditions? No I don't what I do say is this.

"Don't allow the things you do with a Spiritual/Biblical reason and instruction to become nothing more than a heap of mashed potatoes on monday night."

Please feel free to comment... I know some of you have tried... and I am trying to get that fixed... So please comment....

As always God bless,

Family Vacation

This is getting posted a day later cause I got taken away from my writing as we traveled home... so here we go two parts in one.

Written June 29, 2015: 

It's a lovely day to be traveling back to Canada after eight days of traveling through 5 States (Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New York). As i sit here typing I am still relaxing or trying :). It's been absolutely amazing trip and I would love to start it all over again!!! We have had an amazing time as a family!
From slave time history, to NASA space, to Science, to learning about God's Amazing creation at Kentucky's Creation Museum! If I can encourage anybody to go anywhere, you need to go to the Creation Museum it's worth the trip. I have learned so much historically and spiritually. To list them all would get a little crazy and likely I am now considered crazy. I'll accept that. I have learned that as a Christian if you don't believe that God created the world as He said He did, in 6 literal days you contradict everything else you believe in the Bible. If you can't believe in an all powerful God who can speak and  create anything. How can you believe in a God that can wash away your sins and cleanse you from the filthiness of sin and free you from death?
It's that serious folks and our world is slowly molding and shaping us into believing what maybe small lies and its undermining our Faith in Jesus Christ the One who saved you from the wrath of sin, death, and hell. You may try to whittle yourself out of believing everything but its the truth you have to believe. Otherwise we can start ripping pages out of the Bible. But again there is so much continuity to the Bible you will have nothing more than a leather cover when you have finished.
It's time we start presenting the Bible starting at the beginning. So that we all learn the basis of our Christian Faith.

Finishing here today:

I am having to take this challenge up on my own. As I sit back and observe how I personally study God's Word. How I share it with whomever and wherever that may be. 

One thing I do know is that when you study God's Word "with all you heart, with all your soul, all your strength, and all your might" you need to "PREPARE TO BELIEVE". Those three words where on the projector screen during on of the lectures that I listened to. 

God is so amazing. He created you and I to worship Him, its so obvious yet there are so many people who doubt there is a Higher Being, or that there is even a God. Look at nature, how could that exist with out an Almighty and All-Powerful Creator? Plan and simple- IT CAN'T. You know Paul had the same issue we have today. 

In Romans 1 Paul talks to the Roman people who fought after knowledge and tried to pull science into everything. Paul turns around and says "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not Glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man-and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things." (Romans 1:20-23 NKJV)

Mike Matthews says "Even a child can intuitively see God's beauty, harmony, love and order." You don't have to be excessively wise, you don't have to have a Bachelor's Degree in Science. God asks you simply to believe. 

Here is a link to an article entitled Losing God in the Forest. I don't know where you are at today. Maybe you are doubting the existence of God? Maybe you wonder if God real did create the world or if a big-bang occurred? I ask you to keep searching until you arrive at the answer that God Created everything as He said He did in Genesis.

Tonight, If you do believe take the time to thank God for creating the world as He did for the Honour and Glory of Himself.