Sin

Power Outage

Posted on by Shawn

no-battery-512“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 NLT

We used to recite that scripture at the end of choir rehearsal in college. I never really thought too much into what we were saying, until recently. I have been praying for guidance to make better decisions in my life and God has given me a deeper understanding of what that scripture means. Whether we knew it or not, our involvement in the choir made us ambassadors for Christ. There would be some people on campus who would never attend our concerts, but our lives should have remained a good representation of Christ everywhere where we went. I’m learning quickly that prayer alone isn’t enough, but I have to take responsibility for my actions. I understand now that my actions don’t always back up what I believe. My attitude doesn’t always complement what I write about. The words I speak don’t always demonstrate my faith or even my reverence for God. In many cases, I have failed to represent Christ the way I should. For the first time in my life, I am discovering that it is possible to be saved and not feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. The end result of this kind of lukewarm behavior is a Christian with no power..

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It’s Deeper Than That…

Posted on by Shawn

Matthew 9:2-8 (NKJV)

Tip of the Iceberg

Many times, we ask God to fix our surface-level issues, but God knows that those issues are just the tip of the iceberg…

2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” 3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 7 And he arose and departed to his house. 8 Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled[a] and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

This story is interesting to me because many times, we bring our petitions to God looking for Him to heal something very specific. This misguided expectation is exactly what leads to our disappointment and frustration with God. Many times, we become confused and are convinced that God isn’t listening to us. We even begin to doubt His mere existence because we set our sights on the wrong part of the issue. What I love about the Lord is that He always sees the big picture. He always sees what we cannot see. The onlookers of the miracle in this story missed it when Jesus said to the man, “your sins are forgiven.” Instead of rejoicing, the people challenged Him because they expected Him to address the man’s physical illness, which caused him to be unable to walk. But the Lord chose to address the man’s sin, which led to his paralysis in the first place. Read More