Doing the right thing in faith

Sometimes the right thing to do is the hardest! Sometimes the right thing is uncomfortable and unknown. That is where faith comes into play. My favorite Bible passage is Hebrews 11. These people must of gone through fears and sometimes it might been of hard to do the right thing. I need to remember that God will use me if I continue to do the next right thing.

Hebrews 11 (New Living Translation) Hebrews 11

New Living Translation (NLT)

Great Examples of Faith

11 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. ² Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.

³ By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

⁴ It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.

⁵ It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.”^[a] For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. ⁶ And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

⁷ It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸ It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. ⁹ And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. ¹⁰ Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

¹¹ It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed^[b] that God would keep his promise. ¹² And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.

¹³ All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. ¹⁴ Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. ¹⁵ If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. ¹⁶ But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷ It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, ¹⁸ even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”^{[c] 19} Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.

²⁰ It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau.

²¹ It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.

²² It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.

²³ It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.

²⁴ It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. ²⁷ It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. ²⁸ It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.

²⁹ It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.

³⁰ It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.

³¹ It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

³² How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. ³³ By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. ³⁵ Women received their loved ones back again from death.

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. ³⁶ Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. ³⁷ Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half,^[d] and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. ³⁸ They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹ All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. ⁴⁰ For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

Lets not kill our own wounded!

The spiritual lfe is not a theory! That is from the big book of AA. Went to a great meeting this morning. Before AA I thought I new about the spiritual life, but what I was doing was playing church. I new the right things to say and do. I thought that I had to go into full time ministry to please God. But my life became a train wreck even though I was a youth pastor and was going to Bible College. I started drinking while in Bible College.

For me my life changed when I started working the steps and got a sponsor. I never thought I would become an alcoholic. But like ever sin or bad habit it started out small and then it got out of hand.
I found myself in a very lonely place. I was a Christian and I was the youth pastor at my church. Before it all come out the church loved me and thought I was a great youth pastor. Once it came out I drank, I became damaged goods. My story is not uncommon. I have noticed that many recovering alcoholics and addicts have a bad taste in there mouth towards the church. I did not recover as fast as my pastor thought I should out west and basically got kicked out of the Church. Being in any addiction is a lonely place in the church because for some reason addiction has become in a lot of churches one of the worst sins. When in my addition I was asked why not just stop. Or if you are truly a Christian u would stop. Well I wanted to stop but I could not. I truly believed in Jesus but as much faith that I could stir up I still could not stop. I threw away my marriage because of the alcohol and have lost jobs. I finally got sober in Eureka California by going to a twelve step support group. It was then that I had the tools to stop and with that my faith has grown much deeper.

I have had the privilege to go to meetings in California, Alaska and Iowa. And it seems that I all ways find people who have been hurt by the church. I think its time for the church to want to understand addiction and to start reaching out to people like me. Not every church I have been to made me an outcast. But I think we forgot the reason why Christ came. He did not come for the well He came for the sick. And that even means people in the church. I had one pastor share my fifth step to my ex-wife. That is not good. The fifth step is where you confess to yourself, to God and another Human  being the exact wrongs you have done. If we want to reach out to those that are struggling each church needs to understand the twelve steps. Because in my experience that is one thing that really works.

I have done some bad stuff in my life. But God has forgiven me. But God's people that is another story. alcohol and drug addiction is a very big issue these days because a lot of people are struggling with it. We need to stop killing our wounded and start loving and trying to reach out and help those who are struggling. I will be the first one to say that I probably deserved church discipline. But in my  opinion church discipline goal is to all ways reconcile. That has not been my experience.

Here are some suggestions for church's or for anyone looking to help those people who are suffering from this. If you know a recovering alcohol have them meet up. There are many great groups all ready at there like: A.A. N.A. Celebrate Recovery and many other great tools. There is a great website called, www.nacr.org This website has great recourses.

God has put a passion in me to help church's see more than ever we need to reach out to those who are addicts and those who are hurting. I don't think Jesus idea was for us to have our nice church buildings and be comfortable. I am not trying to down any church, just giving facts. Philippians chapter 2 gives a great picture of Christ being a servant. And if He was here today I believe He would be reaching out to those that we don't want to mess with.

Since I have been back in Iowa I have had at least four people tell me that they did not think I would still be alive. See I am all so type one diabetic and struggle with major depression. It is only by God's grace that I am still alive and sober today. And that's why I have a passion for each church in the United States to start learning about addiction and start some kind of support group. I love the church, but we need to do a better job at loving and reaching those who are lost and those who are saved that are in addiction. The twelve steps can help you if you are struggling with depression, over eating, eating disorders and so much more. I told someone today that the twelve steps for me are basically basic spiritual principles that we all should be living. Lets not be known as the people that kill there own wounded, but those who are nursing the wounded back to health!

Keep Walking!!

Encourage

It seems that many people that I know are going through very challenging things. From cancer to loosening children, mental illnesses, struggles with complications of diabetes and the list goes on. It would be easy for people who are going through these things to get mad at God and have a why me attitudes. But with many of these people are having the opposite attitude. They are clinging to God and even still praise Him through there storm. These people are my true hero's. Not all the famous people that most of us look up to. It gives me encouragement to see how well they handle these things as I struggle through my own storms.

It all so reminds me that I need to encourage, love, support and pray for those who are going threw hard things. Even if I have my own struggles I can still encourage others.

Keep walking!

Back to basics

Sometimes we have to get back to the basics! Keep it simple stupid.

Weather

Today the weather started out pretty nice. Then the wind started up and then the snow. In part of the state they had a blizzard warning. The weather caught many by surprise.

The weather today reminded of me of life. Sometimes storms in ny life come up and I am caught by surprise. That is why today I am thankful that I know who controls the storms in my life. If I remember to keep my eyes on Jesus I can get through the storms of life. Sometimes the little storms are the ones that seem to bother me the most.
I am going to keep walking!

Trying to choose joy!

Sometimes it's hard to choose joy when life seems hard. Its easy to have joy when all is well. Today I was challenged in Sunday School from the book of Philippians. Even when Paul was in prison he had the joy of the Lord. Joy is different than happiness. We become happy when good things happen. But we can all ways find joy even in the rough times. That's what we are called to do in the Bible. I am working at having a good attitude or finding joy in my life. But it is easy for me to get discouraged and down. Tomorrow I am seeing the foot doctor and I am guessing that I am going to have to get my toe rebroke and put a pin in my toe. Its still bent. It seems the last few months I have been having a lot if health issues. I am going to try and have joy, even in the midst of pain! Today I am going to keep walking.