"Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts"

1 Chronicles 16:9. It is hard to describe the impact music can have on our lives. Music can express the innermost corners of our mind; all of our thoughts and feelings. It can put feelings into words when there are no words. Music is also a universal language. People can tell serious songs from happy-go-lucky songs no matter what language they are sung in. Music can touch people down to their very core, no matter how tough they may seem to be. I listen to so many different types of music and I have learned to appreciate every single genre of music from ragtime to rap and everything in between. However, since becoming Christian, I realize how much music out there today is so un-Godly! Some of the lyrics are so terrible; parents may not even know how bad. I am not ready to give up all that music (that I spent hundreds of dollars on!) so now I take the lyrics I am listening to and turn them back to God. For example, I regret to admit I am a big fan of Adam Lambert's music. I simply cannot deny how talented he is. The first song on his first album is called Music Again. The lyrics go, "oh, you make me wanna listen to music again." I simply change it to, "oh, You make me wanna listen to music again." Even though I know Adam is talking about a guy probably, I sing it to God. He does make me wanna listen to music! I wanna sing as loud as I can as much as I can in His name! Music is also wonderful in the fact that there are so many ways to produce music! Singing, countless instruments, all sorts of percussion instruments, listening to recorded music, and getting a song or tune stuck in your head. Which I admit does get annoying after a while. But each method of music can touch people so deep and give them words to describe the hardships and issues in their lives which often times gives people courage ironically because they now know what they are fighting. Music can be a message to people that God often uses to help us through struggles and tell us how to fight back in His name. I am a very musically based person, but even if you are not, God has given us the language of music so that we might sing to Him and tell of all His wonderful acts.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Choices

Our lives are not defined by our talents - they are defined by our choices. Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter said that in the movie The Chamber of Secrets (or something to that effect). This is very true. God may give us talents that we can use to further our experiences with Christ as well as others, but we have to choose to do so. God gave us free will, and He gave us our talents for a reason. So that we might be able to use them in glorifying God's name. And there are other types of choices, too. Such as turning the other cheek on a mean person, how to go about witnessing to someone, following Christ 24/7, and choosing Christ-like manners so that our lives might be a testament to God's good fellowship. We might have all of the talent in the world at any given subject, but if our talents are not used to glorify God, what good are they? Sure a great guitarist might impact a few million people through a popular career, but in the end, what is he left with? Unless he has God, he is left with nothing. So think about the God-given talents you have been blessed with and how you might be able to use them to glorify God's name. Are you musically talented? Get involved with the church choir or band of sorts. Academically talented? Learn God's word and teach it to others. Conversationally talented? Mission to people you may or may not know. The list goes on and on. I strive everyday to find out ways that I can further my talents in His name. I pray you will too!
God Bless!
ChristianKid

God doesn't care

This statement is true on ONE occasion: how you pray!! He doesn't care if you are alone, with a group, in church, on a river, in jail, or with a priest; if you say it out loud, in your head, write it down, or shout it from the mountain tops. All that matters is that you pray. God wants to hear what's on your mind. He wants conscious effort on our part to show we are still dedicated to Him and always will be. And I don't know about you all, but I always feel so refreshed after praying. I can conquer the world! Personally I like to close my eyes no matter how I pray or who I'm with because I like it to just be me and Christ, no distractions from our world. I have also started writing things down in a prayer because unfortunately, God has not blessed me with a terrific memory by any means. And when I tell someone I am going to pray for them, I want to keep my word! But it's whatever works best for you. Some people meditate on God's word (which is awesome but I have no idea how!), some people just pray in church, some people only pray before meals, some people pray only when they need help, and some people think that the devil will steal your spoken prayers, but some people pray all the time! I like to think that's me. Whenever I see something pretty, experience something cool, listening to an awesome song about Christ, or when I am in trouble, I pray to Him. Sometimes out loud, sometimes in my head. As long as you have a relationship with God, you have to have communication!! This is through prayer. And there is nothing more powerful in this world than prayer. I only ask one thing: don't get into a rut. Don't say the same exact thing or ask for the same exact things every day and nothing more. Why? Because after some time, it becomes simply routine and loses its meaning. For example, I think the Lord's Prayer is a beautiful prayer, but the prayer is just words to me. I have no idea what all the individual lines mean in the grand scheme of things, let alone what they mean to me. My church doesn't say such prayers, so I will give you another example. Millions of people around the globe are Catholic, and I had the chance to go to a Catholic mass this year. When I walked in, they were saying the Hail Mary. Now these people were saying it so fast, I bet you very few people truly knew what they were saying. Prayers are not competitions of speed, people. They are holy words spoken by us to our Heavenly Father. They become sacred. So let me give you an alternative idea. Next time you say the Lord's Prayer or a Hail Mary, etc, go home and break it down line by line. Many of these such prayers are found in the Bible, often times said by Christ Himself. Think about each line and try to understand what Christ was trying to say, and what you are trying to say by repeating it back to Him. Use references you or your Pastor trusts if you run into a line or two you can't crack. God does care if you say these words without understanding them because you are not glorifying Him by doing so. Understand them, and then God will not care how or where you say them.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Seize the Day!

Carpe diem! Why do you want to wait to spread the word of the Lord? You're too busy? Too shy? Not knowledgeable enough? Stop making excuses for yourself! You have the best news you could ever hope to share with someone - why aren't you sharing it? I once heard Mark Cahill speak at my church and he said we all have 'tickets' to heaven in our pockets. Free tickets that we can just give away to people right at our fingertips. Why wouldn't you want to give them away if you've already got one? Mark said he hopes that his last act in life would be to witness to the nurse or doctor or EMT before he dies so that he doesn't get to those pearly gates with a bunch of tickets for those who are cast away for an eternity in hell. Some say they are scared of losing their friendships or relationships with people. I tell you what, I would rather spend a lifetime apart as opposed to an eternity from these people. If you mess up, who cares? The only person to judge you is God, and if you are trying to spread His word He will love you for it! It's what we're meant to do. This life is for pleasing God, not people. I have been yelled at, cast aside, poked fun at, the punch line of jokes, and even lost friendships by sharing the word of God. And a person who spent a lifetime trying to please people is telling you, "I DON'T CARE!" Friends who are too stubborn to accept what is right in front of them are not friends I want. I glorify God by my works, and there is no greater pleasure in the world than that. You say you don't have time? Make time! You should always have time for God in your life. And since you are not guaranteed that you will finish reading this post because you may drop dead before getting to the end, what are you waiting for?! I ask again, what are you waiting for? A sign? A miracle? The heavens to part and for God Himself to appear before you and say, "go"? Stop! You have the Holy Spirit within you. That is your sign; that is your miracle; that is God saying, "go!" So please - GO! Seize the day because you don't know how many you have left. There is only one thing absolutely, positively guaranteed in this world - everyone will die. Even Jesus died. Look at a clock and start snapping your fingers every second. Keep snapping. Now think about this: every time you snap your fingers, somewhere in the world two people die. Are these people going to heaven or hell? They are out of time! Many have never been approached about the word of God. Do you want these people, some of whom are those you see everyday, to die and spend an eternity in hell? I don't! I don't care the cost to myself - because I know where I am going when I die. But now I am calling you to arms to fight with me against the strong hold Satan has on this world! Carpe diem! Seize the day - seize every day and cherish it. Some don't have another.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Don't blame God for the mistakes of humans

This title was my Facebook status for quite some time - and it's true. Many people blame God for the hardships in their lives, saying, "why would God do this to me?" We must realize this is not God causing problems in our life! He is not sitting on a throne thinking, "oh how can I make Joe Schmoe's life miserable this year?" NO! The bad things in our life are Satan tempting us. Whether it's a terrible medical illness in the family, losing your job, losing a child or parent, or just someone poking fun at you or your life, this is all Satan. He is trying to tempt us away from God. I know several people, wonderful people, who believe in God but refuse to turn to Him or have anything to do with Him because they are mad at Him for one reason or another. But I wish I could just fuse my knowledge of God with those people and show them that God is our refuge in these times! We once sang a song in my school choir based on Psalm 46 that went somewhere along the lines of, "God is our refuge and strength; a present help in time of trouble. Though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam, we will not fear." I love this song! Because it's so true. We should never fear in times of trouble because we have the Almighty Creator on our side. I know I would much rather have the Creators of the heavens and the Earth on my side than all of the humans in the world. Because God is the only one who can defeat Satan. We can't do it on our own; we must turn to God to defeat the devil in our lives. I pray that people will stop blaming God for the problems in their lives and will rely on Him instead! For that will be a glorious day on Earth.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Father knows best

I have realized throughout life that everything happens for a reason. This has been the topic of intense debate between one of my best friends and I - and it always ends in agreeing to disagree. But I believe that God has put the people who are in my life there for a reason, given me the life I have for a reason, and given me the skill set and personality I have for a reason. After hearing this, my next question for myself would be what is this reason? I have a simple but very complex answer to this question: God. He is the reason for everything. The issues I have had in my life I now look at as a way to connect with people on a personal level to share God with them. It is all meant to glorify Him. Those in my life who do not have God or I feel they don't know Him very well, I try to tell them. I must admit to you that so far I have horribly failed at this - but as the title says: Father knows best. And he does. God realizes that with some people I will only be able to plant a seed that I pray will grow with time. However, I pray that one day I will really be able to touch someone. And with each time I talk to someone, I learn more and more about how to approach people and how to direct the conversation to the Big Man upstairs and to use their own trials to show them God. I feel as though God directs us in life, and as long as wherever we are directed we glorify Him with what He has given us, the possibilities are endless! Even if He blesses us with what humans describe as nothing, as long as we have God, we have everything. And if we are blessed with no humanly good things, we can still use our lives to glorify Him. I have also found that those who seem to have nothing but are still happy with what they have can touch people so deep. My greatest example of this is a man I never met, but he is the kind of person I wish I could become at least half as good a person as him in life. His faith life was incredible. Even though he had a painful terminal cancer at a young age, knowing he was going to leave behind a wonderful wife and three great kids at a fairly young age, he still thanked God for everything he had. Most people would have their faith severely shaken with this kind of trial to dread, but this man still knelt by his bed every night no matter how sick he was and thanked his heavenly Father for everything he had and was leaving behind. That sure touchs and inspires me! I know the more I hear about him, the more I can't wait.  And I strive to have that kind of faith attitude every day of my life. I pray you will try, too.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Give it all to God

I have made the decision to dedicate everything I have to God. I pray one day you will, too. However, this has not been without its difficulties. For example, I hold friends in high regard for myself, probably because I have had many issues with them in the past. However, God is now cleaning up my friendship life and has placed many wonderful Christian friends in my life, but He is also weeding out those who do not belong. In part I am grateful, but it is still hard. However, when I look at all I have gained through Him, it's incredible! I have extrodinarily dependable friends who are dedicated to Christ, and they constantly push me to keep at my faith life. And since I am moving to college soon, friendships from high school are already hard to maintain. But He has given me the Christian friends I have longed for in life: an awesome roommate, a friend from high school and my church going to the same school, a dear friend in a nearby city, and a wonderful Christian friend to come home to, who might also be able to have the flexibility to come see me! How great is He?! The more it seems that my life should be complicated, the more I am finding God in every corner of my life looking out for me and providing for my needs. I can't wait to see what else He has in store for me!
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Don't get mad! Get GOD.

I think one of the most well known commercials are for the Glad bags. The saying, "don't get mad; get Glad!" It's catchy. And people refer to it in everyday situations. But sometimes you just cannot find the way to turn your anger around. So I'm changing the saying - "Don't get mad, get God." Because I have found that no matter how angry or sad or worried or upset I get about something, God's promises to me have surprising comfort in those times. Anymore, I love just digging out my Bible and trying to find all of the verses that talk about how much He loves us and how much He is there for us. My favorite so far is Romans 13:19, "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'vengeance is Mine, I will repay' says the Lord." I mean, come on. How great is it that the Lord our God cares enough about us to deal with punishing those who hurt us for us?! It would take about a lifetime (give or take a few) to seek revenge on all those who have done us wrong. But God can deal with ALL of our enemies in less than a millisecond if He wanted to. However, patience is definitely a virtue when it comes to God. He may deal with our enemies, but He will do it in His own way, on His own time. We just have to pray to Him about it, and leave the results up to Him. But oftentimes in praying about these people, we become less mad at them, and our anger pretty much dissipates. My Sunday school teacher once challenged us to pray for those who make us mad instead of cursing at them. It's true because you don't know what those people are dealing with in their lives. The guy who cut you off today might have been rushing to the hospital to see his daughter in the hospital who was just in a tragic accident. Or the person who called your workplace today with every complaint in the world about your business may be at a rock-bottom place in his life and ended up taking his frustrations out on you. You just never know, and you have to let God deal with these people how He sees fit. It's not up to us to decide someone's punishment. After all, He is the ultimate judge. So I challenge you to try and diminish your anger by either praying or reading His word or both! It may take time, but you will find that God gives us strength each time we try to do right by Him.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Justifying your actions

As humans, we never want to be wrong. Therefore, for anything that could be construed as wrong, we try to justify our actions. STOP. It doesn't do anyone any good, especially God. He gave us a set of guidelines to live our lives by, so if our actions don't match up to his expectations, hate to break it to you, but you're wrong. But that's okay! God will forgive us for our sins if we confess them to him, and through Him you can change any un-godlike habits. He wants you to become like Christ, and He is there to help you achieve that. Obviously, we cannot be entirely like Christ, but it is something we must continue to strive for. It is okay to admit you are wrong to God and ask Him to help you become a better Christian. Some of these wrongdoings in our lives have become habits and will not disappear overnight. It is hard, but with God's help, anything is possible. And once we have reached success in God's eyes, we should shout His name and let the world know it is Him who makes you a more desirable person. I pray that you will be able to get rid of the un-godlike areas of your life and your person and encourage others to do the same. And take comfort in knowing there is at least one human doing it with you!
God Bless!
ChristianKid

The Power of Prayer

There is absolutely NO limit to the power of praying to God! I have an interesting story for you. I pray every night, often times for friends and those people who need help that I know. My devotional for yesterday told me to pray for someone who needed God in their life, and to send them a text saying you prayed for them. The friend I prayed for is not someone I am close to by any means and she is also an agnostic, but I prayed my heart out for her anyways, and sent her a text. Six hours later I get a response: why would you pray for me? I responded saying that I felt compelled to pray for her, and that I had prayed she would realize one day how much God loved her and how much He wants her to trust in Him. She wrote back saying, wow...thanks that's really nice of you. But when I asked if she thought about God, she said she didn't want to get in an argument which I understood. So I told her to do me a favor. I asked her to look outside where ever she was, look at everything around her and ask herself how it came to be. I never got a response but I felt I had truly touched her. It was so wonderful to see my prayers being answered - and so soon! I was moved to tears while driving (not safe, I know) and proceeded to have a smile too big for my face because my God is a truly AWESOME God!!
Please, if you have any stories like this - share them! Its always great for believers and nonbelievers to hear the wonderful works of the Lord.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Even when times are good

It is easy to need God and realize you need Him when times are tough. But you must remember Him when times are good as well. After all, it is Him who allowed you to rejoice in these good times; don't you want to thank the God who blessed you with them? I have struggled with friends in the past, and I often use the metaphor of God being the greatest friend (although He really is). So think of it this way: when a friend gets you a great gift just for the heck of it, shouldn't you say thank you? You don't only go to your friends when times are tough. No! You rejoice with them that everything is going well and you have fun together. This is how it should be with God, too! Have fun sharing His creation when He grants you the gift of good times. It is amazing what God can do. The good times are tests as well. He wants to make sure that you will stand by His side no matter what. There is never a time when you don't need God - good or bad. So praise Him for all He has blessed you with!!
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Searching for truth

Many people want some sort of proof to show that God exists. Some want some sort of miracle to happen in order for them to be able to understand God's power. Please, just tell these people to look around! That gorgeous sunset in the west, a newborn baby, the feeling of love towards someone, are these not all miracles?! How is it that everything in our world seems to fit together perfectly? A diversity of animals, people, plants, feelings, emotions, etc. exists because why? Some rocks slammed together randomly at just the perfect power to create all of these wonderful things you see around you? I don't think so. The chance of this happening so perfectly as it did is literally incalculable. There is order, design, and creation in our world that was created by the God our Father - He says in the first book of Genesis He did so. Some people simply cannot accept the fact that God exists. It is not in our nature to come to Him. This is how God intended it. That ensures it will require conscious effort and thought on our part to come to Him.
Don't you want to know the God who created all these wonderful things we take for granted sometimes? He loves you so much and wants you in His kingdom of Heaven so badly that He sent His own son to die for your sins! Please just look around you and allow yourself to take in all of God's mighty power. He will touch your heart in ways you never thought possible. And tell those whom you love of His wonderful power so that you may greet them in God's kingdom of paradise one day.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

"For You are my rock and my fortress." Psalm 31:3

Christ uses the troubled times in our life to bring us closer to him. And when we think we cannot trust anyone else, and when it seems as though the world is crumbling at our feet, Christ promises us that he will remain steady for us. We can always trust in Him, and we should! Why wouldn't you want to have the ultimate friend who will never abandon you, the greatest father who will love you no matter what and will never lead you astray, and the best protector you could ever hope for? I know I definitely want Him on my side. Anymore, whenever I am angry at someone, I pray for them. You would be amazed how a true, thoughtful prayer will dissipate your worries. And I know God is always there, and He is always going to be the best listener. Sometimes He even answers back. Small example, I asked God to give me a good, inspirational quote for my blog, and the first page I flipped to in my Bible was Romans 6:23 which is perhaps one of my favorite passages from the Bible. I pray that each of you will trust in God as I have. It is the best decision you will ever make.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Genesis

Genesis is a Greek word meaning origin, creation, or beginning. It is also the first book of the Bible, signifying the creation of the word of God and His creation of the world you all know as Earth. I could think of no better title than Genesis, since this is the start of my blog. This is not the start of my journey of Christ, but the more I study scriptures and His word, I feel compelled to tell everyone I can about how wonderful He is!! I do not want to shove His word in your face, I simply want to convey to you how much you need Him in your life in order to feel fulfilled. I also hope to greet you one day in His kingdom of Heaven. If you have already accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, CONGRATULATIONS!! Picture me giving you a warm, loving hug right now. If you still have your doubts, or do not know Christ at all, picture me giving you the same hug anyways because God loves you all just the same. I pray I will be able to plant a seed in some of you who do not know the Lord as your God so that one day you will accept Him just as I have. And if you have accepted Him, I hope this blog will encourage you to tell your loved ones as well as strangers about the grace of His love and that you will be furthering your relationship with Christ. I hope you will take off on this journey with me, although it is a long one; for Christ is for eternity!
God Bless!
ChristianKid