hedge of protection

Have you ever heard this prayed "Lord I pray a hedge of proctection around this person." A hedge? Lets see what the official, Dictionary.com, definition is...and i quote...a row of bushes or small trees planted close together, esp. when forming a fence or boundary." ....? Ok, lets use our analytical brain powers and figure this one out.

First, I can see the whole boundary thing, but thats about it. But other than that, this doesnt make beans from shiolah(as my mother would say instead of the word sense), and I think people dont really mean anything when they pray for a hedge of protection. I mean, if I want protection, I certainly dont want some small bushes or trees.

Imagine this, someone is snooping around your house at night, and you have a suspicious feeling that they are going to rob you. Then you get another good look at them through your nice big extravagant picture window, and you see he has a ak 47. Then you shout out to your brother in the house, "Hey, there is some holagin outside with a gun!!! I need something to defend myself with, get me that plant! Not just any old piece of foliage, I will need a hedge..." Honestly I dont want a hedge to protect me. I want like a 3 foot thick balistics tested bullet proof kevlar. Then a nice piece of rugged burlap, two sheets of impregnable metal, and a space suit from Apollo 11. That is the kind of protection I want.

I do see the idea behind a hedge, but it just strikes me odd. I mean read Eph. 6:10-17. The stuff described there is pretty intense. I mean we are going into full out war every day. So dont forget your hedges...i guess. Just a thought, What do you all think? .....(this post is affectionately colored green)

John Wesley?!?!

Nope, I am definetely not John Wesley, just kevin. But I am gettin to do what Wesley did. Preach brotha!!(or sister) This will be my second time gettin to do this! It is something I never thought I would get to do, but God is allowing me to do. (Now i am not trying to "toot" my own horn, first because toot is a weird word, second if i wanted to toot my horn i would go tell it on the corner of trade and tryon were people are, not on this readerless blog!! : )) P Shim (my youth pastor Frank Shimkus), is outta town and he is lettin me have the pulpit tomorrow. I just dont feel worthy of this, but i am siked He is letting me do what is foolishness to the rest of the world!! AMEN?? (I Cor. 1:21) On your right, and my right, is a nice picture of John Wesley for your veiwing pleasures.

Chan the man

I dont know how many of you are familiar with this phenom(is that the right word), Francis Chan. But hes got a Church out in So Cal, (pretty big sacrifice if you ask me...), Simi Valley to be exact. Its called Cornerstone Church, and Francis Chan their lead pastor is absolutely stupendous http://www.blogger.com/www.cornerstonesimi.com/ Subscribe to his podcast, cuz this man is a passionate, devoted pimp(to God that is, for sure!). I mean this guy took a year off from being his churches pastor, which he planted and pastored for 13 years, because he felt lukewarm.

This video rocks too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRi4VwcrYmA 15 min that will change your life! Enjoi!

Prayer...minus you.

Something I have been thinking about lately is this. As I move along in my walk with God, I find my prayers mainly kevin centered. Is that wrong? No and yes. No it isn't wrong to pray for yourselves because of Matthew 6:11-13. This passage is where Christ is preaching and begins explaing how to pray. Verse 11-13 say, "Give us this our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptaion, but deliver us from evil." (ESV) This outline of how to pray includes pray for yourself.

But, notice where praying for yourself is in this outline of how to pray. It is the end of the prayer. The first part of this prayer outline is thanking God, praying for people to get saved (or His kingdom), and His will. Matthew 6:9-10, "Pray then like this: "Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." (ESV) I am not sure about when you pray if you are like me, but when I pray, I find my self saying something like this, "Dear Father, I am needin' this....I want this...I am confused about this...I want to do this really bad, help...I..I..I...I...I...I, etc." Now as I stated before, praying for yourself, your needs mainly, is not wrong. But when you prayers start, include, and end with requests for yourself, there is a problem.

So with that, I challenge you to do something that I do from time to time when I notice my prayers becoming "I prayers", as I call them(as of like 2 seconds ago, pretty clever ehh? thanks, I know). Do this: make a list(actually get a pen and paper, or pencil, or lapiz if you are spanish), and write a list of 10 things you are thankful to God for. This will allow you to have a prayer of thanksgiving. Then make a list of 5 brothers and sisters in Christ that you normally would not pray for. This will allow you to pray for others instead of yourself. Then hit your knees! Just try it, and do it as often as need be. I honestly need to do this daily.

Prayer...minus you.

Dosent matter if you smell like smoke, booze, or w/e

Yo, well I just feel like this is something a lot of people might be thinking these days..."I am too bad for God. I want to know Him, but man when I screw up I screw up bad. I feel like I need to clean myself of my sins before I can come to God."Well there is some awsome news, and if you already know this props to ya, but if you dont, here it is...

Jesus Christ makes it explicitly clear that He does the cleaning of your sins. There is no "pre-bathing" needed to come fully to Him. "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." Rom. 5:6. Without Christs blood we are ungodly, but that is who He came to save, the ungodly. Not the person who is already clean,(because that person dosent exist, 1 Jn. 1:10), He came to save the person wrapped up in the mud of sin and cant see their way out. That was me, and might be you brah/sista!

Read Matt. 9:12-13

Now read Rom 10:9-13...Basically it says to get saved and be regenerated confess w/ ur mouth and believe in your heart. Never says anything about cleaning yourself, He does that for you and I! In vs. 13 it says that whoever calls on Him will be saved! Thats all you gotta do, call on Him, not just mumbling a little prayer,but understanding and confessing your sin and realizing that your sin makes God mad. Our sin made Him mad enough to kill His own son. Because He knew it was best for us, and would give Him the most glory. That is Love!

Read Rom. 8:1-2

Lastly, it dosent matter if you smell like smoke, booze, or w/e. If your stuck in the nastiness of this world, He will take you as you are. He will clean you from the inside out. Thats the Gospel of Christ.

Raw

In 1980 a young man from Rwanda was forced by his tribe to either renounce Christ or face certain death. He refused to renounce Christ, and he was killed on the spot. The night before he had written the following commitment which was found in his room:“I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed, the die has been cast, I have stepped over the line, the decision has been made- I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed vision, worldly talking, cheap giving & dwarfed goals.My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I won’t give up, shut up, let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up for the cause of Jesus Christ.I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till everyone knows, work till He stops me & when He comes for His own, He will have no trouble recognizing me because my banner will have been clear.”---This excerpt of a to-be martyr fills me with longing like none other. A longing to be like that. A longing to be like Christ. And it is attainable. Seek God. This is what a disciple of Christ should be like. Its raw.

First Post

Well well well, I decided to try this whole blogging thing. I will just be putting up things that are going on in my life, around town and things that God is teaching me. Pretty much anything random, obscure, relevant, anything really. I will hopefully get to post every week or so. Hope you enjoy! Grace and Peace