10

Life has been thoroughly enjoyable as of late. California has been blessed with a heat wave which has made almost two weeks of solid 70-80 degree weather. One would think winter found a new mask named summer. But again, perhaps its just the nature of California and the central coast to be so nice, I haven't made up my mind on that one.

I am taking 13 units for the first time in college. That means three classes. No classes Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mon-Wed tends to be a little jam packed, but gives me about 4 days each week to sleep, read, hang, etc. and as of late enjoy the sunshine and wonderful weather. I am just simply enjoying life! Which needless to say although I classify myself as a diligent disciplined person, over the course of my college career I still haven't had this much time to do these things until now.

And it's just nice.

But the week has not been totally undiciplined: the past week has yielded much clarity, in specific regarding God's viewpoint on who I am and things that need to be worked on. I'm going to list them here in hopes to set them as a reminder to myself.

1.The word of God needs to be put foremost above all other literature and christian activities( 1 peter 2:2)

2.The word of God needs to be a guiding light to our prayers.

3.I should not be afraid of misinterpreting/misunderstanding the Peters and Timothys to the point I do not read them or engage such texts, in turn missing the whole of Scripture. Every book was included in the cannon of the bible for a reason.

4.God does not care what method we use as long as it is backed up with scripture( look up Edwards and the sermon" sinners in the hands of an angry God" and particularily note how he preached and to what frequency he preached that sermon.It challenges our preconceptions of how God would work and that their needs to be passion etc.)

5.The disciplined intellectual mind is a gift and has the ability to loose Satan's ability to work in such a man. But every sin small or great will inevitably allow him to gain a foothold.

6.Many a christian will seek to empty their minds and have no logic in hearing God's voice and wish to be puppets of his will. Such a thing allows the enemy to come in and invade our thoughts and lives. Free will is, therefore, there for a reason and God cannot invade our minds directly he desires us to actively participate in what He is doing bringing our whole being into His will action and relationship.

7.The church is still God's vehicle but something drastic and great must happen within it regarding holiness- the throwing out of sin, pride etc. and God's word must be revered and followed in order for it to be what it ought to be. But that happens within each individual. God will work desperately to get us to this point, even to the point of the breaking of large organizations/ churches.

8.True holiness can only come for an act of the will.

9.God's love is vast and truly wonderful, yet because we do not believe that within our hearts, instead, viewing God as a taskmaster(Judging God) we can't convey his whole being to others and in turn our relationships with the lost suffer as well as their salvation.

10.There's a lot of undiscerned frankly bad advice given in christian circles. One best learn how to discern through it. Read God's word the bible!

I think that will do for the list, for now.I will stop with this note:

The week has been very freeing. Lists help. There is so much of who I am that is in desperate need of redemption. But if we find a way of action to redemptions end, finding ways to navigate in the great darkness of the journey it gives way to hope joy faith and love. And peace too!

-JG