Post by olskoolrodder on Aug 17, 2010 22:48:39 GMT -8
Hey guys-long time!
As some of you know,others maybe not-earlier in the year (or was it later in '09?),I took it upon myself to take back the reins of my life from Him and slid way back lower than what I was pre-salvation (all because my at-the-time pastor's wife singled out one of my kids unfairly when there was a small issue between her grandson and my son)....filthy mouthed,evil thinking,etc,etc,etc. And as anyone knows,when things are bad (spiritually or otherwise),if one doesn't care enough to look for Help,things usually sink even lower.
Well,fast forward a bit,to a month or so back. My wife (who always wants us to be a believing,God fearing family) started aggravating me to go to a church I'd always told her we'd visit "someday",but never had. On the spur-of-the-moment one Wednesday eve,I figured it'd "be easier to go,let her see it was just another lifeless church" than to argue that point,and we went.
Well,guess what I found? A church FULL of peeps that are truly ON FIRE for the Lord,and a truly SPIRIT FILLED service that moved my spirit more than in any time in recent years! ;D ;D ;D
Wednesday nights there are Youth Ministry night,having upwards of 50-100 kids,just in the teen-adult class,not counting all the youngsters! (now,you have to know me...ask John...I'm a big ol 37 year old kid,myself,so I fit right in!),Monday nights be Praise Service,and of course Sunday services.
Anyways,I have to share something. It's been a topic of recent (one sided as of yet) discussion with a jailed cousin about salvation,and backsliding,and such and so forth. My cousin smarted off at me "Well I don't have to make amends and repent! I was saved,and I can never lose that,I can't NOT go to heaven..." . Now,it's my understanding that he bases this belief on certain scriptures where Jesus was praying to the Father about having all the He had given Him in His hand,and that nothing could pluck them out...OK,I can see that. Here's the thing though...He gave us the freedom to make the choice to serve Him or not on our own (lets not open that predestination debate here,LOL!). And while it be true that "nothing can pluck" us out of His hand,we can certainly use our free will to decide to walk out.
That's exactly what I did.
One of my FAVORITE scriptures in all them books and chapters be this: I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins,He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
This tels me that,while I may not have "lost my salvation" (which would make His sacrifice of none-effect and worthless,having Him to do it all over...),but I had been "like a dog returning to his vomit" and walked out of my reward (and in my belief,my acceptance into heaven,since I was again a filthy rag). How blessed do I feel,knowing He was right there where I left Him,waiting for me to come to my senses??? What hits me hard (the good kinda "hits") is what that passage doesn't say....it doesn't put ANY limits on how many times,what the circumstances,or whatnot on His cleansing and forgiveness! Now,understanding I come to Him with a pure heart of repentance when I confess those sins,it just blows my mind that He's the God of ALL creation,the Master of the universe,but He makes time each and every day just to hear my failures and pick me back up! As we are to aggressively "renew our minds",this truly blesses my heart in that continual endeavor to renew mine!
Do y'all remember that parable on the prodigal son? OK,think on what He did when He saw him afar off coming home...He RAN to him,and basically poured out all His blessings on him,right? Well,all I'm gunna say for now is that He has richly blessed my heart and filled it with a love,peace and joy I never had,even when I thought I was living right before. I worry for nothing anymore,as He's teaching me to bring everything to Him and let go...
As some of you know,I have some occasional (and frequent recently) semi-serious issues with an old spinal injury-well,I can now praise Him and rejoice not just despite,but because of that! I no longer fear and worry over our finances (still waiting/fighting for SSDI,so only her modest income for all 4 of us to live on),but trust completely in Him that everything we need will be there,and wake each day in expectance of His good favor,and guess what? He supplies all we been needing,just when we need it,and blessings and favor like we've never seen are coming (Tina,my beloved wife's expression...."I can feel it in my bones..."),and He's answered SO MANY long standing prayers recently (I have to go on,give Him glory and gratitude...).
For years,my wife has yearned to work with kids for Him. And since she had her tubal (her biological clock at 38 next month goes tic-tock,tic-tock,LOL!),she's REALLY wanted to work with babies. She had asked and been shot down (in a very un-Christian-like manner many times) with wanting to work in churches we've attended...even demeaned for asking. Well,He won't have none of that! He knows her heart and the desires of it,He put us in that church just when they were growing desperate for a loving Sunday S'kool teacher in the newborn-3 year old class! He answered a resounding YES! to BOTH of those longstanding prayers at once,all while answering the pastor/congregation's prayer for "Him to send the right person for this need"! That ain't all... ;D
I had this desire in me to do something for Him in His house,but also had been treated like...well...like some scum scraped off the bottom of shoes anytime I had wanted to volunteer at churches we'd been to (is there really any doubt why I lost interest in being a "church member"?). He knows my heart,and He knows what unique gifts He'd put in me billions of years ago,and guess what other need our new home has been praying over? That Youth Ministry I mentioned...they needed a good,safe,reliable van/bus driver to go pick up those young Christians,and low n behold,ol Olskoolrodder has literally driven millions of accident-free miles (long haul trucking,13 years,figure an average of 5,300-6,800 miles per week as a team-driver...) all over this fine country hauling freight! Not only that,but there's more work to be done,I'm willing and THRILLED to do it for Him,and we're now members of His church where He put us for His good purpose,and-while they aren't shocked that He answered their prayers as well-they are shocked that somebody so tickled to be there to do His work just showed up out of the blue,LOL! And there be SO MANY more blessings I could keep writting...
AIN'T IT JUST K-O-O-L HOW HE WORKS EVERYTHING FOR HIS GOOD PLAN??? ;D ;D ;D
Ok,I'm sorry...I'm just about to break out into giddy joy right here,LOL! I think I need to go hit my knees for a spell,and sing Him a "new song" for a sweet savor
See ya's later ;D
As some of you know,others maybe not-earlier in the year (or was it later in '09?),I took it upon myself to take back the reins of my life from Him and slid way back lower than what I was pre-salvation (all because my at-the-time pastor's wife singled out one of my kids unfairly when there was a small issue between her grandson and my son)....filthy mouthed,evil thinking,etc,etc,etc. And as anyone knows,when things are bad (spiritually or otherwise),if one doesn't care enough to look for Help,things usually sink even lower.
Well,fast forward a bit,to a month or so back. My wife (who always wants us to be a believing,God fearing family) started aggravating me to go to a church I'd always told her we'd visit "someday",but never had. On the spur-of-the-moment one Wednesday eve,I figured it'd "be easier to go,let her see it was just another lifeless church" than to argue that point,and we went.
Well,guess what I found? A church FULL of peeps that are truly ON FIRE for the Lord,and a truly SPIRIT FILLED service that moved my spirit more than in any time in recent years! ;D ;D ;D
Wednesday nights there are Youth Ministry night,having upwards of 50-100 kids,just in the teen-adult class,not counting all the youngsters! (now,you have to know me...ask John...I'm a big ol 37 year old kid,myself,so I fit right in!),Monday nights be Praise Service,and of course Sunday services.
Anyways,I have to share something. It's been a topic of recent (one sided as of yet) discussion with a jailed cousin about salvation,and backsliding,and such and so forth. My cousin smarted off at me "Well I don't have to make amends and repent! I was saved,and I can never lose that,I can't NOT go to heaven..." . Now,it's my understanding that he bases this belief on certain scriptures where Jesus was praying to the Father about having all the He had given Him in His hand,and that nothing could pluck them out...OK,I can see that. Here's the thing though...He gave us the freedom to make the choice to serve Him or not on our own (lets not open that predestination debate here,LOL!). And while it be true that "nothing can pluck" us out of His hand,we can certainly use our free will to decide to walk out.
That's exactly what I did.
One of my FAVORITE scriptures in all them books and chapters be this: I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins,He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
This tels me that,while I may not have "lost my salvation" (which would make His sacrifice of none-effect and worthless,having Him to do it all over...),but I had been "like a dog returning to his vomit" and walked out of my reward (and in my belief,my acceptance into heaven,since I was again a filthy rag). How blessed do I feel,knowing He was right there where I left Him,waiting for me to come to my senses??? What hits me hard (the good kinda "hits") is what that passage doesn't say....it doesn't put ANY limits on how many times,what the circumstances,or whatnot on His cleansing and forgiveness! Now,understanding I come to Him with a pure heart of repentance when I confess those sins,it just blows my mind that He's the God of ALL creation,the Master of the universe,but He makes time each and every day just to hear my failures and pick me back up! As we are to aggressively "renew our minds",this truly blesses my heart in that continual endeavor to renew mine!
Do y'all remember that parable on the prodigal son? OK,think on what He did when He saw him afar off coming home...He RAN to him,and basically poured out all His blessings on him,right? Well,all I'm gunna say for now is that He has richly blessed my heart and filled it with a love,peace and joy I never had,even when I thought I was living right before. I worry for nothing anymore,as He's teaching me to bring everything to Him and let go...
As some of you know,I have some occasional (and frequent recently) semi-serious issues with an old spinal injury-well,I can now praise Him and rejoice not just despite,but because of that! I no longer fear and worry over our finances (still waiting/fighting for SSDI,so only her modest income for all 4 of us to live on),but trust completely in Him that everything we need will be there,and wake each day in expectance of His good favor,and guess what? He supplies all we been needing,just when we need it,and blessings and favor like we've never seen are coming (Tina,my beloved wife's expression...."I can feel it in my bones..."),and He's answered SO MANY long standing prayers recently (I have to go on,give Him glory and gratitude...).
For years,my wife has yearned to work with kids for Him. And since she had her tubal (her biological clock at 38 next month goes tic-tock,tic-tock,LOL!),she's REALLY wanted to work with babies. She had asked and been shot down (in a very un-Christian-like manner many times) with wanting to work in churches we've attended...even demeaned for asking. Well,He won't have none of that! He knows her heart and the desires of it,He put us in that church just when they were growing desperate for a loving Sunday S'kool teacher in the newborn-3 year old class! He answered a resounding YES! to BOTH of those longstanding prayers at once,all while answering the pastor/congregation's prayer for "Him to send the right person for this need"! That ain't all... ;D
I had this desire in me to do something for Him in His house,but also had been treated like...well...like some scum scraped off the bottom of shoes anytime I had wanted to volunteer at churches we'd been to (is there really any doubt why I lost interest in being a "church member"?). He knows my heart,and He knows what unique gifts He'd put in me billions of years ago,and guess what other need our new home has been praying over? That Youth Ministry I mentioned...they needed a good,safe,reliable van/bus driver to go pick up those young Christians,and low n behold,ol Olskoolrodder has literally driven millions of accident-free miles (long haul trucking,13 years,figure an average of 5,300-6,800 miles per week as a team-driver...) all over this fine country hauling freight! Not only that,but there's more work to be done,I'm willing and THRILLED to do it for Him,and we're now members of His church where He put us for His good purpose,and-while they aren't shocked that He answered their prayers as well-they are shocked that somebody so tickled to be there to do His work just showed up out of the blue,LOL! And there be SO MANY more blessings I could keep writting...
AIN'T IT JUST K-O-O-L HOW HE WORKS EVERYTHING FOR HIS GOOD PLAN??? ;D ;D ;D
Ok,I'm sorry...I'm just about to break out into giddy joy right here,LOL! I think I need to go hit my knees for a spell,and sing Him a "new song" for a sweet savor
See ya's later ;D
