To Live By

-Fear No Human
-Find the best in others and celebrate it
-Recognize your licks and take them

Salvation by Grace Through Faith

Salvation means to be saved. Saved from and saved to.
Saved from a life of separation from God. Salvation to a life with God.

I think most traditional Christians will agree on what salvation is, but I think the way to get it seems to be harder to agree on. I think man (mankind) in his frailty is fraught with fear and lacking in confidence. Over time I am feeling more strongly that it is man that wants the "Alter call" and the "Sinners Prayer" so that he can check it off on his checklist and feel comfortable. It makes salvation a more tangible milestone. But is that how God wants us to "get saved"?
From reading the bible it's my understanding that God seems to get behind our actions.

I think perhaps salvation is about how we live and not what we say. The product that Faith builds is the kingdom in us. The kingdom in us brings God out of us. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Also its my understanding that grace is an undeserved gift. I would consider a relationship with God an undeserved gift.

It's interesting to think that God is love and if we are loving and do good deeds we have the Christ in us and have salvation. And to also think that to be Christ-like is to be a follower of Christ and thus to be a Christian. I'm willing to entertain the idea, but I feel it goes deeper then that. I think it's about family. God is all about family. Just because I act like one of the Sopranos doesn't mean I am part of his mafia family. Family is about relationships and commitment. Like the work "believe" in John 3:16 is to be interpreted... trusts in, clings to, relies on. I think Faith is building a relationship with God through communication and obedience. Perhaps Salvation just happens. Or perhaps salvation is a process. Perhaps it's our ruin to focus on getting salvation instead of living salvation.

Praying in My Will

I've been thinking about how we talk about praying in God's will. According the the bible (like in James 4:13-17 ) it is important to pray in God's will. But are we praying in our will?
What I mean is... What are some things that God can't do? Violate his promises, violate our will, etc.
He can't force us to change.
Are we praying and asking God to violate our will? Or we asking God to change us? Or are we asking for God to give us wisdom to see growth opportunities for what they are.
I don't believe that God is my pilot in life, not can He be. He is my navigator. He can not live my life for me, He can only help me navigate it.

Forgiveness

I've been coming to realize how asking God (and people for that matter) for forgiveness is not about words. It is about the heart.
I don't believe we receive forgiveness for saying "Jesus, please forgive my sins" unless we have a heart that is remorseful and focused on having an attitude and heart of change.

Christian Salvation

How do people become Christians? What does the bible say about salvation? Why do you want/need salvation? How do you know you have and will always have salvation?
These are all words and can mean just words.
The standard lines I've heard in evangelistic circles are:
-"Ask Jesus into your heart!"
-"Make God the lord of your life!"
Lets read the most common verse that people bring up when it comes to salvation:

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

I think our modern take on the word "Believe" has not as much meaning as perhaps was intended. But I think most people in evangelistic circles feel the same way and that's where the whole asking Jesus into your heart, etc. stuff comes from.
If our salvation is wrapped up in the word believe, then...
(read john 3:14-17)
-are we clinging/cleaving to God in our daily living? When you have a little kid with you that knows they need you, they cleave to you. Are we that way with God? Do we know we need him?
-are we trusting God with everything in our life? Money, children, family, friends, job(s), loss, health, etc? or are we worried and troubled, trying to control all our problems?
-do we rely on God to take care of us, to lift us up, to correct us, to comfort us, to calm us, to guide us? Is Jesus the first thing we think of when we think of something?
If we are saved because we "believe" then shouldn't we exude all the signs of belief? If we don't then are we truly saved, or are we living a lie? If we are saved but aren't living like we believe then what's the problem? What's stopping us? Perhaps that is where our attention should be.

Prayerful Listening

Perhaps others can relate to me. I find that there is the temptation for prayer to become an item on my checklist of things to do for the day. And even worse I find sometimes that I ramble off the things that are at the top of my head and then close off the prayer. I think it's easy to forget that prayer is as much listening as it is speaking. I'm no scholar but I'm find more power in prayer when I pray like this:
-Clear my mind from the activities and stress of the day
-Start with thanks giving, praise and repentance
-Ask the Holy Spirit to speak for me and to help me pray
-See (imagine) the Father listening to me
-Patiently start listening for how the Spirit may be trying to guide my prayer
-Start praying for the needs of others (and listening for God to speak to me)
-Start praying for my needs (and listening for God to speak to me)
-Tell God I'm listening and waiting for Him to speak
-Wait a while for God to speak
-Close with thanks giving and praise

Pictures of Jesus

We tend to think in pictures and video. Over the years as I have prayed and worshiped, I have prayed with no pictures of God in my head. Recently after hearing my paster talk about pictures in our mind I started thinking about how I prayed and worshiped. After a time I made the commitment to start picturing God the Father and Jesus when I pray and worship. I picture them in heaven on a throne of power and brilliant glory. I picture Jesus coming to me with loving arms that hold me and cherish me. I picture the Father giving me a high five when I do His will and give him the glory. These pictures are bringing me closer to God because my faith is no longer linked to a invisible cloud of power, its linked to a picture like the rest of the thoughts in my life.