With great power comes...

Great responsibility! Thanks Uncle Ben, I can go feel guilty about my life now.

Doesn't it seem to get frustrating knowing that we have such an incredible calling to live up to? I mean, here we are, holding out the word of Life to a lost and dying world, making our goal to share the message of reconciliation that our Lord has commissioned us to go and teach, and I feel overwhelmed just asking someone if they'd like to come to church!

We as believers in Christ have a HUGE responsibility...why? Because we've been given GREAT POWER. We've been given grace: saving grace from our sins and hell and death and the penalty and punishment of separation from God and eternal torment. Then there's daily grace that we receive each morning, new mercies from our faithful God that we can't exhaust before sunset. There's forgiveness, love, mercy, strength, promises, a future and a hope, answered prayer, joy unspeakable, a past that will be redeemable, a present that is sure and possible, and a future that is heavenbound.

There isn't MB space on my hard drive to delve into the compassion, kindness, wonder, power, truth, splendor, glory, sovereignty, holiness, righteousness, fear, and perfection of our God. All I can say is we've been given so much...too much to mention in a hapless blog. With that great power comes a great responsibility--you take it from here and apply it to yourself.
-Pilgrim

Who do you trust?

I guess I'm pretty dumb.

I trust STUFF, blindly, to my downfall.

It's not that I need to be compulsive and read all of the ingredients on the menu before I eat, or go back and watch the cook preparing my meal, and have it tested for bacteria or sanitation, because I wouldn't make many friends that way (and I'd probably stop eating out!). I just show up, order the chicken parm, and eat it after a thankful prayer. IDIOT!

But isn't it a little scary to see how much we blindly trust the car manufacturers to construct a safe vehicle, safe brakes, safe seatbelts, safe airbags, etc?

What about your hot water heater? When you woke up this morning, did you jump in the shower and constantly wonder if suddenly skin-burning hot water would come surging through the shower head? I sure hope not.

So if I trust these fallible, easily shaken and problematic things in my life, why do I find trusting God to be a constant struggle?

Psalm 20 says 'some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord". I have put too much trust in my chariot, my ability, the things in my life and God is reminding me minute by minute to place my faith in Him.

So who do you trust? I hope you will never look at a seatbelt or showerhead, or for that case, your God, the same way again.
His- Pilgrim

School's Back!

I'm sure you're reading this because of your overexcitement because of school starting back up...but maybe not. Maybe you are heading into the 2006-07 year with the reality that your faith may be challenged, even moved by some temptation or problem you do or don't yet see.
1 Corinthians 15:58 says, "Stand firm...let nothing move you..." Have you purposed in your heart, like Joseph around Potiphar's wife, like Daniel around the king's delicacies, like Jesus around the wilderness and Satan's tests?
Purpose in your heart BEFOREHAND that you'll let nothing move your faith.
Paul realized that he was about to enter the "lion's den" of the Jerusalem Jewish religious leaders, and he knew his faith would be stretched more than at any other time. He knew what he was about to endure threatened not only his faith and beliefs, but also his very life. He said in Acts 20:23-24: "...chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

You are no doubt about to enter this school year with the realization that pitfalls and problems are up ahead, and I would challenge you to not let fear or peer pressure or anxiety or lust or anything move you from your stand for God. Why? So you can, like Paul, finish your race with joy, and do the ministry of testifying to the gospel of the grace of God.

I'm praying for you!
His, Pilgrim