If I Stand...

Howdy Pilgrims,

Today, while studying the vast display of humidifiers at Meijer, I stumbled upon a 2011 wall calendar called “Paths to God”.  I bought it on a whim, and was relieved to find when I got home that the calendar was in fact about THE path to God, and not ALL paths to God, as I had begun to worry while driving home.  Like a good Baptist girl, I was surprisingly pleased to find that the calendar was not entirely filled with warm-fuzzies.  The year begins with a photo of an endless row of frost-covered trees, and displays the verse 1 Peter 2:21 “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”  I realize that that verse comes from a passage about submitting to masters, but when you pull that verse out and place it in a frozen landscape, it calls you to follow down the path of suffering that Christ walked first.  This does not mean to be lead to certain doom, but to step in the footsteps that Christ left us in the snow as an example of how to cross, endure, and spiritually survive the terrain that causes us to suffer.  It is surprisingly comforting to start the year by thinking of the example that I have been given to follow.  I wonder how many other people out there will spend their January staring at the same scene ;)

~Andrea  

Edition:  1 hour status-post hovering over my new humidifier for an hour and a half I am able to breathe deeply without coughing or wheezing.  Mission Accomplished. 

Hey, this is how John MacArthur defines the components of salvation in the back of his study Bible.  I think that you and I think the same thing, even if we don’t have matching lingo.  I’m just sharing his paraphrasing of scripture because I suck at explaining non-medical things…as I found out during my membership interview…that was like a trainwreck, man. 

I think these all kinda happen at the same time.  You’re kinda right though that maybe justification is a little bit ahead of the other two.  

Justification:  justification before God is an act of God by which He declares righteous those who, through faith in Christ, repent of their sins and confess Him as sovereign Lord.  This righteousness is apart from any virtue or work of man and involves the placing of our sins on Christ and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us. 

Regeneration:  regeneration is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit by which the divine nature and divine life are given.  It is instantaneous and is accomplished solely by the power of the Holy Spirit through the instrumentality of the Word of God, when the repentant sinner, as enabled by the Holy Spirit, responds if faith to the divine provision of salvation.  Genuine regeneration is manifested by fruits worthy of repentance as demonstrated in righteous attitudes and conduct.  Good works will be its proper evidence of fruit.  This obedience causes the believer to be increasingly conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Such a conformity is climaxed in the believer’s glorification at Christ’s coming.

Sanctification:  every believer is sanctified (set apart) unto God by justification and is therefore declared to be holy and is therefore identified as a saint.  This sanctification is positional and instantaneous and should not be confused with progressive sanctification.  In progressive sanctification the state of the believer is brought closer to the likeness of Christ through obedience to the Word of God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

If anyone feels the need to tell me I’m wrong or crazy, shoot me a FRIENDLY message and I’ll try to explain myself better, because I think that a lot of the above words could be missunderstood at first glance. 

brittanydiane:

Seriously. A few messaged me and informed that that is why they unfollowed me.

…Goodness.

Well, I still love you all, and if you think I’m wrong about stuff I post on here, I think you should talk to me about it instead of just getting upset and unfollowing me.

The end =]

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Hey Sweetie,

Scripture will always anger the people who only know and/or want to accept half the story.  The entire new testament is about suffering for Christ.  Christ tells his disciples that they WILL and MUST suffer his same fate.  I’m sure you know that Paul expounded upon this topic in pretty much all the books he wrote.  I wish I could point to specific verses, but you kind of have to take the entire new testament in one big bite in order to understand the concept fully.  Paul did say that we should get to a point where we greet our struggles with joy, because each struggle is an opportunity to glorify God.  That joy isn’t like “yay, bleeding and being stoned to almost-death so much fun!  lets do it again!” though.  It is still fully suffering.  

My pastor describes “spiritual milk” vs. “spiritual meat”.  ”Spiritual milk” is the warm fuzzy stuff that you get when you only skim the surface of the Bible.  It’s the stuff about always being happy.  It is good, and everyone needs it, but it will not sustain a person through the real trials.  The simple phrase “God is good” will crumble the moment a person encounters a situation in which they can not obviously see the “good” that God is doing.  ”Spiritual meat” is the stuff about suffering.  It’s the stuff about taking on the strength of the Holy Spirit in order to endure.  It’s about learning through trials and letting your suffering shape you into who God wants you to be.  It’s about understanding that the big picture is so much bigger than us, and that in all situations, no matter how awful, giving God glory is the main objective for all our actions.  The “Spiritual meat” is what allows people I know to maintain joy as they die of cancer.  It is what allows people to always believe that “God is good.”  

I thank the LORD that you know this, and that you do not easily crumble under the weight that your critics place upon you.  

~Andrea

(Source: kawaii--cupcakes)

Oh Dear LORD, 

Blessed Be Your Name, but please I can’t take all this massive emotion that is flying around.  Calm me the heck down.  Most of it is very good emotion, but it’s too much of it—I’m overloaded to the point I’m dizzy.  

LORD you are working so hard in your children’s lives today that the truth of it overcomes me.  You are holding Malak in the palm of Your hand and are carrying her through what I’m sure is the hardest trial of her life.  You are embracing her through the massive body of Christ that has surrounded her today, and You will not leave her.  You are amazing to have already filled such a young Christian with such certainty.  Let us all glorify You by supporting Your daughter.   

LORD, you have also done amazing works in Amie today.  I have prayed to you to give her direction and confidence, and you have supplied her.  She is overjoyed with the path you have given her.  I have never heard her voice as full of joy as it was today.  She is at peace in a way that others comment on it when they see her face.  You have finally showed her how to serve You, and she now has the confidence to charge head first toward the goal you have placed in front of her.

Holy Spirit, guide these young women.  Fill their hearts with Your love.  LORD God, Your daughters are in Your hands and they are opening their arms to You freely.     

Blessed be the name of the LORD,

~Andrea

Hey tumblr friends, I have been too scatterbrained lately to put together many coherent responses to your posts, but I’m at least skimming lots of them and they stick with me throughout the day.  You guys write so stinkin’ much, it’s hard to digest everything, but I still think it’s just awesome that you do write so stinkin’ much.  I think it is so exciting to see all you die-hard Christians from all over the world so passionate about learning and teaching one another every day.  I feel so blessed that our countries still allow us to somewhat freely discuss our faith, when, as http://reverent1.tumblr.com/ points out so frequently, freedom of religion is dying out again in many places.  Thank you for making your fellow membership in the body of Christ so obvious.  Keep pressing on toward the goal to win the prize ;)

~Andrea