Jesus as Genie

I saw a website recently that was trying very hard to prove the nonexistence of God using Matthew 7:7.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

They tried to make the point that even if you ask for wonderful things that benefit everyone, nothing would happen.  The author encouraged the readers to "get on your knees and sincerely ask God for the end of world hunger."  (Apparently the proof that God doesn't exist, is that He doesn't respond to your whims.)

There is nothing wrong with praying for the benefit of the world.  In fact, I recommend it, but this guy was completely missing the mark.  

The whole point of the new birth is to be more like Christ.  You die to yourself to put on the life of Christ to demonstrate His love to the world.  When you make Him the center of your life, His wants become your wants; His plans become your plans, so the idea of demanding action from God in order to prove Himself to you is laughable.  

God is not the genie in the lamp.  He is not compelled to follow your direction.

The idea behind Matthew 7:7 is an instrument to prove your own devotion to Him not the other way around.  When what you ask for is that God's plans become reality and not your own, you have truly died to self and can take up your cross and follow Him.

If you try to use God to fulfill your vision for the world, you will be sadly disappointed every time.

Musicology (not by Prince)

Creativity is the approximation and synthesis of the unseen and unheard.

You'll never get to see or hear the inside of my head, so you'll never truly get what I mean when I sing a song, because the song itself isn't the thought or feeling I had, but rather a description of a thought or a feeling that I had.

Hopefully (if I do a good job), I can synthesize that feeling inside of the listener (or at least something close).  That is my constant aim when writing new songs; for you to feel what I feel.

Music Suggestions (other than me of course)

Old School Rock

Dance Pop (it's totally cheesy, but I can't help myself)

Experimental Soul

Worship (sorta)

Hip Hop

Enjoy and tell me what you liked/didn't like.

Persistent Sin

the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.  The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8

This was the arrow that pierced my heart today, because "the one who practices sin" could be on my business cards as my title.  I like the American Standard translation because it uses the word "practice" instead of "does."  We're all sinners.  That is inescapable, but someone who clearly sees and understands what is good and right and makes the conscious choice to do otherwise (herein called practicing) is "of the devil."

Now, we all love to think of Jesus coming to Earth to spread peace and love, but we don't like to think of the rest of the totality of Christ's message.  It lays out some of the rest of His plan up there in verse 8.  His purpose for coming to Earth was to "destroy the works of the devil."  If you are making a practice of sinning, I'm fairly certain that you can expect to receive your fair share of that destruction.

My interpretation of the gospel includes this: Comfortableness is dangerous.  There are all sorts of things in my life that I keep around because they make me comfortable.  I'm sure I'd be ashamed if Jesus showed up and while I was watching Family Guy.  (I don't think the show is evil outright, but I do know the time I spend watching it could be better spent reading the scriptures or praying or even having a meaningful conversation with someone.)

I don't even know what it means yet, but I want to live an uncomfortable life.  I want to be beset on all sides by the power of darkness because of the great works that God is accomplishing through me.  I want to charge the gates of hell and know that they cannot stand against me because Christ is for me.  And I know that's not going to happen until I ask God to separate me from my indwelling, persistent sin, because He cannot be for someone who harbors the works of the devil.

Let Go to Grab Hold

If you grip tightly the things in your life that you have gained of your own ability, they will keep you from grabbing hold of what God has in store for you.  Even holding onto the things God has provided for you can prevent you from following God.

While the Jews wandered the desert for 40 years God provided food that could not be kept overnight to reinforce the idea that they should be dependent on God.  The manna was a good thing.  It was from God, therefore it had to be good, but it was not the point.  God didn't provide a quickly perishing food because he couldn't have given them something that lasted.  He did it purposefully.  

He was the sustenance!  He is the goal!  He is the point of creation!  Not your comfortableness.  Not your superficial satisfaction.

Don't hold on to things.  Hold on to God!

Psalm 56:10-11

In God, whose word I praise,

In the Lord, whose word I praise,

In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

Oh God, make this trust real.  Be my rock and my firm foundation.  All else is sinking sand.

Prayer

I've become a better pray-er by becoming a worse pray-er.

Everybody gets nervous in group prayer.  So you spend all the time you aren't speaking thinking about what you're going to say, at the expense of praying along with the others.  Then when it gets to your turn you say that prayer that you rehearsed in your head a dozen times and two things happen: You didn't pray along with the people that you're there to pray with and when it finally came to your turn you didn't even pray what you had rehearsed because you were too worried about sounding like you had a plan going into the prayer.

Forget about that.

Listen and pray what they're praying.  Don't think about anything else.  Then when it comes to your turn, split open your heart and just let whatever is in there spill out all over the place.  Who cares if you conjugated your verbs properly?  Not God!  Who cares if you pray the same thing everyone else already prayed?  Not God!  Who cares if you pause for a few seconds mid sentence to compose your thoughts?  Not God!  Who cares if you come off sounding a little silly?  Not God!

He's interested in your heart!  Don't keep it from Him.