Shine

So i have a feeling that weekends are going to be kind difficult for me to read my bible. I mean i have prolly spent the lasts 30-45mins trying to focus and get ready to read and i am constantly getting distracted....*sigh*....So i apologize if this don't flow very well and also if i repeat stuff that i have said in previous posts ( i kinda feel like a broken record at times) but if i guess if its something that i see over and over again in the scripture then its bound to be important ;) anyways...on to the Word...

Phillippians 2:12-18

v.13. "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. "
-Sometimes it seems as if i can't feel God working within me, i know he is there, and this verse proves that, but sometimes i get so caught up in myself and the world around me that i forget to listen to God and to seek out his presence. I think it also has to do with the fact that i severed ties between my heart and my mind. There are so many things that i know with my mind but can't feel with my heart and it truely saddens me. Intially i did this as a defense mechanism against the harsh relaities of the world, but now i feel like its more of a curse than anything else. It is all part of my brokenness, and it makes it that much harder for me to heal for if i can't feel it, then how do i know its real? I dunno...i am rambling now..sorry. Please pray that as i grow closer to God, the connection between my soul and mind will be reunited once more...thanks!

v.14-15 "Do everything without complaining and aruging, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean,innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people."
-As i said in my last post, Living as a Christian is not a easy thing. It is a constant battle between living by God's standards and living by the world's. The world is constantly telling us through various forms of media, that it is ok to be selfish, to complain, to fight, to tear one another apart. However that is not what we are called to do. We are called to be unified under one spirit, one God. we are to be kind to one another, to help and support thoose around us with out complaint or arugment. for the love and compassion that pours out our life is reflection of the love and kindness that is poured into us by the Holy Spirit. As i told one of my friends this past summer, (she is not a christian), one of the reasons why the world hates christians today, is because they have the repuation of not loving those who are not like them, who don't fit into the mold that they represent. and this turns away many non-believers from even think about christianity. this is truly a sad thing for christians and non christians. For far to long we have let hate seek into our actions and not the Love of cast. Jesus when he was on earth didn't fellowship with people who were like him...he fellowship with the people that the world loved to hate. His best friends were fishermen, tax collectors, prositutes and basically teh scum of society. And yet he loved them and and it was through his love and compassion that these "scum" where able to see the Glory and honor of God. Therefore we must act as Christ did and reach out to the outcast and love them unconditionally so that they too may expericen the joy and happiness that occurs when we are filled with the Holy Spirit!