I am a Christian
Rewritten by Maya Angelou
(Originally created by Carole Wimmer)
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When I say ... "I am a Christian,

"I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'.

I'm whispering "I was lost,

Now I'm found and forgiven.

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"When I say..."I am a Christian,

"I don't speak of this with pride.

I'm confessing that I stumble,

And need CHRIST to be my guide.

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When I say ... "I am a Christian,"I'm not trying to be strong.

I'm professing that I'm weak,

And need HIS strength to carry on.

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When I say ... "I am a Christian,

"I'm not bragging of success.

I'm admitting I have failed,

And need God to clean my mess.

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When I say ... "I am a Christian,

"I'm not claiming to be perfect.

My flaws are far too visible,

But God believes I am worth it.

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When I say ... "I am a Christian,

"I still feel the sting of pain.

I have my share of heartaches,

So I call upon His name.
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When I say ... "I am a Christian,

"I'm not holier than thou.

I'm just a simple sinner

Who received God's good grace somehow.

Without Wavering

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Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, "I can’t take any more." Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" ( Job 13:15 ).
Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.
God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, "This is eternal life, that they may know You . . ." ( John 17:3 ). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.

(above Devotional from: http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php)

If there is anything I desire this word to represent in my life it would be my faith. Hardcore faith. It's through faith that our existence as a Christian even comes about. Why wouldn't I want to know the very existence my life depends upon. Faith allows me to receive the greatest gift in the world. God. My creator. My savior. My redeemer. My friend.

When doubts and fears have me stumbling and trapped it's through faith that I find myself able to walk the road of once again. "Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God," this makes me question where my confidence in God lacks, and in those areas, how do I make it grow. Daily I battle a lack of faith, doubting God and myself. Doubting that I have the intelligence or ability to be successful at life, at living, and at loving. I often need the reminder that my strength in ALL things needs to come from God not my own. Thankfully God always meets us right where we are, and always encourages us to pursue a remnant faith that stands out as hardcore.


To Him be the Glory. Forever. Amen.

Haunted

'It's in Christ that we find out who we are.' Ephesians 1:11

..."Phillips Brooks remarked, 'When you discover you've been leading only half a life, the other half is going to haunt you until you develop it.' Self-discovery is what Paul had in mind when he wrote, 'It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.' You were made by God and for God. Until you understand that, your life won't make sense. It's 'in Christ' that we discover our purpose, our significance and our destiny. In other words, we discover our true selves!"

(reading of the day from http://www.ucb.co.uk/word_for_today)


Wow, I love Phillip Brooks remark, it is so true on so many levels. I know I'm not a lone in this, but their are times I fear I am living only half of what I could be living and that does haunt me. As a dreamer, I can't imagine getting old and one day realizing I could have done SO much more. I often ask myself, what can I do to get there.. HOW HOW HOW? Then of course I am reminded, Christ, that's how. The closer I am to my creator the more I learn to function in ways he created me to function. The closer I am, the more I know Him, the more my soul flows out purpose that without him would utterly be unknown.

Stand Fast

Liberty and the Standards of Jesus (My Utmost for His Highest)
http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free . . . —Galatians 5:1

A spiritually-minded person will never come to you with the demand— "Believe this and that"; a spiritually-minded person will demand that you align your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One whom the Bible reveals (see John 5:39-40 ). We are called to present liberty for the conscience of others, not to bring them liberty for their thoughts and opinions. And if we ourselves are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty— the liberty that comes from realizing the absolute control and authority of Jesus Christ.

Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke, and His alone; and always be careful never to place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one true liberty— the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.

Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you— with patience and with gentleness. But never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, "Go . . . and make disciples. . ." ( Matthew 28:19 ), not, "Make converts to your own thoughts and opinions."

This was the "My Utmost for His Highest" devotion for today, and I received a lot out of it. The points that really stuck hard to me are the ones I pasted in bold. Personally, I find myself battling with measuring myself to the worlds standards and selfishly measuring others to my standards. It's tough to stand firm when the media and everything around you is raging war against God's standards. I like the picture above, it expresses the very emotions I find myself going through to block it all out.

Another issue that comes up are those times I find myself losing patience with people who (to me) purposely and stubbornly refuse to come to know Christ as he really is, and instead choose to be fed the lies that Jesus is just some foolish cartoon that the world makes him out to be. BUT that's where this comes in, "Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you— with patience and with gentleness." I have no room to talk, I too was once that person drowning in my own selfworth, my own motives, my own knowledge, my own ways, and my own garbage. I wonder how many times God sent people to speak or demonstrate his truth/love to me, but I missed it, or purposely chose to pass it by and do my own thing. I know it happened plenty of times on my end, yet even with the crap, the garbage, the unfaithfulness, the disgust, the filth, the stains, the shame, the guilt, and more... he kept his patience with me, and with great gentleness and mercy he forgave me, and now calls me child/friend. My most favorite of all is that he says he loves me with an everlasting love. WOW. I guess I have no room to talk, and now only love to give. I wish it were just that simple, but it's not and that's why I need Him, standards and all. That's why I must come back to the truth, and it's in the truth where I am reminded that, the Word is surely Something Worth Chewing on.

Matthew 4:4 - Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."