September 3, 2011

Prayin' For You


Lecrae- Prayin' For You

Father God, I'm prayin' to you for somebody, who knows you Lord but just hasn't, hasn't been seein' you in the right view lately, Hear me out...

Father, I'm prayin' for a friend 
he and I are pretty close, 
and out of all my friends 
for this one I'm concerned the most. 

He say he readin' daily 
but he ain't really learnin'. 
He been in church but say that he ain't moved by any sermon. 
His face weak, he ain't prayed in a week, 
he wake up and just weep with his face in the sink Lord, 

you gotta help my man, 
I'm prayin' for him daily, 
he ain't sinned but it just seem as if he goin' crazy.
He say he feelin' trapped, 
can't even head up the mall 
cuz every lady's half-dressed temptin' him to lust and fall. 
He keep the TV off, 
videos just make him feel that he ain't really nothin' without money, girls and shiny wheels. 
The other day he told me that he felt less a man 
cuz he ain't have a five-year plan 
or a piece of land 

and man it's crazy cuz his family think so much of him, 
plus he got a godly wife who always showin' love for him 
but he's strugglin', even though he talk to me, 
I tell him what to do but he don't listen when he oughta' be. 

I'm scared for him 
cuz there's people that look up to him, 
he got some younger siblings who been changed by what he's done for them 

but is it done for him, Lord don't let it be, 
if he don't wanna talk to you then Father hear from me, 
is it done for him, Lord don't let it be,
 if he don't wanna talk to you then Father hear from me...

Yeah, I'm prayin' for you, yeah, I'm prayin' for you
Yeah, I'm prayin' for you, yeah, yeah, I'm prayin' for you...

God, his condition is worsen
since we were last converse'n
and I'm with him now and he ain't doin' well
 and this I'm certain.

 He say he tryna' trust you, 
doesn't wanna disgust you 
but he was in the mist of sinners and did not discuss you 
and just today his anxiety's got the best of him, 
he knows Christ but for hours refuse to rest in Him, 

he's not the best of men 
but Lord I know he really loves you 
and I can't understand why lately he's not thinkin' of you. 

People trust this dude, 
you could crush this dude, 
Father he needs more of you 
I pray you touch this dude, 

what can I say to him? 
I'm determined to pray for him 
Father empty and brake him 
I pray you'll just have your way with him, 

cuz there's a change in him and the effects are strong, 
I pray you open up his heart before the next song 
and when he gets home, 
I pray he'll open up the sixty-six book love letter you wrote and soak it up

 cuz he ain't hearin' you 
and he ain't feelin' me 
and God I know it's killin' You 
because it's killin' me 

and matter of fact there's somethin' else he's concealin' see, 
the person that I've been prayin' about is really me.

This song by Lecrae has really stuck with me. I feel that I could pray quite a good portion of this prayer, and probably a lot of others could as well. I think this is important because it emphasizes our need for prayer, both for ourselves as well as others.


Hebrews 10:24-25 says, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." We need to be lifting up our brothers and sisters in Christ, and a major way we can do that is through prayer.


Likewise prayer for ourselves is also very important. Some of us are very proud, me for one, and and prayer can undercut pride. when we depend on God for everything then what are we proud of. as 1 Cor. 4:7 says what do we have that we weren't given by God, and if we have received it then why do we boast as if it was through our working and doing.


Let's be prayerful people.



August 25, 2011

The Gospel

I have recently finished reading the book "God is the Gospel" by John Piper which was phenomenal and I would recommend anyone to read it. And This is just a video I liked and thought I'd share.


August 18, 2011

The Beauty of Christ

Excerpt from the book "God is the Gospel" by John Piper

The spiritual beauty of Christ is Christ in action- Christ loving, and Christ touching lepers, and Christ blessing children, and healing the crippled, and raising the dead, and commanding demons, and teaching with unrivaled authority, and silencing the skeptics, and rebuking his disciples, and predicting the details of his death, and setting his face like flint toward Jerusalem, and weeping over the city, and silent before his accusers, and meekly sovereign over Pilate (John 19:11), and crucified, and praying for his enemies, and forgiving a thief, and caring for his mother while in agony, and giving up his spirit in death, and rising from the dead- "No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again." (John10:18). Such is the glory of Christ

August 14, 2011

Genesis 25:19-34 Some Notes

Just my notes from today's sermon over Genesis 25:19-34, hope there at all helpful for anything. Some of these points may be helpful only if you listen to the sermon which can be found here: God chooses the least to become his victorious people

- It took 20 years of waiting before Isaac had a son
- Isaac and his family must trust in God alone for a son
- Gen. 25:21 we must not get the idea that this is only the first time Isaac prayed. He PERSISTED for twenty years in prayer
- God gives Rebekah this agonizing birth in order to drive Rebekah to himself.
- They are without son an Isaac prays and God answers and gets the glory, the pregnancy is painful Rebekah prays and God answers and again gets the glory
- The two men are different but not in their masculinity but in their roles
- Jacob was a Shepard of sorts as well as a business type man. (more traditional)
- Esau did not like the traditional roles in the family
- Moses is telling the Israelites this character detail so that Israel is reminded that the nation of Edom are the descendants of Esau.
- Moses links Jacobs name with grabbing Esau's heal which means to be a deceiver.
- Esau despised his birthright and was therefore unworthy to receive the promises of God, he saw being the seed of the woman as nothing of value
- But Jacob didn't deserve to be in the promises of God either so how did Jacob get to be in the seed of the woman
- Because of God's grace! There was nothing Jacob did that was worthy of God's promises (unmerited)
- God is continually choosing the lesser over the greater to bring about his purposes ie. Joseph, David, Solomon, eventually Jesus (born to a poor family, brought up in despised town) and Jesus chooses the 12 disciples ( fishermen, tax collector, etc)
- God saw us in our sin and wretchedness and God chose the least of these
- 1 Cor. 1:25-31
- John 16:33
- 1 John 4:3-4
- Rom. 8:33-35 37-39
- We believe the lie that we can overcome sin on our own. The reality is that left to ourselves we will continue to sin we will only do it privately.
- Stop being prideful and say I need help.
- God wants us to adorn ourselves to godliness
- It will be hard to believe the gospel over the lies of this world
- The question isn't are you an overcomer it is do you believe the gospel and if you do you are victorious
- The Gospel isn't merely for salvation it is also for sanctification.
- We will have to struggle and fight to believe Gods promises
- “I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24

August 12, 2011

Desiring God Above All

The critical question for this generation- or for any generation- is this: if one could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict, or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven if Christ were not there
This is a question asked by John Piper among many others over the years, but I feel that many people neglect to ponder and wrestle with this question, or they are so well brought up that they know the "correct" answer but fail to truly believe it. And not to long ago I would have been among this group.


 This question is at the heart of the gospel. Why is it that we believe the gospel, what do we gain. For some it is just a ticket out of hell, others eternal life, and others they want the paradise of heaven. But what many fail to see and others see it but don't believe it to be true is that Christ is the beginning, middle, and end of the gospel. We believe and trust in the gospel not for a free ticket to heaven but because we are allowed to be in the presence of almighty God


The basis of the song "My Hell" by the group Disciple is, as they say, "This was my hell living without you here, even heaven is hell if somehow you were not there...nothing ever will compare."


And that is the question do we really believe that, do you believe that heaven without Christ can compare evenly to the presence of the glory of God. And I pray that you are saying with me a resounding No!


Are we willing to say with Paul, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:8).

August 3, 2011

Enemies of the Heart


As I have read through this book there are positives and many negatives in this book.

The Good: I have found that Andy has a lot of good things to say about four very important topics, guilt, greed, anger, and jealousy. He had many good points on the effects of these forces in our lives as well as many good ways in which we can combat against these problems.

The Bad: I have also, however, been disappointed in the amount of Scripture used to back up his points. It seemed as though he only used scripture when it came up rather than showing his points which can be found in the application of scripture.

He goes on countless tangents removing the flow of his arguments. It seemed as if it took him a long time to get to making his points particularly in the beginning of the book making it hard to want to keep reading as it seemed he said the same or similar things for multiple chapters. He doesn't get around to defining the four emotions until chapter 6 and on.

The second half of the book was much better than the first half as he used more scripture and had good practical points but the dismally slow first half of the book as well as overall lack of supporting scripture discouraged me from giving this book a great review, as it is however, I think that there is better literature on this same subject than this book deals out.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.