Doubt

Doubt is probably one of the biggest struggles people face in a walk with Christ.  Correspondingly, doubt is probably one of the least addressed issues.  I think this is because when we are among other Christians (church, bible studies, ect) we look at the situation and say something like this: "Okay I'm in a place where everyone else believes in God... I believe in God too but right now I'm struggling with (insert your doubt here)... If I bring up this doubt, how is this going to come off to others who believe... I'm a little scared to even put my doubt into dialogue... Verbalizing my doubt might make God think I don't believe (this statement is a little contradictory but I'll be the first to admit that it has crossed my mind)."  The fact is EVERYONE has doubts.  God designed doubt into the human experience.  Pay attention here, this is important.  Just like any other hindrance in our faith, the devil wants you to keep your doubt to yourself.  I'll let you in on a doubt I struggle with.  In Sociology there is this concept called The Self Fulling Prophesy.  It states, that situations we define as real, become real in there consequences.  In simpler terms, things we believe to be true, ultimately become true due to our belief in them.  Here's a real world example of how this theory works.  There's a weak and self conscious male who enters the military.  The military takes this individual through physical training and mentally breaks the individual down.  The individual is then built up through physical gains and the implementation of a belief system (brain washing).  Before you know it, you have an elite military resource who believes he can do anything.  Now take that same concept and apply it to ones faith.  This is where my doubt comes in.  I have this doubt that maybe everything I believe in, is simply a product of the beliefs I have been exposed to throughout my life.  That my belief in God is a result of slowly convincing myself of God.  I think there's probably more doubt in the Christian faith today than ever before.  With modern science and technology we have become a society that depends on our senses and our understanding to determine what is real and what is not.  I just had a post concerning Proverbs 3:5 which urges us not to lean on our own understanding.  God tells us this because it's our own understanding that produces doubt.

Here's the take away.  Realize that doubt is part of following Christ.  Realize that EVERYONE else has doubts too.  When your in moments or seasons of doubt, don't keep it pinned up inside (that's what the devil wants).  Most importantly, look at the big picture and re-think your interpretation of doubt.  So you have this ONE doubt... somehow we as humans take the one shred of something bad and it overrides everything else.  Do not forget the undeniable facts in life!  It is undeniable that you exist.  Which means you either came from nothing or you were created.  It is undeniable that Jesus the person lived.  It is undeniable that he was put to death for saying he was the son of God.  It is undeniable that the 12 disciples who followed Jesus must have seen the risen Christ... otherwise they would not have faced persecution and death so fearlessly (11 of 12 disciples were executed after refusing to deny their savior).  It is undeniable that the apostle Pual was formally Saul who persecuted and executed Christians and through an encounter with the risen Christ was immediately transformed and became one of the most important catalysts of the Christian faith.  It is undeniable that today nearly 1/3 of the worlds population believes that a man named Jesus was the son of God and died a sinners death to save the world!  Do not forget the multitudes of undeniable facts in life!

Grace and Peace
JoMo

How faithful is God?

God is so faithful that he tells us how to pray (The Lord's Prayer) because he already knows everything we need. (Matthew 6:8)

God is so faithful that he has only cursed the ground once (with the flood) because of man's evil heart.  Furthermore, in his promise to never curse the earth again he has had to supplement destroying earth upon his return with restoring/renewing earth. (Genesis 8:21 and Revelation 21).

God is so faithful (don't forget loving) that while we were STILL sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

God is so faithful that even when we wander he never leaves us nor forsakes us.  (Deuteronomy 31:6)

The things God CANNOT do can be counted on about one hand.  He is so faithful that one of the few things God CANNOT do is remember your sin once you have confessed it.

I would be interested to see how many different "God is so faithful" responses I could get.  Let's see if we can even begin to scratch the surface on how faithful God is!

Grace and Peace,
JoMo

I don't understand!

I was reading through Proverbs chapter 3 today and read a verse concerning understanding.  Specifically, not supplementing our lack of understanding for our own knowledge.

Proverbs 3:5
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding"

What a simple yet drastically overlooked truth.  Certainly if we don't understand something it's likely because we don't possess enough knowledge.  Therefore, when we don't understand situations of the world that are difficult like suffering and tragedy, we shouldn't jump to a conclusion about God based on feelings of emotion.  Our emotions are worldly and lack eternal perspective.  We have no knowledge of Gods eternal purpose (which I can guarantee you is GOOD and better than any plan man could develop).  In other words, we as humans basically have no knowledge other than what is given to us in Gods word.  Our emotions and instincts do not equate to knowledge.  Emotions and instincts are things of our flesh.  Sure we have knowledge in regards to physics, math, biology, ect but the knowledge contained in these categories offer no better understanding of moral situations.  To make a long argument shorter, trust God in ALL things.  In fact here is some good scripture to memorize.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
"Give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is Gods purpose for you in Christ Jesus"

Grace and Peace
JoMo

Favorite Verse

So its been awhile since my last post.  Sorry for the leave of absence!  Since then, I traveled to Brazil and back.  Serving at the Davis Lar orphanage in Brazil was definitely a great experience.  It was amazing to see children given a second chance in life.  Especially since almost all of them had been rescued from human trafficking and poverty.  The truth that we are ALL children of God is undeniable.  Jesus is the name above ALL names that transcends every difference in language or nation.  A huge thank you goes out to all those who supported me with donations and prayers!  Because of you I was able to fully fund my trip.  Your sacrifices have helped glorify God and his great kingdom.  For further information or pictures, you can add me as a friend on facebook or e-mail me (jomo486@gmail.com).  As for the future of my blog, I would like to start moving towards unpacking some of Gods word.  What better place to start than my favorite verse!

Luke 9:23-27 ESV
23 And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."

Man I love God's word!

Verse 23:  Jesus is saying this to ALL and to ANYONE.  Not just those who grew up in church or those with miserable and broken pasts, not just men or just women, not just rich or just poor, not just the healthy or just the sick...  ANYONE.  Although the Bible does use "his", this is an acceptable term for both sexes in literature.  Nonetheless, we all have the same requirements in running after Jesus.  We must deny ourselves.  We must take up our cross.  We must decrease, God must increase.

Verse 24:  This is potentially my favorite verse in the Bible.  This statement pretty much sums up following Christ in one sentence.

Verse 25:  A rhetorical question from Jesus, yet not so rhetorical to man.  We somehow still seem to think there's something to be gained from THIS world.

Verse 26:  If you claim to follow Christ, I hope it's not best kept a secret.  I'm not going to judge... that's up to God, but I will say that if people don't recognize Christ-like characteristics or tendencies in you... you may be setting the Son of Man up for disappointment.

Verse 27:  Jesus' final remark touches on the difficulty of applying truth.  We are often able to recognize when something is true, but it's the application that is difficult.  Yet it's the application that makes all the difference.  For example, everyone would agree exercise is good for you, but merely accepting this as true does no good.  It's actually getting off the couch, tightening up the shoe laces, and pounding the pavement that makes the difference.  To me, Jesus seems to be saying something similar in verse 27.  Jesus is saying... all of you hear me, most of you agree with me, but only a few of you believe it to the degree of applying it.

In summary, our walk with Christ should be a daily struggle of dying a little bit more and more to ourselves.  I love this journey!  The transformation isn't always easy or comfortable and the race is LONG, but that's why "the path is narrow, and few will find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).  Don't let the things of this world distract you... keep your eyes on JESUS!

Grace and Peace
Jomo

One Week

Well, I leave for my mission trip to Fortaleza, Brazil a week from today (Friday March 9). For those of you wondering where Fortaleza is...

I'm excited to see what God has planned. However, I'm also a little nervous being that I was hospitalized this past Tuesday. I randomly had a passing out / fainting spell. Good news is they couldn't find anything wrong and and think it was a random occurrence. Bad news is they don't really have any answers. Either way I'm putting my trust in God. He is always good and always faithful! He will neither leave me nor forsake me! My soul has been sealed in the Holy Spirit! Keep Christ at the center and be in the world, but not of it! Also, check out these two songs! Peace

First post

So as many of you know, I'm not a big social media junkie. However, I have started making strides towards being more socially available on the world wide web. I just got a twitter account @justjoemo and now this blog. I still don't have Facebook, and I would venture to guess I won't in the future either. I still like to maintain an element of mystery and elusiveness. I am as Lynyrd Skynyrd says a "Simple Man." I like to fish and play guitar. Wrestling has historically been a big part of my life and still is, but Jesus Christ is the biggest and most significant pursuit of my life. I will be heading to Fortaleza, Brazil in March for a mission trip. I hope this blog can serve as an effective tool to keep those of you interested updated with info and pictures.

Peace