Truth

I work with a man who claims to be a Christian. Not a "Sunday Christian", but someone who dedicates himself to spread God's Word.When I first moved to Richmond, he invited me to a get-together at his house. I went, thinking it would be great to meet new Christian friends..but when my friend Julie and I arrived, it was not exactly what we expected. First of all, everyone was drinking. And smoking. I was a new Christian, and was trying to quit an eight year pack a day habit, and they told me I should have "just one" if I really wanted to, which I did. Julie got pretty mad, and referenced Romans 14:21 that says you should not do anything to cause your brother to stumble (to me, privately). They were playing secular music, and God was not part of the equation. At all. Now, my coworker isn't just someone who says "yeah, I'm a Christian", he's a leader in his "church", which is actually a breakaway sect of "The Way International", as Julie and I found out later in the evening by asking a few subtle questions. Yes, a creepy cult. Clearly, they weren't following God by their actions.

I have been very wary of him ever since, and have become sensitive to his foul language, and just his worldliness in every aspect. Knowledge I gained from the website Julie and I read on "The Way" allowed me to confront him on his unbelief of the deity of Jesus Christ. He admitted that he does not believe that Jesus is God, and we didn't really talk for a while after that, though he bugs me. Alot. He is leading other people astray, misrepresenting Christ, and making a mockery of living for the Lord.
Last week I brought it up again, the differences in theological belief...if we are both reading the same Bible, where does the discrepancy lie? He said he'd never heard of the trinity, and that Jesus was born of a virgin, and had "perfect blood", but was not God, only the son of God.. a man. I couldn't think of any scripture to give him to contradict his statement, and when I said I didn't see the Lord in him, what with the foul language all the time, he said that we need to "shake religion up", and that nowhere does it say not to use bad language, we are only not permitted to use God's name in cursing. At this point I felt he was just twisting things around, so I just let it go, and felt very frustrated and mad. When I got home that night, I started my research. I went to work, googling the trinity and Christ's deity..at first I saw this verse..
Mark 10:18
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone.

And I got a little worried, but then I found a whole bunch of verses that do say that Christ is God..I was unpreprared to refute him that day, but I was glad that I did the research..cause next time, I'll know that I know that I know, and have the proof to back it up. I gathered all of the verses onto a few pages, printed them out, and gave them to the "false prophet" (my private nickname for him)..verses both on the trinity and on Christ's deity. He read at least some of them, and them wrote down one verse ..Timothy 2:5, where Christ is referred to as a man..well, duh! I know that part, you're just missing the biggest part..oh yeah, I also told him that I didn't think he was saved. I don't want him to miss out on salvation because I was too polite to say something.. the truth hurts, but in this situation, I think it's merited. Oh, and as for the cursing..Ephesians 5:4.
I have listed the verses I found on this page as an easy reference in case anyone has a similar situation.

Salvation...

I chanced upon this video on GodTube...it is kinda long but I was surprised at how fast it went..very true and very eye-opening. It is this pastor preaching at a youth conference, but the message applies equally to adults.

Waiting

My friend Heather and I are starting a womens' Bible study. We bought a video series called "Liquid" that translates Biblical principles into modern day scenarios to make them more relative to life in this day and age. We got together, watched the videos (pretty cheesy, but God can work with anything), and prayed for the girls who would be joining us. This is the most exciting thing for me, to be a part of helping women to live their life the right way. To love them and facilitate a place where they can turn from the worlds' empty promises to true fulfillment in Jesus. I knew that Satan was not going to like it. I didn't know he was going to hit so hard as to make us postpone the Bible study.

The day after the two of us previewed the videos, Heather found out that her husband had an extramarital affair. It was, he claimed, a one time thing, something he was waiting to tell her until they had begun counseling..their marriage is very shaky, and they've only been husband and wife since September. She married a man who wasn't as commited to the Lord as she was, and it's VERY hard on her. So, she has decided to stay with him, but she is not ready to begin the Bible study just yet. GRRRR! Patience is not one of my strongest virtues, and I am so excited about this that I am having a hard time waiting for it to start!! I know I need to be understanding, so I will try my best. The funny thing is that after we watched the videos, she flipped to a Joyce Meyer show, and they answered a letter from a lady whose husband had an affair, asking how she could forgive him, and they also talked about waiting on the Lord's timing. God is so funny that way! Just his way of letting us know he wasn't taken by surprise or caught off guard the way we were! I love you, Lord, but let's get this show on the road already!

Be still and know that I am God

I have been testing this one out literally this week. I know that in conversation, if you are the one doing all of the talking, you usually are not hearing much from the other person. So I decided, starting with five minutes, to sit very still and meditate on the words "you are God". Other thoughts did intrude at times, but I think there may be something to just actually spending a "quiet" quiet time with the Lord.

This past week I have come to the realization that I would very much like to start a womens' bible study. My friend Heather at work is willing to cohost with me, in fact she has offered the use of her home. There is a new Christian store that opened about a month ago in the mall I work in. The name of the store is C28-after Colossians 2:8, and they sell Christian themed apparel. They also offer to pray with people that walk by the store, which is pretty awesome, but apparently has weirded out some of my coworkers that walk the mall on their lunch break. Heather and I said a prayer after a couple of our coworkers told us how uncomfortable they were with people pushing "religion" on them, and though Heather and I did talk a little about faith vs.religion, they definitely were not down with evangelist retail! Heather actually said she has felt God telling her that she should work at that store..and btw, if anyone would pray for my coworkers' hearts to be softened towards the Lord, I would very much appreciate it..their names are Amanda and Johann.

I went to apply for a passport yesterday, and I prayed that God would bring someone for me to talk to while I was there..I don't pray this sort of thing often. There were two seats outside the passport office, and the agent was running behind, because the lights were off in the office. The other seat was occupied by an older Hispanic man. I smiled as I sat down, and he was friendly, inquiring if I spoke Spanish ( I do, but not fluently), and where I was going. He spoke a little English, so we muddled through it. After these pleasantries, we lapsed into silence, but I heard him flicking through what sounded like suspiciously thin pages. I sneaked a peek.

"Are you reading the Bible?" I asked. He looked up and said, "Yes. You know, this world is crazy.." I was touched by his willingness to preach the message to me, but I am of course already a follower of Christ, so I smiled and said "I know, I want to start a bible study." I think he thought I wanted to JOIN a bible study, so I clarified that me "y un otra mujer a mi trabajo" (me and another woman at my job) want to start a bible study for women. He then said " If it's okay, I would like to give you some bible study material. Will you do it in Spanish or English?"
Since I can't read Spanish, I said English sounded great..he told me the books were on Christian living, and he had them in both languages. Since it was so obviously a God Thing I gave him my number, so that I can see his bible study materials. I was just so blessed to have such obvious answer to prayer..even if nothing comes of it..I know that God is with me in everything I do. EVERYTHING!

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."- Proverbs 16:3

P.S. The guest speaker at my church tonight was from California. He is the owner and founder of the Christian store C:28 that has been freaking out my coworkers. God is amazing.