God Never Moves. Only I do.

We all go through times of uncertainty. There are many uncertain times talked about in the Bible. For example, God told Abram to pack up all of his things and allow himself to be led to a new land. Consider that for a second. Would you be willing to do that for God if He asked you to? How would that make you feel?
Proverbs 27:1 – Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
God tells us not to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself. We need to live today for today and COMPLETELY for God!
That goes along with the fact that we should make sure that we put God into all of our plans. Without Him, our plans are useless and foolish. How can we do anything without Him and try to claim that it is for His glory that we are here?
We need to constantly remember that were it not for God we would have nothing. He is our All in All.
As Christians, we are to be different. We should be separate from this world even though we are dwelling in it right now.
We need to be praying for God to give us strength to do His will. Not ours.
There will be uncertain times in our journeys. There will be times when we lose our way and we feel lost.
But the most important thing to remember during those times is that God didn’t go anywhere. God is always holding us. We may lose sight of Him and His will, but He never loses sight of us. He is constantly calling to us and trying to keep us on track.
I have to be reminded of this sometimes. I feel like I’m just lost and I don’t know which way is up. It feels like I don’t even know where to begin. But those are the times when I have to remember that it doesn’t matter if I don’t know where to start, because God knows where I am. He knows what I need to do. AND He will tell me if I just take the time to listen.
Sometimes I feel like I seriously need to refocus my life. It’s so easy to be pulled away by the distractions in this world. But God isn’t going anywhere. He will always be here to guide me. And to find me when I get off track.
Please keep this in mind at times when you feel like you don’t know where to turn or what to do. God knows.

God Bless,
Taylor

God's Will

Where there's a will there's a way. Right?
Isn't that what everyone says?

Well then if it's God's will, then there certainly is a way.
So why do we doubt Him? Why do we stifle His attempts to use us to fulfill His will? How could we ever even start to think that we could do things better than God?
The most incredible thing that we will ever be able to do is pray that God's will be done in and through us. He knows what needs to happen, and He surely knows the way that He wants those things to happen.

There are a gazoodle of places in the Bible where God talks about how He will do things, and He always makes it happen.

Genesis 2:18
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Genesis 6:7
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Genesis 6:18
But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.Genesis 7:4
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

Think about it. Those three verses were only from the very first chapter in the Bible!

God has a will for each of us. But more importantly, God has a way to make His will happen in our lives if we'll just let Him work.

What are you doing to prevent God from being able to do His will in your life?

God Bless,
Taylor

Anger. What do I do with it?

Sometimes, I get so angry that I feel like throwing things against the wall, or… punching something. I know that this isn't how God wants me to feel. So I turned to His word and this is what I found.

Ephesians 4:26-32 (KJV) – Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the things which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:26-32 (NIV) – In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

As humans, a lot of time we feel like it's our responsibility to be angry and seek at least some kind of outlet, if not full out revenge. But God tells us that this isn't our responsibility. It is His. He knows what injustices we have suffered. He knows the pain and anger that we feel. And HE knows how to handle it much better than we could ever begin to understand. In Ephesians, the Bible continues on in instructing us on how we should live.

Ephesians 5:1-2 (KJV) – Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV) – Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

I think that the best thing to do with our anger is to turn it over to God. We need to trust Him enough to know that He will do what is right, even if we don't see the effects of His judgment. If we hold all of our anger inside of us and let it build, we are giving the devil a foothold in our lives. We're giving him a way to tear at us and turn us away from God. We need to learn to turn everything over to God, forgive, forget about it, and move on.

Are you holding anger? Are you upset with a friend? Turn it over to God and let Him handle it. He knows what is best.

God Bless,

Taylor

I Love Laminin!

Everything Falls – Fee

You said, You’d never leave or forsake me
When You said, this life is gonna shake me
And You said, this world is gonna bring trouble on my soul
This I know

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
You’re the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on
You keep holding on

When I see, darkness all around me
When I see, tragedy has found me
I still believe, Your faithful arms will never let me go
Still I know

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
You’re the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find You mighty and strong
You keep holding on
You keep holding on

Darkness will last for the night
But hope is rising with the sun
Rising with the sun
There will be storms in this life
But I know You will overcome
You will overcome

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
You’re the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
You’re the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on
You keep holding on


God is the only thing that holds us together. He created each and every one of us, and He holds us in His hands. Without Him, we would be nothing. Without Him, we would not exist.
Do you ever stop to think about exactly how many things take place in your body on a daily basis? How many things go on just so that you are able to breathe? So that your heart can supply the necessary blood and nutrients to our cells? These are things that we take for granted every day of our lives. But God doesn’t. He knows the inner workings of each and every one of us, and He is ultimately the one who holds us together. Literally.

Colossians 1:15-17 – He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

I’m going to ask you to take 9 minutes out of your life right now to watch this video. I promise that it will move you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e4zgJXPpI4
(If this link doesn’t work, just google “Louie Giglio Laminin”)

Just take a minute and thank God for His amazingness! His awesomeness. Thank Him for holding us together each and every day.

God Bless,
Taylor

Lead Me To The Cross

Lead me to the cross
Where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord, I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to You
Lead me
Lead me to the cross


How on fire are you for God?

God Bless,
Taylor

God's Love

I am about to start a small group study of the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. The first chapter is all about how big God is and how big His love for us is. It is amazing to think that the same God who created the universe also created the earthworm and EVERYTHING in between. He is the same God who loves each and every one of us SO MUCH that He sent His son to die on the cross for us.

~Matthew 10:27-33 (NIV) - What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be aftraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

God loves us so much that He knows how many hairs are on our heads. He takes notice of the tiny, insignificant things in our lives. Why, then, do we doubt that He cares about us when hard times come? Why do we forget that He never leaves us? He never loses track of us. He knows exactly what we're going through, and it's up to us to remember to look to Him for the guidance to get through whatever situation we're in.

~Proverbs 15:3 (NIV) - The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

God knows where you are right now. He knows exactly what you need in your life. Can you trust Him enough to ask him for guidance and then follow His words to you?

~Psalm 46:10-11 (KJV) - Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

God will never leave you, never forsake you. All we have to do is place our trust and our faith in Him.

God Bless,
Taylor

Creationism v. Evolution

1 Peter 3:15 - But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear

This was the message delivered at BCM tonight. We had a guest speaker, Mr. Robert Carter, who talked about basic Biblical truths that support creationism over evolution. My notes are in bullet format, so that's what I'm going to do here. I will try to elaborate on everything as much as I can.

~Scientists tell us that the world is billions of years old. They use the layers of rock (1 layer = 1 year theory) to trick people into believing that the world is much older than it is. This way they can explain evolution as a slow and gradual process and they can leave out God and His miracle creation of our planet.
~John 3:12 - If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
~If we can't believe what God tells us about creating the earth, how can we grasp concepts like the Trinity and his plan of salvation for us?
~According to Biblical scientists, the world is approximately 6000 years old. Not billions of years.
~6 C's have happened since the beginning of time --> Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, and Cross. The last C has yet to happen --> Consummation
~Genesis gives us explanations for a lot of historical happenings.
~Romans 5:12 - Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Death through Adam, Life through Christ)
~Death and suffering are punishments for SIN. There is a reason for them.
~Genesis 2:15-17 - And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
~Non-creationists will try to use this against Christians. They'll say, "God told Adam that if he ate off that tree that he'd die. But God didn't kill him right when he ate the fruit, so therefore God must have been lying." But God didn't say that Adam would die immediately. Rather, after Adam ate the fruit, and introduced sin into the world, God was forced to introduce death to the world. We believe that before the sin, there was no death. There was no reason for death. God had created this world and called it "very good."
~1 Corinthian 15:26 - The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
~The spirit is eternal and everlasting, but the body is finite and will pass away.
~Genesis 3:17 - And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life
~Romans 8:22 (NIV) - We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
~God plainly tells us that humankind suffers and dies because of Adam and his sin.
~Revelation 21:4 - And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
~Revelation gives us hope that one day, after Christ returns, there will be no more death, pain, or suffering. Isn't that an amazing promise? Can you even imagine what your life would be like without those things?
~Out of the people that call themselves Christians, 70% will stop claiming Christianity by the time they graduate from college. Much of this is attributable to the teachings of evolution in science classes.
~There are 2 kinds of science: Operational (experimental) and Historical
~Operational Science is observable, testable, repeatable, and doable in the present day. (Keep in mind that most branches of science were originally founded by Bible believing Christians)
~Historical Science - no observers, not repeatable, only found in the past.
~Something that you might be taught goes like this --> "Here is a dinosaur bone. It is hard, physical evidence that something lived here. I interpret that it is 70,000,000 years old. This interpretation is completely based on assumption and plausible information that has been taught. (Remember, there are no age tags on dinosaur bones and fossils)
~Genesis 1:31 - And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
~God created the entire universe in six days. He did not slowly and gradually create.
~Genesis 6:11-13 - The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked up on the earth, and behold, it is corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
~God saw that the earth was filled with corruption and sin and therefore told Noah that He was going to destroy it with a great flood.
~Genesis 7:11-12;21-22 - In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
~God describes, with great detail, the events of the great flood throughout Genesis chapters 7, 8, and 9. This writing is historical and true because God cannot lie. He gives us a lot of description about what happened, just like you would find in a history textbook.
~Remember, Noah's flood destroyed the earth. It was not a gentle rain. It was tumultuous and crashing.
~Noah was in the ark. It was a huge (about 140 meters long) and extremely stable structure. It did not look like the modern day, story book description. He was saved because he listened to God's instructions.
~But how does this fit in with our earth's history?
~"Polystrate fossils are formed by rapid sedimentation. These fossils are of structures and creatures in their upright positions. If the fossils were formed over hundreds of years, the structures and animals would have fallen over in death, but since they are found upright and standing, it is correct to believe that they were buried rapidly. Likely, there were buried in mud. Mud that was the product of a fantastic amount of rain.
~See where we're going with this?
~Scientists have found fossilized trees that were upright. Trees that had no branches or limbs. It is believe that these trees were ripped out of the ground and thrown about before being buried quickly (upright because the base of the trunk is the heaviest) in mud.
~Psalm 104:7-9 (NIV) - But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.
~This is a description of erosion. Massive amounts of erosion. Enough erosion and sedimentation to cause enough mud to rapidly bury things. It is scientific fact that there are miles of sediment at the bottom of oceans and gulfs. Much of that was probably washed down there as the flood waters receded andland began to dry out again.
~Evolutionary scientists try to tell us that millions of rock layers have built up over millions of years. It is obvious, however, that erosion is eating away these rocks. So we can correctly conclude that something besides natural and common erosion caused all these rocks to form. Something else had to happen to form these rock structures.
~A good operational science example of the forming of large rock masses is the 1980 eruption of Mt. Saint Helen. Within 2 years giant rock structures were formed from the falling and settling of volcanic rock and ash. This did not happen over millions of years. It happened in 2.
~There is an attraction here called "The Little Grand Canyon of Georgia." It was formed by water erosion. Can you imagine what kind of landscape changes the flood made?
~Still having a hard time wrapping your head around this? Okay. Let's look at how fossils are made. Fossils only form under special conditions. In order for a complete fossil to be formed, the thing being fossilized must be buried rapidly.
~Many fossilized animals are found in a position where their head is back and their chests are bowed forward. This is the classic suffocation pose. These animals were buried in mud very rapidly and suffocated to death in a lot of cases.
~ There are even fossils of octopi and jellyfish (soft animals). It is also interesting to see that the fossilized octopi and jellyfish are exactly the same or startlingly similar to today's octopi and jellyfish. There is no evidence of evolution in the fossil record.
~What about "cave men?"
~If you look at the picture of a "cave man," you will find that his skeleton will look A LOT like a human skeleton. Many times, cave men are positioned with their knees bent and their shoulders hunched to make them look more like monkeys, but you can't walk or function in a position like that and neither could they. Cave men were completely human. They were a bit taller and larger than average humans today, but they were more conditioned to live in their time period. They needed to be strong and fast to survive. There is no evidence that "cave men" were not fully human. They weren't primitive beings. They were just early.
~Neanderthals are human and are related to people living in Eurasia. They are Eurasian ancestors, and therefore most of our ancestors as well. Reconstructions have been done on neanderthal skulls and with the DNA processing that we have now, it has been found that some neanderthals had green eyes and even freckles.
~So why are there different races in humans today?
~The answer is simply genetics. We all came from Adam and Eve. They are the parents of the earth. Farther down the line, we all stemmed from Noah, since everyone was killed except for him, his wife, and his children. If you'll notice, every human being is a shade of brown. We don't come in red or purple or blue. Different shades of brown are very easy to explain with simple genetics.
~Let's assume Adam and Eve had skin color genes of AaBb (the lower case letters being code for lighter skin and the upper case letters being code for darker skin). If they had 4 children, they could have looked like this --> #1) aabb (very light skin), #2) aaBb (medium light skin), #3) AaBb (medium dark skin), #4) AABB (very dark skin).
~Even though these 4 children had the same parents, they all had different skin colors. Therefore we can conclude that even though humans can look radically different, there is only one true race, since we all stemmed from a common ancestor. Also, it is important to note that according to Bible scholars, Noah was only about 150 generations ago. All the different skin colors branched out from him and his family.
~Need more proof? Check this out. http://creation.com/two-tone-twins
~I think that it's pretty obvious that we don't need to make up billions of years to explain the earth's history.

I hope that this has opened your eyes to an alternative perspective to the evolution that it taught in a lot of school settings, or maybe that it has reinforced what you already believe. If there is anything that is unclear, or that you would like more of an explanation on, please don't hesitate to comment. =)

God Bless,
Taylor