Answering Prayer

Right off the bat; I still do not have a clear answer in regards to this topic. In fact, this is probably the foremost struggle on my mind right now, in multiple ways. My query is how does God answer prayer, or perhaps the more difficult question, how can we know when and how God will answer our prayers, if ever?

This presents itself in the greatest capacity when we ask God for something. For me personally, I've been urging God to give me (I don't really like that phrase, but it's the best one I can think of at the moment) something I desperately want. And I mean, I'm practically begging God for this one thing to happen like I want it to.

Unfortunately, I've ran into a few stumbling blocks. The first is; should I be asking God for this thing, or instead asking Him if it's the right thing to do? Second is; how will I know if this is indeed what God wants me to try and do?

Interestingly, throughout my Bible reading plans, I've ran into a few verses the past couple of days that I think speak directly to the situation, but unfortunately, to both sides of the argument. There's so many verses that speak about being courageous, and just going for something to obtain it (Matthew 7:7-8; ask and you will receive), but also tons of verses that speak about not testing God, or trying to stay with His will (Luke 4:12). Really, it seems like the Bible, which is supposed to be extremely helpful, isn't being too helpful in this case. It's providing an argument for either side.

Here is what I've discerned so far, which again, is by no means my final answer, or entirely what I think God wants us to believe in regards to the issue. In regards to should we ask God for things, my belief is that we should ask God for anything we want. I know some people who believe that we should only ever ask God for things that go along with His will, or for things that are only important enough that He would actually care. I believe God cares about everything happening in your life, and I mean absolutely everything. Why shouldn't we be able to carry everything to Him? Now, to be clear here, by asking Him for absolutely everything, I'm not saying that He will give you absolutely everything, He won't. But I think there's a certain degree of calmness, or even answers that come simply from asking God for certain things, sometimes even revealing to you exactly what you are looking for isn't what you think it is.

My second question has more to do with callings, or actions, than actual gifts from God. Really, it speaks to the confidence of hearing an answer from God, and truly believing that it is an answer from God. This goes back to my original thoughts on how does God answer prayer. How do you know when you are praying for discernment if you have your answer, if God is telling you to specifically do something or not, if God is trying to get you to say something specific or not? There are multiple theories here ranging from a literal word you hear from God, to just a feeling that you get. This is perhaps the area that I struggle with most. The thing with just a feeling is that sometimes you're just not sure, or sometimes you ignore the feeling because it's not the answer you want. I guess the same could be said with a literal word from God, although that does seem to me to be more concrete. I really can't find an answer for this, or at least one that applies to each person.

Here's what I mean by that. I think God uses different situations, and different methods, to speak to different people in different ways. Your answer for your prayers are not going to be the same as mine. God knows each and every person, and knows what they'll respond to the best, and uses that to speak to them. So really, there isn't just one answer in regards to hearing an answer from God; there's multiple ones.

That's the interesting thing with prayer; there's really no clear answers in regards to any aspect of it. It's one of those mysteries of the faith. Each person is going to be impacted by it slightly differently, making it not only a mystery, but also a miracle.

Year Review/Preview

And so ends the year that was 2016. Wow, what an absolutely crazy, busy, exciting year. Maybe not so much in regards to this blog, but more so in regards to my life. I had a few huge career moves, an actual move across the country, and some pretty big transitions. Even through it all, I held a pretty good pace putting new material up on this blog, finishing some tricky projects and posts. I finished the year with 37 new posts, a total of 3708 page views, and an average of around 20 views per posts.

Looking back over the year, I conquered getting through the whole Bible, around April, and really only started then to shift focus to reviews and a collection of thoughts. The issue is that my time to work on the blog is very slowly diminishing. Priority is starting to be placed on other areas, and because of that, the amount of free time I have to put into writing posts is fading away. However, I do still heavily enjoy the product of the blog, and therefore will still continue to put in the odd review and thoughts into words. My focus will mainly be on devotional thoughts here and there, with an emphasis on current affairs and Biblical basis.

I've really enjoyed the results of this blog that I see as an interesting style of ministry, and I'm excited to see what 2017 holds for me personally, and for For Whosoever. Hopefully you all tag along side me for the journey!

The Meaning of Advent

Right now we're in the midst of this thing called the Advent season. For Christians this is a very important time of the year. Many non-believers know the term, but have no clue what it means. They simply see this time as the holiday season or as Christmas. But, for Christians, the term Advent season adds a little extra weight to our holiday celebrations.

The Advent Season actually begins before Christmas. It's a time of usually three to four Sundays before Christmas, with different strands of Christians celebrating in different ways. Most times the Advent season is counted down through a lighting of a candle each Sunday, or through a countdown of each day. However, the Advent season is much more than just a countdown. It points to something much larger, it points to the bigger picture of the original Christmas Nativity story.

The word Advent actually comes from the Latin phrase adventus which means coming. It points to someone or something special coming or arriving soon. Originally, the term was first used to describe a period of preparation. This period of preparation was for the baptism of New Christians at the feast or festival of Epiphany in January celebrated throughout the 4th and 5th Century. Essentially, these New Christians spent 40 days praying and fasting for this celebration. Really, there wasn't actually any connection between adventus and Christmas - our Advent season. In the 6th century, the Romans were the first to put the two together, however for a very important reason that I'll point later. It was during the Middle Ages that people actually started to see the Advent season as the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Now, that special reason that the Romans put the adventus season into December, and the celebration of Christmas wasn't actually the first coming of Jesus. It was the second coming of Jesus, as described by Christ Himself, and in detail in Revelation. This changes our whole perspective on the Christmas season. All of a sudden, instead of just worshipping the coming of Jesus as a baby, as the Saviour, as the Messiah, we need to start worshipping, and preparing for the coming of Jesus as the King, Ruler, Judge, and Lord of All. It adds a whole new dimension to the holiday.

All of a sudden, our perspective shifts from what has happened in the past (which is vitally important), to what will happen. The Advent season is a reminder that the work of God, the work of Christ, is by no means completed as of yet. There is still wondrous things to come. We can fully expect for Jesus to return, and do even more than He did during His first time on Earth.

So this Christmas, when you see the Nativity Scene, or as you stand singing Christmas carols, or even as you read through the Christmas story, remember that this is just another chapter of the story. This is a time to remember what God has done, and to remember His promises of what is to come.

Chasing God Moments

Perhaps the greatest thing to treasure in our lifetimes are so called "God Moments." These are the times in your life that you feel the closest to God. It's actually incredibly difficult to put into words exactly how that feels, or even the experiences that come from those moments. But whatever the situation, you come away feeling invigorated, motivated, passionate. For a lot of people, this may be a certain song that suddenly stirs something within their soul, or a certain piece of art that resonates with them, or perhaps the most popular, a ministry/mission event that completely changes their perspective. I know for myself personally, especially at the end of a weekend retreat spent solely surrounded by friends and fellow believers dedicated to learning more and more about God, you always come away feeling different.

The interesting thing about these God Moments is that sure they may get you off your feet and ready to go for the Lord, but that rarely lasts. It's almost like the fire burns out, the light vanishes. Until, another God Moment arrives, and all of a sudden, your energy reappears.

Really, our lives should not be like this at all. We should have that fire that continually burns, that passion for the Lord that drives us forward each and every day. There realistically shouldn't be a single moment in our lives from the moment we accept Jesus as our personal Saviour to the moment we join God in heaven where we are not passionately pursuing His mission, in whatever capacity that may look like for each different individual. But, the reality is, it isn't like that. Again, like so many other things in life, the problem is the curse of sin, the curse of our human nature.

We really don't understand the extent of the results of the curse of sin. Humankind has been drastically impacted by the curse, to the point where certain things are unavoidable, even though we claim that we can change things. WE CAN'T! I know it's cliche, but it's true, only God can. This rollercoaster of energy or focus, this wave of passion stems from the issue that it's within our nature to be distracted, to easily forget, to fall away from God. It's not like as soon as you accept Jesus into your heart, that your whole nature is completely fixed. It's not like that at all. Being a Christian takes work, real, hard, effort. We have to put all our focus on drawing closer to God. We have to understand that falling away from God is the easy path; we have to remember to continue to pursue what we've been called to.

On a related topic, Remembering the Gospel, Beau Hughes from the Village Church stated that there are a few ways we can tackle this problem. One is by putting constant reminders all around us. Whether it be sticky notes of Bible verses, or pictures of stunning creations, or quotes focused on the heart of the mission, really anything to remind us of our God Moments, and to keep the spark ignited. A second thing to do is to continue to chase God Moments. Search for times and places to draw closer to God, and continually revisit them. Don't limit yourself to simply having these times twice a year on your weekend retreats. Find ways and times to embrace these moments every week, even every day!

Posting on Social Media

I want to implore everyone on social media, before your next post, read what you're about to share. Seriously, take a look at what you're about to spread all over the web. Only post something if you understand what you are saying, if you actually believe what you are saying, if you are ready to stand by what you are saying. That means there has to be facts behind your opinions. You can't just state whatever pops into your head, just because it sounds good, or it's going to get you the most views.

Our society is all about popularity. Social media only drives that urge forward. Today, it's all about sharing that picture that will get the most likes, or the quippy tweet that will get the most favourites, or the opinion that will get the most shares. It's gotten to the point where really all common sense has flown out the window. Instead of actually caring about what is going out to the whole world, people are just posting whatever they can to drive their popularity forward.

This can be really damaging. One of the biggest problems in society today is information. If you don't pay attention, or put forth an effort, you are only fed certain perspectives of information. A lot of times, these perspectives are geared toward getting a certain response. For some reason, it really seems to be working. People are just buying in to what this "information" says and wholeheartedly believing everything that is put out there. I love debates, but you can't have a good debate when you don't know what you are saying, or know every side of the argument. When you do just buy in to this one side of information, most times because it's the popular view, and you start spreading your uneducated opinions on the world wide web, you're only adding to the problem.

This includes politics, religion, personal information, pretty much everything! Spend some time researching your own opinions, your own beliefs. Putting in the work beforehand will make such a difference. Actually care about what you believe, and why you believe it. It will truly change your life.

The Purpose of Church

Regularly attending a church is a Christian issue that I've wrestled with for many years, and have come to the conclusion that it is vitally important and should be prioritized. Today, many seem to believe that not attending church is alright, or not committing to a church is fine. I would argue otherwise.

First, why is attending church regularly so important? It is key here to describe exactly what I mean by attending church. I don't necessarily mean attending Sunday services, although that is definitely an aspect of it. Attending a church is joining a family and growing in your faith alongside them. As a group, it is joining together and seeking God out. While it does include Sunday services, it also includes volunteering, praying together, meeting outside of church together, connecting with others in the goal of finding Christ together.

Aspects of Sunday services can be recreated individually, but the church experience cannot be. Church is all about a group of likeminded people, blessed by God to be a family to tackle life together.

"For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20

This group gathering develops aspects of the faith that otherwise are going to be untouched. You can try to grow by yourself as much as possible, but there is a ceiling that you will hit. A church unlocks that, and helps bring you to a whole new level. It's also a support system to keep you focused, and really living the life that Christ designed for you.

And secondly, why should you commit to one church?

This is the area that I have really struggled with over the years. I think it's one of those issues that really do deal with a balance. The balance goes between your commitment to your church, and your commitment to your own faith. This is a really hard balance to discern, because each situation is going to be different. With that in mind, I do think more importance should be put on committing to one church family. The exception is if what is happening within the church family is absolutely detrimental to your faith and progression. At those drastic times, it might be best to search for a new family to help you out. But do not use this as an out, an excuse; it's really a last resort.

The church is a family first and foremost. Throughout it all, everyone has something to offer, something to contribute to help through the growing pains. If everyone just gave up when things didn't go their way, the church would be dead today. Change is hard, and it's going to be difficult, especially in the church setting, but it is possible, and necessary.

Exodus: Gods and Kings Movie Review

Rating: 8.4/10
Website: http://www.exodusgodsandkings.com/
Purchase: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/movie/exodus-gods-and-kings/id940901911

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. As I've discussed before, it seems to be a real issue in Hollywood that Christian based movies have to be twisted in order to come up with the theatrical effect that you look for in a hit film. If that theatrical aspect isn't there, the movie, no matter the story, does tend to be very bland. While this film does take some liberties, I found myself just enjoying it rather then focusing on those differences.

The movie focuses on the story of Moses and specifically his struggles with God in terms of the pain he had watching the pain of the Egyptians he had grown up with. It showed how Moses struggled to let his natural character fall to the side in order to let God do amazing work. It focused on the patience required by Moses, and the rest of the Israelites.

While some may argue that God was painted as a cruel being in the movie, or that some of the plagues were stretched, or that the story focused too much on rituals, I actually thought that the production crew did a fairly good job depicting the story. Of course, there were some differences, but not enough in my opinion to comprise the story, or the reason behind the story. The casting was amazing, the production was outstanding. The only thing to bring up is that there was some violence with war scenes and such.

This movie really made me think, and opened my eyes to a whole different side of the Moses story. I truly enjoyed the film, and would highly rate it to anyone. I would even watch it with a non-Christian friend, and expect them to enjoy it. 

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