A Call to Holiness

So I just began reading a book called A 20th Century Apostle, The Life of Alfred Garr by Steve Thompson, and I came upon this: but soon he discovered that holiness could not be maintained without obedience. See, before this, Alfred had been resisting God's call on his life because he was so consumed with the world. Part of him hungered and longed for God, but the other part was engulfed in this world. And he got sick of it. He wanted to God to become fully real to him. And once God answered his prayer, God called him into the ministry. Well, Alfred resisted the call because he still wanted to do what he wanted to do. Here's the full quote of what it says after God revealed to him his calling into the ministry:

"Soon after I felt the call of God to preach the gospel. I resisted. Time after time God marvelously delivered me from being killed (he worked on the railroad), but still I would not yield. By my disobedience I lost God. All this time I was running on the road. One day I was led to a Holiness camp meeting, and there the Lord revealed to my soul I must preach or go to an everlasting hell. I would never make another trip on the railroad." Alfred had found sanctifying power, but soon discovered that holiness could not be maintained without obedience. By resisting God's call to the ministry, he lost the sense of God's pleasure and presence. While seeking to appease his conscience, the Lord spoke again to him at a Holiness meeting. After this encounter, Alfred never shrank back from following God. In Fact, he hardly ever walked again. Now he started to run.

I LOVE that last quote because it is so true.

But back to holiness, God has called us to be holy and perfect, as He is. (Matthew 5:48 & 1 Peter 1:15) God gives us the power to live up to that standard. His grace (which is His power) is enough! (1 Corinthians 15:10, Acts 14:3, Acts 20:32, Romans 1:5, 2 Timothy 1:9, 1 John 5:2, 1 John 2:6)

But we can't expect to live holy without obedience. Those two go together like fire and some kind of fuel. You can't have one without the other. You are either hot or you're cold (Revelation 3:15-16). Honestly, if you are a complacent Christian I would question whether you are really saved or not. There aren't three levels like most people think. There are not Unsaved, Saved, then Burning. There is just Unsaved and Burning. I never read anywhere in the Bible where it says complacency is okay. But I have found some where it is not.(Zep 1:12, 2 Kings 19:28, Proverbs 1:22) It all depends on what do you want. What do you REALLY want. God doesn't want someone who is halfhearted. He wants our WHOLE heart. (1 Chronicles 28:9, 2 Chronicles 19:9, 2 Chronicles 15:15, Mark 12:33, Jeremiah 29:13). You have to run after Him. Press into Him. Seek Him wholeheartedly EVERYDAY. Pray and fast and study your Bible always. Especially when you don't feel like it. Always rememeber that. Don't base your faith on how you feel because trust me, you will get no where. The times you don't feel like it are the times God wants you to press in the hardest.

So what do you want?

The Disobedience Principle

This blog was posted on The RAMP's web site, and I wanted to share it.

One of the best ways to describe Israel's history is by the simple word "cycles." In reading the Old Testament, you find over and over and over again God's people falling into idolatry, consequently being in bondage, returning to God in repentance, being delivered, and then falling into idolatry . . . . The cycle goes on and on. You especially see this cycle in the book of

Judges: idolatry, bondage, repentance, deliverer, idolatry, bondage, repentance, deliverer, etc.

During one of these particular periods of idolatry, the consequence of Israel's disobedience manifests itself in an interesting way. Judges 6:3-6 describes how Israel would sow seed, but then Midianites would destroy the produce, leaving Israel impoverished and hungry. Israel was applying a Biblical principle of sowing and reaping.

However, they were not reaping what they sowed because their own disobedience. Disobedience makes null and void Biblical principles from producing fruit in our lives.

As Damon Thompson was teaching this recently at the Ramp, he asked how many times we apply Biblical principles, don't see the expected results, and then get frustrated with God when really the problem was our own disobedience the whole time. It's a Biblical principle

that the elders of the church would anoint the sick with oil, prayer the prayer of faith, and see the sick healed. How many times do we apply that principle without seeing the fruit of healing? Could disobedience be robbing the fruit?

It's wrong for us to expect God to ignore areas of disobedience and idolatry while also expecting fruitful lives because we apply a few principles like tithing and prayer. God will not ignore if we harden our hearts to Him.

Therefore, we must ask ourselves where the cycle ends. Where can we find relief from our disobedience and idolatry? Sin dies at the cross. God raising up a deliverer over and over again is a prophetic picture

of the ultimate deliverer who would conquer us once and for all. Hebrews 10:14 says, "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." Jesus' one offering has once and for all delivered us.

Today, God wants us to walk in lives of fruitfulness. He wants Biblical principles to operate in us. But more than that, He wants us wholly given to Him. He will not share us. At the cross, we are delivered, and our disobedience dies. Then, fruitfulness lies ahead of

us.

-Micah

What is Love?

So I've had this on my mind a lot lately.
Love.
What is love?
Now, I know we all know the verses 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."

Think about that. Most people assume love is just a feeling, but it is not. It is action. It's belief. But most of all, its greater than you. Greater than your pride or your own wants and desires. It goes above yourself.

The "feelings" that you get is what's called infatuation. No where in those verses did it say that love is butterflies. Now, I'm not saying infatuation is wrong, not at all. But when you say that you love someone, when really in all reality you don't, that's wrong.

True love is so strong. It breaks all bonds of common sense and what you thought you knew. It's humbling what it does to you. If only you could pick who you love, but I learned that it picks you.

I guess I'm venting today because love is really breaking me down. Keep this verse in mind so you don't rush into love, especially when you aren't ready even if you think you are:

Song of Songs (Solomon) 8:4
"Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires."

Spend tremendous amounts of time in prayer before dating someone, and make sure its the person God has called for you, so feelings and time are not wasted on the wrong person.

This is How A Christian is Supposed to Look:

"The Son reflects God's own Glory, and everything about Him represents Him exactly." Hebrews 1:3
"As He is, so are we in this world." I John 4:17

We are supposed tp be like Jesus! And Jesus said that we would go out and do even greater things than He did!
John 14:12-14
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Mark 16:15-18
And He said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be save, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. AND THESE SIGNS WILL ACCOMPANY THOSE WHO BELIEVE: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."

We'll be Your hands and feet.

It's More Than Just Knowing and Believing in God

To think that you can get into Heaven just by believing in Jesus is a lie. That is part of it yes, but there is more to it.
In Romans 1, Paul addresses some "believers" who know the Word and know God, but here is what he says about them starting in verse 18:
" For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, becuase God has SHOWN it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly percieved, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are WITHOUT EXCUSE.
For although they KNEW God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
(I have a comment here. Are you putting anything in front of God in your life? Money? A person? Celebrities? Nothing should come before God in your life, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matt 6:21)
Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creater, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and recieving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deciet, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them."

I'm just going to leave you with that. Think about it

Just an Introduction

So obviously, I'm Kaitlin.

I'll mostly be talking about "religion", although I don't consider myself religious.
I think people put too much emphasis on their religion instead of on God and they get too caught up in man's rituals and traditions.
That is such a waste of time and NOT what God called the church to be like.
But that will be another blog post for another day.

If you have any topics you would like me to give you an answer to or to write on, I'm more than willing.
I'm not saying I know everything. Not at all. I feel as if the more I learn, the less I really know. It's very humbling.
But I will try to answer everything you ask, and not based on my own opinion, but by scripture.
And if you don't believe scripture, well, then, that's another blog post as well.

I love to learn, I love to sing, play guitar, anything that keeps me busy.
I hate just sitting around doing nothing for a long period of time.

Well, I guess that's enough for now, thanks for reading this and I'll write more soon.

Kaitlin