I got this devotional this morning from an amazing person, and it really struck me. The timing of this couldn’t have been better. Well, it could have been earlier in the morning so I wouldn’t miss class for being emotional and a complete wreck, or it could have came a week earlier so I wouldn’t have to change my passage late for my biblical interpretation class as I am going to do now, but other than that it’s perfect timing . The message really spoke to me, especially the last paragraph – the summation – and I thought I’d share it with you. I hope it brings as much comfort and confidence as it did for me.

First – the passage from http://www.biblegateway.com in the New International Version

Romans 8

Life Through the Spirit

 ¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,^[a]
2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,^[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.^[c] And so he condemned sin in sinful man,^[d]
4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

 ⁵Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶The mind of sinful man^[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; ⁷the sinful mind^[f] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

 ⁹You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

 ¹²Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. ¹³For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, ¹⁴because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.^[g] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[h] Father.” ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Here is the devotional relating to the passage I received this morning.

Romans 8:1-17

Paul contrasts the life controlled by “the flesh” and the one controlled by the Spirit. His thought is clearly impacted by Greek thought, which considered the physical life to be inferior to the spiritual/intellectual life. For the Jews, though, God was the creator of the physical world, so it, too, is sacred. What Paul is acknowledging is that sometimes our physical appetites lead us away from our spiritual values. It is not that the pleasures of the flesh are sinful, but that it is unhealthy to be controlled by them.

Paul goes on to say:

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with Christ so that we may also be glorified with him.

Romans 8:14-17

That phrase, “spirit of adoption,” is fascinating to me. Once upon a time I might have thought this meant that, while Jews were always children of God, Gentiles have now been adopted. That might seem like it makes us a secondary part of the family, but Roman adoption was a very different reality. People (men) often were adopted as adults. This would happen if a family did not have a male heir or if their son had died.

When one was adopted their old identity was replaced completely by their new one. All their old debts or offenses were expunged. Even if other children were later born into the family, the standing of the adopted child was unchanged; they remained the heir. God’s own Spirit is the witness of this event according to Paul. (v. 16)

Our oldest daughter is adopted. People sometimes ask if she “knows,” as though it is a secret we should keep. It was our decision that, from the start, she should know that she is a child of our choosing. She was not an “accident” or a “surprise,” but she is chosen. We wanted her and sought her and chose her to be a part of our love and life to cherish and love unconditionally and forever. What more could anyone want? What more could any parent give?

This is what Paul is trying to say to us: You are wanted, sought, chosen and cherished by God. What more could you want? What more could God give?

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

               -Reinhold Niebuhr

This quote has meaning in a few different areas of my life right now, and I am working on altering my thinking to not beat myself up so much on things in my past. I’ve been investing too much thought and energy into what I have done; my thoughts, my choices, my decisions, as well as how people have affected me with their choices and actions. Regardless of wishing I have done things differently, or whether I am satisifed with how my past, in the end it is just that, my past. I can only move forward and make the best of my life for my present and future. This is who I am. The only thing I have the power to control is how I respond and grow. I will continue to focus and take positive strides towards creating the best life possible for myself now, and in the future.

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that my faith, and I am sure many people’s faith is a little bit like a roller coaster ride. There are climbs, there are huge quick falls that are very scary, and there are corkscrews where you might have now clue where you are, where you are going, and what is happening next. I have recently dropped very low, on this roller coaster ride, but it’s not fun and games for me. There are no padded harnesses or safety belts to prevent me from getting hurt. And when I start to attempt to climb back up again on my own, gravity, or the Enemy, starts to pull back at me. It’s almost as if the harder I strive to climb away from the depths, the Enemy pulls that much harder. It may be a lame analogy, but I am going to continue with it. We’ve all been on roller coasters, and if you haven’t then you’re really missing out. But on almost every ride, usually at the beginning, there is a climb to a high point and the ride starts at the top, and lets momentum and gravity take over to get through the obstacles. Gravity is constant, it is always there pulling down on the roller coaster car. Just alone, the car cannot make the climb up the ramp to get to the top. There is something there used to pull the car up. The chain underneath the tracks is my lame representation for God, the Bible, Jesus, all of the above putting me on track to make my ascension. If the track is stopped, then there is no chance that I am going to go anywhere, gravity is too strong and would win every time. It is only when the track is in motion that the car begins to move. Likewise, it is only when I put my faith in the Lord, and trust his word and his divine representative Jesus, that I am able to accelerate and start my climb. I hope this makes sense, it is difficult for me to describe through an analogy. In my life, I am currently in the struggle to get my ‘car’ on ‘track’ and allow for the ‘track’ to overcome ‘gravity’ and start moving me. In other words, I am currently in a struggle to put my life in God’s hands, and allow for God to over come the Enemy and start moving me.

In addition to the roller coaster analogy in one my previous posts, another on mentioned my current struggles with my image of God. I talked about how a flawed image of God, whether through poor teaching, or personal tragedy, causes people to lose their trust in Him and put it in themselves. I will be the first to sign me name to the list of people who have thought they didn’t need outside help to overcome their problems, and just ignored their Master and Creator. As the roller coaster car, I basically told the track operator, “No, I got this. Go ahead and shut the track off, I can climb this ramp on my own power. Gravity is no issue, I don’t need any help.” Well, we can all see what would happen there. And yet while I sit here writing about throwing out my personal pride and submitting to the Almighty, I am still holding on to things that I think are the right way, or might make me happy. I am still not completely giving my will and my heart to the Lord. This is one of the most painful feelings I have experienced in a long time. I have been hurt a lot in the last couple years, but it almost pales in comparison to the thought of making mistakes on top of my hurt and creating a darker, lower situation for myself.

Short disclaimer. I talked with my very close friend Beth, who also has a blog (http://mybadfriended.wordpress.com). We talked about writing styles, and I really admired how I saw her personality through her writing, and that my writing style seemed even a bit removed and guarded. So I might be rambling a bit with this post, but I want to try to stick with the first thoughts that come through my head and share my true heart rather than something revised and edited to some silly standard what effectively cages my true thoughts.

Anyways, getting back to my struggle and progressive turn around, I feel that I need to explain the title of this post. I made a Part 1 already, so I hope that was read before this as well. This is Part 2: The Enemy is Strong. I picked this title and topic because it relates to my image of God as well as my attempt to make positive changes in my life. I feel like every time I try to ‘do the right thing’ or ‘be a better person’, there is an opposing force that becomes stronger the harder I try to pull away. It’s like those Chinese finger traps. Another lame analogy, I know. We’ve all played with these when we were kids, and again, if you haven’t then you are missing out even more. But the idea behind the finger trap is that you’re fingers are stuck on either end of the woven tube. When you try to free your fingers, the weave gets tight, and there isn’t room for your fingers to escape. This is what I feel like sometimes. I am living my life, everything is normal and satisfactory, then all the sudden something happens to me, positive or negative, and I realize I want more. I want to change the way I am living and devote myself to the Lord. I begin to pull to get out of this trap that I am in, but the harder I pull, the tighter the trap gets and I get stuck. There is no way out. I can pull as hard as I can, but I obviously can’t escape on my own. Now none of us still have those cursed finger traps attached to our hands, so somebody obviously has told each of us the secret to escape. But through all the analogies, the idea is that it is impossible to rely completely on ourself for all of life’s challenges. the Enemy is too strong. I’m going to say that again, the Enemy is too strong. I might win a battle here and there, but it is all meaning less when I get decimated in the war. It is not even a contest. It would be like Brock Lesner, the biggest, baddest, toughest guy I think there is, fighting against a 4 year old girl. She might scream at the top of her lungs, and make Lenser cringe, giving her time to try to run away, but it is a small and short-lived victory, because the advantage he has is far to overbearing and powerful. The only way to defeat an enemy as powerful as The Enemy himself, is to get something or someone more powerful on your side. Obviously without continuing on rambling in analogies, it is not possible to win the war against the Enemy on your own. Even in the simple life of Adam and Eve, it only took one simple temptation from the serpent to convince Eve that God was imperfect and that with the knowledge of Good and Evil, she thought she could do better. In a world of pain and suffering all around us, the Enemy is much stronger. It is foolish to fight on our own against such a powerful enemy. God is ready and willing to help us and lead us to victory in this battle, but he have to check out pride and submit to his power. “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength” Philippians 4:13. David did not defeat Goliath on his own, it was the ultimate mismatch of the Bible. David prayed to the Lord for guidance and strength and with the Lord on his side, he was able to succeed amidst overpowering odds.

Lost post short, the Enemy is very strong. Too strong. It is naive and immature to think that we as humans are powerful enough to resist him and win the war on our own. There is an ALL POWERFUL GOD waiting to be called upon to fight with us. Allow for the ‘track’ to pull you out from the inert state we all get caught up in. And when we get stuck, like in the Chinese finger trap, and no matter how hard we pull on our own, there is no chance for success, then all God to step in and show us the way out.

This is what I am working on. I am no where close to being on track to make my assent out from the depths, but I am sick of the falls, the dives, and sometimes even worse the immobile and non-concerned state of mind, and I’m ready to make a change. I apologize for how raw this post is, it is definitely no up to my standard of clarity, but I hope it reads as clear as it is in my head, which actually is still a bit muddled, but thoughts seem to come together much better when expressed. God bless, and I hope you have God on your side, or you are willing to sign Him to your team, because without Him, it is a depressing, losing battle.

I have come to discover that whenever I have a ‘spiritual high’, whether from a good sermon, a church camp, or a challenge from a good friend or mentor, the Enemy seems to counter with a surge of temptations and lies about my creator that make me question my faith, or worse, become complacent and unconcerned. Throughout my life, I have felt the push and pull for my faith and allegiances, which cause the feel almost like a roller coaster. There are highs, lows, climbs, drops, and plateaus, but they have become much more dramatic, especially the last couple years. I am currently coming off a very low low, probably the lowest I have ever experienced, and I need to make sure that this climb has a good foundation and framework. I am working to surround myself with better, more positive people, and working to become more transparent, because lies covering up lies covering up my embarrassment and mistakes were a big part of my life recently.

I revisited a book that I looked to at the beginning of the year, which had written exactly what I needed to hear. Big surprise that I only made it through about 25 pages, it was exactly what I needed to hear, but the last thing I wanted. The right answer or good counsel always seems to be the last thing you want to hear when you dig yourself into a hole, especially when you realize how much you need it. I opened up the book and re-read a passage that really stuck out to me, and I want to share it. It’s a book called “Is God to Blame? Beyond pat answers to the problem of suffering”. It was introduced to me by a great man named Eric Robbins, the lead pastor at Journey Church in downtown Kirkland. It talks about how to deal with you suffering, and God’s role in our lives during our trials. So far of what I have read, it all comes down to our image of God, and where we put our trust, in ourselves, or in our Creator and Father.  With that, here are the passages (I split them up into 2, and removed a small section that would not flow as part of an excerpt) that symbolize the beginning of my climb out of the pit where I have placed myself. Read it a couple of times through, it’s pretty intense.

Oh, and one last thing before you read. These passages is predicated on the work of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The serpent persuaded Eve that God’s prohibition of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was actually a weakness, where he didn’t want competition from his creation if Eve was to eat the forbidden fruit. This lie compromised Eve’s perfect vision of God, and created an emptiness that only God can fill, yet she decides to try to fill it on her own, thinking that she can do better. This idea is covered in the passages. Ok, now have at it!

“Unlike God, our knowledge and wisdom are finite. We simply are not equipped to make accurate and loving judgments about good and evil. To us, even in an unfallen condition, the complex world is mostly ambiguous. Our experience and perceptions of reality are incredibly narrow. Aside from God’s revelation of himself, we are incapable of drawing definitive conclusions about most things, especially the state of people’s hearts. But we can (1) trust what God tells us about himself, (2) experience fullness of love and life as we commune with God, (3) walk in humble obedience to him, and (4) exercise the authority he’s given to us.
When we go beyond this boundary and try to know what God alone can know, when we try to be “wise” like God, it destroys us. In trying to seize what properly belongs only to God, we lose what properly belongs to us. We forfeit our God-given authority on earth, giving it to Satan (see Lk 4:5-7). Instead of being ruled by divine love, we become oppressed by diabolical power. The “accuser” (Rev 12:10) turns us into accusers rather than lovers.”

“A faulty picture of God led to an ungodly evaluation that in turn brought about a rebellious action. The lie about God created the illusion that Eve could fill her emptiness by disobeying God. The lie created an emptiness as well as the futile and rebellious means of filling it. A false concept of God, and therefore of herself, gave birth to sinful behavior, which in turn brought about spiritual and physical death (see Jas 1:14-16).
This is not merely an account of what happened a long time ago. Its our own story. Under the bondage of the serpent’s lie, we try to achieve through our own efforts what God wants to freely give us. We have a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts that only God can fill. But we try to fill that vacuum through our illegitimately seized knowledge of good and evil. Instead of innocently trusting God to meet our innermost needs, we trust our own assessment of things and our own ability to get the things we deem “good”. We live by our knowledge of good and evil rather than by trusting our loving God.
The “good” we pursue may be respect, security, religion, ethical superiority, the rightness of our opinions, pleasure and so on. And the “evil” we avoid is anything that challenges the “goods” that have become out source of life. We end up desperately trying to attain a full life from a center of emptiness rather than from the center of abundance, which comes freely from our loving God.”

Ok, now read the passages again, then comment. I want to hear your thoughts and insight! What is your image of God?

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all-in-all
Here in the love of Christ I stand
In Christ alone who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that Cross, as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
‘Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand
‘Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand
Here in the power of Christ alone

“The Tipping Point” -Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point: “the moment of critical mass, the threshold”. Malcolm Gladwell in his book, “the tipping point”, takes an idea that there is a point of cataclysmic change in all popular trends, where ideas “tip”. This , the tipping point, applies universally among many different industries and fields. The rise of the athletic show company Airwalk, to the crime rate drop in NYC after 1990, to children’s televisions shows like Blue’s clues and Sesame Street all at one point tipped. The processes that combine to create this tipping point in each of these vastly different entities can be linked and boiled down to some essential traits, according to Gladwell.

He first presents an idea he calls the “Law of the Few”. He describes how the success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts. He separates these people into three groups: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Connectors are people with a special gift for bringing the world together. Connectors have a strong network of people from all walks of life. They are experts at cultivating relationships where information is shared that would not have spread otherwise. Mavens are the eclectic experts to which we look to when we want information. They are specialists on a particular subject who know the latest happenings or trends within that subject. Salesmen are just that, salesmen. They have an innate ability to persuade people with their charisma and negotiation skills.

The second “rule of epidemics” that Gladwell describes is called “The Stickiness Factor”. This refers to how an advertisement, television show, or any other form of communication becomes memorable. Children’s television shows are profiled for their successful use of the stickiness factor and how they were able to attract a captive audience for an entire episode. Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues are now the benchmarks for their superior stickiness properties. Sesame Street broke all of the rules in mixing fictional characters like Big Bird and Oscar the grouch with humans. They also gave their audience more credit for attentiveness. Their unorthodox methods struck a powerful chord that changed the face of children’s television. Blues Clues took a very different approach, but was still wildly successful. With an extremely simple environment, where the mailbox was named ‘Mailbox’, a pail and a shovel were named, ‘Pail and Shovel’, and the sidetable drawer was named, ‘sidetable drawer’. They also allowed extra time for audience interaction when finding clues. They aired the same 30 minute show everyday of the week before they launched a new episode. While these cases were very successful, case studies, market research, and much trial and error are necessary to find the factor that makes a product, advertisement, or idea stick.

Gladwell’s final rule of epidemics is called “The Power of Context”. This is an idea that illustrates how small changes can create enormous impacts. He relays the idea that epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur. In New York, vandalism was a big problem within the subway system. There were actions to combat the vandalism that took place, but none seemed to have a permanent solution to the problem. What ended up solving the vandalism issue was something surprisingly simple. Gladwell’s “broken-window” theory portrays that simple changes such as replacing a broken window, painting over graffiti, or cleaning up trash can invoke a dramatic outcome. In the case of the subway system, the vandalism finally decreased when they established a thorough cleaning system of the subway cars. Removing the trash and poor upkeep on the subway cars actually brought about a positive attitude change in the people who rode the subway. The incentive for vandalism dropped significantly when the would-be vandals entered into clean, orderly, and brighter cars, from how they were in the past when they were trashy, run-down, and dimly lit.

Aside from these three rules of epidemics, Gladwell also shared some other stories and theories in the book as well. I thought it was especially interesting when he talked about how “simple physical movements and observations can have a profound effect on how we feel and think. He brought up a quote from Gary Wells and Richard Petty taken from their research findings of their headphone study. They reported that, “television advertisements would be most effective if the visual display created repetitive vertical movements of the television viewers’ heads (e.g., bouncing ball).” I am sure that tactics similar to this have been a root to much of the contempt to marketers as being manipulative. I have a hard time disagreeing with the manipulation, but I am impressed by the psychological aspect of marketing.

I am excited to read more of Gladwell’s writing and research findings to expand my grasp on economics and marketing. I hope this was insightful and inspiring because it certainly was for me. Here is a link to the amazon site if you’re interested in reading it. I can also recommend other related books that are very good as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624

Before I dive into some topics and interesting stories that I have wanted to share, I thought it would be appropriate  to blog about blogging. I researched many articles that detail the positives and negatives of blogging, myspace/facebook/twitter/youtube, and the internet in general. Here are my findings as well as links to the websites and articles that held most of this information (not that I need to comply with copyrights, but some of these were interesting, as well as a few ridiculous and comical articles). Enjoy.

The Positive Effects of Blogging

Creating an intellectual blog requires research and careful writing. This challenges the writer to be accurate in their information as well as creates an environment where learning occurs, for the reader and the writer.

If a writer is treating their blog in a formal or semi-formal manner, and doing their best to use correct grammar, then they will gradually, with the help of constructive feedback from their readers, improve in their writing skills.

Blogs may allow authors to communicate subject matter difficult to express in regular social interaction by reducing social constraints that hinder discussion of distressing events in offline life.

Higher levels of social integration suggest that bloggers feel greater belonging to a group of likeminded people with interests and ways of thinking similar to their own.

The Negative Effects of Blogging

“If all you do is restrain yourself to your own little mental world, you probably won’t improve your writing.” Blogging has a reputation of being conceited and narcissistic. It is important to expand your horizons and strive of objectivity in research and reading to improve the content of your blog.

Blogging is addictive and can become destructive. Wasting countless hours during the day reading, commenting, and posting can replace needed exercise and offline social interaction while possibly creating the possibility of addictive behavior in the future.

Blog topics and comment strings can become insulting and offensive. People are able to hide behind their username without divulging their identity and ruthlessly attack another blogger without repercussion.

Much privacy is lost, many times voluntarily, and once something has been written or published on the internet, it is impossible to erase it completely.

The Side Effects of Blogging.

1. A blogging session lasting more than 4 hours is perfectly acceptable and there is no need to seek immediate medical attention.
2. Blogging may boost your ability to remember what day of the week it is.
3. Blogging intensifies your urges to make the world a better place.
4. When blogging, you may become deluded in believing that people actually care about you are saying.

Links:

http://redstaplerchronicles.com/side-effects-of-blogging/
http://www.helium.com/items/940515-the-negative-side-of-blogging
http://www.shockmd.com/2008/11/14/effect-of-blogging-on-well-being-increased-social-support-and-satisfaction/
http://www.theteengeek.com/2009/09/the-effects-of-blogging-on-peoples-writing-ability/