1person for many souls, many souls for 1person

~Beautiful Stranger~

magster09 — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:01:19 +0000

I had heard once that prayer requests is the Christian way to gossip. For the longest time I had agreed with this statement. I have been going to Woodland Heights Baptist Church with a friend and a tradition in this church is to discuss prayer requests. And every Wednesday before the sermon started I would watch the church members discuss what was going on in people’s life and jot down what they heard. I remember thinking they don’t actually pray for these people. They just want to know their business.

So I sit down another night and prepare my self to hear the latest “prayer request.” But tonight… It was different! A man named Steven was the first to speak up tonight. I gave him my full attention, wondering what he might say. His father had died that morning! I watched as his hands shook and trembled with pain. He laid his heart on the table for everyone to hear. As I looked on I could feel a pain in my own heart slowly creep over me.

This man was a total stranger but I could feel his pain tonight. It was a weird feeling! Through out the service my thoughts were drawn back to this stranger. I could feel that God was trying to tell me something. So after the service I decided to introduce my self to him and let him know that I would be praying for him. He was so grateful and truly appreciated that little statement. This is all that it takes to do the will of God. You just have to get the courage to walk up then God will handle the rest.

Once I got back to the dorm I turned on my music preparing my self to write a paper and two songs played that hopefully will always remind me of this night. Beautiful Stranger by Rebecca St. James came on first. “Do you see me? The question’s in her eyes. Do you relate to the pain I can’t disguise?… God, I hear you calling out to me. In the voices of the least of these, calling me to reach beyond my world. To the beautiful stranger, Beautiful Stranger.” Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath! “Give me your eyes for just one second, give me your eyes so I can see, everything that I keep missing. Give me your love for humanity. Give me your arms for the broken hearted, ones that are far beyond my reach.” I really encourage you to listen to these songs if you haven’t ever heard them before. They are truly touching!

I will pay more attention to the prayer requests now. You never know when someone needs a little encouragement from God.

My life is a battlefield!

magster09 — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:04:16 +0000

My life is a battlefield,

God v. Satan.

I may end up crying,

But I won’t stumble or fall.

I won’t budge at all.

I will stand in my faith.

Nothing can bring me down,

Because I’m on the winning side

With the one who wears the crown.

So just try me, Satan!

Give me your best shot.

I may loose sight for a second,

But the war will be his in the end.

God always triumphs over you

On the battlefield!

Acceptingly Rated R

magster09 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:41:48 +0000

Through commercials and T.V., we are exposed to subjects that would not normally be allowed in Christian homes. Over the past years companies have gained more freedom in what they are allowed to put on T.V. Even the childrens channels like ABC Family have been bought out and are now running commercials that don’t fit with the viewers age. For Christians it is hard to escape the world. Certian words are permitted to be used and almost very commercial has a pretty woman in skimpy clothes, just to sell an item. These rated R commercials are not necessarily the root of all evil, but it does contribute to the problems in the world today. What goes in, will come out. In this day and time people see money as being more important than morals. Americans have become so greedy that they will throw away their beliefs and values just to make a couple of million dollars. As Christians we have to ask our selfs how far will we let this go? What can we do to limit the freedom of producers and such. It would be better if advertising and T.V. were restricted. It might make it harder for the ones making the commercial but at least it would challenge them to be more creative. Besides who ever said that sex was the only thing that sells?

LOVE / HATE!

magster09 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:18:21 +0000

There is a fine line between love and hate. One time a really close friend of mine told me, “you know the things a person hates the most are the same things that that person does (or love to do).” Well I agreed with them but I never really thought about it until recently. I was listening to a conversation about this person’s likes and dislikes, and I got to thinking that they do the exact same things that they are trashing someone else for doing. I was really confused… I did not understand why someone would talk so badly about someone when they commit the same sins. A couple of hours later that thought hit me again except it was against my self this time. I thought about how I despised sin but I commit an act of sin every day. However, as Christians we are supposed to despise sin and not the sinner. I realize that no one is perfect but I learned that it is not my dislikes I needed to change it was my self. Instead of just hating sin I need to try and stop committing it. I know I can because, “You can do all things through Christ who STRENGTHENS you,” all I need is some extra prayer!

Church Growth

magster09 — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:26:22 +0000

Bro. Aaron Johnson, of Life Point Baptist Church in Washington, PA, has given me and Tim an assignment for each week where we have to read two chapters of Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. The book is about Jim Cymbala, a preacher who started the Brooklyn Tabernacle. The Brooklyn Tabernacle is now a very famous church known for its magnificent sermons and its endowed choir that has produced many albums in the past. However this church that runs thousands of people started out with ten non-dedicated members. The main question is how did a church in downtown Brooklyn, a place consumed in crime and drugs, gain so many members. Jim’s answer is Prayer. The churches Tuesday night prayer meeting was the barometer which Cymbala measured the churches failure or future. After every big praying session Jim could see God working in the church more and more. A guest missionary once said to the congregation…

“You can tell how popular the church is by who comes Sunday morning. You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night. But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting (or Wednesdays).”

Some people do not want to admit to this but it is true because a loyal Christian would fellowship with their church. Once Jim took this to heart and began to pray about it more and more people poured into the church soon the church was up to 100 people every Tuesday night prayer meeting. Jim said, “If…calling on God ever slacks off in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, we’ll know we’re in trouble, even if we have 10,000 in attendance.” Now as a result of a church based on prayer you have to wait 4 hours at the door to insure a seat up close! Now that is the Power of Prayer.

1 person for many souls, many souls for one person!

magster09 — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:25:16 +0000

People were having a little trouble understanding the title of my blog, 1 person for many souls, many souls for 1 person. The 1 person I am talking about is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who died on the cross for every one in the world. “Do you think that I can not appeal to may Father, and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so.” (Matthew 26: 53-54) Jesus was speaking to one of his disciples, who cut off the high priests ear while trying to save Jesus, explaining that if the soldiers did not take him then how would God’s will be done. Jesus was more than prepared to go with the soldiers so that he may give his life for everyone else in the world. Jesus was willing to die for other people’s sin even though he had never committed a sin in his life. Matthew 27: part of 21-23 says, “(They all said, “Let him be crucified!” and Pilate replied, “Why what evil has he done?”)” Everyone who was shouting crucify knew Jesus was sinless and that scared them so they wanted him dead. When Jesus died for you and every one else he did it out of love for you and so that you could do one thing for not only him but the world. “For God so loved the World that he sent his only son that who ever believes in him shall not parish but have ever lasting life.” (John 3: 16) All he wants from us is to ask for forgiveness and become saved and then he wants us to serve even strangers and show them the love of Christ. This is the where many souls for 1person comes into play and if you do this then you will live the rest of eternity in heaven, a most glorious place. Everyone in the world is supposed to come together to serve the Lord. If you have any questions about Jesus and becoming saved you can write me at magster09@hotmail.com. I hope this little bit of information helped you to better understand my title but this is only a small portion of the mysterious but astonishing work of God.