Spiritual Disciplines- Fasting

Food.
       Amazing Right? Just imagine smashing your face into a glorious pile of raspberries, chocolate chip cookies, kombucha, margarita pizza, and MACAROONS! (sorry I got a bit excited- those are my absolute FAVORITE foods in the WORLD! ....okay lets add Haitian Patay in there too)    So God gave us these foods to enjoy! So when we talk about fasting, why does God call us to abstain from food? If it is necessary for our health- why would he ask us to put our physical and mental health and happiness?

 Well, God calls us to Hate our mothers and fathers in comparison to how much you love God. The same thing goes for food, he want to be (and is) more important than those raspberry macaroons and gorgeous chocolate chip cookies. He desires us to hunger for him just like we hunger for food after a long day without much food!

Now, fasting is really cool when it comes to this. It is practicing abstaining from food in order to focus on God and what he wants to say to you. It creates the opportunity for us to choose to desire God as much as we desire food.
  
Fasting is not necessarily only for food, it is also taking away anything that distracts you from God away, so you can focus on God!
  So would you be willing to fast to know God? Would you be willing to give up social media for God? Would you be willing to give up your comfort for your relationship with Jesus?

Advice for incoming students

            Dear incoming underclassmen. Welcome, welcome to the school unlike any other. In this place you will be confused, angry, disappointed, discouraged, unmotivated and lost. Does it sound fun to you? Does this sound like all of your fears of high school merged into one sentence? Does it kind of want to make you cry? Does it make you excited? For me as an incoming freshman, I definitively was NOT excited for this school, I was NOT happy about going to a school where not a single one of my close friends were going, and I was NOT about to give into any stereotype that are so frequently fulfilled by the thousands upon thousands of other high school freshman girls. I wanted to be set apart, but I wanted a group of friends. I wanted to be good at classes but I was constantly discouraged by the fact that I didn’t know anyone in this school, and I just wanted to be accepted. Does this sound like you? Does it not? Are you still scared that this place will be horrible? That high school will be like every Disney movie? I know as a new student at Faith Bible, I felt all of those things. I heard a whole list of lies about who I was, who I wasn’t, what crowd I would fit into, and how I would be judged, and I believed every single one of them. So, my dear friends, if you haven’t been scared off yet, let me tell you something very important. Do NOT believe any of the lies that are thrown at you because Faith Bible is so VERY different. This school is full of people who actually care about you, everyone will know you by name. Your classes are small enough to where they become your closest friends. The teachers genuinely care, and will talk to you and help you out when you need it. Everyone here cares about YOU, they want you to be YOU, they want you to see GOD, and they want you to experience LOVE. My first months of school were not the greatest, I was doing volleyball at the time (take into account that I am not athletic AT ALL), and I didn’t want to show up to school, or go to volleyball workouts, I didn’t like anything at all. But the upperclassmen girls wanted to me feel welcome, and loved. And in all honesty, the people at faithbible, all of the students made me love this school.  So now that you know that this school isn’t scary, the people aren’t out to get you, I want to share with you a couple important things I wish I knew as an incoming freshman. (you should actually do these things, just do them. Don’t try and get around them because these are things you NEED to do)

1.)  Try out a sport you have never done before

       High school gives you an amazing opportunity to participate in sports, if you aren’t athletic don’t feel pressured, but it is definitively something you should try. Also, because it is a small school, you will become fast friends with your team and your coach!

2.)  Do your homework.

No, seriously do this. As a freshman I thought that colleges only would look at my junior and senior year, but it doesn’t work that way. High school grades are cumulative- so your bad math grade freshman year directly affects your college acceptance. So, a way to make sure that you get good grades, is DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Don’t push it off one day, I mean sure, you COULD get away with it, but that doesn’t mean that you SHOULD get away with it, or that it’s a good, fun idea.

3.)   ASK QUESTIONS

When you don’t understand something, ask how to do it. If you don’t understand the concept, don’t expect you to be able to teach it to yourself out of the book at home. I can assure you, the teachers make what’s in the book easier. So, ask them questions, they give you direct answers, not some weird confusing thing from the book.

            4.) Be yourself!
                      Our school has a unique mixture of people, and all of them fit in... I found that                         During my Freshman year, I tried becoming someone I was not, and It made                         me so sad! It wasn't until I was encouraged to be my weird self, that I was truly comfortable at this school. Be yourself! It feels WONDERFUL!
   5.) Be aware of what is happening on the inside- and be prepared for it to change!
            Being aware of where you are mentally and spiritually, this school is blessed with the opprotunity to be a christian school, take advantage of it! Your spiritual growth will give you energy to go through the hard days at faith bible, and the ones filled with work. Once God is your #1, your heart and mind will be at rest, your life will make sense, and you will have someone that gives you peace in your stress. 

No matter what, remember that Faith Bible is full of people who genuinely care about how you are doing! Even if you don't feel that at first- it is true!


PS. use the prayer wall!

            

high school life

i think its hard for everyone in high school to get through without falling into some temptation. its important to always keep your girl friends above any boy that shows up, and if you do get involved with a boy have a girl friend keep you acountable. have those conversations about boundries, try to be friends before any thing else, that can help to make things less about phisical and more about the other person as a person not just an attractive body.
      there are also temptations for not doing school work which i fail at keeping that up. i think it should be the main priority going through high school because thats the reason you get up every morning to go to school to learn. usually im more focosed on social life which is important but not as important as grades which affect wheater or not you go to collage. so its important to keep that a priority.
        its also hard to make sure your not disrespecting your parents through the stress of work and everything else in life. i know ive disrespected my parents a lot through the last 2 years. your relationship with your parents is an important relationship not just for money... but also they support you where ever you end up going in life. and they can help with home work unless your a smarty pants:). but i know i really need to work on keeping my pations because parents have feelings to and ive probably hurt them more than i know but they still have stayed with me through all the crap ive given them which is really impresive for how much ive thrown at them.

Fasting

                                             

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                                               Fasting                                                 

Fasting- A spiritual discipline and a willingness to give up something important such as food, drink, phones, TV, electronics, ect., to spend time with the Lord

One main reason for fasting is to give up something important to spend that time with God in any situation. A lot of people fast to help them make a difficult decision where they need God's guidance

100%. Fasting helps you feel closer to God and can help give you a clearer perspective. 

A common story in the Bible about fasting is when Moses received the commandments. 

                                                                         Deuteronomy 9:9-18

Moses fasted for 40 days when he went upon the mountain to receive the commandments 

Fasting is not an easy thing. You have to be strong against temptation and you have to have willingness. If you don't want to fast it wont be as effective. You don't have to start out with 40 days of fasting, maybe start out with skipping one meal a day. Then skip more. Then skip a day, and so on. Below is a list of bible verses about fasting:

Isaiah 58

2 Samuel 12:23

1 Kings 21:9

Nehemiah 9:1

Ester 4:3

Ester 9:31

Psalm 35:13

Psalm 109:24

Isaiah 58:1,3,4,6

Jeremiah 36:6,9

Daniel 9:3

Joel 2:12

Zechariah 7:1

Matthew 4:2, 6:16,18, 9:14

Mark 2:18

Luke 2:37, 5:33

Acts 13:2, 14:23

      

Life in High School

   Advice for Life in High School

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

~Ephesians 5:15-16

High School. I have many different words to describe high school. 

Hard.

Easy.

Exciting.

Terrifying.

Adventurous.

Amazing.

Exhausting.

Social.

Academic.

All of these words are what comes to mind when someone asks me about high school. 

Some people say "If you just survive high school you'll be okay", but when every anybody says this a question always comes to mind. "What if I don't want to just survive, what if I want to live?"

One of my favorite sayings is "surviving is different than living".

Surviving is just getting by and staying alive. 

Living is having experiences and adventures. 

So how do you live during high school? How do you manage your time? How do you maintain a constant relationship with God? How am I supposed to act in high school as a Christian? What am I supposed to think and say? 

I struggle with all of these questions myself and I'm still learning. 

1) How do you live during high school?  

Living during high school is one of the hardest parts, because then there are also sub-categories for this question, but what I can say is make the most of every opportunity. Join a sport. Be on student council. Lead a club. Go on a missions trip. Do not fear to do any of these things if you are sure God is calling you to them. If you are unsure about doing something, pray about it. I gave up a great opportunity because I was scared and now its too late. I have made my peace with it but I  decided that I'm not gonna give up another opportunity like that again out of fear.

2) How do you manage your time?

Time management can be super difficult and it can be hard to stay on task and get everything done that you need to get done, especially if you play a sport.

Step 1: Make a plan

Often times I write on my phone what needs to be done and then I check stuff of as I finish it. When I make a plan I get stuff done, but when I don't everything gets scattered.

Step 2: Find motivation 

Give yourself a goal and maybe even a prize for motivation. I will tell myself that "you can talk to your friends when you finish *task*"

I notice that that is something that works for me.

Step 3: Follow through 

So you have your plan and motivation, now fulfill it. Live it out and I promise you, you will feel great when your done.

3) How do you maintain a constant relationship with God?

This is my main struggle. What I can say is pray, read your bible, and hang out with other believers. If no one in your school or at home is a Christian, there is youth group and Sunday services. I attend a Christian school and my family is Christian and I still go to both of those because they are beneficial. 

4) How do you act as a Christian as a high school-er?
They best way to answer this question is to go straight to the bible. It says in the bible how all Christians should act, adult or teen or even children. 
Galatians 1:10 
Matthew 6:24 

5) What am I supposed to say and think?
Its hard to know what your supposed to say or what to think about. You have society telling you one way and a church telling you another way, but the best way to figure this out is to think through what you're going to say. I understand that this can be hard at times; I sometimes forget to think before I say. With your words you are either gonna bring someone up or tear them down. I personally hate tearing people down so I try really hard not to tear them down, but we all slip up at times. So next time your friends are talking about the new girl say something nice about her or don't say anything at all. Think about that next time you say something. 
The Bible says to not have impure thoughts, but that is also super difficult. But what you think is how you will start acting.

High school is tough and I''m sure you will make it, just remember to live and love all the time.   

Experiencing High School to the Fullest

It makes me sad to think about all the people who go through high school dreading everyday, not reaching out to people and making friends, and avoiding the opportunities high school has to offer. High school is such an enjoyable time of life that causes you to find out who you're going to be, what friends you'll have, your interests, and even just to have fun in the midst of learning new things that will allow you to move on and begin life full of even more opportunities. 

Specifically, high school students struggle a great amount with relationships, both as friends and as "special friends". Personally, I have only had one dating relationship with a boy and am still continuing in that relationship. We met in school our freshman year, got to know each other during sophomore year, and became an official couple the summer before our junior year. Our story is complicated, but beautiful. Both he and I desire God first in every aspect of our lives, especially in our dating/marriage relationships. We sought God together in deciding what was best for us during each season of life. Don't get me wrong, it was very difficult knowing we liked one another but not becoming a serious couple. But having a period of time where we stayed just as friends and actually getting to know one another without the distraction of being a couple was very beneficial and life-giving part of our story. Through it, we have been able to become best friends and see things we like in one another and become comfortable around each other. The night before we became an official couple, without knowing that we would actually be official the next day, I prayed that if God wanted us together, that my now boyfriend would make the first move and bring up the conversation, otherwise I would start the conversation with the idea that we would decide to go all in or not at all. That next day when we went and spent time in Portland, something was holding me back from starting the conversation when an opportunity arose. Sure enough, he started the conversation before I even needed to. What an answer to prayer!!! Later on I learned that he had prayed about asking me to date him the same night I had. So to sum it up, God worked in both of us and brought us together beautifully in His will and timing! Now we are together and loving one another more and more day by day.

All this to say, my first point and advice to you is: put God first! Not only in dating, but friendships and all other areas of your life. Bring all your cares to the Lord and surrender them, trusting that whatever He has in store is with your best interest at heart. Make sure your relationship with God is solid and your first priority before entering into a dating relationship and keep pursuing Him no matter what. And when you're dating someone, pursue God together! Pray for one another, send each other verses, have conversations about Him, etc. God will most definitely and gladly bless that. 

Now, when you date in high school, it can be a very complicated thing. You want to spend all your time with that other person. It can become very easy to be distracted by them...distracted from other people, school work, opportunities, God, you name it. But I cannot express enough how important it is to make sure that friendships are not pushed to the side, that school work still stays important, and most importantly that your relationship with Jesus Christ is your first priority and still growing. Yes I say all these things, but they are easier said than done. I have struggled with this very much. Even though this is true, it is so life giving when I make time for other friends and work well in school on top of investing a healthy amount into my significant other. I cannot stress enough that Jesus needs to be first in both people's lives! I have noticed that when I am not putting Jesus first in my life and seeking Him, my relationship with my boyfriend starts to not go very well. I get annoyed, I have a poor attitude, etc. But when Jesus is on the throne of my heart and on the throne of my boyfriends heart, we are both individually joyful and our relationship with each other is a huge blessing to enjoy that is given by God. Unfortunately, some relationships simply don't last. If that's the case and you didn't invest in your friendships, school, family, and God, you may very well feel empty. There is so much more to life than boys, especially in high school. They are a huge blessing, but they cannot be our everything. They cannot fulfill. Only God can. 

So if you do date in high school, great! But I encourage you to pray about where you're at in life, what your relationship with God is like, if you're ready for a relationship like that, etc. Make sure you date a guy that loves the Lord more than he loves you. Date a guy that desires the same things you do, especially when it comes to your spiritual lives. Date a guy that spends time with and pursues the Lord and is respectful and encouraging of your own spiritual needs and spiritual walk. Become friends before you date. I cannot say enough how wonderful a relationship like that is. Put Jesus first! Significant others are blessings, not fulfillment or everything that is important in life.  

Also, one of the best dates ever is going to your favorite coffee shop and just sitting and talking about what God is doing in your life and just how great God is. It is so life giving, fun, and brings joy! Proof again that Jesus needs to be first!  

surviving High School

Surviving High school

        There are many different struggles that come with high school; first of all we are all just trying to discover who we are. Puberty and hormones play a huge role in High school as you are starting to like the opposite sex. I think one of the biggest parts of high school is who you make friends with; pier pressure is very real in this stage of life. I am so grateful that I go to a Christian school where I can express myself freely without being judged. No matter where you go there will always be that pier pressure, but it is more common among bigger schools. To be honest, I am one to easily give in to pier pressure, and that is why I am so grateful to be at a small Christian school.

      I huge portion of my life I spent trying to find my identity and this was hard because it took countless times of failure before I finally understood who I was.Before I knew who I was, I would find reassurance and comfort in boys. That was my fall back plan every time I felt down or needed a complement I would find peace when my guy friends or boyfriend would compliment me. This had become a part of me, and my reality to make myself feel better was to receive compliments. This was terrible because when I lost a boyfriend I no longer had that comforter.  I would then make fun of others to make me feel better about myself. This had now consumed me and become a part of my everyday life. I could not change it, or at least I did not think that I could. 

     When I came to Faith Bible High school I realized that I had become the person I was in middle school because of the people I hung out with. I was surrounding myself with bitter and negative people and I started to rot inside. I had become just like them. I did not know I would make a change, but I knew I had to do something before this turned into my permanent identity. As I started reading my Bible and surrounding myself with Christian friends, my attitude towards life started changing. I became less and less focused on myself and I started to develop a new joy, a pure joy. As I learned more about Christ I found that my new identity was in Him and that I was made new because of Him. 

     Throughout my life, the biggest lesson I have learned is to love one another. That is one of God's greatest gifts and commands to man kind. When you love you keep no record of wrongs. When you love, you take the focus off of yourself. When you love, you see a greater picture. Love overcomes everything.

Prayer

Psalm 145:18

"The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth."

          So, if you haven't figured out from the verse and the title of this entry what I will be talking about, today's topic is prayer. This is a rather difficult topic to explain and discuss because people will always ask, "Well, if I prayed for something, why didn't God give me what I asked for?!" or, "I prayed for God to heal this person and He didn't. Does He even care, then?" 

The answer is simple, really:

James 4:3

"When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

          This verse may seem a bit harsh in response to the second question. This is probably because I didn't give you a verse in response to it yet.

James 5:13-15

"Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven."

1 John 5:14-15

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Romans 8:26

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

         These verses explain the importance of praying to God through our troubles and the fact that the Holy Spirit will show us what to pray for. The closer we get to God, the more our prayers will be directed toward what His will is for us. It's rather difficult to understand why God doesn't answer our prayers sometimes, and quite honestly, I cannot give you a good response. I know that God will answer our prayers but not necessarily in the way that we want Him to. When we deal with understanding why God doesn't give us what we ask for, we need to pray to Him and ask for peace for those unresolved moments of our lives that frustrate us to no end. All we can do is trust God that He will provide exactly what we need whether we know to ask for it or not.

Not a One-Way Communication

I don`t have a lot to say about prayer, but what I do have to say may be useful to you. Prayer is not a one way communication. As a Catholic, I always open up in prayer with the Sign of the Cross. I was taught that you do it as a remembrance that Jesus died on the cross. As a little kid, I was taught that the Sign of the Cross was also like a phone number, calling out to Jesus.

One thing I think that you have to realize about prayer is that you can`t just block Jesus out of the conversation. Is that what you would do to your best friend? How would your friend like it if you just talked the whole entire time?

There are so many different types of prayer to be used to reach out to Jesus. So many different ways to find the right way for you and Jesus. I encourage you to find the right way for you.

Prayer

Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

It's good to pray for everything that you do, no matter what it is. No matter how small you may think your problem is, God wants you to pray to Him about it. Maybe it isn't even a problem, maybe you're rejoicing about something, God wants you to pray to him about that too, thanking him and praising Him in everything. Everything that you do and go through, God wants to be there with you. Do not be anxious, and put all of your trust into God and let Him help you through them, because you can't get through them without God's help.

Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

If you ask God for help, he'll help you through it as much as possible. Whether it be through the way you wanted, or something completely different. Whatever that way is, God will help you. you just have to trust Him and allow Him to help you with whatever you're dealing with.

Psalm 18: 6 says, "In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears."

God hears all of your prayers, no matter how big or small they may be. Whether you think they're important or not, they're all important to God. Even if He doesn't answer your prayer right away, or at all, He always listens. You just have to be patient with Him and trust Him.

Fasting

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

I have learned through this teaching that fasting actually can be a super important part in a relationship with God. I used to think the opposite; that fasting was something of Biblical times that wouldn’t actually provide results nowadays. However, just hearing about all of the miraculous things that God can and has done through fasting in the present times makes me want to try fasting. The thing is that I probably wouldn’t do a food fast because I don’t think that would have a huge impact on my relationship with God, yet a technology fast would. I spend so much of my time watching TV, being on my phone, etc., and that is valuable time that I could be spending in communion with God. I am really hoping that in the near future I would try a fast so that I would get to spend that extra time with God and see how he works in my life. 

Prayer

Why do we forget to pray?

Sometimes we forget how powerful prayer is. We often say "I don't have time," or we don't know when we can sit down and pray. Honestly we DO have time to pray; we are always so caught up with life that we forget how important it is to pray for everything in our life.  

Ever since I can remember, I have always believed in prayer. I would always pray when I was younger without a reason, so now I need a reason to pray?  I don't think so.  I think that we just try to find whatever excuses we can. Prayer can do so much in our lives if we really just let it all go and give it to God.  The really hard thing about praying is actually letting it all go, and praying with out fear that God won't do what is supposed to happen in this. When we pray we have to actually mean it not just go through the motions of what you are praying for, God wants to hear from us everyday even thought he knows what is going on. God wants to help us through all our struggles and help us with life, but if we are not willing to pray and ask for help from our Creator then are we really willing to let him help us though our struggles? 

If we have time to check social media, respond to a text, or even answer a phone call we have time to pray. We try to take everything on our own and let God talk to us but not actually listen. If we listened our outcome would be so amazing. To let everything actually go and God's will be done through prayer is amazing, not just one prayer is going to heal everything, but, through time, God will show us light. Every dark road has a very amazing ending to it. Take the time to pray and let it go to God. Prayer is amazing thing, and amazing things happen when you pray about it and let it be in God's hands. Be the godly person God wants us to be, share how amazing prayer is. Don't ever use the excuses "I don't have time" ever again. You always have time to pray to God! 

  

Psalm: 4:1

"Answer me when I call you, my righteous God. Give me relief fro my distress; have mercy on me and hear mt prayer."

life In Highschool

 High school, the way I see it it can either be the some of the best years of your teenage years or the worst. I remember watching high school musical as a young child dreaming of how wonderful high school would be. I thought I would meet a "Troy" and the everyday would be a fairy tale with me as the main character. That was not what happened AT ALL. Last year, as a freshman I was faced with the most difficult things I had ever experienced so far in all my sixteen years of life. I spent months gripped with anxiety. I hated my school, had zero friends, and my relationship with the Lord got really hard and really real. My anxiety caused me to stop enjoying anything. I didn't eat, I didn't laugh, I saw almost no value in life. My parents grew angry with me because they didn't understand that I could not control it. I finished the school and was destined to head to an new one called "Faith Bible" in the fall. When that time rolled around and the first day of school came I fell absolutely in love with the school and the people. My relationship with the Lord has gotten so much stronger and I feel him with me everyday. 
                       I want people to understand that he was the ONLY one who got me out of the pit I was in. My OCD/anxiety is still with me and will be for the rest of my life, but the Lord has taught me to rely on Him and I learned that it can even be a blessing.
                      My adventure in High school is still being written and I am excited to see what else God is going to do in my life.

                                                               1 Peter 5:7

               Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

PRAYER

Feel guided by the Holy Spirit. During prayer I always thought that I had to sound really precise and intricate, but today I realize it should not be that way. Prayer is communication between us and God. A prayer can simply be a talking to God in your car or a simple thought, for it says in the Bible that when we do not know how to pray the Holy Spirit will intervene. Prayer is simply a way to connect with God, sure he hears us even when we don't pray, but prayer is a form of worshiping him for we are humbling ourselves down before him. Looking back on my life, all the times that I did not feel like praying were the times I needed to pray the most. I did not want to humble myself before Him because I thought I had everything under control. Control has got to be one of the most common reasons why we do not want to pray about something. It is always our own pride that gets in the way of our relationship with God. We think we have so much control over almost every situation. I hate to have to break the news, we have only as much control as a little insect. We have no control on what the day of tomorrow brings and unfortunately we can be stomped on at any time, without expectation. The only thing, that we as Christians, can rely on is Gods grace and plead for his guidance. Faith is the basis for every religion. Through faith the Lord can even perform miracles through you.

Spiritual Disciplines

          My spiritual walk with God has been very strengthened in the last four years of my life. Throughout that span of time, I have developed habits, or spiritual disciplines, that I hope I never forget to continue doing.

          One of my most important disciplines, and the only one this article will touch on, is the importance of prayer and just talking to God. One of many of the beautiful things among about prayer is that you can pray anywhere and whenever you want or need to. Praying to God is and should feel like a regular conversation with your best friend, no fancy language, just you chatting with your Lord and Maker and BFF for life. In my experience, I always feel peace after talking to God.

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

          We should remember to always talk to God whenever regardless of what is happening in our lives at that time. He may know everything, but He wants us to talk to him regardless.

Spiritual Discipline

 Spiritual Discipline 

    It's important to set time aside where you're focused on nothing but God. If you stop talking to a friend and don't set time aside to be with them, your connection and relationship with them will weaken. It's the same with God. If you don't spend time with him, your connection will not be as strong. It'll still be there, just not as strong as it would've been if you make the time and effort to be with him.

    Some recommendations to get your focus on God is to put away any distractions that may take your focus away from God. That includes any music, people, television, so that you can devote your full attention to God.

    One way of spiritual discipline is to fast. You could use the time that you'd usually spend eating to pray and be alone with God and in His word. But fasting isn't limited to only food. You could choose to fast from sexual pleasures, electronics, shopping and hobbies, or something else you enjoy. Fasting allows us to be able to put our trust in God for Him to fulfill the needs for our earthly desires.

    Praying is probably one of the easiest ways to be and stay connected to God. Praying is simple and only takes a few minutes, if even that. You can pray whenever you have free time, even if it's in the car, or sitting at work at school, or while you're getting ready in the morning. Praying is important in helping you stay connected with God.

Matthew 6:6

"But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you"

Fasting

When I think of fasting I think of letting go of food for a scheduled amount of hours. Christians do this mostly to get closer to God; it is a type of worship or prayer.I never thought that fasting could be more than just a food fast. In fact there are many types of different fasts. They can range from fasting from a cell phone to fasting from anything and everything that takes your focus off of the Lord. Fasting is made to take your attention away from yourself and the distracting things around you, as a result, full meditation with God.

Fasting is a form of prayer because when most people fast they fast because they are looking for an answer and a longing that God would answer prayer since they are offering something as a sacrifice to Him so that through Him we can be filled and nourished. When people fast they say that they feel a closeness to God,I believe that is because during this moment you are ignoring sin and surrendering yourself fully to Him all your attention that was once on yourself should now be on Him, as you trust Him to provide for you as you are in a moment of weakness. The bible tells us “For your trouble is that your sin has cut you off from God” but maybe through fasting we become full of Him and not necessarily cut off in a short moment?  

Many different things may lead a person to fast. And some might say that they got nothing out of it. That is because there heart is not right or maybe that there focus was not on God but instead on the thought that they are lacking the very thing they are fasting from. But If there happens to be an impact on someone, maybe an answered prayer;I believe there was an impact because that person had faith and focus.If you have an open mind and an opened heart to God, He will have all of Him open to you too.

Fasting

Fasting, in my opinion, is a very beneficial and life giving thing to do in our spiritual lives. It brings us closer to God and removes any distractions we have from getting closer to Him. But, in order to effectively do this, we must have the right posture of heart. We must go into fasting with a willing heart and intentions to sacrifice one certain thing in our lives and fill it up with spending time with God.

Also, many people think that fasting has to be cutting out a meal or anything having to do with food. But this is not necessarily true. Fasting can involve cutting out anything that takes the place of God. For example, my electronics are a huge time waster and distraction for me. Whenever I am in an awkward situation or have spare time (and a lot of the time when I actually am supposed to be doing something else), I revert to using my phone, watching YouTube, or watching TV. But that is precious time that can be spent in fellowship with the Lord. It can be used as a decompression and re-focusing time to spend with God. It helps us to stay "in reality" and keep our minds focused on God. Also, God will show us incredible things and even show us His will during that time sacrificed and dedicated to God. When we are completely focused and in-tune with God, we can hear His calling and the things He deeply desires to share with us. What joy we can find when we encounter and fellowship with our loving God!

                                   Spiritual Disciplines

                              It is important to discipline ourselves in such a way that we spend time getting closer to the Lord. Examples of this are fasting, prayer, Bible reading, and verse memorization.

Hebrews 12:11

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

           Through this type of discipline we can grow to be closer to the Lord and mature through Him. I feel it is important, before delving into these disciplines, to ask the Lord for perseverance through such things. On our own it is not possible to discipline ourselves in such a way, however with the Lord all things can be done and beyond.

Matthew 19:26

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

God bless you!!! :)

Prayer

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”

-Martin Luther

            Throughout this study on prayer I have tried to deepen my relationship with God. However, it has been so difficult to comprehend the beauty that, if I pray with complete faith, God will answer me. “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24. This is one of the verses that I continually have found comfort and assurance in. Even after being a Christian and going to church for over sixteen years, I still can’t fathom how much God cares for me. Even with seven billion people in the world, He hears my prayers. Over the past couple of months I’ve really started to take this into consideration and it has made me want to pray more. I’m finally starting to develop the relationship with God that I so desire because I am starting to comprehend the power of prayer. Without prayer our faith is dead. I don’t ever want my faith to die out. 

The only question is this: How do we start? How do we begin to better our prayer lives? This took a lot of time for me to figure out. In fact I’m still figuring it out. For the longest time I had no idea where to start. I always wanted that closeness with God but I always felt held back and confused. The key is to surrender. There is no set in stone way as to how to pray. Let the Holy Spirit guide you and lead you in what to pray for. 

Marriage

Marriage is such a beautiful thing between two people who are in love and want to last forever with each other. Marriage can also be a sad and hard thing. There are a lot of divorces in this world and separation between two people who once fell in love with each other.  Marriage should last forever; there are ups and downs, and you should always try to work it out. Praying about your marriage and praying for the relationship you are in with your husband is always amazing too.

Prayer

Prayer

 
          Hello Friends! 
These past few weeks have been incredibly insane for me. A couple weeks ago I was praying to God for the ability to be aware of where I am at with Him. And boy, did he give it to me! 
     It is so easy to get discouraged around springtime (especially in Oregon) where it is still cold and rainy, and you still have 4 months to go in school. Painful right? Well, of course on top of all of this sadness and spring fever, I decided to go to Haiti within a month barely funded basically saying to myself "I got this, I will sell my stuff and make money for Haiti! I can do it!" well, all of that is gung-ho until you actually begin to sell stuff on eBay, and nobody wants it. I found myself WAY underfunded, overwhelmed, stressed and teary-eyed and After a while, I thought to myself "woah, not once have I given this up to God. Not once did I actually believe that if God wants me on this trip, than he will take me on this trip. If I trust in Him to provide, he will provide. So, as I was sitting in the car, saying this to God, I got a call from my dad about an insurance settlement from a car accident I was in during December. And guess what, The settlement was EXACTLY the amount I needed to get to Haiti. WHAT. That was definitely God telling me I needed to trust in Him and whole-heartedly believe in his power.
    Okay God,
             I gotcha
                    I see your power
                             you're amazing
                                          Thank YOU for being so gracious!

                        -Lauren

Why not follow biblical marriage?

 Marriage. Oh Boy. First off I am not married, so I don't have a lot of personal experience to share with you, but, being human, I live around people who are married, and in a society where marriage and its attributes are largely discussed. So I can see many different sides and views of the topic of marriage. Here are a couple of view points that I've been seeing lately. Many of times I see the misconception that in a Christian Marriage, Women are not valued as much as men, Now we are getting into equality talk here, but this definitely is a well known misconception that needs to be addressed. What I have noticed, the more and more I have heard non-Christian point of view, is that it focuses mostly on gender equality, not gender roles. These two things are very different, but can easily be mushed together as one thing. In a Christian marriage, the two genders are equal, but they do not have the same roles. Just like having a team captain, and a team. You need a captain to lead and you need a team member to be lead. One could not function without the other, and this is very much how a biblical Marriage works. In a biblical marriage, The man is the leader of the household(he answers and listens to God), the wife follows his instructions (which are straight from God) and the children follow the parents lead. Marriage has a bullet proof game plan told to us straight from God. The question is why not follow it?

Marriage

  MARRIAGE

Corinthians 7

                    Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. ...

    The Lord created marriage to keep men and women from the temptation of lusting after others. In marriage you have a duty to your spouse to love them with love from where, without marriage, you would be lusting. 

     Marriage is a "forever until the end of our days" commitment. It shows the relationship God wants to have with us; a strong "forever" bond. He wants us to be captivated with him and not lusting after other gods. 

   I believe it is important that everyone take time to pray for their future spouse. Asking God to help your marriage to be honoring to Him and that you will love and respect your future spouse.

God has a person that he has destined for you to marry. Trust that he has a plan for you, your marriage, and your future spouse.



Self-Image

                                                                                                                                                                                            Everyone has those days where they look in the mirror and do not like what they see. For some that may be everyday. It is very hard to love they way you look in today's society, which is constantly trying to define what is "beautiful." We need to stop paying attention to the world's standards and turn our minds to what God sees as beautiful. It has nothing to do with appearance, my friends. When your life ends the amount of fat you have on your body is going to be of no importance. God calls us to take care of our bodies because they are His

               We are all made in the image of the great living God! All the insecurities you have, all the imperfections you see in yourself everyday; God sees them as beautiful. Hold onto that. You are gorgeous!

Ephesians 5:33

"However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

        As you can see, the topic this time is marriage. There have always been conflicting ideas of what marriage should look like for a long time, but the Bible specifically says that the wife needs to respect the husband, and the husband needs to love his wife.

       There is a cycle that occurs when this idea isn't obeyed. If the wife does not show respect, which may look like a range of different responses, the husband will become upset and believe that his wife doesn't respect him. Because of this behavior, the husband will then act in a way that the wife doesn't see as loving towards her, and she will believe that he doesn't love her. The cycle of lack of respect and lack of showing love will then continue and continue and get worse and worse until it is stopped.

        How is this cycle of unhappiness stopped, you ask? Let's think about this for a second. In marriage, the wife is the one who needs to be reminded and shown that she is loved ardently, and the husband is the one who needs to know he is respected and needs to be shown the respect that he asks for. The only way to stop the cycle is for the wife and husband to realize that the wife needs to show more respect for her husband, and the husband needs to show more love for his wife. Once this problem is solved, life will become easier and better. Communication is incredibly important.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him--a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

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        I have no idea what my marriage will look like. I have absolutely no idea who I will marry some day. I do know, however, that it is all in God's hands. A habit that we should have is to pray to God for our future spouses and that whoever they are, wherever they are, whatever they are dealing with, that God protects them and prepares them for us to be with some day and that God prepares us to be the perfect person for them to be with some day. I may not know who I will marry, but I know that whoever God ends up bringing into my life some day will be an incredibly remarkable, amazing, and perfect husband for me. God knows exactly what He is doing, and we can have peace knowing that He will bring us our future spouses in His perfect timing.

Pride and Humility
 “Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else.” 

Pride is something that I have struggled with my whole life. It has become an essence of who I am. Studying pride was something that was very difficult for me seeing as how I don’t know how to rid myself of this sin. God repeatedly states throughout the Bible how much he despises the pride that dwells within us, as it can almost separate us from Him. This was hard for me. How am I supposed to rid myself of something that has been a part of me for my whole existence? The only real way to do this is through God. Without Him we are helpless. With Him we can do anything.

Prayer

Prayer is such a beautiful thing. After my second surgery, I wasn't faithful to God and spending time with Him. I simply didn't have the desire to. But, after having some encouragement from loved ones, I spent time in His Word once again. The time following then was full of God and seeing how He had been working so greatly in and through my life and what I had been going through. I fell more in love with Him. I ended up watching the show "War Room" with my family and really admired them and how they prayed to God. I remember sitting in bed a night after that and really just praying with my whole heart and crying out to God. After discovering more of who God is and how He works so perfectly to make everything work so incredibly well together for the good of those who love Him and to glorify Him more, I had a new faith in Him and how real He is and how He hears me and will work. That following week after praying like I had, I saw God work again so perfectly to answer my prayers His way that glorifies Him and brings me joy. He did this more that once. It was truly humbling and  wonderful. I am filled with such joy even just thinking about it.

I also think that prayer is beautiful and important because it brings us in a closer relationship with God. We are able to speak everything we feel to Him, we are able to vent. And He hears and understands it all! We are able to release all our cares to Him who is able to take all our worries and gives us peace. He wants us to share every single thing with Him, He wants to be a part of every single element of our lives and be the center of our lives. It also brings us to surrender and recognition of who He is and His power and His ability. We get direction from praying and reading His Word and spending time with  Him listening to Him. In short, it brings us into fellowship and deeper relationship with God our Father.

Marriage

She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

(Proverbs 31:12)

In my life I’ve been surrounded by a multitude of healthy marriages. One marriage in particular is my grandmother and grandfather’s. Back in the early 90s my grandpa suffered a stroke that limited his ability to do most everything. He can’t form coherent sentences the majority of the time, he can barely walk, he can barely do anything for himself. My grandma has devoted the last twenty plus years to taking care of him every second of every day. She is the definition of a Proverbs 31 woman.

I watch her and I have no idea how she does it. She loves my grandpa with such a selfless love, never expecting anything in return. I guess that this world is so tainted by divorce that the thought of unconditional love is such a foreign concept. For years I never understood why she would put herself through all the strain that she does just to take care of him, but I am now finally starting to.

When my grandma said her wedding vows nearly sixty years ago, she meant it. She loved and loved on him throughout sickness and in health. It didn’t matter what the enemy tried to throw at them, their marriage still stands.

My grandma is the kind of wife I aspire to be one day. I pray to God daily that he will give me a loving husband and, in turn, that I can be a respectful wife. I don’t want my future marriage to be another divorce statistic. I want my future marriage to be filled with all things pleasing to the Lord.