THURSDAY, March 19th, 2009

Hey everyone, its Michael again, and I hope you plan to be at the youth group activity on Saturday at 5:30. Be there, or be square!


Hebrews 12

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Discipline of God

3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “ My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Renew Your Spiritual Vitality

12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.



This passage really spoke to me personally. Verses 5-8 is basically saying whenever God gives you that guilty concience after you sinned, don't be discoraged like its the end of the world, because whenever that happens, its for your own good.

It compaires it to when you parents punish you. They punish you because they love you, and they don't want you to make the same mistake again. Whenever you trip and fall, get up, scratch the dust off and try again!

It touched me because in school, I curse. Its something I'm not proud of, and the rate has dramatically decreased since the beginning of high school. But every now and then, I do it, and I feel guilty, literally the next second, and get discoraged, like God is mad at me again. But now I have realized that I SHOULD feel guilty, but I shouldn't feel like God hates me, because He loves me and makes me feel guilty for my own good. I have been changed though this passage. Thank You, Lord.