Open Me

Shawn McDonald: Open Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t07u56kktMk

A friend of mine yesterday told me grab a box of tissues and to check this video out. I didn't grab the tissues but I did check out the video. I didn't need the tissue but the song has playing on a loop ever since I got it. The message brought out by the song just left me staring at the computer wanting to hear more and more. If you have never heard about Shawn McDonald, me and him have a pretty similar background. When he was younger he would sneak out of his grandparents house and go party late at night. He would drink alcohol to the point of heavy intoxication. He also started doing drugs, which later led to him selling drugs. After get into trouble with the law his grandma and best friend really reached out to him, inviting him to go to church with them. Though he never went he did decide to one day pick up the Bible that his grandmother had given him and started to read. He read about getting rid of the "demons" in our lives and realized that the demons in his life were his drugs and he got rid of them. A couple days later the police came to search his house for drugs but didn't find any. What a miracle. Now Shawn is a extremely well known Christian song-writer and singer and he using his past as a way to reach out to people now.

The song "Open Me" is more of prayer than a regular song. He asking God to open up his eyes, ears, mouth, and mind so that he could serve God better. So many times we can forget what God has called us to do. His calling of going out into the world and make disciples for his name. Some people think that means going door to door at people homes, or standing in the freezing cold handing out tracks. Now those aren't bad things. Not everyone is comfortable doing that type of thing. But the thing we all can do, and what we are commanded to is said in (John 13: 34-35). "A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." In this hectic season of Christmas, its not about getting the new PS3 or the new Xbox. Its about Jesus' birth, and how he came in such bare conditions, outside in a cave in an animals feeding trough. Christmas is about showing one another the love that God had for us by giving us his son Jesus. I urge you this holiday season to everyday find a way that you can show love to someone. Say this everyday when you wake up "Open me Lord so that I can serve you".

Believing Without Seeing

Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

So I'm starting to do a daily devotion and I didn't really know where to start reading so i decided to open to Psalms (maybe because King David wrote it, I kind of like the name). You know it funny how God works. Just last night I had a long conversation with a friend on what it means to have faith and why I believe in Him. We were talking about faith and what it means. I said to have faith is to believe in something without actually seeing it. Now if I told you that I just beat LeBron James in a game of one-on-one, you would start laughing at me saying yeah right that never happened, you can't do that. You would probably say thing if I said that I could hit a home run farther than A-Rod, or that I am smarter than Albert Einstein. We've been taught today not to believe someone when they say something so outlandish. What about God though. If I told you God changed water into wine, or that he made the blind see and the lame walk with just the words of him mouth. How about that He raised someone back from the dead. How could you possibly believe any of the things. We weren't there to see them happen so how do we know that they really did. God tells us that if we believe in him that we will have everlasting life in him. He give us promise after promise. Promises to never leave us, to never give us more than we can handle. He says cast all your problems, worries, and anxiety onto him and that he will give us "rest". He promises us a life never ending, a unconditional love relationship with him. He allows us to talk to him one-on-one through prayer. Being a young man who doesn't always know what to do or who to trust it was hard for me to put my trust in God. It took miracle from God for me to sell out and to join his family (probably will share that story in a later post). Its not a easy thing, living as a Christian. Being human I still struggle with things just like anyone else. But Gods promises are far more better than anything I might want to do now. Like in the verse above, blessed is the man who meditates day and night; everything he does will prosper. Thats a great promise right there. Yes life is hard right now, the job might not be working out right now. Relationships might be hitting rocky spots. Life can sometime just look ugly these days. But just like he say's in 1 Corinthians 10:13 "God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle." To wrap up now, God is powerful, his promises will last forever. He just ask to believe in him, to put our faith in him. If we do that then he will bless us and no matter whats going on in life he will pull us through and let us prosper.

John 20:29 says "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."