2 Timothy 1-2 "Mentor/Advisor"

Whether you have a mentor or someone you talk to and they advise you or push you into the right direction; your relationship is similar to that of Paul's and Timothy's. Paul sets up a beautiful(I can spell that word really quickly now thanks to Bruce Almighty) example of how to lead those younger than you. He uses many of the proven methods of teaching of today, giving examples of his life, relating it back to God, and using the "We" instead of "You."

But what I think mentors don't do today and something Paul did without thinking was demand 100% effort from Timothy and his devotion to becoming a better person and following his lord. Paul writes.

4 A soldier does not take part in things that don't have anything to do with the army. He wants to please his commanding officer. 5 In the same way, anyone who takes part in a sport doesn't receive the winner's crown unless he plays by the rules. 6 The farmer who works hard should be the first to receive a share of the crops.

Paul speaks as though it is expected Timothy lay his life down and follow Christ. He should! Timothy knows the truth and as such a good "soldier should follow, or lead others but still follow, Christ Jesus. Often I see mentors talking to their respective youth and they are asking things in a non-treatening way (which is good) but leaving it up to the youth to decide (which they should) but they don't push hard enough to stir the inner motivation.

To me once you start stirring the inner motivation in a child then they will search on their own, no one will do anything for a long period of time unless they want to. A child will become better at a sport he/she loves faster than a sport he/she hates even if the same amount of practice is given to each.

Mentors Read 2 Timothy 1-2 and learn from Paul, you may be doing everything right but chances are you are human, so read it again.

1 Timothy 6 "Money"

Paul writes in this letter to Timothy about instructions for him, slaves and those who are rich.  I was thinking again about a conversation I had with my Youth Director and mentor about how when you don't have money you don't have to worry about how to spend it.  Which is truth.

Though my family is very well off I find myself feeling as someone who would be ok not having the money to do things other can't.  I find that I think some day I will not live in a big house will not have the lifestyle I have now.  I am ok with that.  Not that I would prefer it but it doesn't sound bad to me.  I feel I am comfortable where ever I am in life.   I say this all when I am on the top of the hill.  I do also feel I wouldn't know what I had untill I lost it.  

But I look at the job field I want to go into and realise I won't make a lot of money and I am ok with that, I know God will provide what I need, when I need it.  Though I have plans to make sure I have money coming from other places such as a side business and God willing some form of military work, not cause I want/need the extra money but my sacrifices aren't my families and I need to make sure they are ok.

Long rambling story short.  I feel I would be ok with no money, cause I know God is with me; and I would rather not have money so I don't have to focus/worry about it, but I will earn what I can so I can help my family as well as others if fanancial needs aren't being met.

God please bless me and keep me.  Amen.

1 Timothy 5 "Widows"

I didn't know we were supposed to treat widows that are old different from widows that are young.  Apparently if widows remarry they are breaking the vow of the first marraige?  Huh.

1 Timothy 4 "Instructions for Timothy"

In this chapter Paul writes instructions for Timothy as a person and also things he should tell others, most of which are the same.  It can be assume based on what Paul says that Timothy is relatively young. I am going to ask my Pastor how young he was.  What stood out to me though was verses 7 and 8.

⁷ Don't have anything to do with godless stories and silly tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. ⁸ Training the body has some value. But being godly has value in every way. It promises help for the life you are now living and the life to come.

This is something I have come to realize myself.  It is ok to add rules for yourself and set boundaries but we can't truely be Godly unless we change ourselves and train our minds and spirit to be Godly.  The world tries to be better by making more and more rules changing the outside (the body) not the mind or spirit.  It is harder to do but I have found after only a little time that the rules are as neccessary if you have your mind and spirit are trained.  Temptations to do evil things almost completely disappear and all it takes it to stay fit, the weight is off all you have to do now is watch it and make sure you don't put it on again.  

1 Timothy 3 "Elders and Deacons"

This is directions from Paul given to Timothy to give to the Elders and Deacons of the Church; it shows how they must live to lead in thier role of the Church.

1 Timothy 2 "Huh"

Paul talks about worship in this chapter, about prayer and specifically about how we should pray for those who lead pray they are guilded by God and that their way is right, God wants everyone to trust in Him.

What caught my eye in this chapter was something that I had seen before but not really thought a lot about.  Paul many a times says he is the messanger for those who are not Jews, his task is to tell them about Christ.  What is interesting is that Paul is very straight forward in his teachings and speaks as if what he says is the truth (which it is) but what is interesting is that those he preaches to are non-Jews, those who do not have faith or a faith inconsistant with the God Christians believe in, certainly not inline with Jesus' teaching.  

Today we spend so much time trying not to offend, when we need to speak the truth, though we do need to do it in a non threatening way(not the same as offending).  But how is the hard part.

1 Timothy 1 "Rules and Faith"

Why is there so much emphisis put on teaching and enforcing the rules of the Christian faith and making sure we and especially others follow them; when we teach later that it is ok and the rules don't really matter, what matters is Jesus and believing and trusting in Him?

Didn't Jesus say that is all that matters.  Weren't the rules just a guildline to give us so that we fail and Jesus can save us from it?  If we stop worring about following the rules and more about following Jesus and more so having a relationship with Him, won't it be easier to follow the rules and thus second nature rather than a goal?

Something to think  about, a difficult way to run your life, mostly because you must give up control, really give it up, not fake give it up.

2 Thessalonians 2 "Man of Sin"

This chapter talks about a man of sin, a man who places himself in the church but apposes everything God is about, someone who performs fake miracles. My guess is this is Satan coming to earth in human form. The man of sin will fool people into thinking they are dieing, but they are only dieing because they don't look for the truth. So stand strong, keep your eyes on faith and all that is good and always question what you see and know that it is the truth cause if you believe the lie you will be judged accordingly. God wants you to be saved.

2 Thessalonians 1 "Revenge"

This chapter doesn't talk that much about revenge but it does say that you should let God be the one to make right the wrongs people committed against you, he can make them fair and he will repay the trouble others have caused you.  Meaning if you take revenge God will repay the trouble you gave too.  Repent and rejoice.

1 Thessalonians 3 "clique"

I feel we read verses like this

 ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus open up a way for us to come to you.¹² May the Lord make your love grow. May it be like a rising flood. May your love for one another increase. May it also increase for everyone else. May it be just like our love for you.

and think of the wording as clique, we hear it so often in church and in the way people talk we just glance over it as something that means love a lot.  Well I do that, and I really tried to dig out this chapter cause I felt after the first few times I read it that it was just history, just telling what happened.  

For love to be like a rising flood, then it is something that cannot be stopped by human hands, it has nature behind it pulling the strings, an act of God.  To have love like that is not only a gift it is a blessing and a power like very few have.  I long to have this kind of love God, please mold me so I will one day be worthy for this gift.  

Amen.