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.

1 Thessalonians 2 "Bold"

To be as bold as Paul someday would be an amazing thing.  To be able to go into anywhere and spread the word of God is one thing but to do it in your own back yard and everywhere you go is another. This is what Paul does and is not ashamed of being torn down from it.  This is real strength.  

God lead me to have strength in you, knowing I cannot do this on my own and it is in you I find true strength.

Colossians 4 "Prayer"

The only real thing I can gather from this chapter other than Paul has a lot of friends and they say hi is that Prayer is important.  I like how Paul shows this rather than straight up preaches it.  He asks for it.  Most of us look up to Paul as a strong christian role model, why do we think we are too good to ask for prayer?

Colossians 3 "Convicting"

I love this chapter, I have printed it off and I hope to read it regularly to remind me of my new life and of how I am now meant to live.  This chapter is one of the ones I feel Paul is writing directly to me.  This chapter is simple about how we are to live our lives.  If you read this and can't see how to live your life, if you ask how to do the things it asks then your life is too busy you need to slow down and concentrate on what is simple what is right what is true.  STOP Be Quiet Read and Listen.

Colossians 2 "Inside and Outside"

Read this chapter then re-read verses 20-23.  These verses I had no idea were in the Bible but they make perfect sense.  When we try to stop our sinful nature what do we do?  We try to treat the symptoms not the cause.  If we fix the cause then the symptoms will go away, right?  We are doing this not realising we are trying to do this by human ways, even if we ask for help from God I do not think we can defeat sin this way alone.  We cannot only take a human approach to fix this problem.  

We are trying to fix it the same way we fix everything; by making laws that try to fix the outside because it is hard or too difficult to fix the inside.  Anyway I am working on fixing my insides and it is hard work.  I pray for myself to have strength and for others who are fixing the outside to begin to look within and find what is causing their symptoms.  

Pilippians 4 "Content"

It seems the world today trains us to never be content.  It seems we always want more even when we have enough, when we don't have anything we want more and when we get it it is not enough what is this desire for earthly things that we get so wrapped up in.  It seems even when I am able to grasp contemptment I am not able to hold on to it for long.  

Philippians 3 "This hits home"

¹² I have not yet received all of those things. I have not yet been made perfect. But I move on to take hold of what Christ Jesus took hold of me for.

 ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I don't consider that I have taken hold of it yet. But here is the one thing I do. I forget what is behind me. I push hard toward what is ahead of me. ¹⁴ I move on toward the goal to win the prize. God has appointed me to win it. The heavenly prize is Christ Jesus himself.

 ¹⁵ All of us who are grown up in the faith should see things that way. Maybe you think differently about something. But God will make it clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already reached.

If I can believe this in my heart as much as Paul did, that is my goal. 

Philippians 2 "Even God"

Even God on Earth didn't consider equality with God but made Himself less taking the very nature of a servant. We are so much less than that how do we ever think, even when we are free from sin due to Christ dieing for us on the cross, we are equal or even close. Christ was God, was free from sin and he died for us on the cross. I pray God allows me to die so someone else may find Him.

Plilippians 1 "Strenghth"

When you show strength you are not only doing it for you benefit it also brings others up, same for weakness, you are making it ok for others to be weak and making them less bold to speak about Christ.  

Even if you must put on a front it is better, not the best but better, than not sharing God's word.  True strength comes from the father and through Him life is worth living.

Ephesians 6 "Armor"

Paul talks about God's armor in this chapter, I find that the fights hardest to fight you can't see what you are fighting.  So I guess it makes sense you should use armor you can't see either.  I especially like the helmet of salvation and the shield of faith; to me this means we should consistently focus our mind on our salvation and what Jesus did for us and our hearts on faith to balance our uncertainty in our heads.  

Ephesians 5 "Really with Brian"

I thought this was interesting, and makes sense but I never thought it was such a big deal

¹² It is shameful even to talk about what people who don't obey do in secret.

I guess us talking about it is our way of seeing if is socially acceptable and thus giving ourselves the ok to do it, plus if we have the mind set to know it is wrong we don't talk about it (ex. raping children, obviously wrong), people doing drugs we may want to have the freedom to sin if it is socially acceptable.  Bottom line it leads to bad things.

Interesting.

Ephesians 4 "Weakness"

The last part of this chapter talks about how we should turn our weakness into a strength for the Lord as to better make sure it is no longer a weakness.  If you are getting good grades in all your classes except math, does it make sense to study spanish even more and hope your math grade gets better?  So my response to this is to give more and more so that I do not value earthly things, I can value only what is important.  I often am reminded that it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into heaven.

Ephesians 3

 ¹⁶ I pray that he will use his glorious riches to make you strong. May his Holy Spirit give you his power deep down inside you. ¹⁷ Then Christ will live in your hearts because you believe in him.

   And I pray that your love will have deep roots. I pray that it will have a strong foundation. ¹⁸ May you have power with all God's people to understand Christ's love. May you know how wide and long and high and deep it is. ¹⁹ And may you know his love, even though it can't be known completely. Then you will be filled with everything God has for you.

Ephesians 2 "Different"

Though it is different, seem harder, and difficult to live up to what God asks it is ok because that is not what he asks from us to give us the gift of His Son. Even though as kids we can understand, and today understand, that He gave us His son so that we might live it is difficult because everything we have in our earthly possessions "we earned" (to say God gives us everything though that is not how we see it). We are raised to understand that if we want something we need to work for it, we need to get a job or do chores to earn money to get the things we want.
I believe though it is necessary God gives us this even though we don't meet the criteria, because we can't, I think it creates problems. Do to our nature and comparing God's gift to others we have gotten, if we do not work for it we take it for granted. We don't appreciate the gift we are given. I don't know how to get past this but to try to change my nature. I am con viced God is the one who is right in this situation and for me to be able to live with accepting this gift I must also live in the way I can receive it without taking it for granted; meaning I must life as freely as this gift was given and trusting and knowing my needs will be met because they already have been.

Galatians 6 "Others"

Many people including myself have used the verses at the beginning of this chapter to justify their actions when confronting others about things they are doing wrong.  What I would forget, and what other forgot was that we ned to take the Bible as a whole, in these verses it says to be careful, this means many things, it means we need to be sensitive to who we are talking to.  We need to make sure the one we are talking too want/needs help, if someone doesn't want help we only look like jerks.  We also need to make sure we take care of ourselves first.  We need to be in control of our actions as well as have the log out of our eye before we worry about the splinter in another's eye.  I try but fail to pray enough to gain the wisdom I need in these situations.  

God help me to rely more on you.

Galatians 5 "THE SECRET"

Galatians 5:16 gives us the secret to how to beat sin.

¹⁶ So I say, live by the Holy Spirit's power. Then you will not do what your sinful nature wants you to do.

Need I say more?  Figuring out how to live by this power is what we need to strive for not control; in this is where we find control. 

Galatians 4 "Slaves"

If you think about it long enough and give it serious thought, I believe we can agree that we are all slaves to what is most important to us at any given moment.  My question to myslef and you is what do you want to be a slave to?  Something that will cause you joy now and pain in the end or something that causes joy and pain now and inheritance of eternal life in the end.  We need to be slaves to Christ just as a son is a slave (in the biblical sense) to his father to recieve the inheritance of his father.  

Galatians 3 "Ten Commandments"

If we don't understand the Ten Commandments and why God sent them to us we are bound to use them in the wrong way and falter because of it just as Galatia did.  Paul, I think, clearly tells us in this chapter that the law was sent to us after the promise God gave to Abraham and before Christ; it was sent here to keep us in line until Christ came, that is clear.  When we forget these rules are not here for us to live our life by but here to keep us in line until we have our faith in Christ (in which case I believe the rules turn into a sort of list that shows us who is Christian and who is not following Christ by faith).  If we don't realise and remember this we will to use the faith we have and begin things in God's hands, in faith and then continue by our own hands with the law.  I have done this many times.  I pray and ask God for a chance, a way to prove myself and then when He gives it to me I rely only on myself and the tools previously given to me, such as the law, and not by faith.  I would also be faced with trials and turn to God to start and when I get on the right track I stop relying on God only to wind up off the tracks again.  The consistency is something I struggle with and something Galatia needed to understand too. 

Galatians 2 "After we sin we are wise"

At the end of this chapter Paul talks about how we must die before we can truely live for God.  This reminded me of a song I heard on the radio yesterday that made me think.  The line in the song was "when I am blinded I can clearly see." I would like to take this idea even futher and think that, its not the sin but, the absense of God causes us to realise what we are doing and makes us wise to our sin. So many times, not all the time, I feel I understand I am sinning and that it is wrong immediately after I sin.  For some reason, I think it is because I hit rock bottom and sinned, I am far from God and He is showing me a way out.  Our problem: We don't listen.  The world tells us to only rely on ourselves and do it on your own, don't rely on God.  

Galatians 1 "Pleasing Others"

In this chapter in the very beginning Paul talks again about how his is appointed by God, how his message is not his own and is not even human.  He received grace from God and now preaches the very message he once tried to destroy. 

Verse 10 is very interesting to me.  As Paul is talking about the message he is bringing he also says his main intention is to not preach so that he is liked by others he preaches because God calls him too.  Later in the chapter we learn that Paul is once again preaching and teaching the Galatians and they are a group of none Jews, Paul feels he has a gift to do this because he once was on their side of the fence.  What gets me is people in this world who, myself included, don't preach to others the Good news, they preach other good news, give people the wrong idea and those that rarely do show the Good news don't do it enough and though we are all great sinners it is hard for us to preach to those who aren't of faith to those who don't know Jesus.  Paul says, in my interpretation, in verse 10 if when we preach the Good news or in not preaching the Good news we are trying to please people then we are not serving the Lord.  I think it is better, though I don't always have the guts, to show the Good news to someone, in the right way, and have them hate you then to not share it at all.  Too often we trick ourselves into thinking that we don't share the Good news because we don't want to offend the other person, we don't want them to feel bad we want them to change we don't want to be the ones to tell them they aren't good enough when we have flaws too.  We tell ourselves we would be turning them from Jesus so we say nothing.  If we do it in the right way we can't push them from Christ even if they kill you they are closer to God in the long run, so pray you did do it right and then do it. 

2 Corinthians 13

Paul encourages us to be perfect to always strive for this goal.  He also says to test ourselves and see if we pass the test.  I am not sure what he means by this.  I will ask my pastor tomorrow. 

2 Corinthians 12 "Weakness is Good"

I have heard many times that weakness is good and God works better through those who are weak and when you are weak you are stronger in God, it makes it easier to trust in God.  I believe some of these comments have arrived from this chapter in 2 Corinthians.  But what I am reading is different from what I have heard from others.  Others have given me the impression that weakness is good and it is what leads to being strong in Christ.  From what I am gathering from Paul I believe that is a valid interpretation but if someone didn't read this themselves they would not understand the chapter the way it was ment to be.  I think Paul is more so saying that strength in God is brought from our response to our weakness, in that we need to embrase it, go against the worlds view that weakness is not appealing.  In reality there are few if any things more humbling than embrasing your weakness and in doing so showing the power of God.  

If that doesn't do it for you think about it this way.  Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, needed to become nothing so he could save us from our sins, the same God that spoke everything into existance needed and chose to become nothing to save us, why do we think we can do anything without embrasing what makes us nothing.  

2 Corinthians 11 "Bragging"

I feel like I read this chapter but missed a whole lot. I think it said long story short.
Brag, if you must, about the things that make you weak.

2 Corinthians 10 "Fighting"

Again it is shown to me how an amazing worker of God Paul is. He describes in this chapter how people this he is of this world; he explains that he lives in this world but doesn't fight his battles the way people of this world do. He fights with his faith. He prays and takes every excuse people have to not follow God away. I have found this, in the rare occations I use this tacktic, to work but take time. It takes talking to someone else and not explaining anything to them just ask them questions, ask them to explain thier faith compared to yours with Christ. They will see the difference and ask you questions once you show you care. "No one cares what you know till they know that you care."
Also if you are going to brag about anything let it be about the work God has done through you, not work you have done without God and not work done through other people.

2 Corinthians 9 "Giving"

God Loves a Cheerful giver, nor a giver, but a cheerful one. Just giving doesn't do anything, people without God give without cheer, because they feel they need to. People that allow God to dwell in them give cheerfully, don't give if you don't want to. My interpretation of this chapter is, the more you give the more God gives you. People in my life have said and displayed this concept for a long time, I am glad to have a more biblical understanding of it, as I didn't always believe it.

2 Corinthians 8 "Giving"

Giving is giving when it is out of wealth but the one who gives more is the one who gives out of what he doesn't have and does it in the name of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 7 "Paul's Joy"

This chapter is mainly about how Paul is overjoyed when he had met up with Titus.  They talked about the town of Corinth and how Paul's first letter had made them sad and how when Paul was there he was being given a hard time, but then Titus told Paul how they turned away from there sin and how the sadness they had was not worldly it was sadness with God which is explained to come from guilt of sin and is what brings us back to God. Paul who expresses he and his followers never wanted to make them sad is not upset for sending the letter but joyful and is happy the faith he always had in the Corinthians is complete.  

What gets me is that I have been fooled a couple of times, or atleast I thought I was, when I chose to call someone out on their sin.  How does Paul know when he can and can't say something(send a letter, or visit them).  I feel the risk of turning someone away from God has kept me from doing his will atleast once, I don't know when but I know it has happened.

2 Corinthians 6 "Devotion"

The level of devotion that Paul is displaying and describing is truly remarkable.  To find someone who does this is truly rare.  The line that I find the most interesting is when Paul says in verse 4, we serve God by holding steady.  This does not mean we are always moving forward, though we do need to be at some point if not a lot of the time, but the most important thing is not going backward, not going back to the old way of your life.  You are a new creation, treat your life as such.  This is what I think Paul is trying to say.  I believe it is better to hold strong to God and not falter in your own beliefs than bring others to Christ and spread his word; though this is what God calls us to do and we should not use the former as an excuse to not act when God is leading you.  Prime example Jonah (and the Whale).

2 Corinthians 5 "Comfort" ***

So often I find that I try to find my place in this world, to find where I belong, to find meaning for my life.  These are things I think almost all if not all of us do.  And though we kind of realise it, it doesn't slap us in the face like the first part of this chapter does;  all of these questions are not wrong to think about but all of them give off the sense of, me me me.  Where do "I" fit in to all of this stuff, this world.  Answer: You don't.  Your life means nothing compared to all of the time on this earth (Don't let life be confused with soul, God loves you that is for sure, your body is what doesn't matter).  We try so hard to satisfy the "needs" (we don't need them) of our body, trying to find comfort trying to find peace, I have yet to meet anyone that can get and keep this peace.  We are not meant to find peace in our bodies, they are not our home, there is a house for us in heaven.  The sooner we stop thinking we are worth something, the sooner we stop using drugs, drinking, taking pleasure in sexual sins (not sex in marriage, but lusting stuff like that), the sooner we forget about our lives here on earth the sooner we can find the spirit, which I have found doesn't bring comfort the way we want it to, in that it takes away all the stuff that sucks about this world, but it brings comfort in that it assures us without a doubt that there is a place for us in heaven. 

So often, being in ROTC, I hear about people who say the reason and why they are in the military is that they want to be a part of something bigger than themselves they want to protect the lives of those close to them, they want to serve.  So I ask you and I ask myself, what is bigger than God, what is better saving/protecting someones life or their soul, what is the truest form of service; does it not have everything to do with God.

Today before I read this chapter I made a choice, a choice to drop the feelings I have been having to try to bend to this world, it was leaving me empty and lonely.  I'm done with that.  I have decided to once again give my life to Christ.  This chapter assures me I am doing the right thing.  When you read this (Chris, Jeff, anyone else) please contact me somehow and congratulate me, I am excited to no longer try to control my life when I know I do a sucky job at it.  Also I wrote a new song, I like it it is a praise song.  

2 Corinthians 4 "Water"

Which is better a pretty, beautiful, million dollar pot or non-poisonous water inside the pot.  The pot and water are you, if you missed that.  

2 Corinthians 3

I am not perfect but I have found when I am closest to God is when the world, or people in it, want me to go away, not in the way where I am making them mad or ticking them off, cause I have done this but in a way that shows me I am reflecting the Son in a way that allows them to see their own sin and they dislike me for it.  This is one of the many reasons I stray from God in times of stress.

Prayer:

God help me to worry about myself and to rely on you when I can't rely on others.

2 Corinthians 2 "Be careful"

In the last section of this chapter Paul writes about how we are to thank God because he set us up to follow in Christ procession and share the good news. He then describes how we smell different to those who are saved and those who are not. To me this means we need to put ourselves in the shoes of those we are ministering to and think about how best we can appeal to them. In their mind how do we come across. (The greatest cause of Atheists is Christians who are hypocrites). Something that looks fine to you and your Christian friend may look somehow different to someone who is not use to your way of doing things.

2 Corinthians 1 "Suffering"

I can't remember where but I have seen this I think in Proverbs.  About how we have comfort with God because he has promised that to us.  We endure suffering not because it was put on us but because we must pick up our cross and follow Jesus and when we do we not only suffer as He did but we can his comfort too.  

This thought is something I do struggle with, about how once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we still suffer and it is still hard.  Why do we have to suffer to feel the comfort of God.  It seems almost like a fraturnaty sometimes. I get (I think) it but at the same time it is confusing.  Just like how God is three and one at the same time.  

1 Corinthians 16 "Paul"

This chapter is Pauls final remarks, in his first of two letters, to the people of Corinth.  As it is interesting to see what Paul chooses his final words to be to these people what really stuck out to me was when he asked for help and asked for prayer.  These things seem so simple and we don't really notice them as define things anymore.  I feel so many times in the world today, myself and other, leaders for the Lord our God take leadership roles and then forget to pray, forget to ask for help, advice and prayer from others.  In situations God has but you and me in the situation to be leaders not to know all the answers or to be able to handle it without Him.  I have learned this many times and as it turns out Paul is now teaching me again as the Lord can see I havne't fully grasped this message.  I will remember to pray before during and after my future roles and I will remember to ask for prayer help and advice during the roles God leads me in.  

1 Corinthians 15 "The Dead will Rise"

I don't really know what to think of this chapter, it is all pretty much stuff I have heard before and stuff I agree with.  I do think Paul repeats himself a lot and as Paul is an excellent writer and he is inspired by God I can't help but wonder if the structural part of his writing(the repeating) means something.  My guess is that it is important.  This is very similar to repeats in Proverbs, such as how you should seek advice or those who trust in the Lord are better off. 

1 Corinthians 14 "Why girls talk so much"

33 God is not a God of disorder. He is a God of peace.
As in all the churches of God's people, 34 women should remain silent in the meetings. They are not allowed to speak. They must follow the lead of those who are in authority, as the Law says. 35 If they have a question about something, they should ask their own husbands at home. It is shameful for women to speak in church meetings.

and when they get home they don't shut up.

Just Kidding...Don't punch me Stephaine.

1 Corinthians 13 "Christians end with action"

Have you ever looked at someone and thought, wow look at all the things he/she does for the Lord, he/she is such a good Christian. I know I have and sometimes I get caught up in all that stuff, stuff like doing things, acting in a Christian way, making sure I go to church, and always looking for ways to help others. Now though all these things are good, I'm not saying they aren't important or you should stop doing them, I believe our focus should not be on this stuff.
My view is that actions are our responce to being Christians. If we are true Christians, not sinless but fully excepting in God's decision we will be engulfed in Love and will be able to show and give love, it will pour from us like a giant waterfall. Proverbs 1:23, to me, says that if we are open to the Lord and allow Him to lead us he will pour out His spirit, His love, onto us and His word will be made new, we will see what we are to do in a new light.
To truely show Love and have Love and act like a "True" Christian it is my view that we must first focus and keep our focus on God and Loving Him. This will lead us to an understanding of his word that we don't have beforehand. We can't even proclaim Jesus as Lord without Love, verse 13 says the greatest of the three most important things to have (Faith, Hope, and Love) is Love, and Jesus himself said the first commandment is to Love the Lord your God first before everything else and he said the second is to Love you neighbor as yourself because if you Love them you Love Me.
If you have any questions or contradictions please tell me cause I truely believe this and believe I made my point well.

1 Corinthians 12 "Body Parts"

Most of us have read this scripture or at least the later part of it.  The body metaphor works really well when trying to explain how each of us have different spiritual gifts, and I know and hope there will be more meanings to this scripture to me in the future than just the obvious.  But, none the less the part I didn't read or acknowledge before was verse 11.  Paul tells us all, basically, we all are given gift and our gifts are ones the spirit has decided to give us, meaning he did so for a reason.  To me this means that (within the body metaphor) none of us are the appendix and are all useful even if we see no purpose.  We may look at ourselves and see we are a lung and know there is another and the body can function without us but what we don't realise is that we can no longer, as a body be the best we can be; we are not complete.  

1 Corinthians 11 "Boys and Girls"

WOW!!

I knew there was something about this in the Bible but this is more than I thought it was.  The Bible states...

9 Also, the man was not created for the woman. The woman was created for the man. 10 That's why a woman should have her head covered. It shows that she is under authority. She should also cover her head because of the angels.

I knew the Woman was created from the man and so the man would have a suitable partner but putting this way is extreame compared to what I am use to in today's society.  These verses to me, mean that a woman should not hold a high leadership position such as senetor or be in the presidential cabinet.  

It is important to realize though that a man is not independent from the woman and vise versa.  The woman came from the man and the man is born from the woman.  So the old phrase "you can't live with'em can't live without'em" holds true.  Also, everything is made for God.

1 Corinthians 10 "Three Big Things"

There are three really important things Paul conveys in this chapter all of which are used in the basis of Christian teaching and ministry.  The first one mentioned in the chapter is how we must learn from others and our past.  After reading Proverbs the main thing I walked away with was asking the advice of others when fronted with a difficult question or problem.  This is the same type of thing, we must learn from those who have come before us.  God has punished them for what they did and now we are doing the same things, what is it we thing we have that enables us immune to God?

Second is stemming off of communion.  We take communion to honor God and replenish ourselves so let our lives be a gift to God.  The Bible tells us to do everything, eat, drink, sleep, work, help, etc. all for the glory of God.  

Third is a helper to the first two; it is a promise.  God promises not to leave us in a situation where we cannot get out of.  We cannot drink from God's table and from the demon's table but when we fall to temptation no matter how caught up we are God will always give us a way to stand up under it.  Though I have heard this so many times and it is a little mundane it still brings me strength.  

1 Corinthians 9 "The Cost is the Benefit"

In this chapter Paul talks about how he is an apostle.  He shows how the city of Corinth is an example of his apostleship and how he as an apostle has the right to ask for the things he needs because he has given everything of himself, though he chooses not to.  Paul explains that as an apostle he gives up a lot, it costs a lot to be an apostle.  

Even though an apostle could easily justify asking for what they need because they devote their lives to serving God and spreading his word rather than making a traditional living they rarely do.  They do this to show humility.  Though they are entitled to certain things they do not ask for them because others may need it.  An apostle gives of themselves for the benefit of others.

So far an apostle doesn't seem like a great thing to be but hear is what Paul leads to next; he explains, and I agree, that helping others brings him closer to God himself and helps him follow the commandments.  I would also add that in being an apostle, in my limited experience, even though it is hard and it costs a lot, it wouldn't be as great of a reward if it wasn't.  The fact that being an apostle costs a lot makes the benefits greater. For me the fact that when I give of myself I have less which makes it easier not to rely on worldly things and having less and helping others makes me more humble.  I think I am going to try to focus on that more and look for ways God is leading me in that area of my life.    

1 Corinthians 8 "Others"

After reading chapter eight I have concluded that even if we are perfect and we obey the ten commandments we can still sin.  Yes, that is right.  In chapter eitht paul talks about food offered to man made gods, how eating this food initself is not a sin.  But if you are eating this food and know that it was offered to another god and a weak brother or sister in Christ sees you doing this and is drawn away from Christ because of it you are sinning against them and in turn sinning against Christ.  

Isn't that interesting.  It reminds me of another time in the Bible when it talks about how it is a sin to cause another in Christ to stubble in their faith, for ex. if I had a drink when I knew my brother was trying to quit because he had made alcohol an idol in his mind, my drinking was encouraging him to drink though I didn't do anything.  

We must love our neighbor as ourselves that means even taking care of their shortcomings as well as our own in the sense we don't harm them.  

1 Corinthians 7 "Marriage"

I found this chapter quite interesting it talks about a lot of the different aspects of marriage and surprisingly only briefly mentions cheating.  It talks a lot about how a wife belongs to her husband and vise-versa; and when under what circumstances one can remarry or get divorced.  But, as that doesn't apply heavily to me as I am single I am done commenting.  One thing that did catch my eye though was verse 28.

28 But if you get married, you have not sinned. And if a virgin gets married, she has not sinned. But those who get married will have many troubles in this life. I want to save you from that.

WOW!! what does Paul mean? Is marriage a burden? (Yeah) But its a good one, right? (I always thought so)  Well what I think Paul is trying to say is that marriage can easily distract you from the number one most important thing, God.  He continues later in the chapter about how we need to pass quickly through the things of this world like joy, happiness, marriage, etc.  These are things the world brings and are only things we see in our short lives on this earth.  This is a truth I have know but I like the different viewpoint of it.  Thanks Paul.

1 Corinthians 6 "More and More"

Being an American (and making a generalization) I know what it feels like to want things more and more and I want them faster. This chapter starts off talking about how we as Christians take even our brothers and sisters to court, a court none the less that is run by people that don't even believe in God. If we as Christians, ones who are supposed to listen to God, aren't able to make judgement, then how is someone without God supposed to make a fair judgement?  Paul then goes to suggest that there isn't anyone even in the Church qualified to make a judgement between believers.  What good does this bring?  What does it show non-believers, what does it say of the acuser as a person?  I see in myself when I would do this a person who wants more and more, more usually of un-Godly, worldly, things.  It is better to be hurt and recover than to try to hurt another more, only to really hurt yourself more in the process.  

The chapter so far what something I never really thought about.  Paul then goes to expand on this issue saying someone wanting more and more will not enter the Kingdom of God.

 9 Don't you know that evil people will not receive God's kingdom? Don't be fooled. Those who commit sexual sins will not receive the kingdom. Neither will those who worship statues of gods or commit adultery. Neither will men who are prostitutes or who commit homosexual acts. 10 Neither will thieves or those who always want more and more. Neither will those who are often drunk or tell lies or cheat. People who live like that will not receive God's kingdom.

Now I have heard these words before and you probably have too.  Read them again with an open heart and be true to yourself.  These words are very conficting.  If you feel convicted continue with reading Colossians 3.

1 Corinthians 5 "They will only bring you down"

Well, the old saying about how if you are around people you don't want to be like they will only bring you down; the Bible tells us so.  The way I understand it, if we love our brothers and sisters in Christ and we see they are not living a Christian lifestyle we should confront them and if they are not going to change, they get rid of them, clean house, don't be around this person.  Now you and I can't get away from sinful nature all together we would have to leave this world to do that but we can control how much we are exposed to and don't forget Jesus ate with the thieves and beggars; so we should too but we must make sure we have a strong enough faith to do so. 

An evil person works like yeast, even a little bit will ruin the whole batch. 

1 Corinthians 4 "Well done, my son"

There is a lot in this chapter even though I didn't see it the first time I read it; so I am just going to comment on one of the things I liked. Paul talks about how the judgements made my the worldly don't matter at all. He talk about how he doesn't even judge himself because the only judgement that matter is the one that comes from the Lord on Judgement day. On this day the Lord will reveal the true reason behind all of our actions. He will know the inner purposes and the reason behind our prayers. Only then is it possible we hear the "Well Done" of God. This all comes from verse 5, check it out.

1 Corinthians 3 "Of this World"

The thing that catches me int this chapter is right in the beginning when Paul is addressing the town of Corinth. He is telling them (in chapter 2) they are right with God and they lack no blessing from God, but now he is telling them he had to address them as people of this world. He explains to them that they are new in Christ, they are still of this world and they can't even handle words that would be said to those who are of Christ, those who have left the ways of this world behind them.

I then wonder if I am like those in the town of Corinth. If Paul were to talk to me would he address me as if I was in Christ or as if I was of this world? I too as those in the town of Corinth get jealous, follow those of Christ but not Christ Himself. I wish to know Christ more but often do this by seeking him through others who know Him, instead of seeking Him directly through either Prayer, Listening, and Scripture. I am pushing forward in Scripture; and Prayer and Listening are following closely behind. I am not perfect but will always try to do better.

1 Corinthians 2 "Holy Wisdom"

Many times in my life I have been talking with someone about their faith, or mine, or about about Christianity in general and after a while I am amazed at what comes out of my mouth.  It is like I have all the right words to say or I am having realizations about things I never thought about.  I have, I am happy to say, made a positive difference in at least a couple people's faiths.  I credit all of these to wisdom, not of my own but, of the Holy Spirit.  

Paul writes in this chapter about how those who have the Holy Spirit inside of them have all knowledge.  The Spirit understands all that there is to know about God and can teach us things this world can't.  The Spirit can give us the power to teach like Jesus, but Paul's warning is that not everyone has the Holy Spirit within them. 

1 Cor. 2:14 "14 Some people don't have the Holy Spirit. They don't accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. Things like that are foolish to them. They can't understand them. In fact, such things can't be understood without the Spirit's help."

From this I understand that I must have faith the Holy Spirit knows better than I, because the Holy Spirit is God, and even if I do not see where it is leading me I must trust it.  But as always make sure it is the Holy Spirit I am following and not my own desires.  

1 Corinthians 1 "Many Leaders"

This chapter is the first chapter in one of Paul's letters so it starts off the same way as all of them do; proclaiming Paul's legitimacy as a messenger of the message of Christ Jesus and as an author of the Bible, being appointed by God.  He also address the town he is talking to in his letter, Corinth.

There are two main things that caught my attention in this chapter.  This first is how the church is divided.  Keep in mind that this is the early church so many are new Christians but many are a lot more devoted to their church than we are today.  In Acts the early church is described as being unstoppable.  In this chapter Paul writes about how Corinth's understanding of truth is better, more complete; and how there is no spiritual gift that God hasn't given them.  So when I look at our church today and myself and how I feel I and the Church don't understand truth very well I am inclined to wonder if we too are divided by many leaders.  Are we all following the true Jesus or are we following people who follow/followed Him?

The second is how Paul brings back a verse from Isaiah.  This verse and the rest of the chapter bring me to the conclusion that God doesn't always call "the best person" (defining best as to what we as humans would see it as).  Maybe this is to show that our perceptions as humans are insignificant or to show our ignorance, I don't know.  But what I do know is that once he calls you.  You will have everything you need to do what he asks of you.