I've been making too many mistakes lately.

But I think I'm done. I'm tired.

I went to post something on here and realized how much I have lost... my words used to matter. What do they mean now?

I used to feel certain... have all the ideas of my faith mapped out... and the past few monthes I've had questions... but I think I'm coming back around despite some set backs.

You know I've been looking at the life of John the Baptist in my private time lately.

First John The Baptist say, "...'Prepare a pathway for the Lord's coming! Make a straight road for him!'" Matthew 3:2 (New Living)

"Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.  But John didn't want to baptize him. "I am the one who needs to be baptized by you," he said, "so why are you coming to me?" But Jesus said, "It must be done, because we must do everything that is right. " So then John baptized him. After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him." Matthew 3:13-17 (New Living)

"Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ." They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.' Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" "I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."  John 1:19-26 (NIV)

"The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" John 1:35-38

Here's my point in these scriptures that I want to draw out. Here's a guy who always pointed to Christ and never to himself. An angel foretold his birth. (Luke 1) People were asking him if he was the Messiah... and if he said yes... they probably would have believed him. But not only did he deny being the messiah... he denied even being a prophet. As Christ was raised up John the Baptist just faded into the background. Can you imagine that you have a successful ministry and you are faced with a decision... you don't even have to say you the messiah... you could just say that you are a prophet and be praised for being a prophet OR you could just fade into the background. You see John the Baptist... was souly concerned with Christ being lifted up not himself. So I started thinking... who many areas in my life do I seek self-glorification. I must say... I should spend more time glorifying God.

So I was thinking about how much I admire the life of Samuel. That guy really heard from God. He heard God's physical voice when he was young. He was arguably one of the greatest prophets in the Bible.

I apologize... I don't have a word or anything... but I just wanted to talk about how life is going...

Sore... yes. I am very sore. I've started running again in the past few days. Then on Saturday I went ice skating with some friends. Then I started my weight lifting class today. I am soooooooooore. My legs hurt sooooo bad.

School has been amazing. I love my professors. I've made plenty of friends.

So what has been going on in your lives? Really... I want to know.

It's 2008 and as a new years resolution I thought I would finally take the time to write out something I've always wanted to write out. In my defence, this last semester was extremely hard. I was taking 12 hrs of school and working like 30 or 35 hrs. However, now I have the time to articulate my thoughts. (BTW Alicia, see I haven't died... even though it was like 2 monthes ago that you left that comment.)

In the past couple of monthes I have been growing and maturing alot. I've learned so much and had alot of responsibility put on my plate. And in God's grace, I am growing in him.

Prophecy and Love

I've been interested in prophecy for a while now. I've seen prophecy abused as a way to manipulate and control people, and I've seen it give meaning and direction to people's lives. I lead a small group for awhile, and a question that kept coming up was, "How do you decern prophecy that is spoken over your life?" I mean obviously the Bible warns us of false prophets, and we know that not all things called "prophecy" come from God. The passive answer I gave was, "Prophecy in your life will always line up with the word of God and will never contradict what God has already told you." I still wanted to learn more about what the Bible really does say about prophecy and gifts of the spirit. What I have found has completely changed my perspective on prophecy, because alot of it contradicts what I have heard my whole life. I don't have all the answers; I don't claim to. I know that in this I am raising up more questions than answers, but this is just what I've been thinking about lately. I am totally open to anyone that has something to correct me on any of this.

" So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers.  Even so, if unbelievers or people who don't understand these things come into your meeting and hear everyone talking in an unknown language, they will think you are crazy.  But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don't understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin, and they will be condemned by what you say.  As they listen, their secret thoughts will be laid bare, and they will fall down on their knees and worship God, declaring, "God is really here among you." 1 Cor. 14:22-25

Well, we see that the Bible says specifically that prophecy is for believers not unbelievers. However, if an unbeliever comes to our meetings, we are not supposed to hide the meaning of prophecy from them. However, all contexts of prophecy in this scripture take place with in the church itself. It's not a means of evangelism to unbelievers outside the church, but God can still use prophecy to convict their hearts in the context of a church gathering. Then at the end of the verse it shows us that prophecy is evidence that God is really amoung us.

"But one who prophesies is helping others grow in the Lord, encouraging and comforting them." 1 Cor. 14:3

The purpose of prophecy is to encourage and comfort as stated here in 1 Cor. But wait a minute! Didn't prophets in the old testament prophesy about disasters too? Well that's why we refer back to the first verse which was quoted 1 Cor. 14:22-25. Prophecy in that manner was generally used as a call to repentance amoungst a group of individuals.

So is anyone a prophet? No. A prophet is one of several different parts of the body of Christ mentioned in 1 Cor. 12. There are apostles, teachers, people who pray for healing, etc. Some say that you can prophesy even if your not a prophet. Others say that you must be a prophet to prophesy... I personally don't know. But not everyone is a prophet.

So how seriously does God take prophesy? I mean I have heard people prophecy there own agenda. How seriously does God take people attributing prophetic words to him when he never said them?

"Every word of God proves true. He defends all who come to him for protection. Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you, and you will be found a liar." Proverbs 30:6

"The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites, and you must listen to that prophet. For this is what you yourselves requested of the LORD your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai. You begged that you might never again have to listen to the voice of the LORD your God or see this blazing fire for fear you would die. "Then the LORD said to me, 'Fine, I will do as they have requested. I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will tell that prophet what to say, and he will tell the people everything I command him. I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet proclaims on my behalf. But any prophet who claims to give a message from another god or who falsely claims to speak for me must die.' You may wonder, 'How will we know whether the prophecy is from the LORD or not?' If the prophet predicts something in the LORD's name and it does not happen, the LORD did not give the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared." Deuteronomy 18:15-22

Considering that the Bible states that a prophet prophesies something in the name of the Lord and it does not come true; they are not to be feared anymore. I think that God is pretty serious about not using his name to prophesy your own gain.

"Suppose one of the people or one of the prophets or priests asks you, 'What prophecy has the LORD burdened you with now?' You must reply, 'You are the burden! The LORD says he will abandon you!'  If any prophet, priest, or anyone else says, 'I have a prophecy from the LORD,' I will punish that person along with his entire family. You should keep asking each other, 'What is the LORD's answer?' or 'What is the LORD saying?' But stop using this phrase, 'prophecy from the LORD.' For people are using it to give authority to their own ideas, turning upside down the words of our God, the living God, the LORD Almighty. "This is what you should say to the prophets: 'What is the LORD's answer?' or 'What is the LORD saying?'  But suppose they respond, 'This is a prophecy from the LORD!' Then you should say, 'This is what the LORD says: Because you have used this phrase, "prophecy from the LORD," even though I warned you not to use it,  I will forget you completely. I will expel you from my presence, along with this city that I gave to you and your ancestors.  And I will make you an object of ridicule, and your name will be infamous throughout the ages.'" Jeremiah 23:33-40

I think the word of God is very clear about attributing things to God in prophecy that are not from him in this verse. I don't think he was trying to tell us never to say that a word is from him, but rather to be careful using his name loosely.

I had been taught that at one time that prophecy was sometimes hit or miss. And that you should step out even if you are sure that it's God, because fear holds you back. However, I believe that you should be 100% sure that it is God speaking when you are saying that it is God speaking. I mean I have heard prophecy that has absolutely ruined peoples lives. I've seen prophecy cause people to get married that should have never been married and it caused horrible divorces.

A long time ago, prophets were stoned if they gave a false prophecy. There was accountablity of prophets. And I don't think that was right to stone them, but on the other hand when will modern prophets learn to be respectful of God's word? Prophecy should still be treated with the same reverence that it was back then.

Anyways... yeah... I'm sorry... I am a little tired.... and a little out of it.... and like I said... I am still looking for answers on this subject and if you want to add or correct anything I have said... please by all means do.

Thank you so much... I love yall so much. May God bless you throughout your day. -Buddy