I’ve always believed that God gives us things that we’re not going to immediately use because they’re meant for a future event. (One of the advantages of being omniscient and omnipotent.) It can something that you stored away for years and forgot about it and one day stumble upon and it gives just exactly what you needed for that day. I believe written thoughts and ideas and, yes, journal entries fit in that category. Sometimes something that your past self wrote is just what you need to remind your present self something.
One of the nicest things about Xanga and other blog sites is that it
allows you to keep a journal that’s easy to index. I was sorting
through my older entries, including the ones when I had a Live Journal.
In it, I found an entry that I found newly relevant because I know strength
is an issue that some people are struggling with, including myself. So, I’m reposting the entry. Maybe someone else will get something out of this, too.
Strength
[Jan. 31st, 2005 | 01:05 am]
It’s been a while since I’ve posted an entry in my blog. There is much
I want to write down, my trip to Jamaica, how it affected me, my
current life, etc. There are struggles that I am struggling with that I
would like to put down as well. But the issue that is currently at the
forefront of my thinking has to do with strength. What is strength and
how does one obtain it? Are some people born with it, while others
aren’t as fortunate? Right now I’m defining strength as having the
courage of your convictions, having the ability to say yes or no to
something and mean it. I think this is an issue that we all struggle
with, if not the issue. Think about it: What do wars, bar
fights, fights in relationships, workplace competition all have mostly
in common? They’re all about strength, who has it or doesn’t. The
husband fights with his wife in order to show that he’s the one who has
the strength in the relationship. The country attacks another country
to show strength. Two drunken men fight with each other in order to
determine who has the strength. You get the idea.
Yes, I understand that this analogy is weak and does not survive
close scrutiny (e.g., wars are not always about displays of strength),
but it gets my point across. A lot of our struggles have to do with the
issue of strength. I think many of us, if not most of us, underestimate
how strong we are. I don’t speak very much about Satan or the influence
he has on this world because I do not want to dismiss the human
responsibility for their own sins, and also because it has always
seemed to me to be too conveinent of an excuse sometimes. However, my
beliefs know him to be true and a powerful (but not even close to the
all-power of God), existing being in this universe, hell-bent on taking
down as many people as he can down with him. It is one of my personal
beliefs that Satan deceives us about our weaknesses. He causes many of
us to buy in the lie that we’re weak. This line of thinking causes many
people to sin because they do not believe they have the personal drive,
the strength, to say no. We are taught otherwise. We are actually very powerful beings
because God has made us so. Consider two important biblical facts: 1)
God created us in His image. This means we share all of the qualities
of God (except for those qualities that make God God, for example,
omnipotency). 2) God has given us the Holy Spirit, which is God himself. Wow, the Almighty God, Creator of the universe, lives in us. That staggering fact alone should open our eyes and help us realize how powerful we can be. How powerful?
We can say no. Every time we’re tempted to sin and fall into
sin because we’re made to feel weak and think “I’m just going to fall
into this sin anyway, so I might just as well do this,” we no longer
have to. We can say, “No!” because we know we have all the strength and
power in the universe behind ourselves. How cool is that? We cannot
afford to forget this fact. It’s revolutionary. It’ll change the world
the more people are aware of this!
Let’s get the word out…!
GenWithaG123 says:
yeah, you can definitly read it. I’ll send it to you when I get a chance… if I don’t send it in the next couple of days, go ahead and e-mail me to remind me! 🙂
cinderella9779 says:
i think everyone needs strength… i know i do.
Boawesome says:
Hi, dude:
Have a nice holiday!
God Bless!
BoAwesome
grsshppr16 says:
People are already making summer plans. Thought this might be interesting to you. Just saw that you were a christian college student and wanted to inform you that we are looking for some to work at Camp Allegheny this summer. You seem to have some great gifts and qualities that would be a perfect fit. Camp Allegheny is a Christian camp located in PA. Students from all over the country (and world) come to have a good time. Just wanted to invite you to check out our site at http://www.camppage.com/allegheny. We pay pretty good (considering its summer camp) and have tons of fun (over 100 staff of teens and young adults). Invite your friends to come to (they need to be Christians). Actually i lived in Chicago for a number of years and know that Trinity students are great.
sixfeetsmall7757 says:
Thanks for the much needed reminder. Through Him, we do have strength.
Blah to you, Satan. I’m not going to believe your lies.
Merry Christmas, Matt! I hope you are enjoying this Christmas season. I pray you feel His presence now more than ever.
Blessings!