IBS Philippians 3:12-13
"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended for Christ Jesus. Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before"
This reminds me of my track days, when you are racing, you're focus is completely on what is ahead, I don't know how to properly paint this picture for you, like you are really really really focused on what is ahead, you are literally trying to get to a place in front of you and leave the space behind you as fast as physically possible, I mean it hurts, hurts bad, your sweating, your muscle fibers are breaking apart so that you can reach your goal more quickly. Running is like literally forgetting the things that are behind, man, like even right now I'm being haunted by things behind me, but I just gotta keep pressing on, take steps forward, aka forgetting what is behind, take steps forward also aka reaching forth to the things which are before. So I take this to in part mean be faithful in what is before me, do what I gotta do, what God has put before me today, doing menial tasks, not giving my heart over to other things, loving others, walking in the light, all that stuff, etc.
Monday, April 3, 2017
IBS Philippians 3:11
"If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
I really don't know what to write about this one, but that's ok, I prayed about this, God lives inside me, I'm not feeling particularly motivated or intelligent or whatever, but I've got some barley loaves and some dry minows metaphorically speaking. If I had to pick a life verse right now it would be " God uses the foolish things if the world" not sure what to write still but here I go, I just have to put a mustard seed of effort which I am and still nothing is coming to me but none of these things move me know what I'm saying, I will press on. Anyway Paul says "that I might attain unto the resurrection" which sounds like works based salvation to me at first but I know this is not the case when put in context with everything else, so what is he talking about? I haven't done my IBS for yesterday which is the verse right before this verse so maybe I should go do that first, hold on a sec, ok I think I get it, not gonna try to explain my thought process here but basically attain unto the resurrection by faith, what is this "any means"? It is faith in Christ. Malcolm x once said something like "by any means necessary" I'm assuming this quote was pertaining to the liberation of black Americans from the oppression of whitey. His "any means" was not faith in Christ, and he did not liberate any of His people from anything. Kanye west once said, playing off of Malcolm's words "buy any jeans 👖 necessary" buy as in purchase, he too as much as I like him, has saved no one from anything except boredom or lack of amusement, and he spends so much of his life and energy trying to help the world but it is all in vain, he has yet to accomplish anything that will truly help, because his trust right now is not in God. So...by faith in Christ attain true liberation, which is resurrection and being with God
Application
Pray with my teammates for more faith in God and no faith in anything else, today during IBS
"If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
I really don't know what to write about this one, but that's ok, I prayed about this, God lives inside me, I'm not feeling particularly motivated or intelligent or whatever, but I've got some barley loaves and some dry minows metaphorically speaking. If I had to pick a life verse right now it would be " God uses the foolish things if the world" not sure what to write still but here I go, I just have to put a mustard seed of effort which I am and still nothing is coming to me but none of these things move me know what I'm saying, I will press on. Anyway Paul says "that I might attain unto the resurrection" which sounds like works based salvation to me at first but I know this is not the case when put in context with everything else, so what is he talking about? I haven't done my IBS for yesterday which is the verse right before this verse so maybe I should go do that first, hold on a sec, ok I think I get it, not gonna try to explain my thought process here but basically attain unto the resurrection by faith, what is this "any means"? It is faith in Christ. Malcolm x once said something like "by any means necessary" I'm assuming this quote was pertaining to the liberation of black Americans from the oppression of whitey. His "any means" was not faith in Christ, and he did not liberate any of His people from anything. Kanye west once said, playing off of Malcolm's words "buy any jeans 👖 necessary" buy as in purchase, he too as much as I like him, has saved no one from anything except boredom or lack of amusement, and he spends so much of his life and energy trying to help the world but it is all in vain, he has yet to accomplish anything that will truly help, because his trust right now is not in God. So...by faith in Christ attain true liberation, which is resurrection and being with God
Application
Pray with my teammates for more faith in God and no faith in anything else, today during IBS
IBS Philippians 3:10
"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made comfortable unto His death."
Through faith in Christ you will know 3 things 1) Him 2) and the power of His resurrection 3) and the fellowship of His sufferings. Faith in Christ makes us part of His body, what happened to Christ's body? It was resurrected, and before that it suffered and died, the same things WILL happen to us if we truly have faith in Him. Not necessarily physical death but absolutely death to self, to the will of our old man, but when the old man dies we will not be left alone, we will have a spiritual resurrection, we will have a new man, the Spirit of God in us, we will also have a physical resurrection. I was writing in the future tense a little but obviously for us who believe we have the Spirit of God right now. Know Jesus, through faith, and you will know the power of His resurrection, but you will also suffer while on earth
"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made comfortable unto His death."
Through faith in Christ you will know 3 things 1) Him 2) and the power of His resurrection 3) and the fellowship of His sufferings. Faith in Christ makes us part of His body, what happened to Christ's body? It was resurrected, and before that it suffered and died, the same things WILL happen to us if we truly have faith in Him. Not necessarily physical death but absolutely death to self, to the will of our old man, but when the old man dies we will not be left alone, we will have a spiritual resurrection, we will have a new man, the Spirit of God in us, we will also have a physical resurrection. I was writing in the future tense a little but obviously for us who believe we have the Spirit of God right now. Know Jesus, through faith, and you will know the power of His resurrection, but you will also suffer while on earth
IBS Philippians 3:9
"And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith"
God is trying to tell me something, my soul is cast down today for some reason I'm not entirely sure why, no outward circumstances have changed, I was fine yesterday. I hate talking about my feelings, but I have to write an IBS, all I have is my own experiences and observations to draw from. Just before lunch I spoke to Juan Carlos about what he was doing, he was working on his homework, summarizing Galatians chapter 3, which I will further summarize by quoting the 6th verse "even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness" that also is exactly what today's verse is saying. Earlier today I read psalm 42, which was prescribed to me from dr Austin for times when I'm down, which says "why art thou cast down oh my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me: hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance" I'm not sure where I was going with this I'm out of time but everybody else is still working on there's so I think the problem is I'm just not serving others as much as I should or something I think it's just pride idk
Application
Ask everybody what they need prayer for
"And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith"
God is trying to tell me something, my soul is cast down today for some reason I'm not entirely sure why, no outward circumstances have changed, I was fine yesterday. I hate talking about my feelings, but I have to write an IBS, all I have is my own experiences and observations to draw from. Just before lunch I spoke to Juan Carlos about what he was doing, he was working on his homework, summarizing Galatians chapter 3, which I will further summarize by quoting the 6th verse "even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness" that also is exactly what today's verse is saying. Earlier today I read psalm 42, which was prescribed to me from dr Austin for times when I'm down, which says "why art thou cast down oh my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me: hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance" I'm not sure where I was going with this I'm out of time but everybody else is still working on there's so I think the problem is I'm just not serving others as much as I should or something I think it's just pride idk
Application
Ask everybody what they need prayer for
IBS Matthew 18:15
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother."
This is extremely hard for me, I usually just hold things inside, initially I think the problem is mine and that I need to be more patient or loving or something but now that I think about it that might just be an excuse for me not to confront that person, because I'm afraid of confrontation, because I'm afraid of people disliking me, I have an avoidant personality.
So hey this is like a few weeks after the above unfinished IBS, instead of finishing it I, by the Spirit of God, manned up and confronted the issue that at the time was afflicting me. God blessed it so much, it was super great, a high point during training. Praise God
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother."
This is extremely hard for me, I usually just hold things inside, initially I think the problem is mine and that I need to be more patient or loving or something but now that I think about it that might just be an excuse for me not to confront that person, because I'm afraid of confrontation, because I'm afraid of people disliking me, I have an avoidant personality.
So hey this is like a few weeks after the above unfinished IBS, instead of finishing it I, by the Spirit of God, manned up and confronted the issue that at the time was afflicting me. God blessed it so much, it was super great, a high point during training. Praise God
IBS Amos 3:3
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"
In like 11th grade, I was hanging out with my best friend Sam at his house, it was maybe 2 in the morning, we were both super hungry, we already ate all his good food, and neither of us had drivers licenses, so I said "hey, let's walk to mcdonalds" which was like 5 miles away, he agreed, so together we walked to mcdonalds. If we didn't agree it was worth the walk we wouldn't have gone, I know if it had been my sister we would not have agreed and would not have gone to McDonald's, but I was with my best friend, we had the same mind, he was down. It is the same with following Jesus, agree with Him, then walk with Him. It is also the same with our bros and sisters in Christ, be of the same mind, find agreement, then walk together
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"
In like 11th grade, I was hanging out with my best friend Sam at his house, it was maybe 2 in the morning, we were both super hungry, we already ate all his good food, and neither of us had drivers licenses, so I said "hey, let's walk to mcdonalds" which was like 5 miles away, he agreed, so together we walked to mcdonalds. If we didn't agree it was worth the walk we wouldn't have gone, I know if it had been my sister we would not have agreed and would not have gone to McDonald's, but I was with my best friend, we had the same mind, he was down. It is the same with following Jesus, agree with Him, then walk with Him. It is also the same with our bros and sisters in Christ, be of the same mind, find agreement, then walk together
IBS romans 12:16
"Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits."
God likes humility, He wants us to be humble, He knows it is good for us to be humble. If we hang out with the high and so called successful and impressive people of the world, we might become proud, thinking we are something special because of our or their worldly accomplishments. Usually famous people are prideful, they receive all this attention and flattery that they begin to think they deserve it, and then they hang out with other people who feel the same. We can see this in high school and college too, the people with natural social skills, rich families, and elevated status are often very prideful, they also only hang out with each other. One last example, Kanye west, he is extremely talented, in my opinion the most talented hip hop musician alive, but he thinks too highly of himself, not realizing his talents are from God and for God, not from himself, I also doubt he spends much time with janitors or McDonald's employees or generally awkward and unimpressive people, but instead hangs out with other prideful people, and he is very very prideful. When you don't have an education or any known skills and haven't been influenced by prideful people and have to become a janitor, you are more likely to think correctly about yourself, that your are needy and not capable of much, this is good in Gods sight, this is soft rich soil ready to be used by the Gardener, the proud person is hard dry and useless. I thank God that He keeps me from popularity, that he humbles me with my failures and lack of conventional skills, that he has given me a heart for the outcasted and unliked people, which have all helped keep me from Kanye levels of pride, I hope they have anyway.
"Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits."
God likes humility, He wants us to be humble, He knows it is good for us to be humble. If we hang out with the high and so called successful and impressive people of the world, we might become proud, thinking we are something special because of our or their worldly accomplishments. Usually famous people are prideful, they receive all this attention and flattery that they begin to think they deserve it, and then they hang out with other people who feel the same. We can see this in high school and college too, the people with natural social skills, rich families, and elevated status are often very prideful, they also only hang out with each other. One last example, Kanye west, he is extremely talented, in my opinion the most talented hip hop musician alive, but he thinks too highly of himself, not realizing his talents are from God and for God, not from himself, I also doubt he spends much time with janitors or McDonald's employees or generally awkward and unimpressive people, but instead hangs out with other prideful people, and he is very very prideful. When you don't have an education or any known skills and haven't been influenced by prideful people and have to become a janitor, you are more likely to think correctly about yourself, that your are needy and not capable of much, this is good in Gods sight, this is soft rich soil ready to be used by the Gardener, the proud person is hard dry and useless. I thank God that He keeps me from popularity, that he humbles me with my failures and lack of conventional skills, that he has given me a heart for the outcasted and unliked people, which have all helped keep me from Kanye levels of pride, I hope they have anyway.
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