A New Perception & Year

Well, its less than a week now before I leave to go to Logsdon Seminary. I'm trying to adjust back to day life and I think I will do alright. I am kinda upset about getting a car and my license. I am probably going to have to wait, so instead of taking nine hours i will probably take twelve this semester and then in May when I come back drive some more. I just don't think a week is good enough for me to be comfortable driving, especially on freeways and such. I did get my permit, a job and am going to seminary, so basically I am blessed much more than I know. While I want a car and many other things I am just going to try and be happy with my life, try to grow and serve Christ.

The last few months have been pretty hard for me and I think God wants more of me, that I need to go to school and take time to seriously think about my relationship with God; which has been slacking these last few months as I've been so confused. It's so hard to hear God when we think he is silent, although I say "think" because I believe He is not... that mostly it is me (us) who stray from God, so that we can no longer hear his voice as clearly or see the path. when we stray from him the voice is quiet and life gets foggy. However, we have Christ as our constant. God will Never forsake us and for that I thank Him, for the life He has given me in which so many things are provided for me. I thank Him.

Sure sometimes life is hard and I struggle but God has seriously blessed me with a lot and if I am to live life without some things who am I to gripe at God, who has given me so much already. No, I will thank God for where I am, I will try to do things better and get things done but all in God's time. I should not be bitter or depressed with my life when so many other have it harder, when they are dying for the name of Christ, when people go hungry, when some people have horrid family and friends and I am blessed. When some people don't have a church family and don't know Christ and I do. God help us American Christians who want everything our way, everything easy and without struggle, for that is not Christianity, that is not a servant of the Christ I truly know.

God bless you all and may God grow and enrich our lives. May we all truly begin to know what it is to live for Christ and not self, to serve Him, to obey him, to sacrifice for Him. May these not just be Christian phrases and ideas but actual applications and witnesses in our lives. In my own life. God has a plan, a glorious plan to glorify his name and we can live joyous lives being apart of his Kingdom and purpose or we can miserably depressed as children of this world. The choice is our own.

James 1:2-4, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

James 1:16-17, " Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

James 1:22-25, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. "

~ Daniel

To My Brothers and Sisters in the Faith

I pray that all is well with you, my brothers and sisters in the faith. I cannot express how my soul years for you all to know Christ deeper, to live your faith out richer, and understand the purpose and calling that has drawn and will continue to draw you to Christ and God the Father. I pray for each of you and feel you in my heart and in my soul, for I know that God has great plans for you, great plans to bless you and to transform you, to mold you, to change you into better people, different people for the cause of Christ and the glory of God the Father. Though I am far from some and near others, I still feel compelled to offer you up in my prayers and think of you in both times of grief, sorrow, joy, and happiness.

I am aware that there are some among you who have taken a step backward in your faith and others who have remained still, unmoving in your maturity. As for myself, I remain faithful, though from time to time I do cry out to God in my doubt and in my despair; however, even in those hard times God always seems to come and comfort me, to answer me, even if not in the ways I might have expected. Do not give up, to not back down, do not leave behind the calling God has placed on your heart, on your lives. God will not be mocked, for why the grace of God has surely saved us and Christ prepares a far better place than this one... the fear of God must reside in our hearts alongside God's love, judgment alongside His holiness.

I know that some of you have been stained by life, that hard times have made you pessimistic and doubtful of your faith. Still, others among you have left your faith because you have found it more promising somehow to follow sin, to make yourselves slaves to the evil one instead of to the light of Christ. You may consider yourself safe from judgment but again I say that God will not be mocked and God knows the true desires and intentions of your ways, you cannot hide in the dark, for God shines light and though your evil ways scatter and look for dark places, God will find you in time, your judgment will come. The hope of course is that this judgment, this discipline, whatever it may be, will bring you back to your Father who loves you, back into a better life, might even break your spirit and bring you back onto the path of the righteous.

My prayer is for those who are faithful to continue in perseverance, finding their strength from Christ in hard times; however, it is also for those who find themselves far from God for whatever reason, that they may see their wrong ways, their deeds of evil and derision and leave them behind and start anew. I write hoping that this letter, this prayer, may reach some who have left the fold and encourage others who have become weary while going along their journey.

For the Glory of God the Father
Your Brother in Christ Jesus
~ Daniel

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