Musings on Prosperity

Warning! Religious Christian rant! If you don't want to hear my thoughts on prosperity teaching leave now. Okay, I've warned you, now you have to deal with my musing/ranting about this style of preaching. And yeah, it's okay if you flame me. This is more of a venue for my thoughts, a place to vent. And hey, if you like it, if it touches you, great. But I would ask that you form your own ideas. Don't take anything at face value.

Okay. First off, I am not a theologian. I cannot say anything about theology or doctrine and believe that everything I say is true. What I can do, however, is take what I've heard from my father and my mother, whom I respect in all things, and my own reasoning and attempt to understand what the bible says. Now, I am not the greatest Christian ever. Heck, who comes close these days? Anyway, I don't really read my bible as often as I should, but I do try... on occasion. Okay, yes, I'm really horrible when it comes to that part of my walk but... Okay, I really need to pray for God to give me a thirst for his word. But I've digressed a bit. Allow me to get back on topic here.

It seems like so many people these days simply look at the Internet and accept what it says as truth. They look at what others have and are lustful for it. This is not everyone, but there are more than enough of these kinds of people to make you wonder what has happened to our world? It is not just America, of this I am sure. Why? People are people no matter where they are from. I'm not trying to preach. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder what qualifies as a sermon, what qualifies as preaching, and what is it I should believe? Well, I've heard a lot about prosperity teaching, and some of it sounds like it has a basis in truth, but it is taken out of context and twisted to fit lazy lifestyles. Can God bless you above and beyond what you could ever ask or comprehend? Of course, He's God! But will He? Will He just hand you everything you could ever want on a sliver platter as if he were your butler delivering your drinks? Hum... most likely not. Will He reward the servant who diligently does His will without complaint and goes the extra mile just to please Him, like a boss rewards the employee who does his job quickly and well? Most likely. I cannot say what He will do because I don't know Him as well as I should, but when you think of it, are we not his employees? Is He not our boss? The pastor is like the store manager, the staff and church volunteers are like the shift managers, the missionaries are like the sales associates out on the floor, and the rest of the congregation are shoppers waiting to become those out on the floor. It's not the perfect analogy, but it serves it's purpose. What am I getting at with all this? Yes, God wants to bless you, but who rewards a sloth? Does a worker who comes to work late, loafs around and does hardly anything, then leaves early get a promotion, or does it go to the one who comes in at five every morning, works hard at his job, and leaves at eight?

So, prosperity teaching, from what I've gathered, is claiming, from God, your 'promise' and receiving your blessing without having to work very hard to get it. This may not be what you see. This may not be what you get. You may have read this whole post and thought I'm nothing but an idiot who shouldn't have come back to her blog. Newsflash. I don't really care what you think. It's my blog, so I'm gonna use it as I see fit. And for those of you who have a pastor who teaches prosperity, I'm not necessarily ragging on your pastor. However, I would like to leave you with a few questions.
What are you doing to be rewarded for?
What are you doing to receive the blessing God has for you?
What is it God wants from you?
If you saw a need, would you get up and do something about it, or would you sit and think about it, pray about it, and then forget about it?
Are you really striving to be all you can for Him?

Think about it, study the word, and then... well, I'm not too sure. Seek God's will in your life and then strive to fulfill His call on you? Yeah, that sounds about right. Signing off once again,
Lil Bit

Erm... Whoops?

Yeah, my new year's resolution kinda fell flat didn't it? Whoops! But that 'whoops' doesn't hold a candle to when I over corrected while driving into my grammy's driveway and totaled the car I was learning how to drive. Note to anyone who doesn't have their licence to drive yet: do not let people push you to go faster than you're comfortable with, do not let people push you to drive on the road before you feel confident you won't wreck the car, and just go ahead and have three months worth of Saturdays and Sundays and possibly Wednesdays of driving around in a parking lot before you drive anywhere. It could save lives, cars, money, and trust. For me, the loss of my father's trust is the hardest blow I got from that accident. True, I have minor freak outs when things go wrong and on Sundays when the worship team loses me or the computer decides it wants a reboot or Dad tells me to 'go to that one.' However, in my defense for the computer glitches, my hearing is heavily impaired, dad has a level of intensity that I could never hope to reach when making sure things run smoothly, and there are times when I'm not sure which one 'that one' is. Okay, I finally said my piece and can move on from that. Anyway, just wanted to come and make sure my blog wasn't gone for good and write something. Plus this thing is good for venting. Online diary that anyone can read, who knew?

I think the reason this is so therapeutic is because maybe someone will read about what goes on in another's life and be touched by it. Think about it, you browse the net, find a blog, read it, then move on to the next and by the end of the day, how many lives have you had a glimpse of? How many people does your life touch without you even knowing by the power of the internet? People halfway across the world could be reading what I write, or that you write, and smile. People in the same funk as you could read your post and think, 'if they can get through this, so can I.' Maybe there's someone who has had it worse than you yet made it through and posted something about their experience and then you read it. How about you've had it about as bad as it can get and still have access to a computer and the internet and then someone who thinks they have it bad comes across a post, a picture, and tweet and they read your words, a piece of your life, and it gives them hope. If just one person could benfit from your live, from you posting what you've gone through somewhere in the vastness of the internet, would it be worth it to bare your soul? If just one life could be saved, would you take the time to post a small portion of your life? If just one soul could be given new purpose, would it be worth it all? For me, I'd say yes because no matter who you are or what you've done, the Lord and Savior of this world, the One who made everything in creation, still cares about you. If just one person could have their life changed by what I write, I'd give you my life story along with what I can remember feeling at those points in my life because, God may not have had to wipe a lot from my spiritual record, but he sure kept a lot of things making it onto my spiritual and physical record and if by showing what God could do for your children when you follow Him can save one person from hell I'll show everything I can.
Leaving you with that little bit of brain food,
Lil Bit

A New Year

What is up with the weather?! This thought has run through my mind more times than I care to remember. I heard a phrase to describe it tonight that I really liked. 'Bipolar weather.' Doesn't that fit recent weather? Ah well, it doesn't really matter, i was just trying to be a little funny before I got to the main post.

So... new year. Fun. Still suffering from being a lazy procrastinator. Nothing new there. However, I'm going to try to post at least one bible verse every day. I'm going to do the same thing on Facebook. Don't know how long it will last, but I'm gonna try. I'm also gonna try to clean my room and get my school done. Once I finish school, as in the semester, I'm gonna try to get a job. Yeah, wish the girl with the poor work ethic, no job history, no license, and no car good luck getting anything. Not to mention I still don't know where I'm going to go to college, let alone what I'm going to major in. I don't know if I want some sort of business degree or communications degree, or maybe some sort of computer thing. Anyway, yeah, lots of stuff to look forward to and lots of stuff to decide and prepare for. Welcome, 2014, and may you be bright, cheerful, and successful in all your endeavors. Good bye, 2013, now take your junk and leave.

This is Lil Bit saying, 'Good Night everybody!'