Metamorphis

At worship tonight, we studied the first two versus of Romans 12. Verse 1 "Therefore, I urge you, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship."Verse 2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Paul wants us to understand one thing here. "this is your spiritual act of worship" Wow, what a mouth full. To offer our bodies as living sacrifices, I can't imagine, I can't even to begin to grasp the hem of the garment, my body being worth a living sacrifice. It is my hope that I am pleasing God, but I can't begin to understand that. I am a sinner, I struggle daily! The good thing about all of this, MERCY! God's mercy in awesome. That's another thing we can't understand, but will someday. When we get that awesome opportunity to see Him, we will then understand. To be transformed, this is not a "one time, on the spot" process. This should completely and totally discredit the once saved always saved theory. Your "transformation" is on going. Renewing your mind is a daily act. To continually change your life. You must pray and study daily to complete your journey here.

Just some thoughts I took form the study tonight. Hope this helps you a little bit!

Love you all!

Preston

Prayer

Just heard an awesome sermon on prayer. Do you ever wonder why we don't pray more than we do? I know that I don't spend as much time in prayer because I think God has bigger fish to fry than me. I know that is crazy to think that way, but sometimes I do. And I know that a lot of the good in my life comes from my friends praying for me. I also know that God always answers prayers. You have to look for his will in those prayers, and the answer is not always what we expect. I am reminded often of a prayer that Paul prayed for the church at Colosse. Collossians 1:9-14 "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that (I always like to highlight the "so that's") you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin."

What an awesome and eloquent prayer! This prayer has completely changed the way I approach the Throne in prayer. To be filled with the knowledge of God's will is really awesome. I don't claim to have all the knowledge of God, nor will I ever. But that doesn't stop me from looking to Him for answers that builds my knowledge. And to live a life worthy of God! How in the world can I live a life worthy? I struggle with this daily! I know that Christ's blood still flows for me. That's what keeps me worthy. And you know what? That blood never coagulates like our blood does. It's still flowing, cleansing us, just as it has for the past 2,000 years. And it will till judgement. And what an awesome day that will be. To stand before God, with his son sitting at his right hand, having already been judged for my sin by Him! 2,000 years ago!!!

I am also reminded of another prayer by Nehemiah. In Nehemiah 1:8 "Remember". I just find that fascinating that Nehemiah is reminding God of his promise. The instruction He gave Moses. I would have never thought about reminding God of anything. Maybe it's a way Nehemiah needs to show himself that he knows what the promise was, I don't know.

I am praying for you all!!

Preston