Just Live

You know when we tend to give into temptation, we may be comforted at the fact that it is expected of us, being human. It’s sad that it is expected of us to give into temptation so easily. If we are expected to give into temptation why don't we go the opposite way and refuse the devil?
Why is it so easy to recognize sin, and even then is so easy to commit?
Why is it so hard to recognize the will of God, and is so hard to follow?

This world brings so much disaster, so much grief and problem. But did you know that that is still no excuse for losing your temper? That is still no excuse for swearing, or even for being mean or rude to someone. Being human or even being within this world is no excuse for sin. Jesus also was human and He also has walked on earth, look at what's he's done! If you believe that life was any easier for Jesus because He was God's Son, then you need to start thinking again

It had to of been harder for Christ then us, to overcome the devil, to live for His Father. Our souls mean nothing to the devil compared to Christ' soul! Satan knew the Scriptures, which means he knew Jesus would one day be the ultimate sacrifice that many may be saved! This must have only added to the flames, satan didn't want this to happen, and did everything in his power to stop it, but as we see, it didn't work. And because It didn't, because Jesus even still didn't give into temptation, being human is no excuse for sin.

If one is living life for God then they have such a meaning in life! But if one is not living for God, then there is no point in life, no meaning what-soever! One cannot ever live in happiness on earth or even do good on earth without God in their lives, for God is good.

If we were set on this earth to love our Heavenly Father, and decide not to love Him, then whats the point in being here? I'm not saying those who don’t have God in their lives should die, I'm saying those who don't have God in their lives should live!

Jesus has offered salvation as a free gift, He has offered grace as a free gift. He has offered heaven and life as a free gift! Take it or leave it, its up to you.

And If one decides to continue to reject God, (continuing in one's ways, knowing the riches one will have lost in heaven, knowing what one will have received in hell) "One" must be a fool!

" 'For I know the plans I have for you.' declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.' " Jeremiah 29:11

If you have received Christ as your savior already, then congratulations! But it doesn't stop there. God has a plan for your life, a perfect plan. That as long as you follow His will, nothing will bring you down, you will be untouchable!
(Psalm 125:1-2 For the Lord's people are like mount. Zion, which cannot be shaken but endure forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people. Both now and forevermore.)

Not only does the one true God love you and me, not only does the creator of heaven and earth have a perfect plan for you and me, it goes even further! Listen to the next verse in Jeremiah.

"Then you will call upon me, and will come and pray to me. And I will listen." Jeremiah 29:12

God also promises to listen to your prayers, YOUR prayers! In this verse, He didn't mean "you" as in everyone in general, He means everyone individually! Although He is of so much more power and authority than we will ever have, He will listen. Although He know's what has gone on in your day, He wants to hear it from you! Although He knows your troubles and your problems, He wants you to bring them to Him. "And He will listen."

" 'You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all of your heart. I will be found by you!' declares the LORD Almighty." Jeremiah 29:13-14a

Seek God" to me means a lot more than just watching and listening for God, and God's will. But to look for ways you can better serve Him, all the time. To be more like Jesus, how can you be more like Jesus? You try your hardest to stop that swearing. Try your hardest to stop treating others badly. You Seek God! Now if you are seeking to truly find God then you will Seek God with all of your heart (All of who and what you are.) Do you worry? Seek God with it, or find ways you can better serve Him with worrying, which would end up not worrying at all, for me, it ends up in prayer. Give it all to God! Seek God.


What is fear?

Proverbs 9:10 says that fear of the Lord is only the beginning of wisdom.

"Fear" in this is meant in a more respectful way, as if you were to see the president, would you not be the nicest person to him because of his authority in this nation? Wouldn't you be nervous of saying the wrong thing, or what-not? For at any moment he could call security and have you taken out of his presence. Would you not look nice and smell good, chew trident for good breath wear your nicest watch to impress him? So we should do so for God. Only God has authority over all of mankind, He is above us all, we should fear Him not because He commanded us, but because He is God! He holds the decision of our eternal destination. That alone brings me to fear God

Another kind of fear would be fear as in being scared or frightened. When you are in a crowd with your friends from school, or work or even at home, say they start gossiping, no you should not join in but why stay quiet? Why not stop the gossiping? Would you fear of what they would say? How they would take it? I do at times, when I am in that situation. But in the end I realize that It doesn't matter if they are offended because I stood up and said something. In fact we should expect that as a reaction

We should not fear them for what they may say or how they would react, all that can be done to us is either harm to our earthly body or they can try and bring us down, they cannot touch our soul. Plus they could not bring us down, regarding the scripture in psalms I said earlier (The Lords People are like mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endure forever. Psalm 125:1)

God sets us free from:

• Fear of temptation - He sent His son into the world to live a perfect life, setting the ultimate example that we may not fear temptation but may take His example, and face temptation.
  
• Fear of failure - God has promised us a meaning in life! If only we would humbly live for God. If we are on God’s side, we cannot fail.
  
• Fear of rejection - Since God, in all of His authority and glorious majesty, humbles Himself to not only befriend you and me, but promises to take care and watch over us. Who cares if we are rejected by humans, for God, the creator of heaven and earth, is still right here next to us, with open arms!
  
• Fear of Humility, and shame - Christ already bore your humility and shame on the cross, and like Jeremiah 29:13 says, if we seek God with our shame and humility, truly give it all to God, it will be eliminated. And if it remains, then you will have the blessing of an opportunity to be persecuted in Christ’ name.
  
• Fear of eternal destruction - Jesus Christ paid the debt we could not. He took our place. He was the perfect, ultimate Sacrifice so that we can one day, truly have life. If we accept God’s Grace then we have no reason to fear Hell. For we are going to be with our Lord.

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

Do not be discouraged

There are people in life you learn to respect, possibly because of their senority over you and also sometimes because of your relationship with that particular person.

For instance, say you have known someone for a very long time, and knew that he/she was raised in a Christian household and because of your relationship with them you automatically assume that this person loves God, you have always thought of this person as a true Christian. But when you actually start paying attention to this person's lifestyle, maybe this person doesn't seem to really "Seek God" after all.

If this happened to me, It would bring me down alot. If it were someone who I respected, I would be heartbroken to find out that they didn't actually "Seek God" or even have the faith they've always seemed to have.

Nomatter the circumstances, wether it was intentional or not, you should never let anyone bring you down. So if someone ever disappoints you, maybe because of their lack of faith? Maybe something else, don't let it bring you down. Just think, It is yet another great opportunity to witness, and better serve our Lord.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

My goal

Its amazing looking back, like my devotions journals from the summer (SOAP.. Scripture, Own words, Application, Prayer) I've grown in the Lord so much! All those little devotionals I did had such a huge impact on my life.

I think the one verse that has "guided" me through life this far is:
1 Timothy 4:12 "Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for other believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity."

In my daily life I searched for ways I could be a better example of Christ. And at camp whenever people would put me down, I just frorgot about it and accepted them anyway, It was hard to adapt to this all at first, but God guided me through it all.

Before camp I figured my own personal goal for the rest of the year, to be the best example of Christ I could be.

I watched the camp staff more closely to see what I noticed first, and I noticed humbleness right off the bat. I decided this will be the area I work on for the summer. I figured, since I noticed it first, maybe others will notice it too, and if I become humble like Jesus, I may set that example.

Later on in the summer I went to TAM which was during Teen Camp. The Subject at TAM was "Be a Hero" now many probably know that we set a goal, and together raised over $11,000 for a village in nigeria. This alone made all of the participants Hero's in the eyes of the people who lived in this village. But what I learned was to be a hero in more than physical ways.

Example: My dad is my hero. He's been the best dad and the greatest example of Christ i've seen in a man. What makes him a hero, is that he doesn't even know that he's a hero. What he does, and how he does it makes him my hero. I've seen in him humbleness toward the homeless, and the wealthy for that matter. I don't see that in people very often.

I've learned that our lifestyles or the way we live can set such an example on others, wether that example is Godly or not. And I know, that I am going to stand for Christ and try and be more like Him that I may leave an example for the next person to see, that they may, in-turn be, an example of Christ, a true hero.

My goal continues for the year 2006, I long to be like Jesus. I want to GROW unimaginably throughout the year in my walk with Christ, and I want to show Christ to everyone I meet.

But I know that none of this is possible for me, Chris Hinzman. So I offer my life as a sacrifice to my Lord.
In God alone all things are possible. In Him alone is my trust.

Too busy

Again I seem to be slacking, I've been getting down so easily lately, so frusterated so easily. The week seems to be getting hectic, well for me atleast. I just need to remember to see the plus side, what is going well, not the other way around. I guess its alot harder than it looks.

Capt Bett's post "Loss of Routine" really got me. But sometimes it isn't just when I'm on vacation that I fail to spend time with God.
Sometimes, Its hard to admit, but I can see in my life that I am so wrapped up or overwhelmed in life and its small, many matters, that I forget that it's all for God and I forget to live and do these things for Him, life is too short to live like this. It seems sometimes like I'm too busy in my daily life to stop and spend time with God, when I should be too busy spending time with God, to stop and eat.

I want to come back to You my God, I surrender my life, make it worth living. Only in You will I ever find peace in a day. Lord, All I need is You.

The way I was made

When I write songs on the guitar, I always play them for my mom but always refuse to sing it, I don't know why I just don't like singing in front of people.. Unless its like in church, then I don't care who hears me.. Kinda Wierd huh?

Anyway, I got a new CD at the Christmas party, Chris Tomlin "Arriving", and it has a song on it named "The way I was Made" here is a part of it:

Made in Your likeness, made with Your hands
Made to discover who You are and who I am
And All I’ve forgotten help me to find
All that You’ve promised let it be in my life

I want to live like there’s no tomorrow
I want to dance like no one’s around
I want to sing like nobody’s listening
Before I lay my body down
I want to give like I have plenty
I want to love like I’m not afraid
I want to be the man I was meant to be
I want to be the way I was made

It's one of them songs that just make you want to you and proclaim Jesus, getting arrested because we won't shutup. Kinda like Joe the Turk, what an example he's left for us by the way, he would preach on the streets and when arrested, he would preach in jail. And it like woke me up ya know? The song pretty much speaks for itself. I want to live my life the way God wants me to, the way I was made.
God wants me to use the talents and gifts He's given me to my best ability. Its kind of like when I moved here to painesville, opportunities were given to serve Christ. Although I'm not moving There are opportunities for me to share the gift God's personally blessed me with. And yes sometimes It can be hard to come out of my shell, alot of times it can actually, but I refuse to live life inside of a little shell. I'm going to step out of my confort zone for once, It may take a while and a lot of prayer, but I am here for Christ and yet again, I am not about to pass up what God has in store.

Again Lord, I say to you
I will follow, Your words are true
Your promise just, Your will sustained
And in Your shadow, I will remain

"The Christmas Season"

This time of year within the Salvation Army can get so stressful. Its sad knowing even as an organization working in light of God, and to serve God, we can get sidetracked so easily. Kettles may not going very smoothly, you haven't eaten dinner yet, and with how busy you already are you still need to prepare a sermon for sunday. It can be very hard going about life like this.

I've been working kettles so much! And life itself seems to be so overwhelming. Lately I've been trying to buy gifts for my family and friends, yet I want to work kettles to help out the corps while practicing my guitar for the new praise-band and having to put aside yet more time to meet with the group, trying to memorize and practice a monologue for January and having to eat, sleep and relax in between. I really want to do all of these things, they are all very important to me, but it can get so hectic trying to get it all done ya know?

I said "this time of year" on purpose instead of the Christmas season. When this time of year comes around, I don't know about you but I tend to lose the thought of Christmas. What I think when I hear Christmas now is bellringing, shopping for loved ones etc. Alot of people, including me, hate the thought of target and many others saying happy holidays, taking Christ out of Christmas. But what we fail to see is that we also tend to take Christ out of Christmas. With kettles and visiting family and work and all sorts of stuff. Although it is wonderful to help the needy that they also may have a blessed "Christmas day" and it is also nice to give presents to the people you love, it still is not the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Day represents Christ's birthday, the day Almighty God became man, knowing that 32 or so years later He would have suffered the ultimate penalty for our sins. Yes, He loves us that much. This is actually what Christmas is all about! Can you imagine how it's evolved? I mean what would it be like to have an extra long church service on Christmas day instead of exchanging gifts. And though many do not admit it, its become alot about the presents. Maybe not for yourself, but it is. I mean how miserable would an average person be if on Christmas Day they neither recieved nor gave away a gift? Pretty miserable I would think.

Although it is sweet seeing the look on your childerens face when they see the new (SHINY) bike in the living room, or that certain something they have asked for, for a long time. It still isn't what Christmas is about. It is simply, all about Christ. For this Christmas Season and the ones to come, I pray that I can stay focused on God, not myself or even others. Just Him.
I'm coming back to the heart of Christmas, and it's all about Him.

The Move, My Testimony

Moving has to be one of the hardest parts of life, depending on the person and situation I guess. For me, my past move from Salem Ohio to Paineville Ohio was a huge faith tester.

I grew up in Salem, I knew Theresa Everson as the YPSM since I was 2 and a half and she was like my second mother, though I've never told her that. So many relationships where friends in this corps became family. I mean I was so attached there, it is something about the place, that corps building to me, is home. We would have everybody's birthday party, with a nice dinner and everybody would come..!
I remember running the sound booth every week, I was the head man for the sound booth ministry team, I would run the sound, tape the service and teach others how to work everything. I felt needed and important and it was just where I seemed to "Fit into" the corps. It was what I did in church. Brennen Jeremy and my Dad were in the band, my Mom led songs, I did the sound.
Life was great! Our family was really close, at times we would argue but that is understandable right?
Then I remember one day right before the teen group was about to start, my mom who appeared to have been crying called me along with my brothers to my dad's office. When we got there and saw my that my dad was also upset, we knew something was wrong. Here we were being stationed to Painesville Ohio.
Now this was hard enough to handle, let alone the fact that we couldn't tell anyone. I was mad, mad at my parents, mad at the Salvation Army, mad at God, mad at the world! We had to go about a month I would say, maybe longer maybe shorter without telling anyone. It was complete torture to go to teen group and hang out with my friends, knowing that I would be moving soon and wouldn't be able to hang out with them any longer.

So when we were able to tell people, we did, And that brought on the tears, and the frusteration of having to face reality. Our neighbors wanted to have a petition to keep us in Salem, lol It sounded good to me, but my parents insisted that God must have a plan for us in Painesville, Ohio. We came up one day before the move to check things out, and ofcorse I didn't delight in anything, accept the Gym at the corps that is, haha. On the tour of the corps I was confused, not knowing where we came in or anything. I felt lost. And then we went to see the house. When we pulled up the first reaction was, Its pink. (lol) We had a tour of the house and on the way home I didn't say a word. I tortured my family for "putting me through this" when it actually wasn't their fault, in fact, they were just as scared as I was. We seemed to grow apart through this part of the move. I thank God that by the end of it we ended up growing closer to each other, and closer to God.

We had to come home from camp for our "goodbye party", I think they called it. It was really nice, people were so thoughtful! I didn't want to leave that night. But ofcorse, I ended up leaving and going back to camp the next day, which was alot better then lingering around our empty house with a truck full of boxes outside.
That night, my parents took us to camp and drove to painesville from there, spent the night in a hotel for about two nights until they moved into the house.

When break came, I wasn't looking forward to going to "the house" (I refused to call it home.) But by the end of the summer, the house wasn't looking too bad, and I finally got to go to church in painesville for the first time. It was OK but I didn't know anyone. Everybody welcomed us right away though, and treated us well too!
I still didn't like the place, but by now I realized what a fool I had been to doubt God, and decided although I know nothing about why I am here, I will do this for Him and not me.

Its almost two years since we've moved to Painesville. God has richly blessed us far beyond what we deserve. Our church is starting to grow, we are blessed with having the Goiz family here also, opening a hispanic corps. And although I am not head honcho in the sound booth, and Theresa Everson isn't the YPSM. This is a blessed place also, it is not the walls of the building that are blessed, its the people inside those walls. I'm also starting to find my place in the corps, we are currently working on a project that our youth group had come up with. Its a contemperary service run by the teens with some help from the adults. January 15'th at 6:30 is when our first service starts. We are also currently forming a praise band for this.
Later down the road we plan to raise enough money to shut down one of the few "Adult Eyes Only" bookstoores, possibly two, but shutting down one is a good start.

I now can call this place, Painesville Ohio, "Home". There are still those times where I really miss Salem, cause I am still adapting, slowly. I will always miss Salem and the friends and family I have there. But I will choose to not dwell on what i've lost, but on what I've gained! I've decided to not see negitive in everything, but to look at the positives, because by the looks of things, we arent going anywhere anytime soon.
God's blessed us here in Painesville with wonderful people and a wonderful opportunity to better serve Him, I'm not about to pass it up.

" 'For I know the plans I have for you' declares the Lord 'plans to prosper you, and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me, and come and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all of your heart. I will be found by you.' declares the Lord" Jeremiah 29:11-14