Compelled By Reality

Seeking to be Poor in Spirit

Filed under: Christianity, Intimacy, Jesus, Practicals of Life

I’ve been meditating lately on what it means when Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus has set the bar high for all believers when He set the vision before us in Mt. 5:48 - “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” The foundational call in the Sermon on the Mount is to cultivate the 8 beatitudes, and being poor in spirit is the first of the eight. Seeking to be perfect is seeking to be mature in the Spirit by pursuing complete obedience (2 Pet. 1:10; Jas 3:2). This pursuit is not to be confused with attainment. We will never fully attain perfection on this side of eternity, but Jesus is perfecting His bride through a process that takes time. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

First, I wanted to define being poor in spirit, and this is what I found:

“to continually acknowledge in the depth of my heart that I am in great need of help to attain genuine love for God and righteousness.”

Being poor in spirit is to accept that we are in a serious dilemma with God and need understanding and power to live in mature godliness. We come before God broken knowing that He is truly our only hope. 

Having this understanding and continually acknowledging that we have no righteousness of our own is the only way we will truly lean soley and completely on Jesus. We’re given His strength and His purity in our poverty. Only when we are in touch with our weakness is He truly strong for us. Then and only then, when we die daily to our own strength, embrace weakness, and in all our ways acknowledge Him will we truly be found perfect, whole, successful and complete before God. 

Tags: Beatitudes, Complete Obedience, Poor in Spirit, Sermon on the Mount, Weakness

Pain in Life: Is it God’s Desire?

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Featured, Knowledge of God, Practicals of Life

One of the many basic questions on every human’s heart in life, especially as it relates to God, has to deal with pain and suffering. Why does God allow pain and suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people? 

In this post I will attempt to give my thoughts on the issue. Feel free to respond if you agree, disagree, or have thoughts of your own about the issue that I did not address. 

In the Bible God does not give micro reasons to every little problem everyone may go through. Instead He gives macro reasons, the ultimate goal behind the situations that come up in life that cause us to face our humanity and face His divinity and make a choice.

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Managing Money Well

Filed under: Blogging, Money, Practicals of Life

I wanted to take this post to highlight some previous posts on this site that are way back in the archives. If you have a job, a regular (or irregular) income or have ever thought to yourself “I wish I had more money,” then I recommend looking over these posts. Also if you have ever said the “b” word (budget) or even tried using it and have failed miserably, than these posts are for you.

Also, at the end of this post I have included a free downloadable spreadsheet!

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The Mystery of God

Filed under: Christianity, Knowledge of God, Practicals of Life, Prayer

Making our lives work right is a pain sometimes. Circumstances seem to get in the way and throw us off track. We make plans and life seems to come in like a tornado and we end up on a course we didn’t plan for. We never do plan for tornados or for unforeseen circumstances, that is why they are called “unforeseen”. We cannot control when things happen to us, but we can control how we respond; and in this lies the answer.

John 17:3 - ‘And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’

In this passage Jesus is speaking to God the Father and we are hearing this because of God the Holy Spirit. So we are listening in on the holy dialog between God and God by the power of God. If we look at this chapter of John 17:1-26 it is broken up into 3 sections.
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5 Ways to Simplify Your Budget

Filed under: Blogging, Money, Practicals of Life

I’m always looking for ways to make my finances behave better and I’m a technogeek at heart so I love to find cool new ways to track, manage, and view my finances. But sometimes things can get a little too complicated, and you end up spending 2 hours on something that should take 15 minutes. I know this is not a new concept and they have been discussed in many other settings, but in my experience these things really work.

So the goal here is to find some ways to simplify your budget in 2 ways. First, to simplify by downsizing, thus saving money which will allow us to get out of debt faster and give more. And Secondly, to simplify the way we practically view, track and manage our finances.
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Giving Principles

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Money, Practicals of Life

As you may know, Stephanie and I have really taken an aggressive approach lately with our finances. I’ve talked about a few of things we’ve done on this blog such as: Attacking Debt and having a financial plan as well as my recent post on Creating a Zero-based Budget.

As I was doing some reading from the Bible, there were some major principles that stuck out to me that have shaped our view of money and of giving it away. There are many people with needs in the world, but one of the greatest needs of all is to know that God is really there and that He really does care about you and works through people like us to show that He cares. One really great way to do this is in our giving. It doesn’t always have to be monetary, but on an ongoing basis I believe that writing giving into your budget (above and beyond tithes) is financial wisdom, tons of fun and has the side benefit of God’s blessing.

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Creating a Zero-based budget

Filed under: Blogging, Featured, Money, Practicals of Life

In my journey in managing the finances I have been given, there have been a few things that have helped along the way. One is the war I have started against an enemy I call debt; Creating a strategy to attack it and keep attacking until it begs for mercy (see this post for more info on that strategy American Cravings: Money).

Who OWNS 100% of my money?
I used to think of the money I earned as just that; money that “I” earned, therefore it was “MY” money. This however differs from God’s view. “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.” God is the owner of 100% of the finances I have. Not just 10%. He owns all 100%, but has given it to me to manage it. So I can no longer think of myself as the OWNER of this money, like it is mine, but I am managing it for God.

So if I was an investment banker and someone gave me $50,000 a year to manage for them, I would need to make sure to take the time to put down on paper and do the research to figure out the best strategy possible. I need to do the same for the money God has given me to manage. First I need to find out what he wants me to do with it, and then manage it appropriately.

One of the things that has helped in this mindset shift of managing the finances given me was to create a “Zero-based budget.” Well, “what is a zero-based budget?” you might ask. I’m glad you asked. I asked myself this same question when I first heard of it.

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Tags: giving, Money, zero based budget

American Cravings: Money

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Money, Practicals of Life

The typical American household has $38,000 in debt. 71% of Americans say debts are making their home lives unhappy. The #1 reason couples list for getting a divorce is money. We need to learn to say “no” to ourselves.

Learn to Delay Pleasure
As a people we have forgotten how to delay pleasure. We must have everything now. We are living in a microwave generation. We are addicted to stuff! Come on, admit it. We all enjoy stuff, especially new stuff. For guys it may be the latest laptop or iPod or some tech gadget we just really “NEED.” For gals, most women just love to shop. Getting those essential shoes that go with that outfit that you bring home and add to the 30 or 40 other pairs you have in your closet, or maybe its clothes. But we of course have to have it now, when its “on sale” because of course it will never go “on sale” again.

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The Creativity Ceiling

Filed under: Blogging, Practicals of Life

Does anyone ever feel that when you are wanting to do something creative, or given a task by someone and asked to just be creative that you often run into a cap or a ceiling that you just can’t get past?

I have often run into this ceiling and find myself often falling short of what I know that God has put inside of me. God is a ginormously creative God and with His help and some practical tips to guide us along the way we can bust through this ceiling found when calling upon the depths of our imagination.

Here are 6 ways

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American Cravings: TV

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Practicals of Life

America’s Most Popular Past-Time
The average american watches more than 4 hours of tv. Watching TV is America’s most popular past-time. Most of the time our living rooms are positioned to be centered around the tv as opposed to around a fireplace or other decorative piece of furniture (as mine is).

Also as an abundance of evidence has made clear in over 40 years of research, America’s television habit has serious negative concequences. It cuts into our time with God, family time, harms our ability to read and perform well in school, ecourages violence and promotes lethargical lifestyles and obesity.

Here are some alarming statistics about the “Average American” according to Nielson Research 2006:

• The Average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of television each day. (which is 2 FULL MONTHS A YEAR)
• The Average American home has the television on for well over 8 hours every day.
• 40% of americans report always or often watching television while eating dinner.
• Most family members watch different programs in different rooms

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