James "Pops" Rees
Friday, February 25, 2011
Big Shoes
I snapped a picture today of my youngest son wearing my shoes. The thought started running through my mind that our children follow in our footsteps. I began to think about the things (both good and not so good) that I see in my boys. It is obvious that they get a significant amount of those things from me. Your kids are like little mirrors running around screaming at you. It is so important that you walk a right path because no matter who you are there are people following you. Children are a gift from God...what we do with that gift we will answer for. Children are like arrows in the hand of a warrior...what are you aiming yours at? Whatever you entertain in your life your children will do in excess. Dads we have some big shoes!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Faith-Hope-Love
Love is a choice to give when there is no reason. If you look hard enough there will always be a reason to hold back your love. Faith sees what is possible when everything fails. There will always be an abundance of failure available to pick from. Hope is a silent violence inside...it rages against the pressure of life. Hope just stands there and won't let go.
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Heart
Have you heard the saying "Follow Your Heart"? That's the stuff of fairy tails and nightmares. Your heart can lead you into places you never ment to go and into things you didn't want to do. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that your heart can't tell you good things. It can, but we can convince ourselves in our hearts that anything is OK and right. What does your heart want? To whom is it submitted?
Do you have "if onlys" in you life? Like if only I had this then my life would be complete. Just as we get what we thought we needed the rules change and there is something new that we need. It's a never ending cycle.
In the Garden on Eden, Adam and Eve enjoyed a standing invitation of open access to God. All their needs were met. They had no hunger, stress, sickness, bills, demands... What are some of the things that you deal with that they didn't have to? They didn't sin because of their demanding circumstances or need. Sin is not the product of what we have or don't have. It is a product of the heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things." Jeremiah 17:9 The heart can easily buy into satan's lies.
Nothing is more misleading than an unsanctified, rebellious, or lost heart. For this reason God continually warns us through the Bible for us to give Him our whole heart. Here are some examples:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" Deuteronomy 6:5
"Acknowledge the God of your Father and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and thought." 1 Chronicles 28:9
"As water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart" Proverbs 27:19
"For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" Matthew 12:34b
"Good people bring good things out of the good stored in their heart, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" Luke 6:45
These are just a few places in the Bible the heart is mentioned. Do a search and look up other verses and study them. Are you seeing a pattern?
So enter Noah...Adam and Eve lived in the most ideal circumstances, but still choose sin and disobedience. Noah lived where depravity ruled and people followed every evil thought without restraint. He made right choices and was righteous and blameless. "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God" Genesis 6:8&9
What was the difference? The difference is Noah walked with God in his heart. Heart change doesn't come form a one time commitment or far away thoughts of God. It comes from the constant state of fellowship with God. Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute...
The deliberate act of will is the inevitable choice between habitual fellowship or habitual failure. Our culture surrounds us with every conceivable practice of sin and the continual mockery of God. We can be victorious only if we walk with God and give Him our whole heart. There is no place more safe. The choice is your daily, hourly, momentarily... What will your choice be? Who will you serve?
-Athena
Do you have "if onlys" in you life? Like if only I had this then my life would be complete. Just as we get what we thought we needed the rules change and there is something new that we need. It's a never ending cycle.
In the Garden on Eden, Adam and Eve enjoyed a standing invitation of open access to God. All their needs were met. They had no hunger, stress, sickness, bills, demands... What are some of the things that you deal with that they didn't have to? They didn't sin because of their demanding circumstances or need. Sin is not the product of what we have or don't have. It is a product of the heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things." Jeremiah 17:9 The heart can easily buy into satan's lies.
Nothing is more misleading than an unsanctified, rebellious, or lost heart. For this reason God continually warns us through the Bible for us to give Him our whole heart. Here are some examples:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" Deuteronomy 6:5
"Acknowledge the God of your Father and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and thought." 1 Chronicles 28:9
"As water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart" Proverbs 27:19
"For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" Matthew 12:34b
"Good people bring good things out of the good stored in their heart, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" Luke 6:45
These are just a few places in the Bible the heart is mentioned. Do a search and look up other verses and study them. Are you seeing a pattern?
So enter Noah...Adam and Eve lived in the most ideal circumstances, but still choose sin and disobedience. Noah lived where depravity ruled and people followed every evil thought without restraint. He made right choices and was righteous and blameless. "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God" Genesis 6:8&9
What was the difference? The difference is Noah walked with God in his heart. Heart change doesn't come form a one time commitment or far away thoughts of God. It comes from the constant state of fellowship with God. Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute...
The deliberate act of will is the inevitable choice between habitual fellowship or habitual failure. Our culture surrounds us with every conceivable practice of sin and the continual mockery of God. We can be victorious only if we walk with God and give Him our whole heart. There is no place more safe. The choice is your daily, hourly, momentarily... What will your choice be? Who will you serve?
-Athena
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Focus
Keep your eyes on where you are going because where you are can detour you. What you focus on will be the direction you go so stay focused on where you want to go and not on your failures. Your going to mess up get over it! Failing doesn't make you a failure...not trying does. Anytime you have a dream in your heart you will have opposition in your life. There are no free rides to your destiny. There will be naysayers along the path...what you listen to long enough you will believe. Be careful what you believe because that is what you become! What you invest time in will become valuable to you so invest yourself wisely. If you choose to spend your time on things that don't move you forward don't be surprised when you move backwards. There are two paths for your life, a right one and a wrong one. What you focus on is the difference between regret and a life well lived.
-James
-James
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Porn
The bible says in Matthew 5:28 that if you look at a woman to lust after her you have commited adultery with her in your heart.
Looking at porn is a sin plain and simple. The bible also says in James 1:14,15 that we are tempted when we are carried away by our own lust. It says that when lust is conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death. So ultimatley this stuff will kill you. You must realize that porn is your enemy not your friend. This is the first step toward your freedom. God will help you defeat your enemies but not your friends. You must fall out of love with it and see it for what it is.
Porn traps you in a cruel cycle of guilt and shame. It preys on your God given desire to love and be loved. It's beauty lures you in with the offer of acceptance, only to turn on you and consume your mind with lack of fulfillment. The reason porn is so powerful is because we desperatley want to be wanted and need to be needed. You have this beautiful image saying I want you, I need you, I accept you, and for a moment you believe. Shame is what it leaves you with, emptier than before, addicted to a temporary feeling. It's a moment where you feel like everything about you is ok.
Porn is an addiction. If you don't agree just try to stop looking at it. You have to admit that it has a hold of you before you can get free from it. Here's some motivation for you to get free. Did you know that porn is the major cause of male impotence? Men are stimulated by sight. The more you look at the stuff the more you have to look at the stuff to get excited. The end result...your no longer excitable...now how exciting is that? Porn changes a man from a protector of women into a predator of women. Porn will make you think thoughts you never wanted to think, do things you never thought you would do, and be someone you never thought you would be.
I am living proof that God can set you free from this stuff. If you want to talk just hit me up saltboxband@yahoo.com
James "Pops" Rees
SaltBox
Looking at porn is a sin plain and simple. The bible also says in James 1:14,15 that we are tempted when we are carried away by our own lust. It says that when lust is conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death. So ultimatley this stuff will kill you. You must realize that porn is your enemy not your friend. This is the first step toward your freedom. God will help you defeat your enemies but not your friends. You must fall out of love with it and see it for what it is.
Porn traps you in a cruel cycle of guilt and shame. It preys on your God given desire to love and be loved. It's beauty lures you in with the offer of acceptance, only to turn on you and consume your mind with lack of fulfillment. The reason porn is so powerful is because we desperatley want to be wanted and need to be needed. You have this beautiful image saying I want you, I need you, I accept you, and for a moment you believe. Shame is what it leaves you with, emptier than before, addicted to a temporary feeling. It's a moment where you feel like everything about you is ok.
Porn is an addiction. If you don't agree just try to stop looking at it. You have to admit that it has a hold of you before you can get free from it. Here's some motivation for you to get free. Did you know that porn is the major cause of male impotence? Men are stimulated by sight. The more you look at the stuff the more you have to look at the stuff to get excited. The end result...your no longer excitable...now how exciting is that? Porn changes a man from a protector of women into a predator of women. Porn will make you think thoughts you never wanted to think, do things you never thought you would do, and be someone you never thought you would be.
I am living proof that God can set you free from this stuff. If you want to talk just hit me up saltboxband@yahoo.com
James "Pops" Rees
SaltBox
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