how do you spell "patience?"

if not p-a-t-i-e-n-c-e . . .

"Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self control." (1 Corinthians 7:5)

"I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord." (1 Corinthians 7:35)

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18)

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, 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. 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." (Romans 12:1-2)

"So I say, live in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. they are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law." (Galatians 5:16-18)

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalms 37:4)

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my savior and my God." (Psalms 42:5)

and my favorite of all:

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Romans 5:3-5)

(Will be updated as i find them)

Stubborn Self Will equals Uh-Oh for Joe

For the record, this is for my own self reflection cause no one reads this haha

First off, I want to say that God is good. There is no truer statement. He has blessed me so much in recent, that I'm just so humbled and I feel incredibly blessed. What did i do to deserve all these blessings, when im such a sinner? sure i serve at kccc, sure i attend church every sunday, do qt, go to geth, but in the end, at the core, i'm a sinful human being. Yet, He sent Jesus to die for me, and He loves me unconditionally. It's almost too good to be true. but thats God i guess. Its like i'm a guhji and i kill some dude for his money, but then his mom brings me into her house and clothes and feeds me. It doesnt make any sense, and all i can do is praise God and devote my life to Him.

with that said, i want to mention that God has just blessed me in particular that has affected me these days. But I think that my impatience is turning that blessing into my own self desire. I KNOW for a fact that I need to chill out, but like, its mad difficult. I need to focus on being a good soonjang and bodyworship leader first and foremost, because that's God's will for me. That much is painstakingly obvious to me. then why do I feel like such a noob? Why can't I submit to God's will with other things? I'm just a punkass human, about to get owned by God for not yielding to His will. ...which is definitely the last thing i want. 

i know for certain, that if i dont do this the way God has planned for me, it'll end bad. it's just going to end bad without God's thumbs up. and what i want more than anything is God's thumbs up. because then i know for sure it'll be good. Obviously I dont want to get owned by God. My prayer request is patience. patience, patience, patience.

as elvis presley once said, only fools rush in.

Let Go and Let God.

Wanted, Bible References to Abraham and Issac?

Alroight, so, after a phone call, I had "Wall-E" and "Wanted" downloaded onto my desktop. "Wall-E" was what i planned on watching first, but it turns out it was bad quality, so i quickly disposed of it and double clicked the video file "Wanted," as Quicktime opened up and started playing the movie. (WARNING, LONG ASS ENTRY)

I wanted to watch this movie primarily for the crazy action sequences, but had low expectations. But as I watched the sweet visual affects and crazy stunts, I began making some connections with the movie to references from Genesis, with the story of Abraham and Issac. Now we're all familiar with this bible passage right? God says Abraham's gonna get a kid, Abraham goes "pftt nah son im mad old." Then all of a sudden, God humbles the crap out of Abraham and says "BAM" and Issac's born. Awesome, life is sweet again.

but then God goes, "Aight, now I want you to kill your kid. I gave you a blessing, and now I'm taking away your blessing. 

But now things are different! God has Abraham's utmost faith. So Abraham submit's to God, and prepares to kill Issac. As he's about to, God goes "Aight, thats good enough for me, 'don't kill your kid yo."

(God.) (Abraham) (Issac) 

Right? everyone knows the story. 

Now, with this movie. I don't think this movie was intended to be like the Genesis story, but there were too many parallels to ignore. (spoiler alert)

-------this is just movie background and parallel if youre committed----------

                                                scroll down from here

01) First off, like Abraham, Angelina Jolie's character, "Fox," was a skeptic before she enters the assasination group known as "The Fraternity." The Fraternity claims that fate gives them a target, and they eliminate it without question. But later on, after a life changing experience, Morgan Freeman's character, "Sloan," shows her that something greater was at work before she knew it, and thats when her faith in Fate and The Fraternity became absolute. PARALLEL: Abraham is skeptic, God shows him his power, Abraham is a believer.

02) Second, as the main character enters the scene, guy named "Wesley," The Faternity trains Wesley, and Angelina Jolie aka "The Fox," starts to form a special bond with Wesley. However later on, Fox is told that Fate has issued an order to kill Wesley. With unwavering faith, The Fox goes to complete the job, not worried about the consequences of her actions, but just trusting in Fate. PARALLEL: Abraham is told to kill Issac, and Abraham goes to do it, fully trusting in God.

I would spare you the conclusion of the story, but i have to tell you in order to get my point across. Basically what happens is that in the end, it turns out that Morgan Freeman, aka Sloan, didnt really have the orders from Fate, and was just using Fate as a way to gain the power and trust of his followers, and away from the real Fate. Sloan sends Wesley to unknowingly kill Wesley's dad, dad tells Wesley that he was tricked after all this time. Wesley finds this out, lets The Fox know. Turns out the real Fate originally had Fox and the rest of Sloan's followers die. Realizing the truth, The Fox kills the rest of Sloan's followers, and ultimately kills herself to carry out the real Fate's original plan. And then our hero Wesley kills Sloan. 

This was supposed to be some brief entertainment before bed, but as I watched it, i felt like God was showing me these connections. Basically, I've been going through some struggles, spiritually, and this movie was just what i needed. I didnt mention this previously, but before the movie starts, apparently Sloan sent Wesley's dad to kill Wesley, saying that he needs to follow "Faith" in the Fraternity, but Wesley's dad (aka Cross) didnt listen because obviously he didnt want to kill his own kid. My interpretation: Sometimes you have to figure out and ignore God's plan from the voices of the world (like "studying and partying is fine as long as you go to church once in awhile right?) The Fox didnt really sift through the truth from the lies, and following blindly, and ultimately led to her own destruction. 

                                              To here

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now for me, my spiritual struggle these days is sifting through what I want, and what GOD wants. I like to think that i know what God wants and that i'm doing it, but thinking like that even, is a sin, to remain stasis in faith. We need to continue seeking him, in a state of utter humility. but sometimes i have my own desires, and i want to do whatever I want, even if it might be not pleasing to God. The problem with that is that I tend to reason with myself, telling myself all these different reasons as to why what i want is okay. Not only myself, but the Satan (in the movie, Sloan) works hard to deceive you, convincing you that some things are permissible (but not all things are beneficial). But through all this, i realized that only when my desires match up with God's plan does everything work out beautifully. If i try to fulfill my own desires against God's plan, then it might work well for me for a little bit. It might even make me happy, for a little bit. but ultimately, it'll all fall apart miserably. And currently, there is somethings that i want to do, that i want to see happen, but I dont want it to end badly. i want it to be freaking perfect.  I just need to pray for His go-ahead nod. 

hey, eprops if you read all this.

seriously, this was mad reading haha

you could call it a time commitment even. 

shortcomings lead to self discouragement.

So basically, I am officially the Rutgers University KCCC Body Worship Leader.

awesome. praise God.

but...one problem. 

I dont think i can do it.