Day 16 "Fire"

Daily Summary: Wow another glorious day to serve God. I had an amazing sleep last night and woke up totally refreshed. It was really cool to think about how I prayed about all of that last night in my previous blog and He is so quick to giving me an answer. Some other things that have been an answer to prayer are me not being as lazy I cleaned up my room pretty good today in the dorms. I have been running hard more at practice and taking things much more seriously. My tattoo has healed up nicely and the colors are vibrant. I also am not feeling as self cautious as I have been lately. Oh and I also am thrilled that God is allowing me to grow closer to my family and also to keep me away from getting frustrated easily. Those are just a few ways how God is really blessing me right now. Well after waking up refreshed I got up past breakfast so I had a bowl of frosted flakes. They were delicious as always. Then like I said before I got a sudden urge to clean up my room and I did so. I can't really believe that I didn't do it before it literally took less then five minuets to make things look nice again. After that I took a shower took some vitamins and relaxed and watched an episode of niptuck. I guess you can say that I am becoming quite obsessed with the show. I tend to get stuck on T.V. shows once I start them out in their beginnings. Anyways after that I decided since I am probably going to be out late tonight, I should get my reading done a little early today so that is exactly what I did. I again used the illuminated Bible since I was coming out of the book Revelation. In the Bible Illuminated, to start out the book of Revelation there is a picture of a man on fire. I am not sure what the picture is from but all I know is that it was taken in Santiago, Chile. The picture should give people terror and possibly make them think why is this man on fire. Truth is that is how it is going to be if we don't believe in God's word and if we don't have the relationship with Him that He wishes us to have. After the reading I got ready for practice and headed down to lunch and went down to water the field. Practice was so cool today we barely did anything and got out around 3:30 about an hour and a half earlier then we usually get out. We just did a few defensive stuff and hit. I got a lot of running in from playing the outfield so I was pretty winded afterwards. I'm glad I had a good fun day at practice today and I hope my night goes just as well. A few of my friends and I went down to the beach for a bon fire. It was pretty dang sweet. Although we weren't actually at the beach for to long, but it was cool to see and old friend, a new friend, and meet a couple of others. We all still made the best out of everything and had fun in everything we did. My eyes and throat are burning for some reason and I think it is probably from the smoke from the fire. Shoot I hope it doesn't feel like this in the morning when I look into the sun. That wouldn't be good when a fly ball is coming my way. Anyways after the awesome night I just dropped Josh off, made a quick stop for chicken sand witches at Wendy's and then headed back to the dorms. Today was an awesome day and I hope tomorrow will be just as good. I have practice from 10:00 to 3:00 then I'm going home to hang with the family! I can't wait talk to ya'll tomorrow.



Daily Reading: Revelation 21:6-8
Wow, these are some powerful words. Jesus is stating that He is the one over all and everyone is beneath Him. The water of life is a symbol of eternal life. Jesus used this same image with the Samaritan woman. It pictures the fullness of life with God and the eternal blessings that come when we believe in Him to satisfy our spiritual thirst. Just as God finished the work of creation earlier in the Bible and Jesus finished the work of redemption the Trinity ill finish the entire plan of salvation by inviting the redeemed into new creation. The cowardly are the fearful ones who abandoned Christ at the threats of the beast. They fear persecution so badly that they chose temporary personal safety over eternal life with God. They are put in the same list as the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the liars, the idolaters, the sexually immoral, and those practicing magic arts. By contrast people who overcome will stand firm in the end. What kind of people are we? Do we fit into any of these categories? We need to pray for courage to do what is right and not fall into earthly pleasures and natures. We need to be able to stand up for what we believe in regardless of what kind of pressure that may consume us. To follow Christ it requires boldness and bravery to stand for Him when oppression occurs. If we do not do such a thing, then our place would be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur and we would experience the second death. This fiery lake of burning sulfur is the final destination of the wicked. This lake is different from the Abyss or any other kind of lake this is the place where Satan himself will be put to death. Every ones name who is not entered in the book of life will be thrown into this lake of burning fire. Scary enough for you? This verse itself scared me in all ways. I feared the Lord big time. With that I instantly began having a closer relationship with Him and changing my bad habits into good ones. As a believer I no longer should fear of this kind of death but I often do get attacked by Satan into him persuading me on the wrong path but I instantly pray to God out loud and command him to leave and he no longer bothers me. Becoming closer to God after having a rough sinful life is one of the hardest things anyone can accomplish. Getting rid of bad habits that have been apart of any ones life forever is something that will take time and hard work. With God's help it will be done and experiencing the Holy Spirit is far better then any kind of bad habit that we have all encountered before. Feeling like an innocent child in the presence of God is something that I look forward to every time I attend Church or pray with Him out loud. God is the man the Alpha and the Omega. It is my prayer that everyone will be able to experience this true love.

Daily Prayer:
Dear Jesus,
I thank You for this wonderful joyous day You have given me. Thank You for the love and for helping me through the things that I need most. Thank You for having me feel closer to You God and being able to stand up for what I believe in and be open to talking about it with others. I pray for people that may be of other beliefs because that is just the way that they have grown up and they don't actually know any better. Please help to somehow realize that what they believe isn't the truth or isn't the whole truth and that there is more out there for them to learn. Help them to find a way to have a relationship with You so that they may not burn in the lake of sulfur. I also pray for the sexually immoral, the ones who practice magic arts, the vile, the unbelievers, the liars and the murderers, please help them to find something better then what they may be used to or a different lifestyle. One that serves You God. I would also like to pray for the attacks satan gives me when learning these kind of end moments in the book of Revelation. Please keep him clear from my mind God, especially when I am reading Your word. I would next like to pray for any friends that may not know You God. Please help me to find a way to show You to them. If there is any problems that they may be going through please help them in whatever way possible Jesus. I also pray this for my family the things that they may be keeping to themselves, please open them up to share problems with others because they indeed can't do it on their own. Please help me to grow in my relationships with my family and friends, and help me to find new friends as well. God I pray for the dream girl that I have been talking to You about for a while now. Please help me to find her someday and for me to stay focused and trust in You in order to find the right one. Please help me to be patient in this process and not to jump the gun. I pray that you will help the injuries that I am experiencing in my body. Please heal all the aches and pains in my body that is affecting the way I play. I pray that You will help me not to become frustrated easily over meaningless things and that when I do I instantly change my mind and realize what I am doing is stupid. Help me not to become tempted sexually in any kind of way. Help me not to be shallow and love everyone as I love You God. Help me not to have any enemies and even thought that I may be bothered by them please help me to try my best to be their friends. Help me God not to be self cautious and really be not only the person that You want me to be but the person I would like to be as well. In other words help me be who I am not like anyone else. Help Your light to shine through me God and help me to have an impact on others by having a Christ-Like attitude. Also God I pray for the people that read this to come to me with any kind of questions they may have and also to help me to suggest to make things better. Help me to be honest with everyone and be humble God. I pray for all of these things in Your wonderful name.
AMEN.