Living Above the Sun Ministries

But the LORD said, "Go and DO what I say. For Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for me." -Acts 15-16 For the past 2 days I have been studying the conversion of Saul who would later become Paul. I imagine it was the Spirit's prompting in me to study this story a little closer, and learn and unlearn what I use to think this story to be. His conversion is amazing, and God reveals other things throughout the few verses of His redemption, and parallels; habits of man that have been going on from the very beginning of time, when He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden. There are unsung hero's to meet in these few verses. Paul's conversion is found first in Acts 9:3-18, other accounts can also be found later in 22:3-21, and 26:12-18. Up until this point, just to get the context, the church has been born, and is called, "The Way" probably

"When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven .” -Mark 2:1-5 My prayer, from the very depths of my heart has been that God would use me to reach the lost. My mind races to think about the number of people who are lost. I lay in bed and cannot sleep thinking of all the people who do not know Jesus. It breaks my heart. I pray this burning desire inside of me will stay ignited and fresh, and that I will stay alert and ready to share the gospel with all I come

"Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." -Matthew 7:22-23 Today was filled with tragedy, as death is always near creeping around the corner waiting to take its next victim. However, I also believe in the sovereignty of God, and I know that He is the giver and taker of life. He is our very life, our next breath, the One who sustains us. My heart does not break because of the death, but knowing that this person was lost, and did not know Jesus, though many times presented the opportunity, the opportunity was not seized, and the choice was made to continue living in sin. It is times like these that shake me to the very core, and make me realize how fragile and short life really is. I am reminded how the tragedies of this life are real, and that God is real. I

"Whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." -1 John 5:4 Yesterday, I celebrated my 10 year spiritual birthday! I get just as excited about that birthday as I do my real life birthday. I was born April 21, 1989, but I will eventually die. However, November 20, 2002 I was born into eternal life and I will never die from that birth. I normally have a huge celebration in my head, and get really excited, and wish I could bake myself a cake and party hard. Typically I'll just sit in my room and ponder on the Lord and how much I love Him, and thank Him for saving my life. Last night however, I got to hang out with my mentor which is always a happy thing. My Salvation has been something I've struggled with a lot, I have to study really hard and keep learning how secure I am in Him. Since giving Jesus my life on that night with His help I have overcome a lot of things. I'm still overcoming, an

"These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." -Hebrews 11:39-40 True faith has the courage to count on Salvation, this is why it is the pinnacle of all of faith. From Able to all the great prophets of old never received salvation, or the new covenant. They never knew personally, THE Messiah, but they believed in the promise of a Redeemer, the promise of Jesus, and of a new covenant. What makes them courageous? What put these great men and women on faith into the hall of fame? Faith believing Salvation. 1 Peter 1:10-12 tells us: Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glor

"They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen." -Romans 1:25 From the moment sin entered the world, man has been against God, but all along God has been for us. In the beginning when God created man and woman it was for the purpose of glorifying Himself, showing His love, and Himself, and to be worshiped. We were made to worship, however, the question is who or what do we worship? Everybody alive on this planet is bowing down and serving something or someone whether it is an artifact, idea, spirit, person, or God through Jesus. Whatever we follow we become like it as it shapes who we are. Worship is living our life individually and corporately as continuous living sacrifices to the glory of a person or thing. This is spoken clearly by Paul in Romans 12:1, this also happens to be apart of my life verse, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plea