You know that moment where you feel compelled to do something despite the implications that may come your way for doing so? Well for the past couple of weeks that’s how I’ve felt. Lately I have been attending mass and every time I leave the sermon I feel compelled to write about what I’ve learned, the pastors teaching, and everything in between on my blog. So what’s a girl to do when she feels called to do something, well you either embrace that calling or run away from it. Today I decided to embrace that calling and start a new section of the blog called
A Christian’s Walk
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This new section is basically going to be in conjunction with the Christian Series I’ve begun on the blog. In no way shape or form do I know everything about my religion. faith, and half the things that the bible is trying to teach me but that’s okay because this is A Christian Walk it will have imperfections. I can bet you it will. I’m sure some of the readers here may not understand the things I am trying to say in this series or necessarily agree with it but that’s okay. By no means is this something you have to read if you have not accepted God into your life, or if you simply don’t want to. However if you want to know more about God, maybe you already know and love God and want to read insights every Sunday on a variety of biblical topics, you’ll find joy in this series. So how did a Christian Walk start? Basically it started off as a way for me to document my walk of faith and the lessons I’ve learned along the way so I can look back on them.
A Christian’s Walk will not only be about my walk of faith but also it will shed some light on how to deal with everyday temptations that we all face. It will also showcase the beautiful blessings that comes along with accepting Christ in your life. This series will include articles on christian events going on around the country, how I came to know Christ, bible teachings, and the list goes on. In a nutshell it’s my public diary of my faith, walk, and life in between. As I am nearing my final year of college I hope this series will be helpful to not only college students who can relate to my walk but to all individuals who are looking for an honest, and open stories through one girls viewpoint.
SoOOOoo what the heck does Raising Jonah mean, Is this a new movie or something?
I’m sure you’re wondering what I’m going to talk about today, but the moment you saw Raising Jonah you may have thought to yourself “Wow who’s Jonah” or “Jonah, you mean Jonah and the Whale…. that guy who was swallowed alive by a big whale in the sea?” Yes, I’m talking about that guy. Today at my church we’ve begun to discus a new series called Raising Jonah. Now growing up in a Catholic home, Catholic school, and attending a Catholic Church on most Sunday’s I have heard the story of Jonah and the Whale before, however it wasn’t until I was able to truly dissect the story in church today that I really came to know the true message behind this story. The following notes are taken directly and indirectly from Church. ….
“God’s call on us is for the sake of others. The fact that He calls us to others is for our sake.”
Bible Verses of Inspiration
Jonah 1:1-3
1 Corinthians 8:6
Ephesians 1:3
Romans 1:16
The Story
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai…… “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. If you are not familiar with the story of Jonah and the Whale it is basically a story of a man who was a preacher that ran away from God, and in his rebellion from running away from God he was able to find salvation and come back to God’s love. In this story you begin to look at a narrative of the prophet Jonah, who fled from God during his call to preach at the city of Nineveh. The beauty behind Jonah’s story is that no matter how far you turn away from God, there is always a way to bring yourself back up through turning to God’s love for help. In learning about this story you begin to realize Jonah’s call was not only for the sake of others, but for the sake of himself. Jonah was the perfect person and only person to go through the calling he endured.
Church notes
Maybe Jonah was written as a cautionary tale of you and I.
Just as the word of the Lord came to Jonah, God calls all of us through the scripture, each in a different way. Often times we don’t listen to God’s plan for us. We just bring our plans to God and ask him to bless us. But it’s during these times where we are asking God to bless us that we need to remember not to just ask God for blessings but instead ask for God’s word to reach us.
For many of us God’s call sometimes looks like death. Not death in the sense of you literally dying, but death in the spiritual sense. Death may look like the christian couple who chooses to wait for marriage instead of indulging in sin, or it may look like the college student who chooses not drink alcohol anymore while everyone around him does.. sometimes that looks like death ( Spiritual, or mental truly how you interpret it to be is up to your discretion.) It is also stated in the bible that the Son of Man must suffer many things, including rejection, and death in order to be risen again to save us from our sins, which we are incapable of doing ourselves. Just as God had to undergo dying on the cross, we undergo a spiritual death in the flesh to wholeheartedly walk with Christ. In this moment of processing our faith, we shed ourselves from the ways of the world, and begin to walk in the way of the Father. I can attest that doing so is very difficult as many of you who are Christians know, however in doing so your life will never be the same again.
When Jesus said ” I am he” in that moment “Jesus did what we were and are incapable of doing. ” He says “I know how you feel when you give up your life to follow me, however, the death I am calling you to always has in mind resurrection.”
Romans 1:16 The Gospel is the power of God to anyone who believes in him. In this story, the word of God came to Jonah and he ran away from it. Some may say God used Jonah in his biggest rebellion from God to save people who are going through that same struggle. Quite frankly I couldn’t agree more with that statement. I think God used Jonah to save people. I think God used Jonah to show us that it doesn’t matter who you are whether you’re a preacher, or a person who grew up in faith, no matter who you are there will be times when you will turn away from God, at some point in your life. However, even when you do so God is always there to pick us back up every time so as long as we repent our sins and truly seek his forgiveness.
Jonah’s story shows us that it doesn’t matter how deep in sin you are, if you just cheated on your spouse, have an addiction to pornography, or are engaging in premarital sex, there is nothing God won’t do for us to get us out of those dark times in life. At the end of the day nobody’s perfect and mistakes are bound to be made and God knows that. For individuals to bask in pain for their sins, is not what God want’s us to do. Once Christ died on the Christ he forgave us for our sins and through his love for us we are able to overcome sin.
I hope you guys enjoyed this little tale of Jonah if you liked today’s post feel free to share it on the social networks below
. In the upcoming weeks I will be diving more into this series with my church. In the meantime, here’s some encouraging music if you’re feeling struggles of faith just like Jonah went through.
Thanks for sharing. God is with us.
Grateful for this post! Precious!