Do You Love Your Sin?

At first, you might say "love my sin? of course not", but you need to ask yourself
some questions that will help you determine this.

Do you protect your sin?

-Do you make sure that you are not discovered in your sin by hiding it, or
by lying to others (and ultimately yourself) about the severity of it?
-Do you make plans to sin, and rearrange your life to accommodate it?

Do you really view your sin as something that is hateful to God?

-Do you make excuses in your mind about how other people struggle with worse sin?
-Do you continue in your sin because you think that you can ask for forgiveness after you have had enjoyed your sin?
-Has your heart become hard towards your sin and you no longer fear the
consequences?

Do you blame circumstances or others for your sin?

-Do you tell yourself that if event "x" hadn't happened in your life that you
would no longer have these problems?
-Do you feel that if other people just kept you more accountable that you
might stop?
-Are you hoping that someone will come along and lead you out of your sin?

Are you waiting for something really bad to happen so that it will help you
stop?

We have to realize that we have a love\hate relationship with habitual sin. Most people that do not have Christ would not view our "struggle" as sin, and sometimes we use that to justify it. But with Christ in us, we have a new standard, a higher calling for purity.

Our God is a jealous God, and He wants none before him. All habitual sin is like an idol to our flesh, and a spit in the eye of God.

When the world sees the church struggling with habitual sin, divorce, adultery, ect. we are telling the world that we are the same as you, we have no life changing power inside of us, no power to overcome what we know is wrong.

God needs us to be pure so that we can hear and obey

You may need to read that again just so that it can sink in. Habitual sin covers our ears so that we can't hear that "one small voice" in our spirit when He is speaking to us. Be it a hurting wife, child or coworker. He wants us to be able to hear so that when he tells us that someone is hurting, we can go to him or her and be Jesus in the flesh. This is where the obedience comes in.

When I am free of my habitual sin, then I will be able to act upon what God speaks to me.
When I am in bondage the accuser has legal access to taunt me, and when God calls me to do something, all I can hear is how wretched I am because I am still struggling with this sin over me.

If you are struggling with some habitual sin, please do not read this and let condemnation come over you. My prayer is that you would hear that the God of the entire universe has the power to lead you out of your sin even more power to be His hands and feet in this world.

Name Game

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME:
(your first pet and the street that you live on)
Baby Whelan

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your mom's side, your favourite candy)
Ernie Twix

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your middle name)
J-Wil

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favourite colour, favourite animal)
Red Dog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
William Saskatoon

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name)
Waljoro

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("the", your favourite colour, favourite drink)
The Red Pepsi

8. NASCAR NAME: (the firstname of both your grandfathers)
Steve Ernie

9. FUTURISTIC NAME: (the name of your favourite perfume/cologne and the name of your favourite shoes)
Tommy Cat

10. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother/father's middle name and the next name you hear on the tv/radio/talk)
Steve Caleb

Counting My Blessings

I am not really sure what God is up to, but all I can say is wow! I am in awe of everything my father is doing, and I am really starting to wonder what I have done to deserve this? The answer is so simple though, nothing! God never blesses because of what we have done, but because of who He is. Here is a list of what God has done since I closed my business almost exactly one year ago today.

• A close and loving, trust filled, romantic relationship with my wife
• Kids that are showing the fruit of the Holy Spirit alive in them
• A baby (another arrow for my quiver)
• Financial provision
• A new job (that I really enjoy)
• Confidence
• New neighbors (my brother and sister-in-law)
• A home for my family
• Hope
• A new nephew
• A new found enjoyment of home repairs
• A better relationship with my parents
• Provision for two new bedrooms, a bathroom and living room (basement renovations)

I am starting to feel like my life is a road map to God. Everything I have listed has a story behind it and I can show you how God's fingerprints were all over how these things. The most recent addition to the list happened today, we got a phone call from President's Choice Children's Charity and...........we got the funding for our van! Wow! And just to show off, the day we are to receive the funding is the same day we take possession of our house. Wow, praise God!
I am still in shock; I have never seen the hand of God like this in my life. And honestly it really makes me look at my life and ask what I have done for him?
It also reminds me of how I have put my earthly fathers face on my God. Growing up I always felt like my father didn't want good things for me. As such I have had a hard time when praying to ask for earthly things because I felt like He didn't care about anything that wasn't spiritual or about saving souls.

Thank God that He doesn't fit into our boxes!

Praise God!!

This is why I Blog, helps me not to forget where I came from. This post is dated July 2005, wow!

Quiz

Okay, I am giving into the peer pressure and doing one of these quizes. I actually thought it was quite fun when I did it on my sis-in-laws blog. Click here to see if you really know me.

Handy Man

Well, I have got to say I am starting to feel like a bonified handy man. It is really quite amazing what becoming a homeowner will do for a person. The offer has been accepted, the mortgage papers have been signed and I am feeling like a homeowner, weird.

I have rented ever since I moved out of my parents home. As a spoiled rich kid growing up I never really respected the homes I lived in as a kid or really appreciated what it took to maintain and upkeep a home. The same has applied for each of the four rentals we have since we were married.
In fact, it has only been since in these last couple months that I have realized the complete disrespect I have had for the rentals we have had, sad really.

In the four years we have lived in our current home I haven't done much to change the house. The first project would have been painting the girls room (a delicate purple) , which my wife had to prod me along to do. The second project was taping, mudding and painting two walls in our basement (which would eventually become our bedroom). Even those jobs were within the last year and a half.

Earlier this summer was when we first started to think that it might actually be possible to become homeowners. You have to understand where I came from to understand why this seemed like such an impossible dream.

Almost exactly one year ago I closed my business, which really was supposed to be my families future. Five years I worked away at it hoping that this was going to be the year things turned around and the money would start flowing. The only thing that I really accomplished was to get the business to a point that it could sustain itself, but that was only happened in the final two years. The first three years I racked up such a huge debt that that getting the business to sustain itself was really only one step forward when I had already traveled back a hundred. At the time, closing the doors looked like it would be the start of a many year journey just to get back to where I started.

When I look back on the whole thing now and see the huge blessings that God has brought us, it is easy to see all the signs that God kept showing me that it was time to close the doors. I now know it was my pride, laziness and my lack of courage that kept me in chains, when I thought I was in freedom.

In the last year God has brought prosperity to my family, and for the first time I see a bright financial future for my family. God has also given me a confidence that I have never had. A confidence that I am worth a decent wage as I have skills that are valuable to a employer, and a confidence that because of the way God wired me I can fix, build and create.

Earlier this summer we refinished our deck, a couple days ago I repaired and repainted a wall in our kitchen, yesterday I painted a bench for our kitchen. Today I installed a portable dishwasher into our kitchen cupboards, did the plumbing and everything. I never would have considered doing any of these things before becoming a homeowner.

Basement will start soon.