jbstrevel - Tumblr blog

[jbstrevel]

This week, a worship album was released, and this album was so epic and Spiritual that everyone that listened to it got saved. My friends in Skyhook released said album. Check out 'Pneuma: A Worship Project'

[jbstrevel]

My new sounds:

[jbstrevel]

My top 5 albums of 2013 (so far). #music #picstitch

[jbstrevel]

My new sounds:

[jbstrevel]

I might have purchased a few CD's recently... #addingtothecollection #music #addicted #cantstopwontstop

[jbstrevel]

This album. On repeat. ALL DAYZ. Can't wait to see these guys with Relient K in July. #TheAlmost #FearInsideOurBones

[jbstrevel]

My blog turned 2 today! Thanks Tumblr, you're a one of a kind site!

[jbstrevel]

"Whatever You're doing, inside of me It feels like chaos, but somehow there's peace And it's hard to surrender to what I can't see I'm giving into something Heavenly" That says it all...

[jbstrevel]

I just found this, and it is beautiful! Like, no joke. A complete instrumental worship album. One of my new favorites.

[jbstrevel]

The Thief

So, I started thinking about who Satan is. I feel like in the church, we have a clear understanding of who God is, who Jesus is, (and if you're Pentecostal) who the Holy Spirit is. But, not a lot of time gets spent on who "The Enemy" is. Satan. Lucifer. The Enemy. And while there is PLENTY of Scripture to give you a very good in depth of who this monster is, my favorite verse on the beast is, John 10:10 (NIV) "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." In that translation, he is addressed as "the thief", and after reading this, I really got to thinking about this verse. 

We know that a thief steals, that's why he's a thief. The definition of "steal" defines it as "to take or appropriate without right or leave and with intent to keep or make use of wrongfully".

Satan is also a murder, (According to the verse). And "kill", is defined as "to deprive of life".

And Satan loves to destroy, more so than that guy who had that Cartoon Network show. And lastly, "destroy" is defined as "to ruin the structure".

So, Satan takes without right, deprives life out of living things, and ruins structure.

Here's my deal: I have things that are not his, I am alive, and I have structure and a foundation upon the Word of God.

I am an enemy. I am someone to hate. This verse also gives me full right to believe, (and is fact) that The Devil does not want me to succeed, in ANYTHING. He doesn't care about me. John 8:44 says that "there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar, and the father of lies." So, I automatically need to not believe anything he says, ever. I think I heard someone say that Satan's goal is to tear us away from God, so we can spend eternity in Hell with him. I don't believe that. I don't believe he cares about us enough to do that. I believe he tries to tear us away from God, because he can't stand the thought of us being happy. And God makes me happy. Jesus is my ERRYTHING! So, when I have this uncontrollable joy of my Father. Satan is like "Hold up. Let me try and ruin this here." Trials, temptations, moments of doubt, lies, anything to throw me off. Satan hates me. And I hate him. BUT the good news is, John 10:10 did not end with just describing the characteristics of Satan, because it was Jesus himself speaking. Jesus said that Satan came to steal, kill and destroy, BUT Jesus came to "give life and give it to the full".

So, I hate to sound like those cheesy Facebook photos, but forreal, what makes more sense? A thieving, liar, murderer and destroyer, or someone who came to give life, to the fullest?

I don't know if this makes sense, but, I just wanted to give an understanding of who Satan is. He's overlooked in many ways, but yet still has an impact on Christians, the Church, and this nation. He does not want to see you succeed, he wants to see you fail.

I hope this didn't bring any confusion, but only understanding.

Good night.

[jbstrevel]

I'm watching The Walking Dead

“It's already off to a crazy start to the end. I love this show. #FighttheLiving #TheWalkingDead”

170 others are also watching. The Walking Dead on GetGlue.com

[jbstrevel]

This new album from @jtimberlake is SMOOTH. I love the style. It all flows real well. “Pusher Love Girl”, “That Girl”, “Mirrors” are highlights!

[jbstrevel]

Is it wrong?

Recently, I've been asking myself deep theological questions. About life, God, and simply things I've wondered about. In a society, where so many things are looked down upon, and told to be "ungodly", and "sinful", I wondered, "is it really?". Is it really bad for someone to have tattoos? Is it really bad for someone to have piercings? Is it really bad for someone to have a beer? Is it really bad for someone to cuss?

And reader, I don't want to leave you with this idea that I condemn or condone any of these things. This is what I want to leave you with.

So often, we're caught up with what society sees as wrong, with what others are doing. "Well, that guy over there is cussing, and he says he's a Christian, so I guess it's okay". We see that, and we think that if this person approves, then it's all good. Since when did our standards become man's standards? Didn't God give us the Bible as a guide, an account of what He says is right, and wrong. It's a cliche thought, but I seriously have started to ask myself, "What Would Jesus Do?". I feel like that's what my eyes should be focused on. Not on what my friends, my family, the world, or even what my pastor says, but simply, what does God say. And while, some argue that God didn't give specific instructions on some things that plague us today, He kind of did. The Bible says that whatever is not of faith, is sin. That can be found in Romans. So, by faith, can you stand there with an honest heart, before God, and say "Cussing to me is okay." "Drinking that beer is fine, by me." and etc.If you can, then that is between you and God, and I can't judge that. And I believe it's good to ask questions. How is your faith going to excel, when you don't know how it actually works? What do you really believe? Are you following God's path, or are you just saying that you believe it's all okay, just so you can follow your friends, and be cool with the world. We're supposed to be in this world, but not of it. I'm not saying sell your car, home and all your possessions and live on the street. Friend, that's not where I'm coming from. I had a phone call, with a friend last night, and he urged me that EVERY DECISION I MAKE, make it with God in mind. "Does God want me to buy this?" "Does God want me to say this?" I believe when we have Him in our mind and seek His will for our life, it cuts out the stupid stuff that we do. The whole "I can't believe I dropped -insert insane amount of cash number here- when I haven't paid my tithe!" statement won't happen. Now, we are humans. We're not perfect, in any way, shape, or form. But when God sent His Son, His Son, brought freedom when He died for our sins. Our rebellion, our stupidity, our sense of "I can do this by myself". He took it all on. And that's the type of freedom, that I want. That no matter what I do, there is grace waiting for me, that His arms are open wide, Him saying "I know you're an idiot, but I love you." He may not use those exact words, but...you never know. He created me, He formed me in the womb, so He knows me better than I know myself.

So, that's what I want to leave you with. Let your standards be higher than man. Because God's ways are higher than man's ways. Our thoughts and His thoughts aren't the same, they collide. But He does offer this extreme invitation for us to be called His. That if we just deny ourselves, and our desires, He'll be fair and just to forgive our sins. No matter how jacked up we are. What kind of grace is that?! I can't even fathom it!! That the God of Creation, that formed Heaven and Earth, created me, and forgives me, even when I straight up deny Him. 

So, final thought. Focus on God. With everything you got. Submit yourself fully to Him. I hope this offered you some insight. That I don't care what the world says is right or wrong. I care what God says, and His plans for me. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Blessings, and grace, and peace, be given to you, by our Lord Jesus Christ. 

[jbstrevel]

"All that I run to. All that I cling to. Everything seems to only slip through my hands.

Cause I keep running, I keep chasing, left holding onto only the afterglow. Lord, light up my eyes, let me follow you to the source behind all the shadows."

[jbstrevel]

"I don't mind it

I don't mind if you're overrated

Or if you're staring at the edge of the world

But keep in mind that I'm a sore eye, with blurry vision

But I can see, yeah it has to be you love

That I've been dreaming of and if we climb this high

I swear we'll never die."

  This track. His vocals.

[jbstrevel]

Man, I really love this album. It's one of those things, it's not a masterpiece. But it's really good and you start to love it and then you realize it's a masterpiece.

[jbstrevel]

Meaningless Post

To be honest, I'm just blogging because I saw "The Social Network" again and I felt like blogging. But in all actuality, I have nothing to say. I mean, I guess I could update you on what's been going on.

I don't use this site as much as I should because I'm intimidated by it. There are some smart and creative people on Tumblr. It's not your average Facebook crowd, or even MySpace crowd. Which, I haven't seen a whole lot of posts, because I follow like 5 people but still, I'm gonna find some. Especially the ones with like movie gifs that have the super awesome photos. Like I said, people put some crazy stuff together on here, and it looks awesome. I think this is my Pinterest. I think. I don't know what Pinterest is. I just know a lot of people use it, and they 'pin' things. I have no idea what that means. I've been on the site twice and I got lost, so I just went back to Facebook.

So, if I am trying to feel like Mark Zuckerberg, should I blog about women? Women who hurt me? A specific woman, that I cared about but broke my heart. No, cause I don't know any. All the women I know are awesome and they've never hurt me. Sorry, Zucky, can't relate to you on that one. I'm not drunk either. I'm sitting next to a half full bottle of Dasani. I'm sipping on it, and it is delish! So, I guess I'm not like Mark Zuckerberg. EXCEPT for that one time I was accused of stealing someone else's website and had to pay $65 million. That's a memory that is all too familiar...