When Push Comes to Shove...

I had a GREAT Christmas and I hope everyone else did as well! I got a TON of iTunes gift-cards so now I can start getting music again (recently deleted 90% of my music). I decided to download all the worship music I like off of 104.7 the fish and from Northpoint/Buckhead Church. Its time I listened to positive music instead of the filth and garbage I've been shoving in my ears since I was a teen. Its been putting me in a much better mood actually, and the funny thing is now that I look back at my old old livejournal I'm noticing that I posted all the songs I was listening to at the time. And no big surprise, its all super depressing, negative, angry, and moody rock. Go figure...Jesus was right about how what goes into your ears and eyes affect your heart. DUH

Anyhow, there was a reason besides the update that I wanted to make this blog. I read something in the Bible that really impacted me recently. I found this verse because I was listening to Francis Chan on YouTube....who is AMAZING by the way. If you haven't heard him go listen to him. I read one of his books for my small group which is how I heard of him in the first place. If you looked up the last guy I mentioned (Doug Batchelor) and compared them, I'd say Doug is an incredible Teacher while Francis is a man COMPLETELY in love with God. Its very refreshing to hear him speak. But anyhow, one of his messages was just so powerful to me. Its about how when we choose Jesus, we die to the world. And that its a great trade, not something we should ever feel sorrowful for or that we got the short end of the stick. And that's what brought me to this verse....

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:32-33)

I read this and I asked myself, would I stand before everyone I know and proclaim that Jesus is Lord? Really really, when push comes to shove, would I stand up for him? Well when I get to heaven I want...no I NEED him to stand up for me! I won't be able to speak in the presence of God the Father, his glory will be too much. I need Jesus to stand by me and acknowledge me then. There have been sooo many time in my life where I've 'pulled a Peter" and denied him. I either downplayed my faith, or shut up when I could have stood up for him. Well I felt a burning desire to stand up for him in front of my peers so I decided to post it on my facebook status. Goes to every person I know (for the most part).

But the hard part of doing this is that I knew when it came down to it that I would lose a lot of "worldy credibility" for doing this. I knew I might lose friends. I knew I'd be looked on as a moron. I mean who believes the Bible in this day and age of Ipods and cellphones? With all this science and technology...who actually for real believes the old stuff that the Bible says is actually true? I do.

And then I found this verse....

"If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." (1 Peter 4:14)

So really every-time I'm put down in this world because of the name of Jesus I'm BLESSED! That's FRICKEN awesome! Because I'm absolutely sure that the overwhelming majority of the world will "insult" me because of my belief. Now this is God promising....and I love God's promises because they are rock solid; that I'll be blessed because of it! Amazing! I hope that many more insults come my way because of Christ so I am even more blessed!

Too Much Nog

Santa turns into Satan by moving one letter over...
Learned that the other day, heh. Christmas time is here and I just love it. I remember lots of previous Christmases where I just didn't "feel it". But this year I really do and its very nice. My family just had our Christmas Eve tradition of having take-out chinese food for dinner. Don't laugh, its a tradition we've done since I was a baby...not an afterthought. Christmas Eve just wouldn't be the same without Lo mein...

Meanwhile I'm super stuffed, had an entire thing of cookies after dinner and tomorrow should be a food festival to give even Thanksgiving a run for its money! Huge lunch with Dad and the fam then over to Mom's for the famous Prime Rib Dinner that Tom makes once a year...eggnog...pumpkin pie...haystack cookies. I'm gonna be enormous at this rate. Its scary what two days of just being a complete glutton will do to your body, I feel super bloated. Gonna hit the gym hard for sure after this.

Oh yeah, one thing I wanted to mention tonight in my blog. I've noticed a pattern this week, especially today. People are either in a super good mood or bad mood. There's no real in between. For example, the lady at the store was super happy and joyful...the lady at church giving out hot chocolate was a complete grumpy grinch... I guess the holidays really press people in one direction or another. And I'm sure the people in lousy moods are super annoyed at all us happy people. Too bad =) Jesus died for me, so I get to be happy. Those are the rules.

Oh and one more thing...have people COMPLETELY forgotten how to drive all the sudden? Have they had too much eggnog today or WHAT? I almost got hit like seven times today because everyone is all over the road. I think people on holidays turn their brains off sometimes.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Very Odd

So I was just thinking about some stuff the other day... We all grew up in a world where technology is normal. I remember growing up and my parents getting their first computer. They had no idea how to use it or set it up. So as an eight year old I figured it out, set it up, and even connected our printer to it. I think we can all relate to how quickly we all figure out new technology....email...cell phones...text messaging...facebook...google...ect. But here is the thought that grabbed my attention....

Does anyone else think its odd....VERY odd that for thousands and thousands of years civilizations had nearly the same technology and then very recently (I'd say probably starting in the Industrial Revolution) we have this EXPLOSION of knowledge and advancements in technology? The problem with grasping this is that its so normal to us. We can't imagine a world without our cell phones. But if we are objective and take a step back and look at human history its extremely odd.

Now I know there are a few exceptions to this....like how ancient Egyptians built the pyramids or how the Mayans had a super understanding of stars and calendars and such....but you have to admit that a pyramid....while really advanced, has absolutely NOTHING on an iPad....like not even close. Do we think its because our generation, or the past few generations of human beings are just SUPER smart? That all of the sudden we became brilliant? How arrogant. I've read a few books by guys written a century or more ago and they were just as smart as we are, in fact sometimes they seem smarter. We can't attest it to that in my opinion. I mean, if you were put on an island and started a new civilization, could you even come close to making an iphone? How about a microwave? How about a car? Sure if someone had the knowledge to make these things beforehand and was put on an island they might do pretty well or come close with enough time, resources, and man power....But what about YOU? Someone without the current knowledge of how these things work? From scratch....it wouldn't happen. That's what I'm getting at. Where did this sudden knowledge come from? Seriously.

Galileo was brilliant. No laptops from him. I'm sure there were even smarter guys back in the time of Egypt...Babylon...the Aztecs...the Mayans... And this idea that science just keeps "building on itself" and that eventually it reaches laptops and stuff isn't really sound because it was pretty much the same for thousands and thousands of years. Otherwise there should have been a slow increase. We should have had cars hundreds of years before streaming HD movies on mobile devices. In ancient Mesopotamia they used animals for travel. Thousands of years later early Americans .... used horses for travel. THE SAME. Sure there were a few differences in agriculture or whatnot but basically the SAME OLD TECHNOLOGY. Then suddenly in the span of a little more than only 100 or so years we have super sonic jets, atomic bombs, global instant communication, space travel, microwaves, ect ect..... Does no one else find this Extremely odd??? What the heck is going on here!

People have NOT gotten suddenly smarter in the last few hundred years, I guarantee you that. So how is this mega explosion of knowledge and technology happening?? Seriously, ask yourself that. And its not slowing down, technology is progressing at a TREMENDOUSLY rapid pace. I predict in thirty years we will have technology that my generation couldn't even have fathomed...when we are getting close to retirement with college aged kids and all that....we won't even believe it ourselves. And our kids will think it normal. Well STEP BACK, because its not normal!

....its just that everyone who could have told us this isn't normal is dead. Those previous generations who lived their entire lives without any major jumps in any technology whatsoever are not around to say....hey guys, this is NOT NORMAL. And maybe our kids won't even believe us either. "Son, you take for granted that you can stream your college lectures wirelessly into your brain, I used to have to go to class and hear people explain it to me in words and take notes with a pen and paper."

Whats the answer? Here is my opinion:

But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase. (Daniel 12:4)

Who's Yo Daddy?!

I learned something today that is very uplifting. And while I knew this before, I never grasped it until now. In the Bible, it says how Jesus has invited us, through his sacrifice, to call God our Father....

This is commonly known. But the word used for Father might not be...

"Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." (Galatians 4:6)

The hebrew4christians.com glossary defines the Aramaic word "Abba" as:

(AHB-bah) Aramaic. n. Abba. "Daddy," "dear Father," "papa"; a term of endearment for one's father (Mark 14:26; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Abba is a more intimate expression than the normal Hebrew word for "father" (av).

So what this means is that the Bible invites Christians to basically use a term more like Dad or Daddy than Father...which is more formal in contemporary English. So I've taken this to heart and it has really seemed to change my perspective when I pray. Try it out...say "Dad" when you pray...there's a huge level of intimacy with God that comes when you use the current form of "Abba" like Jesus told us to. I think that this was intentional and I will continue to use it in my prayer life.

....however I realize I might get some strange looks if I ever use this term when I pray out loud in front of others.

God? Oh yeah, that's my DAD!

God's Promises

Instead of writing an article I want to post this video, because in it the guy explains what I wrote about in my previous blog Jesus Do You Pinky Promise?

I believe that he is completely right!

Christian Faith Healing: Claim God's Promises - The most amazing bloopers are here

Addicted

Is it possible to be addicted to energy?

I've noticed that there seems to be a very strong correlation to my mood and my energy levels. For example, back in high school I was pretty often depressed. I wasn't very active. I didn't exercise much...mainly playing computer games. In college I was pretty much the opposite, very happy. I played basketball everyday, I'd exercise and workout. I wouldn't go one day without some form of physical exertion. And as any doctor can tell you, exercising and being active actually does give you more energy.

When I worked at Mattress Firm I never had time to do anything physical, but I would constantly take caffeine...whether redbulls...coffee...pills, whatever I could get. And I was a pretty happy guy.

Well the past two weeks I haven't exercised much and I hadn't taken ANY caffeine and I'd been feeling kind of down. Then this morning (the reason I had this realization) I had a big dose of caffeine and I feel energized and much much better. I have tons of energy and I feel like my normal self....

So am I addicted to energy?

Hidden Fees

So I find this pretty ridiculous... I went over to the new(ish) gym by my house called "Just Fitness". I was very interested because its much closer to me than LA Fitness and advertisements said only $10 a month with no hidden fees...wow great! Sign me up!

Or so I thought...
I walked in and got the tour, nice enough place-they even have a cardio/movie theater in there. So the guy sits me down to go thru his little sales pitch routine which I was a bit annoyed at...was just thinking SIGN ME UP. Then he goes over the HIDDEN FEES.

Ahem, hidden fees. Didn't the ad say no hidden fees? Well there was a 199 enrollment fee that had been conveniently "marked down" to 99. Listen bud, I was in retail sales, I know how this works. Then he tells me there is an annual "maintenance fee" of $50. .... I asked maintenance of what and he goes, "well of the gym of course". Riiiight. You know what, just call it what it is, a hidden fee. Do these marketing departments think that we're all just idiots?

Oh no sir, that's not a hidden fee, its just a fee that you didn't know about. Oh ok, in that case I'm ok with it...as long as its not one of those HIDDEN fees.... pffft. Lame!

1 Year Mark

Well soon it will have been one year since I quit my job at Mattress Firm. Seems strange...working there seemed so much longer ago than that but at the same time it doesn't feel like a year has gone by.

I originally quit because I had an awesome opportunity to work with my dad at Merrill Lynch...but afterwards that didn't work out and I decided since I had some savings I should try to go for my dream of acting. Began taking acting classes, doing plays, and some small extra roles in film/tv. Now a year later I reflect and I can't help but think that I'm still no closer to my dream. Sure I'm ten times better at acting from my class, and I have some more experience....but I don't feel any closer to getting actual paying roles.

Though its probably my own fault, I know the next steps I need to take...get professional headshots and get an agent. Its sad--I used to have so much money that I could have afforded headshots no problem....now when I need them money is so tight. I've been trying to save up for some. Once I do that I have an agent in mind who I'll approach.

I did find out that I was actually a member of SAG as a baby (my mom had my join to be in some commercials) so its possible I might actually be able to join it easily once I need to! That's a blessing for sure. SAG isn't easy to get into from what I hear.
I used to have a motorcycle....and I had a girlfriend back then, its hard not to miss her. But I have also gained much in that time. I know I have a much better relationship with God, and that's kept me from any sort of backwards pining stuff. I'm just really ready for this to start. I'm ready for... something to happen. If God wills it, it'll happen.

Rock Climbing is FUN

I got the chance to go Rock Climbing (ok not on a real cliff but at the Stone Summit Gym) with Kyle and Jeremiah yesterday. It was TOTALLY fun. I've never done it before and I gotta say that I felt like a kid again doing it. I used to be big into climbing trees as a kid and I haven't done it since.

Getting to the top of a huge three story wall and looking down is amazing, the feeling of being so high is exhilarating. Well, you'd think after sky-diving it would be no big deal, but its harder to see the ground from way up there. Anyway, I think I found a great new hobby.

I also really enjoy how much strength and flexibility it requires, was a great workout. Oh yeah and I will mention that the girls at the place were....

Yeah so I'll probably be going there a few times a month! Should have gotten some pictures but I didn't. I'll take some next time. I'll find a good one off the Internet to put up here...You'd be amazed to see some of the athleticism some people showed, climbing nearly upside down, 100 feet up, holding onto tiny stubs with two fingers...just insane.

Don't Accept No for an Answer....Even from God?

I was reading the Bible and learned something that really gave me a lot of encouragement. If you've read some of my previous blogs on prayer and faith then you'll recall how I learned that Christians are to pray on God's promises in boldness. But in everday experiences sometimes it seems that my prayers aren't answered. Sometimes it seems that God is saying "NO".

Now I've heard some Christians before talk about this sort of thing and they will say that once you've receieved the answer --NO-- from God its time to submit to his will and give up. This never went well with me because it seems to contradict all the verses about faith and praying on God's promises ect ect. So here is what I learned...

There are a couple scriptures of Jesus that illustrate that we are not to give up in prayer. That we are to pray until we recieve what we asked for. Here are two of them that really opened my eyes.

The first is in Matthew 15:21-28. Whats happening here is that a Canaanite woman (Jews didn't like Canaanites much) is following Jesus crying out for his help to heal her very sick daughter. Since Jesus is God in the flesh...and she's asking for his help...this represents prayer. Jesus hears her and doesn't answer (verse 23). This is like when we first start praying and we feel like God isn't answering us. Then she cries out louder for his help and he turns to her and says: NO. (verse 26) ....so lets stop here. If she then left and went away, if anyone asked her what happened she could have said, I asked (prayed) for help many times and he (God) said no. So that settles it...and she would be correct. However, the scripture doesn't end there. Instead of giving up after hearing Jesus (God) say no, she asks again. (verse 27). So lets get this straight...Jesus (God) said a definite NO to her request (prayer) and she continued to ask again after getting a NO.

And it finishes with verse 28, "Then Jesus answered, 'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour."

So she asked (prayed) again after hearing a NO, and Jesus (God) answered her prayer and was pleased by her great faith... this is astounding! This shows clearly that we can and should pray even after getting a NO from God. And what about her request, was it a small prayer? No, it was a HUGE prayer, for healing. While God can accomplish all things, to us some prayers are...bigger..than others. It would seem to us that physical healing is bigger than asking to find your lost car keys. But God used this example that he knew we thought of as a "Big prayer" to illustrate that in everything we should keep praying and not give up!

Jesus also gives two parables about this subject of not giving up in prayer with Luke 18 and Luke 11:5-8. So when you pray in faith, don't ever give up praying--even if you hear God say no. For what greater faith is there than to pray even after God tells you no. Don't ever give up! Through that kind of faith he will give you what you asked for.

"If you believe, you shall recieve whatever you ask for in prayer."
Matthew 21:22

Acting for Christ

So I got hired by the Christ Acting Agency! .... just kidding.
This blog is about a question that I haven't been able to answer for myself.

How can I act and glorify God at the same time...what does that look like?

Well for one thing I don't have many role models to look up to. Kirk Cameron maybe? I mean Hollywood is a mean nasty non-christian type of place. So being that I love acting, I've really been just racking my brain on this subject. Because lets get one thing straight, I love acting but Christ does and always will take first place in my life. I'll choose him over anything. But its not always so clear what that means in the details.

Ok so some things are obvious. I'll go extreme here, I wouldn't ever want to act in a movie where its glorifying Satan. Like as I'm playing a demon who works for Satan and the movie is about how he's not so bad. Ok crazy over-the-top example but I had to start somewhere. It seems to me that there are two aspects to consider. One, what is the message that the movie or show gives and is that something that God would approve of. Secondly, what is the role I'm playing...am I playing a role that goes against the things God would approve of. I have to consider the fact that by playing a role, I am in many ways a role model advocating that character.

So if I'm playing a pimp in some light hearted comedy, then people will see the movie and laugh ect ect but the message I'm giving is subtly this: that a pimp is harmless and nothing too wrong with that lifestyle. I mean this might sound absurd that no one would think that, but subconsciously when we as a society see something made "light of" over and over again it begins to become accepted. I don't want to be a part of that. BUT, what about a shady type character in a movie with a GREAT message. ---As in the movie is about how terrible this person's life became because of their mistakes and sins ect. In that case I'm playing a role that isn't godly but the message delivered is...so what about that? Or , what about the opposite, say I play a very good character of moral standards but the movie pokes fun at him and the message is something akin to ---don't live like this guy. See? Confusing.

Here's another extreme (can ya tell i like extreme examples...) what if I was playing the DEVIL himself in a christian movie about the salvation of Jesus Christ! I mean talk about the worst possible role in the best possible movie! What then? The movie could lead many to Christ but I'm frickin playing the devil! That can't be good, or can it? This is why I can't figure this one out. I've prayed about it, and I don't feel peace about any of it yet.

Power Prayers

Lately things have been really good. It seems like my whole family has really taken ahold of the fact that we can pray for God's blessings and he really answers. There have been so many answered prayers lately, and I know that the reason for it is the way we've been praying. We've been praying differently lately...

Instead of asking God for things because of what we "think" we deserve or even our motives, we ask because of what God said. Its so different. I used to pray for things and I'd put a caveat in my prayer that kinda said...do this because I promise to do good with it....or answer this prayer because it will help me....or give me this blessing so I can glorify you. But now, I instead will put in my prayer....don't do this because of me, but do it because you said or promised it in the Bible. And I will actually quote a verse in my prayer of where he said or promsied what I am asking for.

Praying like this has been POWERFUL.

Because of this my family and I have had so many prayers answered and its really strengthened our faith in God's ability. We pray more often now about more things because we know that he answers.

Here's an awesome example: My mom has been out of a job for the past year because of the injury she sustained at her old job LA Fitness. Without getting into the legal mumbo jumbo, she's had an outstanding Workers Comp lawsuit thats been just drudging on and on. Meanwhile she hasn't been able to find work and money's been getting tighter and tighter. Well yesterday we all decided to pray together about it on the verse John 14:14. We prayed that God would finish up her settlement. That same day after we prayed her lawyer called and said the settlement was now near completion and all that remained was negotiation!! Today we got together again and prayed on a verse in Isaiah (i should remember which but i don't) that said how God stands up and fights for his people. We prayed that the amount awarded in the settlement would be a huge blessing. 5 minutes later her lawyer calls her and said its finished and the amount was WAY more than she was expecting!!! Praise God, he really does hear us and answer prayers in faith!!

According to His Will...Misunderstood?

So I was reading the New Testament today, particularly in John when I came across something Jesus said that sparked a revelation. But before I get to that revelation, I have to explain why this was a revelation...

If you read my earlier blog of "Jesus - Do you Pinky Promise?" you'll recall how I found out that you can pray on the promises that God made in the Bible with faith that he'll keep those promises. After all, God is perfect and holy and cannot lie. Well one of my favorite promises, which is actually given to us by Jesus through multiple scriptures is summed up in Matthew 21:22.

"If you believe, you shall recieve whatever you ask for in prayer."

Well as I stated before, most Christians get uncomfortable with this verse because they would say how you have to make sure that what you are praying for is God's will. Well in case you were wondering, this is the verse that would be the basis for that argument. 1 John 5:14-15

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask-- we know that we have what we asked of him." (bolding on my part)

So that's pretty clear Chris. The condition of this promise is what you are asking for has to be in congruence with what God's will for you is. As in, lets say you are praying that you get a certain job, well if its not "God's Will" that you get that job he won't give you what you prayed for. Is that what this verse is saying? .... This verse always struck me as odd because it didn't line up with the other times Jesus promised that we get whatever we pray for as long as we believe. Did Jesus forget to explain that it must be God's will in those many circumstances? OOPS! Sorry guys, Jesus FORGOT! /sarcasm off. Ok of course not. So something isn't adding up here...

And this is where my revelation comes in. I was reading in John and I came across this verse which explains everything. John 6:40

"For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life" (bolding on my part)

What this is, is Jesus telling us exactly what God's will is. Its not a guessing game for us. We need to let the Bible define itself. In fact, I think its interesting that it's even the same author (John) with both books, so we know he'd use the same wording. So the way I'd sum up the verse is this: God's will is for us to believe in Jesus...so lets substitute that instead of the words, "his will" in the first verse to get the real meaning:

**This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to (Belief in Jesus), he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask-- we know that we have what we asked of him.**

This makes a lot more sense now and it lines up perfectly with what Jesus said in Matthew 21:22. Belief in jesus and faith in God's promises are the keys here.

Disclaimer: I think its great to pray for God's Will for guidance and direction. But when we are praying for something specific, there is no need to throw in a "...if its your will" in there. That's not how Jesus told us to ask.

So I fell...

...Out of a plane!! I did it, finally went sky-diving! After all the years of saying one day I'd do it I now can say I've done it. Really, there are no words to accurately describe it. Its amazing, surreal, adrenaline-pumping, but peaceful all in one. Literally heaving my body out of an airplane at 14,000 feet is something I'll always remember and I got to do it with one of my best friends, Kevin.




The wind rushing up at your body is the first real sensation. Its like putting your head out of the car window while driving down the highway x10. Its so loud as the wind rushes by that I couldn't even hear my own yelling. Then after what seems like forever (really 50 seconds) the chute is pulled and the real G-forces kick in. The actual fall didn't really have any G's, quite peaceful. But after the parachute came out it became a roller-coaster like sensation as I started flying it around. I had a good instructor who remained calm through the whole thing for me. Steering the parachute really allows for some massive G's, though, after landing I was glad I didn't pass out, seriously. They told me lots of people do from the G's after pulling the chute.
Scariest plane ride EVER, such a tiny plane with no seats so we're all just laying down. The ascent was like the worst roller coaster "click-click-click" ever. Kneeling on the edge of the door right before the jump was ... insanity at its most beautiful. You're first thought is, "Whoa, beautiful view"...quickly followed by "No way am I actually going to fall out of this door," ....followed by "AHHHHH---ahhhh----WOO". That was pretty much my thoughts. Needless to say I prayed almost the whole time on the plane ride up, haha. Best answer to prayer ever (I lived).

Investing Lessons that HURT

I've always had an interest in business, finance, and economics. I was an economic major at UGA, I've interned at Morgan Stanley/Merrill Lynch, and my dad has been a financial advisor for almost thirty years. Needless to say I've already "learned" a lot about the subject; however, I'd say that my real learning started happening when I started using my own money to invest.

I saved up a lot of money from my sales job at Mattress Firm and since I benefited from a nearly zero fee account with my dad, I began investing. Well those "lessons" were paid for with my own money. Sometimes I'd make huge profits. Sometimes I'd make HUGE losses. I'd make plenty of dumb mistakes that could only be learned from actual experience. I decided that since these lessons were expensive (some of them too expensive in my opinion...) I should write them all down so that I wouldn't forget them. All of them I can honestly say that I've either learned after prayer (from God), or from mistakes (from me). So this post is really for myself, however I do hope that these may be of some benefit to anyone who invests. Hopefully you can avoid some of the dumb mistakes I've made.
Disclaimer: This list will probably be continually updated as I am always continuing my investment education. Now in no particular order:

1. ONLY use OOM calls with a clear catalyst trade. Out-of-the-Money and At-the-Money Covered Calls are made up of a huge % premium. These then lose their value everyday as the call approaches expiration. I've lost WAY to much money with these, being right on my prediction, wrong on timing. ONLY use these for a catalyst and only right before (1 day max) the catalyst; so that the premium time problem doesn't affect the trade.
   
   However, if playing a good catalyst like Earnings Announcment, its much better to use these than Deep-in-the-money, because they give more bang for your buck. You can have less exposure with more potential upside. Because a catalyst trade is a bit of a win/lose trade. In past experiences I've found that even with ITM calls I pretty much lose all if I'm wrong, so with that in mind, I might as well leverage the potential upside with an OOM call (not too much). That way on a win I'm leveraged much better.
   
   
2. Instead of buying stocks, buy a deep In-The-Money call options. This gives much more leverage, you get 3 to 1 and sometimes up to 5 to 1 leverage because each call represents 100 shares of stock. Buying deep in the money makes it so almost the entire price of the call is made up of intrinsic value- so the option trades 1 to 1 with the stock. The premium can't eat up the option over time, so its basically a stock replacement system (thanks Jim Cramer).You buy these one month out (lowest premium..remember premium = bad) and deep enough in the money that there's not much danger of being stopped out to zero. Remember this is a replacement for stocks, not a speculative bet. If stock A is currently at 100, and I buy the 70 calls, I get stopped out at 70. To zero. So make sure to go deep enough, don't get greedy and confuse this strategy with speculation.
   
3. Getting back to Even doesn't work. There have been many times when I made a bad trade and my security went down. The worst thing to do here is to hold onto that security and wait until it "goes back up" to break even. First off the market doesn't understand or care about you breaking even. It might never go up; and holding onto it hoping it does it more an emotional denial to accept the loss. The reality is that when you're security drops in value the loss has already occured. You aren't "holding it off" by keeping the security. In fact there have been many times I could have made it back by switching the funds into a different security. Here is the rule: At all times, make sure to own investments which should grow the fastest in the near term and forget the emotional ties to "getting back to even" from previous mistakes.
   
   Example: I'm watching security A, B, and C. I buy security A before a catalyst. It drops significantly. Afterwards I need to start over mentally and think, at this point in time is security A, B or C more likely to grow quicker? Many times the answer is B or C, in which case I need to sell the remaining A and shift to one of them. Always be on the fastest train. (self note: remember bidu at 65)
   
4. BUYING and SELLING should almost always be done with emotion. How does this make sense? Well when I feel ECSTATIC about a huge rally I should be selling. When I feel SCARED about the depth of a pullback and my sentiment is reflected in mainstream thought...I should be buying. When I look back at every trade I've made. I always see that when the market or stock topped out was when I felt the best (think bidu after split). When I could have made the best buys were when I was super scared, not just worried, and the talking heads on CNBC were even more scared than I was (think flash crash or S&P 1010 in july). At that point it's so hard to buy because I'm scared to death that the market will fall even more...so is everyone else... I remember at S&P 1010 I heard the talking heads saying how we'd probably fall down to 900 at this rate and head to a double dip. It was a bottom. While I'm not a bottom fisher, I do think its wise to buy STRONG trend-stocks when the market is down here. Rule of thumb: When No one is buying, I should buy. When no one is selling, I should sell.
   
5. Diversify with at least 7 securities. AT LEAST. Far too many times I've lost money putting all my eggs in one basket. Painful note to self: Netflix back in July earnings....ACK. But diversifying to seven puts the odds in my favor since I only use great stocks. Putting too much % in any one stocks is GREEDY. And pigs get slaughtered right?
   
   
6. Only use the best stocks. I've made the most money using HOT stocks instead of bottom fishing for possible reversals. The market is never logical in my experience, so why vote against it? Why try to bottom fish a stock that represents a good company thats been hammered by the market because I think it should go higher? Instead, I need to find stocks that represent AWESOME companies that the market LOVES with strong charts!
   Then I have not only good fundamentals, but a great strong trend behind me! Forget trying to predict bottoms (or tops for that matter) because I'm not very good. However I am great at finding trends and hot stocks.
   
   
7. PEG. This ratio has really helped me see when a stock has become too expensive. What is a stock? Actually I've found that the stock price more represents Earnings per Share and Percieved Growth than the actual company. Well EPS can easily be measured, but I've found the traditional P/E ratio to be useless because it fails to account for growth. People pay LOTS for growth! So we have to divide the P/E by the Growth to get the true valuation. Logically a perfect PEG should be 1. I've found in reality that hot stocks can (and do) go up to a PEG of 2 before the market really pulls back on it. Thats paying a P/E multiple of twice the growth rate. The sweet spot here really seems to be between 1 and 2 for some reason though. I originally thought it would be below 1 because it means the growth is undervalued, but I've found that stocks with PEG between 1 and 2 are usually the winners. I theorize this is because these stocks are usually more popular and have a broader market exposure after passing 1.
   
   
8. EARNINGS...I've been burned bad holding an option through earnings, I've also made a huge profit. If you plan to hold an option through earnings conference call, know that you're making a speculative play that could shoot you in the foot even if the call is good. Sometimes I've seen great stocks fall off a cliff after a GREAT conference call. This is a good buying opportunity but a danger of holding thru earnings. Its best to diversify among different company earnings (7 at least) not all on one. Also consider, after earnings announcement you're in a MUCH more knowledgeable position about the health of the stock. If guidance is good, estimates are beat, and the stock rallies then I know the stock is still a good buy. Repeat situation with a stock sell off, EVEN BETTER BUY! But bad earnings and/or poor guidance and I put the stock in "time-out" until maybe next quarter.
   
   

Forget WWJD...how about HWJV

Unless you have been living under a rock lately you know that politics, especially with the upcoming midterm elections, is on everyone's mind and tongue. I myself have really been drawn into it thanks to Glenn Beck's show on Fox. I think a lot of other people who usually don't pay attention to politics are getting interested because our country's unemployment rate is staying so high and so many people are out of a job.

I've always been very opinionated about politics, having been brought up on conservative values. But lately I've been trying to approach my political views from a faith perspective and I've been having some trouble... What Would Jesus Do --- or rather How Would Jesus Vote? Now obviously I know that realistically Jesus would want us to focus on spreading the gospels. When Jesus was alive he wasn't involved in politics and when questioned about it (about paying taxes to Caesar) he pretty much responded be a good citizen and obey the laws.

But what I'm trying to iron out is this, if you are someone who tries to follow Jesus example, what would that look like as it spills over into your political views? Now I've been conservative most of my life and recently more specifically libertarian because I want smaller less powerful government and more protected liberties for citizens. I don't like the government getting involved in the private sector and our personal lives. So here is where my internal conflict is... if I believe something is morally wrong, does that mean I should want government laws ENFORCING morality? To me, that sounds dangerous. But at the same time I imagine society would be much better in a situation like that.

To my knowledge from reading the Gospel, Jesus never pushed for right and wrong to be enforced through the Roman Government. It was quite clear he wanted people to decide themselves how to act, not to be forced into it. Does that mean he didn't care? No, it means he wanted them to have the freedom to choose. He wanted them to have the ability to choose life or death through accepting or rejecting him. He never told his disciples to force people to believe in him. So this leads me to think that a government should protect people's freedom to choose right or wrong. Problem with this is if you go extreme, you do away with laws against murder, theft, and all sorts of crime. So where is the line? Conservatives tend to want more government laws that enforce this type of morality. Problem with this is if you go extreme, you start seeing laws enforcing religion. Religion HAS to be a choice. It cannot be forced on anyone.

For example: I don't think the government should EVER have a law that businesses have to be closed on Sunday. That's enforcing religion. God never tells us to enforce our religion on others, but rather, to be an example for them. "A light of the world"(Matthew 5:14-16). There's a huge difference there.

So HWJV? I think he's already voted! God already gives us (humans) the freedom to choose good or evil, right or wrong. While there are consequences for actions, God doesn't strike down people who sin. He lets them choose sin if they want. Why? So that they have the freedom to instead choose him. So God already gives people freedom to do right or wrong.

So with that as my foundation I'll expand on what my views are now. Just as God gives us the right to choose (the freedom to choose), I think the government needs to give people the freedom to choose. However, I do think that people need to be given the right to life and the pursuit of happiness. So in order to protect that life, there need to be some basics. There needs to be laws that enforce no murder, no violent crime, no rape, no theft ect ect. So sure, make laws against actions that hurt other people, but other than that I'd say "Government, leave it alone!"

This would include things that I am against! For instance I am against gay marriage and I believe it is a sin. However, that sin does not hurt another person. The government shouldn't be involved on the morality of it. Is it a sin? YES!! Does it hurt the foundation of marriage? YES!! But people should have the freedom to sin, as long as it doesn't infringe on another person's freedom of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. God gives us the freedom to choose poorly, even terribly. I think the government should reflect God a bit. I'm sorry that this might offend my fellow Christians but sin should be legal. God needs to be the judge of sin, not government (man). If you get all caught up in the fact that not having those laws means we are giving sin the "ok", thats nonsense. Is God giving sin the "ok" when he gave us the ability to choose it? NO, of course not! Well neither would the government be in that situation.

Trust God to be the judge, not the government. Know that there are earthly consequences for sinning and its up to each person to decide for themselves. Its not the govt's job to stop people from sinning, it is however, the govt's job to protect people's life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. (not happiness itself) If this ruins your hope that someday the united states would be a perfect...God fearing...righteous...non sinning Nation. Then you need to GIVE IT UP! That will NEVER happen until Jesus returns! Stop depending on the government for what only God can do!

So examples of common conservative topics and where I stand?...

-Gay Marriage: Should be legal
-Abortion: Illegal (babies life needs protecting)
-Murder: Illegal
-Prostitution: Legal
-Gambling: Legal
-Using Drugs: Legal
-Intoxicated in Public (including driving) : Illegal (endangers others' lives)
-Health care/Financial Reform: Do away with it
-Violent Crime/Sexual Crimes: Illegal
-Welfare: Do away with it
-Government Education: Do away with it (let private sector take this one)

This is most closely tied to Libertarian views, so that is how I'll be voting.

Getting Connected

I've really been trying to get connected lately. I really enjoy being around people and lately because of circumstances I've been doing a lot by myself. One thing specifically I want are more christian friends. Its strange to think that pretty much all my life I've only had like one or two christian friends... that just seems strange to me.

Its like ever since I was little whenever I started to really get connected in a church my parents would switch to another and I just became used to never connecting to anyone. Throughout grade school and even through college I really had no friends who shared my faith. And while I have no objections at all to having non-believing friends I realize now that I really don't have many people outside my family I can talk to about spirituality. Which makes me sad.

So I took the awkward plunge recently and I joined a small group at Buckhead Church with a group bunch of guys. Its been really nice talking to people in my stretch of life about God. In fact I feel like I have definitely missed out from not always having this. And now I realize its def no coincidence that I was denied this at earlier times. It was calculated. Nonetheless never too late to start building those good relationships.

I even went to a singles Fusion gathering tonight. I was really worried it would be very awkward but I actually met a lot of nice guys and girls. I'll absolutely go to the next one. Its kind of weird when people ask if I'm new in town (because I don't know anyone) and I never know what to say, because I'm not new to the church, been going to North Point Church campuses since middle school. I'm not new in town, been in Atlanta since I was five...so I never know what to say. Not new. Just tryin to get connected!

I have to confess that lately thoughts of my ex-girlfriend have been floating around my head. Its really hard not to miss her. I still can't look at any pictures of her, too hard. Probably a good thing that she un-facebooked me and cut off all contact. I just hope she doesn't hate me for breaking up. I mean I really loved her but I knew deep down we weren't right for each other. Hard situation, I hope she understands one day and forgives me. And here comes the real shallow part of me -- I hope the next girl I date is at least as beautiful as she is. Can ya blame me? I was with a Russian princess, basically. /sigh Must block out those thoughts....

Science, Math, and God

OK so awhile ago I had thought. Like a really really big thought. I told my mom about it and she thought it was pretty profound and told me to write it down so I wouldn't forget it. Well I've almost forgotten it, so I'm going to do my best to remember it and write it here. Hope it makes sense somehow, its kind of a complicated subject.

Here goes...

So I had been thinking about the school of thought that a lot of scientists have. The universe, the earth, and all creation is random chance. Everything just matched up perfectly in physics so that we exist. I could write an entire blog about that topic alone, but believe me when I say that the mathematical odds of that happening on its own isn't great. You could Google it if you like, its fascinating. Anyhow, scientifically it is possible though.... or is it? Is it mathematically possible? This was my train of thought when I kind of stumbled on what I think is an epiphany.

Statistically....Nothing Should Exist and Nothing Should Ever Happen.

Does that sound absurd? Follow me down this rabbit hole, lets see where it goes. How can I say that statistically nothing should ever happen? I mean we see stuff happening constantly. The Universe is happening. Well let me use an analogy to explain kind of what I mean that nothing should ever happen.

Lets say that you are sitting on a park bench and you decide to toss an acorn. You toss the acorn and it lands somewhere. Lets say it landed exactly 5 feet from you. What were the odds of it landing in that spot? Well this can get tricky and I promise I won't get too mathy on you--- but if we assume that the maximum distance possible given that amount of force applied to the toss is 10 feet and the minimum is zero (say it slipped), then what were the odds of it landing right at 5 feet? 1 out of 10? No, because that assumes there were only 10 spots, in fact we now have to find out how many possible spots there were that it could have landed in. Lets call that "Z". When we find Z, we know that the odds were "One out of Z" right?

Here's the problem. Z is infinite. But wait, that can't be right, how can there be an infinite number of spots, shouldn't it stop somewhere in the millimeter measurement or something? No, technically not because lets say we have a perfect machine that can measure from the first atom in the acorn to the first atom in the park bench. In that case is there ever going to be a situation where we have a defined number of possible spots? No, mathematically we can always go halfway from the first spot to the second spot, and make a new spot in between. In essence you can always divide by 2 to get another spot. ALWAYS. So that means between the maximum of 10 feet and us there are INFINITE locations that the acorn could have landed in....

1 out of infinite is undefined...meaning it won't happen. You can't divide a number by infinity, because the answer nonsensical. So actually, the acorn shouldn't land anywhere because any exact spot is statistically impossible. But, we don't ever think that way, we are so used to stuff happening; like the acorn landing somewhere, that our thinking is warped and we always assume it's logical for things to occur.

If that didn't make sense, let me use an easy example. If you win the lottery and you find out that only 10 people played. It's not too surprising. If 10,000 people played, well that's pretty special that you won. If 1 billion people played, well its almost supernatural that you actually beat out that many people. If 100,000 billion people played, its unfathomable. if infinite number of people played, then its impossible that you won. Well that's what we deal with everyday in our existence. Things happen. Anything that actually happens shouldn't happen. You can replace the Acorn Analogy with any known thing happening in our reality and if you go down to the math you realize that it shouldn't be possible. So if an acorn landing somewhere is that statistically impossible then looking at how our planet formed and our brains and the perfect balance of gases in our atmosphere there is no question that it even more so should never have occurred nor should it exist.

Before I go further, here is a common argument to this thinking that seems logical. "Well, something has to happen, if you throw the acorn is has to land somewhere!" I think this logic is actually faulty, but since we are so used to observing it in our everyday experience we accept it. Forget experience, think logically. Just because you threw the acorn doesn't mean it should land in any one spot, because after it lands in that spot it has achieved the impossible. After landing, something impossible just occurred. Why didn't it land in the infinite other spots? How is it that it didn't land one billionth of a millimeter to the left? And we are only talking about a 2d landing spot, factor in 3 dimensions and it really gets crazy. Factor in time (4th dimension and its insane) Is it really logical to think something impossible will always happen? .... Because we all do, everyday only because the impossible DOES always happen in our experience. That's the only excuse.

So if you understand how anything and everything is impossible, then how is it so that we see these impossibilities happening every second of our experiences? Here's my answer, and I actually am going to go into a little Quantum Mechanics to explain it. If any bored scientists have wondered onto my blog and are now reading this sloppy explanation of Quantum Mechanics, please excuse me. Here is an excerpt from Nasa.gov on the subject:

In quantum mechanics, the observer and the system being observed became mysteriously linked so that the results of any observation seemed to be determined in part by actual choices made by the observer.

They have proven through rigorous experiments that someone actually being aware of a subatomic particle, changes its properties. That should blow ....your...mind. What that means is that the things that we consider to be our reality...the stuff that makes up atoms, actually CHANGES due to observation!!! This is not science fiction, I recommend that you pick up a book on quantum physics, fascinating stuff. In fact much of quantum mechanics explain how your Ipod works, so don't write it off as theory mumbo jumbo. Ok so back to Observance changing reality. What is observance? Its Conscience Thought. A rock wouldn't count as an observer. Somehow consciousness actually changes reality on a subatomic level. Mind over Matter isn't just a nice slogan anymore...

Now lots of people took this and ran a crazy direction when they discovered this. They came up with "The Secret" and the Law of Attraction and basically a lot of jargon saying how people can control the universe with their thoughts. While there might be a tiny speck of truth to this (and I do mean a speck), I want to take this much further and in a more expansive direction.

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17)

Scripture is very clear that God is literally, not figuratively, holding everything together. And now we put all the loose puzzle pieces together. We have consciousness because God created us in his image(Gen 1:27). Just like we are conscious beings, God is a conscious being. So how do impossible things happen every second?... Something is making them happen. Well since consciousness changes reality it could be the culprit... Quantum Mechanics give support to that. But who could possibly have enough Consciousness and Power to support the INFINITE amount of possibilities going on and make everything happen? God. No one else could. God's consciousness allows the acorn to land somewhere even though it statiscally shouldn't have happened. He allows possibilities out of the infinity to be singled out and occur in reality.

So here is where we have arrived. Statistically, nothing should ever happen. Nothing should ever happen in our universe. Quantum Mechanics show us how consciousness changes reality. The bible tells us that God holds all things together, all creation. God's consciousness literally holds reality together and accounts for the reason why we take for granted the fact that THINGS HAPPEN. Science is slowly discovering God.

If you took the time to read through all that, kudos to you, b/c I know I can have trouble explaining it. Now just reflect; isn't it absolutely incredible? God is literally holding the universe (reality) together consciously, as in the same way you can consciously think of a red apple. (bet you just pictured it didn't you!) So its not some far out figurative way in which he's somehow in control of things the way a school principle is somehow in control of the school. No no no, its so much more direct! The same way a baby is literally held up by its mother, God holds up creation.

--Tomorrow I'll write a bit on a scary mind shattering kind of thought I had after realizing this...I'd write it here but I think I'd be pushing on novel length if wrote anymore--

Omelettes are Evil?

Had a good day today, woke up and made some great stock trades thanks to my prayers. There is absolutely no way that I could pick stocks that well if not for God. So made a little bit of money. Then went to meet up with my scene partner, Vivi, from acting class to work on our scene.

Its interesting to me that I'm at the point in my acting career where I can almost completely get into my character and forget myself. Its exhilarating. Especially since its between two young lovers. Without the training I've gotten I don't think I would have been able to kiss someone and be sincerely affectionate without laughing or blushing. So progress is being made!

Had an interesting conversation with her about abortion. As she got me started on the subject I learned something about my views. See--I'm a pretty strong Libertarian and I am completely against the government taking ANY freedoms away from its citizens. I'm all about freedoms of the people, and thus, for a long time while my stance on abortion has been that its morally wrong, I didn't think the government had any place making laws about it. To my defense, I don't want the government making ANY laws about religion except to protect it. The freedom to practice your religion in peace....

BUT -- then i realized, since I believe abortion is murder of an unborn child.... anti abortion laws protect the liberty and freedom of the child. I'm all for that. I think its surprising that in our country its punishable by jail if you destroy an eagle egg but if you destroy a human egg (embryo) its just fine and peachy. (thx for reference glenn beck)

However I will still say that the mixing of religious laws and government laws is dangerous. The only religious laws that should be made into government enforced laws are those that enforce the inalienable rights that God gives us. So then we're left with the obvious ones, aka Bill of Rights.

OLD BLOG!

So today I discovered my OLD blog! Funny thing is I actually had forgotten that I even had one back when I was a hs senior/college fm. Its crazy reading all of my old thoughts. Almost like I was a different person, but not quite.

I must say I was a pretty depressed kid in high school and I was Mr. Happy in college. Makes me want to go back. Hrmmm, speaking of which, I've been half heartily throwing around the idea of going back to Georgia to get a masters degree. Reasoning? I miss college, haha. Not a good reason to acquire more debt. Not even sure how much having a masters degree would even help anything. Its not like I'm actively pursing a job right now, trying to focus on acting and stock trading.

Both are going flat but I'm optimistic that they'll take off soon. Going back to my old blog, I had forgotten how much I loved acting back then. Its actually pretty encouraging to see that this isn't some new interest for me.

For anyone interested, you can click HERE to see my old blog.

Celebrated Steve's 21st bday today at dads. He got a super nice bible and was excited about it. Times change eh? Who woulda seen that coming a few years ago!

Pirates arr Bad

So the other day I was thinking about how much of the things we own now are media/software type stuff. It used to be that the majority of the stuff my generation owned was stuff like CDs, video games, VHS movies, sporting equipment ect. But these days most of the stuff I own is more intangible. Computer software, mp3s, movies in digital format, apps, ect. What struck me as odd is how "ok" everyone is (include myself on this) with stealing now that stuff is more intangible.

I mean think about it. Anything that you have to pay for retail-wise that you somehow obtain for free is stealing. For instance, I'd never ever think about breaking into a music store at night and stealing some of their CD's but I have many many times downloaded mp3s off p2p programs like limewire and napster illegally. But the reality is that THIS IS THE SAME THING! I mean cmon, do we all think that in the stealing CD's example that the store and music producers would be mad only about the physical cds themselves? Duh, no. Those are super super cheap, its the media on them that has value. So in essence we do the same thing but in this case its very hard to be discovered.

I mean I myself have used these p2p programs to download probably hundreds if not thousands of dollars of media over the past 10 years and I even used IP Blocker programs to cover my tracks! All without even realizing or accepting the fact that I was stealing. I think I was trying to blind my own self from the truth. Software piracy is stealing. Downloading mp3s without paying for them is stealing. Using bit torrents and the like is stealing, and I think we all do it without really thinking about it. I mean its so common. Even more so in Asia from what I hear.

I don't know how I went all these years without coming to this realization. But the truth is the truth. And the truth sucks, haha, because its sooo hard to pay for something that you can steal so easily without anyone finding out. But in your heart you know, and God knows too for that matter.

So I say if you're gonna stay a digital "Pirate" and steal media online and the like....at the very least ADMIT to yourself that you are stealing. Don't try to rationalize it (oh those companies make millions, they won't miss a few bucks here) You can't rationalize away stealing. If we continue to steal, we have to be honest and admit at least to ourselves that we are Pirates.

And not the cool Johnny Depp kind, the low life criminal evil kind.



Arrr matey's! I'm abandonin da ship!
I QUIT
I WON"T BE NO PIRATE NO-MORE!

Jesus - Do you Pinky Promise???

Ok so I've been really caught up/exploring one subject in the Bible. Its logical....it makes sense.... and its completely insane by standard Christian traditional thought. (at least the Christians I talk to) Follow me here:

-God is Perfect. Meaning he cannot sin. No iffs ands or buts about that one.
-God is omniscient which means he knows everything, even the future. (i know i know, all common knowledge...follow me...)
-God makes us (his followers) Promises throughout the Bible.
-God cannot break his promises because that would be a lie and God cannot sin. (So God doesn't have to "Pinky Promise". His word is absolute)
-God knows the future so he knows he can keep these promises even before he made them.

-So the fact that God even made us promises MUST mean that he wants us to know them and to hold him to it!! Otherwise why even make a promise in the first place?

Example: If I make my brother a promise that I'll always pick him up if he's in a bad situation; I'm promising him that so he REMEMBERS it, USES it (if needed), and KNOWS that he can count on me to keep it. So if I do that with my promises, wouldn't a perfect God who knows the future WANT us to know his promises and use them?!

Its interesting to me that it makes people uncomfortable to say "I'm holding God to his promise", almost as if they are controlling God or being unfair to him. That's plain ridiculous. God made the promise so he's in control. He already knows the future and knows we'll hold him to it, so why would we be ashamed to hold him to it?? I think we're completely missing the point here. He's probably proud of anyone who DOES know his promises and holds him to them because it shows their faith in him. It has nothing to do with controlling God.

Now does that sound fair? If so, I'm about to make most Christians really uncomfortable now because I'm going to list one of his most controversial promises (excluding of course our Salvation through Jesus --I'm assuming if you're reading this you already believe that promise as all Christians do) This is a promise that Jesus himself gives us from his own mouth and its recorded in many different scriptures:

Matthew 6:7-8 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

Matthew 18:19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven."

Matthew 21:22 "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Mark 9:23 "...Everything is possible for him who believes."

Mark 11:23-24 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

Luke 11:10 "For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

Luke 17:6 "He replied, 'If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it will obey you'."

John 14:13-14 "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

John 15:7 "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."

John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name."

John 16:23-24 "In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."

Phew, that's a lot of verses. Why did I post them all and not just one or two? The reason is that I want to show the repetition to make it obvious how simple and powerful and NOT OUT OF CONTEXT this promise is... The promise is so simple and pure but I don't think many Christians sincerely believe it.

If you pray for anything in Jesus name, you will absolutely 100% receive it as long as you truly believe it. Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute there Chris. You can't just ask for ANYTHING, that's manipulating God. We have to make sure its God's Will first right? Right??? Well, what does Jesus say? Read those verses up there, and even read the entire bible chapter if you like to assure yourself that they are not all out of context. I can tell you they are not. Jesus says over and over again that we receive whatever we ask for in prayer. He never mentions God's Will. In fact, the only requirement of this promise is that you believe it. Belief or Faith is always mentioned by Jesus as a requirement of the promise.

So hold on, how does this work? Lets go extreme then, really extreme. Can we pray for God to sin? No, of course not. God is holy and perfect and cannot sin. Is this a hole in the promise then? No. You have to understand who Jesus was making these promises to. He wasn't promising these to any old guy off the street. This was a promise made to people that had received the Holy Spirit of God. This was implied from who Jesus was talking to but just so we have proof read John 15:7 again. He starts with, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you..." So clearly he is talking to true Believers with the Holy Spirit. So I don't think this would be a problem.

But lets get back to this, because this is HUGE, and life changing. This promise is SO generous and SO powerful because it gives us assurance that our prayers will be answered if we believe. The two reasons I think Christians really feel uncomfortable with this are 1: It seems as though we are controlling God and 2: Many people's prayers are not answered!

So how do we deal with these two issues? Well for the first one I actually feel that God gave me a great analogy to give it clarity. Lets say that there is a father and his son. The father promises the son that anytime he asks for it, he will give the son $10. This is a promise that's made out of love so the son will always know he can depend on his dad. Lets say the son needs a new t-shirt because his ripped and so he asks the dad for $10. Will his dad give it to him? Of course! He promised. Lets say the son wants to buy some candy for a sweet tooth. This is a selfish motive, so when he asks the dad for $10 what will he say....he'll say yes of course! Why? Because he promised! NOW lets say that the son is older and wants to buy some illegal drugs (extreme). He asks the father for $10. What will the father say? Will the father refuse him now because of his terrible motive? NO! The father will keep his promise while pleading with his son not to go down that dark path. Why won't the father just refuse the son? Because he promised!!! Does God keep his promises because WE ARE GOOD, or because HE IS GOOD? His keeping his promises has to do with HIS HOLINESS and PERFECTNESS, not to do with us! Does this make sense? If the father were to refuse his son the $10 because of his son's bad motivation, this would be BREAKING HIS PROMISE. See? God has to keep his promises to us because of HIS holiness!

Now the good news is that unlike the father in the example, God is omniscient and knew the future when he made the promise. He knew every single time someone would hold him to his promise and knew he could and would keep it. But here is something that you probably haven't heard before; just as God lovingly gave us free will to make good and bad choices, he also gives us the free will to use his promises wisely and unwisely. This means that you can potentially use this promise (and others) to pray for things that aren't necessarily in our best interests but God will still keep his promise. So it is very important that we seek out God's will first so that we can enjoy his plan for our lives.

This truth should be LIBERATING because it is a blessing that he has given his people. We should be joyful in knowing that we can put our whole weight on God's promises and he will keep them because he is perfect. We can know that if we really believe in our hearts, we will receive whatever we ask for in prayer in Jesus name.

So then what about the 2nd issue most Christians have with this point. All the unanswered prayers???!!! I mean its not like every single prayer is answered, I've sure prayed things that weren't answered and I'm sure others have as well. The answer is simple, we really didn't believe the way Jesus described. It would take too long to write down, but if you look at all the miracles Jesus does in the New Testament they all make it a point to record Jesus telling people it was because of their faith that the miracle was performed.

If our prayers aren't answered I'll go out on a limb and say its because we didn't have the faith Jesus talked about when he said"...does not doubt in his heart..." However, it might also be because of a common phrase people often insert in their prayers: "Your will be done". Praying for God's will gives God the opportunity to say no to our request. I'm not arguing that we should then not pray for God's Will, praying for God's Will and guidance for our lives is a great and wise thing to do. However, I am arguing that this explains why some of our prayers are not answered.

I think that true faith is something of a scarcity in reality. When we pray do we truly believe we've received what we asked for the moment we ask for it? What would it look like if we really did? Would we worry? Would we doubt? No. So maybe its not as easy as it sounds. But Jesus promises us that if we can manage to have faith, it will be done.

If this makes you uncomfortable or bothers you, take it up with Jesus not me. I'm quoting directly from him. If what most Christians say about how we can only pray for God's Will is true than taking Jesus' words literally makes him out to be a liar. If you don't believe Jesus, that's your own decision, but I for one do believe him. Are there other people who are recorded to have believed this amazing promise? Yes, in fact there are a LOT. Daniel and the lions den, Elijah's prayers causing a 3 1/2 year drought, Shadrach Meshach and Abednego being untouched in the fire, Moses and parting the Red Sea, Joshua and the sun standing still....ect ect. Do you think these people were special? Different than you and me somehow? No they weren't. They were regular people who trusted God. Take God's promises seriously and trust him recklessly and you won't be let down.

Romans 10:11 "As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."