Joel 2:19
The Lord satisfies us completely. Why do true Christians seem so happy? Why is it that nothing seems to bother them, that their mouth drips with joy? That, when confronted with trouble, their responses seem to go along the lines of "It's in God's hands" without any concern, worry, or anxiety?
It's because when you're confronted with TRUTH that is as sweet as Jesus Christ, there is nothing that can move you. It's TRUE: everything is in God's hands. That's such a comforting thought! Knowing He created every bit of us, that he holds our beginnings, our ends, our salvation, is beautiful and so freeing.
Sometimes I slip into looking at worldly concerns such as follows:
"When I get home, I have no car."
"I'll have no job.."
"I don't have a house of my own.."
"It'll be so hard to..."
Then I have to remember to STOP. Consciously pull yourself out of such thoughts. These are simply things that don't matter right now! God's in control! It's not the lazy way of thinking, as the world will tell me, it's realizing I'm not in control, and that's okay! The Word says to let tomorrow worry about itself, and it's true. What amount of worrying right now will affect the outcome of tomorrow? None. So why waste time doing that when I could be doing so many other things, of which glorify the Lord?
My application is to, as soon as I start worrying about the things of tomorrow, quickly switch gears and remind myself that God has work for me to do today.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
IBS WEEK 9
Joel 1:5
"Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!"
I don't know why these little random verses impact me so greatly, but this is definitely one of those. I obviously have a tattoo that says "Awakened", so any type of verse that follows along with that topic grabs my attention a little bit more.
We try to distract ourselves with the things of this world, here depicted as wine, but even without the alcohol we are drunk. We get drunk on our sin, unable to see or think clearly. We become disgusting and incoherent, unable to see truth and reality for what it is. Filling ourselves with the world and giving in to our fleshly desires makes us drunk. It clouds our vision, and gets us to the point where we can't see God. He seems so far away, and it's difficult to come back to where we need to be.
We need to wake up. Wake up, and look at our sin! Look at ourselves! Look at what we're doing! How is that in any way along with God's will for us?! And if it's someone who doesn't believe in God or the bible, but "wants to be a good person", read the bible! Look at what God's Word actually says, and believe me, you'll become a true Christian real quick.
Acknowledge God is the King, and love each other. Do these things, and your life will change.
It's a day by day, minute by minute process that you can't do without the Spirit.
So my application is, every day, ask the Spirit to wake me up, so I can see through HIS eyes, not my own.
"Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!"
I don't know why these little random verses impact me so greatly, but this is definitely one of those. I obviously have a tattoo that says "Awakened", so any type of verse that follows along with that topic grabs my attention a little bit more.
We try to distract ourselves with the things of this world, here depicted as wine, but even without the alcohol we are drunk. We get drunk on our sin, unable to see or think clearly. We become disgusting and incoherent, unable to see truth and reality for what it is. Filling ourselves with the world and giving in to our fleshly desires makes us drunk. It clouds our vision, and gets us to the point where we can't see God. He seems so far away, and it's difficult to come back to where we need to be.
We need to wake up. Wake up, and look at our sin! Look at ourselves! Look at what we're doing! How is that in any way along with God's will for us?! And if it's someone who doesn't believe in God or the bible, but "wants to be a good person", read the bible! Look at what God's Word actually says, and believe me, you'll become a true Christian real quick.
Acknowledge God is the King, and love each other. Do these things, and your life will change.
It's a day by day, minute by minute process that you can't do without the Spirit.
So my application is, every day, ask the Spirit to wake me up, so I can see through HIS eyes, not my own.
IBS WEEK 8
Hosea 7:14
Much like my last post, I'm talking about God wanting our everything. He wants our hearts. Not as slaves to control, but as willing servants, so He can lift us up to the best He has for us. How shallow we are, looking to God only in times of trouble! Or how we simply sit and wallow in our troubles without so much as a head turn to the Lord, wanting our life to fix itself!
The Lord has an intense desire for us to come to Him; He LONGS to redeem us from our pits! We, however, are stubborn and filled with sin, refusing to follow Him. For some reason, in our finite minds, that somehow means weakness--accepting a Savior. But it's the truth we must come to, sooner or later: We are sin, and without God we will perish in our sin forever.
My application is to only pray in the Lord's Prayer layout: the Praise Sandwich, if you will.
Starting with acknowledging the glory of God and His power, thanking Him for __________, presenting my requests or petitions of ___________, as HE WILLS, then ending with more praise and thanks to His name. This will bring my focus in prayer where it needs to be, instead of falling into the trap of treating God as a vending machine for all my fleshly wants and desires, losing sight of who He really is.
Much like my last post, I'm talking about God wanting our everything. He wants our hearts. Not as slaves to control, but as willing servants, so He can lift us up to the best He has for us. How shallow we are, looking to God only in times of trouble! Or how we simply sit and wallow in our troubles without so much as a head turn to the Lord, wanting our life to fix itself!
The Lord has an intense desire for us to come to Him; He LONGS to redeem us from our pits! We, however, are stubborn and filled with sin, refusing to follow Him. For some reason, in our finite minds, that somehow means weakness--accepting a Savior. But it's the truth we must come to, sooner or later: We are sin, and without God we will perish in our sin forever.
My application is to only pray in the Lord's Prayer layout: the Praise Sandwich, if you will.
Starting with acknowledging the glory of God and His power, thanking Him for __________, presenting my requests or petitions of ___________, as HE WILLS, then ending with more praise and thanks to His name. This will bring my focus in prayer where it needs to be, instead of falling into the trap of treating God as a vending machine for all my fleshly wants and desires, losing sight of who He really is.
IBS WEEK 7
Hosea 5:15
Israel peaced out against God. They don't need Him anymore, they're fine just the way they are. But hold on, God stayed the same. He doesn't leave or change. If we're distant from God, it's because we've moved. He never leaves or forsakes us. He does, however, like our attention. Which is where this picks up. God crushes Israel. He does not answer their prayers, He has disowned them. He crushes to build back up. It's HIM who keeps us alive, moment by moment, and He will NOT hesitate to remind us of this fact.
He shows His face when we EARNESTLY seek Him. We will find Him when we seek Him with ALL of our hearts, ALL of our beings. This is the key: we don't simply seek Him because we want something, but because we need Him and have a true desire for that relationship of love and mercy with His endless power.
My application is to allow God to humble me, every morning, before I exit my bedroom. If I walk out of my room with even a speck of pride of self-love in my heart, it will be impossible to look to God and to others. Like Pastor Steve always describes LOVE as: Your best at my expense. That's my true desire--that's God's true being. I want every bit of me to scream God's love, and it's impossible to do that when I'm not letting Him in.
Israel peaced out against God. They don't need Him anymore, they're fine just the way they are. But hold on, God stayed the same. He doesn't leave or change. If we're distant from God, it's because we've moved. He never leaves or forsakes us. He does, however, like our attention. Which is where this picks up. God crushes Israel. He does not answer their prayers, He has disowned them. He crushes to build back up. It's HIM who keeps us alive, moment by moment, and He will NOT hesitate to remind us of this fact.
He shows His face when we EARNESTLY seek Him. We will find Him when we seek Him with ALL of our hearts, ALL of our beings. This is the key: we don't simply seek Him because we want something, but because we need Him and have a true desire for that relationship of love and mercy with His endless power.
My application is to allow God to humble me, every morning, before I exit my bedroom. If I walk out of my room with even a speck of pride of self-love in my heart, it will be impossible to look to God and to others. Like Pastor Steve always describes LOVE as: Your best at my expense. That's my true desire--that's God's true being. I want every bit of me to scream God's love, and it's impossible to do that when I'm not letting Him in.
IBS WEEK 6
Daniel 6:4
"...They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent."
I ask myself why it seems Daniel was so perfect. It's not that he was, but it seems that way because who can say that nobody could find any fault in them? Imagine having no one to say anything bad about you. It seems so simply: do nothing wrong. But the problem is we're not simple beings; we're complicated and sinning flesh that continue to do wrong.
The answer, though, IS simple: Jesus. As we're constantly being filled with the Spirit, we don't do wrong. We act only in the Spirit, allowing God to use us as we're intended to be used. There will not be an issue of trust here, as we can surely trust God with our entire beings! If we can trust Him with our eternity, why can't we trust Him with our today?
Daniel was a man of integrity and always did right, but it's because he was constantly serving and trusting in the Lord. As later in the chapter says more than once, Daniel has God, who he serves CONTINUALLY. Not just on downtime, or at church on Sundays.
My application is to simply get up in the morning a measly 5 minutes earlier, so that time can be singularly focused on God--on thanking Him for waking me up, on praising His power, and on asking Him to fill me with His Spirit, that I may serve Him the entire day through, thus creating the habit of serving Him my entire life through.
"...They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent."
I ask myself why it seems Daniel was so perfect. It's not that he was, but it seems that way because who can say that nobody could find any fault in them? Imagine having no one to say anything bad about you. It seems so simply: do nothing wrong. But the problem is we're not simple beings; we're complicated and sinning flesh that continue to do wrong.
The answer, though, IS simple: Jesus. As we're constantly being filled with the Spirit, we don't do wrong. We act only in the Spirit, allowing God to use us as we're intended to be used. There will not be an issue of trust here, as we can surely trust God with our entire beings! If we can trust Him with our eternity, why can't we trust Him with our today?
Daniel was a man of integrity and always did right, but it's because he was constantly serving and trusting in the Lord. As later in the chapter says more than once, Daniel has God, who he serves CONTINUALLY. Not just on downtime, or at church on Sundays.
My application is to simply get up in the morning a measly 5 minutes earlier, so that time can be singularly focused on God--on thanking Him for waking me up, on praising His power, and on asking Him to fill me with His Spirit, that I may serve Him the entire day through, thus creating the habit of serving Him my entire life through.
IBS WEEK 5
Mark 7:8
Something I have been extremely blessed by during my entire walk with Jesus is that wherever I go, my mentors and teachers have always taught about the bible as it is: it's the heart of the Word, not the word of the Word.
Jesus didn't come for our traditions, and God didn't set commands for our actions; it's our heart behind the actions. Are we obeying His commands because He gave them to us and we have to do them to be "holy", or because we love Him and want to have a relationship with Him?
If we obey the Word simply out of habit, without any heart into it, we're missing the point and relationship with Jesus; we'll soon be like the Pharisees--full of knowledge, but having hearts against the true and living God.
My application for this week is to pick out commonly used verses that are taken literally or legalistically and write the true point of the verse.
Something I have been extremely blessed by during my entire walk with Jesus is that wherever I go, my mentors and teachers have always taught about the bible as it is: it's the heart of the Word, not the word of the Word.
Jesus didn't come for our traditions, and God didn't set commands for our actions; it's our heart behind the actions. Are we obeying His commands because He gave them to us and we have to do them to be "holy", or because we love Him and want to have a relationship with Him?
If we obey the Word simply out of habit, without any heart into it, we're missing the point and relationship with Jesus; we'll soon be like the Pharisees--full of knowledge, but having hearts against the true and living God.
My application for this week is to pick out commonly used verses that are taken literally or legalistically and write the true point of the verse.
Monday, December 2, 2013
December.
So December's pretty whack here...Amazing, but whack.
The cannons and fireworks have gotten way crazier, which is cool, but it's sad because they celebrate for all the wrong reasons.
It's hard knowing so many of these pagan festivals and rituals and whatnot are going on right outside the walls of our center, but with every bang of a cannon or every drum set I hear, it motivates me to pray more fervently for this city that so desperately needs the God of the universe.
Pray for Antigua.
I love my team, my family here.
I've never had a larger thirst and hunger to know God more, though, and
He's answering so many prayers every day.
Every day we live in awe of all the incredible miracles He shows us, and doesn't show us, every day.
So many things He saves us from that we don't even know about, so it's necessary to remember
how much He takes care of us--He knows everything about everything, holding time in His hands, beginning and the end, so we'll never know how much He works for us until we finally meet Him face to face.
Praise the Lord for all the good He does and is, forever and ever, amen.
The cannons and fireworks have gotten way crazier, which is cool, but it's sad because they celebrate for all the wrong reasons.
It's hard knowing so many of these pagan festivals and rituals and whatnot are going on right outside the walls of our center, but with every bang of a cannon or every drum set I hear, it motivates me to pray more fervently for this city that so desperately needs the God of the universe.
Pray for Antigua.
I love my team, my family here.
I've never had a larger thirst and hunger to know God more, though, and
He's answering so many prayers every day.
Every day we live in awe of all the incredible miracles He shows us, and doesn't show us, every day.
So many things He saves us from that we don't even know about, so it's necessary to remember
how much He takes care of us--He knows everything about everything, holding time in His hands, beginning and the end, so we'll never know how much He works for us until we finally meet Him face to face.
Praise the Lord for all the good He does and is, forever and ever, amen.
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