Tonight is our last week of Revolution and we have now been in New Caney for 5 Weeks!
We are having a blast and we know that God has just started the amazing work that he is
going to do and will do through us and our church.
So don't miss our service tonight at 7pm its going to be awesome.
Another subject today is... Expo!
This weekend (Friday and Saturday) we will be heading to Corsicana with several entries.
Our group has an amazing "Group Dance" entered and they will also be performing it live
tonight at One Way.
We are excited to see our students sharing their talents for the ministry and we pray that through
a song that is sung or a dance that is performed or a word that is said would encourage, lift up
and lead someone closer to Christ.
The next thing I want to mention in this blog today is our new series titled "Beautiful Collsion".
Next week this new series will kick off and all month long we are focusing on worship and prayer and how they relate to your relationship with God.
We live in a world where there are thousands of things fighing for our attention, people who are drawing our focus, things that are monopolizing our time. All to often we take God and our relationship with him out of the equation completely. God is usally the first thing to go when we get a little busy.
This month we are going to get back to the root of honest, heartfelt worship. We are going to talk about why prayer matters, and how it has the power to drastically change your perception of God and his love for you.
Join us for the month of march as we talk about what happens when you put everything else aside, and do whatever it takes to collide head on with the God of the universe.
So make plans now to bring your friends, invite your siblings and encourage a student to come to One Way.
What are you doing for God? When was the last time you performed a miracle while walking down the street? How long has it been since you fed a multitude of people with a few fish and a bit of bread? I am fairly confident we all had similar answers to those questions... Never. For most of us, miracles are things we talk about, but rarely witness, faith is something we claim to have, but rarely put in to practice. I was reading a book this week in which this passage of scripture was highlighted: John 14:11-14 "Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can't believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I'll do."
Jesus tells each of us that if we truly trust in him, we are to do what he did, and even greater things. Consider for a moment all the incredible acts that Jesus did while he was on the earth. He healed countless people, he raised the dead, he opened blind eyes, he reached thousands of people with each message that he spoke. He was sensational, miraculous, living a life that was flawless and constantly showing people his love and their future in him. How often in our lives do we limit who Jesus was by not living up to who he called us to be?
Jesus told us, as his followers, that we are supposed to be doing everything he did and MORE. We are capable of making even bigger things happen through his spirit living in us. The only thing standing in our way is ourselves. We trip ourselves up by not thinking we are good enough, by limiting God and what he can do before he even gets started. I am ready for more. I am ready to claim everything my God promises me... that I can and should do what Jesus did, and even greater things through Christ who strengthens me.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.
Proverbs 25:2
There’s a reason God’s will in specific situations is so difficult to know sometimes. There’s a reason that not everything is black and white. It can be difficult to discern God’s will for a lot of situations.
Who to date.
Where to go to college.
Who to marry.
Where to move.
What job to take.
And it’s not because you’re not praying. You’re probably praying a lot. It’s not because you don’t want to know His will. You probably aren’t lacking that desire.
But according to this verse in Proverbs, it’s because God conceals. But why? After all, that seems counterintuitive to God’s purposes and using you in them.
The reason isn’t because God doesn’t want you to know His will. He wants you to know it more than you want to know it.God has something so much greater for you instead. Him.
God’s not up in heaven hiding His will, hoping you’ll never be able to find it. But He does play hide and seek. He doesn’t just want us to find His will, He wants us to find Him in the process. Because if His will was in plain view, we would seek it instead of seeking Him.
That’s why he conceals it. That’s why it’s so hard.
The point isn’t for God to make His will plain.His will isn’t the main objective. He is the main objective. He wants you to discover Him above all else.
As you run after God and his good, pleasing, and perfect will, remember these two truths:
God isn’t the shortcut to your best life. He is your best life.
God doesn’t want to give you the guide for your life. He wants to be your Guide. The scariest possibility for your life isn’t getting God’s will wrong. It’s getting God’s will right but barely coming to know God in the process.
You could love the right woman but lose your first love.
You could find the right career but then make it your god.
That’s why He doesn’t just write His will for you in the clouds. At the end of the process, He wants you to know something far greater than what you should do next with your life. He wants you to know who He is.
What are you doing in your world to make a difference? How are you making an impact in your family, your school, and your relationships? Are you doing anything at all? As children of the king, we are meant to stand out. We are called to make a difference.
Matthew 20:26-28 says: Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.
Who are you serving in your life? Frequently people in churches say they would love to do something, but the chance was never offered to them, or the opportunity never came up. God doesn't call us to be a people that sit around waiting for his specifics. He doesn't always hand us an opportunity that looks good from the outside.
The word serve is defined as: to be of help, to be of use, to wait on, to attend and respect. Jesus himself told us that if we want to truly be his people, we are meant to do all of those things in our world. Who are you serving, who are you helping? Who are you respecting like Jesus?
Today I want to challenge you to look for opportunities to serve other people, help your mom do the dishes, sit by someone who is all alone in the lunch room, volunteer to help at the food pantry, just find a way to make a difference in your world.
I have always been a sucker for a good love story. I love reading them, I love watching them, and I love living one! Pastor Philip is the kind of guy who will patiently sit through countless "chick flicks" just because he loves me and knows they make me happy.
Every love story has a few things in common, there are always the two people involved in the story, and usually there is some reason why their love seems improbably. Maybe time or circumstances have pulled them apart, maybe people say they shouldn't be together, maybe they are complete opposites. But in every great love story, they end up together despite all odds. they learn and grow with each other despite all their flaws.
Of all the love stories I have ever seen or read, there is one that is greater than all the rest. That is the love story of our Savior. Not only did our savior give his life just to show us that he loved us, he never held a grudge, and knows us passionately and intimately.
One of my favorite chapters of the entire bible is Psalm 139 which reads:
Psalm 139
A David Psalm
1-6God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
I'm an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I'm never out of your sight.
You know everything I'm going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you're there,
then up ahead and you're there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can't take it all in!
7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you're there!
If I go underground, you're there!
If I flew on morning's wings
to the far western horizon,
You'd find me in a minute—
you're already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I'm immersed in the light!"
It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.
13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.
17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I'll never comprehend them!
I couldn't even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
all the men and women who belittle you, God,
infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!
23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I'm about;
See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life.
God is passionate about you, he courts you daily doing things to catch your attention. He dotes on you, investigating and examining even the deepest parts of your heart. None of us are worthy of that kind of love, we don't deserve his affection or attention. However, we can live our lives every day in a way that says we are greatful of his love. We can choose every day to love him back in the best way we know how, and ask him to help us love him better. What a beautiful love story we live.
Did you know there are still 120 Kings in the world today, people who have a leadership position over a large group of people.
People who inspire others, people who influence large groups of people based on their beliefs, opinion and actions.
Did you know that the idea of a King or Queen is not only a leader but someone who has courage, honor and is willing to protect and Save their people.
Do you realize that from that perspective, from that point of view that it would then define US as Kings & Queens?Because as Christians you are heir to a Kingdom and that Kingdom is Heaven. Your father, your creator is the KING over everything! And the bible says that “we are sons and daughters of the King”.
Romans says
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
Today if you accept this idea or not… The fact remains we are representatives of Jesus Christ, the king of all kings, the lord of lords. And we have a “people” that needs leadership and they need saving.
And God wants us to take lead. He wants us to step up and be all that we can be. He wants you to get over your selfish reasons and open your eyes to see the world that is lost and dying.
We are Kings & Queens
And we are called to save our people
As I typed this message/devotional over a year ago I had complete intentions to deliver a message that would shake you, one that would inspire you. One that hopefully would help you realize that people see you different because you are a Christian. That you represent Jesus to your family, friends, to your school and everyone you come in contact with.
But over a year ago this message was interrupted by a TEXT message that stopped my focus. I received a txt message that my Grandma collapsed and was rushed to the ER where the doctor said she would probably not make it. She suffered a massive heart attack.
Note: My Grandma made it through this situation but about six months later she passed away.
See in our lives things happen that are UNPREDICTABLE. You can get a phone call or a txt message, you can receive information that will cause you to be distracted and sometimes you can receive information that will challenge you.
After going through this I took that information as a challenge. See my Grandma was one of our “people” that needed leadership, that needed someone to care. Her whole life she made bad choices.
And this world is full of people making bad choices.
So as the heirs to the Kingdom Of Heaven, as sons and daughters of God, we are made in his image and we are to follow after him!
And we need to save those people from a lost eternity in hell.
Stepping Up Into Leadership
For us to really become the person we are called to be in God we need to step up into a leadership role. Everyone has someone that looks up to them as a leader or someone whose opinion matters.
But the way we really take that role is by Standing Up for what we believe in. When was the last time you stood up for something you believed in? A better question than that is have you EVER stood up for something you believe in?
Colossians “God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He's set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.”
God has rescued us through his death, through his sacrifice. Because of that I believe its time for us to save somebody, its time for us to rescue somebody. Its time for us to live up to what we have been called to be “We are Kings & Queens”
We are Christians, we are Jesus’ followers, we are excited about God! We want to do more than something for God we want to do ANYTHING for him.
It’s inevitable. No matter what line of work you’re in or how much you love it. No matter how good you are at what you do. Sooner or later, you’re going to get into a funk.
It happens to everyone. The best authors experience seasons where they hate writing and are lucky to have one good sentence in a hundred pages. The most passionate musicians have days where they don’t even want to pick up their instrument.
While funks are unavoidable, we don’t have to resign ourselves to them. From my own experience, I have identified four responses we can take to combat being victims to these times of low inspiration. 1. Don’t extrapolate your future based on your funk.
A natural tendency is to think that your funk is permanent. It’s a sign of a major change in performance or motivation that will never correct itself. It’s not. Don’t mistake momentary moods for permanent paradigm shifts. Your funk is only a small part of your story. Just turn the page and start your next chapter. 2. Give yourself the advice you’d give someone else. Many times we know just what to say to other people when they’re in their own funks. Go outside for a while. Escape from the prison of your own mind and emotions and do something nice for someone else.
And these things worked for them. That’s because they work for everybody. Including you. 3. Don’t justify your funk. Trying to find the source of your funk won’t make you feel any better about how you’re feeling. In fact, it will only lead you to wallow in self-pity, which does nothing but create a cycle of funks, which only leads to more self-pity and even deeper funks. If you let the same stories of funk repeat themselves, your overall story will never progress. 4. Work, don’t worry. I’ve been saying this for a long time now—stop wasting time wondering whether or not your normal level of motivation will ever return. Work harder than ever, whether you feel like it or not. You can get back the motivation you didn’t have while working. You can’t get back the work you missed out on while you were waiting to feel motivated to do it.
If you’re in a funk right now, stay faithful to the work God has given you today. And praise Him the second your motivation catches up
For some reason this song has been on my heart A LOT lately, we use to sing it all the time. “Give Me Faith” by Elevation Worship is truly an awesome, thought provoking worship song.
My favorite part of this song is the lyrics. “I may be weak, but your spirits strong in me. My flesh may fail but my God you never will”
It seems like personally in my life God is trying to tell me I may fail, I may have questions, I may feel defeated. But he is strong enough, he faithful and JESUS will not fail me. The lyrics “My flesh may fail but my God you never will”. It brings me to the point of realization that Our God is for us and not against us, that he is the same yesterday, today and forever! That no matter how many wrong choices I make he is still perfect and he is still their looking to show me his love.
This morning for some reason I feel like encouraging all of you guys, You may fail but God won’t. Your world may be falling apart but God will never change. And we need to build up our faith in God and we need to work on trusting him.
For us to have faith in God we need to look at his word.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is the evidence that the God we serve but cannot see is real. Faith is trusting that he loves us, that he knows our name, that he has saved us from the sin that we continue to fall in and that when we die we will be with him in Heaven.
Having faith in God through tough times is hard, and believing in something you have never seen is just the same. But to realize that the God who created everything knows you and loves you and wants to answer your prayer. That is what faith is all about.
Matthew "You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."
Matthew 18:19-20 “I promise that when any two of you on earth agree about something you are praying for, my Father in heaven will do it for you. Whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you.”
The idea “living for eternity” and the facts and challenges that go with it can either Move you towards God or move you away from God, but that will be your decision.
Why should you care about eternity
Eternity is an endless period of time, and everyone of us today long for it. Eternity is what happens after death. You may choose to believe this or not. But eternity will happen. You will spend forever, somewhere.
When I was growing up I use to HATE going to my grandmas house. For one I hated all the work I had to do, help grandma with this, help grandma with that. And for me as a young kid it felt like forever. Can anyone relate with that? The feeling that you're never going to leave a certain place. Thats how I felt about grandmas house.
Now there's two different emotions to that as we grow up, there's places that we go that we wish we could never go again and its like torture the whole time we're there. And then there's places we go that we wish we could stay FOREVER at we wish we never had to leave. For my wife that place is Chucky Cheese.... Just Kidding, '
But its probably like Michaels or somewhere she can be creative and make things.
Eternity is going to be forever and you're going to spend it somewhere and its never going to end.
The bible constantly talks about life after death. And the bible along with Jesus consistently talks about the two places that you have the choice in going.
Heaven or Hell.
One places God lives and there is peace and the other place nothing but torment and sin live along with the devil and his demons.
If you ever find yourself in the place where you are questioning life and death and your faith. STUDY on heaven and hell. It will help you wake up spiritually.
In fact there are two books that I would recommend you read what is called 90 minutes in heaven, its a best selling book that you can find at Wal-Mart or any Christian book store and the other is called 23 minutes in hell. Both of these books will encourage you and answer questions on a biblical basis concerning Heaven and Hell.
With all that said that leads us to our 2nd Point
Who's going to be there?
Matthew 7:13-14 13 "Enter through the narrow gate. The gate is wide and the road is wide that leads to hell, and many people enter through that gate. 14 But the gate is small and the road is narrow that leads to true life. Only a few people find that road.
Luke 16:20-26 (KJV)
20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
So who's going to be there? Everyone will go to heaven or hell.
The difference on who will go to heaven and who will go to hell ? If you believe or not.
If you believe Jesus Christ is the savior from sin, that he is God's son and that he died for you. Then all you have to do is pray and believe and ask him for forgiveness.
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die
Jesus is talking about eternity, about life AFTER death.
John 3:16 16 God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.
So What we know tonight is that YOUR BELIEF, RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION with Jesus determines WHERE you spend eternity if thats heaven or hell.
Its like going to a SOLD out concert. You have to purchase that ticket AHEAD of time if you plan on going. Because if you just SHOW up the day of the concert with no money, no tickets and no plan.. They will not let you in.
In the same way JESUS is our ticket to heaven, he is our key to eternities door.
And we have to make plans for it ahead of time.
What the bible says about hell
Matthew 13:42 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
What the bible says about Heaven
Revelation 21:4 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Stop worrying about EVERYTHING else, start living for eternity, start living for the rest of eternity, stop worrying about money, cars, school, friends and start worrying about eternity.
When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
Luke 9:33-35
In my experience, a lot of people use these verses to say that we shouldn’t try to be great. That things like ambition, aspiring to be a leader, or wanting God to increase your platform are straight up unbiblical. Not good at all.
But when you read these verses, you can’t really find that idea at all. Jesus didn’t say, stop trying to be great. He just said, get there a different way. Flip the funnel and put yourself at the bottom, and that’s how you’ll become great.
You find this same idea when you study the life of John the Baptist. It’s interesting that Jesus had no problem calling John the greatest man ever. If it is bad to be great, you think Jesus would avoid that terminology. But once we understand why Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest man ever, it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t because he was greater than Jesus. It was because he had this attitude about Jesus: He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:30) There is nothing wrong with wanting to be great. In terms of your performance. Or your influence.
But what you have to ask is: Why do I want to be great? And how am I going to get there?
If you want to be great, be great for God’s sake.
If you want to be great, be great in a way that makes Jesus even greater.
If you want to be great, be a servant of all.
If you want to be great, flip the funnel. Put yourself at the bottom.
Throughout the bible there are lots of battles, fought by lots of nations, for lots of different reasons. There are battles for land, beliefs, opposing ideas and control. In our lives we face battles for just as many different sorts of things. We face problems with our families, times when we think everything is falling apart. We face battles with friends, friends who let us down, others who care less than we think they should. We face trouble in relationships, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives. We even face internal battles of our own, things like struggling with self-image, eating dissorders, even addictions. Each of these kinds of battles has a way of leaving us hurting, and searching for answers.
Yesterday I was reading about a particular battle found in 2 Chronicles 13. In this chapter, Abijah, ruler of Judah goes in to battle against Rehoboam, ruler of Israel. The Army of Judah believed that God was with them, they trusted him as their leader. But, while they were getting a little pep-talk from their ruler Abijah, Rehoboam and his army surrounded them, from the front and from the back.
As Christians, we can't spend our whole lives talking ourselves in to doing great things for God. We can be told over and over again that God is with us, that he has our back, that he has incredible plans for us. All of those things are wonderful, but if you don't make a move they are just words. God has called us to be the kind of people who take action. He hasn't called us to be the kind of people who stop paying attention while our enemy rises up in front of and behind us.
2 Chronicles 13:14-15 goes on to say:
When Judah realized that they were being attacked from the front and the rear, they cried out to the LORD for help. Then the priests blew the trumpets, and the men of Judah began to shout. At the sound of their battle cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel and routed them before Abijah and the army of Judah.
Maybe today you are feeling a little overwhelmed and surrounded by everything coming up against you, or maybe you just haven't been paying attention and the enemy has you surrounded on every side. Today, I want you to know that if you are serving a God that can defeat Jeroboam and his 800,000 troops, he can defeat whatever you are facing just as quickly. But, you have to be willing to fight for it. When Judah realized they were being attacked, they cried out to God and then... they yelled out their battle cry. They weren't going down without a fight.
A battle cry isn't just a little squeek, or a whine, it is a determined yell that shows your enemy you know you will be triumphant. It looks a little something like this:
Now that is a look of determination, a choice to be victorious!
Let God hear your battle cry today, cry out to him through whatever you are going through and he will defeat it and change your course.
Sometimes as Christians we get caught up in the idea that God should be blessing us more. We look around at church, or when we are with other Christian friends and start to consider things that they have that we do not. It is usually far easier to get caught up in all the things we think God should be doing, and isn't, than it is to look at everything wonderful he is doing in our lives.
As children of God we will be blessed in a way that can only come from God. Unfortunately, we frequently find flaws in God's blessing rather than accepting that he always knows what he is doing. Sometimes God's blessing and favor don't look exactly the way we want them to. There will be a lot of times in our lives when God shows us his blessing and favor in our lives through trust.
The bible talks about many people who were favored in God's sight. In Luke 1:28, the angel of the Lord first comes to Mary. He says to her: “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” (NIV) As you are probably well aware, he then went on to tell Mary that she would give birth to Jesus. Mary was highly favored among women and blessed by God. In showing that favor, Mary was pregnant out of wedlock, ridiculed by her peers and probably talked about negatively by people closest to her. For Mary, God's favor wasn't easy. It wasn't obvious every minute of the day that she was blessed. But through her, and because of her faithfulness, our Saviour was born.
Sometimes God's blessing in our lives will be difficult. More often than we expect, God's favor is shown in ways that result in an oportunity for us to be faithful. God will reward that faithfulness over and over again if you show him you are ready for it.
God rewards those who patiently wait, trusting in everything he is. Even when it isn't comfortable or easy. It is time for us, as children of God, to stop looking for God's blessing every minute. Stop waiting for him to bless you and show his favor in a tangible way and bless someone else instead. God is not a genie in a bottle. His purpose is not to grant our wishes. He calls us to bless others and show his love even in our most difficult times.
Today I want to encourage you to stop waiting for God to bless you the way you think he should. Instead, be a blessing to someone else.
Isaiah 35:3-4 says:
3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees. 4 Say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.
He is coming to save you.”
Find a way to bless and strengthen someone else today. If you want to be blessed, be a blessing.
This week will be our third service at One Way.
We want to encourage all of you to invite your friends.
There are plans to buy two more bleachers in the near future to make room for growth.
At One Way we want to reach the lost, the unchurched and the best way we can do that
is for you to get out of your comfort zone and invite your friends and fellow students.
One Way is for students from 6th grade to 12th grade. We are a large body of students
who is excited about serving and loving God.
Within the next several months there will be a growth explosion in OneWay and we are ready.
Right now we are setting up resources, including this blog as a way you can be encouraged throughout
the week.
by Kelsi Martin on Monday, February 6, 2012 at 7:19pm
I was hungry for affection
desperate for perfection
and crippled by rejection.
So then it began.
It molded my thoughts
It attacked my body
It became dictator
planning to kill me.
From my mind came lies.
From my eyes came tears.
From my stomach came cries,
a few weeks turned to years.
Who was I? What happend? Where did I go? When did I give up? Why was i dying?
What did i do?
Why me?
Was i bad?
Did i not believe?
I had a dream,
I saw him.
I heard him.
I felt him.
I was perfect.
Darkness became light,
lonliness became gratefullness,
imperfection became wholeness,
hunger became fullness.
For a long time i was defined in my body,
i was defined by consumption,
i was defined by control,
or i was defined by satan,
BUT I HAVE A GOD.
A God who saves me,
over and over again.
A God who gives to me,
over and over again.
A God who does not forsake me,
but holds me.
I have a God that turned that darkness into light,
turned the lonliness to gratefullness,
the imperfection to wholeness.
I'm still hungry,
but for HIM.
Food?
God is what fills me.
I can never be starved again.
-- Im aware that this is messy and structure-less, but it is my thoughts. I wrote this for someone who is like a sister to me and i love her so much. I want her to know we all go through trials, we all go throught "the hardest times of our lives". But sometimes we forget that it could be just a tad bit easier if we werent fighting alone, If we werent pushing away the most powerful fighter of all, GOD.
This writing was about one of the "hardest times" that i went through. At the time (years ago) i felt like that was the end for me, but look where im at now? I'm the happiest i have ever been, I'm SO close to God, and im still alive. There is hope in every situation.
Hopelessness only means your putting God in a box, your limiting his POWER. It means that you do not think he can do the impossible. He can.
James 4:1-3 (NLT) says "What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure."
Today I wanted to talk about our motives when we go to God.
These verses and this whole chapter are very powerful. But if we could just focus on this small portion concerning our motives and our thoughts before God I feel like it could benefit us in a great way.
When I was growing up there was always a joke around my house when it came to asking our Dad for something. Usually that something was a toy or some "fun" item or perhaps a request to go somewhere special. We would joke about "Buttering Up" our dad before asking him, literally telling him how much we love him, hugging on him, doing small things for him that were out of the ordinary. The funny thing about it was when we started acting this way (because it was unordinary) he immediately knew what we were up to and he knew that we were going to be requesting or asking something of him.
Most of the time when this happened it became harder to get the thing we wanted because he knew we were only doing these things in order for us to get something in return.
This morning as I think about that small funny story about my childhood I wonder how many times we do that with God. Going the extra mile for a neighbor in need, being compassionate to people we usually talk bad about or even pretending to be "super spiritual" and closer to God then anyone else. How many times do we start acting this way only because we want something from God. How many times are we guilty of buttering up God before we ask him for something, and how selfish are we to only worship God with passion and excitement only for a blessing in return.
All of this leads me to this question. What are your motives when you go before the Lord? Is this relationship between you and our Father God a one sided relationship? Are you only in this for yourself? For looks? For personal gain? For personal understanding?
I hope not...
One of the biggest steps I took in my Christian walk was when I realized that I should bless God and worship him for who he is, not what he can do for me. I respect him for being the Judge, I respect him for being the Creator, I respect him for who he is not what he is capable of doing for me. And when I started worshipping and praying to him for him and not for myself EVERYTHING changed! God started blessing me in ways I still to this day cannot explain to you.
So, to conclude this blog post, I ask you why are you in a relationship with Jesus Christ? Why do you pray to the Lord? Is it for a selfish ambition? Or is it because you truly want to have a relationship with him.
Change the way you pray, and you will see changes in your life.
When you look up the word "Faithful or Faithfulness" in the bible there are 9265 references to this subject.
To simply put it, God is very serious about being faithful and having faithfulness. It's a serious subject that most people don't want to talk about or mention.
But to me being faithful is the only way to do life. I must be faithful to the God who gave his son, who died for me. I must be faithful to my wife. I must be faithful to my job. I must be faithful.
So many times in our world we will hear other voices and opinions trying to tell to us that there is an exception. And our enemy will be the first one that tries to convince us that we can get away with whatever.
That we don't have to be faithful in our relationships, that we don't have to faithful to God.
I read this quote this morning and I loved it; "Your faithfulness makes you trustworthy".
Wow, your faithfulness makes you trustworthy. People can tell what kind of person you are by your committment and faithfulness. They then decide if they can trust you or not.
I would step out on a limb and say that God does the same thing so many times with us. Its not that he doesn't want to bless you and trust you with your wildest dreams, but he wants to see if you are really committed to him, if you are really faithful to him.
This morning I can testify that with Faithfulness and an honest heart before God he will trust you, bless you and give you more than you can imagine. So today I want to challenge you to look at your life and find the places that your unfaithful and then work on them.
If it's going to church on Sunday, if it's a relationship, if it's reading your bible or whatever. Find the things you need to work on and then Be Faithful.
2nd Timothy 2:13 says "If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is."
Luke 16:10 "If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities"
I never thought about the meaning of the words of this song until last night. Jesus Culture-----You Wont Relent: "I'll set you as a SEAL upon my heart, as a SEAL upon my arm." As i was immersed in deep worship last night, and as the speaker was talking about this song, God opened my eyes and revealed to me that i must have a seal upon my life.
A seal can be two things: it can be a branding or a protection. Back in the day, like old English times, people would put a seal on their letters before they were carried to the receiver. They did this for two reasons: to protect the contents of the letter from prying eyes and so the receiver would know who the letter was from. A seal was usually made of melted wax that dried on the paper, and was stamped with the insignia of the person who wrote the letter. When the song speaks of a seal upon your heart, it is talking about a seal of protection. When you have a seal on your heart, you are protecting your heart from things that do not need to be let in there. This is a seal that is not easily broken! When you put the seal of God upon your heart, you are allowing only godly things into your heart, you are protecting your heart from corruption, from pornography, from drug abuse, from alcoholism, from sexual desires, from anything that is not of God.
When the song speaks of putting a seal upon your arm, it is speaking about a branding. When settlers moved to the west to becomes ranchers and herders, each rancher developed a brand, which is a series of designs or letters. This brand was then made into a metal branding tool. The rancher would heat up the branding tool, then burn the seal or brand onto all of his cattle. This was to show other ranchers who the cattle belonged to. Each rancher had a brand, and each rancher knew the brands of the other ranchers. God wants us to set him as a seal upon our arm. Our arm is one of the most visible places of our bodies, people see the arms of others everyday. Arms can be used to embrace others or push others away. When we set the seal of God upon our arms it is for others to see, it is for others to know that we belong to Jesus Christ! When we have the seal of God upon our arm, we can embrace others and bring them to Jesus.
Everyone has a seal upon on their life...whose seal is on your heart and arm?
