stubborn are we

Isaiah 44:14-20

I read this last night and it really stood out to me. A basic principal I've learned my whole life, but the way it was put was pretty profound.

I won't type word for word the whole scripture..but to be put simply it's saying. why would you use wood for fire and then use it to also to worship or another way to look at it "can a creator worship his own creation?"

some religions today still make statues or idols made out of clay, wood, stone, etc. and they worship it expecting it to save them. how senseless it that? the creator is relying on its own creation for salvation. doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

sense would be for creation to rely on it's creator. for the creator knew the creation from the very beginning.

Psalms 4

so lately I've been stressed out about a lot of things, and dwelling on them..making me angry and then taking it out on my husband and kids. so last night when I went to go do my quiet time before bed I was really not in the mood. but knew I should do it anyways. I asked God though to show me something he wanted me to read and how cool is this....

Psalms 4

Read the whole chapter, but some of the verses really stuck out to me:

" How long will you love delusions and seek lies"...translation: why do you spend your time dwelling on things you can't control and lies from Satan.

"In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent" translation to me: instead of acting out when you are angry, give your anxious thoughts to God. Be still and let Him take control.

It's okay to be angry, but NOT okay to act out on it.

"I will lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone O lord, make me dwell in safety"

Don't go to bed angry, and don't go to bed meditating on things you can't control. God wants us to rest...physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. He wouldn't ask us to be still if it wasn't possible. There are storms in this life you and I can't control, but God can bring us to that place of peace in our life if we let Him.

for all the single ladies.....

I remember the days when I was single and couldn't wait to meet my future husband. I replayed the "romantic fairytale" over and over in my head. It took me a while thought to realize the this "single suffering of loneliness" was a present from a God, and incredible gift right there in front of me to enjoy! not to run away from. Easier said than done, we all have that desire to be loved and to meet that special person. But the lie we fall into is that our future spouse is the one to complete us. HOW WRONG WE ARE! Only God will complete us. His love surpasses any amount of love we can receive here on earth. Don't get me wrong, marriage is also a wonderful gift created by God. But it wasn't created to fulfill us, to complete our lives. If we believe into that, I guarantee you will never be fully happy. Paul writes how unmarried men and women can be fully concerned about the Lords affairs. Our heart can be completely focused on Him. In that you can reach that completeness, that confidence in the Lord and not in men. ( 1 Corinthians 7:32)

So my point is, my encouragement is.... as hard as it is to be single...embrace it. Enjoy the time of your life that your in. Enjoy the freedom to give yourself solely to your heavenly Father. Ironically, most of the time when you stop looking, God blesses you with that person. So don't fret on your future, don't spend your time waiting for that "day". Enjoy your life!! Have fun! Use that time to grow closer to Him, and to learn how to be that incredible husband/wife.

some of pauls letters

I wanted to start this blog to share some of what I'm learning and reading to maybe encourage someone else. I love the revelations God's word gives us and I'd hate to keep it all to myself.

These are some thoughts I wrote down a few months ago on some of Paul's teachings...

1 Corinthians 12: 12-30

One body, many parts

So many people today complain about the church. Even those who go every Sunday to the same church are not completely happy with it. Don’t get me wrong; you are never going to find a church without its problems. But have we ever stopped and considered that maybe we are part to blame for whatever we don’t like about the church. A church is a body of believers that join together. Like a human body, the church must use all its parts to work properly and to reach its full potential. Each part of the body whether human or in the church has a purpose. They have a gift, a job even wired into them to perform. If they aren’t working then they are useless to the body. We need each other in order to survive. A body with a heart but no lungs just won’t work. God has instilled in us each a gift, a talent, a purpose for His will. So if we as a body aren’t functioning right, of course we aren’t going to survive. We will find weaknesses around us. But instead of pointing the finger, we must do everything within our power to fight for the parts that are dying around us. Without them we will soon die off too. We cannot do this alone, for we need our heavenly Father. We need our oxygen. Jesus is the breath of life we need to survive. Jesus is love. Love is the greatest gift of all, the gift that gives life to our purposes. Without love, we are nothing. Our gifts are meaningless and will not survive for long. We need to learn to love. We all have our differences. But that’s what makes it so beautiful. When our different gifts come together we are able to grow, to fight through anything the enemy may throw at us. We are able to win the battle with Christ.

1 Corinthians 9:19

Winning the lost

Winning the lost is the biggest fight of your life and is no easy task. That is why we must train hard to be equipped for anything. For we are not the only ones fighting for the souls of the lost. So is the enemy. But only one can win the race.

“ Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.”

To win the race we must:

- go through intense training

- have sacrifices

- we must become strong in the Lord

- we must gain knowledge

- we must have only ONE goal in mind

- our whole life must be focused

- we MUST KNOW OUR ENEMIES

In order to defeat anything in life, you must know what you are up against. We have to understand the lost. We need to understand what they are going through in order to relate to them. We must become “slaves” to the unsaved. This meaning that we will do whatever it takes to win their soul. That takes PASSION! Only God can give you that kind of passion. If you are a believer, it’s in you. God commanded us to GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES! He didn’t ask or specify who…but to ALL believers.

The things we have to do aren’t going to be easy. But it will pay off in the end. We need to remember that in life we should work for the eternal, not the temporary. Going for the goal doesn’t mean to sit around in church every week. It doesn’t mean to only talk to Christians and stay in our comfort zone. It means reaching out to those who aren’t easy to love. It means reaching out to the needy, the broken, and the ones with walls build up with cold hearts. This isn’t a practice run this is the real thing.

But before you go jump into a bar, you need to know your limits and set boundaries.

For instance, a runner does not train for a marathon by running 10 miles the first day. They could really injure themselves and become worth off then they began. Instead they have to work up to it. It will take them being dedicated to it everyday to get to that 10 mile a day point. They will need to exercise. It means they might have to run when they don’t feel like it. Sacrifice things they love to eat or do to put their body into peak performance. The same is with our race. We need to draw close to God. We need to read our Bible and study it. We have to gain knowledge of His word and be able to hear His voice so clearly. It takes sacrificing our whole life to God. It means giving up everything for Him. That isn’t easy. But He is there to help and to be with us through it all. He won’t give us more than we can handle. Once we realize that his strength can be made perfect in our weakness, we will be in the best shape of our lives. So what are we doing to train for the race? Are we filling our hearts with junk or goodness? Are we resting in His peace, or trying to relax in the idea that we can be in control? Do we know what is in the Word? Satan does, and he will try his best to twist and confuse you. That is why we must study it through and through.

Another thing that is often passed up is the confidence in us to win. We fall into the lies of the enemy that we aren’t good enough. That we could never save lost. We cannot be defeated by those lies. That is living selfishly!! Just another excuse to only care about what we want. Thinking evil thoughts about you is selfish. You don’t have to think good thoughts or highly about yourself to be selfish. That’s why we must be confident in God. We are His children. We belong to majesty, to the KING OF KINGS!! We are the apples of His eye, He chose us on PURPOSE, not just by accident. Satan wants us to take inventory of what we are not, of what we do wrong. He would love for us to dwell on that. And we do! We even use it as an excuse not to worship and come into the Lords presence. But remember, GOD CREATED US! He knit us in our mother’s womb and he knew exactly everything we would do during our lifetime. The good and the bad and he still APROVED us. He loves us so much and accepts our weaknesses. So why do we think that we need to be in tip top shape to come to the Lord. That is the only way to become clean again! We can’t do it ourselves. We try and try to become this perfect Christian and expect ourselves to accomplish it. But we can’t think that way. We need to renew our minds EVERYDAY like it says in Hebrews 12:2. This is something we have to do continuously.

Everyone likes compliments, but why do we not as His children accept compliments from Him? He thinks we are beautiful. He doesn’t look at our defects. He longs to be near to us. He wants to be best friends with each one of us. He loves us. He’s patient and kind, and is filled with hope for our lives. He has an abundant flow of grace just waiting to be given to us. I love the definition of grace as “undeserved love”. Because when it comes down to it, we don’t deserve His love. But it’s there, flowing out of Him waiting to fill us up. Jesus is everything that we are looking for. He is everything that we need. He is the ultimate groom. We can put our trust in Him and know that He will NEVER leave us. How certain can we be of many people in this life of that?! Women would do anything to find that in a man.

Philippians 2:14

Do everything without complaining or arguments so that you may be blameless and pure. Shine like the stars…people look up to you, you burn until you die, and your light travels far distances like a star. Paul rejoiced in everything. He found joy in the hardest places. Philippians is a book of Joy and Paul is sitting in jail. Joy is eternal while happiness is temporary. Once we realize that we deserve nothing, we will realize that we are never poor. We should feel blessed for everything we have…our life, our children, our friends, what we eat and drink, where we live, what we drive, etc. Sometimes those things are taken away from us, or aren’t exactly what we want, but that doesn’t matter. They weren’t ours to begin with. Everything good comes from our heavenly Father.

Ever notice life has a funny way of taking things away to show us what we took for granted. The dishwasher that takes too long, all the sudden doesn’t work…makes you wonder why you ever complained in the first place. Don’t take things or people for granted. Stop wasting time and energy complaining and look around and appreciate the good things around you.