God's blessings in endurance

This morning I wasn't really motivated to get out of bed. The only thing that seemed to really excite me was the idea of eating breakfast! But as I lay there, I started to think about all the things that have been heavy on my heart and mind this week and I started to worry a bit. So, for like the 2nd time this summer I got up and decided to go on a long walk without my music and just talk to God. Walking has been rather difficult for me this summer because I fell and hurt my foot/ankle at the beginning of the summer and I also get really bad shin splints so those 2 things have held me back a lot, but I asked God to bless this walk and He did!

  My walk was really refreshing, in many aspects. And towards the end I started thinking of this...

There were many blessings on my walk. One being the prayer time and just conversation with my LORD, saying hello to people on the street, my legs not killing me!, my best friend shouting at me through their window, baby animals....

  I took a route that if I wanted to, I could have taken so many different short cuts to make the walk a lot shorter than it was. And if i didnt make the decision to just keep walking, I would have missed out on quite a few of those blessings. And I think we can easily apply that to our spiritual lives. 

When we are walking with Jesus sometimes life becomes hard and we want to take the easy road, the shortcut. We just can't seem to have enough perseverance or endurance, or fear and worry start to overwhelm us of even hurt and pain...etc. When we allow ourselves to not endure, or to be hindered we miss out on blessings from God, when we take those shortcuts, when we don't endure the whole way. The endurance through the difficulty and the pain and discontentment reap blessings when we just persevere and keep our eyes on the prize (Jesus Christ) rather than our eyes on what is making us want to give up or slow down or take a shorter route (different road than intended just to be done quicker). 

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary orfainthearted."    Hebrews 12-1-3

At The Foot Of The Cross

This summer God has been doing a major work in my heart. Dealing with some bitterness which has lead to forgiveness (which among the body of Christ is an extremely beautiful thing to be apart of, something I had missed out on for years), and dealing with conviction of motives and just seeing the ugliness of the sin of my flesh in a light that I had never seen before in my 25 years so far. (God is a God of new and of old!) This has been a very revealing summer for me, as well as a healing, redeeming and sanctifying summer. I am more than grateful to God for the many lessons and emotions and convictions and actions that have all taken place because I know they are all apart of making me more like Christ.
 Through all of this I have noticed that the Holy Spirit has just brought me to the foot of the Cross. The gospel and the act that Jesus did on the Cross mean more to my heart than they ever have before. And I am again, grateful for this. My love feels like its growing deeper, my appreciation feels deeper, my worship feels deeper...everything just feels deeper and more real to me when it comes to The Gospel, and the Cross.

Among all of this, I came across this poem in a book that I have been reading and I really wanted to share it with you, the readers, and my prayer is that it encourages you to WAIT on the LORD. In whatever season you are in, whatever answers you are waiting on, God is all that You need and He has a purpose and just go to the Cross, lean on Him, the one who knows Your heart and the one who longs to be with you more than anyone else on this earth ever could!

The poem is called "WAIT" by Russel Kelfer

  Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:

Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,

And the Master so gently  said,

"Child, you must wait."

"Wait? You say, wait!" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heard?

By faith, I have asked, and am claiming Your Word.

"My future and all to which I can relate

Hangs in the balance, and You tell me to WAIT?

I'm needing a 'Yes,' a go-ahead sign,

Or even a 'No,' to which I can resign.

"And Lord, You promised that if we believe

We need but to ask, and we shall receive

And, Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:

'I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!'"

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."

So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut

And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting...for what?"

He seemed, then, to kneel

And His eyes wept with mine,

And He tenderly said, 'I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.

"All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want---

But, you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint;

You'd not know the power I give to the faint;

"You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust just by knowing  I'm there;

"You'd not know the joy of resting in Me;

When darkness and silence were all you could see.

"You'd never experience that fullness of love

As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;

You'd know that I give and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of My comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight,

The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked

Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that, 'My grace is sufficient for thee,'

Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true,

But, oh, the loss if I lost what I'm doing in you!

"So, be silent, My child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.

And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still, 'Wait.'"

Time spent with God brings clarity

 

When I look back on this year there are lot of emotions. When I think of the overall thing God has been teaching me this year, through all the different struggles and emotions, I do believe it all comes down to one word:
HUMILITY.

Ive never considered myself a prideful person, but pride will effect every person in one way or another, at one stage or another! To be a disciple of Jesus Christ, one MUST learn to be humble. We need to learn that no matter what position we are in, or how much life we have lived and experience we have, we will never be know-it-alls. We always have room to grow, and room to learn. We will never stop learning, and even if we think we don’t have this attitude or these thoughts…..one day i believe we will all find out deep down pride was sitting there all along, and these thoughts have been imbedded somehow. We will continue to realize daily that we are not the one’s in control. We often are made to wait. We often are made to be uncomfortable. We often are made to be long-suffering….amongst many other things. And this is all for our own growth of character, and for a deeper dependence on Christ.

We must continually realize that God is greater than everything that is us, and everything that affects us. Our fears, our desires, our hearts, our thoughts, our failures, our mistakes, our past, our future, our emotions, our knowledge, our capacity to understand, our gifts and talents, our relationships, our sins…and life changes (there are a lot of those!)
We must learn to be humble in all of these things…and know that God is leading us through it all.
  The journey to humility may not be an easy or enjoyable one, but it is one that makes us more like Jesus and brings godliness to our character!

 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-5

Lessons from David

 

This morning in my quiet time I was reading Psalm 42, and this is the psalm where David is questioning “why is my soul downcast within…”

It is a very sad psalm, and I’ve even heard people speak on it saying that the sadness mentioned in here, the “deep crying out to deep” is talking about depression. Whether this is true or not, I am not 100%, but I can definitely see where people get that from. So as i was reading, I started just journaling what thoughts came to head with this passage, and started thinking about depression.

Depression is such a common disease these days, almost anyone you speak to has either gone through depression, or is currently depressed. Some say they are clinically depressed and takes meds, and other’s don’t even know it and just live in that state of mind, and other’s get over it.

I have extremely strong opinions concerning depression, simply because I have dealt a lot with it, within myself and some people whom I care deeply about, but I am not going to get into that right now. What I want to get into, is talking about the Power of the Holy Spirit.

 

I encourage you to go and read Psalm 42 either before or after you read this. To see if you can gather, what I gathered.
I believe that David was probably depressed when he wrote this psalm, but I also think that he gives us an extremely great example of how to deal with depression, or sadness.

First, he is thirsty and panting for the living God. (v1)
If you are sad/depressed, and not thirsty for God to move and to be near you…check yourself.

Second, he remembers the better times, the times God used him and when he was walking in his call…(v4)
Its easy in times of sadness/depression to just think about all that your sad about, all the bad stuff in life and in yourself and even in other people. But the New Testament sooooo many times tells us to set our minds on things above (colossians 3), to look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (hebrews)…numerous times in numerous ways.
We cannot turn our hearts and minds against God in these moments…we can choose what we remember and what we don’t remember ultimately. If we want to remember better times, we will. If we want to stay in the depressed state of mind that is not honoring to God, we do.

Thirdly, David HOPES in God. (v.5,11)
Hope is a feeling. it is also an incredible word, and an incredible feeling. It helps bring life, and helps us to look forward, instead of looking backward and inward. It forces us to look past what is going on, and to what can happen, deliverance, newness…
And this isnt a hope that is rooted in the people around you, or yourself, this is a hope that is rooted in God, who can work all things out for the good of those who love Him. (romans 8:28)

 

My opinion, is that the best remedy and advice for sadness and depression is to have these 3 things. A desire for God, to remember all that He has done and those better days, and lastly, to HOPE IN GOD.

The mind is a powerful thing, but the Bible tells to be of a sound-mind (2 tim 1:7), sober-minded (2 tim 4:5, 1 peter 1:13; 4:7; 5:8) and to take every thought captive and make it OBEDIENT to Christ(2 Corinthians 10:5). Therefore, we can…because we have the Holy spirit alive in us, enabling and working in us! )(John 14:26To say that you can’t take every thought captive, that you can’t be sober and sound minded, is to limit and belittle the power of God.
Which i’m pretty sure is a sin….it’s called unbelief…..

To end, all of this(hoping in God, taking every thought captive…), takes work. I think this is where a big problem is, especially in America…because we are an extremely lazy culture. (proverbs 13:4)Therefore, we for the most part, don’t want to do the work that its going to take us to be whole, to allow Christ’s power (Holy Spirit) to reign in us, because it’s hard.
Lazyness is a sin. and if you dont hate sin, and want to turn from it, you might want to make sure your saved.

Take sin seriously, take God seriously.

 

“…Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”
Psalm 42:11

Seasons of Life

 

Everything in life, runs by seasons.
You have Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.
We all have our favorite season(s).
And for the seasons that we don’t like…we can’t control them. We can’t make them move faster. We just have to endure them.
Like we endure the weather and can’t change that, we have to endure some of life’s circumstances and trust God. and know that a greater(more favorite, more enjoyable) season, is on its way!

So if your like me, and hate winter…endure it. For Spring is just around the corner. And we get those moments where you wake up, and it looks and smells and even looks like Spring…and even though it may just be a teaser and winter is still there, look at it as a joy and a hope and a glimpse into what God is bringing your way!

So if your not enjoying the season of life you are in right now spiritually, endure it. keep pressing on. keep running the race. For another season is just ahead. We can’t say how long it will be, but God is with you through all of the seasons you go through. Giving you hope in the wintry, cold, dark seasons.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…”  Hebrews 12:1

Work

 

”Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
Colossians 3:23

This past week has been a really weird week work wise for me. It was quite difficult for me to do a good job at my work and be disciplined and not want to waste time while at work.

I even find that with leadership sometimes too. Some weeks are harder than others, and there are times when I don’t want to lead and don’t want to take the time to do all that is required of me in leadership and my roles.

This past week, has also been a week when ive realized that I dont have a right to ever want to be lazy in the call God has given me and the work He has given me to do. If He has called me to lead, than I need to always lead. In any physical work that I do, I don’t have a right to complain. If its work I don’t know how to do, or a work that is not my favorite, I need to do it with a grateful heart praising God for the ability to learn and the ability to do.

So whatever your work is, whether it is spiritual/kingdom work or earthly/physical work, it is all for the glory to God. and should be done for His glory and the fame of His name.

we are not here for ourselves, or for men, but for God.

what are you setting your mind to?

 

You know those weeks where a certain theme just keeps coming up in your devotions and in everyday life. Well, thats been happening this week.

Monday I was really convicted by a devotion I read by John Piper, about our mind and what we spend our time thinking about. And he used the Scripture, Romans 8:5-6
            “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, set their minds on things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Well, recently, my mind has completely set on my flesh. On what my flesh wants and desires…daydreams have been taking over and I’ve been allowing myself to think impure thoughts, to plan out a future of what I want certain things to like, Ive been dreaming of things that satisfy the lusts of my heart, rather than truly giving them to God and trusting Him but trying to satisfy myself in the waiting period.
How wrong, sinful, and how dirty of me. A holy(set apart) child of God.

I find the verses from Romans so convicting, and so powerful. To set the mind on the flesh is DEATH, and to set the mind on the Spirit is life, and peace.
This fall, for my birthday, I got a new tattoo. It is the word PEACE on my forearm. I love it. It’s a great reminder to pray for God’s peace in my life, in every circumstance and moment. Sadly, sometimes it is hidden and I forget about it. But to know that to think about the things of the Spirit is life and peace…and that by not thinking of things of the flesh and by not satisfying my flesh by thinking of things of the flesh, i can have peace. There will be a peace in my heart and my soul and my life, and my life will be full and that longing that the flesh desires, will be filled with Christ and His peace.

Hebrews 12:3
”Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."..”

Colossians 3:2
”Set your minds on things above, not on the things that are on the earth.”

 

What are you spending your time thinking about?
Is it glorifying to God?!