Seeking God:
One thing I am praying right now that I learn, and that I am in the midst of learning and forever will be learning I feel because there is so much to learn on this one subject! let alone so many others!!
So here are my thoughts:
Seeking God is and should be the center of our actions, our attitudes, our thoughts...
All through our lives we will either be seeking God, or we won't be seeking God. About every story in the Bible, in its essence, whether it was meant to be shown or not, is about whether the people are seeking God, or not seeking God. When we seek God, we are fixing our eyes on Jesus, on God's ways, His Holiness and power and forgetting ourselves.
There are so many verses in the bible, on seeking God.
a few are:
Luke 11:9 "So i say to you: Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and you will find knock and the door will be opened to you." Are you seeking God like you would search for a hidden treasure?!?!
John 15:7 "If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you." Keep your focus on God, keep His words and His statutes in your heart and mind and seek Him and you will find and receive what it is you desire and long for IN HIM!
Right now i am reading Fearless by Max Lucado and this is an excerpt from the book.
"Seek first the kingdom of wealth, and you'll worry over every dollar. Seek first the kingdom of health, and you'll sweat every blemish and bump. Seek first the kingdom of popularity and you'll relive every conflict. Seek first the kingdom of safety, and you'll jump at every crack of the twig. But seek first his kingdom, and you will find it. On that, we can depend and never worry."
We will always be seeking something, whether we are aware of this or not. So my prayer is that we are aware of what it is we are seeking. and that we are seeking God in all things. and submitting ourselves to His ways and to never stop seeking Him.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33
Monday, January 18, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
A call to Unity among God's People
I love reading books about people's lives. I love reading the Bible about peoples lives and Jesus' life. I love learning. like, LOVE learning(that is, if its something i want to learn about!) and I'm realizing that I need to spend soo much more time learning and studying God's word.
As well as just reading. and learning from other people who have experienced God in their lives.
So for the past like year (yes i read like 5 books at once which then takes me forever to finish) i have been reading The Heavenly Man. I picked it up again yesterday, and read for about 2-3 hours. I love this book. I highly suggest it to ALL OF YOU! It's about this man, Yun, and His life and His desire and longing and love for God. He is in prison for a lot of His life. He fasted for 74 days in prison, was humiliated and tortured beyond anything we here in America can even imagine. and yet amidst it all, He stayed faithful to Jesus. He remembered Jesus' sufferings, and He had joy. He reached thousands of inmates and guards in these Chinese prisons. God's story through Him is incredible, and scriptures that He recited just come alive in a new way.
But at one time in his life, He is out of prison and is working with all the house churches in China. He is realizing that so many of them are not unified. They are not the way they used to be where they all relied on God and all sought God. Now, they were all starting to believe different theologies, and not being willing to work with other believers because they believed in different things (like women preaching, or different denominations). they were being separated because of all the resources and influence of other people's beliefs. they were taking their eyes off of God and onto themselves. They were zealous for God, but not in the right knowledge of God.
For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Romans 10:2
Yun noticed this, and vowed that it had to change. That it was not biblical. It was not the way Jesus lived. Yun sought out people, and prayed to God earnestly for this. For unity among the hosue churches and people. He started discipling the people in his own church. He reached out to other leaders in other churches that he knew, and soon enough they all were broken and realized that their eyes needed to be on Jesus and not on all the different types of beliefs. But on one belief, and that belief being Jesus Christ!
God put this on Brother Yun's heart in 1994. and He hasn't stopped with him or in China. Ever since JEsus' life and the church of Acts. God has been calling His children to be unified. We just so often miss it. We are to fixed on ourselves. or what other people are telling us. We have so many resources out there in the Christian world, telling us what's right and what's wrong in the church. all these different beliefs on how to live for Jesus. But what happened to just simply believing and living the word of God!?! We are all called to be unified. To be a community. To love each other. Why are we so focused on ourselves?! and so focused on other people believing differently than us?! If we all believe in the same God, same Jesus, we are one. We can settle the differences, rather then let them turn into bitterness. There is love.
Unity keeps love and keeps the focus on One being.
My prayer is that all our eyes are opened, and that we choose to love and to be united and that "our hearts will be conquered by God's love!"
"They found that their theological differences centered upon issues that weren't essential to the faith." Brother Yun.
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. Acts 4:32
As well as just reading. and learning from other people who have experienced God in their lives.
So for the past like year (yes i read like 5 books at once which then takes me forever to finish) i have been reading The Heavenly Man. I picked it up again yesterday, and read for about 2-3 hours. I love this book. I highly suggest it to ALL OF YOU! It's about this man, Yun, and His life and His desire and longing and love for God. He is in prison for a lot of His life. He fasted for 74 days in prison, was humiliated and tortured beyond anything we here in America can even imagine. and yet amidst it all, He stayed faithful to Jesus. He remembered Jesus' sufferings, and He had joy. He reached thousands of inmates and guards in these Chinese prisons. God's story through Him is incredible, and scriptures that He recited just come alive in a new way.
But at one time in his life, He is out of prison and is working with all the house churches in China. He is realizing that so many of them are not unified. They are not the way they used to be where they all relied on God and all sought God. Now, they were all starting to believe different theologies, and not being willing to work with other believers because they believed in different things (like women preaching, or different denominations). they were being separated because of all the resources and influence of other people's beliefs. they were taking their eyes off of God and onto themselves. They were zealous for God, but not in the right knowledge of God.
For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Romans 10:2
Yun noticed this, and vowed that it had to change. That it was not biblical. It was not the way Jesus lived. Yun sought out people, and prayed to God earnestly for this. For unity among the hosue churches and people. He started discipling the people in his own church. He reached out to other leaders in other churches that he knew, and soon enough they all were broken and realized that their eyes needed to be on Jesus and not on all the different types of beliefs. But on one belief, and that belief being Jesus Christ!
God put this on Brother Yun's heart in 1994. and He hasn't stopped with him or in China. Ever since JEsus' life and the church of Acts. God has been calling His children to be unified. We just so often miss it. We are to fixed on ourselves. or what other people are telling us. We have so many resources out there in the Christian world, telling us what's right and what's wrong in the church. all these different beliefs on how to live for Jesus. But what happened to just simply believing and living the word of God!?! We are all called to be unified. To be a community. To love each other. Why are we so focused on ourselves?! and so focused on other people believing differently than us?! If we all believe in the same God, same Jesus, we are one. We can settle the differences, rather then let them turn into bitterness. There is love.
Unity keeps love and keeps the focus on One being.
My prayer is that all our eyes are opened, and that we choose to love and to be united and that "our hearts will be conquered by God's love!"
"They found that their theological differences centered upon issues that weren't essential to the faith." Brother Yun.
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. Acts 4:32
Monday, December 14, 2009
Amazing Grace
God has been teaching me a lot about His Grace within this past month, and most recently He has kinda pointed His grace out to me once again.
Just this past week I was finding life a little complacent...i tend to get bored with life and myself if change is not occuring in my life. I thrive off of change and new things in life for the most part. But what I want to share is this:
Sometimes, I really wish we could show God our love for Him and serve Him in our own strength. But this my friends, is impossible, as I am learning. There is nothing good in me. No strength in me to live a godly life. I NEED God's Spirit to guide me. To help me to love Him better. To serve my Savior and to liv a life of love. I cannot do it on my own. I will always fail if I try. So this past week God has really shown me (once again) how weak I am, and how strong He is. Also that IT IS OKAY to need Him to love Him. He actually really likes it that way. It keeps us remembering who He is, and who we are! Having that reverence for a Holy God whom we cannot live without!
2 Corinthians 12:10
For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Just this past week I was finding life a little complacent...i tend to get bored with life and myself if change is not occuring in my life. I thrive off of change and new things in life for the most part. But what I want to share is this:
Sometimes, I really wish we could show God our love for Him and serve Him in our own strength. But this my friends, is impossible, as I am learning. There is nothing good in me. No strength in me to live a godly life. I NEED God's Spirit to guide me. To help me to love Him better. To serve my Savior and to liv a life of love. I cannot do it on my own. I will always fail if I try. So this past week God has really shown me (once again) how weak I am, and how strong He is. Also that IT IS OKAY to need Him to love Him. He actually really likes it that way. It keeps us remembering who He is, and who we are! Having that reverence for a Holy God whom we cannot live without!
2 Corinthians 12:10
For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Monday, November 30, 2009
When God lays something on your heart...
"Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perserverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:1-2
In times of corporate worship, God tends to lay things on my heart for everyone in the room. And the one thing that I just can't get out of my mind and that is on my heart...is this verse. and the importance of it.
I believe that we all, hold onto things. whether we realize we are holding onto something or not, we are. We like how people make us feel, we like being with others, we like being loved, and there's so much more. spiritually we like to stay complacent. we like to hold onto pride, or our gifts. the list goes on...we can and do hold onto anything and everything.
by holding onto things, our eyes are not fixed on Jesus. and it hinders us. when our eyes are off of Jesus, we are blinded. this happens all to often in my own life.
I strongly feel like God just wants us to examine ourselves. To SEEK HIM and Him alone. not other people. not emotions. not ourselves. but HIM. I strongly feel like God wants us to see what we are holding onto, and to just let it go. To be RAW with God. To not count on anything, but Him alone. Just let go. Stop holding on.
Holding on ruins you. Holding on strips you of who you are meant to be. Our hearts are a precious and delicate thing. Guard it. Protect it. Examine it. and Let God mend it. Let God have it wholly.
Don't count on others. Count on God. Seek God. not others. Hold onto Jesus, and nothing or anybody else. Nobody or anything comes close to doing for you what God can and desires to do for you.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Seek God. Examine your eyes, your attitude, your viewpoint, your heart.
Hebrews 12:1-2
In times of corporate worship, God tends to lay things on my heart for everyone in the room. And the one thing that I just can't get out of my mind and that is on my heart...is this verse. and the importance of it.
I believe that we all, hold onto things. whether we realize we are holding onto something or not, we are. We like how people make us feel, we like being with others, we like being loved, and there's so much more. spiritually we like to stay complacent. we like to hold onto pride, or our gifts. the list goes on...we can and do hold onto anything and everything.
by holding onto things, our eyes are not fixed on Jesus. and it hinders us. when our eyes are off of Jesus, we are blinded. this happens all to often in my own life.
I strongly feel like God just wants us to examine ourselves. To SEEK HIM and Him alone. not other people. not emotions. not ourselves. but HIM. I strongly feel like God wants us to see what we are holding onto, and to just let it go. To be RAW with God. To not count on anything, but Him alone. Just let go. Stop holding on.
Holding on ruins you. Holding on strips you of who you are meant to be. Our hearts are a precious and delicate thing. Guard it. Protect it. Examine it. and Let God mend it. Let God have it wholly.
Don't count on others. Count on God. Seek God. not others. Hold onto Jesus, and nothing or anybody else. Nobody or anything comes close to doing for you what God can and desires to do for you.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Seek God. Examine your eyes, your attitude, your viewpoint, your heart.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Time with Jesus.
I am learning a whole lot right now. Especially about myself. But right now what I feel like sharing...is just how much love God has for us.
God has been teaching me about prayer and time with Him lately. and is continueign to teach me. which im very thankful for! I love being taught. But one thing that this morning, and that I'm just being shown right now by God. Is that, we don't HAVE to have our times with Him scheduled. they don't have to be perfect. All that He really cares about, is that we make the time to spend with Him. is that we INVITE Him into our day and into times when it's just us. or even with other people. I am a HUGE believer in time spent alone with God. I personally need a whole lot of it. But i also tend to lack in actually taking the time. I tend to get distracted by too many things..especially tiredness.
But back to the point! Im learning that even when I'm just sitting at my computer, with music on, talking to people, or doing whatever I am doing on the interweb or facebook. Whatever my intentions are. That even here, on my computer...I can embrace God's love and grace for me.
I am learning that i dont have to have a set time of prayer. I just need to take the time. Iv learned I can shower in the mornings before I pray so that I am more awake! I learned i don't have to take the whole hour i set aside for prayer somedays. I learned that i can pray while I am journaling. As im turning my lights out to go to bed. As I'm waking up in the mornings. Ive learned that I can just sit on my floor for ten minutes and that be my prayer time.
Prayer, and time with our Creator comes in more ways than we can even think of. It's jsut a matter of, are we taking that time?! Even if its only 5 minutes of pure aloneness w God one day.
He is with us all the time. He desires for us to invite Him into our lives and into our daily activities. and also to take time out for Him. to just BE with Him and ENJOY Him. its not so much about rules, and about exactly how much time we spend, whether we go short or go longer...its jsut that we are with Him. period. its okay!
He is showing me...that things in my life, how I am...its all just okay! Because of His grace! His love.
and so He continues to teach....
God has been teaching me about prayer and time with Him lately. and is continueign to teach me. which im very thankful for! I love being taught. But one thing that this morning, and that I'm just being shown right now by God. Is that, we don't HAVE to have our times with Him scheduled. they don't have to be perfect. All that He really cares about, is that we make the time to spend with Him. is that we INVITE Him into our day and into times when it's just us. or even with other people. I am a HUGE believer in time spent alone with God. I personally need a whole lot of it. But i also tend to lack in actually taking the time. I tend to get distracted by too many things..especially tiredness.
But back to the point! Im learning that even when I'm just sitting at my computer, with music on, talking to people, or doing whatever I am doing on the interweb or facebook. Whatever my intentions are. That even here, on my computer...I can embrace God's love and grace for me.
I am learning that i dont have to have a set time of prayer. I just need to take the time. Iv learned I can shower in the mornings before I pray so that I am more awake! I learned i don't have to take the whole hour i set aside for prayer somedays. I learned that i can pray while I am journaling. As im turning my lights out to go to bed. As I'm waking up in the mornings. Ive learned that I can just sit on my floor for ten minutes and that be my prayer time.
Prayer, and time with our Creator comes in more ways than we can even think of. It's jsut a matter of, are we taking that time?! Even if its only 5 minutes of pure aloneness w God one day.
He is with us all the time. He desires for us to invite Him into our lives and into our daily activities. and also to take time out for Him. to just BE with Him and ENJOY Him. its not so much about rules, and about exactly how much time we spend, whether we go short or go longer...its jsut that we are with Him. period. its okay!
He is showing me...that things in my life, how I am...its all just okay! Because of His grace! His love.
and so He continues to teach....
Monday, October 19, 2009
Funny how God teaches us.
God works in wonderful ways. Ways we can't even imagine. Especially while we are learning something. and we don't realize these things until after!
So the other day I was talking w my cousin. and he recently felt like God was asking Him to give up leading worship. and I was happy about that. He was curious as to why. And i told Him why. and after we talked about it...it hit me....at how true it is. and how God actually took me through that. and is going to take many others through it too. So i felt like sharing.
When living for God...most of the time...you will be asked to give something up. Yes...you are asked to give yourself up. your dreams. your desires. everything. But there is always something...that is just YOUR thing. Something you are gifted in. Something you love with all of your heart. Something you feel called to do. Something you just enjoy. Something you do everyday. Something you want to do for the rest of your life.
For my cousin, it was leading worship. For myself...it was being in ministry. You see...I spent a year and half right out of highschool being in full time ministry in Northern Ireland. I really learned a lot about myself and about God and who I am. I had never done ministry before. and i absolutely fell in love w it. fell in love w discipling girls, with being in the word...with being involved in people's lives. I fell in love with ministry. and was gifted in it.
Well friends...I let that love for ministry...overwhelm my love for God. I became obsessed with being in ministry. i thought i HAD to because i felt called to it. and therefore, because i felt called to do that, and i loved it, i thought i would forever and always do it. that is when my world crashed. and i mean...crashed. only i didnt realize it right at that moment. it took me a while...when my relationship with God horribly suffered...when past emotions arose...when ministry became a bother...and my heart wasnt in it.
God was letting me know...that I had put ministry before Him. and I believe we all at some point in our lives...do that. We become so in love with a dream...that we let it consume us. we let THAT become our identity...and now God.
so i feel like...God has taken me through that...and He is taking my cousin and others right now, and in the future through that. Where we need to give something up...that we love..and just be content in Jesus. in what He has for us..and to know that no matter what happens in our life...no matter where we are or what we are doing...as long as we have Jesus...we are satisfied. We are at peace. We are joyful.
Cuz honestly...all we need is Jesus. If we truly love Jesus...we are willing to give up our dreams and desires for His. trust Him. it is worth it. I've been through it...and still am. It doesn't mean He is going to take away your dreams and desires you have right now that you may need to give up. It may only be for a time. he just wants you to learn, and to trust Him, that his plans are way better than anything you can ever dream of. and that your life...is for Him...and not for anything else.
It is a beautiful thing to go through. Surrender. It is a painful thing. But blessing does come from it. Contentment and love come through it. More dreams. and Open eyes come from it. God has many other ways He would like to use us...than just one. Our lives are our ministry. Our love for Jesus...is our minsitry. Is our witness.
Be encouraged friends.
in Ezekiel..it says that God's word..always comes true. Do you believe that?!
So the other day I was talking w my cousin. and he recently felt like God was asking Him to give up leading worship. and I was happy about that. He was curious as to why. And i told Him why. and after we talked about it...it hit me....at how true it is. and how God actually took me through that. and is going to take many others through it too. So i felt like sharing.
When living for God...most of the time...you will be asked to give something up. Yes...you are asked to give yourself up. your dreams. your desires. everything. But there is always something...that is just YOUR thing. Something you are gifted in. Something you love with all of your heart. Something you feel called to do. Something you just enjoy. Something you do everyday. Something you want to do for the rest of your life.
For my cousin, it was leading worship. For myself...it was being in ministry. You see...I spent a year and half right out of highschool being in full time ministry in Northern Ireland. I really learned a lot about myself and about God and who I am. I had never done ministry before. and i absolutely fell in love w it. fell in love w discipling girls, with being in the word...with being involved in people's lives. I fell in love with ministry. and was gifted in it.
Well friends...I let that love for ministry...overwhelm my love for God. I became obsessed with being in ministry. i thought i HAD to because i felt called to it. and therefore, because i felt called to do that, and i loved it, i thought i would forever and always do it. that is when my world crashed. and i mean...crashed. only i didnt realize it right at that moment. it took me a while...when my relationship with God horribly suffered...when past emotions arose...when ministry became a bother...and my heart wasnt in it.
God was letting me know...that I had put ministry before Him. and I believe we all at some point in our lives...do that. We become so in love with a dream...that we let it consume us. we let THAT become our identity...and now God.
so i feel like...God has taken me through that...and He is taking my cousin and others right now, and in the future through that. Where we need to give something up...that we love..and just be content in Jesus. in what He has for us..and to know that no matter what happens in our life...no matter where we are or what we are doing...as long as we have Jesus...we are satisfied. We are at peace. We are joyful.
Cuz honestly...all we need is Jesus. If we truly love Jesus...we are willing to give up our dreams and desires for His. trust Him. it is worth it. I've been through it...and still am. It doesn't mean He is going to take away your dreams and desires you have right now that you may need to give up. It may only be for a time. he just wants you to learn, and to trust Him, that his plans are way better than anything you can ever dream of. and that your life...is for Him...and not for anything else.
It is a beautiful thing to go through. Surrender. It is a painful thing. But blessing does come from it. Contentment and love come through it. More dreams. and Open eyes come from it. God has many other ways He would like to use us...than just one. Our lives are our ministry. Our love for Jesus...is our minsitry. Is our witness.
Be encouraged friends.
in Ezekiel..it says that God's word..always comes true. Do you believe that?!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Are we taking time to just hang out with Jesus?
are we taking time to be in AWE of God?
Are we taking time to pray to God?! and not just our little, God may this day be a great day for your glory prayers...but prayer....heartfelt. half hours of prayer. hours of prayer. cries?!
are we taking time to allow the Spirit of God to minister in us?! to move us? to use us?!
i realized the other night. that God has claimed my mind. and now He is working on claiming my heart. He already has a bit of it. But He wants even more of it. He wants my heart to feel anguish, to break for what breaks His. He wants me heart to be a compassionate heart. and i definately feel a call on my life to have a huge prayerful heart. He wants to claim every part of my heart as His.
So I ask you...as well as myself. Are we allowing God to change us?! No matter how hard it may be? Are we embracing it? Are we willing? Are we taking the time out of our own selfish lives and desires, to allow God to move in and through us?!
I was just reading about the heart a little bit.
And the heart is a muscle. about the size of a fist. and muscles tend to contract right. well when the heart contracts...its an all-or-nothing thing. The heart contracts with ALL OF ITS FORCE.
are we embracing God with all that we are?! are we loving with all of our heart?! or just a part of it.
the heart is a very incredible thing. its not just a muscle which brings life to our body and keeps up alive. its more than that. it allows us to FEEL things....
yes we can feel other muscles...like when we pull it or we can feel it twitch at times...
we can feel our heart breaking when we see children being uncared for.
we can feel our heart rejoicing when we see people engulfed in worship to our Glorious God.
its more than just keeping us alive.
are we taking time to see and to be in awe of what God created?! His beauty in us. and in this world. or are we just focused on our everyday life. and being complacent, and just seeing God as common...
HE is the farthest thing from common. so why do we live like He is?!
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2
are we taking time to be in AWE of God?
Are we taking time to pray to God?! and not just our little, God may this day be a great day for your glory prayers...but prayer....heartfelt. half hours of prayer. hours of prayer. cries?!
are we taking time to allow the Spirit of God to minister in us?! to move us? to use us?!
i realized the other night. that God has claimed my mind. and now He is working on claiming my heart. He already has a bit of it. But He wants even more of it. He wants my heart to feel anguish, to break for what breaks His. He wants me heart to be a compassionate heart. and i definately feel a call on my life to have a huge prayerful heart. He wants to claim every part of my heart as His.
So I ask you...as well as myself. Are we allowing God to change us?! No matter how hard it may be? Are we embracing it? Are we willing? Are we taking the time out of our own selfish lives and desires, to allow God to move in and through us?!
I was just reading about the heart a little bit.
And the heart is a muscle. about the size of a fist. and muscles tend to contract right. well when the heart contracts...its an all-or-nothing thing. The heart contracts with ALL OF ITS FORCE.
are we embracing God with all that we are?! are we loving with all of our heart?! or just a part of it.
the heart is a very incredible thing. its not just a muscle which brings life to our body and keeps up alive. its more than that. it allows us to FEEL things....
yes we can feel other muscles...like when we pull it or we can feel it twitch at times...
we can feel our heart breaking when we see children being uncared for.
we can feel our heart rejoicing when we see people engulfed in worship to our Glorious God.
its more than just keeping us alive.
are we taking time to see and to be in awe of what God created?! His beauty in us. and in this world. or are we just focused on our everyday life. and being complacent, and just seeing God as common...
HE is the farthest thing from common. so why do we live like He is?!
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)