Analyzing Fantasizing

Everyone fantasizes. Everyone has a fantasy or fantasies. There are so many things we desire as people. I watched The Life of David Gale today. It has been years since I have watched this movie and I never noticed some of the things said in the movie, I just sat and mindlessly watched. I am not saying that it holds the keys to life or anything like that, but anything you watch you can most likely find something that points you to the Gospel. Just saying, try it. Anyway, one of my favorite quotes from this movie is, “Fantasies have to be unrealistic. Because the minute- the second – that you get what you want, you don’t- you can’t- want it anymore.” Uhhh, wow! That is an amazing way to describe sin.

When you think about a particular act of sin it sounds like a great idea. You think about it and let it soak in and you debate on it and it just rolls around in your head for a while. But the minute- the second- that you act on it, it wasn’t enough. There is something more. Something more to be wanted or something more to be gained, so you think on that act for a while and you debate on it and so on. It is like a drug. Once you start you are hooked and just can’t stop. Let’s use alcohol as an example. Say you hang out with someone on a regular basis who drinks quite a bit, maybe even gets drunk. You are of age and decide to start drinking with them. (Drinking is not the sin here, the act of getting drunk is). So you think about maybe drinking a little more than usual because your friend seems to have a good time and you want to be part of all that. So you weigh the options and try it once. Once you have done it you may want to do it again, even if you didn’t necessarily like it the first time. So you do it again, and again, and … you get the point. This becomes habitual. You couldn’t stop, you just wanted more because the initial act wasn’t enough when you started.

How about something that seems a little less harmless at the beginning, making money. Everyone likes to have money. You start working somewhere and work hard enough and begin climbing the ladder. You are married and have kids but you are still working just as hard as you were before and making even more money. You are never home and your kids barely know you. The only thing they know about you is mommy/daddy loves their job. The only reason you wanted to work so hard in the first place was to be able to give them a nice house and a nice life, but you forgot that your kids need both parents. Your kids begin to despise you because you are never home and they only see you as an ATM. Your spouse also has a hard time loving you because your lifestyle choices say you care more about your job than your spouse. You have lots of money and a nice house that you are never in, your “dream” or “fantasy” have become a reality you never thought possible. All of it ends miserably.

Sin starts small. Some times we see it coming and other times we are completely blind-sided. Once we get that small little taste of it, we want more. We can’t help it. We were made to crave something and when we do not feel satisfied with what we are trying to fill ourselves with, we try to get more and more and MORE. God created us to desire Him. He created us to crave the love of something so much bigger than ourselves, Him.  We see it even in the Garden of Eden in Genesis. God created us in His own image. All through scripture we see that God desires our fellowship and that He loves us far beyond our own comprehension. He desires that we are filled with Him. As I read through the Old Testament and I read the laws of the time, I see God’s heart and how He desires us to be holy as He is holy. He created us to be like Him and wants us to seek Him and be like Him. Even in today’s world we see little boys wanting to be like their daddy. Picture this, a grown man walking in the snow. His little boy is following behind him and trying to put his feet in his daddy’s footprints. The footprints are spread much further apart and are much larger than the little boys own footprints. It is precious to see this little boy trying to be like his daddy. Although he cannot keep pace like his daddy or even walk in as big of strides like his daddy, he tries anyway. God desires that very thing from us. He wants us to try. We are people and we are going to have thoughts about sin. He wants us to look to Him in those times and to choose Him. He did not create us to have a robotic reaction to things. He gave us a brain and He gave us the act of free will to do choose how we react to things. When those thoughts start rolling around in your head, how do you choose to react?

PS This is not the content of the movie, so don’t run out and buy it thinking it is going to make you holier or make your rethink everything you thought you knew about in life (it is rated R for language, sexual content, and nudity … hope you know where I am going with this, it had two good quotes lol). Here is a Christian Movie review if you are interested to know more: http://www.pluggedin.com/videos/2003/q1/lifeofdavidgale.aspx. 

What's Done is Done

A few posts ago I talked about what I was learning in the book of Numbers. Well, I am still in the book of Numbers. It is one of those books that take a while to get through. Although it takes a while there is so much to be learned from Moses, Aaron, Miriam, the Israelites and all the other history in there. Today I read a huge chunk (chapters 11-17). There is so much in there it is hard to pick just one little area to tell you about, but I will try J.

Reading through the book of Numbers there is a common theme to be displayed, whining and complaining. The Israelites always found something to whine and complain about. In chapter 11 they complain about not having meat and only eating manna. The LORD said, “You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, ‘Why did we come out of Egypt?’” (Numbers 11:19-20). Then in chapter 13 the LORD tells Moses and Aaron to send out spies into the land of Canaan. They send out the spies and come back with conflicting reports. By chapter 14 the people are rebelling and trying to fix problems their own way, which ends in the deaths of many. Then in chapter 16 you are introduced to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram who start a rebellion and have 250 followers. This rebellion ends with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram’s families and possessions being swallowed whole by God opening up the ground. Those who followed in the rebellion were plagued and died. Yet, every single time the Israelites began to rebel or whine or complain, Moses interceded for them in prayer. When he spoke with the LORD about all of these he begged God to spare their lives. Why? Why would he want the lives spared of such men?

I honestly believe because of Moses’ relationship with God he understood the meaning of being separated eternally from God. He valued his relationship with God so much and knew God’s character well enough that when he would labor for them in prayer and when he would have those conversations with God, he knew if the people were not spared they might not end up on the good side of eternity. He loved God deeply and passionately. Moses’ love for God was evident in his dealings with the Israelites. He had such an intimate relationship with God and wanted others to have the same. He did not want to see his people perish. Moses was the meekest man on the face of the Earth (Numbers 12:3) and yet he spoke to God about some of the most difficult subjects. He had a health fear of God but was also the only one speaking to God face-to-face as friends or brothers would. Moses loved God more than anything else. He had such a deep understanding of being separated from God that no one else at that time seemed to understand.

Moses understood that this was worth fighting for, he was constantly fighting for the wrath of God to be held back from the Israelites. He labored in prayer for their salvation. He begged God. At one point he told God he could no longer bear the burden alone that the people had placed upon him. God brought 70 men into his life and “took some of the spirit that had been placed on him and shared it with the 70 elders,” (Numbers 11:25). He did not make Moses carry the burden alone (this particular verse is in reference to the whining/complaining the Israelites were doing over not having meat), God shared Moses’ burdens with the elders. God loved (loves) Moses and when Moses requested things from God He responded. God knew Moses’ heart in these situations and Moses knew that God did not want the Israelites to perish.

God did not force the Israelites to obey Him, just as He does not force us to obey Him now. He does not want us to be robots, He gave us free will and emotions and a brain for a reason. He wants us to use them for His glory. When we do not seek out His glory and do His will, there are consequences. He knows what it means to be separated from Him, He is all knowing and completely 100% knows what Hell is like and what separation from Him is like. We do not have a very good grasp on this. Everything to us currently, here on this earth, is temporary. We do not fully grasp the gravity of eternity. An eternity with God is fan-friggin-tastic. An eternity without God is far beyond what words can describe. Not just that, but I cannot describe it because I have not experienced it, and thank the LORD that I will not have to experience that.

Think about all the people you know that do not know Christ. Think about the eternal suffering they will have without Christ. Things on this earth may be fun and temporary, but once they die there is no such thing as temporary. Their fate will be sealed with the kiss of death. When they die there is no more sharing the gospel with them, no more praying that they might come to know Christ, there is no more… what’s done is done. Sharing the gospel with family and friends may be difficult (extremely difficult) and they may not understand that by you sharing with them is you saying you love them. They do not understand what it means to be without Christ for eternity, heck you and I do not understand that fully either. This I do know, scripture says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It also says that they will thirst and have nothing to quench their thirst, they will beg for a drop of water and yet we will not be able to give them the tiniest bit of relief. Their fate has been sealed once they leave this earth. Labor in prayer for your loved ones and share your faith with them.

Paul wrote in Philemon 6, “and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.” The “book” of Philemon, the whole one page of it, is a letter from Paul to Philemon in regards to Onesimus. Onesimus was a slave who had stolen from Philemon. Onesimus came to know the LORD and Paul was sending him back to Philemon, he offered to pay Philemon back for anything/everything Onesimus took from him. The letter was his plea for Philemon to accept Onesimus back. Verse 6 sticks out as such an encouragement from the whole book. “I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective…” Paul understood just like Moses understood. Paul had his set of misfortunes and his run ins with people who whined and complained. Paul continued praying and laboring no matter what. Both Moses and Paul dearly loved the LORD with all their heart, mind, and soul. From the point of their conversion until their death, they lived to please the LORD. Yes, they were human and they still sinned but they lived in a manner that was pleasing to God. They got it, they understood that being separated from God for eternity was the worst possible thing anyone could ever imagine. They did anything and everything they could to push everyone they could toward Christ. These men were great men of the faith, as were many other men in history. I pray for you, whoever you are, that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. Moses labored in prayer and in deed for the souls of men to be won for Christ. He did not do it for self-gain, He did it for Christ’s gain. He did it because he loved them and loved the LORD. Paul labored in prayer and in deed for the souls of men to be won for Christ. Paul too did not do this for self-gain, but for the gain of Christ. Paul too did this because He loved them and loved the LORD.

Bless others with Christ’s love. Christ loved the world so much that He came and died for the world. Share that love with those that you love … 

Trivial Pursuit

As women we crave to be loved, cared for, held, and valued. We want to be told we are pretty and we want to feel pretty when we are around men. God made us to be different from men for a reason. Women have the role or responsibility to respond to men. Men have the role or responsibility to initiate to women (talking about initiating relationships here). God gave all things a particular order for a reason. To be honest, as a single and rather independent woman I have problems with His order occasionally. And yes, by occasionally I mean usually. I am in the trade of heart breaking, you see. Not the hearts of men, but rather my own heart over and over and over again. Sadly it is a repeating cycle, many times the poor man is unsuspecting and has no idea that I am taking a hammer with a pretty little picture of his face on it and shattering my own heart. Why do I do this? Well, not for fun… that is for sure. This is because I am going outside of God’s designed order and trying to create my own. I am basically saying that waiting for God’s best is taking to long and well, I’ll take that one. Then I realize I have made a mistake and not obeyed Christ and have, once again, shattered my own heart. I am left to pick up the pieces and bring them back to God and with tear filled eyes am begging Him to glue my heart back together.

When I go outside of God’s designed order I mess everything up, not that God cannot bless it, but because it is not what He has intended for me. (Mind you, He is not shocked that I am doing this … He knows all things and knows that I am a major screw up). God made men to want to be the leader. He made them to be the head of the household. When we as women go and try to lead, even by asking a man out on a date, it screws the whole thing up. I have used the excuse, “how will he know I like him back if I don’t show him in some way?” Well, asking him out is not the way to do that … that is for darn sure! When we put the metaphorical “pants” on in that relationship the guy begins to feel as if they are no longer needed as the leader and they fall in to passivity. That is not the way things were intended to be.   

“You see when God created male and female He created an object lesson a parable as it where of His entire redemptive plan. Manhood and womanhood, gender, sex, marriage all of those are mini lessons that proclaim the gospel. And when we talk about seeing Christ in the Old Testament we see Christ even in His creation of who He created us to be as male and female. The reason history started with God creating a man and a woman and a marriage, the reason it started with a man, a woman, and a marriage is because it is going to end with a man, a woman, and a marriage. That’s why! It will end when Christ the bridegroom is united with His bride the church and the two become one. This marriage will be consummated throughout eternity. That’s why we have male and female, it’s not about me, it’s not about my husband, and it’s not about you as men and women. It’s about displaying a story. We tell a story by virtue of how we live our lives as men and women.”

 - Mary Kassian, the Gospel Coalition, the Feminist Mistake.

There is much more to God’s design then us as women not being allowed to ask a man out on a date or take control of the relationship. God designed it to be a representation of Christ and the love He has for His bride. Honestly, everything comes back to the gospel so this should come as no surprise that marriage is a picture of the gospel. Christ loved the church so much that He was willing to lay His life down for her. When your boyfriend or fiancé or husband thinks that you might be in danger, what do they do? They run to the rescue no matter the cost, even if it may cost them their life. They love you enough to lay their life down for you. It is the gospel.

“We tell the story of the gospel with who we are as male and female. We uphold the gospel and that’s why it matters. … That is why gender is at the epicenter of the battle right now. Because if Satan can mar the image of male and female, what he is maring and what he is obscuring and what he is twisting is the story of the gospel and the display of the gospel.”

 - Mary Kassian, the Gospel Coalition, the Feminist Mistake

Does that not shake you up, even just a little? “If Satan can mar the image of male and female, what he is maring and what he is obscuring and what he is twisting is the story of the gospel and the display of the gospel.” There have been many times I have been so curious to know how a guy feels about me that I have wanted to scream and I have wanted to march right up to the man and say, “what the heck is going on here?” or even “what the heck are we?” Yet, I forget somehow if he likes me and if it is what God has planned, God will tell that guy we need to have a conversation and we need to figure things out. Now, I am not saying that we should be pulled around like little puppies on a string forever not knowing and being allowed to be led on, but I am saying if we trivialize what God has set up then we are messing with the whole process. God has set up the gender roles for a reason, even if we don’t like them. The grass is always greener on the other side.

This makes me think about every time I have liked a guy, and then have had my little heart crushed (unsuspected by him) when I find out he doesn’t like me back, or he has another girl in mind that he would like to pursue. There is nothing wrong with liking a member of the opposite sex, but when we take that and turn it into something far more we open ourselves up to heartbreak. When we do not let men be men we are taking away from what God has designed. Here is another personal example (no names used here). I have had many guy friends over the years. During college I can name and count the guys I have had crushes on and how I ended up breaking my own heart when they trusted me with the secret of who they were praying to pursue or finding out I am not the apple of this or that guy’s eye. Yeah, not an easy thing to deal with, but there are more than I want to mention and most of those guys don’t even know that they are “those” guys. When we try to take matters into our own hands and ignore the council given to us, God allows us to fall down. Even though we fall down, He is right there to pick us back up. He does not want us to trivialize the pursuit He has put in place. He sought us out and wants the men to seek us out as well.

Let men be men and let them be the ones to pursue. I write this mainly as a reminder to myself but also to those who are always wishing that this guy or that guy would like them or want to be their boyfriend or what not. It all pretty much boils down to contentment. When we are not content in where God has us we are much less likely to trust Him. When we do not trust Him we are trusting in something else, most likely ourselves. This means that we have made ourselves our own god. Let me tell you, we are not very good gods, that is why God is God. All of that to say, when we do not trust God and we trust ourselves we do what we want to get a result, even if it is not the one we want. In my case (in the past) I wanted to know so badly if this or that guy liked me so I would have other guy friends find out who that guy liked (this would be after months of being agonized by liking whoever the guy was). Yeah, it would come as a huge shock when it wasn’t me. Sometimes I would pray for months that God would show me how the guy felt, when I found out it wasn’t the same as me … well you get the point. God has a specific plan and when we try to make our own plan and ignore His, we get hurt.

Are you content or are you trying to make things happen for yourself?

"It ain't gonna be easy, but nothing worth it ever is."

Walking through the living room I heard two men on a television show talking. The only part of the conversation I heard was one man telling another “It ain’t going to be easy.” The other man replies back, “Nothing worth it ever is.”  Wow! Such words of wisdom from, well I have no idea what show it was from because I was just passing through, but powerful none-the-less. This phrase has echoed through my mind for the past few months. I see it played out often and have used it when talking to friends about things going on in their lives. I have used it when applying things to my own life. Nothing worth it is ever easy. Think about the things you value or find worth in …  Your spouse? Your kids? Your best friend? Your job? Your … anything else. Marriage is hard! Not that I know from experience but I know second hand knowledge. Having friends who are married and tell me about the struggles of marriage, “it ain’t easy.” Friends that have kids, and well, my poor poor parents. Having kids is not an easy thing, yet it is worth it to raise them and to love them. Having a best friend is not easy. Anything where there is more than just you, well it is not going to be easy. But think about the friendships or relationships you value the most … how many arguments or disagreements or frustrations have you endured? You look back now and most likely say, “It was worth it.”

We do not fight for things if we do not think they are worth it to us. I look back on some of the arguments I have had in the past and even the things I have spent my money on and ask my self why I thought it was worth it. Ecclesiastes (the entire book) shows us that everything outside of living for Christ is “striving after the wind.” Keeping that in mind, reevaluating things that are worth it seem rather difficult to me. What is worth the money? What is worth the time? What is worth the effort? And so on and so forth. I am reading a book, Every Woman’s Battle, and in this book it poses the question “what are you storing up in your heart?” About a week ago, or so, our pastor mentioned the same question in his sermon, “what are you storing up in your heart?” (I think God has been trying to get me to reevaluate some things in my life, what do you think? J). Both my pastor and the author are getting at the same thing, the entertainment (movies, books, music, television, internet, hobbies, etc) that I watch/listen to/read/etc are all storing up in my heart. The overflow of the mouth comes from the heart. Am I showing Christ’s likeness from my mouth? If not, the worldliness escaping my lips are proof of what I hold as valuable.

We as people store up what we find the most valuable. There are people that collect Star Wars memorabilia and they count that as their most prized possession. Others stock pile their money, money is what they value most. Some hang on to pictures because they value the memories. Everyone has something they find valuable. Yet, is your most prized possession worth it? Is it worth the difficulty? Men lose their families because they become workaholics thinking more money will make their family happy and satisfied. The original intent was not bad, they value their family and want to take care of them yet they lose sight of their kids needing a dad and their wife needing a husband. They lost sight of the original commitment. Their idea of value somehow was switched and they now seek financial gain as their sense of security completely taking their eyes off “the prize,” Christ. Christ saw us as something so valuable and so worth it that He came to earth, was born in a smelly manger, lived a poor and humble life for 33 years, was crucified, and died. All because He believed that something so worth it would not be easy. He paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could have a chance at knowing Him. Not just that, but scripture says that He being man was tempted in every way. He was tempted by anger, He was tempted with financial gain … get this He was even tempted with lust and sexual desire. Yet, He overcame it all. He lived a perfectly sinless life. He saw YOU as something so worth it that He would fight the fight for you, even 2,000 years ago so YOU could have a chance to come to know Him.

Christ knows that following Him is not easy. He knows that we are going to be tempted by things. Following Christ is not easy, but oh is it so very worth it! Living for Christ is the only thing that is truly worth anything. We cannot take our money, clothes, material possessions, entertainment, etc with us when we die. NO! It is temporary. We can only take with us the things we have stored up for eternity. Scripture tells us that all our words and deeds will be put to the test by fire. It says that all things of hay and stubble will be burned up but all things of gold and silver will come through. What do you see when you look at your life? God created us to glorify Him. Glorifying Him “ain’t gonna be easy, but nothing worth it ever is.”

Is what you are living for really worth living for?

Faithful Obedience

God’s word never ceases to teach me something new. No matter how many times I read over a particular section there is always something new to learn. In August of this year I decided I wanted to go through and re-read the Bible. It took me a year and a half (ish … maybe longer) to do it the last time so I decided to do it again. Well I finally made it to Numbers and if you have ever tried to read Numbers you know it is not necessarily the easiest to read. Yet, something about the Old Testament pulls me in and makes me excited to read more and to know more about what is being presented. My pastor calls himself a Old Testament nerd and I have come to find that I too love it dearly. I love the whole Bible but I really like knowing how everything came to be.

There are many cases in Numbers where the Israelites are obedient and show this in various ways, however, this is one of my favorite ways in which it is shown. In Numbers 9 I have seen what it truly looks like to trust God. I mean to really trust God. God told Moses when he and the people were to camp and when they were to travel. The people did exactly what they were told. We are not told if the people complained or if they drug their feet on hitting the road, all we are told is that they obeyed. So I take it like it is, the Israelites obeyed what God told them to do. If there was a cloud covering the Tabernacle they were to camp and stay where they were, they knew they would eventually be moving but they did not know how long they were going to be camped where they where or where they were going. They knew they were called to obedience. If the cloud was lifted from the Tabernacle they knew they were to pack up and head out.

“At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they camped.”

~Numbers 9:18

The second half of verse 18 really gets me, “As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they camped.” They really had no idea how long they were going to be there. That is amazing to me! I have a hard time waiting when I know how long I am going to be waiting, it is especially hard to wait on things when I have no idea when they are going to happen. From chapter 9 verse 15-23 it continues to repeat that the people were called to obedience and they obeyed. In scripture, as in other books (such as textbooks), repetition means REMEMBER THIS or KNOW THIS! Numbers 9 is no different. The repetition here tells me that we may not know how long God has us “camping” out in a certain area but we are called to obedience. We are to be where He has us, even if we do not like it very much. God has us where we are for a reason.

Here is a personal example of this whole idea of being where He has us even if I do not like what He has me doing. I love working with and ministering to international students. God has given me a very unique opportunity to work directly with over 1,000 students from other countries. My hearts desire is to live and work directly with them in their own countries. However, God has me camping out in the US for a while. I have no idea how long He is going to have me here. Yet I know He has a plan for my life and He knows far better than I. So as much as I want to be a bazillion miles away in another country I remain here doing what He has called me to do here. He has called me to obedience. Obedience in this situation means seeking Him daily and growing closer to Him.  That when He does lift the cloud and have me move from this camp to the next I cannot say I have wasted my time wishing I was somewhere else.

The Israelites were obedient beyond my comprehension. They did exactly what God told them to do. It was like the endurance version of the game Red Light, Green Light. They couldn’t really look to what was ahead because they had no specifics. God continued giving them reason to trust Him. We live in a society that teaches us to be independent and to look to ourselves only for everything we need. So as a Christian in this day and age a common struggle seems to be that of putting our full trust and obedience in Christ. God shows His faithfulness throughout His word but also everyday. He reminds us of the promise to take care of our needs with the rain. He reminds us of the promise He will not destroy the Earth again with floods by the rainbow after the rain. He reminds us of His love by giving us another chance everyday. He also promises to return someday and reminds us of this by death of people, plants, and animals. He reminds us daily of His promises and of our role. It is up to us to trust and obey. (Yes, I just used an old hymn reference … good luck getting that out of your head). 

Unique Childlike Faith

Tonight was a very interesting night, one that I hope doesn't leave my memory. God has reminded me that children are such a precious gift. Each child is different. They are creative in their own ways, communicate in their own ways, talented in their own ways, show love and affection in their own ways, and have unique needs. I also continue to notice that children are drawn to me like a magnet to a refrigerator door. There are two children in particular that I absolutely adore and cherish. They brighten up my day (or night) by simply seeing them. For being four and two years old they are both very bright and very ... very funny!

The local home school group put on a Thanksgiving feast and talent show tonight. My mentor or disciple leader or personal Yoda or whatever you would like to call her invited me to tag along with her and the fam. Two of her children were performing as well as other children from the church. Her two daughters and a friend from church sang a song written by the eldest of the two daughters. The song, you might be wondering is titled "Me and My Bunnies." It is hilarious! (If you would like to view the hilarity please click here ... I highly recommend watching). Earlier in the show one of the classes performed. It was the Hands Praise Class (could have butcherd the name, if so I apologize), this class teaches children sign language to praise songs. One of the little boys in the class is autistic. He is in the Sunday school class I help with and so I am particularly biased to things that he does. As I sat and watched him go through this song I cried. No idea why, but I did. Like a big baby I cried as I watched him with the biggest smile do the motions to a song praising Christ our King.

Watching him and thinking back to him with that big ole' smile makes me think of the verse encouraging us to have the faith of a child. There is nothing like watching an autistic child who trusts his parents fully and locks eyes with his mother the entire time he is on stage. He grinned from ear to ear, more so than anyone I have ever seen. He watched her wanting to make sure he was doing what she was reminding him to do. He didn't want to lose sight of what she was showing him, he was trying to mimic her exact motions. That is child-like faith, trusting everything your Father shows you and wanting to mimic everything He does. Just like this little boy and his mother, she knew that he would not be able to get everything 100% correct but he gave it all he had and he smiled the entire time. God, our Father, has a purpose for us and gives us instruction. He made us, therefore He knows we are going to screw up. He does not expect us to do things 100% accurate, He loves us and wants us to trust Him. He wants us to have faith like a child trusting his mother to provide instruction. He wants us to be happy where He has us. He loves us enough to provide instruction and to give us grace when we fail. I will be the first to admit I am a failure, but I am a failure for Jesus. At the end of the day I can say, "at least I tried." Even if I fail, I can look back and ask myself if I have done all things for the glory of God. If I failed but did it trying to glorify God, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that He was glorified. This little boy was giving all he had trusting his mother and reminded me just how much I need to follow his example. I want to be so reliant upon God that I am looking only to Him for instruction, not caring if I get everything right but just trying to do what He wants with a big silly grin on my face.

He made me cry, but not in a bad way. He made me cry in a way that makes me thank God. This little boy is "near and dear to my heart," as we say here in the South. One of his favorite things to shout during Sunday school for an answer (to any question really) is "obey God!" He says it with such gusto and excitement I can't help but smile when he says it, he is such a Jesus lover! He shows such unique childlike faith. Usually when you see kids who trust their parents it is encouraging but when I watch him I see who I want to be as a child of the King. So I thank God for little Zeke and his trusting heart. It makes me want to get down on my knees and beg God to someday make me a parent that is worth trusting and worth looking up to in Him. I want to be so focused on the Lord that when my children lean on me and look to me and follow me they are leaning on, looking to, and following Christ ... not me. Zeke makes me want to be a better parent to children I don't even have. I truly thank God for Zeke and his ability as 1st/2nd grader to push others to Christ. His family is truly blessed with such a great example of childlike faith.

Rainy Season

Some people find rain dreary, annoying, or depressing. Others think of the rain as a chance to go play in it, curl up and read a good book, or lounge around watching a movie. Regardless of what you think or do, the rain still falls.

Rain is one of my favorite weather patterns. It is always different but always has the same purpose. It rains to sustain life systems all around us (including us). Without rain we would have no plants. Without plants our animals die. If our plants and animals die, we die. See, doesn't rain seem so much better now?! Seriously though, God has shown me so much through the rain.

Things I have learned through the rain:
1. God loves His creation.
God has a reason for us being here. If He did not want us here He would take us out. Thus no more need for rain. He allows it to continue raining so we can continue living. He loves us enough to send the rain.

2. God is faithful.
Being in the south it gets super hot during the summer. That heat really doesn't bother me, not sure why God made me where I can endure heat but He did and I thoroughly enjoy not being miserable during the summer. One summer a friend and I were working at Discovery Cove in Orlando with a Christian summer project. It was super humid and hot and well ... we thought we might stroke out when we took the garbage to the back lot. So we sat down for a little rest. We both agreed we wished it would rain. So one of us suggested we pray. We looked at each other, bowed our heads and closed our eyes. Before I could even utter "Father, please..." it started pouring rain. God is faithful. He knows what His children want and need before we ever ask. He just wants us to ask. When we did it poured.

3. God loves the lost and wants to show Himself to them.
A friend of mine, who a few of us had been sharing with, was on her way to work with a relative. It started raining outside on her way to work. She told the relative in the passenger seat that she was going to pray for God to stop the rain long enough for them to go inside. She prayed. When they arrived at their office building it stopped raining. After they walked inside the rain started up again. God graciously answered my friends prayer and showed her that He has her best interest at heart.

4. God cries with us.
(Now this is not necessarily a biblical truth so do not quote me on this as anything more than my personal opinion.) To me it seems as if every funeral I am at or every time someone I know passes away it rains. It is almost as if God is crying with me and mourning with me. That very rain also comforts me and reminds me that God loves me and that He is faithful and that He loves the lost. He weeps over lost souls. He rejoices over the angels He gains when true followers pass on to be with Him. Yet, though He rejoices He knows we here on earth do not fully grasp the passing on to eternal life. In my experience (which is completely different than everyone elses .. I completely get that) He makes it rain. He comforts me through the rain and reminds me He is alive and real.

There have been many times when I have been driving and have begun praying and as I pray it rains. The longer I pray the more it rains. When I stop praying, it stops raining. There have been times I have prayed for rain and the rain has fallen. In the past year I have prayed in the rain, prayed for the rain, and happily walked through the rain with no umbrella. This has probably been the rainiest season of my life in all the best ways. Yet, as I write this and stop to think about my own experience with rain I wonder if it is raining for others in a completely different light. God shows His children things in different ways. Mine happen to come in the form of "rain drops fallin' on my head..." (yes, that song is now stuck in your head).

One of the most amazing things about rain is that it can be a perfectly cloudless sky and rain can be pouring down. Sometimes we do not see the rain coming. Rain makes things grow. If you are a child of God, He wants you to grow so He will give you many rainy seasons, not because rain is a punishment but because He loves you and cares for your holiness. When we go through hardships and trials we are stripped bare and refined. He sets us on fire to see what remains. He makes us holy, as He is holy. Rain is a good thing, a very very good thing. 

Happily Holy

The past month or so I seem to have been going through a dry spell. Which, to me, inevitably means that I am in sin. I can see the down spiraling of my actions and decisions from decent to bad to worse. As I actively choose sin over the love of Christ I, like everyone else who trust/loves/follows Christ end up far away from Him.

It has taken much for God to pull me back to Him and sadly enough, I am still nowhere near where I was or where I wish I was in my relationship with Him. Through recent events with a few of my friends who have also been going through dry spells, who have also seen the results of sin in their lives, Christ has shown me my own sin against Him and against others. Each one of us, in our own way, have actively chosen to pull away from our first Love. We have chosen to stray off that narrow way and try to hop the fence to get on the wide path that looks so appealing to us. Yet, God stops us and reminds each of us that we are His. He reminds us of the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7). When we, as the sheep did, stray from Him He will come find us and rejoice over us. He does not need us. He wants us. He chooses us for no other reason than to bring Himself glory. Yes, you … He chooses you to bring Him glory. The word chooses is not a typo, He actively chooses us everyday. He wants to make you righteous and holy and wants to remind you that you are loved and cared for by Him. This is not just a feel good message like the “Uncle Sam Wants You” campaign; no this is the God of the universe who wants to use you for His glory. But He declares us righteous when we are identified with Him.

Reading through Exodus proves to be difficult once I start trekking through the end of the book. All the information about how the temple was to be built and what was to be plated in gold. All the different tools and metals used and all of the measurements, OH the measurements!! But then I came upon chapter 29. Not necessarily very exciting to me, at least not until I came to verse 34 and 37. What do those two verses say, you may be asking yourself. Well I will tell you!

“It shall not be eaten, because it is holy” ~verse 34 c

“Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.” ~ verse 37

These verses are obviously referring to the rules about sacrifices. This particular way of preparing a sacrifice was only good enough for Christ. This sacrifice could be consumed on the day it was made set upon the altar but if there was any left over it was not to be eaten because it was holy. They could not eat it because it was holy. Holy means it was set apart, different, godly, pure quality. Holy has a whole slew of meanings and this is scratching the mere surface of the depth of the meaning. For now, we will leave it at “set apart” and “different.” This sacrifice was completely set apart. It was only for Christ, it was good enough for only Him. No one below the level of pure godliness could consume this. It was by far different than all the other sacrifices in the way it was prepared and what was to be with it at the end of the day.

We get down to verse 37 and see that the altar was to be consecrated and atonement was to be made for seven days. At this point the altar was considered “most holy” and “whatever touches the altar shall become holy.” After it had been declared holy, anything that touched it became holy as well. When we come to the Lord we are declared righteous and holy. He wants us to be holy as He is holy (Lev. 11:44 and I Peter 1:16). Whatever touched the altar that had been declared holy then became holy. Oooooo how I want this to be reflected in my life! If I am like Christ, who is holy, I should give off holiness. Those around me should be pushed to holiness and become more holy. All because Christ is holy! People rub off on me very easy. I pick up on mannerisms and quirky traits and even patterns of speech. When I think about rubbing off on others, this is what I want others to be getting. I want to love God so much that I would do anything to be holy as He is holy. Those that are around me (or as our pastor would say, in my sphere of influence) should be picking up on holiness more than anything.

Christ has called those who follow Him to a higher standard. We are to be holy as He is holy. Heck we should desire to be holy! Many times I catch myself wanting to be awesome as the world calls awesome rather than seeking Christ-like characteristics. Four and a half years ago I officially began my journey with Christ, well that is when I willingly began to journey with Him for He had already begun working in my heart long before then. My life is completely different from what it was 5 years ago. It is completely different than it was one year ago. Every year, month, and day I should be growing closer to Christ and being conformed to His image. This has not been an easy journey, then again nothing worth it ever is (still planning on writing a separate post about this quote).  We will never reach perfection and yet He still wants us to try. The closer we get to Him the more we should desire this. My appetite for holiness is far different than it was a few years ago as is my appetite for certain foods (ask my friends, I now eat egg rolls… crazy I know!). Just as we crave particular foods we also should crave the things of God in our love for Him.

Coming out of this particular dry season, God has taught me what it means to crave holiness and to crave Christ-likeness. Through a verse near the end of Exodus 29, He reminded me that I am to be holy as He is holy. God’s greatest concern for us is not that we are happy; it is that we are holy. People seem to interchange those two short words when they indeed should not be used interchangeably. The two are completely different. John Piper was quoted, recently, saying, “If God’s love for his children is to be measured by our health, wealth, and comfort in this life, God hated the apostle Paul.” Do you realize it pleased God to crush His own Son? God is not worried about how happy we may be while on this little journey here on earth. He wants us to be made like Him. Being made like Him does not necessarily include being sad, lonely, and depressed. I have known many who love God and have not met the adversity that Paul or Peter or many others have faced. On the other hand, I have known just as many who have experienced the tough trials and sufferings. God has a plan for each one of us and His plans for each person differ. Paul seemed loved God and was thankful to be found righteous in His eyes. I would even say he was happily holy. This too I desire to be.

A Gift of Love

One night after a big event at our university’s Student Union, a sweet friend leaned over and asked me if I thought true love could really exist. She told me she thought she could never be loved by a man the way our friend Sam* loves Brenda*. She went on to mention how Sam looks at Brenda and the way he talks to her and the way he treats her. This is just not something my friend had seen lived out by others.  This made me really sad for her. Then I realized, sadly I too feel that way and I have seen this lived out in the lives of those that are near and dear to me.

As of late I have been reading a book called A Man Worth Waiting For: How to Avoid a Bozo by Jackie Kendall. It seems to be written for girls that are in junior high, high school, or maybe even at the oldest their freshman year in college. None-the-less I am reading it and sticking it out. It is good and has great things spread through out the book. I came across the following in one of the chapters.

“A very successful hairstylist [told] me that over the years he has seen the saddest thing in the lives of most of his clients: ‘Women no longer marry for love, because they don’t believe true love exists. They assume it is an extinct reality. Instead of love, women now marry for money and power.’”

Jackie Kendall, A Man Worth Waiting For: How to Avoid a Bozo

Reading this made stop and think about how the young women I am around, as well as myself, view love and marriage. The sad truth is that we may crave love but we are willing to settle. We sadly think that God is not going to come through for us or that we have to choose our own fate so we take whatever looks good at the time. Ok, so I know someone who is reading this or will eventually read this is going to think, “I know God can provide and can provide a man worth marrying.” Do you really believe that? Look at your actions … Do you flirt with your guy friends for the sake of flirting? Do you feel like you just have to be in a relationship or you have to be liked by someone?

Your actions say more about what you believe than you think they do. A couple of Sunday’s ago our pastor was preaching on Knowing Who Really Matters and said, “What you are believing is what you are being.” That completely applies here. What you believe is shown through your actions. For example, if I believed that I would get hit by a train if I drove over the train tracks when the bars were down it would be stupid for me to drive over the blasted train tracks. So if I believed I would get hit and either be ridiculously injured or dead it would not be something I gave my life to doing. So if my continuous actions were dating anyone that asked me on a date or doing anything I could (within reason) to get a boyfriend, you can derive from that my beliefs that God will provide are pretty much non-existent.

It is not sinful to want to be pursued/courted or married, but if it is all you think about all day everyday … you might have a problem. If it is the thing that dominates your thoughts and actions you might do have a problem. I am a young woman, I think about marriage and having a family and being the mistress of my own home and blah blah blah. But I am also learning what it means to take every thought captive, to not dwell on those thoughts and the crazy day dreams and what not. God has made us to desire such things but He wants us to seek Him about them all. He wants to fill those desires with Himself.  To better explain this I will use a quote from a Mary Kassian sermon I listened to the other night.

“You see when God created male and female He created an object lesson a parable, as it where, of His entire redemptive plan. Manhood and womanhood, gender, sex, marriage all of those are mini lessons that proclaim the gospel. And when we talk about seeing Christ in the Old Testament we see Christ even in His creation of who He created us to be as male and female. The reason history started with God creating a man and a woman and a marriage is because it is going to end with a man, a woman, and a marriage. That’s why! It will end when Christ, the bridegroom, is united with His bride, the church, and the two become one. This marriage will be consummated throughout eternity. That’s why we have male and female, it’s not about me, it’s not about my husband, and it’s not about you as men and women. It’s about displaying a story. We tell a story by virtue of how we live our lives as men and women.” 

- Mary Kassian, the Gospel Coalition, the Feminist Mistake.

John McArthur said (in a sermon about God’s word), “The gospel is not a feel good message, it is about abandoning your life.” Far too often we think the gospel is supposed to benefit us and give us the warm fuzzies. The thing is, the gospel is not about us and it never was about us. God, in His mercy, allows us to have part in taking the gospel to others. He gave us the gifts of singleness and marriage as a picture of the gospel. Both singleness and marriage are extraordinary pictures of the gospel. With singleness we see God using us in total abandonment to Him. Having no spouse or children or other people to provide for other than the physical needs for self, we get to learn to be self-less and have the choice to live radically abandoned to Christ. Spending our time, money, energy, and efforts on taking the gospel to the lost community around us. We get to have uninterrupted fellowship with God. With marriage we see the example of Christ and the church working alongside each other to spread the gospel. Having fellowship with one-another and with God. Both singleness and marriage are hard work. “It ain’t going to be easy, but nothing worth it ever is,” quote from a television show (have a whole article about this one quote … well coming soon anyway).

God has you where you are for a reason. Know this, I am writing this more for myself than for others, simply because I know my own heart. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it,” (Jeremiah 17:9, KJV). God knows us better than we know ourselves (hello, read Psalm 139). He knows exactly what we need. If we are in Him, He hears our prayers. You would not believe the crazy things I have prayed for and God has answered [ask me and I will tell you … trust me, some of them are plain crazy]. We do not have, because we do not ask (James 4:2). Keep this in mind, God is not your personal genie in a bottle either (James 1:6-8). There are many things I have prayed and God’s answer has been silence. Not going to lie to you here, I have prayed for marriage quite a bit and guess what, still single as they come. Does that make God any less good? NO!! God knows what I need. He knows I would not be able to do what He has me doing right now if I was in a relationship. He has me in a unique little spot and I do not understand at times I am learning what it means to be obedient and how to have an obedient heart. He is not oblivious to my desires; He has put them in me. Just as He has put a desire in your heart for marriage or missions or a particular ministry and so-on and so-forth. He has a reason for that desire to be there. God says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope,” (Jeremiah 29:11). In Jeremiah 32:27 He says, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for Me?” Jeremiah, in Chapter 32, is praying for understanding and that is how the Lord answered his prayer … “is anything too hard for Me?”

Are you living in a manner that shows you trust God with your whole life? I know for me this is an area of my life I try to hold on to and occasionally tell God that this is my territory. God continues to show me that because I am His I am to live radically abandoned to Him. Even with my “love life,” or what I refer to as the lack there of, it is all His. God is teaching me when those tiny little thoughts pop up about how badly I want to be married or how nice it would be to wake up with someone next to me (especially as the weather gets colder and it is cold in my room), He is teaching me to look to Him. He is mighty to save (Zephaniah 3:17), He is continually saving me from my thoughts … from myself. He has paid the ultimate sacrifice and I am dead to sin and alive to God, in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11-12). I choose to be alive in Christ and dead to sin. The price has been paid, I need not pay more.

Going back to the beginning of this post where I shared about my friend, if we are in Christ we are loved far beyond our own imagination. The God of the universe chooses to love us although He knows everything about us. No man could ever love you the way God loves you. God did, however, make men that are worth the wait. He continually raises up godly men who love the Lord and pursue Him. God writes good stories, let Him be the one to write your love story. This comes like a ton of bricks in the face to me, because I, at times, am on the look out for whatever love story He may be writing for me. Which is probably why I am still single, God wants me to trust Him and submit my life fully to Him rather than be on the lookout for a man. It is possible to marry a man like Boaz (from the book of Ruth) who loves God and loves his wife. Love still exists, don’t settle anyone less than a man walking with the Lord.

*names were changed

Articles of Reference:

Mr. Right or Mr. Right in Front of You by Gabrielle Pickle

The Playground of Your Mind by Katie McCoy

When Beauty Shines Through

Most people who know me are typically shocked when I have on make up or have my hair fixed up a little more than usual. To be honest, it slightly offended me when I realized how shocked most people are when they see me dressed up. Then I realized they were seeing a completely different side of me. I heard a pastor say once or twice, “It never hurts to put fresh paint on an old barn.” And yes, he was talking about women wearing makeup. Since I became a Christian in 2007 I have always kind of felt like beauty was a passing pleasure. To me it did not seem important.

I listened to a sermon today by Mary Kassian, titled The Feminist Mistake. She told about her website in her sermon so I looked it up. When I got to the website I was immediately pulled into a particular article called Female Beauty Matters. Reading through it as well as thinking through some other things I have heard from my pastor, mentor, and friends from church made me look back and re-evaluate why I do not wear make up often. It caused me to look at the way I dress and the very way I conduct myself. For the most part guys see me as “one of the guys” which, as a girl, is super difficult because it seems to be a losing battle of trying to break that mold.

Men find beauty in women valuable. Women feel valuable when we feel that we look good. Even now as a single woman I feel valued when a guy finds me attractive or thinks I am pretty. It is one of those things that in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter. But I know whoever I marry will want me to look nice. He will want me dress up for him, because looking good for him makes him feel valued. I am willing to spend the time to get dressed and all “dolled up” for him. Guys appreciate that and until recently I did not realize that, silly … I know, it is a pretty simple concept.

Within this very simple concept is a much deeper issue. God made men to admire beauty and women to desire beauty. I honestly think it all stems from God making us to admire and desire His beauty just as much as He made us to want to be beautiful to Him. We are made by Him, for Him. We are for His glory and His pleasure. He has a purpose for each and every one of us. That is sooo exciting! Our beauty may fade but through our prettiest and our ugliest days we get to point to a God far more beautiful than ourselves. There is nothing that can out shine His beauty. He chooses to let His beauty shine through us in the form of physical beauty and with internal beauty.

God has made each one of us exactly the way He wants us. He gave you the freckles on your face, your eye color, skin color, hair color … you name it, He gave it to you. Women tend to get really caught up in our looks. Then again, there are women like me who care very little and then when we do it shocks people. In trying to look attractive for your boyfriend, fiancé, spouse don’t lose sight of who God has made you. Someone jokingly said this to me the other day, “you are the only you there is.” Guess what, that is no lie. He was spot on. Don’t let our culture define you. Let Christ be what defines you. Give everything over to Him, including your beauty. Do not, let me repeat that a little louder DO NOT feel like you have to compare yourself to other women. Women on magazines, guess what… they are airbrushed. Your super hot neighbor that seems to always look great, guess what … she feels the same way you do. God does not intend for us to sit around wishing we looked like someone else or had that girls nose, her eyes, that hair, no! He made you, you. So dress according to what is modestly flattering on you. If it makes you feel more attractive to wear makeup, don’t feel bad about it either. Sheesh, I am pretty much talking to myself right now because that is exactly what I do. When I think about putting makeup on or dressing a little nicer I feel like a poser. Don’t feel like a poser, don’t be like me. Remember that God has made you beautiful and wearing make up is not a bad thing (don’t put so much on that you look like a clown though, that is sad and reminds me of the lady from the Drew Carey show … yeah, don’t be like her either). Let God’s beauty shine through you. When you let God’s beauty shine through, that is when everyone sees you as the prettiest. When you let yourself be beautiful to the King, others see that beauty. They may not realize it at the time but they are in the very presence of royalty. You are a child of the King. 

Setting Us Free

Here recently I have begun going through the entire Bible again. In spending time alone with God I want to know more of His character and know who He is. Just like getting to know a friend there are questions I have that can be and have been answered through prayer and reading through scripture. This morning (and by morning I do mean noon) I was going through Exodus 3-4. I didn't realize how applicable these two chapters were today until I read them again today.

Chapter 3 begins with Moses approaching the historical burning bush. As I read this I realized how hard it was for me to shake the movie Prince of Egypt out of my mind. Reading through this before I knew the movie was not quite accurate but then reading it again made me realize how inaccurate it really is. Not that I am knocking the movie, I like it and it is a good one to watch. Anyway, back on topic. Going through chapter three it is neat to see that God tells Moses Pharaoh's heart will be hardened. He tells him it will take time for the Israelites to be set free. Not just that but He reveals to Moses some of what he will be required to do.

God knew Pharaoh would order all baby boys to be put to death. He knew that Moses' mother would attempt to save him. He also knew that Pharaoh's daughter would find Moses. God had a reason for Moses growing up in Pharaoh's house, among the Egyptian people. He knew what was going to happen when Moses went to speak with Pharaoh to set the Israelites free. God was not surprised that Pharaoh's heart was hardened, God was the one who hardened his heart. He knows all things and sees all things. God is outside of time, He is the creator of time. He sees the end of time just as clearly as He sees today and the beginning of time. He knows all, sees all, and has created all. Nothing surprises God.

Just like God had a plan for Moses, He has a plan for you and me and everyone else. He had Moses grow up among the Egyptians because it allowed Moses to have a connection with the royal family. He automatically had an "in" so to speak. Pharaoh knew him, he was raised in Pharaoh's house. This had to be a humbling situation for Moses, going into a place where no one believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was the family that he knew. He chose to leave the and be with the Israelites, the Hebrew's - his people. God has a plan for each of us. He has given us all the same purpose to know Him and make Him known. Moses was 80 when he and Aaron went to Pharaoh. He had been in the desert for 40 years, which means that Moses was raised in Pharaoh's house for 40 years. Do you get that? He was a grown man! He only knew what it meant to be a child in the palace. He was not raised as an Israelite at all. -Now do you see my problem with the Prince of Egypt? Haha, just kidding! - God has a reason for you to have been born in the family you are apart of, it was not an accident. It was ordained by God for you to have the parents you have, to have the brothers/sisters you have. God has had all things happen for a reason.

Look around and ask God why. Ask Him why you are in your family. Try to see what God's purpose is for you there. If you are a believer but your family is not God has had you come to Christ among a group of non-believers. You are on your own little island, your own mission field. You have a sweet opportunity to ask God to deliver your family from hell. Maybe you are a college student and live on campus or in your sorority/fraternity house and are surrounded by lost people. Whatever or wherever you are God has you in your own little mission field. We have been deceived to think that the only mission fields are a bazillion miles away. My heart is to see international students and people from other countries come to know Christ. But I also recognize it is not practical for every true believer to get up and leave the U.S. to go overseas to share the gospel. Who would evangelize the U.S.? Like I said before, God has you where you are for a reason.

"Then Moses said to the LORD, 'Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.' The LORD said to him, 'Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.'"
                                               ~Exodus 4:10-12

Chapter 4 we see Moses telling God how inadequate he feels. But God tells him He has made all and He can be trusted. Going back for a minute, God had Moses grow up in Pharaoh's house. God choose Moses to speak to Pharaoh and set the Israelites free. He hardened Pharaoh's heart. God was not blind to the situation. He was choosing to make the people see His power and His faithfulness. The Israelites were treated worse when Moses and Aaron went to set them free. The mental image in my head is the Israelites hearing about Moses and Aaron wanting to set them free. They all rejoice. Then Moses and Aaron speak with Pharaoh, Pharaoh makes the life of the Israelites worse. The Israelites are mad at Moses and Aaron for making things worse. Talk about fickle! Then again that is the image I have in my head. The Israelites were very upset that they were caused more pain but as far as the other stuff ... that is how I imagine it going down. God is showing His people He can be trusted. He uses a number of miracles to display His power: Moses and Aaron's staffs turning into snakes and swallowing the magicians snakes, all the water turned to blood, frogs all through out the land, insects and gnats everywhere, all the Egyptians cattle died, boils and sores on all the Egyptians and livestock, hail, locusts, darkness in all the land, and the deaths of all the first born among the Egyptians. God chose to display His power. He wanted His people to trust Him. He showed the Egyptians and the Egyptian magicians that He has power over all things.

God has power over all things. He has control over all the money in the world, all agriculture, all weather, all things! God is in control. Yet, here I am little ole me wanting to be in control of things in my life and thinking I have somehow earned the right to have that control. I cannot change people. I cannot change the weather. I cannot change myself. I have no control. Now if that does not leave you feeling helpless, I do not know what will. But because God is in control and God is the creator of all things (including you and me) He has designed a plan for us. He wants to reveal Himself to us and He wants to show us His faithfulness. He is our Father. We are a fickle people just like the Israelites were fickle. They were happy when things were good and they were angry when things were bad. We jump from thing to thing to find what we think is best for ourselves. Yet, we do not seek God to see what He considers best for us. We think bigger electronics, more stuff, and nicer clothes is what is best for us. We are sadly deceived. God's best for us does not involve wealth and prosperity (of an earthly standard that is). God does not intend for us to be in perfect health all the time. We are people, our bodies are imperfect, we are going to get sick. Health, wealth, and prosperity just doesn't seem to fit into the gospel. God has a plan for you and for me, but no where in scripture does it say we get a whole bunch of earthly stuff. God has you right where you are for a reason. So seeking out bigger and better is probably not going to be in that. It is a harsh truth but one thing we have to realize is the gospel is not about ourselves. The gospel does not revolve around me, or you, or your favorite pair of shoes. The gospel is all about Christ. It is all about God's love and mercy and grace. God sent Moses to set His people free just like God sent His only Son to give us an option to be free from the bondage of sin.

~*~ Challenging Questions ~*~
  - Where does God have you right now? Can you see why He has you there?
  - Are you trying to be in control of your own life? How can you turn this over to God and allow Him to regain control of your life (or begin to take hold of your life)?
  - Are you allowing God to set you free from sin in your life?

Crouching Sin at Your Door

Today has been quite an extraordinary day. This morning a few members from our congregation met together to pray for the nation we call home. Our nation has been going in a direction that is heading straight for destruction. Things scripture clearly tells us is sin our nation wants to support and pass laws allowing such things. Among those things are abortion and homosexual marriage. The shows on television make light of divorce, gay marriage, cohabitation, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc. Our very culture tries to make the immoral normal. What we do not quite grasp is what our sin truly does to God. God sent Christ to die for the very sins we watch on television and laugh at. That is twisted and seems to me, very wrong. In thinking about this I wanted to look back, way back, back to the beginning of where all of this stems from.

Looking through scripture at the fall of other nations and people groups and seeing what happens to nations that follow this pattern of rebellion, it is not looking like a very bright future for our home land. When we look back to the garden and see the beginning of sin in the human realm (I say this because I truly believe Satan holds the depressing record of the first sin ... pride and wanting to be God, in which God immediately threw him out of the Kingdom of Heaven). We see Eve being tempted with envy. She is tempted to want something she cannot have. Then we do not really see any sin until we come to Cain and Abel. It says that Abel's blood cried out to God from the ground. Just a few verses before in Genesis 4:6-7 "The Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.'" Cain was angry and his face had fallen because his offering was not accepted by God yet his brother's was. Cain's offering was from the already cursed ground and Abel's offering was from the livestock. What gets me here is the last half of verse 7 "sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." Sin will crouch at our door. It desires us. We have to rule over it.

When I think of the word crouch I think of the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, I have not seen this movie so there is no analogy using the movie just the name ... hehe. But even the title gives me this image of a tiger getting ready to attack its unsuspecting prey. A tiger is waiting in the brush near by as a deer grazes on the grass. The tiger inches closer and closer until it is close enough to attack. It pounces and has its dinner locked in its jaw. This is how I view Genesis 4:7. Sin is waiting at our door, it wants us, and it wants to rip us to pieces and eat us for dinner. Even though tigers have great precision in catching prey there are always the deer that get away. These deer are super sensitive and are watching out at every corner, knowing that it could be attacked at any point. We can be that deer that gets away. Sometimes we allow sin to seep into our lives and spread through us like cancer. But there are times that it sneaks up on us and we are its unsuspecting prey. Cain wanted his offering to be accepted by God but it wasn't. Why? Good question, my guess is that it was from the cursed ground, then again I cannot say for certain. I do know that the more Cain dwelled on it the more angry he became. The more angry he became the more the seed of hatred for his very own brother grew. That hatred grew into murder. It grew into the actual physical murder of his brother. His brothers blood cried out to God. Sin was ruling over Cain and not the other way around.

In the New Testament we see similar wording (well in English we do, I am not sure about the Greek or Hebrew... need to do some research on that) as that of Genesis 4:7.

"So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as insturments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."                                                                                                                          ~ Romans 6:11-14

We have the God given ability to have master over sin. Does this blow your mind as much as it does mine? Think about it, if you are a truly born again Christian you can have master over sin. The song Whip It comes to mind right now (probably not the best song to use but I hope you get the point). We are told we can choose not to present our members to sin. There is so much goodness in this passage in Romans I could write a book about it, no worries, I am not going to write you a chapter book on this post. Maybe later though ... JUST KIDDING! Look at it again, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions." Do not let it reign in your body. Give it no leg room to move about or even wiggle.

So going back to the beginning of this post, our nation has come to a point where we not only let sin wiggle and move but we tell everyone they should join in and do it too. It is our turn. We need to challenge ourselves to follow God. Let Him take control of our lives and whip sin into submission. Do not obey the passions of sin. Remember it is waiting and is just outside crouching at your door waiting on you. There is hope, so much hope in Christ. Christ beat death. He beat sin. He is the savior of all.

A Force to be Reckoned With

You know what I find interesting? I find it very interesting that James 3:8-10 says what it does. It tells us that no human being can tame their own tongue. It tells us that out of the same mouth we bless and curse others. We tear apart our brothers and sisters with the same mouth that we praise our Lord and Savior with. I mean, am I missing something here. Does that seem awful to anyone else? Psalm 50 says "You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; your own mother's son." James tells us "...no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison." Wow!!

When I think of a mouth full of deadly poison I think of a deadly venomous snake. A snake that slowly kills you from the inside and causes an unbearable amount of pain. What I don't realize normally is that our words have that same affect on those around us. We can build each other up or tear each other down. Words are far more powerful than we think. "With it we course people who are made in the likeness of God," James 3. We don't think about it like that, well ... at least I don't think about it that way. When we talk someone down or when we slander their name or when we use words to bully others, we are beating up those with the very likeness of God. Us, the very likeness of God. That brother or sister you just talked bad about or said mean things to, they are the very likeness of God. God made us in His image. He chose people, not deer, not sharks, not even fluffy bunny rabbits to be the likeness of God; NO He chose people of all things. He tells the mountains to only grow so high and they grow no higher. He tells the waters to only come up so far and they go no further. He tells man to know Him and we say we do not want to. He chose us and continues to choose us everyday. He gave us freedom of speech in the most unique of ways. He gave us the freedom of thought and the freedom of choice in what to believe. He does not force us to choose Him. He did not create us to be mindless robots, He created us to have a desire for something. That something is Him.

It says that no human being can tame the tongue, but God can. Coming to know Christ and grow in Him continually is a taming of the tongue. I do not speak the same way I did before I knew the Lord. My desires changed, my tastes for things changed, my speech changed. I fall into sin all the time. Ok, let me rephrase that. I do not "fall" into sin, I choose to sin. For example, when something frustrates me I choose to complain about it. I didn't fall into that, I choose it. People fall into holes that they didn't see, that I could see coming and simply chose not to deal with. I let sin creep into my life and I let it sit and fester. Not cool. Matter of fact, I am pretty sure that should be the definition of not cool. Anyway, that was an interesting rabbit trail. Just as a wild horse cannot tame itself, nor can we tame our own tongue. This has to be a God thing. We have to trust that God will tame our tongue and we have to make actions toward doing so. God has the ability to just zap us and say "tongue be tamed" and it could be done. He chooses to do things differently. If we were not learning from things we would expect everything to be done for us.

One thing my father has taught me very well is to work hard. This is learned behavior for me. It is something I have been taught my whole life. Just like having a tame tongue is learned behavior. God has done many things in my life to show me I need to work hard at having a tamed tongue and ask Him for His help since it is obviously not something I can do on my own. There have been times when I have said things and then later when the person found out I would have to apologize and be super embarrassed that I said such things. Even to this day I still catch myself saying things that have no business being said. "Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances." Proverbs 25:11. Somehow I think this could be a reason for our well known phrase "think before you speak". Doesn't that just make you think more about what you say? Do you realize scripture tells us we are accountable for what we say? I think if I thought that every time before I opened my mouth, my mouth would shut shortly after opening with no words spoken. Most of the things that escape my mouth are meaningless. Many people in my life can attest to this. Yet somehow some way ... I still talk, alot matter of fact, I talk alot more than any one person should ever talk about anything. Thank You Jesus for grace and mercy!!

Our tongues are such a force to be reckoned with. God's word is a tool for refining what we say and do and a tool to get to know Him better. He wants us to know Him more. The things I often talk about have absolutely nothing to do with God. Another one of my favorite phrases is, "the things you talk about the most are the things you truly love". Wow, not sure I want to know what I talk about the most. Then again, it would show me how I view God.

Do you love God? The things you talk about most are the things you love the most. So if you are not talking about God or if you run away from people who talk about God ... you might want to re-evaluate your love for Him. Peter was asked by Christ 3 times if he loved Him. The Greek word for love the first two time sChrist asks him is the word agapao. Agapao is a spiritual love. A sincere love that is outside the sensual. The third time is the word phileo. This means to have an affection for or to like alot. So the first two times Christ is saying "do you really love me". The third time He is saying "do you like me alot"? When Peter heard Christ ask Him the third time he was grieved. It hurt him because he realized his love for Christ was not on the same level as Christ's love for him. He was not loving Christ whole heartedly. But when you read in Acts you see that Peter is the ring leader and pushing everyone toward Christ. Christ lit a fire under him and set him a blaze. Peter denied Christ three times and told Christ he loved Him three times with the same mouth. He blessed and cursed the Lord with the same mouth. He too was made in the likeness of God. God has put so many wonderful examples in scripture for us to ponder over. It really makes a person think about what their words say about their relationship with God.




So what do your words say about your relationship with God?