More of God's presence

I’m so thankful that God uses us through our weaknesses, and I’m so thankful for what God is doing in my mom!

At the beginning of the year I was challenged by God. He brought up the way that I treated my mother while I lived at home (Champaign-Urbana IL). Let me just say that I was a jerk. I didn’t show her who Christ is for a second. I would always let my flesh get the best of me.

It made me wonder where my mom’s heart would be if I would have thought about the things I was saying. Anything that came to my mind would vomit out of my mouth (I didn’t have a thought filter at all…) . Not because she was necessarily doing anything wrong but because I had not let go of bitterness towards her from the past, and the things that I said were aimed towards the satisfaction of my flesh. I was pissed and I wanted to get back at her in a revengeful, deceitful manner.

God brought me to a place of repentance. He was leading me to call my mom and apologize to her. Not in a cheesy, weird sort of way, but really, from the bottom of my heart to say sorry. So I did.

Right now God is doing amazing things in my mom’s heart! I have been praying for her non-stop. She doesn’t know Jesus personally but I know that she will.
One of the reasons that I want to go back to Champaign-Urbana for the summer is because I know God wants me to make some relationships right (first my mother!).

James 4:7-10 (New Living Translation)

7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

-We can be thankful for what God does, even in our mistakes.

Before I go back to Champaign-Urbana I need to make a statement of standards! Verse 7 says, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
I know if I don’t make standards I will just stand still in what God is doing, totally miss out on what he wants to do in me and through me. If I’m totally consumed in what I want, my desires, instead of the standards that God wants me to have I’ll miss out, and I am not okay with that.

Verse 8 says, “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.” How can I love people (like my mom) in the way that I should if I don’t love God to the extent that I should or desire to. It also says, “Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for the loyalty is divided God and the world.” I cannot be close to God and the world at the same time! So I needed (need) to stay focused on God-his purity, and stay undivided to the world. God has my attention! We are as close to him as we want to be!

Verse 9 says, “Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.” Wow, let me tell you. I was crushed. I had no idea what to do with myself when God convicted me of the hurt that I caused my mom. The fact that I thought I was living a Godly life, and not treating my mom like it was a horrible thought for me. It meant that the “mom issue” was only the start of the change that God was going to have to do. But, when we go to God (our daddy) sincere, softened in our tears, he gives us the joy again. My mom is my joy. There will be a greater amount of joy when she comes to the Lord!

Verse 10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”
It all starts with honesty. You will never become humble in the lord if you don’t become honest with yourself. Let God point it out- he can (will) either fix it, get rid of it, or birth it or all of it.

Abrubt

Fridays are so awesome! They go by so fast. As the boys and I are cleaning the church, getting ready to go to Riley’s softball game, I was thinking about a few things:


*Only through the power of God, that I am able to attempt to live the message of the cross to it’s fullness.

*I am not so concerned with what I am going to do…Im more interesting in who Im becoming. I want to be a lover of God and people. What we do is not as important as who we are.

Repenting

As I was reading the Bible reading for today Acts 15:8-11 stopped me. Peter says, “God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by given them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts thought faith. So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

This question has been on my heart for a while, “Do I see people in categories?” What I mean is this, do I see anyone as someone who has a lot of problems, but will find Jesus someday, or somebody who is in over their head in sin, but will still find Jesus, or even just pain unreachable? Do I categorize them in my mind on a priority list of salvation?! Or even issues that I decided, in my mind, that Jesus was too busy for. These were all the issues running through my mind…Homosexuality, gay marriage, pornography, sexual promiscuity, alcohol/ drug use, abortion, divorce, different religious or social views such as, Islam, Evolution, and global warming even.
How do I, currently, view the lost? If I look at these people believing that Jesus cannot bring them to a point of salvation, what am I living my life for?! I came to a point of repentance. If I looked down on them, this is a sense of moral superiority. It was hypocritical and wrong. I am not any better.

Perceptions of Christians/Christ’s Attributes
Anti-homosexual........ Loving to all
Judgmental..............Forgiving
Hypocritical............Genuine
Old-Fashioned...........Revolutionary
Insensitive to others...Loving
Confusing...............Simple in presenting the truth
Not accepting of other faiths.....Inviting members of all faiths
Boring..................Radical

“Jesus healed the sick, loved the poor, touched the leper, stood up for the down and out, forgave the sinner, condemned the religious hypocrites, dined with prostitutes and corrupted tax collectors, challenged the wealthy, and powerful, fought for justice for the oppressed, renounced materialism, demonstrated greatness is found in serving-and died that others might live.” –Richard Stearns
He saved the world. He saved us, all of us!
Thank you, Jesus for what you are teaching me.

It's so simple

It’s so simple, “Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven (James 5:12-14).”

This is today’s Bible reading in our Bible read through. It’s so good. It doesn’t say, “Maybe you could pray”, but it says, “You should pray!” And pray for others! All of the time, suffering, happy, sick, or in the cycle of sin-you should pray, sing praises! I am so excited for what God is doing in all of us students. He is really bringing all of us back to the simplicity of his love and the understanding of who he is.

The simplicity of his love, the past few days, has been all I can think about! Realizing that it’s not the work we do, because work runs out, and no one remembers the work, but the love that is shown while doing it. Not our love, but the love of Christ in us!

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
1 John 4:12

1st John 4:11-12

"Dear friends, since God loved is that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us." -1st John 4:11-12

We have no excuse! We should love each other. Though the love that we show each other God will be seen in us. Not only seen but brought to its FULL expression in us, and through us. The love that Christ shows us is not meant for us to keep to ourselves, but to share with the world, so they may know of true love.

Mercy of Christ

Today I have been thinking about the crook who asked Jesus to remember him in Luke 23:35-43, not just thinking about what happened, but what in that mans life made him feel forgotten. I was thinking about what kind life he must have been living. He was probably broken, bitter, disconnected, and in need of someone to put him back together.

Jesus showed him mercy. So I must show the mercy of Christ as well.

Galatians 2:20

The past six weeks has been incredible. God has stretched me in ways that I cannot explain to the fullest extent. I just finished the book The Hole in Our Gospel, and it shifted my view on several things.

God has been taking me on this tour of questions:

What does God expect of me?

How can I love Gods people if I don’t really LOVE God with all of my heart, mind, and soul?

Am I serious about the call of God in my life?

Am I open and willing for God to have his way in me?

Do I really live out Galatians 2:20?

All of these questions really come down to one thought for me. If I am serious about the call of God on my life, and open and willing for him to have his way in me then I cannot question whether or not I am living Galatians 2:20.

I am not entitled to this life (my way) but I am entrusted with it. God expects us to use the life that he has given us in the interest of his kingdom.

This “life” doesn’t just mean our everyday decisions but this goes right along with how we spend our money, how we use our talents or giftings, what we do with our thoughts, attitudes, whether or not we are prideful, or generous…it all comes down to the knowledge that we are not our own. We belong to God.

“We don’t have a soul, we are a soul and have a body.” –C.S. Lewis

SERVOLUTION 2010

This whole week has been amazing, busy, but amazing. I absolutely loved serving the community. We served at the Rescue Mission, painting rooms and serving meals. We had the privilege of receiving donated Avalon bread, we handed it out at Wayne state, and the Mid-Town area. It was so awesome to see the faces of people when we told them that the bread was free, and that there was no catch to receiving the bread. On Saturday we had a chance to serving the community in a few local parks. Today was super fun. We were volunteering at the park for their annual Easter weekend celebration. I ran a couple games, and had the best conversations with a ton of kids.

I have learned a lot this week. One thing that I have noticed myself doing is not looking happy while serving. So it was a stretch to keep that in mind, and to constantly remember to look happy. It’s not that I don’t love serving but sometimes I zone out, or the opposite, concentrate too hard on what I’m doing and not the people that I’m ministering to. That was huge for me. I think because of it I had way more fun, and was able to keep in mind what we were really serving for. It was all for his glory, and to show the love of Christ.

Hope is needed to thrive

There are times in our life where we learn certain things that really mean a lot to us in that moment. I read a lot, and I can think of some books that shook me spiritually a few years ago, but don’t anymore. God teaches us for a purpose, whether it be the moment or to instill something for a lifetime.

God has been teaching me so much as I have been reading The Hole in Our Gospel. Everyday I find myself meditating on something that has really stuck out to me, but the past couple days have been a little different.

In prayer I had been wrestling with this, “God, there are so many hurting people. There are so many people who lack the resources that they need to thrive, and to live- those who are living in poverty. Why do you allow it? You’re God! You could take it away if you wanted, you could do something!” Then, the defining moment that I had feared, and was waiting for: God answered, He asked me the same question, “That’s a great question. Yes, why do you allow it?” I stopped- and since then I have not been able to get my mind off of it. I know that I am not God, but I do know that no matter what your calling is, God has called us all (and chosen us all) to serve and to love our neighbors. If you didn’t know it, maybe the ones suffering the most are our neighbors, and they are probably our neighbors for a reason. I know that there is a great deal of suffering in the world, that’s the very issue that overwhelms me, but God has been teaching me. I don’t want to fail to do something just because I know I cannot do everything. I will not have the ‘cop-out’ answer when God calls me. I don’t want to say that I cannot afford it without trying to raise support; and I don’t want to say that I don’t know how to do something, when I have all the resources to learn how. Let’s figure it out. Let’s share the same joy that has been given to us. Hope is needed to thrive.

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”
–Helen Keller.

This is something that God is teaching me, not just for the moment, but also for a lifetime. I’m so thankful.