Do We Believe in God?

A few questions are running through my head this morning.  I've asked them before and find myself back here again for some reason.  So here they are - 

• Do we believe that God is real?  Why do I keep asking this question?  Because if we believed that He was real then we would live, act and love way differently.  WAY DIFFERENTLY!  If we believed in Him and the fact that He is near to us or in us then that should make a huge difference!  But . . . ?  I do believe but to what level?  Do I believe in Him like I believe in what the doctor tells me?  Do I believe in His Promises?  Do I trust in Him?  You know what I mean by trust?  The kind of trust that when I go to prayer that He is listening.  The kind of trust that keeps me out of sin.  The kind of trust that pushes me to go next door and tell my neighbors about His amazing love for them.  
  

My prayer today - God help me to believe more in You and to have a spirit of expectancy that You can do more than I could ever hope for, think of or even dream of!!!  

Our Gracious Father

I am constantly being reminded lately of God's grace towards His people.  It is so beautiful to me to think of the different forms of grace that God offers us.  Most amazingly, there is His saving grace, where He forgives us of sins and gives us life when we don't deserve it at all on our own.  The God of the Universe became man, dwelt among us, and died by our hands for us!!  But God's grace goes even farther beyond comprehension when we consider the grace He gives us in serving Him and coming to know Him.  I know nothing of God that He has not graciously revealed to me.  Every glimpse of beauty, every breath I take, every song I am blessed to sing to Him, all are gifts from Him.  And every good deed I do, every time I reflect His awe-inspiring beauty, I do so only by His grace, not my own merit.  Even as I've been tired and working really hard to get my life in order before my upcoming wedding, God is calling me to Himself to find rest.  He is graciously giving me even more abundant life, filled with blessings and opportunities, and all the good that comes out of my life and that is poured out on me is a blessing from Him:  His gracious gift to me.

Running Towards God

As I was running, I’d noticed that I would run then stop. Run then stop. This was constant through out my whole exercise. I definitely knew a big reason was because my lack of exercise, but I felt like there was something more. I thought about it and came to the realization that I was just simply giving up. Why is that?.......... It rang a bell. I realized that I wasn’t giving myself enough credit to run the length I planned for. In my head I had this idea that I could not make it. I wasn’t motivating myself or having any sign of hope, so I would stop. And then I thought….Don’t we do this with God? How we don’t give God the credit to do things in our lifes and we don’t give him the chance. I find myself doing this sometimes in my quiet times. I get so impatient and I get this silly idea that God is not going to show anything to me which results in me just shutting my bible. Even in our daily life’s we continue this pattern. We don’t have this mind set that God will move mountains or that he wants to pursue us, so we give up. We turn away from him, which eventually leads to sin. And we forget that God is running right there with us. He is with us the whole way, we just need to acknowledge him. In Philippians, Paul talks about pressing towards the goal, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus”. What we see is that we as believers have not reached our goal of Christ likeness. We are constantly refining ourselves. And at the same time God is constantly trying to fill us, but like a runner in a race we MUST continue to pursue him. We must fix this attitude of giving up and starting giving God a chance to work in our lives. Maybe that involves a little bit of discipline and submission. Philippians 3:15 “ Let us therefore, as many as are perfect have this attitude and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; how ever let us keep living by that same standard to which we are attained. I really think God wants to reveal so much in our lifes, we just need to set this in our hearts and go for the goal. Just like Paul said, “Run in such a way that you may win”.

Are We Ever Alone?

A few days ago i was leaving a meeting and getting into my car when i realized that i had to be somewhere again in 2 hours. Don't you hate when that happens. I mean i could have gone home but i would have sat there for and hour and had to leave again. Sometimes i just waste time sitting on what should be my fat butt. So instead i went out and played a few rounds of disk golf. I'm not going to lie, it was very strange. I can't remember the last time i felt so alone. As i was walking to hole 1 i realized that i had never played disk golf alone before. This makes me sound like a wimp but i was even a little scared about being alone. You see when I am around people I can fool them easily into thinking I am someone I am not. But, when I am alone and it's just me and God than i am completely vulnerable. Nothing i can say or do will make me look better than the person i really am. WOW!!! I don't know what it was about being alone that day but it just reminded me about God's grace. Here I am just playing some disk golf (by myself) and God reminds that he is in love with me. I don't know if God's grace is meant to be understood or just felt? If i could understand it than it must have an end. I look at my life and the lives of my friends and wonder how in the world can a God who deserves more than what i can offer him give me a savior to grab a hold of and make me more than i what i can become on my own. I don't understand it but i feel it. Just a weird thought i had while playing disk golf. What's not cool is that i played horrible that day because i kept thinking so much. But it's all good.

Delight?

Psalm 112 "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great DELIGHT in his commands."

How often and how easy it is to forget that God's principles are something that we can delight in. God is not a limiting overseer or a dampener of good times. The idea that God is my creator is way to big for me to write about. But i can give it a shot. Because he created me he knows me. Actually he created more than just me, he created you and everything both of us see around us. CRAZY!!! I put together the desk i use at work, and because i spent (literally) 4 hours trying to put it together i know it was done right. There weren't screws left over or pieces put together wrong. Because of that i can take pride in knowing that if i want to stand on my desk i can. (It's kind of embarrassing but i often remind people when they see my desk that i built it LOL). I know everything about this desk because i am it's creator. I imagine God feels somewhat the same way about me that i do about my desk. He has created me and knows everything about me.

Why is it that sometimes we feel that God is limiting us rather than trying to advance us? Those who delight in the lord benefit from it. Sometimes i feel that people including myself have a trigger in their mind that they switch on and off when it comes to delighting in God. God wants us to rejoice with him and in him but we must make it a day to day journey to delight in him. It's difficult sometimes because we as people thrive off of instant gratification. We want what we want when we want (straight from P Fred). Patience for some reason is rarely put into practice in our lives anymore. Our impatience brings predictable satisfaction but God brings eternal and unexpected satisfaction. I want to live a life that impacts eternity!!!!

How do we follow a God who is love?

So, I'm pretty new to this blog thing but very excited!  God has been doing some awesome things in my life lately...I'm about to get married, making new friends, staying in touch with old friends, and getting to help out in some awesome ministries here!  But besides those material blessings, God has been blessing me with more insight into who He is.  I cannot presume  to claim that I can ever know, in this world, the fullness and greatness of our great God who is Love itself, but I can claim to come to know that fullness and that greatness more as God draws me closer to Himself.  I have been reading The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis, and it is amazing!  It is all about learning what love is in order to better serve and understand a God who claims to be Love.  So any wisdom I have in this area (which is likely very little) is not my own, but is borrowed and has been given to me as a gift. But back to the point...how do we serve our great and holy and loving God?  How can we even begin to love like One who IS LOVE?

Well, I'm sorry to say that I don't have those answers, but I am learning, through this book, through God's Word, through prayer, and through interactions with other Christians, a little more of the character of love and of God.  The first step is to recognize that God is Love, but love is not always God.  There are many types and forms of love, and God, who is perfect, is love in its purest and most perfect form.  Lewis points out two main categories of love:  need-love and gift-love.  Our relationship with God is inherently filled with our need for Him and His gift of Himself to us.  But is it possible for us, people who are totally and completely in need of God, to also give Him gift-love?  And can God, who desires relationships for us, pour out that love out of a kind of need for our relationship...now, certainly, God never NEEDS anyone, but does that desire translate into a need-love/gift-love type combo?  It is astounding to me to even begin to think of God's awesomeness (if that's a word :)) and His greatness and humility and grace and kindness and LOVE for me!!  I feel as if I will never get enough of Him, just as He satisfies every need, every desire I can throw at Him!  And to think that God could have that desire for me, but greater...because God is Love! Wow!  And in every manner that I can think to give to and to love Him, He beats me and gives and loves and blesses even more and even more perfectly!  And so the Christian mission must be to love in return and to give in return, at the greatest and highest levels we can attain!  THAT is the best lifestyle as His disciples, as followers of the Way.  It is the only option.

Don't Move!

This is what God has been telling me lately "Be still, and know that I am God" - Psalm 46:10. Have you tried not move for at least a minute and realize that it is hard. We have to always be on the move, do a lot of things, be at different places, have a full schedule, otherwise we feel like we're not doing much or being productive. At least that's how I am. I have to constantly be doing something or at least think of what I will do next. I feel useless when I am not either thinking or doing. The past few days God has really been telling me to always trust Him and wait to see what He is about to do in my life. I know it's hard when you feel self sufficient and need to be in control of every situation. But guess what? God is control and maybe He is also telling you what He is telling me "Be still and now that He is God".