Presents/Presence

Psalm 37:4 (KJV) says, "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

I heard a preacher from my home church this morning at my college home church preach about David and Ziklag. The story comes from 1 Samuel 30, and I recommend biblegateway.com to read the verses if you'd like. However, this verse really spoke to me. For some reason lately, I've not been happy with what God's been giving me. I've felt so alone sometimes, so bored, and so completely unmotivated. It makes me feel like a hypocrite because I never say anything's wrong when my friends ask, but I really don't want them to worry, and God knows that they probably have bigger things to worry about than my troubles. However, I haven't been leaning on God when I need Him. Or even when I don't think I do. I need to trust Him more fully than only with the big things and the time of day when it's convenient for me. I need to stay focused, and be encouraged by God's presence rather than His presents. Did you catch that? I need to be focused on what I'm doing for God, and the simple fact that He is leading me. He is also blessing me, and I should be thankful, but not to the point where I no longer act like I need any more blessings.

We all need to delight in the Lord, making Him our priority and someone that we love to think about and learn about and talk to. I hope that you can feel God's presence in your life. If you can't feel or know His presence, then why would you expect any presents?

Telling Others

In my Sunday School class, we've been studying the book of Revelation. It's fascinating and confusing and simple all at the same time. We've been talking about how we can apply the message in Revelation to our lives. As many of you may know, Revelation is a book of prophecy, as revealed to John by God. God told John to write down some of the things He revealed to him, but to seal the rest of them away. One of the main applications of Revelation should be clear- there are some terrible and wonderful things that will be happening in the future. Terrible things will happen to those who don't believe in God, and wonderful things to those who do. That's where the application for today comes in. I'm pretty sure that there's no one I would want to wish some of those things on, let alone having to spend eternity in Hell. As a matter of fact, I don't wish eternity in Hell on anyone. That's why we need to tell others of the hope we have in Christ.

John 14:6 (KJV) says, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Jesus was talking about the way into Heaven. There is only one way, and that is through Jesus Christ. We need to share that with others by loving them and showing them Christ's love.

Complaining

Complaining.

We're all guilty of it.

Paul talks about complaining in 1 Corinthians 10:10 (KJV),"Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer." It is clear here that God doesn't like to hear us complain. Complaints are usually a sign of ungratefulness or unhappiness, and God wants us to be happy. That's why He gave us His word to read every day and a direct line to Him whenever we need Him, and even when we think we don't.

Today, I was terribly guilty of complaining. I should be more thankful for how God's blessed me. The first blessing God ever gave me was that of salvation. That should be enough to give us a lifetime worth of happiness. However, we're human and tend to mess up. Those are the times we really need to ask for God to help us feel grateful for what we have. Tomorrow (and the rest of the night tonight), I will be working on being more grateful and complaining less. God has a plan for all of us, He just has His own divine timing. :)

Looking To Jesus

Hebrews 12:1-3 says, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."

One of my good friends put this on his Facebook status today. It rings so true to me today. It reminds me that, yes, people watch what I do. However, that means I need to go on ahead and do for God what I would do for Him when people aren't looking. I need to look to Him for the example of how I should live me life. He died for my sins and yours, the least I can do is try to not sin and do everything I can for God. That includes relying on Him for the power. We need God's power to help us through the day, no matter if it's just a day of relaxation or the most stressful day of our lives. Look to Jesus for the power you need each day, I know I need the reminder.

What is love?

Today, I was going through an old notebook that had some sermon notes in it. One of the sermons I had written down was from my youth pastor, Bro. Ricky Brown, that talked about what love is. He said that love is:
Looking past others' faults
Others first
Vicarious. (being able to take the blame for someone)
Enduring. (or even encouraging someone)

I strongly believe in this definition of love. All of these describe the love that God commands for us to have for one another in 1 John 3:10 (KJV): "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." Reading that verse again sounds a little harsh, but true. What good is the love of God if it can't be passed along to others? We need to love our brothers (in Christ) and always share the love of God with them. We also need to share the love of God with those around us who may not be our brothers, but are our neighbors.

The bottom line of Bro. Ricky's sermon that night was that love is action. It is something that we choose to do on a daily basis, not just something we feel. I think we all need to take a good look at how we love others and strive to love our brothers and sisters as Jesus does.

Priorities

Many of us often have our priorities mixed up. The thing that should come first in every day is pleasing God. What sort of things please God? We know that loving Him is important. We can show Him by praying, reading our Bibles, treating others with respect, sharing the Gospel, and going to church. There are all kinds of other things that please God, but the one thing we don't want to do is sin against Him. That is all. If we are being pleasing to God, you bet the rest of your priorities will fall into place. I'm not saying everything will be completely perfect, but God takes care of them that love Him.

Today, I'm challenging myself to reprioritize, and put God where He is worthy of being- only my first priority.

My Future Plans

Today, I was thinking about my future plans. As of right now, I'm on the path to becoming an elementary school teacher. However, as a part of my life in the future, I want to be a wife, a mother, and most of all, to continue serving Christ. One thing that I read in the Bible was the role of the wife. Ephesians 5:22-24 (KJV) says, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." This means to me that whenever I do get married, I need to let my husband lead me as I let God lead me. If God is in the marriage, then everything will be successful. I know there will be times that are tough, as there is in every life, but knowing that God will be the center of my marriage is comforting. One thing I am very thankful of is being one of the younger college-age students at my church. So while they are all getting married and growing up, I can see models of good marriages. I am very thankful for the three couples I've seen, two of which have been married for less than a year. I see that they all pray together and treat each other as brothers and sisters in Christ first, then as their spouse. I think this is very important in any relationship or friendship because it strengthens the relationship with Christ as well as the relationship with each other. Today, I'm challenging myself to treat others as brothers and sisters in Christ first, then whatever their relation is to me after that. It is my prayer that you (and I) will spend some time with God every day, strengthening that relationship as well.

A Closer Look

Psalm 26:2-3 (KJV) says, "Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth." Today, I feel like I should open myself to God and allow Him to take an even closer look at my mind and my heart. I know neither of those are nowhere near perfect, but I have been trying to clear my mind of sinful things, as well as my heart. Ever since I got saved (I was 12, almost 13 years old), I've been feeling this same way. I know I'll mess up, but I want God to take a closer look and see what I need to do in order to be more pleasing to Him. Of course, since then, God's blessed me with the ability to avoid certain types of sin, but it's the other stuff I'm still working on. I want to give it all to God and just let Him try me and help me become less of a sinful person. My prayer today is that He will allow me to keep learning more in His Word so that I might not sin against Him.

Opened Eyes

This week has been pretty eye-opening for me. I've learned a lot about being courageous in my everyday life. Now it's time to put it into action. This past Wednesday, at Bible Study, we talked about why God gives us rules. David couldn't have explained it better in Psalm 119:18-20 (KJV), "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times." God has great things that come out of obedience. He has given us the gift of grace, and that should be enough for us, but He also helps us with the things of everyday life. God's given us so many blessings to be thankful for, and we need to realize it. We need to open our eyes to the fact that God protects us with His laws, and He blesses us when we follow them.

Selfish Prayer

Lately, I've found myself guilty or praying selfishly. It's easy to just think about all of your own needs before the needs of others. James 4:3 says, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." To me, this verse means that we need to ask for the things that will show the glory of God, not the things that will show the glory of us. It's perfectly okay to pray about your grades in school or a promotion at work, but you need to always give the glory to God when He answers your prayer. That brings me to another point- answered prayer may not be the exact answer you are looking for, but God has a plan! :)

Temptation

Temptation is something we all face. James 1:14-15 (KJV) says, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." We need to take these verse into consideration when we are tempted.

Firstly, it says that every man is tempted. Temptation in itself is not a sin, but acting on temptation is. It's perfectly okay to like your friend's new CD, but once you covet it, then you're sinning.

This all goes back to yesterday about making compromises. You'll be tempted to do something, then you'll make a compromise. You'll say in your mind, "If I only do it once, it won't hurt anyone." But then, BAM!, you've started sinning. Only doing it one time will lead to moving on to more "severe" types of that action. For instance, if it's drugs, you may start out just hanging out with the people who do drugs, then one time decide it will be okay to just take one hit of the joint your friends are smoking. Next thing you know, you'll move on to actually buying the drugs, and even move on to harder drugs.

We watched a video in the teen class last night about courage. One of the stories of one of the guys was one similar to the situation I described. Once he got into middle school, all of his friends from elementary schools had gone to different school, so he started hanging out with new people. It was then in 8th grade when he first tried marijuana with the guys he was hanging out with. It was supposed to be "a part of what everyone else was doing." However, he made a compromise in order to hang out with the people he had in his life and ended up paying the price. The story has a happy ending, however. When this guy moved on to harder drugs on a more regular basis, that was when his parents noticed. They sent him to a Christian camp for a week, where he wouldn't have access to drugs, but just be able to spend time in fellowship with other teens and spend time with God. He said that it was at that camp where he felt that God was there. He knew then that God could carry him through his struggles and all he had to do was trust Him.

I urge you to apply these situations to your life if you haven't already. Remain strong in the Lord, He will give you strength to be courageous. In fact, God commands us to be strong and courageous. God was talking to Joshua in Joshua 1:9 (KJV), "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." I am working on being more courageous, as God is always with me. I tend to forget that at times, but I need to constantly remember that He is there! He is ready for me to listen to what He has to say to me every day and He's waiting for me to come to Him and repent whenever I will fall into temptation because let's face it, I'm not perfect. None of us are perfect, but God's given us the gift of grace and He's bestowed that grace upon us through Jesus.

Making Compromises

Tonight, the teens at my church here in Bloomington started a new Bible study. I got to go to the class to help out and be the second adult in the room. :) The Bible study is a series of videos followed by a short lesson from the Bible. The guy teaching the class, Luke, did a great job being relateable to the teens. Granted, he and I were teenagers ourselves just a couple of short years ago, but I still think he did a good job trying to talk to them as equals rather than talking down to them like a parent might end up doing. It was great. One of the things the video talked about was making compromises. As humans, we like to sin. However, many of us feel guilt when we sin, so we make compromises for it and end up sinning anyways.

Luke 7:13-14 (KJV) says, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." This means to me that making compromises only leads to destruction. There is a right way to live your life, and that is to live it like Jesus. Yes, we have faults, and yes, we will mess up sometimes. That's why God gave us grace. He's forgiving, and all you have to do is ask for that forgiveness, and he is faithful and just to forgive us.

Juggling it All

As a college student, I have times where I am very busy. I think all other college students can attest to that fact. These are the times where I need to remember one thing: I can't do it without God. Jesus speaks in John 15:5 (KJV) saying, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." We all need to just admit it- without Christ, we just can't do it. However, there is the hope that once you ask Him into your heart and make Him a part of your life that He will take care of it. It's not even a hope, it's a promise. Paul said it best in Philippians 4:13 (KJV), "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." We all need Christ's help in our everyday lives, and giving the glory to Him when things get done is a good start. Lean on God for the everyday things as well as the big things. I'm sure your life will be much better because mine has.

One of my favorite quotes: "Go on ahead, make a plan. Because when you make your own plan, God laughs." :)

Loving When Love Seems Impossible

Luke 6:27-28 (KJV) says, "But I say unto you which hear; Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you."

Sometimes loving someone seems downright impossible. However, God commands that we need to love Him with all our heart, strength, and mind; we also need to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our neighbors include the ones we like and the ones who don't like as well. It's one of the hardest things to do. Personally, the hardest thing for me is getting past the things that I don't like about person. Sometimes, it's just one thing that they do that annoys me, but that should be no reason for me not to love them. I'm personally working on loving others more and trying to act like I love them as well. It's easy to say that you do, but to show it is another thing completely.

Bitterness

Today was a slightly challenging day. Today, I admitted to myself that I can be bitter. It's a shock, I know. (That was called sarcasm just now...) As a human being, I have faults. One of them is being bitter. However, I need to change that bitterness into something sweet for God. James 3:14 and 16 (KJV) say, "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth... For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work."

God wants us to not be bitter or envy things/people. Ephesians 4:31-32 (KJV) says, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and clamour, and anger, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." There have been some not-so-great events in my life, and I was (and still am at times) pretty bitter about it. However, I am working on replacing that bitterness. I've been being kind to the people involved in the situation as much as I can, and have been praying for them. It was really hard at first, but prayer is essential in forgiving someone and moving on past bitterness. I know that it really hurts for some things to happen in your life, but God's forgiven us for all of our sins, all we have to do is ask for that forgiveness. We need to be an example, and forgive those who wronged us, but also try to not bring up what they did again. It's never fun to dwell in the past, and it just ends up creating the same bitterness you felt the first time it happened, so pray to God for strength to forgive and move on. Trust me, it'll make you feel better about the whole situation.

Tired and Weary

Today, I ran around a lot. I was in a car for nearly 3 hours today, went to the Greenwood Park Mall, went to my parents' house to pick up clothes I left there when I came down to school, went to the grocery store, went to the church, and then finally was dropped off at my apartment back in Bloomington. I had a great day and got to spend it with a great lady (Barbie, a lady from my church here in Bloomington), but when I got back to my apartment, I was just plain tired. I'm still tired. However, I know that God helps us when we're tired when we wait upon Him. Isaiah 40:31 (KJV) says, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint."

This verse is actually very special to me, as it was one of my Grandpa's favorite verses. He was definitely a HUGE part of my life as a child, and unfortunately for me, he passed away when I was 7 years old. Fortunately, though, I know that I'll see him one day in Heaven because he was saved. I thank God every day for that mercy that He's shown to me and people in my family. Anyways, God doesn't want us to be tired and weary. He's going to renew our strength, help us soar like eagles. If you've never seen an eagle soar, you need to find a video or something. It's something that's so cool to see. They make it look so effortless, but you know that they had to get that high up in the sky somehow. Remember that God can make you soar like an eagle. He can help you through the days where you feel tired and weary. Just lean on Him and He will show you how mighty His power is.

Imperfect Made Perfect

As you may have noticed, I didn't post last night. It just didn't even go through my mind. That just proves I'm not perfect. I already knew I wasn't perfect, but it definitely emphasizes that we all make mistakes. Two of my favorite verses about weakness (or mistakes, whichever you'd rather look at it as) are found in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (KJV), "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproach, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

We all make mistakes. It's one of those facts of life that we all need to face. However, there are two things you can do after making a mistake. First, you can just keep making the same mistake, never learning how to make it right. Second, which is what God wants us to do by "glorying in our infirmities," is to learn from our mistakes and do right. We can't be perfect, and God KNOWS that. That's why He sent His Son to die for our sins. That's also why He told Paul that His grace is enough, and when you are weak, that is when His strength will help you most. The moral of the story is this: always prayerfully learn from your mistakes. Sometimes, you'll go through rough times and you'll feel really weak, but pray for God's direction and for Him to reveal to you what it is He wants you to learn from it. Today, I've learned to prioritize. When I came home from hanging out with my friends last night, my priorities were watching some movies on Netflix Instant and then making sure my phone would get charged. I hope you learn valuable lessons from God the Father today and throughout the rest of the weekend.

I Shall Not Be Moved

"I shall not be moved... I'm anchored to the rock, standing on the truth, and I shall not be moved."

This is a quote from a Collingsworth Family song (gotta love 'em!), and it rings true with me, especially when I read Psalm 16:8 (KJV)- "I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." One thing we as Christians need to remember is that we have certain beliefs, and we shall not be moved. God breathed His word into men to write it down in order for us to be able to figure out some of the crazy things in this life. However, we need to be putting God first in order for us not to be moved. We need to keep our eyes on the Lord, let our hearts be yielded to His will, have a burden for lost souls, and keep God's word in our hearts. If any of this sounds familiar, I stole it from one of the assistant pastors at my church, Tim Lindsey.

One thing I know I need to work on is keeping yielded to God's will. I'll get to where I give it all to God, but the next day, I wake up and think I can do it on my own. That's not the way it should be. I should be yielding to God's direction on a daily basis, all day. I'm working on it, and I'm hoping that you can, too. Having a yielded heart will only produce good fruit, and help you not to be moved!

Loyalty

"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." (Proverbs 17:17, KJV)

Loyalty is something that should not be taken lightly. Being loyal doesn't mean always staying on one person's side. It means loving them no matter what. It means loving a friend when you guys are fine with each other and loving a friend even when they act like you don't exist. It's something that's really hard, but it's something that God has called us to do as friends. The ultimate example of loyalty is what Christ did for us. Even as He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He continued to be sinless. He had to be the spotless lamb in order to die for our sins, and He could have messed up there, but He didn't. He still loved us and died for us. We need to model that loyalty to others by doing the same. We need to still love our friends, even if it is hard for us. We need to show love by being compassionate, forgiving, and looking out for them. My challenge for myself tomorrow is to be a more loyal friend by showing Christ's love to my friends. I hope you can do the same, as it will strengthen your friendships. :)

Dreams (the nighttime kind)

Lately I've been having some really weird dreams. I think it's because I just came back to school and adjusting to a different bed is messing me up, but it's not a huge deal. However, I know that I have (in the past) had troubling dreams before and I'm sure many of you have, too. Now, last night's dream wasn't necessarily troubling, but let's just say fencing with Errol Barnett and then meeting Ryan Seacrest in my dream is not normal or realistic at all. The Bible defines a dream as a "vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed." (Job 33:15, KJV)

The Bible also tells us that "For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God." (Ecclesiastes 5:7, KJV) This illustrates the reality of dreams. Dreams are just pictures that are made by our minds while we sleep. Sometimes they'll be horrible dreams- someone close to you dying, something bad happening to someone you love, etc., but they can also be good dreams- finding that one guy/girl you've been looking for your whole life, winning a million dollars, and sometimes they'll just be dreams that feel like reality- situations in your life that end up playing through your mind in your sleep with different outcomes. I know I've had a few of each type of dream, but Ecclesiastes 5:7 says exactly what we need to remember. Dreams mean nothing; we need to fear God. Fearing God isn't the same as fearing the dark or snakes. Fearing God is a reverent and respectful fear, much like the one a child usually has for their father. Fearing God the Father is what will help us find out God's will for our life. We need to let Him work out the details, and in the meantime, listen for His leading and be ready to step out on faith. Reading your Bible and praying everyday just strengthens that relationship you have with God, so I urge you to keep reading your Bible and praying daily. It'll bless you and glorify God, and isn't that what all Christians should want? We should all want to glorify God in whatever way we can.

Disagreements (and Gossip)

One thing I've been learning recently is how to deal with disagreements. I've decided to use the Bible as a model for what I should do... which is really what I should do with everything in the Bible. It's a letter from God and a guide to life. The verses that we should all use when dealing with conflicts among the brethren (or even among those who aren't "brethren") are found in Matthew chapter 18. Jesus is speaking in Matthew 18:15-17 (KJV), "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained the brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." Basically, when you have problem with someone, go to them PERSONALLY. Don't go talk about the problem with 5 other people before you say anything to them. If that works and he corrects his fault, great! You've "gained the brother." If not, then you are to get a group to talk together this time and get all of the facts straight. That's why you bring in more people... not to just gossip about it, but to figure out the truth. And then, if it's not resolved with the group, that's when it should be taken to the church. In the secular world, this is when you would want to seek help for someone outside of their friends or family.

I know that it can be hard to handle problems in this fashion. As humans, we just want to go complain to others and gossip about what we thought happened. We sometimes let our feelings get in the way of what is right and refuse to see the truth of the matter. It all boils down to what is right and what is wrong, and I believe that the Bible is right. Scratch believe, I KNOW the Bible is right. God's inspired words on pages are what we should strive to live our lives by. Many of the rules/laws we have today are based in Bible verses and customs of that time period, so why not go the extra mile and try to live by it as closely as possible? I'm challenging myself to resist complaining to others when I have a problem with someone. That leads to gossip, and gossip is wrong. Hopefully you can do the same, and remember that people make mistakes, and you don't always know the truth when you base it completely on hearsay.

Count Your Blessings Again

One thing I just cannot get past is how blessed I am. I'm blessed with an amazing family, awesome friends, the two best churches in the state of Indiana (as far as I'm concerned), many opportunities at school, a great summer job, random jobs during the school year, and so many more things. God's been so good. Or as we say at Life Line, "God is good... all the time. All the time... God is good." Psalm 68:19 (KJV) says, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah." God always provides, especially on a daily basis. He is the God of our salvation, and that should be enough blessing for us. However, God keeps on giving, more than we can ask or think.

Today, I was listening to The Collingsworth Family (again) and their song "Count Your Blessings Again" came on my iPod. In the song they say something that is so true to me: "Count your blessings again, again, and again, start with the one where He saved you from sin. When you're done with them all, give the praises to Him, then turn around and count all your blessings again." We should be more thankful for what God's given us. Even if it is something some people may not be thankful for- waking up this morning, having food on the table, having money in your wallet, having great friends, etc., we still need be thankful and keep counting those blessings that God has given us.

Disappointments

Much like approximately 80% (my guess...) of the population of Indianapolis, I watched the Colts game tonight. Unfortunately (SPOILER ALERT), the Colts lost. And like other playoff games lost, this one was a big disappointment. During the game, I was fellowshipping with some of the people from my church in Mooresville. One of the things we talked about was how fortunate we are as people. One of the men from our church was at the grocery store today, and the family in front of him couldn't pay for their groceries. The card they had food stamps on apparently didn't have enough funds to pay for the groceries. Luckily, someone who knew them was there, and paid for them. It was then he really noticed how fortunate he was. He realized that he never had to worry about if they were going to be able to afford the groceries for the week. He realized that his disappointments of the day weren't anything big compared to people who were much less fortunate than him. This reminded me of Ephesians 3:20-21 (KJV)- "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." God can literally do anything. Some things that we can't even dream of, he can just DO. Why doesn't that cure us of our disappointments?

My prayer this evening if for all of us as Christians (or non-Christians) to be happy with how God's blessed us. For Christians, the first blessing we should be thankful for is our salvation. God loved us enough to send His own Son to die for our sins. For non-Christians, a blessing you can be thankful for is that God loves you enough to give you the chance to be saved. That Son He gave for the Christians? He gave that Son for you, too. All you have to do is believe and confess. It's that simple. Just believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin as God's only Son, lived a sinless life, then died for your sins, and was raised from the dead; then confess that you are a sinner. Romans 3:23 says "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." We all mess up. It's true. However, John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." That means that God gave His Son specifically so we could join Him in Heaven. I am thankful for that promise every day, and I pray that it will be a reminder of God's blessings during my times of disappointment.

Opportunity is Knocking

These past ten-ish days have been full of opportunities for me. God's been blessing me every moment of every day, especially with new opportunities. God allowed me to go to a youth conference with the teens from my Bloomington church. If you didn't already know, I'm currently a student at IU, meaning part of my life is still spent at home while the majority of my life is being spent at school. I love both places very much, as both of them have churches that I love. God has blessed me with both, and all of the opportunities that come with being a part of them. The youth conference was amazing. God worked on me, letting me know that I needed to go more into His word and spend more time in prayer as well. Then today, I was given the opportunity to substitute teach for one of the ladies from my church here at home. I enjoyed myself and felt that God has already blessed me so much just for being obedient. Matthew 6:33 (KJV) says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Through all this, I've learned that God blesses you more than you even ask when you're obedient. I am challenging myself to be more obedient to God's word every day, and I hope you can do the same.

Faith Like Paul

One of the things I've thought a lot about this week is faith. Whenever I get to thinking about faith, I also think about fear that prevents us from acting on faith. Tomorrow is a big day for me. It will be the first day that I am substituting as a teacher. I've never actually been in a classroom of students for a whole day by myself before, but I'm confident that the Lord will help me through the day. Luckily, I'm subbing for one of the ladies from my church, so I talked to her beforehand and am confident that I am as prepared as I'll ever be. I'm definitely going ot be praying all the way to the school tomorrow. :) Aside from that, I've just been thinking about how powerful faith is. It is the complete basis of Christianity, and without it, my salvation in the Lord would just be nothing. Faith is what gets you into Heaven. It's not being a good person, or doing more good than bad. It's not being the richest person or the most beautiful. It's faith. It's trusting in the Lord and believing on Him. It's His grace that gets us there. Only through the death, burial, and ressurection of Jesus Christ did our path to Heaven get paved. Some verses that stick out to me are Romans 3:23-24 (KJV), "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." These verses say that we've all sinned, meaning we all make mistakes. We aren't perfect, no matter how hard we try, so God had to make a way for us to be worthy. The only way He could do that was to send His Son, Jesus, to take our place. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23, KJV) Today I am challenging myself and others to remember the faith that you had to ask Jesus into your heart. It may have been some time since you've acted on that kind of faith. I'm challenging myself to follow God's will rather than my own, and I'm doing so by spending more time in my Bible and in prayer on a daily basis. I hope you can do the same.

Staying Pure

This morning, right after I woke up, I decided to read the fifth Proverb. To read it in the King James Version, go here. Basically, these verses mean quite a bit to me. One of the things I'm striving to do is stay pure for marriage. I urge others to do the same because of the things that are said in verse 20. If you decide to go on ahead and do different things before marriage, you're depriving not only your partner, but also yourself of the satisfaction in knowing that you are theirs and they are yours.

Although verse 20 is a very important verse for purity, my favorite verse in this whole chapter is verse 21. This verse tells us that God always knows what we're going through. He knows if it's good, bad, ugly, or wonderful. That's one of the most magnificent things about our God. He is the One that knows us better than we know ourselves. Having a relationship with him is like having a best friend that can understand you before you even say a word. My challenge for myself today is to start treating God like my best friend. I want to talk to Him every day, spend as much time with Him as possible, and go to Him with my problems. I want to love Him, and show Him that I love Him by serving Him as best as I can. Today, I want to challenge you to do that as well.

What Noah Knew

Today, I was listening to one of my favorite Southern Gospel groups, The Collingsworth Family. My favorite song from them is called "What Noah Knew." If any of you know the story of Noah, you know that he was a man of great faith. There was no rain on Earth before Noah. God had told Noah to build an ark, load up his family along with two of each animal, then lock up the ark for forty days while floating in water. Noah had no clue that water could come from the sky. All he knew was that God told him to build an ark. He had the faith that I can only imagine having.

Hebrews 11:7 (KJV) says "By faith Noah, being warned of God od things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of righteousness which is by faith." Noah feared the Lord, knowing that God knew what He was talking about, and followed in that fear to build the ark and ended up saving his family. As a matter of fact, he saved the future of the entire planet that day. We are all descendants of Noah because at this point in time, his family was the only one to survive.

One lesson I can take from Noah is the lesson of faith. There may be things that God asks me to do that I think are pretty crazy. However, I need to be more like Noah in taking steps of faith. God may not ask me to build an ark or travel halfway across the world, but I still need to be willing to do whatever His will may be. I need to diligently seek His will in prayer and Bible reading and then follow in it with faith, and I hope you cna do the same.

Shout It Out

At the youth conference I was at this past weekend, the Micah Watson Band was playing during the group sessions we had for worship before the "sermons" with Bro. Donny Parish. One of the songs we sang was called "Shout It Out" and the lyrics are as follows:

"You raised me up and poured me out, You turned my life around. You set my feet on solid ground and put a new song in my mouth. So I'll shout it out, shout it out, shout it, shout it out, You have set me free."

Normally, when songs repeat themselves a lot, I lose some of the meaning of the song. However, this song was different for me. The whole song is true. God does turn lives around (mine in particular) and puts a new song in our mouths. Before I accepted Christ into my heart, hymns meant nothing. Now they mean a lot more to me than they did when I was 12 years old. I had gone through a time where I didn't even acknowledge God's presence on a daily basis, and that helped me see even more meaning in the songs we sing at church or hear on Christian radio.

The coolest thing about the Micah Watson Band's CD Glorious Unveiling was the fact that each song has a Bible reference that goes with it. This song, "Shout It Out," refers to Isaiah 40:6, but I really like the following verses as well. Isaiah 40:6-8 says "The voice said, Cry. And he said What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all of the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever." These verses come with a promise that God's word stands forever. If that's not a reason to be happy and want to shout out what God has done for you, then I don't know what is. We all know that history fades, things get lost, and memories fail. However, God's word is ALWAYS there. I'm challenging myself to remember this. It's hard sometimes, to read your Bible every day and to remember that God and His word is always there when you need it and when you think you don't. I've been there... even just last week. I'm hoping this will encourage you to read your Bible and pray daily. Stay in contact with God and remember to share with others the hope and joy you've experienced. Shout it out for all to hear!

Power in Prayer

Today in Sunday School, one of the college guys, Josh Allbright, preached a message about the Power in Prayer. It is without a doubt, the most powerful tool to a Christian aside from the Bible. What is really sad is that mant of us don't use prayer the way it was intended by God. Prayer is our instant hotline to God's ear. Psalm 116:1-2 says "I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclinced his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live." God's ears are always open. Talking to Him should be like talking to your best friend in heaven and earth, but guess what... This friend is almighty, all-powerful, and all-knowing. God knows when you're having trouble. He knows what tomorrow will bring. Talking to the Lord is such a powerful tool because you are in communication with the One that knows what your needs are. Even if you can't verbalize your needs, God knows what they are.

Another way we abuse prayer is by asking for things according to our own will. We are not the almighty God. We cannot tell the future, and we can't always fix problems on our own. We may think we're fixing all of our own problems, but God can fix them so much easier than we can. He has the power. I, personally, like to fix things. I like to make sure all of my family and friends are happy, and if they're not, I try to do everything in my power to make them happy. However, the first thing I should do in these situations is pray. I tend to leave prayer as my last resort, and I'm working on that.

Later this evening, when I was at the evening service for church, one of our assistant pastors, Ricky Brown, preached a message about prayer as well. I can see that God knew I needed both of these messages quite clearly now. He talked about wanting more. However, this wanting more wasn't selfish, like you'd think, but wanting to DO more with the blessings God has given you. He used the example of Solomon, when he asked for wisdom. I'm paraphrasing here, but God basically told Solomon, whatever you pray for, I will give it to you. Solomon then answered that he wanted and understanding heart so that he would be able to tell the difference between good and bad and be a good judge as king. God rewarded Solomon with even more than he asked for, with riches and honor, that he would be the best of the kings in his day. God did this because Solomon wasn't being selfish. He wanted to be able to serve God with an understanding heart, and be able to help the people decide what was fair. The next few verses in 1 Kings 3 are the story of the two women with the babies, one of which died. If you don't know the story, both of the women claimed that the living child was theirs, and then Solomon decided that in order to do the most fair thing, they had to cut the baby in half and give half to each woman. However, one of the women said, no, give the other woman the child. Solomon knew that only the child's true mother would give up her son to someone else to be sure that he would live. In the end, Solomon gave that woman the child because he knew that she was the real mother. Solomon used his gift of wisdom in order to serve others, rightfully giving the child to his real mother.

Today has been one full of challenges about prayer. I'm challenging myself to be more careful in my prayer life. I haven't been very good about communicating with God daily and talking to Him about my problems, leaving them with Him. I want to challenge you to go to God with your problems. He's there, waiting for you to call on Him with your every need, and He will work according to His will. If you've had any experience as a Christian, you know that God's will is much better than any plan we could ever come up with. The verse I want to leave you with is this one about prayer: "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." Jeremiah 33:3 (KJV)

New Life in Christ

After a weekend spent with some teenagers from my church in Bloomington, I have come to realize that I need a closer walk with God. I knew this before I went, but this trip gave me the extra push I needed. God worked in too many ways to count this weekend, and I'm sure He's been working that hard and I just haven't taken the time to see it like I should.

For Christmas, my secret sister (who is no longer a secret) gave me a journal that had some promises in it. All of them are verses from the Bible or quotes from people about God and different things. It's a wonderful journal, and it helped me to figure out a way to make sure I read my Bible every day and just strengthen my relationship with God. That being said, I'm now using my journal daily, along with the many other books I have to help me pick what part of the Bible to read each day. I also take time to meditate on it, think about what the verses mean to me, and what God has done for me recently, as well as what I have done for Him. I also decided to go on ahead and post a blog because I am a firm believer in spreading the Word in whatever way possible. So, if someone happens to stumble upon my blog and get a blessing out of it, all of the glory goes to God. It's His Word that I talk about.

Ephesians 2:1-10
1: And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2: Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4: But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5: Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6: And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

What these verses mean to me is that salvation is a gift. It's not only a gift that is given by God, but it is a free gift. No works are necessary to be saved. All you have to do is "...confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead..." (Romans 10:9 KJV), and you can be saved, too.