All I want is that you seek the lord and that you trust him. (Courageous 2011)
That’s all I ever want for anyone. Because in seeking God you will come to know His character, how much He loves you and that He can be trusted.
How many of us get our perception of God from others. We all have had our perception of God influenced by someone either in a good or bad way. But how many of us really seek to know Him intimately, to learn His character for ourselves and make up our own minds instead of what others tell us.
That’s my hope with this blog that we would see God for who He is and seek to know Him more intimately and deeper then you even have before.
Run the Race is a great movie about the power of forgiveness and the bridges that forgiveness can build. It’ a great story of how no one is beyond saving and we should never give up on people.
My childhood friends from church never gave up on me. They were always there for me and never stopped praying. They never compromise themselves or approved of my choices during my time of ignoring God. But there were always there.
When I finally made the decision to change my life. They immediately jumped in to help and encourage me to stick with my decision.
My friends and my mom never gave up on me and so when I made that choice I knew that I could go to them without any fear or condemnation.
Extending forgiveness and keeping the door open, creates a safe place for people to come when they have questions or choose to make a change.
Never under estimate the power of prayer and an open door.
Like leaving the door open when you baking cookies, eventually someone is going to smell the warm comforting sweetness and come in.
Often when we don’t feel ready to do what God calls us to, it’s then that we are ready. Because it’s that insecurity in ourselves that makes us depend on Him. So we cannot boast in ourselves but in Him alone.
One of my teachers when I first started preaching, reminded me that nerves are good when preaching, because it keeps us conscious of God, His will, His words and His direction. If we were completely confident in ourselves, we would have no need for Him. But it’s because we know our own imperfection and instead find our confidence in Him, that we can shine Him best.
Don’t let nerves hold you back from what you know God has called you to instead, use those nerves to depend on Him and shine God to others not ourselves.
A good marriage has to be worked at and fought for, it’s easy to take your spouse for granted because of the natural ease that brought you together in the first place.
Just because something is easy and comfortable, doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be cared for. The movie Fireproof is a great example of how going though the motions and taking advantage of a comfortable situation can result in collapse.
Marriage is a bond that makes the two, one. Your spouse is your other half and when you neglect them, it’s like not taking care of yourself.
I have to be honest, I don’t have a perfect marriage, and I don’t always put my husband first. But when I do, I never regret it. I have, regretted not putting him first and neglecting him.
A strong marriage has to be built and maintained. But it also has to have something that binds you together. God is that binder. Putting God at the center of your marriage draws you closer to Him and each other.
Don’t let others miss representation of God deter you from knowing Him yourself.
Many people have walked away from their faith in God because they were hurt by other believers or believe that God betrayed them.
Just because others have represented God falsely, does not mean that is who He is. Don’t let others perception be your own. Seek the truth about God from God, only He can truly represent Himself in His entirety.
People are human and we all make mistakes, I make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes.
I walked away from my faith when I was 18 because I felt at the time that my spiritual leaders were more concerned with bringing others to Jesus, then helping me through the things I was facing at the time.
I was WRONG. But that was my perception and interpretation at the time.
The truth is they didn’t help me because they didn’t know, I didn’t tell anyone. Instead I started looking to those outside the faith for my solutions and they provided nothing other then distractions to avoid my problems, rather then face them.
When I came back to my faith in God, I had more problems, not less. Life without God was miserable, I was always seeking the approval of others and digging my self into a deeper and deeper hole to do it.
Giving my life back to God gave me peace and freedom that I had not know during my time away from Him. God surrounded me with His love and forgiveness and brought many people into my life to encourage me to grow in my faith.
If you are questioning God I encourage you to go to scripture, flip open your Bible and begin reading. Don’t have a bible visit Biblegateway.com and randomly pick a verse. Talk to someone you respect for how they represent God and ask the hard questions. Talk to God and give Him your hard questions, but don’t forget to listen for the answer.
God is there and He loves you and He wants to talk to you. Give Him a chance. Don’t let other be the reason you don’t make up your own mind, make your own choices.
I can’t imagine a world with out the ability to have a personal relationship with him.
As the celebration of his birth approaches there are a million things running through my mind, a million uncertainties so many unknowns that worry and scary me. But the one constant is Jesus.
I am beyond grateful that no matter what happens in life the he is always there for me. No matter what I know that he has me. He will take care of my every need, worry and concern.
How do I know this? Because he’s done it before countless times. And I know he will again.
So no matter your thoughts this Christmas thank Jesus for who is he.
Because we can always find hope in him, just like when its hard to see because the skies are grey and cloudy and the outlook looks bleak. But when the sun comes out it sheds light on things and we can she the beauty where we may have missed it before.
Jesus is the light of the world, look for him to change your perspective.
I grew up as a Christian, but I had periodic God encounters, instead of a relationship with him. So I quit for six years. I didn’t have an everyday relationship with God, I just went from experience to experience and fended for myself in-between.
That is no way to live, of course I sought other alternative, because I didn’t really know him. I knew about him and had a few amazing moments with him, but I didn’t know him.
But once I realized I couldn’t do life without God, I began that journey into a daily relationship with him. That’s what matters, that’s what makes the difference, that everyday conversation with him.
God compares our relationship with him to marriage. You wouldn’t have much of a marriage if you didn’t at the very least talk to your spouse everyday. So how can you have a healthy relationship with God if you don’t talk to him everyday.
I don’t mean for this to feel exhaustive. Because having relationship with God is anything but, because he is the one the fills us up, restores us and makes us new.
So no matter how tired, how exhausted or even how unwell you feel you can always talk to him, because he is enough in our weakest moments he is all we need.
I often talk about listening to God, and following his direction, but how do you hear God? Below is a great movie with real life testimonies about hearing the voice of God. I pray you blessed and encouraged by it.
Why do people want God to be dead? Because they don’t like him, they don’t agree with him, they think he doesn’t care about them or the people in their lives. It’s much easier to say someone is dead then to deal with the hurt they may have caused us. People say it all the time ‘your dead to me’ but saying it doesn’t make them any more dead then you or I.
Avoiding or ignoring someone does not make them not exist, but that avoidance can cause bitterness to grow in us that will affect those around us.
That’s why forgiveness is so powerful. forgiveness isn’t about saying what the other did was right, but about freeing ourselves from allowing that hurt to control us.
If we walk through life always mad and angry about what others have done to us. What kind of a life is that?
That’s why Jesus died AND rose back to life. So that he could pay the price for our mistakes so that we could be forgiven and we could forgive others.
In the Desolation of Smog, Tauriel asks Legolas “When did we let evil become stronger than us?
We should be asking ourselves this when we let fear or worry hold us back from doing what God has asked us to do.
We get to choose what we let have power over us. If we choose to trust God we can do amazing things for him, reach people we never imaged and find strength, peace and joy that we didn’t know that we had.
In 2014 my small group leader was taking a team to Uganda for a missions trip and he asked the group if any of us wanted to go.
I had been on several mission trips before to others countries but honestly Africa was the only place that I never wanted to go.
As the night continued I felt an overwhelming sense that God wanted me to go on this trip. I kept ignoring it but after our group ended as I was talking with my co-worker James who had been before. I couldn’t ignore the promoting I felt from God any longer. I decided to go.
The trip changed my life and perspective on so many things more than any other mission trip I had been on.
By allowing God to direct my steps he grew our relationship in leaps and bounds on that trip and I haven’t been the same since.
What fear are you letting keep you from doing what God has asked you to do?
Take a step of faith and don’t let fear rule your decisions.
“All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us.” -Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring
We all have moments and times in our lives that we wish hadn’t happened. But we can’t change the past. However we can choose how we react to it and what we do with what we have.
Its easy to say I’ve always been like this or you don’t know what I’ve been through. You’re right I don’t but God does and he’s the one that can heal your wounds.
When we let our past dictate our future, we let our past have all the power. But when we choose to let God heal us from our past. We choose to no longer let it affect us. Instead we can look to the future that God has planed for us.
The Christmas Candle is a great movie about miracles in many different ways. (I know it’s not December yet.) But God does provide miraculous miracles of helping and provision and sometimes we are the miracle to someone else.
As Thanksgiving is fastly approaching I want to encourage you to look outwards instead of inward, with your thanksgiving. Who are you thankful for? Is there something you can do for them that we be a miracle for them?
Talk with the Holy Spirit and let him lead you to someone you can be Jesus too and bless them with your help, time or service.
You never know the impact you can make till you let Jesus be a miracle through you.
Pain is something we all have somehow somewhere in our lives we all have been hurt and we all try to escape it. By avoiding, ignoring, overcompensating, deflecting and straight out running in the other direction regardless of what that is.
But what if instead of holding onto that pain we could be free from it.
Forgiveness is powerful and it frees us from pain.
Many see forgiveness as excusing the one who hurt us or saying it was ok. But it’s not. Forgiving someone does that make what they did right, but it does free us from letting that pain control us.
Holding on to the pain of the past gives that pain power over us, to control our actions and lets it rule us, keeping us from things because we are afraid to face the pain. We give it the power to influence decisions instead.
Holding onto our pain instead of forgiving really controls us, not the other person.
But we can make the decision to stop letting that pain rule us and surrender it over to Jesus. He came to free us from our pain and free us from allowing unforgiveness to control us.
Stop letting your past determine your future and let go of the pain.
Hearing God is something so many of us are looking for in our lives. What is he saying? Am I really hearing him? What does he sound like? How do I know when or if I’m hearing him?
Voice of God is a great documentary with real life testimony on how people hear God, how to know if it is him and if someone else is really hearing him.
We are all capable of hearing God if we listen, but we need to know what we are listing for.
God speaks in so many ways, through images, nature, others, audible, a still small voice within us, through emotions, feelings, impressions and so many other ways.
He is the creator of the universe and we cannot box him into just one way of speaking, we each hear him in different ways, but one thing is always the same the heart of his expression to us is always love.
God is love and he can never not be loving.
Test what you hear him saying against the bible talk to other believers and be willing to be wrong. But know that no matter what he will always be speaking in love.
