Oh how He loves us.

Sometimes when things go too right, I tend to forget about God. I still pray and worship, but I fail to listen to God for most of the time. When He speaks I would rather think about all the things I can do in a day and the temporarily happiness that I can find without needing His guidance. Yet when some things break down its when I finally realize that I need God so much more than I thought, when He is all I have and all that I should depend on is when I see His love for us.

Why is it that when things go well we always lose sight of the great Lord. Maybe that's why there is so much pain and suffering in the world, because when there is extended happiness all we learn to depend and lean on for support and joy is our friends, our families, our material possessions, our worldy lives. Yet when we have everything taken away, when God is the only one that remains, that we finally lean on him and learn about Him and know that He is just as good in the past when there was joy as now when there is suffering. God is constant through all, He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. It makes logical sense then to contemplate that the sufferings we endure are therefore for our own good, because it brings us closer to Him.

I'm beginning to think that is the trick to living a content and satisfying life, to be able to enjoy God when we are doing well in life, and also to not have to change when things go wrong, because our hope has been on Him this entire time. What does it mean to lean on God? I don't even know anymore. What does it mean to have Him in our lives? How do we gain this strength to survive, to keep going and to see the grace that He provides us everyday when we lose our crutch. There is that one parable that I see people use often; 'Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, feed him forever.' God could just give us a satisfying good life, but how can we ever learn about Him, about the person behind all these fish, if everyday we just wake up to fish on our tables. God is teaching us how to fish, how to live in Him. When we don't go fishing everyday, we end up hungry. Sadly, unlike hunger, we don't realize our depravity and our dire need for Christ until it is quite simply too late. We need to make our lives like that, where God is more important than food, where one day without Him will leave us starving and needing to get back to Him as soon as possible.

Recently, this idea of bearing with one another crept up in my life. That I'm supposed to seek after others with love and patience, bearing with their faults and forgiving them. There's a lot of people in my life that I don't really bear with. I would rather hang out with my close friends, and the others I'm willing just to see on a necessity basis; it's not really the right thing to do. Where on earth do I find this love when I have none of own, where can I turn now. Sometimes I'm scared to pray for certain things, because I think the way God answers prayers is to force us into situations that require those skills we prayed for. I pray for patience and God puts in my life those who I would quickly lose patience with. I pray for trust in God and then suddenly there are moments where I have no other options but to put my hopes and my faith in Him. I end up praying for them anyways, and enduring the consequences. This is because I figure those skills, though I don't want to go through learning to have them, will eventually prove much more useful in my life. If God knows my heart and my needs, why should I not acknowledge them myself. And when it comes to a point where I don't believe I can handle it anymore, when I find my strength lacking and draining away, I find that miraculously the energy I need fills my heart and I keep going. How God loves us so. So my prayer is for forgiveness, to love those I would rather not love. To throw away all my earthly assumptions and pride and desires, and simply turn to Him knowing that His will is sovereign and that all is for our good in the end, no matter how painful and mysterious it might seem at the present.

If His grace is like an ocean, we're all sinking.

Danny Boy

I read this short story today that started out really really really slow, but somehow picked up and ended shockingly. I have to say it was something I wasn't expecting, but considering the site I don't see why I was so surprised at the end of it all. It was a long metaphor about Jesus' sacrifice for us, and the right attitude we should have in light of that. It doesn't tell us to be consumed by guilt, but rather have a gratitude for Him, for the Savior that freed us from the guilt and led us to something better than ourselves. The only problem with the story was that it took about 100 pages to go through it all.

The story linked me to this passage in the Bible.

Philippians 2

Imitating Christ's Humility

¹If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
⁶Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

'Do not do anything out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.' Here's a lesson for me if I've ever seen one. I find that I"m calculating in a way that I will tend to act for my own benefit regardless of the situation, and that usually it ends up being the first thing I think of. It's something I've been working on, and quite honestly I'm still failing pretty badly at this point. It's hard to let everything go for God, which is an interesting thought, because He let everything go for us. We can repay God for all that He has done, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

Humility is such an important idea, with very relevant practical applications. I find it pretty easy to consider someone worse than me, but to humble myself to someone I feel is lesser and put his/her needs and burdens over mine is certainly a strange idea. Slowly I've been working at giving God credit for the things of my life, and I hope as a part of that I begin to put others in a place over me, to love them more than I love myself.

I've realized that our journey needs to begin with God. That before we have the capacity to humble ourselves to others, and to carry their burdens, we must have a communion with God that reflects our unity with Him, our desires to spend more time with him and grow in him. Through this process, our hearts will begin to turn towards the right direction. No longer will we be influenced by our own ambitions, because we know that humanely ambitions are doomed to fail. The will of God prevails, and so it naturally makes sense we should learn from God how to be successful in life.

Whole

Ephesians 1:3-4

How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. -The Message

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. -ESV

I want to tackle this idea of being made whole and holy in Christ. It's amazing to think that before anything was created, God had already planned for our creation and our lives. That amid all the greatness of nature and the world that surrounds us and encompasses us, God had already decided that we would be the objects of His love and grace. How spectacular that is, to think that our lives were already set so that we would grow and that we would be happy and joyful forever! Worrying about the little details of life seems so insignificant compared the whole picture really, of what we are here to do and what we will accomplish in this world. But God planned it all, the little details and the big pictures, He loved us enough to do that, to make sure that we would not lose our way forever, that His hand would always be there to push and guide us.

This idea of being whole in Christ is really something else. As I think about it, I'm a very incomplete person. I might have some strengths, but many weaknesses that tend to overshadow any benefits I might provide people in life. I am wretched, depraved, useless, and hateful. I find it hard to love others, I would rather find minor annoyances to judge them by and perhaps sacrifice valuable friends in the process. I always expect the worst out of people, but demand their best. And when they can't provide that, I tell myself that's who they are and hate them for it. As I walk in Christ, I've learned that these things aren't going to become easier, and by my strength they will always remain. But Christ is making me whole, and when I can't find the strength to love, to accept people, He will provide. That though my heart is in pieces, and I wander the world blind, His hand is leading me to where He is. To be made whole in Christ is a glorious thing indeed. All these holes in my life are being filled up, and as they do, I'm finding my heart more and more in peace with where Christ has placed me. Life isn't about being the richest or the most powerful, but rather about finding that contentment with our lot. I think as incomplete beings, we always seek something to fill the hole, but it always falls short. Finally Christ filled that hole for us, and the Holy Spirit is sealing it, that we might have that peace at last. Without God, we would be lacking, without God, we would be wandering forever. Glory to God the Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that decided we should not wander forever, and let us rest by the creek and enjoy God's greatness.

'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far, and Grace will lead me home.

God of all grace.

1 Peter 5

I lead this passage for small group, and it had a lot of good things to say to elders and young'uns that apply to everybody really. I guess reading this again, one thing that stood out was verse 8-10.

⁸Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. ¹⁰And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

When I was leading it for small group I didn't really take into account what verse 9 really meant. I recognized that the devil prowls, and recently in my life I've seen that it does and it's presence in tempting me to sin. But now verse 9 gives me strength. We are not alone in this struggle, whatever may be. No matter how much we think we're alone in our sufferings or that some struggle is ours alone, there are only so many situations in the world and so many people to experience them. I'm assured that someone in the world is undergoing the same struggle as me, and I as him. The thing that joins us together however is not our similarities, but rather our joint union and love in Christ. He is who we came from, our present companion, and our future. Together with fellow believers, we resist the sin that tempts us so, and as such the God of grace, who called us to him, will restore us.

¹⁰And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

For a little while, may seem like a lot at the present time. But as is with most things in life, as it passes by the moments of our sufferings will seem like that, only moments. It's interesting to think that when all has been said and done, it's not that we have grown any more by ourselves, or that we are stronger for the matter. God gives us the strength to accomplish what we are called to. And after our strength is depleted, He is the one who gives us our strength back, who makes us firm in Him, and fixed upon the purpose of our existence.

So as I'm suffering, I know that God is watching over me, and that others around the world are praying for the same thing, are seeking the same peace that I am in wont of. But this is only for a little while, til God calls us to Him, and we shall finally enjoy all the joy that our hearts are ever longing for. The joy that can't be replaced, that lasts forever and never fades. And while we're on earth, God blesses us with his strength and keeps us fixed upon Him, upon the greatness that He is, that we will not be afraid to follow, and not be afraid to declare!

Sustaining grace

This week was good, I learned a lot of stuff.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I had Nutri Sci and Accounting midterms stacked on the same day. I thought that I could totally just drop the nutri sci midterm and do well on it next time since I wouldn't have overlapping midterms again right? Too bad I had 3 in the same week and nutri sci stacked on the same day again. Thus began my week.

I thought it would be a lot worse than it was, and I think that, that difference was what kept me through the week. Needless to say, I was pretty tired through most of it and obviously lacking on sleep. At one point I felt like I would get a heart attack because I had done way too much already.

I read this quote randomly somewhere secret on Monday

"Be joyful in your sufferings" -Probably Paul

Now, granted my sufferings were self inflicted, it doesn't mean they weren't sufferings. But my mind was always on this, and it got me through the days. When you're a kid, you always look for the thing that will always make you happy, and you go for it. As adults, it seems like path to happiness is a little muddy. If we always look for something that doesn't hurt, that doesn't cause us discomfort, I believe we will be looking for the rest of our lives in this world. I say this because I believe that we don't find God, He finds us. I can't imagine how unbelievably difficult it would be to find the Lord when we're covered completely in the filth and sin of our existence.

This phrase makes a lot of sense to everybody. That we should be joyful while we're hurting, that we should find contentment in what God has provided for us, because he sustains us everyday. While I was cramming, I heard the most amazing song ever. I listened to this a lot awhile back, and now that I hear it again I'm reminded of that feeling when God first showed himself to me, and just how amazing that was. It's interesting, because I still feel the same way..sometimes.

The song was written by John Newton, owner of slave traders in the Indies who later reformed and became a priest.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

This really moves everything back to God. I understand that sufferings are a part of life, and that they will pass, as happiness does in the same way. I'm really finding it hard to express the feelings that I feel reading these lyrics, and I think it's the same inexplicable feeling of when Grace appeared to us. How can we even begin to describe this deep love, so flawless and beautiful and perfect, given to us the undeserving. And that last part does grieve me so, because I know I am wretched and undeserving, yet I still received it. Through all my sin and shame, I was lifted up from the darkness into where I could see, so those feelings come back once again.
I think when Newton wrote 'Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear' He was talking about how when our eyes are opened, all we see is the darkness, the sin in our lives. For someone who had engaged in the slave trade, the fear of all that must have been overwhelming. BUT, it was also Grace that gave him the peace of heart to conquer those fears, to know that he has been brought out of the darkness. I wonder if he knew that God would use him in all these ways.

This past week, I've also been thinking about how we carry each others burdens. I don't believe it simply means to care for others, it means to really love them and pray and be there for their and feel their sorrow in your heart and cry for them. Jesus wept when he felt the sorrow of Lazarus's death. Though He knew that Lazarus would rise again, he still grieved with them, and loved them so. Usually I'm so self absorbed in my own needs and wants that I don't really think about those around me, those going through awful problems that I might have dealt with, and that they could really use prayer for. I have this problem with having pride in having overcome those issues, not realizing that all along someone was praying for me, someone was carrying me burdens, God was holding my hand and at points carrying me across when I could not walk. I want to grieve with them in the same way, to know their burdens and to just let them know that there is a way out, and that the light will appear if they pray hard enough. I wish I could simply place the assurance in their hearts that they will be fine, since in these cases words seem to fall short. But God speaks in the amazingly ways that we're foreign to, and through prayer I know its possible that He will give them the peace the need, and the place to turn to for their troubles, under Him. It's grace that has carried us thus far, and that shall lead us home!

All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever. -Isaiah

This verse relates to a Switchfoot song I was listening to earlier called 'Gone', where everything that is material disappears. It's kinda cool that I found this verse and then the song came up. One of the verses that really stood out was 'My high school dreams are gone.' and I laughed because my high schools dreams are definitely gone, I don't even think I have one of those realistic what I see the future as moments anymore. Everything fades, so why should we live? I realized recently that I have contentment in not having too much, and I don't think I would mind having a normal job and living like that, but once you add a family and kids the equation gets all jumbled up. Beyond that, I still worry about a lot of things that I should just give up to God. I don't want kids now, (unlike a person I know) but I also know that I need to have some responsibility. Time isn't money, but it also isn't ours to waste, we were placed here for a reason and we need to search after and make sure we answer our call. It kind of leads to prayer, which is what we talked about at sg leader prep. How prayer should be the most important, because it doesn't matter how much we know about the Bible or share or show charity, if we're not communicating with God. In Hebrews, it talks about how Christ was the final perfect sacrifice so we could speak with God directly, as opposed to through the priesthood. It is such a shame that sometimes we take it so lightly, something that Jesus sacrificed himself so we could do and we simply ignore it to do other stuff. Prayer should define our calling, it should define who we are and what we are to do, because that's a place where God communicates to us. We often don't hear what He says because we're simply not listening. All the static and noise of living in this world has numbed us and we need to run from it all even for a little bit if we wish to see and know all the good and grace God has planned for us.

I don't want to cling to the things of this world, the things I love so much. I once bragged that I didn't need much to live with, just my laptop would suffice. But the fact of the matter is I didn't even think of the Bible. We can have everything in the world, but what good is it if we don't have God. (Granted Biblegateway.com is nice) Thinking about these things have simply shown me that I am a great sinner and God is a great savior. God lasts forever, that's nice to know. I believe however that when I finally and fully realize the meaning of those words, I'll be silenced by how powerful they are. I don't think that I can see now how fully I have fallen, and how much God has done for us. I guess I'll keep that in mind for another time.

Twas Grace that brought me safe thus far, and Grace will lead me home.

God, the great provider of all, to Him be everlasting power, dominion and glory till the end of the ages and beyond. Amen.


I Will, am writing this with my own hands.....haha j/k.

Remedy

Today, I watched paranormal activities, this indie EXCITER film where a couple was in a house haunted by a ghost/demon. It was interesting, because one of my friends kept asking me why people even watched exciters. The movie wasn't that scary, but some parts were a little freaky. In the end though, it was very comforting to know that God is our Redeemer and that he makes us safe because he cares for us. I think with this perspective watching a horror isn't really like hanging off a cliff and having God come rescue you. I don't believe its a ouji board or anything that attracts demons, its just...interesting. One of the main things that stood out in the movie however was simply how prideful the dude was when he was challenging the demon. For some reason he believed that he had the power to defeat him with yelling and physical bluffs. But...you can't defeat a spirit that way haha.

Thinking about it and remembering that Jesus is the one where our hope lies, I paid a little more attention to my conversations with people and realized that in my life there is a lot of pride I have been ignoring because I'm just used to it. Baring all instants where I jokingly brag that I know all, I saw that naturally I made assumptions about my own capabilities that weren't true. For one thing, when people say a movie was scary but I didn't think so, I'm proud to declare that fact. When in reality my rationale for not being afraid was that Jesus is the savior and that he provides that sanctuary. It's funny how I can take credit for something that goes back to Jesus once again.

On another note.

²Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

What does it mean to carry each other's burdens? At the surface level, it seems to suggest that we should care for each other and support them in their endeavors. But I wonder if there's more to it then that. I'll think about this a little more.

It's reassuring to know that as things change, and as we prepare to graduate and enter the world, that there is something solid and constant to hold on to. I don't really want to move on, I want to keep the friends I have now, the community, and the ease of life. I don't think I fear change, I've dealt with it so many times in the past, I'm just really tired of it. So I think I'll end with this verse.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrew 13:8

Keyboard

Someone messed up my keyboard,

Now I can't scroll correctly.....

YOU know who you are! Fess up and watch paranormal activities as an apology!