12|30|09

2009 is coming to a close
I never thought I'd see the day when 2009 would be over.
Its definitely a year I waited for my whole life- counting down for it throughout high school- wondering if it would ever rescue me.

Although I thought 2009's significance would depend only on my graduation year, its definite that its held far more than that...

If you could think back to the best meal you've ever had. How you ate so much you could physcially feel the seems in your pants begin to burst. Afterwords you are full. So full in fact you could hardly think of eating any more.
Thats how I feel about 2009. I feel like its been so full of blessings and grace and love that I can't even contemplate how there could be more
But with my God I know- there is always more. There is always new expectations and new joys. Every morning.

This year...
my biggest thank you to God would be him revealing Truth to me. Understanding His will and his purpose for me a little clearer... allowing Him to take over more and more of life. Giving Him the pieces I clung to so closely and being able to hear His voice because I began to obey Him...

He truly showed me that His grace is sufficient... and power is made perfect in weakness.

Deuteronomy 28

¹ If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. ² All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

³ You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

⁴ The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

⁵ Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

⁶ You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

⁷ The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

⁸ The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

⁹ The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. ¹¹ The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.

¹² The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. ¹³ The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. ¹⁴ Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

2010 calls for obedience

Obedience is how we discover the love of God. Obedience is how we are able to draw closer to him. Obedience is how we break bonds and yokes in our life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-lY8VQpSTY&feature=related

Let 2010 not just be a year of new beginnings but a continuation of those beginnings... replenishing desires that have burned out and a hunger that should not have faded. Let 2010 be something more than we could have ever anticipated

Although there may remain hardships do not forget the places God has brought you out of.

Do not Forget.

12|7|09

Stream of consciousness..

So its getting into the winter season now and recently I noticed the most beautiful tree in my front lawn. Its the only tree on my street that has leaves completely orange and yellow, which is hard to find down south where winter doesn't exist in the same way it does everywhere else.
But I was staring at this tree for a long time, completely marveled with how gorgeous that color was, how unique and appealing.

But the longer I stared at it the more I realized that those leaves, with the rich color and uniqueness, were dead. They produced no fruit and were bound to fall from the tree and be swept by the wind. They were beautiful, amazing- but dead.

It struck me in that moment that we see certain things- people, circumstances, desires- as appealing and unique... but these are dead things.

Until we recognize their worthlessness, until we understand that there is no life in those people, situations, and desires, we will continue to believe that they are more beautiful than what does produce vegetation, than the things that do draw us to where we need to be.

Be careful of things that appeal you because our flesh is prone to what poisons the soul.
---

The love of God is such a deep thing, and it has so many layers and passages that we will never be able to fully understand it.

This is the Love that saves you. This love that is so beyond human comprehension is what saves you and allows you to be called the sons and daughters of the most Holy God.

You don't want life to be fair.
You deserve fair.
Fair would be death.
But God gives life, through his son, through his love.

Thats not fair- that's grace.

So spend the rest of your life discovering God's love, having it overtake you and transform you so that other's may discover God's love through you.
---

Sometimes I feel like I'm two people, like my body is split in half right down the middle. One person is the Believer, striving daily to reach the goal. The other is striving to prevent the former from succeeding. The Believer's voice grows louder with every prayer and strength of discipline and its counterpart begins to speak in whispers as a result. Yet it is such a struggle to keep the destructive part of me completely silent, his voice and his slithering whispers seem to never completely go away until I grow discouraged and allow his voice to get louder and clearer- until the Believer becomes a whisper.

The constant struggle between two voices is the battle between the spirit and flesh. They cannot share the throne of our minds and hearts, one has to win over the other and neither is willing to forfeit.

In order to attack the flesh we need the word of God, we need discipline, and we cannot become discouraged or attracted to what the destructive personality entices us with- his voice is like honey but behind its drops are fangs waiting to devour us.

---
"

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. ¹¹To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. "

1Peter 5:8-11

12|2|09

¹ "If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him and marries another man,

should he return to her again?

Would not the land be completely defiled?

But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—

would you now return to me?"

declares the LORD.

² "Look up to the barren heights and see.

Is there any place where you have not been ravished?

By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,

sat like a nomad ^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} in the desert.

You have defiled the land

with your prostitution and wickedness.

³ Therefore the showers have been withheld,

and no spring rains have fallen.

Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;

you refuse to blush with shame.

⁴ Have you not just called to me:

'My Father, my friend from my youth,

⁵ will you always be angry?

Will your wrath continue forever?'

This is how you talk,

but you do all the evil you can.

Jeremiah 3:1-5

Countless times we as a church are described as being the bride of Christ & that Christ is the bridegroom.

In Hebrew custom the engagement would go like this:

The man comes to the girl's house to make his request for marriage. He makes the request but the girl must accept. He shows her a contract for their marriage which she must read and understand and agree to completely. He then offers her a cup of wine and drinks from it and in order to seal the covenant she must take of the cup and drink of it as well. Then the groom must go to Jerusalem and build a home for her and then he will come back and they will be married. In the mean time, however, while he is away they are both basically married and she must keep herself pure and waiting for his return.

Can we see some parallels here? Christ comes to us and offers a relationship like no other. He shows us his word, his promise of eternal life and the things we must keep in mind- a contract in which we agree and hold to. He died for us or drank of the cup and we too must die to sin and "drink from his cup." And of course now he has gone to build a home for us & will be back to take us to where he is.

But the question lies between the moment of agreement and the day of return. Are we being faithful or have we turned our hearts and minds to other things and other people? Are we adulterers? Prostitutes?

Jeremiah speaks adamantly about how we treat and mock God. Yes, we are mocking him.

Imagine you were married but you had extramarital affairs in the mean time. Your spouse may be hidden in the dark but God is all seeing, all knowing. When we place other things & people in front of God, he knows &

his heart breaks for us.

So when we decide to lock God out of certain areas of our life.

When we decide to split ourselves into different people.

When we become ashamed of Christ.

When we make exceptions, bend the rules, make excuses.

When we continue doing what we know is wrong and ignore what we know is right.

When we prostitute ourselves with the world

allow it to defile us

destroy us

demean us

take advantage of us

compel us to more evil than we thought capable

and take us farther and farther from where we should be...

Don't forget that its not too late. The woman who was caught in the act of adultery was thrown at the feet of Jesus. Tears and shame and fear were marked deeply on her face, her heart, as the assembly reminded Jesus of the law. She was to be stoned. Made into an example. An act punishable by death. But rather than casting the first stone he drew a line.

No one can cross that line but Christ and instead of throwing a stone he was nailed to a tree.

Even when you have "sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad ^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} in the desert", remember that there is someone who is ready to save you, to love you, to give you a home. But if you continue and continue to make excuses

continue to defile not only your name but God's name...

Some think that the 3rd Commandment of "Do not take the Lord's name in vain" simply means don't say it in exclamation or outside of reverence & while this is true & you should regard the Lord's name as Holy

The 3rd commandment actually means "Do not live your life in a way that would Defile the name of God."

If you are saying you a Christian and declaring Christ as your savior but living in prostitution~ then you are defiling the name of Christ and making others question his sovereignty.

Is that something you're willing to risk?