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.
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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