Our Help and Our Hope

I was reading another devotional on God being our help and our hope throughout the year. And with a new year coming up I thought it would be cool to share what I learned from this devotional.

Hope and Help. Those are two four letter words that we need to take with us into the new year. When we think of those words we can think back throughout the year when God has been our help and our hope. Whether we were going through a rough time or a great time. I know in my year there have been great times and some heartbreaking times.

There is a hymn that has the lines "Oh God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come" As we think back in the "ages past" God has been our help and our hope throughout it all. "Long ago, even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes" (Ephesians 1:4) I like how it says "in his eyes" because others definitly see our faults but God never does.

Here are a whole pile of questions that John asked in this blog that I thought I would answer (without going to in depth after all this is a public blog)

What do you have now that you didn’t have a year ago?
A wonderful job.

Think in terms of personal growth, experiences, and people God has blessed you with. Wow there are so many things that GOd has blessed me with: a new job, wonderful friends! WOW

How do you know God better than you did at this time a year ago? I am digging deeper in the word now. I am more eager to read it. I am feeling like my relationship with him is getting stronger! I love Him!

What more do you know about Him? He takes away fears when you ask him to and HE IS A HEALER!!! :) and He puts trials in our lives to HELP us grow. Each problem has a purpose.

What more do you know about yourself that He has revealed to you? I do have trust issues. WHen troubles come I lose faith that God is actually there.

What struggle has He helped you overcome? Fears of many things. The grief of losing someone very dear to me. He is helping me overcome the fear of my grandpa dying.

Is there anyone in your life who wasn’t there a year ago that you can honestly thank God for? My college friends for sure. Especially Keith, hes a great person and Heidi and Lydia they are awesome people as well!

What has He helped you to accomplish? I am almost over my fear of speaking in public. I am still shy about that, but I am overcoming that fear. I read my testimony in front of the whole NW congregation and I read a verse one week of Advent.

How has He been faithful to you even when you have been faithless? When I was in the hospital a few times, I lost faith that he was there but he was there throughout the whole thing.

Then he asked questions about the coming year:

Now think about this next year and how God is our only true hope.
Think of specifically where you need to apply some of that hope.

What are you afraid of? I am afraid that something in my life will become more important than why i was put here on earth. Other minor fears are Big dogs, guns, spiders

Where are you feeling inadequate? When it comes to helping my friends.

What do you want to change, and how can God help you? I want to change the priorities in my life. I am currently not watching TV in my room so i will have the self control to read my bible more. but there are still many distractions (which at the end of a week of not watching TV in my room, I will explain in detail in a blog on its own)

For all of this, He is our hope. And for all that we will face this next year that we don’t know anything about right now, He is our hope. He will be enough.

"Our fears for today, our worries for tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away" (Romans 8:38).

YAY

I know this is TOTALLY off topic from what I usually talk about but....


YAY my aunt (or more technically..my cousin..but tahts a long story right there...ask me in an email if you really want to know) and her husband are going to have a BABY!! The baby is due on June 30!!!! YAY!!! they got married last August! I am so excited! Iam going to be a...well... i guess...2nd cousin... i duno....

but anyways

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Thats what I love about Jesus"

I bought a CD today by Paul Brandt. He is a country singer, I have heard him sing and I love his voice so when i saw this CD I bought it. I was listening to the last song on the disc and it was called "Thats What I love about Jesus" (See lyrics below and then read the rest of my thoughts)

Thats What I Love About Jesus by Paul Brandt

I've had people say
That I'm a self made man
I'd like to set the record straight
Because I never could have planned
The way my life has gone
And the blessings I've received
It had nothing to do with me

I love to sing and play
And travel with these songs
But I've got to give the praise
Back to where it all belongs
Before I was even born
He knew what my job would be
He made me who I am for all the world to see

(Chorus)
That's what I love about Him
That's why I talk about Him
And friend I'd be lost with out Him
He makes this world make sense to me
And He let his life end
Just so he could be my friend
That's what I love about Jesus

Now it doesn't make me perfect
Or any better than you
And yes, He is my crutch
And He's my wheelchair too
Cause I can't do it on my own
He gives me all my strength
His power helps me make it through each day

(Chorus)

So if you hear this song
You've got to make a choice
To just keep rolling along
Or to listen to His voice
Since I gave my heart to Him
I have been set free
Yeah, He's made all the difference to me

(Chorus)

This song is so true. "Because I never could have planned The way my life has gone And the blessings I've received It had nothing to do with me" That is totally true. I could never have planned what was going to happen in my life. If i chose what would happen in my life, I would have nothing bad happen to me and I would never learn anything. I am glad that I dont have control over my life because I think it would be in shambles.

To be completely honest with all of you and I know this is putting myself out there...but God wants us to be truthful and authentic right? But, without God I think I would have killed myself long ago. there were just some things that I was struggling with 3 years ago, some really really bad stuff with friendships and highschool drama, I just had enough. But I knew that God would get me through it so I didnt do anything to myself like that. But if God hadnt have been there I would have let what others say to me get in my mind and make me think it. To some degree yes I thought I was what they were telling me because its all I heard. Now whenever I say somethign bad about myself or someone else says something bad about me, He tells me something that He loves about me. "That's what I love about Him That's why I talk about Him And friend I'd be lost with out Him He makes this world make sense to me And He let his life end Just so he could be my friend That's what I love about Jesus"

Truly, I would be SO lost without him, so totally totally lost. Sometimes I get a little lost on my path, but God leads me back on the right path. Jesus ended his life so we could live. I think that is pretty significant. No...scratch that. I KNOW that is pretty significant.

"Now it doesn't make me perfect Or any better than you And yes, He is my crutch And He's my wheelchair too Cause I can't do it on my own He gives me all my strength His power helps me make it through each day" On the other blog I wrote earlier today, i had written that I thought that my pastors had a perfect life, and that I was wrong to think so. Pastors are not perfect, so neither are we. We all need to lean on him ALWAYS. We need him to be our crutch or wheelchair sometimes.

We CANNOT get through life on our own strength. We need HIS strength to get us through what comes our way. We need HIS power to help us. It is SO true.

Wow this was a long blog. Man it seems like lately I have just rambled on. God is just teling me so much lately. Like when Karyn told me to write down verses on fear in a notebook, well I did that. And now with the situation with Grandpa, God is telling me to write down verses on Prayer. So that is what I am doing once I get off of the computer, which is soon. Its so late. but I wnat to spend some more time with God. Speaking of that, I am cutting my cable in my room for a week. God has been speaking to me a lot, and he told me tonight to get rid of my cable for a while and everytime I want to watch a favorite show or something, to pick up my bible and spend some time in convorsation with God. cool eh? So I am going to do that starting Wednesday. Tomorrow I am busy all day (visiting my grandpa and then going bowling)

I challenge you all to ask God what he wants you to surrender. I would love to hear comments on what God told you. :)

Blessings...

Oh Come all Ye Faithful...and not so faithful

I was reading another devotional today and it struck me again so I had to share.

“If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we disown Him, He will disown us; if we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself” (2 Timothy 2:11-13 NIV)

During Christmas we sing "Oh come all ye faithful" Have you ever asked “Who’s that? Who can say they have been totally faithful to Christ?” We all fail Him from time to time. We all struggle with faith. We all prove to be unfaithful partners with God. Even Pastors from time to time, nobody is perfect except God himself. Its very encouraging to know that too, because sometimes I look at my Pastors and I am like 'wow they are so faithful, they love God so much' the truth is, they, too, have their moments of unfaithfulness.

If our security with God depended on our faithfulness to Him, we would all be in bad shape; but the good news is: our security with God depends on His faithfulness to us.

John said this "Jesus chided his disciples for having “little faith,” but He did not kick them off the team for it. He called His followers an “unbelieving generation,” but He did not abandon them. And in spite of the saying above about disowning those who disown Him, Jesus apparently made an exception to that rule for Peter, who on three occasions disowned having any part of Christ. He later forgave Peter and accepted him back. "

People were unfaithful to God, but he still loved them no matter what. He loves us even if we have flaws.

I’m sure we can all recall times when we struggled with faith, had a hard time finding it, or perhaps found ourselves unfaithful to God. Some may be in that place right now. This is a time to worship God for His faithfulness to us. We may have let go of Him, but He will never let go of us, because we are His, and He cannot disown what belongs to Him.

John ends the devotional by saying: “O come all ye faithful…” and not so faithful, too! The most important thing is to come!"

The Cycle of Fear

I was reading Karyn's Blog this morning. She was talking about herself being in a cycle. As I was reading that I realized that I, too, am in a cycle. I am in a cycle of fear.

A few months back, I was walking home from church and there was a big dog.... If you want to read that whole story go here. Anyways, I got some really good advice from Karyn. She told me to look up verses on fear and write them down. I have a notebook and I wrote a lot down about fear. Karyn told me to read those verses and believe what they say everytime I feel afraid. So I read them. I had little fear when I walked down that block for the first time since the incident. I had no fear from then on about walking down the block.

I find myself in the cycle of fear again. These past couple days there has been shootings at a house on 14th. I know that I am in no danger of getting shot because they are targetting this one house. But I am still very scared because I had never heard a gun shot before that day. I find myself fearing walking home again.

Why is it when we fear something, then we get over that and then we fear something else. Its a horrible cycle. Fear- Read and Believe- Over that Fear- Another fear comes- Fear- Read and Believe etc etc.

Its very frustrating. But here are a couple verses that I really liked from what I wrote down in my notebook. I am going to read them before I go to the Candlelight services at CHT and NW.

Blessings...

Matthew 10:31 ~ So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Luke 12:4 ~ My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.

John 14:27 ~Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

"Christmas" is only a label, its the heart that matters

I was reading yet another good devotional this morning, well I didnt read it this morning, I was very tired but I watched the news tonight and it reminded me what I skimmed through this morning. So I read the devotional again.

WOW, Here I was saying to 'Put Christ back into CHRISTmas" but truly, Jesus really DOESN'T care about labels. After all, it's Christ that is the issue, not Christmas. I don't even think Jesus cares very much about what we or anyone else call an evergreen with lights on it in December. Jesus never cared much about labels anyway; He always cared more about what was in the heart.

John said something that caught my eye especially in this devotional: "Here's how you put Christ back into Christmas: you celebrate Him as Lord of your life and ruler of your heart, and you love even those who want to take Christmas out of the Holiday equation. Jesus didn't come to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17). He came to forgive sins -- mine… yours… everybody's. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. Let's not let religious pride get in the way of the core message of the gospel. It's never been us against them; it's us for them. We mustn't forget that Jesus came to die for the very people who are trying to secularize our country. "

Christmas is not about some label, so lets not get all caught up by fighting the name of Christmas. If we do that we will forget to live out the reality of the hope of Christ to the world. If we are all caught up on fighting for the name, we are not focusing on what really matters. It's what's in your heart that really counts this Christmas. If people end up encountering the real Christ of Christmas, it wont matter what we end up calling the holiday itself.

The Priceless Gift

I was reading a devotional this morning from The Purpose Driven Life and the title was "The Priceless Gift." This hit me real hard. Its all things that I knew already but I guess in the past years I have just not really thought about FULLY. So I thought I would share these thoughts with you.

We give out gifts, wrap gifts, open gifts because of one priceless gift that was given to us 2000 years ago- God's son. This gift was given to us beacuse of God's mercy and grace. He did not have to do this and we certainly dont deserve it.

John says that "Grace is getting what you dont deserve; mercy is NOT getting what you DO deserve" We were given both. All we deserve is punishment for our sins, but God's mercy cancelled any punishment so his grace could give us life.

Two priceless gifts; one great and awesome God. Hallelujah!

Think of a spiritual gift that you have (encouragement, wisdom, administration, mercy, service, teaching etc) and that might be turned into a real present for someone this Christmas. John says that "Regardless of our material resources, we are all rich in spiritual gifts"

Lord, I pray that we wont forget to give the gift of Christ to someone this Christmas. Even in the fury of opening presents, help us not to forget WHY we are opening these gifts. Amen!

What to do when you are feeling down

God has been laying this on my heart. I see so many of my friends who are going through some bad stuff and are feeling pretty sad. So God has laid this on my heart to write this as a blog!

God is our peace:

Isaiah 26:3-4 " You, Lord, give true peace to those who depend on you, because they trust you. So, trust the Lord always, because he is our Rock forever!"

That is so true, God is our rock. We can lean on him for comfort. He will never move. People in your lives move away or people change but God never does, so we need to rely on Him to be our strength and help in times of trouble.

Isaiah 57:19-21 "I will give peace, real peace, to those far and near, and I will heal them' says the Lord. But evil people are like the angry sea, which cannot rest, whose waves toss up waste and mud 'there is no peace for evil people' says my God"

He will give peace to people who love him no matter what. Evil people will never get peace until they meet God. The true meaning of Peace only comes from knowing God.

God is our protector:

Psalm 37:39-40 "The Lord saves good people; he is their strength in times of trouble. The Lord helps them and saves them; he saves them from the wicked, because they trust in him for protection."

If we trust in Him when we are going through a rough time, he will bring us out of our troubles because he have trusted that he will get us through. There have been many times in my life where I have thought that God was not there.

I was around 1 year and a half and I was playing with my lamb toy that my Nana gave me at birth. I accidentally dropped the lamb down the basement stairs (over the bars) and I didn't realize how far it was (i was still young) and I reached down thinking I could just pick her up and be on my way. Well nope, I feel over the bars and straight down to the bottom of the stairs. My head landed right square on the lamb. The doctors said I would have died, if the lamb wasn't at the bottom of the stairs.

For the longest time I was like, why would God let that happen, why would he let me fall down the stairs. Everyone kept saying that God did save me because I am alive right now, but for a while I doubted. But then as I grew and matured spiritually, I had thought about the metaphors and spiritual meaning to that lamb being there. One of Jesus' names is "Lamb of God" I definitly feel that today, God saved me that day for a reason. Wow this is getting into what my testimony is going to be on sunday...crap!

Back to the actual blog.

God does not want us to worry:

Philippians 4:6-7 " Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. And God's peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus"

God doesnt want us to worry, He wants us to place our burdens on him because he can take it! We are not meant to carry a heavy burden! Thats why we need to give all that to God. We will be much happier people if we do that.

"I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace while you trust in him. Then your hope will overflow by the power of the Holy Spirit!" Romans 15:13

God's help in times of trouble

"When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, "Jesus, can you get that for me?"

I heard this quote the other day and its now on my MSN. It about sums up what we are supposed to so when we feel that Satan wants us. We ask Jesus to help us. Satan always rejoices when friends fight and he celebrates when we dont get along. I hate that! He is saying "yes! these girls are fighting, i can get them farther away from God! AWESOME" so when that happens, ask Jesus to help you.

My words arent too great right now, i dont know what happened with my blogging, but ya, I am just not motivated to blog right now, but i heard this quote and i had to share it.

"Submit yourselves then to God, resist the Devil and he will flee from you" James 4:7

Its not about me chapter 14

This is the last chapter of the book

Chapter 14: Upward thinking

We exist to give honor to his name (pg 142)

There may be no higher goal than to see someone think more highly of our Father!

Max was telling a story about a daughter and father and its a whole big story so i wont tell the whole thing, but at the end this is the paragraph
" The daughter takes the elevator to the top floor to see her father. When she arrives, he is waiting in the doorway. He's aware of her good works and has seen her kind acts. People think more highly of him because of her. And he knows it. As she approaches, he greets her with 6 words: "Well done, good and faithful servant"

May God bless you all until you hear the same!

Blessings...

Its not about me chapter 13

Chapter 13: My Success is about Him

God will make you good at something! Guaranteed! Whether its straightening the pews, or chair stacking, or singing in front of the church! GOd will make you good at SOMETHING.

(pg 133) God lets you excel so you can make him known!

When you succeed you might forget who helped you do so! Max says on page 134 that "Success sabotages the memories of the successful"

We need to know the purpose of our success! When we succeed we need to ask "why did God help us succeed" so we can make him known! thats why!

What if God had no time?

This poem needs no explanation...no I didnt write it. I am hoping to get the energy up to reading and blogging a whole pile of chapters from the book.... hopefully..but anyways heres the poem...

I knelt to pray but not for long, I had too much to do.
I had to hurry and get to work
For bills would soon be due.
So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,
And jumped up off my knees.
My Christian duty was now done
My soul could rest at ease.
All day long I had no time
To spread a word of cheer.
No time to speak of Christ to friends,
They'd laugh at me I'd fear.
No time, no time, too much to do,
That was my constant cry,
No time to give to souls in need
But at last the time, the time to die.
I went before the Lord, I came,
I stood with downcast eyes.
For in his hands God held a book;
It was the book of life.
God looked into his book and said
"Your name I cannot find.
I once was going to write it down...
But never found the time"

Will you find the time??

Why worry when you can meditate?

That is the title of a daily devotional that I got a couple days ago from The Purpose Driven Life And there were some very interesting things pointed out so I thought I would write a blog about it. Oh and the 3 chapters from "Its not about me" are coming tonight!

If you are a chronic worrier, you would be a good meditator. John says that meditation is focused thinking, and worry is focused thinking. Worry focuses on what we cant answer or solve. If you can meditate on God's word throughout the day instead of worrying, you will be much happier. Worrying is not productive, and a waste of time (in my opinion) but think of if this way, if you worry a lot, replace all that worrying with meditating on God's word. Can you imagine how happy that would make Him? WOW

John gives us this advice "Try this today: If you catch yourself worrying, turn your thoughts instead to God and His word. Take a portion of scripture and turn it over and over in your mind. Remember what God has done for you. Be thankful"

I dont know about you, but I am going to do that!

Matthew 6: 25- 34 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Psalm 1:1-2 "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night."

Its Not about Me chapter 12

Chapter 12: My Struggles are about Him.

God leaves us to the consequences of our stupid decisions. Whatever we go through that is bad, it doesnt mean that God messed up! Dont ever think that. EVERYTHING that happens is for a purpose and to display God's glory.

God is sheer and mercy and grace; not easily angered, he is rich in love. He doesnt endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesnt treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs. As high as heaven is over the earth, so strong is his love to those who fear him. Psalm 103:8-11

Don't blame suffering in the world on the anger of God. He's not mad he didnt mess up.

Your pain has a purpose. Your problems, struggles, heartaches, and hassles coopperate toward one end- the glory of GOd.

We have been selected to struggle for God's glory and we have been granted to believe in Christ and suffer for his sake!

Dont think that God is not listening because he is, He just may have different plans for the person you are praying for, or he may have a different plan for the prayer you pray for yourself.

GOd will use whatever he wants to display his glory.

(pg 127) A season of suffering is a small assignment when compared to the reward!

Its Not about Me chapter 11

Chapter 11: My Body is about Him

Use yourt whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God. Romans 6:13

Your body is God's instrument, intended for his work and for his glory. (pg 111)

Your body, God's tool. Maintain it!
Your body, God's temple. Respect it!

I dont have much to say from this chapter except that! That explains the whole chapter.

Its Not about Me chapter 10

Chapter 10: My salvation is about Him

The work of Christ is the bungee cord for the soul. Trust it and take the plunge! I personally DO NOT LIKE the thought of attaching myself to a cord and jump off a bridge. That is not my idea of a fun time! I just need to think of the work of Christ as a bungee cord. I need to trust him and take a chance!

On our own, we're spiritually sunk!

Max told a story about sailors who were dumped overboard when their ship blew up. We are equally helpless as they were when some died and some were waiting to die in the cold water. We are submerged. not in Salt water but in sin. We need to be lifted up- not out of the ocean but out of our failures.

We don't have what it takes to save our lives. We are not strong enough nor big enough. We don't need muscles; we need a miracle. (pg 102)

Max asks a question "Do you think that your baptism and Sunday attendance will be enough to save you?"

Your salvation showcases God's mercy. It makes nothing of your effort but everything of his.

And remember this one thing:

It's not about what we do; it's all about what he does.

Its Not about Me chapter 9

Chapter 9: My Message is about Him

Max used an example of himself when he was young. He was an art guide. An art guides job is to lead the people to the paintings, answer their questions, and step out of the way. Such is our mission in life. To lead people to Jesus, answer their questions about him and step out of the way, but occasionally bump them in the right direction if they are straying. My youth pastor had mentioned this a while ago to the youth that her job is not to have all the answers. Her job is to lead us to the one who has all the answers. She is not God, so we should not be depending on her. We should be fully FULLY depending on God at ALL times! I think us as youth are finally grasping this and its awesome! I am so proud of all the youth at Refuge! I have seen all my friends grow more! I have a small close-knit group of friends and I have seen each one of them grow closer to God. I have seen all the youth at Refuge grow closer to God. And I totally give all the glory to God for that, and I want to thank Karyn, our youth pastor for leading us towards him instead of trying to do more than she can handle! I love ya Karyn!

Anyways... Back to the book..

Satan whispers the question in our heads "What are people thinking of you?" I hate that! It hinders too many people from being who they were made to be, because of that stupid question that gets in the way!

God doesnt need us to do his work, we are simply his messangers. When we do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself! So important!

This last story in the chapter had a big impact. I will just type out the paragraph:

" A European village priest in medieval times once gathered his church for a special service 'Come tonight' he said, 'for a special sermon on Jesus' and they did. They came. To their surpise, however, no candles illuminated the santuary. They groped their way to the pews and took their seats. The priest was nowhere to be seen. But soon he was heard walking through the church toward the front. When he reached the crucifix that hung on the wall, he lit a candle. Saying nothing, he illuminated the pierced feet of Christ, then the side, then one hand, and then the other. Lifting the candle, he shed light on the blood-masked face and the crown of thorns. With a puff, he blew out the candle and dismissed the church.

May we do nothing more. May we do nothing less.

It's Not about Me chapter 8

Chapter 8: God's Mirrors

We are God's mirrors. Max tells a story about a man who used a mirror to help rescue him. What if the mirror was "insecure" saying: What if i blow it? What if i send a dash when I am supposed to send a dot? Self doubt could paralyze a mirror. Our job description is simply this : REFLECT GOD'S GLORY!

Our job is to behold God so intently that we cant help but reflect him! Max says that to behold is to study, to stare, to contemplate, to seriously ponder. And he also says that Beholding leads to becoming, becoming leads to reflecting.

Matthew 5:16 says to "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven"

Let your salvation reflect God's glory. Your message, your salvation, your body, your struggles, your success- all proclaim God's glory. God sends us the message, we and our job is to mirror it. He is the source; we are the glass. He is the light; we are the mirrors.

The guy that Max was talking about his name was Mr Tweed. Mr Tweeds use of a mirror led to a rescue. May God's use of us lead to millions more!

Its Not about Me chapter 7

Ok heres the chapters i missed. Again, very sorry..

Chapter 7: God's Great Love

God's love is fresh and so pure! One swallow slackens the thirsty throat and softens the crusty heart. Immerse a life in God's love, and watch it emerge cleansed and changed. We know the impact of God's love. But do we know the volume? No, no person has ever measured it. (pg 70)

Does God love you? Behold the cross, and behold your answer. (pg 71)

Ephesians 5:2 says "[God the Son] loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God"

God loves us with an unfailing love! Isn't that exciting?? I think so! His love NEVER fails! We might fail, but God NEVER does!

Think about this.... if its all about you, then its all up to you. God rescues us from that burden! While we are valueable, we are not essential. We are important not not indespensable!

God loves us too much to give us more than we can handle. There is a verse that says something like that but i cant think of it right now. anyways... He knows our limitations and he is well aware of our weaknesses. God loves us way to much to say that its all about us! I certainly dont know what it takes to run the world, and Max says that we are wise to leave the work to God's hands!

To say that its not about us is not to say that we are not loved; quite the contrary, its because God loves us that its not about us!

A diver will go to the depths of the ocean to find the oceans bottom (the limit) And when it comes to water, we will find waters limit, but when it comes to God's love, we never will!

sorry

Sorry about the lack of blogging. I have been kinda really sick these last few days and have had no energy. All i have been doing these past few days is read my bible and as my gift to myself, after i have read the WHOLE bible, I am going to go out and buy myself a new bible (different translation)
:)

But anyways, about the book, I am going to get reading again and i will hopefully post at lunch time tomorrow at work. I hope....

anyways, sorry guys!

It's not about me chapter 6

Chapter 6: His Unchanging Hand

This is obvious, with life comes change. With change comes fear, insecurity, pain, stress. So what do you do? Run away? take no risks of failing? Some do. But the better choice is to look up. Set your bearings on the one and only North Star in the universe-- God. For though life changes, He never does. He never changes! Amen!

God never tires and never sleeps (Psalm 121:4) He never signals a time out or puts the prayer requests from Russia on hold while he handles South Africa.

The word of our God shall stand forever (Isaiah 40:8)
The Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35)

God's ways will never be changed. God will always be the same, yesterday today and forever. Hey that's a song. I think it was sung at youth councils "Yesterday, today and forever, you are the same, you never change." God will always hate sin and love sinners. He will always be the same! Its us who change! Not him! No matter what humanity does, it wont stop his plan -born in eternity. It will always withstand any attack of humanity.

The cross will never lose its power. The blood of Christ will not fade in strength. Heaven will never announce the collapse of the bridge! Amen!

With life comes change. But with change comes the reassuring appreciated of heaven's permanence. His firm foundation stands: (2 Timothy 2:19). His house will stand forever.

AMEN!

It's Not about Me chapter 5

Chapter 5: Just a moment

Not even God made God. On sunday Ashley brought up a good question. If God created the world, who created God. Well the answer is simple. Not even God created God. He IS the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning AND the end! Nobody created God.

Along with Alpha and Omega there are many words to describe God: everlasting King (Jeremiah 10:10) , Incorruptible (Romans 1:23), who has immortality (1 Timothy 6:16), but you [O God]are the same, and Your years will have no end (Psalm 102:27), the number of his years is unsearchable (Job 36:26) There are many more but those are just a few.

God knows our beginning and our end, because he has neither. He IS the beginning and the end, so he has NO end!

He does not live sequential moments, laid out on a timeline, one following the other. His world is one moment, or better stated momentless. He sees our birth and burial in one frame. Its like a puzzle. Our life is one big puzzle. Each problem is one piece of the puzzle, and it is put together to make one big picture. But we only see one piece of the puzzle. God sees the whole picture. He is the only one who has the cheat sheet (the top of the box marked, _______'s Life) He is the only one who knows how, and when our lives will end. He is the only one who knows our future!

The length of our lives on earth is just a moment compared to eternity.

Paul says that the attacks, hunger and thirst are "light afflictions to be endured for just a moment" What if we took the same attitude towards life? What if we just saw our life as just a moment. What if we saw our problems as a grain of sand. It is small compared to the whole beach!

Max says here that "Fleeting days don't justify fleeing problems. Fleeting days strenghtn us to endure problems. Will your problems lass? No guarantee they will. Will your pain cease? Perhaps, Perhaps not. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says 'our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory' There are a couple paralells that I got. One is drinking. People drink to take away their problems. People have told me that when they drink, their problems just seem to go away. But at the end of all that drinking, you wake up and your problems are still there, and added to them is one big hangover. Another paralell I got is eating disorders. People seem to think that starving themselves or purging their food is goin to make them loose weight. Well in the long run it might, but there are so many problems that come along with eating disorders: organs damaged, organs shut down, eventually you could die if it gets worse. People seem to think that starving themselves or whatnot, is going to take away the problem of weight. Well let me tell you, its going to ADD problems. It might take away some weight, but it will add 10 times more problems just to get that one problem taken away.

I like this paralel that Max gives. This lady was using a pan scale. The weight of the purchase would be determined by placing weights on one side and the purchase on the other side. God does that with our burdens. He stacks them. Does he remove them? No, he offsets them. He places an eternal weight of glory on the other side.

We can be sick for just a moment.
We can be lonely for just a moment.
We can be persecuted for just a moment.
We can struggle for just a moment.
Can't we?
Can't we wait for our peace? It's not about us anyways. And its certainly not about now.

It's not about me chapter 4

Chapter 4: Holy Different

God's holiness commands headline attention! (pg 38) Amen! He is holy, holy, holy! Hes the Alpha and the Omega and we need to bring headline attention to that. Its not just old or unimportant news! It needs to be spread like wildfire across the nations!

The Hebrew word for holy is "qadosh" which means cut off or seperate. God is definitly seperate. God is unique, different from the world he has made. He is not just any ordinary man. He is HOLY!!

He told us to make a paper airplane and then challenge it to a basketball game, spelling bee or a board game. Of course, we will win over all of that because the paper airplane is an inadimate object and doesnt move unless we fly it. It only exists because you formed it and flies only when someone throws it. Multiply the contrasts between you and the paper plane by infinity, and you will begin to catch a glimpse of the disparity between God and us. Now I dont know what "disparity" means, and for those of you who dont know what it means... it means.

dis·par·i·ty ( P ) Pronunciation Key (d-spr-t)n. pl. dis·par·i·ties
The condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree; difference: “narrow the economic disparities among regions and industries” (Courtenay Slater).
Unlikeness; incongruity.

Any pursuit of God's counterpart is vain. Any search for a godlike person or position on earth is futile. No one and nothing compares with him. That makes total sense to me. That is something I struggled with a few months ago. I was more dependant on my youth pastor than I was dependant on God. I wasnt seeking God fully. I was seeking a godlike person on earth! That should NOT be. I should be seeking God and God alone! I should be depending on HIM to help me through times of struggle. Yes I can ask my friends to pray for me/with me. But I should be seeking God first! I shouldnt just be depending on them to intercede! I need to ask God to help me first before I ask other people to ask him for that. I hope that made sense!

We need to know that we were not created for our own sake. We were not created "just because" Revelation 4:11 says "You created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created" We were created for HIS pleasure; not our own! And until we get that, our lives are meaningless.

Wow this hit me like a tonne of bricks. The veil that blocks your vision and mine do not block God's. Unspoken words are as if uttered. Unrevealed thoughts are as if proclaimed. Unoccurred moments are as if they were history. He knows the future, the past, the hidden and the untold. Nothing is concealed from God. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. I always knew that that was true, but I guess I just forgot about that. But it is true. If someone is making you mad and you want to tell them what you are thinking about them at that moment, even if you just thought about it but didnt do it. Its as if it were already said. ouch!

Its Not About Me chapter 3

Chapter 3: Divine Self-promotion

One glimpse [of God's glory], one taste, one sampling, and your faith will never be the same. (pg 25)

To seek God's glory is to pray "Let your nature spill forth. God, show us God" To ask to see God's glory is to ask to see all of God. (pg 26)

Glory- is a root word for heavy, weighty or IMPORTANT. God's glory celebrates his significance, his uniqueness, his one-of-a-kindness.

When you think of God's glory, think preeminence and when you think preeminence think priority. For God's glory is God's priority.

Think of the imagery that comes from this paragraph:

"God's staff meetings, if he had them, would revolve around one question 'How can we reveal my glory today?' God's to-do list consists of one item: 'Reveal my glory.' Heaven's framed and mounted purpose statement hansg in the angels' break room just above the angel food cake. It reads 'Declare God's glory" I totally got imagery from that. Did u guys? It was total imagery! That was cool!

Why do the heavens exist?? to declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1)

I love this verse. "Trust in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory (Psalm 50:15)

There was imagery of a pilot of a lifeboat. When you are drowning, the lifeboat comes to rescue yuo and the pilot says "I am here, I am strong, I have room for you. I can save you" (pg 30)

We need to promote God. We need to boast in the Lord. Think about this "God awoke you and me this morning for one purpose: Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples (1 Chronicles 16:24) (pg 31)

I will leave you with one last thing:

Why does the earth spin? For Him.
Why do you have talents and abilities? For Him.
Why do you have money or poverty? For Him
Why do you have strengths or struggles? For Him
Everything and everyone exists to reveal his glory.
Including you. (pg 32)

Its Not About Me chapter 2

Sorry, i am already behind, but i will write chapter 3 as well so i am up to date!!

When we ask to see a glimpse of God's glory, we cross a line when we make such a request. When our deepest desire is not the things of God, or a favor from God, but God himself, we cross a threshold. Less self-focus, more God-focus. Less about me, more about him! (pg 18) I just wrote a poem/song about that last night. I dont have it with me right now, but i will write it in tonight!

Just a glimpse of God's glory can change you forever!

Max was telling a story of when his uncle died and they were at his funeral. He was sad, everyone around him was upset. He looks at his dad and his dad says "its ok son" Max says "at that moment i realized something. I could look around and find fear, or look at my father and find faith"

So you can choose to look around at the pain of the world or you can choose to look at God's face and find happiness!

Its Not About Me- Chapter 1

I am starting to read "Its Not About Me" By Max Lucado (One of my FAVORITE authors) I am going to keep accountable by writing each chapter on here. I couldnt stop reading so i have like 4 chapters done... aha... I have underlined stuff that stuck out to me. I will write those out first and then write my comments on it. If you could, please keep me accountable to keeping up blogging the chapters. Thanks

Chapter 1: Bumping Life of Self-Center

Max Lucado was comparing Copernicus to God.

"[Copernicus] tapped our collective shoulders and cleared his throat and said 'Forgive my proclamation, but' and pointed a lone finger toward the sun, he announced, 'behold the centre of the solar system'.......... "What Copernicus did for the earth, God does for souls, Tapping the collective shoulder of humanity, he points to the Son- His Son- and says, 'Behold the center of it all"' (Pg 4)

Ephesians 1:20-22 (MSG) "God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church."

"When God looks at the center of the universe, he doesnt look at you" WOW! That's so important! "We are lesser orbs" as he says. We are appreciated, valued, loved dearly. But central, essential? Nope! "Our comfort is not God's first priority" MJ is over, and i read that to her and we both went. OUCH!! (pg5)

Max made a comparison of us and the moon. The moon reflects the sUn, and we should therefore reflect the sOn. "The moon reflects the greater light.... What would happen if we accepted our place as SON reflectors?" (pg6)

He then makes a comparison between Self-Centredness and an Orchestra. If the orchestra doesnt follow the conductor they just wnat to shine. They dont care about the other people. If we follow the conductor everything will be orderly and not in chaos! (pg7)

"Ptolemaic thinking says 'Its mine, Im going to enjoy it' God centred thinking acknowledges 'It's God's; I have to respect" (pg8)

"My pain proves God's absence' would be replaced with 'My pain expands God's purpose" (pg8)

"We move from me-focus to God focus by pondering him. Witnessing him. Following the counsel of the apostle Paul: 'Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, [we] are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord' 2 Corinthians 3:18" (pg9)

I love this book! I totally reccomend it. So much spoke to me. I ordered online a journal that goes with this book. there are questions in there, but i think i am going to keep those to myself. :) but I will share daily what i learn and what popped out to me!

Blessings...

Surrender

"God can use whatever we surrender"

I was sitting down at the prayer meeting on Tuesday morning and that statement caught my eye. So i picked up the newspaper (christian news) article and started reading it. It was about a man named David Bentall and his son Jon. It starts off by saying: " I am not a hockey player, I don't consider myself much of a missionary and I definitly dont speak Slovak! So you might say it was a bit out of the ordinary, tat i would find myself on a hockey missions trip to Slovakia this winter" David decided that if God can use a few loaves of bread and a few fish to feed 5,000 that he could use him on this trip! The hockey team had made a banner for their team. Before the game the Mayor came to David and thanked him for helping to bring peace and understand between the countries (canada and slovakia) and she told him that "Only Jesus Christ can bring real peace to individuals, as well as to countries" It was neat to hear that two countries were coming together to bring peace.

Now i bet your wondering...how did God use David on this trip? Well, he helped look after the team's equipment, and was responsible for refilling the teams water bottles between periods. He was happy to do what he was asked to do. He didn't play hockey, nor did he speak Slovak but there he was at a hockey tournament in Slovakia. But God used him to help the team.

He puts it really nicely at the end of this article: " We all need love, we all need God's guidance and presence in our lives; and we all need to surrender all we have, and all we hope for, to him.... God wants us to surrender our lives to Him" Sooooo true! It doesnt matter what we can't do. It matters what we can do! We need to ask God to use our abilities for his glory! God can use anything we surrender to him, whether it be our money, our time, our service..anything.... We dont have to be world class sports players, we need to be world class Christians!

God can use whatever we surrender to him so let us surrender what we have to him for his glory!

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." ~ Romans 12:1-2 (NAS)

Pay it Forward

I am not sure if this qualifies as Pay it Forward...however... it was REALLY cool!!!!!!

I was at Douglas College all day (in New west which BTW i like David Lam campus SOOO much better!!) I was hanging out with my friends from the TR class. We have a study group. We met up and did a few leisure interviews and we studied for 3 hours STRAIGHT!!! WOW..anyways.. i went to photocopy some things and this guy (who happened to be REALLY REALLY cute **blushes**) comes in to the photocopy room and was like:

Boy-"well, what a crappy day today has turned out to be" he was referring to the pouring rain. Me- "meh, its not so bad"
Boy- "well isnt someone in a chipper mood" he wasnt in a BAD mood like he wasnt giving me attitude but he was teasing me i guess (my friend says he was flirting.... i wouldnt know what that looked like even if it came up and bit me)
Me- "yup"
Boy- " Its saturday afternoon and we are at school, how can u have such a chipper attitude"
Me- I dont let the bad weather get me down" i smiled.

Then he couldnt figure out how to put money on his card for the photocopier and so i helped him put money on his card, and i had to get back to my group and he said "thank you" and he was in such a better mood when i left. he looked at me and smled when he said thanks. I walked out of the room with the biggest smile on my face!

That is totally what God wants us to do. Sometimes if someone is in a bad mood we tend to get the brush of that mood and then we get in a bad mood. but if someone is in a bad mood (or just not happy about the weather) you have to counteract that mood with a 'chipper' attitude. If you do that people will be like "wow, shes happy, maybe i should be happy too, life isnt so bad" :)

THEN i went to leave and my friend and i were walking down the hall and another guy (who was cute yes, again!) and she complimented his hair (she is an older lady not my age... btw) and i agreed and he looked at me and smiled and he was talking about how he is growing it out and its going to cover his ears...and such.. my friend and i were going to the facilities and she was like "theres another guy totally checking you out" hahahaha.... again i wouldnt know that even if it came up and bit me..but all i said to her was:

"Must be the hair" :)

Blessings to you all....

Purpose Driven Life chapter 40

Chapter 40: Living with Purpose

Something to remember: Living on purpose is the only way to REALLY live. Everything else is just existing.

Verse to remember: "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them" John 13:17

Something that was impactful:
Once you know what God wants you to do, the blessing comes in actually doing it.

What will be the centre of my life? God! Who am i going to live my life for? God! What am i going to build my life around? Worshipping God, bringing other people to him, bring him pleasure, serving his people! To keep Him the centre of my life I need to continue to worship him!

What will the the character of my life? Christlike character! What kind of person will i be? A person who worships God through ANYTHING I am going through. I wnat to be the kind of person who gives and gives and gives!!

What will be the contribution of my life? Using my gifts to help people! Using what i have learned to teach others. What will be my ministry in the Body of Christ? I would like to be the birthday card person of my church. I love getting birthday cards from people for my birthday with a nice little message in it. So i want to make other people happy by giving them birthday cards on their birthdays. What will be my role in the family of God? I have been told that i have a gift of encouragement so i will use my gift of encouragement to encourage people (giving them encouragement books etc) How will i make a difference? I hope to encourage people so they are not discouraged! Is there a specific group in the Body that I am shaped to serve? Youth and Seniors.

What wil be the communication of my life? I will invite people to come to church. I have been talkin to a friend of mine at school about God, he is a Christian too and I am sharing with him what God has done in my life ( i shared on tuesday with him about Jeremiah 29:11-14 and what happened with that verse) I will live out what i talk about. I wont just be a talker, i will be a walker!

What will be the community of my life? How will i demonstrate my commitment to other believers and connection to the family of God? I will continue to encourage others and if someone is sick or feeling sad i will encourage them by making them something encouraging. Where will i practice the "one another" commands with other Christians? At my church, at my house and my school! To which church family will you be joined as a functioning member? New Westminster Corps.

I want to serve God's purposess in MY generation!!! Will I be a person God can use for his purposes? YES. Will i serve God's purposes in my generation? YES!!!

Man, this book has been life changing! I am going to continue to go more in depth with it even after the whole study is over! I will forever live out my purpose.

Blessings...

Purpose Driven Life chapter 39

Chapter 39: Balancing your life

Something to remember: Blessed are the balanced; they shall outlast everyone.

Verse to Remember: "Let's take a good look at the way we're living and reorder our lives under God" Lamentations 3:40

Something that was impactful: Our five purposes are to:

1.Love God with all your heart.
2.Love your neighbor as yourself
3.Go and make disciples
4.Baptize them into...
5.Teach them to do all things

I am totally serious about living my purpose driven life!
So i need to Talk it through with a spiritual partner or small group. We are meant to grow together.

Give myself a regular spiritual check-up (Evaluate my life periodically. i.e should I have handled that this way or should i have dealt with this problem another way)

Write down your progress in a journal. I keep so many journals. I ran out of notebooks so i need to go buy another one. Each of my notebooks right now has a purpose. I need to keep a record of the life lessons that i dont want to forget. That is so important.

I need to pass on what I know to others. I need to pass on what i have learned so others can learn as well. It is MY responsibility to carfry the message to others. God is calling ME to be his messanger. I am honored to do that.

I am going to go waaay more in depth with this purpose driven life book. We went pretty in depth in church and small group, but i am gonig to write down some things that the book says to do like keep a journal, write my testimony. etc etc.

Purpose Driven Life chapter 38

Chapter 38: Becoming a World-Class Christian

Something to remember: The Great Commission is YOUR commission.

Verse to remember: "Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live" Mark 8:35

Something that was impactful: Do you wnat to be a WORLD CLASS Christian or a WORLDLY Christian? Its your choice. I personally want to be a WORLD CLASS Christian. I used to TOTALLY be a WORLDLY Christian. TOTALLY was. I was ALL about my needs and nobody elses. I went to missions fest and just sang, didnt actually LISTEN to the message. I went to all these confrences and didnt really truly listen to the message.

If you want to be a world class Christian you need to shift from a self-centered thinking to othere-centered thinking. I dont liek what is written that children only think of themselves, because not ALL of them do. but ya... i duno i just dont like that.

Shift from local thinking to global thinking. Care about what God cares about. Think about the world! The way to do this is to pray for different countries.

Shift from "here and now" thinking to eternal thinking. Fix your eyes on what is unseen! Because that is eternal!

Shift from thinking of excuses to thinking of creative ways to fulfill my commission. Dont say that you dont have anything to offer because i have said it before. EVERYONE has something to offer. We are all called to worship, fellowship, to grow like Christ, to serve and to be on a mission with God in the world. We need to stop making excuses as to why we CANT do it and think of reasons TO do it! and that reason is because God CALLS us to. As I write the blogs for this last purpose on every single one God is telling me to tell you to SAVE ONE MORE FOR JESUS!! Start at home and go GLOBAL!!

Blessings to you all as you are on your mission...

The Heart of Worship is more than a song

As I was listening to the song "Heart of Worship" it got me thinking in a way I never did before. God wants waaaay more than just a song sung to him. He wants our service!! he wants our love. He doesnt just want a song!

When the music fades
And all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart

When we leave the musical worship part of the service, he wants us to just simply come and just do something that is going to glorify him. When we aren't singing worship lyriced songs he wants us to be serving others or doing something that is going to glorify Him! We must long to bring him all of us. We must long to bring more than a song to glorify him! We must share him with others!

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You're looking into my heart

He wants more than a song. he wants us to share him with others. he wants us to share our lessons with others, he wants us to share our testimony with others. He wants us to save one more for Jesus! He knows our hearts. So he will know if our worship is not authentic. He will know if our worship is strictly for recognition!

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You Jesus

The heart of worship I believe is all about Jesus. We need to know that our lives are all about Jesus! That the reason we are alive and breathing is because of Jesus dying on the cross! Our lives should be ALL ABOUT serving people for Him! I am sorry Lord if all i have done is just sing and not serve! I am sorry Lord that i pinned worship as only music. As i read the Bible and finish reading the Purpose Driven Life my eyes are now opened! Worship is not just music! Its our EVERYDAY lives!

King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath

No worship that i bring will be everything that He deserves! But all i have i will give to Him as my offering! ALL i have is His! My life is his!

I'll bring You more than just a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You Jesus

Its all about you
Jesus

Lord, i pray that this song will be planted in people's hearts and that people will know that worship is not all about music. its our everyday lives. Everything we do can be worship. Everything we do should bring glory to Your name! I pray that people's eyes will be open to serving others, because when they serve others, they serve you!

Matthew 25:24- 46 "Then the King will say to those on his right, "Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why: I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.'

"Then those "sheep' are going to say, "Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, "I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me--you did it to me.'

"Then he will turn to the "goats,' the ones on his left, and say, "Get out, worthless goats! You're good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because-- I was hungry and you gave me no meal, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was homeless and you gave me no bed, I was shivering and you gave me no clothes, Sick and in prison, and you never visited.'

"Then those "goats' are going to say, "Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?' "He will answer them, "I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me--you failed to do it to me.'

"Then those "goats' will be herded to their eternal doom, but the "sheep' to their eternal reward."

Purpose Driven Life chapter 37

Chapter 37: Sharing your Life Message

Something to remember: God has given you a Life Message to share!

Verses to remember: "[God] does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives"2 Peter 3:9

Something that was impactful: This chapter is very impactful on me as i said in the other chapter, i am trying to reach my friend Crystal. She needs Jesus, i am still trying to work up the ambition to actually TELL her about how my life has changed. But i think she would think that i am weird. I am trying to get her to come to church tho! Then I can show her why i beleive what i believe.

I need to share my testimony with people. I need to tell people HOW i began my relationship with Jesus!

I need to share my life lessons. I need to show what GOd has taught me.

I need to share my godly passions. I need to tell people the things that i am passionate about because of God.

I need to share the Good News! I need to share the message of salvation!!!

I am going to write my testimony and try to post it later. I have never written my testimony. When i became a soldier i didnt have to read or write my testimony cuz i was too shy to speak. But now i think i could probably do it. My life has changed dramatically. I am a much more confident person.

If you know even ONE person who doesnt know Christ. Continue to pray for them. serve them in love and share the good news with them. I must keep reaching out. I must save one more for Jesus.

The pot luck lunch is a great opportunity to reach out to people. My friend's dad is coming to church because there is a lunch afterwords. I have talked to my friend and she might come too. I must use every opportunity that God gives me to reach out to non believers. Ask yourself this:

Is anyone going to be in heaven because of me?

I want to be member of God's family, a model of his character, a magnifier of his glory, a minister of his grace. I am still learning these things.

We only have a short time to share the Good News, so use every opportunity that you can to fulfill your mission.

Blessings...

My Longing

I was in the prayer room on friday night and i was just totally reading my bible and soaking in everything i was reading. I ended up writing a poem:

My Longing:

Father I long for you
In this dry and barren land
Lead me through this desert place
Lord take me by the hand

Take me by the hand, dear Lord
and show me all your ways
Show me the way to your kingdom Father
I long for it everyday

I long to be loved by you, my God
I long for it so much I cry
I will forever praise your name, oh Lord
Because I am yours and you are mine!

Its not a great poem. But MJ wanted me to post it. So here it is. :)

Blessings...

Purpose Driven Life chapter 36

Chapter 36: Made for a mission

Something to remember: You were made for a mission.

Verse to remember: "God has given us the privelege of urging everyone to come into his favor and be reconciled to him" 2 Corinthians 5:18

Something that was impactful: This morning was very impactful! I was called to Evangelize to my friends. I kept seeing a picture of my friend Crystal all throughout today. Still am. When i was called to evangelize, she kept popping up in my head. i need to evangelize to her. It is very hard! I got frustrated when God kept showing me her picture. And i cried because it is very hard for me to try to get her out to church and youth group because she said its not for her. I want her to come out to church. i love her and it is frustrating me very much that i want to help her so much, but its hard. Its really difficult. I am praying through it but its just really hard. This is my weakness, i get frustrated easily. But i am not giving up. I am not saying i am giving up but its just really hard.

My mission is a contunuation of Jesus' mission on earth. Show people how great God is!!!!!!!!!! He is such a great God and if you have him in your life you would be a much happier person! I definitly am a happier person because i have him. I have my moments of feeling far from him but i always come running back to his arms. He always pulls me out of the pit! ALWAYS! We need NEED to tell others! if we dont we are basically telling the world to go to hell. That is so powerful! If we dont tell the world, they wont know, and they wont think we care because we are basically telling them to go to hell.

My mission is a wonderful privilege. I feel that it is an honor to be used by God! I feel it an honor that God is calling me to evangelize to my friends!

Telling others how they can have eternal life is the greatest thing you can do for them. Again, if you dont you are telling them to go to hell.

Your mission has eternal significance. It will affect others' eternal destiny! Nothing that i do ever will be as important as saving one more for Jesus! What i dont understand, there is a church down the street from us that is an "Evangelical Free' church. tahts what its called. I dont udnerstand how that works.

Your mission gives your life meaning. I love that. I have a meaning! I need to live a purpose drive life!

God's timetable for history's conclusion is connected to the completion of our comission. when we have done our part, thats when Jesus will come back i beleive. When our mission is complete he will come back!

it will cost a lot to fulfill my mission. It may cost us a lot, but God will pay us back A HUNDRED TIMES more! !! !

I HAVE TO SAVE ONE MORE FOR JESUS!!!!! We must care about what God cares about! I have to save one more for Jesus!!!!!!!!

Purpose Driven Life chapter 35

Chapter 35: God's Power in Your Weakness

Something to remember: God loves to use weak people.

Verse to remember: "God purposely chose..what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful" 1 Corinthians 1:27

Something that was impactful: Karyn said this morning that if you think yuou are perfect, you have a flaw. or something like that. But she was basically saying that if you think you are perfect, you are flawed for thinking that because we all know that NOBODY is perfect on this earth. The only person who is perfect is God! Everyone has their weaknesses. Think about it, everyone has something food wise that they shouldnt have but always want, mine is popcorn. For some people it is chocolate. I dont think anyone can say that they dont have a weakness for a certain food. So nobody can say that they dont have a weakness anywhere in their lives. EVERYONE has something that we dont like about ourselves whether its physical, emotional intelectual or spiritual. But God can use our weaknesses. But we need to admit that we have weaknesses before God can use them to help others. And you need to be content that u have that weakness. It is hard, i know. but we need to.

There are several ways that Paul says that we should be content with out weakness. It helps us to depend on God. That is so important. When we feel weak thats when we need to depend on God. when you are feeling physically weak or faint and you are going to fall, there is hopefully a friend to catch you when you fall. thats what God wants to do, when we feel faint or weak God wants to lift us back up!

Our weakness prevents arrogance! It helps us to stay humble.

Our weakness also encourages fellowship between believers. Things that we cant do help us realize how much we need each other. I love this quote that says " Christians, like snowflakes, are frail, but when they stick together they can stop traffic" wow!

Our weaknesses will also increase our capacity for sympathy and ministry. He used so many people like Gideon, Moses, Habbikuk to help people even tho they said they have a weakness

We need to honestly share our weakness. Share it with a friend! leave yourself vulnerable to different problems that might come our way.

Glory in our weakness. God turns our strengths into a weakness to make us more effective to help others.

Purpose Driven Life chapter 33/34

Chapter 33/34: How Real Servants Act and think

Something to Remember: We serve God by serving others and Service starts in your mind.

Verse to Remember: "Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone, especially for the family of believers" Galatians 6:10

"Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand" Philipains 2:4

Something that was impactful: God shaped you for service not self-centeredness. Rick says that "your shape reveals your ministry, but your servant's heart will reveal your maturity" (258) I like that.

Real servants make themselves AVAILABLE to serve. They dont fill up their schedule with other things that will stop them from serving. They will be able to make time to serve. Real servants do whatever is needed whether its convenient for them or not.

Real servants pay attention to needs. They are always on the lookout for people in need. THats self explanitory i think.

Real servants do their best with what they have. It doesnt matter who you are, God can use you. Many people fear that they are not good enough to serve. EVERYONE is good enough to serve. Everyone has something to offer!

Real servants do every task with equal dedication. They use Colissians 3:16(?) that says whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. I like what Rick said that "small tasks often show a big heart". I think that is totally true. In my church, there are people who do things behind the scenes, such as make the bullitens, lead sunday school etc. THey have teh biggest hearts because they dont get noticed for what they are doing but they still do it.

Real servants are faithful to their ministry. They dont give up. They continue their task until its fulfilled. Its a rare quality, and in very few people. They can always be counted on by other people.

Real servants maintain a low profile. That goes with what i wrote before about the small tasks. They dont WANT to be noticed or recognized for what they do.BE HUMBLE!

Servants think more about others than themselves. They focus on the comfort of others before their own. I know many people like that and those people are the people i love most. They are not self-centered. When we stop focusing on ourselves and our own needs, we become more aware of others needs around us. I love that!

Servants think like stewards, not owners. God owns everything not you. All your time belongs to God. Your time should be used to make him happy. Servanst are Kingdom Builders not Wealth Builders.

Servants think about their work, not what others are doign. Dont focus on what other people are doing. Don't criticize what others are doing. Its not a competition!!!!!!

Servants base their identity in Christ. We dont have to prove our worth because we know what we are worth in God's eyes.

Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation. They think of it as a good thing that they WANT to do, not somethign they have to do.

I am willing to be one of those Christians who gets serious about my role as a servant. Lord help me to be more a servant and less selfcentered! Help me to be able to serve out of opportunity not out of obligation. Help me be happy to serve. Help me KNOW that it doesnt matter how old i am. I can do anything through YOU who gives me strength. Help me Lord to know that anyone can serve. Everyone has something they can offer. Thank you for revealing this to me at a time where i was feeling like i had nothing to offer to my church! Thank you Lord! Amen!

Prayers

I am not going to school tonight, as i am sick. The drugs that they gave me i guess gave me a reaction, because i am very sick. I am so nauseous, the whole lovely bit. anyways. So i am sitting here writing prayers. Here they are... they arent that great. but God doesnt care right?

A Prayer for the Plans for my Life
I see that you know the plan for my life
And with every problem has a purpose
To shape me, to mold me
To guide my every step
To help me help others with their needs or struggles
To bring you glory, not to lift me up.
You deserve my best, oh Lord
And my best you will definitely get.
I will praise you for every circumstance
Praise you, Praise you Father
Amen

A Prayer for My Purpose
I was planned for Gods pleasure
I was formed for his family
Help me Lord to bring you glory
In all I do, in every single way

I was created to be like Christ
I was shaped to serve Him and others
I realize that I will serve my God
By giving service to my sisters and brothers

I was made for a mission.
In my life there is a plan
Every problem in my life has a purpose
I will forever lift my hand to you, you’re THE MAN

A Prayer of Praise
I will praise you through the good times and bad
No matter what may come
I will love you through every circumstance
To your arms, Lord I will run,

For you are a faithful and loving God
Who never leaves us ever
Though we may run away from you
Lord, you are always there!

I am sorry Lord for the days that I don’t hear you
I now realize that it’s not you who doesn’t speak
It’s me who does not listen,
Lord forgive me for I am very weak!

I now know that you speak all the time
Whether I listen or not is another story
I need to open my ears more frequently
So I can hear what you have to say

Im done, i think tomorrow i will write in my blog about the 40 days of purpose because i am nauceous and ineed to rest, even tho i should be doing homework.. nah im gonna do homework, it needs to be done. and just because i am sick and having stomach problems (cramping) doesnt mean that i shoudlnt get work done!

Blessings everyone...

Purpose Driven Life chapter 32

Chapter 32: Using what God gave you!

Something to remember: God deserves your BEST

Verse to Remember: "Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you wont need to compare yourself to anyone else." Galatians 6:4

Something impactful: how to discover my shape: I need to assess my gifts and abilities. I need to look at what i am good at and what i am not good at. I need to ask other people for their opinion.

I need to consider my heart and my personality. Where is my passion? Where does that passion lie? I just did a philosophy paper on this!!

I need to examine my experiencse and extract the lessons that i learned from those experiences. How have these experiences shaped the person that i am today? When we are going through something bad we dont see the good in it until after its over. Hindsight is always 20/20!

I like this extended metaphor: Don't be envious of the runner in the lane next to you; just focus on finishing YOUR race!

Blessings...

Purpose Driven Life chapter 31

Chapter 31: Understanding Your Shape

Something to Remember: Only YOU can be you.

Verse to Remember: "He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. when others are troubled, we will be able to give tem the same comfort God has given us" 2nd Corinthians 1:4

Something that was impactful: Nobody has the same spiritual gifts.

All of our abilities come from God. Every ability was given to you from God, some are just being abused and misused. Everyone has an ability in some way to help serve! Whether its preaching or stacking chairs! NO job is too small.

Every ability can be used for God's glory. God has a place for everyone in the church you just have to find your place.

What I 'm able to do God wants me to do. God wants us to use the abilities that he gave us. Dont just leave the abilities lying around unused. God WANTS you to use your abilities.

God gave you different experiences to shape your life. you need to share those experiences with others. If god gave you a painful experience, you must share it with people so they can learn from that. It will be your most effective ministry because if someone comes to you saying..i duno.. maybe you were abused and someone who was abused comes to you and says they need help, what better person to help than someone who has been there. He will use that to help someone in need. Cool eh?

I pray that God can use my experiences in the past to help someone in need now! Amen

Purpose Driven Life chapter 30

Chapter 30: Shaped for serving God

Something to remember: You were shaped to serve God.

Verse to Remember: "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he prepared in advance for us to do" Ephesians 2:10

Something that was impactful:
S.H.A.P.E
Spiritual Gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experience

Spiritual gifts were not given to you for your benifit. God gave them to you for everyone elses' benefit!

Your Heart reveals the REAL you, not what others think of you. This is what our PASSION is..well Its another word for Heart. Whatever experiences bring you to tears or situations that make you cry. In my situation, it makes me cry when i think of all the animals that get abandoned, abused, neglected and are homeless. it makes me so sad to know that there are 44 cats in our company (some in foster homes) there is around 20 in the small shelter. They need homes and it makes me very sad to know that some are just not ready for forever homes because they were treated so badly. It makse me sad to know that people would neglect their cats and treat them so badly. Some come in cuz people develop allergies but some come in with like their RIBS showing, and malnutritioned and starving pretty much and some like Suzie, is fat so she wasnt neglected that way, but people just didnt like her cuz of her attitude problem at that time, shes better now but ya. It makes me sad when people treat other people/animals horribly! Everyone's heart is different.

God wants us to serve him passionatly not dutifully. Which means we need to serve him with the feeling of delight not duty.

So whatever you enjoy doing, do it for the glory of God.

Blessings....

God works through different men [and women] in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purposes through them all. ~1 Corinthians 12:6

Purpose Driven Life chapter 29

Chapter 29: Accepting your Assignment

Something to remember: You were put on earth to make a contribution

Verse to remember: "Because of Gods great mercy.. offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service" Romans 12:1

Something that was impactful: This chapter title sounds like something off a charlies angel movie haha. God gives us a mission. He created us to serve him, we were saved to serve, we are called to serve and we are commanded to serve God. Wow Rick quotes something pretty powerful "If i have no love for others, no desire to serve others, I should question whether Christ is really in my life." There is NO small act of service to God. God even loves the chair stackers!!! It says here that the small or hidden ministries (bulliten making etc) often make the biggest difference. The last sentence in this chapter is HUGE

"[God] will use you too if you just stop making excuses" OUCH!!!

There was ministry sunday today at church after service and I signed up for something that wasnt on any list. birthday card making. I feel that is a strong ministry. People are very happy wjen people remember their birthdays. So if we get a list of everyone's birthdays, i can make cards and give them to them on their birthdays! Or put it in their box! WOO!!!

I gotta go now, im gonna go to bed soon.. BYEE

Purpose Driven Life chapter 28

Chapter 28: It takes time

Something to Remember: There is no shortcuts to maturity.

Verse to Remember: "Everything on earth has its own time and its own season" Ecclesiastes 3:1

Statement that was most impactful: You will not become spiritually mature in a day. that just will not happen. It takes time. The reason it takes so long to be fully spiritually mature is because we are slow learners. God throws something at us and we have to go through it so many times to actually GET it.... to LEARN FROM IT!. We have a lot to unlearn. The world has got so much bad stuff in our heads and it takes a whle to get them out of your head. its like my new Christian friends. They listened to Eminem. they knew every single lyric and its taking a while to get them out of their head. We are afraid to humbly face the truth about ourselves. Growth is often painful and scary.. AMEN! Habits take time to develop. That goes with the Unlearning one. it takes a while to learn them and even longer to unlearn.

Rick says that while you are maturing there are several ways to cooperate with God in the process. You need to believe God is working in your life even when you dont feel it. Keep a notebook or journal of lessons learned. I do that..sorta... i will do it more tho! And be patient with God and with yourself. Dont get mad at yourself for nnot being mature. We need to realize that it takes time. and finally dont get discouraged that you are not mature yet. Rick said something very impactful " Remember how far you have come, not just how far you have to go" Wow...that is so impactful i have tears in my eyes. I was so bad when i was younger. I didnt take Christianity seriously, i let people have a bad influence on me. I stole... I swore SO much. I was a bad kid. I have come SO far from that bad kid. Mind you i do still have A LOT of growing to do, but I have come a long way from that horrible kid. AMEN! Thank you Jesus for coming in my life. I would have been dead long ago if i didnt have you! PRAISE YOU!!

Purpose Driven Life chapter 26/ 27

Chapter 26/27: Growing Through/Defeating Temptation

These two i thought i would tie in together.

Something to Remember: Every temptation is an opportunity to do good. and There is always a way out

Verse to Remember: "God blesses the people who patiently endure testing. Afterward they will recieve the crown of life that God had promised to those who love him" James 1:12

Statement that was most impactful:Fruits of the spirit... God has ALL, so to be like Christ, we need to have these in our lives and in order to do that, we are tempted. We always have a CHOICE to do good or to give into temptation. we must choose NOT to give in and we will become more like Christ. And TRUST ME, if you ask for patience, God will send stuff to test your patience. At camp last week... the first night, i get settled in and then people start snoring (not in my room) and THEN the fire alarm battery was low so it beeped all night. i didnt lose my temper, i must admit i was getting a little frustrated that i couldnt sleep. But i didnt lose my cool!

How do you overcome temptation: Refuse to be intimidated by temptation! It will look SO intimidating! You will beat yourself up for thinking about it, but dont! Satan wont tempt people who are doing his evil will. He will tempt people who are doing God's will. For instance, when we go to a God filled weekend such as youth Councils, satan usually takes me down from that awesome weekend. but nope not this time. He has sent stuff that has discouraged me (monday afternoon, and these dreams lately that just wont stop) but i am not letting them get to me. When you get tempted, dont think that u are weak!! Its SATAN, he HATES your GUTS!! He HATES YOU SO MUCH!

Recognize your pattern of temptation and be prepared for it. When are you most tempted? recognize those times!

Request God's help! He is up 24 hours, so you dont need to be. If u are having a rough time, give them ALL to God, he will be up all night anyways. He wants you to give your worries to him so you can get a good night sleep and not having to worry about your problems.

God will NEVER give us too much to handle.. He wont give us something that he doesnt know that we can get through. He said in 1st Corinthians 10:13 "Remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you cant stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it."

This reminds me of when my best friend did a bible study on temptation. She siad that "we tend to move towards what we focus on" hehe there i go using that again. In this book it says that whatever gets your attention will get you. but the ways to defeat temptation are to refocus your attention, Reveal your stuggle to a godly friend or support group, resist the devil, Realize ur vulnerability.

Temptation makes us more dependant on God. So i say, SATAN BRING IT ON!!!!!!!

Blessings to you all!!

Purpose Driven Life chapter 25

Chapter 25: Transformed by Trouble

Something to Remember: God has a purpose behind every problem.

Verse to Remember: "Don't be bewildered or surprising when you go through the fiery trials ahead, for this is no strange, unusual thing that is going to happen to you."1 Peter 4:12

Statement that was most impactful: Its like the song "Blessed be your name" he gives and takes away from us but we need to still praise his name, whether we are going through a tough time or a great time (such as i am now) To become like Christ, we need to go through what he went through. its the only way we will become like him. God uses problems to draw us closer to him. Its so true. Think about it, when you are going through a rough time, u tend to talk to him more, and ask him to take away the problem (hopefully you have the faith to believe that he CAN take the problems away) Rick Warren says that "Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days." Its so true. I find that too, in fact when i am going through a rough time, i cry. when i am happy, i sometimes cry too.. like when i came to the revelation that i was being so stupid for not relying on him more, i cried. In fact i am thinking that i am pretty stupid for not doing that MORE STILL!!

How do i respond to problems then??

Remember that God's plan is good. Always remember that God's plan is good no matter if you think it is or not.

Rejoice and give thanks!! Thank you Lord for you provide! I believe YOU gave my mom that credit card! I believe that u sent it to her in order for her to help us to be healthy again (by getting groceries) I believe that U sent that credit card to help us get out of debt! We are out of debt and I thank you Lord, we were in debt for FAR TO LONG. And you provided a way out! You are TRULY TRULY AWESOME FATHER!!!!!!!!!!!

Refuse to give up! That is so important. Hard times come in your life you shouldnt crawl in a hole and not come out. get out of that hole and LIVE LIFE!!!!!! Dont give up! Keep striving for a happy God filled life. BE PATIENT AND PERSISTANT!!! my mom was VERY persistant. She prayed for 6 months straight for this certain amount!! She was persistant, she never gave up!!!! She said she was a little impatient, but she did not give up!

Thanks God!!!!!!!! YAY!!! I am so happy right now!!!!!!

God is working!!

My mom just got a mastercard yesterday that she didnt realize she applied for. SHe had been praying for 6 months for an exact amount (i wont say how much..but its a lot) and she got that EXACT amount credit limit on her credit card!! cool eh? God provides. so now we can get up to date with bills etc etc! yay God

another dream

K.... i had another disturbing dream last night...

I was at NW church for refuge and i give my youth pastor an encouragement card and she asks me why i do these. I said cuz i like to make people happy. and she told me that i should stop donig them because they cost way too much money and nobody likes them anyways. Now i know this was Satan talking and not my youth pastor because my youth pastor would never say such a thing. So i started crying very very badly and my best friend came over and thats when i woke up....