IfYouGiveAMindensenABlog

A popular question with a variety of answers. There are also many different forms of love.

This past weekend I was counseling for a Middle School Purity and Holiness retreat. The purpose of the retreat is to educate/equip/prepare Middle-schoolers how and why to make the choice (and future choices) to stay pure and live a life that is holy and pleasing to God. One challenge from the weekend was to ask a person to 'define love' when they tell you "I LOVE YOU!" It made me think about how I would answer. So, I would say that when you love someone, you put them entirely before you; their needs, health, dreams,happiness, etc... However, that can be VERY unhealthy, UNLESS there is someone who loves you that much, and is taking care of your needs. Meaning, in order to really LOVE we need to have an example of real love in our lives to be able to duplicate it. Unfortunately, this world isn't perfect, but we do have a God who is perfect.

Recently God has been trying to teach me about Agape love.

God loves mankind unconditionally, but He is able to do so because of the Trinity. The Trinity is a PERFECT example of love. Each part is constantly placing the priorities of the other two parts above their own. God exists in a perpetual state of perfect loves, hence 1 John 4's "God is LOVE". Therefore, God will ALWAYS be able to love others perfectly because He has a perfect love relationship to duplicate from. Now, as a human, I can be selfish and therefore, unable to love perfectly, thus being unable to be in a perfect relationship. However, my relationship with God, because of God's perfection, gives me the closest chance at having one. God's part will always be perfect and so it is simply a matter of strengthening my end of it (through HIS help of course). That way, as I grow more and more in love with God, I'll have an increasingly better example of love to duplicate towards others, despite the fact that both me and the other person are imperfect.

God calls us to 'love one another' (1John4:7&8), but we are only able to love 'because HE first loved us' (1John4:19)

God is GOOD!

THERE IS AN ENEMY...
"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1Peter5:8)
...and it isn't another person.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Eph.6:12)
THERE IS A SAVIOR
"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." (Heb.2:14-15)

Whenever I'm tempted to stay angry at a person, it helps to remember that 'We all sin', and Christ died for all of us. I need to pray for that person to find freedom and healing through Jesus instead of judging them and/or trying to 'fix' them myself.

God is GOOD!♥

I received a copy of this a few years ago, and it still challenges me as much (if not more) as it did than. I just thought I should share it with you all...

A Zimbabwe Pastors Prayer (a martyr)
I'm part of the fellow of the unashamed.
I have the Holy Spirit power.
The die has been cast.
I have stepped over the line.
The decision has been made-I'm a disciple of His.

I won't look back, letup, slow down, back away, or be still.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure.
I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees,
colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talk, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity.
I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.
I now live by faith, lean in His presence, walk by patience,
am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my roads narrow,
my way rough, my companions are few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear.
I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away,
turned back, deluded, or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up,
prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus.

I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me.
And, when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me.
My banner will be clear!
***

"If we confess with our mouths that 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead we will be saved" (Rom.10:9), and we are given the right to become children of God (John 1:12). However, with that, we need to recognize the responsibility of being one of God's children. We have two choices, we can A, choose to live a life that is 'under the radar, not rocking the boat or making waves,still a child of God but with 'colorless dreams' and 'dwarfed goals'. Or B, we can let our 'light shine before men, that they may see (our) good deeds and praise (our) Father in heaven" (Matt.5:16).


How often have I been guilty of having 'colorless dreams' or 'dwarfed dreams'? We worship a God who can do "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Eph.3:20), "nothing is impossible with Him"(Luke1:37). We are HIS "workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works"(Eph.2:10). He has a plan for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a hope and future(Jer.29:11). Do we live in that truth? Do we proudly stand with Him, as HIS child, proclaiming the VICTORY we have in Jesus?

Let's break out of our comfort zones, and step out of the boxes we've placed ourselves (and God) into, putting our life in HIS hands...I want my banner to be clear, do you?

God is GOOD!♥

...Random interjection: I just killed my FIRST, TWO (10*) mosquitoes of the year, and have my SECOND (3rd&4th*) mosquito bites :( ...I LOVE Spring, but I HATE mosquitoes, unfortunately they LOVE ME :'( *(Actual numbers by the time I finished writing this blog)....
~~~~~~
Anywho...I wish I had a SWEET basketball analogy to go with my title, but I don't...sorry. I do not know enough about basketball to make an accurate correlation, though I am learning b/c you can NOT help but get into the sport of basketball when you live at camp...just about EVERYONE at least watches it. (WARNING: Basketball is contagious!)
So, I'm sure you can guess that I've watched a few college basketball games over the last few weeks, along with watching the ending games of camp's Mens' Church Basketball league games. Both have been quite enjoyable...but now for the real 'Madness' part of my blog...
If you've read my last two blogs, I'm sure you can kind of sense some of the INTENSE 'conversations' I've been having with God lately. I'm not really sure how to express it all. A friend of mine's life verse is John 3:30, and it's the first verse that comes to mind when thinking about my last few weeks..."HE must become greater; I must become less". It's NOT ABOUT ME!
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you have died, and you life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory". (Colossians 3:1-4)
And really, we aren't really losing anything at all. When we give our lives to God, he is able to use us in ways we could NEVER even IMAGINE. Never forget how much God loves us, and wants what's best for us. I don't remember where I heard it, but one of my favorite quotes is "God is too loving to ever do anything unkind, and too wise to ever make a mistake".

God is GOOD! ♥

Jesus says in John 14:21 “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my father and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
What does it mean to obey? What has God been asking me to do that I need to obey/ haven’t been obeying? It has certainly been a ‘hot-topic’ between me and him. Last Wednesday, I was participating in a day of Silence and Solitude, and one of the papers I was reading had a rather challenging request; “List two changes in your life that WOULD most glorify God?” Well, even though I feel like I have already been making some rather big changes, and some rather glorifying to God, I didn’t really know what changes I still needed to make, and which ones would be most glorifying to God.
So, I prayed about it, and right away the first thing I heard was about my hair. The moment I heard God ask for it though was the exact moment I realized how MUCH I valued it. I wanted to get angry, wanted to fight it/ blow it off. However, the more I went down that path, the more I realized it made sense for God to ask for it. Clearly, as strange as it seems to be typing this right now, I have been placing more value than I should on my hair. I’m going to be donating 10 inches this Monday.
So, that was ONE, but yes, God had a two. I’m still processing it, but I’m SURE I need to delete my Myspace (which wasn’t hard because I never use it), My Dailybooth account (which is currently impossible, but will be abandoned until I can delete it), and lastly Facebook. I still really don’t want to, and as of right now it isn’t deleted, but I’m in the process of breaking that connection (I just didn’t feel right deleting it super suddenly, without warning anybody). However, once again, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I was relying on Facebook to ‘keep me connected’, when really it has just been a HUGE source of guilt for not being able to do that, even though Facebook makes it ‘so easy’. Plus, God has really been trying to tell me, it’s OK, he knows what he is doing, and I won’t lose my friends. It’s going to be hard, but I KNOW that if I keep my focus on him, not only will I have the joy of being obedient, but I KNOW my relationships, with not just him, but with EVERYONE else will be made better, and more glorifying to him.
God is still GOOD!

This morning I went to church and listened to a message, by Pastor Robert Douglas, titled, "Do Something Passionately". It is part of a "Do Something: Make Your Life Count!" series, and it got me thinking...

Did you know that you were created with a purpose? That God has a plan for you? And how do we move from feeling OBLIGATED to JOYFULLY serving?

I think that part of it is recognizing that we have a purpose, but what I was learning about today was that we also have to learn to 'DELIGHT in the PLEASURE of our purpose'. Just as there is a 'sweet spot' in playing a sport or instrument, there is a 'sweet spot' to living, and that's right in the middle of God's Will. There is NO better feeling than KNOWING what I'm doing at a particular moment is what God wants me to do. It feels good, there is an unexplainable JOY in living my life God's way.
Not to say that there won't be any hard times, but God is working in the moments, we just have to 'DISCOVER the POWER of our perseverance'. Romans 5:1-5 says "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we REJOICE in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also REJOICE in our suffering, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance,character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us." If we believe in Jesus, we have the assurance of God's presence and plan, and GOODNESS...and ultimately Heaven. We aren't living for this world, but the next because of what Jesus did for us. That hope pulls us through the tough times, and ALSO God doesn't just leave us by ourselves to face the tough times alone, he gives us the Holy Spirit, who fills us with the POWER we need to overcome, and that is something to REJOICE about.
Finally, we have to 'DISCIPLINE the PRIORITIES of our possibilities'. We can't just have HOPE we also have to have the discipline to recognize what God is doing in our lives, and to recognize that even though what we are going through right now may not be fun, sometimes God uses those tough times to teach us something important, we just have to be open to hearing it/ accepting it. Than we will be able to reach our fuller potential. Discipline rarely FEELS GOOD, but "afterward there will be a quiet harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way" (Hebrews 12:11b)
Don't miss out on the abundant life God wants to give you. GO! Spend time with Him; Find out what His purpose is for you; Get passionate about it; Be empowered, and inspired by Him; Trust Him; Learn from Him; Seek Him; Abide in Him; Grow in Him; Obey Him; LOVE Him... Jesus said in John 15:9-11 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now REMAIN in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy my be in you and that YOUR JOY MAY BE COMPLETE". God is GOOD! ♥