Ebb and Flow

I have a theory that, as believers, we go through an ebb and flow in our relationship with God. I also think this ebb and flow is specific to each person. Some of us are closer to God when everything seems right in the world, we are on top of everything, and nothing seems to be able to get us down. That is when we worship the loudest, pray the most, and find ourselves in the Word the most.

Then there are those of us who move closer when the going gets tough. When everything goes wrong, our car breaks down, our finances seem to be coming up short, the whole world becomes a scary place and sends us running back under the cover of our Father. We seek Him out to make sense of the world and our problems. We read the Word trying to find solutions and we pray constantly, asking for answers and help and giving thanks when we feel the need to remember that things aren't so bad.

While being closer to God is good, why don't we stay close all the time? When we are at our most thankful and also when we are at the bottom of the pit and need a hand? Why do we struggle to see God in the good? Or struggle to seek Him in the dark?

Priority check.

Cell phones, the internet, TV, Facebook, Twitter, work, relationships. There is so much going on in life right now. Our focus doesn't stay in one place for very long. We don't do the same task for very long, or make sure it has slight variations, with a few exceptions. We as a society like to be stimulated and often. I myself find this true. I get bored easily, but am luckily easy to entertain.

With all of the stimuli we have in our lives, it is so easy to become distracted. Lose focus on things that matter (or at least should matter) and focus on such mundane and trivial things. Family can take a back seat. Our faith can take a back seat. Where do we place importance? Is it on the small things we do that we won't remember in a week from now? Or is it on something that will make an impact years from now? I've been struggling to stay focused and remember what my priorities are and I took a minute on my lunch break today to look at some verses I had written down over time. Colossians 3:2 "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things." Caught my attention. Time for a priority check, how about you?

Why Follow the Bible??

For some people, it is hard to understand why I (and probably the majority of Christians, though I can only speak for myself) follow the Bible. If I claim to not be religious (I'm not), then how do I follow this book? The Bible isn't religious, it is how people use the Bible that becomes religious. When you begin to use what is in the Bible to condemn people, or to persecute people, or to exclude people from your fellowship, then you become religious. If you use the Bible and your own actions to adopt a "holier than thou" attitude, then that is religious. Using the Bible to judge people is religious. 

I follow the Bible, I tithe, I go to church, I worship, I pray, I serve all because I love God. I don't do it out of condemnation. I don't do it because I want to impress people. I don't do it because it brings me favor with people (it really doesn't. Quite the opposite really). I do it because I love God. It's natural. When you love someone (God) you do everything you can to keep that person happy. You do everything possible to make them proud. You go out of your way for them. This is how our relationships should be with Christ. When that changes, we need to change something (just had a realization there for myself). 

John 14:15 states "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." and 2 Corinthians 9:7 "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

I love God. Serving Him and following His Word make Him happy and make me feel fulfilled. 

Being Yoked: Friends, Dating, Relationships.

I've been encountering something that I never thought would be such a big deal to me. As a Christian in the dating world, I never thought that dating an unbeliever would be an issue. I can understand that some people have an issue with God or are angry at Him or haven't encountered God in a real way yet. The closer I get to  God, and I believe the closer anyone gets to God, the more important this detail becomes. The main verses people use when referring to this are 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. To sum it up, a believer cannot be yoked equally with a non believer. Light has no reason to fellowship with the darkness. When you aren't fully leaning on God, this doesn't seem to make a difference. The more you lean on Him, the more these words make sense.

Another verse I found that makes sense for the dating world of Christians as well as all kinds of friendships and relationships; 1 Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be deceived, "Bad company ruins good morals."" Doing what is wrong or bad is always easier than doing what is right and good. Even being friends with or dating someone who goes to church but isn't saved can be a problem. 2 Timothy 3:5 addresses this. Having a form of godliness but denying the power is to be avoided. Being choosy about who we keep close is good. This isn't to say that you can't have friends that aren't saved or who believe differently, otherwise how would you show the world the light? But the emotional investment you make in people is important to pay attention to.

Lastly, and this is something I don't want to address, but that is so important it really needs it's own post, but I want to be able to dedicate more attention to it later. So in passing, 2 Timothy 2:22 "So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." This is a call to both pursue the fruits of the spirit instead of your own desires and to look for people who do the same. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5. We are to control our bodies and use them for honor. (Summing up here.) And lastly to address this. 1 Corinthians 6:18, "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body." This should hit home so hard for us. The harm is done to ourselves. Not to someone else. In a world and time where sex is everywhere we look, it is in the TV shows we watch, the movies we see, the music we hear on the radio, and in commercials, we are so numb to these verses. They seem almost irrelevant to us. What is the big deal? We don't take responsibility for our sexuality. We see it as something fun. We see it as something that is expected by society. Something that is part of being in a relationship with someone. It is seen as normal to not be married and be having sex. As children of God, it should bother us more than it does. 

I'm not claiming to be perfect or to have all the answers or to be any better than anyone reading these words. But I know that I want to change. When you love God, you want to please God. Not disappoint Him. I want to please my God.

(Adding this in) I will mention that I'm dating someone who is not a believer and have many friends who don't believe as well. It hasn't affected the fact that I'm madly in love with Christ. I can't say they are always the easiest relationships to have or that we always agree on everything. 

More Pearls and A Bit on Beauty

Fear is faith in a lie.

The World doesn't read the Word, they read Christians.

Being a Christian means you are set apart from the world (Ephesians 5:1-2)

It is foolish to you, it is possible to me. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

You can't move forward when you are looking back. A tightrope walker never looks down.

Man's love is of man's life a thing apart
'Tis a woman's whole existance ~(Don't remember!)

The bible is a love story between God and His people. Christianity changes dramatically when we discover that it is a great romance. ~Captivating

Nature is not primarily functional, it is primarily beautiful.

Addictions are lovers of the heart. They are what we turn to instead of God. (Cigs, alcohol, facebook, internet in general, TV, etc) Our lovers have so intertwined themselves with our identity that to give them up feels like a personal death... we wonder if it is possible to live without them (The Sacred Romance)

These words are razors to my wounded heart- Shakespeare

We are not living in the world our souls were made for.

You are passionately loved by the God of the universe. You are passionately hated by His enemy.

God and Jesus thwart our plans for self-redemption. Or else we'll never turn fully to Him for help. (Hosea 2:6-7)  Captivating

We don't need to defend ourselves anymore. That's God's job. He is our Defender and Advocate. ~Captivating

We have to ask Christ to come and heal places in our hearts. He is a gentleman. If we still have them locked away....

For all the root of holiness is Romance.

Our changing relationship with God
             Clay-Potter
             Sheep-Shephard
             Servant-Master
             Child-Father
             Friends
             Bride-Bridegroom

If there is a space in our heart that only God can fill, there is a space in God's heart only I can fill, only you can fill.

Women are a mystery. Not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to enjoy.

Forced, striving beauty is no beauty to behold.

To let your defenses down is to let beauty step forward.

Do not give way to fear. (1 Peter 3:6)

A garden's beauty doesn't diminish with age; rather it takes years for it to become all that it can become. Such is with a tree, and with a person. ~Captivating

Beauty is a quality of the soul that expresses itself in the visible world.

Restoration has begun.

True femininity calls forth true masculinity.

If you would be loved, be loveable. ~Ovid

It is one thing to suffer. It is far worse to walk alongside one you love who is suffering intensely and be unable to do anything about it.

The heart is deceitful above all things. Jeremiah 17:9

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (Col 3:2)

Pearls

Just some pearls I've picked up over the last few months. I write them down and never do anything with them. Take what you want.

It's not the quantity, but the quality.

A soul realm experience with God will feel good but leaves you with no conviction. A spirit encounter with God brings change.

Confidence in your God is good. Pride is stupid.

The dog you feed the most will be the strongest. Physical. Soul. Spirit. Who has the loudest bark?

If you stay in the World, you become a part of the World.

Buy the truth and do not sell it. Proverbs 23:23

When you walk with the World and as part of the World, you lose the Word. THe longer you walk with the World, the easier it is to let that Word go.

Absence is the strongest form of presence.

I'll crown you with my love.

Will you take this wall I've built and tear it down.

If you have a dream or a shadow of a dream, chase it. What do you have to lose?

Oh I've dreamed dreams of majesty as brilliant as a billion stars.

You are infectious, spreading through me.

Water from a broken well will make you thirst again.

Never let your fear decide your fate.

Don't have a religious conversion. Have a conversation. An open dialogue with God.

Without faith it is impossible to please Him.

Where is your hope based?

Love activates faith.

"You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not" ~Epictetus

You emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions.

Have a backbone, not a wishbone.

Devotion is diligence without assurance.

Faith: I pre-accept the terms of the universe and I embrace in advance what I am presently incapable of understanding.

Faith is walking face first and full speed into the dark.

I want God to play in my bloodstream the way sunlight amuses itself on water.

It shouldn't take hitting rock bottom to diligently seek God.

Reasoning is not necessary for faith. Faith is action without assurance.

Faith won't make sense to anyone. You will have to fully rely on God for any and all support.

What do you want to do? Follow Jesus or follow the World and all of its standards?

I want all that God has for me. Nothing less.

I want to please God not man. You must be less like the community and more like God.

Foolishness to the Perishing

This past Sunday, a verse was mentioned in the morning message. One that wasn't stopped upon and looked into, but read in a group of passages. Upon reading it, this verse spoke truth into my eyes and my mind like it hadn't before. It struck a chord with me.

1 Corinthians 1:18 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

I love when a verse will jump off of the page and, even if you've read that very verse before (possibly multiple times) takes on a meaning that you had never seen before. Such is the case with this verse. The books of Corinthians are some of my favorites and I've read through these very words multiple times. Now my eyes have been opened to the meaning. This may very well happen because we have not had the experiences necessary to see the wisdom in a verse just yet.

As is common in the world today, not everyone is a believer in Christ. Not everyone wants God and the message that comes with Him. They see Christianity as a set of rules and something that controls their life. They can't understand why anyone would want to give up what freedom they have to follow a book. This is especially true for the younger generation. Teenagers and college students such as myself.

People who are "being saved" however, see the bible and all that comes with Christianity as freedom! God gave us His son to be free from Hell. We are freed from sin. We see what we have been given in the Bible as "the power of God." and love it all the more.

I believe this explains why when I try to have a conversation with unsaved friends about my beliefs or why I won't do something because it clashes with my beliefs, these unsaved people will get that blank look on their face and just truly not understand. Or one of my favorites, try to explain that you only live once (YOLO!) and you should live it to the fullest. To saved people, following Christ is living life to the fullest. I would rather walk through those pearly gates one day and hear God say "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Rather than think back and ponder, "Was all of that really worth it?".