Dear friends,
This week God literally BROKE me and called me to do something that I have never felt so convicted to do in my life. The Holy Spirit called me into obedience. Can I just stress to you how hard this call is. It is the most challenging trial the Lord has ever put me through. But I know that I will be forever grateful. A verse that the Lord Literally put in front of my face was
Lamentations 2:22-26
"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him".
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord".
How amazing is our God? Dude, sit back and reflect on this..."How BIG is your God?!" I was hurting so badly this past week and praise God that He was able to put a Godly woman in my life to shove that in my face. HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD? Do you rejoice in your sufferings? Do you have a strong faith to know that God is in control. Your fate and happiness has already been decided in His eyes. He is the perfect and just author of our life story. Who better to run after with a full and heavy heart. Friends, I encourage and plead for you to SPRINT and fall face first at the foot of the cross. It will be the most incredible journey I promise. I also promise, that it will be hard, you will be confused, but God will reveal Himself to you in His time. Wait patiently on your Creator. He is merciful and gracious and loves you!! He loves me enough to take me in my arms and say "Be still and know that I am God"
Seek after God's own heart. Be completely CONSUMED in Him and you will find rest.
Psalm 16:1-2
"Keep me safe O God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the Lord "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing"
We were made to Love Him. Do you Love Him...I am not talking about the "O yea, God is awesome, I love Him for what He has given me" I am talking about loving Him through your sufferings! Who do you run to in your times of suffering? Do you love God or do you compromise? So again I will leave you with this.
How BIG is your God?
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Don't let carelessness weaken your life.
“She prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. So he told her everything …” Judges 16:16-17 NIV)
The biblical strongman Samson was very careless with his commitments. He made a vow, saying “God, I'm going to live for You.” And to remind him of his vow to God, Samson promised to never cut his hair.
But problem is that Samson refused to take himself seriously or to take God seriously. He thought everything was a big game and so he toyed with temptation: “How close can I get to the fire and not get burned?”
We see this clearly in his relationship with Delilah (Judges16). She continually tempts Samson while asking him to tell her the secret of his great strength, And rather than fleeing temptation, Samson carelessly plays a game with Delilah, not once, but four times, and each time he compromises just a little bit more.
“How close can I get to the fire and not get burned?”
Because Samson was playing a game, he hardly noticed the step that took him from being close to the fire to actually being in the fire.
“Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair … and so his strength left him. Then she called, `Samson, the Philistines are upon you.' He awoke from his sleep and thought `I'll go out as before and shake myself free.' But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” (Judges 16:19-20 NIV)
“He did not know the Lord had left him.” That is one of the most tragic statements in the Bible. He was unaware of what was happening; how his lifestyle was perpetually weakening him little by little. It was a gradual process. He had assumed he would always be strong.
Nobody ever plans to be a failure. It just comes on gradually. Nobody says, “I’m going to be a drug addict” or “I want to break up my marriage” or “I think I’ll destroy my health.” But it starts with one little thing and builds and builds until the point that one day we wake up and say, “What happened? This isn’t living for God.”
What's the lesson we can learn from Samson's life? Strong people keep their commitments. They guard their commitments. They don't play games with their commitments.
Consider this: Your life is only as strong as your weakest commitment.
What are you committed to? Are you committed to the Lord? Are you committed to a church? Are you committed to your family? That's where your strength comes from
The biblical strongman Samson was very careless with his commitments. He made a vow, saying “God, I'm going to live for You.” And to remind him of his vow to God, Samson promised to never cut his hair.
But problem is that Samson refused to take himself seriously or to take God seriously. He thought everything was a big game and so he toyed with temptation: “How close can I get to the fire and not get burned?”
We see this clearly in his relationship with Delilah (Judges16). She continually tempts Samson while asking him to tell her the secret of his great strength, And rather than fleeing temptation, Samson carelessly plays a game with Delilah, not once, but four times, and each time he compromises just a little bit more.
“How close can I get to the fire and not get burned?”
Because Samson was playing a game, he hardly noticed the step that took him from being close to the fire to actually being in the fire.
“Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair … and so his strength left him. Then she called, `Samson, the Philistines are upon you.' He awoke from his sleep and thought `I'll go out as before and shake myself free.' But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” (Judges 16:19-20 NIV)
“He did not know the Lord had left him.” That is one of the most tragic statements in the Bible. He was unaware of what was happening; how his lifestyle was perpetually weakening him little by little. It was a gradual process. He had assumed he would always be strong.
Nobody ever plans to be a failure. It just comes on gradually. Nobody says, “I’m going to be a drug addict” or “I want to break up my marriage” or “I think I’ll destroy my health.” But it starts with one little thing and builds and builds until the point that one day we wake up and say, “What happened? This isn’t living for God.”
What's the lesson we can learn from Samson's life? Strong people keep their commitments. They guard their commitments. They don't play games with their commitments.
Consider this: Your life is only as strong as your weakest commitment.
What are you committed to? Are you committed to the Lord? Are you committed to a church? Are you committed to your family? That's where your strength comes from
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Ruth chapter 1:1-22
Do you trust solely in the character of God?
Today I studied the book of Ruth, which in my opinion is one of the most phenomenal books of the Bible to me. It illustrates to me that God is intentional about our life and we must have a strong faith and great patience to receive His best.
The true hero of the book of Ruth is God. He works through His invisible hand of province in Ruth and Boaz's life which can only be seen through faith. When you begin to acknowledge this you will see God at work! Ruth left everything, her family, her home town, her friends, etc and had strong faith in a God she did not know. When I read this I was blown away. I am a Christian, have been for 13 years now, and to think that at even the most simple things in life I still question God's authority. When I read this first chapter I realized so much about how important it is to wait on God's timing, for He knows best. My biggest struggle in life is patience, I love to be in control. Through reading and studying this chapter God brought to my attention how important it is to rely on Him in times of struggle. When you are in times of struggle you shouldn't ask God..."Why me?"....rather you should ask, "God, how is this being used to sanctify you" When you love the Lord more whole-hearted and readily through sorrow and conflict you will see His grace and mercy more profoundly and begin to see His plan. Giving up control in your life is the hardest leap of faith you will ever take. But I promise you, it is worth every second. Through doing this, I have found an indescribable inner peace over my heart. The Lord has found me and is working through my life everyday and I have the privilege of falling in love more everyday with his sovereign hand over my life.
Today I studied the book of Ruth, which in my opinion is one of the most phenomenal books of the Bible to me. It illustrates to me that God is intentional about our life and we must have a strong faith and great patience to receive His best.
The true hero of the book of Ruth is God. He works through His invisible hand of province in Ruth and Boaz's life which can only be seen through faith. When you begin to acknowledge this you will see God at work! Ruth left everything, her family, her home town, her friends, etc and had strong faith in a God she did not know. When I read this I was blown away. I am a Christian, have been for 13 years now, and to think that at even the most simple things in life I still question God's authority. When I read this first chapter I realized so much about how important it is to wait on God's timing, for He knows best. My biggest struggle in life is patience, I love to be in control. Through reading and studying this chapter God brought to my attention how important it is to rely on Him in times of struggle. When you are in times of struggle you shouldn't ask God..."Why me?"....rather you should ask, "God, how is this being used to sanctify you" When you love the Lord more whole-hearted and readily through sorrow and conflict you will see His grace and mercy more profoundly and begin to see His plan. Giving up control in your life is the hardest leap of faith you will ever take. But I promise you, it is worth every second. Through doing this, I have found an indescribable inner peace over my heart. The Lord has found me and is working through my life everyday and I have the privilege of falling in love more everyday with his sovereign hand over my life.
Hello everyone
Hello everyone. This is a new thing that I have decided to try this year. God has had such an impact on my life in the past year, especially in the past few months that I would love to share His grace with you. What I plan to do with this blog is just poor my heart out about what God is showing me through scripture and do my best to encourage anyone to the best of my God given ability. All I ask is that you show a little mercy due to the fact that I am not as gifted as writing as my older sister Sam. SHOUT OUT--(Check her our at simplysam88.blogspot.com). Hope you all enjoy!!
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