God's Gotta Good Thing Goin

Hey yall! Maybe its just me, but I really feel like God's doing amazing things in the world today. I came across a quote the other day that went a little like this: If life is only a story, then there must be a narrator. God is that narrator. He tells the "story" of our lives. I've also noticed that the stronger you become in your walk with Him, the harder that the devil tries to snatch that love away from you.

Example: The night before Thanksgiving, I prayed that the next day would be set apart for me and Him to just enjoy each other's presence; that I could give thanks humbly and love Him with a newfound joy. Just a regular prayer, right? The next morning I got up did my daily devotional time. Afterwards I went to watch the Macy's parade. And did anybody else notice the backdrop? Well, it just happened to be a victoria's secret ad behind the parade the whole entire 3 hours we watched it. I mean, that's just low. My day had to be ruined because of that. BUT, thank God that He came in and let me have an awesome day still! I mean praise God!

This Sunday, my FBC pastor came back from his sabbatical to Jerusalem and gave a sermon on serving God. One of the things I've noticed is that God's gonna finish His plan no matter what. It's all coming to an end; done, His work is soon going to be finished. I don't want God to wait on me either, but I also don't want to miss the chance to do something amazing for Him. I want to be a part of this spectacular plan before it ends. Too many people in this world are trading their lives to the American dream rather than God's plan. The world is gonna be gone soon, why waste your life on stupid, selfish missions.

After the sermon from  FBC, I left for Cornerstone (where my heart really lies) instead of going to Sunday school, which is basically just a social gathering for the youth. The pastor there didn't speak, but let the associate pastor speak. He spoke out of James 5:8 & Proverbs 4:23. He told us that if we truly desire to follow God's plan but can't seem to get out of that rut we're in; if we have this burst of love for God for a little while but still go back to our old life, then there's something wrong with our hearts. We need to train our hearts-or better yet, join our lives with God's plan. It's not gonna be easy and its gonna take more than just that 3 minute prayer at night & that 10 minute daily devotion when you wake up. Yet, at the same time it could be easy if you only believed God's word and meditated on His plan for you that day.

All these things have come to me in probably the most perfect time. His guidance is really looking out for me. As I'm ending the 1st semester of my junior year, all these colleges are sending me letters. I just can't decide. All I want is to follow His plan for me, and in my life I know that plan is doing missions. Through His Word and the Spirit, I know He's always gonna be there for me. He's telling me straight up, you know, I'll never leave you.

What's His plan for you?
It's never too late.

So, I've come to a conclusion.

The happiest and saddest moment in one's life is when they find what truly lies underneath.

Its the happiest because when that person does find their true self - not one that changes like the seasons, but is consistent throughout their life - they feel an overwhelming sense of completion.

Its the saddest because the realization of finding yourself only leads to the question, "What's next?" Finding the answer to that takes the entirety of a person's life. They must find what truly satisfies them; and to me, this possesses two challenges - one of life and death.

The first, to me, is this: you need to put away the person that you recently found, the one you spent years looking for, and take up Him. You must die to that person and become one that follows Him.

"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." Luke 9:24

If you don't, your pride will take over and the devil could win you over. We must all put our trust in Him before we can "die" daily and "become the least of these."

The second challenge Christians face is this: we must decide what to do when we meet God face-to-face. In heaven.

For me, this is my favorite challenge. Why? Because I know that the only probable solution is to fall on my knees and worship. To me, worship is fun. It gets me going. Restores me. And when I have the chance to worship for an eternity, it gets me excited knowing that I won't have to worry about the next "arrow" the devil will try to shoot at me.

These are the challenges that I've seen. So how are you gonna tackle them?

Three books that will change your life.

Hey, this bog post I decided to step back from acting like I knew it all. I decided to pass on some advice to those who are looking for advice. So, I'm listing 3 life-changing books that I've read this past month that will give you an amazing look at giving your all for Him.

Forgotten God - Francis Chan

This book. What can I really say? Its Francis Chan speaking about how the church has "successfully" recreated church without the power of the Holy Spirit. If anyone has followed previous blogs, they would understand why I read this: I had just been filled, and now have knowledge of how He can really touch people's lives. Reading "Forgotten God" has kept my knowledge and faith in Him alive and also proved that what I had done was true. Please read =]




















Radical - David Platt

Living for God and giving everything you have to Him can sometimes be called Radical. I guess if we look back on the Bible we know that all the famous Christians were. Pretty much this book takes amazing stories of present-day Christians giving their lives for Him along with the repeating phrases of how much better your life can be if we would only respond to what He's telling us: Take up our cross and deny ourselves daily for the sake of others. Platt uses great stories to stir emotions, but as the book goes on, he gets more serious and tells us of people that get decapitated or killed and cannibalized in foreign nations for the sake of the Gospel. Yea, who would do that we ask. Well, it turns out that the people that did these things didn't reach them, yet the people that came after them ended up turning the whole national religion around! At the end David challenges us to live out our lives for Him and spreading His glory. Definitely a great book. Changed my life! Read it.




Crazy Love

I began reading this book about the middle of October with the FBC youth group. We're doing a Bible study on it each week Sunday nights. This book does define what it truly means to be in love with God and not just in love with the things He provides for us. I found new meanings to great verses through this book and also didn't feel alone when I read it, seeing as about 20 other folks were reading it too. Along with the previous book I mentioned, the world is going to call people that are in love with God "radical." I say that this radical life that we're living should be the normal Christian life. There are now shades of grey in His kingdom. A lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron, there is no such thing, but people who live an obsessed life in love with Him show the world that our love for Him is worth our lives and this "religion"  we're a part of is the real deal. Like I said, ya'll need to read this book!








I'm not some critic of books, I'm just telling you that when I read these books they changed my life. Of course, none of these are gonna change your life if you don't expect them to. If you're gonna read them, take them seriously and don't ever substitute it for your daily devotion with God. These books just help us along the way =]


Thanks,

The Call & The Walk

Do you every feel like you have an amazing transcendent life just waiting for you around the corner?

That's the theme that a spectacular book called "Wild at Heart" uses. And that's what I've been trying to base my thoughts on this week.

As a Christian, I believe its outrageously important to read God's word every day; I believe God has an amazing plan for my life as well as everyone around me. Why else would He have spoke through the prophet in Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope!

As I'm getting older, the life I wanted to live (Architect, Doctor, Lawyer) no longer interests me. When I say 'getting older' I don't mean age; I mean in my walk with God. I know that there's a strong pull for me to become an evangelist. I would love to lead the multitudes toward the Father's love and I keep praying that He would show me the way from His Spirit. All I need an amazing relationship with Him.

By the way, Brooke has a life-changing opportunity to go to El Salvador. I need to pray for her because I know there's a strong missionary calling in her life. (She's more of a missionary/worship leader & I'm more of the evangelist/missionary.) Ha, we always were different. I'm leaving this with a quote from the amazing book that inspired me to go on an adventure with God. To find my real name - the name He calls & loves me with. =]

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive. - Gil Bailie

His Illuminating Love

Everyone sins; I sin, you sin. A problem I've had is being convicted. I don't feel like I did anything wrong after I talk about someone or just be rude that day. A couple weeks ago, I would talk bad about someone or give them a dirty look and God would convict me as quick as I did it. Most of the time I would go up to them & tell them the truth about how I felt and that I was sorry and I would feel God's love again. These past couple of days I've realized this: God's always going to be with you, but we need to seek his face. I've always heard this, but now I really understand. You see, God's presence is going to be there wherever you go. You can't escape Him. Sin can't be in His presence; so you know what that means? That means that when we sin, we turn our backs on Him, therefore not seeing His face and feeling his love. Its like when we're out on a hot day - and we stand under the shade - we can't feel the heat of the sun or see all around us. When we enter sin's presence we exit God's illuminating love.

God's always going to love us. Just like a father love his son, He will love us.

Now, think about this: Father's love their sons always. But, don't they also discipline them? Discipline doesn't just mean to punish, it means rewarding when you do right and punishing when you do wrong.

God's reward for us following His Word and keeping His commandments ISN'T: a new car, a girlfriend, or even paying the bills on time. His reward is allowing us to see His face and feel His love. AND THAT'S ALL WE NEED! That's all I ever really hope for! And of course, His punishment for us is not allowing us to see His face - the Face of love.

The things I've realized this past week is that the more I'm away from God, the less I'm going to feel His convictions. Like the song says "The more I seek You, the more I find You. The more I find You, the more I love You."

I pray that I would see God face-to-face and in doing that, I would feel His love and reflect it towards other people. This really hits home for me. =]

Love,