Finding God: Part 1

  "All things in His hands"

This past week I took a trip down with my family to Destin, Florida to spend some time on the beach. But got more than I bargained for...well sorta.

I learned this week that God really is everywhere. Not only is he in the faces of fellow brothers and sisters (and all created things) but he is in all that goes on.

 "Good" and "bad."

I don't mean that he is evil, but only that we could possibly be mistaken on what is "bad."

God promised in scriptures that he would care for us.


Almost every Christian can quote  (or at least knows) the following:

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11


Have you ever meditated on this verse?  Many know this verse is true. Others just quote it. 

How about this one?

"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Luke 11:11


This past week..or more likely this past month. I've been thinking about this thought. 


We ask God to make us like his son, to cleanse us from sin, and  to enter our lives. Do we really know the cost though?  


To me it has meant leaving the things I see as "right" or "wrong" behind. I don't mean those things I know God called me  out of..like sins.  Only that  I start realizing that he placed me in the place He saw as the best to change who I am. 


Many non-believers ask when things like 9-11, Katrina, and Columbine happen: If God is so loving, why does he allow these things to happen? 


God knows what to do. He does not have to explain himself to anyone.


It is for HIS glory that the whole earth shakes. I believe the verse that He does have plans for us. 


I believe maybe one day we may get to see it. When we do we can marvel at the glory of the Creator who holds the whole world in His Mighty hands.

In need of Him

  Have you ever realized that God is most closest to you when you really are in need?

The times when you are aware of your failure, inadequacy, and  lack? That he covers you when you repent of your sin?

I've been becoming more aware of this fact lately.

Even throughout the  Old Testament , he shows his devotion through his people.

Judges 3:1-6


Judges 4:1-23

Judges 3:12-30



Many times the children of Israel turned to the Baals and Ashroths, so  God delivered them into the hands of their enemies.

When they cried out to Him for deliverance from the oppression, He would deliver them.


Over and over...God shows love!


How often do you get into sin , you repent, and God forgives you?

He has done this for me many times. What is more, he shows us that there is no way... apart from HIM stepping in...can we be purified each day by him.


Think of sin as a person. No matter what you do, you cannot get away from it. No praying, fasting, or ANYTHING you do..apart from calling on him, He stands in-between you and Sin. Each time you repent.. to truly turn away from Sin and ask to be freed, he steps in.

That is love!     Never give up my friend!

More great thoughts

"To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; To seek him, the greatest adventure; To find 
him, the greatest human achievement." -St. Augustine






"Thou are never at any time nearer to God than when under tribulation; which he permits for the purifications and beautifying of thy soul."  Miguel Molinos

His alone

"Whom I have in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My heart and flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
-Psalm 73: 25-26




Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name.   
-Revelation 3:12


These are two incredible verses. 


First of all. The first verse shows absolute love for God. It represents absolute dependency on Him alone. He is our daily bread, our life-blood, and our only desire. It doesn't matter that we may be a mess, our lives are going the way we think they should go, or even that we look non-spiritual. Because our lives cease to be about us. We, like a bride, become his. 


Which leads me on to the next excellent verse. 


"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out."


Isn't that an incredible thought? 


Never to leave the presence of the Most High? 


To be a part of His work?  


A pillar upholds a building...fairly simple. It does not move, do it's own thing but stays forever in place until the end. 


Can you imagine that? 


Not to live "Your own" life


but to be FOREVER in His presence?


"And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name."


Normally, when a bride gets married, she takes on her husband's name. She is no longer who she was. She has no rights apart from her husband...she is his.


On the other side... She gains him. Everything that he  is hers. 
They belong to each other.   




It is fairly similar to what Christ calls his bride to be. 




We cease to look like ourselves, lose who we were, and are joined to Him. We are then changed by him until we are a reflection of him. We no longer move on our own, go anywhere he doesn't, and He is our delight. 






These are my thoughts on two verses. 
I hope these thoughts have encouraged you, that you realize how much it costs to be with Him, and that you are ready to be His alone.

Francis Chan's thoughts/ New Book!

This is worth a look at. I watched it yesterday via a friend and thought it was VERY relevant to what is going on in discussions these days.

Committed?

 I want to ask you an honest question. Are you committed to Christ?
There is no right or wrong answer...but it is between you and Him.  Please be honest. I'm not asking for an answer, just that you think on it, meditate on what it really means, and ask Him to show you what it is. Please have the courage to ask.

A small confession of myself

I know for me, even being "single,"  I am owned. I belong to someone.  Christ has committed Himself so that no matter how much I fall or how much I want to give up (and have!) He will never : give up or let up.

Without Christ, I am nothing. I realize that I'm only 25, but he has shown me a little of me. He has revealed that on my own: I am a blasphemous, wicked, cowardly, lustful,and SELF-RIGHTEOUS  thing .



 But he also promised never to leave.

How can I say more?

A corporate and personal relationship

 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hidden. -Matt 5:14 (KJV)


Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. -Matt 22:37 (KJV)




You need both. 


Without a corporate relationship through the people of God you have no accountability...


 Without the personal closeness with Christ.. life would not be full of the joys of the Lover.




Even in the scriptures Christ talks to both the corporate and the individual person. 


.....