2.16.2010

Just a thought

In I Corinthians 15 Paul is talking to the church about the end and what it all entails. A verse that stood out to me more than all the others was verse 31 where he says "I day every day- I mean that,..." That really hit me. Do I "die" every day for my Jesus? Do I continually press in regardless of my current situation? Whether I am in a season of joy and peace, or whether I am in a season of pain, sorrow, depression, addiction, whatever? This really challenged me in the fact that I cannot live for tomorrow. At least as my main motivation. I must live for today and the opportunities that Christ gives me to grow spiritually and through that growth, the furthering of His Kingdom and not mine.
I am guilty of the fact that I am not proactively pursuing Him every minute of every day. I want to. I want to be able to live like my life doesn't matter except for how I can live it for Him and His will. He is God. I am not. He is my Father, my friend.
Instead of beginning all my prayers with all that He has done for me, I should begin them with how awesome and grand He is. Praying continual reminders that He is my Healer, my Provider, my Comfort, my Salvation, my Everything. Now that might sound like I would be speaking of all that He has done for me, but I disagree. I feel that it is prioritizing Him as the first, as the one and only. He does all of those things. All I do is receive. It is like the dynamic of His grace and righteousness for us. WE CAN DO NOTHING TO EARN IT!!!! It is all through Him and from Him.
So I pray that I may begin to die daily for Him and those He has called me to serve. I don't want to live a life that from a distance looks good but rather closely examined it is a life of fulfillment and completeness.

2.05.2010

It's Been a Long Time, I shouldn't have left you.....

"Without a dope beat to step to. Step to. Step to" Sorry. I couldn't resist repping my girl Aliyah. Anyway.....
Well it has been a while since I have written and thought that I would take some time to catch up. Especially all of you who have waited with baited breath. All 2 of you. Ha ha ha. But seriously.
The Lord has been doing a lot in me the past couple months. Some of it welcomed, most of it received reluctantly. Most recently it has been dealing with the multi site or the Norfolk Campus as I am calling it now. I have reserved the fact that the only way it is going to launch "smoothly" is by God and only God. That doesn't mean that I am to sit on my hind quarters and kick up my feet, but rather let God do His thing through me. WHEN we launch and WHEN it is successful, He will receive all of the glory. I will redirect EVERYTHING towards Him. It is not of my own power but rather by His. He is too big and I am too small. The box that I have kept Him in needs to be ripped open, cut up, and thrown into a fiery furnace. I then need to stop ordering those boxes and storing them for the next big thing. Time and time again God has proven Himself faithful.
I am reminded of Elijah and of the time after God had done miraculous things through him. He finds himself being threatened and running from Jezebel. He is in fear for his life and just runs. God takes him to a place where he calms him down and teaches him some powerful things. One is that he needs to rest. The other is that he needs to stop listening to lies and hear the truth. Next is to listen to the whisper of God's voice. I struggle with this one so much because of the chaos I create by "doing the work of God". I cause so much "noise" that I can't hear God's soft soothing voice. SLOW DOWN AND SHUT UP!!! Finally, after all is said and done I need to get back doing what I am called to do.
I think that we can all relate to Elijah. I know that I can. A lot of what happens is alluded to in my blog title. "Its been a long time, I shouldn't have left you." We get so focused, or distracted, that we lose sight of what God wants. Then before we know it, it feels like an eternity has gone by since we have had a real good God time. So we need to routinely recalibrate.
1. REST
2. TRUTH
3. QUIET
4. DO
May God bless you and keep you. Until next time.