surrendering to God

I constantly learn more and more about God's love and mercy every day.  Today was definitely one of those days and it was a long one but so fulfilling.  I often wonder by living my every day life, am I really surrendering everything I have to Him?  It is hard to figure out where that "line" is with what we are comfortable giving up to God.  However, in reality, are we supposed to feel "comfortable" at all?  Isn't being comfortable where we got ourselves today?  Being comfortable actually can be harmful to us.  You think Jesus was comfortable when He laid His life down for us?  You think the His disciples were comfortable when nearly all of them were tortured and eventually killed for spreading the Gospel?  I believe feeling comfortable would have kept them from doing any of that.  Being comfortable would have prevented us from knowing who God was because I'm pretty sure that if they were comfortable, they wouldn't have written the Word of God without being scorned... right (if that were the least of it) or killed for it. 

So, the real question is how do you surrender? The easy answer is seek the Lord.  Immerse yourself in His Word.  Submit yourself to good, godly teaching, and counsel.  Ask for prayer.  Ask for help.  Open your heart to the work of the Holy Spirit.  Look back at these words again.  Does any one of these sentences say, "But, if you feel uncomfortable with any of this.  It's okay, I'm sure we can work something out."  I didn't think so.  Now, it is not wrong to feel "comfortable" in your life.  I mean, we need jobs to purchase necessities and pay bills and afford to raise our children, right?  I mean, God does not say that you can't live with these, ever.  But, when we start relying on THOSE instead of Him, that's when we need to come to the realization that there is something wrong. 

I recently have discovered that I have a heart for the orphans and I was not sure where to go, who to talk to, which organizations to look at, if I am supposed to be in country or out?  I mean, there is a lot to think about.  I realized tonight that I can do as much research about different organizations as I can.... but other than longing more and more to go out and serve the orphans, where is that really getting me?  Once again, I am not saying that it is wrong to do that.  It is wrong to consume your life with those instead of God.  The last couple of days, I have been so excited to go out that I wasn't listening to God.  God says right now that I have to wait.  I am okay with this.  I know that I am supposed to serve orphans, now it's just on His timing.  So, as I wait for my assignment, I sit patiently, waiting, seeking, praying, reading, serving God in anything I can do right now, even if I am uncomfortable with waiting.  But, leaning on God to do the dirty work is so much better than trying to get that done on my own, when I know that my plans are not even close to as amazing as what He has planned for me.  So, I am surrendering to God.

dating

(DISCLAIMER: This is a long blog! but totally worth the information)

For those of you who are single, I have some more good information for you!  I was listening to Mark Driscoll last night and part of his "Religion Saves" series.  I decided to focus on dating since so many of my friends are going through this process right now.  It was a good sermon.  I recommend it.  Anyway, Mark not only focuses on the whole dating process but shares with both men and women how to prepare yourself for a marriage with your future spouse.  So, I am going to share my notes with you on what I have learned yesterday and I hope that it helps you all out there who have questions about the kind of person that you should be looking for and how to prepare yourself for them.  Here goes:

Let's start out with single men, since I obviously know more about single women... so I can go more into detail with them.

If you're a single man there are numerous questions that you could be asking yourself about either your relationship with Christ or what you are looking for in your future spouse.

There are many single men out there that are trying to figure out why they cannot find a good Christian girl.  Well, first of all have you looked around you lately?  There could be a great single gal that you are overlooking because either you don't see her that way or you just never thought about it.  It's really okay to just see where things go.  If they're not interested, just move on.  Really, not every girl that you ask out or pursue is going to be with you.  You are only supposed to be with one woman anyway, right?  So, really it's okay! 

Now, outside of the available women around you, ask yourself questions about you.  Much like, will you honor her and God as if Jesus were physically present?  Many men (Christian and non Christian) take advantage of alone time.  So here is a foreshadowing.... don't be alone with those women in a secluded space.  You will honor them by showing respect and honor yourself by showing self-control.  It works.  Trust me, girls actually want a respectable guy. 

And because of this, you also want to ask if she's modest.  If she is not modest and she flaunts herself to the WHOLE room, then that is not a girl for you.  Honestly, she may nice to look at but she is also easy to every other guy.  You don't want a girl that wants everyone else to look at her.  You want a girl that wants YOU to look at her.  Though most girls this day in age have a hard time giving up their independence, it does call for them to be submissive to their husbands, Biblically.  BUT, this does not mean "Woman do what I say!"  You must also respect her, cherish her and honor her.  You are a partnership, not a dictatorship. 

Can you provide for her?  If you have a job that only pays the bills and the necessities in life, you definitely don't want a woman that is high maintenance and has to live in a castle with butlers.  Seriously!  You want to be able to be with someone who you can provide for and live comfortably. 

Does she have character?  Not only does she have a good personality.  I mean you want to be attracted to her.  But, does she have the character of Christ or does she have a character like Proverbs says to not be a nagging wife.  You don't want one of those.  So look to see if she has the characteristics of Christ.

Now on to the single gals!

There are numerous girls that I have recently spoken to who have a hard time "being submissive" to their husbands.  I am learning what this means and most of today's culture does not understand this.  The scripture, the majority of the time, is taken way out of context.  She is supposed to be submissive to her husband but they are a UNIT; they are ONE.  The man is supposed to leave his family to join in UNION with his wife.  This does not say, a man is supposed to RULE over her and tell her what to do.  It also does not say, that a woman is supposed to be a DOOR MAT.  Never!  This is NOT what scriptures tells us.  We were made to be helpers of our husbands and together we are BOTH supposed to serve each other.

Now that I have this cleared out of the way... there are some questions you can ask yourself and of your potential husbands as well.

Do you want to help him?  How about in his ministry?  As a husband/wife team, you can be very powerful in the spreading of the Gospel.  You want to be able to do what God calls you to do and support your husband in ministry.  This does not mean that you cannot have your own part in ministry.  There are many wives of ministers or clergy, that serve in the church and help the single gals, or children's ministry, or worship ministry.... or really what you are called to do.  Just as you support him in his ministry, he should be supporting you as well.

Is he tough enough to remain during the hardships?  If you are with a guy and he flees when you have a disagreement or let's say that he gets you pregnant (which I pray DOES NOT happen), is he going to stick by your side or is he going to be a coward and hide under a rock?  You don't want your future spouse to be missing when you need to work out a problem together; you'll be on your own.  You want a strong, spiritual leader for your family.

Do you feel safe with him?  If he is commanding, pushing you around, abusive.... then he's definitely not a man and needs to be out of that relationship.  Only cowards treat their families (girlfriends) that way.  If he were a goo Christian man, then he would respect, honor, and cherish you even through difficult times.  If you feel unsafe with him EVER then you need to rethink that relationship.

Will he be a good daddy?  One way to see if this is true, is to step back and watch him with kids.  You don't always have to wait to be married to the guy to see where his values with kids lie.  You can observe him outside of a relationship.  Obviously, if he looks like he's annoyed with kids, he needs to probably grow up before starting a relationship.  If he seems to love them around and gets along great with them, then there could be major potential there.

Is he a one-woman man?  Is he dating around when you are with him?  Or if you are not with him but you see he's dating more than one girl... then he's not a keeper.  What makes you think that when he's with you that he's not going to be seeing other girls?  You don't want that kind of relationship where trust is never earned before the relationship even starts.  So to remove the heartache, just don't get involved in the first place.

How much of a treasure are you to him? Make him earn it.  Too many girls give themselves away WAY TOO fast.  As soon as they start talking to a guy, they give all the juicy details before your name is even remembered.  SLOW DOWN!! Girls are emotional beings... that's how God created us.  Now, we need to make the guys earn us.  Does he show you off to his friends?  Or does he hide you in the bushes when they come his direction?  Does he go out and find a job to help pay his bills?  Or does he sit in his mother's basement and sleep all day to wait to hang with the guys at night?  It's pretty simple to tell whether or not he's ready for a commitment.

Do you want your sons to be like him?  I want my children AND my future husband to be like my dad.  Honestly, I do.  This is what you want for your family.  You want your sons to have a great role model for them to grow up and be good, solid, God-fearing men.  Just as you want your daughters to know what a good, solid, God-fearing man looks like.  If he's not this, then your future will look pretty grim.

This is basically what I learned and I hope that this helps a lot for those of you who have questions about dating and what to do or what not to do when you have relationship potential with someone.  When that time comes around for me.  I can guarantee you, that I will be looking this blog up!

we do our part and God does the rest

Sometimes it is hard to go through life and witness to those around you and you feel like you're getting nowhere.  But, God can use something as small as a speck of sand to change someone's life.  That's why He says if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can move mountains.  It can be frustrating when those around us do not get what we are "teaching" or "sharing" with them.  I have been known to raise my voice in the past out of frustration because no one understood what I was trying to get across to them.  In this act, we tend to also judge those around us.  Now, remember that God is not a logical God, God is faith.  Something may not make sense to us or others around us but when we do what He calls us to, then it doesn't matter what those say around us.  "If you are here to judge, then you're not doig what God wants for you."  Some Christians tend to forget that God is the one that judges those in the end.  We just have to do the job of sharing the Gospel in prayers and hope that those get saved that we have talked to and have a personal relationship with God.  However, I cannot SAVE someone.  That is NOT my job.  My job is to love people where they are at.  My job is to be there for those that need me in His name.  My job is to do what God has called me to do.  My job is not to save.  I CANNOT DO THAT!! God can!  I just lead those people in the direction that God wants them to start heading and if they choose to then they choose to.  If not, I keep praying that someone else can plant a seed as well.  I just watched this movie Lord Save Us and the pastor said, "When we love those which is what we're supposed to do, God shows up." I totally agree with this.  We alone cannot save people, but with the help of God we can lead them in the right direction so He can save them.  So do your part, as in, do what God has called you to do and love those around you (even if it hurts) and let God do the rest!

how much do we really know?

I was sitting on my couch watching TBN and there was a movie playing called Lord Save Us (the movie).  I was realizing how sad it really is to the fact that most Christians barely know about those around them.  There had a been a short game show in this movie.  They had nonbelievers on one side and believers on another.  The nonbelievers beat the believers by a good 300 points.  How sad is this?  We know more about ourselves (and that isn't much either) compared to what we know about those around us.  Those nonbelievers know more about us than we know about them.  And what they know about us is generally negative.  So many of us want to reach those around us so bad that we shove the Word and Bible down the throats of those around them and we have no clue who THEY are.  Jesus worked His ministry to know those He ministered to.  He ate with them, hung with them, sat with them, worked with them.  He was showing who His Father was through getting to know them and caring about their needs instead of His own.  I wish I could say that I do this but this is far from the truth.  Though, I am learning and headed in this direction.  I think it's sad that nonbelievers know more about us than we do them and they STILL do not want a part of it.  We are supposed to be a reflection of who Christ is in our lives and if those around us do not want to be apart of that then there is a huge problem. 

I just sat here being convicted to write about this and notify those out there that do read this that there is a huge problem with Christianity if we are PUSHING people away instead of making them feel welcomed into the Body of Christ.  I pray that I can work on this starting now and I pray that our nation and world will feel the same conviction and pray to allow God to work in their lives as well as those around them.

lordsavusthemovie.com

The Gospel of love

Did you know the Gospel of love is something everyone actually wants?  Atheists, agnostics, Muslims, and all the other religions or denominations want to hear the good news.  Did you know that it's not hearing the about Jesus and the Bible that turn people off?  Guess what turns them off.  That's right, us.  We get in the way of Jesus getting through because we have to be right.  Not all Christians are right.  Some of us are completely wrong.  Believe it or not, it is not our job to be right.  It's Jesus' job to be right and us just love people into the Kingdom.  He need to be humble and loving like Jesus is because that says so much more than those who argue their point all the time.  We get caught up in "trying to save people" that we fail to realize that we are NOT the ones doing the saving.  We are a vessel that God uses to show people who He is.  Not us using God to show who we are.  I have been having issues lately on trying to reach those for the sake of Jesus.  But did you know that He does not NEED us?  He never has.  He CHOOSES us to glorify Him.  So in order to reach those for Jesus, we need to love them into the Kingdom.  We need to be humble and kind just like Jesus is.  So use the Gospel of love as a ministry instead of a soapbox.  I'll be challenging myself in this as well, so let's see how God can work through us with us giving our pride to Him and letting Him do the work through us.

learning more and more

Today I have learned so much about Jesus that I don't think I've cried this much in such a long time.  I cry for my sin, His forgiveness, my selfishness, my joy, His overwhelming love, my new found understanding.  I cry because He is who He is.  I have not only learned more about Jesus today then I ever thought possible, but I have learned and feel peaceful about handing my EVERYTHING to Him.  My schooling, my career, my ministry, my love, my life.  It's so amazing the things you can learn when you actually choose to let Jesus do His job.  He cares for me more than I ever thought.  There are not enough emotions and words in this world to convey how much He cares for me.  He does want the best from me and for me.  Logically, I knew this but today, I believed it and want to live it out.  I know there are going to be hard times in my life where my questions will constantly come, but I now know my faith will never be shaken.  There are people in my life, I already know, that are not going to agree with decisions I make.  However, I know I am not making those decisions.  God has already made them, I just have to learn to and take up my cross and follow Him each and every day.  I have more in my life right now than some people will ever see.  I am a selfish person.  I discovered today, I do not want to be that way.  God does not call me to be selfish.  He calls me to serve.  I just cannot wait to see what Journey He has for me.  I am so in love with God right now I want to shout and scream for the all the world to hear.  He is my Savior, my Knight in shining Armor, my Healer, my Best Friend, my Confidant, My King! 

living life with God

This is such a big topic to speak on because I know so many people who are going through this right now.  But, I realized almost 6 months ago that I needed to put God in my life first.  The way I started doing this was to read more and more about Him.  I can assuredly say, that some Christians live a life of "well, if I do what God wants me to do then I'm fine".  YES!!! And there's more.  Those Christians live out a life that is pleasing to God in certain aspects.  But, what we tend to forget is that not only do we need to be Acting our faith out we need to be reading and studying it as well.  Reading and studying the Word of God is a big step.  But, it keeps you accountable with God EVERYDAY.  You are not just trying to live a good life but you're reading on how to apply God's Word in your life.  I realized tonight that I was somewhat reading the Word of God but I was really not getting what it said.  I was not studying my Bible.  How can I live a life for God if I do not know what the Bible says?  There are many people, I just read about them, that can live their life for God without the Bible.  These people are given the Word of God in their hearts because they do not have access to a Bible.  So those who have access to a Bible, like myself, what do you do with it?  Do you let it sit on your shelf and gather dust?  Do you give it to others to read and just leave yourself out of it?  Or do you pick up your Bible everyday and see what God has for you to learn and apply to your life?  I know I have not been the most diligent Bible reader for a while.  But in order for a person to be a better believer in Christ there must be ongoing reading and bible studies.  There should always be some kind of studying God's Word incorporated into your life; single or otherwise.  This will help you through your times of trials and tribulations when you do not have that physical, Earthly person there to pray with you.  But this will also help you when you are in a relationship on how to serve God better together.  Since, I am not with anyone right now, I plan on delving myself into the Word because God is my someone.  We all need Him.  So what are you going to do with your Bible?