Keep Calm and...

Feelings.  As a teenage girl, my feelings are like waves.  They go this way and that.  Sometimes I have still waters, but for the most of the time I have a raging sea.  Sometimes, my feelings don't make any sense.

Yet, around DBU, I keep hearing a phrase, "well, I had a peace about that" or "I don't have a peace about that."

This phrase used to kill me, because I was like "I don't have a peace about anything."

Yet, I was wrong, peace doesn't always change your feelings, yet it can be described in bible gateway's concordance as "the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is"

My heart can be pounding and I can be nervous yet I can still have a peace about something, because peace is not always feeling, but it is a state of the soul of the Christian.

A bible story to illustrate this, is the story of three men and the fiery furnace.

So King Nebuchadnezzar erected a gold statue and issued a decree that when the instruments played that everyone had to fall on their face and worship the statue.  When the trumpets sounded, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not bow down and worship the statue.  So, King Nebuchadnezzar angry gave them one more chance to bow down. To which they responded...

16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18

To which King Nebuchadnezzar responded by throwing them in the fiery furnace. He was so angry that he turned it up so high that the people throwing them in the furnace died.  

Yet, the King saw 4 men in there instead of 3 and they were walking around.  So the King summoned them to come out of the fire, and they were unharmed.  Then the king praised the one, true God. 

I love this story, but I just love how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego responded to King Nebuchadnezzar.  They had the peace of the Lord. 

They didn't know what was going to happen but they trusted in the Lord.  Now, I don't know but if I was being thrown into a fiery furnace I don't think, I would FEEL peaceful but these men, trusted in the Lord.  

A lot of times, God calls us to go outside our comfort zone to bring Him glory.  It is in these moments we must face our fears and we often don't feel very peaceful, but knowing God and trusting Him gives us the strength to make the decision. 

Now, peace sometimes can be a feeling.  Sometimes God chooses to bless us with a peace that allows us to feel okay, but that feeling comes from trusting God.  

Yet, if we trust God we can grow the seed of peace in our mind, so that in every circumstance and in every emotion we can bear the fruit of peace.  

It's Complicated!!!

If you know me, I tend to make things a whole lot more complicated than they need to be.

I'm the kid in math class that ttys to understand how each equation is derived. When the problem is complicated, it is more simple to me.

The reason why I hate history is that you either know it or you don't.  I was the kid that picked A an then later picked C and then went back to A and then was like you know what, I think it's B.  It was always A.  Always pick your first choice….lol

Anyways, I think about this principle when I start explaining how boys work to girls.   I always have to explain that men are simple, and that's why we think they are so complicated.  For we ask ourselves, "Why are they so simple?" This confuses us girls and leaves us constantly over thinking the men in our lives.

Yet, I realized I do this with God.  I over think Him.  His love is simple. His call is simple.  Yet, because it's so simple, it confuses me and so I try to make it more complicated because it can't be this simple right??

I run around trying to follow the rules, trying to please Him.  I try to answer all His questions.  I try to check all my items off the list.  I do and I do.

Yet, God doesn't want that.  His call is simple.  He says: All I want, is that you love me, and that you rest in me a little longer.

The pharisees in the bible missed it.  They checked off all the items on their list.  Modern day equivalent is: They had their quiet time everyday, they memorized scripture, and they went to church on wednesday, and even didn't watch R rated movies.

Yet, why did Jesus curse them?

Because THEY MISSED IT!! They were over thinking the problem.

Christianity is not Astrophysics,  it's simple.

God asks: "Do you love me?, Then feed my sheep"

God wants You….it's just that simple.

Spring Cleaning

So, in the dorms we have this thing called white glove at the end of every semester.  The resident director of our dorms comes down the hall and checks are room and grades how clean it is.  This is not tidiness, this is for cleanliness. You have to clean the baseboards, toilets, and shower drains.  It is so stressful because if you fail you have to pay money and do it all over again. We was not going to happen.  So, my mentor gave us all jobs to do and my roommates and I started cleaning.  Once I started, I couldn't stop.

If you know me my room is rarely clean, the only reason why it's clean at my house is my parents are in control of it now.

Most people think that I don't know how to clean, or just don't care and that's why my room is dirty.

The truth is, I don't clean because once I start cleaning I can't stop. I hate it.  I'm a perfectionist, and once I start cleaning that is all I can see, dirt and imperfections.

Then, I thought most of the time this is my view of God that He is my resident director tirelessly searching every room of my heart, and all he can see is my dirt and imperfections.   Then when I fail, He fines me.

Yet, this is not true, when God looks at me He doesn't say "Wow, what a sinner." Instead, He says, "Look at the girl I have redeemed."  He doesn't say, "Wow, look at what a mess you made," but says "Wow, look at my beautiful and precious daughter."

Here me now: God is not just sitting there waiting for you to mess up, and He is not just scanning for dust.  If you have been saved, you are the righteousness of God and He is standing up cheering you on waiting to see you succeed. 

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God 2 Corinthians 5:21

God doesn't give us demerits; God gives us merits.  When I was in dance and cheerleading there was a demerit system, if you got a certain amount of demerits than you were kicked off the team.  You got demerits for not wearing the right clothes or being late.

Yet, God's kingdom doesn't work this way, every time we mess up He doesn't give us demerits rather every time we do something right He gives us an eternal reward.  Hey, I'm liking this system!!!

Now, back to the cleaning, when I have an incorrect view of God, it makes me consumed with how I look to him.   I want to clean my heart over and over, yet I don't have the power to clean my heart.  Cleaning my heart, is like what the pharisees did, and let me just say that didn't work out of them.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. Matthew 23:27

Imagine cleaning the bathroom floor with a toothbrush and the spit from you mouth, that is you cleaning yourself.  Plus, we are tiring ourself out and not getting anywhere, wasting our time trying to clean ourselves when we should be serving others.

So, instead of cleaning ourselves and being so consumed with our actions.  We must let God change our heart.  We must hand him the toothbrush and say, "I give up; I can't do this myself."

For God says that even our good works are like filthy rags.

God doesn't want perfection: He already has that in His son.  God just wants you, all of you, because He is deeply in love with you.  

So, let us get washed in the cleansing flow of Jesus's blood.  Let him wash our sins as white as snow.  Let us be refreshed because cleaning our hearts isn't up to us, because when He said, "It is finished"; He meant it.   Let us see God as a generous God giving us merits, and not a warden roaming the hall of our heart looking for trouble.  He is a generous man willing to pick us up when we fall and clean us up afterwards.  He is beautiful.  I love you God, Thank you for your word.

I know people need to hear this because I have to remind myself this a whole lot.  So, do me a favor and share this, so that many people can see God in a new way.

His Love Never Fails

The Storm is here.  The winds and waves are crashing all around.  Finals are coming, juries are coming and the end of the year is coming.  Things in this life are changing, like a passing wave turning rock into sand.  God is molding my heart of stone in clay.  He is shaping me and disciplining me and in this time….

It's hard to remember how much He loves me.  

Israel was in a time of great tribulation.  God was judging them for there sins and inflicting much pain on the country.  They had sinned and so they were getting the brunt of it.  Sometimes we sin and God punishes us and other times he gives us hard times so that we can learn and grow.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, for the testing of your faith develops perseverance, perseverance must finish it's work, so that you may become mature and complete not lacking anything" James 1:2-4

Well, during this horrible time, Israel cried out to the Lord in the book called Lamentations. 

21 

Yet this I call to mind

    and therefore I have hope:

22 

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,

    for his compassions never fail.

23 

They are new every morning;

    great is your faithfulness.

24 

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;

    therefore I will wait for him.”

25 

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,

    to the one who seeks him;

26 

it is good to wait quietly

    for the salvation of the Lord.

Lamentations 3:21-26

In the middle of the storm, they called to their mind the hope that they have in Jesus.  In the middle of the storm, they called to their mind the hope that they have in Jesus. 

So, today we are going to call to mind, take time to remember, like my last blog talked about check it out if you have time.  

Today, we are going to remember that His love never fails, and his mercies are renewed every morning.  

Sometimes when this life gets tough and the Lord is teaching us, we feel like we must be a horrible person for God to treat us this way.  

Yet, I have a good word that God is teaching me.  The Lord loves you.  He teaches you because He loves you and there is nothing that you can do to make Him love you more, or anything you can do to make Him love you less. 

Rest in that truth for a second.  God's love is unconditional.  He will love you if you fail the final or if you pass it.  

Why is this so hard to believe?  Probably because we live in a world where if you get tired of someone you walk out of their life.  If you find a new friend, you ditch your old friends.  If you do a poor job a work, you get fired.  The world is conditional.  Other's love for you is conditional on how you act and I know it's not fair but it's also conditional on the actions of others around you. 

So, when we look around it's so easy to think that God must be the same way.  That his love for us is conditional especially when He is disciplining us.  Yet, in the middle of the storm we must call to our mind that His love never fails. 

God loves you for who you are, and loves you so much that He doesn't leave you that way.  His love never fails. 

You know the saying, "never say never"

Why can't we say never? Well, because  "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:14

Yet, God He knows what will happen tomorrow, Gosh He is even in control of it.  

So, when God says never He means it.  

Listen: God's love never fails.  

The word in Never in the 1 corinthians 13 is oudepote.

This word means never, neither at any time, nothing at any time. 

I take that to mean, not even once did My love fail. 

Not for one second and one minute.

So, I'll leave you with this.  In Jeremiah, the Lord was  punishing Israel; it was a time of great grief.  Yet in the middle of this we have. 

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

This was in the middle of the storm.  

So, today the Lord is calling over the wind and the waves and saying don't look to the world look to me.  

For, My Love NEVER fails. 

What a good day!!

You know you have those days….when you realize just how blessed you are.  You remember what the Lord has done and what the Lord is doing.  You realize just how wonderful He is, and just how amazing He is creating you to be.  You are filled with joy as you realize that God has given you so much potential to do great things.  The future doesn’t seem so scary…no not scary at all.  It is filled with many great possibilities.  Those possibilities that normally seem scary and impossible, today feel like the easiest barriers. 

Thursday is one of those days for me. 

To be honest, this season has been rough.  God is teaching me a lot of things.  I wouldn’t change that at all, but it’s just been hard.  God has been exposing a lot of things in my heart, and putting me in challenging situations that are very testing.   So, that being said this season has been really rough.  It’s been one of the toughest seasons in my life with God.  Yet, I know it will be one of the most rewarding. 

But lately, He has been nurturing my soul.  Showing me that things are on the way up, and that he is going to start revealing things to me again.

I think God gives us days like these to remind us that even in the storm He shows up that when we feel like we are all alone…we aren’t. 

So, today let us take some time to remind ourselves of all things God has done and is doing in our life.  To give us hope in this season.  Even when we are in good seasons we still need to be reminded of God’s love.  

I have a prayer box and anytime God answers a prayer or something amazing happens I put it in the jar, and every once in a while I open it up and see what is in it.

One time I was freaking out about a test that I had really no time to study for in my hardest class.  In that class, I usually got B’s and low A’s on the test, when I studied for hours, so I was really nervous.  Well, God blessed me with time to study and I got a 101!!! Which was insane!!

I need to remember this anytime I’m stressed out about school.

I think a lot of times, it’s not that we aren’t blessed, It’s just that we don’t remember how blessed we are.  So take sometime today and reflect on what God has done.

The Israelites had a major problem of spiritual forgetfulness.  They saw the plagues and the Red Sea split in two and they were worried about there being giants in the promise land.   God had already proved himself time and time again, but they had forgotten. 

So, let us not be like the Israelites.  Let us go out and be bold and acknowledge all that God has done for usJ