Committed, kind've.

I like to think I am pretty committed to Christ. I read the Bible from time to time throughout the day, I pray when I get a free moment, and I watch Joyce Meyer on Daystar T.V. That should sum me up as committed, right? Not hardly. If I am just going through the motions, checking off my list of things I should do to feel like I am dedicated, then I'm not really getting it. I'm missing what Jesus was talking about in Mark 12:30 when He said, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Just reading, just praying and just attending church is just scratching the service.  Praying to relieve the guilt of not praying isn't beneficial to anyone, and almost a mockery to God. I am preaching to myself here too, as I have found myself a time or two just praying to say that I've prayed. How shameful I felt when I realized what I was doing! I was sending a message to God that I was too busy, too tired, too uninterested to really get into His presence, or hear His voice at that time. Wow! Needless to say, I did some major apologizing! How would it feel if God told us He was 'just too busy today' to really listen, but go ahead and pray anyway? Not so good. 

There is a name for "just" doing these things; religion. Rituals. There is no depth to them, and therefore they are like roots of a plant sowed on shallow ground. They spring up fast, but soon are scorched and wither. Ever feel withered? Me too. I would be excited, determined to pray and read my Bible 'this' many times a day and for 'this' amount of time...fast forward a few weeks, and I found myself complacent again.

I was a complacent Christian, if there is such a thing. Stagnant is more like it, just like water in a pond with no movement...I was heading nowhere in a hurry. My attitude, just like the pond, stunk. I was held in a prison of my own choosing, disgusted and yet unwilling to move. Ever been there? It's not a fun place to be. Sometimes we don't even realize we're there until we're bogged down knee deep in our own mess we've made. God cannot use a lukewarm Christian for the simple fact we're unwilling to be used. Unwilling to follow His command and love Him with everything we have. 

Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Although they knew God... How many people would say they 'know' God? Knowing about God is not the same as being committed to Him, not the same as knowing who He is. Nobody is committed to someone or something they know nothing about. To be committed to Christ, we must first know WHO He is. To get to know Him, we got to step out of the lukewarm comfort zone we've made. Stagnate water is deadly water, nothing profits from it. 

 What exactly is committed? The dictionary describes it as; "to pledge (oneself); to entrust, especially for safekeeping". To commit our ways to Him means to trust Him with our lives, to pledge ourselves to Him. All or nothing! Not just give Him our best on Sunday and our leftovers Monday-Saturday, but to give Him our everything! 

 James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

There is a wonderful reassurance in this passage. James tells us if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us! It doesn't matter what we've made it before, God is faithful, and merciful! If we seek to know Him, He will make Himself known to us. If we need to be washed clean, He forgives. If we need to rearrange our priorities, and make more time for Him, He encourages us. He is committed to us, and is there for us whenever we need Him. We should be committed to Him as well. 

Make today the day we start doing things the right way. No more mediocre relationship with Christ. We are never guaranteed tomorrow, today is but for a moment, let's make it the day we turn a new leaf! 

 Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Let follow David's cry here, and ask God to know our hearts and minds, and to lead us.

-Megan

 

The dot of a dot...

Ever have days where you feel so small in this great big world? How could God see me down here amongst so many? Sometimes I feel less than 'a dot on the map', unseen and undetected. Surely God can't possibly see us all, know us all, and hear us all when we pray. 

There is an estimated 7,069,600,000 people in the world today. 7 billion is a crazy number to wrap my head around, I need a visual! So I did a little googling (new word!) and found out that if everyone held hands, the human population could stretch across the world 294.54 times*! That is a lot of people! Surely I can get lost from God's view in that dense of a population, but He says different:

Isaiah 49:15-16 Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

Any mother can recall the day she gave birth to each of her children, there is something special about each one. The love of a mother for her children is unexplainable, and unquenchable. Even if you are a adoptive mother, mother to fur babies, or think of a niece, nephew or god-child as one of your own, the motherly love we women posses is hard to overcome. God says His love for us is even greater! He has engraved our names upon His palms, to be there forever! Not only that, He counts the very number of hairs on our heads! Wow, what a awesome God we serve! Who knows the number of hairs I have on my head, besides Him? No one! 

Luke 12:6-7 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Five sparrows for two cents. That's like two for each penny, and the fifth was almost like a freebie. Man, it must stink being that fifth sparrow. They were plentiful creatures, so much so they were selling them for next to nothing. Do you think the seller remembered each one he sold? God did! Not one was forgotten, not even the poor fifth sparrow who, to the seller, had no value. God said we are worth more than the little birds, whom are all accounted for in His eyes.

Psalm 139:13 -14, 17, 18 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.

 Before we were even born, the Lord knew us, knew who we would become, where we go. There is no way we can be unseen by Him, His thoughts are constantly upon us! Outnumber the grains of sand?! Wow! That is a lot of thoughts about His children. My limited mind cannot fathom it, how He can see me, let alone know me inside and out, knows my thoughts...and still loves me! 

Even in the grand scheme of this life, and the life after, God never forgets about us. We are part of His plan! We are important to Him, each and every single one of us...even those that feel like that poor little sparrow who happened to be the freebie no one wanted to pay for. We are precious to Him! Let this be your prayer for your life today, if you, like me, sometimes struggle with feeling forgotten;

Ephesians 3:17-19 ...And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

-Megan

*www.quora.com. (statistic is not approximate, based on a number of assumptions such as height, length of arms, etc)

Refining gold

My world has just flipped, and everything around me is now falling straight for my head. Reeling from such a quick downward spiral, I find myself with nothing to stand on, and I begin to panic. I am a frantic child crying out for my heavenly Father to make it right again. When it doesn't happen, I question the strength of my faith. My faith. Up until this time, my faith was comfortable. It was something I relied on in a causal manner. Now it is all I have left to stand on. It becomes my sole source of survival. 

The very core of my being has been rocked, and for what? Why did this happen to me? I want to file a complaint, stating how unjust this is, but a verse pops into my head, and reminds me why we go through things sometimes. 

James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

 Sometimes our faith gets tested, and it is almost always hard. If it were easy, it wouldn't be a test. I need to remind myself that. Like a teacher tests his/her students to see if they know what they have been taught, same goes for God. One way to find out what we are lacking? Go through a rough time in our spiritual walk, and things are brought to our attention. In these trails we face, we have the opportunity to let God refine us, like gold is refined through fire. 

1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Did you know that when refining gold, it's heated to extreme temperatures (excess of 1,000 degrees Celsius, or 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) to pull out all the impurities or 'dross'? When heated to this temperature, the impurities rise to the surface of the melted gold and are extracted to make the gold pure. Then (this is what spoke to my spirit this morning) the refiners, when making the gold into something of value, ADD other metals to it, to strengthen it, forming an alloy. God works in the same way! When we go under the fire, and things in our life take a nose dive, God refines our faith! Things we have accumulated in our life, the fruits of the flesh (anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, etc) rise to the top, and can be removed, only to be replaced with the things of the Spirit (love, goodness, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc). The fruits of the Spirit can replace our fruits of the flesh! 

This, in text, sounds wonderful! In reality though, it is a true test of faith and takes a lot of perseverance. Isn't that what James was telling us to do? To let perseverance do it's work in us so we lack nothing? What exactly is perseverance? The dictionary describes it as, "steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement." So in short, never quit, despite it all! Even though it is hard to go through the fire, it pays off so much in the end. God can take you places you never dreamed possible, leading you to new heights in your spiritual walk with Him. The refining process can be viewed in one of two ways; you can either mumble and complain and wail your way through it, making it much harder and longer and the results less than what God wants for you, OR consider it pure joy! You are getting rid of the things that are holding you back from your potential in Christ, and are being filled with good things straight from Him! Now that is exciting! 

Next time my life is turned upside down, I will do my best to remember His words of encouragement, and do as said in Psalms 46:10 "Be STILL and know that I am God..."

1. Fall into pit. 2. Climb out. 3. Repeat.

I seem to fall into traps set by the enemy with great regularity in my spiritual walk at times. I seem to be delivered from one, only to fall into the next hole set before me. If a record book of such things existed, I'm sure my name would hold in the top ten, with a side-note: "does not heed danger very well". Thank God no book like that exists! 

During those times when I can't seem to stand for falling, I figure this is it. I'm finished. God is done messing with me. He can only love someone so much, right? In my finite, human ways, there is a limit on His love, and His grace...and I've used it up. Why do I mess up so much?? I'm sure no one struggles at walking the higher road like me. I envision my spiritual friends and family member's roads to be smooth, the trail straight and  the scenery beautiful. Mine? A ugly, rocky, steep slope I'm constantly trying to climb to the top of. Of course this isn't true, but when your feelings get in the way, thoughts like these usually occur. 

So, is God really done with me? Am I evicted from the love of God? "When in doubt, pull your bible out". I'm not sure who said those words, but they are good ones to memorize! Here's what the Bible says about His love for us; 

 Romans 8:38-39  And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Wow! This pretty much takes the wind right out of my sails called doubt. Even though my feelings tell me I'm so unlovable, God's word tells me His love is inseparable from me! That is like a soothing balm to cracked skin. Nothing can separate His love for me, not even my tendency to mess up a lot. 

 Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ

Even when we were dead in our sins, He loved us, with a great and unending love. Something my mind has a hard time wrapping around. I just have to dig into my faith bucket, scrape the bottom when it seems like it's empty, and say "I know You love me God, you said it! If You said it, You meant it, so I'm standing on that." It takes faith to believe one way when you feel another, especially in the dark of night when everyone is asleep and the enemy is whispering lies in your ear. When those moments come, it's a good opportunity to whisper back to the enemy (don't want to wake the house) the last line of Romans 8:39: "NOTHING will ever be able to separate us from the love of God..." and feel free to add, "that includes you satan". He is always trying to discourage the body of Christ, that is his main job...we don't have to listen. When we fall, remember His mercies are new every morning for us (Lamentations 3:22-23), so rely on that unending love and patience to get back up and continue on! And thank God again there is no record book for the most falls. :) 

-Megan 

Where's my 'wow' moment?

"Dear Lord, please watch over my family, my friends and my cat. Thank You for all You do....uh....and *yawn* continue to bless us....amen..." Your prayers ever sound painfully void like mine sometimes? It seems like no matter how hard I try to pray, my efforts come up short. I know deep in my heart I have a revenue of praise and worship just waiting to spill forth...it has on several occasions. It is a wonderful feeling, offering my all to the One who is all, showering Him with praise and thanksgiving, leaving nothing back. Wow! It's a 'wow' experience that leaves me empty and weak...and yet so renewed and complete. So what's this stumbling mess I'm blurting out in the few minutes before I drift off to sleep? Have I somehow lost my connection? Are those words literally falling back into my face after speaking them out in prayer, or is it my imagination? 

We all feel 'less-than' when it comes to praying sometimes, I'm sure. I know I do! Yes, there is a discipline issue sometimes in my life when I've waited and let life get ahead of my special time with God, and those half-asleep prayers are my fault. Ouch! There are other times, though, when my house is quiet, and I find myself kneeling in prayer, bible open, and faith tested. "Are You really listening God?" I want to ask, because it feels the exact opposite. My ceiling has never looked more non penetrable than at those moments. I've come to learn something from these moments throughout my spiritual walk, even if I don't feel like the result are worth it; PRAY ANYWAY! I don't feel God; PRAY ANYWAY! Even if it seems seriously void of any goose-bump, hair on end moments, pray anyway. Not every prayer session will be a jump-out-of-your-seat-and-run moment, but every session in prayer is a moment, a hour well spent. 

 All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired. -Martin Luther (1483-1546)

When we call upon Him in true faith, standing on what we believe, and trusting He hears our heart more than He hears our words, He inclines to our prayers! I know this to be true, because I have seen in my own life the fruit of praying, even in those tough moments. 

  Matthew 21:22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Jesus says here if we believe, we receive what we ask for. He didn't say we had to know eloquent speech, or state our petitions in a 1,2,3 format, or even say certain words. He did, however, say we had to do two things; believe and ask! We got the asking part down! What better way to strengthen our belief than to pray in our weak moments, when we don't feel He is near? It is in the valley of whatever storm we are facing that great faith can be erected in our lives.

Oops! Learning to come clean...

Oops. 
How many times have we said that? Plenty for me! When I am running late and the kids won't listen and before I know it, I've been hateful. Or when the telemarketer doesn't understand I am not interested and oops! I've gone from polite to not so much in no time.  We all have those moments in life when we mess up. That's a given. The question is, what do we do when we mess up? 

I like to think that I have perfect timing when it comes to saying sorry, but in reality, I don't. It takes me awhile to sometimes swallow my pride and admit I was wrong, or that I messed up. Same goes for going to God. When my "oops" moments in life happen, I try to stuff them deep inside, making excuses along the way. But in reality, it's the opposite that I should do.

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Here are some words that jump out at me when I read this verse. I have highlighted them. The first one is CONFESS. That means to come clean. Not something I am interested in when I know I've messed up. I would like to bury it inside and pretend it never happened. God still sees! I have learned the quicker I go to Him and ask for forgiveness, the better off I feel.

Next word, FAITHFUL. What does it mean to be faithful? The dictionary defines it as: reliable, trusted, true to one's word. God says if we confess, He is faithful to do as He said, and forgive us! That's a great promise! I know I need it many times throughout my life. I am so glad He is trustworthy and honest. He can be counted on to cleanse us of our unrighteousness, and we can have a fresh start! 

And last, but not least; PURIFY. To be pure. Cleansed. Washed. When I hear the word purify, it reminds me of Isaiah 1:18 "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." How refreshing does that sound? From being dirty, full of sin, to being cleansed, fresh like snow. 

Next time I have a "oops" moment in my day to day, I will do my best to go to the Father before my flesh has time to reason me into trouble. We can always benefit from a good heart to heart talk with our Father, coming clean is easy when you trust the person you are talking to. Remember, He is faithful! 

-Megan