compelled to GO!

If I am to be consumed, may it be by the fire of loving my Lord. May the things of the world not hold my affection or control me in any way. May I love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and love my neighbor as myself. I am your servant, your disciple, your missionary, your child. May my life be an offering unto you, my King.

I know I can tend to get comfortable in my life, in my house, with my family, and my responsibilities, etc. I can be consumed by my drives, my burdens, and pains. Yet, I cry from the inside to wake up and stop letting idleness, selfishness, and fear take over whenever this feeling of comfort creeps in; from within I am compelled to GO! I am not sure I can quite explain this urgency in my heart.

The idea of just living our little lives for ourselves, our own plans or ideas or achievement or comfort, just makes my spirit grieve. We are not here for consumption, dominance, pursuit of pleasure, or ourselves in general. We are here to pursue God and lead others to pursue Him. I don’t feel right when I am not actively serving, loving, and relating to my community somehow; when I feel disconnected to the people and in my own little world. My heart burns for more relationship existence with those in the world around me.

We can be deceived by lies causing our faith/walk to slip during disobedience when we are not fully arming ourselves in Christ daily. I know for me, many times in the past I have made excuses for why I can’t serve; my kids, lack of knowledge or skill, time, confidence, etc. Sometimes I am just plain lazy. I become consumed with myself or my comfort or my problems. Sometimes our lives can be too overwhelming for us to want to even think about serving anyone anywhere. Other times it has just been fear holding me back. It can also be hurt and pain from past experiences that keep me from jumping head first into something; where I feel I am protecting myself by not doing it. There are many reasons for why I have denied opportunities in front of me.

Now I know we can’t do everything that is brought before us. We need to pray and seek God daily on what He desired for us to move in. But if our tendency is to say NO most of the time, then we need to take an inner look at our hearts. If it is fear and pain holding us back then we need to find ways to get help and work through those and heal and move past them and not let them cripple us. God can use our hurts, pains, trials, journeys, etc as we serve. They should not keep us from serving but should be used to propel us more into service. We should be asking God to show us how we can be used in spite of or due to those pains. If it is laziness or excuses, then we need to just get over ourselves and suck it up. Again, assess and work through and heal whatever issues might be causing that stagnation or attitude and wake up to what is important and what our calling is. We need to be reminded of the example of laying down our life; only then can we truly come alive.

1 Thes. 5:14 “And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.”

Romans 12 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Yes Lord!

I desire more simplicity. I desire more community. I desire life lived together. I desire not just reaching out, but reaching into. I desire Christ seen in me. I desire to see Christ in others. I desire to spread the gospel. I desire to see holy passions ignited in people’s lives. I desire to see lives made new; hearts changed. I desire healing for hurting souls. I desire to bring and see revival in the land; eyes opened causing people running hard, fast, and free after the Lord. I desire to see lives laid down. I desire to be God’s hands, feet, voice, shoulder, etc. I desire to see God being given glory and praise. I desire to be and see love in action; people loving people. I desire for truth to be proclaimed in the streets. I desire for my life to be a living sacrifice. I desire to go and make disciples and proclaim His name among the earth.

Here I am Lord, send me. Lead me daily to walk in your shoes to your people with your message for your glory! I will be your witness. "I will not be silent, NO. I will not be quiet anymore." "I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done..." psalm 118:17
Amen

Truth and morals

I had a class discussion assignment last week dealing with morals... this is from something that I responded to the fact that people create their own...

What do you think about right and wrong? Are there determined moral standards for us? There are a lot of people in this world that don't think there are. There isn't really a truth, truth can bend. They follow their own idea of what is right and go off emotions or intellect. They can't go with anything against with what they feel no matter what anybody else (including God) has to say about it. They go about life in a self-centered fashion. They want to base their life off of what they feel will make them happy or feel good or attain the goals they have. There is no "moral compass" from which to compare truth and line up to it. I don't see how that can work. With all the people on this planet, nobody thinks the same way, everyone has ideas and thoughts. Who is to say who is right? All people are equal right? Or are we? How could anyone make laws or govern people? What would be truth? There has to be truth. God and His ways should be the "moral compass"- He is truth. If there is no compass then there is no God. If there is no God, then there was no creation. If there was no creation, then there is no purpose to humanity. Therefore, would morals even matter? Why care?

We need to line everything about our lives up to the word of God and see what He has to say and make that our answer.

Any thoughts?

Hot and Holy

Hey go check out my Pastor's recent blog from today about the lesson for this Sunday on sex and marriage ... www.pathood.org

Chrissy

A love greater than Life

One of the songs used in worship today was a song about God being the greatest love you have. The key line for me in it is... "I've found a love greater than life itself". Now, every time I hear this song it sparks the same fuel in me to make the words it speaks obvious and true and forefront in my life. To just throw my hands up and say yes Lord, you are the hidden treasure, you are what I have been longing for my whole life, you are better than life and I would give and do all for you. Here is the song...

When I call on Your name (Love came down) by Ben Cantelon !!

lyrics
WHEN I CALL ON YOUR NAME You answer
When I fall You are there by my side
You delivered me out of darkness
Now I stand in the hope of new life

By grace I’m free
You’ve rescued me
All I am is Yours

I’ve found a love, greater than life itself
I’ve found a hope, stronger and nothing compares
I once was lost, now I’m alive in You

You’re my God and my firm foundation
It is You whom I’ll trust at all times
I give glory and praise, adoration
To my Saviour who’s seated on high

Love came down and rescued me
I thank You, I thank You
I once was blind but now I see
I see You, I see You.


Man how I love that song. Thank you Micah for doing such a great job of designing our worship experience Sundays. I want to take this song and live it, sing it out with my life, proclaim it daily with my words and actions in all that do. What about you? Is God the love of your life? Do you love God more than your life? If you think about what it menas to be a christian, then technically you cant be a christian without loving Him more than your life because we are called to give up our lives and follow Him. We are to pay ourselves at the cross and submit to His ways, His plans, His call. We are to trust Him and follow Him wholeheatedly. You can not love your life more then God and truly follow Him. So, have you found this love? This love worth your life? Have you been delivered out of darkness? Were you blind but now see? Is He your firm foundation? Is He your hope, your everything? I really hope that He is and that you do know this love, and if you do not, then I pray that you find it and that your eyes are open to see how good He is!

Now in referencing this to what we are studying at church, the Love Dare and Song of Solomon, in the Movie Fireproof, one of the key sayings in the movie is when Caleb says that he is frustrated with his wife because she is stubborn and even though he has been doing all this stufff for her to show her he still cares about their relationship, she still "spits in his face" about it. Meaning she doesnt care, notice, or change her feelings towards him. He asks how can he continually show love to someone over and over again if all they do is spit in your face and not accept it? Then his dad, showing him the cross, tells him how that is what he is doing to God. Caleb is not accepting God's love just the same way. And God is love. So if you do not have God's love then you can not truly love anyone. So how can he love his wife the way he needs to love her if he doesnt have the love inside him to do it? So right there he realizes his need for God and gives his life to Christ. I love this part in the movie, it is so pwerful the way they prtray it and my explaining of it here gives it no justice so I appologize for that, lol. But the message is so true. We can not do it without God! We can not love, truly love people without his power behind it. People get on our nerves, cause us problems, hurt our feelings, get in our way, etc. Especially at home with our spouses and family members who we live with day in and out and know how to push our buttons and hurt us the most. To be able to press on day after day, fight after fight, struggle after struggle, we need the love of God in our hearts. And we need to take that love and let it guide us into love and wise choices and not let our personal desires and needs get in the way. We need to choose to love no matter what our spouse deserves, for that is how God loves us. Christ died for us while we were "spitting in his face", and He still loves us today no matter where you are with Him. That love, that power is yours when you are in Him and with that power you to can love your spouse even when they dont deserve it for as long as it takes.

So do you hold on to His love like expressed in this song? Do you let this love guide you in all things? Do you put yourself aside every day and focus on His plan? Do you live like you know the greatest love and have the greatest hope? Do you feel alive?