Frankly, the last two weeks have been such a struggle for me emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and yes even physically (gotta love food poisoning) and I was completely drained. Friday night I had absolutely no idea what on earth I was supposed to be sharing in my girl's Bible Study. As the day went on I started to get some idea of what I wanted to share so ,once I got home, I ended up getting on my blog and printing off an excerpt from a post I had previously written. As I started to share it with the girls it really hit home for me as well so I thought I would share it with you once more:
"Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity."
1 Timothy 4:12
As young people this verse is exhorting us to be an EXAMPLE to the believers. How? Well the verse tells us exactly how:
~In word: Ok so what have the words from your mouth been like lately? Do they mirror the Lord? Do they build others up or do they tear others down? I was told once that people can tell what is the most thing in our lives by what we talk about. Yeah...that can be a good or bad thing.
~In conduct: So how do you act? I mean do you believe that how you act is a reflection of what is in your heart? Now that can be a good or a bad thing? Do your actions show that Jesus is the most important thing in your life or do they show the opposite?
~In love: So do you love people? I mean, really love them? Do your actions prove it? I am not talking the gushy, romantic, head-in-the-clouds kind of love; I am talking about a sacrificial, putting others first, unconditional, Christ like love. What kind of love do you have?
"Our society confuses love and lust. Unlike lust, God's kind of love is directed OUTWARD toward others, not inward toward ourselves.
It is utterly unselfish. This kind of love goes against our natural inclinations. It is impossible to have this love unless God helps us set aside our own natural desires so that we can love and not expect anything in return.
Thus, the more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to others."
~In spirit: What consumes you? I don't mean the outside...I mean the real you. Who is the master of your soul? Jesus or the deceiver? I love this saying that character is who you are in the dark...who are you in the dark? Who are you when there is no one else around? Who are you?
~In faith: What are you putting your faith in? In yourself? Your own works and the things you have accomplished? Or in Jesus?
~In purity: Ok, so I know that people are always saying that physical purity is important and DON'T get me wrong-I am not saying that it isn't- BUT have you ever thought about what it means to be emotionally pure? What about mentally pure? How many times have we given our hearts away in useless flings and/or crushes? I don't think that we realize it but that part of our heart/emotions we gave away we can never get back...
So what do you think? What is your example like? You never know who may be watching you. You may never know how a word or an action could effect someone for good or bad.
So there are some things that I have been thinking about lately. Love especially. Truly, I desire that when people look at me they would only see Jesus shining out of me. I am learning that that means people like my family and close friends as well.
I am so thankful that we serve a loving and merciful God!
The fact that He loves us in spite of us is so wonderful!
The past few weeks ,however, the Lord has been challenging me in many different ways and oi many different areas of my life. It all started 2 Sundays ago. My friend had invited me to a Bible study with a bunch of other young people and I had decided to go just because I really wanted to be fed spiritually and also interact with other young people. The leader of the Bible study was teaching on a passage in Mark 4: 11-19. The parable of the Sower. Now, I had read and re-read this passage I do not know how many times but when Jason read these verses he asked a question that I had never thought about before:
"Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." Mark 4:18-19
Here is a paraphrase of the question he asked based on those verses: What is in my life that I am allowing to choke out the power of the Word and spiritual growth? For some reason, I could not stop thinking about that question! The Lord used that question to start to open my eyes to some things in my life that I was starting to realize needed to be disposed of because they were taking the place of my King. I was starting to realize. I was not quite there! Then, last Friday, at Bible study I read a quote to the girls and asked them to ponder what it meant for a week and then come back with thoughts the next Bible study (which was last night). I know that I already shared this quote with you in another post but please bear with me and just read through it again:
"God created us to experience vibrant, daily intimacy with Him and to constantly pursue even greater depths of relationship with Him. But too often, once we scratch the surface of knowing Him, we pitch our tent. We stop pursuing Him. We stop seeking Him. And instead of having a daily, passionate relationship with our God, we settle for an imitation. We become trapped in the shallowness of the Christian game. We sing songs about His love and read books about His grace, but we rarely experience Him in our daily lives. To experience that something more that each of us longs for, we must put away the Christian game; reject our imitation of Christianity, pack up our tents, and embark upon the adventure of, TRULY KNOWING GOD. We must shake off the settler's mentality and become pioneers, passionately pursuing more and more of our King."
-Excerpt from "When God Writes Your Life Story"
I started to think. Wondering what was in my life that was holding me back from experiencing Christ in an even deeper, more intimate, more passionate way. Thinking about the compromises in my life that I knew were there but I did not want to give up. Then the Lord REALLY started convicting me. The tool He used was this video (once again, I know I JUST posted this but please bear with me and watch it again):
(Yes, the video is chopped in half and I can't figure out why on earth it is BUT I think that you can still listen to it and be really...challenged...like I was!)
IDOLS. I started thinking about what idols I might possible have in my life. *Katy commences squirming here* I thought that I was pretty good. I mean, REALLY! I have devotions. I spend time in prayer. I even have a ministry. I am all set, right? There is no way I would have idols in my life. WRONG!
1 John 5:21 says this:
"Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen."
Well, what are idols?
Here is a definition by Leslie Ludy that I found really opened my eyes to what idols really are:
"An idol is ANYTHING that claims our ATTENTION and AFFECTION above Christ."
This past week the Lord has been knocking on my hearts door, asking me to surrender something to Him and I have been fighting Him with all my might. One way I knew that this something the Lord had been asking me to surrender to Him was an idol in my life is because I had been so unwilling to give it up. What is this idol you may ask?
You may be thinking: Well, what on earth is the big deal? It is just facebook! The problem is that I am on facebook hours upon hours a day! It is one of the first things that I think about during the day, I have to check it at least once every two hours a day, when I have been away from the computor for any amount of time I have to check it and then re-check it, if I have been away from home it is the first thing I go to when I get home, and it is one of the last things I think about at night. I am CONSUMED by it...but NO MORE. I realized last night that this obsession with facebook is holding my back from having a deeper, more intimate walk with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If I would only devote those hours upon hours I spend in a day on facebook to JESUS-how much would my life change? How much ore would I be free to be used by my Savior? I desire to bring honor and glory to my Savior with my whole life. But, this IDOL (anything that claims our ATTENTION above Christ) was holding me back.
I was trying to fit Jesus into my life INSTEAD OF centering my entire life around Him.
Last night I KNEW what the Lord wanted me to do but I could not imagine giving up facebook even for a week. I went over to prepare for my girls Bible study and was SO overwhelmed by what the Lord was asking me to do: Give up the HOURS I spend a day on facebook and instead devote those hours to getting to know my Precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on a deeper and more intimate level. Oh I fought. I watched that movie about the three questions and was convicted even more. I was almost in tears. I knew what I needed to do BUT I DID NOT WANT TO SURRENDER! I didn't want to GIVE IN. The girls got there and I had one of those moments were...the light bulb just seems to click on. I realized that I could not live a double standard. I COULD NOT teach these girls about living a 110% surrendered life to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ while I was not living one myself.
So, I chose. I chose to surrender. I chose to not only beg my Father in Heaven's forgiveness, but also, take extreme measures to getting the idols that I have allowed into my life OUT OF MY LIFE.
Do I think that facebook is bad?
NOT AT ALL!
For me personally however, it has become an idol and because of that it needs to be taken care of. What about other forms of entertainment? Movies, internet, magazines, books, cell phones, fill in the blank. Are they necessarily in and of themselves wrong (well, within certain boundaries of course)? No.
When do they become a problem?
"One way you can tell if something is an idol or another lover in your life is that you are unwilling to let it go. You can't picture living without it. Most of us, if we were honest, would have to admit that we are unbelievably attached to worldly entertainment. Life would seem empty and beak if we didn't own a TV (or a computer, cell phone, again: fill in the blank)...Even though we have everything we would ever want or need in Christ Jesus alone-we still look to these other means for the peace, joy, excitement, and refreshment that HE HIMSELF desires to give us. All we have is the counterfeit version of peace and joy because we aren't willing to let Him give us the real thing." (Leslie Ludy)
What are the things in your life that maybe the Lord has been asking you to surrender to Him?
What do you think would happen if, instead of spending hours doing *fill in the blank* we used that time to get to know our God?
What if we treated our BIBLE like our cell phone of the internet or the television or movies?
What if THE BIBLE was one of the first things that we in the morning? What if we had to check THE BIBLE at least once every two hours a day so as to not go through withdrawals? What if, when we have been away from THE BIBLE for any amount of time we felt we had to check it and then re-check it? What if we had been away from home and THE BIBLE was the first thing we went to when we got home? What if THE BIBLE was one of the last things we thought about at night?
What if we let go of those idols that have control of our lives and instead threw ourselves at Jesus' feet?
What if?
This is something that is between each of us and God. No one on earth can make these decisions for you.
My challenge to you would be this: really ponder what priorities you have in your life. What are the things that fill up your time? What do you turn to for refreshment, fulfillment, and satisfaction? Is it the world? Or is it JESUS?
Is Jesus Christ worth YOUR ALL (even the little, seemingly "insignificant things")?
For me-my journey started last night.
I have decided to take a week hiatus off of facebook. Not because I think that facebook is a horrid, wicked, sinful thing BUT because I know for myself PERSONALLY I need to re-prioritize my time.
Note: For my facebook friends-I will still be twittering so the status updates throughout this week will be from there. I will not actually be on facebook updating my status'.
"Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." (1 John 5:21)
Is there anything you are holding back from Jesus today?
"God created us to experience vibrant, daily intimacy with Him and to constantly pursue even greater depths of relationship with Him. But too often, once we scratch the surface of knowing Him, we pitch our tent. We stop pursuing Him. We stop seeking Him. And instead of having a daily, passionate relationship with our God, we settle for an imitation. We become trapped in the shallowness of the Christian game. We sing songs about His love and read books about His grace, but we rarely experience Him in our daily lives. To experience that something more that each of us longs for, we must put away the Christian game; reject our imitation of Christianity, pack up our tents, and embark upon the adventure of, TRULY KNOWING GOD. We must shake off the settler's mentality and become pioneers, passionately pursuing more and more of our King."
(Yes, the video is chopped in half and I can't figure out why on earth it is BUT I think that you can still listen to it and be really...challenged...like I was!)
The last 22 days have been some of the hardest of my life. And yet, they have been some of the best of my life.
How is that possible?
Jesus Christ.
Never before have I known His love in such an intimate way. Never before have I known how much He is able to satisfy and fulfill us. Never before have I known such completion!
TRULY WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD!
These past 22 days I have really been thinking alot about what I have allowed to fill up my life.
I want a life that is 110% surrendered to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and yet-so often-I allow things to get in the way of my passionately pursuing HIM ALONE.
So.
I have started to have to prioritize.
Starting with how much time I spend on the computor.
Now. I am NOT getting rid of the computor BUT I am taking steps to PRIORITIZE how much time I spend on it a day. I can sit down in front of the thing and all the sudden two hours have gone by...while my Bible sits on my desk unopened until...well...last most days.
I have realized that I can not keep living a life for the Lord and yet still kind of...well...sort of...still be living a life for myself as well.
HE DESERVES MY ALL!
And my ALL is what I want to give Him...
He is so worthy!
"The Lord is my portion;" says my soul, "Therefore I HOPE in Him!"Lam. 3:24
What a comfort to know I can trust Him and never have to fear.
What a comfort to know that I can HOPE in Him!!
I keep asking myself how on earth I can have the God of the UNIVERSE as my Heavenly Father and yet I still look to other things and people to try to satisfy.
That is so wrong!
One of the hardest things in my lately has been being "single" once again.
These quotes have REALLY challenged me as I enter into this new season of my life:
"Rather than being preoccupied with solving the “dilemma” of our singleness, God’s Word says we should be consumed with loving, knowing, serving and worshiping Jesus Christ."
CONSUMED WITH LOVING, KNOWING, SERVING, and WORSHIPING JESUS CHRIST!
"Singleness is the incredible opportunity to be fully consecrated in body and spirit to Jesus Christ alone--to be undistracted by any other romance and free to be consumed by Him. " -Sacred Singleness ♥
I have decided to start taking advantage of this AMAZING opportunity to be FULLY CONSECRATED to Jesus Christ alone!
With that decision comes the need to start cleaning out some things in my life.
Are they necessarily bad things.
Well.
No.
But personally I know that they are areas of compromise...things that I have not surrendered to my Savior.
I was re-reading an old blog post of mine and thought that it was very applicable to what I have been working through lately in regards to total abandonment to my Savior.
"Decide (choose) not to ride the fence, dividing your intersts between God and the things of the world. Decide (choose) that God will OWN your heart. Trust Him and be willing to admit when you are wrong." (Unknown)
It all boils down to a choice! Daily choosing WHO WE ARE GOING TO LIVE FOR. Ourselves? Or Christ?
"The reason some of us are such poor specimens of Christianity is because we have no Almighty Christ. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no ABANDONMENT to Jesus Christ." (Oswald Chambers)
Have you ever stopped to consider what a difference it would make if each and every child of God started living their lives in TOTAL ABANDONMENT to Jesus Christ? If instead of living our lives looking no different then the world around us we CHOSE to be different and to be LIVING SACRIFICES for our God? Have you ever thought about what would happen if the young generation (OUR generation) stood up for Christ and were not ashamed to live for Him alone?
I have been thinking about it a lot...I know that I want to be 110% surrendered to Christ but not only when I am with others, oh no, when I am at home with my family and when I am all by myself. Every single second of my day needs to be lived for Jesus Christ...to honor and glorify and lift up HIS precious name...
"As a Christian: 'Your life is hid with Christ. You are not your own. You have no time of your own, no money of your own. CHRIST MUST BECOME YOUR COMPLETE MASTER.'" (Leonard Ravenhill)
My deepest desire is to live and breathe my precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...to live 110% for Him...to be a living sacrifice for Him...to honor and glorify HIM every single second of the day whether I am in a crowd of 100 people or whether I am alone in my room...He is so precious to me-it is time I start living like He is.
So those are just some thoughts that I have had lately.
I love this short film and as I was preparing for this weeks Bible study the Lord brought it to my mind and I thought I would share it with you all.
When I think about the relationship the Jesus had with His Father...then to think that God the Father sent His Son to die a horrible death on that cross for YOU AND ME! WOW!
This video just seemed to make it more real to me...it really is a beautiful depiction:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." -John 3:16
I am a Wife to my prince, a Mama to my son and a daughter of God. I love my Jesus and as a result of that I want to leave a completely surrendered life to Him. This is hard but...God is merciful and teaching me so many things about what He has for me in my role as a young wife and Mama!
