God Is My Strength

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Gods power and strength can not be reconciled or explained by our human understanding.  It is a guarantee that our bodies and minds will fail, which is why, I think, we become so overwhelmed when trying to do everything by our own strenth.  So... I strive to do life by his strength, not my own.

Identity Crisis

A subject that I find so hard to address in my own life is overcoming sin that just seem to linger. The ones that we just can't seem to let go of.  Or we succeed for a time but somehow revert back to it.  First we need to come to a simple truth:  The journey that we are on is not one of merely lifestyle change or omitting sin from our lives.  Our journey is about allowing Jesus to be our saviour, our guide and friend. Our sin is not our identity.  Our behavior is not our identity.  Our identity and hope is Jesus Christ.  I am sure that if you have sin in your life that you have wanted to conquer, you have felt the judgement and guilt that comes when you've failed.  I for one am tired of living this way.  God wants us to be more that conquers. (Romans 8:37-39) 

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says that if we are in Christ, we are a new creation.  Well isn't that just peachy!  I have to tell you, sometimes I get really frustrated when people talk about this verse.  Come on, if you have been following God for any length of time, you already know that there is no magic wand that changes all the things we don't like about ourselves.  Now before you think I am trying to disagree with a bible verse let me explain.  We are a new creation, yes!  This is how I think it looks.  We give our lives to Jesus and here we are with all the same messed up crap in our lives, then there is Jesus covering our sin.  God looks at us and we are filtered by Jesus....God sees Jesus not our sin.  Isn't that the reason Jesus died on the cross?  Now this doesn't mean that we should go on with our bad selves and not have a plan to address the sin in our lives.  But come to God because you actually want to be like Jesus.  You should come to God because you want HIM, and you actually want your identity to be in Jesus Christ by having a relationship with him...not just because you want Him to change a behavior in you or a "get out of hell free" card.  And like I said, just because you come to God, that doesn't mean that everything that you don't like about yourself changes with a snap.  It is a process that God reveals over time.  And sometimes it is painful and hard.  At least that is how I have experienced it.  This is so important to grasp because I think so many people live not fully experiencing all that God wants for them because they feel such guilt in their life over sins that they have not overcome. Sometimes we just pretend we have it all together.  After all we can fool most people,  but reality is, noone can fool an all-knowing God.  Come to God just as you are, and stop trying to figure out whether something is right or wrong and just start seeking God on a daily basis.  Be honest with God, he knows you already.  Nothing you do or have done surprises him.  It's not like God is at the water cooler of heaven saying to Saint Peter...."Can you believe what she did, I didn't expect that."  Not at all!  He knows you, he understands you better than anyone!  HE made you.  You do not need to change or "clean up your act" before you come to Jesus.  If you are truely seeking God, He will lead you in his time to what is right.  The question you need to ask yourself is this:

If being/doing _____(fill in the blank)_______ is wrong, do I still want to follow God, and will I let him take me through the process of change? 

As we draw near to a Holy God we will begin to understand through His word and the leading of His Spirit the things that He does not desire.  Our heart and our feelings will begin to change. We have to decide if that is truely what we want.  What is the point of seeking God if you never really plan on allowing Him to change things in your life.  He only desires what is best for you.  It is sad to think that so many are missing out on all the great things God wants to give to us simply because we won't yield and give up what we think is best for us.  It is always our choice.  But it takes everything, no holding back.  Surrendering all of ourselves wholeheartedly to Him.  Seeking him in prayer and reading His word.  He never begs us to give him anything, but to fully experience all of Him, we must give Him all of us.  As God reveals things to us that He wants us to change, then it is up to us to take steps to try and make that change.  It may be small steps at first, but every step towards Him is always right.  How do you know that something is a God desired change?  You will know that you know that you know that you know!   That may seem like a vague answer but it is the truth.  When you are convicted about something from God, you will know!  Don't let Satan try to talk you out of it.  But seriously, I challenge anyone to ask the question above of themselves.  If your answer is yes, then surround yourself with wise people who love you and dilligently seek God through His word, praying and just listening to Him.  He never returns our efforts in seeking Him void.  I just read on another blog reciently, "God watches over His word to perform it.  He responds to His word.  When we begin sowing His word into every facet of our life and we begin to remind God of His word in those areas, He responds!" (Guaranteed Results  by Melissa Leslie)   Wow, I love that!  The idea of God watching over his word to perform it.  That's awesome.  He will perform it in your life if you let Him.  Decide to let Jesus be your identity.

Longing To Calling

A few weeks ago a friend of mine told me "God's truth is in your DNA". I knew this instintively to be true but seeing it in print intrigued me. I wanted to find proof of it in God's word. A verse I found while reading in Ephesians 2 is one of many that show that God has implanted us with a God longing that can ONLY be filled by God Himself. A God longing is a desire to know Him and to be loved by Him and we don't even know we have it at first. Try as we may to fill our longing with all sorts of other things, only to be left wanting and spiritually parched. Most times we don't realize the source of our condition so we continue to try to fill it with other things...some things may even be good worthy things, but if we are using it as a stand in for God it still won't fulfill the God longing inside of us. Here's the verse in Ephesians 2 I mentioned earlier

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

So God has something He has already prepared for us to do! How awesome is that? And not just the "talented" people, ALL of us are created to do something amazing for God. It IS in our DNA to be "alive in Christ" (Ephesians 2:4-5) If we are not ALIVE in Christ, then we are DEAD in our sin. If you are a Christ follower you know that it is not always easy to follow Him. We still sometimes feel like sinning, but we have the assurance that God is there to give us strength...not human strength but His un-explainable strength. We cannot withstand our own evil desires or the prowling of Satan on our own. We receive the gift of strength from God. That is a beautiful gift we recieve when we accept Jesus Christ into our lives.

I can do all this through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

And then...when we fail, we turn to Him and receive HIS INCREDIBLE grace. Grace is defined in the dictionary as divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration. Grace is immediate restoration to God and forgiveness. Plain and simple, His absolute forgiveness is immediate and covers all my stupid!

Now back to the original verse that I started with. Let's not forget how Ephesians 2:10 says that we are created to do good works. We have that longing but what good is a longing when it isn't magnified and used by God. Our longing for God will ultimately move us into a calling. When we are seeking Him we will always desire to serve Him in some way. Sometimes it is hard to know what God is calling us to do, but keep seeking and with His leading you will figure it out. It IS in your DNA to live for Him and if you fight it, there will always be an unfulfilled longing and never a realized calling that leads to great reward. (2 Corinthians 5:10; Ephesians 6:7-8)

Hang On To Jesus

Today is the day of salvation! His mercies are new every morning. (thankfully!) No one can go back and change the past, we can't change the things that we've already done. I read this in a book recently: "No one can go back and make a brand-new beginning, but anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending." That's so awesome! God's desire for us is complete deliverance from our sin. Okay! That's awesome, but here's the rub, we're the one's who can't seem to let go of our past. We linger there and by doing so, we unknowingly refuse to allow God to transform us. When we indulge our thoughts and mull over our failures and mistakes, we only magnify our sin and allow it to further control us Then the sin that we have already asked forgiveness for, becomes Lord over our lives. Whatever you give control to IS the Lord of your life. When thoughts of failure, guilt, (fill in the blank) come to our minds, take that thought captive and throw it out. The bible says to "take every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5) If we push through the very things that Satan designs to hold us back, we will see awesome things and be used by God in ways we never could imagine. Be relentless in following God. Don't hold on to the things that are trying to pull you down, hang onto Jesus. In him there is life and forgiveness. We will not always get it right, unfortunately we will continue to blow it, but the freedom is in Jesus!

"There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death" Romans 8:1-2

Lucky?

Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak. Isaiah 40:28-29

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

WE ARE LUCKY?
*Lucky that God's understanding is so great.
*Lucky that God is patient with us as we work through our sins.
*Lucky the our sins are forgotten through forgiveness, and everyday can be a new beginning. His mercy's are new every morning,(Lamentations 3:22-23)and He remembers our sins no more. (Hebrews 8:12)
*Lucky that God loves us more than anything and gives us that love instead of what we deserve.

Lucky by definition is having or receiving something by chance. So really we are NOT lucky at all because God made a choice. God chose us!

*It is by God's grace and love He chose to give great understanding.
*It is by God's grace that He is patient with us as we work through our sins.
*It is by God's grace that WE ARE SAVED AND FORGIVEN through JESUS CHRIST and everyday IS a new beginning.
*It is by God's grace that that He loves us more than anything and He freely gives us that love instead of what I deserve.

Grace by definition is to GIVE by choice, kindness, mercy, love and compassion, even when undeserved.

Thank God that I am not lucky, because I wouldn't want to receive forgiveness by chance...I want it because a loving God chose to give it to me.