I'm Not For Me

I'm Not For Me

10.04.2013

Philippians 4

"My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word." 
-Psalm 119:28
          In this world, we feel like victims.  We're beaten down and just trying to figure out the world, or at least our part in it.  No matter how good we are or what we accomplish, the hole we're trying to fill is always empty.  Can you feel it right now?  Our God does not leave us in this condition!  He tells us how to live, really live, through Paul and Timothy. 
         

         "I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me," (Philippians 4:11-13).  

           You are strong!  Christ is your strength!  No matter how big the hole inside of you is right now, God will not leave you that way, on this one condition: 

          "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 4:7).

        What you rejoice in will be your strength.  Ask Christ Jesus to be that.

 -Sarah





P.S. While I was writing this, I listened to Good for Me by Audrey Assad.  I'd recommend a listen. :) 

10.03.2013

Themes

I'm starting to see a theme in what's being posted... Can you?

Wisdom & Loving the Lord
It's what's been on my mind lately.  Hopefully I've brought it into yours too. 

Thanks for reading!

Psalm 14:1 & Psalms 15

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God."' - Psalm 14:1
 

                     What does it say about Christians when they live like the rest of the world?  They're playing the fool.  "They are corrupt, their deeds are vile," (Psalm 14:2).  If we stick our toe in the sin that everybody else is doing, we're letting ourselves being pulled into saying, "There is no God!  How could there possibly be a God?"  Isn't that scary?  It's terrifying how SO easy it is to be pulled into the mindset of the reset of the world.

"Oh LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
not takes up a reproach against his friend;
but who honors those who fear the LORD....
....He who does these things shall never be moved."
-Psalm 15



                   Doesn't that sound so good to your soul?  It's what our Father wants!  As you very well know, there's a problem in-between Psalm 15 and us.  We don't want to turn our agnostic culture.  When I choose the easy thing, I choose to say, "What God?"  And I almost never realize that. 

         "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour," (1 Peter 4:8). 

10.01.2013

Psalm 139 (part 3)

Good evening!

                         Earlier in the year, I wrote, "to me, Psalm 139 is one of the most beautiful passages ever written.  It exhibits truth and beauty by exposing the reality in my own life and God's omniscient relationship with me."  In v. 1-6, we looked at how the Creator comes to us; He searches us and protects us.  In v. 1-7, He doesn't leave us, and He never stops leading us.    What else does our Father do for us in v.13-16? 

I'm going to take a detour for a moment (hopefully you'll agree later on that it was worth it).  I'm going to stick my toe into what I'd like to call, 'Learning What's Important.'  And how do we learn that?  Wisdom.  The book of Proverbs doesn't begin lightly. 

"20Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
23 If you turn at my reproof,
behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;
I will make my words known to you.
- Proverbs 1:20-23
 
It takes infinite number of wrong decisions, and the decision to listen to wisdom and make a few, intentionally good ones.  Chances are that God directed what went right.  In fact, He tells us that He planned ALL of your life - ALL of it right in the end.   
 
              A beautiful baby was brought into the world last night by an incredible Christian woman who I admire greatly. Can you imagine that our Father planned alllllll of that baby's life, before that child was even conceived?  Before anyone even knew he was coming?  Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."  Isn't 'setting you apart,' such a beautiful image of God choosing?  But He doesn't just plan out the lives of His prophets.  He made you and all people; He intricately plans and intervenes in the lives He made.

(finally we come to the Psalm)
"13For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them."
-Psalm 139:13-16

           What an incredible God.

-Sarah

P.S. Lopez, this blogging is getting addicting. 

9.30.2013

Heart vs. Mind

Hi!

Tonight I saw a discussion on feelings vs. knowledge to the Christian.  I thought some things should be recognized and here's what I felt that I should point out about using all things in conjunction for our LORD.         
 
 
          I'd like to briefly mention that we train our hearts and our consciences just like we do with our minds.  In fact, our hearts are taken from us and trained even more than our minds are in this culture.  I believe there's a reason for this that we can easily see.  "Take every thought captive," vs. "the heart is deceitful above all things."  Woah there.  Scary words.  The Lord searches our hearts and curses him whose heart is turned away.  (Jeremiah 17) Romans 12:12 speaks of changing the mind (meaning, its fallen too and it needs to be fixed): "Do not conform 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."  Jesus warns us against conforming to this world (in heart and mind) and tells us what we should put ourselves to use with; "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ," (2 Cor 10:5).  The end goal is obedience to Christ in all things and by all people.  The way of the Lord is self-control and balance - the ruler being His Word, internalized through prayer.  I agree that our emotions are important, because God gave us them, but all you see today is emotions running rampant.  We, as a generation, need to be especially careful where we put our trust.  So - carry on - and seek to use all as a service to Christ, instead of using heart, or mind to turn against the Lord.

-Sarah

9.29.2013

Ephesians 1:18-23

Hi!

       This weekend, a fantastic song about our God's Church has been rattling in my head, and more often then not to the chagrin of those around me, bursting out.  It's Build Your Kingdom Here by Rend Collective Experiment (pretty sure it's a certain Mississippian's fault, shared a while ago... :).  You might want to check it out if you haven't heard it already so you can follow this post a little easier.

      A repeating line stuck out to me at the end of each verse, but each time its sung, it ends a different way.  "We are Your Church; we need Your power in us... we are Your Church; We pray revive this earth....(and lastly) build Your Kingdom here we pray; we are the hope on earth."  Ephesians is a letter to the church in Ephesus, and I'd sure be surprised if the writers of this song hadn't studied it to share it in this song. 

    Paul begins where all things should, in prayer. "For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers," (Ephesians 1:15-16).   
"We are the hope on earth." 

 When a church is filled with the salt that gives it its saltiness - what a gift from God.  "...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints," (Ephesians 17-19).  
"We pray revive this earth."


       A church with this God is incredible!  Our churches are marred by us, by humans who sin, but Jesus Christ is what it's all about.  "And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come," (Ephesians 1:19-22).   
"We need your power in us." 
  
All thanks and praise to Jesus Christ for "He put all things under is feet and gave Him as Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all," (Ephesians 1:19-23).

 -Sarah

9.27.2013

1 John 4:18


Good evening!

              Tonight my grandma is watching a movie, and one line happened to stick out to me.  The heroine is told that her problem is that she's, "ashamed to be alone."  Hasn't that happened to us all?  A lot? 

            Stick with me as I switch gears for a moment - Immanuel means God with us.  His name is a reminder of a promise.  "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord," (Romans 8:28-29).  But there is one thing that we can wedge between us and Christ Jesus' love: fear.  We're afraid by ourselves.  I'm afraid to be seen as weak, vulnerable or sad alone.  But our Lord knows that: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go," (Joshua 1:9).   We're given a command!  Snap into marching order!

... Isn't that easy, is it?  Our souls need to be transformed, by praise, prayer and petition.  This still leaves out the most important ingredient.   "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love," (1 John 4:18).  Love can fix our fear of being alone, because love means we are not alone.  Christ came to us two thousand years ago in His incarnation and resurrection, we came to Him in our baptism, and He comes to us today in Holy Communion.  We forget God's promise to be with us and love us so often, so I hope you're reminded of the strength of His care for you tonight.

-Sarah
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