Jesus is doing mighty things and I am blessed to be apart of His grandeur plan.
I love Him, I serve Him, and I will continually choose to live my life as a sacrifice for His glory alone.
May You shine brighter than the sun on this campus, Father.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Proclaiming versus Professing along with some Inviting/Challenging
My heart has been prompted with so many complexes amongst the church in this day and age.
Since my heart is full of them, I have chosen to blog about the things God has been showing me whether it be directly or through others.
First, I will speak of the things that are tearing and ripping the church away at its very core.
People of the church across the nations are proclaiming Jesus, and devoting their lives to causes and 'good works' instead of Jesus Christ himself.
We are called to be devoted to a Person not a cause. When we are devoted to the Person, He supernaturally enables and places us to the point of which we can change the world.
What does this deadly domino effect do exactly?
It is estimated that only 4% of college students attend church. We are considered the "y' generation, the builders, the ones who come and bring revolution to the church body.
The problematic issue that surrounds us college students is that we are surrounded by compromise within the church. This compromise leads to people being in positions which they have no right according to Scripture to be in, which ultimately leads to corruption. People are proclaiming and not professing the name of Jesus Christ. To proclaim is to merely to use verbal tactics to prove a point. To profess is to live a lifestyle according to the Master. This means we are living the life and not just talking it.
My heart is breaking for the countless individuals I have spoken with in the last couple of weeks.
Comments such as, "It's hard for me to live a life according to Christ when those who are preaching to me are doing the exact things that I do." or "I have had friends that would go and sleep with their boyfriends, get wasted, and get up and go to church the next day, then start the same pattern the next week."
Beloved, we are called to a Person. We are called to identify with the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who transforms and brings us to the Light. We must deal the sins that are causing this lethal demise of the body of Christ. He is calling us to the place to surrender so He can do in us the mighty works He has already foreseen. We are to surrender to the Creator of the universe so He can empower us with His Holy Spirit to accomplish His divine will in us.
We are made for something greater than ourselves, we are made for the One who conquered the grave and desires intimacy with us.
See, Christ desires to invite us into the Kingdom, and He will if we will allow Him to. But see, there is also a challenge awaiting us. It is one of sacrifice, surrender, and complete obedience. The Father knows we can't do it by ourselves, that is why He sent us the Holy Spirit who longs to dwell and consume us. Will we take that challenge? Will we join Christ and profess Him for all of our days. Will we go into our own 'Garden of Gethsemane" and give up our will to the Father so He may use us as He pleases? Beloved, I urge you to take this challenge. He is gently inviting you in with His soft whisper, and MIGHTY heart tug. Say yes to the wondrous invitation of Salvation; of complete surrender.
I will leave you with the one scripture and quote that prompted my heart for this discussion:
1 Corinthians 2:2- "For I am determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
" Our Lord said to Paul, in effect, "Your whole life is to be overpowered or subdued by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine."" -Oswald
Since my heart is full of them, I have chosen to blog about the things God has been showing me whether it be directly or through others.
First, I will speak of the things that are tearing and ripping the church away at its very core.
People of the church across the nations are proclaiming Jesus, and devoting their lives to causes and 'good works' instead of Jesus Christ himself.
We are called to be devoted to a Person not a cause. When we are devoted to the Person, He supernaturally enables and places us to the point of which we can change the world.
What does this deadly domino effect do exactly?
It is estimated that only 4% of college students attend church. We are considered the "y' generation, the builders, the ones who come and bring revolution to the church body.
The problematic issue that surrounds us college students is that we are surrounded by compromise within the church. This compromise leads to people being in positions which they have no right according to Scripture to be in, which ultimately leads to corruption. People are proclaiming and not professing the name of Jesus Christ. To proclaim is to merely to use verbal tactics to prove a point. To profess is to live a lifestyle according to the Master. This means we are living the life and not just talking it.
My heart is breaking for the countless individuals I have spoken with in the last couple of weeks.
Comments such as, "It's hard for me to live a life according to Christ when those who are preaching to me are doing the exact things that I do." or "I have had friends that would go and sleep with their boyfriends, get wasted, and get up and go to church the next day, then start the same pattern the next week."
Beloved, we are called to a Person. We are called to identify with the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who transforms and brings us to the Light. We must deal the sins that are causing this lethal demise of the body of Christ. He is calling us to the place to surrender so He can do in us the mighty works He has already foreseen. We are to surrender to the Creator of the universe so He can empower us with His Holy Spirit to accomplish His divine will in us.
We are made for something greater than ourselves, we are made for the One who conquered the grave and desires intimacy with us.
See, Christ desires to invite us into the Kingdom, and He will if we will allow Him to. But see, there is also a challenge awaiting us. It is one of sacrifice, surrender, and complete obedience. The Father knows we can't do it by ourselves, that is why He sent us the Holy Spirit who longs to dwell and consume us. Will we take that challenge? Will we join Christ and profess Him for all of our days. Will we go into our own 'Garden of Gethsemane" and give up our will to the Father so He may use us as He pleases? Beloved, I urge you to take this challenge. He is gently inviting you in with His soft whisper, and MIGHTY heart tug. Say yes to the wondrous invitation of Salvation; of complete surrender.
I will leave you with the one scripture and quote that prompted my heart for this discussion:
1 Corinthians 2:2- "For I am determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
" Our Lord said to Paul, in effect, "Your whole life is to be overpowered or subdued by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine."" -Oswald
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
persevere, dear.
Just recently, I have had to re-evaluate this life and what my heart has been running towards.
God continues to be gentle with me as He rips the fleshly parts of me that must be put to death.
It hurts. It is painful. It is a very vulnerable state that I pray each believer will reach in their own personal walk with Jesus.
God is a good God, and to be broken for His glory is beyond gracious because He is allowing us to identify with His Son Jesus. WoW.
It is odd how I have learned to become thankful for the most heart-wrenching moments of life. Quite frankly, I know it is in those dark places where I learn the most about God and I am able to testify with others. What a blessing.
-------
Though I am be broken for the Father's glory and I am also be broken for the lost on my campus. My heart truly aches for those who do not know Christ intimately.
I continue to be misunderstand those around me, I continue to wonder how there can be so much relativity in truth amongst the 'body' of Christ, and people be okay with it?
But what I do know, it that the Holy Spirit is moving, and that this semester will be a semester of great revelation concerning God's absolute Truth.
I know God is faithful and that He hears the cries of His servants.
God continues to be gentle with me as He rips the fleshly parts of me that must be put to death.
It hurts. It is painful. It is a very vulnerable state that I pray each believer will reach in their own personal walk with Jesus.
God is a good God, and to be broken for His glory is beyond gracious because He is allowing us to identify with His Son Jesus. WoW.
It is odd how I have learned to become thankful for the most heart-wrenching moments of life. Quite frankly, I know it is in those dark places where I learn the most about God and I am able to testify with others. What a blessing.
-------
Though I am be broken for the Father's glory and I am also be broken for the lost on my campus. My heart truly aches for those who do not know Christ intimately.
I continue to be misunderstand those around me, I continue to wonder how there can be so much relativity in truth amongst the 'body' of Christ, and people be okay with it?
But what I do know, it that the Holy Spirit is moving, and that this semester will be a semester of great revelation concerning God's absolute Truth.
I know God is faithful and that He hears the cries of His servants.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
He never ceases to amaze me.
There are many things I realize I will never comprehend.
Mostly, I realize that the Father's ways are wayy above my ways and yet I know that I am placed exactly where He wants me.
I had a dream that the layers of which held me for so long would slowly peel away to where I could fully worship my Creator once again.
My heart is healing and for this I am thankful.
Layers represent time, but with time comes healing, and with deep wounds comes scars.
Scars help us identify our Savior. It makes me think of how unworthy I am, truly.
We each have trial. We each face opposition of some sort. What is interesting, is most of the time we feel as though we are entitled to a comfortable and easy life. Especially for Christians, and this beloved is simply not the case. Christ has scars.... and He and continues to wear them as He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. He is perfect. Blemish- free. Did not deserve the wrath of God, and yet He took it, and He calls us to be like Him.
He became flesh not only for our sins, but so we could identify.
There is an identity crisis plaguing the world today, and even Christians become caught up in it.
Every individual on the planet has been wounded, whether it be external or internal. The heart of the matter is what do we do with them and what source to we bring them to?
We can choose to bring them to countless things or individuals who will eventually wound us even deeper to where the wound becomes so deep to where there is no cure, or we can bring it the Great Physician who heals all.
This life is a battle, it is a training ground, to whom will we turn?
I have learned that though some things must be thrown into the ocean, that I am still called to love with the wounds I have been given. The healing process and the scars serve as a reminder that as a follower of Jesus I will have to endure things, that I will be wounded, but I know that at the end of this journey there is a Power that enables me to go beyond. WoW.
I want to be like Jesus, I want to be Christ-lIke. I can not do that on my own ability. I am in constant need of the One who molds and makes me like His Son. I am in need of the Trinity, the Almighty, the Magnificent, The Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and The End.
The Romance is beckoning my heart towards His. I am in Love and He is in me. I can only know love truly if I first come to depths of His infinite heart. I desire the One who knows me like no other, no matter the cost, and it must have a cost or else I would not be able to identify with my Savior.
Mostly, I realize that the Father's ways are wayy above my ways and yet I know that I am placed exactly where He wants me.
I had a dream that the layers of which held me for so long would slowly peel away to where I could fully worship my Creator once again.
My heart is healing and for this I am thankful.
Layers represent time, but with time comes healing, and with deep wounds comes scars.
Scars help us identify our Savior. It makes me think of how unworthy I am, truly.
We each have trial. We each face opposition of some sort. What is interesting, is most of the time we feel as though we are entitled to a comfortable and easy life. Especially for Christians, and this beloved is simply not the case. Christ has scars.... and He and continues to wear them as He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. He is perfect. Blemish- free. Did not deserve the wrath of God, and yet He took it, and He calls us to be like Him.
He became flesh not only for our sins, but so we could identify.
There is an identity crisis plaguing the world today, and even Christians become caught up in it.
Every individual on the planet has been wounded, whether it be external or internal. The heart of the matter is what do we do with them and what source to we bring them to?
We can choose to bring them to countless things or individuals who will eventually wound us even deeper to where the wound becomes so deep to where there is no cure, or we can bring it the Great Physician who heals all.
This life is a battle, it is a training ground, to whom will we turn?
I have learned that though some things must be thrown into the ocean, that I am still called to love with the wounds I have been given. The healing process and the scars serve as a reminder that as a follower of Jesus I will have to endure things, that I will be wounded, but I know that at the end of this journey there is a Power that enables me to go beyond. WoW.
I want to be like Jesus, I want to be Christ-lIke. I can not do that on my own ability. I am in constant need of the One who molds and makes me like His Son. I am in need of the Trinity, the Almighty, the Magnificent, The Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and The End.
The Romance is beckoning my heart towards His. I am in Love and He is in me. I can only know love truly if I first come to depths of His infinite heart. I desire the One who knows me like no other, no matter the cost, and it must have a cost or else I would not be able to identify with my Savior.
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