Love can only grow in the spirit…
Love is a fruit of the spirit that is born of the spirit.
Without the Holy spirit, we cannot love…
Love meaning Christ, who IS love. To become more like Christ and to deny ourselves completely.
So for 2 people’s love to grow in the spirit means to know how to submit, deny yourself, put that person before you and consider them better than yourself…
more to come… must pause.
Feeling overhwhelmed by my own thoughts, I can’t help but see my spirit and my flesh falling apart. It is amazing how our thoughts, our reasonings wear us down, withouth it even becoming any sort of action. Just the power of consumption, pre-occupation and lingering.
Lord, please let me not see everything as just work. But it everything is a given area in which I can represent Christ yet I fail because I myself am not abiding in Him. Why? Because, again… i am abiding in MYSELF! CONSUMED IN SELF IS THE UGLIEST THING!!!!
So much has happened within the past month… but even though everything seemed so sped up, it still felt so right to be there. where? in God’s will.
This unfamiliarity of our future is no longer kept in lock by fear but grace, trust, and hope in Christ the author and perfector of our fatih.
Right now, I have no idea what to expect in Afghanistan. All I know is that there is a need for love and I have recieved that love from Christ and must also give it away to gain more from the source.
His word is truly the foundation of our faith. Without it, we waiver and we question as we assess ourselves, our situations, and even our relationship with Christ.
Stored food still does the job… it satisfies the hunger, but it isn’t AS good as freshly produced flavor, food, etc.
I have been living off of stored food… the word that has been written on my heart from the past. It’s time for me to stop living off of the counter and start making my daily trips to the grocery store. (what an awkward analogy but it works for me!)
I miss scott… and I realized how difficult it was to be strong when he was leaving. my heart became weak at the thought of his absence. but at the same time, it was an opportunity to grow again… individually as well as in love for one another.
We each have our responsibilities as we are separated physically. But Scott, as you prayed… our prayers will meet at the foot of the cross, as we each seek our daddy from distant places.
so where does that leave us for the future?
our prayer is that God will lead us to the ministry that he desires / has planned for both of us. For scott, the church the Lord will assign to him. For me, the school/district he will assign…
Lord, thank you for taking away the anxiety. But let us not put down our guards but continue to walk in faith and not by sight. May the enemey’s words fall to the ground and may the word of the Lord Stand forever within our lives as we journey on towards eternity, as lifetime partners.
Thank you Lord for your grace, your timing, your plans, and allowing us to be part of that. Your ways are higher than our ways; your thoughts higher than our thoughts…
love you Jesus.
I felt trapped. No other way. Everything seems so rushed and so uncertain… yet the certainty that this is "it" still remains.
Lord, I thought I was trapped but I’m not. It is only you assuring me the direction in which i am supposed to go.
The choice presented seems so vastly different… so different that the answer is so obvious.
Lord, I seek wisdom… I seek understanding…
Battle between logic and what I see happening… I feel like Susan in Narnia
"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, John 10:14
It’s amazing how God really knows his children. He knows me better than I know myself. Last sunday, Liz shared with us the song,
When I think about the Lord, How he saved me; How we raised me
How He filled me up with the Holy Ghost and healed me from the uttermost.
When I think about the Lord, How he lift me up, turned me around, How he set my feet on solid ground
My life has had pretty drastic changes. Well, in my point of view. The thing is, from each change, God has led me to adjust and has helped me trust in Him all the more. The situations has almost forced me into things I would have wanted to do but probably wouldn’t have ACTUALLY done it.
- Upon parents leave… I had to become independent from them. I am such a daddy’s lil girl and for me to separate myself physically from them was definately something that came by force.
- Finding a job at a young age. Starting out my career… I would have probably questioned what I wanted to do if the situations didn’t push me to hurry up and find a job to financially support myself.
- Living on my own. I always wanted to do the whole JLO thing from the wedding planner, living alone. but I never would have taken that jump to do it. But brother leaving for arizona again pushed me into a situation where I had to live alone.
what’s next Lord? Not that I’m ready but because I know that you wont bring anything I can’t handle and I trust you daddy… you know me so well.
Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. Hebrews 12: 17
Along with Esau, I too am short sighted person. I see what’s right in front of me and I go for it. Many times with not enough thought but just all action. I lose sight of what is ahead. and in fear of missing out I act hastily. But in fear of being wrong, I stand in the field of unknown, frozen and/or wandering within the vicinity of familiarity. It’s a wide field which means there’s so much out there I JUST DON’T KNOW.
It comes to a point where you have to accept that you wont and will not know everything. It’s not possible. That’s why I have to ask myself, "what is your focus?" Why? because, it makes a difference.
We all have a lot of thoughts that go in and out of our 2 sided brains. honestly, we can’t help it when thoughts are processed… how simple it would be if we could attach an on/off switch on our brains. HA! even on our hearts. but that’s not how we were created, which means, that’s not how we are meant to be.
We are meant to think. We are meant to feel. We are meant to think about Him. We are meant to feel things towards Him. To allow our thoughts to enhance our love for Him… and to allow our emotions to trigger thoughts of Him that astounds us… God that is our aim.
We always say "balance" but I dont think ANYONE has fully grasped that in every aspect of their lives. It’s tiring to be balanced… especially with everyone having different personalities, values, priorities, etc…
so what does this lead to?
nothing really but for me to regurgitate my thoughts on this entry.
As I was struggling to get the vaccuum in between my piano and my couch, I realized something new. I thought, "what would I do without a piano?" and then it hit me! "what if I dont have a piano when …" then that got me thinking…
"what are some things I can never picture my life without?"
now these are THINGS, not people. that would be a whole new entry. Regarding THINGS…
PIANO
COMPUTER (MY TYPING KEEPS UP WITH MY RANDOM THOUGHTS)
BIBLE / JOURNAL
MUSIC
PICTURES OR SOME FORM OF TANGIBLE/VISIBLE MEMORY
THINGS I CAN NOT PICTURE MYSELF LIVING WITH
- BUGS!!!!!!!!!! (at least the visible ones)
- MESSY/DIRTY… why do you think i started vaccuuming at 10pm at night???
- Unpleasant smells
I have what my cousin deborah would call a brain fart right now. I’m sure there’s more but I guess i’m simpler than I thought. I’M SURE THERE’S MORE TO ADD FOR BOTH LISTS!!
-
We look to the right and to the left
We walk towards the right and then to the left
We wander in the right and we hang out on the left
We taste and see the right and then we go taste and see the left
We swallow and settle on the right and then quickly try to settle on the left
Why don’t we just get it?
Jungmin shared James 4 which pierced the heart but then I ask… so what? It "gets" to me, where do I go from here?
It starts from simple obedience.
Esther, obedience in the things you KNOW God wants for you and wants you to be/do…
the theme is "KISS"
KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!
yes ESTHER, KISS!!!
This man with leprosy comes to Jesus for healing.
He has no doubt that Jesus could heal him.
Jesus has compassion on the man, and heals him.
He tells him to not tell anyone.
What does he do?
He goes and tells everyone and because of that Jesus could not go into the town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.
“yet the people still came to him”
Do you think Jesus knew that this man was going to go tell everyone?
Probably.
Why did he still do it?
Compassion.
Did this stop Jesus from healing others and having compassion on others?
No.
YET PEOPLE STILL CAME TO HIM.
Why would people come to a man who would reject them. But kept coming b/c they saw people receive healing.
Will Jesus forgive this man again if he came to Jesus for repentance?
Yes.
We often get easily disappointed by people. Usually b/c of our own false expectations. Jesus, I don’t think he was much disappointed because he knows the hearts of a man (human). He knows what our flesh and sinful nature is like. So he doesn’t expect us to be perfect. (he still extends his grace to sanctify us according to our faith in Him).
Why do we let our disappointments in others break possible relationships that can build for the growth of his kingdom? For the growth of knowing more about God?
Our fear holds us back so much.
Our fear of failure. Our fear of making the same mistake twice. Three times or even more!
Yet Peter shares with us in 1peter 4:8 that love covers a multitude of sins.
Paul shares in 1 corinthians 13:44 love is patient, kind, not jealous, not envy, not conceited.
In proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up conflicts, but love covers all offenses
…
so where does this leave me? well… tha’s for me and God to know =P
So much thunder outside, i can’t sleep, yet my eyes are tired. too much noise outside… it’s so loud the car alarms are going off.
The thunder reminds me of a time we were in Vietnam. One night, our team and I were off to an westernized resort with the missionary kids, to do kind of a "get away" retreat with them. One night, we looked outside and the mainland was thundering and had fearful lightning like CRAZY! It was quite fearful. We remembered that the missionary told us, that night (i dont know why but july 29 comes to mind but i dont think that’s it) is a night of serious, idolatry worship in the vietnamese culture. Seeing the thunder and lightning there we saw it as a symbol of massive spiritual battle going on. We felt the need to join in the battle with prayer that night.
*sigh*
Lord, I feel that you are calling us to pray. Not just b/c of thunder and lightning, but because through all these things going on around us, I am realizing more that we as humans are so small. we have no control… one minute, we think we’re healthy, next minute, we can be diagnosed with a deathly cancer. One moment, you think you’re happy and settled, and next you see yourself hurting from a broken relationship… we just never know what will happen.
YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD.
may that be the prayer that genuinely comes out of our mouths. Lord, I pray that such prayer will come of Josh’s mouth. I pray such prayer will come out of Lucas’ parents. Lord, I pray that such prayer will flow out of Rosa’s spirit. Break down the wall of bitterness that may be built from unexpected pain in life. Release your grace that is strong enough to break down any wall of protection we may build around us, but with that same grace, embrace us as we are, allowing your healing touch to spread all through out…
