Psalms 108

"For the help of man is worthless. With God we will gain the victory." v. 12a-13b How often do I rely on the help of people around me? Why do I forget that God is all-powerful? Only through Him will I b e able to do what He made me to do. If I trust in man, in myself, and not God everything will go wrong. Only by putting my trust fully in God will I have joy, peace, contentment, happiness, even patience! :-) Through God I gain the victory! I'm human, I love to win. When I know who is gonna win shouldn't I join them?! A human perspective yeah but in this situation its true. I know God is gonna win so why would I side against Him? Why would I trust in anything or anyone else?

Psalms 107

Again, a continuation of God's grace and mercy. I don't understand why God continued to bail out the Israelites and I don't understand why He keeps delivering us as Americans. So many times we've turned away, only to cry out again. Just as His people did so long ago. And for some reason He answers that call. Chalk another one up for love :-) "For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things." v. 9 What if we were thirsty for His word? What if we hungered for the things that made us more like Him? God has promised to take care of us but we have to ask for His strength, His mercy, and His wisdom. Ask and He'll give. His grace is all-sufficient for us. He knows what we need. "For He breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron." v. 16 Nothing can stop God. That can go two ways. On the one hand it means we can't hide from God. I can't pretend that He doesn't know whats going on in my life. I can choose to let that be a comfort or I can let it make me guilty. It all depends on my actions. If I try to hide from Him it turns out bad. I seperate myself from Him. On the other hand it means that even in the hardest times God is right there with us. When I feel all alone and I'm pounded down by guilt, God is there. ready to take my burden. God is unstoppable. Words of freedom and peace to me.

Psalm 106

Wow. If you ever want to truly understand the amazingness of God's love for the Israelites read this passage. It lists a lot of the things that they did and yet God takes them back. Each time the Israelites messed up or turned away, God would allow a hardship to fall on them. When they would cry out to Him, He would save them. "... out of His great love He relented." v. 45b Seven times they either forgot His promise and what He did for them (3), they didn't believe His promises (1), or they angered God (3). Yet in the end God delivered them. If that doesn't show His unconditional love I don't know what would!! He loves His children no matter what. He seperates the sin from the sinner; hates the deed but loves the doer. Unconditional love.

Psalms 105

I feel both firghtened and excited at the same time while reading this passage. Its talking about the Israelites journey from Egypt. All the plagues, and the things that happened in the wilderness. God performed all these miracles for His children, showing His fathomless love for His children. But from the Egyptian's point of view it was a punishment for keeping the Israelites captive. God's wrath in action. Puts me even more in awe of my Savior. "That they may keep my precepts and observe my law." v. 45 God loves me no matter what but He hates my sin. That sin puts me outised His will where He can't use me. And if I'm not being used of God, I'm being used by Satan. I must "keep His precepts and observe His law" before He can use me.

Come Out of the Cage

Nowadays the norm for Christians has been getting up on Sundays, eat breakfast, get out of the car all smiles no matter what happened at home or on the way there, go to Sunday School, the 11:00 o'clock worship service (that absolutely has to end at noon otherwise half the congregation complains), and then going home to eat lunch and take a nap. And there is nothing wrong with that. Unless afterward you don't take what God has given you that morning and apply it to your life in a radical way. The sunday morning routine has become the cage that keeps us from doing God's work. There is a specific... idea... of how a person should act in church. "We'll sing this many songs standing, these sitting, don't you dare raise your hands when you sing, open your eyes look at the music minister and choir when you sing, sit quietly while the pastor talks..." There is no room for the joy of Jesus Christ when you're too busy worrying you're not acting like everyone wants you to. I tend to close my eyes and raise my hands during the music portion of worship. Sometimes I even do the choruses in sign language if I know the signs. But each time when I open my eyes I can almost feel the disaproving looks. For a while the thought of those looks was crippling. But I've learned to brush it off. I'm not there to worship them; I'm there to worship my awesome and powerful God and Father. These things put us in a cage but Jesus wants to take us out of the cages we're in and unleash on the world!! When we're inside the will of God we're the most dangerous things on the planet! With God's strength we can do anything in His will. But outside God's will is a place of complacency where Satan uses us to tear down God's kingdom instead of building it. Matthew 10:16a Jesus says "Look I'm sending you out life sheep among wolves." We are called to go out into crazy places. "The center of God's will is not a safe place but the most dangerous place in the world." Erwin McManus, Unstoppable Force.

Spirit Filled - New view of the Holy Spirit

Most of the time when I think of the Holy Spirit I don't think much about it. I've heard of people being filled of the Spirit but never truly understood what it meant. Now that I do understand I realize there were times when I was filled with God's Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit is to be completely God-conscious. To be unaware and uncaring of what others think of your actions and words. We lose our inhibitions. Another way to lose inhibitions would be to get drunk... I don't know about anyone else but I'd rather be aware of what I'm doing. Being drunk does take away self-consciousness but it doesn't give God-consciousness. "The word 'filled' comes from the Greek word pleroo, which carries the idea of being filled to the point of overflowing. It is the present imperative tense which means we should keep on being filled." When we are filled with the Spirit we change our focus from what others think to what God thinks. My thoughts on the Holy Spirit have actually been pretty narrow up to now. I guess I've always seen the Holy Spirit as just the third part of the Trinity who doesn't have much to do. Its just God's messenger right? NOPE!! It is as much its own seperate self as God or Jesus Christ but is also God's tool. The Spirit is a part of God that He puts in us to lead us; to help us lose our inhibitions and have faith. And to be filled with that piece of God... beyond imagination even though I've experienced it! Its like overflowing with the characteristics of God and wanting to pour it out onto others. Knowing God's will and doing it without hesitation or second thoughts. To be God-conscious is to be aware of only Him and to not worry about what others think. Isn't that what everyone longs for? To not care about what people think? Only by being filled with God's Spirit can anyone accomplish that.

Who wants to look foolish?

Okay this hit me pretty hard. This week Lion Chaser is about looking foolish. I hate looking foolish and of course I do often. But this is another kind of foolishness. Its God-directed foolishness. Faith is the willingness to look foolish. Following God will lead me to do some things that people will think are foolish. But faith lets me know that no matter how foolish I look I am doing God's will. I've heard the story of Noah all my life, but I never thought about how foolish he might have felt when he built an ark when no rain had ever fallen and no rain would fall for 120 when he finally finished. His neighbors made fun of him and everything. Wouldn't that make me feel foolish? Paul spread God's word even when he was threatened and thrown in jail. Daniel continued to pray despite knowing he could be thrown into the lions' den. I've never built an ark, I've never been thrown into jail because I shared God's word, and I've never been put into a den of lions for praying. That may not be as prevelent in our day and time but there are other things that happen all the time. "I think the reason many of us have never killed a giant or walked on water or found the Messiah is because we're not willing to look foolish." 1 Corinthians 1:27: 'Instead, God has chosen the world's foolish things to shame the wise, and God has chosen the world's weak things to shame the strong.' "Child-like faith." Something that is often preached in churches across the world but looking foolish gives it a whole new meaning. God uses children to do His will a lot whether they know it or not. Children are willing to do whatever it takes to get something thats important to them done. Including looking foolish. I don't want God to pass me over because I was too full of myself to let Him fill me with Him.

Lion Chaser

Lion Chaser is a bible study we've been doing on Sunday nights in my youth group. Its about facing, and somtimes even chasing, the fears God has allowed you to have. I don't know if how many people have ever heard of Benaiah but this guy did some pretty crazy things. He killed two sons of a Moabite, chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day (which explains the name Lion Chaser) and he killed an Egyptian by taking his spear and using it against him. My first reaction to this was open mouthed amazement. These are things no one can do on their own. Benaiah had God on his side helping him to face his fears, to chase his lions. Since starting this bible study I've managed to chase a couple lions of my own. Let me tell you its worth it! When you finally face your fear you're out of your comfort zone and God is all you've got with you. But afterwards you see that you've grown and you're willing to do more of what God tells you. You learn to hear him more often and in louder conditions. You won't always hear Him but when you do and you follow Him it gets easier. A question we all need to ask ourselves is: "What lion does God want me to chase?" We all have them and they're all in God's hands. He has a plan for each one. People always use corny stuff like "who will chase the lion with me?" the more important thing is "Who will chase the lion with God?"

Welcome!

Okay so I got this idea from someone at my church. I'm going to blog all about stuff that God is teaching me up until Tokyo. Granted I got a late start but better late than never right? While I'm in Tokyo I'll be journaling every night before bed, I'll come back and post my journal pages here when I get home. God has great things in store, not only for Tokyo, but for those of us who are going to Tokyo. I pray that all my words here would be from God and not me. Here we go!! Feel free to comment on all my postings :-)