Well hello all you lads and lasses. As college grows near for me, and maybe has started for most of the people reading this I just have been really starting to dig into the core things that I want to bring with me in college and to never let go of. My faith is on the top of that list. This post is going to be about never changing who you are for what others want you to be.
Lately with college lurking, I have been just getting excited and anticipating all that is going to happen as well as just worrying, which I think is normal. I am going to be living on my own in a whole new enviroment that is different than what I have been brought up. I mean its an exciting time. It's just the unknown that is totally sketching me out. Not having my friends that I have gotten so close to and my family right there to talk to in person is going to be weird for awhile. In this place, I may feel like I need to change to fit-in and stray away from myself.
It doesn't have to be that way though. I don't need to change who I am to fit in because if I have to do that, if I have to be someone that I am not just to be friends with people, then are they really my friends? If they don't like me for being me, then that is their problem. I am loved and accepted for who I am by the only person that only really matters in our lives. That person is God.
Why live for people who want you to change what you believe and go against yourself, when you can live for God who wants you to be you and loves you eternally for it. He is the only person whose opinion matters.
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
- Romans 12:2
That verse from Romans pretty much sums up what I am totally talking about with this post. It tells us in the bible to not follow the crowd and change who we are for anybody. The only person who we should listen to is the Lord because humanly opinions are squashed and blown to smithereens by his mercy and love and grace. Don't fall into the pattern and sucked into all the bad things the crowd might tempt you to do because the Lord calls for us to be DIFFERENT and to be the action to his words.
I am not going to change for anybody. Can you do the same?
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
God's Love > All
Hey everyone. So you all know that my last post was all about treating your body with respect and treating it like if the flesh was not your own, but that it was God's flesh you are taking care of because of him buying our salvation. Well, this morning I want to talk about how God's Love that unconditional AGAPE love conquers all.
What brings me to talk about this subject? Well, I have been struggling with the devil before and it has been a life-long battle with him so far. He has used my insecurities and all of my past crap against me and used all my brokenness to leverage me down into a huge pit. He also used all the temptations in my life to keep pushing me further and further into that rut. This rut was set off as a chain reaction. Once one thing happens then more and more things happen in succession and Satan uses that to continue to pick away at your outer shell trying to get you to break and fall into his grasp. There is HOPE though.
God's Love. That is the hope we all look to the skies to obtain. That is the unconditional and never-ending love that will continually pour down onto us even when we fall away from God and our relationship with him falters. He STILL loves us, and holds us close to him. We choose to fall away and believe all the lies and deceit Satan puts into our minds. Those thoughts hold our heart which is on fire for God hostage, and we start to believe those lies. When all of this is happening, the Father is there STILL continually loving us and reaching out with his huge hands waiting for us to break loose from the shackles has put on our hearts.
It is our choice though. We have to make the first move to intervene in our own lives. God is continually loving us, and continually has his arms outstretched waiting patiently for us to go jump back into his most heavenly of arms. I myself can finally say with all confidence that God's love has CONQUERED my temptations, and have blown away all of my insecurities from my past. I am finally ready to accept the full force of his mighty hurricane of love and grace. I am ready to bring my heart and soul to the Lord.
Are you ready? Are you ready to finally let his AGAPE love in? Are you ready to let it flow through you and into others? Are you ready to let yourself go and stop worrying about what others think? Are you ready? You better be because you have got amazing things in store for you. It doesn't matter if you accept that love fully now. As long as you try and strive for it, then you will one day finally experience the full majesty of his love and mercy. It is pretty amazing, isn't it? Amen.
What brings me to talk about this subject? Well, I have been struggling with the devil before and it has been a life-long battle with him so far. He has used my insecurities and all of my past crap against me and used all my brokenness to leverage me down into a huge pit. He also used all the temptations in my life to keep pushing me further and further into that rut. This rut was set off as a chain reaction. Once one thing happens then more and more things happen in succession and Satan uses that to continue to pick away at your outer shell trying to get you to break and fall into his grasp. There is HOPE though.
God's Love. That is the hope we all look to the skies to obtain. That is the unconditional and never-ending love that will continually pour down onto us even when we fall away from God and our relationship with him falters. He STILL loves us, and holds us close to him. We choose to fall away and believe all the lies and deceit Satan puts into our minds. Those thoughts hold our heart which is on fire for God hostage, and we start to believe those lies. When all of this is happening, the Father is there STILL continually loving us and reaching out with his huge hands waiting for us to break loose from the shackles has put on our hearts.
It is our choice though. We have to make the first move to intervene in our own lives. God is continually loving us, and continually has his arms outstretched waiting patiently for us to go jump back into his most heavenly of arms. I myself can finally say with all confidence that God's love has CONQUERED my temptations, and have blown away all of my insecurities from my past. I am finally ready to accept the full force of his mighty hurricane of love and grace. I am ready to bring my heart and soul to the Lord.
Are you ready? Are you ready to finally let his AGAPE love in? Are you ready to let it flow through you and into others? Are you ready to let yourself go and stop worrying about what others think? Are you ready? You better be because you have got amazing things in store for you. It doesn't matter if you accept that love fully now. As long as you try and strive for it, then you will one day finally experience the full majesty of his love and mercy. It is pretty amazing, isn't it? Amen.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
You Are a Temple
Well, it has been awhile since my last post. How do you start one of these things again? I guess I can just start writing down what I want. Alright so the last couple of weeks has been a rollercoaster. I have gone through my share of down moments and my share of peaks. I just want to share some insight that I have learned lately. This post tonight is going to be about treating your body like a temple.
Where to begin with this subject. Lately, I have just been going through the bible and reading verses that I have marked before in my past bible flipping sessions, and one verse really came out to me tonight because of just current temptations that I think all people of around my age tend to face. That verse was this one:
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
In that verse, it really explains about some things that have been tempting me. These temptations go against everything this verse says. God wants us to treat our bodies and minds with respect as well as glorify God in everything we do with our bodies. I have fallen into the pit of not treating my body with the respect it deserves. It is hard not to fall into that pit, but you need to perservere and strive to be better. You deserve to love yourself and not destroy the temple God has created.
That means that if you think you are not honoring God with what you are doing to or with your body, then why do it? His Son died so that we would not be punished. Jesus was what bought our salvation. IT WAS HIS LIFE that relieved our sins and saved us from destruction. God gave us a second chance to live for him. Shouldn't we treat our bodies as if it were owned by God? Don't we owe that to him?
I think we owe him alot more in return that we as humans can never live up to because he forgives us over and over and loves us continuously. So I am going to ask you again. Don't we owe him to treat his child's body with respect and glorify him with it?
You are a TEMPLE. Treat yourself like one.
Where to begin with this subject. Lately, I have just been going through the bible and reading verses that I have marked before in my past bible flipping sessions, and one verse really came out to me tonight because of just current temptations that I think all people of around my age tend to face. That verse was this one:
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
In that verse, it really explains about some things that have been tempting me. These temptations go against everything this verse says. God wants us to treat our bodies and minds with respect as well as glorify God in everything we do with our bodies. I have fallen into the pit of not treating my body with the respect it deserves. It is hard not to fall into that pit, but you need to perservere and strive to be better. You deserve to love yourself and not destroy the temple God has created.
That means that if you think you are not honoring God with what you are doing to or with your body, then why do it? His Son died so that we would not be punished. Jesus was what bought our salvation. IT WAS HIS LIFE that relieved our sins and saved us from destruction. God gave us a second chance to live for him. Shouldn't we treat our bodies as if it were owned by God? Don't we owe that to him?
I think we owe him alot more in return that we as humans can never live up to because he forgives us over and over and loves us continuously. So I am going to ask you again. Don't we owe him to treat his child's body with respect and glorify him with it?
You are a TEMPLE. Treat yourself like one.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Keep it Cool Positive and Keep Looking to the Now
Well hey there again. I dont really know how to start this. I have so many emotions and feelings as well as thoughts that are going through my mind right now. It is quite a thrill ride in my mind right now. Anyway, I am going to try and organize me thoughts.
It really is weird how when you totally strip yourself down to your core that you start realizing what needs to happen in life so that you will not be doing anything but glorifying God. I myself was sitting and praying earlier today. I started praying about all of my crap that I have been feeling and after I let it all go i just felt completely different. I felt as if an ape jumped off of my back and I could stand up straighter then before. I can live my true life and live out my faith. I am finally over caring about what people think because everyone thinks different things about everyone else, but if you let yourself care so much about what others think about you then who are you living for? Definitely not for yourself, or God himself.
Sorry that was a side tangent, but a good one. Back to what I wanted to talk about originally that being the two things that have kind of just came to me lately. Like I said, I was out praying earlier today, and I got told something. The voice was small and very hushed, but it said, "Be Positive, and live for the now." I know it is really cliche to say "He was spoken to by God!" But, I can say that something led me to thinking of those sayings. First of all, in life if you aren't positive about every situation and dont shine the light on the low points and on the high points, then is life going to be that enjoyable? It will probably be really hard to live to your fullest when you look at each situation you are put in and think that the worst is going to happen or regretting what you did or said. That leads me to the second part. Live in the Now. Sometimes I catch myself looking back into the past and regretting things that I have done or said, but when I catch myself doing that I look and smile up at the sky because I realize that we can't bring back the past. Why bring yesterdays crap into today? This day is a new day, a fresh start, and a new opportunity to redeem yourself. Look to the now, dont live for the future, or even the past. They both mean nothing to you unless you let life surprise you and let the Lord take the lead. Amen.
It really is weird how when you totally strip yourself down to your core that you start realizing what needs to happen in life so that you will not be doing anything but glorifying God. I myself was sitting and praying earlier today. I started praying about all of my crap that I have been feeling and after I let it all go i just felt completely different. I felt as if an ape jumped off of my back and I could stand up straighter then before. I can live my true life and live out my faith. I am finally over caring about what people think because everyone thinks different things about everyone else, but if you let yourself care so much about what others think about you then who are you living for? Definitely not for yourself, or God himself.
Sorry that was a side tangent, but a good one. Back to what I wanted to talk about originally that being the two things that have kind of just came to me lately. Like I said, I was out praying earlier today, and I got told something. The voice was small and very hushed, but it said, "Be Positive, and live for the now." I know it is really cliche to say "He was spoken to by God!" But, I can say that something led me to thinking of those sayings. First of all, in life if you aren't positive about every situation and dont shine the light on the low points and on the high points, then is life going to be that enjoyable? It will probably be really hard to live to your fullest when you look at each situation you are put in and think that the worst is going to happen or regretting what you did or said. That leads me to the second part. Live in the Now. Sometimes I catch myself looking back into the past and regretting things that I have done or said, but when I catch myself doing that I look and smile up at the sky because I realize that we can't bring back the past. Why bring yesterdays crap into today? This day is a new day, a fresh start, and a new opportunity to redeem yourself. Look to the now, dont live for the future, or even the past. They both mean nothing to you unless you let life surprise you and let the Lord take the lead. Amen.
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