I was riding to work the other day and with an hour and a half ride i have a lot of time to think, listen to music, pray, etc. Music moves me like few things do- i'm very much a lyric-listener and i soak in the words like a sponge. I wasn't thinking about anything in particular when "how he loves us" by David Crowder came on the radio and the minute the first line was sung tears started streaming down my face and i was overwhelmed by the love of God. The line is "He is jealous for me" - normally jealousy has a negative connotation to it, but when i thought of God wanting me so much He is "jealous" for me i was taken aback. I love being reminded that He wants me and just as i am. Some of the explainations for jealousy in the concordance are- 'apprehensive of the loss of another's affection' and 'vigilant in guarding something'- and those words just gave me the image of my Father sitting up all night and all day just waiting for me to surrender everything, to have an intimate relationship with him. He wants to protect us, He wants us for Himself- all for himself and some who don't know Him may call that selfish but i see it as loving. I want my husband, the person i love most on this earth all for myself so it only makes sense that the One who knit us together and knew every thought that we would ever have before we were born would desire our full attention and love. The God of the universe, creator of each blade of grass and every drop of water wants me and it pains Him to watch me put my faith and trust in things of this world that will never do for me what He can.
It's hard to put into words the worth i feel when i think about God's desire for my praise and intimacy with me. I guess it's like the song says that "all of a sudden.. i realize how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me"- it just hits us and we fall on our faces in awe of this love that we cannot comprehend- agape-uncondition love.
Praise God for those moments that He just takes us in His arms and shows us how incredibly awesome He is and how much He cares for us. They make all other moments pale in comparison. i haven't stopped thinking about those words since i heard them-"HE is jealous for ME". He's jealous for you too.. soak it up :)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
taming the tongue
I was reading in James 3 this morning about taming our tongues and found the passage so incredibly relevent to my family's current situation that i had to share it.
The first part says "we all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man..." very important to acknowledge that none of us are perfect, which i'd like to believe we all know. In God's eyes, the only eyes that matter, none of us is any better than anyone else. Lets just get that right out there in the open - the money you make, the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the amount of money you give away or keep for yourself - you are still the same to God. It isn't right to act like you are above anyone else because of any actions or lack of actions.
James next goes on to say how many large things are controlled by something tiny -(e.g. horses by bits and ships by rudders). Our tongues, very tiny and seemingly insignificant parts of our bodies control our relationships, how we are viewed by others, and how God thinks of us. "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the WHOLE person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." Pretty big stuff, the fire of hell, where satan himself resides touches a part of our body and is able to affect us in a huge way. That disgusts me, i don't know about you. I don't want a piece of hell touching me ANYWHERE or affecting me in any way! James says our tongues are "a restless evil, full of deadly poison." I think we've all seen the effects of our tongue in a negative way; the hurt in someone that we've used our deadly poison on.
Finally, and in my eyes the most important part: "with the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness." Soak that in for a second. I'm pretty sure we have all gone to church sunday and come home and had a fight with a family member- maybe even on the ride home! Or put something up on our facebook walls about how much we love God or praising him for something and in the same minute or day we right a nasty email to someone using curses, other words that hurt, and bringing up the past that should have been forgiven and forgotten. How much does your praise mean to God when in the next breath you are throwing around the "F" word or slandering your brother/sister?
James tells us we need to put our faith into action- it isn't enough to just say praise the Lord once a day or go to church only on Sunday- despite the way you may be able to twist the scriptures to convince yourself of this. The Bible says "you believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder." Sometimes it seems like the demons are more in awe and have more fear for the powerful God we claim to serve. How scary and wrong is that? "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." I encourage you to put your faith into action today. Practice forgiveness, practice mercy, practice compassion in your daily lives. Start with your family- sometimes they are harder to practice on than a perfect stranger. You will be blessed if you do this. Don't let your pride get in the way - "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." It's easy to let the past resentments and words that were said years and years ago get in the way of the love God commands us to have for each other. Stop digging in the past and creating walls- start tearing them down, showing the enemy that he has no power over us and our families, but that God has the glory and He is the king of our lives.
I pray that through Jesus Christ my ranting maybe makes a smidge of sense to at least 1 person and that hearts be softened and barriers be torn down, as painful as that may be.
God is Love.
The first part says "we all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man..." very important to acknowledge that none of us are perfect, which i'd like to believe we all know. In God's eyes, the only eyes that matter, none of us is any better than anyone else. Lets just get that right out there in the open - the money you make, the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the amount of money you give away or keep for yourself - you are still the same to God. It isn't right to act like you are above anyone else because of any actions or lack of actions.
James next goes on to say how many large things are controlled by something tiny -(e.g. horses by bits and ships by rudders). Our tongues, very tiny and seemingly insignificant parts of our bodies control our relationships, how we are viewed by others, and how God thinks of us. "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the WHOLE person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." Pretty big stuff, the fire of hell, where satan himself resides touches a part of our body and is able to affect us in a huge way. That disgusts me, i don't know about you. I don't want a piece of hell touching me ANYWHERE or affecting me in any way! James says our tongues are "a restless evil, full of deadly poison." I think we've all seen the effects of our tongue in a negative way; the hurt in someone that we've used our deadly poison on.
Finally, and in my eyes the most important part: "with the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness." Soak that in for a second. I'm pretty sure we have all gone to church sunday and come home and had a fight with a family member- maybe even on the ride home! Or put something up on our facebook walls about how much we love God or praising him for something and in the same minute or day we right a nasty email to someone using curses, other words that hurt, and bringing up the past that should have been forgiven and forgotten. How much does your praise mean to God when in the next breath you are throwing around the "F" word or slandering your brother/sister?
James tells us we need to put our faith into action- it isn't enough to just say praise the Lord once a day or go to church only on Sunday- despite the way you may be able to twist the scriptures to convince yourself of this. The Bible says "you believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder." Sometimes it seems like the demons are more in awe and have more fear for the powerful God we claim to serve. How scary and wrong is that? "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." I encourage you to put your faith into action today. Practice forgiveness, practice mercy, practice compassion in your daily lives. Start with your family- sometimes they are harder to practice on than a perfect stranger. You will be blessed if you do this. Don't let your pride get in the way - "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." It's easy to let the past resentments and words that were said years and years ago get in the way of the love God commands us to have for each other. Stop digging in the past and creating walls- start tearing them down, showing the enemy that he has no power over us and our families, but that God has the glory and He is the king of our lives.
I pray that through Jesus Christ my ranting maybe makes a smidge of sense to at least 1 person and that hearts be softened and barriers be torn down, as painful as that may be.
God is Love.
Friday, September 18, 2009
hello blog world!
Laying in bed last night thinking about what a good release a blog could be. Maybe no one will look at it but me or maybe a hundred people will look at it, either way here i am.
Learning some new songs on the guitar, trying to be a rockstar in my own mind i guess. There's my far-fetched dream- don't think it's ever going to go away. In LOVE with bethany dillon's songs "all i need" and "the kingdom" and playing around with addison road's "hope now" as well. My dogs always leave the room when i start playing..should i take the hint?
I played in church a little bit for a while, but no matter how much i practiced at home and how GREAT i thought it sounded, when i got up in front of everyone i felt shaky and sweaty- doesn't make for beautiful sounds that's for sure. I wish i could just pick up the guitar and be amazing, but not many things work like that i guess. My dad is my guitar hero- he'd laugh if he saw that.
I thought if my heart was pure in my desire to praise God with music that the second i strummed a chord it'd be like magic- i know, i know it's a beautiful noise to Him. I think thats all it is tho... noise.
Anyway, i'm not feeling bad for myself. I'll go on blissfully ignorant in my lack of skills forever and ever amen.
Learning some new songs on the guitar, trying to be a rockstar in my own mind i guess. There's my far-fetched dream- don't think it's ever going to go away. In LOVE with bethany dillon's songs "all i need" and "the kingdom" and playing around with addison road's "hope now" as well. My dogs always leave the room when i start playing..should i take the hint?
I played in church a little bit for a while, but no matter how much i practiced at home and how GREAT i thought it sounded, when i got up in front of everyone i felt shaky and sweaty- doesn't make for beautiful sounds that's for sure. I wish i could just pick up the guitar and be amazing, but not many things work like that i guess. My dad is my guitar hero- he'd laugh if he saw that.
I thought if my heart was pure in my desire to praise God with music that the second i strummed a chord it'd be like magic- i know, i know it's a beautiful noise to Him. I think thats all it is tho... noise.
Anyway, i'm not feeling bad for myself. I'll go on blissfully ignorant in my lack of skills forever and ever amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
