|
| American IdolYes ... i know what your thinking... how am i going to tie american idol into a long LONG overdue devotional.
Well Ill tell you... i was watching the american idol gives back thing... and it was very emotionally moving to see some of the footage of the children suffering in africa and it suddenly occured to me how selfish i was... and i do not even mean things concerning my money, clothes, material things either... what i meant is i am so selfish when i think of God. See there is this weird idea in my head and probably many Christians in which we end up forgetting... we are not the only ones here. God does love us unconditionally and devotes himself to caring for us but he is not our servant and we must remember that God cares for those children and everyone and as Christians we are his tools to do these acts of love and for us to forget that God is thinking of others too ... we will begin to think of others as well.
anyway heres my 2 cents :)
| | |
| Rambling for devoWell, i basically was inspired to do this because i feel like as a
Christian i need to learn to be 100 % honest all the time with myself,
my brothers and sisters in Christ, and God. So i have a hunch that im
not the only one who feels this way but personally i do... I feel that
i am a hinderance to God in my life. I want control... i dont
wanna give up my control , i want to portion out the areas im
comfortable to God but if it calls for me to sacrifice, if it calls for
me to struggle, if it calls for me to actually be honest, i dont want
to do it. Im living so half-heartedly (word?) but i suddenly
realized i cant deny it. See the thing about the struggle to
relinquish control of EVERY aspect of our lives is that we arent honest
that he isnt in control of all of our life. We like to act like
we are good christians... and we do what is right but sometimes we need
to pinch ourselves and say NO.... NO he is not in control and its
because i wont let him be in control. So my challenge to myself
and everyone else is this....
When you look at your life... when you see your actions and your deepest depths of your heart, where is God?
Is he everywhere... is our Lord and Savior, Friend and Stronghold,
Jesus Christ in every aspect of our life? Is the one in whom we claim
our life is in and we trust in fully really the one we trust in fully?
Of course your thinking just like me.... "yea sounds good but no one
can actually fully do that except a perfect person which well we
arent!"
tru... but with prayer for strength, God can impact aspects of our
lives we couldnt imagine, and work wonders for our glory we never
thought could bring him glory. Mostly, for God to work and be
glorified.... we need to shut up, stop worrying about us, stop thinking
about how we want what we want and we will pretend we are giving
control to God... because we are only fooling ourselves and that will
get us no where. So heres my 2 cents.
| | |
| basically... ive been ridiculously busy.. sorry everyone
but well i just didnt have time this week so im just gonna right
something and maybe it will be good maybe not... i dont know haha i
need sleep
so ive been thinking lately alot about how to be a christian.... and
well as a kid growing up in the church ive noticed a tendency to see
your faith and spirituality based upon how much you do your devotions
or pray or dont sin or do good things... i start basing my strength of
my faith on whether ive been good or bad, and if i havnt been doing
well spiritually i get really depressed and feel like im stuck in a
rut... i dont know if others who have grown up in the church feel that
but i KNOW i do.
so ive been thinking about the reality of the situation and its very
simple. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God yes but
praise be to God because if we put our faith in Christ ... there is
forgivness and freedom. God does not love anyone more or less for the
deeds they do because noone could really impress God and eveyone
sins. Yes it is good to follow the word of God and obey his
commands but messing up... does not mean your spiritually weak... it
means your a fallen human and you need to run back to Christ where
there is strength in your weakness. When you become too busy, lazy in
your faith, or just forgetting how amazing God is we begin to slide
into a rut but God is waiting just like in the parable of the prodigal
son... he is waiting for us to come home and when we just call to him
he RUNS to us. God hates to see us apart from him and if we call on his
name he will answer us becaue he is a just and loving God. so be
encouraged because our God is a Holy God, a perfect God, an all
powerful God, and he thinks of you as a child of his and sees Christ
when he looks at you if you have put your faith in Christ.
well that felt like a big ramble so if you felt like you got something out of it just let me know 
| | |
| yea devotional SO.... well ive been ridiculously busy latley all
sorry. i started a new job and with track and school i really have like
now free time but im trying to at least keep up with the xanga
devotional. well i missed tuesday because i was too busy and i dont
know really everything i want to say right now but it kidna goes like
this...
So yea im busy... we are all busy. We all got crap to do,
responsibities we hate, things are always pressuring us, we are
expected to be holy because of our faith, it feels overwhelming and
personally i have a particular fault that comes to the top of my mind
and well... if your honest you think it too.
WHY THE HECK DO I HAVE TO DO ALL
OF THIS ?! WHY AM I SO STRESSED?! WHY DOES EVERYONE EXPECT ME TO DO
THIS AND THIS WHEN I JUST WANT TO QUIT AND CHILL?!?!??!
and honestly its not like your some horrible person for thinking
this because its human nature to become stressed but there is
something ive been learning about all of this. I have work, track
practices, school work, etc. and am feeling like i have WAY to much on
my plate but God is beginning to show me truths about my
situation.
First- some people would kill to be in my position. to be doing well in
school ( accepted with scholarships to college, doing track, and have
the opportunity to have a part time job!! I am so blessed and because
im blessed it is my duty to do these tasks with all my heart to the
glory of God.
Now i say that but ... it sounds like the quintisential ( i love that
word) christian answer right? but its the right one too.
God gives us responsibilites in our lives to glorify his name because
with that much stress we burn out but if we tap into the strength of
God through Christ... well its unlimited. He will sustain us and
be glorified through that.
So if you feel like i do stressed.... remember this.
anywayz back to studying
MUCH LOVE
PEACE!!
| | |
| devotionalim going to try to get another devotional up in the next day but im busy so dont let me forget people!!!
| | |
|
