He Knows You

God made the sun and the stars, the moon and the sea, the sand and the grass, He created everything, and still He knows us. He knows everything about us.

I could leave it at those first two sentences and bee perfectly fine with just that, but there is so much more. I sit hear typing with joy because of those first two lines. It makes me smile to know that the God of forever knows everything about me, that He knows every detail of my life, and He doesn’t miss a thing that goes on with me. Our God took the time to hand craft each and every one of us, and knows everything about us. He knows your every thought, your every move, your every emotion, He knows you.

I am continuously amazed by that. We can run, and He can still find us. We can hurt, and He still comforts us. We can be scared, and He still keeps us safe. We can wonder, and He can give us the answer. We can be lost, and He can show us the path. We can be weak, and He can carry us. We can feel alone, and He is by our side.

He took the time to make each of us new. He took the time to make us special and just the way He liked us. So why would He not know His own creation?

We forget how awesome God truly is. Not the “woah that was awesome” awesome, the true awesome. The awesome that is bigger than anything we could ever imagine, the awesome that is more than we could ever wrap our minds around, that is how awesome our God is. That same God knows everything about you. Don’t ever forget that He took the time to hand craft you and get to know you before you were ever born. With everything He could have done, He took the time for us.

“When you are tired and discouraged from fruitless efforts… God knows how hard you have tried.

When you’ve cried so long and your heart is in anguish… God has counted your tears.

If you feel that your life is on hold and time has passed you by… God is waiting with you.

When you’re lonely and your friends are too busy for a phone call… God is by your side.

When you’ve tried everything and don’t know where to turn… God has a solution.

When nothing makes sense and you are confused or frustrated… God has the answer.

If suddenly your outlook is brighter and you find rayes of hope… God has whispered to you.

When things are going well and you have much to be thankful for… God has blessed you.

When something joyful happens and you are filled with awe… God has smiled upon you.

When you have a purpose to fulfill and a dream to follow… God has opened your eyes and called you by name.

Remember that wherever you are or whatever you are facing… GOD KNOWS.”

Submitted by: Alexia

I pray that wherever you are, whatever you are doing, that you realize how awesome God is and that you realize how much you truly mean to your creator. I pray that you are overtaken and are in awe of what God has and will do in your life, and through your life.

How Many Times?

We live in a world full of repeated offenders. Not just criminals, but all of us are repeated offenders. We constantly fall back on the things of this world. We get uncomfortable or we loose sight of what God has in front of us, and we look back to the world for our answers.

Why? Why do we turn away from a God that tells us He loves us, tells us we are everything to Him, and tells us we are important? Why?

We walk through our lives at times without giving a second thought to the fact that God sent His only son to earth to die for us. He died thinking of you and me and every other person that has, is, or will walk this earth but we don’t even give him a second thought. We forget that the God who created everything, the God who made the sun, the stars, and the moon, thinks of us every day. The God who spoke life into us before we were ever born, that is the God we turn away from.

How many times will it take for us to realize this world has nothing for us compared to what God has for us? How many times will we turn our back to God until we finally say enough is enough? How many times will stand by and give in to the ways of this world?

It is impossible for us to be perfect. It will always be impossible. If you think you are perfect and if you think you have made it, it’s not done. We will never be sin free; however, we can do our best to be without sin. We can do our best to be like our heavenly father.

Peter denied Jesus three times knowing exactly what he was doing, after seeing all the miracles that Jesus performed, and after walking on water. If Peter can walk on water and still deny God and turn away from what he knew to be absolutely true, then it’s safe to say we will turn away from God as well.

As followers of Christ, we must do our best to turn away from the hypocrisy and lies of this world, and begin to fall into the arms of our heavenly Father. He is where we will find ourselves and where we will find our peace, our hope, our joy, and our happiness.

It’s human nature to not trust God until you have to. – Rick Warren

How many times will we turn our back on God until we truly need him?

Risky Business

As you read everything that is posted, I want every one of you to understand that I am speaking to myself with every word that is typed. I am stressed, I am hurting, I am searching, I am seeking what God has in store for me, I make people unhappy with me, I make people mad at me, I am working on my relationship and walk with God every day, just the same as you. If I sit here and type this and tell you that I have my life together, I would be lying. I would be better off not writing anything at all than telling you that I am something I am not.

Throughout my life, I have known the ups and downs of ministry. I have seen the effects, both good and bad, that ministry has on people around me. I am no genius, but a child can understand emotions that are shown around them. I am a pastor’s son, and I not change the experiences I had with anyone in this world. People see ministry as all heart ache, and loss of friends and family and time. But some of the best stories I have heard or been a part of, some of the best experiences of my life, some of the weird experiences of my life, some of the most fulfilling experiences of my life, have come from ministry.

Not everyone is called into ministry, but everyone is called to serve. Everyone is called to give of something for the benefit of others. Do not hide what God is telling you. You are going to make people upset at you for a little bit, some people will not understand, and some people will want to have nothing to do with you, but it will be worth it. When God has spoken to you, and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was God, don’t be afraid. Don’t try and run, because God will put you right back where he wants you to be.

All of that being said, do not be afraid of what God has ahead of you. God has a way better understanding of this life than we ever will. You just have to be willing to take a risk. You have to be willing to trust that what God has for you is better than what you already have.

If you take a risk and you win, you will be happy. If you take a risk and you fail, you will become wise.

Take risks in your life, it is the only life that you get. If you take risks for the right reasons and for the right things, you will grow and begin to see things that other people don’t, because you were the one who was willing.

 

The Broken Hearted

As I sit here writing, the one thing that I cannot get out my head is this: God does not promise that He will break you down and reshape you only once…it is a continuous process. God asks us to die unto him every day. He does not say do it just once. God will daily, if you let Him, break you down and rebuild your heart. Every time this happens you begin to get closer and closer to Him.

You have to understand what I am saying. This entire piece is about a process, a daily process. No one will ever live a life without pain. No one will ever live a life without sorrow. No one will ever live a life without problems. You have to daily give your heart to God so He can form it and shape it the way He says it should be. If you daily let Him break your heart down and reshape, and reform, and renew it, you will become closer to Him.

It’s a new day, so start with a new heart; start with a renewed, strengthened, and rejuvenated heart.

When you live everyday with a new heart, you begin to see people, situations, ideas, the way God wants you to see them. Now I am not saying you will be a brilliant mind everyday of your life, but you will be able to see God and what He is doing in your life.

Yesterday I put a quote in the beginning, so I figured I would put it in the middle today.

 

“We want to avoid suffering, death, sin, ashes. But we live in a world  crushed and broken and torn, a world God Himself visited to redeem. We receive  his poured-out life, and being allowed the high privilege of suffering with Him,  may then pour ourselves out for others.” ~ Elisabeth  Elliot 

We will all suffer. We will all feel pain. We will all feel heart ache. We will all experience discouragement. We will all be put in a tight spot. We all will, but these experiences are there to be used by us in the future. They are there to be used as tools to benefit the kingdom of God. We use these experiences to help others. We use these experiences to speak life into people, so they may experience the rebuilding of their heart from the true Savior.

We must call out to the Lord with everything we have, for Him to surround us with His presence so we may dwell in it…so we may search and find what He has in store for us.

For those of you who feel like God needs to break you down so He can renew your soul. For those of you who feel alone and need God to enter your life with His love. For those of you hurting and you feel like everyone has forgotten, I know a God who hasn’t forgotten, who is ready to renew your soul, who is ready to make you feel apart of something greater, who is ready to take away your pain. That’s the God I know. Search for that God, and you will find Him.

 

 

Our Own Community

I usually end with a quote, but this time I would rather start with one.

“Without community, the world will never see God.”- Judah Smith

We were not put on this earth to be alone. We were not put here by God to walk through our lives alone. God made us in his image. One thing we have to understand about our God, is that we worship a God of three entities, being the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. God made us to be drawn to relationships. God has drawn us to each other. God has made us to be community beings, for He himself, is a community being.  

We are more of a success when we are with others, than when we are alone. Proverbs says “a man who isolates himself seeks his own desires and rages against all wise judgment”. God, the creator of all things, put us here to work together. He put us here to become one for the purpose of bringing souls to Christ. The church was built after community, so why would we not do our best to include others. 

 I pray that as you read this you begin to search for those who can be of good influence to you. Those who can help you thrive in your own walk with God and can help you accomplish the things you want to accomplish. I pray that you find people that will speak life and will encourage you as you face the struggles of this world. “One can put a thousand, but two can put ten thousand.” We as Christians, must constantly feed off the other believers around us. We must ask questions and continue to grow within ourselves and within each other. To reach the lost of this world, it takes more than one man, but only one God.

New Year, Same God

First of all I would like to start by saying I hope everyone is having a great beginning of their year. I hope that whatever plans you have or goals that you have set for yourselves, that you reach them and do more than what you could imagine.

It has been a while since I started this and since I’ve posted anything. I have been writing a lot and I have quite a few drafts but nothing really stuck out to me so much to where I just had to put it out there. But yesterday I began to write this and it is something I believe will be beneficial to everyone who reads it.

I was asked a question the other day that really made me think, “What are you sacrificing?” I did not answer, but I immediately thought of my time. I sacrifice my time. I never answered the question, I just brushed it off and continued with the conversation. This question stuck with me though. As I rode home, I didn’t listen to the radio or put in a cd, I began to pray and seek God’s voice. I began to examine my life and I began to look for the things that were in the way of my own goals. I began to notice that there are actions or ideas or things that I do not really need in my life. There are things that I can do without.

I tell you all this to encourage you. I tell you this to let you know you are not the only one with baggage. You are not the only one with problems. You are not the only one with insecurities. You are not the only one. If you don’t get anything else out of this reading, I pray that you understand that one thing, you are not alone.

Sacrifice is giving up of something valued. It is not giving up something you can already do without. Throughout the bible, prophets of God and followers of Jesus were asked to sacrifice something that was valuable to them. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his some, Peter and Andrew sacrificed their livelihood at the drop of a dime, and the list goes on. We must be willing to sacrifice what God asks us too. We must be willing to give up everything, if that is what God asks of us. We, as humans want to be able to have our cake and eat it too. Jesus also asked the rich man to give everything he had to the poor and follow him and he said it was a hard thing to do and walked away. We can not conduct ourselves that way. As children of the one true God, we are called to sacrifice more than just our time. The things of this earth will all pass, but the love of God never will. Understand, I am not saying the only way to get closer to God is to get rid of everything you own. But be faithful with your giving. Not just of your money, but your talents and your time.

Once again, God doesn’t go around to everyone telling them to give away their homes and their cars. But at some point in time, you will be asked to sacrifice something.

As we walk in our daily lives with God, we are constantly put in situations where God wants to use us. But we don’t always recognize them. We have to recognize that, along with sacrifice, comes success. Everything in life, I don’t care what it is, in order to succeed in it, there is some sort of sacrifice. God doesn’t call us to sacrifice what we have for nothing. We are called to sacrifice so he can use us and the things we give to him in unimaginable ways. I hope you really understand that. We are sacrificing what we have in order to get what God has for us. I promise you, what God has for you is far better than what you could ever have.

It is hard for many Christians to understand this whole concept. They do not understand the simple fact the things God has for us is so much better than anything we could ever have. Or they think that is only applies to people like pastors or Christian leaders, and that is simply not true, at all. If anything we should celebrate our sacrifices. We should be more than willing and excited to give up the things God asks us to. It is a sign that God is going to use you to do bigger and better things for the kingdom of heaven. Do not be discouraged when you must give something to your heavenly father, rejoice and praise him for the opportunity ahead of you. Because I promise, as hard as it is to give whatever it is up, it will be completely worth it when you begin to do God’s work. God has given us everything we have, so it should be easy to give it back to him.

 Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness. -Napoleon Hill

Throughout this entire year, understand that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Give God all of your praise, give Him all of the glory, give Him all of the honor, and watch how many opportunities you are blessed with to show the love of God. I pray that whoever reads this finds what God has for you and that you continuously seek after the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Search and you will find.