Have a tough decision to make?

So last night my professor was talking about how in the book of Acts the Spirit stopped Paul from preaching. (Acts 16: 6-7) Now that might sound weird that the Spirit would stop anyone from preaching. We really didn't get into why the Spirit stopped Paul but more of how the Spirit stopped Paul. The majority of the class responded to the idea that it just wasn't time for those people to hear what Paul had to say and that the Spirit closed the door. These ideas could be true, we really don't know but my professor asked us how did Paul know not to preach? He believes that Paul probably didn't have an inner peace, Paul just knew and felt that things were not right. As soon as he said that I was encouraged. A few day ago I made a decision that I felt that I had to make. It was a tough one and I knew I would hurt someone but I couldn't see any other way around it. Before I called off a relationship I was in I had this feeling inside of me that couldn't be ignored. I prayed and sought out guidance from God and my support team. As I thought about this decision that needed to be made it just felt like my Spirit wouldn't be at peace until I did what I had to do. So I trusted in the Lord and believed that He wouldn't lead me down the wrong path. After I made the decision to call off the relationship I had a peace. Even though I felt bad because I hurt someone this peace that really didn't make sense at the time was filling me. As this was happening I was reminded of a scripture that I want to share with you:
Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I know that this is what I just went through but I believe that many of us are facing similar situations whether it be work, school, or any thing that is requiring you to make a tough decision in your life. There's a saying that evryone knows; trust your instinct. I believe that but this is how I look at it. I trust my instinct because it's the Holy Spirit in me that is leading me to do so. Remember in the Gospels Jesus calls the Spirit the helper so let the Spirit help you with those tough decisions in your life and gage your decision by that perfect peace that transcends all understanding. Here's the easy way to put it. If there's peace then you are probably doing what God would want you to, if there's not peace you probably should reconsider your decision.
So my prayer for us today is that we would allow the Spirit, the helper, to help us with our tough decision in life. I pray that we trust in the Spirit and not ignore the Spirit in our decisions. I pray for strength and faith for us to let God be God.

You are worth more than grass!!!

Now I know that this seems like a weird title but this is what the Lord put on my heart which I believe is for all of us to be reminded of. As I was reading in Luke 12:22-34 the Lord reminded me of how important we are to Him. It says that God takes care of the grass of the fields and that it's going to be cut and thrown into the fire. As I read this my heart was pressed to read a commentary about this, so I did. As I read this verse in the commentary the commentator made a great point that I believe that the Lord would say to us today. He said if God cares this much for something that He created that lets be real here really does nothing, how much more do you think He cares for something that He created and sent His Son to die for so we can be saved? Talk about a foot to the chest.
I don't know what you are going through or how bad life might be for you right now, but what I do know is God truly does care for you. I know it might be tough to see that when things all around you are falling apart but remember this, if He provides daily for a little piece of grass then He will totally provide everything you need. Don't believe me, then why would He send His only Son to die for you and not a piece of grass?
So my prayer for us today is that we would continue to trust in God no matter what we are facing. I pray blessings and deliverance from any situation we might be facing. I pray for faith and strength for us to let God be God.

Why we shouldn't do life all by ourselves.

I'm sure we've all heard that we weren't meant to go through life all by ourselves. We Know that God created women for man so he wouldn't be alone, the Bible always talk about being a part of a unified body of believers, and you can even say that Jesus didn't do things on His own that's why He had disciples. I believe those are all valid statements but when I was reading today I now can say I know the reason why we shouldn't go through life all by ourselves. In John chapter 5 Jesus makes two statements; I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself (19); By myself I can do nothing.(30) These are words that came out of the mouth of Jesus. He acknowledges that He needs the help of someone else, Jesus needed the help of the Father. Now if Jesus, the perfect and powerful God knows that then why do we always try and tackle life on our own? What makes us think we are better then Jesus?
This comes to mind because yesterday during our growth group one of the people there shared their feelings about being the only Christian in their family. They talked about the pain, struggle, and emotion effects it was having on them. In the middle of sharing this person started to talk about how they need to be strong, they need to be a light, they need to be an example. These statements are true but what I see is how when we try to bare all the weight and burdens on our shoulders we can easily get brought down. As this person was sharing another memeber of our group and I were prompted by the Spirit to let this person know that they do not have to do this alone. This statement may sound weird but I believe this is so true, it's ok to realize that you are weak and that you can't take on all your situation by yourself. When we realize that we aren't as strong as we think we are then we will realize that we do need help. And where do we get that help? The same place Jesus got it, the Father. Yes we have good Christian friends, and accountability partners but these people will never be able to do what God can. I'm not saying we shouldn't go to them because we should all have people like this in our lives. I'm just saying that we need to realize that admitting we can't do this on our own isn't weakness, it's being smart.
So if your a person that thinks they can do it all on their own, I'm guilty of that, then my prayer for us today is that we would put our pride aside and ask the Lord for help. I pray against all the lies the enemy would throw our way to try and discourage us from the truth. I pray for protection over our weekends and for faith and strength for us to let God be God.

Faith like a servant.

This kind of faith like a servant isn't something that we are use to thinking. What I mean by that is were are suppose to serve because of our faith but what I'm talking about are these servants that are in John chapter 2. This is the story of Jesus' first recorded miracle in the Gospel of John which is Jesus turning water into wine. I'm sure we've all heard this story before but have you ever realized how obedient these servants are? I know I haven't. When I was reading this I was shocked how these servants just did what Jesus told them to do. What made me see this so much better was I put myself in their shoes. Imagine being a server at a wedding and you noticed the wine is all gone, depending on your ethnic background that could be dangerous:-) So you are not sure what to do now. Then some lady tells you to do whatever the man next to her tell you to do. Pretty weird but maybe this guy had a stash somewhere. Then this guy tells you to fill up 6 20-30gallon jugs of water and then says go give this to the head hancho. I know I would have thought that this was a joke because all that were in the jugs was water and I know that the head hancho isn't going to be happy with just water. I would have atleast made sure that this guy was going to take the blame if this goes wrong. But that's not what I see here. These servants just fill up their jugs and served the master of the banquet.
Now I'm not saying that these servants knew exactly who Jesus was and the power He had because we don't know if that's what they were thinking. They could have just took Him at His word because there was nothing else to do. After thinking about this all I could think about is would I do the same? Would I just say yes and do whatever it is that Jesus asks of me? This might sound harsh but I believe that these servants make us believers look bad. They did what Jesus said and didn't even know who He was. We on the other hand know who He is and what He's capable of doing yet many times we don't say yes to what He asks of us. I won't lump everyone into that category but I'm guilty of that. I know we are not perfect and we all mess up but that doesn't give us any excuses not to strive for this type of obedience.
So my prayer for us today is that we would be yes men/women to whatever it is the Lord asks of us. I pray for faith and strength for us to let God be God.

Do we really know Jesus?

So today during my devotion time something I've read before totally spoke to me in a way that it never has done before. I was reading John chapter 1 and I was reading about John the Baptist. The part that stood out to me the most was how John knew what his job was, preparing the way for the Messiah, but really didn't know exaclty who He was until it was revealed to him that it was Jesus. I was reading a little commentary note in my Bible and is was talking about truly knowing who Jesus is. At first I didn't see how they made the connection between Jesus and John until the commentator said that Jesus and John were related. He said that even though John lived in the wilderness he probably knew who Jesus was because they were relatives. So to say that John knew Jesus but didn't really know who Jesus was is a fair thing to say. Then of course in John chapter 1 Jesus was revealed to John by the Spirit. As soon as I read that the first thing that popped into my head was the idea of know who Jesus the person is and knowing who Jesus my personal Lord and Savior is. I believe there is a difference of know who Jesus the person is and knowing who Jesus really is. The portion of scripture that comes to mind is found in Matthew 7:21-23 when Jesus tells people that He never knew them. That's a real scary thought to think that we might think we know Jesus but maybe we might be like those people who He told He never knew?
So what does this mean for us, the only thing that comes to mind is we better make sure we know who Jesus is! We need to make sure that we develop an intimate relationship with the Son because He's the only way to the Father. I believe it's super easy to just say we know Jesus and because we do then that's all we need to do. In Matthew 7 the people that Jesus told I never knew you to were people who were actually doing things that were good things yet they weren't good enough. So if you are wondering what it takes then to be known by God then I suggest that you pick up your Bible and find out. Also how about asking the One who knows what it takes:-)
So my prayer for us today is that we don't get comfortable just knowing God the way we think we do. I pray that we would daily want to find out more and more about Him. I pray for faith and strength for us to let God be God.

Is God's way really better?

This question might be a question that some of you might have thought before or maybe even struggling with now. The question of is God's way really better came to mind because of what My Pastor said on Sunday and what I read yesterday. My pastor was talking about how God isn't always going to sit back and just keep letting our society and our morals stray further and further away from what He said they should be. I've thought before that I know that God is going to have the final say and judge the world for their sins but when looking at all the people around me thriving and living "good" lives yet there are in so much sin is kind of a hard thing to swallow. I've asked the question; why am I not as successful as those who don't follow you when I've devoted my whole life to God? When that thought runs through my mind I've also thought that maybe I can just live the life the way my flesh wants to and once I get to where I want to be then I live the way God wants me to. That kind of dumb thinking is caused by seeing all those people around me that reject God yet are still living the "good" life. Now here's what separates us from the rest, we know that God can and will bring judgement to those who reject Him. We know that He's not going to extend mercy and grace when that time comes. The hard thing about this is we don't know when He will do all that, but the fact of the matter is we do know it will happen.
So the reason why this question came up beside of what my pastor said is because of what I read in my devotion yesterday. I read Leviticus 26 and in that chapter God lays out what will happen to those who chose to obey Him and what will happen to those who chose not to. After reading that my answer to the question is simple, YES!!! God's way is better. Right now we may see that things aren't going our way or that people aappear to be living a better life but that's all smoke and mirrors. They have happiness in things that will get old and lose their flair, but we have joy in things that are eternal. I challenge you to read Leviticus 26 and see how gnarly of a difference their is between the two choices and I bet you will come to the same answer I did, not because I'm smart but because God's way is.
So my prayer today is that we would chose God's way. I pray for guidance and direction for the Lord's path. I pray for faith and strenght for us to let God be God.

Being refilled.

So it's been about a month since my last post but now I'm back, excited to see what God speaks to me which I can share with you. The reason why I haven't posted anything is because to be completely honest with you I had nothing to say. When I first started this blog the Lord was spekaing through me in so many different ways. It was easy to log on and just write what God was speaking to me. But then I started to notice that as I was ready to log on and start writing, I couldn't think of something to write. And that's when it hit me, I started to think what to write. When I first started this blog, the entries where just things that where placed in my head and needed to get them out. I didn't have to think or figure out what would someone wanted to hear, they just flowed out and that's what made this experience so awesome. So that's why I took a break from the blog. I wanted to give myself some time to get refilled so I could be poured out again. That's what this entry is all about. If you feel like your empty then chances are maybe you are. Maybe you just need to recognize that you need to take the time to get refilled again. I'm not sure what that means to you but things that could help with this are reading more of God's word, spending more alone time with Him, I know this might sound not very "church-like" but maybe you need to take some time off from serving if that's all you do. I know that might sound wrong but I've seen people just get burnt out because they never take the time to get refilled again. Answer me this, how can you pour something out if you got nothing left to pour?
So my prayer for us today is that we ask God to show us how we can be refilled. I pray that we would put in the effort to do what it takes to get refilled. I pray for faith and strength for us to let God be God.