Taboo

There has been a rise in persecution against Christians that I have been noticing more often. It is more evident the number of persons speaking against the Christian faith. No longer is the persecution happening across seas, where you can read about the occurrences in the news and journals, it is beginning here. Being a Christian has become taboo; which is described by society as something that is improper or unacceptable.

Christianity, the word, its meaning, everything about it has become taboo. You tell someone that you are Christian and some things may occur. 1. It seems you cussed at them 2. They look at you like your an alien 3. Your immediately labeled as crazy and full of hate 4. The likelihood the person will ever talk to you again are nearly eliminated 5. you have just cast as an outsider (but who really cares right?) 5. congratulations you have just been blamed for everything wrong in the world.

There has become an anti-christian mentality that has begun to grow. It is spreading as a wild fire that cant be contained. Increasing in college, teachers are using videos that speak against Christians, some teachers have begun to vocalize their own dislikes for Christianity and Christians. There views are being pushed through, hidden and outspoken alike. Sitting in these classes, knowing whom are the Christians, no one speaks up. As the anti-christian become louder, when will we decide to speak. The most interesting thing I have found through these attacks, they are ALWAYS countered with “we need to accept others.”

2 Corinthians 4:2 tells us:

but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

We need to wake up to what is happening around us. We need to bring the truth with us. We need to learn how and when to speak up in a loving manner that Jesus teaches. His love poured out for us, we need to do the same for others. We also need to stop allowing these attacks to occur by speaking out when they do happen. It is time for the Christian community to become united to bring the truth to the lost. Find your voice and together our voices will be like a trumpet (Isaiah 58:1).

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17

My faith in Christ is who I am, how I live, what I believe, the substance of my life. It is time to call out what is going on and stand up for our beliefs. We can not be silent any longer.

Persecution is not here, but it’s coming. And if you can’t rise up now, in the midst of nothing, you’ll never be able to stand in the midst of persecution. ~Todd White

The Writers Hand

When life seems like its spinning out of control, you don’t know what to do, or where to turn, there is one simple answer. Turn to the Father.

From the beginning God spoke the world into motion, He breathed life into your lungs, and He gave food for nutriment. These three things are what began your life. But He has not stopped pouring out or giving you what you need.

When life becomes so chaotic you forget what your striving for, remember your life has already been written. How your life proceeds depends on who you are following and believing.

How do we know where we go and what to do?

It all depends on who the writer of your life is. You see its easy to allow society to dictate what we do, how we act, what we think, how we live; really our daily being. You can try to live up to the worldly standard, but I can tell you this; you will never make it. You can take the pen and the paper and write your own life plan, but will you ever be satisfied? I can tell you that road is always blocked and as hard as you try it will never open.

The Writers Hand is the one and only true King, the maker of everything. With elegance and grace He writes your name. Below he tells a tail of a beautiful creation made in His image and likeness. Before you were you, the Writer wrote. Your life is worth a trillion words, spoken through the Fathers breath.

For the life breathed into you was His breath and with His breath you were given the opportunity to speak of the love you were made with. With that breath everything about you began, the Writers Hand was at work. You have a purpose in life, work for the King. That is all that really matters and the chaos will slip away.

So when life gets crazy, step back and see who the Writers Hand is in your life.

Do as you have been called, and everything will re-align. There is only one standard on a path that will never be blocked when you are following God.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” Colossians 3:23

You are Good Enough

Never fleeting are our feelings of failure, lack of self-worth, and feelings that we could never be loved. We doubt ourselves and what we can accomplish. I’m not good at this or I will never be able to accomplish that. We compare ourselves to the person next to us, some public figure or star that we want to be just like. I wont pass this class or I wont get that job. You know what I am talking about. We all have been here at some point or another. Its the self defeating words and thoughts that you tell yourself over and over again until you believe them so deeply that when someone tells you, you can, you are good enough, you actually cant believe the words they speak.

I am here to tell you that YOU are good enough!

You have been designed as an individual. You have control over what you think and what you say. God did not create a defeated army, but a strong, powerful army in every way. You are apart of that army and it scares the enemy to pieces. The enemy knows that once you fully believe your potential and begin to live in the reality he cant touch you. The enemy is here to kill, steal, and destroy what God has created. You are Gods treasure, His perfect creation. In Genesis 1-31: “In the beginning God created…” the heavens and the earth, light, day and night, land, water, and sky, every living creature “…And God saw that it was good.” Here’s the kicker, those things are good but there was something even greater made in His image and His likeness!

“27 So God created mankind in his own image

in the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them…

31 God saw all that He made, and it was very good.”

You were the defining factor between good and very good. You are His greatest creation. So great even that He blessed mankind. You were created for God. If we are created for Him, why would you believe the lies of the enemy.

Your value and worth does not come from your neighbor, or what society tells you your worth is. Your worth, your ability, your ability to say you are good enough comes from God. Do not listen to the deceiver but to the Creator. Your Good Enough comes from knowing that what you do, have done, and your abilities come from working for the Lord.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for man” Colossians 3:23

When you begin to believe the blessings and truths upon your life, stop listening to what the enemy wants you to believe, and begin to do for the Lord and not man, nothing in this world will be able to hold you back. You will be able to believe you are apart of Gods strong army, your ability to defeat the enemy, and live in victory.

Mirror Effect

Driving down the road I passed a house that was getting a (what I like to call) face lift. It was a simple house getting an upgrade on the outside and it got me thinking. Just like that house, God is calling us for an upgrade.

How simple is it to get a face lift, but it doesn’t even come close to what God looks at. Psalms 139:1-4 says:

O Lord, You have searched me and know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up;You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways, For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether”.

We can look great on the outside much like that house will be after its face lift, but God is concerned with what is on the inside of that house. In other terms, He does not care about our appearance on the outside, but whats inside. He wants to see the ugly, dead, and undesirable. God already knows us and we continue to live in shame, hiding and ignoring what He wants to call forth to get rid of. He is looking for a change on the inside, so that our outward appearance can show true beauty.

How many times have we prayed “Lord search me, know me, change me.” When He does He shows you all the rotten and dead. Not knowing what to do you cry out STOP! What we want is a face lift but what He desires in each of us is an upgrade. Its not a simple upgrade with a few walls taken down, a little rearranged here and there, and maybe some new cabinetry to hide something down the road we might not like. He guts us, takes out ALL the ugly, dead, undesirable, and rotten. It hurts, but when you give it all over to Him and allow Him to do what He does best you receive something greater. 1 John 1:9 tells us to confess our sins and He will cleans us of all unrighteousness. He waits for us to bring the nasty so He can give us the beauty. 

“To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty of ashes, The oil of joy for mourning the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness: That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified”. Psalms 61:3

When all that junk is gone you will see Christ in you the Hope of Glory. Colossians 1:27. In the end you will look more like Jesus less like you. For the you that you knew before is gone, replaced by the Spirit of God . You are just a more perfect version, one that reflects the image of Christ. It is what we should long for day after day, to look more and more like Christ. To be molded into the image of Christ.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord”. 2 Corinthians 3:18

It’s the mirror effect.

 

Praise of Dance with my King

“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!” Psalms 105: 1-6

All we do should be for the praise of the one who gave us life. Praise can be many forms and in many tongues. But there is something beautiful and exciting about dancing with our King. It puts a smile on your face that cant be masked and cant be wiped away, it makes your heart beat a little faster, it makes you desire the moment to last forever, and it makes you giggle like a little girl once again. It will bring you back to the days that you danced with your dad while standing on his feet or you father daughter dance at your wedding that you had or one day will have.

Over and over dance is illuminated in the Bible. The bible declares that we should dance. Dance as David danced. In 2 Samuel 6:14 it says that David danced with all his might. With everything he had within him he danced. I desire to dance like that. What love was in his relationship that he gave everything he had to dance before God.

In Ecclesiastes 3:4 it says there is a time for dancing as there is a time for mourning, laughing, and weeping. In Psalms 30:11 God turned mourning into dancing. God wants and desires us to dance with and before Him. If God brings dancing out of mourning should not our lives be filled with dance?

I see dancing as joy and love that becomes so overwhelming that it spills out into dance. It can also be a very intimate praise between the Bridegroom and his Bride. As a child of God I desire to do what brings praise, joy, and love to my Father. He says dance, so I will dance.

A Galatians 2:20 girl for 2014

Its the beginning of a brand new year, full of potential. Each one of us is able to decide what we will do with our lives everyday. Are we going to follow the worlds way of living or one that is defined by our Creator?

No one can know what the next year, let alone what tomorrow, may hold. We can not allow the day before or the year before define us. Everything we do and say must be done as Jesus did. Jesus always did what He saw the Father doing. This can not be accomplished unless we are in constant prayer, reading His word, and in community with other Christians. It should be what drives our every move, every word, and every decision. It should be our fuel for life. With it nothing can come against us and everything will be for us. God does not leave his people. For those who run to Him, He will likewise run to us. 

 I have never been big on “New Years Resolutions” and really never have made one, however the few I have made ended within the first few weeks. This year was no different in that I did not make a resolution. I have one big desire that has been resting on me and it’s pretty simple. I want something different this year. I desire to grow closer to God. I want my heart to beat with Gods rhythmic drum. Everything I do, say, and decide will not be my own, but in accordance with Him. I want to live outside me: to do things, make risks, go without worry or fear. I desire to grow more in my relationship with God and be less reliant on worldly things. In essence I want God to be my in all be all for 2014. A Galatians 2:20 girl.

” I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20