Indescribable

God is indescribable.

Walk outside in a dark night and look up, the God we worship is beyond our wildest dreams. The stars are telling the wonders of God. He is amazing and bigger than you could ever dream of and the skies declare the work of our God. He is greater than every thought we’ve ever had.

In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, you can choose to believe there was a big bang, however, His creation was a big bang. What if the primary purpose of the Universe is to show off the splendor of God’s creation? By the word of the Lord the Heavens were made.

If you were to count a star per second from the Milky Way galaxy, it would take 255 years to count them all. Through the Prophet Isaiah he says, “To whom will you compare me, and who is my equal says the wholly one lift your eyes to the heavens who created all of these?” He answers, “the one who leads forth the starry host, one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his mighty strength and great power, not one of them is missing."

“I remember on the way home on Apollo 11, it suddenly struck me, that tiny pea pretty and blue, was the earth. I put my thumb up and shut one eye and my thumb blotted out there earth. But I didn’t feel like a giant, I felt very, very small.” Neil Armstrong.

When we look at your heavens, the work of your fingers the placement of the moon and earth, the greatness of your power, what is man? That God is mindful of us? For how can God care for something so small?

The greatness of our God knows each and every one of our names; we are miniscule in the galaxy he has created. And he invites each and every one of us to have a personal relationship with Him.

Through Jesus, God created the world for as high as the Heavens are above the earth so great is his love for those who fear him. And as far as the east is from the west, this is how far He has removed our transgressions from us. This is astronomical Grace.

Long before you decided what you were going to do with God. God decided what he was going to do with you; and that was to not give you what your sins deserved but to give His son what your sins deserved and to give you the gift of Himself and the invitation to live forever in a big, big story that is all about Him.

Our God is bigger than we could even begin to imagine, and He knows each star and person by name, and cares for each and every one of us and offers us the gift of a lifetime.

Special thanks to Louie Giglio and his message...

Renewing Your Mind (part two)

In analyzing ourselves, we must talk about how we think, how we think about ourselves, what we think about the world we're living in and what we think about the relationships we have with others. However, what really matters about ourselves is how we think about ourselves in a biblical sense. How we think biblically will translate into how we act on a day to day basis. The first stepping stone in this walk of faith begins with how we think, this will result in how we act.

Romans 12:9. Let love be without hypocrisy. What exactly does hypocrisy mean? It simply means to not fake it, “true blue all the way through.” Despite the easiness of being able to fake love with words and gestures, we cannot fake it with God. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord ¹²rejoicing in hope, preserving in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. This all has to do with the relationships within the body of Christ.

Love rejects sin but doesn’t reject us as people. So how can we express love? We can reject sin by rejecting anything ungodly in our life. We can change the movies we see and change the kinds of associations we have within a relationship, because it’s an ungodly way of doing things. Love puts others above ourselves and keeps going enthusiastically.

“The Lord is able to win any battle, no problem. That’s the power of love.” This is all capable because those of us who serve the Lord, are those of us who depend on Him. The Lord is on our side, and we must trust in Him because he has made a promise that He will turn any evil into good for as long as we trust in Him. There is always a way out, we just need to be willing to trust God in lighting the way for us. This is what love does. When things appear hopeless, love starts praying, and when it starts praying, it starts trusting in God through this hopeless situation. When we start to trust, we start to hope. We can do this because God has an answer for everything. He will never put us in a place that has no way out.

Family

Everybody has their own definition of the word family. For me it has been a gift from God. Countless times they continue to accept me in their life, no matter the amount of lies I’ve brought into theirs. I have been gifted with a close loving relationship with my Dad, Mom, Sister, and Brothers and it’s time to put these relationships in God's hands.

My family’s tree's branches extend a bit further than just my immediate family however. Along with these loving individuals I have cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents who have mended this family's tree with roots deep in God, and its branches thick within one another. This is a family that someone like me has been more than fortunate to have, a true gift from God.

There is a branch in this family that will soon be reaching out to India on a mission trip. She will be leading worship at churches and giving sermons to the local people of this continent. This journey to such a foreign land is not an easy way to undergo, one that will bring hesitation and fear. However she has God with her, a force with more than enough power to overcome these misfortunate feelings.

God will continue to light her way and provide her with the strength she needs to carry out the road ahead of her. She will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers and I know she will greatly impact the people of India about the truth in scripture.

Follow my cousin Jenna through this blog... http://lovebreakmenow.blogspot.com/

Renewing Your Mind (part one)

Romans 12: 3-8. 3For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has alloted to each a measure of faith. 4For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5so we who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Living the Christian life has it’s center in your mind, not your emotions, not you experiences, but in your mind. The apostle starts by presenting three areas for us to consider.

The first is, how should we think about ourselves? Romans 12. 3For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has alloted to each a measure of faith. He’s telling us how to think about ourselves and how to not think highly of ourselves as well. If you run your life or form your life according to what people say about you, then you are being foolish in deciding who you are. The scripture tells us who we truly are as people. For example, the scripture states that we are all sinners. It’s what the Bible says about us and happens to be extremely accurate. No one is perfect. However, we are sinners saved by the grace of God for those of us who seek him everyday. Another example is that we are all helpless at living the spiritual life without God’s power working through us. It's simply impossible. Thinking with sound judgment is a gift from God to us however. We can analyze in our mind what God has done over time in ourselves. We are made in His in image and possess His characteristics and we have the choice of whether those characteristics are operated God-like in us, or man-like in us. This is a very sound judgment about us. When we let God work through us, we are being transformed inside. It’s something we can’t see, but something someone else can see over a long period of time. Not choosing to use these characteristics God-like makes us selfish and greedy.

Secondly, how should we think about our place in the Body of Christ? Romans 12. 4For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5so we who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. There is only one Church and each member if that Church has a function. We also must understand that we have one “body” and one boss, Jesus Christ. We are all brothers and report to the same boss.

Lastly, how should we think about the spiritual gifts we have from God’s grace? Romans 12. 6Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly. These spiritual gifts are given to each one of us and are a supernatural capacity to administer to others. They are not talents. The Holy Spirit gives every believer at least one spiritual gift. The purpose of this spiritual gift is to build up the body. What you do helps the body of Christ grow, mature and develop. Their use displays God’s grace, and by grace, this isn't soething that we can earn, it is simply given to us. We can’t create them, earn them, or chose them. All parts of God are involved in our spiritual gift(s). Jesus directs where the spiritual gifts go and how they are used in our lives, the Holy Spirit supplies us with these gifts, and God empowers us with the ability to use them. The text gives us some evidence of what these Spiritual gifts are.

Romans 12. if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. There are seven gifts we can be given.

Prophecy (cause to shine)=expounding Scripture
Service (gift of “helps”) = doing helpful things for others
Teaches (imparting Biblical knowledge) = instructing people’s minds
Exhorts (encourages others) = building people up
Giving (gives liberally) = extraordinary financial support
leading (stands up) = prepares with integrity so others follow
Mercy (freely gives) = cares for the neglected

-Have you asked the Father to empower you to exercise your gifts?
-Have you thanked the Lord for your spiritual gifts?

Jesus Take the Wheel!

We often neglect celebrities and singers as individuals who can spread their Faith about God and how powerful of a force he is. This one celebrity needs to be credited for this reference to her continuing Faith, in both her music and life.



“After I released “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” people started saying, Oh, it’s kind of risky. You’re coming out with a religious song. And I was thinking, Really? I grew up in Oklahoma; I always had a close relationship with God. I never thought it was risky in the least. If anything, I thought it was the safest thing I could do.”

Not everybody in the Hollywood environment is corrupt, and we can use Carrie Underwood as an example. She allows God to run her life and look what great Joy and success has been bestowed upon her. God has used her as an example of how He works and we must understand, that even in our lowest times of life, there is only one door to walk through.

“If anybody ever doubts God, look at my life. I didn’t know what I was going to do, and I was clubbed over the head with this amazing opportunity [American Idol] and then everything throughout the show and everything that has happened since has been so perfect. Even bad stuff has worked out for good. So everything happened exactly how it was supposed to. I always had dreams of being a country music singer...and meeting my favorite artists and singing with them, but the older I got, the more reality would set in. Then God reminded me that I don’t call the shots. I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do whether I think it’s possible or not.”

She certainly doesn't hide the fact that He is the controlling force in her life. The fame and fortune she has undergone has not hidden the fact that she lives her life for Christ.

So not everyone in the "Fame" world lacks the Faith we all need in our lives.

Jesus, take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this on my own

I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
To save me from this road I'm on
Jesus, take the wheel

Amen.

Be Transformed

Recall two important verses in

Romans 11. 33Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways! 36For from Him and Through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the Glory forever. Amen. Romans 12. 1Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

So why exactly does God want my body? He wants a onetime gift from me to him, not an every day gift but a onetime gift. We must live day to day as a result of the gift given to him. Our body is the source of fleshly desires and lusts. The body has bad habits, bad attitudes, bad emotion, and bad thoughts. Despite all of these flaws, God wants our body as it currently resides. He wants this gift because he has a purpose for it. He wants to make it a Living, Holy, and a well pleasing body.

The word Living means to function in a new way, a new style and function of living; something completely new. Holy literally means “whole.” God is going to do something with our body that will make it whole; where before we weren’t whole. Well pleasing, and this will be maneuvered in a way that will be pleasing to God. It will be different in such a way that we can’t change it. If we try to keep our bodies and an own it ourselves and control it ourselves, it will never be pleasing to God. The idea is that after you give your body to God, He will make it pleasing to Him.

How can this be?

By the mercies of God, something we can’t earn or acquire on our own, completely outside of our control, its Grace. However you can’t genuinely give God your body and only God can make it possible, and he sets it up for us to give to him in its current state. God will do all the cleansing of our bodies. We must believe by Faith that he has set this up to happen and means what He says. Secondly we must present our bodies as a sacrifice. We must allow God to do with our bodies what he pleases and deems necessary. Third, giving our body to God is the only logical thing to do. The text literally says that it is our spiritual service of worship. Giving our body becomes an unselfish worship. We must reject our natural self centeredness in order to give our bodies to God; and when we give our body to God, it becomes worship. This act is liberation and joyful.

Romans 12. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

From this point on we must choose to do two things. One, we must stop the flow of worldly stuff into our minds. These are schemes and philosophies of the world which assault our mind. Where we live, there is a flow of earthly stuff into our minds through what we see such as TV and readings. We must choose not to think on the worldly stuff. To better define worldly stuff we must consider the following. It’s the passion of the flesh, in other words what we desire to feel; the desire of the eyes, what we desire to have; the desire of life, the passion to be rich and powerful. All of these are desires that have flowed into our mind, otherwise known as worldly stuff. Second we must consider the text and choose to ask God to stop our conforming, we can do this because he has our body. From here we must start the flow of spiritual stuff into our mind. But how exactly do we start spiritual flow?

I Corinthians 2 16For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

If we chose to access, we can look at life as Jesus did and begin to think like Jesus did. Set your mind not on the earthly stuff but what is above and offered to us by God. There are four steps to keeping the spiritual flow coming in. One, we must hear the scriptures being exposed, explained, illustrated, and applied. Two, read and ponder on the word yourself. Read and study the Bible Third, pray all the time-about everything. Nothing can keep us from talking to God. Lastly, Fellowship with other believers. Talk with other believers, share with them, laugh and play games with them.

What results can one expect from this transformation?

Our mind has been renewed. Our mind is being worked on by God due to us giving our body to him and we act like Jesus, which is a process that slowly gets better and better demonstrating God at work. From this we can feel peace joy and love and be fulfilled. Finally we can do the will of God and grow toward spiritual maturity. This is exactly what God wants.

Life will never be boring, self centered, or dull again.