I am blessed so far beyond what I deserve. So very, very far beyond what I deserve. I've been given dear friends and family who have taught me to smile and love and laugh. I've been blessed to attend a phenomenal school where my teachers have taught me to read and think and dream and wonder. And I'm loved more than I'll ever be able to fathom, Christ died to redeem me and my great God loves me dearly and answers prayer.
He answers prayer. Wow. That simple fact blows my mind. The LORD of all creation not only loves me, He's concerned enough with me on a moment-to-moment basis to listen to my cries to heaven and answer those prayers. I hold such enormous power in my ability to enter the Throne Room and beseech the God of the universe. And we're promised that God has the power to do far beyond all that we think to ask or imagine.
Recently God's been teaching me that I don't pray as I ought to. And I don't stop to pray anywhere near as often as I should either. If I really, really believed in my heart(not just in my head) that prayer is truly as powerful as it is, I don't think I'd ever have trouble finding time to stop and pray...I'd struggle with getting off my knees and going about my work for the rest of the day.
In this past week, I've also been really convicted that I rarely pray specifically. It's so much easier to pray in generalizations: "God bless this day, bless all the people in the world"...those prayers sound pretty, but my motivation for praying in generalizations is shameful. I'm fearful and I doubt God's ability to answer prayer. Sometimes it feels safer to not pray in specifics, so I don't. But when I allow fear that God won't answer prayer to keep me from praying, I build up a wall that separates me from Him. Ultimately, though, what is it that I could possibly have to fear?
Not only is my God powerful enough to hear my prayers and answer them, He is loving enough to hold my best interest at heart. Praying specifically allows me to take time each day to fully place my trust in Him, to make myself vulnerable and acknowledge my reliance on God. And in waiting to hear his answer, I grow closer to Him. So I'll celebrate the power of prayer with great thanksgiving, for my God listens to my prayers and is powerful to answer them.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Glory to be Revealed.
I like for everything in life to be straight-forward and definitive. I get irritated when things are ambiguous rather than simple as I think they ought to be. I want things to be easily discernible, black and white--not a fuzzy tint of gray.
But sometimes inexplicable duality exists. And sometimes its beautiful. Like the times when the sun is shining, but rain pours forth from the clouds anyway. I wouldn't trade those moments of meteorological indecision for anything, because it's when the sun shines and the rain falls simultaneously that we witness the beauty of a rainbow.
Today has been anything but the straight-forward and definitive that I so love. It's been full of things bigger than I know how to handle. Full of emotions that don't seem to mix. Today was burdened by the sadness of loss and death, but it was also overflowing with the promise of eternal life in Jesus.
Happinesss and sadness are such polar opposites that it hardly seems possible for both to occupy our minds at one time. But sometimes...just sometimes they entertwine. In this sweet duality, I found a perfect picture of Jesus today.
Sadly, our life is fleeting and ephemeral. None of us is long of this world, but the things of this world will soon pass. A dear friend once told reminded me that we are eternal beings...we won't last forever in this life, but our souls were created to exist into eternity. She mused that perhaps this eternality of our nature is what makes death so painful. Death ultimately has no power over us, for Christ has conquered. As 1 Corinthians 15:55 so boldly declares, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Death is unable to rob us of our life, but because we are created to exist eternally, death brings an unnatural and painful separation.
But the sadness brought by death's separation never comes alone. It is always accompanied by the joy and peace of Christ. We can know that our savior has conquered, that eternity awaits. In this duality of joy and sadness, the Gospel is the most evident. And for those of us who have placed our lives in Christ, we can find hope in the darkest of times, for as Paul wrote in Romans 8:18 "
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
Though sadness and joy may mingle in this life, no suffering we face on earth is worth comparing to the Glory that is to be revealed to us. Therefore, let us walk with Jesus and live with our eyes fixed on eternity.
But sometimes inexplicable duality exists. And sometimes its beautiful. Like the times when the sun is shining, but rain pours forth from the clouds anyway. I wouldn't trade those moments of meteorological indecision for anything, because it's when the sun shines and the rain falls simultaneously that we witness the beauty of a rainbow.
Today has been anything but the straight-forward and definitive that I so love. It's been full of things bigger than I know how to handle. Full of emotions that don't seem to mix. Today was burdened by the sadness of loss and death, but it was also overflowing with the promise of eternal life in Jesus.
Happinesss and sadness are such polar opposites that it hardly seems possible for both to occupy our minds at one time. But sometimes...just sometimes they entertwine. In this sweet duality, I found a perfect picture of Jesus today.
Sadly, our life is fleeting and ephemeral. None of us is long of this world, but the things of this world will soon pass. A dear friend once told reminded me that we are eternal beings...we won't last forever in this life, but our souls were created to exist into eternity. She mused that perhaps this eternality of our nature is what makes death so painful. Death ultimately has no power over us, for Christ has conquered. As 1 Corinthians 15:55 so boldly declares, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Death is unable to rob us of our life, but because we are created to exist eternally, death brings an unnatural and painful separation.
But the sadness brought by death's separation never comes alone. It is always accompanied by the joy and peace of Christ. We can know that our savior has conquered, that eternity awaits. In this duality of joy and sadness, the Gospel is the most evident. And for those of us who have placed our lives in Christ, we can find hope in the darkest of times, for as Paul wrote in Romans 8:18 "
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
Though sadness and joy may mingle in this life, no suffering we face on earth is worth comparing to the Glory that is to be revealed to us. Therefore, let us walk with Jesus and live with our eyes fixed on eternity.
Friday, March 5, 2010
If I Don't Go Tell The World.
"There are no 4 year old atheists."
I've been going through The Truth Project, an in depth study of a Biblical worldview with my Bible study. The segment that we watched on Saturday night pertained to philosophy and ethics. It focused particularly on our awareness of our relational God, and the sad reality that many around us do not acknowledge His existence, (or if they do believe He exists, they refuse to recognize his relevance).
This topic hit particularly close to home for be because so many people that I'm close to deny the magnificence of God's simply being God. I am surrounded by hopelessness and the belief that this life is all there is, that we live and die and simply cease to be. Surrounded by the belief that life has no purpose, that we're simply products of evolutionary development with no greater calling and no definitive ethical code to bind our actions.
This hopelessness breaks my heart. Our souls are empty and long for connection to something deeper than ourselves.When God doesn't fill that void in our hearts we seek to find our fulfillment in other ways. I know. I've tried it. And it doesn't work.
C.S. Lewis once brilliantly explained this dilemma of humanity's search for joy and fulfillment outside of God in his book Mere Christianity. Lewis wrote, "God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."
As I look around me, I see broken hearts seeking fulfillment while denying the existance of God, whose awesome power, indescribable glory, and unfailing love are the only things big enough to fill the void in our human hearts. They turn to alcohol, parties, rebellion, lawbreaking, drugs, and unhealthy relationships instead, and I see their unbelief destroy them. I want so badly to tell this broken world "There is a God, and He loves you. Jesus died for you. Eternity is for you."
But they won't listen. They cling to supposed "freedom" from the authority of God, and nothing I say has the power to soften hardened hearts. Thank goodness responsibility for salvation doesn't lie in my hands. That's all up to Jesus,and when He moves decisively, the world will finally have their blind eyes opened to the joy of Freedom in Jesus.
Until then, I'll simply tell of the beauty of life with my Savior. Perhaps somehow...someway, my life will turn the eyes of those around me to Jesus. I once heard it explained that "There are no 4 year old atheists" because we are born with an innate sense of our connection to our Creator and our inevitable need for a Savior. Maybe all this world needs is a little reminder of child-like wonder and our innocent realization of the greatness of God. So I'll go tell the world. How selfish am I if I don't go tell the world?
I've been going through The Truth Project, an in depth study of a Biblical worldview with my Bible study. The segment that we watched on Saturday night pertained to philosophy and ethics. It focused particularly on our awareness of our relational God, and the sad reality that many around us do not acknowledge His existence, (or if they do believe He exists, they refuse to recognize his relevance).
This topic hit particularly close to home for be because so many people that I'm close to deny the magnificence of God's simply being God. I am surrounded by hopelessness and the belief that this life is all there is, that we live and die and simply cease to be. Surrounded by the belief that life has no purpose, that we're simply products of evolutionary development with no greater calling and no definitive ethical code to bind our actions.
This hopelessness breaks my heart. Our souls are empty and long for connection to something deeper than ourselves.When God doesn't fill that void in our hearts we seek to find our fulfillment in other ways. I know. I've tried it. And it doesn't work.
C.S. Lewis once brilliantly explained this dilemma of humanity's search for joy and fulfillment outside of God in his book Mere Christianity. Lewis wrote, "God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."
As I look around me, I see broken hearts seeking fulfillment while denying the existance of God, whose awesome power, indescribable glory, and unfailing love are the only things big enough to fill the void in our human hearts. They turn to alcohol, parties, rebellion, lawbreaking, drugs, and unhealthy relationships instead, and I see their unbelief destroy them. I want so badly to tell this broken world "There is a God, and He loves you. Jesus died for you. Eternity is for you."
But they won't listen. They cling to supposed "freedom" from the authority of God, and nothing I say has the power to soften hardened hearts. Thank goodness responsibility for salvation doesn't lie in my hands. That's all up to Jesus,and when He moves decisively, the world will finally have their blind eyes opened to the joy of Freedom in Jesus.
Until then, I'll simply tell of the beauty of life with my Savior. Perhaps somehow...someway, my life will turn the eyes of those around me to Jesus. I once heard it explained that "There are no 4 year old atheists" because we are born with an innate sense of our connection to our Creator and our inevitable need for a Savior. Maybe all this world needs is a little reminder of child-like wonder and our innocent realization of the greatness of God. So I'll go tell the world. How selfish am I if I don't go tell the world?
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