March162012
In Hosea 6 the Israelites begin to repent and this is what God says to them. “More than I want your sacrifices, more than I want your burnt offerings, more than I want your “I’m sorry’s”, I want you to know me.”
Do we understand that? He doesn’t care who you’ve slept with, what drugs you’ve taken, what situation you’ve been put in, or what you did. We serve a God who wants to know us personally. That’s a heavy, heavy thing. We serve a God who’s jealous for us. He will chase you and chase you and chase you, waiting for you to turn around. He doesn’t relent.
11AM
“the only way we’ll ever stand, is on our knees with lifted hands. make us courageous.”
12AM
I started a new devotional/reading plan a couple days ago. It’s a hundred day long commitment called The Essential Jesus. I’m really excited, it’s all about Jesus obviously. It has passages from both the old and new testament about why Jesus is so significant. It highlights why God sent Jesus, what Jesus taught, how he treated people, why he did miracles, the meaning of his death, the significance of his resurrection, and what the Bible says about his second coming. I love digging deeper.
12AM
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
stop and thank God right now. we are sons and daughters in an unshakable kingdom. he consumes your soul and he consumes mine. he pursues each of us. that’s love. thank him.
12AM
And through all of this, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, no fear, no insecurity, no doubt, no hesitation that will ever, ever stop us. Because we are the sons of the living God, because we are the children of the Almighty, because we are the residents of the kingdom of heaven, and we are soldiers in an army of the immortal. And when we speak life, life happens, and when we speak healing, healing happens, and when we speak truth, truth happens. And when we go take what we found to a dead world, we’ll see it come to life again, and when we take what we found to a hopeless world, we’ll see hope come back. We’ll see the heart of our world start beating again, and we’ll see the color come back into people’s faces. Absolutely nothing will ever stop that. Mountains will move before us, and oceans will part before us, and the dead will raise before us. And the world will know that our God is the God that heals, and our God is a God that lives, and our God is a God that loves, and like anything that anyone has ever felt before, because we are fearless, and because we are His hands, and because we are His feet, forever.
March42012
GOD IS GOING TO BRING YOU OUT PURE, SPOTLESS, AND UNDEFILED, BUT HE WANTS YOU TO RECOGNIZE THE NATURE YOU WERE EXHIBITING—THE NATURE OF DEMANDING YOUR RIGHT TO YOURSELF. THE MOMENT YOU ARE WILLING FOR GOD TO CHANGE YOUR NATURE, HIS RECREATING FORCES WILL BEGIN TO WORK. AND THE MOMENT YOU REALIZE THAT GOD’S PURPOSE IS TO GET YOU INTO THE RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH HIMSELF AND THEN WITH OTHERS, HE WILL REACH TO THE VERY LIMITS OF THE UNIVERSE TO HELP YOU TAKE THE RIGHT ROAD.
12PM
“Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. Solitude begins with a time and place for God, and Him alone. If we really believe not only that God exists but also that he is actively present in our lives - healing, teaching, and guiding - we need to set aside a time and space to give him our undivided attention.” -Henri Nouwen
12AM
“For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 100:5”
March12012
“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7”
6PM
Last night I played worship with our band for the middle school youth group. We played an awesome song that seemed to hit me in a completely new way last night. The song is called “My Future Decided” by Hillsong United. We’ve played this countless times before but seeing God through kids is so different. Anyway, the bridge of this song is cool because the band sings one line and the crowd shouts the next line back. This happens twice. Here’s the bridge…
(band) Aren’t afraid, Aren’t ashamed Lord we know who we are
(crowd) We are your people and we won’t be silent
(band) Unified hear us cry at the top of our lungs
(crowd) You are our God and we will not be shaken
First of all, this bridge is powerful. It’s a reminder that we recognize who our Creator is and that we’re His people and we’re refusing to be silent until every being from one end of the earth to the other is professing to know Him. He is our God and we will not be shaken. To look out into the audience and see young, wide eyed twelve and thirteen year old’s shouting this bridge back to us and to the Lord was indescribable. Maybe it fills me with joy because these kids know and understand who their Savior is at such a young age, something I wasn’t fortunate enough to have.
There is a definite fire in our youthful generation and there is so much hope in that. Watching them sing this song with our band showed me that God reveals Himself to everyone, no matter how small, young, big, or old we are. When He ignites your heart, you know.
