Seasons

Song: Desert Song by Hillsong United

There have been seasons in my life where I have walked closely with the Lord, then there are those seasons where I feel like I haven't felt Him at all. Why is this? If I am going to be real with myself the answer is ME! I fall away from Him. There are countless times where I have felt numb to the truth of mercy, grace, justification and redemption. Why am I not rejoicing in the freedom that Christ gave us? Why can I not see what He is doing in my life? Why am I so worried that He is doing something great in everyone else's life, and not mine? Patience...

There are countless seasons in my life where I have slept walked. Most days I wish that I was out of college so that I could experience what God has for me..thinking maybe he will use me more once I have a degree (: I know I shouldn't have this mind set. I mosied through junior high and high school waiting to be in college. It's my senior year of college now, and looking back, i have done nothing but try to breeze through it without thinking about what God has been teaching me over these last four years in order to prepare me for His future plans. I dont know about you, but I DESIRE to be part of His kingdom's work, waiting is the hard part. I'm sure that when I finally defeat the years of being a single woman (lol) and the Lord (willing) provides a Godly husband for my life, I will be waiting to get married, then waiting to have kids, then waiting till they grow up, then waiting till ... blah blah blah. All these things I DO NOT want to just breeze through and forget about what God is doing in each of these seasons of life. My point is that I DO NOT want to miss out on encountering the Lord daily, I DO NOT want to miss out on what He is doing in this season of waiting- this season of teaching me obedience, discipline, and patience-this season of being single and becoming a woman that fears the Lord and seeks after Him WITH ALL MY HEART!...which happens only with disciple and obedience. This season is a beautiful time with the Lord, a season where I learn His heart, His ways, His desires, His WORD! This is not an easy task, I have to constantly remind myself that I am human and will NEVER get it right. The seeds that the Lord is sowing in my own life now, will be the harvest for tomorrow. Seasons....learn to LOVE them.

I was listening to a podcast yesterday on iTunes that got me thinking about all of this. The speaker was Priscilla Shirer in whom is becoming one of my favorite authors. She was talking about how people in the bible walked with Jesus personally, but missed out on who He was They were actually walking with the KING, but were so easily distracted by their own "world" that they missed out on a season of walking with Him.

Take John 20:11-18..Mary Magdalene returns to the tomb of Jesus, weeping at the fact that her Christ has been put to death. Jesus appears to her, but she thinks He is the gardener. Her eyes were blinded by life's distractions. All Jesus had to do was call out her name. "Mary"...Mary then knew it was Jesus, and believed what the prophets of old said was true, He has risen! Isn't it awesome how "..The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep BY NAME and leads them out." (John 10:3) My desire in reading this passage is that my response daily will be like Mary's when she realized that the Lord was with her..."I have seen the Lord!"..My desire is to have that answer in and out of seasons.

2 Timothy 4:2-"...be ready in and out of season"

Be challenged to seek the Lord in season and out. Know that he is walking with you every step of the way. He is calling us by name daily to do the things of His Kingdom...is your heart in tune to His?

Sovereign Mindset

My old professor, Dr. Meyer, gave our spiritual formation class this piece of paper one day in class. I hope you use this to evaluate your own personal perspective. Just something to consider...

Sovereign Mindset:

-Decisions are tied to habitual prayer life with intentional fervent prayer interludes.

-Decisions are tied to ongoing careful study of the Word. Not tied to nugget theology or proof reading for confirmation of personal agendas. Tied to revelation through ongoing study.

-God's pressing presence in your daily walk which creates an inner sense of urgency to be about His work. It leads you to reach out to those in need regardless of what the need is.

-Peace in adversity

-Evidence of spiritual disciplines and fruit back it up

-Prayer and Power releases: The unexplainable happens in your life.

-You seek double affirmation from wise counsel and affirmation from the Body of Christ

-There is an absence of fear in your decisions. You may be afraid but you are not paralyzed by it.

Temple On Wheels

I have been reading this book called "My Heart's Desire". The theme of it is "living every moment in the WONDER of worship." This book has been one of my favorites so far. The chapter that I just got done reading was so convicting and refreshing at the same time. God totally wrecked my life of worship towards Him after reading this and i would like to share!

Temple= a structure of holiness, a place of worship

1 Cor. 6:19-20=Do you not know that your body is a TEMPLE of the Holy Spirit, who is IN you, whom you have received from God? (this is my favorite part) YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN; YOU WERE BOUGHT AT A PRICE. THEREFORE HONOR GOD WITH YOUR BODY.

In reading the Corinthians, you must remember that Paul is writing to a kind of church that only worshiped on the Sabbath day. Their worship never seeped over into their daily lives. All kinds of immoral and immature activities were going on among the Corinthians, so Paul writes them in letters addressing this sort of lifestyle.

Paul returns to this idea of the body being the temple of God in-
2 Cor. 6:16= And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will DWELL in them and WALK among them. I will be their God, And they shall be MY people."

There is NO ROOM for anything else BUT God to be first in your life. Our bodies are HIS temple, there is no agreement between anything else. Looking back at 1 Cor. 6:20...He has BOUGHT US for the high price of the blood of Christ, and it's only fitting that we become structures WORTHY of that price.

We will never achieve such worthiness, but we can strive for it by spending time with God, Praying for others(Colossians4:12b), Praying without ceasing (1 Thes.5:16-17), Become a living sacrifice with not just ONE area of life but in EVERY area of life (Romans12:1-2), Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS (Philippians 4:4a) and being steadfast in the labor of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58) and many more/].

As one can see, our lives must change dramatically and it must be a DAILY sacrifice if we are to achieve such worthiness, Worthy of being the temple of God

There is a lot more that could be said on this topic, but I want everyone to get this point.

2 Cor, 6:16=I will DWELL in (you) and WALK with (you). I will be (your) God, and (you) shall be my people.

Looking back into the Old Testament, the ancient Israelites used tents as temples. That tent (temple) housed the law of God, the ark of the covenant, and it traveled with God's people and was carefully guarded. In that way, the people had a physical symbol for understanding the holy presence of God that traveled with them. According to Ephesians 5:1-5 and 2 Peter 1:13-14, the tent Peter and Paul are talking about is the human body itself, which points to the point that we HOUSE the temple of a LIVING God. We could think of ourselves as a beautiful temple, a place fit for encasing the law of God, a place where all people can come experience Him, which is one essential element of a temple.

Through you people can experience the living God just as the Israelites did in the old temple that they carried around where God and his laws dwelled. Thats the idea of having the Holy Spirit come live within us. We are the temple of God now, thanks to the grace and love of Christ.

We must remember that we house THE LIVING God within us, we are not our own, we were bought and saved with the blood of Christ. Such a high price that was paid. We are now God's temple, Let's show the world that we "have been entrusted with the secret things of God" (1 Cor. 4:1) and can even be found worthy enough to house His presence. Think about it...what an HONOR it is that we house the LIVING God within us...if that doesnt light your fire, then your wood is wet : )

I know this is probably a very simple note, but it really hit home for me and makes sense in my heart, and i pray that it somehow makes sense in yours. Enjoy