when you’re a dad and you’re doing something grownup-like, such as fixing the pipes or painting the balcony, you tell your kids to stay out of the way. if a burglar shows up at your house you tell them to hide in the closet. that’s the best way for them to help you.
in the same way, when God tells you to lay low, then lay low. it’s probably because it’s the best way for you to help Him.
i’m angry at the fact that this can still make me angry.
my mind immediately generated a million comebacks (some dang good ones too), but……… discipline.
preachin to myself.
- do not bring dishonor to God’s name.
- romans 2:23.
- you being a smartass isn’t going to earn anyone their salvation.
you planted the seed? now water it.
Here’s the thing though, you aren’t going to wake up one day with an amazing ministry. You won’t go to sleep as a regular Christian one night and wake up the next morning as a crazy anointed/talented/powerful/devoted Christian. You aren’t going to wake up one day with hundreds of people at your door wanting Bible studies. You won’t walk into class one day and have all your school mates tell you that they only pretend to be happy, that there home life is miserable, and they need you to show them Jesus. YOU have to make a move. Make it happen.
You want the promises of great ministries to come to pass? Consecrate yourself. In order to hear from God you must recognize His voice. Develop a relationship with Jesus. Establish a prayer life. Walk with Him. When you do that, you can live your life and make choices knowing that He has His hand over you and that He will direct your paths. Wake up young people. Rise up Generation. Let’s be the generation that changes the face of Christianity. Take this as my challenge to myself as well as my challenge to you.
and this quote struck me like a bucket of cold water:
“Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again.”
………
what?
why didn’t i think of that before?
my second semester was a mess. to put it more accurately, i was a mess. i couldn’t figure out what in the world God was trying to teach me. i just kept screwing up in different ways. i found myself thinking “i miss having only one problem to work on at a time. now everything’s so tangled up that i don’t know where to start.”
now that things are quieter i think God’s slowly telling me what exactly happened in the past 4 months…… one of them being: LEARNING TO TRY AGAIN!
AND AGAIN!
AND AGAIN!
clearly it’s something i’m terrible at. i’m more the “try it once then never again” type of person.
still finishing up Mere Christianity, and looking forward to going through all my 2nd semester journals to see what else i missed.
uh, also, still screwing up a lot, mostly mental battles. it’s kind of hard to tell if it’s satan’s strength or my weakness/stupidity that’s causing such struggles. nevertheless, the Spirit can overcome.
Get back up. Don’t believe the lie. Grab His hand, the one always extended. Remember who you’re made to be. Don’t look back.
Satan has a plan too: throw it out the window. Failure doesn’t get the final word. There’s only One who does. You choose that, or not. It’s who you’re becoming.
Every thought on your deathbed hinges on what you do from here. That series of small moments that feel like nothing, those little compromises and consequences that seem reversible: they mean everything. That’s life. Even the grand moments of victory are punctuated by the tilt of your posture, the chin up in pride or the heart bowed in humility.
Defeated again: it happens. Stop running to escape or working to control. Neither works. What matters is what you do now. That’s a matter of who you’re becoming.
…When you were “on fire” and “always felt Him”, was that was a case of connecting with God directly, or in essence, surrounding yourself with God? If you’re on a Christian retreat, listening to Christian music, with other Christians, and hearing a Christian message, you may FEEL really… Christian.
But is this the same thing as being truly connected to God? I don’t think so.
You can dive into a pool, and be surrounded by water, and still die of thirst, if you don’t drink it in.
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