This Week the Trend

I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;
I will praise your name, LORD, for it is good.

PSALM 54:4

I felt so blessed after listening to this song.

Just knowing that other citizens out there desire more moral cleanliness, and goodness in general, is refreshing!

Enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAUMU3QQE6w

Maintain Consciousness

And because of my chains,

most of the brothers and sisters

have become confident in the Lord

and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel

without fear.

Philippians 1:14

What chains have you bore

that has led someone

to become more

confident in proclaiming the gospel?

Worthy of Affection

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;

save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

Lord, O gracious God,

the magnalia Dei reveals Your loving-kindness.

I pray that my tears and my weeping are the result of Your mercy.

Evil stands no chance with You as our Father and Redeemer.

O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;

save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,

lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,

rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;

I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

(Psalms 6:4b, 7:1-2, 9:1)

Here We Are

“A man finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word!”- Proverbs 15:23

When you feel called to say something that glorifies the Lord, say it.

When you feel the urge to do something selflessly for the Lord, do it.

When you feel the love of God pressing on your heart, respond.

If God's leading you, go.

Bad Days Better

“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

- Psalm 27:14

The other morning while I was contemplating over several events in my life that seemingly came at the "perfect time," God provided me with this verse.

God is always good. He is always great with being our best friend, encouraging us every step along the way. He is always wonderful in regards to His act of Husbandry, being the very Rock that we all need. He is always the Superior Father, comforting us when we are lost, hurt, or confused, and guiding us in His best plan.

The verse above does not mean that God is not near, thus we must wait for Him to "catch up." God is always walking with us in life. What God has revealed to me through this verse is that we need to wait until our eyes are opened to the greatness that He has laid before us. He will always reveal more of His plan in HIS perfect time. We must be encouraged by His goodness to know that He has so much more going on "behind the scenes," so that in the best of times and in the worst of times He's got something fantastic up His sleeve.

Like a mother anxiously anticipating the birth of her firstborn, a runner anticipating the finish line, or a painter looking forward to her completed work, sometimes all it takes is a little waiting to see His perfect glory and presence revealed.

Offering

Recently, I have engaged with my brother apartment in conversations relating to complacency on campus. I've found myself frustrated by the lack of drive and true passion to seek out the Lord, and to lay down everything that we have to follow Him. We've recognized that in a community of Christians it can sometimes be difficult to seek what needs to be done for the Kingdom, since essentially, we've created a Commonwealth.

I've learned that I've neglected so much of what God is doing in my heart and life. My soul is not thirsting for Him, but instead I've remained delusional and assume my "cup is always full" since I'm a Bible major, I'm required to go to chapel, and there are so many opportunities on campus for "spiritual uplift and education." I haven't recognized how dry our campus can be when we're swimming in seemingly mandatory Christian activities that don't necessarily contribute to our understanding of true faith. Though there may be tons of opportunities to build in our faith by helping out a boys and girls club, developing organic gardening capabilities and techniques, working on revolutionary research in the science labs, or taking classes in the mountains in order to develop spiritual leadership skills while backpacking, being involved in these activities doesn't suggest that we're giving everything to Him in order to broaden His Kingdom, it just suggests that we're surrounded by over a thousand extremely intelligent twenty-something year olds that have seemingly endless opportunities laying at our feet.

What can we do to truly give up everything in order to follow Him? What truly great things is HE calling us to? Are we participating in these activities to merely build our resume or to actually live ALL FOR HIM?

O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.

-Psalm 63:1-4

Gullible

Most recently one of my professors made our class keep a "time diary" for a week. We were assigned to write down every activity that we participated in, and keep track of how our time was spent through using an analysis method prescribed by the Docta (Dr. Hothem, that is).

Dr. Hothem made us write a follow-up on the results of our data. Everyone was supposed to get something deep and meaningful out of the way that we spent our past week, participating in activities that we "normally" would do if it wasn't being documented.

Fortunately, I learned a lesson.

I found out that even though I find myself spending huge amounts of time studying and participating in fellowship through a holistic mindset (meaning that all aspects of my life are considered "leisure"--my only obligation is to love the Lord with all my heart and body; everything I do is centered around my Savior), I spend a very minimal amount of time one-on-one with God. At first glance at the calculations for the analysis part of our assignment, my response to my own participation was that it was pathetic. What if I treated my earthly husband the way that I responded to Christ this week?-- it helped to make me become more self-aware. How could it be that I only spent approximately 5 hours per week intentionally drawing closer to my Lord when I was spending approximately 26 hours per week participating in "quality study time" in relation to academics? I assumed that the immense amount of time I spend studying to be a missionary and talking about missionary work, somehow equated (and replaced) prayer and devotional time. My bad.

The assignment reminded me that even if we take life through a holistic, God-centered approach, that doesn't mean that we're spending ["enough"] quality time with our Savior. Personally, I am very glad that God was able to use my time diary to help me refocus on my time with Him. I cannot wait to see what is to come of this realization.

How is He calling you to spend time with Him daily?

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

-Ephesians 3:14-19