trust

"Too long have we been waiting for one another to begin! The time for waiting is past! ... Should such men as we fear? Before the whole world, aye, before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God... and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God than live trusting in man. And when we come to this position the battle is already won, and the end of the glorious campaign in sight. We will have the real Holinesss of God, not the sickly stuff of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts; we will have a Masculine Holiness, one of daring faith and works for Jesus Christ."
-C.T. Studd (1860-1931)

'Masculine Holiness' aside (for us females, anyway!)... do we really trust God?
Are we using our lives, possessions, and blessings in a way that glorifies Him?
Are we trusting Him with absolutely everything- our friends, educations, and homes?

'Live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.'

not about feelings (guest post)

I met the lovely Emily Hannah at the first qualifier of the season and just found her blog today. She wrote exactly what I needed to hear... 

"I’m going through quite an interesting chapter in life right now. I feel strangely…numb.

I just had the most amazing school year and speech season ever followed by my best summer yet. At each speech tournament I could feel God’s presence right there every second and it was almost like a weight. It felt so good to be nearly crushed by God’s presence, by His glory! I could never adequately explain it to you. I felt the same indescribable feeling of God’s presence at debate camp. I have grown closer to God in the past 7 ½ months that in the previous 16 years altogether.

Now I am going through quite a different thing. I’m not feeling God right there with me every second. I’m not hearing His voice speaking to me as I read His word. This really got me thinking, though. Love isn’t about feeling “in love,” it’s an action. You love someone by putting them before yourself, by working to please them, by paying attention to them and spending time with them whether you want to or not.

Love is not about feeling head-over-heels, madly, passionately crazy about someone. That’s what Hollywood thinks, but feelings don’t last and that’s a huge part of why marriage is nearly obsolete right now. Feeling is what love has become about.

I recently watched the movie, “The Last Song,” and quite enjoyed it. Boys, it’s quite a chick flick, so you wouldn’t like it, but I thought it was sweet. Anyway, at one point the “guy” says to the “girl,” “No one makes me feel like you do.” and us girls’ hearts melt into puddles of sentimental goo. But really? How selfish is that? He “loves” her because of how she makes him feel?

And then it struck me. That’s how I’ve been treating my relationship with God. He made me feel amazing for 7 glorious months and now I don’t’ feel amazing anymore. I was loving God because of how He made me feel. I am SO selfish!! That is not what biblical love or biblical faith is based on.

1 Corinthians 13 describes true love beautifully, as only God can describe it.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

I just read Hebrews 11:1-3 which says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”
The chapter goes on to say, in verse 6, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Have you ever seen two people who are in love? I mean truly, unselfishly in love? If you’ve ever seen that you know that they are constantly trying to please each other and make the other person loved and important. “ And without faith it is impossible to please him.” 1 Corinthians 13 tells us not only how we ought to love other people but also how God loves us, and how we should be loving God. Now Hebrews 11 tells us how to please our Hero, by having faith.

Love is not about feeling, it’s an action. Even during this dry, desert-like season of my life I can be loving God, I can be pleasing Him, I can have faith in Him.

Over and out,~Emily"

prayer

Our Father
Who art in Heaven
Holy is Your name
Your kingdom come; Your will be done
On earth as it is in Heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from the evil one
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
amen.

This is how I pray the Lord's prayer; a strange mish-mash of translations. It's what happens when you memorize it in the NKJV and then read NIV84 and ESV.  Jesus taught it to His disciples after decrying the hypocritical show the Pharisees and teachers of the law pronounced in the streets.

Today we are often told to just tell God everything that's on our hearts and minds. Make Jesus your best friend. I didn't question this until I started to read Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and started thinking about how incredibly, awesomely majestic the God we serve is.
The introduction to The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis is by a friend of Lewis'. He tells the story of an old atheist who met him on his daily walk and taunted him- I  am still going strong at ninety-seven; how is your friend Lewis doing? This friend confided in Lewis at one point, and said he was very tempted to tell our Lord that he thought it very unfair that the atheist should continue living while Lewis was so ill.*

That stopped me in my tracks. He was tempted to tell Jesus something disrespectful.

I think we are often flippant in our prayers. That's a grievous mistake. Not that we shouldn't confess what's on our hearts to God... but He is God. A loving King. Our greatest Friend. But also our Creator, the Judge and the great I Am. When you pray.. love Him. Jesus said that those who love Him will obey Him. Obedience means respect.

Don't stop praying- that's even worse. Don't get so scared of Him that you won't approach Him.  I've made- and make- that mistake. He loves you! We cannot fathom it.
Read the Bible. Read a few Psalms. Read the story of the cross. And you will be blown away when you consider the love story you're seeing across the pages; the romance that occurs across the world every day. 

Watch the sunset tonight. If you go to the beach, breathe in the view. Run through a meadow. Listen to the birdsong like you would a symphony. Take a few minutes to look at the stars and the moon. And sing... You're beautiful.


*Lewis' response: He would say, what is that to you? John 21:22