always forever

You are the hand that catches my fall
You are the friend that answers my call
You are my day; You are my night
You are my love, and all of my life
-Always Forever, Phil Wickham

I love this song because it is so true. Jesus really is all that matters; our most constant friend, and the love that will continue through eternity.

James tells us that faith without works is dead. The Old Testament prophets brought the Lord's word, crying that He desired our hearts and our service. It's not about the works, it's about the heart that brings those works. Jesus said that if we love Him, if we are His friends, we will obey His commands.
Being grateful for the cross is not enough. Affection for God is not enough. We are called to love- and love means stepping outside our comfort zones. It means breaking long-standing habits that you know are inhibiting your service to Christ. It means taking the opportunities to talk to the broken.
It means giving up our lives. There is something greater than any hobby or interest; Someone greater than any friend or family member, who deserves all of our love and attention.
love Him. serve Him. always forever.

"We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. he is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols."
1 John 5:18-21

"Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
'Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
     the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of teh Lamb has come,
    and His Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
   with fine linen, bright and pure'--

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. and teh angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to teh marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are the true words of God.
'"
Revelation 19:6-9

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

love

Some say grace is an ocean of infinite depth
And love is emotion, that steals away breath
I say grace is the river of blood spilled for me
And love is the Man who was nailed to a tree.

Thankful

How great is our God
Sing with me
How great is our God
And all will see how great,
how great is our God

And age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
The Beginning and the End
The Beginning and the End
The Godhead three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
Lion and the Lamb
Lion and the Lamb
How great is our God!

-Chris Tomlin, How Great is Our God

Take out a piece of paper and write down the name of your closest friend or family member. What is it about them that you love so much? Their smile? Their joy? Their servant's attitude? Their heart for the suffering? The way the sun flashes off her hair when she laughs? The way he slows down when he's thinking? Love, hugs, joy; sacrifice, praise, smiles; service, food, heart. Jesus.
You'll find that this gets easier as you go on. As you write, you'll think of other people and everyday moments that you absolutely love.
They might even come in dirty dishes and your mom chastising you.

Think about grace... how amazing, how deep the Father's love is for us. We deserve eternal suffering, and yet.. we get mothers with a servant's heart and brothers who make us laugh; best friends who finish our sentences and fathers who aren't afraid to say "I love you". We get a sky full of stars and forests of green trees.

He is good.

Perfection

What do I strive for? 


In my idealistic, whitewashed mind, I think, “Jesus! He is all I need, He is who I am called to follow.” But an examination of my days says otherwise. I am lazy, quick to anger, and quick to lash out at others for my mistakes. I disobey my parents, and I disregard the huge blessing of my education in favor of acting like I’m on a vacation that 1, has lasted too long, and 2, doesn’t really exist.  And it’s just the surface of my sin. And as I start to wake up, I realize that doing hard things means actually trying. Crazy, right? But that’s what I’m struggling with right now. 


It’s easy to go to church, read the blogs of other Christians, and hang out in cool home school groups (cough- Teenpact! You should go!- cough) and see everyone there as perfect. It’s easy to look at the incredible people that are our leaders in these places and, without realizing it, put them on a pedestal. In my case, that means watching them a lot and not speaking to them unless they’re all by themselves. (I am definitely not a shy person- just ask my friends- but I do tend to run from new social groups. That’s a form of selfishness… I should be getting in there and edifying my brothers and sisters, not hanging back feeling sorry for myself!)  And yet, when I do talk to them, and listen to what they say… they’re only human. 


Then what about the famous people, our Christian heroes? People like Mother Teresa and Amy Carmichael; C.S. Lewis and Martin Luther. An examination of their lives shows human, sinful people who simply loved Jesus and decided to devote their lives to Him. (And they didn’t devote their lives to Him by singing worship songs and feeling good. They saw what Jesus did and decided to do their faith.) Our Biblical heroes are no different. Abraham lied about his wife in fear. King David fell for Bathsheba. Peter denied Jesus. John the Baptist- the one who was to prepare the way for the Lord, who was blessed with the Holy Spirit from his very birth- called himself unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:10-13 (emphasis mine), “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, of becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it.” Paul, the author of most of the New Testament, called to bring the Good News to the Gentiles, considered himself a sinner- even ‘the chief of sinners’ (1 Timothy 1:16). 


The  only human being in the history of time that has ever been truly perfect is Jesus Christ. And He was God at the same time! If that’s what it takes to be perfect.. I will strive toward it, but I know I will not attain it. Sin has no mastery over those in Christ Jesus, but it will never leave us completely until we are with Him. 
It’s what Paul wrote in the next verse of Philippians 3 that brings me hope and reminds me again of what I am to do. “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 2:8-10

Clarity

As I sit here working on debate (and reading/posting blogs when I take a break), pictures are scrolling past on the TV in front of me. I can see what they are, but each detail is a little fuzzy. I don't realize that my vision isn't 20-20 until I pull on my glasses. It's like the difference between a Muybridge animation sequence and today's incredible 3-D movies. Or the difference between the incredible, charming early photographs and today's gorgeous, detailed pictures of galaxies and hummingbirds.1 

That difference is like our lives with and without Jesus. In the grip of sin, our lives are aimless and unclear. With Him, we are given purpose, direction, and hope.2 

Look at life through the lens of Jesus.  



1. Actually.. my vision isn't that bad. It's more like the difference between movies ten or fifteen years ago and today's HD. What I wrote here was more fun, though...
2.As my Mom is saying reading this over my shoulder, "In Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28

"always one or the other"

Quin is a pretty awesome guy who is involved in several of the homeschool circles I'm in (such as TeenPact, which is amazing). This was pretty darn convicting...

this past sunday i was able to spend some time talking to my buddy, ted bradley. we talked of what God is doing in our lives, and ted explained a very simple, yet profound truth.

here's what he told me, "quin, time and again i am learning that everyone in life either points us to Jesus or somewhere else."

that is challenging to me. how about you? does Jesus permeate your life so much so that you cannot help but point people to the cross of Christ? or do you lead them somewhere else?

you've been given a gift. go share it. and don't lead anyone anywhere but to our Prophet, Priest, and King Jesus.

just thought i'd share. i hope you go share it too.

"for we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake." 

2 corinthians 4:5

Love

"Our love to God is nothing else but the echo of God's love to us." 

-Samuel Annesly

"He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree that is bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me.
Oh, how He loves us so, oh, how He loves us.. how He loves us so."
-John Mark McMillan, How He Loves

"Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." Psalm 106:1
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

I could write pages and pages and pages of Bible verses that describe God's love for us... it is so far beyond human comprehension. He... is beyond words- His love is infinite. Never ending. If His love was an ocean, you could go toward the center at the speed of light for all eternity and never reach the middle of it.
We sink in it. :) Time and time again I  reject Him to His face, choose to ignore that love. And yet, He is mighty to save. His compassion never fails. How on earth can any being have that kind of love? It's.. indescribable.

And I'm supposed to imitate that love? Every day? Even in my own head? Dear God. Trying to apply that love gives a whole new understanding to what "Holy, Holy, Holy" really means, because I'm not it!

Phillipians 1:20-21

Here I am.. blogging. Again. Perhaps I'll actually continue this time. :-)

To begin, I'll tell you about my blog title. I think every title should have meaning. So rather than titling my blog "No Spoon", "42", or "Musings of a Political Rebel" (as I affectionately named my last attempt), I determined that I would start this blog out to the glory of God alone. Since I'm memorizing Philippians with a friend, it seems only appropriate that the title come from there.

Phillipians 1:20-21 says, "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

How true that is! It's the perfect reminder that my life is to be lived for His kingdom- that my own glory does not matter. For me, right now, that means being consistent with my responsibilities ( such as schoolwork, debate, violin, church), obeying my parents, and doing it all as Christ would.
And every time I remember that, I feel a knife in my gut. Oops! Was starting this blog tonight the best choice when I have essays that need to be turned in? Should I really have been baking when I have a debate tomorrow? Would Jesus have spoken to my siblings like that?

In July, an amazing young man passed into his Savior's arms. Every testimony- in blogs, on Facebook, anywhere- following Jimmy Brazell's death was a story of how Jimmy impacted that person's life for Christ. Every word, every thought oozed Jesus. All these testimonies in Jimmy's wake served as a wake-up call for me. What am I living my life for? Would I care so much about this if I were to die tomorrow? What will my legacy be? For Jimmy, to live was Christ, and to die was everlasting gain.

Every second of every day, my every breath should be to serve Jesus. Every word I say should be chosen for His glory. He is all that matters.