Fighting to Finish

The verses Philippians 3: 13 & 14 are widely known, but here’s a refresher: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”

“Forgetting those things which are behind.”

What are those things?

The first thing to forget is past failures. I think we all know how debilitating it can be after we have blown it big time. Maybe there is that one sin that you can’t seem to overcome or you are constantly reminded of the times you allowed yourself to be a coward. Whatever it is, you have to move on. 1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us that if from all unrighteousness. Christ has set us free! If He is for us, who can stand against us?

        

          The second thing to forget is past successes. Maybe that sounds a little odd. But, have you ever met someone who always talked about the great things he is doing; only to find out those successes took place many years ago? He is stuck in the past and often isn’t busy doing great things anymore. The great things we do the first 25 years of our lives does not give us permission to selfishly coast through the next 25 years.

With this said, don’t go and give yourself self-induced amnesia. God clearly gave us a memory for a reason! We can learn from our past mistakes and successes. We learn to better discern our own actions and to warn others with our past mistakes. We can praise God by remembering what He saved us from and how He is changing us into His likeness. We can also gain encouragement from past successes, remembering where God had us and seeing His faithfulness.

But the point is, your past does not define your future.

Maybe a basketball team misses just about every single shot the first half and their defense was absolutely hideous. Do they grovel and quit? If they are serious about the game, they won’t. Giving up is one of the worst things they could do. Instead, they get back in and throw it into high gear. They accept the challenge and fight harder. Finishing requires integrity and strength.

Thoughts of Late

First of all, I apologize for being so lackadaisical in maintaining a consistent flow of posts! Lately I have been quite overwhelmed by life in general, but particularly school.
However, today the Lord has been teaching me some things that I just need to write out and share. I am remembering what was going on last year at this time, how I was in a different season of waiting and was focusing on trusting God and doing the next right thing. As I think back, I looked back at some things that I had written a year ago, including some of the posts on this blog.

Anyway, this is nothing profound, but I just wanted to share with you all a little something. So, a little glimpse into my thoughts lately includes:

~The importance of building spiritual memorials.
Throughout today, I have been thinking back to God's faithfulness, provision, and goodness in my life. I firmly believe that one of the biggest faith-strengtheners is simply recalling God's amazing faithfulness displayed to me personally.
I am reminded once again about the importance of setting up spiritual memorials (Joshua 4:4-7), whether they are written down or not. However, writing them down certainly makes tracing back through them a much simpler task. Not to mention, my memory is certainly aided in recalling all of the beautiful details of God's working.

~The importance of the constant reading of the Word.
Lately, diligence in my daily time in God's Word has truly been a struggle. However, He has been reminding me that my feelings do not change fact, nor do they matter, really! My feeling tired or unworthy or guilty or whatever does not change the fact that I am called to diligently (Hebrews 11:6) pursue my relationship with my God. The Word of God cleanses, convicts, renews, encourages, and equips, and it is God's communication of all that is necessary for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

~The importance of remembering the Cross.

A Change of Direction

The other day my brother and I sat down to watch this "180 Movie". Several friends had told me to watch it, but I had no clue how truly astounding and good it would be. It was better than good. It showed Biblcial truth on abortion, the robbery of human life, so powerfully and beautifully that it brought tears to my eyes.

Not only that, but as people were interviewed and abortion was explained to them in a new light, they started changing their minds...

Pastor and author John Piper had this to say about "180":
“I give my unflinching, joyful, trembling Yes to ‘180’. Unflinching, because it's right. Joyful, because it's good. Trembling, because this our defeated enemy is still vicious.”

Please, take 33 minutes and sit down and watch "180". It's so worth it!
(P.S. Sorry, I couldn't embed the video. The sites that actually sync with Blogspot are blocked on my campus' internet security, and Blogspot unfortunately doesn't feature an "embed" option.)

All Out for Him

This is 2012.

By God's grace I will go all out for Him.

I will be a total "God-nerd" because God is the best thing to be nerdy about. 

If people say that I'm doing it for attention, I will strive to be even nerdy-er! 

I will be a true friend to my friends, and be the iron that sharpens them, if need be. 

If people say I'm a hypocrite, I will be an even sharper iron.

I will let Christ's light shine through me  in this dark world, and make sure that everyone can see something different in me.

If people reject me, or laugh at me, or treat me worse as a result, I will strive to tell them even more. 

I will read God's Word every day and tell as many friends as I can what I learned in God's Word as often as I can.

If people say that I'm just doing it to mark it off the checklist, I will strive to read and share even more.

I will not be selfish with my time, and will be ready and willing to help anyone that has any needs. 

If people say that I need to save my time for schoolwork or music practice, and that serving others with my time is for when you're older, I will strive to find more oppertunities to serve, and give up even more of my time. 

I will pray for my friends and acquantences every day, and remind them that I love them and are praying for them.

If people say that I'm doing to to try to prove my spirituality, I'll pray for them even more and love them even more.

I will go out of my way to talk to my friends about their spiritual walk, and help them if I can.

If people say that I can't help disciple Christians because I'm too young, I'll strive to make an even bigger impact in people's lives.

Why? Why would I do this? 

The answer: I want Christ to be the most important thing in my life, and I want others to have that same focus. 

Lord, you are the CREATOR! You made everything and everyone and have a plan for my life!  WOW!  

In Whatsoever State I Am: Content!

        As 2011 draws to a close, I have been reflecting on all the Lord has brought me through this year. Last year about this time, I was reading several blogs, and I kept coming across the idea of picking a word to live out in the year ahead. As I got to thinking about the idea, I decided that in 2011 I wanted to focus on having contentment. So my theme for the year became "Contentment v. Complacency."  At first, I thought that I would kind of learn about these two concepts through personal study. However, I quickly realized that God knew that I needed to learn about these concepts through circumstances and direct experience.

        The year quickly spiraled into unmanageable busyness as I tried to plan for college, my senior trip to New York City flew by, high school ended, graduation came and went, the summer brought an evangelism trip to the Philippines, the fall took me to my first semester at Bible college, and my mom took a new job and moved across the country last week. Now here we are, at the end of another year. Although 2011 was incredibly packed with changes, it was also a year of waiting. Waiting on college decisions, waiting on high school to end, waiting for scholarships to be awarded, waiting for job applications to be accepted, waiting to see souls (in whom I had deeply invested) saved, waiting to start college, waiting for prayers to be answered, waiting to see my family, waiting to know God's revealed will. 


        It seemed to go on forever. But God knew what I needed to learn. He knew that I needed to experientially find out the difference between contentment and complacency. In all of my seasons of waiting, I had to wait on God to provide  for my needs. And ya know, He always came through! He had a plan far before I did (Psalm 139:16), and He had a lesson in contentment waiting for me far before I even desired to learn it.

        A passage on contentment that I have been studying recently is Philippians 4. I have heard people quote verse 13 many, many  times. However, I never realized that when Paul says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," he is speaking in regard to his finances! He is saying that, regardless of how dismal his bank account may appear at any given time, God is fully able to meet his financial needs for whatever God wants him to do. Paul is thanking the Philippians for giving him financial support as directed by God. He is relaying to his fellow Christians that God has taught him to be joyful with little and how to be responsible with a lot. But, Paul makes it clear that God has taught him to be content in any financial situation. Paul can do this because he is resting in the fact that his God has no limits on His financial ability! 

God's Chisel Remastered

Are you discouraged today? Maybe you're like thousands of others, feeling like God can't use you because of your failures. Like you cannot overcome your own self in order to become more like Jesus Christ. Maybe you're feeling like God isn't near, isn't personal, and doesn't even want to be involved in your life.

Maybe you're feeling like God doesn't care.

Well, He's got news for you. He does care.

Recently I watched this video and was reminded that God can use me, and He wants to use me. However, He can't use me until I am surrendered to Him.

And surrender demands 100%.

GE (College Freshman)

Approaching the King of Glory

Recently, I read Revelation 4 and 5. I encourage you to take the time to read it right now also, before reading my thoughts on it.

After reading those inspired words which were the result of John's revelation, given to him by the one and only Jesus Christ, I had no words. I mean, one one hand, the whole description and picture that comes into my head as a result of those words is awesome beyond description. JESUS is awesome beyond description.

Think about it. What would YOU do if you just had Jesus come to you and show you those things? I think that I would be at a loss for words in GENERAL, so taken aback by the glory and splendour that I just saw!
To think that John actually had to come up with HUMAN words to describe the all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of the universe... what an incredible task! To try to fit the radiance of the pure holiness and beauty of God, the only way John can put it into words is by comparing it to precious stones! How is that supposed to help us?

 Well, the point of this passage (and really the whole book of Revelation) is not to give a step-by-step "how-to-draw God and the angels" (and later on the demons, Satan, the lake of Fire, and the New Heaven and Earth), but rather, to give us the beautiful finished work of art that shows us what it will be LIKE!

But here's and interesting thought: Did it ever occur to you that when you pray, you are actually stepping into the very same throne room as is mentioned in this passage? You, the human being, are stepping into the full radiance of the Glory of God and are talking to Him. Sometimes thrusting His doors open, shaking are fist and yelling at Him.  I think that if we all REALLY understood that this Jesus mentioned in Revelation is the VERY SAME ONE that we love and serve today, we would totally reconsider our place compared to God!

Also, on a broader note: THIS IS THE GOD WE SERVE! For eternity, He WILL have milllions upon millions praising Him and worshipping Him in the purest way possible. God is so worthy! I can't wait for that day! But until that day, how will YOU live in light of this? Where is God on your priorities list? How does He influence your choices?

And finally, will your life be lived in such a way that when your life is over and you're standing in the presence of a Holy God, will you be content with the amount of your life that you gave to the only One who is worthy? In case you missed it, His name is Jesus. The King of Glory.

Jeremy T. (High School Sophomore)

What if...?

"What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?"

This is a common thought in regard to God's plan for our lives. For some reason, many Christians have a tainted view that God did not have our best in mind when He ordained all of our days in His book before one of them even came to be (Psalm 139:16). However, we must realize that He did, and does, have our best interest in mind. Now we merely "look through a glass dimly," contrasting the circumstances of this life to God's loving character. But one day "we will be face to face," and we will know Him fully. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

We so often fail to see that although our humbling wouldn't be our decision, it's there that God's glory shines brightest. When we want happiness, God instead pushes us toward holiness. While God commands us to be content, we still wish for circumstances that would easily lend way to complacency. We want the crown, but our Father gently reminds us that the cross precedes it. We must ask God to teach us to pray His will, not ours. We must ask Him to continually correct our perspectives, and give us a proper view of our own mortal desires in light of His eternal interest. We must be digging through His Word for solid ground to replace the sandy foundation of our souls' desires.