What’s Going On

Alright, so we sorta skipped out on yall this summer. And not on purpose. At least not at first. We thought we just needed a break. But now we know better. After praying about it and talking it over, Rebecca and I have reached a conclusion. Jen we already knew was getting ready to leave the blog. Both of us have really busy schedules. We felt like we were forcing the blog. So here’s the conclusion we came to:

Last year we were supposed to write a devotional blog for teens. It was where we needed to be, what we felt called to do. This year it’s not what we need to be doing. So we’re not going to. Maybe someday we or someone else will take up the blog, but for now it will lie dormant. Feel free to read through the archives or post to the prayer wall. We’ll try to keep up with any new comments, but there won’t be any new posts. We love yall and will continue to keep yall in our prayers and ask that you do the same. God Bless.

Nothing on my mind…

This doesn’t happen often… I cant tell you how many times I’ve been places and had ideas for the blog. Ill jot them down on napkins, receipts, bulletins, my hand, text them to myself, or just anything. Today….. I have….nothing. Trust me, this is realllllly abnormal for me! I decided to just kinda throw a topic out there and see what you guys think! This is definitely a post that needs comments BC it will be totally pointless without them! With that said, the topic is fasting…. what do you think about it? Does it mean just food or anything? Have you ever done it before? If so, how long? If you fast from food how do you remain healthy? What would be your reason behind fasting?

I’ve tried it some and God seems to really bless it, but I’m still a little new to the idea. Let me know what you think! 🙂

JEN

Lose My Soul

This song has been on my heart and mind latly. Just listen closely to words and think on it a bit.

P.S. All of Toby Mac’s stuff is good just so yall know!

God’s “Foreshadowing”

But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went.-2 Samuel 15:30 (ESV)

So I’m reading the part in 2 Samuel where David flees Jerusalem from his son Absolam. As he leaves Jerusalem I noticed this verse, where he goes up onto the Moount of Olives weeping. And I went, “hold on, Mt. of Olives sounds familiar.” I was pretty sure where it was from, but I went looking anyways, and this is what I found:

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” -Luke 22:39-46 (ESV)

Ok, so now I’m going”WOAH! It’s Foreshadowing!” (Now, here’s a worning for those who don’t know, I am a HUGE geek, and this is the point at which I go all geek on you.) A foreshdowing is a tool that authors and movie producers use to hint at something that happens later on. For example (and this is a really geeky example) Logan’s girl in Wolverine looks a little bit like Jean Grey in the X-men trilogies, this is not an accident, it’s done on purpose because the producers are hinting at something. As a basic rule, if an author/producer includes a very small detail that seems unecessary it’s probably a foreshadowing. All this Geek resoning coupled with the fact that I firmly blelieve God does nothing by accident, leads me to think He was foreshadowing here. Why else would such a minute detail as to where David wept as he left Jeruselm be included? The answer, because God is an Awesome God and He knows the how, when and where of everything. More than that, it is obvious that He left clues all over the place in the Old Testament concerning Christ’s coming, and this is just one more. Ok, Church Geek rambling over. Love yall!

The Lord is Merciful

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust. -Psalm 103:8-14 (ESV)

So I read this the other day and just sat there and was like “wow!” This passage says it so perfectly. God takes away our sins and iniquities. He does not deal with us according to our sins, but according to His love. There isn’t much I can add to this passage, so just read it and think on it.

Sparing the Lord’s Annointed

Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness.’ But my hand shall not be against you. After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea! May the Lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand.” -1 Smuel 24:10-15 (ESV)

This is a very well known Bible story. Practically every Sunday School Class I have been a part of has covered this. Saul was going after David to kill him, but when David was given a chance to kill Saul, he refused. By this point David had already been annointed the next king of Israel and Saul was on the wrpath to kill him. To a human perspective, David had every right to kill Saul. Yet not once, but twice David has Saul in his grasp and he only takes something near to Saul to proove that he means the king no harm. When questioned why he does not kill his rival, David answers that it is not his place, nor does he have the right to harm, much less kill, the Lord’s annointed. See, even though God had rejected Saul as king, Saul was still the annointed king. This whole showdown was not about what was politically smart or pratical, it was about David honoring Saul for the sole reason that Saul was the man God had put in place as king over Isreal. More than that, David had faith in God’s timing. He knew that when the time was right for him to be on the throne, God would deal with Saul in His own way. In fact, when Saul is killed in battle, a man comes to David with the news and claims to have killed Saul himself, Ddavid kills HIM as a reward because that man had dared to raise a hand against God’s annointed.

So I ask you this, if David  could spare his worst enemy because he was the Lord’s annointed and if David could have faith in God’s timing, could you?

To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice

And Samuel said,

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king.” -1Samuel 15: 22-23 (ESV)

In the Old Testament God established a very strict set of laws for His people. These laws included many many sacrifices. It would seem at first glance that what God wants is sacrifices. But that is not what He wants for us. Saul discovers this in 1 Samuel when he keeps out a portion of the spoils of war for “sacrifice” (I’m not convinced that was really the reason) instead of devoting it all immediately to destruction as he had been commanded. Samuel comes to Saul and tells him that what God really wants is obedience.

And I knew it would happen, I now have the Keith Green song stuck in my head so I might as well share it with yall.

“To obey is better than sacrifice
I don’t need your money
I want your life
And I hear you say that I’m coming back soon
But you act like I’ll never return

Well you speak of grace and my love so sweet
How you thrive on milk, but reject My meat
And I can’t help weeping of how it will be
If you keep on ignoring My words
Well you pray to prosper and succeed
But your flesh is something I just can’t feed

To obey is better than sacrifice
I want more than Sunday and Wednesday nights
Cause if you can’t come to Me every day
Then don’t bother coming at all
La,la,la etc.

To obey is better than sacrifice
I want hearts of fire
Not your prayers of ice
And I’m coming quickly
To give back to you
According to what you have done
According to what you have done
According to what you have done”

So what God wants is not meaningless outward motions, He want our hearts!

Is your heart in tune with God?

2 Thes 2:16 May the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace give us eternal encouragement and good hope.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Ephesians 4:29b Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

So, Im going to go ahead and apologize… this post may be a little, “In your face”, but God has been “IN my face” about this lately so Im just relaying the message! 🙂 Here’s the deal… Satan is working overtime. He is using anyone and anything. I’ve realized that he sometimes even uses Christians, Strong ones at this to tear others down. Often times they do not even know it… I heard a speaker talk on this the other day and she made the point of how whether or not it is our “spiritual gift” to be an encourager or not we are still called to do it! Yes, some people are naturally better at it than others. Reality is though…. people are longing for love and one of the main ways we can show them Gods love is through encouragement. What good is saying, “I love you” if you are then saying degrading things towards the person? Absolutely nothing!!! A young girl committed suicide yesterday. I have to ask myself… if someone would have shown her the love of God would she have felt so hopeless? Would she have thought that the only way to handle life was to just end it? I honestly doubt it… I did not personally know her, but i wonder if I had would Gods love have shown through me enough to make a difference? To be totally honest, I’m not sure…. I hope so, but there are many times that I’m sure it wouldn’t. Its worth a thought… We are bombarded moment by moment with lies that we are not worth anything, worthless, and that life is all about us, so when life gets tough it doesnt seem like the only way out is to give up. Do you get this?! People are dying… not just because of natural causes, but also because they feel hopeless and unloved. What are we doing about it? I propose that we change that… I know I’m going to do my best to.

My heart lately…

So, Ive been learning a large amount of things lately and God has been doing AMAZING things in my life, but one of the main things that has been on my mind. How am i finishing? I’m about to be finished with Highschool and how am I finishing? What have I done with the time I had in High school? Some of you may have thought about this, but this is one of the first times that it really seems real to me.

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Can you truly say that? One thing that I realized the other day though is that we do not have to wait until the end of the year, end of a decade, until the end of something big, or even a lifetime. We can ask ourselves this at the end of each day! Do you care that you glorify God with your life each and every day? I do! With that said, I have made it a point that when I lay down in my bed at night to ask myself these questions… I even wrote this verse on an index card and posted it above my bed. This may be something that you have always thought about, but this is one of the first times for me! 🙂

Sheep and Goats

I was thinking about this Keith Green song this morning, so I was looking it up on Youtube, and also found this video of him talking about the song and the Bible passage that inspired it.  The passage is Matthew 25:31-46.  His song is kind of a different take on it than I had ever heard before.  He directly quotes the passage… and adds some.  What I understand his main point to be is, as Pastor Jim says, “We aren’t saved by works, but we are saved to work.”  Anyway, it’s a very convicting, challenging song.  I hope you’ll listen to it.

Here’s him talking about it:

Here’s the song: