No one would want to be loved out of obligation. I think that's how everyone feels. You wouldn't want your husband to love you just because if he didn't you'd kill him. You wouldn't want your kids to love you just because if they didn't you'd punish them.
"Somehow we think God is different, as if he is pleased when we serve Him because we're required to. He's not."
Think about that.
My opinion is that a lot of us unknowingly do this. Why? Because I can't stress this enough, we are natrually works orientined. Example, what about helping at church? What if we are all required to help in the kitchen, and we do it, and its our good deed for the week? It doesn't count! What about if e commit to reading our bibles every day, but sometimes we're just not feeling it. Is he pleased we read our bible? If not out of love for him, Nope! You see everything we do must be wired to the love of God or it is worthless.
"Yet, Paul says, spiritual giftedness, doctrinal mastery, audacious faith, and radical obedience DO NOT EQUAL the only thing that actually matters to God--love for Him. Without love even the most radical devotion to God is of no value to him."
Wow. Let's look at that list. Spiritual gifts. Thats tricky. Our preaching gifts, our love for others, our compassion and mercy, without love for God, it doesn't mean anything. Our reading of the bible, our delving in to the word, our commitment to the bible, without love for God, it doesn't mean anything. Our going and telling the world about Christ, our willing to be a martyr, our confidince in him, without the love of God, it doesn't mean anything. And lastly, our willingless to follow him and whatever he commands, without the love of God, it doesn't mean anything.
The only thing that matters to God, is that you love him. And that everything you do stems out of your love for him. Looking at this we can see we fail! So remember we cannot think that ANYTHING we do, pleases God, unless we do it out of love for him.
This is where the gospel comes in, the book says. "The gospel, and the gospel alone has the power to produce the love of God in the heart."
Its the truth. You need the gospel to give you the love of God.
"Thus, if you are not where you should be spiritually, the answer is not simply to get busier for Jesus." I really like this statement because again, me and my behavior, pops up in my mind here. I think to myself. "Hey, wait. When I feel like I'm not doing well spiritually I do something. I get busier for Jesus." Why do I do that? Because I am a sinner. And naturally I think that if I did one tiny extra thing, I will be a smigon forgiven.
I'll close with this long paragraph. Make sure you read it carefully. It is encouraging, and warning. Its good to know.
"Always 'begin again' with the gospel. Abid in it; swim in it; make your home in it. See more and more of your life through it. Be absolutely convinced at every moment of every day of the goodness of God in your life. Thats the only way youll every really grow...........Obedience that does not flow from love ends up being drudergy-both to us and to God. The gospel turns that drudgery into delight. It changes us from being slaves who have to obey God to sons and daughters who want to obey God. Again, God is not just after obedience; He's after a whole new kind of obedience---an obedience that is filled with desire.
"In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make you love me more, and nothing I have done that could make you love me less." -JD Greear
~Hannah
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
[spiritual growth] -The Gospel
That last post was amazing for me to share. If your read it, kudos to you. I really spoke to me, and now I'm all excited to continue sharing about my discoveries in the book The Gospel by JD Greear.
The next topic was spiritual growth. This guy just doesn't give you a rest, which is a wonderful thing. Beauty/conviction to Beauty/Conviction. Whew. Amazing.
Well as I said, I had a good length of time where I was spritual"discipline equals works, and so I was figuring out that I was failing. I was doing everything 'right' it seemed but I wasn't growing spiritually. My life wasn't looking any better than it did yesterday, even if I did learn how to love God. Which I warn you is a practice. It doesn't just appear.
I was wondering. Have you ever felt that? Have you ever hit a point in your life where you just said to yourself "I don't feel like I'm growing spritually?" A lot of people do hit this point in their life. I did. Again, my humanistic brain told me that if I learn more about God, perhaps listen to the message, or um, read the bible, then I'd grow spiritually. Nope! I'm sure you've found the same.
So how do you grow spiritually.
The book said this, and I believe it. "Abiding in Jesus."
Deep, right? If I just left it there, we'd probably say, "Yep, heard that one before." and keep looking for another different answer, as Christians often do. Well. The book went into an explanation of abiding in Jesus, and I think we should to. This really touched me, because I was seeing myself in everything I outlines, not half of it good, and realizing I was SO WORK ORIENTED. My gulay it was bad.
[the word for abide is meno in the greek] "The Greek word Meno means literally 'to make your home in'. When we 'make our home' in His Love -feeling it, saturating ourselves with it, reflecting on it, standing in awe of it- spiritual fruit naturally begins to spring up like rose bushes."
So when we focus on God's love for us and appreciate his lovlieness, spiritual fruits will come. You see? Spiritual fruits -love, joy, peace, patience, etc.- CAN'T BE GOTTEN. THE CAN'T BE EXCERSISED by TRYING. No, if you want spiritual fruits, you have to appreciate God's love. Not eat less chocolate, not spending time with the family, not waiting patiently for your turn. Thats NOT spritual fruits. It's NOT TRUE FRUITS. Only by loving God will your life produce REAL Fruit.
"To see spritiual fruits in your life, don't focus primarily on the fruit." This is the first part to a two part statement. This really Got me. THE WHOLE TIME I WAS FOCUSED ON THE FRUIT. In my head I was keeping tally marks. Was I patient, was I self-controlled, was I loving. This lead me to ultimate despair. Why? BECAUSE I'm human! I FAIL! Big surprise there. I kept focusing on how I WASN'T getting the big numbers, and it just bothered me.
"Focus on Jesus acceptance of you, given as a gift to you." There is the second part. Now this. THIS was alien to me. I hadn't heard that one to much. The sermons and messages I'd heard was about repentance and becoming broken WHICH IS WONDERFUL. But I needed this. I needed to know Jesus accepted me. This statement out of context might have upset me, especially awhile back. Why? Because I believe that a person needs to realize repentance and sorrow before gaining acceptance. I'll tell you a fear about this statement that I have. I fear that if I take this statement to seriously, I'll end up with the catergory of people who thought they were going to heaven and didn't. Because if you never repent, never feel sorry, and focus only on acceptance, you so easily will forget the God of Wrath in the old Testament. Thats what I'm afraid of. So thats just something to think about.
YET, all that said, I realize a lot of people, including me need to know the acceptance of God. Maybe your out there repenting of your sins, you don't know how to love God, you don't know why your life isn't producing spiritual growth, and you've just hit a wall of despair. That was me. But there IS HOPE. I found so many answers in this book. I've found so many answers in the bible.
God is listening to your pleas. Ask him to bring you a book, whether is beautiful hand written one, or a tool that helps, such as this book. He his faithful to his children. He accepts them.
"In Christ there is nothing I could do to make you love more, and nothing I have done that could make you love me less." -JD Greear
~Hannah
The next topic was spiritual growth. This guy just doesn't give you a rest, which is a wonderful thing. Beauty/conviction to Beauty/Conviction. Whew. Amazing.
Well as I said, I had a good length of time where I was spritual"discipline equals works, and so I was figuring out that I was failing. I was doing everything 'right' it seemed but I wasn't growing spiritually. My life wasn't looking any better than it did yesterday, even if I did learn how to love God. Which I warn you is a practice. It doesn't just appear.
I was wondering. Have you ever felt that? Have you ever hit a point in your life where you just said to yourself "I don't feel like I'm growing spritually?" A lot of people do hit this point in their life. I did. Again, my humanistic brain told me that if I learn more about God, perhaps listen to the message, or um, read the bible, then I'd grow spiritually. Nope! I'm sure you've found the same.
So how do you grow spiritually.
The book said this, and I believe it. "Abiding in Jesus."
Deep, right? If I just left it there, we'd probably say, "Yep, heard that one before." and keep looking for another different answer, as Christians often do. Well. The book went into an explanation of abiding in Jesus, and I think we should to. This really touched me, because I was seeing myself in everything I outlines, not half of it good, and realizing I was SO WORK ORIENTED. My gulay it was bad.
[the word for abide is meno in the greek] "The Greek word Meno means literally 'to make your home in'. When we 'make our home' in His Love -feeling it, saturating ourselves with it, reflecting on it, standing in awe of it- spiritual fruit naturally begins to spring up like rose bushes."
So when we focus on God's love for us and appreciate his lovlieness, spiritual fruits will come. You see? Spiritual fruits -love, joy, peace, patience, etc.- CAN'T BE GOTTEN. THE CAN'T BE EXCERSISED by TRYING. No, if you want spiritual fruits, you have to appreciate God's love. Not eat less chocolate, not spending time with the family, not waiting patiently for your turn. Thats NOT spritual fruits. It's NOT TRUE FRUITS. Only by loving God will your life produce REAL Fruit.
"To see spritiual fruits in your life, don't focus primarily on the fruit." This is the first part to a two part statement. This really Got me. THE WHOLE TIME I WAS FOCUSED ON THE FRUIT. In my head I was keeping tally marks. Was I patient, was I self-controlled, was I loving. This lead me to ultimate despair. Why? BECAUSE I'm human! I FAIL! Big surprise there. I kept focusing on how I WASN'T getting the big numbers, and it just bothered me.
"Focus on Jesus acceptance of you, given as a gift to you." There is the second part. Now this. THIS was alien to me. I hadn't heard that one to much. The sermons and messages I'd heard was about repentance and becoming broken WHICH IS WONDERFUL. But I needed this. I needed to know Jesus accepted me. This statement out of context might have upset me, especially awhile back. Why? Because I believe that a person needs to realize repentance and sorrow before gaining acceptance. I'll tell you a fear about this statement that I have. I fear that if I take this statement to seriously, I'll end up with the catergory of people who thought they were going to heaven and didn't. Because if you never repent, never feel sorry, and focus only on acceptance, you so easily will forget the God of Wrath in the old Testament. Thats what I'm afraid of. So thats just something to think about.
YET, all that said, I realize a lot of people, including me need to know the acceptance of God. Maybe your out there repenting of your sins, you don't know how to love God, you don't know why your life isn't producing spiritual growth, and you've just hit a wall of despair. That was me. But there IS HOPE. I found so many answers in this book. I've found so many answers in the bible.
God is listening to your pleas. Ask him to bring you a book, whether is beautiful hand written one, or a tool that helps, such as this book. He his faithful to his children. He accepts them.
"In Christ there is nothing I could do to make you love more, and nothing I have done that could make you love me less." -JD Greear
~Hannah
Thursday, December 27, 2012
~The Gospel~
Hello!
Merry Christmas :) I know its already to late and I am quite aware that its after Christmas BUT I just figured better late than never.
Anyways, I've realized I haven't been blogging a lot. MAYBE I'm not blogging to anyone and the only people looking at it is my family. HA! What a possibility. But So many times, I remind myself that this is partly my journal. About God and about life. I've been very busy, but I've found that I always come back to journaling, even after months. :) Hopefully I'll have time in the next coming year...probably not. xD
NOW. "
I want to get to my major topic. As you can see my title is 'The Gospel'. Lately, I've been reading a book called 'The Gospel' (who would have thought) and so I decided to share my discoveries. There are times in everyones spiritual life that they hit these horrible mind-boggaling questions. That happened to me, BUT thanks to the grace of God. I found some answers in this book. I would recommend this book to everyone, because it essentially outlines the gospel. I haven't read it all yet, but just the first four chapters have opened my mind. So I encourage you to purchase the book AND read (:)) the book 'The Gospel' by JD Greear.
I'll start with a few quotes and then talk about them. More posts should follow this one (hopefully) :D
The first thing I stumbled upon in this book was The missing Gospel. That is the first chapter. Truthfully at that point I was ready to assume this was like all other books I've read. I am usually wrong about that type of thing though.
The first thing that I highlighted in that chapter was the phrase "having the truth captivate your soul is quite another thing." In the book he was talking about being able to articulate the gospel vs. the phrase above. Why did I outline this? Why did it catch my eye? Because of this: having the truth captivate your soul is probably what is preached EVERYWHERE. Preachers will say this in 100 different forms. I think the problem is, is that when Christians hear that they get thirsty for the Word. They WANT the truth of the gospel to captivate their soul. That was what I felt. I thought to myself "Thats such a beautiful phrase. I don't feel like that, I don't know whether I ever have. How can I feel like that?" Ever felt that way? I did. In past experiences I would just walk away saying, "great. Lovely message. but I didn't understand HOW to get that. He never outlined that." Yet, as I went on the truth was yet to come. :)
The next quote that I highlighted was "The goal of the gospel is to produce a type of people consumed with a passion for God and love for others." Wow. Another beautiful quote. I believe this statement truly and I'm glad the writer outlined that for me. How might this connect to the previous statement thought? Well, how can we 'feel' that our soul has been captivated by the gospel? BY having a passion for God! and a love for others. THATS THE ANSWER! The way that the gospel can captivate the soul is by having a passion for God. BECAUSE by having that passion for God, the gospel will have succeeded in captivating your soul. Wonderful!
Although the answer was an excellent one, it took my hyped-up self right back to another road-block. That road block was another question. Great.
How do we get a passion for God and a love of others? Hard question. I'll tell you now, I've been bothered with this question for a LONG time. Half the time I ignored it, half the time I toiled in vain to try and get it. Remember my post about how we can't love humanly love God? It was once of my first spiritual posts. You should read it again and perhaps come back to this one. It basically outlined that because we are human we CAN'T love God. You'll hear that forever. We are SO sinfully we can possibly love God. God doesn't need us. God chose us. It's all out of our hands. Well then, how do we love God? How do we get a burning passion for him?
I'll tell you how-not-to. This came out of my own experience. As a human, we are naturally by-works-oriented. Stating that we think that what we do can earn us exactly what we need. It wasn't intentional, my doing this. And till now, I didn't even know I was doing it. Well I believed that if I read my bible and prayed I'd magically get a passion for God. Isn't that the right way? I do believe that ultimately spending time with God IS the way to get a passion for God. But not the way I was doing it. Why? Because I was doing it without a loving heart or a desire. I'm TELLING you, its SOOOO EASY to think your doing your spiritual disciplines for the right reasons. But OUR HEARTS or DECEIVING. You may learn something from your bible, you may talk to God, but without A TRUE DESIRE, it's all in vain. So, for a long time I thought I was fine. But I figured it out. And the moment I did. BAM! EUREKA! I KNEEEEEWWWWWWWW NOW! My heart wasn't in it. Why? Because I didn't LOVE GOD. So I couldn't get a burning passion for Him! DUH!
It's hard to realize that you don't love God. Most people should feel that all the time. Because every time we sin we are declaring our hatred for God. SO, we repent.
So. Now we know how-not-to get a burning passion for God. NOT by spiritual disciplines. Thats the easiest to fall into. "works" usually is put in the bad light. But spiritual discplines? Reading your Bible? Praying? Are these works? YES. Who would have thought. The devil is very clever.
How though? How do we love God? Because if we love God we will have a passion for him? This question has put me in despair a lot of times. I just don't understand. I can't love God humanly. Nothing that I do will ever get me there. So...I waited for God to show up. Just waited... continued with my life. He has to give me an answer if I keep praying and doing bible reading? I was praying for an answer? HOW CAN I LOVE GOD?
Then I stumbled right to this book. And who would have thought it would have a section called "How do we learn to love God." .....
The first Eureka moment I found was not even talking about God. It was the man talking about it wife. Human example, for a human mind. God works in such wonderful ways. Ways we can understand. The quote was this "Being commanded to love someone you have no natural affection for becomes wearisome. True love grows as a response to lovliness. The first time I saw my wife, I felt the beginnings of love for her. The more I've gotten to know her over the years, and the more I've seen of her beauty, the more I've grown to love her."
What a wonderful story! When I read this I almost screamed! I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT! 2 points stuck out to me. 1. that when I was commanded to love God it became wearisome. My routine was wearisome. That was the old me. 2. TRUE LOVE GROWS AT A RESPONSE TO LOVLIENESS. I never thought of it that way! That example opened my mind a good bit so I could see clearer. I wasn't aprreciating the love of God and focusing on his lovileness. I was focusing on the fact that God wants me to repent or else damnation. BUT NO! Its his loviness I need to focus on.
"...the command can only truly be fulfilled as our eyes are opened to see God's beauty revealed in the Gospel. The Spirit of God uses the beauty of the gospel to awaken in our hears a desire for God."
Wow. It stunned me. I hope it stunned you to. THIS, my friends, IS TRUTH. Everyone should hear it. Everyone should know. THIS IS LOVE. GOD'S LOVE FOR US IS OUR LOVE FOR HIM.
I hope today you will thank God for loving you, and honestly appreciate his lovliness. Then Repent, be forgiven and live as his child.
"In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes me love you less."
~hannah
Merry Christmas :) I know its already to late and I am quite aware that its after Christmas BUT I just figured better late than never.
Anyways, I've realized I haven't been blogging a lot. MAYBE I'm not blogging to anyone and the only people looking at it is my family. HA! What a possibility. But So many times, I remind myself that this is partly my journal. About God and about life. I've been very busy, but I've found that I always come back to journaling, even after months. :) Hopefully I'll have time in the next coming year...probably not. xD
NOW. "
I want to get to my major topic. As you can see my title is 'The Gospel'. Lately, I've been reading a book called 'The Gospel' (who would have thought) and so I decided to share my discoveries. There are times in everyones spiritual life that they hit these horrible mind-boggaling questions. That happened to me, BUT thanks to the grace of God. I found some answers in this book. I would recommend this book to everyone, because it essentially outlines the gospel. I haven't read it all yet, but just the first four chapters have opened my mind. So I encourage you to purchase the book AND read (:)) the book 'The Gospel' by JD Greear.
I'll start with a few quotes and then talk about them. More posts should follow this one (hopefully) :D
The first thing I stumbled upon in this book was The missing Gospel. That is the first chapter. Truthfully at that point I was ready to assume this was like all other books I've read. I am usually wrong about that type of thing though.
The first thing that I highlighted in that chapter was the phrase "having the truth captivate your soul is quite another thing." In the book he was talking about being able to articulate the gospel vs. the phrase above. Why did I outline this? Why did it catch my eye? Because of this: having the truth captivate your soul is probably what is preached EVERYWHERE. Preachers will say this in 100 different forms. I think the problem is, is that when Christians hear that they get thirsty for the Word. They WANT the truth of the gospel to captivate their soul. That was what I felt. I thought to myself "Thats such a beautiful phrase. I don't feel like that, I don't know whether I ever have. How can I feel like that?" Ever felt that way? I did. In past experiences I would just walk away saying, "great. Lovely message. but I didn't understand HOW to get that. He never outlined that." Yet, as I went on the truth was yet to come. :)
The next quote that I highlighted was "The goal of the gospel is to produce a type of people consumed with a passion for God and love for others." Wow. Another beautiful quote. I believe this statement truly and I'm glad the writer outlined that for me. How might this connect to the previous statement thought? Well, how can we 'feel' that our soul has been captivated by the gospel? BY having a passion for God! and a love for others. THATS THE ANSWER! The way that the gospel can captivate the soul is by having a passion for God. BECAUSE by having that passion for God, the gospel will have succeeded in captivating your soul. Wonderful!
Although the answer was an excellent one, it took my hyped-up self right back to another road-block. That road block was another question. Great.
How do we get a passion for God and a love of others? Hard question. I'll tell you now, I've been bothered with this question for a LONG time. Half the time I ignored it, half the time I toiled in vain to try and get it. Remember my post about how we can't love humanly love God? It was once of my first spiritual posts. You should read it again and perhaps come back to this one. It basically outlined that because we are human we CAN'T love God. You'll hear that forever. We are SO sinfully we can possibly love God. God doesn't need us. God chose us. It's all out of our hands. Well then, how do we love God? How do we get a burning passion for him?
I'll tell you how-not-to. This came out of my own experience. As a human, we are naturally by-works-oriented. Stating that we think that what we do can earn us exactly what we need. It wasn't intentional, my doing this. And till now, I didn't even know I was doing it. Well I believed that if I read my bible and prayed I'd magically get a passion for God. Isn't that the right way? I do believe that ultimately spending time with God IS the way to get a passion for God. But not the way I was doing it. Why? Because I was doing it without a loving heart or a desire. I'm TELLING you, its SOOOO EASY to think your doing your spiritual disciplines for the right reasons. But OUR HEARTS or DECEIVING. You may learn something from your bible, you may talk to God, but without A TRUE DESIRE, it's all in vain. So, for a long time I thought I was fine. But I figured it out. And the moment I did. BAM! EUREKA! I KNEEEEEWWWWWWWW NOW! My heart wasn't in it. Why? Because I didn't LOVE GOD. So I couldn't get a burning passion for Him! DUH!
It's hard to realize that you don't love God. Most people should feel that all the time. Because every time we sin we are declaring our hatred for God. SO, we repent.
So. Now we know how-not-to get a burning passion for God. NOT by spiritual disciplines. Thats the easiest to fall into. "works" usually is put in the bad light. But spiritual discplines? Reading your Bible? Praying? Are these works? YES. Who would have thought. The devil is very clever.
How though? How do we love God? Because if we love God we will have a passion for him? This question has put me in despair a lot of times. I just don't understand. I can't love God humanly. Nothing that I do will ever get me there. So...I waited for God to show up. Just waited... continued with my life. He has to give me an answer if I keep praying and doing bible reading? I was praying for an answer? HOW CAN I LOVE GOD?
Then I stumbled right to this book. And who would have thought it would have a section called "How do we learn to love God." .....
The first Eureka moment I found was not even talking about God. It was the man talking about it wife. Human example, for a human mind. God works in such wonderful ways. Ways we can understand. The quote was this "Being commanded to love someone you have no natural affection for becomes wearisome. True love grows as a response to lovliness. The first time I saw my wife, I felt the beginnings of love for her. The more I've gotten to know her over the years, and the more I've seen of her beauty, the more I've grown to love her."
What a wonderful story! When I read this I almost screamed! I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT! 2 points stuck out to me. 1. that when I was commanded to love God it became wearisome. My routine was wearisome. That was the old me. 2. TRUE LOVE GROWS AT A RESPONSE TO LOVLIENESS. I never thought of it that way! That example opened my mind a good bit so I could see clearer. I wasn't aprreciating the love of God and focusing on his lovileness. I was focusing on the fact that God wants me to repent or else damnation. BUT NO! Its his loviness I need to focus on.
"...the command can only truly be fulfilled as our eyes are opened to see God's beauty revealed in the Gospel. The Spirit of God uses the beauty of the gospel to awaken in our hears a desire for God."
Wow. It stunned me. I hope it stunned you to. THIS, my friends, IS TRUTH. Everyone should hear it. Everyone should know. THIS IS LOVE. GOD'S LOVE FOR US IS OUR LOVE FOR HIM.
I hope today you will thank God for loving you, and honestly appreciate his lovliness. Then Repent, be forgiven and live as his child.
"In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes me love you less."
~hannah
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
~Recent happenings~
So.
I haven't posted for a REALLLY LONGGGG time. Now, we must look at that in a positive view because then I'll have more to tell, right? Thats...one..way... :D
Well. Here I am. In Michigan, and LOVING>>>>>it. The fall was so beautiful here, I wish I could have taken pictures. The trees were vibrant. :) We already made leaf decorations for the house, and have all of our fall stuff out. I have found Michigan, above all peaceful, and I've probably said that a LOT. But if I ever told the truth, its that. PEACE MAN! Just being outside in the quiet, in the country. Looking to your left and seeing horses, straight forward and seeing forests. Very inspirational. :)
I've been doing a lot of things, and a lot of things have been done, so I couldn't name everything that's happened to me. Awana, (yes, Awana) is still a huge part in my life. I'm getting my meritorious award at the end of this year, and that really exciting for me. One step closer to my citation award. I have NO worries at all of getting it. Also, I'm composing a song for my summit awana competition in march, getting a great head start. I'm going for gold or judges choice, last year I got silver, so I'm shooting higher. I think the song has potential to be gold, I just have to play it perfectly. You'd think I'd be able to play a song I wrote perfect... guess again ;) Lia, Sophia, and Isaac are all in club with me this year. Its been so much fun. Issac is a verse killer as his sisters, which I was REALLY surprised at. I thought I'd be grinding my teeth getting him to memorize his book. Well, he's finished, and they're telling me he's going to fast (who woulda thought? :). So...I have slow down. Lia, is doing amazing to, really stepping it up from last year. She's finishing her book within two weeks. Sophie is well on her way to! So, yeah, thats been amazing for me to be apart of it. :D
Donna is gone with life action. And I miss her so much. Yep. BUT, she is having a great time. Right now she's at disney world for her free day. She saw two stray alligators while in florida too! She's making great friends and having a great time working in the ministry. She loves singing there and loves the people she meets. Me...I'm at home. Obviously. But me and my mom have been having fun. ;) And we've all had a new experience through this.
Two weeks ago, I had a very brief visit to chicago, three days or so. We got to stay with my aunt and uncle. That was fun, and it was the first time I got to be with the young children all by myself (with aunt and uncle). It was interesting. I also got to see my sam friend and that was SO awesome :)
Here are some photos from our recent adventures :)
 |
| {In Chicago, we went to the Chicago Botanical Garden. Beautiful!} |
 |
| {BONSAI!} |
 |
| {This is part of my room. Quite messy and not the best photo, but the colors work. I love those colors. xD xD Honestly, my room is amazing. Like MAJORLY } |
 |
| {She'll kill me for putting this on. UNDERWATER SUMMER FUNNNN!!!} |
 | ||||
| {Last family picture before she left :) Pretty? I thinks so :) } |
So thats it for now.
{Have an awesome day, and may everything you do be for HIS glory}
~hannah
Sunday, July 22, 2012
~Surrendering to God~
Greetings!
Like that beginning? Haha I was thinking of my old latin lessons, and thought that its funny how they used to say 'greetings' as their normal 'hello'. It was really random, but 'hello' just seems so boring when you say it every single post. So yes, greetings on the sabbath day! {LOL!}
Anywhoo, I thought, I should blog. So here I am, and I was just thinking about what it means to surrender yourself to God. Then I thought, well what happens if you don't? And I found interesting answer that I'll share with you today.
So in the post about Luke Nineteen, I talked about how we are Gods enemies, and about surrendering to God, repenting, turning up your white flag and just really leaving your sin army. I encourage you to read that post again, and just think about the concept. Because the Bible says, " "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." We know God doesn't 'just say things'. Really, it could come anytime, especially with the state of this world. We don't want to be enemies of God when he comes. So lets prepare our hearts so we're not his enemies when he comes.
In this post I'll really be talking about what happens we don't listen to God. As you can imagine the condition your left in is devastating. So lets no waste time!
I'll begin with a scripture verse that is our answer for today. I found this in Psalm 81:11-12, "But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in their own devices."
The bible can't be more clear than this! What happens when we don't listen? He says MY PEOPLE did not listen to MY VOICE. We can hear God's word everyday, but are we truly listening? I'm guilty of not listening. In my sin, I zone out all to easily. Most of us can, AND THAT is what SATAN wants. For us NOT to listen to God calling us, because he is. BECAUSE he LOVES us. Praise God now and give thanks to him because he loves us.
Here is the horrible part. This is WHAT WILL and HAS happened to those who ignore the Holy God Of The Universe. We'll look at this in two parts. First, "So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart" The LORD GOD gives us Over to our FLESH. How much more sobering does this get? This is where we need to listen! We've seen what happens when we are given into our own FLESH. Look at the culture! Look at our Spiritual state! Do we even have a spiritual state? Or are we Godless? We ALL know the HEART is deceitful. The bible tells us that. In a message by Tim Keller he gives us an example of how the heart is deceitful. "My mind says 'I just did that!' my Pride says, 'I couldn't have done that.' When that happens, we succumb to pride, because no one wants to be bad. Its the worst part. Giving us over to that sin is horrible, because TO US, IN OUR SINFUL NATURE, that feels good. While we are repelled by the thought of hurting our God, there is a reason we still sin. And thats because of our sin nature. WE LOVE the SINFUL PART of us. Being Children of God, we have to defeat that. With Christ we can defeat that. Secondly, this SHOULD scare us. "To walk in their own devices." We are living examples of what happens when you live to your own devices. Look at the world today. Their is Hate, Anger, Bitterness, Immorality. You know why? Because each of us has CHOSEN to walk alone. HERE GOD SAYS HE WOULD LEAVE THEM to WALK their OWN devices. There can be nothing scarier than walking ALONE in this sinful earth. THINK about that.
Also, this is IN NO WAY, God's fault. He says in verses 13 and 14, "Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in my ways! I would quickly subdue their enemies, And turn my hand against their adversaries." God Offers us this, but clearly WE DONT LISTEN.
So this is one example of what happens to us when we don't listen to God. This is scary, and real, it happens to everyone! I know I experienced this! Its called backsliding. We sin when we don't listen to God. I don't know about you, but there have been times when I've known my heart was being stubborn and I didn't listen. When that happens, my life changes. I'm more Impatient, I don't want to do what Gods saying, I'm not kind. Maybe no ones else notices, but I notice. Why am I acting like this? Because I have a broken relationship with God right now, and I need to fix it. You have to tell yourself, maybe Gods letting me walk alone, and maybe I'm realizing that when I walk alone, I fail. Everything changes. WE NEED TO SURRENDER TO GOD. If we call ourselves God's children, we have to do everything possible to surrender to God. Surrendering to God make us humble. So lets SURRENDER to God today.
I'll close with this quote. Unfortunately, I don't remember exactly who quoted it. But here it is:
"You Can Not Enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless you surrender the part of yourself that you don't want to give up. For the Lord must be Lord of ALL, for you to enter into His Gates."
Each of us struggles with different sins. You KNOW your sin. God KNOWS your sin. Whether its just you two, or its obvious, ITS STILL SIN. Let us surrender our secret sins that we cling to and let Jesus Christ be LORD of all. AMEN?
"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"
~Hannah
Hope your day is awesome, and may everything you do be for HIS glory.
Like that beginning? Haha I was thinking of my old latin lessons, and thought that its funny how they used to say 'greetings' as their normal 'hello'. It was really random, but 'hello' just seems so boring when you say it every single post. So yes, greetings on the sabbath day! {LOL!}
Anywhoo, I thought, I should blog. So here I am, and I was just thinking about what it means to surrender yourself to God. Then I thought, well what happens if you don't? And I found interesting answer that I'll share with you today.
So in the post about Luke Nineteen, I talked about how we are Gods enemies, and about surrendering to God, repenting, turning up your white flag and just really leaving your sin army. I encourage you to read that post again, and just think about the concept. Because the Bible says, " "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." We know God doesn't 'just say things'. Really, it could come anytime, especially with the state of this world. We don't want to be enemies of God when he comes. So lets prepare our hearts so we're not his enemies when he comes.
In this post I'll really be talking about what happens we don't listen to God. As you can imagine the condition your left in is devastating. So lets no waste time!
I'll begin with a scripture verse that is our answer for today. I found this in Psalm 81:11-12, "But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in their own devices."
The bible can't be more clear than this! What happens when we don't listen? He says MY PEOPLE did not listen to MY VOICE. We can hear God's word everyday, but are we truly listening? I'm guilty of not listening. In my sin, I zone out all to easily. Most of us can, AND THAT is what SATAN wants. For us NOT to listen to God calling us, because he is. BECAUSE he LOVES us. Praise God now and give thanks to him because he loves us.
Here is the horrible part. This is WHAT WILL and HAS happened to those who ignore the Holy God Of The Universe. We'll look at this in two parts. First, "So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart" The LORD GOD gives us Over to our FLESH. How much more sobering does this get? This is where we need to listen! We've seen what happens when we are given into our own FLESH. Look at the culture! Look at our Spiritual state! Do we even have a spiritual state? Or are we Godless? We ALL know the HEART is deceitful. The bible tells us that. In a message by Tim Keller he gives us an example of how the heart is deceitful. "My mind says 'I just did that!' my Pride says, 'I couldn't have done that.' When that happens, we succumb to pride, because no one wants to be bad. Its the worst part. Giving us over to that sin is horrible, because TO US, IN OUR SINFUL NATURE, that feels good. While we are repelled by the thought of hurting our God, there is a reason we still sin. And thats because of our sin nature. WE LOVE the SINFUL PART of us. Being Children of God, we have to defeat that. With Christ we can defeat that. Secondly, this SHOULD scare us. "To walk in their own devices." We are living examples of what happens when you live to your own devices. Look at the world today. Their is Hate, Anger, Bitterness, Immorality. You know why? Because each of us has CHOSEN to walk alone. HERE GOD SAYS HE WOULD LEAVE THEM to WALK their OWN devices. There can be nothing scarier than walking ALONE in this sinful earth. THINK about that.
Also, this is IN NO WAY, God's fault. He says in verses 13 and 14, "Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in my ways! I would quickly subdue their enemies, And turn my hand against their adversaries." God Offers us this, but clearly WE DONT LISTEN.
So this is one example of what happens to us when we don't listen to God. This is scary, and real, it happens to everyone! I know I experienced this! Its called backsliding. We sin when we don't listen to God. I don't know about you, but there have been times when I've known my heart was being stubborn and I didn't listen. When that happens, my life changes. I'm more Impatient, I don't want to do what Gods saying, I'm not kind. Maybe no ones else notices, but I notice. Why am I acting like this? Because I have a broken relationship with God right now, and I need to fix it. You have to tell yourself, maybe Gods letting me walk alone, and maybe I'm realizing that when I walk alone, I fail. Everything changes. WE NEED TO SURRENDER TO GOD. If we call ourselves God's children, we have to do everything possible to surrender to God. Surrendering to God make us humble. So lets SURRENDER to God today.
I'll close with this quote. Unfortunately, I don't remember exactly who quoted it. But here it is:
"You Can Not Enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless you surrender the part of yourself that you don't want to give up. For the Lord must be Lord of ALL, for you to enter into His Gates."
Each of us struggles with different sins. You KNOW your sin. God KNOWS your sin. Whether its just you two, or its obvious, ITS STILL SIN. Let us surrender our secret sins that we cling to and let Jesus Christ be LORD of all. AMEN?
"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"
~Hannah
Hope your day is awesome, and may everything you do be for HIS glory.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
~Person Life Verse~
Hello,
Well since I'm actually blogging, I figured, I should get in a short spiritual blog post in before I decide I'm not going to post for awhile. Here it goes :)
So lately I've been reading Psalms for my devos. Most people look at Psalms as a praise book, which it is. But personally I found its a repentance book. How? Well throughout Psalms, at least up to about fifty, you'll see the praise psalms. While pretty much every book tells of his greatness, there are different ways in telling of his greatness. For example, of course, when you are blessed, you will rejoice. But also when you are in great despair, you well proclaim the majesty of God. But what you will notice is that in Psalms they aren't all blessing Psalms. Many times David cries in despair and in agony, begging for God to forgive him.
Psalm 5:1-2 "Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to Thee I do pray."
As you can see here, David is praising God, (my King and my God, For to Thee I do pray), but also begging God to hear him. What is repentance other than begging for forgiveness? Other than being sorry for our sins? Other than asking him to hear us? Other than admitting we are weak? David was OUR example. He was the man after God's heart! In psalms we are basically getting examples of how to repent! We are seeing how a distressed man calls to God when's he's sinned and begs for forgiveness!
All this reading of Psalms led me to another life verse. Right now, I have three. Isaiah 59:1which gives you hope when your in Repentance! Mark 2:17 That Jesus came to call the sinners to Repentance, and not the righteous. And now this: Psalm 30:5.
PSALM 30:5
"For His anger is but for a moment, His favor for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning."
A verse of hope. Hope in life and in repentance.
When you are repenting, when you are contrite, you feel as if you don't have hope. When you despair, you feel like, why try? But THIS VERSE COVERS THAT. It is a comforting verse to the Children of God. We are supposed to FEEL his ANGER for our sin. That feeling humbles us. But Guess what? HIS ANGER IS BUT FOR A MOMENT. THAT MOMENT. that moment when we are supposed to feel everything! His wrath! Hopelessness! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO FEEL THAT! But just FOR A MOMENT. And then: His Favor is for a lifetime. A lifetime guys. Our little span of maybe 90 years. His FAVOR is forever. HE IS FAITHFUL. Our God is SO faithful. No matter how down we feel, if we've won his favor- trusting and inviting him into our hearts-, he PROMISES its for a lifetime. Do you hear that? The God of this universe, promised YOU his favor. Thats the great things about our Holy God. As his children we are promised favor. We may WEEP when he punishes us, but then he promises us something else. He promises us JOY. Not petty joy, you got a present. REAL JOY that only can be found in him.
Is this not great news? If you are a Child of God, troubled by your sins, know this: His anger is but for a moment, you may cry and struggle, you may feel helpless! But His favor, His LOVE is forever. As long as you live. TILL your last breath. YOU HAVE his FAVOR.
Hope in God. Trust in God. Rejoice in God. Thank God, for He has given us the gift we don't deserve!
Hope you have an awesome day, and may everything you do be for HIS glory.
~Hannah
Well since I'm actually blogging, I figured, I should get in a short spiritual blog post in before I decide I'm not going to post for awhile. Here it goes :)
So lately I've been reading Psalms for my devos. Most people look at Psalms as a praise book, which it is. But personally I found its a repentance book. How? Well throughout Psalms, at least up to about fifty, you'll see the praise psalms. While pretty much every book tells of his greatness, there are different ways in telling of his greatness. For example, of course, when you are blessed, you will rejoice. But also when you are in great despair, you well proclaim the majesty of God. But what you will notice is that in Psalms they aren't all blessing Psalms. Many times David cries in despair and in agony, begging for God to forgive him.
Psalm 5:1-2 "Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to Thee I do pray."
As you can see here, David is praising God, (my King and my God, For to Thee I do pray), but also begging God to hear him. What is repentance other than begging for forgiveness? Other than being sorry for our sins? Other than asking him to hear us? Other than admitting we are weak? David was OUR example. He was the man after God's heart! In psalms we are basically getting examples of how to repent! We are seeing how a distressed man calls to God when's he's sinned and begs for forgiveness!
All this reading of Psalms led me to another life verse. Right now, I have three. Isaiah 59:1which gives you hope when your in Repentance! Mark 2:17 That Jesus came to call the sinners to Repentance, and not the righteous. And now this: Psalm 30:5.
PSALM 30:5
"For His anger is but for a moment, His favor for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning."
A verse of hope. Hope in life and in repentance.
When you are repenting, when you are contrite, you feel as if you don't have hope. When you despair, you feel like, why try? But THIS VERSE COVERS THAT. It is a comforting verse to the Children of God. We are supposed to FEEL his ANGER for our sin. That feeling humbles us. But Guess what? HIS ANGER IS BUT FOR A MOMENT. THAT MOMENT. that moment when we are supposed to feel everything! His wrath! Hopelessness! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO FEEL THAT! But just FOR A MOMENT. And then: His Favor is for a lifetime. A lifetime guys. Our little span of maybe 90 years. His FAVOR is forever. HE IS FAITHFUL. Our God is SO faithful. No matter how down we feel, if we've won his favor- trusting and inviting him into our hearts-, he PROMISES its for a lifetime. Do you hear that? The God of this universe, promised YOU his favor. Thats the great things about our Holy God. As his children we are promised favor. We may WEEP when he punishes us, but then he promises us something else. He promises us JOY. Not petty joy, you got a present. REAL JOY that only can be found in him.
Is this not great news? If you are a Child of God, troubled by your sins, know this: His anger is but for a moment, you may cry and struggle, you may feel helpless! But His favor, His LOVE is forever. As long as you live. TILL your last breath. YOU HAVE his FAVOR.
Hope in God. Trust in God. Rejoice in God. Thank God, for He has given us the gift we don't deserve!
Hope you have an awesome day, and may everything you do be for HIS glory.
~Hannah
~Filling Summer Up~
Hello everyone :)
Recently I've been busy, but its a good kind of busy. For me, Summer has not been wasted. I think that everyone's summer should be filled with something :) Whether its friendship, work, hobbies, or anything else like that.
I'll give you a small update on what my summers been filled up with! :)
First of all, I got my first summer job! I work at the house next door to me, and they have six horses. Its been so much fun learning how to keep stalls, and finding out all the work that goes into taking care of that many animals. I go there everyday for an hour, cleaning stalls and buckets. I take Lia and Sophie and they also help me. So yes, this summer I've become a Country girl. Workin' at one of them farms ;)
Secondly, recently, I've been getting to painting my room. I've probably mentioned the colors, but seriously, everything's turned out perfect. Picturing colors? Just think bright pink and green stripes on the long walls, with little stripes of white down the middle, and stencils on those stripes. The stencil is like a vine with little flowers. It's PRETTY cool. I'm very happy with how all of this has turned out. AND OMWORDY. I went to hobby lobby. Guys, thats my store. I wish my birthday was right now, because my room was like in that store. They had EVERYTHING. Goodness, who thought I could be so happy with a store. So... I'm like saving money... :D I'll try to put up a picture sometime to show ya'll :)
I'd love to hear how you all are filling up your summers! Hope everythings great!
Have an awesome day (and May EVERYTHING you do be for HIS glory) :D
~Hannah
Recently I've been busy, but its a good kind of busy. For me, Summer has not been wasted. I think that everyone's summer should be filled with something :) Whether its friendship, work, hobbies, or anything else like that.
I'll give you a small update on what my summers been filled up with! :)
First of all, I got my first summer job! I work at the house next door to me, and they have six horses. Its been so much fun learning how to keep stalls, and finding out all the work that goes into taking care of that many animals. I go there everyday for an hour, cleaning stalls and buckets. I take Lia and Sophie and they also help me. So yes, this summer I've become a Country girl. Workin' at one of them farms ;)
Secondly, recently, I've been getting to painting my room. I've probably mentioned the colors, but seriously, everything's turned out perfect. Picturing colors? Just think bright pink and green stripes on the long walls, with little stripes of white down the middle, and stencils on those stripes. The stencil is like a vine with little flowers. It's PRETTY cool. I'm very happy with how all of this has turned out. AND OMWORDY. I went to hobby lobby. Guys, thats my store. I wish my birthday was right now, because my room was like in that store. They had EVERYTHING. Goodness, who thought I could be so happy with a store. So... I'm like saving money... :D I'll try to put up a picture sometime to show ya'll :)
I'd love to hear how you all are filling up your summers! Hope everythings great!
Have an awesome day (and May EVERYTHING you do be for HIS glory) :D
~Hannah
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)