Monday, July 12, 2010

testing faith


Every year, every month, every week, every day, every hour, and every minute we send up prayers. "We ask God for what we need, and we thank him for what we have", but then there are those occasions when our prayers don't get answered like we wanted them too. It is when that happens our faith is tested.

STORY TIME:: A young girl had her "prince charming" list made out, all the things she wanted in her husband. A list she had spent years praying over and knowing that, that man on her paper was the man she needed. She prayed and prayed. When she met the guy who fit the list, and it didn't work out between the two. Her faith was tested. How could God take something that seemed so right away? And why would he do that to that girl? It wasn't until about 6 month later, that she realized God had somebody who went over and beyond her idea of "prince charming"

STORY TIME:: A family lost their jobs. 3 sweet babies sitting at home, the threat of losing the home, and being tossed out on the street became very real. After months of praying and losing faith, they finally got a blessing in the mail, but it was 3 months of grueling heartache, and prayers not being answered like they wanted it too.


So when time gets rough and heart ache hits, stay positive. If prayers don't go YOUR way, then stay positive. Because the bottom line is ((God sees the big picture)) we're just seeing a few pixels of the big picture.

So challenge time:: when troubles get rough praise God instead of throwing a pity party. NOW with that said, I don't mean getting all sappy. My friend wrote a song, and he said "If I'm stuck in these trenches, I wanna be stuck with you" For the longest time I didn't understand those words, mainly because I was so mad at God myself, but as I started to listen to God, I realized that if things aren't going OUR way, and it's not how we want them to do, then being with God in our rut is the best thing in the world.

So relax and let God love you :)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Farmers, Seeds, Fruits


I had a long talk with my mom today, because I am just dumbfounded by my peers and people that I know. We were discussing fruit and I don't mean apples, bananas, pepinos, or peaches. I mean "The fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23).

So many times as Christians we want the world to see what WE have done. What WE have accomplished, and who's life WE touched. In which we haven't done any of that at all. God through us has done that. Many people get discouraged or angry at God because they plant the seeds, and they want them to sprout into fruit, right then and there. (Now if you plant or no anything about planting, you don't get to plant a seed and turn right back around and see a beautiful plant.) Christians get so caught up with "Christian fads" or wanting to be seen, heard, noticed... that we no longer put God first but ourselves. We say everything in the name of God, but in reality it's all in the name of ourselves. That is not having beautiful feet.

STORY TIME:: A group went to Peru over Christmas Break, they painted doors, doors, and more doors, they never had any communications with locals, instead they painted doors for 6 days, of a Baptist Church Camp down there. Two months after they had left Peru, the camp was able to host 247 children, and many from an orphanage (they had never heard of Jesus Christ.) So because of the groups work on the camp, the camp was able to touch the lives of so many kids... THAT's PLANTING SEEDS!

Planting Seeds does not mean you are gonna personally see the fruit, it does not mean you get the credit, and it does not mean that if you don't see it, it doesn't happen.

Many times we wanna see results right then and there, and it is when that occurs that we lose insight of what we are really doing. We are not here for ourselves PEOPLE. Who gives a care if we get to see what our work did. As long as the seeds were planted then we have done our job.

Planting seeds does not mean you have to go to a 3rd world country, or to the roughest part of your town. It simply means you have to let God live through you. Live the life of a servant to God. Whether that be a smile to the kid who nobody likes, helping a mother of 5 get to her car out of the supermarket, helping a homeless stranger by giving them some crackers....Simple things that show the fruit, and plant seeds. We are not here to SHOVE God down peoples throats we are here to SHOW people God. Bottom Line:: IT IS NOT ABOUT US!!!


So challenge:: Look at your life, is it for your name, or God's? Do your beautiful feet come from everyday living? We do not need a huge mission board, a church, a big group event to plant seeds. It happens everyday. At the Sonic, Walmart, Gas Station, Work Place, and Home. So lets do some planting! :)