Serving others.

Today at church today, the message was on Servant-hood. We read the story in John 13, when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples feet. What blew my mind was, the fact that this man, who came to save the world, took the place of a serevant and washed feet. Jesus even washes the feet of Judas, the man who betrays Him. After Jesus has finished washing everyones feet, he says... "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. (13)"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. (14)Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. (15)I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. (16)I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. (17) Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them"(John 13:13-17). When I read this I think of the movie "Pay It Forward" for some reason. God tells us to in turn wash one another's feet. We need to be servants to people, even to people who we are really that fond of. Jesus washed the feet of the man who betrays Him. God knew that Judas was going to betray Him. What could someone do to us that could possobly be worse? We, can't just go on our "merry way" and only serve people, when it's convenient for us. It's really hard to be a servant to people sometimes, especially if we don't really like that person all that much. But God tells us, that we will be blessed if we are. Now we shouldn't just go out and be servants just so we get blessed later on. I think that if we truly want to be servants we shouldn't be thinking about how we can benefit from it. But we should do it for the other person.

Comfort of God

It's been blowing my mind lately, just the stuff that is going on in my life, that usually would get me down and make me angry. Lately though it is a totally different story. I'm really feeling the comfort of God. I must say, I'm so greatful to have this comfort. I know that without God I would not be able to handle these situations.Everyone should turn to God first. God gives comfort like no other, no matter what situation you may be facing. Even if you're facing a challenge you think there was no way out of, God can help us through it. God is waiting for us, and He will always be there for us. So when we are having trouble with something, and are being brought down by something, may we turn to God, and feel His hand of comfort and peace.

worship

During work, I have a lot of time to think on things, which sometimes isn't such a great thing, because things that are bugging me fill my mind. Lately it's been different... Lately I've thought a lot about praise and worship, and what the words actually mean in some of the songs I really like. All I can really say is, I'm beginning to enjoy praise and worship more than I ever have. Don't get me worng, I have always loved praise and worship, but I never really took the time to do it alone, and on my time. But now that I've taken time, when sitting in the tractor, and listened to worship, and thought about what the song is saying... My experience has been SO much better. God really shows Himself through praise, and when you meet Him in that place... Well for me, it gives me shivers. I am loving praise and worship more than ever these days.
Praise and worship shouldn't be the only time we worship God though. I think thanking God for His amazing creation, is a form of worship. I thank God so much for all He's done for me. Giving me great friends, that help, and encourage me. God has so much to be worshiped for. He gave us life! We should thank Him and worship Him for that. He's surrounded us with creation, that if we take time to enjoy, we can learn a lot from. He's set out a plan for our lives. He died for our sins, He's given us eternal life in Him. He loves us and will always forgive us. He will never leave nor foresake us. The list for what we can worship God for is endless. I's up to us to take time in our lives, and give God this worship.

Self-esteem

Lately I've been thinking about self-esteem issues. I can honestly say I've rarely had problems with this. So I guess I find it weird when people have issues with this, but it's so normal for people to have issues with this.
The way I think is If we were made in the image of God, why shouldn't we respect ourselves? It's not like God did a special experiment one day, when He made someone. "let's try some of this...and a little bit of this.... Oh gross!". God made everyone in His image, so in that case everyone is special, and beautiful. One time I was standing in line at a 7/11, and a girl randomly complemented my outfit. She went on to say "I complement everyone, because everyone is beautiful in their own way". This one statement blew my mind. I find so much truth in it. I think that, if the creator of the whole universe, decided to create each one of us, we should give ourselves respect for that. God loves us beyond our imagination. Jesus died on the cross for us, if He's willing to do that, He must love us, and think we are priceless. So I guess what I'm tryin' to do here, is encourage people with issues like this to remember who made you, and if you're ever havin' problems repsecting yourself, just remember to God, you are beautiful and priceless, and never let anyone, or yourself, tell you otherwise.

Challenges

This summer has taught me a lot of things. I've learned a lot about God, and I feel my relationship has grown in massive steps this summer. God has been challenging me this summer. At the beginning of summer I asked God to challenge me through out summer, but I was definitly not expecting what I got. The challenges He has given me this summer, pretty much "knocked me off my feet". I'm so glad I have great friends that pray for me, give me advice, and encourage me, through these challenges. I believe God has used these challenges for good, I feel so much closer to Him, and I feel comfort while I face daily things. I've been challenged with friendships, and I've been challenged by change. God showed me parts in my life that need improvement, He has also showed me parts in my life that need a complete "overhaul". Some of these challenges have brought new found emotions along with them. I believe I have changed so much during this summer, and I'm thrilled to be groing closer to God. His love has amazed me, and comforted me like I've never felt before. I love God, and I'm so excited to be groing closer to Him.

Spirit is longing

Today during a church service out at birdshill park, we sang Cry In My Heart by Starfeild... Well not everyone sang. Just one person, but that is not the point here. The words in this song really struck a chord with me ( I think that's the saying).

There's a cry in my heart
For Your glory to fall
For Your presence tofill up my senses
There's a yearning again
A thirst for discipline
A hunger for things
that are deeper

Could You take me beyond?
Could You carry me through?
If I open my heart?
Could I go there with You?(For I've been here beforeBut I know there's still moreOh, Lord, I need to know You)

For what do I have
If I don't have You, Jesus?
What in this life
Could mean any more?
You are my rock
You are my glory
You are the lifter
Of my head
Lifter of this head.

I think there's a lot of truth in this song. One thing I was thinking, when I was listening to these words was, Our spirit is longing for a deeper relationship with God. But we may ignore it. We need to be willing to let God in to our hearts to do His work. God knocks, he doesn't barge in. I look back on times, when I've felt God knocking, and my spirit was crying out to me to let God in, but my mind was to hard, and my heart wasn't soft. I think so many times it's easy to miss the knocking, because of all the distractions in life. But we need to focus and listen for that knock and let God in, because He has something amazing in store for us.
I was thinking, how much could we do if we would just open our hearts to God? If we opened our hearts, God could show us a relationship deeper than anything we've ever known. He could use us, in ways we never imagined. We are all called to do something for God. It's up to us to listen to that knocking, and accept the call. I was reminded of something I once said. I never remember saying anything this smart in my whole life, but apparently I said "I honestly wouldn't care if drumming isn't in my future, as long as I have God I'm happy". I think so many times we try set out our own path. I know I've tried to many many times. But I'd like to think me saying that was a step towards submitting my life to God, and letting Him take control. I'd like to think, that it was a way of letting God use me, for what He wants me to do, not what I want to do.

I also though about the last part of the song.
"For what do I have if I don't have you Jesus? What in this life could mean anymore?"
So many times I have taken God, and my relationship with Him for granted. I think this was an eye opener, to the fact that if we didn't have God, life would be a heck of a lot harder. God is the one friend that never leaves nor foresakes us. So many times we put stuff infront of God. We need to relize that nothing means as much as God. He needs to be first in our lives. If we didn't have God...well to be blunt, we would be HOOPED! We need to relize that God is the most important thing we need, without Him we wouldn't even be alive.

Livin' in the good soil.

I was just thinking about my time at Teen Camp a couple weeks ago. I remember talking about the parable of the soils. There is 4 types of soil. the rocky, the thorns, the hard path, and finally the good soil. I've been trying to figure out Which one of these soils I fit into. We need to strive to live the life of the good soil. And not fall into any of the other soils. When I think about these soils I'm reminded of Revelation 3:16 " So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you from my mouth". I think if we aren't living in the good soil we are lukewarm. We need to live with a passion for Christ. We need to relize that sitting in the "gray area" is not a good place to be. We can't just follow God sometimes, and other times ignore Him. We need to think, are we following Christ with a passion in our hearts, or are we just sitting in the gray area doing the right things sometimes, and others doing the total wrong thing. Now we can't be perfect, but that doesn't give us an excuse to go do wrong, and only do good when we feel like it. I think we all need to push ourselves to live in the good soil and not be lukewarm, but instead follow God with a passion burning in our hearts.