God is good!

Well, the new year is quickly creeping upon us, and as I look back on the past year I am amazed that I'm still alive. What a year..so much has happened yet God has been my stronghold everystep of the way! I am thankful for so much, God has helped me through one of the hardest emotional times of my life, helped me through and is continually helping me to fight illness, gave me the courage to go to school and finish my first semester, brought me closer to friends and blessed me with new ones, and he has helped me realise just how loving and compassionate he is! God is good, all the time, God is good.


Blessings,

Psalm 119 (The Message)

"I'm feeling terrible - I couldn't feel worse! Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember? I am thoroughly committed to living your way. I'm waiting for your word of hope. Everything is falling apart on me, God;put me together again with your Word. Let me come right into your presence, God; provide me with the insight that comes only from your Word. Give my request your personal attention, rescue me on the terms of your promise."

I'm not copping out.....

Lastnight Esther and I went to see Switchfoot...and let me just say BEST CONCERT EVER!!!!! The thing is though, it wasn't just a concert for me. This past summer at camp Esther and I used to listen to switchfoot everyday. It was our happy music, our sad music, just what we listened to. Not everyone knows that they're a Christian band but if you've ever listened really closely to thier lyrics, you can find a lot of really great stuff. I'd so just love to pick thier brains...lol. Anyways, in the summer thier lyrics really touched me and seeing them live touched me even more. Ya, it was a concert and it was just a band but it turned into worship for me, it may sound weird but I really experienced God. It really hit me how these guys can really connect with youth, and people absoltely love them even though thier songs aren't about sex, drugs etc...
Hey, maybe some of thier lyrics aren't written in the context where they're referring to God, but for me they do...and that's what I love about them. My favourite song is Twenty four, here are the lyrics and then I'll tell you what they mean to me!

24 oceans, 24 skies
24 failures in 24 tries
24 finds me in 24th place
with 24 dropouts at the end of the day

life is not what i thought it was
24 hours ago
still i'm singing take me up in arms with you

24 reasons to admit that I'm wrong
will all my excuses still 24 strong

but see i'm not copping out
when you're raising the dead in me

oh, I'm am the second man
oh, I'm the second man now
oh, I'm the second man now

and you're raising these 24 voices
with 24 hearts
with all of my symphonies in 24 parts
but I want to be one today
centered and true

I want to see miracles
to see the world change
I wrestled the angel
for more than a name
for more than a feeling
for more than a cause
singing spririt take me up in arms with you
you're raising the dead in me


ahhh I love this song...lol ok....what does it mean to me? Well..here goes:
To me this song is all about letting go of the things that tie us down, and being free in Christ. It's About not giving up, and becoming one with God! "I am the second man {woman} now" meaning God is now in charge, "you're raising the dead in me" personally I relate to that line so much...there was a point when I didn't have God, but he raised that dead part of me, and now I'm more alive than ever, I'm alive in CHRIST!

"So I want to be ONE today, centred and true!"

Are you one with Christ? Are you the second person? Or is God first where he should be? Maybe you need to stop copping out and let him raise the dead person in you.

Tackling Temptation

A few weeks ago in my Christian Life and Discipleship class the lecture was on temptaion. I found it so interesting and was really challenged by some of the things we talked about. The week before we all took a survey which had 39 things that people are tempted with. We filled out the survey annonyomously (spelling?) only indicating our gender. He tallied them all up and highlighted the top 3 temtations for the girls and guys in the class. It was really interesting to see the results. For the girls the top 3 were:

1. Undisciplined devotional life
2. lack of time management
3. pride/worry (tied)

For the guys things were a bit different:

1. masturbation
2. procrastination
3. pornography


I myslef checked off about 25 of the 39 things, that's alot of temptation. But how are we supposed to avoid giving into those things? Well...first of all what temptation really is: the act of enticement to do wrong, by promise of pleasure or gain. Giving into temptation can definately be a sin. But what really is sin? Sin is to fixate on or do something contrary to what God desires.
But what can we learn about giving into or resisting temptation?
1. Eve (Genesis 3:1-7
2. Achan (Joshua 7: 19-25
3. Joseph (Genesis 39:2-20
4. Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11)

LOOK THEM UP!!!!

How do we face temptation?

1. Be totally commited to Jesus Christ (Romans 12:1-2)
2. Identify yourself with Christ's death, buriel, and resurrection
3. Live a spirit-filled life with self-control (Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:16; 22-23)
4. Ask God for the power to resist (Phillippians 4:13)
5. Memorize portions of the Bible (Psalm 119:9. 11; Matthew 4:1-11)
6. Avoid the situation (1 Thessalonians 5:22)
7. Flee the situation (1 Corinthians 10:14; 2 Timothy 2:22)
8. Replace bad habits with good ones (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
9. Be accountable to another person to get prayer support and help (james 5:16; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

This really helped me....just thought I'd share it:)

Stupid Satan

I COMMAND YOU SATAN IN THE NAME OF THE LORD TO PICK UP YOUR WEAPONS AND FLEE, GET OUT OF HERE!!! For the Lord has given me authority to stomp all over YOU!

Yeah that's right satan...this battle's already been won!

Can't sleep!

Well it's 11:00pm and I can't sleep. Today was just one of those days where my mind is going a mile a minute and I can't keep up. Some good things....some bad things. Something that's really been on my heart lately is that I don't feel I'm doing enough for God. Like I hear all these amazing things that some of my friends are doing, you know being "warriors for God" and all that, and I can't help but think I'm not doing enough. Ya, I can hear people saying now, "well if you don't think you're doing enough then get off your but and do something!" Easier said than done. I don't know what it is exactly God wants me to do. So today I've really been exploring some options...but nothing that I can specifically hear from God. Yes, I'm trying to live my life everyday to honor him, but that doesn't seem like enough to me.....when I think about all that he's done for me, I just fall face down in praise. I want to be a "warrior", no wait a "warrior girl for God" yes that's right Esther.....the band name lives on. I have faith that God will show me how.