I love knowing that God is a BIG God! I love knowing that he can conquer all my troubles! I love knowng he can take care of the obstacles for me! I loving knowing that His love for me is even bigger than He is!
Romans 8:31 says:
"So what do you think? With a God on our side like this, how can we lose? (theMESSAGE)"
I love that verse! (I'm feeling a lot of love today!)
But what does that mean? That we will never lose? Yes. Does it feel like we lose sometimes? Yes. Why do lose then? God only knows!
If He's bigger than your problems than He's surely bigger than you! He knows what you need and don't need, He knows what must and mustn't take place, He knows the past, present, and future, HE KNOWS!!!
Yet when we lose a competition or we lose a loved one or we lose a healing we were sure needed to take place at a certain time, we grumble and complain about God's timing.
I've prayed for years over my conjangled teeth, their still jacked up but I believe that God has a time set up for my healing. I anxiously await that healing knowing I haven't lost but I'm winning at the steady pace God's got me running.
Press on and WIN, because, though it may seem as though you're losing, with God you NEVER lose!
(I'm starting an all-caps revolution. Watch, it'll catch on!)
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Turning down desert
I was going to give a comparison I found in Romans 7 today that cracked me up, but decided against it. If you want follow this link to read all about it.
http://www.ibs.org/bible/verse/index.php?q=Romans%207&msg=yes&v_mode=on&t_mode=on
God was showing me today the similarity between sin and desert.
I don't think I'm the only person who chose not to finish their main course because they wanted some desert. You see it in the menu and it looks great so you ask for it. When you get it it tastes great (usually) but then the check comes and you forget all about how happy your tounge is and remember how broke your wallet is.
Sin is much like that. Satan dangles it in front of you through tv, music, or friends and then adds you to his list of choc-a-holic losers.
If you read the passage I set a link to above, you'll see that in verse 6 Paul says sin has "fine print" to it. In the desert illustration, the fine print is the price.
I went to Olive Garden in Charlotte, North Carolina, and got lasagna and a desert called called "Black Tie Moose Cake" I had ordered it at a previous visit to the resturant and liked it. So after I ate and got the bill I was unhappily surprised to see that the bill came up to $24! My family of 6 can eat for less than that at McD's! The price isn't printed nearly as boldly as the tempting picture of the sinful pie/cake because that would keep you from buying it.
I know how hard it is, but next time you're faced with the choice to do wrong or right do yourself a favor and choose right. It costs must less.
This can also illustrate hunger for God or sin. Instead of holding out for desert, like I did, fill yourself up on the Main Course (God). Hope this helped somebody out there!
http://www.ibs.org/bible/verse/index.php?q=Romans%207&msg=yes&v_mode=on&t_mode=on
God was showing me today the similarity between sin and desert.
I don't think I'm the only person who chose not to finish their main course because they wanted some desert. You see it in the menu and it looks great so you ask for it. When you get it it tastes great (usually) but then the check comes and you forget all about how happy your tounge is and remember how broke your wallet is.
Sin is much like that. Satan dangles it in front of you through tv, music, or friends and then adds you to his list of choc-a-holic losers.
If you read the passage I set a link to above, you'll see that in verse 6 Paul says sin has "fine print" to it. In the desert illustration, the fine print is the price.
I went to Olive Garden in Charlotte, North Carolina, and got lasagna and a desert called called "Black Tie Moose Cake" I had ordered it at a previous visit to the resturant and liked it. So after I ate and got the bill I was unhappily surprised to see that the bill came up to $24! My family of 6 can eat for less than that at McD's! The price isn't printed nearly as boldly as the tempting picture of the sinful pie/cake because that would keep you from buying it.
I know how hard it is, but next time you're faced with the choice to do wrong or right do yourself a favor and choose right. It costs must less.
This can also illustrate hunger for God or sin. Instead of holding out for desert, like I did, fill yourself up on the Main Course (God). Hope this helped somebody out there!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Answer the phone!
Before I begin, I'd like to say that I did well in Charlotte, NC. I got a Superior for both my Children's Sermon and my Human Video Ensemble, Large. If any of you are familiar to the way scoring happens at Nationals then you know that it's okay but not good enough to put you through to round 2. Although with my Children's Sermon I got a 35.(something high) I was close to 36 points which would have put me through to the next round. Oh well.
On to the post for today. I was doing my devotion today (I'm currenly reading the book of Romans, Chapter 5). I came across a passage of Scripture that said the following:
"Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right."
Romans 5:18-19 (theMESSAGE)
While some people might say that it's taking the sentence out of context, the part that says "One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right" tells me something about ministering. when God calls you to tell someone at work, or school, or in the bathroom, or whatever and you say yes you could be saving that man/woman and the generations that come from him/her.
But if God tells you to minister to the person grunting away in the stall next to you and you say no, you've just made a horrible mistake. You could find out later that that person wasn't constipated but cutting himself. He made a wrong slice and bled to death. There were no reported attempts to stop the bleeding from the man because he knew of no reason to go on living.
Your one bad move or one wrong descision could not only affect the man at the present but the generations that follow him too.
Thankfully God is a God of multiple chances. He tells us to do something and when we say no, he keeps trying, and keeps trying, and keeps trying. It's like a phone ringing off the hook and finally someone who has gotten overly annoyed at your ingnorance to not answer the thing shouts, "ANSWER THE PHONE!"
But in the end it's your choice, will you answer the phone or let it ring until the Caller finds someone else to call.
On to the post for today. I was doing my devotion today (I'm currenly reading the book of Romans, Chapter 5). I came across a passage of Scripture that said the following:
"Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right."
Romans 5:18-19 (theMESSAGE)
While some people might say that it's taking the sentence out of context, the part that says "One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right" tells me something about ministering. when God calls you to tell someone at work, or school, or in the bathroom, or whatever and you say yes you could be saving that man/woman and the generations that come from him/her.
But if God tells you to minister to the person grunting away in the stall next to you and you say no, you've just made a horrible mistake. You could find out later that that person wasn't constipated but cutting himself. He made a wrong slice and bled to death. There were no reported attempts to stop the bleeding from the man because he knew of no reason to go on living.
Your one bad move or one wrong descision could not only affect the man at the present but the generations that follow him too.
Thankfully God is a God of multiple chances. He tells us to do something and when we say no, he keeps trying, and keeps trying, and keeps trying. It's like a phone ringing off the hook and finally someone who has gotten overly annoyed at your ingnorance to not answer the thing shouts, "ANSWER THE PHONE!"
But in the end it's your choice, will you answer the phone or let it ring until the Caller finds someone else to call.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)