First off, I think that I will give you all a little introduction on as to why I’m starting this blog, and share a little bit about my faith. My faith is strong, and I have no problem standing up for my beliefs. Although, I do have a very hard time concentrating on what God wants for me, and what I should be doing for Him. A lot of Christians struggle with this, and have a hard time conquering their toughest times. I really felt led to get a devotional book, and start a blog. I’m a bit worried that I won’t be able to get through with all of this because I tend to have a hard time continuing things like this. My mind goes elsewhere, and doesn’t focus enough of God. So, if anyone ever reads this, encouragement will help a great deal to me to carry on in this wonderful journey that God has planned for me, as well as for you.
Tonight, I started a devotional book with my friend, called Solo. As we open it up, and read the first few pages of the introduction to this study guide, it stated that it was based on a classical method called Lection Divina. Neither of us heard of this method before, and both became intrigued once we kept reading. Lection Divina is reading, thinking, praying and living the Scripture that our Lord God has made for us. There are so many things that we never even think of. All the little details in the Bible are there for no one else, but us. Every book, every chapter, every verse and every word is deliberately there for us to acknowledge what God has in store for us each and every day of our lives. I for one, don’t search for what He wants for me enough. Lately, I have been feeling like He’s going to make something great in my life happen. Which, I must say, I am extremely excited about! My patience is drawing thin, and I think the reason why it is, is beccause I do not look towards God enough through scripture and prayer, like I should.
Reading : Something I most certainly lack. Reading scripture is so important in our Christian life. It’s a must, that I see a lot of Christians leave out. We never take the time for God, to read His word. We can never pry ourselves away from the unGodly things, like computers, TV’s or whatever else that we spend our time doing. We need to remember that without God, none of those things would even exist. Scripture is something that God uses to speak to us, we just need to open our ears, listen, and take the time for Him. It’s not about some random book, it’s about the Author, God. He took the time to make every little detail in the Bible to happen, for us to look back and reflect it all on Him. Does God really mean that little to us, that we cannot seem to take 15 minutes out of our 24 hour day for Him? I am challenging myself, to do this devotion every day, not only for my spiritual needs, but for God. I want to make him more proud of me, more happy to call me His child. I know He will never ever be ashamed of me, and therefore, I shall never be ashamed of Him. I will do what He asks of me, as long as He can help give me the strength and courage that I hope He gives you.
Take time out of your day to read His word. If you are struggling, look up a verse. If you aren’t sure what verse, try praying to God to send you a specific message meant for you. If you believe that He can, He will. Another way that I look verses up based on how and what it is that I’m feeling, is typing in a google search. You’d be surprised how God works through every thing we use, and do. He’s a magnificent maker, and He is always up for what we think is a challenge. Challenges don’t exist with God. Everything is possible for Him. Trust and obey His ways, and you will be greatly rewarded.
Thinking: Spend time thinking of what you had read. Ponder on what you think God is telling you through His scriptures, and through everyday life. A lot of times we hear God, but refuse to believe that it’s actually Him. We do this, because we want to make our own decisions, which turn out to be bad ones. Processing thoughts of things like, What Would Jesus Do? actually help. Sounds pretty corny at times, but I guess corniness can be a part of life. God always has the best intentions for us, so why not listen to him? Start thinking about the past, and how you can make yourself better for God; or better yet, how you can let Him transform you into the person that He wants you to be.
Praying: How often do you speak with your best friend? More often than you speak with God? God is suppose to be our number One Fan, our Counselor, Healer, Father, and our Best Friend. We should replace Him with nothing, because nothing can ever be as great as having Him as our number One. He is all things, always working to make us change for the better. He gives us free will to challenge us to make the right choices, which is to follow His ways. There are many times that we, as human beings, get lost. It happens to everyone, Christians and non-Christians. We’re all human, and experience each others pain, heart ache, and other bad situations that can occur. The best way of dealing with pain, is to talk about your feelings to someone you love and trust. Out of my personal experiences, prayer helps, A LOT. I will never be able to express just how much it really does help. God helps, and we need to spend more time talking to Him, instead of criticizing His decisions. It’s so much easier to put the blame on Him than to turn the blame on ourselves. If we spend more time talking to Him, we will understand His choices at least a little bit more than we did before. He is an amazing God, so why not get to know Him?
Living the Scripture: Now, this is the most challenging part of them all. Even when we know the choices that we should make, we decide to do the opposite. We have a hard time living the way God wants us to, for a bunch of different reasons. Some have a hard time because they worry about what others will think of them, and don’t want to spend their life defending their ways, and trying to explain to people why they live the way they live. God doesn’t need explanation, reasoning, or anyone questioning Him, so why should we spend our lives trying to explain to others something that we don’t understand ourselves? The only thing that we understand is that, it’s the way that God wants us to live, it’s the right thing to do. A lot of people chose to think that that is not a reasonable answer. Jesus did something so magnificent for us, so incredible, that lets us never have to be alone ever again. So why not just accept the fact that that is good enough. No explanation is needed. If you have to fight with your friends because you’re Christian, and they don’t understand why you do the things you do, they aren’t worth your time. Real friends will love you no matter what. Why can’t that be good enough? The only one that we need to try and please is God. Everything else on this planet will eventually vanish. Do what YOU think is right. Live for HIM, not THEM. Life means more than some crappy friendship, we were placed on this planet to do God’s work, and personally, I think a lot of us are failing miserably at that. Start standing up for what you believe by living the way that you should. God will appreciate it, big time. He’s the only one that matters, and He would and will do anything for you to eventually believe that. You are His child, His love. You mean everything to Him, now start showing the respect that you have for Him, by doing what He wants for you.
Until next time… God Bless!
Sara M.
No comments:
Post a Comment