Humbly Bold.

“There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done”, and those to whom God says, “Alright then, have it your way.” - C.S. Lewis 

At one point or another we will all ask the question, what am I going to do with my life? Where am I going to end up? Who will I marry? Will I like my job? What is God’s will for me? (you get the idea) We have this desire to know what is ahead in our lives. We have this need to know God’s will and plan for us. 

2 Peter 1:3 says “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” Right now, wherever we are in life, God has given us exactly what we NEED. Notice I didn’t say what we WANT.

The things that we need and want can be completely different. So… when God makes it known what He wants for us (what we need), we either don’t listen, or delay action until it is convenient for us and what we want. Too often we become consumed with our wants and fulfilling the desires of our hearts — funny thing is, God already knows the desires of our hearts, and has already given us exactly what we need to fill them, His Son. 

God’s will for us is that we are filled with the Holy Spirit - when we are led by the Spirit, we start an incredible journey to be more like Christ. 

Enjoy this journey today!

Investing deeply in one another shows to a confused/broken how to love as God loves. Be intentional with relationships… not because you have to, but because He delights in us doing this. 

[John 13:34-35] “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” 

Let’s give the world a greater message about love. 

[Psalm 143:8-10] — “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go for to you I lift up my soul. Rescue me from my enemies Lord, for I hide myself in you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God, may your good spirit lead me on level ground.”

Though we may grow weary, our spirit in HIM will never fail us. 

One of my best friends sent this to me the other day and thought I should share. Oswald Chambers (I recommend his daily devotional ‘My Upmost for His Highest’) looks at Mark 6:45 “He made His disciples get onto to boat and go before Him on the other side.” If you read further in Mark you find that once their boat was in the middle of the lake, the winds from the storm “terrified” them, for they didn’t know what would happen, they didn’t know if they would make it to the other side. They didn’t realize what God had intended for them. 

I think we have to understand that we too are like Jesus’ disciples, He asks things of us and sometimes we can’t see then end goal; but that is all we focus on. We don’t take note of what is going on in the present, right now. God’s will for us is to make a difference with what we have TODAY. We can’t say we’ll get there 4 years from now, after we graduate, when we get married, because we aren’t promised tomorrow. Its says in Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” So what does this mean for us? Simple, He has given us today, HISday; and He asks us to live it well as best as we can. We can’t worry about what will happen because we aren’t even promised that. 

Are we willing to fully understand and commit to this? Are we willing to truly take up our cross and follow Him in whatever circumstance He gives us? I pray that we can do this each day. We serve an incredible God who loves us more than we can ever fathom. Its truly overwhelming. 

http://utmost.org/god’s-purpose-or-mine/

Be present TODAY. 

This past month has been SUCH a blessing to me. It’s so true that He reveals things to us when we least expect them - He teaches us lessons when we aren’t looking for them. I have to admit that some of the lessons were not easy to hear, but necessary to deal with. 

Sometimes the most important things are the hardest to hear. So no, it wasn’t easy to hear that I’m selfish and not allowing people to love or see all of me. I feel like I talk about this too much but its definitely something I struggle with. But the question that kept coming up was WHY? Why can’t I open up? Why can’t I be vulnerable? My go to answer was always I want to know how the other person is doing; what’s going on in their life and how can I help them. I thought I was being SELFLESS in doing this, but in reality it’s so SELFISH. People can share with me their struggles and pains in order for me to love them better, but I don’t give them the same opportunity to love me back. 

God desires us to be vulnerable and broken and struggling… but why? If we had it together all the time, there would be no need for HIS unbelievable grace. Grace that doesn’t care who you are or what you’ve done; Grace that loves and desires everyone the exact same; Grace that can change hearts. He gives grace because He knows we can’t do it on our own, despite all of our failed attempts. That’s why He sent a Savior… there is no need for us to be our own saviors so we can stop trying. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that as hard as it may be for some of us, let other people around you love you, let them hurt with you, let them rejoice with you, let them carry your burdens for you. For it is this exact act that Christ displays through His grace. When we can learn to be ok with our struggles and ugliness, that’s when He moves the most in us; that’s when His grace is overwhelming. 

Its crazy what He has shown me just in the past month alone. Just another reminder of how this is a constant growing and learning process. Is it gonna be easy? Haha, not at all. But is it worth it? Heck yes, eternal life sounds pretty sweet!  

“God’s RECKLESS grace is our greatest HOPE” - Tim Keller [The Prodigal God] 

I’m realizing that God finds beauty in vulnerability. His strength is shown when we are vulnerable. ‘His power is made perfect in our weakness’

C.S. Lewis says it right.. “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” 

Dang… I am 100% guilty. There are many times I’ve been selfish in not letting people see all of who I am. There is beauty in vulnerability; there is strength. How quickly we forget this. 

“I understand now that the vulnerability I’ve always felt is the greatest strength a person can have. You can’t experience life without feeling life. What I’ve learned is that being vulnerable to somebody you love is not a weakness, its a strength.” 

I pray we can all find that strength everyday. 

Enjoy the beauty in today. 

Been extremely inspired today… and I attribute that to how incredibly blessed I am. Yesterday I was challenged with the question[s]… “are you grateful? are you saying thanks? can you fully give Him your everything, everyday?” My immediate reaction was ‘of course, I don’t even have to think about that’. But sitting there listening, my answer began to sound shaky. And it made me stop and realize how selfish we can be with our lives, only letting Him into a “section” of it. Why do we do this? Why do we feel this sense of entitlement to the things in our life? 

We need to be willing to be LED by Him — and I mean be led in every way, shape and form. When we are led by the Spirit we start an incredible journey to be more like Christ. That’s why the Christian faith is challenging, we are constantly pursuing to be more like Him, but at the same time we are pushing further away from what the world likes and wants in us. 

Its a constant choice everyday to give up our lives to Him, and that’s how it will always be. Make that choice today to be completely led by the Spirit, and in doing this you’ll look at life differently. I challenge for you to do that today. 

Make this day HIS