The Five Major

Wow, can I just say I am so glad this semester is over. I feel like God was dealing with me in so many other areas that school was on the back-burner. But by the grace of God, I got through, and actually did pretty well. So to close up this semester I thought I'd share the five major things God taught me this semester apart from school. 


Here it goes:


1. We can do nothing apart from Christ. 
I cannot change someone, save someone, or make their life better, only God can. A few times this semester I found myself in a situation where I knew God had put someone in my life to reach for Christ, but I often found myself trying to make things happen out of my own power or guilt tripping myself when things didn't progress the way I would have liked them to (that brings us to #2). In all these situations I found myself in the position where all I could do is let go of the control I was trying to have and just be there ready for when God wanted to use me. 


John 15:4-5 "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."


2. We are on God's time, not ours. 
I'm the type of person who likes to know what's going on and when. But God definitely does not work that way. The friend I'm still talking to that I would have liked to take those next steps 2 months ago. The bad habit I would have liked to kick 4 months ago. The urge to go back to Haiti now! In all these things, I've learned God is in control, especially when it comes to timing. He knows so much more than I ever will and He sees the whole picture of all of our lives. So the smartest thing to do (even though its hard) is to trust in Him that things will happen when He has decided, in their prime time.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end."


3. God intended for us to do life together. 
God never meant us to go through life keeping our struggles and trials to ourselves and suffering in silence. He didn't intend for what He's doing in our lives to be kept secret either. It is vital that we are plugged into a group of believers that can support us in times of need, speak Truth into our lives, and slap us when we are about to do something stupid. You will be surprised how many other people end up getting set free when you open up and download. It's great to pray for each other, but Jesus didn't just sit around and pray for His disciples, He did life with them. He got up in their junk, called them out when needed, and built them up in Truth and love. 


Hebrews 10:24-25 "Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near."


4. We are in desperate need of God's grace everyday at every moment.
 As many times as I've failed this semester, said the wrong thing, did the wrong thing, or didn't do anything, I've learned that I am in absolute desperate need of God's grace at every moment. We are by nature sinners and will continue to sin day in and day out until we meet Jesus face to face. But PRASIE GOD that His mercies are new each day, that His grace is poured out in ABUNDANCE day in and day out. Don't get me wrong, this grace is not an excuse to sin, but a perpetual motion that guides us back to the cross of Christ, where we see the high cost of sin.


Lamentations 3:22-23 "Because of the Lord's faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!"


5. We are blessed beyond belief and that should result in gratitude and praise.
God has absolutely poured out so many blessings in my life. First off, I'm alive which means He's not done with me yet. He not only provides the necessities of life, but above and beyond. Going to Haiti this semester definitely turned my whole world upside down on this subject. I realized that even as a 19 year old, I have more than about half the world does. For example, I have a car with heat and air and even music. Half the people in the world don't have heat or air in their homes, or electricity or a home at all if you want to be honest. God has blessed us abundantly, but we should never allow this to lead us into the feeling that we are entitled to it all. Every blessing God pours out should return to Him in praise and thanksgiving, and also in service to others. Because if you want to talk about entitlement and what we deserve, well I don't think you want to go there. Because what we deserve is a life separated from God, a life in hell. We deserve the wrath and judgement of God. We don't even deserve to be alive!


Ephesians 3:20-21: "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever."

Rooted

It's that time of year again. The cold weather, the stress of the end of the semester, exams, papers, the hectic holiday shopping all call for a burn out sooner or later. For many Christians it's the time of compromise. I can gain an extra hour of study time (or sleep) instead of reading my Bible. I can get the extra hours at work if I miss small group. The list goes on and I think we can all say we've been there. What I've been realizing though is that we don't have time not to. We don't have time not to read our Bible, for it's what directs us in life. We don't have time not to pray, for this is how our hearts mold to God's will. We don't have time not to gather together to grow in community, for God didn't call us to do life alone.


I've also come to realize that this isn't so much a time problem as it is a heart problem. The second part of Romans 11:16 says "if the root is holy, so are the branches." Our root is our heart. Jesus has given us a heart transplant and we have to take the responsibility to keep our hearts rooted in Him. Just as this verse says, if our root is holy, that is if our hearts are pure in Christ, so are the branches, everything that flows from our hearts. So you see, its not a time problem, its a root problem. If we keep our hearts focused on Him and keep Him in the center of our heart, everything that flows from it will be kept holy as well. We'll think twice in those moments of compromise, we'll think twice about being quick to get agitated and annoyed, and we wont be as likely to end up in a burn out.


It's that stressful time of year, but remember we don't have time not to keep our hearts rooted. Let all else flow from that be holy and pleasing to Him who is the root of all things.