Door Closed, Door Opened

Freshman year ended today! Can you believe it? I certainly can't! The sad thing is that I'm not going back to my old school, It's going to be sad not being there to make my friend spit orange juice out from laughing so hard and being crazy with my best friends! My school is so nice in the fact that's it's a private Christian school, and I have teachers that really care about me.
Now, I have to go to a new school that I know nothing about, it's going to be scary and uncomfortable. I'm going to miss my friends and my old teachers so much! I couldn't understand for the longest time why in the world God was moving me, I mean, I was growing so much there! But I think he has some greater plans for me. I realized that this new school would be a whole new mission field for me to shine my light and show the world that I'm set apart for my God! I think it's something we all have to learn... that God's plans for us are not our plans. I remember this one quote I heard that really stuck with me,
"Gods ways are not our ways, and I think that's a good thing becuase most of the time... our ways pretty much suck!"
That's so true! Who knows? Maybe I would've stopped growing so much at my old school, maybe I've learned all that God wants me to learn there, or maybe I wasn't learning there so he decided to move me! But something I've been learning is that you have to be humble and press on to your goals, set high bars and exceed them!
Have you ever tried to pull your friend in one direction but they wouldn't budge? Wasn't it fustrating? You see, that's how God feels with us sometimes. We can't just sit in one place and wait for God to lead us in a direction, becuase it's pretty darn hard for him to lead us when we're standing still! God is a good and just God, he wants what's best for us, and we have to trust him! Humility and trust go all in one package guys, so ask God to fill you with a spirit of humility so that you can trust him better! I challange you to find new ways to seek God's will, to seek your calling, reach out to others! Do something right here, right now, to make a difference in your life and the lives around you! Whether it be helping your mom with the dishes (you know she'd appreciate it!), taking out the garbage with a good attitude, or just giving someone a hug... it all helps! Maybe you could memorize a book of the Bible or make a commitment to pray every day for ten minutes. Whatever it is, do it all so that God may be glorified, start running so he can lead you!
"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your good, and not for evil."
"Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and run the race set before us."
 - Smalls :)

The Calling Which We Have Recieved

June 8, 2011

       Wow… I really don’t feel like doing anything today. That’s probably because I’m pretty much done with school and I just want a lazy day, you know? Besides, I have an idea for a scene in one of my books that I really want to write at the moment! You ever get that feeling? Although I really don’t feel like working hard today, Paul said something about that didn’t he? “Press on to the calling which you have received”. Or, something like that! It means that even when we’re tired, or we don’t want to, we have to be prepared for the calling we’ve received, pressing on to our intended goal because the long-term benefits are greater than the short-term discomforts. Take Violin for instance, I don’t WANT to practice very much, it’s hard work! But think of how amazing it’s going to be when I get really good and can play anything I want and have fun while doing it! Maybe I’ll even get as good as Mairead (though I seriously doubt that! Nobody can top that woman!). Or take reading for instance, I don’t WANT to go read a dry, boring classic right now, but if I want to create publishing-worthy books, I have to read more than I write! I don’t WANT to work hard to memorize James, but it will be really helpful in the long-run. We can’t always do what we want to do when we want to do it, because of our Flesh. Paul says our Flesh and the Spirit are always in opposition to one another! If we don’t have the Spirit, obviously there’s no opposition so we’re slaves to our Flesh. But since Christ has set us free from that and given us his Spirit, there’s this war inside us! But guess what? We’ve already won! Christ has won the battle for us… we simply have to hold out until he comes back. It’s like in The Lord of the Rings. Gandalf and the rest of the group had to hold off a seemingly impossible number of orcs at Minas Tirith, but then Aragorn showed up and they completely ransacked the orc armies! We have the upper hand! I’ve found that oftentimes, all I have to do to quiet that inner battle is say “Flesh, shut up, and sit down, because God is greater than you!” And it works! If you think about it, why would you want to go with what your flesh wants? For it’s not in the Flesh that you have life, it’s in God! Jesus is the one who died for you, the flesh is the one who wants to kill you! I say, my life is hid with Christ, because of his love. Why should I care about my Flesh any longer? Is it me? No! I am dead to my flesh, alive and Christ! “For I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” He’s given you what you need to fight the Flesh and you’ve already won! When you pray, don’t ask that God would teach you to love, ask him to pour out his love over you! Because when you try to imitate yourself, you will be a miserable replica, and when you try to imitate God, you will fail. But if you let Christ fill your life and imitate himself, suddenly it all works, because he is very good at being God! The door’s open, your chains are gone, all you have to do is walk out and embrace the “calling which you have received”.

      “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you                   when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, “be holy because I am holy”… But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into a wonderful light… Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one who is speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, and the power, forever and ever, amen.”

Josh Wilson - I Refuse