Fall is here!

Fall is here! Hallelujah!

This morning I have spent time in God's Word just asking Him to prepare me for what's to come. He is not finished with me yet! Psalm 118:1 says "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." I sort of have a fascination with trees..I don't care to know which type scientifically they are..I just like to look at them.

As I was walking to class I saw that this tree was half full and half empty of leaves. This quickly brought a picture of my life in front me. Do I always shine Jesus in EVERYTHING I do, or do I do it halfheartedly? Just like a tree, during the spring and summer it's full and bearing life but as fall approaches it looses it's leaves and the life of the tree begins to fade away. That's us! That's us! We take God's grace for granted! When we accepted Christ, we repented our sins which meant to turn away. Why do we fall in and out of grace? You can't halfway live. You either are alive or dead. Like the tree, it's halfway to death. Choose life! There is no time left to wait! God's call for your life is with urgency. All you have to do is choose Jesus so that you can be full of leaves all year, in every circumstance, and in every moment! God is sovereign. He is good and for that, we praise His name! He waits patiently for you to run full force into His arms. His love will endure forever! Don't be like a tree and halfway be alive. Let Jesus breathe His mighty breath on you today! Today, what will you do in order to show that your tree is alive and still growing in the midst of fall occurring around you?

Seek Me and Find Me

So often I get caught up in my chaotic college life and choose to let life have my attention. I have been asking myself lately, what is it that I seek after in life? What and who do I want to please? Because more often than not I try so hard to please teachers, friends, family, and ultimately I aim to please whatever is getting my attention at the moment. No one on this earth desires my attention! Why do I want to give in to earthly desires by trying to be perfect for everyone and have the approval of mankind? God wants all of me just as I am to seek His approval in life. I'm reminded of this in Galatians 1:10. It says, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ?"
This generation has been taught that self-seeking, choose what you want from every religion and make it your own, and a follow your heart lifestyle is okay. If you name the name of Jesus Christ, it is not okay to sit back an let this happen! God has declared us to seek after His approval, not mans. We are servants of Jesus. Last time I checked, John 14:23 says "If you love me, you will obey my commandments." I refuse to waste my life on things that do not matter. I refuse to let people I know die and go to hell because I have put God in a box and tried to limit the things that He does in my life. Good news for you, you can't contain my God! You can't find a box big enough for Him to fit in!! I tend to mark off a perimeter and say that God can only get within a certain distance of this area of my life. That is where my flesh fails and I have to remind myself that I serve a loving God who wants the best for me! Don't let boundaries box Jesus from changing your heart.
What takes your attention off of Jesus? Figure it out an get rid of it! You can't expect different results in your walk with Christ if you aren't willing to make some changes. I am not the same today as I was yesterday and I will not be the same tomorrow! I refuse to stay the same. There is a difference in bringing ourselves to perfection and bringing God glory. We can't do both. We must come to the end of ourselves and stand confidently and declare that we have found our Hope, we have found our Peace, we have found our Rest in the One who loves! Trust that He will light the way and lead us home as we offer all of ourselves to the One who saves us! All we have to do is simply call on the name of Jesus. How refreshing is it to know that we ALL have issues, but God is perfect! Our lives are no accident. Way before your life began, the Father knew you so intimately and He so lovingly created you (Psalm 139)! Let's go back to my original question at the beginning? What or who do I aim to please in life? Now, let's check out the oh so common verse that we see and quote all the time but never STUDY it and let it sink in. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Ah this is good stuff! Why would you want to serve anyone else besides a God who desires this over your life? Read on, verse 12 & 13 are just as good. "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. YOU WILL SEEK ME AND FIND ME WHEN YOU SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART." That is powerful! Seek God with a whole heart and you gain access to all of Him because that's when you find Him! It starts with praying to God with boldness and declaring that Jesus will be your everything! You have to want to saturate yourself with His Word, that is when we become satisfied in Jesus Christ! Seek to please God, not man! This world had nothing for us!

Greater Things Have Yet To Come

So this summer as I have been working as a camp counselor I have had time to really let God use me in ways that I've never allowed Him to use me. My prayer for the past several weeks has just been for God's desires to become my desires..now I'm obviously not perfect but I can honestly say that I have a burning desire for millions of souls that are getting the wrong picture of the God that I serve. I believe that my generation has tried to form God into what they want him to be..that's exactly what it shouldn't be..He is supposed to form us into what He wants! We aren't the creator, He is! As camp continues for a few more weeks I'm praying that my fellow staff become broken for the gospel and passionate about lives of others! I've been thinking about this next week and the things that God has prepared for us to encounter way in advance...and one thing that keeps coming to me is what is my greatest desire this week..and I don't know what yours is, but mine is that Christ will raise up a generation of passionate, bold, unshakeable, unashamed, leaders for the sake of the kingdom! I pray that these students next week will be radically obedient to the Matthew 28:19-20 and that they would walk away on Friday declaring that they will be unhindered for Jesus Christ! Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city! I hope this becomes your desire too!

My Reward

I Give my life againEvery breath I have
For you are my reward
Jesus, take my life
A sacrifice
All I have is yours
All I have is yours

You are my reward
all im living for
I surrender all my life to you
All consuming fire, you are my desire
No one else but you
I surrender all my life to you
All to you my Jesus


Jesus, here I am
With open hands
Lifted high to you
Can my heart contain your love for me?
You're all I need to know
You're all I need to know

You are my reward
All I'm living for
I surrender all my life to you
All consuming fire, you are my desire
No one else but you
I surrender all my life to you

Nothing compares to knowing you
Nothing compares to loving you
I'm giving my life to follow you my King

-My Reward by Kristian Stanfill

This song is my prayer over my life right now. Over the past several months I have been physically,mentally, and spiritually preparing my life for the summer to come. This process was not one that was easy to wrap my mind around. I had to examine EVERY aspect of my life and when it came down to it...there were some things that I didn't want to get rid of. Bottom line, I realized that the freedom that I have when all of my life is based on Jesus. Jesus calls us to give up everything. He wants to be the Lord of our lives. He wants to be the focus of every thought, the focus of every action, and the focus of our hearts. Let Him be your passion. This is where I am with my life. HE IS MY PASSION!
As I've been at camp for the 3rd week now, the focus of the staff has been on Romans 12 and how powerful our God is. As a staff member, this has been an incredible time of my life. God has began a work in my life that will MOLD me into exactly who He wants. Earlier today I stumbled across Jeremiah 18 which talks about the Potter's house..please check it out. Anywho, this song is my life at the moment. My heart is being shaped into something that is indescribable and i love it! :)