Lies, Deception, and Desire

What are you believing about yourself that is not true?

You can, and should ask God to show you what is true about who you are, and what is not. =)

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise" 

Philippians 4:8

This verse applies to the things we think about ourselves as well as about others and just our thoughts in general.

I believe that many times we not only believe the common lies of the world, but being a Christian means that Satan has his own special recipe of lies to make a Christian's life as ineffective as he possibly can.

One of the biggest ways that Satan has attacked my life, and I believe attacks every Christian's life is to make us believe that God intends to fill our desires in something other than Himself.

Let me explain...

A young woman desires to be married, so she believes that God knows her heart and will eventually bless her with a husband some day, and her desire to be married will be filled.

She is, in a sense, a lady in waiting. But because she is so convinced that she knows how God will fill her desire, she misses out on something. Her true desire is for an intimacy with God, but because she is so convinced that she knows her own desire, she misses out on a deeper aspect of God's love, because she does not allow Him to fill her, she is waiting for something that ultimately will not fill her desire. She does not know her own desire.

More lies..

A young man desires to have a successful career someday. He "seeks the Lord's guidance" but ultimately follows what he believes to be God's path... but he is pursuing what he can see, not the inner affirmation that comes from the Lord's grace and mercy. 

The man's real desire is for an affirmation that comes from finding his identity in the Lord.

So the problem comes down to a lack of faith in God's promises. 

I don't think this is intentional, I think it happens when we are so confident in our version of God's plan that we do not allow Him to surprise or astound us. 

What do you desire?

Do you have a specific scenario in mind?

 

Can I challenge you to say that God want's to go beyond what you can think, beyond what you can imagine. Imagine the craziest way possible that your prayer can be answered... then understand He can do more, He wants to do more.

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work with in us. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, Amen." Ephesians 3:20

I do not believe God gives us desires that He does not intend to fill in Himself!

He wants to fill us completely

He wants to fill us now

To be satisfied in Him

I am not saying that we do not need to wait on the Lord,

I think He does intend for us to wait many times, 

but I believe sometimes we wait not out of trust in God's promises, 

but because we are holding out for something that 

will not fill us and God patiently waits for us to realize 

our desire is for Him.

Whether or not we recognize it.

He will never force His way in.

He says he wants to be our best friend, 

our Stronghold

Does He have permission to fill your desires in the way He knows is best, or are you keeping Him from filling you because you already "know" what you want.

Are you waiting to step out in faith because you have in mind the circumstances under which God will use you?

Please don't miss what He has for you when you allow Him to fill you wholly, and completely!!

L to the I to the F to the E, G to the R to the O-U-P!

Firstly, I am amazingly blessed by the girls in my life group! I have so much love and respect for all of you! God has used you to convict me, teach me, encourage me, and spur me on to love and good deeds! I am truly honored to serve besides such women of faith.

Life group tonight was phenomenal and so I'm going to write up some of the notes and what we talked about, because it was so great I want everyone to hear it!!

God is For You!

James 1:16-18 --Every good and perfect thing comes from the Lord!

Romans 8:28 --He will use things for the good of His creation.

2 Peter 1:3-4 --God has given me everything I need to follow Him --> His promises enable us!

Everything has gone exactly according to His plan since the very beginning!

It's not one of those, "Oh a few rough patches here and there but He's still in control" but His purpose has been the same and His exact plan has gone forth!

Paul's example of giving others up to the Lord

Acts 20:32

Acts 14:23 & 26

1 Corinthians 1:7-9

Are we entrusting not only ourselves to the Lord, but also our brother's and sisters? Or do we have a controlling attitude, that somehow God's purpose for someone else depends on me? It is God who keeps people strong, not my words or my actions.

God is just as real to everyone else as He is to me. He can reveal Himself to whoever He wants, however He wants, whenever He wants.

Do you trust God is for your brother's and sisters the same way He is for you?

Psalm 31:5

Psalm 31:14-15

Psalm 56:3-11

David believed God was for him so much so that he gave himself over to the Lord.

David understood that God was the only one worthy to be trusted with his spirit!

God is the Father of our spirits, He is able to guard them. =)

When is it most difficult for you to trust that God is for you?

Is it not when we are going through trials?

This was shared at a faithwalkers seminar and some ladies relayed it to me. It has resonated true to me.

If you had the choice to get to know God in one of three ways... and your options were, on a beach, in a family setting

or, through a very difficult trial, you would always choose the trial, because you grow closer to someone when you understand the hurts of their heart, their pain, and their true self! When we're in pain, we don't have time or energy for a facade with our closest friends! It's the real deal!

I believe God is in complete control.

He made the world.

He knows the plans, actions, heart, and strategy of the enemy, so He understands exactly what Satan is, and has already won the victory over him!!!

So God's plan included everything that has happened up until this point.

There are no flops, only what is most necessary.

I believe God planned my hurts and my joys, my trials and my dreams, He planned them so that He and I could experience them together!

They are not mine, they are His, for the purpose of bringing me closer to His heart!

Isn't that what you want? to be closer to God's heart?

So I praise Him for those circumstances, and trials.

There were a lot of wonderful analogies shared tonight. I'm a sucker for analogies. I love them. So I'll share some =)

Trust... "I am the chair behind you. Fall on me - I'll be there. I promise" God says this to me.

Spiritual muscles!!

After a hard workout, you can feel you muscles aching, but ask athletes... They aim for this feeling because it means they are getting stronger! Don't you want your spiritual muscles to be in the best shape possible?

What is your spiritual weight lifting?

Refining- is for the purpose of making a metal pure. It requires a lot of heat, to bring the impurities to the surface, then they are scraped off...

We go through the fire of trials, were our impurities are brought to the surface so God can skim them off our our souls, and we in the end are more pure!

Also, a wonderful quote...

"God has plans - not problems - for our lives. Before she died in the concentration camp in Ravensbruck, my sister Betsie said to me, 'Corrie, your whole life has been a training for the work you are doing here in prison - and for the work you will do afterward.'

" The life of a Christian is an education for higher service. No athlete complains when the training is hard. He thinks of the game, or the race."

--Corrie Ten Boom

Also I just realized that the root of the word revelation is "reveal" ... and I get really excited when I remember I'm going to see my Savior face to face someday!!! =)

Sorry this entry is a bit scatter-brained =)

Eternal Beauty

We sung the Lord's prayer this morning at church...
These are just some thoughts, inspired by what God has told us to pray for, and then flowing off of a few things I've been contemplating recently.


Our Father hallowed be thy name

You, O Lord, are holy and deserve my adoration and all honor.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

I pray you would hasten your coming as I seek to fulfill your plan to bring people into a real relationship with you

Give us today our daily bread

Provide for my needs and the needs of Your body, the church

and forgive our debts

Cleanse and heal us

We need your mercy

Desperately

as we forgive our debtors

Help us to understand Your forgiveness through forgiving one another in love

and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

Shield me from the destruction of the world and cover me with Grace

for thine is the Kingdom forever

I acknowledge You are forever, You are in control and You are the ruler of all of heaven and earth for eternity!

I acknowledge the reality of eternity and that you've already won and taken the throne!

Eternity is now!

It's already begun.

If something has no end, then can it resonably be subject to time constraints?

Has it not already existed?

I acknowledge eternity--

I will see souls

I will seek to see not the physical but the eternal.

Each soul reflects a part of my Lord, therefore each soul has a beauty all it's own

That beauty, has been robbed from so many souls,

The beauty of God's own righteousness

He seeks to restore it.

God's creation, His souls.

are beautiful and individual.

I will seek to patch the holes in people's souls

with the fabric of salvation.

see not the physical but the eternal

For what is eternally beautiful but the Lord?

Let us not destory our bodies and souls

but let us understand

our Master is gracious and has given us life and dignity!

My sin destroys that which my Savior loved--Me

not only me but the others I hurt when I sin

Let me value the eternal

I want to understand who I am!

He values me and says I am beautiful

So I want to know who I am

He sees the eternal, so what beauty am I given?

Surely it is not physical,

but it is His own Righteousness

The Lord's beauty is now mine and resides in me

I have become the Beauty of the Lord

As the eternal Beauty of the Lord,

How will I live?

Isaiah 43, 52:1-2, 54

Jeremiah 31

2 Corinthians 5:21

Micah 7:18-20

Colossians 1:27

"No matter how much we are hurt, God knows about it, cares about it, and so, through his love, we are sometimes enabled to let go our hurts. But it is not only our hurts which we are required to give over but our wholeness too, it must all be his." 

-Walking on Water, Madeline L'Engle

Lord, Lord!

We need You.

We need to give our hurts to God to be truly deeply healed, but that requires giving our wholeness to God.

Maybe it's not so much the flesh that has fallen, but people's souls are mutilated.

Tormented...

by their own sin,

Writhing in pain inside of themselves,

Fighting against the self-imposed walls meant to protect

That's the thing about walls,

They keep things out, but they hold everything inside.

How to let go...

How to let go?

Break them.

Crush them.

but...

O so fragile the spirit of the man behind the stone facade!

O so fragile the aching heart that has so long been concealed!

Patched, and Re-patched 

but ever Ripping and Breaking open. 

The same wounds won't heal

the same bandages won't cover

even the bandages are rotting.

Waiting 

for some medication that really works!

for a Savior!

but who can stitch a soul?

Needles Pierce!

Who will be gentle with their fragile, fragile hearts?

You will draw them near

You will touch, and the pain may make them cringe

the burn of the cleansing may be too much for some to bear..

Be gentle.

Correct, but do spare our lives

Make right the hurts

Make clean the festering sores

Brick, by brick 

You take down the walls

Free us.

Shield us.

The only one with strong enough hands and a gentle enough touch.

such mercy coupled with such strength!

Teach my feeble hands to take care of Your children.

Touch me so I may touch them

Strengthen me so I may strengthen them.

Perfect love drives out fear

Show me that love and let that love flow through my every moment

every breath

I will not be afraid because you love me, 

Perfectly

Who we are =)

What is your favorite truth about who you are in Christ?

My favorite is that I am His bride!! That I'm treasured by Him just as I am, and He wants me, is such a phenomenal truth to me! 

I was just listening to Phil Wickham "Beautiful" and it inspired this question.

"When we arrive at eternity's shore

Where death is just a memory and tears are no more

We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring

Your bride will come together and we'll sing

You're beautiful"

"One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple." 

Psalm 27:4

White Funeral

I found a book at my sisters... "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. It's technically a daily devotional, but I was completely blown away and so I'm going to type out something I read today..

DO YOU WALK IN WHITE?

"Buried with Him...that...even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4

No one enters into the experience of entire sanctification without going through a "white funeral"--the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crisis of death, sanctification is nothing more than a vision. There must be a "white funeral," a death that has only one resurrection--a resurrection into the life of Jesus Christ. Nothing can upset such a life, it is one with God for one purpose, to be a witness to Him.

Have you come to your last days really? You have come to them often in sentiment, but have you come to them really? You cannot go to your funeral in excitement, or die in excitement. Death means you stop being. Do you agree with God that you stop being the striving, earnest kind of Christian you have been? We skirt the cemetery and all the time refuse to go to death. It is not striving to go to death, it is dying--"baptized into His death."

Have you had your "white funeral," or are you sacredly playing the fool with your soul? Is there a place in your life marked as the last day, a place which the memory goes back with a chastened and extraordinarily grateful remembrance--"Yes, it was then, at that 'white funeral,' that I made an agreement with God."

"This is the will of God, even your sanctification." When you realize what the will of God is, you will enter into sanctification as naturally as can be. Are you willing to go through that "white funeral" now? Do you agree with Him that this is your last day on earth? 

The moment of agreement depends upon you.

Before the Altar

Journaling...

I really enjoy writing, but I came to a predicament today.

I view whatever I write as a sort of offering, I always want it to glorify God, so as I sat before the altar, trying to write something that honored His name... I started writing and this is what ended up on the page.

Before the Altar

I can create nothing that gives You the honor You are due.

My words are weak, frail, used too many times

even the best are devoid and stale.

No colors I possess can create even a glimpse of Your beauty.

The only tools I have, have come from You!

No melody I could compose would express what You are...

Everything in this world has it's own constraints, but You Lord are not constrained!

How do I express an infinite God, with finite tools?

I cannot.

You are Above.

You are Beyond.

You are More.

You are Greater.

than anything I have ever, or will ever know.

You cannot be contained.

You will not be contained.

You created, thought up, what each color would be

it's composition, how it would blend and fit with the rest of your creation.

You determined the vibration of each sound,

the ring of each note existed in You long before any man ever uttered a noise.

The harmony of the winds, the tones in each gust, it was You who fashioned every part.

Words fail.

Everything I create is a masterstudy 

It's a poorly sketched Mona Lisa handed back to DaVinci!

It's a black and white print of a dynamically colored flower garden!

My grays could never encompass the warm, orange depths of Your grace, the electric green of the new life I've been given, the startling yellow of Your joy, and the bright blue tones of Your love!

I cannot even show the blackest depths of my own heart and my sinful nature,

and oh, to fathom

the rich crimson of Your blood

covering

oozing over

and somehow

Obliterating

the black darkness

to reveal a blinding, magnificent, manifestation of Glory!

Whiter, than anything on earth.

Overflowing with light,

with colors of You so brightly shining that all optically visible color is no longer seen,

 in my mind alone I know the richness of Your Spirit dwells in this place.

What Glory.

...but You are Beyond.

Anything I can create in my mind, is a pathetic, second-rate Copy.

You are the original.

Nothing compares.

So how do I honor You?

I only have what You've given me... 

What do you ask? 

What do you want? 

I can give You nothing You do not already possess.

Myself.

I am already Yours.

You knew I would have nothing to give, so you slipped me something I could claim as mine for a moment just so I would have something to offer.

Life.

Take mine.

Whatever you ask Lord.