All is Possible with God

The Following are excerpts from Hebrews 11
if you want to read the entire chapter, click this link! http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+11&version=NIV

Hebrews 11

1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered Him faithful who had made the promise.


With God, anything is possible. I think this is easy to forget when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances. There is nothing that is beyond the power of God. As humans, we get caught up in science or logic that tells us that peace is not possible, certain diseases are incurable, that a barren woman cannot conceive a child, or that a paralyzed man will never walk again . But this passage in Hebrews reminds us that we must be "certain of what we do not see". God works in ways that we cannot see or understand. God works miracles. He answers prayers. Abraham and Sarah had faith in the Lord. They hoped for a child and they prayed faithfully. Sarah was barren, and Abraham was very old....anyone would think it impossible for them to conceive a child. But the power of the Lord is great. God was pleased with their faith and He rewarded them because they sought Him earnestly. (vs 6). Do not give up hope. Be certain of God, even when things seem impossible. Take heart. Miracles do happen. :-)

Living in Love

1 John 4:11-16 (New International Version)

¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
 ¹³We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ¹⁶And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
      God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him.

Thou Art Strong

⁷To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

-2 Corinthians 12:7-10

 

When we go through hard times, when we are feeling weak...... it's an opportunity to glorify God. Sounds bizarre, right? But it's true. And it's a wonderful thing. It's a chance for us to accept God. To let Him be our Savior. To say to Him, I can't do this alone. I need your help.

 

Too often, we try to do everything on our own. We feel upset or ashamed when we cannot do everything for ourselves. God doesn't want it to be that hard. He wants us to bring our weaknesses to Him. He is glorified when we surrender to Him and let Him lift us up.

 

God does not look down upon us during times of weakness. He knows we are not perfect. He loves us so much, and His love and grace covers our imperfections.

 

Next time you're feeling weak, try to see it as an opportunity to glorify God. We cannot rely on our own strength and power. Christ must be more important than our pride. We can "delight" in our times of struggle because it is a chance to grow closer to God. It's hard to see this bigger picture sometimes...

 

We cannot truly be strong if we possess our human strength alone.

Only when we admit our weakness and surrender to Christ, can the true strength of God come about.

You can have this world, just give me Jesus...

Philippians 3:7-14

 

 ⁷ But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 ¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

 

 

 

 In this passage, Paul realizes that anything and everything pales in comparison to Jesus Christ. We all have things in our life that we love....friends, family, sports, jobs, music, games, books, etc. We consider these things very important and we hold them dear to us. Paul describes here how all these things that seem so great, are NOTHING compares to knowing Jesus. This is easy to say but hard to act out in our lives. We know that we should put God first, and that everything else that is of importance to us is worthless. No matter what we do, it is only by faith that we can be found in Christ. We are fallen and do not have the ability to earn our salvation, but God loves us so much that He saves us. If God gave up his only Son for us, can't we give up these things in our life to live for God? 

I love this passage, but struggle to find words to express my thoughts about it....let me know your thoughts!

 

In verse twelve, Paul writes "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." This verse is beautiful. Has Christ taken hold of your heart? What has He made you passionate about? What does He want you to do with your life? If you know, great! If you don't....pray. He will show you. He will take hold of you. Once you know, don't wait. Paul says he will PRESS ON to take hold of his purpose. We must move forward and work toward the purpose for which God put each of us here.

Christ has taken hold of my heart with a love of music, a love for children, a love for teaching, a love for sharing His promise with others.... I need to press on toward these things and put my whole heart into them. I'm definitely not able to do that yet as well as I'd like to, just as Paul said "I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it."
A quote from one of my favorite authors, John Eldrege, applies here.... "Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Our world is full of hatred and sin, and we need people who have come alive with passion. Passion about what they do, and passion for Jesus Christ. Don't think about what would make you most successful. It's not about what is easy, or what others tell you to do. What Jesus Christ has taken hold of you to do?

 

Paul reminds us at the end of this passage to forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead. I don't think he means we should forget our past, but that we should learn from it and we should stay focused on the goal of knowing Christ and living for Him. . .

One of my favorite quotes....

"I will give you this, my love, and I will not bargain or barter any longer. I will love you, as sure as He has loved me. I will discover what I can discover and though you remain a mystery, save God's own knowledge, what I disclose of you I will keep in the warmest chamber of my heart, the very chamber where God has stowed Himself in me. And I will do this to my death, and to death it may bring me.
I will love you like God, because of God, mighted by the power of God. I will stop expecting your love, demanding you love, trading for your love, gaming for your love. I will simply love. I am giving myself to you, and tomorrow I will do it again. I suppose the clock itself will wear thin its time before I am ended at this altar of dying and dying again.
God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together, we will learn to love, and perhaps then, and only then, understand this gravity that drew Him, unto us."

-Donald Miller


if you're looking for a good read, Miller wrote an awesome book called  Blue Like Jazz

Fighting the Good Fight {1 Timothy 6}

Paul's Charge to Timothy

 ¹¹But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
-1 Timothy 6: 11-16


This passage is from the first book of Timothy, which is a letter from the Apostle Paul. In this excerpt, he is calling Timothy to be faithful and to honor and glorify God. Earlier in this chapter, he mentions the dangers of conflict between men who are only out for money and personal gain. He explains the quarrels and conflicts that take place...these men fight with each other over things of the world. I think Paul is trying to help us see the pointlessness in this and the way it leads away from God. Instead of fighting with each other, we need to fight evil and fight for the glory of God and His kingdom.

I hate fighting. I hate conflict or confrontation or disagreement. I've always been afraid of it or viewed it as a negative thing. But when it comes to "fighting the good fight for faith", I need to step it up. I shouldn't be afraid to fight for God, because I can cover myself in His armor and He will equip me with whatever I need. Why should I be afraid? To fight for God's kingdom and to fight WITH God is to be sure of victory. It's like having the MVP of the world on your team. You're gonna pull out the win, as long as you have the courage to suit up and get out there on the field.

I've been talking to a friend lately about the importance of "playing your heart out". Whether it comes to work, relationships, God, or other things in life, what good comes out of investing yourself halfway? As a sports fan and an athlete, its easy for me to relate to the analogy of stepping up on the field. If you don't put in your heart and your time, you're not going to win.
Same goes for God. If you want to fight the good fight for Him, you have to be willing to take risks and put yourself out there. You might get hit. You might get knocked down. But this is God's team and God's fight...He's gonna reach down His hand and set you back on your feet.

Paul also calls Timothy to "take hold of eternal life". We can't forget the end goal and the kingdom we are fighting for. Our Lord is coming. Jesus will appear, and it is our job to be true to Him and to our calling until that day arrives.

Paul ends this excerpt saying "To Him be honor and might forever". It is comforting to know that God rules over all. He is strong, mighty, powerful, and worthy of all our praise.

We need to put our hope in God. Even if its difficult. Even if it's scary.
God has called us to fight the good fight.


Have an awesome day!

Renee

Bloggggg Beginnings :)

Hey Everyone :-)

hope you feel free to read and to respond with any thoughts....
since I spend way too much time on the computer, I thought that this might be a good use of that time!

The blog is called "Come Home Running" after a Chris Tomlin song that I love...It speaks to my heart and reminds me that I am loved unconditionally and I am forgiven because Jesus Christ layed down His life for each one of us. In this song, Chris sings about how we aren't perfect, we are all human and our hearts stray away from the Lord at times. We are sinners. But God doesn't want us to try to fix everything on our own. We don't have to clean up our lives before we give them to God. We need to "Come home running, just as we are..." and lay everything before God. Jesus is waiting with arms open wide for us to run to Him.

Have an awesome day!

-Renee