Hungry, I run to you.

Okay, so if you haven't already picked up on it, I write a lot of songs in my blogs. Thats because I think worship through music is such an amazing way to show the Lord our love for him. I'm not an amazing singer... actually, most of the time I'm quite the opposite :P... but I always feel so close to the Lord when I am singing praises to him. I guess you could say that songs put my feelings into words, except for I don't have to write them :)

Anyways, yesterday at Switch, Mark talked about starving for God. For a relationship with him. The mindset of him. Being his hands and feet. The Lord is the only one who can satisfy us. Not relationships, not material things, not activities, only the Lord.

Hungry, I come to you
For I know you satisfy
I am empty, but I know
Your love does not run dry

Broken, I run to you
For your arms are open wide
I am weary, but I know
Your arms are open wide

God alone. He truly is all that can satisfy us. I don't know why we turn to people or things before the Lord. Like for real. I mean I do it to, but its stupid!! God is always there for us. Always. Just as he is starving for us, we should be starving for him.

Romans 7:18-19
I want to do what is right, but I can't.
I want to do what is good, but I don't.
I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

That pretty much sums up my life :P Starving for God means trying as hard as we can to do what is right and good and not to do what is wrong. Another verse that Mark shared with us described what we should be like if we truly love the Lord with all our hearts.

Jerimiah 20:9
But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,"
his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

Oh, Lord. Precious Savior. God, this is who I long to be. Sometimes its easy to share your fire with the world. But, Oh, Lord. It's not always easy. And, Jesus, you know that. You came down to earth as a humble baby and you were mocked and tortured way worse than I am. You are such an amazing example. I long to be like you, Lord. Give me your eyes, so that I will see the world from your perspective. Make me your hands and feet, God. I'll go where you send me. I love you. Amen.

So what can I say
What can I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

So I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all

So I’ll stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

Back to the starving thing, and also just along with giving ourselves completely to the Lord, Mark also talked about literally starving ourselves. Okay, maybe not literally starving... but fasting. By fasting, you show the Lord that he matters more than food. Its also a symbolic thing of saying, "God, you are all that can satisfy me. I don't live on bread alone, but on your word." How amazing to think of putting God ahead of even food! He is all that matters; without him, my life is pointless. Church of the Highlands is going on a fasting retreat this weekend called Saturate. I really wanted to go, but I talked to my mom, and for several reasons, she decided it would be better for me to stay home this weekend. I was really frustrated at first, but when I was praying about it at Switch last night, I was thinking "Why do I want to go on this retreat?". I know that those going to Saturate will have amazing speakers and great worship, but I can spend my own quiet time with the Lord from my very own bedroom! I pray that God would teach me, as I also pray for everyone going to Saturate. For those that don't know the Lord, that their lives would be dramatically changed. And for those, who are followers of Christ, that they would learn amazing things. God, you are all that can satisfy us. So, I run to you, hungry. God, teach me to be more and more like you. Amen.

Enough.

Wow. I haven't updated in a while and I have a ton to write. So, get prepared, cause this is gonna be long :P

First of all, this morning in City Gates (our Sunday morning youth stuff at MBCC), Mark talked about encouragement. This week has been crazy and I've hurt a lot of people's feelings, just as they've hurt mine. Encouragement. Okay, for real, this whole week, I don't think I thought ONCE about how I could encourage someone. Just one person. It shouldn't have been that hard. But, I was frustrated and I chose to get angry and because of my anger, I sinned. God says its okay to get angry as long as we don't sin. As long as we still encourage one another. As long as we are still doing the best we can do to benefit HIS kingdom. But, I totally did not do that this week. I am so sorry to the Lord and to the people I have hurt and I hope they forgive me.

Second of all, my huddle group is going to be going through Acts in the second semester which I'm really really excited about!! We read chapters one and two today, and I already learned so much! One neat fact I learned is the difference in the meaning of disciple and apostle. Disciple means someone who is learning, like a follower or an apprentice. Apostle means a messenger or a missionary. Jesus calls us to be his witnesses "even to the ends of the earth". What a challenge to be such an example for him. His followers certainly were! They brought about 3000 people to Christ in ONE DAY. The Bible says there were about 120 Christians there at the time, which Alison told us, makes each person to have brought 25 people to Christ in one day!! Amazing. The Holy Spirit can use us in such amazing ways, if we just allow him to work in us. They were gathered together constantly in prayer (1:14). What an amazing example. I pray that I will be more like that.

Also, tonight, we talked about being "in the world and not of it" (John 17:3). Mark talked several verses relating to this one. The first one is 1 John 2:15.

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

This verse doesn't mean you can't love people on earth, friends or family, or you can't like where you live. Nothing like that. It just means that God should still be most important. We can't be under the influence of the world. God is our everlasting Father and we should follow his ways, walk in his footsteps, and daily try to be more and more Christ-like. The next verse reminds us that our true home is not on this earth, but in heaven with the Lord. (Philippians 3:20) It encourages us to store up our treasures in heaven, because "where your treasure is, there will be your heart also (Luke 12:34)." 1 Peter 1:1, reminds us that we are aliens or strangers in this world. Once again, our true home is in heaven. Mark told us three things to do to keep the mindset of looking forward to heaven:

1. Pray regularly for Jesus to come back. (1 Corinthians 16:22)
2. Keep watch over your accumulation. (Matthew 6:20)
3. Accept suffering and hardship as God's way of separating you from the earth.

So, all of this goes to say, this has been a hard week, but today the Lord has shown me so so much and I am ready to humble myself before him. I love you, Jesus, with all my heart.

All of you is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

Faith.

Wow. It's been awhile. Merry Christmas!! Happy 2010! Did any of y'all make new year's resolutions? I never have before, but this year, Hannah-Katherine and I decided to both make one. HK decided to read through the Bible in a year and I decided to finish my memorization of the book of James. (I started it 2 or 3 years ago and then I just kinda quit when I got to chapter 2ish... So I decided to finish it. :)) We also made a goal to text each other every day to hold each other accountable. We are told that "When two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them". I had memorized this part before, but going back over it and reviewing it, it totally took on a new meaning. Before, I was just reading it to get through it, but this time, I've been really soaking it in and trying to understand and relate it to my life.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily good. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do." You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered hi son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ~James 2:15-22

This passage was a great reminder to me about WHY we do the things we do. Sometimes, I for sure feel like I do things for the right reason. But then, I'll get bored, or think of other things I have to do, and I get a bad attitude and I'm just serving to look good or get it over with. I pray that I would have a Christ-like attitude more often. I know I'm not perfect, but I am saved. I am saved by Jesus Christ. He died a terrible death to rescue me from my selfish sins. Thank you, Lord. When I think about it, I am overwhelmed with an peace I can't even describe. I can relax in his presence without stressing out about school or drama or relationships. God, fill my life with youre peace. Let me be a light for you and shine for the world. God, thank you, thank you, thank you!! Its all I can do but be thankful for the amazing life you've given me. I take it for granted so often, Lord, but it is a gift from you. Use me as a tool to spread your word. Help be to truly be your humble servant. God, let my actions prove my faith. Thank you. I love you. God, I love you, because you first loved me.

Priorities.

What are your top 5 priorities in order? Is God at the top of that list like he should be? Truly and honestly, is he? This question was in my Bible study today and it challenged me so much! I honestly don't know what my top priority is right now. I was doing so well in my walk with Christ, but this past week, I haven't opened my Bible. I've been busy Christmas shopping, babysitting, packing, hanging out with friends, etc. Here is the exact question from my devo:

My Current Priority: God's Priority:
___ School/Job... accomplishing goals; working hard ___
___ God... loving Him; being His disciple and child ___
___ Family... siblings and parents ___
___ Ministry... worship; telling others about Christ ___
___ Other... hanging out with friends; sports; movies; hobbies ___

I challenge y'all over the week of Christmas to think about whats important to you in your life compared to whats important to GOD in your life. God's opinion is much more important.

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity... Do not be foolish; but understand what the Lord's will is... Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." ~Ephesians 5:15-21

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful... Be wise in the way your act toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." ~Colossians 4:2, 5-6

This two verses always remind me of what should be important in my life. Diligent prayer. Praising and glorifying God. Graciousness. Wise actions. Graceful conversation. With siblings, graceful conversation is not always easy. I have such a hard time being encouraging and sweet to my family all the time. It's just hard. Over this Christmas season, I pray that I will be kinder and that I will spend more time with the Lord and making him my first priority. Merry Christmas! I love y'all!

One Night With the King :)

Okay, I just wrote a whole long post, but this didn't have anything to do with it, so I made a new one. :)

So, today I was watching One Night With the King... and if you haven't seen it, its AMAZING!... but anyways, there were two amazing quotes that I thought I'd share with y'all. I've seen the movie like a million times, but these two quotes really struck me today.

"Instead of asking questions of our trials, are our trials not meant to ask questions of ourselves?"

"When David was fighting Goliath, he won the battle not because he fought well, but because he believed well."

The first one brings up such a good point about questioning God's plan. I think during hard times, we tend to ask God "Why?" instead of "What are you trying to teach me through this situation?". It is my prayer that when the Lord tries me, I will try to learn from the situation instead of asking "Why?" over and over again. The second quote also struck me. I had never really thought about it before. I don't know if I just wasn't paying attention during that part in the movie or what, but this time I was just like "Wow." Its all about belief and faith. In the song 'Come ye, Sinners', there is a line that says "True belief and true repentance; Every grace that brings you nigh". Its so simple. Belief draws you the the Lord. If we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can move mountains. My prayer for all of us is to be faithful to the Lord and believe in him. So, haha that kinda did have to do with the other post, but whatever :) Y'all should totally go watch that movie!!

Prove Faithful.

My bible study today was about faithfulness. It taught me so much and I hope it will teach y'all as well. This is the verse that the chapter was based on. It is so true. How do you prove faithful?

"Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."
~ 1 Corinthians 4:2

Last Sunday, Mary Kathryn talked about what God was doing in her life and she was just saying that she felt God was really calling her to do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Everything. Not just some things, things we feel like, but truly and honestly everything should be for the Lord's glory. It is so hard to take that verse literally. That doesn't mean once you have your quiet time you can just be done with God for the day. That means that you should worship God in everything you do. We should consciously think about living our life for the glory of God. Whether it be hanging out with friends, watching a movie, doing school work, or doing your Bible study, it needs to be for the glory of GOD alone! God's word tells us that when we honor him, we will be blessed (Proverbs 3:7-12). In Matthew 25, it talks about Jesus' return. We are commanded not to go back for our earthly possessions, but to worry only about the Lord. When he returns, he will come to us like "swift lightening"! But we have to be ready and to worry about the Lord and the Lord only. God cares so much about us. Its insane. Like we have no idea how much God loves us! This passage is overwhelming if you really think about it. God cares so much about the lilies in the field. If God cares about a flower, we can not even imagine how much he cares about us!

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
~Matthew 6:25-34

Why do we worry about our clothes and our food? God provides. He has a plan for our life and he WILL work our each and every detail! I am terrible about worrying. I worry about the stupidest things. Why can I not trust God to provide. I know he will, but I don't always believe it. I challenge you, and myself as well, to trust God to provide and not to worry about the little things in life that don't matter. God has your life in his hands; he has everything in control! One of the questions in my Bible study book was: "Think about your own life; look at your actions and habits. What do you seek first? What's most important to you?". This question was such a challenge. I want the answer to be God all the time. But, if I'm completely honest, I know that's not true all the time. God certainly is most important in my life sometimes. But, then there are times that other things wrongly take his place. If you are honest with yourself, I know that the same is true in your life. Sometimes my friends take place over God. Sometimes activities. Sometimes family. Sometimes facebook. God has blessed us with so much, but he is still the most important. I pray that we would all try harder to seek him first ALL the time in our daily lives. I feel like when we don't spend our quiet time with the Lord, we try to justify ourselves and make excuses. But God doesn't want our excuses. He wants our time. He is our Savior. We owe him so much. The least we can do is spend time worshiping him. Our creator. He deserves it. In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul writes, "Don't let anyone look down on you, because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." By just living a Godly life, and seeking HIM first, we can be such an example to the world. We can teach others about Christ. He has called us to be his disciples. What an amazing role we are given. All it takes is faith. We must be faithful to the Lord. Our journey with him is not always easy, but we learn so much and we can help lead so many others to him by being an example. God is ever faithful to us, we should be to him also.

If We are the Body

We had an assignment in lit to write down what this song means and I love this song!! I don't really think about the words, though. And, as I was reading it, it really hit me hard that this is how we should act! We are called to be God's "salt and light" and his disciples. We are supposed to represent him. Yet, we gossip and avoid people that are "different" than us. But really, we are all made in God's own image and we are the same in that aspect. Christ spent his time on earth with tax collectors, prostitutes, and beggars. So, for us to always stay with our same group of friends in our little world, where we are so blessed with so much, and ignore those around us, we are not representing Christ. He calls us to be an example of him in everything we do. I pray that we would all do a better job of being salt and light for our amazing Savior.

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road

CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ

Chorus (2x)
If we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus is the way

If you get a chance, I would challenge you to go look this video us on youtube. Just listen to the song and think about the words. Really think about them. Is this what your life looks like? Are you the person with the teasing laughter or the judgemental glances? Let God work in your life and use you to welcome people into the Kingdom of God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUqCbZ6Seuo