Don't Be Lazy

 This post was written at the beginning of August, and I never got around to finishing it until now. So here it is for y'all!

Currently I am sitting at the dentist office, waiting for my uncle to be done. Both my uncle and I go to the same dentist and always go on the same day. And we always go bright and early in the morning... early for me at least. You see, I am not a morning person, in fact yesterday I slept in until noon. I do admit though that the previous night I had only had 4 hours of sleep and had had a long day in Nashville.

But anyways, I realize that when I wake up earlier, even if I am still tired, I have more of my day. I can spend much more time with The Lord. I can get more things done. I am far less stressed. I enjoy my day a lot more. Don't we all want that. I definitely would appreciate less stress and more time to enjoy each and everyday The Lord has made and given me. 

Sleeping in is great every now and then, especially when you do need to catch up on sleep, but it shouldn't be done everyday. I am definitely one who stays up late resulting in sleeping in late. I want to be a Proverbs 31 woman and even a Proverbs 31 woman is not lazy and arises from her bed to be there for her family ("She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens" -Prov. 31:15). There are plenty of other verses in the bible the illustrate to us the importance of not sleeping all day in Ecclesiastes (5:12) and Ephesians (5:13-14).

The Lord has blessed us with each and everyday and we should live it out and spread His word... Which we can't do in bed. This is my motivation to wake up and get out of bed. I need to get up so that I am not lazy and share Gods word. I need to spend time with our graceful Jesus, so that I may continue to learn His word to share with others. 

What gets you up in the morning? Do you have things you do to get yourself out of bed on time rather lying there or continuously hitting the snooze button? 

"So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." 

-1 Thessalonians 5:6-11


**Come back tomorrow for a post everyday of September! I am going to be linking up with Bailey from Brave Love Blog for The Blog-tember Challenge! I am excited to see what this month brings.
See y'all tomorrow! :)

Living in the Kingdom Era

At the beginning of the month I finally purchased a book I had been wanting to get, 30 Days to Understanding the Bible by Max Anders. I first heard of the book from my friend and was very intrigued by it. I have heard bits and pieces of certain stories of the bible, but could not tell you specifics of who did what. This has been something that Satan has held in front of me because I did not know these stories. I could not tell you specific names or places mentioned in the bible. And so I decided it was about time to get to knowing what these stories were so that I could know them and kick Satan in the butt.

The book goes through the different types of books in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, and then goes on to describe the eras in each. I have gotten through the Exile Era in the Old Testament and have been really impressed with myself in how I have managed to understand and remember the material. There are great charts to help the reader memorize each of the eras, along with the main figure, location, and a short sentence that helps to summarize what happened. 

While I was at the beach I read about the Kingdom Era, which is during the books 1 Samuel through 2 Chronicles. I also read 2 Timothy in the same sitting, and boy let me tell you, they both clicked for me and correlated with one another more than I thought possible.

During the Kingdom Era, the kings of Israel were wanting total freedom, but they did not realize that there was no such thing as total freedom. "They wanted the freedom to ignore the directives God had given them on how to rule and wage war. But at the same time, they wanted the freedom to have economic and military prosperity. This was not possible." This got me to thinking that we are just like these kings of Israel because we want it all too. We want the freedom to do as we wish with our life, but we still want God to sit back there just in case something goes wrong so that He can forgive us again and we can have a moment of realization that our sins were wrong, even though we will go right back to sinning. Our lives are just like the Kingdom Era, "very turbulent" and "with many ups and downs." 

Then I got into reading 2 Timothy and was reading about how we should not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, but that we should share the power of God (2 Timothy 1:8) and that the Lord will give us understanding in everything (2 Tim. 2:7). Being reminded of these two things before I had even finished 2 Timothy had me realize that I don't have to be like the kings of Israel in the Kingdom Era. Having freedom to do the things I want because I am a sinner and disobey what The Lord has given me is no reason to go through ups and downs in life, especially without my Lord. If I had the freedom to do as I please with no consequence (sin) I would not have the chance to have the Lord help me to flee from my youthful passions (2 Tim. 2:22), my sins, so that I can live a faithful life glorifying Jesus. 

While reading 2 Timothy, Paul ripped open my heart to help me realize that this is not my life, this life I have been given is meant to glorify our Lord, Jesus Christ. I am supposed to flee my youthful passions, preach the word: be ready in season and out of season; rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching" (2 Tim. 4:2), and do the work of an evangelist. He then ends his letter with this wonderful passage, "But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." 2 Timothy 4:17-18. By doing Gods will and sharing His love and His word to His people, He will protect me from every evil because He loves me.

Friends, I hope today that you take a minute, and remind yourselves of what we are here on this earth for, not to take part in our favorite idols, but to glorify our Lord and to bring all of his sons and daughters to Him so that we can all live eternally with Him in heaven. And just tonight in church I was reminded that we are supposed to humble ourselves just like "He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8). I want to think of myself less so that I can let Jesus in more and think of others more, just like He does for us. 

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, 
a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." -2 Timothy 2:15

Loved by Him, so love others!

Over the past year I have been reading through the New Testament. Since I was newer in my faith last year the New Testament was easier for me to read, and now I've made it a goal to read through it. This morning I was reading 2 Thessalonians. It truly left a mark on my heart and reminded me of a few things:

•"We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing." 2 Thess. 1:3 - This verse reminded me to always praise Him for what He has given me because He is strengthening my relationship with Him. He is the reason for the good in my life and since I am following Him faithfully, He sees that and gives me grace and mercy when I may sin. Always remember to praise Him!

I am also reading through Psalms and these readings this morning went together perfectly. 

•"He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge- The Lord- knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath." Psalms 94:9-11 - I know that God knows what we do and say, but this verse truly helped me to remember and realize that He does actually know what I do and say. I mean, why wouldn't He if He was the one who created it all?! 

Then I went and am going to reread 1 Timothy and it brought up how the Lord saves a sinner like me. 

•"But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 1:13-14 - He loves us even though we sin. He loves us through it all and simply wants an intimate relationship with us! He knows all the awful sins we have made, make, and will make but He stills forgives us of it all! So why wouldn't we give thanks and praise to Him like mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 1:3?! His son died for OUR sins and all He wants is a relationship with us! How crazy is that?!? 

I just wanted to share with you all some of my thoughts while reading this morning. Jumping into the bible and realizing how it all correlates and comes together for an ultimate purpose of loving God and others because He saved us from our sins is such an amazing thing. I can't wait to love others like Jesus did and like God loves us. This life that He has given us is so precious and there isn't any reason we can't live our life for Christ since He died for us! 

Have an amazing day my friends, and go love on some people who need it!

A Joyful Life

On Sunday's I go to church at nighttime. The service is called 608, and yes, it does start at 6:08. For the past 3 or so years it has been a place very close to my heart. It was where I found Jesus, gave my life to Him, and spend every Sunday worshipping our glorious Lord. I cannot explain to you all how big of a part my church has been in my life during the past 3 years. Having a place of comfort, where I can go and worship and continue to grow as a christian is much needed in this world that we live in.

Tonight the message was about living a joyful life. Even though this topic is often talked about, it is always a good reminder of how important it is to living such a lifestyle. Growing up I was not necessarily always around the most positive people and I did not grow up having a relationship with Jesus. Even nowadays I am not always surrounded by positive people, which can make being positive and joyful a bit harder. Tonight the message was from Philippians 4:4, simple but so sweet and filled with so much truth.

Our pastor said a few things that really stuck with me tonight... 

Joy is a command, along with a choice.

In the scripture pictured aboved God tells us twice that we should rejoice in Him. He commands us to rejoice because he knows that it is something that can benefit our lives and that we have every reason to rejoice. But He also makes it a choice for us. He wants us to choose joy because it means that we are rejoicing in Him and letting Him take our life into His hands. He wants us to live this way because he knows that it is best for us and will only bring us closer to Him.

It's not joy that makes us grateful, its gratitude that makes us joyful.

I've heard this before, but it continues to be such great truth in my life. If I am living a life full of gratitude how can I go around being anything but joyful. My pastor said tonight, "Joy grows in soil that has been cultivated in humility and fertilized with gratitude." Meaning we have to humble ourselves so that we can become more grateful for what we have. If we are constantly thinking we are better than everyone else we cannot have true joy in our lives because we will never be truly grateful. 

Tonights message made me want to check my own life. Over the next year a lot will be changing and I want to make sure I rejoice in everything that the Lord does in and through me, no matter good or bad. Reminding myself that life can be better if I am only grateful is such a great way to start this last year of college I have. I want to cherish every moment of it and the only way to do that is to be truly grateful in what I am given and then I can rejoice in it! Friends, this is probably one of the toughest things to be able to do, especially when those around you are experiencing and getting things that you may have been longing for in life, but let me tell you... Once you are grateful for what you do have, and you are able to rejoice in Christ Jesus, He truly will bless you in areas you never knew He could. Join me in being grateful, so that I can rejoice in the Lord. It may not be easy but Paul said in Philippians, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." And He definitely can strengthen us, more than we know. 

Have a joyful week, my friends.