Plunge into the Now

Life seems weird right now. There is a lot going on and so little time. There are so many decisions that need to be made, and I have so little experience. Sometimes it seems like every emotion bombards me and I am feeling everything and yet nothing all at once. - And yet, God has been an anchor in the midst of this swirling storm.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil. 

- Hebrews 6:19

Through all of this God seems to be highlighting something to me: Dive into and use the time and the resources you have.

OK, so that seems like a small thing, but really God has been showing me this over a period of about a year in numerous different situations. Mainly God has asked me to see this when I feel fear. Unfortunately fear is a big part of our world, and even as Christians, though we can recite the verse, we do not have a spirit of power. The thing is, our fears are not "unjustified." We see brokenness and evil growing daily in the world. We hear stories of injustice. We see brokenness all around us. We fear for many things, physical, financial, emotional and even spiritual. We have seen disaster in every one of these spheres in the world, and we have even experienced some of them first hand. 

Will this if it happen to me? Its a real question, and unfortunately our experience can offer 

What if that happens to me? Or what about this, it has happened before, what if it happens again? 

The thing is, no matter what, there will be uncertainties, and we will experience fear. The question is, are you willing to embrace a spirit of power? It's the question of your life: Will you live in fear, or will you grasp the spirit of power and live the thrilling adventure, hand in hand with Christ, fully taken care of and loved.

Three days...

"Far be it from me to not believe, even when my eyes can't see. And this mountain that's in front of me, will be thrown into the midst of the sea. Through it all, it is well, my eyes are on You, Lord." 

It is well with me" (It is Well - Bethel Music)

Three regionals semi-final round medals would seem to symbolize three consecutive years of just missing Nationals... But to really, they symbolize something greater, a work that God has done. 

Competitions often disappointed a lot of people and surprised others, but God is still sovereign. So often people, myself included, become angry, depressed and self absorbed after disappointment. You see, disappointment is fine, it is a natural emotional reaction, but it becomes a stumbling block when we let that overtake us, and 

I found myself extremely disappointed, but yet EXTREMELY joyful. It was not my joy, but a peace that passed anything that I could understand. As Philippians 4:7 says,  "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

To all of you people who went to regionals or another competition, remember, It is not the ballot that tells your persuasiveness. It is not a placing that determines your skill. It is not how many times you cross the stage, or even the moment at which you are called up that displays your ability to communicate. Only the people your speeches have touched can testify to your ability to speak truth. Only those who have felt your encouragement can understand your ability to speak into someone's life. Only those who have seen you joyful in the midst of your disappointments can testify to the true impact of your communication. 

God open doors for us and he closes them. God knows what is best for the rest of your life... he has is under control. 

God says, [After your trials] "I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you. For I know the plans that I have for you, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 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 search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, and I will restore your fortunes." - Jeremiah 29:10-14

"Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you." - John 16:22

My tournament verses were Psalm 95: 6-8 and God Taught me to do this in a new way. 

"Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before our Maker, for he is our God, and we are the people of His pastures and the work of His hands. Today, if you would hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

So today, if you hear His voice, even in the midst of disappointment, and confusion, do not harden your hearts, because some times God uses Three years of competition, 40 years of wondering, three days in the tomb, or 40 days of testing, before he revealed His promise. But remember that the

A World Birthed of Love

"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

- 1st Corinthians 13:4-8

Have you ever wondered why Paul characterizes Love as a person who acts in this verse? 

"For the one who does not love, does not know God, for God is Love."

- 1st John 4:8

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Boiled down, this is God, this is Christ. The entire world comes down to a story of God, His-Story for us. What is it a story of? Love. History is a story of God's love for man and for Himself. 

"In the beginning was the word... who was with God."

- John 1:1

God was love from the beginning, and in that beginning, and before the beginning God was Love. But if Love acts, it must have a subject, so before the beginning God loved within Himself. He was (and still is) Trinatarian God of Love. In the beginning was the earth, and God planted a garden on that earth, and took dirt into his hands to form a man, and then breathed His very essence, His breath, His life, His Love into that man. God created us, as beings of love, so that He could expand that fellowship of love. 

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." John 13:34 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another;" Romans 13:8 "but through love serve one another." Galatians 5:13 

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"showing tolerance for one another in love," Ephesians 4:2 "and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another," 1 Thessalonians 3:12 "for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;" 1 Thessalonians 4:9 "and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater;" 2 Thessalonians 1:3 "and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds," Hebrews 10:24 "Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart," 1 Peter 1:22 "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8 "For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love oneanother;" 1 John 3:11 "This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us." 1 John 3:23 "Beloved, let us love oneanother, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7  "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." 1 John 4:11 "No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us." 1 John 4:12 "but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another." 2 John 1:5 

Many, many times do the apostles tell us to do one thing, and that it to love one another. 

As Christians we are called to love, but as Christians Christ is simply reforming us back into what we were meant to be before the fall. So From the beginning we were called to love. 

After man sinned God put into enactment a plan that would rescue us. This was a plan that was patient through all mistakes, was kind, did not promote itself, was not self seeking, would not be provoked to anger, would erase all record of wrongs, would rejoice in righteousness and truth, would bear the sins of the world, and yet would hope and endure through every trial. 

That was the plan of salvation... that is a plan of 1st Chorinthians love.

You see God IS LOVE... All that he does is out of love. 

He created us out of Love; He Redeemed us out of Love; He loves us now, because HE IS LOVE; and all he asks from us is Love... That is our God, that is Love. 

Some how, Love is more than an emotion. I have come to believe that it goes a whole lot deeper, that in some unfathomable way it is the foundation of the world, it is what holds together the universe and is the fundamental nature of God. 

The Bible says God is love, it then describes love, and yet, if God is love, and the Scriptures are the Word of God, then all scriptures are love. We can also say that if the universe is created by God, if we were created by God, if our lives are directed by God, and if God's nature is love, and he cannot act outside of His nature, then all of this is out of Love. 

This is a world Birthed of Love...

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With out love then, there would be nothing... Love is the God we serve, and with out Love there would be nothing/0/zero! No creation, communication, freedom, reconciliation, knowledge. NOTHING

Love is big. Love is everything we ought to strive for as Christians. Love, not violence, can bring the world to a better place. Love, not logic, will fix our problems. Love brings health. Love brought Jesus to us, and us to Him. Only Love will do anything. 

So, love. 

1 John 4:7-21 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."