#ThirstyThursday

   So yesterday I was on Facebook and I saw that hashtag, #ThirstyThursday and I was like, what? That's a real thing? I actually found it funny, I guess cause the person was using the hashtag in the wrong context and it was just amusing.

Anyway to the point, this morning I woke up quite annoyed. My brother called me at 8am... -.- I usually don't wake up until around 9:30 everyday and today I was planning on sleeping in till about 10:30. So I was upset, especially because his phone call was about something sort of pointless. On top of that my roommates were up around 8am, actually earlier, getting ready, I know they weren't being loud on purpose but they weren't being quiet on purpose either. Which led to me laying in bed trying to get in that last 2 hours of rest before I started the day but failing completely leaving me aggravated and leaving my mind racing with thoughts on the weekend. 

SO, I just decided to wake up. Might as well. I actually like waking up early, there is so much more of the day to enjoy! I really am a morning person! I love the morning, and the feeling of starting the day on a clean slate, anything can happen, that's beautiful to me!

I was a little sluggish but then I remembered... COFFEE. My first love! I made a cup, toasted a bagel and grabbed my bible and my journal.

I am doing She Reads Truth devotional on Giving Thanks, it had been pretty good so far, a part of me believed the Lord woke me up for a specific reason, just to draw near to him before anything to let him touch me and all that good stuff. But another part of me doubted that could happen with this particular devotional because it had just been average the past 3 days. 

So now to the actual point... Isaiah 55:1-3.

This was only one of the 4 scriptures the devotional was focused on. The topic of the day was "Giving thanks in stress". Immediately I was like, alright God you think you're funny? 

If you know me, if you read this blog, you know I am stressed extremely easily. It is partially my fault, I fight for control, I put all my eggs in one basket and I just let anxiety rule me blah blah blah.

BUT, this week I have had it pretty easy, like I haven't felt any MAJOR stress and I was riding smooth! So when I saw it was about stress I was like really God, I'm not even stressed what the heck, why didn't you give this to me LAST week or something! But this was perfect timing (of course!).

"Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink-- even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk-- it's all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen, and I will tell you where to get food that is good for the soul!

Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen for the life of your soul is at stake, I am ready to make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the mercies and unfailing love that I promised to David.: - Isaiah 55:1-3 NIV

“Hey there! All who are thirsty,

come to the water!

Are you penniless?

Come anyway—buy and eat!

Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.

Buy without money—everything’s free!

Why do you spend your money on junk food,

your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?

Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,

fill yourself with only the finest.

Pay attention, come close now,

listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.

I’m making a lasting covenant commitment with you,

the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love. Isaiah 55:1-3 MSG

Both of these versions are just great and I really captured a lot of Gods truth through this. Sit back and read it like 4 times, pray on it. He'll show you too!

I was, obviously, referencing Matthew Henry's commentary to receive more clarification on this scripture. 

 One of the first things God showed me was; thirst. 

I always come to God first with a thirst and hunger and just by crying out to how much I need him everyday. I heard a pastor say this is the best way to start off your time with God. Tell him how much you need him and unworthy you really are. I started doing this and it is so beautiful. 

God through this scripture tells us this is really the only qualification and requirement he has for those that come to him; thirst! Pride will only divert your attention to God. Not only that but being thirsty for God is a response to his grace. His word asks: "Are you penniless?" "Is anyone thirsty?" "All who are (thirsty); come". But you couldn't know if you are thirsty if you haven't experienced his grace. You couldn't experience his grace if you are prideful.

"Where God gives grace, he first gives a thirsting after it; and, where he has given a thirsting after it, he will give it."- Henry

This response isn't something we necessarily choose to have. His grace is sweet and perfect and undeniable. If thirst isn't the response, then grace wasn't the gift.

His faithfulness is unwavering no matter HOW unfaithful I am to him, and that is something else that was confirmed in this scripture! 

We literally spend our life savings on expensive drinks, water, wine, whatever, to only be thirsty again right after. What kind of foolishness is this?! "Why do you spend your money on food that does not give you strength?" " Why do you spend your money on junk food, your hard -earned cash on cotton candy?" We spend our lives on sin y'all. We spend and spend and spend for pleasure, for literally a second. Or literally a day, maybe even a lifetime. But think to the future, think to eternity. We spent it all to go to hell? To miss out on Jesus and life? 

We're so unfaithful with the life he gives, we spend it on things that we think will fill our God-shaped void... BUT; Jesus. Jesus is so faithful to us and loving and kind that he gives a way OUT. He says "Listen to me. Eat only the best and fill yourself with only the finest" "Come with your ears wide open". He straight up tells us there is more than this. He straight up opens the door and pulls us in. He straight up rocks our world, gives us a feast for our souls

This is so beautiful to me. This is so fresh and just great! He is faithful even when we spend our lives on things we know wont satisfy. Even when disregard his grace and miss out on the quenching of our thirst. He is so sweet and kind and gives us mercy and unfailing love.

  So the point is, don't be ashamed of #thirstythursday lol. Truly receive Gods grace on your life and respond with a thirst for him rather than spending and technically wasting all you have in a drought.

God bless all of you beautiful people <3

His grace...

http://shereadstruth.com/2013/08/19/wob4day1/

This is just a devotional I'd like to share. It's beautiful. Jesus is beautiful. His grace is beautiful. We can ALL relate!

Text: John 7:53-8:11, Mark 2:16-17, Romans 8:1-2

“Go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11 KJV) We are familiar with the call. But do you remember the beginning of the story, the way the Pharisees brought the adulterous woman before Jesus as a human pawn in their attempted power play?

Read it again right now, would you? Imagine if she were you.

* * * * *

She was guilty. There was no question. She had been caught in the act.

Oh, the emotions she must have felt. She is already considered “less than” in her world simply by virtue of being a woman. But now, now she has been found committing a most despicable sin and then dragged by the religious leaders themselves to stand before the one who calls Himself the Son of God.

Guilt.
Humiliation.
Shame.
Staggering fear.

When I close my eyes, I can see her there. Her eyes are focused on the ground in front of her feet, unable to look this so-called Messiah in the face. Could what they’ve said about Him be true? She listens to her accusers make public her most secret sin, cringing at the judgement and hatred in their tone, flinching at their every move for fear a stone might fly.

She stares at the ground, waiting for the inevitable. And then she sees His hand.

He starts writing, right there in the sand, and suddenly everything changes.

“Are you without sin? Then go ahead; throw your stones.” (John 8:7, my paraphrase)

Nothing. No one dares move. And so He does it again. He writes more words there on the ground as His unanswered question hangs in the air. But this time, they flee. One at a time, they walk away. Her accusers have vanished, and she is left standing face to face with Jesus.“Neither do I condemn you.” (8:11 ESV)

Oh, that phrase, it makes my heart skip a beat. She was absolutely guilty, a sinner with no defense. And yet the sinless one looks at her – He looks at me and you – and He says, There is grace even for this.

Do you come to Jesus in guilt today? In sin and humiliation? Does your chest tighten at the sound of the Accuser in your ear, whispering quietly your secret sin or shouting loudly your deepest shame? Call on the name of Jesus. Let His grace be your defense.

It’s just you and Him, Sister. The pious have all fled. Our Christ came to rescue sinners.

Thanks be to God!

That's all.
God bless.

I'm not taking any credit for this devo. I posted the link and copy and pasted the contents, but none of it is my own, originally.

But Martha was worrying...

*'But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me."' Luke 10:40*

Martha's dialogue and anxiety in this verse reminds me a lot of myself. As I am reading this more and more I get a really big sense of why worrying is such a huge sin to battle. 

Throughout this verse Martha's worrying is ALL revolved around herself. She's pretty much just being really selfish this whole time. Worrying about the 'big dinner SHE was preparing'. Upset that her sister sat there while SHE did all the work. That Jesus being preoccupied with her sister is UNFAIR.

Martha seems to be crying out, "ME! ME! ME!" "Pick ME Jesus!" "Look at ME Jesus!" "Aren't you proud of ME? And MY big dinner and cleaning and serving Jesus?!" 

 We have all heard of this story and how Martha missed the whole point of Jesus being in her home. She was too busy, too caught up, too distracted. But in my opinion all of that busyness and distraction and WORRY she was dealing with came from a selfish nature. Just as all sin does. Just as we all deal with.

Now that I think on it, this story shouldn't be that big of a surprise to us. This is how we treat God on the daily!

Maybe you don't, but I sure do struggle with worry and anxiety. Sometimes it's minor and may cause me to shake my foot or leg in anticipation of small details. Sometimes it over takes me and I feel convinced that defeat and disaster will occur because the heaviness of the issue outweighs every plausible, possible,"everything will be okay" result ; in my head at least.

Not only does this offend God and everything about him, it carries me further away from him. It's a distraction. It's a 'business'. It's a worry. It says , "I don't have time to think about God's sovereignty or Jesus' presence, I have to sort this out, I HAVE to be worried for a little bit.

 Just like Martha. 

Jesus was IN HER HOUSE! Like come on! Jesus and her sister we having bible study. Chillin. Literally. 

Martha was running around like a chicken with her head cut off cooking, cleaning, worrying. Probably angrily, anxiously and furiously. She was doing a duty for Jesus. The scripture actually says that Martha opened her home to Jesus(NIV). She could of experienced his teachings, his heart, even just his presence...But, Martha was worrying.. Just as we walk with Jesus wanting to do all these things for him, we even invite him into our hearts, and what happens? We kind of literally forget about HIM being there. Being in our hearts , being PRESENT in our lives. We become selfish I think. Preoccupied with what WE have to do to. We could experience Jesus for all that he is, 'BUT'_____(fill in blank).  This is the point where our attention shifts, it's that same point where selfishness comes in. If you're not focused on Jesus what are you focused on? Anything other than him is selfishness.

It's that simple.

Just as Martha opened the door for Jesus to come into her home, she turned around and went straight to being busy. She didn't take those moments to cherish the Lord! To look and see Jesus of Nazareth is in my home! I want to spend time with him, I want to know him, I want to learn, I want to sit at his feet.

When we invited Jesus into our hearts, he came with a purpose! He didn't want to sit and twiddle his thumbs waiting on us to finish cooking dinner, or finish trying to prefect ourselves, or to even worry about ANYTHING else! He wanted us to notice him just as we did before we invited him into our hearts. We saw his glory and we let him in. Now it's time to really dig into Him. Not let him sleep on the couch.But to let HIM sing us to sleep!

I believe Martha had a good heart. She is probably one of the most honest and realest examples of the people of this generation. I honestly, have so much empathy for her because as much as I want to believe I would be a Mary in this situation, I have to look back at my life and see what I really have done, how I really have treated Jesus since he moved into my heart and my life. Have I taken a seat at his feet and soak him in for all he is and let him have his way? Or did I say "Aight cool, You're here now. I'm gonna go live my life. Peace"?

But I'm praying for that spirit of Mary. To be taken away by Jesus. To cherish him whenever he walks in my door. And though my Martha tendencies may arise I remember what Jesus said to her: *"My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it-- and I wont take it away from her" -Luke 10:41*

God bless! <3

America the beautiful?

So unless you live under a rock you've heard about the case against George Zimmerman, who some say to be "The most hated man in the world"... (I'm not even going to tell you how I feel about that -.- )

Personally, I was really invested in watching his trial live. There is something about watching people try and solve a real life puzzle that intrigued me and also it gave me something to do while I sat at home all day. I think I was very naive to how much it had affected the nation and even my own parents. I really thought it had blown over and people were less worried about it after a year passed. I thought it was another fad... Well I was wrong obviously ...

The point of this post is not to talk about the details of the trial , the verdict, or the facts of the case.

But I've just been having a lot of "Deja Vu" recently, in my mind and honestly in my heart I have been seeing and feeling a lot of the same things I did around the presidential elections, and I'm disgusted by it.

Sooooooo many evil thoughts are being broad casted everywhere by so many people. The things people are saying to one another about their opinions on race, injustice/justice, the "N" word, and so much more is really scary to me. It's not scary just because it's mean and hateful speech, but because these are people's OPINIONS... their own personal beliefs, the truths they hold in their HEARTS. Don't get me wrong, we are all entitled to our own opinions, obviously I'm a firm believer in that, I run my own blog! But it's what lies in the hearts of the people around you, it's what flows out of those hearts that can be alarming and to me, & can be fearful because of the rottenness of it.

  Now, I honestly didn't even think twice about writing a blog or sharing my opinion on anything related to the Zimmerman trial or verdict at all, until this morning when I opened the word of God... (I couldn't say no to that).

   I just finished my study and devotion on the book of Luke and it was fantastic. But I was without a book to read and study. I sat there for a little bit flipping through the bible, praying and asking God what I should read, and skimming through the "intros" of each book my bible gives... I came across Malachi. Let me just say I was pretty excited because I've only read like maybe a verse or two of it, ONCE.  AND because, I like the name Malachi for a boy if I ever have one in the future...lol. BUT anyways, I was just excited for something new, and I definitely enjoyed reading the first two chapters, God definitely spoke to me about several things. One of them being in chapter 2 verse 10 : NLT- Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? // NKJV- 10Have we not all one Father?

Has not one God created us?

Why do we deal treacherously with one another

By profaning the covenant of the fathers?

Now I don't know why this stuck out to me, but when I read it I instantly thought of what everyone has been bickering over, what CNN has been broadcasting about and what my family has deemed very important. I thought, it pertains to America... The nation "Under One God" has completely forgotten their God.

What I'm getting at here is not the judicial system and what some seem to think is their lack of justice. But I'm talking about the response of the nation. The filthy rotten hatred pouring out of so many hearts here in America. I have read a lot, A LOT, of articles, Facebook posts and even blogs about how people feel about the verdict (not guilty) and it has really shocked me how inconsiderate, childish and plain mean people are, especially to one another. A prime example of mine are a couple of posts on the UCF Class of 2015 (Official Facebook Page) wall. One person, the night the verdict was announced, simply posted, "Thoughts on the verdict?" and about 3-400 comments later it was a full out BRAWL. I wish I could post them all on this blog! The things people were saying to one another, using racial slurs, profanity, let's just say anything BUT "kind words", were seriously sad! I of course read them all and kept up with the dialogue between about 3 or 4 main commenters. It was vicious, and offensive! Mainly because it was all revolved around the issue of racism. As I followed along, I kept thinking, IF ONLY these people had God in their hearts, if only they knew the LOVE of Christ, if only...

As I went to study the verse using Matthew Henry's commentary I found a lot of juicy stuff!

"Now, in these verses, we have an instance of this; we here find men dealing falsely with one another, and it is because they think falsely of their God."

" It cannot be expected that he who is false to his God should be true to his friend. They had dealt treacherously with God in his tithes and offerings, and had defrauded him, and thus conscience was debauched, its bonds and cords were broken, a door was opened to all manner of injustice and dishonesty, and the bonds of relation and natural affection are broken through likewise and no difficulty made of it."

We have seem to have forgotten our God. We misplaced him. And if we did deal with him, it's been false. That, to me is THE only explanation for the foolishness I've seen displayed all over. The only explanation for why we Americas in the land of the free, are living in bondage to the enemies attack on the love we are meant to have in our hearts. I don't want to get too political or even too religious. But it breaks my heart to see the people I go to school with, the people I went to school with and even my own family members abandon their God! I may be too naive to the reality of people in America. But this is just crazy to me.

All the hate speech, all the curse words and racial terms are hurtful and the case against Zimmerman has brought on so much of that. But I pray to God Almighty to heal the nation, heal the hearts, the trauma, the oppression some feel. Also to open the eyes and soften the hearts of those who are blinded to God and who are hardened by the devil.

Forgive me if is this was too long for comfort.

God bless!

Intentions & Our Mistakes...

So I'm listening to a sermon by Matt Chandler.

It was random how it happened. But I am so glad I did. 

It is from his "The Village Church" sermon last Sunday titled" The Counterintuitive Life".

This is the link to it! It is worth the time to listen!  >>>http://www.thevillagechurch.net/resources/sermons/

His sermon is about man's depravity in the context of mans mindset. 

"The mindset of man thinks only of himself and thinks only of today" - was his major idea and quote.

His idea is that, (quote) that is inevitable. No matter what, we as human beings will do that.

FAST FORWARD >> As he was talking about how man only thinks of himself and how our minds are always only on the things of MAN, he used some examples to help illustrate it.

One of the examples that caught my attention had to do with young singles (obviiii lol) and how much we can see this depravity of man only thinking of himself by the way young singles act.

He first talked about the men, He says : "Young men with no respect for the soul or the emotions of a young women begin to flirt with no intentions of anything other than trying to get them to like you because they're an insecure little boy. No intention of pursuit for marriage no intention of being careful or cautious for their soul. Just, I'm insecure! Let me try to get you to like me and care for me so I can puff myself up at YOUR expense."

I can't say that I don't agree with this! The funny thing about this though is, Chandler is referring to "Young Evangelical Christians". Most of the time if you were to hear that quote, I know if I were to here it without Chandlers previous comments, I would think "oh yeah of course guys do that. Players and immature boys who don't live for the Lord".

But clearly here, He is talking about us. He is talking about men who love the Lord and are living for him. This makes it all the more dangerous and to me, all the more serious!

I always talk about this with my guy friends ( when the conversation comes up, im not some wacko freak) and they always disagree or have SOME type of counter argument. That's why I am just so happy Chandler understands.

There is NO possible way that flirting can be safe, or cute, or harmless if there are no intentions of marriage. Yes, literally marriage and that's it.

I truly believe it is one of the ways to open someones vulnerability, and to eventually open up their heart. Once you open up someone's heart, it is really hard to close it back without any strings attached. (Not impossible, just very difficult).

Just think about it. Have you flirted with anyone lately? Why were you doing it? Did you feel good about yourself after you did? Did you feel more confident? 

If you really ask yourself those questions and ponder the answers you might see what Chandler is talking about.

The sole purpose for flirting without intention is: YOURSELF.

Think about it.

As you do this, you're just opening doors, opening doors, opening doors and not even caring about closing them or leaving them open for anything to fly through. 

Now, Chandler didn't just give all the heat to the guys. He let the girls have it to. 

He says: "Ladies, you're part of the problem. Because, in your failure to trust and believe what God says about you and really has for you, you'll let them. -(Talks about living with cats and being lonely),blah blah blah-

 For your own good, young woman of God, please listen to me, they can't do it, if you don't let them! 

If they have no intention, why not find out early?

If they're the type of man who has not at all thought about the sacrifices necessary to love you, walk with you, encourage you in your walk with Jesus Christ and to lay down their life for you,  FIND OUT EARLY!"

Man oh man did that hit me!!

But not as much as what he said next did- "Your loneliness now, is monumentally better, than your loneliness with a man in the house who has no intention of loving and serving you like Christ loved the church. No intention of pouring out his life for you and your kids. Just wait!"

That is literally my biggest fear in marriage. Getting married to what seems like a godly man who is loving and caring and all that jazz, to eventually end up alone. Technically alone, you and your kids. Because the man is there, but not there mentally, spiritually, emotionally, etc. 

Thank the Lord for protecting me from feeling lonely in the context of a significant other ! But I still can relate to this because I know that waiting, rather than being anxious and trying to quicken the process will ONLY strengthen the reality of my fear coming to life... Which leads me to Chandlers next point...

"You can help the process of sanctification by being a women of God that says Christ IS enough for me, Christ DOES satisfy me, and sure, I'll have these longings that "He who finds a wife is a good thing" but its not the ultimate thing. Jesus is enough"

YES! Chandler! 

We play a part. It's a two way street! We can not only help the guys in their struggle but help ourselves and our loneliness and sadness and eagerness to be married. Because just as Chandler's central theme says, all those things (loneliness, sadness and eagerness to be married) all point back to us. All point back to how as humans all we think about is ourselves!

I think the most important thing to take away here is yes, It is important that both males and females take dating and relationships with each other seriously! It should never be non-chalant, dating for fun crap. If it's not intentional then dont do it.

But even more than that, we have to stop being so caught up in ourselves. Notice these things, notice how your flirting can literally break a girls heart, notice how you letting a guy date you for no reason breaks your own heart!. Most importantly notice the power of God and the Holy Spirit in your life, be aware of it!

Thats all I had to ramble about.

God Bless!