I heard a sermon last Sunday about prayer. Now it wasn’t the best sermon I’ve heard, but God was speaking to me through the guest speaker. She said that prayer isn’t just about us talking to God. It’s a relationship. I have heard this many times in my life, but it convicted me this time. God doesn’t want us to just talk to Him before meals and bedtime; He wants to speak to us and He wants us to just listen. I realized that I don’t listen to God much at all! And this isn’t a one-way relationship we have with Him. For any relationship to work on Earth there needs to be two-way communication. This goes the same way with God. God made us to be relational and He wants to tell us things. We just need to listen.
Now this may be more difficult to put into practice rather than just hearing it. I have found that getting somewhere that is quiet and where there aren’t any distractions helps a lot. Finding a time each day to just listen to God and reflect on His word is the most important thing to do. The problem is that this doesn’t happen very often at all. I never make the time to actually do it even though I may need to. I always find myself doing something else when I should be spending time with the Lord.
Even though it may be tough, I want to challenge you to just listen to God because He always wants to talk to you. Put everything else aside for a few minutes and just be with Him. It will be the best way to spend a few minutes!
I’ve been considering that question a lot and yet all of the questions I ask include that single three lettered word. Why. Why do I feel completely hopeless? Why have I felt that way from three years? Why was a happy for a brief time? Why can’t I live in the same city as my best friends and the people who could help me answer my questions? Why do I feel like I’m floundering? Why am I always questioning my actions? Why do I ask so many questions that I’ll never know the answer too? Why don’t I just let go? Why can’t I just let go? Why does my sister feel so helpless? Why can’t I help her? Why isn’t life getting easier?
All are pointless questions. Only one person knows the answers and lately I haven’t heard him. I feel lost and alone. I’m trying to find his purpose behind everything that has happened. Mere months ago it was easy for me to communicate with Christ and now I’m back in this dark place just desperate for Him to shine some light on me. This time I’m not numbing the pain. I’m not hiding behind anything and I think that’s why it’s so much harder this time around.
I am searching. Maybe that’s why I can’t find you Lord. In the silence I have found you in the past and with all these thoughts storming through my head it is much too loud. I yearn for your guidance but must first be ready for you, even though I have no idea what that entails.
-Anna
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It amazes me how often I get in the way from seeing God’s will be done in my life. As much as I strive to see His will (whatever that is) be done, I always find not even close. I find that I always put my priorities in front of His will. I constantly find myself in a place where my own personal convenience surpasses God’s will.
I know it shouldn’t be like this yet I find it extremely difficult to step away from these bad habits. I must learn to say yes to God here and now and not wait as soon as _____ (fill in the blank). There is no “as soon as” in God’s will. Right now, my own priorities are not in line with my values and there is something wrong with this picture. It’s time we live today, act today, be today all that we intend to live, act, and be.
-Joe
Sometimes, I feel like I don’t know anything. I feel as though there is a whole book, the very word of God, telling me exactly how I should live my life, what is right and wrong, what is holy, and righteous, but I don’t understand it. Sometimes the words in the Bible feel just out of reach. I can read them, but I have a lot of trouble applying them and understanding how these perfect words fit into my far from perfect life.
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (Romans 2:12-16)
Lucky for us, we don’t have to KNOW everything! Whether we have/know the law or not, whether we know exactly what the bible says about every situation we find ourselves in, we “[have] the work of the law written on [our] hearts.” Regardless of what I have read and mentally figured out in the Bible, I know in my heart what is right. The bible says nothing about dishes, but I know in my heart that after Grace has made me a delicious dinner it is right to clean up. And crazy as it sounds even that is a struggle sometimes.
I want to live a righteous life. It is a daily battle, but I feel blessed to have the ability to know when I am on the right path. God speaks in a lot of ways. The Bible is definitely one, but that still small voice in our hearts that encourages us when we’re right and convicts us when we’re not is another. And I thank God for that voice, because I will never understand everything in the Bible.
-Willy
Summertime is coming up! For students this means no class. You have the whole summer to do whatever you want. For us college kids it means an opportunity to see friends again. To sleep in during the week. To stay out late at night because no homework. It’s a stress free time (except for finding a job).
For me that is how life has been for the past year but I am super excited for this summer. I missed out on Colorado Summertime last year and if you haven’t experienced Colorado in the summer you are missing out. It’s absolutely perfect. The warm nights are my favorite. I plan on spending a lot of time with my bible and reading C.S. Lewis. Reading outside is one of my favorite things to do and honestly I’ve been so distracted and caught up with work that I haven’t spent a lot of time with God. And now more than ever I need his guidance. I got wrapped up in my plan and how I want my life to go which was way off! I can’t control where my life goes. It’s all in His hands and I have now learned that lesson so thoroughly I doubt I will make the mistake again.
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Reconciliation is a rather big topic that I don’t understand very well. I was able to hear a man from Rwanda speak about it in Chapel this morning and I wanted to share a little bit of what I learned…
What is reconciliation? Why is it important? Why should we care about it? Who does it involve? The word reconciliation holds so many questions. As Christians, we may be called into the ministry of reconciliation. But it is important to understand this: Reconciliation only happens when we are made new in Christ. We can only reconcile once we find our identity in Christ and once that identity surpasses ALL other identities. This means we don’t find our identity in money, race, or occupation. Rather, our full identity is in Christ. Once this is true, we can continue pursuing reconciliation.
Here’s the cool part, in order to reconcile, we must give up our right to be right. After all, it is when we think we are right that conflict may begin. But when people reconcile, they can come together in Christ and give up the right to be right. It is only then may we learn what forgiveness looks like. Forgiving people isn’t easy. It was never meant to be avoided either… When Christians think about reconciliation, they usually associate it with justice and tend to ignore the most important part: forgiveness. People are still broken until forgiveness happens. Wars can end and killings may stop, but reconciliation will not take place until we can forgive one another.
It’s time we engage in the Body of Christ and be reconciled together: Black and white, rich and poor, Arab and Israeli, homosexual and heterosexual… you get the picture. If we are to be a part of the Kingdom of God here on earth, then let us begin to reconcile with each other, putting all differences behind us and looking to the Savior of all, Jesus Christ.
-Joe
This past weekend and week I traveled with a few friends to Seattle to visit another friend. These friends are friends from high school. We have kept up with each other on a fairly regular basis these two years in college. It has been a huge encouragement for me to have these guys who I can rely on for help, guidance, and just to be there when I need to talk or anything. I have many good friends in college, and I know that they will be life-long friends, but there is something about these three guys that makes our friendships special. We can be completely real with each other. We can share any difficulties that have been going on in our lives and know that the others will never judge us, but only encourage and love us. It’s a special bond of friendship that we will never lose no matter how far away we are from each other.
I hope that you have friends like these. They are essential to living life the way God wants us to live. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” God wants us to live in community. He wants us to live with each other. He made Eve to be a companion for Adam in the very beginning. When we have friends who help us up when we fall and don’t judge us, we can stand against anything Satan sends at us. We all have weaknesses and strengths and at certain times we are being attacked where we are weak and we need someone else who is strong to pick us up.
I thank God every day for giving me friends like these and I hope that you have friends like these as well. If not, the seven of us writing on this blog are here for you. We can be your friend and help you through a time when you are struggling to stand up and fight. Please let us know so that we can help you and pray for you because we know that the ultimate friend we can have is Jesus.
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