“I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.”
Psalm 119:32 (NKJV)
Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. (by Brittney Borowski)
Psalm 27:13-14
Psalm 27:13-14
Something about myself and the change that needs to be made in me. And who knows, maybe in others too.
I’m posting that comment not to boast in myself, but to boast in God. Her comment is honestly one of the nicest and most amazing things that has ever been said to me, and I’ll admit it makes me feel awesome about the choices I make. But what she says in the end….it just goes to show how our actions and choices to help someone else can TRULY open a door for God to enter and begin to WORK.
Here’s me being completely honest about myself. I truly am completely 100% genuine when I talk to people and pray for them. I don’t do it for publicity. But the truth is, there are way too many times where I’ll go home and be alone and think to myself how much I “should” be recognized for how nice I am to people.
My school gives out awards for your character. For how you treat others. For how you display the love of God. And almost consistently I will get the thought that I deserve it. That I SHOULD be awarded those things, because hey, aren’t I a genuinely good person? I help everyone, I’m nice to everyone…so I deserve it, right?
And then oh man, if I’m not noticed for things then it’s like, “Oh? Did I go wrong somewhere. Or maybe God’s just humbling me.”
The point that I’m trying to make is that is NOT a good mentality. It’s quite a bad one to have actually. Like in Matthew 6:1 it says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”
Doing good for others isn’t so that I can gain something in the end.
It’s not so that I can get noticed.
It’s not so that I can be liked more.
It’s not so that I can be looked up to and exalted.
It’s so that GOD can be seen
It’s so that GOD can be exalted in a way that makes HIM likeable. That makes them want to Know Him more.
Even if I truly am genuine when I help people….I shouldn’t feel the need to gain things. Because then it becomes about me…and when that happens, then what I did basically has no meaning.
There’s no I in Jesus. But there is an E. and there is an US. Because everyone deserves to be loved. And it is not about US….but God has given redemption through His son to all of US.
We (Christians) are meant to reconcile the world. We’re meant to spread the good news. And we’re meant to do it for HIS KINGDOM. Not our own wordly kingdom build up of things that fade.
Because even if I do win whatever awards and titles that I want. Who is going to remember or know that in a few years aside from me? In the end it WILL NOT MATTER.
But what WILL matter is the genuine love that I give to others…that through God will have the power to draw them closer to God.
Our love can open up passages and gateways to the Heavenly Kingdom.
“Seek first the Kingdom of God and everything else will follow.” (Matthew 6:33)
I’ve been praying so, so hard these past few days that God will remove my desires to win these things that won’t last. And I realized tonight that the best way might be just to not win those things. So maybe I won’t. Maybe that’s how God will teach me. Or maybe He will just teach me through these realizations. Who knows.
But I truly pray that all of you who actually take the TIME to read this…will also come to the point in your lives where you realize that it is not the recognition that matters. It is the things done in secret that open gateways to winning another soul to the kingdom of God. That’s what matters. That is what lasts forever.
“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold…” (I Peter 1:6-7, NLT).
We all face disappointments and setbacks. Life is full of things that try to push us down. Maybe you got bad news concerning your health. A relationship didn’t work out. Maybe you lost your job. It was a setback. When we face setbacks, it’s easy to get discouraged or lose our enthusiasm. Too often we are tempted to just settle where we are. But if we’re going to see God’s best, we have to have a bounce-back mentality. That means when you get knocked down, you don’t stay down. You get back up again. It means when disappointments come, you shake them off knowing that what the enemy meant for your harm God is going to turn around and use for your good.
When you’re a bounce-back person, you know that adversity is not permanent. Weeping may endure for a night, but you know joy is coming in the morning. There is wonderful joy ahead on the other side of this trial. Keep standing, keep believing, and choose to be a bounce-back person because you are coming out better off than you were before! You are rising higher, and you will fulfill the destiny God has in store for you!
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
-Romans 12:2; NLT
True Love.
“But I’m always initiating things. Just for ONCE in my life….can somebody fight for me? Can somebody initiate things for me because they actually want me? Because they’re actually brave enough to fight for me…or because they actually think that I’m worth something? Can’t somebody for once in my life fight for me because they’re afraid to lose me to someone else? For once in my life can I just feel that somebody loves me enough to try…?”
“But….Isn’t that what Jesus did for you? Isn’t that what God does for you every, single day?”
Funny how life is a cycle and past things become relevant again.
- me: I'm crying because things aren't turning out the way I WANT them to.........
- God: Well that is because they're turning out the way they're SUPPOSED to.
- me: But...this.....
- God: All things I Do, I do to GROW you....To TEACH you....So that you can see that you have potential to make something out of nothing....so that you see that even with limits, you can still meet them...And Sarah, I will pull you through. Whether or not it is the way you want it or not, I WILL PULL YOU THROUGH. So trust me and stop your crying for I AM RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE....And I AM your strength....and THROUGH ME, YOU WILL FLY ON WINGS LIKE EAGLES...Sarah. Please continue to shine the light, even in your OWN darkness. That is why I did this. So you could learn all these things..so you could show others....so that you can gain more strength than you had beforehand. Trust me. I am right here.
again. always.
Of course(:
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” -Isaiah 40:31
“Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
“You will make known to me the path of life; In your presence is fullness of joy; In your right hand there are pleasures forever.” -Psalm 16:11
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our Hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” -Romans 8:26-27 (basically, He is…and will ALWAYS be there. He knows us and loves us..and shall never leave us behind.)
”Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” -Joshua 1:9
Also,
just WATCH THIS. and not just some of it….watch the entire thing.
trust me(:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jod3LgAfDNI
(Source: mi-utopia)
He’s there.
Renew my strength, oh Lord.
