07.14.10
Posted in One Year, Randomness, Songs, Thoughtful at 9:26 am by SapphiraAdi
So you thought you had to keep this up
All the work that you do so we think that you’re good
And you can’t believe it’s not enough
All the walls you build up are just glass on the outside
So let them fall down
There’s freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We’re here now
This is where the healing begins
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you’re broken within
The light meets the dark
Sparks will fly as grace collides
With the darkest side of us
So please don’t fight this coming light
Let this blood come cover us
His blood can cover us
This is a song off the new Tenth Avenue North CD called Healing Begins. A friend of mine and some of her friends who are students at Regent University made a music video for the song that you can watch here. They did an incredible job and I highly recommend watching it. :) Anyway, this song reminded me of a post I had started a long time ago so I thought I’d pull it back out and finish writing it. I kinda wrote it in mostly questions, partly because I don’t have the answers, and partly to make you think. :)
One of the LU podcasts I recently listened to was by Ergun Caner who was talking about hypocrisy within the church and how the #1 problem that those who are non-believers have with the church is that those who claim to be Christians don’t act like it at all. When I was thinking about this message I was realizing that everyone deals with hypocrisy on some level. Even if it’s not intentional. How many times has someone asked you “How are you?” and you’ve answered “Fine” when really everything was horrible? I know I have. Sometimes it’s just a matter of trust, and how much you think the other person cared. And other times it may be that you were in a hurry and didn’t want to take the time to explain.
So you thought you had to keep this up
All the work that you do so we think that you’re good
And you can’t believe it’s not enough
But other times, many times, hypocrisy can become a mask we put on. We want people to see that we have everything together so we pretend we do. I think sometimes that especially Christians do this, maybe because we think that if we don’t have everything together then we’re doing something wrong. We’re not praying hard enough, we’re not pleasing God, we did something wrong. So we pretend everything is alright. But something I’ve learned is that the Church (as the Body of Christ) should be the one place we should feel comfortable enough to open up about things that we are struggling with, the problems that we are going through, and the things that are happening in our lives.
So why isn’t it? Why do we not feel comfortable admitting we don’t have it all together? If we as Christians can’t even be real about our lives, why should we expect others outside the church to open up to us about their lives? If those outside the church think that we are going to judge them because of the things they’ve done and that they’re not good enough to even come to church, how is that being Jesus to them?
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you’re broken within
The light meets the dark
I think that no one wants to say that they don’t have everything together because that involves being vulnerable. And what if people don’t care, or blow you off, or tell someone else, or condemn you? But the thing is, no one is perfect, so why do we expect people to be? It’s like we think that once you become a Christian your life is going to be automatically perfect and nothing bad will happen. How would things change if we felt safe enough to be open about everything?
Sparks will fly as grace collides
With the darkest side of us
So please don’t fight this coming light
Let this blood come cover us
Like the main idea of Christianity, is that we CANNOT do it by ourselves. We realize that there is no way we could do it ourselves and that only through God’s grace can we be saved and changed. If we really grasped that than why is it that we think we can live the rest of our lives on our own?
(about their CD “Light Meets the Dark”)
It’s a cry for confession, exposure, and the laying down of our pride. It’s a cry for honesty, for truth, and for an encounter with the One who is truth, and having that encounter change the way we see the world. You see, when we believe this thing we call the gospel, it allows us to be honest about who we really are. Or should I say, it forces us to come to terms with who we are. It frees us to not only be exposed but to be ok about being exposed; to speak our pain and fears out into the open. It frees us to be poor in spirit. Which, isn’t that the goal after all?
Permalink
07.11.10
Posted in One Year, Randomness, Thoughtful at 4:49 pm by SapphiraAdi
The night we went to Fuel and heard Brandon preach on ziggurats and the myth of human goodness, one of the other things that he talked about was our testimonies. He asked how many of us thought we had a radical testimony. One of those testimonies where you’re like “Wow, I was so lost and messed up and God like totally radically saved me.” And only one person raised their hand. Then he said something profound…He said that every single one of our hands should’ve been up because last he checked we were all lost, dying and going to hell and God because of His love and mercy saved us when we didn’t deserve it.
We all have a radical testimony.
I definitely didn’t even think about raising my hand. I mean, yeah, I know I was a sinner and that it wasn’t by any of my good deeds that I’m now saved but like…when I share my testimony it doesn’t sound like anything special. People ask, “What did you even do wrong?” And when I really think, I can’t think of many “big” things I’ve done wrong… I’ve always grown up in a Christian home, was saved and baptized when I was little, and have continued to grow in my faith since then. I don’t really ever remember a “time before Christ” and a “time after Christ” like people always ask you to divide your life when you share your testimony. :P I don’t really feel like my testimony is ever going to change anyone because, well, I guess because it seems like my testimony is nothing special.
But the more I was thinking about this message and trying to convince myself that my testimony really is radical I remembered a passage in Matthew, actually the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says,
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder,’ … But I tell you that anyone who is anger with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” – Matthew 5:21-22
(My comment: calling someone “idiot” or “stupid” is the same as calling them a “fool.”)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Matthew 5:27-28
(My comment: I’ve heard that lust is the opposite of love, love seeks the best for the other person, lust seeks to please only yourself.)
Those are 2 of the 10 commandments that I thought I’d never break. I hate hurting people so why would I even be tempted to kill someone? Yet I know I’ve been angry with a lot of people… And I would never commit adultery, yet I know that I have lusted. And that’s just 2 of 10! Going by the standard Jesus set, I betcha I’ve broken all the rules in the Bible. :P This was written in my Bible from a sermon I heard on this passage, “It’s about your heart – not about what you can get by with but about your attitude in doing it.” The way Jesus re-explained those two laws was all about your heart, the inward thoughts behind the outward act. And like my post “the myth of human goodness” said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). While it may seem like I haven’t done much wrong, my heart is deceitful and wicked and while sometimes maybe my actions aren’t bad, my heart and attitude can be.
Maybe I need to really grasp the depth of the statement Brandon said, “We are completely undeserved. And God saved us. That’s radical.”
“Completely undeserved” …maybe even beyond completely undeserved. We deserved nothing, actually what we deserved was death. lol Kinda sobering huh? We say “God I don’t deserve this!” when things are going bad, and yet, any “good thing” that happens to us, that’s actually what we don’t deserve. We don’t deserve anything that God gives us, but thats why it’s called grace. :) We were lost and He found us and gave us a purpose. We were hopeless and He gave us hope and told us to go share that hope with everyone. We were unlovable, but He choose to show us unconditional love and commanded that we love as He loved us.
I’d say that’s radical. :)
Permalink
07.07.10
Posted in One Year, Randomness, Thoughtful at 3:33 am by SapphiraAdi
“That they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26, NIV).
Have you ever been taken? Ever been sucked in to something that looked pleasurable at first but was really destructive? Have you ever been taken from someone?
Maybe you don’t know this, but we all at one time were taken. Through some form or another, we have been enticed by Satan and stolen away from the One person who loves us inexpressibly. Some don’t know they have been taken. Some are still in that moment of life where everything is going good and where sin is pleasurable. They don’t see that they’ve been taken by Satan, they don’t know that under the cover of things that look good is evil, ugliness, and death.
In the movie Taken, Bryan’s daughter goes to Europe with a friend on what seems to be a fun few weeks of following a band. But before they’ve even spent one night in Europe, both Kim and her friend are taken. In the movie they are both sold into sex trafficking and Kim’s father does everything in his power to find her and get her back.
While I doubt any of the people reading this have actually been sold into sex trafficking, the premise and theme of the movie is true for all of us. We’ve all been taken.
And get this… God is the Father who does the same for us.
There’s this haunting line in the beginning of the movie where Bryan is talking to Kim on the phone as the traffickers are moving through the house looking for her and she’s hiding under the bed in what she thought was a safe place and than Bryan says, “They are going to take you.”
Satan has taken us. He has kidnapped us from God and tried to get us addicted to other things, like popularity, wealth, and love. But God is the perfect Father who knew His precious children would be taken but allowed it to happen because He can and will do everything to rescue us back. He will chase us to the end of the world to rescue us and show us how much He loves us. “He chooses, He pursues, He rescues, He woos, He protects, He lavishes.”
The movie was such a great reminder to me of how much God loves me and how He loves me enough to pursue me when I run away, and rescue me when I’m in danger, and protect me from evil when I lose my way.
Permalink
06.07.10
Posted in One Year, Songs at 7:30 pm by SapphiraAdi
I’m Still Yours by Kutless
If You washed away my vanity
If You took away my words
If all my world was swept away
Would You be enough for me?
Would my beating heart still sing?
If I lost it all
Would my hands stay lifted
To the God who gives and takes away?
If You take it all
This life You’ve given
Still my heart will sing to You
Even if You take it all away
You’ll never let me go
Take it all away
But I still know
That I’m Yours
I’m still Yours
In my Bible reading I’ve been reading through the book of Job. I actually really like the book of Job, I think because Job is very honest about his pain. He doesn’t pretend that it doesn’t exist, he doesn’t pretend like the pain is all good and that he’s enjoying it. He actually questions God and asks God why and really vents his frustration at God for what all was going on in his life. But through all that and even during his questioning of God, he continues to praise God. It actually says in Job 1:20, “Then he fell to the ground in worship.” He WORSHIPED God when everything went wrong. He may not have understood it all, but that didn’t stop him from praising God. He says just a few verses later, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (2:10).
The thing about what Job’s friends said is that they thought they were helping, and they kept making these huge speeches about how Job must have sinned or God would not have allowed the bad things to happen in his life and how Job should repent and turn away from his sin and everything will be alright. But Job knows that he did nothing wrong and maintains that he is righteous. And the crazy thing is, he was right. It wasn’t because he had done anything wrong that God allowed Satan to attack Job, it was because of his righteousness. Chapter 1 shows the discussion between God and Satan where God says “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” Crazy huh? We hear people ask all the time, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” and yet, right there we see that it’s really not that weird to have bad things happen to good people. I think the question is actually wrong. Kinda like I wrote in my last post, we don’t “deserve” anything. We’re not really “good people” and God doesn’t “have” to give us anything. God does give good gifts to His children, but that doesn’t mean that He protects us in a bubble of good.
Sometimes it takes us going through suffering to see how much we truly need God. When things are going good it’s easy for us to not “need” God. Things are going great, so why rely on Him? Some of the times I’ve felt the closest to God is when I’ve been at my lowest point. Because it’s then that I turn to Him for help and He gladly reaches down to help me, when I should’ve been holding on to Him the whole time.
Throughout the whole book of Job you see Job questioning God, he asks “why?”, he says that he wishes he had never been born, he questions God about why everything happened, and then God replies. God answers Job and says “Where were you when…” “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow…” “Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?” God makes the point that Job is not God, and that God is in control. Job humbly and very shortly replies, “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted…Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” Job realized that God was God, and that He had a plan, and that it might not have been for Him to know why, but that God was in control.
It feels like chaos but I believe,
You’re up to something bigger then me,
… And I’m giving into something heavenly.
Something Heavenly by Sanctus Real
There are a lot of things I don’t understand in the world. I don’t understand why bad things happen, I don’t understand why there are wars, why there are famines, why there are hurricanes and floods and natural disasters. I just don’t know. But I have to trust that God is in control and that when it feels like chaos, He’s up to something bigger then me. I know that when you’re in the middle of a hard time it’s really hard to see what good could come out of it. It’s easy to question God and His plan. But now looking back, I would not change a single moment of my life because I know that I would not be who I am and where I am today. I know it’s still hard when you’re in the middle of a hard time to see how it all is supposed to be good but from experience I know that God is faithful and that He does provide and take care of us. And that every thing we go through is part of His master plan. And I definitely trust His plan a lot more then mine. :)
Permalink
Posted in One Year at 7:00 pm by SapphiraAdi
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” – Jeremiah 17:9
“The default mode of the human heart is religion.” – Martin Luther
Last night we went to Fuel (Eastview Christian Church’s college ministry) and their college pastor Brandon spoke on Genesis 11 and about our hearts. I thought it was really really good and wanted to share some of what he said and also some of my thoughts.
The passage in Genesis 11 is where the people started building a tower to the heavens. Brandon explained the history behind this tower saying that what they were building was called a ziggurat and the purpose of it was not so that the people could somehow climb their way to God, but as like a momentum to the people so that they would “make a name for [themselves] and not be scattered” (which would guarantee them salvation in the afterlife) and that the “gods” would see what they did and come down to them and bless them for their works.
The heart of “religion” is that you can somehow make God love you more or be good enough for Him by following rules or doing good deeds. Every world religion besides Christianity is all about what you can “do” to be saved, about doing enough good deeds, or about not doing the bad deeds. Christianity is the only religion where everything was already done for you. It’s not about what you can do, but about how you CAN’T do anything. We would never be good enough, never be able to do enough good deeds to be saved. Ever. But that’s the beauty of grace, is that when we couldn’t do anything, God said, “I did it for you.”
Even today we build our own ziggurats so that God will see our efforts and come down and bless us. But that’s not what it’s supposed to be about. It’s always been and always will be about God’s grace. That we are so completely undeserved but God saved us. That we don’t deserve anything and yet God sent Jesus to die for us and give us eternal life. Everything we have is really a gift, because if God gave us what we “deserved” we’d all be on our way to hell. Our hearts are desperately wicked and the only way for our hearts to be pure is by Jesus’ blood purifying our hearts and giving us new clean hearts.
The people in Genesis got what they wanted. God did take notice and He did come down, but He didn’t bless their efforts and good deeds. Instead He confused their language and scattered them. Brandon had a really good take on this act of God. He said that it was an act of grace. That by scattering them He gave them another chance. A time of reflection to turn their hearts back to Him. Where as in Jeremiah it says that our hearts are wicked, in Ezekiel 11:19 it gives a promise, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” That’s an awesome promise. That God can give us an undivided heart, a heart of flesh.
This was Brandon’s prayer for us when he closed his message and I want to pray it over myself and anyone reading this. “Father, help us to stop building ziggurats in an effort to please You. Help us to realize that it’s all because of Your grace and not because of anything that we could ever do. I pray that we would serve because You first served us. That we would show compassion because You first showed us compassion. That we would love because You first loved us. That we would show grace because You first were gracious to us. Help everything we do be an overflow of what You have shown us. Thank you for everything you have done for us, even when we didn’t deserve any of it.”
Grace wins. Religion fails. Always.
Permalink
05.13.10
Posted in One Year, Randomness, Songs, Thoughtful at 10:32 am by SapphiraAdi
Glory to God – Fee
Creator God you gave
me breath so I could praise
Your great and matchless name
all my days, all my days
So let my whole life be
a blazing offering
A life that shouts and sings
the greatness of the King
Glory to God, Glory to God
Glory to God, Forever
Take my life and let it be
All for you and for your glory
Take my life and let it be yours
Today I was playing my guitar and I was playing this song Glory to God by Fee. After I had played it like 10 times this line stuck out to me “So let my whole life be a blazing offering. A life that shouts and sings the greatness of the King.” It reminded me of Samuel 15:22, “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” and Psalm 51:16-17, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” It made me think about how sometimes we do all these good things as offerings to God, we go to church, we help out in every area of ministry, we get so busy doing “things” for God that we forget the real purpose behind the activity. We forget that the one thing God wants more than the activity is … YOU. He just wants you. “A broken and contrite heart.” That’s us. Our lives are supposed to be an offering to God, glorifying God in all that we do.
It also reminded me of Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” Like how the Israelite’s had to sacrifice in the Old Testament, God is calling us to be the sacrifice. Our whole lives are to be a sacrifice to God. The Old Testament sacrifices were offered to God to be devoted to Him and that’s what our lives are to be like. Every aspect of our lives to be wholly devoted to God. Not just parts of it, not just Sunday mornings, but every moment.
The following song is from Hillsong United’s new album coming out in the summer. We heard it when they played live worship before their documentary movie and absolutely loved it. The whole song asks of God that His love would consume us like a fire. A fire is not something that can be hidden, it gives off way too much light and heat to be hidden. The same should be said of our life and our love for God and others. There should be no way it could be hidden, we should be consumed with the fiery love of God, burning bright for all to see.
Your Love is Like Fire
I am reaching out to find
There’s nothing greater than
Your love that holds my life.
Your love is like fire,
That burns for all to see.
My only desire, to worship at Your feet.
So let Your fire consume my life.
Let Your love take me deeper,
Draw me closer to where You are,
All I want is more of You.
When You call I will follow.
At the cross I surrender all.
Jesus I belong to You.
Permalink
04.26.10
Posted in One Year, Randomness, Thoughtful at 7:20 pm by SapphiraAdi
*sigh* I’m so behind on my once a week blogging. :P I’ll have to get back on track once school is done in 2 weeks and 4 days. lol This is a post I wrote a while ago but saved it to finish writing and forgot about it. So here it is, finished. :)
_________________________________________________________
This past week I’ve been reading the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie for school (Communication Studies) and there was one point that he made that really really stuck out to me. “The deepest urge in human nature is ‘the desire to be important’” (page 32). Do you think that’s true? That for everyone their deepest desire is to be important? Significant? Wanted? Loved? Accepted? And everything else that goes along with being important? I definitely think that’s true. We all want to be “someone.” We all want our lives to matter and for people to remember us when we’re gone. And this is so much what my blog One Year was about. I want this next year to be important, to be significant. I want my life to matter, I want what I do to be significant. I don’t want to waste my life with trivial things that will not make a lasting difference. We only have so much time here on earth and I want to be doing things that will last for eternity because that’s where as believers our home is at.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. – Philippians 3:20
This song called Never Going Back to OK by The Afters really explains a lot of how I feel about this idea of doing something with my life. I love the line “I’m looking back its hard to believe that I was cool with the days that I wasted complacent and tasteless and bored. But that was yesterday.” It explains beautifully how we can spend our lives okay with being complacent and bored but “that was yesterday, we’re never going back to okay.” God doesn’t want us just living our lives “Okay” He has much bigger plans than that. We’re important to Him and His plans for our life far exceed “okay.”
Never Going Back to OK by The Afters
It’s not the end but it feels like it is
I’m waking up like I’m back from the dead
I’m stepping out and it feels so free
But as long as I’m moving it’s alright
I feel alive and it hurts for a change
I’m looking back its hard to believe
That I was cool with the days that I wasted
Complacent and tasteless and bored
But that was yesterday
Chorus
We’re never going back to ok
We’re never going back to easy
We’re never going back to the way it was
We’re never going back to ok
This discontent, like a slap in the face
A mediocre I’ve had enough of this place
This party’s over and I’m moving away
From the frills of your Beverly Hills
That was yesterday
We’re here to stay
This is our time
My only life
Our chance to live
Another quote I liked from the book… “There is one all-important law of human conduct. … The law is this: Always make the other person feel important.” That is SUCH a good law. Because everyone wants to feel important, the best thing you could do for anyone is to make THEM feel important. I know I sometimes struggle with this because I like to talk about myself, and I like to talk about what I’ve done and what’s going on in my life. But the other person most likely feels the same way! So if I stop and take the time to ask questions that make the other person talk than they will feel important. We all love those people that make us feel like we’re the only person that matters and who talk to us and listen to us like no one else is around. What if we trained ourselves to be like those people? All you have to do is follow this rule… and if you do “the life of many a person could probably be changed if only someone would make him feel important” (page 89).
Permalink
04.18.10
Posted in One Year, Randomness, Thoughtful at 9:48 pm by SapphiraAdi
“Accept him who’s faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.” – Romans 14:1 (NIV)
This verse came to mind this week as I’ve been doing my theology homework and reading different articles and debates going on among believers. The debates are really really interesting, don’t get me wrong, but at the same time I can’t help but think “Why are we arguing over this?”
I had heard that verse a couple weeks ago when I was listening to a Johnnie Moore podcast and he said that the verse should be a requirement for any Theology/Religion Major to memorize because there are some things that are disputable! There are some things in the Bible that can be interpreted differently. It’s not that the Word is wrong, it’s our limited knowledge and human interpretation of it.
Sometimes disputes happen because one or both sides took a verse out of context. But even when read in context, there are certain matters that are still disputable. And still people debate and get into heated arguments over who is right or wrong by judging the other person and thinking their own view is right. Not that debating is bad, I enjoy talking to people and hearing their opinions on certain matters, discussing why I believe what I do, and listening to why they believe what they do. But not when it gets heated and hurtful and especially when it’s just arguing for the sake of arguing.
I think there are some things that are foundational to our faith, like Jesus dying and being raised to life. That is something written about in the Bible as being true and if someone didn’t believe that then what do they have faith in? “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:14, NIV). And things like lying, stealing, cheating, etc. that we are expressly told not to do we shouldn’t do. But some things like getting a tattoo or dancing or listening to certain types of music are all things that are not worth arguing about because it’s not clearly written “Thou shalt not listen to rock.”
Just some of my thoughts. :)
Permalink
04.01.10
Posted in One Year, Randomness, Thoughtful, Travel at 11:10 am by SapphiraAdi
Passover. A time for new beginnings. Leaving an old life and entering a new. Today during devotions my family was talking about us moving and my parents reminded us of the story of Passover. How the Israelites left their old life of slavery and entered into the new life in the Promised Land. And how Jesus on Passover set us all free from the slavery of sin and now we are free to live in heaven with Him someday. There are a lot of changes going to be happening in the next few months as we get ready to move to Clover Ranch, and while it’s a sad time because of leaving things behind, I’m excited for the new thing God has planned for us in Chenoa and I know that this is the start of something new and bigger than we could imagine.
For those of you in the Streator/Peru area, we’ll still be visiting and we expect you all to visit us too! I’m already planning the entire summer with bonfires and cookouts at our house so make sure to leave your calendar free to come over! :) For those in Champaign, I’m excited that we’re only a little over an hour away now! So you’ll be seeing us a lot more often and you’re all invited to our house anytime! For those in Bloomington, we’ll practically live there! So you’ll see us a lot too and are expected to come over all the time. ;) We aren’t officially moving till after school gets out in the middle of May, but we’re moving some of our stuff down there now so that it’s not all done at one time.
This passage of scripture came to mind as I was thinking about us leaving. It’s been a tough couple weeks as we’ve prayed about moving and I’m not exactly thrilled or would’ve wished us to move. But I know that God does have a purpose for this all and that His love is unfailing and doesn’t willingly bring us grief.
Lamentations 3:22-23
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassion’s never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
32-33 Though he brings grief,
he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.
I also have been thinking about this song Let the Waters Rise by Mikeschair. I kinda feel like everything is caving in and everything is changing. But I trust God and I am willing to go wherever He wants us to go. Even though I don’t know why or for what purpose exactly, I trust in Him and know that even when the waters rise and I feel so overwhelmed, He’ll always be there.
Don’t know where to begin
Its like my world’s caving in
And I try but I can’t control my fear
Where do I go from here?
Sometimes its so hard to pray
When You feel so far away
But I am willing to go
Where you want me to
God, I trust You
There’s a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If You want them to
I will follow You
If anyone wants to talk, or know more about the move, just text me, message me on FB, or send me an email. I would love to explain more! :)
Permalink
03.28.10
Posted in One Year, Randomness, Songs, Thoughtful, Travel at 11:42 am by SapphiraAdi
All the quotes in this post are from a blog post Mike (Tenth Avenue North) wrote about the idea of being satisfied. I would definitely recommend reading his entire post because I just used a few quotes from what he said and he wrote about the idea of being satisfied a lot better then I did. :)
__________________________________________________________________
Satisfaction.
We want it. We run after it. And yet, somehow
it always seems to elude us.
What’s our problem?
What went wrong?
I have this thing where, I always like to be looking forward to something. My parents tell me that one year at my birthday party (that we had been planning for weeks), the day was only halfway down and I said, “This is fun! I can’t wait till next year!” and started planning what I wanted to do for my birthday the next year. lol I think we all kind of have that tendency, we’re all looking for something that will bring us satisfaction. For me, I look for satisfaction in my friends, that’s why I wanted to plan my birthday party for the next year, not for the cake and presents, but because I wanted to get together with my friends again. I always have some “day” that is occupying my thoughts. Like last night was WinterJam which I had been constantly thinking about for weeks. Today I can’t stop thinking about going to see a movie with my friends. Once that’s done, I’ll start looking forward to The Gathering and the Hillsong United concert in a few weeks. But when those things have passed, I start looking forward to the next big thing. And I can get pretty sad when I don’t have anything to look forward too… I feel bored. Discontent. Unsatisfied.
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy,
the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. – C.S. Lewis
That quote is profound. I should write it down and hang it up everywhere so that I will see it all the time. Nothing in this world is every going to satisfy my desires. No wordly thing could ever keep me content. Because I was made for another world. “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20, NIV). The only thing that can ever satisfy me is Jesus. And while there are some days when I completely realize that and feel content, there are other days where I try to fill that longing with people, or music, or an experience.
But here’s the deal. If we first understand that our soul is longing for far more than this world can offer then we can learn to expect and manage a certain level of discontentment in our soul, as we walk this earth.
Jesus says to store up for yourself treasure in heaven, because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 16:19-21) Our hearts need to be in heaven. Our hearts need to be satisfied in God. Our longing cannot be satisfied by anything in this world because we were not made for this world. Our home is in heaven.
You see, when your spouse or sports team or favorite food or music no longer has to be the thing that satisfies the deepest longing in your heart, you can actually enjoy them more.
Suddenly, the pressure’s off.
When God satisfies the deepest longing of our hearts, then suddenly, the earthly things we once desired seem trivial. In light of God, chasing after fame or money or a person seems to not matter as much.
But how much more could we enjoy each other if instead of trying to get them to fill us we walked with each other toward the waterfall?
Instead of trying to fill ourselves up with the little things that can never fill us completely, we should go to the waterfall of God to be filled to overflowing.
Why are you striving these days?
Why are you trying to earn grace?
Why are you crying?
Let me lift up your face
Just don’t turn away
Why are you looking for love?
Why are you still searching as if I’m not enough?
To where will you go child?
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run
And please don’t fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Last night we saw Tenth Avenue North at WinterJam and they sang that song. It’s written from the perspective of God, asking why we’re trying to run after other things. Why do we search as if God is not enough? It seems silly to think that anyone would even think that God could be less then enough, but yet everyday we live like He is. We chase after other things and try to earn His favour and look for love in people and pets and things that will never love us with the unconditional love that He gives.
Have you considered Moses’ prayer in Psalm 90,
“Satisfy me in the morning with your unfailing love”?
I love that prayer, because it shows us that Moses knew his own heart.
He knew how much joy He was made for, and He knew that if He didn’t get God
to come and pour into the canyon of his heart first thing in the morning, that he would go running after pebble like substitutes.
Satisfy me in the morning! In the morning!
And then, and this is the hard part,
if you don’t feel satisfied, don’t go running after substitutes.
Just wait.
Sit right there, content in your discontentment, and say to God,
“Alright look. I don’t feel satisfied by you right now, but one thing I know,
no matter what else I run to, it’s not gonna do it for me anyway, so I’m gonna wait for you.
Teach me O Lord, to know deeply that I’m not home here,
Teach me that all this world offers, and all the good things you’ve given us to enjoy,
they may be good, but they’re not the ultimate.
They’re not you.
Only you can satisfy.”
Permalink
« Previous entries Next Page » Next Page »
