Twenty-four

Twenty-four

I am twenty-four

Bibical meaning for twenty-four- heavenly worship

Psalm 24

" The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness,

The world and those who dwell therein.

 For He has founded it upon the seas,

And established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?

Or who may stand in His holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,

Nor sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive blessing from the LORD,

And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him
Who seek Your face.

Lift up your heads, O you gates!

And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The LORD strong and mighty,

The LORD mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O you gates!

Lift up, you everlasting doors!

And the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,

He is the King of glory. Selah

Twenty-four elders (redeemed men) in heaven I imagine singing "Holy, Holy, Holy..."

 A year of worship. Here I am... God let's go!

Friendships

Today friendships have been on my mind... So I thought I'd blog about it. Get my thoughts and a bit of wisdom down for you to read. Enjoy.

First I would like to say I am incredibly blessed! I have amazing friendships! I have a handful of people in my life that I know will always be in my life. We all have people that we love and know for a season and then we have the ones that are there for every season. The ones that grow along with you. No matter what you do, how far the separation, or who else you are friends with these special people will always be in a place in your heart ordained by God. These friendships are effortless. You don't have to force them even in times of sharpening and conflict. (those are the things that will make your friendship better)

MC and I have been through so much together!
MC you always encourage and love me! Thanks for being there

I have know these girls for basically my whole life! April you will always be my best friend!
You are the perfect man for me ;)
 Cara you make me laugh and get me like no one else!!!

Got sexylove? There's never a dull moment with us!
Jennae you are forever my beloved!

Romey and Michelle can make it through anything!
Sara you always make me smile I miss our crazy laughter! 

"Friendships don't just "happen," but the best ones seem to fall into place right from the start, naturally and easily, as if they were always meant to be."

To all my single ladies

Cherish the season you are in!

...it's for a reason.

 I know the majority of us have lived our lives dreaming on that perfect man for us. We think of all the little things we want in someone...Wit, integrity, good looks, charm, vision, character, style, and the list goes on...and on. I believe God puts those desires in us but we tend to take them and run with them... but why? I know the fairytale seems so much better than the lives we actually have... but wouldn't it be wonderful to love the life we have. To be satisfied with what God wants. To trust in that scripture... yes I'm going to throw it out there... you have probably heard this 1000 times when it comes to all your dreams and desires for that "perfect man" ...

"Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" -Psalm 37:4

It's such a good scripture... and is so TRUE but you know what I like more...
what God says before...and after that. We tend to focus on what we want to hear instead of what really brings rest to our souls.

Proverbs 37:3 states "Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 
I feel the Lord say "feed on My faithfulness... put all your hope in Me... look to me... stop making everything a performance... to be honest when I hear delight yourself in the Lord most of the time I automatically think "I have to read my Bible more... pray twice as much... have every waking thought be something about God... DELIGHT DELIGHT DELIGHT! ...with joy of coarse :)" God wants us to trust Him. Trust is a product of a relationship where you know you are loved. Do you know (in your heart) that God loves you? Because if/when you do trust in Him feeding on His faithfulness will be more than enough. True delight will come.

...now moving onto Psalm 37:5 "Commit your way to the LORD, And trust in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." Again it says trust in Him... so really trust that God will bring every one of Your desires to pass. It's not something you have to make happen. Finding that perfect guy... it will come in the right season. Don't try to make it happen because you'll lose sight of what God is doing in you right now. Commit yourself to God's will. It's so much better than what we would give ourselves. Just like you... I'm a single lady and I stand in faith that God wants to give me a man far better than what I would pick for myself. So I just want to live my life... trust in God... it's far better than anything else. True delight isn't a bunch of works... but it's trust in the One who wants to love you more that anyone else. So let Him!!!!

By Faith

"It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going." - Hebrews 11:8

"The journey of the man who would become know as Abraham is a paradigm of all authentic faith. His is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, and not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. Each future determination, each next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of the influence of God in the present moment. The reality of life for Christian men and women requires that they leave what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walk into the desert without rational explanations to justify their decision or guarantee their future. Why? Solely and simple because God signals this movement and offers it His promise... For contemporary Christians, there is an essential difference between belief and faith. Our religious beliefs are the visible expression of our faith, our personal commitment to the person of Jesus.- Brennen Manning (The Signature of Jesus)

As i was reading this I couldn't help but think of my dear friend Ashley Leir. If you know her you would know in less than a week she will be moving across the country. Leaving all that she knows and entering into what Brennen Manning calls "His promise". If you know Ashley you would also know how incrediable she is! Her love and passion for Jesus is infectious, she's always the life of a party, and has a heart as big as my booty ;) Ashley, I love you! Thank you for always putting a smile of my face and being someone who inspires me to love Jesus more! You have been an amazing friend!!!

Taking the active step in faith we all are on the journey to what God is promising us. We may not see it right away. We all need to believe (to be established) that what God has for us is greater than anything we can do or someone else can do for us. If you are in the darkest valley, the driest desert, or on the highest mountain top let God be the one leading you. Have faith that He is your strength and joy. Where He is taking you will be worth the hard times.

"But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence." Jeremiah 17:7

My ocean and me

 

I think I figured it out... We need to be together, Like the shore and the sea.  We are not one thing... We're drawn here together My ocean and me.- Jon Foreman

God is my ocean... His waves crash over me. I need Him... if He wasn't there I'd have no purpose... I'd just be dried up sand thirsting for water to come and fulfill my dreams. 

JOY

"So the ransomed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away." - Isaiah 51:11

...mmm so good...

 I decided to spontaneously  write today... not knowing what but knowing I have stuff that needs to come out of me. So naturally not knowing what I was going to talk about I decided to play the "what are You saying God?' game... we all have done it... you know the one where you close your eyes open your Bible to a random page and then point.  So I read what was under my finger in hopes I would find a bit a wisdom and encouragement...

I find myself asking the question what is true joy?...

the opposite of sorrow... a treasure... a fruit of the Spirit... a character trait... a gift... a choice. 

I'll be honest sometimes I feel like joy is something I try to have instead of something I'm reaping. But then I'm reminded that we were the joy set before Jesus as He hung on the cross... How can this be? As He was paying for us who were the RANSOMED because of our sin... we were still His joy. 

So I guess what Im saying is... wherever you are... if you don't exactly feel the joy... know that if you don't know pain you will never fully understand how great the true joy is. We all walk through seasons of pain, heartbreak, and loss. Jesus did... but joy was His strength, so no matter what let joy be yours even if it seems far away. Believe that it is God making a way in you to go deeper to experience Him in greater measure. 

 

Jesus is amazing!

Do you ever really think about why Jesus is so amazing... like really really REALLY think about it? If anyone reads this... then Im guessing you are probably someone who could give me a very spiritual/Biblically correct answer... and thats ok... but I guess why I'm writing this is because lately God has been stretching my perspectives and shifting some paradigms that I have about the King of Glory, the Lion & the Lamb, Son of God, Son of man, the bread of Life... Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior. 

Recently I have been longing for understanding and sharpening. I have been blessed to come across an amazing author who by his testimony and life experience that he so transparently shared in a few of his books given me that. (if you follow me on twitter you have probably seen a few quotes I have tweeted from him)

But anyways back to Jesus...

So what do you think about Jesus? God has been showing me how much we truly need Jesus. Without Jesus we have absolutely 110% NO hope. Apart from Him we would not know forgiveness, freedom, and most importantly love. It's crazy to me! Even though God created us, named us, knows the count of every hair on our heads... we would NOT know this love if it weren't for Jesus.  In Phillipians 3:8 Paul says this,

"Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."

My heart leaps when Paul says I count all things loss for the EXCELLENCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST. Why?... well because I desire to have knowledge of Christ... not head knowledge but knowledge that comes from real experience. 

"In the Hebrew understanding the word knowledge is felt; it arises from experience of God in faith and love rather than human investigation. Knowledge is the fruit of a faith-encounter with Jesus as the Christ." -Brennen Manning 

 I think as humans we tend to be driven by success so we equate knowledge as power to get us where we want to be. But through God's eyes He sees us through the blood of Jesus as His perfect creation. He jealously wants all of us and wants to show us all of Him. So what do we do? We seek after the head knowledge thinking the more we know about God the better we are as Christians... but we never count everything else as loss to have experienced the excellence of Jesus. And what did God do? He loved us so much He sent Jesus to come and show us what true knowledge is. He came to restore to us the destiny God had created for us. He came to love us and He did by dying for us knowing obviously through His experience that we would never be able to love Him the way He deserves. We crucified Him, we denied Him, we took Him for granted. But He forgave and loved us anyways. And will always do that as long as we are on this earth. 

Think about why Jesus is amazing. He will show you and be faithful to strengthen your knowledge of His excellence.