I find it disturbing that I so often hear about people in ministry who don’t believe demons or satan are real. I found this video on the Desiring God facebook page. First off, I love John Piper. His messages are amazing, his books are incredibly helpful and insightful. When he speaks, he takes himself out of the way and lets the gospel and the spirit work in people’s hearts. This is him responding to a question about casting out demons… just wanted to share!
I’m in a season of life where I feel like some new opportunities are on the horizon. That is always very exciting to me! A lot of times I get so caught up in that, that I forget about the here and now. That is wrong. Thankfully this month I have been so busy that I don’t have time to not focus, haha! But none the less, it’s my prayer for myself and anyone who is reading this that no matter what you think is coming or what you are working towards, remember that you will never get there if you don’t focus on what you are doing right now. Don’t sacrifice commitment or quality of work or focus just because you are gitty about what lies ahead. Do all things for Him, and do them to the best of your ability!
I believe creativity is part of our being as humans… I believe it unites us to God in a way that we wouldn’t experience if we never created anything that was our own work. Weather it be a song, a painting, a novel or poem, a sculpture, a video, or even a paper we write for school or work. Whenever we create something from nothing, it taps into a part of our souls and our brains we don’t usually use so it makes it an almost surreal experience. What do you like to create?!?!
God’s timing never ceases to surprise me and honestly, it normally makes me ask more questions. How do I know this is the right time? How do I know this is God and not just me? Questions like this always bring me back to one thing and that is prayer and how we communicate with Him. Do we communicate in ways specific to our selves or our situations or do we just kinda bs our way through? If we really want to know if it’s God’s timing for us or if it’s just us, be specific and honest in the way you communicate with Him. Say, ” I need to know if this is you or me. If this is what you want for me, then please open the door. If it’s not then close it!” Sometimes we get a really clear answers really quickly. Sometimes things go slower and aren’t as clear. Sometimes He says, “Choose. I’m here with you.” Anyway that turns out, we have to be honest with our prayer life… How do you expect to hear the answer you need if you aren’t being real with Him?!?!?
on a tv network that will remain un-named, i heard them say g.d. and it wasn’t bleeped… thoughts?!?! i know what mine are. please comment!
i’ve been thinking about the name of my blog and i wondered, what was my first true love? the first thing i really loved… how far back do i go? first crush? first sport or game i loved playing? first friend? or further… is it my parents because i needed them so much as a child, like all children do? all interesting thoughts to me… made me think about playing baseball and basketball as a kid, or playing in the back yard with my neighbors, katy, nick, steve, andrew, jacob, lauren, kyle, nathan, sam, connor, shane and im sure there was more. or how about the first thing i loved about school, which i still havent found btw… anyway all that leads me to think about why i named it first true love. the first true pure love the world knew was God’s love through Christ. i’ve decided to tap into that in my songwriting and my life in general from here on out. love is the goal, and bringing glory to Him through the way i love.
have any thoughts? memories? t-shirt ideas? song titles? favorite video games or sports or sports teams… ps if it’s soccer, WE R IN AMERICA!!! hahaha, jk, kinda!
when struggle gets the best of you and you don’t pursue making an adjustment in your heart, there is a disconnect between you and God. it sounds like a simple concept to grasp but sometimes we begin to think we are strong enough to handle it, and its just not true. connect with Christ and your friends and family, and church family and share your struggle. don’t pretend to be more than you are, which is human and thats it! only God can really handle whats going on in your heart and in mine. you just gotta give it up and so do i…
its pretty amazing when you get stuck in a place where you feel like you are stagnate and God responds to that feeling. sometimes all you gotta do is ask Him to meet you and He does. more often than i’d like i forget to actually speak to Him what is on my heart. i normally won’t respond to people if they don’t say anything to me either…
It doesn’t matter where you are in life or in your walk with Christ… at some point along the way you are going to struggle. How do you handle it? A lot of times I don”t handle it as well as I could. Your circumstances in life don”t define you. How you respond to your circumstances defines who you are! That all being said… who are you?
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