Giving God the Power and taking it away from Man

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Ever feel like you are a useless loser? That no matter how hard you try your life is a joke? Ever feel like the opinions of others have defined you? Molded you? Created you? yeah me too.. and that is SO wrong. We, as Christians know who created us, who wants to mold us, whose very being should define us. And yet so often we allow the world to interfere. 

I know I do.. it's hard not to. We are humans, we were born into families and societies and we want those families and societies to love us. To respect us, so we conform to their images. Not a horrid aspect if you come from a loving Christian family, but even there you have to deal with disappointed parents, family members. People who just "know" what is best for you. Even when you know what path you should be taking. When you feel God's call from the deepest part of your soul.. yet often we still listen to the chatter around us. Why? Well we want to be loved. We want to be accepted.. 

Standing for God can be hard, it shouldn't be. It should be a joyous statement. A powerful freedom.. but pressure, peer, family, societal.. sucks.. and yes often I succumb. 

The worst thing is when I finally stand up for my beliefs and I wonder.. am I doing this for me or for God? Am I writing this very blog because I want acknowledgement or because I need to serve God? Do I want validation so desperately that I will even use my faith, as a launching pad? Doubt.. what a demon doubt can be. How does one escape it? 

Honestly there is only one way, a way I am ever so neglectful of, and that way is to constantly be in communication with God. Spend time with your God.. spend time with the scriptures.. Even when you doubt, even when you question.. the positive reinforcements can only help. Instead of putting constant filth into your brain put some God Power in there. My grandma used to have a saying, well she had several, but one that comes to mind now is "Your mind is like a computer, Garbage in, Garbage out" what did that mean? Well if we only feed our minds negative information only negative information will come out. If that is true then it stands to reason, if we put positive messages in, God's message in, then God's message will come out. 

The most important thing to remember is that serving man gets you nowhere.. Oh sure we should serve.. but serve God.. We can serve God by serving our country, as soldiers  politicians, mail carriers (trying to think of all the gov't jobs) but when we do these things to serve God, not man there is so much more to it.. When we do it to serve man.. well man benefits sure but where is your heart? Man can not save you God can.. and will

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

1 Corinthians 2:5

King James Version (KJV)

Head in the Sand Faith

Sometimes it feels like I am practicing head in the sand faith.. You know, just hide your head in the sand and God will take away everything. Yeah.. That's not what faith is about. 

First off, I don't want to practice my faith, I want to LIVE it. I fail, every single solitary day. Honestly, I don't even practice, let alone live it. I hide it in the sand!!

Life is going along ok, then starts getting rocky, then starts getting bad.. Then I start hiding all my problems in the sand.. I ignore them.. Then I get desperate and what do I do? Yep, you got it.. I call on God.. 

Then I walk this stupid line of guilt and need. I haven't been faithful to God, I haven't lived my life to His glory. I have totally messed it up. Then when it gets so bad I can't fix it.. what do I do? I call out to God for help. Then I feel guilty, why? Because I have not honored my previous promises.. Yet God ALWAYS honors His.

I am so lost.. I would like to say I am confused.. baffled, bemused and confused.. but that isn't the case! I close my eyes to my bad choices then let God bail me out.. I live in fear, constantly. I need to break this cycle. I need to stop being the prodigal child and start being the child that stands by her Father. Be there first!

I think I started on that goal today. I think I am working towards a proper faith. Today, this is my goal.. yet I fear that tomorrow I will once again fail.

Shauni

Memory Verse

This week's memory verse is especially compelling to me.. I think in many ways it addresses me deeply and directly...

for 1/5/12 through 1/18/2012:  Galatians 1:10 (We'll all use this New King James Version)

¹⁰ For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

How often do we choose to please man? I know for a large part of my adult life I was so worried about pleasing the people around me that I literally lived in hell. I stayed in an abusive marriage and was petrified that someone would say I was a failure.. 

I hid my love of Christ from those in my community because I wanted their approval.. point in case they never approved of me so I ignored my God and didn't find favor with the individuals I thought to impress.. what a joke.. Had I served my God faithfully, I would have been happy in Christ and not bothered if it impressed others or not.. and yet I bet I would have impressed them.. Or not.. it wouldn't have mattered.

Why was there ever a question? Am I a servant of God or of man? Do I serve God? Or Man? Whom should I attempt to please?

Isn't it amazing how God's word touches us and teaches us?