When life tries to stop you. Kick it in the face, grab it by the hair and throw it over a cliff. You can win
Don’t You Worry
As you grow up,you will bloom into a beautiful flower. You will start to learn that life is not easy. Waves will come and try to knock you down,sometimes it will get so hard you will have to lay down and cry. You will make mistakes and wish you could rewind time, but remember through all of this I will be with you,to hold you your hand when the road get rough. I will be there to pick you up when you can’t get up. I will always be here for you, all you have to do is call my name and I will come running by your side. Don’t ever be ashamed to call on me,because whatever you go through I will be there to protect you through it all.
I wrote this for my niece,she’s growing up so fast!”
The video ‘How Great is Our God’, shown above, is probably the most inspirational talk I’ve ever seen. I’ll only give you a few sentences description, then I’ll let Louie Giglio wow you for the 40 odd minutes where you will feel small, yet humbled and purposeful as well. A speech about the smallness of Earth and the bigness of God, this notion that God is too big for my problems, to scary for me to approach, is not uncommon. In fact it is the reverse. I mean, when I first saw this video, I felt emotions of awe and wonder, and I was amazed at the ability of a God who carved the oceans, the earth, the sky, the animals and man from dust, from the palm of His hand. I was astounded by the very fact that God holds the universe in his hands; even the ever expanding universe is like a microscopic dot in comparison to Him. So I guess it’s natural to feel afraid! To feel like you’re not worthy of being in the presence of such a holy and all powerful God. I mean, God speaks and inanimate objects like the rocks and trees will cry out to and bow before Him. So our problems are insignificant right?
Wrong! In fact God is very interested in you and me. Very much devoted in our lives! Remember, the same God who is in command of everything that has ever existed, is yearning to be with each and every one of us, and the very same God sent Jesus to the cross 2000 + years ago to die for our sin in our place so that each one of us can experience eternal life with Him someday. He took the punishment upon Himself so that humanity could live. Now if that’s not sacrifice, I don’t know what is. Now, that should blow your minds, that God loves us, likes us, and wants to be our Father. While I was watching this above encouraging video, I was also reminded about the new Paul Baloche single ‘The Same Love’, where it was described that the God who is personable and relatable to us is the same God who was, who is, and who always will be. That’s very encouraging! He would even have sacrificed Himself even if there was only you living on Earth. That’s how special you are.
So whenever you are feeling down, a dose of Louie Giglio’s messages will bring you right back up, and remember, you can talk to God whenever you want to, even in the early hours of the morning… Just talk to him, like you’re talking to a mate (if you’re not sure how to pray!), and you’d be surprised with the results. God is surely big, as shown in the video, and He is a lot more things. But above all He is Savior, Healer, Restorer, Father, Lover, Redeemer, Friend. He is not as scary as many make Him out to be, in fact He is always someone who you definitely want in your corner and God always keeps His promises.
Now, a parting word of advice. Whenever you feel daunted, afraid, scared, nervous, apprehensive, confused, whatever emotion that you have bottled up inside; and you feel you can’t tell anyone, God is there. He understands and you can tell Him. He is a good listener, and guaranteed you will feel better and something good will come of it. God is always invested in our lives! So what are you waiting for? Take a leap of faith! God is here, and waiting for you…
God Is Not An Elephant →
The above link is for the brand new Tenth Avenue North’ single ‘Losing’, off their upcoming album ‘The Struggle’, releasing August 2012 via Reunion Records. I don’t know about you but I love this song. It’s catchy, contains a myriad of instruments, and lyrically speaks volumes. The song can also minister to anyone’s life in my opinion. Now this song has a behind the scenes video to go along with it, which can be viewed here, and in this video, Mike, the lead singer, basically says that God is not an elephant, which on the surface is a bit weird. But let me run with this notion for a bit. There’s a saying that an elephant never forgets. I don’t know where it came from, but it’s there. Then Mike goes on a spiel about how he had a bad experience with an elephant, and how it frightened his 5 year old self a number of years back. But what stuck out for me was how he compared God to the elephant. Mike went on to say that God, unlike an elephant, does forget some things. One thing God forgets, which is pretty significant, is our sin. Whatever we have done is swept away, because of Jesus’ death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection 3 days later. So we don’t have to keep acting as if we need to keep doing things for God, or doing more, or better things, for Him to love and accept us. He already does, and that’s the beauty of grace. We do not ‘do more so he’ll love us’. He loves us, and as a result, we will do good things out of that outpouring of our love for our Heavenly Father.
But more importantly, we cannot judge, and say, ‘oh, this person has done x, y, and z, therefore I will not love them, and I will not forget what they have done. They have wronged me, and therefore, I cannot forgive, as they have put me through so much pain’. Because Jesus himself says to our enemies, or our closest friends and family whom we feel have wronged us, ‘You are forgiven, and your sins are forgotten’, who are we to act like an elephant towards others when God could easily have acted like an elephant to us, be chose not to because he loves us, and ultimately wants the best for us? Here’s a challenge- let us act more like Jesus each day, by refraining from our impulses, and using His strength to forgive others when we at first feel that they do not deserve it. For in Luke 23:34, Jesus said ‘Father forgive them, for they know not what they do’.
We are all strangers in this land trying to live with the world. But know this: that we are not part of the world, we do not have the same values of the world. So let us not act like we are part of this world. Simple? Well, I reckon it’s easier said than done. So what’s the first step in living more like Jesus? There is no easy first step. But here’s one for thought. A prayer: ‘Dear God, help me live more like you. You are not an elephant, You do not judge me for all of my wrongdoings, so I pray that with Your help, I will not be like an elephant. I pray that I will not judge others, no matter how hard it gets. Give me your strength and peace. Amen’
Now, I’m off to eat afternoon tea, but I’ll be back to blog soon.
Until next time
Josh
kj52:
Friday freestyle 3 topics: (cheese curls, the hunger games @anthemlights ) (by 52television)
James 1:1-6
James, a servant of God and to the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greeting.
Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds
Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perserverance.
Let perserverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
If any of you lack wisdom you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, it will be given to you
But when you ask you must not doubt, because the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind.
Thank you Jesus for going through all that pain even though you see all my mistakes and didn’t deserve it.Thank you for loving me no matter what!
