Simply Endure

Well I pray you all had a good week and were able to pray last weeks prayer over someone and yourself!! It is very interesting to sit and think how much influence we can have with a simple prayer. It is such an important part of our relationship with the Lord. Lately I have began running, I mean REALLY running. I asked advice from a friend of mine because I knew they had a passion for running and with just that little email sent I have gone from an idea of possibly maybe running every now and then to basically training to run a marathon! This week I have ran 2 times with my friends running group and each time we have ran 5 miles. The first day pretty much wore me out but I was almost able to stay caught up the whole time, however this morning..... We did time trials where we ran a warm up mile, then from that went into a 3 minute fast sprint. Then a 3 minute cool down jog and then back to a 3 minute sprint. We repeated this a few times and I tell you what I was quite slow and pretty much worn out.

However I am only running because I feel like it is something the Lord has asked me to do. I enjoy running and have always wanted to run a marathon so I am working towards a goal I have had for a few years now. God has truly been teaching me a lot throughout this whole running process though. He has caused me to discipline myself in ways I have never done before, waking up at 4:30 to run by 5, adding new things to my diet to be more healthy and energized, and most importantly I am only able to continue on with HIS STRENGTH! Matthew 24:13 says: "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." I have learned so much about myself and God during these last 2 runs. I am so weak, physically, mentally, and even spiritually. God constantly has to come to my side and empower me to continue on. I truly must ENDURE. Endure means: to remain firm under suffering or misfortune without yielding. 2: to undergo (as a hardship) especially without giving in.

We must daily endure through many things the world throws at us. Sometimes it isn't easy and quite difficult but that is why its called enduring. When you endure something it usually isn't an easy thing to do. God allows situations to come our way that we will have to endure through. It is in those moments that we must recognize there is absolutely no way we can make it on our own and we must rely on God for Him to bring us through. When we realize that the most growth comes from going through something hard or challenging it should encourage us when we are faced with difficult times. It's an opportunity for our faith to grow in God, for us to completely rely on Him and see the impossible happen, and when we have endured to the end we can look back confidently and know we were only able to make it by the Grace, and strength of God. Daily we must come to Him and receive His strength, we must pursue Him and His ways. We are not meant to live and face this world alone, when we do we grow tired, stressed, overwhelmed, and reach a burnout point. We are called to endure to the end but we can only endure to the end by surrendering in the beginning to God and His will.

This week reflect upon the areas that are most difficult for you. Figure out if you are simply moving in your own strength or if you are accessing the awesome power of God. He's ready and waiting for you to come to Him and allow Him to be your everything. Then you will be able to Endure through anything and be saved by His love, grace, and amazing mercy.

A final word

As you know we have been looking at the new nature that we are expected to live in after we submit ourselves to God. He desires complete obedience to His commands. I feel it is something that we can never hear enough because we are constantly hounded by the world and those around us to live completely apart from the life God sets before. I pray that these posts have challenged you in your own faith. I know there are so many areas I could still cover on this topic but I feel I must conclude it with a section that I have prayed over people many times. It is my prayer for you as you read it that you take it to heart and believe the words you are reading. Like the other ruminations, I would encourage you to read this and pray it not only over yourself but the people around you EVERYDAY! I can guarantee you will be changed and those around you will also be if you dedicate yourself to praying this.

It comes from Colossians Chapter 1:9-14 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

I just love this section because it has everything in it. Pretty much everything we have been studying over these last weeks is summed up here! There is just so much in here we could spend weeks dissecting! The knowledge of God's will and giving us Spiritual wisdom and understanding. With that we totally would be able to always honor God. We are called to produce good fruit in our lives. We can either produce good or bad fruit, and when we are not growing we are dying. It is something we must constantly keep in check. What are we allowing ourselves to produce. When people see us do they see the fruit of God in our lives or do they see the fruit of the world? We must constantly be growing in our faith, and in our relationship with God. That is the only way to live a life of complete worship to God. It isn't something that we do once and never follow up, we must daily grow so that we can continually be used in the best way for God. Our strength can only be given to us from God, and that is right where our patience and endurance comes from also! There is absolutely no way we can gain these characteristics without His hand actively working in our lives. Finally we must always live in complete thankfulness to God. Our lives must be a life of worship to Him. When we live according to Him and His ways transformation will take place. We will be different and our lives will show it. Every area of our lives, and people will notice our Joy. The only way we will ever be able to explain it would be to say, "It's All GOD!"

I do pray that this page has been good for you, it is my desire to just bring you to a place of wrestling with yourself and growing with God. He desires it, and I felt like this was what He was speaking to me and I wanted to share it with you! Be blessed this week and mark these verses in you bible and pray them each day and put specific names in there to pray over! Then watch to see how God works in your life and the lives of those you are praying for!!

Living Holy

There are so many things that we are called to do as Christ Followers such as what we've been talking about, having only good words be spoken. To turn from our old nature of walking in pride and forgiveness and instead be humble and forgiving. Last week we talked about how to actually live wise and not unwise. I want to cover another way of living today which I feel is probably on of me most important ways to live. The verse is 1 Pet. 1:15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. It seems like a rather easy verse when you read it, however what does it mean to be holy? We must first look at a simple definition of Holy which means:
Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood.
2. Spiritually whole or sound; of unimpaired innocence and virtue; free from sinful affections; pure in heart; godly; pious; irreproachable; guiltless; acceptable to God.

Now when you read that definition of the word Holy it takes the meaning of this verse to a whole new level. How many of us can actually stand up and say that each and everyday we are living a holy life? I for sure cannot say that, and I'm afraid the only one that truly can say it is Jesus. Our lives are always filled with so much stuff. Whether it be things that cause us to focus our attention on, things or people that upset us and we dwell upon that, jobs, bills. These are all things that fight for our attention all day everyday and it is so easy to be swept away by them. It is easy to forget to worship God in the busyness of our lives. Or to be a holy vessel when someone upsets us. It is something we must work on but also realize we'll never be holy alone. When we decide to truly live a life of holiness we must daily come to God and say: "I need you to work in me, I require your hand upon my life because I am everything but holy when left to myself. God I desire to be holy but I require you to move in me and through me. Set me apart for you today, make me holy like you are holy." Then the next day we must pray it out all over again. It is a great lifestyle we are called to, when you experience it you'll never forget the experience. I think it is such an awesome requirement for our lives because like everything else in our faith, it requires us to come to God. To rely on Him for every little part of what we do. We will never be able to be Holy without Him working in our lives.

So this week it is my prayer for you that you take time to examine your life, and figure out how you can live more holy. In what areas do you need to surrender to God and allow His hand to lead you into a life of holiness. Pray for Him to show you how to be holy and to give you the strength and wisdom to walk in that. As the week goes on, take note of your attitude and everything else about you. When you walk in holiness things will change about you, you'll begin to turn heads and they won't be looking at you but the holiness of God IN YOU!

Living with purpose

We will still be looking into characteristics of a Christ Follower. What it looks like to live in the "New Nature" that we are called to live in by having relationship with God. Each week we have discussed different issues from controlling our tongues speaking words of life, to being humble and forgiving. This week I pray it will be challenging yet again. Something that seems to be pressing upon my heart is Eph. 5:15-16 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. This I think is a very challenging verse selection because it pretty much sums up all the other verses we have been looking at. It states to carefully examine you life and to live wise. Making the most of every opportunity. Now some may think well I live wise always and I would challenge you to carefully examine every part of your life. What do you think it means when it says live wise? What does making the most of every opportunity mean? I think it is a matter that you must wrestle with. Are you truly being responsible in all areas of your life? Making wise decisions with your finances? Are you taking time out of your day to spend with the Lord? Where are your priorities? Is your time with the Lord something that you add to the list of duties and if you get to it you get to it, or is it at the top and never a negotiation YOU GET TO IT NO MATTER WHAT! Are you taking advantage everyday to share the love that God has for you to those around you? Whether it be your family, friends, co-workers, customers, strangers in the stores. Are you intentionally looking for opportunities to serve people at any given moment or are you stuck in a place that you can't see past your own needs. I think the thing that gets me the most is how easy it is for me to get caught up in myself. In my discomfort, or in my embarrassment to share my faith. That isn't living wise, my faith in God is the one thing that I have that I must share with everyone. It is my responsibility as a Christ Follower to display God's love in my life and give it to others. It is the one thing that can truly change a life. If there is one area that we must walk wise in, it is this area right here. Choosing to tell everyone we come in contact with about God, His love, and the relationship that is available to them through His Son.

I have been really examining my life this last week and seeing what things I am engaging in that aren't necessarily bad things but they aren't life giving nor is it wise to spend so much time doing them. I have made adjustments and still searching ways to make the most of every opportunity. It is just like this site, I have felt the Lord impress upon me to take time each week and give a challenge to anyone that may read this site. I don't know how many people read this, but at least I'm taking advantage of an opportunity and if just one person read this and it changed their entire relationship with the Lord then that is why I am doing this!!

Examine yourself this week, pray and ask the Lord to reveal ways that you may be living unwise. THEN seek Him so that He may guide you into how you can begin to live a life of wisdom and making the most of every opportunity that He has given you. Each day we have so many choices to make, all I ask is for you to pray and allow God to guide you into making the next right decision. Tons of things will happen in this but the 2 I will point out is you will increase the time you spend in prayer if you are constantly seeking His direction for the next right decision. Then the other thing is you'll be living in the will of God every moment! What satisfaction that would bring to know everything you're doing each day is bringing a smile to the face of your Lord!