We’re at the park, and she’s happily bouncing, We’re at the park, and she’s happily bouncing, amazed by the big trucks driving by, never wanting to stop going down the slide, smiling constantly — and I’m laughing with her, amazed at her joy and think — Is this what God feels like with me as His child? 

Delight. Lightness. Wonder. Love.

I was filled to the brim with it, covering every crack and reaching every corner. And then I realized — this. is. it. 

This is how I operate in the world. 

I felt so... whole... not because of my efforts at wholeness but because I have God and He has me. (Psalm 23 rings loud: with Him as my Shepherd, I lack nothing.) 

The best I can do for myself is accept and live in His love, especially when mistakes and lack and circumstances scream reasons I can’t. And the best I can do for others, those under my roof and those on this platform, is to extend invitations of His love through my own and through His Word. 

If your life has told you He doesn’t want to love you or know you, I’m here to tell that He does. It’s waiting for you, probably even pursuing you... it just takes a Yes of faith. 

Message me if you want to talk about it; I would LOVE to hear your story, no matter how different we are. 

You're not forsaken,
You're not alone
His love is unending
So know it well
Remind your soul,
remind your spirit,
remind your heart
The love of the Father
Know it well
—Kari Jobe
Bless you and thank you for your heart and work, @ Bless you and thank you for your heart and work, @morganharpernichols.
“I told you about my life, and you answered me; “I told you about my life, and you answered me; teach me your statutes. Help me understand the meaning of your precepts so that I can meditate on your wonders. I am weary from grief; strengthen me through your word. Keep me from the way of deceit and graciously give me your instruction. I have chosen the way of truth; I have set your ordinances before me. I cling to your decrees; Lord, do not put me to shame. I pursue the way of your commands, for you broaden my understanding.” Psalms‬ ‭119:26-32 CSB‬‬
18 months old and she’s joined the ‘lover of t 18 months old and she’s joined the ‘lover of the slide’ club
“We must reflect that, when we reach the end of “We must reflect that, when we reach the end of our days, our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to, whether by choice or default. We are at risk, without quite fully realizing it, of living lives that are less our own than we imagine.” William James

With the help of God, may we strive to become abiding and attentive people instead of distracted and defeated people.
The entire thing is He loved me first. And even wh The entire thing is He loved me first. And even when our surroundings are burning or when all we see is rubble, there is an unseen Kingdom to serve, a Family to be part of, and a powerful Love to give and receive. 

Every week it seems I’m inspired by a comment a friend and pastor made years ago — “Don’t be afraid to talk to someone about the truth of Jesus. Think of it as joining a conversation God might already be having with that person.” 

May we be conduits of that strong, courageous, welcoming, comforting, healing, transforming, sustaining, peacemaking, eternal Love. Or as Bernice King said, “Love puts in work.”
Call it ‘a Sunday stroll in Appling.’ Call it ‘a Sunday stroll in Appling.’
“God is always coming to you in the sacrament of “God is always coming to you in the sacrament of the Present Moment. Meet and receive Him there with gratitude.” Evelyn Underhill 

Such brokenness we see, such pain, such fear. Attend to Jesus — Lord, Savior, King — with all your honest thoughts and feelings, and let His power and love change you. Let Him form and re-form you into a help for the hurting, a bright spot for those in the dark, a presence for others to rest in. A ‘little Christ’ on the earth.

 ^ what I’m rehearsing to myself
Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfil Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfill the will of God through the inner influence of His Spirit instead of the outer influence of the law of God” (David Guzik).

This took me probably 15 years of following Jesus to grasp. It felt too easy, my willpower was my measuring stick, and the freedom was terrifying. 

But alas, God’s way is the best way, and there is no substitute for the Holy Spirit. I can’t muster spiritual fruit, but His goal, thankfully and marvelously, is vineyards and vineyards.

May we surrender this work to Him.
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faith · 11/27/2018

something better than easy belief

I’m noticing a pattern in my relationship with God: not only do I learn new things, but He takes familiar truths and redefines them.

For example, in high school, I absorbed the term sanctification as God’s shaping me to be more like Jesus. But in my spirit-and-flesh wrestling through life, I’ve been tempted to think of sanctification as ‘you’re not enough as you are, you always need to be growing,’ or ‘keep your spiritual act together, don’t mess up.’ This belief cultivates an anxious obedience and a lack of joy in faithfulness, not connection to God. 

Are you more aware and driven by the knowledge of your shortcomings and failures than you are aware of and driven by God’s mercy and grace to you in Jesus Christ? It is not a bad thing to know where you fall short of the glory of God. Remember God hates sin. But being aware of those things, does that drive you into the grace of God, or are you so aware of those that you have minimized the grace of God and you have left orthodox Christian faith and you’re out here trying to earn what you will never be able to earn? Matt Chandler

Sanctification, including the Father’s loving discipline, is living in a right relationship to Jesus Christ, the Master, that brings and sustains right thoughts, feelings, choices, and habits, enabling one to do what is right (Dallas Willard).

Spiritual maturity is living dependent on God, not independent of Him.

This year, my relationship with God has felt a bit like an unpredictable roller coaster, and believing Him hasn’t come easily or felt warm or bright, but maybe it’s better that way. I often felt like the person James refers to, “who doubts like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (1:6). Not that I doubted God’s existence or love or the Bible as truth, but I vacillated between trusting God, the world I could see, or my own abilities and feelings. The fight to believe God felt messy and tiring and discouraging. 

Today, almost in 2018’s last month, why do I say this season of warfare might be better than easy belief? Because it’s difficult to be satisfied in Christ if I’m never truly hungry for Him.

When we circle the desert, looking at ourselves or others to fix or change or be enough, we live in perpetual thirst. With the help of dear friends and Spirit-filled authors, I was challenged to take my lack of easy belief and dig deeper, despite my feelings; to seek more diligently, in spite of the temptation to quit; to confront my prideful tendencies, even though the admission felt shameful. 

I brought my seemingly empty, struggling, no-idea-what-else-to-do self before Him and asked to be filled with something new. 

Truly, it is worth being poor and greatly tried in faith, for the sake of having day by day such precious proofs of the loving interest which our kind Father takes in everything that concerns us. And how should our Father do otherwise? He that has given us the greatest possible proof of His love which He could have done, in giving us His own Son, surely He will with Him also freely give us all things. George Müller

I came across these words by Hudson Taylor and designed a phone wallpaper: “How to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.” 

It is not in trying harder, but in the yielding to Him to work where belief is strengthened and renewed. It’s in the ‘I’m not enough, You’re enough‘ confession the Holy Spirit breathes a new layer of trust into my heart. It’s my desperate need of help to be the sweetest place to be, because God is an inexhaustible fountain and will never not give of Himself to His children who ask.  

God surprised me. In an uncomfortable season where belief felt unstable and my flesh ran out and His presence didn’t seem close, I learned a degree of greater ‘certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead’ (Hebrews 11:1 TLB). And wherever you find yourself, so can you. 

The judgment we deserve was absorbed by Jesus on the cross, so every challenge, pain, discipline, dry season, and sanctifying path has a purpose, not as punishment, but as gracious provision.

What if our weakness and need and humility is the gateway to more of God? Yes.
What if grace not accepted as a gift is grace not being authentically lived? Woah.
What is pleasing God is not found at all in living independent of Him to any degree, but dependent on Him? Praises.
What if believing God’s Word with our minds is all we can do, even if our feelings are super slow to catch up? More than okay.
#preachingtomyselfhere

Some people think God does not like to be troubled with our constant coming and asking. The way to trouble God is not to come at all. D.L. Moody

My best stance on this earth is a posture of receiving – all of Him as all I need (Philippians 1). It’s a position of tasting and seeing God as enough that brings Him glory, invites Him in, and changes us. It’s a rolling every burden onto the shoulders of Christ. It’s finding joy in being hidden in Him. It’s confidence that nothing can separate us from His love. In all honesty, maybe I don’t want my faith to be easy breezy all the time, because I might not experience the magnitude of the gospel or the wonder of God as my lifeline. Ask me again the next time a season like this comes around. 

 

+++

 

What stops you from coming in need before God? Has God ever surprised you? What distracts you from being His beloved? What kind of season are you in with God? I’d love hear some of your story!

In: faith · Tagged: faith, God, receiving

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We’re at the park, and she’s happily bouncing, We’re at the park, and she’s happily bouncing, amazed by the big trucks driving by, never wanting to stop going down the slide, smiling constantly — and I’m laughing with her, amazed at her joy and think — Is this what God feels like with me as His child? 

Delight. Lightness. Wonder. Love.

I was filled to the brim with it, covering every crack and reaching every corner. And then I realized — this. is. it. 

This is how I operate in the world. 

I felt so... whole... not because of my efforts at wholeness but because I have God and He has me. (Psalm 23 rings loud: with Him as my Shepherd, I lack nothing.) 

The best I can do for myself is accept and live in His love, especially when mistakes and lack and circumstances scream reasons I can’t. And the best I can do for others, those under my roof and those on this platform, is to extend invitations of His love through my own and through His Word. 

If your life has told you He doesn’t want to love you or know you, I’m here to tell that He does. It’s waiting for you, probably even pursuing you... it just takes a Yes of faith. 

Message me if you want to talk about it; I would LOVE to hear your story, no matter how different we are. 

You're not forsaken,
You're not alone
His love is unending
So know it well
Remind your soul,
remind your spirit,
remind your heart
The love of the Father
Know it well
—Kari Jobe
Bless you and thank you for your heart and work, @ Bless you and thank you for your heart and work, @morganharpernichols.
“I told you about my life, and you answered me; “I told you about my life, and you answered me; teach me your statutes. Help me understand the meaning of your precepts so that I can meditate on your wonders. I am weary from grief; strengthen me through your word. Keep me from the way of deceit and graciously give me your instruction. I have chosen the way of truth; I have set your ordinances before me. I cling to your decrees; Lord, do not put me to shame. I pursue the way of your commands, for you broaden my understanding.” Psalms‬ ‭119:26-32 CSB‬‬
18 months old and she’s joined the ‘lover of t 18 months old and she’s joined the ‘lover of the slide’ club
“We must reflect that, when we reach the end of “We must reflect that, when we reach the end of our days, our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to, whether by choice or default. We are at risk, without quite fully realizing it, of living lives that are less our own than we imagine.” William James

With the help of God, may we strive to become abiding and attentive people instead of distracted and defeated people.
The entire thing is He loved me first. And even wh The entire thing is He loved me first. And even when our surroundings are burning or when all we see is rubble, there is an unseen Kingdom to serve, a Family to be part of, and a powerful Love to give and receive. 

Every week it seems I’m inspired by a comment a friend and pastor made years ago — “Don’t be afraid to talk to someone about the truth of Jesus. Think of it as joining a conversation God might already be having with that person.” 

May we be conduits of that strong, courageous, welcoming, comforting, healing, transforming, sustaining, peacemaking, eternal Love. Or as Bernice King said, “Love puts in work.”
Call it ‘a Sunday stroll in Appling.’ Call it ‘a Sunday stroll in Appling.’
“God is always coming to you in the sacrament of “God is always coming to you in the sacrament of the Present Moment. Meet and receive Him there with gratitude.” Evelyn Underhill 

Such brokenness we see, such pain, such fear. Attend to Jesus — Lord, Savior, King — with all your honest thoughts and feelings, and let His power and love change you. Let Him form and re-form you into a help for the hurting, a bright spot for those in the dark, a presence for others to rest in. A ‘little Christ’ on the earth.

 ^ what I’m rehearsing to myself
Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfil Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfill the will of God through the inner influence of His Spirit instead of the outer influence of the law of God” (David Guzik).

This took me probably 15 years of following Jesus to grasp. It felt too easy, my willpower was my measuring stick, and the freedom was terrifying. 

But alas, God’s way is the best way, and there is no substitute for the Holy Spirit. I can’t muster spiritual fruit, but His goal, thankfully and marvelously, is vineyards and vineyards.

May we surrender this work to Him.
“The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must en “The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring: these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in the hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love.” Parker J. Palmer

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