2012.

Just a quick post..

This is my heart coming into the new year. Take all I am and mold me, Lord!

Paint Your Picture by Julie Meyer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TJtK79h2Go)

Pick me up like a paintbrush, God

Dip it in the colors of my life

Paint Your picture, Father

And fashion a heart that is wholly Yours

Take Your fingers, God

Master Potter Come mold the clay

Tell Your story

As You mold me

Fashion a heart that is wholly Yours

And write your name, write Your name

In the clay

And sign Your name, sign Your name

On the picture

Take all I am

Take all I have

I am Yours forever, forever

You are not a super hero.

Yep. You are not a super hero, and you were never supposed to be. Sorry to be a downer...but in the context I'm thinking of, this is actually a good thing. You didn't think I would be talking about real super heroes, did you? ;)

In today's Christian culture, I think there's a lot of emphasis on evangelism, and really living out your faith. People today have really taken the salt and light thinking seriously - which is great in itself. Unfortunately, I think that emphasis is so strong, sometimes we forget to take it in stride.

I believe the sense of urgency for our culture and our world is needed: the idea that we don't know how much time we have to be here, we need to impact the world around us as much as we can, the world needs us. That's good. But...wait a second...did we forget to leave Jesus out?

Yes. Sometimes we do. I think we evangelistic Christians get so caught up in "being the light", that we forget our source of light. We begin to believe that we have to single-handedly save the world. We start to think that we're superheroes, saving the world one convert at a time!

The point is, we are not superheros, and we were never meant to save the world by ourselves. In fact, we are not the ones who save the world...we can't even save a single person - but Jesus can. In the end, we are just (sometimes) the people He uses to get His message told, and to display His love. Every single time someone gets saved, it is because of Him and His Spirit's tugging on that person's heart - the individual who "lead" that person to Christ really can't claim much of the credit.

This knowledge is a huge relief. Personally, when I read books, listen to sermons, etc, about the good works we have to do, the culture we have to impact, the people we have to save, I get a little bit stressed out - how am I going to do all this on my own, and when will it ever be enough? Luckily, God has already thought of all that, and planned it all out. Ephesians 2:10 says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." He's already planned all the good works you and I are going to do, and when the time is right, He will lead us right to them.

Jesus was right again. When he said that "My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light”, He meant it. He does not expect us to change the world all by ourselves. He already knows what needs to happen to fulfill His plan, and He has already set it in place. In the end, we are not superheroes, and we cannot save the world on our own, we just serve the One who can - the ultimate superhero.

Shpeel.

Sometimes I start thinking, and God just starts talking to me, and I have to write it all down. Hence the following post. He is so good!

You probably know about God's omnipresence. You know that He's with you all the time, wherever you go, etc. And that's wonderful. But you know, sometimes I think we just stop there, and don't take advantage of His presence, and the fact that HE is with us, 24/7! What does Him being with me at every moment entail?

I don't think it's about just Him physically being with me all the time. It's about Him being available all the time. Being there for me all the time. Being present with open arms..all the time.

There are a lot of Bible verses about how He is holding us in his right hand...some even say that we are holding his right hand. I love that picture. When I think of that, I get the image of a little girl holding her daddy's hand; secure, at peace, and totally unafraid with him. That little girl (or boy, if you prefer) is you. And that daddy is Father God, leading you through life with your hand securely in His.

What's amazing is even when we want to pull away, we can't. Even when we get distracted from Him, and look to other lovers, He is still faithfully holding our hand in His. Psalm 73:22-22 says, "I was so foolish and ignorant - I must have seemed like a senseless animal to You. Yet I still belong to You; You hold my right hand."

Honestly, I get depressed easily. I may feel guilty, sinful, whatever. But the fact that my God is never going to let go of my hand is amazing to me. His love is overwhelming.

In the movie Evan Almighty, Morgan Freeman (who is awesome), as God, says "Remember, whatever I do, I do it because I love you." Even though that's not in the Bible..I think it's true. God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. Everything He does stems from His love. He is love. He will never stop loving us.

He says in Psalm 81:10, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things." What's so beautiful about our relationship with God, is that even though we were created to serve Him, and to please Him, we always end up on the receiving end. When we worship or obey Him, He blesses us way more. He is always going to love us more. The sacrifice He gave for us (Jesus) is way way wayyy more than we could ever give to Him. But you know what's even better? Is that He loves doing it! He loves filling our lives with good things!

I think the devil loves to downplay God's love. It's really easy to get distracted with the culture, ourselves, and just the busyness of our lives, and forget how much we are loved. Perfect love casts out all fear. I'm willing to bet that a lot of other things come from perfect love, too. And that probably does not sit well with Satan. So, his plan is to tell us lies, and distract us, so that we forget, or even start to downplay God's love.

So right now, just remember that you are loved, more than you can imagine. He knows you, loves you, and cares about you even more than you do for yourself. Rest in His love for just a minute, and know that your Daddy is holding you in his secure, victorious right hand.