Encouragement shpeel.

It seems like a lot of people, just in the last week, have been going through a lot of, quite frankly, crap. Everyone's having issues, everyone's feeling down..it's like the dark rainclouds that have been hanging around all week have become personal rainclouds over everyone's heads.

Myself included. God is opening my eyes and showing me that He is good in every season, but when you're down, it's sometimes hard to see that. He's teaching and teaching me, and slowly pulling me out, and I just wanted to share some scriptures with you if you are (or were, or whatever) going through the same thing. It can be anything: for me, a lot of little depressing things happened and it amounted to one big cloud of depression, insecurity, and confusion - but in your life, it could be relationship drama, loss, plain dullness-of-life, whatevs. Fortunately, God's word isn't exclusive to one people group or one issue.

First of all, I want to encourage you that God places everything in our lives for a reason: for our good and His glory. He says in Isaiah that He "will not cause pain without something new being born". Good will always, always come out of this.

Secondly, this is all temporary. Like, super temporary. Honestly, I think that when we get to heaven, our lives on earth will just seem like a dream - like something that happened a long time ago that's so small in comparison to the present. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." The mindset of the agnostic world today is that if you cannot see something, it doesn't exist - but God says that the unseen things are the point. If something is unseen but it still exists, it takes more faith and more devotion to it to believe in it. The world says that believing in an unseen God is silly, but the Lord says that we will be rewarded if we keep that faith.


Thirdly, (this one really applied to me and what I've been dealing with personally), God promises to restore. He is a restorative God who wants to give us vibrant, abundant life. He will not let us be in pain forever and for no reason. He says in Jeremiah 30:13, "I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing." It's a full exchange. If, for example, at a store, I exchange a black shirt for a white shirt, I don't have the black shirt anymore, at all. The white shirt is mine now. God promises to fully exchange our sorrows for joy, and fully restore.


He's amazing, and He is unchanging. Praise Him for that. We are so fickle and all over the place, but He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is greater than our feelings (1 John 3:20). Wow. Even when I feel insecure, depressed, uncertain...God doesn't, and He isn't any of those. I love it. He is, forever, a God of peace, and joy, and mercy. So hang on.


Peace is coming.


Joy is coming.


Mercy is coming.

Crushing the Head of the Serpent

So, in the past couple weeks, and literally just in the past couple of days, God has been teaching me about, opening my eyes, and giving me first-hand experience (don't you love how he does that?) in spiritual authority over the enemy. Honestly, it's not always fun, but it's so valuable. Let me tell you about it.

It started two weeks ago when I was working at the vacation Bible school that my church puts on every year. It lasts for a week, and Thursday is traditionally "salvation day" - the day when we share the Gospel story with the kids and give them the salvation invitation, etc. Personally, I was praying for the Spirit to come and fill our mouths, and open the hearts of the kids, and He definitely did. It was awesome. I didn't feel like I had a whole lot, practically, to do with giving the salvation message and praying with the kids, but I was okay with that. So the day went on and it was great, and that night I went home exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I went to bed early, figuring I'd just fall asleep and feel renewed the next day. Not so. I didn't fall asleep - instead, I was confronted with the deepest, most awful fear I've ever experienced; not fear of anything in particular, not in relation to the happenings of the day, not for any particular reason, just random, awful, fear. Not panic. Suffocating, deep-seated fear. Honestly, I have never felt so alone and so attacked on all sides. After trying to deal with it myself for a while, I went to my parents and as usual, received some of their wisdom - this was an attack of the enemy. It all made sense. That day, my friends and I had done some major spiritual warfare, and the enemy was angry. My amazing parents prayed for me, and God rescued me from the attacks. The next morning talking to my friends, I found out that I wasn't the only one who had suffered an attack - others had been attacked with random health issues, discord among them, and loneliness like me. So that morning we prayed for protection from further attacks, and rebuked the enemy.

That was eye-opening. I've heard that the biggest lie that Satan can tell is that he does not exist. How true that is. I think at times it can get so bad that he attacks us and we immediately blame God. How twisted is that? My friends, we have to constantly be aware that we have an enemy, and he isn't just sitting on his couch eating potato chips. He's active, and he's vengeful.

So what are we supposed to do? Be afraid? Shy away from doing anything that would make him angry and attack us? No! The enemy's attacks are just another opportunity to trust God and take hold of our royal identities.

But before I go into that, let me tell you the rest of the story. After VBS, I pretty much forgot about the attack of fear, and went on to the next thing in my life. The next week I went to Minnesota and had a great time. I was supposed to fly out on Sunday night, and on Sunday morning, my amazing friend and sister-in-Christ sent me a text with a Bible reference - Joshua 1:3. This friend knows how to listen to the Lord, and so usually the things she tells me in reference to God/Scripture/whatever are pretty spot-on. So I looked up the verse, and it says, "I promise you what I promised Moses: 'Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you." Honestly, it didn't make much sense to me. It really didn't apply to anything that I could see in my life at the time, so I sort of forgot about it. Well. Fast forward to that afternoon, as I'm waiting in the airport to get on the plane...when all of a sudden a random fear starts to creep up on me. Honestly, I had no reason to be afraid, but for some reason, I was terrified and I didn't know why. Well hey there, Satan. Suddenly the verse that my friend had sent me that morning came to mind - wherever I set foot, I will be on the land the Lord has given me. I have authority where I stand because God has given it to me through His blood  - wherever I am, I have authority over Satan. Without me even intending it, God used that verse, and even that attack, to show me my authority He's given me over the enemy. 


Ironically, I have an application on my phone that's called Identity in Christ, and it posts random Bible verses everyday, and guess which verse it had for that day - Luke 10:19. "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you." Heck yes. Thank you, Lord, for planning it all out and basically plastering it in neon in front of my eyes that you have given me authority over the enemy. 


Attacks from the enemy are never fun. And honestly, fighting him isn't too fun either - but authority over Satan is something that God has given us. A gift, but also a tool. God has given us all the weapons we need to have victory over the enemy, and they all come from His blood. It's time that we as sons and daughters of God, as princes and princesses in His kingdom, take authority and take hold of our identity!

I.D.: Holy

Flipping through my journal, I find that every few months, I write the same thing: I'm so sick of the grime of the culture, and I need to be cleansed. The culture might seem fun sometimes, but in the end, I want holiness. I need holiness. I think we all do. Once we've seen or heard about the holiness of God, suddenly the yuck and dirt of the world doesn't seem as satisfying. Honestly, I think that's exactly how God intended it to be - we all have a God-shaped hole in our heart, and a longing for God includes a longing for his holiness. But how does that transfer to us? I was struggling with that, wanting to be holy and clean like He is, but at the same time, looking at my sin and thinking, "How the heck could this mess be considered holy?"


Hehe..well, God knew about my struggle, and He had something up His sleeve. He brought me to Hebrews 10:19-22.."And so we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean and our bodies have been washed with pure water." I love this verse, and I love that the last sentence is in past tense. Our guilty, sinful consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood. In the past. And now we're clean. It's done. 


Christ's blood is so powerful, that once it has washed over me, nothing else can touch me. Because of His blood, my identity is changed. I am no longer a sinner trying to be a saint, I am now a saint who sins. I know that sounds sort of anti-climactic, but look at it this way: before, we were stained black from the world's grime and dirt. Now, through the cleansing blood of Jesus, we wear white garments: the stains of the world may sometimes still splatter on us, but they will not stick. The Lord has given us holy robes, and they will not be permanently stained. 


So how am I made holy despite my sin and the dirt of the world? Through Jesus' blood. I do still sin, and I do sometimes get dirtied by the world, but my identity has been changed. I am no longer part of the world, I am part of the Kingdom. These present sufferings are nothing compared to the glory and holiness of what is to come!

To the One who took my place...

First, let me just say, the post-writing area of Blogger looks way different from when I wrote my last post, so if something looks weird when you see this, I apologize. ;)


Anyway, God is really awesome. He teaches me so many things I would never ever have thought of on my own. The fact that God would care enough about me to speak to me and teach me like a child of His own is overwhelming. Most of the stuff I post on here is that sort of thing.


A few weeks ago in church, a line in a worship song we sang really caught me. I had sung the song many times before, but God wanted to teach me something again. Here's what I wrote in my journal:


"To the One who took my place..


When He died on the cross, Jesus switched places with me. He took off His holy robe, placed it on me, and took my place on the cross. Jesus was already torn up and beaten up by the world, and splattered by the world's grime and dirt - He did that so I didn't have to. He wants me to take the place He gave me, as a child of God, in his holy, white, pure robes. I have no part in the things the world does - He took the dirt of the world so that I may live to be clean. The robes that He gave me are as white as snow!


Lord, please let your Spirit work in me and help me live in the place you gave me."


Those are His words, not mine. Thank you Lord, for the things you teach me. Let your Spirit work in me and help me live in the place you gave me and the words you speak to me!

"... But You have freed me from my chains."

People have always been really excited about freedom. People have always wanted to be free; I guess it's just something innate to human nature.

The freedom side of being a Christian is exciting to me - knowing that I am free in Christ always gives me a huge sense of joy? Carefree-ness? Um..freedom? Yeah. I like being free. And I think God likes reminding me of my freedom.

A good, simple analogy of our freedom is that we were bound in the chains of sin, but God broke those chains off. However...sometimes, whether intentionally or not, I think we pick up those chains, and put them back on. God has made us totally free from His judgment, from sin, and from death, but I guess we tend to forget that, and see those chains laying on the ground..and sometimes can't resist picking them up and putting them back on. We forget that God no longer judges us, and that it's okay if we mess up. We forget how broad His freedom and love are. This isn't something new. Paul knew how that goes. In Galatians 5:1 he says, "So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law." Whatever restriction or burden we feel, it's self-inflicted. God has made us totally free from sin, and free from condemnation.

We deserve to be punished for our sins, but God took that punishment, and made us a part of his family. Sorry to bring us back to square one, but sometimes I think we just need to be reminded of the basics like that. I love Psalm 116:16 - "Oh Lord, I am your servant; yes, I am your servant, born into your household. [But] you have freed me from my chains."

Honestly, we deserve to be treated as slaves and servants, or even something lower than that. But because of His grace, God brought us way up, and made us His children. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, I'm not a slave in the household anymore. I'm a master, because my Father is the King.

So why do I keep subjecting myself to the chains of condemnation? Why do I keep reminding myself of my sin?

Admittedly, it's really easy to do that: to focus on the sin, and to tell yourself that you could do better. But you know what? It is finished. God already decided a long time ago that YOU would be His child, and nothing you do is going to change that.

That's freedom.

A person's a person no matter how small.

Why do I always have the need to blog when I feel a rant coming on? Maybe because blogging is just a way to get my thoughts out, or maybe it's because I feel like you need to know about whatever I'm angry about too. Anyway..I really don't want to rant right now, I want to pray.

Right now I'm writing a speech on a former abortion clinic director, and so I'm having to lightly research abortion, and I'm like..Seriously? How can so many people think this is an okay thing? Just go on Planned Parenthood's official website and you'll see what I mean. They proudly announce that they provide services that are "safe and legal", services that respect your rights, and that abortions are actually only 3% of what goes on at the organization. In fact, if you want to know exactly what kinds of abortions that are available, they'll tell you in a nice, neat little section on their website, describing to you what will happen during the procedure, always with the comfort of you, the patient, in mind. All the while totally ignoring (or maybe not realizing) what's really happening. All the while realizing that there are two patients in that procedure - not just one. But only one will walk out of that room alive.

What is going on with our culture!? I think we can talk about how sinful and evil it all is all we want, but in the end, that's only half of it. The other half is this: our culture is blinded. God has given everyone a conscience, but when that conscience isn't listened to, it gets quieter and quieter, until finally, it can't be heard. These people who think this is right aren't just lying to themselves: in my opinion, they honestly believe that this is right. But they are blinded. Father, take our blinders off!

Lord, wake us up. Open the eyes of our culture, of our media, of our country. Send a revival of life over us!

Another thoughtful musing.. (literally.)

I think too much. But it seems like everybody says that, doesn't it? Maybe we just all think too much.

Lately I've been reading about truth, and the knowability of truth, and different perceptions of truth, etc, and it made me think. And I thought too much.

The problem with my thinking is that I try to apply the thought to things I know and can relate to. (Like for example, I read that a + b = c? Okay so peanut butter + jelly = PB&J! Right?..okay, maybe not.) Reading secular authors talk about philosophy and religion and truth really throws me off. When they say God isn't real, I'm like, "I know God is real..but..wait..how do I know that?" and then that gets me all confused again and I start to think too much and the whole cycle starts all over.

(Note: to be clear, when this happens, I'm not doubting the existence of God; I'm more doubting how I know He does exist and I get worried that I won't be able to explain it to anybody if they ever ask.) I don't know. Maybe you don't deal with this. I don't constantly, but every so often when I'm reading the opinions of secular authors on God, or faith, I get a little bit uncomfortable.

So anyway, I was thinking (haha.) about all of this, and thinking about how powerful my God is, I remembered in the midst of all this that He created knowledge. He created truth. Actually, He IS the truth. Furthermore, He created all these people that tell lies about Him, and He knew they were going to come up with their crazy ideas and theories.

It's funny how when I'm struggling with something, God knows about it and takes care of it. Because I was mulling this all over in my mind, and God put 2 Corinthians 10:5 in front of me: "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." I don't know if you ever struggle with this, but when I do, I have to put it in perspective and remind myself who I'm serving. I'm serving Christ, because He deserves to be served, and my tiny little mind isn't going to change that. "No doubt restrains the glory of our God." I may think, therefore I am (I do exist), but it certainly isn't the case that if I don't think, God isn't. You know what I mean?

It's so easy to forget we have an enemy, and that he is fierce. Satan does whatever he can to keep us from serving God or glorifying Him with everything. Jesus said to love God with our heart, soul, and mind. I think sometimes we forget that last part. Satan loves to confuse us and use what other people say to make us doubt God. We also have to realize that when we do doubt God, or think things that are not obedient to Christ, it's not always us. As I said, Satan is vicious. And he is able to plant ideas or thoughts in our minds. Even if it us, though, it's our sinful nature talking - not the Spirit. Our sinful selves are (obviously) sinful and not always true - but the Holy Spirit we have living in us is the very Spirit of truth.

If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit has put His truth in your heart. Don't let the enemy make you doubt that. Take that thought and make it obedient to Christ. You have the knowledge of God in your heart and mind - don't confuse that or replace it with the "knowledge" of man.