Glorifying God

A life that glorifies God is a life that reveals God

Beth Moore

Does my life glorify God? In all that I say and do, does my life reflect Him? It’s a question I ask myself constantly.

Life can get overwhelming at times, we all know this. And in those difficult times, are we focusing on the Creator rather than the created? Is our focus half-hearted? Or does our light shine before men, oozing out Christ’s love for others?

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16

We are called to lead others to Christ. We are called to love these people and show them Christ’s love. After all, Christ died for our sins. He literally took our sin upon Him. Why? Because He loves us so much. He loves us unconditionally and undeservedly.

Does our life glorify God? Or are we just going through the motions, just pretending? Pretending to be on fire for God? Do we act one way around our Christian friends and a completely different way around non believers? How will that bring others to Christ?

Christians are called to walk through the world with the heart of Christ.

Louie Giglio, “Goliath Must Fall”

I struggle with selfishness. I will admit that. But if I’m being honest with myself, being selfish is definitely not Christlike. Unfortunately, while I have selfish tendencies, I also tend to be a people pleaser. Kind of weird, huh?  I struggle with how and what people think about me and strive to please them and because of that I lose my focus on God.  I take my eyes off of Jesus and I start to sink like Peter did when he got out of the boat to walk on the water to Jesus. I should live in a way that pleases God and not man.

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Galatians 1:10

 

And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men

Colossians 3:23

Now, as long as we live on this earth we will never be perfect. We will slip up from time to time. But thankfully we have a God who welcomes us back into His arms. His love is that strong. He IS love!

 

 

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Give Me Your Eyes

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see,
Everything that I keep missing,
Give your love for humanity.
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten.
Give me Your eyes so I can see.

I love this song by Brandon Heath.

I want to have a love for people like Jesus does. So many times, we can get wrapped up in ourselves that we never take the time to love other people. But we are CALLED to love others!

I want to love people with a heart of compassion and see and love people as Jesus does

Masey McLain

I’m tired of being wrapped up in myself and acting selfish. It’s time I put myself out there and love on others.

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Prevail Church is slowly getting started! We had our first launch team meeting last night and we made commitments to getting on board with launching this new church. Is it scary? Yes, sometimes it can be. But God is with us and He promises never to leave us.

Our name for our church comes from the verse in Matthew 16:18: “ And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Check out our website! Prevail Church

Please continue to pray for us as we venture out on starting this new church. We still don’t have a location so please pray specifically that we find a location soon. We’ve been meeting in our pastor’s house for the time being but as we grow we’re obviously going to need a bigger meeting spot.

 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ 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.

I’ve been feeling sorry for myself ever since I got the bad news about my disability.  But in my devotions this morning, I came across these verses and it really uplifted me.

In this world, we are going to run into hardships. It’s inevitable.

But as the Bible tells us in John 16:33,

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

All we have to do is hold on to that promise and one day we will be made new!

for King and Country has a song called “Fix My Eyes.” It’s a great song and part of the lyrics go like this:

The things of Earth are dimming
In the light of Your glory and grace
I’ll set my sights upon Heaven
I’m fixing my eyes on you, on you

The Lord is coming back soon! All we have to do is fix our eyes upon Him!

Turning the Other Cheek

When people hurt us….well, it hurts! (I know, super profound there, huh?)

But no, seriously, when people hurt us, it can cause us to lose ourselves for a little bit. We become down and depressed a little, maybe even angry. We sometimes lash out at the person, giving them an earful. (I know I’ve been guilty of this in times past.)

My church has been hurt lately. And there are people who are making sure we know it.  It has caused a great deal of discouragement and a little righteous anger, if I’m being honest. These people don’t seem to realize just how badly it hurts! The negativity they are spreading on social media…..it’s just downright mean!

The human nature in me wants to lash out, to yell, to scream, to retaliate. That’s what Satan wants me to do.

But I’m going to turn the other cheek. In Matthew 5:38-40, it says:

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’^[a]39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.

I don’t understand why this is happening but I do know that God wants me to react in a manner pleasing to Him. He doesn’t want me to give in to my human nature desires.

It’s hard for me, believe me. I am struggling with this very much. I want to comment back so badly. I have so many retorts for them.  But this will not please the Lord. He wants me to rise above. And I’m working on it. It seems that just when I’ve reached a point where I think I’m fine then I see other comments made. I actually had a former church member unfriend me and others from our church. It hurt so badly.

It shouldn’t be this way!! But it is.

And I’m turning the other cheek.

If We Are The Body….

This song by Casting Crowns has been on my mind the past couple of days. My church, which has been open 65 years, will be closing soon and we will be relaunching as a new church with a new name. The building we are currently in is beyond repair. It will cost way too much to fix and it’s just not worth putting all that money into it anymore.

It’s been bittersweet to think about this church closing, because I’ve been there since I was 4,  but as I’ve been reminded, it’s just a building! Where we meet doesn’t matter because WE are the church. We are the body.

We need to be reaching out to others. The hurting and the lost. They need Jesus. We are called to be a light in this world, to show people Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:27 tells us,

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

 

Casting Crowns

It’s crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girls teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

But if we are the body
Why aren’t His arms reaching?
Why aren’t His hands healing?
Why aren’t His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren’t His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way, there is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the road

But if we are the body
Why aren’t His arms reaching?
Why aren’t His hands healing?
Why aren’t His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren’t His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come

And we are the body of Christ
But if we are the body
Why aren’t His arms reaching?
Why aren’t His hands healing?
Why aren’t His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren’t His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
Jesus is the way
Jesus is the way
we are His hands
We are His feet
We are His body
Jesus is the way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_7j1SMuTN0

Reckless Love

I heard the song, Reckless Love, by Cory Asbury awhile back and immediately fell in love with it. I invite you all to take a listen to it when you get a chance! Here’s the chorus:

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

God loves us so much. He loves us with an everlasting love, an agape love. It’s so hard to fathom this kind of love, isn’t it?

It’s hard to think that He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us so we don’t have to spend eternity in hell. How is that type of love possible? To love us so unconditionally?

We cannot fathom it because we are human and our minds just can’t wrap around the idea that Someone would love us that much.  But He does and He longs to have a relationship with us.

I long to love people the way Jesus does. As Masey Mclain once put it:

I want to love people with a heart of compassion and see and love people as Jesus does.

Or as my friend Stephen over at Fractured Faith Blog  once said:

Because we are loved undeservedly we need to love unreservedly in return.

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

He loves you and is calling you by name to come to Him. He is knocking at your heart’s door. Won’t you come to Him today?

Standing Firm

I’m struggling today.

I can’t focus. I can’t write. I want so badly to write something. But my mind wanders every 5 seconds and I can’t get a single meaningful word out.

I hate this. I hate being bipolar. I hate having ADD. I hate that I have fibromyalgia. I hate that I can’t do things because my body just won’t allow me.

Satan is really working his magic today, it seems. He knows my weaknesses and is using them against me big time.

And I think I’m allowing him.

I must stop letting him win.

Satan has his ways of sneaking into our every day lives. Before we know it, he has taken our weaknesses, thrown them in our face and laughs at us as we struggle to break free.

⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

1 Peter 5:8-9

As long as we live on this earth we are going to struggle. We are going to face trials of many kinds. It says so in the God’s Word.

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

James 1:2-3

Consider it pure joy?? Is James saying we must be happy about going through trials and tribulations? Not at all. When we face these hardships, it’s how we respond to them that makes the difference. While it’s true that we can’t always control our circumstances, we can control how we think about them. As 1 Peter 5:9 states, we must “stand firm” in the faith. When we face trials we must respond to them with a determination that things will get better, that we will get through it. God has promised us this.