Commitment

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” ~ James 1:2-4

I just got back from being a leader for a One Now weekend, where I had the opportunity to lead a group of 9th grade girls in their series on being committed. The above verse was this year’s theme verse. This verse really stopped me this weekend and had me thinking of the different times I have been faced with trails, when my faith was tested, and how I handled those situations. When you try to come up with something hard you have faced on the spot to talk about it can be rough and sometimes your mind draws a blank. This is exactly what happened to me.

Most of the time, I tend to brush a lot of the hard times or rough things I am going through off and forget about them, rather than taking the time to think and reflect on those times to see what I should do differently next time. There are probably many reasons something like this has happened and it could relate back to the amount of knowledge I have in that particular situation and how a lot of times I feel as if I can handle everything by myself.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” ~ James 1:5-8

This passage really convicts me of how I handle things sometimes. There is a major difference in asking a friends advice and asking Gods advice. Asking a friend is like taking a survey, you can ask as many people as you want and get a common answer and some of the times it will be the right choice, but when you ask God, he is the only person you need to ask. He will always provide you with a right answer, but just like verse 6 said, “…when he asks, he must believe and not doubt…” This is the hard part for most people. They are open to hearing what people have to say but when it comes down to it they are afraid to commit to God and know that in the end it will all work out as He has planned.

I challenge you to stay committed to God, even when he does place challenges in your life. It’s all a part of showing your faith and your commitment to God. Those challenges, if followed through properly with God’s help, will build your relationship closer to God and your faith will become stronger!

Celebration

I have been working on planning a birthday party for a while now, and I am down to my final week. The party is on Saturday and I couldn’t be more excited! The planning has been strenuous and a lot of work but I know in the end it will so be great! The excitement that I received from planning just this one day has been incredible. And to think, if I am to get this excited about planning one day for a friend, think about how excited God is to plan out the whole life of all of His friends!

The hard work put into such an event can be long and stressful, and something seems to always happen where the plans don’t work out just as you thought. But what makes God’s plan so great is that there are never those errors or things that don’t work out. Everything He does is perfect! This means that the plans He has for us are great and better than we could ever plan for ourselves!

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” ~ Ephesians 2:4-9

This verse is really something to celebrate and get excited about! It really shows us how much God loves each of us, and how if we just believe in Him he will show us and give us everything we need or could think of! He is a loving and caring God with great plans for everyone! I challenge you to build your faith up in God and give thanks for all He does for you, as well as, celebrate the life He lived for you and provided you with!

Idleness

Standing still, not improving, not changing, not learning, not gaining, not teaching, not stronger, and not growing. These are all things that shouldn’t be happening when you are constantly in the Word. We seem to fill our lives with so many unimportant things in order to replace the time we should be spending with God. We fill it with more work, more homework, more sleeping, and more social time. But when we think about it, without God intertwined in all of those areas we are nothing and neither are our relationships with the people around us.

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you to keep away from every person who is idle and does not live according to the teachings. For you yourself know how you ought to follow our example…We do not remove ourselves from the idle because we do not have the right to help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.” ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:6-9

We are not making an impact on anything or anyone around us and in result we are just standing idle. The people you are surrounded by are constantly making impacts on your life. If those people are not in the Word and are not building their relationship with God, they can be bringing you down just as quickly as they are.

So make your time each day efficient. Spend the time you need to with God, with the right people, and doing the right things. Don’t fill your day up with things that are not going to be important or useful to you years down the road, just to stay busy. ”They are not busy; they are busybodies” – 2 Thessalonians 3:11 I encourage you to settle down each day and continue to grow in your relationship with God and continue to learn and teach others the plans He has for us all! If you can keep on track with God and remove yourself from the persuasion of the idle people around you, the worry of idleness in your life will never be an issue.

Listening

I have decided to come home and surprise my family this weekend. They are planning a trip to come visit me next weekend but I know that I won’t be able to come home for another month, and it would be easier for one person to travel than three. So I have loaded up my car and I am on my way home. I have talked to my family so many times this week and I couldn’t say a thing about what my plans were for the weekend because I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep it together if I was to start talking about it.

While I was thinking about this great news I was keeping from my parents I kept thinking back to how God has so many great plans and news for us too. Standing in my parents shoes and seeing how clueless to this plan I had, was very crazy. I knew they would be super excited to see me and if they only knew I was coming, they would be very anxious all week.

“Now glory be to God, who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of -- infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.” ~ Ephesians 3: 20

This really challenged me to start listening more to what God is trying to tell me. He has these amazing plans for me, yet I am so caught up in the moment and what I am doing to stop and ask God what I should be doing for Him. He has so many great opportunities for me to grow in Him and I have caught myself being the one talking and not listening and learning.

“You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.” ~ James 1:19

I challenge you to stop and think. When you get excited about surprises like birthday parties, trips, vacations, or anything else fun, think about the “surprises” God has waiting for you. It is up to you to ask and find out. God is not trying to keep anything from you, He is just waiting for you to stop ad listen. Give Him the opportunity to tell you the good news.