Christ is our beloved!

One of my roommates uses the website www.greekbiblestudy.org all the time. I tried it once, but got confused, and then quit.. ha. She was sharing with me what she was reading this morning from there, and wow.. so cool. I'm going to share it with y'all :).

First of all, the whole first chapter of Ephesians is great. But we are going to talk about Ephesians 1:6 which says "to the praise of his glorious grace, whith which he has blessed us in the Beloved."

So first of all, if you look up the word "blessed" in greek, it actually means accepted, which means to make lovely or acceptable. How cool is that? On our own, we stand before God completely disgusting in our sin. But becaue of Christ, he has not only made us acceptable but lovely!

And then word Beloved, in greek, it is defined as:

ἀγαπάω- Beloved which means, to love, it denotes the deliberate exercise of the judgement; the giving of a decided preference to one object or person out of many. It frequently implies regard and satisfaction, rather than affection.

That's sweet! The giving of a decided preference to one object or person out of many. Which means if we are a believer, Christ decided to choose us out of many. And it's not just based on feelings, or affection, but rather implies regard and satisfaction.

Beloved can also be translated as another word for love, which was defined as..
love [verb]- "to regard, esteem (the principle of internal feeling of delectation and kindliness) to acquiesce with satisfaction, to cherish with reverence, to love, considered in reference to the tendency of the will."

Wow.. can you get your mind around the love that Christ has for us? I sure can't!

The Place of Exaltation

Here is the entry for My Upmost for His Highest from yesterday. I thought it was convicting.. so I decided to share :)


READ:
. . . Jesus took . . . them up on a high mountain apart by themselves . . . —Mark 9:2

We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18 ). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.

We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, "What’s the use of this experience?" We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.

Students need Jesus..

Every day in America..
*1,440 teenage girls become mothers
*1,106 teenage girls get abortions
* 4,216 teens contact a sexual transmitted disease
*500 adolescents begin using drugs
*1,000 begin drinking alcohol
* 135,000 children bring guns or other weapons to school
* 180 children are arrested for violent crimes
* 3,610 teens are assaulted
* 80 teenagers are raped
* 6 teens commit suicide

Teenagers are experiencing so much hurt and pain in their life, it is unbelievable. Those statistics are crazy, but they are true, and I know that because I see it every day at school. Teenagers have experienced so much crap in their life. It absolutely breaks my heart. And as teachers, what are we doing about this…??

Well, here is the Iowa Based Learner Profile that we are basing our curriculum around..

Students will be:

-communicators
-risk-takers
-reflective
-knowledgeable
-thinkers
-inquirers
-open-minded
-principled
-balanced
-caring

Okay, so let’s say that we achieve this goal, that these become the characteristics of our students in their behavior. Well, what are we going to do about all the pain and the hurt? How about all the brokenness and the sin that these students have been grown up in?
The only thing that can heal them of their hurt, the only thing that can actually help them is being forced out of the schools. These students need Jesus Christ.

Encouraging Story:
So we started Youth for Christ at Merrill last Thursday. It was great! We had well over 50 students there, and a lot of students that I didn’t expect to be there. Anyway, there is this girl, who has been on my heart since the very beginning of school. She is in my first period class. I very rarely see her smile; she just looks so sad and hurt all the time. During our team meetings, the teachers have discussed what we can do to motivate her because she never turns in any assignments, participates, or cares about anything. I’ve tried to make it a point to talk with her and ask her how she’s doing, but I never get much of a response. Well, the Lord brought her to YFC on Thursday, and I knew that when we split up into small groups that God would put her in mine and sure enough, he did. I had about ten of my students in my group and I got the opportunity to clearly go through the gospel with them. It was awesome to see the students actually get it and ask lots of great questions, including Mishayla, who usually doesn’t say anything.
So the next day, as I’m greeting my students, she comes up to me, taps me on the shoulder and smiles!! I couldn’t believe it. And then, I went back to sit at my desk, and she comes up and turns in a few of her assignments that she has never turned in, and says that she completed them for me, and that she wants to be on my team for Upwards Basketball, and gave me a high five. It was crazy to see how much different she was. Even in class, we had a work day and she was really working on her assignment and asking questions, which usually she just has her head down. I was so encouraged by her. And it got me thinking how these students need Jesus, they need to know they are loved and cared for, and how much of an impact a teacher can have in a students life if they really cared about them as a person instead of a test-taker.

**

"The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman. For I have accepted God's idea of me, and my whole life is an offering back to Him of all that I am and all that HE wants me to be."
-Elisabeth Elliot

to know the love of Christ..

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is breadth and length and the height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Eph 3:17-19

Strength to comprehend? Surpasses knowledge? That is so true and is also why non-Christians see our lives and think we are absolutely ridiculous. To get my mind around the love that God has for me is impossible. But with everything in me, I desire that Christ dwells in my heart and that I would be filled with the fullness of God. So what does that even mean? What does that look like?

Johnny Mac (John MacArther) comments on this passage “To be so strong spiritually, so compelled by divine love, that one is totally dominated by the Lord with nothing left of self. Human comprehension of the fullness of God is impossible, because even the most spiritual and wise believer cannot completely grasp the full extent of God’s attributes and characteristics- His power, majesty, wisdom, love, mercy, patience, kindness, and everything He is and does. But believers can experience the greatness of God in their lives as a result of total devotion to Him.”

What I do know is that when I can come to grip with the love of God and I am totally filled with His spirit and walking in it, then I can do Eph 3:20 ESV

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.”

The NIV says “immeasurably more”. That’s crazy! If we could understand how to live according to the power within us.. then we can do things we couldn’t of even imagine.

“Look at the nations and watch- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your day that you would not believe, even if you were told.” Habakkuk 1:5

Why Me?

Once again, I am blown away by the graciousness of God and how unbelievably blessed I am. I have been really thinking about the fact that God chose me, he predestined me, he called me, and I just don’t get it.. I don’t know why. Why me? I was at this girl’s house this weekend and she started opening up to me and letting me into her life. She explained everything that happened to her and the crap that she has been involved in. She has had a lot of awful stuff happen, most of which is the consequence of her sin. As I continued to hang out with her and a few of her friends, my heart just broke because of their need for Jesus. It was so apparent that they were looking for love in all the wrong places. She was trying to find it in these guys who just abuse her. She is trying to find it in her friends who turn their back on her and at parties, alcohol and every other form of sin. Because of this, she is left hurt, broken, abused, and empty. But the world continues to lie to her and tell her that this is all she deserves and this is where she will eventually find happiness.

So I tell her about Jesus. I tell her that He is the only person that she is going to find true love and fulfillment. I share with her the gospel and the love story of Jesus Christ coming down to reconcile her back to him. I tell her that the life he has promised is true life and a life of fulfillment. I told her about how he has changed my life and the joy that I have from him. Jesus is offering this abundant life and what does she do? She says she doesn’t want it. It’s just not for her and she wants to continue to live the life she is living. What the heck? Why would she continue to desire the life that she is living, all the hurt and pain? It makes me so mad and angry at Satan and all his lies that he is telling people and how deceived people are.

Here I am, sitting at her house, watching the life that she is living. I am witnessing her roommate get in this huge argument with the father of her children who was come to get the kids because it’s “his weekend”. I’m looking at her kids who are watching their parents yelling and cuss at each other, the four year boy who asks his mom, “Do I have to go with him?” and then the three year old girl who is desperate for her fathers attention. All I want to do is take those kids and run from the whole situation.

The resonating question that was going through my mind was “Why me?” Why did God chose me? It could have been very easily turned around and I could be the one in their shoes. I could be the one completely deceived from the world and the reality of Jesus love. Not only that but why at the age of 22? I could of come to know him at the age of 40 after I married some jerk guy who didn’t love the Lord and have kids who have no idea who Jesus is. My life would look completely different. Once again, it’s completely over my head of the love that Jesus has for us and his desire to bless our life! I hate this world, I hate all the lies and people so badly need Jesus Christ!

Over my head...

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place, even as he chose us in him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpse of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our tresspasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for us the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." Eph 1:3-10

This passage absolutly blows me away! God has had this whole thing mapped out before the beginning of time. Before he even begin to create the universe, he had us in mind. That's crazy! Think about his thought process through this whole ordeal. God thought one day that he was going to create the universe, all the stars and the galaxies, just so he could create us, even as small and insignificant as we are. And then he had to figure out a plan because he knew, before he did anything, that his prized possession, his creation, would rebel against him, we would turn our backs on our creator and spit in his face. He knew that we would think that our ways were better than his ways and we would live however we wanted. Yet for some reason, he still did it, he still created us. And then because of his character, he had to figure out some way to reconcile us back to him, to "unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth". So he decided that he was going to become one of us, he was going to live among us and die for his creation. He had us in mind, so that we would be able to stand in front of him, blameless, pure, holy. He must of known how much hurt, pain, grief and jealousy that it would cause him. Yet he still did it, he still went through with his entire plan. He began to create the world... All because he loved us and wanted us to experience his love, his mercy, his grace and be fully satisfied in him. I just don't get it, I have a hard time getting that type of love.

So after I'd been thinking about this passage this morning, I started listening to this song that Stepha told me to listen to on my way to school. It is called "Over My Head" by Starfield. In the words of Stephanie Albright, "Holy Buckets!" This song is unbelievable, I literally pulled over my car so I could listen more closely to the words. Here are the lyrics..

Over My Head by Starfield

After the words have all been said
After the songs are sung
I realize I've only but just begun
Trying to wrap my mind around
Extravagant love come down
Leaves me undone
Finds me with nothing to say

The reach of Your fame
The power in Your name
Your glory surrounds me
It's over my head
It's over my head
The shame of the cross
For all that it cost
This friendship astounds me
It's over my head
It's over my head

Unquenchable songs and endless praise
A million tongues poised to sing
Could still not convey
The worth that Your name deserves
Beauty for ashes
Joy for pain
Mercy instead of my blame
Ruins me for more
I'm lost in Your presence, Lord

Hallelujah...

Lost for the words to say
I'm left here in disarray
Waiting for You, waiting on truth
I've thrown reason overboard
Knowing that there's still more
I don't yet believe, I can't even perceive
I can't seem to understand
Can't seem to find my way
It's over my head, it's over my head
Learning this mystery
Trust what I cannot see
It's over my head, it's over my head
The wonder of all You've made
Foundations Your hands have laid
Bringing me back to my knees, to my knees
I'm lost for the words to say
Lost for another way
Bringing me back to my knees, to my knees
I'm lost for the words to say
Lost for another way
Ruined for anything other than Your love
I'm desperate to know You, Lord
Desperate for what's in store
Finding my hope in only You, in only You
Take me beyond this door
Lead me to something more
Open my heart up for more of You, more of You

So good!! That song totally encompasses all that I've been thinking about. I am over my head and I just don't understand that kind of love!

Here is a link to the song.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgGbxvAEqVM

Christ in me..

"So we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us." 1 John 4:16

Lately, I have been feeling a little bit discouraged and worn out. I've been praying this past year for God to lead me to people with soft hearts. He has answered that prayer by opening my eyes to people that he has been working on. It's been awesome and really exciting but I have found myself in a place where I have been trying to love people by my own strength, which is why I have been feeling overwhelmed. So I have been going back to the love of God and clinging to that truth. I've been thinking about this verse and how if we really knew and really believed that God loved us in more ways than we could imagine..that we are chosen, accepted, pursued, reconciled, saved, forgiven, pure, rejoiced over, loved, approved and appointed, how would that change our lives? How much freedom would that give us?

How can we experience this love? In 1 John 4:12 it says, "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."
Gods love is perfected in us when we love one another. But the thing is, he never intended us to do it alone. In fact, we can't love anyone alone because without God it is impossible to love. God is love. His love is perfected when he abides in us and through him, we can love one another.

Another great verse from this chapter that I've been thinking about is 1 John 4:9-10. It says "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Yes, one of the reasons that Christ came to this earth is to save us from our sins, so that we may have eternal life. But another reason according to this verse is so that "we might live through him". If we are constantly living by the spirit, we can do "immeasureable more than we can ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us." Eph 3:20

Knowing God

So today at church, they showed the video "Thats My King" by S.M. Lockridge and everything, it just pumps me up! But it's funny because the last few days I have really been thinking about all of the names of God and really meditating on different characteristics of who he is.
But when I think about those different names of who God is, I don't merely want to know them, and I want to experience those different attributes of God. In the Bible, God took the initiative to reveal Himself to his people by experience. Usually, when God revealed Himself to individuals, He disclosed a new name to his character and described his nature. So in the Bible we frequently see new names or titles for God following an event in which someone experienced God.
So I began to think of ways that I have experienced God in my own life. How about you? In what ways have you personally experienced God?
As your....?
Advocate
Comforter in sorrow
Wonderful Counselor
My strong deliverer
Our Father
A sure Foundation
God Almighty
God who avenges me
Our Guide
Our Help
Great High Priest
My Hope
Righteous Judge
Our Leader
Light of life
Lord of the harvest
The most holy
Prince of Peace
Refuge and Strength
My Savior
Sovereign Lord
My Support
Bread of Life
My Confidence
Defender of widows
Faithful and True
A consuming Fire
My friend
God of all comfort
God who saves me
Head of the church
My Hiding Place
Holy One among you
Jealous
King of kings
Your Life
Lord of lords
Mediator
Our Peace
My Redeemer
My Salvation
The Good Shepherd
My Stronghold
Good TEacher

Here is that sweet video..

God of this city

So last night I went to the movie Taken. Wow.. it was good movie but very hard to watch. It was a reality check and really opened up to how wicked this world is. So if you can handle watching women getting sold into prostitution then I recommend seeing it because it will open your eyes.
So right before the movie, MaryBeth showed me this video about how the song "God of this City" was written. Throughout the whole movie, I kept thinking about this video. God has such a longing for justice and a longing to know his children. This world is SO messed up, it is just sick and makes me want to throw up. Christians, we need to open our eyes to the world around us and bring light to a very, very dark world.

Go and make disciples..

So this past year, I have been thinking a lot about discipleship. What does it mean to be a disciple? What does it look like? Jesus greatest commandment is for us to "Go and make disciples of all nations". I don't even think I knew that that even meant until I came to Drake. I read a great article called "Born to reproduce" and here are some of the things that it says that is very challenging:

"You can lead a soul to Christ in from 20 minutes to a couple of hours. But it takes from 20 weeks to a couple of years to get him on the road to maturity, victorious over the sins and the recurring problems that come along. He must learn how to make right decisions. He must be warned of the various "isms" that are likely to reach out with their octopus arms and pull him in and sidetrack him. But when you get yourself a man, you have doubled your ministry- in fact, you have more that doubled your ministry. Do you know wy? When you teach your man, he sees how it is done and he imitates you."

Here are 5 reasons Christians do not reproduce:

1. Sin: overt-covert-unconfessed
Whenever you find a christian who is not leading men and women to Christ, something is wrong. 1 Cor. 3:1
Are you producing? If not, why? Is it because of lack of communion with Christ, your Lord, that closeness of Fellowship which is part of the great plan? Or is it some sin in your life, an unconfessed something, that has stopped the flow? Or is it that you are still a babe? Heb 5:12

2. Fear of Man- "Oh, but I am afraid!"
Remember "The fear of man bringth a snare; but whose putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." Proverbs 29:25

3. Lack of a spiritual purpose in life

4. Busyness
I am talking about busy doing Christian things. We have spiritual activity with little productivity. And productivity comes as a result of what we call "follow-up".

5. Christians do important jobs but not the most important


"What will it take to jar us out of our complacence and send us home to pray, 'God, give me a girl or man whom I can win to Christ, or let me take one who is already one, an infant in Christ, and try to train that one so that he or she will reproduce."

"How thrilled we are to see masses filled up the seats! But where is your man? I would rather have one 'Isaac' alive than a hundred dead, or sterile, or immature."

"Soul winners are not sole winners, because of what they know, but because of the Person they know, how well they know Him, and how much they long for others to know Him."

"Load your heart with the precious Seed. You will find that God will direct you to those whom you can lead to Christ. There are many hearts ready for the Gospel now!"

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy spirit has made you overseers. Be shepards of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. Acts 20:28

I'm going to leave you with some lyrics from Lecrae :)

Discipleship is our call but we make disciples, this is not a suggestion, create disciples. The teachin' is a process, it's not overnight and it's not a stage and a mic nah, it's life on life Christ -
Walked with twelve, ate with twelve, talked with twelve, shaped the twelve, invested in 'em well you could say that he made the twelve. Who made many more, who made plenty more, now it's on you and me if there's anymore.
1 teach, 2 teach, 3 teach, 4 teach, 5 teach, 6 teach, 7 teach more, this is what we've been commissioned, it's the reason why I write, so that you could hear the truth, not so you can say I'm tight whoa..

Looking for meaning

I'm reading this GREAT book! It's called "Birthright" by David Needham. Get it! Read it! Embrace it! :)! It's about our identity in Christ and who we are as Christians. So I'm going to share a little bit about it. Chapter two talks about how non-christians are always trying to find meaning in life, why they are here. We were created to know God, to have this rich, full, satisfying relationship with our creator. Thats what we were made for. But since Adam and Eve sinned, we could no longer have that relationship. Sin separated us from a perfect, holy God. This expression of the will to live and the will to discover meaning is found in what Paul calls "the deeds of the flesh".

"Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these." Galatians 5:19-20

The first three deeds, fornication, impurity, and licentiousness, obviously relate to man's attempts to get at meaning through his body, his senses. Idolatry is very broad. An idolater is one who has made up his mind on where and how he will find life. And whatever it is, he will work feverishly to get it, guard it, sacrifice to it, and worship it. To lost it is to lose life. Sorcery focuses on the search for meaning in the occult. Enmities, strife, jealousy, and anger reflect the standard reactions of one who is frustrated with a given set of circumstances. Either some supposed meaning in life has been taken from him, threatened, or kept just beyond his reach. Quarrels, dissensions, and factions point to conflicting ideologies as to where life really is, where values are. Envy is clear enough. You and another person are nominated for senior class president or cheerleader.. and you lose. Your associates at work gets a promotion and raise and you don't. You got the smaller scoop of ice cream. Someone else has made it and you want it. I believe at moments like these, consciously or unconsciously, we feel threatened by whatever we thought made living significant. Meaning- even as lowly a meaning as "right this moment, life for me is a stomach full of ice cream, stimulated taste buds, a satisfied nose"- has been hurt. Some one else got the bigger scoop.
The final two deeds, drunkenness and carousing, reveal that we have given up.
We no longer have any desire to seek meaning. We've tried and tried to make some sense out of life. We're through trying. We want out.

Praise God that as christians, we have Jesus! We have meaning, we have purpose. None of that stuff even makes sense with Christ!

* I would also like to welcome April Meyer to the blogging world :)!

Do you know him?

What is Gods will for my life?

That is such a popular question amongst christians today, isn't it?  What is Gods will for my life?  What does he want me to do?  As I am about to graduate from college, along with a lot of my friends, and I hear that a lot, especially from friends back home. As I think about it, that's kind of a funny question for a christian to ask because, well, this life is not about you.  You're not the center of the world, Jesus is!  I am going through the "Experiencing God" workbook with Alex and it says,  "The proper question is, "What is Gods will?"  Once I know God's will, then we can adjust our lives around Him.  In other words, what is it God is purposing to accomplish where I am?  Once I know what God is doing, then I know what I need to do.  The focus needs to be on God, not on my life!"  We need to figure out what he is doing.  God's will is for you to know know and experience him through the advancement of his kingdom.  You need to center your life around that.  And his desire for people to come to know him is through the local church.  Commit your life to your local church and to the brothers and sisters there, lay down your life, and reach your city with the gospel.  That is Gods desire.  And when you do that, you shouldn't have to worry about a job, or a place to live.  Because God's will is that other people will come to know him, and he will take care of all the minor details.  

"My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.  I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.  Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these."  John 5:17,19-20

"If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."  John 12:26

Hosea

At Roosevelt High School Ministry yesterday, we talked about Hosea!  Yay, my favorite book of the bible!!!  Anyway, we showed them a story that someone wrote that made it easier for them to understand.  I thought it was great and such an awesome picture of Jesus and his love for us.  So I'm going to share that story, it might be kinda long!  Hosea was a prophet and a man after the Lord.  God told him to marry Gomer who would turn from his to prostitution.  The story picks up after Gomer had left Hosea and their three kids for prostitution.  

"But poor Gomer passed from man to man, until at last she fell into the hands of a man who was unable to pay for her food and her clothing.  Her first lover had given her a mink stole, but this one made her clothe from the Goodwill store.  News of her miserable state came to the prophet and he sought out the man she was living with.  He knew where he would find him, down at the local tavern, and when he met this man, the conversation may have gone something like this: "Are you the man who is living with Gomer, daughter of Diblaim?"  The man must have said, "If it's any of your business, I am."  Hosea said "Well, I am Hosea, her husband."  A tense moment followed.  But the man said, "What do you want? I haven't done anything wrong."  Hosea said, "Listen, I'm not interest in causing any trouble.  But I know that you are having difficulty making ends meet.  I want you to take this money and buy Gomer some clothing and see that she has plenty of food.  If you need any more I will give it to you."  The man probably must have thought, "There's no fool like an old fool.  If this sucker wants to help pay her expenses, that's all right with me."  So he took the money and bought her some groceries and went home.

Now you may say, "That's a foolish thing for a man to do!"  But who can explain the madness of love?  Love exists apart from reason and has its own reasons.  Love does not act according to logic.  Love acts according to its own nature.  And so Hosea acted on the basis of love.  Undoubtedly he watched from a distance to catch a glimpse of the woman he loved as she rushed out the door to take the groceries from the man's arms and to thank him for what he was bringing to her- the gifts that true love had provided, and that villainy offered, and that folly accepted.     

Well, how long this went on we don't know for sure, but at last word came that the woman Hosea loved was to be sold as a slave.  The brokenhearted prophet didn't know what to do.  He went weeping to God.  And God said, "Hosea, do you love this woman in spite of all that she has done to you?"  Hosea nodded through his tears, and God said, "Then go show your love for her in the same way that I love the nation Israel."

So Hosea went to the marketplace and he watched Gomer brought up and placed on the dock and there she was stripped of all her clothing and stood naked before the crowd.  The auctioneer pinched her and prodded her and showed how strong she was, and then the bidding began.  Somebody bid three pieces of silver and Hosea raised it to five.  Somebody else upped it to eight and Hosea bit ten.  Somebody went to eleven; he went to twelve.  Then Hosea offered fifteen pieces of silver and a bushel of barley.  The auctioneer's gavel fell and Hosea had his wife back.  

He went to her and put her clothes on her and let her away by the hand and took her to his home.  And then follows what is perhaps the most beautiful verse in all the Bible.  As Hosea led her away he said to her:

"You must dwell as mine for many days; you shall not play the harlot, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you." Hosea 3:3b

He pledged his love to her anew.  And that was all this poor women could take.  She had gotten down to the very dregs of shame and disgrace, but the love of this man broke her heart, and from this time on Gomer was faithful to Hosea.  She became an honest, industrious, faithful wife."

Can you see in this beautiful story all the elements of the eternal triangle?  There is the loving God, the faithless human heart, and the deceptive attractiveness of the world.  This is your story, and my story, isn't it?  So many times we try to satisfy ourselves with the lying idols of self-importance, or wealth, or a good time.  Ours is the blindness that, like Gomer's, cannot distinguish between lust and love.  We try to run from God and drown our miseries in empty pleasure, or drink, or work, or social life, but, as surely as we think we have escaped, as surely as we think we have run far enough, God touches our sleeve with his love saying, "My child, my name and my nature are love and I must act according to what I am.  When you tire of all your running, and your wandering, and your heartbreak, I'll be there to draw you to myself again."  That is the story of the Bible isn't it?  At Bethlehem God entered the slave market where the whole human race was putting itself up for auction, prostituting itself and its humanity to be a cheapened life.  But on the cross the Lord Jesus paid the price, the full price for our freedom, and bought us back.  This is the story of God's love and God's heart- his loving desire to mke of his people the full persons he intended them to be.

"The man without Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."  1 Corinthians 2:14

"The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it" John 1:5

Isn't that crazy?  Isn't it crazy that non-christians cannot even understand the things of God?  I sure think it is.  Have you ever tried to read the bible with a non-christian?  Its crazy because as you read it, most of them time it's like you're reading to a brick wall.  They can't grasp what it means.  I was thinking about that today and how the more and more I live for christ and change my life in order to glorify him, the more and more people think I'm crazy!  But praise God, because they should think I'm crazy!  They just don't get it, they don't understand why we live like we do.  One of my dear sisters in Christ is getting a lot of crap from her friends and family for her passion for Jesus.  It's because how she lives her life is foolishness to them because they do not have the Spirit of Christ living inside them.  So when you get discouraged from people, or people just think you're too radical, praise God because then you know you're doing something right :)!

Be like Job

Here is a post that I recently wrote in my other blog. That website is www.xanga.com/dybs220

So I've been reading Job. Wow.. great guy! I was thinking that the church doesn't talk about Job very often. Ya, we bring him up if we are having tough circumstances and we can model his faith in saying "Blessed be the name of the Lord". But when circumstances are great, when life is looking good, we don't tend to turn to Job. Why is that? Well, because we don't want to be a Job. I don't want to be a Job. We don't want to have to lose everything, lose our house, our family, our health, everything, and be tested in that way. Job is not a very comfortable story. It kind of makes your stomach turn a little bit, doesn't it? One thing I do want is to be used by God. I beg God to use me! I beg him to display his glory through my life. Job did that. In chapter one, God is having a conversation with Satan. Satan thinks the only reason that Job is worshiping God is because God has blessed him. He doesn't think its out of love. But God knows Job. He knows that he will stand true. Does he know that about me? Could he bring my name up in a conversation with Satan the same? God really put his name out there on a count for Job. He believed that Job would bring glory to his name. Could God say that about us? Could he say "Satan, you may do your worst but he will not bend; you may bring in your biggest guns but she will not break; they have built their house upon a rock and they shall not be moved. They shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint. For I know them. They are my sons, they are my daughters, they my servants and they will not fail me." Looking at Jobs life, the same can be true about Jesus. "Oh, I'd hate to be that guy! I'd hate to have to go through what he did." But in reality, the Christian life is not just about getting to know God, but also becoming like him, to bear his shame, to carry his purpose, to share in His suffering, and to be a bearer of His glory. So I pray that I would have a desire to be like Job, to be like Jesus. I want the God of the universe to bring up my name in a conversation with Satan and choose me to be the vehicle though which he will bring forth His glory, even if it is a great cost to myself.

He loves you!

Oh boy, here we go again.  I have attempted to start many blogs over the years, and have never been consistent with it.  Like I always say, I will try to be, but I can't promise anything because I know myself too well.  My roommate just started one, and she kind of got me hooked.  My desire is to encourage you with what the Lord is teaching me.  This life is so messed up and we live in such a wicked world.  If we don't continue to encourage one another, and spur one another on towards love and good deeds, then we are bound to fall.  Satan is so real and determined to destroy us.  We need to be aware that we are in a battle and we need to be getting our face in the word and constantly pumped up for Jesus!

I titled this blog enthralled because I wanted to find a word that could some how grasp the concept on how much the Lord loves us.  Psalm 45:10-11 says "Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father's house.  The King is ENTHRALLED by your beauty; honer him, for he is your lord."  Jesus Christ, the creator of this universe, your royal husband, is obsessed with you.  He is enthralled with you.  So women, just like in verse 10, forget this world, forget all the lies that Satan throws at us, forget it!  Jesus is so stinkin in love with you, lets honor him, lets give him our lives and run after this king :)!