No More Excuses

God doesn't want your excuses - He wants your open heart.

My Strength

I read this in my Bible today, and I thought I would share it with you all.  


"I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled.  Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.  Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights."  (Habakkuk 3:16-19) 


"Knowing that the land faced devastation, Habakkuk set his mind on God rather than circumstances.  He told himself, I choose to be patient; I choose to rejoice - even when (not if) disaster comes.  With this perspective on life, he could confidently say that God was his strength.  


Sometimes faith requires that we make a hard choice that contradicts what we can see.  When the circumstances of your life look bad, remind yourself that God is in control.  Like Habakkuk, you can choose to trust God.  By making the choice to trust, you too can discover that God is your strength."


  

Simon Says...

One time, in the days of Jesus:  Simon (Peter) and his friends had been fishing all night and never even caught one, single fish.  So Jesus comes along and tells them to try again.  Simon was skeptical but did it anyway.  He and his friends caught so much fish that the net was breaking!  Even the boats, BOTH boats, were overflowing with fish!  Then instead of saying, "Thank you," to Jesus, Simon says, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"  But Jesus replies, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men"  (Luke 5:4-11).  This passage has a few different symbolic meanings, but the one I see most vividly is God's grace. 

When we sin or carry a burden, it consumes us.  It is all we can think about and becomes our focus.  We try to find a break from it, but because we are so focused on it, we cannot find one on our own.  So here comes Jesus.  He simply asks us to try again.  Because we are curious of what He can do, we do as He says.  Part of us (the flesh part) want to prove Him wrong that we cannot be healed, but the other part (the spirit part) yearn to trust Him, for "the spirit is willing, but the body is weak" (Matt. 26:41).  And then, because we CHOSE to trust Him, a miracle happens.  Our net (our sinful bondage) breaks.  We become overflowed with His grace, so much so that we are sinking in His grace.  We are not only forgiven of our sins and released from our bondage, but we are made new.  We become free.  The only thing we must do is "lower our nets."

Jesus' response is interesting, because He doesn't go away as Simon instructed Him.  Instead, He calls Simon, and all of us, to do the same.  He wants us to release others of their sinful bondage, as He released Simon and as He releases us.  Jesus says, "Don't be afraid," for people will come at His calling, not through our expertise.   We have the ability to lead people to His grace.  Once we do just that, He will pour out His love over them, so much love that they will sink in His ocean of grace.  

Let Him cover you in His love.  He wants to break you of your captivity, whatever it may be.  He loves you and wants you all to Himself.  So let Him.  Take a chance; do as He says.  :]

Set Me Free

So...  God has been granting me a peace lately.  I've felt His presence more that I ever have in this new season of my life.  However, there is still a part of me that fails to trust God.  I give Him so much of me but not me in my entirety.  But today, God set me free.  He set me free from my failures, from my insecurities, from my fear.  He set me free.  I was prayed over by some sisters in Christ and He set me free.  I was reminded that no matter how far I "feel" from Him, the reality is that I am near Him always.  He never leaves me.  He spoke this verse to me today, which I have heard before, but it now has a new meaning to me.  "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36 NIV).  How beautiful is that?  If He sets you free, then you're free.  No question about it.  You're free.  

Now watch this.  The word "free" is used twice in this verse.  So what do they mean?  How do they translate?  Here's the Greek meanings.  Be prepared for freedom.  

The first free is translated as:  eleutheroō.  It means, "to make free; set at liberty from the dominion of sin."  Whatever holds you hostage to this world, you will be set free.  You will be released from your sins.  There is nothing to hold you back anymore.  

Keep watching.

The second free is translated as:  eleutheros.  This word means, "freeborn in a civil sense; one who is not a slave; of one who ceases to be a slave, freed; free, exempt, unrestrained, not bound by obligation."  Do you see that?  Once He sets you free, you are no longer a slave to anything!  You are free.  You are exempt.  Your sins have been washed away.  You are unrestrained.  You are not bound by obligation.  You.  Are.  Free!  Is that not beautiful?!

"So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably free."  John 8:36 AMP

So if the Son sets you at liberty from the dominion of sin, then you are free, exempt, unrestrained, and no longer bound by obligation to this world.  

"I have told you these things, so that in Me you have [perfect] peace and confidence.  In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]!  For I have overcome the world.  [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]"  John 16:33 AMP

He has overcome the world.  He has overcome your sin.  He has overcome all things that hold you hostage.  Be certain that He has done that for you.  He has deprived this world of power.  If God has ALL the power in the world, then how much does Satan have?  Absolutely nothing!  He has conquered the world for you!

Have peace in knowing He has made you free.  If you have never asked Him to, do it now.  I promise you, I assure you, He will set you free.  

This is a song by Casting Crowns called "Set Me Free."  Listen and be freed.  :]

http://youtu.be/HeuM0K2yNWU

Sounds Good to Me

In the story of creation in Genesis, God saw His creation as good (Gen. 1:31).  What does that mean exactly?  The Hebrew word for "good" is "towb."  It's being used as an adjective here to translate to:  pleasant, agreeable, valuable in estimation, excellent of its kind, happy.  All things God had created were considered as "towb."  That means all of nature is good.  All of water and sky are good.  Every human is good.  Before the fall of man, humans were valuable in estimation to God. 

So how does the Hebrew meaning differ from the Greek meaning?  This is where is gets interesting.  Let's have a vocabulary lesson, shall we.

There are two Greek words for "good."  They are "agathos" and "kalos."

Agathos means "of good constitution or nature; useful, salutary; good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy; excellent, distinguished; upright, honorable."  (This word is closely correlated with "towb.")

Whereas, kalos means "good, excellent in its nature and characteristics, and therefore well adapted to its ends; beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, and hence praiseworthy; morally good."  (This word requires some sort of action of becoming good.)  

Romans 7:18 says, "I know that nothing good [Agathos] lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good [Kalos], but I cannot carry it out."

God originally created us as good, as perfect in nature to Him.  After the fall of man, nothing good no longer lives in us because we are prone to a sinful nature.  The latter part of this verse says that we have the desire to do good, to become like God in our nature and characteristics.  We can become beautiful by reason of purity and heart and life.  We can become like how He originally created us.  Reading down a few verses, we are offered hope.  "Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin" (Romans 7:25).  Therefore, we can make use of our desire to strive to be good (kalos) and become like God, for He is good (agathos).  It takes change on our part to fully know God.  There is no way we can become like how He first created us until we change.  God wants to reveal Himself to us, but we must first reveal ourselves to Him.  

"All beings were made good, but not being made perfectly good, are liable to corruption."