Abide

Before we start, what does it mean to abide?

Abide: to be at home, to stay in vital union with the Lord. 

Webster’s definition: to act in accordance with

Let’s dig in to this whole “abide” thing a little deeper.

What should our lives look like if we are abiding in the Lord?

Abiding in Christ is

* abounding in life. 

*not hiding Him in your heart, but it’s inviting him into every part of your life - the public and the private. 

*being productive for God.

*giving Him every day and every season. It’s giving Him your time, relationships, words, thoughts, gifts, joys, hardships, and everything else that is a part of your life. 

*abounding with fruit. 

*bringing the love and joy of Jesus Christ to the people around you. 

*loving like Christ. 

* resembling the character qualities of Christ. 

*making God honoring decisions.

Take a romantic relationship for example. When you abide in that relationship, you start to become more like that other person. The same should happen when we abide in Christ. 

But why must we abide in Christ? Why can’t we abide in whatever we want?

Because there is no power if we abide in anything else. 

You can’t plug a power strip into itself and expect it to have power!

Sometimes we have to stop and ask ourselves, 

“What are we abiding in?”

And if you don’t really know how to answer that question, then ask

“Where do I go for comfort? Significance? Understanding?”

John 15:1-8  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

Abiding in Christ is not a “one and done” thing though. 

When we choose to abide in God, he is going to prune us and pick away at us. 

Prune : trim (a tree, shrub, or bush) by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth.

God prunes what would be a loss to keep and a gain to lose.

The branch that is pruned bears more fruit and productivity, and bearing fruit means carrying on God’s gospel mission. The more residence you give Christ in your life, the more fruit you are going to produce. 

If we say we are Christians, but we don’t bear fruit or represent Christ, the world isn’t going to buy it. 

Our reward for being fruitful is bringing glory to the father by showing the world that we belong to Christ. 

Being pruned is sometimes difficult. In fact, most of the time it is difficult. God often prunes things we don’t want to let go of. 

But as Corrie Ten Boom said, “Hold everything in your hand lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open."

When we abide in Christ and allow Him to prune us, our life will be aligned with His will. There’s no better reward than this!

I Am a Christian.

I am a Christian. 

I do not think of myself as higher than you. 

I do not criticize other religions. 

I do not look down on your beliefs and religion. 

I think of everyone as equal to myself. 

I respect your rights to believe what you want. 

Regardless of who you are, I will treat you with respect. 

Yes, I will talk about my religion openly, but no, I won’t shove my religion down your throat. 

I am not foolish for following my Lord. 

I am not brainwashed. 

I struggle, too. 

I sin, too. 

I don’t know why God allows certain things to happen. 

I don’t know all the answers. 

I get lost. 

I feel pain. 

I stumble, but I’ve chosen God as my guide. 

I am weak, and I need God’s strength. 

I am not perfect. 

I have failed, and I cannot pay my own debt. 

I have no place to judge you. 

I have no authority. 

I am proud of my religion and beliefs.

I am proud to be a Christian. 

I am proud of my God. 

*This is taken from the poem ‘When I Say I Am a Christian.’"

In the Moment

Have you ever stopped to think how our “instant gratification society” steals our opportunities to live in the moment ?

What if at the end of our lives, we got a record of how many important interactions we missed because we were too busy looking at our phone or doing meaningless things?

I’m guilty.

Or what if instead of living in the moment, you’re too stuck living in the past? Maybe you just get so caught up dwelling on all the things you’ve done wrong rather than letting forgiveness and grace take over.

Or….maybe you spend too much time living in the future. Maybe that’s all you focus on - your future interactions, your future family, your future education. 

But what does God say? What does he say about living in the past, present, and/or future?

LIVING IN THE PAST:

Just because our past has shaped who we are now does not mean that we are defined by our past mistakes - and we definitely aren’t supposed to dwell on them. BUT just because we shouldn’t dwell on our past mistakes DOES NOT mean we should not remember them. We need to remember our past because it reminds us of how far we have come, how far reaching God’s grace and forgiveness is, and how much He loves us even through our worst times. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; all things become new. 

**We are not to forget everything, however, in the sense of being oblivious to it. In fact, there are many times God instructs us to remember.

In Deuteronomy 9 Moses tells the Israelites to “remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the Lord.” We are encouraged to remember all God has done for us.

LIVING IN THE FUTURE:  

Time is so precious! This moment right now will never come back again! 

When we live today, we need to keep the future in mind. When we make decisions, we need to think about how they might affect our future. 

But we aren’t supposed to live IN the future or FOR the future!

We can LOOK to the future, but still live in the present. 

When we look back tomorrow on what we did today, will we be satisfied in knowing that we did what we could for the Lord?

Live today with eternity in mind, but don’t forget to live today. 

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

LIVING IN THE PRESENT:

Mary did. Mary could have missed the Lord’s presence in her life, but she didn’t. Why? Because she trusted Him with all the things that were h=out of her control. 

The Lord longs for us to live in the moment, because it’s where he does some of His best work. Living in the moment engages us in HIs will. 

No matter where you are or who you are with in that moment - laugh with them, cry with them, listen to them, play with them, pray for them. Turn off all the noise and distractions and value the time that you have!Discipline your mind to be present!

Trust the Lord with all the impossible outcomes that are in store for you! Master living in the moment with God’s discipline. 

Love others in the moment. Live for God in the moment. 

Tik Tok

Did you know the word “Wait” is mentioned more than 100 times in the Bible?

So what does that mean? To wait? It’s not fun that’s for sure. 

We live in an “instant gratification society” where we get everything pretty much right when we want it. 

But that’s not the way God works. And waiting isn’t easy!

With God, we constantly have to wait. With our future, we constantly have to wait. 

Right now, we (my generation) are waiting to graduate. We’re waiting for college. We’re waiting for a career. We’re waiting for own own spouses and families. We’re waiting for a lot of things. 

But here’s some things we have to remember. 

*Waiting is often a setup for a movement of God in your life. 

*In the waiting is an opportunity to hear God. 

*God often accomplishes more in our waiting than in our doing. 

*God loves you enough not to give you everything you think you need. 

*God is faithful in our waiting. When you put your problems up next to God’s sovereignty, it puts everything into perspective. 

Sometimes, God is going to lead you into the desert to remind you how desperate you are for Him. He wants to show you how little control and power you have, to show you that He is enough, regardless. 

Waiting itself can often be a setback to us. We need to be seeking out God and what He is wanting us to do right here, in this very moment. Sure, it’s okay to be curious about our futures. It’s okay to wonder what God has in store for us. But we can’t let our desire for the future to overtake us to the point where we miss what God’s plan for us is today. 

We all wonder at some point what God’s plan for our future will look like, and sometimes that leaves us feeling like we are getting nowhere. We must wait and trust in God’s timing. And yes, our patience will be tested, but it will be worth it because one day God will make sense of it all. 

God is faithful in our waiting, so we must be faithful also. 

In our waiting, in the present, we must continue to serve, worship, and keep on running the race of life. 

We have to let go of the plans and the dreams that we have for our lives and allow God’s will and plan for us to take over. We can’t see what is in front of us, but we still have to trust Him. After all, He is the only one that knows what our tomorrow holds - so why would we not want what God wants for us? 

In our waiting we must remember that there’s a reason for the journey, there is purpose in the learning, and not everything in life comes easily. But God is constant. God is good. God is sovereign. And not for one single second will he forsake us. {Getting There by Steffany Gretzinger}

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Romans 5:3-5  We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Life is a Highway

I was brainstorming all day yesterday, trying to come up with blog ideas and I was getting nothing. But then God did that really cool thing that He does where he like randomly pops an idea into your brain at the most random time.

I was just sitting at a red light, at a four way intersection, patiently waiting my turn. I was watching all the other car’s lights turn green, yellow, then red. I was just like “UGH when is it going to be my turn!!!”

And then God was like “Plop. There’s your blog idea.”

Woah. Bro. God’s cool. 

Anyway, here’s what a mean. 

I’m going to refer to life like it is a road, and we are the cars. 

When you’re waiting for God to do something in your life, it’s not always easy to sit around waiting and watching while other people’s lights are turning green. It feels like your light is the only one that’s red and everyone else is getting a turn except you. But in the right timing, God will turn your light green, too. 

No ones life experiences are supposed to happen exactly at the same time. They are supposed to happen in God’s timing…And sometimes that means waiting. 

And then we’ve got the people who are always riding our tails. These cars are like the people in life that are always bugging us, discouraging us, telling us we need to go faster or do things their way. But that’s not the case!!! 

We shouldn’t listen to people that are telling us we need to live our lives a certain way or talk, dress, or act a different way. 

God has called us to be individuals, striving only to live according to His word and His truth. All we need to worry about is going God’s direction and driving God’s speed. No one else’s. 

And lastly, we’ve got the car wrecks. The crashes. The fender benders. The breaking downs. 

In life, we’ve got catastrophes. We’ve got failures. We’ve all got places where we crash and burn. 

But then we just take ourselves over to the “car-fixer-upper” (aka God :P).

We tell him all of the things that are wrong with us, and then he puts us back together again. 

It’s a pretty beautiful cycle. 

It’s a pretty beautiful life. 

And He is a very gracious, good God. 

I AM

I AM constant when everything around you is changing.
I AM the protection you are seeking.
I AM the wisdom in your decision making.
I AM with you every second of every day.
I AM comfort in your heartbreak.
I AM peace in your chaos.
I AM the calmer of the storm.
I AM your friend when you are lonely.
I AM the light in the darkness.
I AM the love in all the hate.
I AM the joy in your sorrow.
I AM the positive in the negative.
I AM the holder of your future.
I AM the breath in your anxiety.
I AM the relief in the stress.
I AM more than your current struggle.
I AM the healer of your sickness.
I AM the energy in your exhaustion.
I AM the clarity in your confusion.
I AM beauty in a broken world.
I AM the Alpha and the Omega.
I AM the King over all.
I AM sufficient.
I AM enough.
I AM gracious towards  your sins.
I AM loving you even when you don't love yourself.
I AM adventurous.
I AM the author of your life.
I AM the planner of every small thing in your life.
I AM a breath of fresh air in your suffocation.
I AM the maker of beautiful things.
I AM the giver of everything good.
I AM all knowing.
I AM hope.
I AM strength in your weakness.
I AM God.
I AM.

Valentine's Day

Hey ya’ll! So today is February 13.

Which means tomorrow is Valentine’s Day!! 

Every year in February, our youth group does sermons about love and all that fun stuff. These past two weeks have been about love and dating and such, and this blog post is just going to be some re-caps of some of the awesome teachings I have heard. This post also includes some articles I’ve read, and lyrics from Lauren Daigle, Steffany Gretzinger, and Ellie Holcomb. I hope you are able to get something out of it! 

The first point I would like to make today is that there is so much more to life than being in a romantic relationship. There s SO MUCH more to life than finding someone who will love you or to be sad over someone who doesn’t. 

There’s a lot of time to be spent discovering yourself!! Fill yourself with love! Go on adventures! Hang out with your friends! Doodle by yourself in a coffee shop! Leave notes in library books! Give to others! Smile a lot! Live for yourself and God and be happy on your own! I promise it isn’t any less beautiful!

Hang out with Jesus and get deeply rooted in his love. Let God tell you who you are. You aren’t beautiful because boys say so. You aren’t a man because ladies love you. Get your identity from Him because He knows you, created you, and His love for you is steady, unlike the wavering opinions of people. 

Another important thing to remember is there is no part of your life where you simply have to survive and not thrive. God uses every part our lives to grow us and prepare us for the incredible things He has ahead. Chase after complete freedom and abundant life, not only in this season, but in every one to come.

Know that in Christ you are His. You are found, loved, pure, alive, healed, and free. God is strong and good and true. He is the light in the darkness and he ism ore than enough. He is always here. God is love, hope, grace, and everything we need. Give Him your heart and let Him speak to you what is true. 

Another tip I have learned is how to prepare. 

You must be committed to preparing for commitment. 

Preparing for, well anything, isn’t always black and white, but there’s a few things that we can do to be ready for what God has in store. 

*Be the person that the person you’re looking for is looking for. Have good habits, clean words, pure thoughts, giving hands. Be generous, be understanding, and love Jesus with your entire being. 

*Know that a “no” from God has goodness written all over it. 

*Stop sitting around waiting for the right person to come along, and start preparing yourself for when they do. 

*Become an expert at being you. 

*Focus all your attention on your relationship with God. 

*Trust God. 

*Allow jesus to be the one that satisfies you and take your focus off of trying to find someone else. 

*Only those pursuing God’s heart should be pursuing yours. 

*Thank God for the seemingly good and the seemingly bad because often times we can’t see the difference. 

Wait for God’s timing. Wait because you are God’s treasure. Wait when everyone else is giving in. 

It takes a strong person to remain single in a world that is accustomed to settling with anything just to say they have something. 

When you are 100% focused on God all of a sudden there will be a person alongside you doing life and striving after God with you. Don't forget that Jesus presents some of his best gifts when we least expect it.  So wait with open hearts and empty hands. “That which you wait for the longest you treasure the most, and through much struggle the prize is won.”

The next thing we must do is truly come to know God and to know the difference between God and the world. 

The world says to give, but keep more. God tells us to give everything. The world says to bail when it gets tough, but God tells us to persevere and look to Him. 

The difference between God’s view of love and the world’s is sometimes hard to decipher, when in all reality they are very different. It’s kind of like Mr. Pibb and Dr. Pepper. The devil tries to tell us that the two are similar and they taste alike but they are completely different things.

We live in a world that constantly expects us to be in a relationship. for entertainment, fulfillment of loneliness, pleasure. the world  says “only when its convenient”. But the Bible says the purpose of dating is to glorify God, point to Jesus, give and not get. 

Trust the Lord. He promises that He will give us just what we need. God keeps His promises. God is sovereign. He will be faithful in putting the right people in our lives. 

Learn to accept God’s GIFT to you-singleness. Yes, it’s a gift! Thank Him for your heartbreak, because it has taught you to trust Him. 

We come to the Lord with pieces of our broken heart but He is always there to hold us together when we fall apart. His love never changes, and in His name there is healing. He holds us together when we are in the midst of our deepest pain. God can take broken things and make them beautiful. He will make a way. 

When we come with our broken hearts, the Lord says, “My child, don’t you believe that I know who you will marry and that I’m capable of leading you to that person? Can you also believe that I am the God of all creation? I know you better than you know yourself. I am perfectly able to bring this person into your life in my own time and in my own way and I don’t need your help.” God is constant. His love is endless. He is faithful. Always and forever. 

Lastly, don’t let the pain get you down. There’s a reason for the journey, there’s purpose in the learning, and we just have to remember that not everything in life comes naturally or easily. But, we’re getting there, and His presence is the promise. 

So this Valentine’s Day I challenge you. I challenge you to love everyone you lay your eyes on today, and share Christ’s love with them. But I also challenge you to look to the Lord. Say, “Jesus, you are my strength and comfort. You are my steady hand, my rock, and my firm foundation. Your love is loyal. You are more faithful than the rising sun. Even when my world shakes and falls, your love is unshaken and constant and perfect and unwavering. I know your plans are always good and I will trust in you.”

Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody. I love you, and Jesus Christ loves you too! God bless!