You guys! Seriously, my life has been changing so much! I feel like I'm in this season of "shedding old skin", coming out to be a new person, becoming more like Christ. My prayer is to constantly be transformed. Its that I'm not the same person I was a year ago, weeks ago, days ago, etc. God has been challenging me like non-other. I guess that is why I learned what patient endurance is for about 2 months to bring me to another part of what He is teaching me. I don't know what its like for boys, but speaking from a girls perspective, we struggle with self-image. I was struggling with questions this past week like, "Am I pretty enough?" "Am I good enough for a godly man?" "Why do I not have a boyfriend?" "Is there something wrong with me?" Those types of questions. Then the Lord spoke right in the midst of talking to a friend on the phone. He said, "Set your mind on heavenly things. Those godly men you are seeking that you think aren't pursuing you nor like you, they are seeking my heart. Its a good thing! Keep your eyes focused on me. I will bring it at the right time. I know your heart, Jessie. Just be patient and trust in me. These godly men are waiting on my timing." Then the Lord brings me to 1 Peter 3:3-4 which says, "Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes.You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God." I was able to encourage a few friends with this Word! I literally heard the Lord speak to me! God knows when we are ready for that, and the thing is..going into talking about my amazing book I have been reading called, "Starving Jesus" by Craig Gross and J.R Mahon (by the way, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book!), there is work to be done! This book talks about living in the now, what the Church should be representing, how we should release self-centeredness, reaching the lost, and being a disciple. So often, we close ourselves off to opportunities because we are so scared what people will think, especially those as a church body. We are scared to minister to the unsaved due to what the worlds says and the reaction we may get. Pretty much, we are scared of failing. Have you ever thought that when we step out in faith, that isn't failing, its taking a step..its getting closer to the next thing God has for us. God is all about intentions of the heart, when we step out with the intent to glorify God, not ourselves, we need to release all expectations, and just go! Let God take care of the rest. We need to just act now! We are called to be disciples of Christ and that is not necessarily being a leader, but a servant. When we use the term, "in the world but not of the world" its not disconnecting ourselves from the world and hiding under a rock. Its going out, stepping out in faith and serving the unchurched, the churched, everyone around us! We need to be aware of whats going on around us and how God wants to use us to be part of the solution because WE ARE! Its putting ourselves last, and obeying what God calls us to do! For example, I have not been tithing, and honestly its out of selfish reasons and also because I do not have a home church. I was convicted of this other night and I asked God to change my heart and what I should do about it. He told me, once a week to bless someone, by maybe buying the person in front of you in line, starbucks, and telling them He loves them. Another thing that I have been learning is "offending like Jesus". Now, this is where I struggle. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to spur each other on..and by spurring..its not always going to feel good. I struggle with wanting everyone to like me. I know sometimes God will tug at my heart to tell someone the truth in love, and I ignore it because I want that person to like me. But shouldn't I be more concerned about the person's destination in eternity than whether they like me? J.R puts it in a good way in the book when J.R is talking about his friend Dave that brought him to Christ, "He brought me to the cross regardless of whether he hurt my feelings or offended me. He cared too much about my eternity and the quality of my life." Now, I'm not saying go out and tell everyone how sinful they are and how they are going to hell. I'm talking about telling the truth in love. When you establish a relationship with someone, there are going to be times where you need to speak truth! There's a difference..truth being absolute truth which is the solid Word of God that distinguishes righteousness and sinfulness and then there is where we put our two sense in of what WE think is right or wrong. For example, we could tell someone, "Your voice is horrible! Dont' sing! you suck!" DON'T do that! However, if you have a friend that is, for example, caught up in pornography, and either is a christian or not, now the conversations may differ, but to let them know, they can be free from that. That that is something they don't need in order to be fulfilled but direct them to the Father. The Father draws them, all you need to be is the tool, the truth tool...speaking the truth and then let God convict them. Don't force or shove things and drive them into the ground until they scream "UNCLE" but to know that that is something they can be set free in when they come to Christ. People need to know why we believe and serve an amazing God and how a life apart from Him, does suck! I know this is long but I want to encourage you guys to step out in faith, to obey the Lord when he calls you to act out, to live in boldness because God did not give us a spirit of timidity or fear, but a spirit of love, power, and self-discipline! Just to end this, I learned somethings in James 3:17..just like the fruits of the spirit..I call them fruits of wisdom, "pure, peace-loving, gentle, willing to yeild to others (patient), merciful, good deeds, shows no favoritism, sincere." You can evaluate wisdom by the way a person acts. In proverbs 27:19 it says, "As a face reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person." Are you living a life that is following Jesus? Where you deny yourself, take up your cross, even to the point of death? Are we waking up every morning, submitting our life to Christ, where we are constantly ridding ourselves? Love you all! Jesus rocks, and continue to serve Him!
Hey! Linds's Dad...for you...do the indian accent! lol
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