A verse of conviction today

James 4:6-10 (The Message)

4-6You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "he's a fiercely jealous lover." And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."

7-10So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.

Speaking through me, to me!

God has graciously seriously kicked my rear today! Oh my gosh, I am in awe at how he works!! He's amazing. He's sly but in a good way, he's gentle, he's so loving in the way he trys to tell us things and bring us healing. I am feeling so awe struck by him right now.

Without getting into too much detail, I was sending someone else an email this morning. Someone who I care deeply about and love with all my heart. Someone who is hurting. I was trying to explain to them how they could be happier in Christ, by living for God, not for ourselves, by being selfless. How God allows things in our lives to draw us near him, how we have to give up things, have less of ourselves, to have more of him, which brings us peace and happiness and fruit. I did not write that letter. God wrote it. As I read that letter a few times before I sent it, I was convicted, over and over and over. God was speaking to me. Through me! How awesome is that?? He wrote a letter through me, to me! I hope it helps the other person that I wrote it to, but I know he was talking to me, and telling me how to be a happier person myself. Wow is all I can right now! Praise you dear Jesus for caring about me and my little life so much that you would do something like this because you love me so much!!

God speaks to me

Holy man I have abandoned my blog! lol. I was thinking about it the other day and thought, I really should be using that blog, even if it's to simple write how things are going in my life.
Well this morning God gave me reason to get off the chair and log on.
Alot of mornings when I go to read the bible, I forget to ask him to open my eyes, to give me wisdom, to speak to me. This morning I was reminded by a dear friend, to ask God about something that was going on in my life. So I prayed please teach me this morning as I read your word. He did.

I love it when God speaks to me. Some days his voice is quiet and I can't always hear him, or it's so faint I try to ignore it. But this morning I asked, and he obliged.

I was reading in Luke 2 this morning. A page I marked yesterday, (So he obviously had this all planned out, isn't he amazing?)
Here's what he told me~Sometimes we think (or know) we are being obedient to the Lord in something he's asking us to do but it's painful. We face discomfort going through the "being obedient" part and we don't like it. So we think that we have misread God's will or God has made a mistake. But when we do God's will, we are not guaranteed comfort and convenience. But we are promised that the comfort and inconvenience has meaning in God's plan, and we should just keep obeying, living in faith that God is in charge. There's a reason we are going through what we are and we will probably understand it someday.
It spoke to me today. I needed it, and I will just keep on obeying, even though it kinda stinks. lol.

The other thing was that we should not "limit" God.
I was reading about Jesus birth, and how the Jews expected the Messiah to be born in royal surroundings, not a dark, dirty stable. But that was God's plan all along to bring Jesus into our world in a humble way. Sometimes we expect him to do things a certain way, but he does it differently. In a way we wouldn't have expected. But he's God after all, why we he do things the way we expect him to? :)