God's timing: a time of waiting and frustration

Today I will be blogging about something that is going on a lot in my life right now.  It is the topic of waiting for God's timing for things in life.
 It has been really hard in this past year to wait for his timing but hopefully he will give me peace when he leads to a path where he wants me to go.  In my first instance of waiting for God's timing I presented patience while I was waiting to see if this job I applied to and interviewed for in the fall would work out.  It ended up not working out but God helped me present the situation to him and therefore increased my faith in the next situation that I was in.  That is the continual presenting and abiding I have been discussing in my previous blogs.
 One thing we can remind ourselves of when faced with God's timing is the situation that Jesus our Savior was faced with he was in the dessert for 40 days with Satan tempting him.  God could give us peace after whatever situation or waiting period we were in works out.  God's timing also tacks you aback or surprises you at times.
 The other day when I found out my old Young Life leader was possibly moving to Colorado that I have known for eight years of my life.  He may be taking a job at a church up there in the high school ministry.  It's great for him and I wish him the best.  It just seemed like the announcement came out of nowhere.
  I went to Fort Worth where I went to school at TCU a couple weeks ago.  While I was there, I went to an event for the high school ministry at a church I used to go to and met the high school pastor.  I talked to him on the phone last week for an internship at the church in the high school ministry at Christ Chapel.  He said it he would get back to me in a couple of weeks.  I'm excited about the internship because I enjoy working with high school kids.  I have done Young Life for so long and feel as if I connect with kids in many aspects and love telling others about Jesus as well.
 So, in essence I wait again for God's timing to work itself out.  We will see where he leads this time.  It's so dang hard for us as humans to wait but it feels as if sometimes God uses these times in our lives to remind us that he is in control and we can depend on him for everything.

Snoop's life: Snoop's life: Abiding daily in Jesus- part 2

Snoop's life: Snoop's life: Abiding daily in Jesus- part 2: "Snoop's life: Abiding daily in Jesus- part 2 : 'Today in my blog I will be continuing with my discussion of Abiding or known as Practice in ..."

Snoop's life: Abiding daily in Jesus- part 2

Snoop's life: Abiding daily in Jesus- part 2: "Today in my blog I will be continuing with my discussion of Abiding or known as Practice in the Presence of God in Brother Lawrence's book. ..."

Abiding daily in Jesus- part 2

Today in my blog I will be continuing with my discussion of Abiding or known as Practice in the Presence of God in Brother Lawrence's book. I first learned about the process of "Abiding" this summer while I was at Dicipleship Focus.  It is study called Discovery: God's Answers to Our Deepest Questions, written by Will Wyatt.  Dicipleship Focus is a dicipleship program that partners with Young Life.  It was started up by Will and Betty Wyatt in 1977.  We went through the study last summer and worked at Whitewater and Silver Dollar City.  If you want to know more about d-focus go to www.dfocus.org. The book was foreword ed and compiled by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.   Abiding is a practice of submitting to God throughout the day, it is also a constant openness to God that he knows what's best for us, and it's also trusting in God's resources not our own talents, experience, and education.  Abiding is a continual reminder of God's presence in whatever we are going through in life at that moment.  When we are abiding, we must remind ourselves that we can do nothing without Jesus.  We are desperately dependent on him for everything in our life.  From Brother Lawrence's perspective  he says abiding/practice in the presence of God can be used to focus or re-focus ourselves on God in our day.Practice in the Presence of God is also used to daily remind us of his love and thankfulness of what he has done for us.  Brother Lawrence first started this Practice in the Presence of God when he entered the monastery.  He described the Practice in the Presence of God as a habit of continually conversing with God and ascribing to him in all that we do.  Practice in the Presence of God as Brother Lawrence termed it also can be used to renounce sins and as a way to keep oneself holy fixed on God at all times.  When we abide or Practice the Presence of God we must know that God is present with us daily throughout the day in our lives.   Brother Lawrence says if we trust God he will shower us with more grace.     If we trust him, we will also grow in faithfulness in him.  I was able to depend on him and trust in his this year.  I presented more situations to Jesus and he helped me grow in trust of Jesus and faithfulness.  I have been able to abide and Practice in the Presence of God this past year but it takes a while for it to become a lifestyle.

Joy in Christ

Today I will be discussing joy in Christ for believers.  It is something we must have whether we are going through  good times or bad times.  James says in verse 1:2, "Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds for you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance."  He wants us to cling to joy through the trials of our life.  It is something we must do if we are to grow in faith in him.  It is also necessary if we are the mature in Christ.  Psalm 30:5 also discusses clinging to in such hard times.  "For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.  Weeping may remain in the night, but joy comes in the morning."  The last verse I want to discuss about joy is Nehemiah 8:10.  Here it is: Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is sacred to our Lord.  Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."  The Israelites had not celebrated the Feast of the Tabernacles with so much joy since the days of Joshua.  Earlier in the chapter the Israelites worshiped as Ezra read the book of the Law aloud as he faced the square before the Water Gate.  The people could take joy in that they were back in their native land of Jerusalem.  God has blessed them and led them back.   The point of all these verses is to look back on how joy is used in both good times and bad to bring about a greater result in our life.  It is something we have to cling to despite whatever is going on in our life.  Something we can't let go of even though I do let go of it at times and other times I cling to it.  It becomes a hard battle inside of us.  It is one of the fruits of the spirit- Galatians 5:22-23.  That is the main reason why we can't let go of joy despite what season we are going through in our life.  I can't put my finger on how necessary it is to have at all times.

Abiding in Jesus

A concept of a way to live out life through Jesus throughout the day that God showed me this summer was abiding.  Abiding is: being aware of God's presence, being available and obedient to Him, Trusting in his resources instead of human abilites.  It is an openess and an availiability to Him.  It is like praying without ceasing that Paul discusses in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 where he can prompt us, give us direction, encourage us, or stop us if we're giving into temptation.   Essentially, abiding is an attitude of daily dependence on the Lord.  In John 15:1-5, Jesus says without him in our life daily we can do nothing of spirtual significance of own own.  We can't produce anything Godly at all if we don't abide in Jesus daily.  We won't see any fruit in our relationship with Jesus if we don't abide and present in Jesus daily.  2 Corinthians 3:5 says pretty much the same thing, our ability comes from God alone.  Apart from Jesus we can do nothing in life.  This fall I was presenting and abiding, God produced fruit/growth in my life.  This verse relates to that in James:1 2-3 "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you enounter various trials, knowing that the testing our your faith produces endurance." God also worked in my life in this past year through this verse in Romans.  It is Romans 8:28, "And we know God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those that are called according to his purpose."  He used my trial in my life of trying to find a job and another situation that dealt with a relationship to conform me to his image.  I have to remind myself daily that I need to depend on Jesus for everything in my life not just some things that I don't want to give up to Him.  When Brother Lawerence spoke to God,  he presented and abided in God and he  gave him strength and beyond.  He perfected the use of abiding in Jesus.  In his first letter, he said we must continually converse with God throughout the day by establishing ourselves in the presence of God.  He said we must do this so will not get pulled into useless banter of the day.  Abiding in summary is a daily, desperate, dependence on God for everything in our life.  I'm trying to make it a lifestyle but every day is not perfect.  I just have to remind myself God is in control and I can trust him.  Without this abiding relationship with Jesus we are nothing!

Mercy triumphs over Judgement

In James 4:11-12 he says, "when you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgement on it.  There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one is able to save and destroy.  But you-who are you to judge your neighbor."  James calls us out on our daily interactions with others and reminds us God is the only person who can judge because he has the ultimate power over our lives.  Who are we to judge others harshly and criticize others with something they are doing wrong in their lives? If we say something in a nice and encouraging manner now that would be a different thing altogether.  James calls us to use mercy in those situations where we think that we would judge.  He says in 2:12-13, "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.  Mercy triumphs over judgement!"  He calls us to use a merciful tone with faced with those kind of situations where someone has fallen in hard times with something.  In some instances we can say nothing while in others I have found we can use encouraging words to bring that person back to where they need to be and love that brother or sister in Christ the way they need to be.