Impossibilities

I dont think we ever notice the impossible demands that God places on us. We're called to lose our lives, to be born again, to focus our everything upon Him - quite honestly, we have about as much chance of accomplishing all of this as the proverbial camel has of passing through the eye of a needle. That is the whole point though, the reply jesus gave to the disciples' fair question "who can be saved?" was "with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." We're so inherently God hating by nature that any effort made to pray, go to church, or do any good deed - much less to love in the way that God expects of us - MUST be done through His spirit. To me, this also means that any good thing that comes out of me is yet another evidence of His grace.

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil." - Jeremiah 13:23

Obligation

Hello All! It's been awhile, so once again, bear with me as I try to get all my thoughts together. I was chatting briefly with Edward this past Wednesday night (or maybe it was Tuesday...) and it was pretty late. I asked him why he was still up, and he said he was writing his Wednesday email. So I thought..."if this were me, I'd probably be in bed and skip writing the email for one week." But Edward of course being super awesome, stayed up late (late for my standards) and finished the email and sent it out.

This made me think, a lot of times in my life I put things that help me grow closer to God as optional, and if I do something, I sometimes feel like I'm forced or obligated. I figure God forgives, He knows my heart, He knows I love him. But am I really growing or am I deceiving myself? If it were 12:00 at night and I had a report due for work, I would have no hesitation in staying up late to write the report. But if I were just planning an event or writing a blog entry, I would probably put it off. So what makes my work #1 and my walk with God #2, 3, or 4?

So today I would like to make a change. Even if I'm tired, serving our Father is really such a blessing. I don't think there is one time that I've regretted staying up late planning, fellowshipping, or praying, because God has always showed me that He is soooo much more than I can ever imagine Him to be! I know that there are times in my life where I will be obligated or forced to do something, but I hope to change my attitude. I would like to try and seize each opportunity to grow my relationship and to glorify Him!! I know this is corny, but life really is short, and God has blessed me with soooo much. I don't want to have an attitude of me, me me. I'd like it to be God, God, God, Isaac, me, family, friends, Bigby, God, God, food, home, work, play, etc. =D

Have a great week everyone!

Worship

Hahah, been a while since we've used this - I keep forgetting to put stuff up here.

Anyways, realized last nite that I was really out of practice with the guitar - a part of it is jus stage fright, and a part of it is that i can't sing/play well at the same time, but a large part is probably also because i haven't really practiced since last year sometimes. So i picked up my guitar today and worshiped for like an hour (cause im sick of studying). It felt good to worship again, almost forgot wat its like to play and sing while no one's listening except God. I know we're supposed to worship God through everything we do, but i do seem to remember a passage specifically about praising God w/ musical instruments - today was a good reminder of that, how music should be a part of our worhsip life.

Fasting Part II

Hmm...I started realizing towards the end of the fast a few weeks ago that about the only thing I've accomplished was realize how unfocused on God i was - almost felt like i was jus stupidly starving myself. It was great and encouraging to hear everyone share about how they were getting closer to God but i still dont feel satisfied with where i am so imma fast again this wed-fri. This time, really taking out all distractions and get serious about reconnecting with Him. I hate being so distracted from God to the point where even praying and bible reading is becoming a chore.. =(

So ya, this is more to let u guys know where i am than an invitation to starve urselves a second time with me - but feel free to join in if u still feel unfocused!