Hey guys! sorry for not posting last night! I did everything and then went to post and my internet was being lame and wouldn't let me. So i'm going to blog about last night and tonight.
Ok, so last night I learned "Wonderful Merciful Savior" And I think it's a really cool song. and the lyrics are extremely comforting. I love the 2nd verse it says "Counselor, comforter, keeper. Spirit we long to embrace. You offer hope when our hearts have hopelessly lost our way" I can't tell you how many times I have felt lost and hopeless and confused and I need to remember to ask for Gods comfort and counsel because he's the only one who really knows what's best for me and he's the only one who can give me true peace through struggles.
I read through Proverbs 8-9 and actually enjoyed it. I'm jus going to post and comment on the verses I highlighted.
8:5 "You who are simple gain prudence you who are foolish gain understanding" I liked that one because I'm pretty foolish and I can't do anything right so knowing that I may gain wisdom through God is encouraging.
8:13 "To fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech" That verse is kinda convicting because do we really HATE evil? do we really hate when people do bad things as long as we come out on the good side of it? Do we really hate wordly things? Do we really hate that there are half naked women on the front of magazines? And if we're honest, we don't. And we need to so that we can keep our eyes on Christ.
9:6 "Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding" I need to take that one to heart because I know that sometimes I would rather live in ignorance. It's easier, less painful, but I know that it ends in tragedy. I need to remember to seek wisdom and no matter what the out come to follow her ways always.
9:8-9 "Do not rebuke the mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; Teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning." I find this verse incredibly true in my life. 2 Years ago if someone had told me I was doing something wrong my response probably would've been "Screw you, I know what i'm doing. leave me alone" Now (I'm not saying i'm righteous, i'm just saying I have grown in Christ) if someone were to tell me I'm doing something wrong I will step back, look at it from another angle, and pray about and thank them for guiding me. It's amazing how different the outcomes of those to responses are. When I didn't accept other peoples wisdom I always end up hurt more than necessary but now, if I follow Gods plan as he reveals it through other people It is much easier. I still get hurt, I still screw up, but much much less.
9:10 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the holy one is understanding" again, I have found this stunningly true in my life. We gain knowledge of "The Holy One" by studying His word and hence we have understanding.
I worshiped to Always Forever and Come Thou Fount.
Something new I got to pray for last night was the processes of my family adopting a little boy. It's at the very beginning so we don't know where it will go from here but we are praying that God would help us to trust Him no matter what the outcome of this situation is.
Adoption is really cool because that's how we are saved. God has adopted us into His holy family and something really cool about adopted children is they cannot be written out of the will. They will always be an heir to whatever you have even if you hate them by the end of your life but you can write your biological children out of your will. It's amazing how this law lines up with what God has done for us, God "wrote Christ out of his will" for a period of time so that He could adopt us! and now that we have been adopted nothing can ever take away our inheritance.
Ok! Done with yesterday's on t today's!
So I learned the song "Beautiful One" by Jeremy Camp. I really like that song because it's pure worship. all the whole song is is telling God how beautiful and wonderful He is.
I worshiped to How He Loves and Set A Fire
I read through Proverbs 10 tonight and I can't go through every verse I highlighted because half of the chapter is highlighted but i'll go over my favorites from the chapter.
verse 4 says "Lazy hands make a man poor but diligent hands bring wealth" That one sonds like a no brainer like "duh, work=money" so it's obvious but we always seem to forget and fall back into laziness.
verse 8 says "The wise in hear accept commands but a chattering fool comes to ruin" Another obvious one but a good reminder.
verse 19 says "When words are many, sin is not absent but he who holds his tongue is wise." I love this verse because my father has been telling me this my whole life only phrased like this "If you never open your mouth people can never confirm that you're stupid" so It's just good to remember.
I prayed tonight and thanked God for the things I always forget to. Like, His word. I mean, how amazing is it that we have one giant letter from God that will show us different things at different parts of our lives? I just think it's really cool.
Well, thanks for bearing with me through that long post! my prayer for all of you is that you will not only accept when a brother in Christ rebukes you but that you will ask to be held accountable for the way you conduct yourself. I pray that for you because it will bring you so much more joy in your walk with Christ than walking in ignorance.
With Love,
Grace.
Proverbs 8:32
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
What Faith Can Do
So, tonight's been a great end to a not so great day.
The song I learned tonight was "What Faith Can Do" by Kutless. At one point it says "It doesn't matter what you've heard, impossible is not a word it's just a reason for someone not to try" And I really like that because it's unbelievably true.
The songs I worshiped with tonight were Always Forever, I Will Rise, and Give Me Faith.
So, I haven't cried in worship since elevate and before elevate I hadn't cried for a while but tonight when I was singing the last chorus of I Will Rise tears came to my eyes because eternity with God will be so wonderful. there will be no more pain, no more lies, no more tears, no more suffering, no more sin, no more death. All of that will be wiped out by the glory of God. Now indulge me for o a moment and let me paint a picture in your head. Think of the worst day you've had. Now think of the complete opposite, now multiply it by 10,000 and that will be what eternity with The Living Holy God will be like! No you might be thinking "Oh joy, I get to do the same thing for the rest of eternity. Exciting" But worship is not just singing songs or bowing down or naming attributes.
Think of your favorite food. You can probably almost taste it right now and now your mouth is watering. Now think of the last time you had that food, the moment it touched your tongue and you remembered why it is your favorite food. that moment of "mmmmm" as you savor the taste. THAT is worship! That love for that food and that wanting it, craving it. That is worship and that is what worshiping God will be like! Not eating him of course but that feeling of contentment, that love, that enjoyment, that wanting more of will be how we will worship him for the rest of eternity only magnified to a level I cannot comprehend. Now that you have that image in your head go listen to I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin and you might get why I had tears in my eyes while singing the last verse.
I read through Proverbs 7 tonight.
When I prayed tonight I prayed that God would constantly remind me that I am living for him. Now I have to different paths to go down with this subject so bear with me.
When I was at camp the way one of my pastors described our side of the relationship with God was that we forget to remember. the analogy he gave us was this.
It's not like you forgot your keys to the car and had to go back in to get them, it's like you see the keys and forget what they are, forget you have a car and you're just like "What the crap are these?"
That is how we forget God sometimes (Most of the time) we forget to remember Him. We go through our daily lives not even thinking of Him (unless you are so mature in Christ that He is all you think about. If that is you, I respect you and hope to achieve that level of righteousness in Christ) And then we get home and we're like. "I guess I should pray to this God guy now" And we don't remember His glory that He has shown to us! So I just prayed that God would help me to remember.
The other thing I wanted to share with you guys was a habit I picked up over a year ago and have done on and off since I first learned about it.
There's this video game where you're holding a basket and you want to catch all good stuff but avoid the bad stuff and that's pretty much how we live our lives right? "Oooh A raise! I'll take that! Thanks God. Oh wait, is that cancer??? Nope i'm going to do everything I can not to catch that in MY basket God!" If you don't admit to doing that on some level you're lying. Our response should be to keep our hands (Switching from baskets) Open to anything God want us to catch, we shouldn't close our hands to God and say "I don't want your will God" so I physical reminder that I was shown was to write "Joy" on the palms of my hands. It's just a constant reminder that if we keep our hands open to God he will give us Joy. But don't confuse Joy with Happiness.
So yeah! my prayer for you all is that God will invade your every though so that you will always have Joy in Him.
With Love,
Grace
John 15:11
The song I learned tonight was "What Faith Can Do" by Kutless. At one point it says "It doesn't matter what you've heard, impossible is not a word it's just a reason for someone not to try" And I really like that because it's unbelievably true.
The songs I worshiped with tonight were Always Forever, I Will Rise, and Give Me Faith.
So, I haven't cried in worship since elevate and before elevate I hadn't cried for a while but tonight when I was singing the last chorus of I Will Rise tears came to my eyes because eternity with God will be so wonderful. there will be no more pain, no more lies, no more tears, no more suffering, no more sin, no more death. All of that will be wiped out by the glory of God. Now indulge me for o a moment and let me paint a picture in your head. Think of the worst day you've had. Now think of the complete opposite, now multiply it by 10,000 and that will be what eternity with The Living Holy God will be like! No you might be thinking "Oh joy, I get to do the same thing for the rest of eternity. Exciting" But worship is not just singing songs or bowing down or naming attributes.
Think of your favorite food. You can probably almost taste it right now and now your mouth is watering. Now think of the last time you had that food, the moment it touched your tongue and you remembered why it is your favorite food. that moment of "mmmmm" as you savor the taste. THAT is worship! That love for that food and that wanting it, craving it. That is worship and that is what worshiping God will be like! Not eating him of course but that feeling of contentment, that love, that enjoyment, that wanting more of will be how we will worship him for the rest of eternity only magnified to a level I cannot comprehend. Now that you have that image in your head go listen to I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin and you might get why I had tears in my eyes while singing the last verse.
I read through Proverbs 7 tonight.
When I prayed tonight I prayed that God would constantly remind me that I am living for him. Now I have to different paths to go down with this subject so bear with me.
When I was at camp the way one of my pastors described our side of the relationship with God was that we forget to remember. the analogy he gave us was this.
It's not like you forgot your keys to the car and had to go back in to get them, it's like you see the keys and forget what they are, forget you have a car and you're just like "What the crap are these?"
That is how we forget God sometimes (Most of the time) we forget to remember Him. We go through our daily lives not even thinking of Him (unless you are so mature in Christ that He is all you think about. If that is you, I respect you and hope to achieve that level of righteousness in Christ) And then we get home and we're like. "I guess I should pray to this God guy now" And we don't remember His glory that He has shown to us! So I just prayed that God would help me to remember.
The other thing I wanted to share with you guys was a habit I picked up over a year ago and have done on and off since I first learned about it.
There's this video game where you're holding a basket and you want to catch all good stuff but avoid the bad stuff and that's pretty much how we live our lives right? "Oooh A raise! I'll take that! Thanks God. Oh wait, is that cancer??? Nope i'm going to do everything I can not to catch that in MY basket God!" If you don't admit to doing that on some level you're lying. Our response should be to keep our hands (Switching from baskets) Open to anything God want us to catch, we shouldn't close our hands to God and say "I don't want your will God" so I physical reminder that I was shown was to write "Joy" on the palms of my hands. It's just a constant reminder that if we keep our hands open to God he will give us Joy. But don't confuse Joy with Happiness.
So yeah! my prayer for you all is that God will invade your every though so that you will always have Joy in Him.
With Love,
Grace
John 15:11
Monday, July 29, 2013
Storms
Today there was a big thunder storm and the pressure from storms always gives me a headache so I've been in pain all day and I've been snappy to everyone and I don't like beiong snappy. It made me look at myself and ask "Ok, this is a physical storm and this is how you deal with it, how the heck are you going to deal with an internal one?" so I just need to pray about that and i'd appreciate it if you guys would too!
So I learned "This Man" by Jeremy Camp and I think the chorus is really cool when it says "Would you take the nails from his hands" Because like, if we could save the creator of the universe but be persecuted ourselves... Would we? and I think we should all wrestle with that ourselves.
I worshiped to marvelous light and come thou fount.
I'm actually getting kinda tired of proverbs because it's just the same thing over and over again.
And I prayed tonight.
With Love,
Grace.
Psalm 62:1-2
So I learned "This Man" by Jeremy Camp and I think the chorus is really cool when it says "Would you take the nails from his hands" Because like, if we could save the creator of the universe but be persecuted ourselves... Would we? and I think we should all wrestle with that ourselves.
I worshiped to marvelous light and come thou fount.
I'm actually getting kinda tired of proverbs because it's just the same thing over and over again.
And I prayed tonight.
With Love,
Grace.
Psalm 62:1-2
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Walk By Faith
So, the song I learned today was "Walk By Faith" by Jeremy Camp. I really need this song right now. I'm trying to learn to be content in being single. any of you who don't know me that are reading this, I'm a Junior in highschool right now which of course means EVERYONE is dating or talking to someone and that make it pretty hard on someone who knows they don't need a significant other. I know I don't need anyone as more than a friend right now because I need to focus on God and my walk with Christ but it's a real struggle to say "Ok God! Do what you want with me and I ask for nothing/no one" Because my human nature craves attention and love but I shouldn't be seeking that attention and love in guys I should be seeking it in Christ so I need to walk by faith and know that Gods will is better than mine and that the struggles prepare His will for me and that they will form me into the person I need to be To do the work he wants me to do.
The songs I worshiped to today were Always Forever, Come Thou Fount, and Oh Praise Him.
I read through Proverbs 5 today which was pretty cool. It's about not letting unrighteousness come from your lips and I highlighted verse 5 which says "The you main maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge" So pretty much what I think that verse is saying is "Shut up and you'll never sound stupid" And that's something I need to work on because I am CONSTANTLY running my mouth to anyone who will listen and I probably come off dumb, rude, or mean most of the time so I need to work on that more.
When I prayed tonight I thanked God just as much as I requested from Him and that's kind of new for me and also, most of my requests were requests that would bring glory to Him not me or any man.
So yeah! I pray that you guys could be content in whatever situation God has put you in and that you won't only be content in it but that you would give thanks for it! If God has you in a certain situation, even if you can't feel Him, He has a reason for it.
With Love,
Grace.
Mark 2:5
The songs I worshiped to today were Always Forever, Come Thou Fount, and Oh Praise Him.
I read through Proverbs 5 today which was pretty cool. It's about not letting unrighteousness come from your lips and I highlighted verse 5 which says "The you main maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge" So pretty much what I think that verse is saying is "Shut up and you'll never sound stupid" And that's something I need to work on because I am CONSTANTLY running my mouth to anyone who will listen and I probably come off dumb, rude, or mean most of the time so I need to work on that more.
When I prayed tonight I thanked God just as much as I requested from Him and that's kind of new for me and also, most of my requests were requests that would bring glory to Him not me or any man.
So yeah! I pray that you guys could be content in whatever situation God has put you in and that you won't only be content in it but that you would give thanks for it! If God has you in a certain situation, even if you can't feel Him, He has a reason for it.
With Love,
Grace.
Mark 2:5
Saturday, July 27, 2013
From The Inside Out
So, I learned the song "From The Inside Out" by Kristian Stanfill(?) and I personally think its a pretty cool song. I mean, that's what this whole blog is about for me. Being changed by God from the inside out to have a closer relationship with Him. And it's weird. I get the being changed on the inside by spending more time with God but I actually feel better physically. Like, instead of feeling on edge most of the time I feel, content I guess? I can't put my finger on the feeling but it's really cool.
I worshiped to I'm alive, Oh Praise Him, and Beautiful Things. I actually really like that line up now that I think about it. I usually just do random songs that catch my eye but those three are really cool Together because I'm Alive and Beautiful Things are about how God has changed us and is continuing to change us and we Respond (with Oh Praise Him) in worship and awe. So I just realized that as I was typing it out!
I read through Proverbs 4 tonight. A lot of Proverbs sounds the same to me "Keep wisdom in your heart...... Do not stray from the path of wisdom..... Listen my son" On and on and on it goes so if my posts start looking the same, that's why but 2 verses that stood out to me were
4:18 "The path of righteousness is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter 'til the full light of day" I think I liked that one mostly because it's a beautiful image of growing in righteousness.
4:23-24 "Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life" I like this verse a lot because it reminds me that my heart is so important to God that He doesn't want it to get hurt so I should honor Him and guard it.
My prayer tonight was mostly for God to let His light shine through me.
My prayer for all of you is for you to ask God to transform you from the inside out.
With Love.
Grace.
Psalm 138:1
I worshiped to I'm alive, Oh Praise Him, and Beautiful Things. I actually really like that line up now that I think about it. I usually just do random songs that catch my eye but those three are really cool Together because I'm Alive and Beautiful Things are about how God has changed us and is continuing to change us and we Respond (with Oh Praise Him) in worship and awe. So I just realized that as I was typing it out!
I read through Proverbs 4 tonight. A lot of Proverbs sounds the same to me "Keep wisdom in your heart...... Do not stray from the path of wisdom..... Listen my son" On and on and on it goes so if my posts start looking the same, that's why but 2 verses that stood out to me were
4:18 "The path of righteousness is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter 'til the full light of day" I think I liked that one mostly because it's a beautiful image of growing in righteousness.
4:23-24 "Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life" I like this verse a lot because it reminds me that my heart is so important to God that He doesn't want it to get hurt so I should honor Him and guard it.
My prayer tonight was mostly for God to let His light shine through me.
My prayer for all of you is for you to ask God to transform you from the inside out.
With Love.
Grace.
Psalm 138:1
Friday, July 26, 2013
Forgiven
Sorry for being kinda late guys! but I'm just gonna count this for the 26th even though it says its the 27th because it's about 1am right now.
So the song I learned today was "Forgiven" by Sanctus Real. I think it's a really pretty and encouraging song.
When I was at camp one of my pastors started talking about dubstep. He was making fun of it and stuff and we were all laughing but then he said "We listen to dubstep, or whatever type of music works best, to drown out something, and that something is our guilt and our shame" Everyone fell silent because we were all condemned because we all do it but he went on to say "No amount of substitution for God will drown out our guilt and shame" I find that to be so true. No matter how loud your music is, no matter how long that horse back ride is, how hard you work out, how long you play with your team, how long you spend perfecting turns and tricks It will always end and we will be overtaken by our guilt and our shame again and again. BUT if we stop substituting things for God we will see His forgiveness and the blood cleansed cloak he has put around us. We will see that we are forgiven and we do not have to be guilty or ashamed ever again because of the gift that God has given us.
Sorry for taking so long to get to the point but yeah, I though it was worth it!
The songs I worshiped with today were Always Forever, Oh Praise Him, and Set a Fire.
I read through Proverbs two and three today. I almost didn't read three but I decided that since two is rather short that I should read two chapters today and I'm so glad I did. Specifically there was one verse that I really needed today and that verse is 3:6
"In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight"
Another couple verses that I really need in my life but not specifically today was 3:25-26
"Have no fear of sudden disaster or for the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared"
Now I don't want anyone to think that That verse is saying that bad thing won't happen to us. What it is saying is just that when bad things happen to us we do not have to fear because we have a savior who will hold us and keep us no matter what. The verse stood out to me because it says "Have no fear of sudden disaster..." And I have a tendency to worry about so much. I will keep myself up at night with worry and it has gotten to the point of almost a panic attack and everyone is always saying "Oh don't worry! Trust God!" Now that is wayyyyyyyyy easier said than done. So this verse is just really cool and I think I'm going to memorize this one.
My prayer today was kinda different. It was more thankful. I started thinking about the stars somehow (ADD much?) And how there are giant flaming balls of gas lightyears away from us that we call beautiful and then play connect the dots with to make pictures in the sky. Like how mental is that?? But God instilled that creativity and that love for beauty inside of us because we are created in His image and He is an extremely creative God who appreciates beauty. It's one of the many ways that we have been created in the image of God and I think it's so cool.
My prayer for all of you is that You will stop substituting other things for God and that you will come to Him and spend your time in Him so that you can see that you are washed clean.
With love,
Grace.
Proverbs 2:7-8
So the song I learned today was "Forgiven" by Sanctus Real. I think it's a really pretty and encouraging song.
When I was at camp one of my pastors started talking about dubstep. He was making fun of it and stuff and we were all laughing but then he said "We listen to dubstep, or whatever type of music works best, to drown out something, and that something is our guilt and our shame" Everyone fell silent because we were all condemned because we all do it but he went on to say "No amount of substitution for God will drown out our guilt and shame" I find that to be so true. No matter how loud your music is, no matter how long that horse back ride is, how hard you work out, how long you play with your team, how long you spend perfecting turns and tricks It will always end and we will be overtaken by our guilt and our shame again and again. BUT if we stop substituting things for God we will see His forgiveness and the blood cleansed cloak he has put around us. We will see that we are forgiven and we do not have to be guilty or ashamed ever again because of the gift that God has given us.
Sorry for taking so long to get to the point but yeah, I though it was worth it!
The songs I worshiped with today were Always Forever, Oh Praise Him, and Set a Fire.
I read through Proverbs two and three today. I almost didn't read three but I decided that since two is rather short that I should read two chapters today and I'm so glad I did. Specifically there was one verse that I really needed today and that verse is 3:6
"In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight"
Another couple verses that I really need in my life but not specifically today was 3:25-26
"Have no fear of sudden disaster or for the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared"
Now I don't want anyone to think that That verse is saying that bad thing won't happen to us. What it is saying is just that when bad things happen to us we do not have to fear because we have a savior who will hold us and keep us no matter what. The verse stood out to me because it says "Have no fear of sudden disaster..." And I have a tendency to worry about so much. I will keep myself up at night with worry and it has gotten to the point of almost a panic attack and everyone is always saying "Oh don't worry! Trust God!" Now that is wayyyyyyyyy easier said than done. So this verse is just really cool and I think I'm going to memorize this one.
My prayer today was kinda different. It was more thankful. I started thinking about the stars somehow (ADD much?) And how there are giant flaming balls of gas lightyears away from us that we call beautiful and then play connect the dots with to make pictures in the sky. Like how mental is that?? But God instilled that creativity and that love for beauty inside of us because we are created in His image and He is an extremely creative God who appreciates beauty. It's one of the many ways that we have been created in the image of God and I think it's so cool.
My prayer for all of you is that You will stop substituting other things for God and that you will come to Him and spend your time in Him so that you can see that you are washed clean.
With love,
Grace.
Proverbs 2:7-8
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Always Forever
Today was actually a really good day. I hope all of you had a good day too!
So I learned the song "Always Forever" by Phil Wickham. It's a new one to me but it's growing on me fast. It's really pretty and I love the lyrics. The lyrics pretty much just say how much we need God and how much we always will need God.
The worship songs I did today were You're Beautiful, Give Me Faith, and Set A Fire. I can't get over what a good song Set A Fire is. I Love playing it for worship just because how simple and true it is. When it says "No place I'd rather be than here in Your love" I truly mean it. Like, There is not better place than where you can feel the love of God around you. A way I've found to be able to feel God (I'll be the last to say that it's easy) Is to just stop. We're all always so busy with jobs, friends, family, commitments, and everything else but if you just stop. Turn off your phone, turn off your internet, turn off your lights, turn on some worship music and just pray and ask God to meet you there He usually will. But don't be disappointed if he doesn't. "No soul will ever grow deep in the spiritual life unless God works passively in that soul by means of the dark night"
Tonight I started Proverbs and I'm really excited about reading through Proverbs.
I prayed for you guys tonight more than usual. I hope that God works in your lives in stupendous ways
With Love,
Grace.
Proverbs 1:5
So I learned the song "Always Forever" by Phil Wickham. It's a new one to me but it's growing on me fast. It's really pretty and I love the lyrics. The lyrics pretty much just say how much we need God and how much we always will need God.
The worship songs I did today were You're Beautiful, Give Me Faith, and Set A Fire. I can't get over what a good song Set A Fire is. I Love playing it for worship just because how simple and true it is. When it says "No place I'd rather be than here in Your love" I truly mean it. Like, There is not better place than where you can feel the love of God around you. A way I've found to be able to feel God (I'll be the last to say that it's easy) Is to just stop. We're all always so busy with jobs, friends, family, commitments, and everything else but if you just stop. Turn off your phone, turn off your internet, turn off your lights, turn on some worship music and just pray and ask God to meet you there He usually will. But don't be disappointed if he doesn't. "No soul will ever grow deep in the spiritual life unless God works passively in that soul by means of the dark night"
Tonight I started Proverbs and I'm really excited about reading through Proverbs.
I prayed for you guys tonight more than usual. I hope that God works in your lives in stupendous ways
With Love,
Grace.
Proverbs 1:5
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