"You are a priority to Me."

I was walking tonight and I was praying while I was walking and God put this on my heart.

“You are a priority to me.”

When you are praying you aren’t waiting in a long line to get God’s attention, He is always listening to you. When you open your mouth and speak He hears you, when you step out in faith He sees you when you cry He counts every tear. I love the scripture, “…for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deut 31:6)

God is concerned about all that you do, from the small to the big things in life, He cares. If we weren’t a priority to Him He would never have given humanity a million chances to be the people He created us to be. He sent Jesus to take the punishment that was meant for you and me. Back at the garden of Eden He could have been like, “peace out fools, you’re on your own!” (God talks to me like that in case you were wondering). But He didn’t. He made them a promise that there would be one to save humanity, and He sent His own son. Personally, if you have kids try to imagine doing that. Tell one of your kids that they are going to be beaten until they were no longer recognizable, spit on, ridiculed, abandoned by those closest to them, rejected, then hung on a cross for a crime they didn’t commit. I couldn’t do that, sorry we would all would be going to hell if it was in my hands…But God didn’t do that and neither did Jesus, He said, “not my wil,l but yours be done.” You were a priority to Jesus. He died so you could live eternally in the presence of God.

Side note: I have always wanted to know what it would be like to walk on a street of gold, and do we need to walk or can we tella-port places and fly? I can’t wait to find out.

If you think that you have been forgotten about, you haven’t. You are a priority to God. Hang in there, your answer is on its way.  

Priorities

New week, new topic.

May I take a quick moment to remind those of you reading this, I talk about JESUS and the BIBLE if you are going to get offended stop reading it immediately.  I am not “preaching” at you, you are choosing to read this, just a friendly reminder J

With that being said, I appreciate those of you that are growing and learning something new from my posts, that has been my prayer this whole time.

This week I want us to focus on priorities. Our society pushes their agenda on our lives and we ignorantly follow what they tell us. We need to more aware of where all of our time is going and what we are investing that precious time into.  Are you caught up in drama? That wastes our time talking about it AND thinking about it. What could you be doing that is worth something instead of getting caught up in other people’s issues you have no business getting involved in? Are you wasting your valuable time in relationships that are toxic and draining? It is really hard to walk away from friendships that are unhealthy but would you rather walk away now or look back five years from now and regret all of the time you invested that amounted to nothing but pain?

How about your money? I know people get really defensive about their spending. But you will invest your money into what you value and what you value is a priority to you. Do you save? Do you give to the needy? Do you tithe? Do you use wisdom in your purchases? Do you spend more than you make? The way you answer these questions will show you what you value. Will expensive clothes make you a better person? Or better yet, can you take them with you when you die? “Life is easier when you have a lot of money.” Is it? Do you know who your real friends are when you are wealthy? Would they be there when you aren’t wealthy?

You know what's in a persons heart when you see what they value. What do people see about your heart? Are you shallow? Are you selfish? Or, are you generous and kind? Remember, God examines the heart.

I have been taught that God always comes first, your husband second, children third, everything else comes last. So, why your husband before your kids? Well, when your kids grow up and leave the house, who are you going to be living with? Your husbad. It would be wisdom to make sure you always keep that relationship healthy because you don’t want to wake up in 20 years and wonder who this person is laying next to you. Not only that, your relationship is a living example to your kids about how to conduct themselves in a marriage. If you have kids, and you are married, what are they learning by watching you and your spouse? You have to make time for your spouse, they even come before you. It’s not easy and at times I don’t like it, but you have to remain selfless.

Do your friends take the front seat in your life? Be careful who you surround yourself with, you are who you hang with. Trust me, I learned this one the hard way.

If you have woken up and not liked the life that you are living, ask yourself why? Don’t put the blame on others, a lot of how your life is going, is a choice that you have made. Granted there are things that other people are responsible for but you are responsible for how you deal with it and overcome.

I urge you to get your life balanced with what’s really important. It’s never too late to make changes, it may not be easy but it’s never too late. (p.s. if you are unhappy in your marriage I am NOT suggesting divorce…that should never be the first solution to problems in your marriage).

This weeks “assignment”

1.       Remember that prayer thing? Yeah that should be a priority. So continue prayer every day but take make three of those days 10 minutes instead of 5.

2.       Make a list of your priorities, and be honest with yourself.

3.       If those priorities are out of order, make some goals to correct them (a handy tool would be to ask God how to correct them)

Here comes Peter Cotton tail...

Easter is not over yet, I still have about 1 hour to try and say something witty and profound before this topic will have to wait until 2013. You are welcome in advance!

So Easter has always been a holiday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. But over time people got all offended at the name of Jesus and tried to take Him out of His own holiday…I was told by a friend that somewhere in the Northwest there is a school district that won’t call Easter eggs “Easter eggs” you have to call them “Spring spheres.” Yes, you read that correctly. So my question to them is, “does the word “egg” offend you too?” And the whole egg thing is weird enough, I would like to know who the person was who thought Eggs go perfectly with Jesus raising from the dead…..any thoughts on that?

Let’s go back to this week’s topic about choices. The greatest choice that was ever made was Jesus choosing to go through with the crucifixion for humanity. You see Jesus was 100% man AND 100% God, so He didn’t HAVE to go through with the crucifixion, He could have called in an army of angels to stop it at anytime but He said, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (Luke 22:42). What Jesus was about to go through was not a foreign thing, it was a common practice for the Romans to crucify the guilty, where they would either tie or nail them to the cross until they died, which would take days. This was in practice from the 6^th century BC to the 4^th century AD. He knew what was awaiting Him, and it would be painful, BUT He still made the choice to go through with it. Romans 5:8 says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

So the purpose of Jesus dying for us was to present a perfect sacrifice to God that was blameless but took on our iniquities and transgressions and God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus on the Cross that was meant for you and me, so that we could have an unhindered relationship with Him and to make it easy for us to get to heaven…but here is the “catch.” Jesus says, “I am the way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)So what He is saying here is, you can’t get to heaven through Buddha, Muhammad, a tree, by being a “good person” or any other “god” out there. Only through Jesus. Which some think is dumb, “if I’m a good person I will go to heaven.” FALSE. Don’t be so sure that your definition of “good” meets the standards of God’s definition of good. God is perfect, and His standards are so high that you will NEVER be able to reach them…but there is one person who could, and He stood in your place and took your judgment and is now the way that you can get to heaven with your imperfections and mistakes and sins. His blood has washed YOU as white as snow.

How does one get to Jesus? Well, contrary to popular belief you can’t just say, “ok I believe in Jesus now where is my mansion?” You have to, “declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9).  Pay close attention to that part, believe in your heart. God knows if the words you are saying have no depth to them, those words need to come from the faith in your heart that Jesus is Lord and then declare it with your mouth.

Ask yourself this question, have I ever declared Jesus as my Lord because I was scared of hell but didn’t really know what I was saying? Did I believe in my heart before I declared it?

If you answered yes to either one do yourself a favor and examine your heart. Do you really believe that Jesus is your savior?

Maybe too many people are saying it without believing it, and that is why there are so many fake, lukewarm Christians out there giving Jesus a bad name. Food for thought. Don’t be that guy…

There aren’t fancy magical words that need to be said in a sentence, just say what is in your heart. For example, “Jesus, I believe that you died for me, I believe that you were raised on the third day and conquered death, for me. I believe that you love me more than you loved your own life and you died so that I can easily spend eternity in your beautiful presence. Work through me to be the person that YOU created me to be, teach me, guide me and give me wisdom in all that I do. Thank you for loving me enough to die for me and to wash away all of my sins.”

Now please don’t just think of Him on Easter and Christmas because He is worth so much more than a holiday, He is worth it to be your lifestyle. Choose to live your life for Him.

Now I will leave you with a song that is awesome...Happy Easter...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-bUZj1bkoE

Lets take a journey into history....

Keeping in the theme of choices this week, I want to talk about people who have made good and bad choices in the past and the outcome of those choices.

I think the epic FAIL of choices would have to go to Adam and Eve, choosing to eat the apple and disobey Gods command. Because of that choice humanity was cursed. Death, disease, pain, sorrow, hard labor and so many more things were introduced into the human race after that decision. If you want to read it in depth you can find that story in Genesis 3:1-25.

How about Noah? I think his good choice to be obedient to God and built the ark saved humanity. Thank you Noah, but I’m still wondering why the Unicorns didn’t get the memo….

Abraham….he makes the list of good and bad choices. Bad choice: After being told by God that he would have a child and be the father of many nations, him and Sarah got a little impatient. After years of not having any luck Sarah decides that she would give Abraham her servant to marry so that she could have the child…..enter Ishmael, the NOT chosen child. Can anyone tell me what religion stems from the lineage of Ishmael? I’ll tell you it ISN’T Christianity. Good choice, FINALLY they have Isaac, the chosen child, but God tells Abraham to sacrifice him….Wait, what???? Yup, that’s right Abraham, here is your promised child, now go to that mountain and sacrifice him to me….(I would probably have failed this test). Abraham was obedient, went to the mountain, laid Isaac on the alter, raised his hand to kill him then God say, “Abraham STOP.” At this point is God bipolar? No, not at all. The purpose of this test was to see if Abraham would be obedient to anything God commanded of him, and he passed. Because of his obedience God sacrificed HIS son instead…thousands of years later, except that sacrifice would change eternity.

There are a ton of people to choose from, who can you think of that goes on the list for a good or bad choice in history and why? Please post your answer so we can all learn something new J

Choices, choices, choices...

From big to small we make choices every day. What we fail to realize is that a lot of times choices determine the outcome of our day and sometimes events that will occur at a later date. We can choose what to eat, when to wake up, what to wear, what job to do, how many kids to have, who we marry and list goes on and on. Stop for a moment and reflect on the choices that you made today……

Now, have you ever considered the “bigger” things that are also choices? For example, it’s a choice to respond to someone out of anger, it’s a choice to love (love is a choice, not a feeling you can fall into or out of), it’s a choice to respect someone, it’s a choice to get offended and YOU choose where you will spend eternity….

Having a relationship with God is probably the biggest choice, and the biggest and most important choice that you will ever make. Here is the great thing about having a relationship with God, when you go to Him about choices that you need to make, He will never lead you down the wrong path. A side note, if God gives you an answer to a choice that doesn’t “feel good,” that doesn’t make it the wrong choice. It’s the truth that will set you free (John 8:32), not what feels good.

So, let’s say that you are new to the whole prayer thing, or maybe you don’t pray at all. One of the most common questions I get is, “How do I know it’s the voice of God and not the voice in my head?” A very valid and a very good question. When a person seeks the answer to this question they genuinely want to hear the voice of God.  Ok, so my answer is this; it takes practice. His voice is not this booming sound from the sky that many are expecting, it’s a still small voice that comes from within you (1 Kings 19:11-12). The voice of God is gentle, not condemning. He’s not going to send a lightning bolt down from heaven to smite you. Although at times He will bring correction for a behavior or a CHOICE that you made but God never condemns, if you are hear the voice of condemnation, it’s not God (Romans 8:34)(John 8:10-11). And most of all, when you hear the voice of God, you will have peace (Phillipians 4:7).

Ok, now that we have established all of that I would like you to reflect again on choices that you have made without direction from God….how did it turn out for you? What decisions have you made with the counsel of God…how did those turn out?  

What would happen if we stop letting others make decisions for us and let God make them? What would your life look like? Since I have started to follow God (and yes, I still make mistakes and God brings correction), I am happy, I love my life, I am grateful, I am challenged daily, I have awesome friends, I have more fun now than I did when I was drinking excessively and partying….maybe because I can remember what I actually did the next day….my life is not boring at all. Just because I am a Christian does not make me weird or boring.

This blog is about growing and overcoming, so, I want to leave you with some challenges for the rest of the week:

1.       Every day this week pray for 5 minutes. Begin that prayer with thanking God for something. If it’s hard to find something to be grateful for just remember you are alive…that’s a gift. Do not spend that entire 5 minutes praying for yourself and the things you need, try praying for others…practice hearing the voice of God.

2.       If you are in the habit of making the same bad choice over and over, try CHOOSING not to. It may take biting your lip, it may take humility if you are a know-it-all, it may take not being around a group of people you are around when you make the same bad choice over and over.

3.       If you do “slip up” write it down and write down what you were feeling when you made the wrong choice. If you made the “right choice” write that down too and how you felt when you did.

4.       Try looking up the scriptures that I used in this blog and memorize one.

PS, If you aren’t sure or confident about where you will spend eternity, send me a personal message and I can hook you up J I know this really great Guy who loves EVERYBODY and can get you to heaven.

  

“Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to “- John Maxwell

“The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up.”- John Maxwell

Intro to this blog

WARNING: If the words Jesus or God offend you this in NOT the blog for you.

I hope that you will read the posts with an open mind, I am NOT perfect nor will I EVER be, that is where God's grace comes into play. I have been married for 8 years and I'm doing my best to become the person God has created me to be and not what society tells me to be. My life revolves around God and my relationship with Him. I wanted to do something to pass along the lessons that I have learned. I am all for learning from other people's mistakes and I have made plenty of my own mistakes, so I hope the things that I post inspire you to be the person that God created you to be, to give you the strength to go one more day.

I would also like to post lessons that others have learned, so if there is something that you would like to share with others (encouraging and full of hope) please send it to me in a private message and I will post it for you :)