Why Do I Do It?

Why do I share the goodness of God on this blog? That is a question that I have tried to answer for myself, but I never felt fulfilled with my answer. I may find it hard to answer with my own words, but 1 Chronicles 16:23-27 says it (perfectly) for me.

Sing to God, everyone and everything!

Get out his salvation news everyday!

Publish his glory among the godless nations,

his wonders to all races and religions.

And why? Because God is great-well worth praising!

No god or goddess comes close in honor.

All the popular gods are stuff and nonsense,

but God made the cosmos!

Splendor and majesty flow out of him, strength and joy fill his place.

1 CHRONICLES 16:23-27 (MSG)

That is why I follow my strong desire to write about God and His goodness. Do I ever fear that I have it all wrong and this isn’t my calling at all? Yes, I’m afraid of that! Fear is a part of living.

God says do not fear, so I might be crazy for jumping off this cliff, due to a feeling, but the way I see it. . . Is that wouldn’t it be even crazier to sit here quietly when it feels as if God is trying to tell me something? Not a single soul could read my blog and yet here I am, typing anyway when He lays something on my heart.

Why? Because I know that it’s a possibility that someone could stumble across one of my posts and it may just help them. I wish that I would’ve stumbled across something like my blog when I was trying to wiggle out of the sharing God’s word. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, it was simply because I was scared that it would keep me from having the life I wanted. Now I look back and think of how foolish that philosophy was. Following a path that the Lord desires for you to walk down leads ro the greatest of destination. Sometimes we become blinded of that due to the grasp fear has on us or more so—the grasp we have on fear.

God doesn’t steer us the wrong way. He knows our true desires when we don’t even know yet. God is the one who knows the future, not me. If He says to do something, I want to jump, not hide. I couldn’t encourage you enough to do the same.

Let’s Pray!

Good morning! Last month, my church, started a new series called, “Teach Us to Pray”. It was full of amazing and encouaging messages. The video is an hour and thirty minutes long, but I highly encouage you to watch it! (You can skip the singing parts.)

It is focused on putting a much clearer perspective on praying to God as your father. I honestly didn’t realize how big of a deal this is. It can really put you in the mood for praying. It actually made me excited to pray! Perfect for if you want to know why it’s important for you to see God as your dad, you want to know more about being God’s child, or you simply weren’t able to make it to church on Sunday. If you decide to give it a listen, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

https://youtu.be/-0y7n9961X4

Mourning Turned Into Dancing

Psalm 30:11-12

You have turned my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

I ran upon this verse quite some time back. It gives me a happy feeling that makes me feel like smiling. When I first found this verse, I was feeling pretty mournful, but this verse gave me hope and I was able to see that God would help me. Everybody experiences their times of mourning or times of no hope. When I have my times, this verse gives me hope all over again. Overall, it’s a hopeful verse.

An important thing that you need to know about this verse, which can easily be skipped over is the part about the sackcloth. What is a sackcloth? A sackcloth used to be a very rough and coarse material people would use in the bible times. It was often made out of black goat’s hair, which is very rough and I would say itchy as well. Mourners, also ones showing repentance, would wear these things called a sackcloth. You can only imagine how unpleasant that would feel rubbing against you. The reason I say that this is important to know is because you can really see how much it meant when they said this. It’s no longer just a sackcloth, it also represents that God can take your burdens off of your shoulders. If you think about it that way, the verse has much more value than just what is written down. It’s not just someone saying it lightly and that is going to be going back and mourning the very next day. They are rejoicing and giving God praise for putting off their burdens.

Do Not Worry

There are so many awesome verses in the book of Matthew! Today, I wanted to share this particular passage with you. I’m going to be flat-out honest, I am a huge worrier. There are so many worrisome questions that I ask… Is this good enough? Did I say the right thing? What if…? I think you get my point. I should really just stop worrying and start trusting God more.

(The sections in bold, are parts that stood out to me)

Matthew 6:25-34

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

You see why I love this right? These verses have such a powerful meaning and lesson behind them! I could go on to preach about not worrying, but I have this problem of my own. All I can say, is this…

We all worry, some more than others, but worry gets in the way of the joy that God is trying to bless us with. I know this, because I have felt this. When I get so overwhelmed by this parasite called worry, my happiness level drops way down and then I start feeling very anxious. When I go a day without worrying, I feel so much better.

I hope that these verses can give you a little bit of encouragement, just like it did for me. 🙂