To Know You More [11/26/13]

Heavenly Father, 

I want to know you more. I want to discover more of you - more of your character - that I may truly mean it when I say "I love you, Lord." I desire to fall deeply in love with you. I desire for you to be on my mind all day long, I wish to seek you in every waking moment and dream of you as I sleep. Reveal to me your character; help me get to know you! Father, show me who you are through scripture, through testimonies, through nature, through all of your creations. Show me, so that I can fall more and more in love with you with every passing day. 

In Your name, 

Amen. 

For the past couple of months, this has been my prayer. I want to know him more and more because as I do, I believe I will fall deeper in love with him and he will continue to surpass the limited human expectations I have placed on him. As I have been praying this prayer, he has truly been revealing himself to me. He has revealed many of his characteristics that I had previously heard of, but had not really known or understood.

Most recently, God revealed more of himself to me through the book of Deuteronomy. Specifically, through chapters 28 and 30 when Moses knows he is soon to be taken by the Lord and he speaks to the Israelites the commandments, blessings and curses. I encourage you to read them now :)

In chapter 28, what God showed me was his wrath against sin. Moses is speaking of what happens when the commands are obeyed and when they are disobeyed. First, the blessings are spoken of in the first 14 verses. But then, the curses are described from verse 15 to verse 68. The heavy emphasis of what happens to those who disobey the Lord stirred up a new fear in me as I sat in my bed reading. The wrath of God follows sin/the sinner everywhere it goes. Wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever you desire. Anything you take pleasure in or find joy in, will be taken away. As I read line after line, there was only one thought in my head: God hates sin. This passage is when the fear of the Lord began to make much more sense to me. But we'll get back to that later.

Now. Jumping to Deuteronomy 30, I found hope, and another characteristic of the Lord! Two chapters ago, Moses had been describing the blessings that will be given to those who obey, and the curses that fall open those who don't. But in chapter 30, he begins to describe what happens to those who return to the Lord!

Deuteronomy 30:1-4

And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse,

which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among

all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 

and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey

his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart 

and all your soul,

then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you,

and he will gather you again from all the peoples where

the Lord your God has scattered you.

If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven,

from there the Lord your God will gather you, and 

from there he will take you. 

Our God is a compassionate, forgiving and gracious God! For even those who have gone to the lowest of lows, who have strayed the furthest and who have hid the longest have still not gone low enough, far enough, or long enough to be out of God's reach. If, and when, we choose to return to the Lord, he receives us! He does not reject us and leave us, but accepts us and guides us back to the right path. For in verse 6 it says, "and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live."

He himself guides us because he desires for us to turn back to him. He desires for us to love him and trust in him! This desire is shown in verse 14 when it says, "But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it." This very verse is later quoted by Paul in Romans 10:8, but in it he weaves in the gift of the new covenant: Jesus Christ. If we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, then we are saved! Just as Moses and Paul say, to be saved is not an impossible feat. In fact, God has made it very achievable for us because he loves us. He is such a merciful God.

He revealed so much of himself to me through these passages, and as I continued to research and seek, there was more that he revealed. The next thing he helped me to better understand was what it means to fear the Lord. This fear was explained through a sermon I was listening to that described it in a way that made it much clearer!

I'm going to paint a picture for you, so imagine it with me :)

You have some well-earned vacation time and you've gone on a trip to see Niagara Falls. It's your first time going and you're very, very excited as you have heard so much about it but never had the opportunity to witness the majestic beauty with your own two eyes. As you approach the waterfalls you can hear the water crashing down and you can't wait anymore, so you run to the railing! You stand on that little cement block the railing is built on and you lean slightly over the railing to get a better view of the breathtaking waterfalls. But suddenly, since you were so caught up in the moment, you realize you've leaned a little too far. You feel yourself losing balance and you know you're about to fall in. That's when the thought, "I'm about to die," jumps into your head. (If you've ever had a near-death incident, you know what I'm talking about.) But as soon as the thought crosses your mind, somebody grabs you and brings you back to safety. You grab on to them, but you haven't forgotten the sound of the crashing water, the feel of the cool wind on your face, the distance from the railing to the water. Your legs are still trembling and you still feel the fear from what almost happened even though you know you're safe. You grab onto the person who saved you and you never want to let them go.

This is what fearing the Lord is like. As sinners, we were destined for the wrath of God (remember the anger God has towards sin in Deuteronomy 28) - a life of misery and separation from the creator. But the Lord loves us and because of this love, he gave us the choice to choose life over death by accepting and believing in Jesus Christ. This is a gift that I have taken for granted... One that I want to appreciate more, and that has been another one of my prayers. I pray that God will allow me to realize what he saved me from! I believe that as I begin to see and realize what I was rescued from, I will love the Lord my God more and more.

Day by day, I learn more about the one who rescued me. I'm continuously learning and I'm excited to share with you what I'm learning :) Let's share together as we learn more and more about our creator! Don't be afraid to comment, message me, talk to me in person, or whatever method of communication you prefer.

Thanks for reading!

-kjoosaurus out!

Where is the center of your life? [06/16/13]

Dear friends,

I hope you have all been well! And happy Father's day to all the wonderful fathers out there! I'm a little sad to be separated from my own father on this special day, but thank the Lord for technology! I could talk to him on the phone all day if I wanted! (More like if he wanted... which he doesn't.) But that is okay! I hope you all have an amazing day today filled with very special time with your families :)

Today, I would like to share with you a couple of verses that have been speaking to me in the past couple of days. You see, I'm preparing to go to Haiti in August and as we train together as a team, we are supposed to memorize a whole pile of bible verses, which is an excellent idea, but I have a very unfortunate memory. I've memorized next to nothing and no matter how hard I try, it just won't stick! But they've still been speaking to me. :)

Romans 12:1
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your act of spiritual worship."

Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

The life I had previously lived had been a Kristen-centered life. What was the purpose of my life? Earn money, buy a car, buy a house, buy clothes, buy food, be popular, be funny, be "loved," be famous, be fit... and the list goes on and on. These are the only things I wanted in life and I worked hard for them. I earned a lot of money in high school and I was able to buy many different objects, but I got bored of every single one of them. I also had many friends in high school, but I was never satisfied. I wanted more. I wanted them to love me the MOST. I wanted to be everybody's best friend.

I was, and still am, very sinful. My heart was so full of sin and pride... But at the time, I didn't realize the extent of it. Even now, I am still realizing every day exactly how sinful I really am, and it makes me all the more thankful for the mercy God poured out onto us. Have you ever thought about it? Have you ever realized how merciful our God truly is?

In Romans, Paul is urging us, but not telling us, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God. He is exhorting us to offer our lives to God. I was reading a commentary on this verse and it was explaining how the greek word for spiritual is logikos. But derived from logikos is also the English word logical - which is normally associated with the mind. The definition is a little confusing, but it makes sense when you put it into context. When it says "this is your spiritual act of worship," it makes sense for the word logikos to be inserted there. For it should be logical that since God has shown us mercy, we would offer our bodies as living sacrifices to him! He has freed us from our old masters... So now that we are free, why would we continue to serve our old masters?

Just as Galatians says, we have been given this new life to live where Christ lives in us! We are now in union with Christ - both actively and passively. Further on in Galatians (5:13-6:10), it speaks of both walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit. It is not only one or only the other, but it is both. Christ now lives in us, but we now also live by faith in the Son of God!

Amen to that! We have been freed from our old masters and are now able to serve our merciful God with our lives. We are able to walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit! I am truly so grateful that God has allowed my eyes to be opened to his great works. Every single time I heard the truth of how a God sent his one and only son to die on a cross for an undeserving human... I feel nothing but overwhelming thankfulness in my heart and the desire to give everything I am to my creator. How blessed are we, dear friends, to be able to serve such a wonderful God. I don't want to sit around and live for myself anymore!

Brothers and sisters, may we learn to love like our creator! May we learn to die to ourselves every single day and live for God! May we learn to love one another selflessly!

Much love. :)

-kjoosaurus out!