#Just1 Challenge: Day 5

Notes I’m given:

God is mighty, yet gentle. With his love, He calms our fears. He lives among us, delights in us, and sings over us.

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

– Zepheniah 3:17

My own notes:

I love to be loved. I want to be loved. I want people to like me. I want a family who will smile together and rejoice with each other. I want friends who will want to be around me and have fun with me. I want a church that cares about me and will love on me through thick and thin. I want a husband that will love me, be patient with me, and lead me.

Chances are that you want the same thing. 

You want to be loved.

As I said yesterday, don’t go looking for that love in the world. It may feel satisfying now, but it will just make you want more and more.

Crave the love from God. His love is mighty and gentle. With his love, you won’t have to fear anything. He will delight in you and sing to you.

Sounds perfect, right?

When you accept Gods love, it’s so overwhelming. It’s calm. Peaceful. It makes you want to sit and just be with God and be enveloped in his love all day, every day. It’s perfect.

So if you know that, why would you give your heart away to anyone or anything else?

Me, like most other girls, dream about my future husband. I do it often, without even realizing it. But what always sticks in my head is a quote by Maya Angelou that says this-

“A girls heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.”

Ever since I first read that quote, I’ve loved it. It makes me crave Gods love even more. I constantly try to prepare my heart for my future husband, guarding it now from anything less then what God wants for me. I pray for my future husband often. I e listened to sermons about it (shoutout to Zach for his super awesome lesson on love this past Wednesday). I read 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. I do all these things to prepare myself and my heart.

But, if I don’t strengthen my relationship with God now, if I don’t find his love and get so lost in it, what is the purpose of all my preparations?

No matter who I end up with, no one can give me the unconditional love that God can. Not a soul on this earth could ever love me like God.

So I challenge you to think about this-

Why should I settle for any love lesser then Gods? Am I willing to put in the effort for God and his love? Where am I craving love from, God or the world?

-Lilian-

#Just1 Challenge: Day 4

Notes I’m given:

Before you even realized that you needed him, God showed his GREAT love for you, by His Son to die for you.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8

My own notes:

Okay, so I just realized that I mixed up the Bible verses for day 2 and today. Oops. Sorry! I guess I will just write more about this verse.

I have to say, the more I’m reading Romans 5, the more I’m liking it. This chapter is just growing on me.

So in the notes above, a lot of emphasis is put on GREAT. It’s trying to say that Gods love is so strong for you. He gave up his only son for YOU. In my opinion, I love to be loved. I think everyone does. It’s part of our humanity. We all have a craving for love. But you have to be craving the right type of love.

You could crave worldly love. You crave attention. Fame. Popularity. Riches. Power. You want everyone to like you. You want to be worshipped. You bele be you are better then everyone around you. Let me tell you, worldly love feels good. You don’t have to worry about giving away your life to anyone. You can just relax, kick back, and enjoy your life. No strings attached. Or maybe there are a few… 

Once you get so far in worldly love, it envelops you. It becomes an addiction. You suddenly need more and more attention to satisfy this hunger in your soul and this hole in your heart. Thankfully, there is a way out, no matter how hard.

That’s where Gods love comes in. The healing, powerful, beautiful love. The love that never leaves you. The love taht won’t judge you because of your mistakes. The love that you can only get from one person. God.

And the best part is that Gods love is free. All you have to do is surrender your life over to Him. And I’ll tell you, He will use you and your heart for big things. Unimginable things. Extraordinary things. And all you have to do is leave the worldy love behind. Switch to Gods love. It won’t be easy, but it’s oh so worth it.

-Lilian-

#Just1 Challenge: Day 3

Notes I’m given-

No matter what we’ve done, God is so rich in mercy, because He loves us so much. That’s grace!

Ephesians 2:4-5 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 

My own notes-

You are a sinner. You mess up. You aren’t perfect. Guess what? Neither am I. No one on this earth is perfect, even if they claim to be. We all sin and make mistakes. But God has forgiven all of them.

Yesterday I talked about how Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so that we could now have hope in this world knowing their is someone who loves us, despite all our imperfections. Today, less talk about mercy and grace.

You know I’m all about that grace.

So when you were a kid, and maybe you messed up. You did something you weren’t supposed to. Let’s say you pushed down your siblin and your mom caught you doing it. You feel guilty about it, so you apologize to your mom and your sibling. They both say they forgive you. Wouldn’t that make you feel better? Knowing that even though you made a few mess ups, they still forgave you and loved you?

Now say your older. I’m sure you’ve made a lot of mistakes in life. And with all that sin, you don’t think God could ever love you and forgive you.

That’s where your wrong.

He forgave you even before you sinned, before you were even born. He has loved you since before time! And no matter how many despicable things you’ve done in your life, God is still there for you. He still loves you and won’t EVER give up on you. 

Doesn’t that feel good?

In my 15 years of life, I’ve experienced the mountains. I’ve felt like I’m standing on top of the world and nothing can stop me now. I’ve also experienced the valleys. I’ve felt like I’ve sunk so low I couldn’t ever get back up.

But I’ve learned from experience that you are never too far from God, no matter how you feel. I doubted God and I was mad at God and I practically gave up on God, thinking He had abandoned me. 

Well guess what?

He was there all this time.

So just remember. Remember that God still loves you. Your never too far that he can’t reach you. 

-Lilian-

#Just1 Challenge: Day 2

Notes I’m given:

Nothing can ever seperate us from God’s love… Not fears or worries about today or tomorrow- not even the powers of hell.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

-Romans 5:8

My own notes:

The first thing I did is read more around this verse to get an idea of what is being said. Read this-

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:6-8

Okay, so this was on point for today. It’s truth is just radiating through me. Now, someone might die to save someone they love. They would sacrifice their own self for someone else. I’ve thought about it before. I would if I could. You see it in movies all the time. Someone else jumps in front of the other person to save them. But you don’t normally see someone jumping in front of the bad guy to save him.
 
So why would Jesus (metaphorically) jump in front of the bullet to save us sinners?

Same answer as yesterday.

Because he loves us.

He demonstrated his own power and showed his love by dying on that cross and enduring all that suffering and pain, so that we wouldn’t have to.  Because of His love, now I’m not lonely and afraid. I’m nit wandering around in a pointless life. I’m loved.

I had someone die for me.
Because I’m worth dying for.

So you see. Christ already died for you.

Your sins?
Forgiven.
Your life?
It has purpose.

You are free to go out and live your life for Christ. Your not perfect and your not expected to be. Your just forgiven. Loved. Wanted. Admired. 

So go. Live your life for the One who gave it to you.

-Lilian-

#Just1 Challenge: Day 1

The notes I’m given-

Only God can teach us about real love.
John 3:16
For this is HOW God loved the world: He gave his one and only son for us.

My own notes-

It makes me think of how much God sacrificed. He knew his son would endure torture and hatred and eventually die a painful death. But he sent his son to endure that, knowing, in the end, it would save us.

And me? I’m giving up excessive social media for 40 days. I am not giving up my only child to live a horribly hard life. All I’m giving up is less selfies and status updates and more growth in my Spiritual relationship and my friendships.

But, knowing the outcome, God did it for us. He gave it all for the people who lie, cheat, steal, murder, covet, and deceive. The people who yelled for Jesus to be put on that cross.

Why did he do it?

Because he loves us.

Because of him, I have hope in my life. I have a purpose. I am never lonely. I am loved. I have someone who will love me, no matter how many despicable mistakes I’ve made.

Wow.
Talk about a perspective change.

Thinking about this makes my excessive social media fast endurable. It gives me courage to know that I don’t need to take a selfie (even if my hair is on fleek). I don’t need to post a status update (even if I want to “complain”, when I’m really vying for attention). I don’t need to post that picture of my food (even if it tastes really good). I don’t need to send that tweet (even if it is quite clever). Because for these next 40 days, my attention isn’t going to be on how many likes I get on Instagram. My attention is going to be focused on God. On my spiritual life. On my family. On my friendships. On my future. Anywhere but on snapchat.

-Lilian-

I Wanna Know You Like That

So today I was thinking about giving your all to God and what that really means. So I stumbled upon a verse, Matthew 6:24. It says: “No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.” It got me thinking, and reminded me of a song lyric from one of my favorite bands, Anthem Lights. Their song, “I Wanna Know You Like That”, says: “With every breath I breathe I wanna help others see And I will never stop Until everybody’s singing I wanna know You like that To live, to love” I think that’s a great example of living a life for God. It’s kinda saying that we won’t stop teaching about God until everybody knows. And I want to do that. I strive to do that. I love God so much that I won’t stop sharing about Him until everybody wants to know Him too. We need to strive to know God better and better. Because when we give our lives and out heart to Him, He will make a change in us that people will notice and they will want what we have. So as Matthew 6:24 says, you can’t serve to masters. Either God is gonna rule your life, or the world is. You can’t have both, it’s impossible. We all need God as our master. The world may please for a short amount of time, but eventually it will run out. God is the only master that will stay loyal and faithful and will love you until the end. It’s your choice. Who are you gonna let rule your world today?

Who Can Stand Against Us?

This evening I was sitting around listening to some worship music on my spotify. On came the song ‘Our God’ by Chris Tomlin. It has always been a worship song I liked. But my favorite part of it has always been the bridge. It goes like this: “And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?” So as I was listening to this song tonight, I really started thinking about that part of the song. So I looked online and I found the Bible verse to support it. It’s found in Romans 8:31, saying: “What then are we to say about these things?If God is for us, who is against us?”

Before this verse, it talks about how everything works out for the good of those who love God. I always would believe that everything happened for a reason. As a kid I would tell myself that all the time. But then in November, my dad passed away suddenly. Wow. Ever since then, I kinda stopped telling myself that. I questioned God at times, I would just say “Why me, God? My dad was a pastor! He preached your word. And we were a good Christian family! Why take someone like that away?” And sometimes, I still think that. I just don’t understand.

But as I have started thinking about Romans 8:31, it’s starting to dawn on me more and more about how their is some reason this all happened. And this reason is probably bigger and better then what I would have gotten when my dad was alive. Like so much has changed. It introduced me to some people I never knew. TobyMac wanted to meet me. I moved to Florida. It made me and a friends friendship totally blossom into something I never would have had. I can list off thing after thing that has happened that I never would have experienced.

So, I still don’t know exactly why God took my dad. I may never know until I get to Heaven myself. But I think very very slowly, God is taking away some of the hurt, and replacing it with some understanding that this is all gonna work out. Something is going to come out of this that will impact my life, and maybe others lives too.

So I am going to try to remind myself that If God is for me, no one can stop me or stand against the power of God in me. It really is true.