"Defeat evil by doing good."

Love, love, love.
"Give more honor to each other than you give yourself."
Try to outdo each other in blessing each other! I love Christmas :)


I will write on how this effects me later. Keep checking in!

Romans 12
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Give Your Lives to God 

¹ So I beg you, brothers and sisters, because of the great mercy God has shown us, offer your lives ^[a] as a living sacrifice to him—an offering that is only for God and pleasing to him. Considering what he has done, it is only right that you should worship him in this way. ² Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect. ³ God has given me a special gift, and that is why I have something to say to each one of you. Don’t think that you are better than you really are. You must see yourself just as you are. Decide what you are by the faith God has given each of us. ⁴ Each one of us has one body, and that body has many parts. These parts don’t all do the same thing. ⁵ In the same way, we are many people, but in Christ we are all one body. We are the parts of that body, and each part belongs to all the others.

 ⁶ We all have different gifts. Each gift came because of the grace God gave us. Whoever has the gift of prophecy should use that gift in a way that fits the kind of faith they have. ⁷ Whoever has the gift of serving should serve. Whoever has the gift of teaching should teach. ⁸ Whoever has the gift of comforting others should do that. Whoever has the gift of giving to help others should give generously. Whoever has the gift of leading should work hard at it. Whoever has the gift of showing kindness to others should do it gladly.

 ⁹ Your love must be real. Hate what is evil. Do only what is good. ¹⁰ Love each other in a way that makes you feel close like brothers and sisters. And give each other more honor than you give yourself. ¹¹ As you serve the Lord, work hard and don’t be lazy. Be excited about serving him! ¹² Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time. ¹³ Share with God’s people who need help. Look for people who need help and welcome them into your homes.

 ¹⁴ Wish only good for those who treat you badly. Ask God to bless them, not curse them. ¹⁵ When others are happy, you should be happy with them. And when others are sad, you should be sad too. ¹⁶ Live together in peace with each other. Don’t be proud, but be willing to be friends with people who are not important to others. Don’t think of yourself as smarter than everyone else.

 ¹⁷ If someone does you wrong, don’t try to pay them back by hurting them. Try to do what everyone thinks is right. ¹⁸ Do the best you can to live in peace with everyone. ¹⁹ My friends, don’t try to punish anyone who does wrong to you. Wait for God to punish them with his anger. In the Scriptures the Lord says,
   “I am the one who punishes;
   I will pay people back.” ^(A) 20 But you should do this:
   “If you have enemies who are hungry,
   give them something to eat.
If you have enemies who are thirsty,
   give them something to drink.
In doing this you will make them feel ashamed. ^[b]” 

^(B) 21 Don’t let evil defeat you, but defeat evil by doing good.

Insecurity...

Song of Solomon 2: 15
Catch for us the foxes, 
    the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
   our vineyards that are in bloom.

The fox sneaks under fences and walls attacking the roots
of what you've grown.
What is your fox? Where is your insecurity?

About a year ago I blogged on my xanga page that I noticed
 I was having a hard time receiving love.
What shortly followed was this revelation: I had allowed
the Enemy to cause me to doubt who I am in Christ. I had
allowed the garden the Lord and I had grown to be
destroyed at the roots.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

the Great or not so much. There's been this fox gnawing at the roots of my garden of Love with the Lord. It sneaked under the wall covered with ivy, and began right away to wreak havoc on the desires and calling that He's placed in my heart. Right now, I'm gonna call it out. Satan is a liar, the desires and talents that I have are from the Lord and He only. Christ in me is GREAT, what I do because I love Him...its NOT normal, I was created for the Greatness of loving God, and I willingly adhere to such a calling, forsaking all else. There is no "great" calling, there is no "lesser"/"normal" calling. There is loving God and obeying Him, or not. ("If you love me, you will keep my commandments." John 14:15) Keeping His commandments? That's a splendid idea...but we as human's fall short of the glory of God...daily. (romans 3:23) Let's focus on the greatest commandment...Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: "Love your neighbor as yourself." There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31) I think what's gotten in the way of me accepting love isn't the fact that I feel like I'm a dirty sinner...it's just that I thought I was a boring, normal, everyday person. No. I am infused with the Holy Spirit who has planted seeds of greatness in my soul and heart. The fact that I get passionate about "simply" loving God's people right here in America does not mean I'm boring or not listening to the Lord's calling on my life. This is it. I will love. I think I may write more on the greatness in a later post.

Who am I?

I've been noticing a lot of insecurity and fear within my heart, mind, and actions lately.
Why am I not embracing God's perfect love?
Who do I think I am?
Who does God say I am?

I base almost everything off of other people. Something might be burning on my heart, I might have a question to ask. I want to do something for/with someone else...but if I've tried and failed....I won't try again.

I will not force myself on people. I don't want to impede on their freedom or general enjoyment.

I'm scared.
What if I'm too much?
What if I'm not enough?

Where is this insecurity coming from?