Dwelling in the Lord

Tonight my small group studied Psalm 90, and what I learned was awesome; I just had to share it with you guys right away. Go read it now, please, you'll get more out of this if you do.

Verse one states "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations."

This will be my theme for this entry.

Verses one and two focus on the fact that God's nature is eternal, or in the ESV, everlasting. Now read verses three through six. These focus on the fact that we, on the other hand, are not. We are quite temporal, in fact. This is a huge contrast. God is so everlasting that He isn't even inside of time. Before a system of time was created, God was there. Before the sun and the stars and the ocean, He was there. We flourish in the morning and fade by evening. A thousand years are like a day to God.

Fast forward to verse ten. We won't live much more than seventy or eighty years. A lot of our life has already passed away. How much longer do you have left? In light of this, read verse twelve. "Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." Why should we number our days? And what does wisdom have to do with anything? We are temporary, yet God is eternal, therefore, live the few days you have in a wise matter, that is in a way that is glorifying to God.

The point I want you to consider in light of this chapter is this: Are you dwelling in the Lord at all times? Or are you wasting your precious, precious time trying to do things all by yourself? What are you holding on to for dear life that you won't give to God? Bitterness? Anger? Envy? Lust? Why won't you give it to Him? Put your trust in Him; dwell in Him!

To dwell in God doesn't mean some of the time. It's all the time. I find myself dwelling in God for the small things, I know He can take care of those things, but sometimes for the bigger things, I tend to run away from the Lord's presence. Keep in mind that Moses wrote this. Remember what happened when the Israelites didn't dwell in the Lord? They ended up in the desert. This is what we do when we try to estrange ourselves from God, we wind up wandering around and suffering in the desert, when we belong with God.

God has been our dwelling place in all generations. Forever. Back when Moses lived and wrote this psalm, God was there. Long after you're gone, God will be there. God has proven Himself trustworthy more times than anyone could ever count. Never once has He failed. Why then, in light of this information, are we still so terrified of trusting God with our problems?

I challenge you this week to wrestle with the things that you're holding from God. Assess the following: What are you keeping from Him? Why are you holding it? How can you let it go? Who can you get to hold you accountable to this?

Nothing in your life is too big for God to handle. Dwell in Him, He will give you rest and peace, but only if you let Him.

The Power of the Tongue

I bet you that there have been things people have said to you that you remember vividly. Hurtful things. Cruel things. Unnecessary things. Have a particular instance in mind? I bet you do. I can think of a few myself. A lot of the time we don't realize what an impact our words have on other people. As a writer, I focus on the importance of words. Typically when people address the use of words, they address it from a negative point of view. Today, I'm going to do the opposite.

First read James 3.

Powerful stuff, isn't it? The tongue really is a powerful thing. Just as James wrote, we should not use it to praise God and curse men; we are called to a higher purpose than that. We are called to use our words for spreading the Gospel and building each other up.

I'm going to focus on the latter.

Building each other up can include multiple things, such as accountability and gentle correction, but right now I'm just going to talk about edification, or the literal building up; to put it more simply, encouraging.

I believe that we, as humans, remember kind word more than we remember the negative. In fact there have been several instances in my life where something trivial I have said has made a huge impact on someone else's life without my realizing it until later.

In junior high I used to say "Never worry about the future; it's already tomorrow in Australia." I simply thought this was a clever play on words, so I repeated it. Turns out, one of my friends took it to heart. I was spending the night at her house, and she let me read part of her journal. I was in it. It was about the start of the summer and how she missed me, but also about how I had deeply impacted her. I was shocked. I never thought that I had done anything out of the ordinary; I was just doing what I thought was proper for a friend to do. My encouraging and even my jokes made a serious impression on her.

Later in high school, one of my friends was struggling with some pretty heavy stuff. I told her about something that I had read once because her circumstance reminded me of it. Turns out, those couple words of encouragement helped convince her that taking her life wasn't a good option.

Soak that in for a minute. That's intense. Keep in mind that I don't write this to lift myself up. My desire for this blog is to push you, as my readers, on to become better for God's glory. It's not like my words are the only ones that have an impact. I can almost guarantee that something you've said has had the same impact on someone else, even if it was only a passing remark.

Now that you're aware of the power of words, I challenge you to use them to edify others. Practice the art of taming your tongue. It's hard, impossible even if you try to do it alone. The great thing is that we don't have to do it alone, we have the perfect Christ to help us out along the way. With this in mind, focus on using your words to build one another up. Don't tear people down, even in a joking manner.

Words have more power than many of us will ever know.

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." - Eph. 4:29

These Are the Days

This is my second post since I've been at Taylor. A lot has happened, and I love it here.

To my own surprise, I am in the middle of ICC (inter-class council) or student government elections. We run on tickets, so I am running for secretary and there are three others running along side of me. It's awesome.

There are a few things that this election has been teaching me, but I will focus on only one aspect for the moment.

Seize the day. I may be young, but that doesn't mean that I cannot accomplish big things. In fact, I know that I can. Our campaign is called IMPACT. We call it this for a few reasons, one of which being that we believe we can truly influence this campus, this world, and our future. We are working for God's glory, so we know that with His help we can be successful. Don't wait to change the world; the time is now. You cannot get back lost or wasted time. These years are valuable, use them for something bigger and more worthwhile than sports or parties. Use them to impact something eternal. Nurture younger people. Learn from older, wiser people. Grab life by the horns and hold on tight. You'll never accomplish the things you don't try. 

I recently read the book "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris. This is a book I wish I had read when I was 14. Well, for me it would really be 16 since that's when I accepted Christ into my life, but fourteen would have been a good age too. I encourage you to read it, or to give it teenagers or pre-teens that you know for them to read. It stresses doing things that may be difficult or uncomfortable for the glory of our Lord in heaven. 

Take charge of your life, after all, it is yours and you only have one (excluding eternal life). Don't put things off because you lack faith in yourself. 

Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" - Matthew 19:26

 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" - Romans 8:28-32

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." - 1 Tim. 4:12

~So

Use Your Gifts

I'm going to confess something to you. I am super completely and utterly terrified of playing my French horn in front of people. I don't mind if I'm playing in a group, but if it's just me I hate it. I don't even like to practice when other people are around. It's not that I'm bad at playing it, I'm actually pretty good. I just don't feel comfortable. This is especially weird if you know me well. I can play my guitar or sing in front of hundreds of people and not feel nervous, in fact, I actually do this quite frequently. It's not the same with the French horn.

 

You probably wonder where I'm going with this. God has gifted me with musical abilities, and, therefore, I should use my talents to honour Him and bring glory to His name. After all, that is my purpose in life, more or less. 

Each year my school band goes and plays at a conference of Christian schools. A bunch of different schools come together with their bands, orchestras, and choirs to form larger band, orchestras, and choirs. I was fine playing with the high school band, even when I had solos during the music. In fact, I really enjoyed it! This year was different, though. I was asked to accompany the high school choir on my French horn. Just the choir, a piano, and me in front of close to, if not more than, a thousand people. The music wasn't hard, and I have a hard time saying no to anything, so I agreed. I felt honoured that they asked me to do it, but I don't know what I was thinking. I got the music a few days before the concert and I only got to practice with the choir once. I wasn't prepared. I was scared silly. 

The day of the concert came, and no one outside of my band and director knew I was playing the accompaniment, so the crowd, including my parents, was confused when I got up and walked across the room after playing with the band, with my French horn in tow. As I waited backstage for the choir to sing their first two songs before I came on, I thought I was going to pee my pants or pass out from fright and nerves. The choir director introduced me, and I walked onto the hot stage, sweating from the heat of the lights. I could feel all the eyes staring at me. All attention was on me. I knew I was going to mess up. "Surely there were better people to ask than me," I thought. I shook hands with the director and sat down. The piano started and I began to play. Yes, I messed up a little. Everyone says they couldn't tell; I don't believe them. The choir sang beautifully and overall everything went wonderfully. The crowd exploded with applause and everyone cheered and whistled like it was a professional concert. I wasn't happy with how I played, but I saw tears welling up in the director's eyes. She hugged me, and I stood there feeling awkward for a second, bowed, and walked off stage. I could still feel people's eyes on me as I walked back to my seat in the band. 

The point is this: we are to use our gifts for God's glory. I got to use my French horn to glorify God at this Christian music festival, and after the concert everyone kept coming up to me congratulating me, and I got the opportunity to tell them that it was all God's grace. Sometimes God will ask us to do things that are out of our comfort zones, but He will also give us the strength to do it. When these opportunities arise it is dishonouring to God to back down because of fear. Trust God. He has gifted each of us in so many different ways, some that we may not even recognize as gifts right away, but if we listen and obey, He will make them known to us. The next time you feel prompted by the Holy spirit to do something that scares you or makes you nervous, answer the call; you will not regret it. 

"One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.  Then the LORD called Samuel. 
      Samuel answered, 'Here I am.'  And he ran to Eli and said, 'Here I am; you called me.' 
      But Eli said, 'I did not call; go back and lie down.' So he went and lay down.

Again the LORD called, 'Samuel!' And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, 'Here I am; you called me.'
      'My son,' Eli said, 'I did not call; go back and lie down.'

 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, 'Here I am; you called me.' 
      Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, 'Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, 'Samuel! Samuel!' 
      Then Samuel said, 'Speak, for your servant is listening.'" - 1 Sam. 3:2-10

Answer the call of the Lord eagerly with a trusting heart. Samuel did, and though he faced many trials in his life, the Lord was with him the whole of every moment.

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." - 1 Cor. 10:13

~So