Patience and Planning

"But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." -James 1:4 (NKJV) The Lord has been extremely loud and obnoxious in my ear as of late and I absolutely love it! Over the past few weeks or so I have been going through those spells where I was no longer seeking God as I should have been. So, as a result, it was very difficult to find Him and hear from Him, as you might expect. A few days ago He may as well have slapped me in the face and told me, "You can't do this without Me! Why are you even trying?" In order to move forward in your life and walk, you need to make sure you are focused on Him and planning your life out, as well as being patient and trusting what God is going to do for you. So many times we try to do things on our own and rule out the plan that God may have for you because, "I know what I want." It isn't about what we want, it's about what He wants. More often than not, those things that you want will line up with what God wants because He is a God that wants what is best for you, and a lot of times, we do know whats best for ourselves, but it is all in God's time.

Follow

Follow

The time is NOW to be obedient to our Father. Abandon your life and refill the body you call a vessel with the Holy Spirit. Move inside of me with your Spirit. Let me walk where you would walk, speak how you would speak, and do what you would do. Show up in my life and just leave my sinful and worldly desires to be trampled on the side of the road and show me what it truly means to be filled with the Spirit and live like you. Where you lead me Lord I will follow.

Gosh, this life we have here is nothing. We are not to worry about the world when we seek you. We are to cast ourselves aside and be refilled with the Holy Spirit and then go after you.

Picking up our cross symbolizes dying to us and losing our lives to gain life in Him. Without You we are nothing, Your love never fails and never gives up, it never runs out on me. It goes on and on. I want to serve and worship you as a vessel that has been wiped clean of worldly desires and doing Your work.

We are so dumb to try to prove God by the things of this world. God is moving so much around us that he doesn’t waste His time by turning stone into bread (Luke 4: 3-4). Greater things are yet to come. God’s plan is so great. Yet, we still get caught up in the little things we ask God for everyday: help me on this test, help my team win, please let that girl notice me today. God doesn’t work like that. The sooner we stop thinking about that and start thinking about how we are going to play a part in God’s plan, the better off we will be.

A lot of times we live in the past of what we already have done and accomplished and we remain stagnant because we have done good things. We are running this race with God right behind us the whole time. Once we stop moving no more of the race will be completed with you standing there not moving. God is not measured and restricted by time periods and the ending of events in our lives. God doesn’t work through short sprints that we get to rest after; He is behind us every step of the way in the race of endurance called life. There is always more that God has planned for us and is calling us to do.

What God has revealed to me in Costa Rica and since…

We are God’s passion and He does not want anything more for us to enjoy our lives. God wants to be with us in good and bad times.

What good is fake love?

Love is so much more amazing when we don’t have to force it upon people and will be much more rewarding. And, it will be a perfect love when it does come and will be blatantly obvious. This perfect love is what God has for all of us.

God is always reaching for us and trying to win our hearts. We are too wicked to even settle for our Savior. Pretty bad huh? We really don’t have to do anything other than just surrendering to God and just saying yes, I will follow. Then we have eternal life. God lays it out so simply for us because of His love for us.

Lying in my bunk trying to figure out what God has for me during this week. Its clear that God has been challenging me to document my experiences and using my gifts He has blessed me with.

So it has been a confusing couple of weeks but also very reassuring about the decision I made to eave town for college and I am extremely excited for the path God has laid ahead of me for the next stage of my life. It is truly amazing how I am going to be given so much room to expand in a place I am completely unfamiliar with. I believe it is he times when we are out of our comfort zone and in unknown situation is when we can grow the most because you are able to 100% put yourself out there and not be held back by decisions you’ve made in the past or the reputation you have built because no one knows who you are and you have the opportunity to truly be yourself and not conform to those around you.

So here I am, Monday morning on my first quiet time sitting next to a busy road watching cars go by in San Ramon. It’s a pretty dreary day but that does not hinder God at all!! Many times it’s on the dreariest days that God can do the most work. This is true for many reasons. It’s amazing that God knew this group of people to do this work for Him, for so long. God must be looking down and saying, “they are finally here having the experience that I have been orchestrating for all of time.”

The ducks are still quacking at Annie! Haha! Now some more birds are starting to communicate with each other. I’m feeling raindrops. It’s crazy that these ducks are obviously trying to say something to Annie, and now Lani that she has walked over there. But when someone is not rightly equipped to hear you, there is absolutely no way we can listen, same with God. If we are not rightly equipped to hear what God is saying there is no way for us to know what he really wants for us to do. For instance, we are in need of a willing heart, a desire to do God’s will, and a mind to follow through with what he is telling us to do. Also, an open mind to do whatever it is no matter what.

There is no perfect way to worship God. It isn’t a formula that we must follow. It is called our relationship with God. Our relationships with our fellow man are different with each person we interact with. In the same way, God has a different relationship with every person; we all have different ways of worshipping God and different ways of giving God all the glory. For instance, I worship God and communicate with him and learn from him by writing out many of my prayers and thoughts, which is what I am doing now.

Why does God choose the unlikely people for his missions and ministry?
- Because God is amazing in himself and He could work through literally anybody; so, why not us?

GOD’S POWER IS UNREAL!

We have got to be different. When you succeed and it’s expected because you are ordinary, it won’t be very noticeable and most likely will blend in with all the other people who succeed. But, when you are out of the ordinary and you succeed, it is much more noticeable.

All it takes is surrender and we are covered and saved. We just have to have the trust in God. Genesis 12: Abraham and Isaac.

GOD IS CALLING US TO BE DIFFERENT.

“Follow where God leads, no matter where it is.” This is the time – moving to a new place, or just another stage in life – when we need to simply have faith and just go where He leads no matter where. Because, it’s going to be very new and uncomfortable being in a brand-new place for the first time ever and to do God’s will. We must do what He says because we won’t even be able to survive on our own because there will be no worldly support which will either be an unbelievable blessing or incredibly terrible. I pray that we will turn and surrender our vulnerable lives to God in our discomfort because through our weaknesses he will be made strong. We just have to reach back and grab hold of His hand; it’s that simple.

Life flows from God for everyone. God plays no favorites: He loves us all as his children with an extreme and unexplainable passion.

The sun has finally come out today after we have experienced a couple days of overcast and some rain. It just goes to show that no matter what the weather is like, God’s light is active in the places we are.

There is a funky smell that keeps popping up as I’ve ben sitting in this spot this morning, but then goes away. It is a very “sewagey” kind of smell. But it definitely reminds me of Costa Rica, so I can’t get enough of it. Its funny because I definitely feel that God is providing this smell for us, not to necessarily enjoy for its fragrance, but to know that He is God and He wants us to be mindful that He is here and working in Costa Rica as well. There He is again, not using the typical and ordinary things to bring Him glory. Because, sure, amazing smells will bring God glory; but, it is the unusual ones that we remember.

Love. Out. Loud. Love. Out. Loud. Every single one of us wants to make an impact in some way during this life; it is human nature. We can do this by loving out loud. There is never a perfect time to do anything that God calls us to do. We are on God’s Time. When we focus on what means most to God, He will fill in the blanks. So have no fear that you won’t do a job perfectly because only God is perfect. Put yourself out there and FAIL. Who cares??? As long as you are doing what God wants you to do, we cannot fail in God’s eyes because he always has our back. We need to start focusing on what means most to God, His people.

“I may be weak, but your spirit is strong in me.” Give me your spirit today God, for I am truly weak and tired. This day will produce no fruit without God with us. We must not reserve the love of God for only those close to us. When God puts us on a mission or has called us to something, it is no longer about us. Once we surrender to God, we finally come to the realization that it has never been about us, but only God. So we have to do what God calls us to do no matter the convenience of what we think matters. “FOLLOW GOD WHEREVER HE LEADS, NO MATTER WHERE.”

It is not about us simply helping Costa Ricans because; we can do that by sending money and not even stepping foot off of a plane. It is about us fulfilling God’s plan and will. He puts us in this discomfort so we will draw closer to Him by completely leaning on Him and taking ourselves completely out of the equation. If you are truly doing God’s will, you should be in situations that you feel discomfort and feel the need to faithfully rely on Him. He wants to use humbled people so He can reign supreme and receive all the glory.

All who worship God will one-day worship him with no language barriers because He is Lord, He is above all things, and He can’t wait for us to be with Him sided by side. Today is God’s day, or El hoy es el día de Dios, for all you Spanish speakers.

This is the last time I will see these kids in a while if not forever, I pray that we can be bold and love them as much as we can to serve them and not leave a single regret at the end of the day. At the end of the day we will be able to say Hice todos lo que podría hacer mi parte en sus vidas. Translated for you Spanish noobs, I did all I could to do my part in their lives.

Expect the unexpected, good and bad, when it comes LOVE. God’s love is also unexpected. We need to expect Him to love us no matter how wicked we are; THAT is unexpected! Do we really realize that God personally loves us? Not just that he loves His people or humanity by dying on the cross. But God had each of us individually in mind as He suffered on that cross and would have just as easily had died for you, I, or any awful person you could think of; even if they were the only person on earth at that time. Because that is how much He loves us individually. True love is God’s love and that is the love we need to show other people in our lives no matter how much they have done or how unfaithful they have been. We must do all we can to get them back by loving them just as God did for us.

God does way too much for us that we couldn’t even begin to try to compare anything he does. God does infinitely more for us in one day than we can ever do in a lifetime. Just look around and try to figure out what God has placed around you and why on earth he would at that instant. If you can do that and realize the enormity of our Lord, think about all the things that he strategically places around us that we miss! That is why He is God and we are not. He is constantly working and we can’t take in everything that the One that loved us first does for us.

God’s works are comparable to books in a library. Each has been created and executed perfectly according to its author. We casually pass through and look past many of them, not investigating them at all, but suddenly we experience one that relates to us. God has you experience this particular one for a reason to teach you and mold you. Just wait, God is working in your life you just have to be searching for His fingerprints on the areas of your life.

When God is present in a place, it is obvious because each person becomes completely different in the way they are seeing things. We all begin to see everything around us as God would see it. That is seeing everything in the way that it brings glory to God.

Many times we hold off on doing some things because we fear we won’t get an immediate response. Let’s take something as simple as a nice wave to someone else. If we don’t think they will wave back or we won’t see them wave back, most times we tend to hold back. How is that a success for the kingdom of God? Who has ever felt joy from not being acknowledged by a friendly wave? Wouldn’t you much rather receive a gesture than not if you are having a bad day? Even when sometimes we don’t see the reaction of another person, we have no idea what God has intended for the act you do, which could be a simple wave. It could be an act that goes extremely far for someone that notices a person who loves God and loves others. When the light of God shines through someone, it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Costa Rica may be in need of many things, but that doesn’t even start to compare to the equal amount of need that every country has for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“Walk worthy with the calling with which you were called.” Eph 4:1

It’s time for us to find our calling and not give it up. God knows the plan and we shouldn’t distrust him. He knows what He’s doing. Jesus led our captivity into captivity when He died for our sins. We were bounded by sin and only the love of God will set us free. He has called us all differently, some to higher positions than others. Do not be children that can be deceived by false doctrine and tricks but trust your Father in heaven for once you go from being children to children of God, you will then walk in the light. Our vision and understanding being obstructed and unwillingness to see God for who he truly he is will prevent us from reaching the top because of ignorance and blindness.

Identity

So God revealed to me something last night. He has revealed that the entire time I have been searching for my identity, and searching for the people I was to associate myself with in my life, it has been from the world’s perspective and not God’s perspective. I had been searching the ins and outs of much of the high school demographics that are out there simply trying to be a guy that fit in. That consumed nearly 3 years of my high school career. Don’t get me wrong; it wasn’t as if I was frivolously bouncing around Chiles High School with no solid friends, I had great ones. But I still somehow sought primary acceptance from many different people. The entire time I had been doing this, it never once occurred to me that this is who I truly was, that this was my identity in Christ. It just so has happened that I find myself to have an extreme love for people. There is not one person that I can openly say that I do not like them as a person. There are those, however, that I don’t agree with the way they may do things. But, as far as disliking people for who they are, I can’t seem to think of why that is ever necessary. It struck me that this unexplainable love is the reason that I have been opening myself to the diversity of a high school, not the fact that I wanted to fit in. But this is, without a doubt, the person has called me to be; and it feels great!
Another interesting thing God has revealed to me is that I am not your everyday high school student or your everyday Christ follower. When people see a high school student in their domain, they think they can lock up everything about them and know who exactly they are. For example, if the average person were to see someone at a party where people were drinking, they are thought to be able to expect that, in fact, this person is a partier without even thinking about getting to know them. This classification is never a good call unless you know enough about a person or you know them personally because, not everyone knows everyone’s motives for doing certain things. As stated in the previous paragraph, I see myself as someone who is not associated with one particular group and this part of the reason why I see a difference between the ways I present myself and another guy presents himself that shares the same beliefs. I thank God everyday for making me who I am and I thank him everyday for making you who you are. Because, being the best of who you are to the best of your ability is the greatest way to see what God has for you in this life.

I am Blessed

GAAAWSH! It is truly amazing how much I am blessed! You know things are going your way when you can’t wait to get up every morning no matter what you are doing. I don’t think I have ever felt so connected to God than I do now. When people you love always are surrounding you, it is hard to have a bad day. This joy was sparked by one day simply having faith in God during a tough time. Once God pulled through, as he always does, it gave me a new love for life. I have always been a person that looks on the brighter side of things and the possible good that could come out of a situation, but recently it is amazing how much God has his hand over my life. It took one of my best friends, Rachel Albertson, to point it out to me that my life is truly blessed and that God’s spirit is clearly revealed through me. It has amazed me these past few years how God has made me into the ‘man’ I am today. God has worked through so many people in my life to mold me and shape me into the kind of man God designed me to be.
As much as I have been blessed and blessed others, none of would be possible without God. I look back now when my heart wasn’t seeking God, and there were many times in which I would be miserable and questioning why things happen and what God was doing in my life. I can tell you from a before and after situation that it is way more worth it to have that faith in God without holding back because there is no one greater than God and when you surrender it all to God, you are giving him that much more of your life to make awesome.

Faith and Seeing

It’s pretty amazing what having faith can and will do for you. We all run into tough situations every now and then and God tells us over and over again to have faith that he will make everything work together for the good of those who love him. This time is one time when I actually listened and followed through and actually just left the entire situation up to God and had faith that it would work out and what do you know? It did. Amazing! Hopefully this will prompt me to listen to God even more when I am felling called by him.
It is one of the greatest feelings when you know you have experienced God moving and you tangibly saw it with your eyes. It is one of the most reassuring things that you can go through.
Many times we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life and all we really need is a few minutes to sit down calmly just listening for the voice of God. It is crazy because his voice is everywhere and in everything but we never get a chance to ever look for it. We always seem to have more important things going on to take a moment with our heavenly Father and just observe the blessings he gives us everyday. Even if its as simple as the sun in the sky. God put it there for many reasons. Yet we always just are thankful for it giving us the ability to se things and for heat. There are so many more meanings for everything that we see that we only take for face value. It has been a challenge for me to try this, seeing the deeper meanings in why God puts things on this earth for us to discover and whenever I do it, it is such a blessing because there are so many things God wants to reveal to us but, for some reason, we are too busy….

the future is for discovering.

The Future is for Discovering.

“It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” - Acts 1:7

Okay, so this is one of my biggest and most taxing struggles. I can never seem to just surrender it all to God and know that he has the best for me in the end. So when I hear Jesus telling his disciples that we are not to worry or stress about what the future holds for us and we are to simply have faith in God’s plans by what he has placed under his own authority. This is comforting yet I still can’t seem to break the barrier of 100% selling out for realizing God’s purpose in my life and taking it for what it is and making it happen.
I reiterate the title of this post, “The Future is for Discovering,” because God laid out His plan for us before the world was made and we are of no authority to let our minds wander to what may happen in the future when God sees us here on earth knowing full well what will happen eventually. I personally think it is funny to God that our thoughts are so out there compared to what has been set in stone for an amount of time that will never be completely fathomed.
So, our jobs as servants and believers in Christ are to trust God here and now for what his plans are; and when the time comes for us to discover our future, it will be very tangible and visible for us to realize. And by that time, we will probably be wrongly focused on another pointless situation that we will be worrying about.
In closing this short tidbit, I will say, we have no need to worry about what tomorrow may bring because God has his plan, and his plan will stay that way forever. The only thing we can do is follow his guidance that is going on right now because that is what will have the most impact on your life and the lives around you. Lives will never be changed now, while we are thinking about what we’re going to do tomorrow.