God's moving

And I'm excited. I just want to be a part of what he's doing, and not miss out because of my selfishness and refusal to deny myself and take up my cross and follow him. Yesterday I found a really great site

http://www.allathisfeet.com/

If you are ready to reconsider christianity and how it is lived out, go there. Check out the book "a day of small beginnings", I've been reading it this afternoon and it's really powerful. There's a couple times so far when God has just convicted me about how focused I am on my goals and I so little care and love the people around me except when I'm comfortable or it will advance my reputation. If there's anything I've learned from the bible it's that people who put their reputation in God's hands go down in history but those who try to make a name for themselves might be succesful and well-known for awhile but in the end their works will turn to ash on the day of judgment.

Is life a competition or a cup? Peter saw it as a competition and so he cut of Malchus's ear because they were trying to take away his saviour. Jesus saw life as a cup... he realized the suffering and things he would have to go through and he so abandoned to the will of God that none of that mattered. Do you realize that the cross looks like the biggest failure of all time. Jesus convinced so many people to believe in him and even his disciples said he was the son of God (Matthew 16:16). But it looked like everything was lost and Jesus died because he couldn't hold his tongue and be a people-pleaser even for a second.

I know these thoughts may seem kind of jumbled but God has been teaching me a lot lately. Being constant in prayer is probably my greatest desire for this year 1 Thessalonians 5:17. A really good book on it is called "Practice the presence of God" by brother lawrence

http://www.fireonthealtar.com/books/

it's the second last book on that page, the very last book called "Mr contentment and your five wooden cups" rocked my world. How should we spend money? Really when our eyes our are on eternity, none of these physical pleasure should mean anything. The more focused we are on eternity, it's exciting, we will have a greater passion for souls, a greater understanding of the ridiculousness of sin, suffering will be inconsequential compared to the joy of heaven.

Here is a cool excerpt from the top book that I was reading today called a day of small beginnings. Anyways to preface the quote this bible college proffessor just found out that one of the godliest strong christians in his class fell into temptation with his girlfriend and she is pregnant. He is crushed with the revelation and searching the word and... well read and find out what he finds out.

Spent, George lifted himself off the floor and sank wearily into his desk chair. He still had more questions than answers as he turned to face his Bible, still open from that morning. His eyes caught a phrase in Hebrews 3: “Sin’s deceitfulness.” Boy, if that doesn’t describe what happened to Rick, I don’t know what does. As George thought about the whole situation with Rick, he felt a surge of anger in his heart. He was angry, knowing the deceiver had maimed yet another one of God’s lambs through his lying tactics. Lord, does it have to be this way? Surely, there must be a way to keep this from happening. He looked again at the worn page, hoping for an answer.

“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” What?! He read it again, hoping he hadn’t missed something. That’s what it says! Sin’s deceitfulness can be prevented! Truth illuminated his heart. Could obedience to one simple command really help keep people—people he loved—from being deceived and hardened by sin? It says it right here. He answered his own question, thumping the page. The Holy Spirit did write that verse, he reasoned. George’s heart began to surge with excitement and hope—hope that his efforts to care didn’t have to be forever subject to arbitrary failure.