waste of space

I have been reading in Luke lately and Man it has been so awesome. The Lord is just speaking through me and its such an amazing feeling. There has been a number of things that I have been convicted of and its been a really humbling and awesome experience. So anyway, I thought I would share a little bit of just what I have read today. Its really powerful.

Jesus was again telling one of his parables. ---
Luke 13:6-9
And He began telling his parable: " A certain man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it, and did not find any."
"And He said to the vineyard keeper, ' behold for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?'
" And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down."

That's like, scary.
Im thinking the owner of the fig tree represents the Lord and the Gardener (vinyard keeper) represents Jesus. And of course, we are the fig trees. The individual. God has every right to take our life from us whenever he wants. I feel like to me, this verse is talking about the believer. The believer who is not fully living his life for the Lord. God wants to see us produce fruit. He wants us to proclaim the love of Christ.. Not just to go about our day living our 'normal life'.
What are we here for? Why were we created?
Dont you think we should be proclaiming Jesus form the rooftops and telling everyone the grace and love and salvation we have found?
Just like the owner was upset that his fig tree had not produced any fruit, so is the Lord in our lives if we live it in vain. Doing the things that WE desire. Christ is our intercessor though. He is thereason that we can even have a relationship with God. He gives us living water and wants us to grow and get it... But if we dont, then our life could be cut short. God can take it away from us.
What really stuck out to me was in the verse when it said " Why does it even take up the ground?" --- meaning... if your not living for the Lord and spreading the gospel isnt gnawing at your bones... then your a waste of space.
Think about it.
What are you here for?
This really hit home today, has convicted me of my life and has encouraged me fully. There are lost souls all around us who dont know the real Love of the Lord.
God use me. give me strength not to be scared to share your word. Thank you for your grace and giving me chances time and time again.

Isaih 55:6-7 "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon."

I was reading today in Galatians...

"5:19- The acts of the sinful nature are obvious; sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you as I did before that those of you who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God"

"22: But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control."

I looked upon both of these "lists" and picked out from each what I felt that I had and what I felt that I needed and needed to get rid of.
It was a good time of reflection. And I think I will read these verses everyday until it is burned in my mind. I want my heart to be pure. I often wonder, how can I change this dirty heart of mine.. with so many bruises and scars, its all I have ever known. Change is a good word for me, but sometimes it can seem impossible. Its not though. It just takes discipline... like reading these verses everyday... Pinpointing the exact things that I need to work on. Spending some serious time in prayer... maybe writing it on my hand so I can go through the day thinking about it.
I dont want to me just a mediocre Christian. I want to do something for the gospel where people think Im weird or think Im crazy. I want to be used. But first I have to get this heart of mine pure and I dont want to wait any longer. Ive been stagnant and I keep saying 'tomorrow'. But im not even promised that.
I dont want my sinful nature to hold me in what God has called me out of

Blessed are the PURE IN HEART. For they will see God.

Oh Lord

Psalm 25

To you O Lord  lift up my soul, in you I trust oh my God,

Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.

No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, 

Show me your ways Oh Lord, teach me your paths,

guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, 

and my hope is in you all day long.

Remember Oh Lord your great mercy and Love, for they are from of old.

Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways;

according to your love remember me, for you are good Oh Lord.

Good and upright is the Lord, therefor he instructs sinners in his ways,

He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.

For the sake of your name Oh Lord, forgive my iniquity though it is great.

The Lord confides in those who fear him.

He makes his covenant known to them. 

My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

The troubles of my heart have multiplied;

free me from my anguish.

Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.

Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame,

for I take refuge in you

May integrity and uprightness protect me,

because my hope is in you.

It December 7th  and this is my prayer.

Would you kill your son?

Chapter 22 is such a chapter of Faith.

It blows my mind really. The Lord called on Abraham and told him to sacrifice his only son. I do not have kids yet, but i cannot even imagine if the Lord had told me to do that. How many of us would kill our only son and sacrifice him to the Lord? How many of us would be willing to do that for the Lords sake. Its one thing to lay down our own lives for God, but its a complete different situation to lay down the life of your son, to kill your only son....

But wait, isnt that what the Lord did for us?

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son"

God sacrificed his son Jesus to the world, for the world.

For us.

God loves us so much. And its sometimes surreal to actually think about that. That I can have a personal relationship with him, and its through Christ that I can do that. So even though it was necessary for Christ to die on that cross, it says so much that God sent him here to die. Even though he lived a perfect life and treated everyone fairly.

But this story about Abraham is also such an encouragement to me. It shows SUCH GREAT FAITH. Abraham actually takes his son up to this mountain and ties him up and is about to kill him with a knife and then an angel stops him and tells him that it was a test from God and that he will bless Abraham because of his faith.

THIS IS TO ALL OF US:

God will bless us because of our faith. It is BY FAITH that we have been set free. We must walk BY FAITH. God blesses this, and walking by faith is most times a difficult thing to do. But the lord will always provide, just like he did on that mountain. He provided a ram to be sacrificed instead of Abrahams son. God is faithful.

Even if he is telling you to do something that seems so crazy and hard, I encourage you to do it. And its a reminder to me as well.

For some time now God has been telling me to share my faith with my brother. This may seem easy to some people, but to me it is the biggest battle I have had so far while being a christian. I just cannot get the courage to talk to him... all my fears I have are choking me. But i know it has to be done. And GOD WILL BLESS ME by doing this. So if, your reading this I could really use your prayers because fear has overwhelmed me in this area and is keeping me from sharing Christ. And i know this fear is coming from Satan. I want to talk to him on Christmas, so prayer would be awesome. Not only pray for me, but for his salvation.

Its November 27 and faith is a blessing in itself.

Child like Faith

are you a 'christian' or pursuer of Christ?

Chapter 19 is just a crazy chapter.
Right off the bat you can see how wicked the town of Sodom is. In the previous chapter the Lord had said that the outcry of their sin was grievous. You kind of get a small glimpse of just how bad it really was when the two angels went over to Sodom. As soon as Lot has the two angels inside his house, all the MEN of the city came banging on the door and told Lot to bring the 'men' they saw outside so that they could have sex with them. There are many things that would grieve the Lords heart with just that alone, and it was only a glimpse that we saw into the lives of these people.

Remember when God told Abraham that if he found just ten righteous people in the city that he would spare it? I would have felt pretty safe on that number. I would have thought, 10 out of 1000 (guess) that sounds pretty good. The city will probably remain. But the city was destroyed with acid rain. THERE WERE NOT EVEN TEN OUT OF THE WHOLE PLAIN WHO WERE RIGHTEOUS!

It makes me wonder, if this was a long time ago, and you always hear about how the world is getting worse and more corrupt, whats our percentage on this world. How many righteous people are there really? How many of us in the world are actually FOLLOWING Christ and not just going through the motions. Not just saying we believe in him and go about our day living with the world, but breaking out of the stereotypical mold of the 'christian' today and becoming an actual CHRIST FOLLOWER. Doing the things that please him and being aware of the sin in our life and fighting to overcome it everyday. Pursuing a life that proclaims the gospel and telling people about Jesus. Loving people, caring about their souls.
HOW MANY OF US ARE REALLY OUT THERE?
Sadly, I dont think its as many as it seems.

Its November 20 and I once was blind, but now I see.

are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet?

First off, Abraham was just straight up chillin' outside his tent and the Lord just showed up. That is a crazy thing to think of in itself. If you really think about it, thats just cool & I would also be pretty nervous.

Okay, when Abraham kept questioning the Lord and asking him all the 'what if's' questions over and over , that kind of takes some guts I would think. Im gonna type out that whole conversation with them... You tell me if you would have been as patient as God. Imagine this was someone asking you these questions....

The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing in front of the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said " will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing-to kill the righteous with the wicked. Treating the righteous and wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the judge of all the earth do right?"------ man that was brave. Im like sitting back in my chair saying... shut up Abraham! Holding on tight thinking God is going to crush him at any moment... But God doesnt. He says this,

The Lord said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?"

The Lord said "If I find forty five there I will not destroy it."

Once again Abraham spoke to him. " What if only forty are there?"

God said " for the sake of forty I will not do it."

Then Abraham said " May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?

He answered " I will not do it if I find thirty there."

Abraham said " Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"

He said " For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it"

Then he said " May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"

He answered " For the sake of ten I will not destroy it."

When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left and Abraham returned home.

Wouldn't you have been frustrated? God did not get impatient at all. He let Abraham ask all the questions. And even cooler, you see Gods grace in all this. God just screams love to me in this passage. Just the way he speaks.. . its love. God is love. At this point If he were to have found just ten righteous people in this city of many, he would have not destroyed it. I dont know about you, but that makes me feel good. Because that would include us believers now thanks to Christ Jesus...

Its November 16th and i am made righteous