Orange - A New Day

          
           On the African horizon the sun starts to rise. All is night and then in a second, a single ray of light is cast forth into the sky. As the sun rises higher, the sky becomes a golden orange, and a new day begins.
           Don't you just love fresh starts and new days? Its like you can begin again. Orange for me represents new beginnings. Its the color seen at every sunrise, in the leaves of autumn trees, or even the stripes of a great tiger. Orange.

Red - my color

                        We all have a favorite color, mine is red. I'm not quite sure why, but this color just seems to have so much symbolism. Red, the color of reality, romance, and redemption. With God's pure scarlet blood we have been redeemed. I guess that's one reason I love this color so much. Maybe I also love it because red is the color that starts a rainbow. From red comes orange and then yellow and green, blue, and purple. A rainbow, a symbol of promise and full of such color. In fact, my next few posts will be all about that. color. The gift God has given us. Do we truly realize that there is no way to describe color? You have to see it to comprehend its beauty. That's why I believe in heaven there will be so many new colors. So many new things to see and comprehend. One color is painted upon so many things. For instance red colors roses, maple leaves, tomatoes, cardinals, and even butterflies. One color, yet so many things come alive by it. Stay posted for more color.

Rend Your Heart.

“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing..."
~Joel 2:12-14a (A verse God has really laid on my heart...)

Summer Workouts?

         
            Well, I'm not that kind of girl. I have to admit that I don't dare to be athletic (unfortunately). Recently I've just had this urge to get fit. Weird I know. So... I got a new bike (which I love) and looked up some abdomen exercises, and soon I'll have the "Nike Training Club" app on my iPod! What does God have to say about keeping our bodies fit? Yes, it kind of seems a little irrelevant, but essentially our body is God's. He wants us to live for him spiritually first of all, but how can we reach our potential service to God without our body being there also? Paul makes this point in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." We are certainly not our own, we are God's, in 1 Corinthians 6:19 it says, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own..."
               
              Now, I'm certainly not saying its a sin to be unfit (if it were, I think I'd be in a whole lot of trouble!) but I do believe we should take care of ourselves so that we can use our body to our full potential in Christ. Disciplining your body and using it to glorify God doesn't sound too bad, does it? Its a worth-while process, and probably much harder than I'm making it out to be (I really don't know, I'm just starting all this "athletic" stuff)  but in the end I'm sure it will be really worth-while.


P.S. I'm really going to need your prayers! 

Real World.

Such an amazing song...

 "Reality is a lovely place but I wouldn't want to live there." (Owl City)

Lies.

           What lies have you been told? It seems to be that these days all continually feel the devil telling me lies about myself and who I am in Christ to me. Continually, over and over again, he pours out these lies until I feel worthless. He tells me I'm "never enough", but also at the same time "too much". Why do we believe these kinds of lies? Inside we know they aren't true, but yet we still wallow in the shame he pours over us. Even when we know what he tells us is a lie, we still wonder, what is the real truth then? These real truths are found in God's word!

            When the devil says "You'll never be good enough for them!" God says, "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you!"(Jeremiah 31:3) When the devil tell us, "you'll never amount to anything beautiful" God says "Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your own people also, and your father’s house; so the King will greatly desire your beauty..."(Psalm 45:11) When we are told, "you're not strong enough" His word says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Throughout God's word there are so many beautiful truth about who we are. We are not worthless. We are loved and adored by the creator of the universe! Below are just a few verse that exclaim His love for us:

·      "How precious is Your loving-kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings." (Psalm 36:7)

"The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

·        " For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

"In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John4:9-10)

God loves us Oh so much, He truly does! When will stop believing the lies of the world and believe His truths? We can ALWAYS count on Him. I pray that today we will finally tell the devil “NO!” and start to believe be are cherished by the God over every living thing!

Voice of Truth - Casting Crowns <-----listen to this! :)

Deserts.

             These are hard for everyone. Unlike our other seasons of life, these are the times when God is not evidently visible. Yes, we know He’s still at work, but we just can’t see Him. Deserts are those times in life where our relationship with God just seems to be dry. We’re in a drought.  Israel went through the desert, but they handled it all wrong. They wandered in the wilderness for years, yet even when God was clearly evident by sending them manna and quail, they still complained. They did not acknowledge He was their leader, they did not tell their children of the amazing works He had done in Egypt! God had led the Israelites through the 10 plagues without harm, and opened the seas just for them! Yet, how soon they forgot.  They didn’t acknowledge His presence and still wandered.

               

             This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’ I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.”(Jeremiah 2:6-7)

                

                 God had rescued Israel from so many things, yet they never even asked where He was! When we go through desert what is our reaction to His sense of absence? Do we seek Him further and draw close to Him in these times, or do we go on wandered and wallowing in the dryness? I can only pray we seek Him further. When we are thirsty for the Lord He says,

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. (Isaiah 55:1)

              God freely gives to those who ask. He always wants us to draw closer to Him. Yes, we will go through floods, deserts, uncertainties, battles, overall just hard times, but whatever season God’s there, He’s our guide! In these times cling to these promises. He will never leave our forsake, He’s our rock, our refuge, our love. Never forget.

Raging Seas

              

              This season is probably by far the hardest one to go through. Especially for me. It’s in these times that I have such a hard time seeing God and what He’s doing. Yet in His word, it reveals God’s plan.

“Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.” (Psalm 77:19)

            

         God has a plan when He leads us through those unknown waters, yet we still can’t completely comprehend His ways. He’s our help and our rock of refuge in the raging seas. When David was fleeing from Saul, God was His continual protection and hiding place. In His raging seas David praised God saying in Psalm 46,

“God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.       

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

he lifts his voice, the earth melts.”

                God’s amongst us in our raging seas, He truly loves us. I know in the times when everything is dreary, when it’s pouring rain, God sends that golden beam of sunshine to shine through it all and create a beautiful rainbow. That rainbow reminds me that He keeps His promises, and that He’ll always be with me, even in the storm. 

Waters of Life

These are by far my favorite seasons to go through in life. The times where everything’s in place, where nothing seems to go wrong, and when I feed off the love and blessings God has given me. I have to admit, I’m going through this season in my life right now. Its summer now and there’s no work, nothing holding me back, just the breeze in my face and the promise of sunny days ahead. Isn’t it so easy to worship God in these times? Below are David’s words to the King of the world. They describe exactly how I feel right now…

          

                         "You who still the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples. They also who dwell in the farthest parts are afraid of your signs; You make the outgoings of the morning and evening rejoice. You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, For so You have prepared it. You water its ridges abundantly, You settle its furrows; You make it soft with showers, You bless its growth.  You crown the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with abundance.  They drop on the pastures of the wilderness, And the little hills rejoice on every side.  The pastures are clothed with flocks; The valleys also are covered with grain; They shout for joy, they also sing.”(Psalm 66 exert)

               

It’s so amazing to be in that time of life when everything seems to go right. Unfortunately I think that for some of us (myself definitely included) this is the only time when we truly worship God. It shouldn’t be that way. Our relationship with God should not be mastered by our happiness or emotions, but rather our faith, so that whatever course we go through in life we are not shaken. That’s something important we should all remember.

“This is my prayer in the harvest

When favor and providence flow

I know I'm filled to be emptied again

The seed I've received I will sow.” – Desert Song

What's with the name?

             

   Why Through the Waters? Several months ago I was reading in Isaiah 43:2, a passage that says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you…” There are many “waters” or seasons we as Christians go through in life. We all go through trials, prosperities, and deserts, yet in each and every season God is with us. When we are rich with joy He is evidently seen through His “wellsprings of life”. In our tragedies, he is amongst the “raging seas”. And in our deserts (or lack of water/life), he is our nearest oasis. He is our refresher. Living water is only given by God as it says in John 4:10, “Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

                First of all I must define water and what it does as used in scripture. As I have previously mentioned, water is a wellspring of life; In Isaiah 12:3 it says,

“Surely God is my salvation; 
   I will trust and not be afraid. 
The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense^[a]; 
   he has become my salvation.” 
³ With joy you will draw water 
   from the wells of salvation.”

Yet, in the same way, water has also been a symbol of tribulations also; In Psalm 66:11 it reads,

“You brought us into prison 
   and laid burdens on our backs. 
¹² You let people ride over our heads; 
   we went through fire and water, 
   but you brought us to a place of abundance.”

How can the very thing that brings forth life also deliver death? Water simply represents three things: floods, springs, and courses (seasons we go through as Christians). This is what God had revealed to me while reading His word and meditating upon it. Of course this was not enough for me. Wanting to find out the real meaning of “waters” in Hebrew I took out my handy old concordance only to find “course. flood. spring.” by the definition of waters. Exactly what God had shown me! Such an exciting revelation, surely one to write about.

Through the next few post I will be going over the different waters (or courses) we go through in life and defining them in a deeper way. Hoping you’ll stay interested!