Living for God

With 2017 coming to end, it's a common practice to review what you accomplished during the year.  Often times we start the year with certain goals and resolutions that soon become a disinterest to us. We can become idle and lazy when it comes to goals and resolutions that are difficult to accomplish and do not give us instant satisfaction. Once we give up altogether on the resolution, we look back over the year frustrated that we did not accomplish what we set out to do in the beginning of the year.  We tend to have a way of thinking that once the current year ends, and the new year begins we can pick right back up on accomplishing the resolution, as if a new year automatically means a new us. The same idleness can be said for our relationship with God. We become casual in our relationship with God throughout the year. We read our Bibles with no desire for God and no intention on building a real relationship with Him. We go to church out of habit, with no praise in our hearts, mak

The word love is such a powerful word, and often times is very vague. When asking people what love means to them, often times they have a hard time describing this word, and use phrases such as a feeling I have when I'm around someone,  like butterflies in my stomach. Often times the word love is taken out of context and is used freely. People may say they love a certain movie, song, activity, or even use it loosely when it comes to friendships and relationships. When I was working with an adolescent student who constantly used the word love in a relationship she has with an adolescent male at her school, I challenged this student on what love means to her, and how did she know this was love she had for this male student. As this student struggled to describe what love means to her, she could only think of how this male student makes her feel and what he does for her. As I thought about how this student described love to me, it made me think about God's love for me and others.

What is it about walking in God's purpose for our lives that scares us? Are we scared of the work that will go into it, or are we not fully trusting God that what He has planned for our lives since we were in our mother's womb will not come to pass. When I sit back and answered this question in my own life,  I realized that I am scared of the journey, afraid of the difficult times that will come with living out Gods' purpose for my life, and like Peter, I'm afraid to step out of the boat, to step out of my comfort zone and to walk on water with Jesus for the intend purpose that He has for my life (Matthew 14:25-30). In order to step out of this boat and follow Jesus, we first have to believe that we have been called for a purpose that only God has deemed us to do. If we don't believe that we have been called, we'll walk around pursing all sorts of things that only we want and what our physical eyes can see. But it's not until we realize that God has called u

In a world with so many different distractions and filled with violence, it feels like now more than ever, believers (including myself) have a difficult time hearing the voice of God. We become so distracted with school, work, family, social media, the president election, etc. that we just completely miss hearing God’s voice. Often times you hear believers say “I just want to hear God’s voice” or “How do I know that this is God speaking to me”?   Let me ask you this, if you got lost in a crowded place, would you be able to identify the voice of a loved one from the voice of a stranger? I know if I was to get lost from a family member or a close friend, and they called me by name, I would instantly know that it is them because I know them, I have a relationship with them, and because they called me by name. If you know someone you also know their voice, and when they call you, without even looking at them you are able to identify them because you know their voice an