To be Known by God

Every moment we make a choice. We make a choice to either hide or to allow ourselves to be known.

It's scary to let God know us. It’s terrifying to invite Him to examine our hearts.

Of course He already knows every single thing about us but its so different to confess it ourselves. To confess, “This is who I am Lord, every part. Will you still have me?” 

And to hear Him say, “I know who you are. I know everything about you and I will never ever stop loving you.”

Such grace.

Being known by God develops intimacy with God. He knows how I’m feeling, me coming to Him with how I’m feeling is what matters.

Coming to Him and laying out every part of who you are, brings you to a deeper appreciation of the fact that He loves every part of who you are. When we don’t come to God with the hard things, its as if we are pretending those things don’t exist. We pretend that God only see’s the qualities in us that we would like Him to see.

When we bare our hearts before Him we come away assured that we are still unconditionally loved and accepted.

It’s beautiful to think, ‘Jesus knows the ugliness in my heart today and He loves me anyway. Jesus knows my bitterness today and loves me anyway. Jesus knows my selfishness today and loves me anyway.'

 

Think about it for a moment. God doesn't love you because He is obligated to. God loves you for who you are as a person. He loves you for everything that makes you, you. 

We do ourselves a great disservice when we hide from God. When we try to earn His approval by presenting Him with what we think He wants to see. More than anything? He just wants your, real, honest heart. He is the one who will accept and understand you in a way that no one else on this planet is able to.

Fear, insecurity, and shame are things that teach us to hide from God. Allowing your whole self to be known by God brings freedom, security, and joy in who God has made you to be. 

Knowing things about God and being known by God are two completely different things. One is simply head knowledge and one gives life. Its one thing to believe that God already knows you completely, its another thing to open up your heart, lay it all out there, and say, "Here I am God."

The other day I said, “Lord I trust you.” And I heard, “Yes, but are you daily entrusting yourself to me?”

So I realized I must now choose to entrust to God the knowledge of who I am, every single part of me, every single day, every single moment. 

Be brave enough to let him know you. Trust Him with who you are, who you aren’t, and who you hope to be.

Can we really be known by others until we have allowed ourselves to be fully known by God? Can we even know ourselves until we have allowed ourselves to be known by God?

It is a choice that we must make everyday. To not try to put on a show for God but to finally take off the mask and let Him see us. He is waiting to comfort us, waiting to heal us, if only we would turn to Him and be real. If only we would let ourselves be known.

Every moment we make a choice. We make a choice to either hide or to allow ourselves to be known. Today I choose to be known.

Jesus is Freedom!!!!

I have this song in my car I listen to and whenever the singer says, "Jesus is freedom," all this joy bubbles up inside of me. It really does. That phrase didn't used to mean anything to me, especially when I was in high school. The kids from the christian group would always be talking about Jesus and freedom. 

And I always thought, 'freedom?' I'm not in jail or anything, I'm free.'

 I've come to realize more and more that before we finally understand things, we are totally blind. I understand things now that before, it was like a blindfold was over my eyes. Now, the thought of Jesus as freedom makes perfect sense to me. Not only does it make perfect sense, it makes me so incredibly happy. The thing about bondage is, most times when we're held, we have no idea we're in prison. Before I was a christian I thought that I was supposed to be living free and doing whatever I wanted, and that was fine, but it wasn't. 

A lot of people think that christians are so restricted because of all of their rules. They think we must be boring and judgmental and oppressed. But they are dead wrong. I understand that kind of thinking because I once thought that too. I once felt sorry for the christians I knew.

 I thought, 'how sad it is for them to have such a boring life. While I'm having fun and can do whatever I want, they are stuck with tons of rules.' 

But I didn't realize that the life I was living was actually the one in trouble. Despite all their rules and supposed boring lives, I couldn't understand why christians were always so joyful. If they had it so bad why were they so happy and me, living life the way I wanted, so unhappy? I didn't realize that I was in bondage, I was a slave. Satan, the father of lies, had me believing that God didn't care about me, and that everything I was looking for, everything that could make me happy, would be found in the world. 

Looking back I am sad that I was in bondage for so long when I know that God desired so strongly to break every chain. I was in no way free, I was so tied up that I didn't even notice anymore. 

But now, now I am truly FREE. I don't live the same life I lived before, I don't do the same things, go to the same places, say the same things, think the same things. Some people might call my life constricted, but I have honestly never felt more completely free in my entire life. Over the years God has been slowly stripping me of all my bondage and I have watched in disbelief and joy as the chains fall off one by one. 

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

Thinking back on high school me I really wish that I could have known what real freedom feels like. 

This is freedom. Freedom is knowing that you have a father in heaven who knows you completely and loves you completely and knowing that that love is never going to end. Freedom is knowing that your value is not based on a single thing except for the fact that you are God's beloved child. Freedom is not having to ever be afraid, because you have complete assurance that God is taking care of you and has good plans for your life. Freedom means no guilt or self condemnation, only grace. 

I wish everyone knew this freedom, I don't know how I ever lived without it. 

Song Recommendation:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppgde6wVwAM

God performs miracles today

God performs miracles today. He really does. He heals today. He redeems and restores today.

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like any of those things are possible. But then one day you wake up and you can feel the complete change God has been doing in you.

The joy that comes with healing is the most amazing, unexplainable joy way deep down inside. And you know that because of who you are as God’s child, that joy is not going to go away.

God is the very best potter that I know, and He is constantly shaping my life.

And sometimes it hurts. Being molded and shaped, and chiseled away at, is painful.

But I have finally come to the realization that GOD KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING!

From where we stand all we can see is a lump of clay. But God see’s what He is making us into, He knows completely the glorious work to be done in our lives.

And God is using our messy, broken selves! God is using every single part of my life, all of my experiences and all of who I am to glorify His name and bring others to Him. What a joy to be used by God. How great it is that our filth can be traded in for a robe of His righteousness.

If you had told me four years ago that I would be where I am today I wouldn’t have believed you for a second. I didn’t have enough faith to even hope for what I have now.

If you had told me even a month ago, the things that God would bring me through and complete healing and transformation He would bring to my life, I would have believed those things impossible.

I truly believe the words Jesus said in Matthew 19:26, “ With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

I no longer believe that some things are too big for God, some things not possible for Him to fix. Believing that my God can do ANYTHING, makes me so hopeful.

Song Recommendation: Here I am by downhere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyMZlXz4IME

I was blind, but NOW I SEE

I went to the boardwalk about a week ago with some friends to evangelize and just have conversations with people about Jesus. This was the first time I had ever done something like that and I was so nervous!

I thought, ‘I don’t have all the answers! I’m not smart enough to get the message across.’

I thought, ‘I’m not a good speaker! When I get nervous I stumble and fumble and look foolish.’

But out of obedience to God, I went to the boardwalk anyway.

And I’m glad I did.

When I started talking to people and they started asking hard questions, its true, I didn’t have all the answers. And I got a bit frustrated with the hypothetical scenarios thrown at me. I just wanted to make them see, but its hard to put into words something that you have experienced.

I just needed to share my story. To say, this is who I was, and this is how Jesus saved me.

I could sit and talk theology with you and dissect every line of the Bible but then we would be missing the point! The real living, breathing proof right in front of our eyes!

In John chapter 9 Jesus heals a man who was blind from birth and he is taken to the Pharisees. The man tells him that Jesus performed a miracle! The man tells them, he washed my eyes with mud and now I see.

Instead of rejoicing and giving thanks to God, these men debate and question the man about rules and regulations. They were missing the point!

Finally after continuing to be questioned, the man says, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

It doesn’t matter to the man what day it was that brought him healing, all he knows it that his eyesight has been restored!

Instead of trying to answer every hypothetical situation and loaded question, I just wanted to say,

“Don’t you get it? Don’t you see how wonderful Jesus is?

I was blind but now I see!

I was a prisoner but now I’m free!

I was broken but now I’m healed!

I was lost but now I’m found!

I was dead but now I’m alive!

I was hopeless but now I have found hope!”

Some people aren’t going to be satisfied unless you can answer every single question and reassure them on every single issue about God.

But I cant do that. I cant answer enough questions to get someone to put their trust in God.

All I can say is that I’m not who I once was, and because of Jesus Christ I have joy and hope and love and freedom and salvation.
Song recommendation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ4yNYY1hHM

Putting God in His proper place

Recently, everywhere I go someone is talking about responding to God’s calling, ‘getting out of the boat’, or not putting other things in the place of God. And it bugs me.

It bugs me because I need to hear it. And its hard to hear. It bugs me because every time someone talks about it, the holy spirit gives my heart a little nudge.

And I cant squash that feeling anymore. I cant ignore the nudge anymore.

Most times when you think of putting things in the place of God, you think of material things like people or money or substances. But the thing that I put in front of God? Fear.

I put fear in front of God. Like fear is this great thing to be accommodated. I have accommodated fear in my life. I have gotten used to it and made a place for it. But its not so easy to live with anymore. Its taking up too much room.

Recently my friends convinced me to go on a walk late at night on this pretty trail, in a wooded area. I had such a great time hanging out with people that are leaving school this year, and made some great memories. I thought about how close I had come to not going on the walk, because it was in the dark woods. And I mean I was terrified, in my mind, there was a killer lurking behind every tree. The journey was scary, but when we got to the beautiful clearing at the end of the path it was so worth it.

And I almost missed it. I don’t want to miss out. Not just on some fun times, I don’t want to miss out ON MY LIFE!

I know myself and I could spend forever measuring and judging the what ifs of any situation. When God asks me to do something, I usually wrestle with Him for a while.

“But God, what if this happens? But God what if that happens? God are you strong enough to keep me safe?”

And then I hear Him say, “Yeah, so what if it happens? I’m still God and I’m still good.”

And if God does choose to call me home, I will be going to the place I've waited for my whole life! I used to not want Jesus to come back until I've done all the things I want on this earth. But now I've realized that these things dont have worth compared to the place Jesus is preparing for me. I'm so homesick, if it was up to me, my savior would come back this very second.

As Christians we need to look at our motives. Are we living our lives in response to God’s calling, or in response to something else? My motives have always been based on fear. And its exhausting, and draining, and crippling.

And I’m sick of it. So from now on I’m not going to let fear tell me what to do. I’m going to let God tell me what to do. When He tells me what to do, I’m going to do my best to listen, even and especially when its scary. Because I don’t want to be a slave to fear. I don’t want to be a bound prisoner to fear.

Galatians 5v1 says, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

God came to set me free from the sin of fear. Its silly to think of someone who has been set free to willingly return themselves to slavery. I don’t want to diminish the beautiful gift that Jesus offers me, by refusing the freedom that He brings.

Another verse about freedom that I love is John 8v34, which says, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

The son had set me free, but I put the shackles back on myself. I am not a slave to sin, I am a daughter of the most high God, and I am going to start living like it.

This is the summer that I am going to start living out of a reverence for God and not a reverence for fear. This summer I am going to fly across the ocean and tell random strangers about how much Jesus Christ loves them and wants to know them personally. I am going to start living my life not worrying about tomorrow, because my life is in the safest place possible, God’s hands.