To Obey or To Make Excuses

1 Samuel 15:

22 But Samuel replied:

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

 as much as in obeying the Lord?

To obey is better than sacrifice,

 and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

    and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

    he has rejected you as king.”

Well then... 

Doesn't look like things are going to well for Saul here does it.

The funny thing is that Saul actually had his excuses all lined out for why he didn't do what God commanded. (1 Samuel 15)

Saul even had it all planned out that he'd make sacrifices to the Lord in the midst of his obedience. He really had it all planned out. We may look at Saul and say "What a fool! You can't do God like that!" But do we?

Do we find ourselves saying things like 

"I know what I'm doing is wrong, but_______." or 

"I'll get some accountability, and continue in my sin but me having accountability is like sacrificing my secrets."

 "I live in sin, but I tithe soooooo....." 

To obey is better than sacrifices... Ya know I believe that this isn't just a better to God thing. I know it may be hard for us to obey God's commands and do what He calls us to do when it seems uncomfortable or hard to give up that old sin that we wanna hang on to, but God doesn't command us to anything that isn't good for us.

He commands us to things that will make us look more like Christ and glorify Him! Ultimately He leads us toward who we are meant to be in Christ!

Again just like in my last blog...

HE KNOWS THE PLANS HE HAS FOR US

NOT TO HARM US BUT TO GIVE US A HOPE AND A FUTURE

Obedience to God is good all around.

Lets do our best to not substitute sacrifices for obedience

Lets do our best to pay attention to God's commands, so that we do not find ourselves throwing together a bowl of ratchet excuses as to why we didn't obey, and when we find ourselves slipping, let's repent. Truly repent. Not just toss up a "my bad" and continue down that road, but turn around and go the right direction again. 

It's better for us to live in obedience than to live in a cycle of watered down repentance and excuses. 

All Planned Out

Proverbs 16:2

Commit your activities to the Lord and your plans will be achieved

     Well that doesn't seem so hard. Does it? I mean I'll just throw up a quick prayer before doing something and God will come through for me right? Hmm..... But is that really how it works?

A few synonyms for the word Commit

Pledge

Devote

Dedicate

     So what if my plans really are all about me? How do I commit those plans to the Lord? How do I make something that is all about me glorify Him?

I can't

It doesn't work that way

     When we truly commit our activities to the Lord, what we say is "What I do is Yours!" So that means that there will be some of our plans will have to go away and they will be replaced with His plans for us, which ARE BETTER. That's right. Even some plans that we think are really good for us, will be replaced with His better plans for us, when we commit our activities to Him. 

     Sometimes that's really hard to go through though. I mean we plan stuff out like crazy. Sure scripture says not to talk about what we're going to do tomorrow (James 4:13), but hey we can't help it! We have to plan!!! And when our plans go south it often hurts. 

I want this to be an encouragement though

For those who are struggling with understanding why plans are going south

I mean you really are committed 

and things just seems so crappy right now

and if you were to be honest...

LIFE JUST KINDA SEEMS TO SUCK!

Because the plan was _________, but now everything just seems so screwed up!

I've been there for the past couple week too...

I'm reminded that God has plans for us that are better than the plans we may come up with

Even in our commitment to Him we can still tend to make some plans that are good but not best

He has the best for us

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you." Declares the Lord

"Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

It may suck right now, but this is the hope that I hold on to.

As I continue to commit to Him and seek Him out in all the craziness

He's got something for me that's better than what I had planned for me.

So today I've got a peace of knowing that when what I want to come through doesn't come through

or doesn't come through the way that I want it to

God has it under control and He's got something for me. 

It's good to have that peace.

Stay devoted

Fear the loss of focus

I'm a weird person...

I have a tendency of fearing failure before going for something.

I really have to push myself and talk to myself into it and sometimes it takes days

maybe even weeks to talk myself into it. 

I hate this about me because sometimes I miss awesome opportunities because I'm afraid to take them and often wish I had someone to push me.

That's not the weird part though.

The weird part is that I tend be very successful at most things that I do.

And sometimes that success scares me more than the previous thoughts of failure.
Because deep down
and this is my biggest struggle

I fear getting so busy doing something that is going to help me invest
in what I want to do with my life
that I forget to actually do what I want to do with my life.

I fear the loss of focus.

But ultimately I know it's a risk that I have to take if I'm going to make it to where I want to make it.

so... Here we go

But God who comforts

2 Corinthians 7:5-6
5 In fact, when we came to Macedonia, we had no rest.
Instead, we were afflicted in every way: struggles on the outside, fears on the inside.
But God, who comforts the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus.

This morning as I read this two big truths popped up in my heart and mind.

1. They were human
2. They trusted Him enough to go and share the gospel

     Now don't get me wrong. I know in my heart that the apostles were human beings. I know that they, apart from Christ, are no more powerful than anyone else, but sometimes in our hearts we can mistake scripture to be about the men and women and not about who God is. 

Yes this is a confession

Sometimes I get it twisted... I see stories, and miss God.

Not that God isn't there, but my focus tends to get wacky sometimes.

Thank God for grace and the Spirit that corrects this in me and reminds me that He is what I'm after.

    When he confesses that they faced fears and struggles during their times of preaching the word and well just all out living for Christ, I'm reminded that I can join in! I'm reminded that even though I face fears and struggles, I can join in with them and live for Christ, because of Christ, in this world. I don't have to let my fears and struggles hold me back, but instead I can look to God who will comfort me and empower me to overcome them. I too can trust Him enough to go and share the gospel. I too can trust Him enough to live for Him out in the open no holds barred. 

They were human

They faced struggles

They were imperfect

They had fears

Life wasn't easy for them either

but God who comforts the humble

Comforted them

A little Extra

Notice how He comforted them.

God is a God of community and He will use His people to comfort His people

Who can I be a comfort to?

My prayer is that God would keep my heart reminded, through the struggles

and fear filled moments that, He is God and He is good and because of what Christ as done in me

I'm a beneficiary of His goodness!

The 1,000,000 Project

"I couldn't worship You without You

I've got nothing I could give

You have poured Your grace out on me 

so I can join the million in the song that praises You."

     "What is the 1,000,000 Project about?" You might ask. From the very beginning of this album I start with the simple fact that apart from God I am incapable of living the way that He has called us all to live. The birds sing tunes to Him, the stars shine for Him, and angels are constantly celebrating who He is, but me.... I can't join in this epic party apart from Him, but He has made a way and that way is through Jesus Christ our Savior. The way is not by our own hand or our own works no matter how good we want to imagine them. Scripture tells us that our righteous deeds are like filthy rags to God. We're gonna need something much more valuable than filthy rags. 

    The album speaks of hope this wonderful hope that we have in Christ, that He is enough to join the party. He is enough to join the celebration of who God is. He is enough for us. He fixes our brokeness and enables us to live life as we were meant to live it, glorifying Him. 

There's hope here for those that have been bogged down by regret

there's hope here for those that face challenges in life

there's hope here for the lost that are trying to do more good than bad

there's hope here for those in bondage

there'e hope for us in Christ

He makes beauty from the messes that we make

He is with us through lives challenges, even when life gives us it's best shot He is there

He is our only claim to righteousness and He truly is good. 

He sets us free

"He painted a million stars across the sky

The sun and moon that give us light

and He makes us

He makes us something beautiful!"

    

If there's anything that's stressed me out lately

It's V-CITY

     Lately I've honestly wanted to give up on it, but recently I was reminded by God that I shouldn't count myself out. Still though, there's that part of me that's just like how can I get out of this hole I'm in. I'm missing the light at the end of this tunnel. Sure I have gigs lined up, but I don't have a band. Or should I say I don't have a drummer, which is super frustrating. I'm find that I'm super insecure about my music lately too. 

SQUIRREL!

 I did upload the new album the 1,000,000 Project for those of you that don't know! There have been so many technical difficulties with that album that have stressed me out sooooo much, but it should be on iTunes and many other music websites by the 23rd of march. 

     Back to what I was saying.

   I guess I feel like this just isn't my year. Ever since the band broke up it's just been hard getting back on my feet as a musician, but even though I feel like giving up I know I can't. This really isn't something that I'm willing to give up. I know that I'd be miserable if I did eventually. Maybe I just need rest.. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I think I am going to just rest for a while after this year is over. Get my foot in the door somewhere leading worship and rest for a bit, or do whatever it is God tells me to do. I guess I'm just struggling to remember what the last order was or hear what the next order is, and I don't want to be in that place.

More Than Just A Little

You can't teach an old dog new tricks...

This may be true, but an old human

I think you can teach them new tricks

     If they never lose the wonder of living that is. 

     Somewhere along the way it tends to happen to us though. We seem to want to put the kid inside of us away and we call it maturity, but suppressing the kid inside doesn't achieve maturity. It achieves a a substitute, yes, but it doesn't achieve maturity. 

     When we suppress the kid inside of us, we lose something that we should never lose. We lose the wonder of it all, and with that loss our personality takes a very harsh and boring blow. We become the know it alls, the sticks in the mud, and downright annoying to most people. 

It is not uncommon for us to find ourselves in this state though.

It happens to the best of us, and sometimes makes the worst of us if we don't snap out of it. 

     It doesn't always come from the same place in everyones lives. Honestly, some people might lose the kid much earlier in their lives than adulthood. Sometimes men walk out on their families leaving their sons or oldest daughter to be the man of the house, simply robbing them of their childhood. This is cruel. 

For others it may just be that life has gotten tough and stressful and nothing that we'd think the kid in us could handle, but in all honesty it's nothing we could handle without the kid in us, because the kid in us is the part of us that can see the hint of beauty in what feels like disaster. 

Being from Pensacola FL I've lived through a few hurricanes,  and one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life was the stars after hurricane Ivan. Now semi mature teenager in me wanted nothing more than for the power to be back on so that I could play video games and enjoy some A.C. ,but when nightfall came the kid in me took over. 

     In the midst of what felt like disaster, the kid in me was able to find something beautiful.

I was able to stand in awe and wonder of God's incredible creation. During that time I'd been dealing with a lot of bigger things than having no power, but it was those nights that brought me through. 

I'm reminded that Christ calls us to be like children

One of the greatest examples I've ever seen of this in my life

is a man named David Cash

He's one that I've described as a man that knows how to be mature,

but not a stick in the mud. This man has definitely influenced my life in massive ways

that I don't think I'd be able to comprehend had I not met him.

Shout out to David Cash lol

May we never fully lose our wonder and awe of this world

May we never become know it alls and miss it all because of that

and may we forever live more than just a little 

Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength.... but not all of it.

     I've been lacking in areas of my life. My prayer life and personal time with God has taken a serious blow over the last few months and I really realized it when I sat down for lunch with someone who reminds me of the more glorious days. She reminded me of what I had with God before I got too busy "doing His will" to spend time with Him. Not that I have spent no time with Him, but I've been on autopilot for a while now.

My days lately

1. Wake up

2. glance over some scripture

3. Go to school

4. Come home

5. Record music/play video games/work on tuesdays/church on wednseday/ practice on thursday

6. Hang out with friends

and of course there's food somewhere in there

Things are missing here....

Very vital things are missing here

things that have to do with God

     It's crazy how the snowball effect works. You stop spending time with God and start "Spending time on God" and all the sudden you realize that you're in such a critical condition of the heart. I'm thankful for the realization that things are missing here. Had it not been for the spirit showing me this, then I would simply continue down that path, and even though I'm saved I wouldn't be living an abundant life. That is what I want! That is what I miss! I miss knowing that I am close to God, and the pure adventure that brings forth. 

    

At the end of the day

I haven't been giving this all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I've been giving some, but not all and that's a problem!

I can't afford to do that anymore, so my prayer is that He change this in me.

That He would come and renew me, and bring me back to Him because I can't fix me

only He can.

2013

     It started off with a bang! I was in a band and we were really good. We played for different youth groups and churches and things went so well. I'd finally gotten over all the ex girlfriend drama.... Man things were going so good, but somewhere along the way it got tough. It got real tough. The band broke up, and in the midst of that, which I think I'm ready to admit that I put on a much stronger face about it than I really wanted to, I lost my will to write. I lost my will to do a lot of things..... 

    Near the end of the year I had to drag myself to spending time reading the bible and in prayer, and I had to drag myself to be honest with accountability partners about things I just didn't really care to be honest about. I had to drag myself to be a leader when I really didn't feel like it... I had to do a lot of dragging myself....

Sometimes I did a much better job of it than others. I had good weeks and bad weeks....

But I can honestly say I've gotten stronger through it all.

December 2013 I felt God pulling me closer to Him, not that He wasn't the whole time, I just couldn't see it past the thought of dragging myself... The truth is that He was strengthening me to make it through things that I couldn't make it through without Him. He still is and I see that now. I don't know what 2014 holds, but I do know that God is with me. Through the ups and the downs, He will never leave me nor forsake me. 

He works all things together for my good and my good is to be made more into the likeness of Christ!

The future is an exciting and scary thought...

LETS DO THIS!!!!