I Was Made to Soar

     We were made for more than just barely living, more than just going to work and making pay checks, and more than the American Dream. To live for either of these things is to live a cozy life that just won't satisfy, but to find our lives in Christ is to find our lives abundantly. There is an enemy that will do his best to convince you that the safe place is the mundane life and that enemy will have you so busy that you feel that you have no time to use your gift. When we choose not to use the gifts that God created us to use for His glory, we choose to miss out on abundant life and the enemy will make missing out look and feel like a good deal, but only for a while. 

     After a while of the mundane, we begin to feel trapped. We think to ourselves "how can I ever find time to do what God has called me to do. I've got bills to pay. I have this. I have that. I work too many hours." 

     We find ourselves missing out on what He has for us. 

     Sometimes we even begin to wonder what we are going to do with our lives. Do we even understand that sometimes we forget what we are passionate about? We bury our talents under the burdens of this world instead of investing in them so that we can hear the well done. 

     We were made to soar, to reflect the One who is majestic, and to bring glory to Him so that all the creatures of the earth would see Him in us. 

First we crawl, then we walk, then we soar. In all of these seasons of life we will take bumps and bruises but the view from up there is far more glorious than the view from below, bumps and bruises and all. We weren't made to crawl all of oh lives. 

     What gift were you given? How can you use it and bring glory to God while doing so?

     Let's not just think of gifts as talents(modern day definition) but just things that you do that you're passionate about. Do you love to work with youth? MAKE TIME TO DO SO! Maybe you love helping people do their taxes and work on their finances. MAKE TIME TO DO THAT! Whatever it is that you are passionate about. Whatever you do that you feel brings you to a place of feeling the presence of God right there in the midst of your actions, DO THAT! Make time to do that! For the glory of God, do that! 

Soar! 

     It's been a while since I felt that I was soaring. This past few weeks I've felt it. God has allowed me the opportunity to teach my youth group and I've felt so alive. I feel alive when I get to minister in different ways to youth. I also feel alive when I have a band of people that fit together and I get to lead worship with that crew. This has been a thing lately too. My Wednesday's and Sunday's bring me such great joy. I feel MOST alive when I get to go into battle with a full band and lead worship for a retreat or a camp. This past weekend I was able to do this. It was such a beautiful experience. I got to see God move in others and feel God move in me. I feel abundant life. Honestly even right now all I want to be doing is working with youth or helping out at a youth retreat. I barely want to continue typing... 

I'm excited to see what He has in store for me and these gifts that He's given me next. Right now He's called me to a period of resting so I will rest and praise Him. Just 2 more days til Wednesday though :)

Soar!

Yeah God is good, but ME THOUGH!

     Daniel  3:⁴ Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do: ⁵ As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. ⁶ Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”

But wait! Last time on DragonBall Z

Daniel 2: ⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. ⁴⁷ The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”

     Lets look at this for a minute though. We may look at what good old Nebby does here and feel pretty disgusted right. I mean why is that one minute he is acknowledging God as the God of gods and the Lord of kings, and the next minute he has decided to elevate himself among the people. 

But wait... Do we do that sometimes? 
     How hard is it really to fall into the same heart condition? When the lips sing His praises but the heart sings ours.

Have you ever been there? I can say that I have. When the sneaky thoughts come for your heart.

The what about mees. It's a dangerous place to be isn't it. Singing God's praises one minute and idolizing our own the next. Not that human praises are a bad thing, but to seek them so hard that we basically punish others that don't give us praise because we are so beat up about it... That's a bad place to be.

     The crazy part is that we aren't even worthy of that kind of worship. Only God is worthy, and we can't even live up to that kind of worship. When we sit on the throne of our own hearts, we find ourselves becoming more and more heartbroken, because we become so insecure that we need to hear the praises of others. We begin to find our identity in what others think about us instead of finding our identity in Christ.

     Suddenly hearing "WHAT ARE THOOOOOOSE!?" crushes our hearts.

     What about me? It's a dangerous place to be. Because we could never live up to that pressure, but our King has overcome the world and He is more than worthy of all praise.

God let us not get caught up in the pursuit of our own praises, but instead

let us get caught up in the pursuit of Your glory.

Let us drop our what about mees

and remind us that it's all about You.

You are the One that spoke it all into motion.

You are the One that is worthy of praise.

Sit on the throne of our hearts

Let our praise and affection be for You.

Give us grace to receive worldly praise and still give glory to You

Be more important to me than I am.