I AM

When listening to music today i stumbled upon this simple little video, and I don't know if it'll do the same for you but it really touched me and made me see God's name "I AM" with a completely new perspective :) His name isn't "I will" or "I have", but "I AM". It's so comforting. While we cry out in prayer our deepest concerns, requests, and "groanings that words cannot express", God is "I AM". He is already there, He is the answer, and was there before we even opened our mouths to speak. When we praise Him and give thanks, He is there and rejoicing with us. Using His name as the reply to our concerns, questions, praises, etc in the same way that He answered to Moses's question just really made me see His name/character differently and embedded a clearer picture of the omnipresence of God.

Happy Sabbath! 

Feed my sheep

“Pour yourself out. Don’t testify about how much you love Me and don’t talk about the wonderful revelation you have had, just ’Feed My sheep.’ ” Jesus has some extraordinarily peculiar sheep: some that are unkempt and dirty, some that are awkward or pushy, and some that have gone astray! But it is impossible to exhaust God’s love, and it is impossible to exhaust my love if it flows from the Spirit of God within me. The love of God pays no attention to my prejudices caused by my natural individuality. If I love my Lord, I have no business being guided by natural emotions— I have to feed His sheep." 


-The Utmost of His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Hole inside or whole inside

"There's a God-shaped hole in all of us,

and the restless soul is searching.

There's a God-shaped hole in all of us,

and it's a void only He can fill"

God-Shaped Hole-Plumb, image by Rizki Syahril from Threadless.com

Alive

Unbenounced to you and me,

Beyond the place of tyranny,

There lies a love that holds us—

In sure and constant watch.

I pass a place of future crashing and

 Far beyond the tongues and lashing

 There lies a blaze that’s burning—

Never to be drenched.

When people live and love beyond themselves,

Hearts betray this bitter world—

There’s bound to be a breaking.

But I can’t sweat for better yet

When all I have is manifest

In who I am, who I was, and what I’m not mistaken.

If this is freedom,

Living and loving hard,

When guarantees are lewd and shard

And I can’t rest on human souls,

Because they’re impractical and bruising…

There has got to be more.

There has got to be something deeper out there.

And I hope that you look and you find,

Because the people are being restored

Where vines and branches sever more

And never has it been so crazy.

Kick the doors to free me

to say that I’m alive and I’m thriving still,

I’ve lost my feet, but I won’t lose my will

You can hurt, but you cannot kill

The raging fires of a man who’s been caught by human lies

Time after time.

Who’s been,

Soaked
and choked
and rung 
by compromise.

Who was once dead

but
is now

Alive.

~Jonah Werner, "Alive"

Praying for others

I was just reading a page from my devotional and it was about Genesis 19:29 ("But God had listened to Abraham's request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain"), and the power of prayer for others. When I read this I thought about my grandma. Every time I see her, and every time we talk on the phone, before leaving she tells me how much she loves me and that she prays for me every single night. And I know that she does. I love her beyond words and it has brought me to tears at times when she tells me this. If I am struggling with anything, whether it's a difficult decision or even something small happening in my life, she will be praying about it, every day. When she tells me this I just think (and this is why it brings me to tears) about all of the blessings in my life and then I wonder how many of these blessing are all because of my Grandma's prayers? How amazing is that? And honestly, I truly do feel that many blessings in my life have nothing to do with me, but have resulted because of prayers from others. And now when I pray for others, I know God is listening and performing miracles and pouring blessings into other people's lives because of my love and desires for them (just like Abraham and Lot's case). It's mind-blowing to realize how much influence and power there is by speaking with God and making our requests known through prayer.

"do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."-Philippians 4:6.

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16