my thoughts, as promised:
man, all of this scripture & this teaching make me so excited! i love how straightforward the scripture is...obviously, the words in bold are what spoke to me the most (i.e. "will, till, when"), so i don't know exactly how they impact others, but there's just so much promise in those words, and we know the Lord is faithful to his promises! it's also so exciting to be able to already claim victory, for when we know the Lord's will, we can thank Him in advance for the completion of it!
here's what i kind of wonder sometimes, though: (and, just for the record, i'm aware that this is probably another waste of brain power) if God knows everything, always did, always will, then He knew that things weren't going to work out the way He'd prefer in the beginning, and He knew that it was going to take all of the Old Testament time period before Jesus came on the scene through "the family", and He knew that His people would reject Him, that He'd have to bring the Gentiles into His family, and so on and so on, so why even bother? the truth that i know is that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28), so i know that if He decided to run things this way, it must be better for us in the end, but ultimately, must be for the purpose of bringing more glory to Him for that is pretty much the purpose of our existence.
ok then here's a heavier thought: while this is so exciting, it also reveals a LOT of responsibility. i mean, we, as believers, already have a great responsibility, but for some reason this just seems to really add to it.
man, all of this scripture & this teaching make me so excited! i love how straightforward the scripture is...obviously, the words in bold are what spoke to me the most (i.e. "will, till, when"), so i don't know exactly how they impact others, but there's just so much promise in those words, and we know the Lord is faithful to his promises! it's also so exciting to be able to already claim victory, for when we know the Lord's will, we can thank Him in advance for the completion of it!
here's what i kind of wonder sometimes, though: (and, just for the record, i'm aware that this is probably another waste of brain power) if God knows everything, always did, always will, then He knew that things weren't going to work out the way He'd prefer in the beginning, and He knew that it was going to take all of the Old Testament time period before Jesus came on the scene through "the family", and He knew that His people would reject Him, that He'd have to bring the Gentiles into His family, and so on and so on, so why even bother? the truth that i know is that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28), so i know that if He decided to run things this way, it must be better for us in the end, but ultimately, must be for the purpose of bringing more glory to Him for that is pretty much the purpose of our existence.
ok then here's a heavier thought: while this is so exciting, it also reveals a LOT of responsibility. i mean, we, as believers, already have a great responsibility, but for some reason this just seems to really add to it.
completely unrelated side note: the weather has been dreary all day, i mean torrential downpour, hail, flooding rains off & on, and now--the sun is shining through my window! i think the weather here is more random than any place i've ever been, and i have to say i like it, except when caught in a short sleeve shirt & flip flops outside during the work day, where you are still expected to look presentable, haha...
back to responsibility...i think it seems to add to it because it kind of brings up stuff that you keep hidden in the back of your mind that you aspire to do "someday." you know? for me, that's major intercessory prayer & fasting. these things REALLY speak to me, like tug at my heart, i mean. but if we're being honest, and i think we are, i totally forget to fast. how embarrassing is that? i mean, even if i set a day, then i'll be going along my merry way, eating all day, and about dinner time or as i'm going to bed, i think "dang it! i was going to fast today!"
let me take this opportunity to say that my personality is "do things completely right in full the first time or don't even bother"...this is good and bad. it's also a very "first-born" mentality, just saying. so this attitude often overflows into things like cleaning my house, making my bed, cleaning out my car, umm even stuff like painting my nails, reading, or writing in my journal. if i don't have time to wash all of my dishes, i won't even start because you won't be able to tell anyway, so it will be like i did nothing--it won't "count". if i don't have time to write a complete journal entry, i won't even start (bad). all of this to say, it usually looks like laziness or procrastination to the outsider, another frustration to me because i know if i do something, i'm going to do it right & see it through to completion (good), the problem is finding time to do it right. ok so i'm starting to seem a little like a crazy person, but that's ok because i'm aware that this is not a positive thing about me, and am in the process of working on it. not to say i'm lowering my standards, but working on getting things started, even when i don't have time to completely finish them, because it will make my life way easier later on.
wow, what was i even talking about? oh yes, prayer & fasting. if anyone is interested in a good, excuse me, GREAT book on the subject, may i recommend the hidden power of prayer & fasting by mahesh chavda--amazing.
so i think that sometimes i get caught up in "doing things right" too much to realize that the Lord is just looking at our heart condition/motivation and how we desire to please Him and glorify Him with our lives. He knows we're going to mess up! (the bold is for my benefit)He's not mad at me when i aspired to read two chapters in one sitting, but only read one. He's not mad at me because i spent 29 minutes instead of 30 with Him in one setting. He doesn't hold it against me that i forgot to fast one day. These are the kind of lies that satan puts in my head, tormenting me with my own tendencies--jerk. man, i wonder if we can ever know the heart of God enough to catch these lies before they begin, eliminating them & claiming victory? i suspect we can.
so i got this teaching from IHOP (international house of prayer) in kansas city...it's an amazing place! i went to one of their conferences called "onething" one time & have really never been the same. anyway, all of that to say that i downloaded--for free--about 85 teachings from IHOP on itunes & they are incredible! if you are interested in prophetic singing, fasting, end times, israel, prophecy, church, well all things awesome, really, then you should check itout. it's under the "itunes store" ...type "onething" in the search...scroll down to "podcasts"...click on "yearn, faint, cry"...go to your "podcasts" section...click arrow to display options, and click "get" next to the ones you want!
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