The More I Seek You, The More I Find You

Hello again!  It's been a few weeks since I posted last - it sounds redundant to say that God is doing something - of course He is, He's ALWAYS doing something somewhere.  I guess the correct thing to say is that I'm seeing God move in my own life and in lives that are connected to mine in some way.  I do not claim to see everything, but I do sense that God is revealing some important things to me - better would be to say I'm finally hearing what God has been wanting to tell me and seeing what he's been wanting to show me for a while.  It's just that I'm finally slowing down enough and spending enough time with Him to allow for Him to show me.  It still amazes me how, despite the fact that I realize just how important time with Him is on a daily basis, I still skimp in that area for the purpose of "doing His work."  It's hard for me to remember that my first priority has to be my relationship with Him.  Yes, this is strengthened when I work to accomplish things He has ordained for us to do, but ultimately, knowing Him and loving Him is what we're called to do.  We're called to worship Him.


Ever since Dr. Hong Yong preached on Sunday night at Restoration, I've been going over in my mind just how passionate and desperate those people in China in the underground church were to know more about God.  One underground church of 200 people have only 1 Bible among them.  One group met together at 4:30 am every morning in a cave to worship for two hours before starting their day.  And I have problem getting up to pray for even 5 minutes in the morning?  It was a sobering reality that caused me to weep because of my lack of passion for Jesus.  I don't want to allow the cares of this world to choke out my passion for Jesus - or at least learning more about this love that Jesus and God has for me.  Because there is something in my being that craves for something more than what this world offers me.  Something bigger than any of us - and I want to know and explore it!  It really is true that the more the Lord helps me understand Him, the more I love Him.  That can only be the work of the Holy Spirit, thank God :).


At any rate, I've finally set up my prayer bench and I've begun to bring needs before the Lord again.  It feels so good to pray - I just don't understand why it's so easy for me NOT to do it and to get distracted by things :D (like blogging lol).  Paul said that I do the things I don't want and those things that I do want to do, I don't - at least I'm not the only one with this problem :D.


With that being said I suppose I should get something accomplished today.  Hopefully I'll begin posting things that actually interest others and not just about me rambling and putting my thoughts down on "paper" so I can understand myself better - my online diary for anyone who wishes to see :).

Let It Go! (Grow a Tougher Skin!)

I know I shouldn't be surprised by all of the things that take place in my life, but somehow, I still am.  This summer, I got a distinct call from God to pray more - not just prayer, but intercessory prayer.  There have been a lot of attacks in this past year, and it's only now that I'm realizing I needed the Armor of God on the whole time (funny how that's our focus in VBS this summer) and ready to battle when the time comes.  It's hard not to get angry at the situations and the people in the situations, but the truth of the matter is, Satan is the one at work, not the people.  It may sound superstitious to some and to others it may seem like complete nutzo fundamentalist Christian talk, but it doesn't change the fact that it's true.


I'm beginning to think that a lot of these situations are to help toughen my skin a bit.  I'm an advocate of helping everyone and trying to make everyone happy and at peace.  Not everyone is going to like me, especially now that I'm learning to say no - but I know God has a plan, and I intend to follow Him in that plan.


So what do you do when your brothers and sisters in Christ are being jerks?  I know that there's two sides to every story and I'm not innocent, but I tend to get more drama and grief from my believing friends than those who don't believe.  How do you deal with them?  I guess it's my fault for believing that people want to hear what I have to say *grin*.  Time to let go - I'm sorry, Lord, for hanging on too long.  I pray that you'll bless them on their way but still keep them far from me!