Tonight, as I was driving home, I took a glance or two at the beautiful gleaming stars in the heavens. I often find myself looking up at the evening sky while driving - a dangerous habit, I know, but I just can’t help myself! I’m consistently enamored with how beautiful the sky is; it’s one of my favorite things to look at! 

After admiring the sky above, I couldn’t help but notice the lighting on the road - head lights, tail lights…traffic lights. Before me there were two kinds of light - that made by God and that made by man.

I’ve never given it too much thought before but I had such a revelation this evening of how much God has made us like Him. He created light and he created us. We’re made in his image and likewise, we are creative. We’ve made so much from our resources on this earth, not all good unfortunately, but nonetheless, we’ve created light here on earth. We’ve made light and only had the model of it to look at from a distance - nothing close up, no written out instructions.

We’re so much like our Father in that way - intelligent and creative designers!

How good is he…and we aren’t yet even fully able to realize it!
He’s so big and mysterious, but still, we are so much like Him!

So! I know it’s been a long while since I’ve posted anything on here! Lots has happened since March but last week I had a revelation from God that I just had to share!

For a while, I had been struggling between churches. I was not satisfied with the church I had been going to with my parents for a few years and I was looking for something deeper and “more Spirit filled.” I had tried to get involved, but it didn’t work out. I got to a point where I didn’t even enjoy going on Sundays and I became really judgmental of the church and the leadership there (I knew it was wrong, but I struggled with it). I felt like it was a good place for new Christians but not for someone more spiritually mature, like myself. Basically, I wasn’t satisfied because the messages weren’t deep enough and the worship wasn’t long enough.

HEART CHECK! I didn’t even realize I was @ “church” for the WRONG REASONS!

Last Sunday in worship, I was finally set free from that! During worship, God revealed the knowledge I had in my head into my heart and it sank in. When we leave Sunday gatherings or any gathering of the church, WE SHOULD NOT FEEL SATISFIED!! We shouldn’t come out of service and feel like we’ve gotten our quota of God time for the week. NO! When we leave a service, we should feel hungry for more!!

I have enjoyed Sunday services so much more since having that revelation. It’s all about PERSPECTIVE! When we start seeing things God’s way, we can enjoy them the way we’re intended to.

So last week, I was able to fully enjoy church because it didn’t completely satisfy me…it triggered my hunger and made me want to pursue God on my own even more. That led me to enjoy service this morning because I was there worshiping my Creator with the beautiful, united body of Christ. When you get out of the mindset of the church being building or a leadership and get INTO THE REALITY that WE are the church - the people sitting next to, in front of and behind me are the body of Christ on Earth - it’s a beautiful thing and a privilege to be a part of!!

I’m so glad that whenever I stand up and start to think I’m more spiritual than other people, I’m knocked down on my knees again (where I should be) because I’m constantly needing to relearn basic concepts! As much as my flesh wants it, I’m not here on this earth to live above others, but rather, TO SERVE OTHERS in HUMILITY & GRACE!

I was driving to class tonight and was thinking about last night’s message. I couldn’t get out of my mind how simple it is - we just need Jesus. Repeatedly God tells those to come who are thirsty and weak (Is. 55, Mt. 11:28-30). He wasn’t just talking about physical needs. He was talking about both the physical AND spiritual needs.

I was driving and God totally revealed to me: we don’t need the fruit of the Spirit. We NEED Jesus! We shouldn’t strive after “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” (Gal. 5:22) like they are things that can be obtained.

Over and over again, God uses the metaphor of people being like branches that bear fruit (Mt. 12:33-37, Lk. 6:43-45). When Jesus was on earth, he was hungry and cursed a fig tree for having no produce (Mk. 11:12-14); it withered away by the next day.

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Lk. 6:43-45)

In Galatians, we read what the fruit of the spirit is (Gal. 5:22). I have often misunderstood this verse thinking that these are the characteristics I should strive to have. I failed to see that only God working within me bears this fruit - not me working by myself.

God is hungry. He has planted Jesus like a grape vine and we are the branches of The Vine. He has put each and every one of us in the places and circumstances we are in for a reason. He wants to grow us so that we will bear good fruit (the likeness of Him).

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:1-17)

All we have to do is to stay, to remain in Him. All we need is Jesus. It’s at that simple.

[ Yesterday I finally finished up the book Boy Meet Girl: Say Hello to Courtship by Joshua Harris (I read I Kissed Dating Goodbye right before this one). I remember having to read I Kissed Dating Goodbye in Bible class in high school. I didn’t actually read it. I thought it was stupid. Never in a million years did I think I would pick up that book again, yet alone read it’s sequel - and enjoy them. But after the last relationship I was in, God was trying to change my heart and even my perspective on dating. And although I’m not sure I’m going to the extreme of “kissing dating goodbye,” those books do speak about how to treat others - specifically members of the opposite sex - when it comes to sex and dating. The wisdom in putting others before yourself. Truly thinking about putting their needs above yours & how that will effect the future is a lesson to carry throughout your lifetime. Those books really helped put a lot of things in perspective for me. ]

Enough about books, what I really want to talk about is what I was reading about at the end of the last one yesterday - forgiveness! And not just any forgiveness but GOD’S FORGIVENESS!!

When I read the verses below, my mind was just blown by God’s love for us. First of all, when we ask forgiveness, not only does He truly forgive us but He forgets all about our sin “for my own sake” (Is.43:25). It’s not that He doesn’t know what I’ve done in the past, but He has chosen to forget it (what a great example for us to follow in forgiving others)! He also “cleanses us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9) when we ask confess our sins. So basically, when we’ve come before God and confessed our sins and asked Him for forgiveness, He sees us without sin and cleanse from unrighteousness! What an great place to be before God and the LOVE that is there…blows my mind!

I know that this may seems like basic thought for some of you. This is nothing new for anyone who is familiar with the Bible, but if You really think about it & meditate on it…it is truly AMAZING! Ask God to make it new to you & to refresh you with His love today!

What an AMAZING GOD!! I love Him!!