Lay it all down

So today I was putting my books away and trying to clean up my room from the four suitcases that I unloaded in it after returning from Japan. While putting books away I came across one of the past journals that I have used. I use the word journal in the loosest term possible. Even as I read back through it it was funny how much time occurred between the different entries. I say all this just to get to the point that my last entry I found again challenging and worth posting.

" Lord send me anywhere, only go with me. Sever any ties but the ties that bind me to your service and your heart." David Livingston ( missionary to Africa)

He also prayed this prayer when he buried his wife in Africa:

" My Jesus, my King, my Lord, my life, my all, I again consecrate my life to You. I shall place no value in anything I possess, except as it relates to Your Kingdom and to you service."
Both quotes came from the book " Walking from East to West" Ravi Zacahrias

This was great how these quotes came at a time where I have been thinking alot about my schooling and direction of ministry. In this time of waiting to hear from Moody and at the same time trying to discern what or where to go. I know and am reminded that God is faithfully at work in my life.

Psalm 37:5-7 I will paraprase by saying :
Commit you ways to the Lord, Trust in the Lord and in His faithfulness, Be still and wait patiently for Him.

I see the great joy that comes from reading back over past thoughts or challenges. I resolve again to work on disciplining myself to journal.

Crazy Ideas

" We need to be living lives that demand an explanation!"
quote taken from Jeff Vanderstelt

When we read the Bible , what is the natural conclusion of the life that Christ wants you to live?

Based on God's word and His Spirit at work in us filling us with power ( Acts 1:8) , leading us into understanding of the Word ( Jn 16:13) , and Sealing us in Christ ( 2 Cor5:5, Eph 1:13) .....

What is the natural course my life should take in response to God.

Being content is something that has been a common theme this last week. This idea of contentment that we find in 1 Timothy 6: 6-10. I have just been pondering what it looks like to live out these verses. I don't think that Paul could state it any clearer for Timothy. Now Timothy was being charged to preach and teach this. Paul was living it, you know I find those leaders that call us to action that when they are really demonstrating it in their own lives I find I have a greater desire to get behind them. Paul in Phil 4:13, the verse we all love to quote out of context, is clearly laying out the most natural and logical response to the foundational truths of his salvation. Jesus Christ is more than enough for me in any circumstance. For we see that for Paul no matter what happened in life he found contentment in Christ. Were there days of struggle and days of forgetting the truth? I would have to say yes because we are human and so was Paul. I think that Paul though was living his life out in such a way as to be walking according to the Spirit and serving his Savior and Creator God.

Lord fill me with understanding of your Word and Father I am weak is so many ways. I need your Spirit to be my strength in standing in this world. That I might learn to apply your Word to my life and live out a life which demands an explanation which can be none other than Jesus.