The Changing of Times

It has been a very long time. Many things have developed since the last true post made by myself.

First off work is great! God by his grace got me through yet a very intense week, I was enabled to balance school as well as over 40 hrs of work! What a exhausting week last week was! But it was very good.

The weather is now changing, this is a good thing. It brings about a different flavor to the everyday moments.

Class is going well, frankly its been tough to stay focused, between busy work week and it being the middle of the semester and being caught up in other things. This is where it is important for me to just come back to the fact that God has blessed me and my schooling is a blessing from him!

His provision again has been amazing, The last payment was made because my grandmother decided she wanted to cover it! hahah thats Quite amazing. Little things here and there with being fed and such have been very neat as God in his beautifully subtle ways still reminds me, its his provision I am leaning on, and not my own.

God has showed so much grace to me since I have been here and revealed so many things to me it’s really unbelievable. Last nights Dorm Meeting (Dr. Burke spoke) I believe really brought everything into full circle. It was out of Psalms 67. It says: 1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
The psalmist clearly is asking for the Lords blessing, but what you will notice is the motive behind his asking in verse 2 That your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
and then in verse 3 it builds ontop of 2 saying Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
We see essentially in the rest of the Psalm that the author is clearly asking for Gods blessing, but his motive is that God will in turn be praised, be glorified and made huge!
I believe the Psalmist has it dead on in this passage. Why does God bless us? Why does he have us in any situation? It is to make himself Glorified for what he does in all circumstances.
It is here that I must come to a place of realization moment by moment that as much as I am inclined to think it, It is not about me. (suprise!) But about the Almighty receiving all recognition for even the littlest of things.

That concept has been quite a enrapturing one, and that is what I will leave you with. Thank you for the prayer and support that I know so many of have been giving me! It is so valuable!

Psalm 67

Adapted Prayer

I Pray for all those who read this that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, because without love nothing else matters, you may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints and know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge. That you wont let yourselves get in the way of what Christ wants to do through you, and instead be filled with all the fullness and satisfaction of God. I pray these things to the only wise, all mighty God, to him be the glory forever, through Jesus Christ, To whom we give our lordship too. Amen.

Adapted from Ephesians 3:16-19

From Oswald

It’s been long over due a post. But instead of writing something I figured I’d pass on something that hit me pretty well recently in my reading.
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My Utmost for His Highest – September 13

By: Oswald Chambers

Title: After Surrender – What?

Key Verse: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.

Click link below to study this verse: John 17:4

http://www.studylight.org/desk/?query=joh+17:4

Surrender is not the surrender of the external life, but of the will; when
that is done, all is done. There are very few crises in life; the great
crisis is the surrender of the will. God never crushes a man’s will into
surrender, He never beseeches him, He waits until the man yields up his
will to Him. That battle never needs to be re-fought.

Surrender for Deliverance. “Come unto Me and I will give you rest.” It is
after we have begun to experience what salvation means that we surrender
our wills to Jesus for rest. Whatever is perplexing heart or mind is a
call to the will – “Come unto Me.” It is a voluntary coming.

Surrender for Devotion. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny
himself.” The surrender here is of my self to Jesus, my self with His rest
at the heart of it. “If you would be My disciple, give up your right to
yourself to Me.” Then the remainder of the life is nothing but the
manifestation of this surrender. When once the surrender has taken place
we never need “suppose” anything. We do not need to care what our
circumstances are, Jesus is amply sufficient.

Surrender for Death. John 21:18-19. “. . . another shall gird thee.” Have
you learned what it means to be bound for death? Beware of a surrender
which you make to God in an ecstasy; you are apt to take it back again. It
is a question of being united with Jesus in His death until nothing ever
appeals to you that did not appeal to Him.

After surrender – what? The whole of the life after surrender is an
aspiration for unbroken communion with God.

I Dare You!

The explanation of the title of this post will be further explained later on.

As the semester progresses It’s absolutely wild to see God continue to affirm my calling here to move for school! If this is the first post you’ve read of mine, you will find that you are in the middle of a story that began at the beginning of august. You can catch the beginning down below entitled “Turning a New Page, New Life Begins”.

As the story continues things just so happen to get even deeper. Classes are great, and are progressing towards heaver things. The chapels have been ridiculous! I have never in my life been so convicted and invigorated to share my faith with others then I have since i’ve been here! The theme of the year is the “Great Commission” and I am continually being challenged in different ways to view the importance of why I am here on earth, and what I am called to do! I was recently challenged by 2 Corinthians 5:16
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

I am called today as a christian to view people on a eternal perspective! The way Christ views us! I am either to savor that fact that I am able to interact with a fellow brother or sister in Christ, or be so burdened to the point of action by the fact of a friend being lost and on their way to eternal damnation!

That verse has really challenged me in the way I’ve thought lately in regards to the people I met, saved or lost.

The Lord has been so great to me! He’s provided necessities on so many scales! My Grandparents have been such a blessing in all their encouragement, and last week I received a care package from them! This was a huge blessing! I also mentioned in the last post that I had an interview with Apple Computers! I just found out last night that I got the Job! Again another huge blessing!

To me what makes this so great is the fact that so many people were praying for me in regards to this specific situation! Now with the Lords answer he gets to look the way he should, and the way he should look is HUGE! He’s answered my prayer for provision and continues to live up to his word!

I have never been more excited to be dropped in an environment of unbelievers! I know God is putting me here for his glory and to be used to draw others to him! I ask you to pray for me in that as I begin work!

From here this leads to the explanation for the title of my blog. I Dare You! because I am daring my self to pray something! A long time ago I was challenged to pray a prayer. That prayer for many people could be a very difficult prayer to pray! It directly comes from Proverbs 30:7-9

7 Two things I ask of you;
deny them not to me before I die:
8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
9 lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.

Thats something I am beginning to pray once again! The Lord has provided and I desire to still stay close to him! I don’t ever want to find a false security in what he has given me, but find my security only in him! So if you are at a place where you feel you desire to do this also! I Dare You! to pray this with me in your own life!

<—the actual store I work at!

Proverbs 30:7-9