Abundance and Trust

Unless I get bored between now and Thursday, this will most likely be my last post on here before I leave. If I haven't already planned to meet with you before I go, than chances are I won't have time to. Not trying to be mean, it's just the reality of it. This last week is going to be crazy.

I just have some random thoughts that I wanted to write down before I forgot them... chances are I forgot some of them already anyway.

My friend Alissa wrote a blog about living an abundant life. I wanted to touch on that. The other day I was writing in a journal. Unlike when I write in here, my thoughts were raw, they were flowing onto the paper as I was thinking them. So, by the time I had gotten to the end of the entry, I had changed my mindset (this is why I like writing my thoughts down). The summary of my realization has a lot to do with this morning's sermon. I keep making plans; even though i know that God has something else, I keep making them. I keep planning how I will serve the Lord in the future... in fact, I was spending almost all of my time planning how I was going to serve Him. In a sense, I kept saying later, later, later. God kept saying now, now, now. A few days ago it hit me like someone threw a brick at me. At that point I decided to make it a priority in my life to live like Jesus NOW, not tomorrow.

Let me share with you my first experience in this adventure. After making this decision, I realized that I didn't really know what it was going to look like. That's the beauty of it I suppose. So I did the first thing that came to mind. I bought a poinsettia and gave it to a man in a retirement home. We proceeded to have a 2 hour long conversation (He was deaf, so it was more of a monologue). It was amazing. I was so uncomfortable, but at the same time it was sooo cool.

Jesus said, I have come so that you may have life and have it more abundantly. I'm pretty sure that this is what He meant by "more abundantly". unfortunately, People who preach the prosperity gospel will teach you that, by "abundantly", He meant for us to be healthy and financially secure (when I hear the word abundant, I think of money first, that comes naturally). I submit that what He was going for was more of the opposite. Whenever I give of my Time/money/other resources, I feel alive. whenever I endanger myself for the cause of Jesus, I feel more alive than ever (whether that be endangering my financial security, my health, or maybe even a relationship). Living like Jesus might just mean being crazy like Jesus was. This takes trust though, which happens to be my next topic.

Trust is something you could write books about and not be able to fully explain it, so let me sum it up in a sentence.
Trusting in God is being willing to put yourself out on the line and endanger yourself while knowing that He will provide for your every need (not your every want).
A daunting task to be sure, but every time I dip my toes in and try it, I feel more alive than ever.
Right now, what this looks like in my life is easier to pinpoint than usual. One of the reasons that all of this is on my mind is because of the Goliath that stands in front of me (so-to-speak). I am leaving for Africa in T minus 4 days. Exciting to be sure, except I still need another $500 before i can go. I'm at the end of the rope. It would be lying to say that I'm not worried. Yet, I trust that it is in God's hands. God is the maker of all things... what is $500 to Him?
If you wouldn't mind praying for me though, now would be the time.


Well, that was only my first thought... haha. So, I guess I'll just leave you with that. I encourage you to watch the video (seen below). I saw that it was shown at Lifeline tonight (thanks Alissa). I knew about this last year too and I think it's amazing, so check it out.

I choose joy.

It seems like everything in life is bad news. I mean, there is the occasional good moment, where something goes right, but it is rare.

I'm always curious as to which force is at work. When I get bad news, it is because God is trying to tell me that I'm not doing what He wants me to do... or is it because I'm not doing what Satan wants, so he is fighting back. How do we know which it is? How do we know who is closing the doors?

The natural human response to bad news is to get depressed, angry, or to give up. I am not perfect, but I am learning how to find joy in the bad news of life. If I'm fighting against Satan, than joy (through Christ) is my best weapon. Satan is trying to get us to lose sight of joy. So when I am reminded that I don't have enough money for my trip, I respond by saying that God must have something special in mind. If it is God who wants me to do something different, than I think joy will help me find it.

The Bible says to choose joy in all things. That's what I like about joy, it's a choice. When trials come our way we have a choice to make. We can choose depression, we can choose anger, or... we can choose joy. The choice seems obvious to me. unfortunately, the other two are so much easier to choose... It's human nature.


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