Book of Job

Everyone knows the story of Job, but I had never read through the whole thing before. I found it really interesting. I think I like the last chapters the best, the ones where God is telling Job off. Job never turns against God, but he does get a good pity party going. (God hates me, I didn't do anything wrong, why is this happening?) But what God really calls him out on is that Job seems to think he is more righteous than God, that God is somehow unjust in letting bad things happen to Job. The last chapters are amazing, because it is this awesome glimpse into how powerful, mighty, and majestic God is. After the series of questions God asks, Job repents of his pride and near sightedness. This was one of those books that makes me go, "You can say that to God?" Job doesn't try to hide what he's feeling, he lays it all out. God never does tell Job why everything happened to him, but He does remind Job who he serves. And that's enough.

Singers

I was reading Nehemiah today and some small mention of the temple singers grabbed my attention. There was a whole group of people whose only job was to sing praises to God. How awesome is that? And how huge is music as a form of worship? Music is one of the most powerful forces I know. Sometimes I get caught up in myself though, in my ability or lack thereof, or compared to my younger brother, who is very talented, or being frustrated because I can't manage to play what I want. But, despite all that, I love music. I love to sing and play. Ultimately, it's not about me, anyway. It's about brining glory to God. It always comes back to that. Cool, huh? If music is so powerful here, imagine what it will be like in Eternity! Now that is something to look forward to.

Ordinary People

Personally, I have a tendency to view the people in the Bible as super heroes. But that's not true. Every person of faith I look up to is a normal person except for one thing: God. God is the game-changer. A couple weeks ago we were talking about powerful prayer at prayer team. I mostly listened at the time. First, how would your life read if it were in the Bible? think about the apostles. There is this tendency to think that they felt the power of God on them, then decided to go do miracles, but that's not how it worked. They saw a need, asked God to fix it, and crazy things started happening. 

Matthew 17:20-21

²⁰ So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. ²¹ However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

I don't know about you, but I don't claim that verse. It is so easy to separate ourselves from the Bible, say, Yeah, but that was back then, things like that don't happen now. Well, guess what. God doesn't change. The God who did miracles in the Bible is the same today as He was then. We are told that we can do all things through Christ. (Philippians 4:13) Do you actually claim that? An example was brought up in prayer team. What is you were standing in a crowed room with a match? Would you have the faith to say, "My God can light this match."? That would be absolutely life-changing. Our God is life changing. What is a match to Him? He consumed Elijah's sacrifice.(1 Kings 18:20-40) A match is nothing. I'm not saying I'm there, not by a long shot. But I want to be. In church today we talked about Esther and Nehemiah. Both were normal people, who were put in the position they were in for a reason. Esther was queen. Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer. When it came time to act, the first thing they did was pray and fast before God. And they didn't just pray, Lord, please let this work out... They prayed powerfully and they expected an answer! I know I don't always expect an answer to my prayers. Learning about that. I don't know which is more frightening, the idea that God won't come through, or that He will. Because crazy things happen when God is involved. The Bible is full of stories of normal, flawed people and miracles. God works through normal, crazy, flawed people because it brings him glory. Gideon and an army of 300 defeated the Midianite army with pitchers and torches.(Judges 7)  There is no way they did that on their own. It's so crazy it has to be God. God must love the word BUT. That's crazy, but... What would happen if we actually prayed that way, lived that way? Think on that a moment. Now, what if God is waiting for us to pray that way? Look at how many times God was going to destroy the Israelites and Moses interceded for them. Moses asked God not to destroy them, and He didn't. This isn't God changing His mind. If Moses hadn't asked, His plan was to destroy them. If Moses did ask, He would spare them. Both were His plan. It just depended on the asking. Whoa. I want that kind of faith. I want to say, For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21) I want to trust my God enough to jump, not knowing what comes next. To get to the point where it doesn't matter how scary or impossible the road before me is, I know my God goes before me, so I can make it, I can tread it without fear. I want my life to read like a Bible story, where all the glory goes to God, because there is no way that can be me. 

Random ramblings

Where is the line between being sensible and building wall?
Is common sense really sensible if it keeps you from taking a leap of faith?
Whose standards of sensible are we listening to? Because Christ's and the world's are completely different.
Just some random thoughts for the evening.

Timing

I had a verse floating around in my head all day, and when I came home, a friend had posted it on facebook. God certainly has an interesting sense of humor, and timing. The verse was Philippians 1:21.
For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
That's a powerful verse. That's how I want to live my life, completely sold out for Christ. I fail at that so often. I let all kinds of other things come between me and my Adonai. What I think needs done, day to day routine, so many little things that reduce life to merely living. It's so easy to fall into a routine and forget how exciting living for Christ is. Come on! I know the cure for death! I know Christ. How can I not live in excitement? It's not comfortable and it's not an easy road. But it's worth it! I run away from a lot of things. Why? If my God is for me, who can be against me? What can man do to me? The road Christ asks me to follow is uncertain, but He goes before me! The choices are living in boredom, being comfortable, or following Christ down an unknown road I can't see. I'm tired of running away. Christ is my life. Now let's see if my actions match my words, match where my heart wants to be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jgDHSLgNr8&feature=related