Living a Set-Apart life!

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Jesus take the wheel....

Everyone has dreams and desires. For instance, one of my dreams is to someday own my own Christian dance studio and show others how they can worship God through dance. Another dream of mine is to get married and be a mom. There are a bunch of things I have dreamed about and desired throughout life. There are a lot of little dreams and desires that I have had that I have seen become reality yet there are a lot that haven't. Dreams and desires also often change depending on where life is taking you.

It is good to have dreams and ambitions in life. However, how do we know if they are God's desires for us?

First of all, examine your heart. Think about what desires you have in life. Use a blank piece of paper and write them down. What kind of desires are they? Are they selfish desires?

Psalm 37:4 says: "Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart."

DELIGHT yourself in the LORD! Give him your heart and your life in a total surrender! Hold nothing back from God. When every part of your life is given up in surrender to God, our desires become God's desires. That's how God gives you the desires of your heart! We no longer are the authors of our own lives. Give your life and all of your desires to God and let him work his plan in your life. Let your number one desire be to have God's will done in your life. You will not be disappointed.

Remember that piece of paper that you wrote your dreams and desires on? Pick up that piece of paper and flip it over. The page is now blank! Instead of focusing on your own dreams and desires, give God your life and let him work and see what happens! It is great to have ambitions and dreams in your life; but instead of focusing on them and how you can make them happen, trust God to lead you where he wants you to go in life. It's not going to be easy, but isn't it reassuring that God has your life plan all worked out? By surrendering to God's plan and TRUSTING in it, everything will work out perfectly and exactly how God wants it to. Again, you will NOT be disappointed! Hand over the wheel of your life to God and watch God's beautiful plan unfold in your life!

It's Valentines Day tomorrow

<sup>It's Valentine's Day tomorrow!!!! Check out what the Bible says about love:

We as humans tend to take the word love and use it very lightly. We throw it around like it's nothing. We love ice cream, we love pizza, we love everything. Love also has a very significant meaning to us as humans. When someone that we love tells us that they love us, it makes us feel really good. It's one of the most meaningful things someone can tell us.</sup>

1 John 4:16 says: "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them."
<sup>We as Christians are commanded to be like God. Therefore we are commanded to love because God is love. We need to love!!! Christians are noticed for their unconditional love towards others. However, Christians are also often noticed for their lack of love towards others.

Here is a passage that talks about how important living a life of love is to a Christian.</sup>

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."
~1 Corinthians 13:1-3~

WOW! isn't that harsh! If we have mountain moving faith but not love we are NOTHING!!! If we give all we have to the poor but not have love we gain NOTHING!!! Without love, we are NOTHING! It's really sad to me how Christians are often noticed because of their lack of love. Our biggest calling is to love. We can't be living the life God calls us to if we don't love others.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
~1 John 4:7-8~

God calls us to love one another because love comes from God. The love that we are commanded to have for others has much deeper meaning than the 'love' that our culture throws around for everything. It is an unconditional love. It's the love of God!

Check out this passage:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails....And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

~1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13~

The passage above defines the kind of love that we are supposed to have towards others and. We are called to love unselfishly and unconditionally and totally devotedly. If our love lacks any of these characteristics we are not loving the way that God calls us to.

Loving others is soooo important! Do you know what the Bible says about people who claim to love God but don't love others? Check this out!

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 1 John 4:20-21

If we claim to love God and hate others the Bible says that we are a LIAR!!! It says that we we do not love others we cannot love God. Wow!!! This is why God calls us to love others above all else! If we love God we must also love others!

You might be thinking: "is it even possible to love others like this? is it even possible to love everyone? YES! it is!

Jesus is the perfect picture to represent love. He was human and he fought the same thoughts and temptations we did yet he was able to love everyone unconditionally! so much that he was willing to DIE for us!!! He had such a sacrificial, committed, self denying love for us that he was crucified to save us from our sins. We need to love like Jesus!!!

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
1 John 3:16

Loving others is soooo important! We need to love like Jesus loved! Happy Valentines Day!!! Love you all...:)

Sorry Guys!!! ( if anyone even reads this anyway)

I was going to go through 1 John 5 on here...but, life got in the way so I didn't have time and now there are other things/subjects that I have been wanting to post about so I think I am going to move on :) So, yeah I'm going to be posting some other stuff coming up sooooon! I did not forget about my blog!

An AWAKENING! Districts 2011

This weekend, I was definitely reminded that God is the real thing! You can't be a Christian and still hold on to the things that don't honor God...It doesn't work that way at all! God doesn't take excuses like: "It's different for me" or "I'm not really doing anything that bad" or "I'm not as bad as this person" etc. Sin is sin....whether its extremely bad or not. Not saying that all sin is equal but the Bible says that for our sinful nature, we deserve DEATH! But instead, God loves us sooo much that he sent his son to die for our sins so that we could gain ETERNAL LIFE!!!! :D :D :D Isn't that great?!

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord...~Romans 6:23

I'm gonna post this section of scripture and then break it down in future posts....Read 1 John 5 and think about it and try and really meditate on it and what you get out of it. It's a really good passage of scripture:

1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

6This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

16If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. 17All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. 18

We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 19We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

21Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

~1John 5~

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
~Psalm 19:1~

I'm in Florida!

Right now I am on vacation in florida...:) I want to write another post and I want it to be about worship but I'm not sure what exactly I am wanting to write about yet. If anyone has any suggestions comment and I will think about it :)