Accepting God's Missionary Call

I think a major reason of why I need to accept the call is because as James 1 says, I need to prove myself as a doer of the Word, and not merely a hearer who misleads myself. I need to actually do what the Bible says instead of just reading it! The Bible says that we were blessed so that we could be a light unto other nations!! If a weather man came on your TV and told you a hurricane was coming and to take cover... would you? Of course. If your teacher said to study chapter 5 of your Algebra book for a quiz the next day... would you? Yes. If the doctor tells you to take the medicine for your allergies...would you? Totally. To all the experts in our lives, we listen to well. Our teacher knows what she is going to quiz us on, the weather man has a radar to tell us what's happening, and the doctor went to school for like eight years to help you feel better. We listen to these people. We don't just listen, but we act upon what they say. SO why is that with God it gets a little harder? Why can't we just listen and act upon what He says. Just like your teacher, weather man, and doctor are experts in certain fields. He is the final say, the absolute last word, or anything concerning YOU. 

I heard a story once of a couple who was doing their grocery shopping. Both husband and wife worked in ministry and so they had a tight budget to get through the month. As the wife passed a lady down the pasta aisle, she overheard this woman's conversation on her phone. The lady was saying how she had been fired and that she had no money to get any groceries. At once, the wife's face dropped and her husband comforted her. A couple of aisles later the husband said to his wife, "What do you think of giving some of our money?" Well the wife quickly smiled and the husband took off to find her. The lady was just leaving with a small grocery bag of necessities. The husband explained that he and his wife had overheard her conversation and simply wanted to help. The lady was shocked and simply waked out the door shaking her head. She turned around as she went outside and simply said, "Thank You." For the rest of the night this couple was so thankful God had blessed them with being able to give. That is God's Word in action. You see James said, "Don't just read about giving: put some money in a container for the less fortunate. Don't just talk about wanting a better prayer life; start praying more consistently. Don't just talk about that overstuffed closet; give some clothes away." We as Christ followers have to take action for Christ.

The other major reason that makes me feel like I need to accept this challenge, I get from 1 Corinthians 12:12. So I'm going to get a bit vulnerable for a moment with you. This point talks about all of us, no matter what your personality or gifting, being a part of the body of Christ. A year or two ago (and it is still a daily battle!) I really wrestled through this verse. I allowed my head to become a "bobble head." You know, those bobble head dolls with the heads that shake all around. My head was swinging from left to right as I sized up my life, my personality, my gifting, everything with girls in my life. I looked at my friend Lauren and she is this beautiful, loving, smart, amazing and fun to be around friend. I would bobble over to my friend Rachel who is strong, oh-so-wise, and so knowledgeable of God's Word. Then it would bobble to Kristy who is the sweetest girl you will ever meet, always has seasoned words of more sugary sweetness and encouragement, and is always there for you. My heart just took a beating, granted it was my own fists and thoughts that were giving the beating, but still my heart was left questioning my personality, my gifting, and my role in this whole Jesus' body thing. I wonder if you can relate. I finally hit this point about 8 months ago (yes, it took me 2 years to process this with the Lord, I am somewhat stubborn) where I simply rested in the Lord and who HE has created me to be. If I don't do my role in the body, be it that my role might be being a complete goober in front of my friends or loving the people around me, then I am telling the Lord that he messed up. What if I pinky toe of Christ's body of believers... chellooo, I gotta do the job of the pinky toe! And I want to be the best pinky toe ever so that the body works perfectly throughout! I think that some of the gifts God gave me are discipleship, leadership, and compassion. I want to do my part of the body of Christ and spread my compassion and love. Be a leader by showing people how to love others and be a Godly example to others. I want to spread the good news EVERYWHERE I go!! I want to 110%, with a whole heart accept the missionary call and show people the grace and love of Christ! I get so excited blogging about all of this! I just LOVE God and want others to have the opportunity to see His amazing LOVE.

The living God is a missionary God

The living God is a missionary God. As I talked about in my first blog, the Lord wants the world to know about Him and to have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. I share the main points of what I believe in my "Welcome to my blog" article, however in this blog I'm going to elaborate more on the point I feel strongly about! Colossians 1:10 is an awesome verse that says, "That you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." 


Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), the world famous violinist, earned a fortune with his concerts and compositions, but he generously gave most of it away. So, when he discovered an exquisite voilin on one of his trips, he wasn't able to buy it. Later, having raised enough money to meet the asking price, he returned to the seller, hoping to purchase that beautiful instrument. But to his great dismay it had been sold to a collector. Kreisler made his way to the new owner's home and offered to buy the violin. The collector said it had become his prized possession and he would not sell it. Keenly disappointed, Kreisler was about to leave when he had an idea. "Could I play the instrument once more before it is consigned to silence?" he asked. Permission was granted, and the great virtuoso filled the room with such heart-moving music that the collector's emotions were deeply stirred. "I have no right to keep that to myself," he exclaimed. "It's yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the world, and let people hear it."


The collector knew the incredible gift of song that Kreisler had. How dare he keep this violin and not let it be shared with others. How often do we do this to the incredible freedom in Christ. When we are bearing fruit by our lives then just as the violin brought the collector to tears so our lives will bring people to the cross when they are played well. Lives will be changed when we walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Every day we see the world's standard, very low. We even see the 'Christian church" standard, higher but not too high. Then we see God's standard through His Word and it is a high standard of calling on our lives. God knows our potential. We must live daily to match our lives, our words, and our hearts to the standard to which we have been called. When our lives are lived in such a way, then the music that comes from us is pleasing to Him as His glory is seen. God is calling us to share our Christianity with all the people around us. I think thats the biggest thing the Lord calls us to do. We are here on earth to GLORIFY God and to SPREAD his Word. So we must share the gospel with others and not keep this precious gift to ourselves! 

Isaiah 58

Isaiah 58!!

Isaiah 58 has soo many different points to hit on! In this chapter, Isaiah talks about fasting, hypocrisy, helping others, honoring God, and more! In this blog I'm just going to share the things that spoke to me the most out of Isaiah 58. In verses 2-4 hypocrisy is brought up. Hypocrites are people who pretend to be someone they are not, or they say one thing and do another. Sometimes they even tell others how to live, but they don't do it themselves. God hates hypocrisy. People can have all the right words and even go through the motions of doing many things they are supposed to be doing, pointing out their righteous behavior to God. But God sees right through them because when they aren't talking big, they are living small! Are you really who you say you ware? Do you show people a certain person on the outside that doesn't really exist on the inside? One of the biggest slams to Christianity is hypocrisy. In Matthew, Jesus called these kind of people whitewashed tombs - looking on the outside but full of dead bones on the inside. God wants us to be authentic and genuine! To admit our weaknesses, not pretend to be someone we are not, and to LIVE our faith even more that we talk about it! When our friends add up all the little snapshots of our lives, they will know you are for real, and you will have a great witness! One of the things our teacher spoke to us about is that we need to be very careful of what we expose ourselves too! We shouldn't even be attracted to the same movies that non-Christians are attracted too! We need to know what gospel we are sharing!! Psalm 101:3 says, "I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;" What a great verse to model our lives after! I will set NO worthless things before my eyes. I went to a medium sized private school all of my elementary and middle school years. In 7th grade I went to a baptist school that had a large campus for a middle school. Now I was a total geek most of my elementary school years who loved to study, go above and beyond, and come home and do extra workbooks I bought just for fun. One lovely day I was at my friend Lindsey's house (she has this cute office room with a couple of computers) looking up websites as resources for this big research paper I had to write. I had looked up so many that day, and my eyes were starting to sting. Have you ever felt that? Anyways, I was nearing the end, and I entered an address. Well, I pushed ENTER and in one millisecond there were ten pop up windows coming up of pornography. I was dying! Envision me, hopping out of my seat, somewhat "gelling" (combo word of yelling and gasping) and banging on the keyboard to get them all to close off my screen. I was totally red in the face, my eyes were so big and said to the world, "Oh my goodness, did anyone else see that?" I mean i was sweating and needed to pace around. As I looked up after all the sites had cleared off my screen, none of my friends were even phased around me! I mean I'm sure they thought I was just a total weirdo :). I was totally mortified! I mean sweat still came for like thirty more minutes. Oh, man, even typing this now I start to get all jittery again. Well, although that story makes me (and hopefully you) laugh as I remember my panic, it also makes a great point that that is how we should be with any WORTHLESS thing that we try to place before our eyes. You might be totally addicted to all things MTV, every show, every reality character, and every Spring Break MTVcast. My friend, you are setting WORTHLESS things before your eyes. Or maybe you (girls) just love your Seventeen, CosmoGirl, Teen People, and Vogue. Again, totally placing WORTHLESS things before your eyes. Purity of your mind and spirit is just as equally as important as purity of your body. When you look on WORTHLESS things your eyes have an image that gets engraved on your heart. You can recall it & dwell on it. When you read romance novels, flip through ads telling you you aren't made right, or watch movies that glamorize drinking and sex, you are placing WORTHLESS things before your eyes. In placing these things in front of our eyes we are trying to find our WORTH, but I promise you you will never find your WORTH in WORTHLESS things. It's just not here, I promise! Commit your eyes and heart to the Lord today. What helps me is to pray a prayer constantly asking the Lord to help me to refrain from putting what is worthless before my eyes. Isaiah 58 also talks about helping other people. I strongly encourage you to live out the I'm THIRD lifestyle!! It is soo rewarding, trust me! I mess up and make myself first, just like any sinful human! But to live out God's first, Others second, I'm third. Is sooo rewarding. Another way I've heard it say is Jesus first, Others second, You third. spelling out JOY.  Trust me, living I'm Third will bring you SO much Joy!! 

"Then your light will shine in the darkness, and you will be bring like sunshine at noon. The Lord will ALWAYS lead you."

Psalm 96

  

I put this video with my post because I absolutely love it! It shows the struggle internally with thoughts of "what will people think? what will people say?" and you can tell that God wins the battle in this mans heart! He can't help but sing out how much he loves his King!!

Psalm 96 - Praising the Lord!!

Today in class, my teacher asked us the question, "If I were to ask your friends if your praising God in all your actions, if I were to ask them if they can tell that you are joyful and different and that your life is constantly singing of Gods glory, what would they say?" I think that this is such an amazing question. As Christians, we need to be showing the love and kindness of God in every day life all the time. As people, we are all relentlessly pursing something. But is it God? Are you pursuing Him in everything you do? I can openly say that I fall short of this all the time! We need to consume ourselves in our relationships with God!! You may be wondering... How do I relentlessly pursue God? An AMAZING example of someone who did this is Paul!! 2 Corinthians 11:25-29 says, "25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?" Paul went through intense suffering and persecution, but he REFUSED to stop relentlessly pursuing his God! I don't know if your like me, but I am afraid of dieing! I can't wait to go to heaven, but I am constantly worried about leaving the earth when there is so much more I want to do! I know its so silly, I shouldn't focus on the world but on going to see my Daddy in Heaven! So Philippians 1:21 Paul says "For to me, to live is Christ. To die is gain" WOW! Paul is LOOKING forward to death!! He says the only reason for him to live is Christ! I don't know about you, but this is definitely the life I want to live! In Psalm 27:4 David shares that his priority is to seek to dwell in the Lord's presence ALL the days of his life. daily pursuit of God is key. We need to get to know Him! To pursue Him and to build a relationship! To praise Him at all times through are actions, words, and thoughts! We need to know God like we know celebrities! Some ways we can get to know Him are seeking wise council, spending time in His word, worshiping Him, being obedient, etc. I want to fall in love with my God more and more everyday, and the only way I can do that is by spending time with Him! I think one of the major issues with pursuing God relentlessly is when we get a road block. By road block I mean that whenever we have a "dryspell" with God, whenever our precious boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with us, whenever we are persecuted for our faith, etc. When we get knocked down. WE JUST LAY THERE! We feel sorry for ourselves, we mope around, we ask God, "why did you do this too me?" instead of getting back up again! Some of the lyrics to one of my favorite songs says, " We lose our way, We get back up again It's never too late to get back up again, One day you gonna shine again, You may be knocked down,  But not out forever,  Lose our way, We get back up again,  So get up, get up, Your gonna shine again, Never too late to get back up again, You may be knocked down, But not out forever."We are not going to grow closer to God unless we get back up again and trust Him! You will get knocked down, I don't have a doubt in my mind that whoever is reading this WILL get knocked down. But we need to have a relentless mindset. Jesus was relentlessly focused on his goal when he came to earth. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that we get more passionate about getting a love letter, or a present, or a TV show, then we get for the KING OF KINGS who loves us more than we can imagine. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't get excited about a love letter or a present. But did you ever think about getting ecstatic about the the ULTIMATE love letter that is God-breathed. Or getting thrilled about the ULTIMATE present of God's amazing grace? A song by Charlie Hall has one verse that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, it says, " Now a child of my King, leaving old I am made new. cause you first chased after me, now Im chasing after you."My challenge I give myself everyday is to CHASE after my God. Now I challenge you. Will you praise God in every day? Will you pursue him every day? Or will you be like every other teenager? Will you be relentless?

Psalm 96:4 "Because the Lord is great: he should be praised at all times."

"I have found my love, and my heart is dancing"

Welcome to my blog!!

Missio Dei stands for mission of God. God loves all people with a love we will never comprehend. He loves us with an unconditional love that we unfortunately can not return. God desire is for us to all love Him and ask Him into our hearts. In order for everyone He loves to have the chance of loving Him back, we must spread the amazing love and grace we have received to others who have not. The definition of mission is, "the vocation or calling of a religious organization, esp. a Christian one, to go out into the world and spread its faith." I believe that God is calling all of us as Christians to pray, give, or go. Whether it be praying continually for missionaries, giving to groups that are going on mission trips, or actually going ourselves. Regardless of our location, we all have the same mission, which is the mission of God, or Missio Dei. Very rarely do we think about how all of us have a mission, and that mission is clear. However, not one of us has the same journey, but the only journey we are taking is one that holds an eternal taking. We really need to make the mission of God our mission, and spread the good news to those around us. 

My expectations for this class aren't extremely formed. I don't know exactly what this class is going to be like, however I'm very excited for any community service we will be doing. I really want to touch the lives of others and show my love to the people that most people in Houston drive by and ignore, or talk bad about. I truly have a strong compassion to help others who need love and are being treated unfairly. Even if that means putting myself in a vulnerable place and even if that means  people questioning my reputation.  As for why I'm taking this class, God calls us to spread the word in Matthew 28. Sometimes I feel like I have tunnel-me-vision. It's sort of a new theory out there that basically means that you and I can have a vision that goes a couple inches past our noses and then a direct tunnel to the center of our chest. In summary meaning, the perspective we have of the world is all about US. It's like you are constantly, like the birds from Finding Nemo, saying "mine, mine, mine, mine." The world is huge. My hallways are huge. Our lives are filled with people who are living everyday with no hope. Our classrooms may have 30 people whom we are with every day with no belief in anything. Our world is being consumed with itself as Scientology, Panthiesm, and Atheism takes over. Most of us struggle against our own tunnel of vision. Our own tunnel of comfortability. And sadly usually it wins. We remain silent as the neighbor beside us whom we are with every day has no idea why we are "happy." We remain silent so that for one Friday night we can be a part of the "cool" crowd. We have the ability and the power through Jesus Christ to go down the hall, to another state, or halfway across the world to share the love of Christ that will change eternity, Eternity meaning forever and ever and ever and ever... We need to go and bring hope to our schools, homes, and our world. I decided to take this class because I want to try to loose my tunnel-me-vision and show the world the love, understanding, and forgiveness of Christ.