Faith's Potential

Right now, I have other things that I should be doing. Right now, I have other important documents I need to be writing and finishing. And as I waste my time here and there on the internet, one thing can make you re-think everything. A crisis comes: something that affects your family, you personally, or something devastating happens around you. What do you do? 

The first thing my heart does is think back to what I could have done to avoided a disaster. My first thought is selfish. Why didn’t I see this coming? Or even worse, why wasn’t I PRAYING for this instead of wasting time on other petty things?! 

And then it hits you. Prayer does matter. Because it always will matter. At the end of the day, my relationship with God is the most important thing. He holds me together; He always comforts me. He never has failed. And the safest thing is that- He never will. And as I type this, if you’re going through a hard time, if I’m going through one, I know that I can cry out to Him for help. And yes, I literally mean cry. Because how does one go through something devastating and not just pour out their hearts to God? 

Are you telling me that I’m the only one who has had crying moments with God? Am I the only one who has been crying in a room , when everyone else is asleep and just talking to God about what is bothering me, or why did things happen, or why people are like this, etc. And sometimes I think soothing music will be the answer, worship music, etc. But it’s not, the only relief is in His Word. 

Have you never experienced the sweet relief of reading God’s promises and believing them in the midst of your disaster? You’re eyes are all filled with tears, nose stuffy, sleeves all tainted with tears and snot and in your room, with a little bit of light you read the truth. It’s that minute where I’m like “AHHH God is real.” , the verse hits you right there on the spot of your doubt and gives you hope. Or it allows you to understand again who you are in God. One of the verses that God has used to comfort me, Psalms 121. I didn’t google up “help” and look for this verse, no. A friend of mine had memorized this and shared it with me. And boom! I needed to use it this week and I’m glad I know it . Because right when disaster struck, I had this never ending promise, that the Lord is my help. In Spanish, it’s like a melodic word, “ mi socorro”. It means my help, my protector. What a relief in midst of my chaos. 

Salmos 121: 1-2 RV1960

Alzaré mis ojos a los montes;    ¿De dónde vendrá mi socorro?

2 Mi socorro viene de Jehová, Que hizo los cielos y la tierra.

Quote:  Many churches are measuring the wrong things. We measure things like attendance and giving, but we should be looking at more fundamental things like anger, contempt, honesty, and the degree to which people are under the thumb of their lusts. Those things can be counted, but not as easily as offerings. – Dallas Willard

Absolutely agree with this.

It all goes back to the reality that God…

Quote:  Many churches are measuring the wrong things. We measure things like attendance and giving, but we should be looking at more fundamental things like anger, contempt, honesty, and the degree to which people are under the thumb of their lusts. Those things can be counted, but not as easily as offerings. - Dallas Willard 

Absolutely agree with this.

It all goes back to the reality that God looks at your heart and not at what you give. Psalms 51:16-17 clearly states that what God desires is NOT an offering but a broken and contrite heart. A heart that is guilty of their sins and wanting repentance. God desires a heart that will seek Him for forgiveness of their sins. He does not look for fakery. 

This quote hit me right in the face at 11:56pm on October 17, 2016. I feel like many times we are looking for people to just attend, in my case, just for youth to show up and put up a good face is enough for me to check them off the list of the ones who are not doing well. What about how they spend their time with God? What about how much they know about good and right doctrine, or the truth of God’s word and how they can defend that? And I should be asking these questions of them, but more importantly, I need to be asking it of myself. 

How am I on these things? Am I being faithful with God not just in reading a passage but in memorizing the word of God and utilizing it throughout the day to align my character to His? Am I praying to God, actually talking to Him and letting Him point out the areas of my pride , dishonesty, coldness towards holiness, or lack of desire for talking to Him? Am I asking God for those people who actually need prayer, or do I just put something on Instagram that says I’m prayer for a dire cause or disaster in the world without actually doing so, just to save face??? Like this is what God will hold us accountable for one day, what will I say? What will you say? 

When God brings up your character, or all the sins stored up that we haven’t removed because we have not repented, what then? Instagram likes, Facebook friends, school status, career success will not matter then! Are we actually caring about things that the Master needs us to care about? Are we actually living out the grace we received through Christ’s sacrifice? I need to have transparency with God. Because even though people may not know what truly is my foundation, the world or God, He will know. But eventually, everything comes to the light. Even if we try to hide our true nature from everyone, it’ll come out. 

Backspace & delete are the main keys I press whenever I want to post a thought. Should I be too truthful or should I be super vague? I mean, do I really need to post this thought, and who is even going to read it? These are the main questions that swirl around in my brain. This post was supposed to be my ” You know what, I have so much free time, why not blog?” post, however, that’s really not my…