tanalove

How can you be recognized as a believer when you let the dirt of the world be your truth? Jesus is the truth. No matter who changes or chooses otherwise, you should never change or look elsewhere.

I can tell you for a fact that freedom will never come by depending on Tumblr or other social media or even your church to be free, not even marriage can set you free. Only Jesus. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

“The breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Job 33:4 NKJV

You can put metal bars on the windows of your house, a security system in your car, video cameras in your business, and stash your prized belongings in a bank vault. But what are you doing to protect your most valuable possession, namely, your spiritual life?

Elihu told Job, “The breath of the Almighty gives me life.” When God breathes His spirit into you at the point of salvation, you become spiritually alive. Now you have the ability to love Him, serve Him, and bring pleasure to Him. And that’s what the Enemy is after—the part of God that’s inside you! And to get to it he will attack your body, wage war against your mind, and try to control you through habits, doubts, and fears. He will even work through other people, including close friends and family members.

When God breathed into Adam, he became alive. He recognized who he was and what he was called to do in life. Don’t miss the lesson here! Until you recognize that God created and redeemed you for a purpose, other people will try to “breathe” their identity and agenda into you. And that’s dangerous, because when someone can define you they can control you! “How can I protect myself?” you ask. Live each day with a consciousness of the presence of God!

Please pray for them

Update: 18 students

Hey dear friend, I really wrestle with this too: When do I let go and “let God”? If I hustle and pursue, does that mean I’m not trusting Him?

Here are a few things I’ve learned about trusting God:

1) It’s a false dichotomy to pit “working hard” against “trusting God.”

 I have trouble with the Christianese church-ish notion that “working hard” is at odds with “trusting God.” I think this has been a pretty terrible lie we’ve been told about God’s activity. I don’t believe it’s a case of either/or, but both/and. You can work hard and trust God at the same time.

In fact, it’s weird to me that we would “let go and let God.” This might look good on an Instagram quote, but in real life, what does this even mean? 

A Christian is called to excellence. Like DC Talk said, If it’s Christian, it ought to be better. There’s no excuse for mediocre, subpar efforts and then simply hoping that “God’s grace will cover the rest.” We’re called to reflect the aesthetic beauty of a glorious, captivating, breathtaking divinity.

Paul wrote the 1st and 2nd letters of Thessalonians to people who had totally stopped working because they thought, “Well Jesus is coming back anyway.” Paul says, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

Not only that, but if you’re not working hard, then in some sense you’re limiting the gifts and abilities that God has apportioned you to do good on the earth with the little time you have left. 

When we say that “God provides,” this doesn’t mean we sit there with hands wide open. It doesn’t mean “thoughts and prayers.” A faithful life requires action, petition, movement, and going. Never be ashamed for trying your best and putting sweat, tears, and muscle into your life’s calling.

If you look at our social and political climate right now, it would be irresponsible to simply declare, “God is in control.” Too often that’s said as an excuse to not help, rather than a motivation to join God’s activity. By saying God is in control, that also means He has entrusted us with very real resources to serve those in need.

2) Trusting God is less about what you’re doing and more about the person you’re becoming.

Now if you lean towards perfectionism, over-exertion, and seeing fatigue as a badge of accomplishment, then of course, this will kill you both inside and out. 

If you’re controlling others and the systems around you to get the results you want, whether by subtle manipulation or aggressive power plays, this is obviously not what God wants for you. 

Your motives matter. Trusting God is about trusting His divine wisdom, His order, and His decree for peaceful harmony in all you do. It’s not that “working hard” is bad, but why we work hard is what we must examine. 

In the earlier passage in 2 Thessalonians, Paul says to people who are scrambling, “[Some of you are] doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies.” In other words, some people look like they’re working hard, but internally, their motives are just to look like productive busybodies. It’s not actually hard work. 

Trusting God, then, is not simply saying, “Okay God, I did my part, you do yours,” but saying, “Work with me and through me on every part of this, that I would do these things for the right reasons and in a way that loves people.”

3) But yes, there’s only so much you can do. Waiting on God is insanely difficult and frustrating, but so we must wait.

Having said all this, there will be times you’re completely lacking control. You did your best, you turned in your paper, you prepared all you can, you delegated that project, you’re waiting for an answer, you don’t know what’s next.

In these moments, I remember what the Psalmist said, Take heart and wait on the Lord. It means that I’m not God. I can’t know all the outcomes. I can’t force anyone to do anything. I can’t make everything happen. I might fail, I might be rejected, I might be fired, I might be abandoned, regardless of how hard I carefully put in the time. You might not be able to provide for yourself or your family for a while, and maybe you’ll need charity. It will hurt, there will be grief and shame, and it will probably hurt for a lifetime.

But here, God does not want to equate a ratio of your work with your worth. 

The parameters which the world has placed on you for “accomplishment” are chronologically determined by your era, culture, and social norms. Five-hundred years ago, you were a success if you killed a bear and built a house by puberty. Today, it’s sitting at a desk for eight hours a day and saving enough to move to the suburbs. Who determined these things as a standard of working hard? So much of the work we strive for is just a result of indoctrinated ideas that will fade away or morph into some other arbitrary goal-post. We hustle for these weird finish lines that we keep moving around.

Too many of us think that when we fail after trying, that that’s it, and I shouldn’t try again, or I didn’t trust God enough, or I pushed too hard—we make it my fault, or blame God, or blame people. But to “take heart” means I remember that the outcome is not a measure of who I am as a person, as a child made in the image of God. There is no shame in asking for help when we can no longer provide, and really, it only reminds us we’ve always been dependent on Him anyway.

You can do the best you can do, with clean motives, and let your work speak for itself. The world does not speak for it. God sees who you are as you’re working as He works through you. Trust that He’s working. Trust that you’re still His even if you fail for a season. 

Oh boy, I’m certain everybody and their mama has asked this question and there’s a lot of answers floating around the internet hahahaClassic Bible story of being closer/coming back to God is in Luke 15:11-24, definitely read it!

1. Meet with God before anyone elseAs soon as you wake up, pray and thank God for today or read a devotion. Anything, just make Him first in your day.

2. Get into the Bible every day / Do a Bible studyIf you want to know God better there’s no better way then to read the Bible!You can do Book studies, Topical studies, Character studies, Saturation study (where you think about one piece of scripture over and over in your mind) or Word studies (when you take a specific word in the Bible and discover every single way that it is used throughout the Old and/or New Testaments.)

3. Have a prayer journal / Prayer wallWrite out your prayer requests and record the answers as they come. By writing out these types of things, you will not only be more keenly aware of how God is working in and around your life, but you will become a person who is able to give thanks in all circumstances. And during hard times you’ll be able to remember where God has worked in your life.

4. Get your eyes off yourselfWhen we are focused on our own self—our problems, our issues, our worries, our fears—we forget to look at God. We need to keep the eyes of our heart on God. His abundance. His presence. ame His attributes and look up verses that remind us of who He is. Speak them aloud. Write them down. Declare their truth over yourself, etc. (Psalm 91:1-4) 

5. Repent regularly / Self-examine yourself regularly Ask Him to show you how your heart is struggling. Be specific. Don’t hold back. God loves us the way we are but He loves us too much to stay that way, He wants to be more like Jesus.“Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.“ - 2 Corinthians 13:5 (MSG)

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” - Psalm 139: 23-24