the.Sold.Out.Soul

We serve a God who is a creator, a builder.  It is no surprise that He calls us to build as well.  If we are wise, we will follow the Lord's counsel to build on the solid rock.  Not only that, but we will build with good spiritual stones and not with grains of sand.  After all, no sand castle ever lasts.

We serve a God of mercy and grace.  When He forgives our sin, it is no longer a memory for him.  He does not measure us by the transgressions of the past.  He does not see in us today the sins which once were.  Perhaps it is time to learn to see ourselves as He sees us, to treat ourselves with the mercy and grace our Father extends to us.

Purpose is critical for a fruitful and satisfying existence.  We have general purposes as Christians, to worship God and glorify him, to teach the Gospel message.  We also have specific purposes, the amazing things He has planned for each one of us to complete during these lives.  Our existence here should be exciting, compelling and worth noting.  If you don't see that in your life, ask God to show you what your great purpose is.

What God makes available through his word and his Spirit is necessary food for us.  Our hunger and thirst for the choice food and drink of this world should pale in comparison to the hunger and thirst we feel for God and his righteousness.  If not, it is certainly time to reassess our spiritual appetite.

-C.C.

The Father's desire to save the lost is rooted in desperation.  His is a severe longing to redeem his creation, and He wants us to feel the same way.  Let us pursue from him the same longing to seek and save the lost, the same desperation to snatch them from the fire as we have been.

 

- C.C.

If we know what it is to worship in Spirit and in truth, then the Son of Man will find faith when He returns.

Each of us has dreams, visions, circumstances and relationships that appear to have no life.  Perhaps these once were but are no more.  Perhaps they have been on our hearts but have never comes to pass.  For those things hoped for which seem to be beyond hope now, let us seek God for how to speak breath into those bones and bring them to life.

I remember a professor of mine who hated when her students answered questions sheepishly.  She wanted us to speak our answers boldly and with confidence, sure in what we were saying.  That is how God wants us to represent him.  When it becomes difficult to speak up for God, He will give us the courage to proclaim our convictions proudly and with confidence.

When God calls us to the seemingly impossible then helps us bring it to life, it is a valuable reminder of his limitlessness.  Let it serve as our encouragement to pursue even greater things with him.

As I sit here once again waiting on God, once again wondering why it seems like there has been so little progress on this road of faith and life, I know I have been here many times before.  This message from our first year is a timely reminder of how we can wait productively and take advantage of the faith-building opportunities we encounter during those times of waiting.