Side Tracked--- Forgotten God by Francis Chan

I went to open my readings today and I saw Forgotten God sitting on my desk there could have been cobwebs.

I thought a little and decided to read from that today because I don't want reading so many passages every day to become a chore. The title of the book is so appropriate.

If I could summarize quickly it's about how we focus on God and Jesus but many times forget the other third, the Holy Spirit and how he is working in our lives.

I wanted to try and blog as I read so I can write more stuff down instead of after when I forget some things I want to say.

I just opened up to my bookmark and the chapter title is called "Forget about His Will for your Life!" What possibly could this be about.

The opening quote, 

"And to expose our hearts to truth and consistently refuse or neglect to obey the impulses it arouses is to stymie the motions of life within us and, if persisted in, to grieve the Holy Spirit into silence." 

-A.W. Tozer

Within the first few pages he tosses out a challenge that I have to share! So many people get caught saying, "I wish I knew God's will in my life." When in fact God cares more about the momentary things that you do, not your 5 year plan. I can think of countless references in the Bible where this is apparent. Jesus said take up your nets and follow me! God told Abraham to get up and go and he did. God told Noah to build an ark and he did. They did as He said and they threw out that 5 year plan and just did it.

He calls out the people who say I'm trying to figure out what God wants me to do. His challenge is: instead of searching and praying for God's will in your life; pray for the Holy Spirit to lead your life now...today and you'll be led there.

After reading, my mind was blown and I am out of words. So I'll leave you with one quote.

"I want nothing more than to live in total surrender and abandonment to the Spirit every moment I have left on this earth." 

Just imagine what the world would be like if Christians could whole heartedly say this. Better yet imagine if you and I could just say that for ourselves.

Spring Break

Hey Blog,

It's been a long time. Spring break hit and a lot of habits stayed at school as I left for home...not cool. Anyways I'm back and I figured I'd start with a little warm up blog to get prepared for tomorrow.

I actually wanted to share something I found interesting. As I've been P90Xing: your mind, body, and heart really get into it and get used to the rhythm. The days you are too busy or mess up and forget about your workout, you actually feel pretty gross because your breaking that pattern.
Back before the P90X i could go a week without working out and still feel fine. It's that rhythm that's so crucial in my life. You probably can see where I'm going with this by now.
It's the same thing with those daily devos, you get that rhythm going and you feel spiritually gross if you miss a day! At first it sounded kind of depressing calling yourself spiritually gross, but I think it's a good thing to feel if you do miss a day. Your body is so used to being fed the Word that it gets hungry if you stop. I think it's such a good place to be. When I was confronted about it over break I couldn't even look them in the eye because I felt gross! Anyways just some food for thought.

I hope if your not in the Word as much as you'd like this convicts you a little bit, it's convicting me as I'm writing it. I'll cia tomorrow!

Uncomfortable

As I sit here in bed, about to do my daily reading. I took a deep breathe and began to read starting with Leviticus 15. Half way through the chapter I found myself praying. I wasn't praying for anything in particular...just praying. I decided to put the book down and just listen. I thought about my challenge the other day about talking with God, an open ongoing conversation.

    Today was a perfect day for it: a four hour car ride home, not much human interaction. Me, my car, some music, and the Lord. Looking back on the day I did a lot of talking but couldn't recall anytime where I just listened.

    These 90 days I'm looking for much more then just reading the Bible. I used the word consuming last blog. I want to be completely consumed with God, His Word, and His people.

    Today on my way home I stopped at the same place I always do the Burger King/Exxon station. For my usual Number 7: Chicken Fries, 12 Piece, Go Large. I pulled in and parked my car. I got out and saw a man standing next to the entrance. I assumed he was homeless from his mannerisms and his choice of wardrobe. As I got closer to the entrance he started friendly conversation, "Isn't this weather beautiful, I bet it's nice with them windows down and that sun roof popped open." I was nice back, but I was pretty nervous wondering what his intentions were. I walked into the store and began to order. He came in and asked for water and continued to talk with me. I sat down and began to eat wondering if he was going to sit down with me. He didn't, he went outside right back to the entrance where he had previously been. I finished eating and got up to walk outside nervous that if I walk outside and go to my car he may jump me. It didn't happen, he told me to have a safe trip and a wonderful day. I got into my car and drove away speechless.

   These next three days I'm going to put the Word down and focus on my interactions with people I encounter and focus on the relationships I have here while I'm home. I want to really make it a point to treat them like brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm sure the man was just being friendly, and you know it made my day, it really stood out. 

As I pulled away from the BK/Exxon I wondered why I was so nervous was it because I legitimately thought I was going to get jumped or was it because random people don't usually start conversations with strangers and I really didn't know how to respond to it. Maybe a little of both. Needless to say I find it sad that so many people these days don't go out of there way to make friendly conversation with people anymore everything is strictly business. How can I go from point A to point B as fast as I can? 

I remembered a quote, I forgot where I heard it, "Be comfortable, being uncomfortable."

How many times a day do you deliberately put yourself in an uncomfortable situation?

How many times a day do you try to keep yourself in comfortable situations?

Well I'm sure most of us have the same answer.

So my challenge is to do exactly this put yourself in the uncomfortable situation.

Be that man standing outside burger king.

Over the next three days I'm going to try to be that man, and blog about my interactions with the people and see how they respond to a random stranger just trying to make friendly conversation. If you try it feel free to comment, I think it'll be fun!

I was a little everywhere this blog from praying to listening to interactions with people.

As I was listening I really starting to focus on relationships and I took of with that.

Day 5/6/7/8

Day 5: Exodus 1 to 15:1-18


Day 6: Exodus 15:19-27 to 26      


Day 7: Exodus 29 to 40


Day 8: Leviticus 1 to 12


Wow I haven't posted in three days. I find myself having a hard time sitting down and actually blogging everyday.
Not to mention the fact that Exodus 16-Leviticus 1-12 was so hard to read. It was on the making of the tabernacle, God's Law, and how to do offerings blah blah blah. If you ever attempt to read cover to cover have fun with the Pentateuch. It's brutal in parts. Anyways Day 6,7, and 8 would have been tough to find something I'd want to talk about. So in the end it works out.


Enough with making myself feel better. I'm finding that it's incredibly hard to make a good whole hour to an hour and a half for God each day. I envy the people who do it and I will continue to strive to achieve that goal.


I chose to look at the passage Exodus 15:1-18. I really could have picked anywhere from Exodus 1-15   
because of the 10 plagues story. Plenty of juicy stuff in there. We've all heard it.

Exodus 15:1-18 is a song that is sung by the Israelites as they were fleeing the Egyptians through the Red Sea.
The song talks about God's mighty power and His Love for His people. As I read this I was thinking when was the last time I felt so blown away by God's power and majesty. It saddened me a little because it's something that should be consuming me, not something I feel only when I hear a good speaker or when I see a lot of people gathered for a good cause.


I'm going to write down a few lines that stood out to me then I'm going to go into my challenges:


2"The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation."


10"But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them."


13"In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.
     In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling."


I read these 3 verses over and over again and prayed over them.
I forget so often that God is sitting right there waiting, asking, and wanting me to call on Him.
To have a conversation with Him just like I would a friend sitting in the room.
Just as Moses spoke with and had a relationship with God.


Verse 2, screamed at me. It reminded me of my situation as a tutor. People can come and ask as many questions about math and get all the help they need for free! But 99% no one comes. I think it's a perfect example of my situation with God. Last semester I had a student, who was quite annoying. He came to every tutor session I had. The reason why I was annoyed with him was because he knew the material! He didn't need help, he just came to listen. I'm laughing right now because that's what God wants us to do! Even if we're doing fine and think we understand and got everything, that doesn't mean our relationship with God needs to be put on hold until we need him.


Verse 10, He's Powerful. I really enjoyed repeating this. I got out my guitar and plucked some chords and just sang it. I think it's a good reality check as well. I forget so easily that God can.


Verse 13, I get so stressed out sometimes with work, school, my relationships with people. I definitely put way to much on myself, when God's sitting and waiting for me to call on him. The best part of the verse is "unfailing." He isn't human, he can't bail on us. It's not in his nature. He's there fo sho.


Sometimes I find myself annoyed when I hear sappy verses and the same thing repeated over and over again about the power and mighty God. This was definitely a wake up call for me because I forget the basics everyday. I do too much on my own and I rely on my strength and power to get the job done.


Well here's my challenges for myself and hopefully you go for it too, something to keep in your mind and put to practice as much as you can...all the time even!


The Lord is my strength and my defense...next time you find yourself pissed off at something or someone. Call on God, he's there to help. Next time you question your ability or think your too tired or not able to do something, call on God.


-----What I'm trying to say is I challenge you to have an open conversation with God all day!-------
One of my friends told me when they wake up in the morning, when they pray they don't say Amen because they want to spend all day talking to God and by not saying Amen they want to make a point of it.


I think talking to God all day will help me in my quest in becoming completely consumed in His word and by Him. A relationship doesn't work well if you only work on it when it's convenient to you. 


So good luck with this one!! Comment if you feel like sharing!!  
  

Day 3/Day 4

Day 3:
    Genesis 28:20-22 to Gensis 40: 1-11
    Jacob and his 11 brothers to the cup bearer and the baker's dream
Day 4:
    Genesis 40:12-23 to Genesis 50
    Their dreams come true to the death of Joseph
Done Genesis. Whatsup!

I have no idea what happened with my blogging schedule I blinked and it's Sunday already!!
So to make up for it I decided to do a combined blog for the days.

I actually had a hard time picking a passage to reflect on. I forgot about the story of Joseph, but I do remember that's it's an amazing story and definitely reinforces the fact that God is love and is always there. I could really pick any part but I decided on are Genesis 42 to 46. More specifically Genesis 45.

This chapter is about how Joseph makes himself known to his brothers after they had been coming to him for food from the famine. A lot more happened definitely check it out. The reason why I chose this chapter is because of the way he accepts his brothers with love even though they sold him away years before. The first thing he says to his brothers is, 45:5"And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you."

Recently I had to write a paper on, "What it love?"I interviewed my parents, friends, Christians, Agnostics, and Atheists. It was definitely interesting to see how very different everyone's answers were but one person simply answered, "God." I love that answer. Joseph is the perfect example to show that definition of love. Even though he was sold away, in the end, he accepted his brothers with love when they probably didn't even deserve it. It's something I forget about a lot it's so much easier to talk behind someones back then confront them face to face. Well Jesus said it himself,  ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' 

Goal:
So my challenge to myself and you guys over the next few days is:
Try to show love to someone that probably doesn't deserve it.
    We all have someone we don't give the time of day, so what can you do for them to show them God's love in you towards them. If you try it comment below if you feel like sharing!!

On to Exodus tomorrow!!

  

Day 2: 2/10/2011

Genesis 17-28:1-19
The Covenant of Circumcision to Jacob fleas from Esau

Today was super busy and I barely had enough time to read it. I lied a little bit I took a 6 hour nap. Being done at 11:15 AM is the worst because I always take a nap afterwards and wake up at like 5....so unproductive.

My goal for today was to not only do the reading but to focus on when God speaks. I actually wrote it down on a sheet of paper. A long list made short. God made a bunch of covenants. After I was done reading I looked at the list I had written and the first thing I noticed was how serious covenants were back then. The actual process of a covenant: the animals would born torn into two halves and placed parallel, the two people would then walk through the animals and recite the covenant binding themselves to the same fate of the animals they were walking through if in fact they broke the covenant. Kind of a big deal if you ask me, and God was all about these covenants in this reading. It actually kind of made me laugh when I thought about todays world how the best we have is a signed contract and most of the time people can just find some sort of loophole in them anyways.

I love to challenge myself. As I'm still trying to find some sort of rhythm to reading, digesting, and blogging.

I think I'm going to change the point of the blog a bit. As I may occasionally still summarize what I read about, I feel it would be better for me to focus on a piece of scripture within the reading. As I reread yesterday and today's blog, it feels more like reading a history lesson still...so my hope is that doing a small piece of scripture will be more spiritually engaging/enticing/(a big word of your choice) so I can reflect and grow more and hopefully you can too!  So I'm going to leave the history and reading the whole bible to all of you who want to try it, as for the blog expect smaller segments of scripture and more of a bible studyish thing going on.

Finally I'm an unorganized person. To give this a little more structure I'm gonna try to give it some back bone by breaking done the posts into segments.

Day # :
Passages:
Goals from the day before:
Passage to bible study on:
Goals for tomorrow:
Anything Else blog-worthy:

Day 1: 2/9/2011

Day 1: Genesis 1-16

The Beginning to Hagar and Ishmael

I've never actually attempted to read so much scripture at a time. I usually spend my time focusing on smaller bits of scripture and digesting the bits rather than the whole. Day 1 was extremely difficult for me because I didn't really know what to expect going into it. Well it was like a slap in the face. Out of habit I tried to digest it and it was just way too much. It felt more like a history lesson rather than a devotional.

I'm definitely open to suggestions to ideas on absorbing it all. So please comment if you have anything.

My goal is to get through the whole bible in 90 days. I didn't really set smaller goals for myself to grow, so tomorrow my plan is to write out everything God says and focus on his character. Hopefully tomorrow goes a little bit more smoothly!