Rainy Monday Moments

I think we are sometimes under the impression that we need to clean ourselves up before we come to God. That we have to get our act together before God will take us in. But that isn't right. God takes us as we are. He loves the very fact that we are coming to Him, and in His eyes we are holy and blameless when we have accepted Christ (Ephesians 1:4).

One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes says: " He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away his hand; and if only the will to walk is there, he is pleased, even with their stumbles."

See that? He wants them to learn to walk. He doesn't need us to already know everything; He doesn't need us to already be perfect. That is impossible outside of Him. He's not concerned with our good deeds or our good works or our perfect, put-together lives - because anything we do outside of Him is useless and unclean. We should seek God first. Why try to clean up the surface when Jesus has already made us clean in His sight?

What A Guy

If I could go back in time and meet any person in history my first choice would be Queen Victoria of England (because she was pretty amazing for such a young Queen) but coming a close second would definitely be C.S. Lewis. He has penned many, many phenomenal words including these gems:

"When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind."

As Christians we are called to live apart from the world and sometimes this is really hard, but we have to remember where and to whom we are running. Earth is now and Heaven is forever.

Being In Love...

I know that it's not anywhere near Valentine's Day anymore but I saw this online today and I loved it! It's a short excerpt from an awesome book by C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity. Enjoy!

Narrow Road

There are moments where words just fit together in a way that perfectly makes sense. Usually they come as a surprise, a random stroke of genius at a time when you least expect it. This was what happened to me last night. I had been tossing and turning in bed when a sentence floated through my mind. And then it floated through a few more times... So I pulled out my journal and wrote it down.

"Plan things on your own and you will fail, but follow God's path for you and you will succeed in ways that you would have never imagined." 

This reminds me of a Sanctus Real song that I've had on replay for the past few weeks. The lyrics of the second verse go:

"I'm starting to see why this is called the narrow road
Cause if I wanna walk this way, oh I've gotta stay close
I'd leave anything in the fire to bring us together
I want nothing between my soul and my Savior"

We are called to walk a narrow road. And we are told in Matthew 7:14 that few will find it. I don't know about you but for me that means that I want all the help that I can get! Psalm 37:23 tells us that "The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives." God wants to be a part of every single little detail in our lives. He doesn't want to leave us hanging. He wants us to prosper. The key is that we need to have our plans lined up with His. Sometimes that means that we will have to discard plans totally and other times they might need to change just a little bit. We also need to trust that He always has our best interests in mind.

So if you're feeling discouraged by what is going on in your life right now and you don't know why God hasn't placed you where you want to be, don't worry. Trust. He will provide answers, and though they might not be the ones that you want hear, they'll be the answers that you need to hear.

"Commit everything you do to the Lord. 
Trust him, and he will help you."
-Psalm 37:5

"God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want."
- C.S. Lewis

The Presence of God

"We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God.

The world is crowded with Him."

-C.S. Lewis

Weekly challenge: Look for God's presence in the little things. 

-- Romans 1: 20 --

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Words with Impact

Here are a few quotes/snippets of lyrics that have greatly impacted me over the past few days!

They've made me feel like a prisoner
They've made me feel set free
They've made me feel like a criminal
Made me feel like a king
They've lifted my heart
To places I'd never been
And they've dragged me down
Back to where I began
Words can build you up
Words can break you down
Start a fire in your heart or
Put it out

-Words by Hawk Nelson

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Sometimes it's hard to keep believing
In what you can't see
That everything happens for a reason
Even the worst life brings
If you're reaching for an answer
And you don't know what to pray
Just open up the pages
Let His word be your strength

And hold on to the promises
 Hold on to the promises
 Jesus is alive so hold tight
Hold on to the promises

-Promises by Sanctus Real

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"Only God can unscrabble eggs."
-Author Unknown

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"Getting over a painful experience is like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward."
-C.S. Lewis

Faith vs. Belief part one

I have been really into the idea of faith and God's faithfulness for the past few months (as seen here, here and here). What has been extremely challenging for me has been the difference between faith and belief. My friend, just yesterday, asked me if there actually was a difference and I totally think there is.

Dictionary definitions:
Belief: confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof
Faith: confidence or trust in a person or thing. 

My definitions (that are along the same lines just a little bit more streamlined):
Belief: acknowledging that God is there and He exists 
Faith: putting your trust in God because of your belief. 

For example... I might believe that a chair will hold me up if I sit on it. But I am not putting my faith in it until I sit down on it. I could stand there forever telling people about how I believe that it will hold me up, but if I never sit down then my words mean nothing. 

Lets take a look at those pesky Israelites back in the Old Testament. Now, God had just parted the Red Sea for them and had delivered them from the Egyptian army, and I mean just, and the Israelites started to complain about how they didn't have any food and that God was providing. It wasn't that they didn't believe that He existed, in fact they saw Him all day as a pillar of clouds and all night as a pillar of fire, but they didn't have faith in His faithfulness. 

What the Israelites show us is that tangible stuff is easy. It's easy to believe in God when you can see Him actively working in your life. When you stop being able to see what He is up to is when things kinda get blurry and you need to start relying on faith. As Oswald Chambers puts it: "Faith is the deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time." 

Seeing the chair is easy, just like seeing a miracle happen is easy. But sitting down in that chair is what proves that you have faith. In the same way, when you are relying on God to hold you up, that is when you start putting your faith in Him. 

"Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, despite your changing moods." - C.S. Lewis

Come back next week for part two!

C.S. Lewis

"God who foresaw your tribulation has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain."

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."

"We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The whole world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito."

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less."

Quote of the day!