The Deeper Places...

It's simple,

We all have a choice,We all have a purpose, we all have a mission.

Ultimately we choose Life or Death.

Life: often the hardest of the two choices to make.

Death: often the sugarcoated, pleasurable, and most convenient.

It all depends on where your desires are placed.

What do you consider valuable, Does your focus rest on the things of this World or on the things of God.

This life that were given is so important but nothing that were given in it should be more important than God and his direction for your life.

A lesson we are learning every day.

He asks us to obey.

Sometimes we do and the results are remarkable, but on the other hand we have our own share of times where we've pushed His voice aside,clinging to our doubts and our fears the way we should be only clinging to Him.

He loves us and His desire is only for our good,But how do we deny ourselves, pick up that cross, and Follow Jesus.

How do we do what is right ,and let go of every desire that exceeds our desire for Him.

Simple,we shut off all the noise,step back from all the mess,and get quiet...

It might seem pointless at first. Your flesh certainly won't like it, But if we press past the initial urge to turn on that radio,that Tv Show we like, or that song that we are just dying to hear one time. If we purpose in our hearts to find God and make ourselves available to Him, He will meet us there and when He comes we receive strength to carry out our greatest adventure.

Our relationship with God doesn't start and end with us opening our heart to Him,

When we are born into this world it is not the end, but only the start of a new and bold adventure.

Our spiritual strength is so much like our physical strength.

Just like we need food and water to keep our body healthy and strong.

We need our time with God to keep our spirit healthy and strong,to overcome the will of the flesh and anything that would get in the way of our God given purpose and His perfect will for our lives.

Now imagine you skipped lunch,you had a long, hard day at work and your ready to go home and eat. You have a healthy Salmon and vegetable dinner that you prepared to cook for yourself as soon as you got home,But your stomach is growling and on the way home you see a 99 cent meal deal at your local burger king. You know that its not the best for your body, but its convenient and you do not feel like cooking and preparing anything for yourself at home.

Just like this situation, We need time with the giver of life,strength, true spiritual health. Otherwise we start to put those things in His place that will lead us further away from Him and not closer, That will hinder our spiritual relationship, by making us numb to the things of God.

If you neglect to meet with Him, you eventually start to grow hungry, and that hunger often times will lead us to the more convenient option.

The Fast food option.

The skillful avoidance of silent time with Him out of convenience, and spending quality time with anything else.

We justify it with all kinds of reasons, "well its a christian song, this is my new favorite tv show, its important to catch up on the national and local news."

But while these things may seem important, The only thing thats of any real true importance and value,is the state of our relationship with God,and how thats translating to the rest of our lives.

If we don't fill ourselves up with Him, we will fill ourselves up with something else,and filling ourselves with anything other than God is a mistake, It leads us further and further away from the place that we want to be.

Asking Him into our hearts is only the first step. Its only the beginning.

Just like being born into this world is only the beginning of a bigger,bolder brand new adventure...

Just like a child grows into an adult,and even after adulthood, grows into maturity and wisdom,

We should be growing everyday closer and closer To Him, To Jesus

It starts right now and unlike our earthly successes

In this kingdom we grow when surrendered,

we become strong when we are weak,

and we learn the most when we realize we don't know anything at all.

Its ok to fall short ...

As long as we learn from the Fall that He is the answer, as long as each mistake brings us closer and closer to our knees...

We belong to Him, but this choice is not automatic,

not robotic.

The choice belongs to us...

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. "(Jeremiah 29:13)