Glory to the Mighty King

My Prayer: 

The more distant I get from God, the more distorted his plan for my life will become. When I begin to dance away in the passions of my flesh I become bogged down with unsatisfying pleasure. Oh God! May I return to you my soul! You are still gently trying to restore me. Let me listen to your sweet calm voice now, instead of waiting and hearing your disciplining voice later.  I need you, and no one else. Forgive me for putting everything and everyone else in front of you. You should be my absolute priority, not a “have to” action, but a “get to” action. I am your daughter; that is my title. Who am I? I am Christ’s and He is mine. Glorification of You, most Holy God, is now my ambition. I want you to be magnified in my life.

² Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

Psalm 29:2

What am I here for? You and I ignorantly ask ourselves this question; it is an insult to our Creator. We are here for HIM; nothing else. Here is a little wake up call. It is not about us, ever. Not as a child, a teenager, an adult, an elderly person; it is not even about us when we get to heaven! We are here to bring the King of kings and Lord of lord praise and honor for being HOLY. Our lives are living sacrifices of praise to our God. 

Three things are important to notice as we try to glorify God with our lives. (1) We are living in a sick, twisted, and perverted world. (2) We still have a fleshly nature. (3) We still have an enemy that is lying to us and accusing us. These three evil devices are thrown into the mix we call life, and guess what? God gives us the choice to either listen to the lies of the enemy, give into our fleshly tendencies, and dirty yourself up with the world, OR glorify Him. There is no in between. You are either serving your flesh, satan, or the world; or you are serving GOD. You cannot glorify God when you are living in sin. Oh, and don’t think when I say, “living in sin,” that it means that you have a so called “big sin” in your life. I am talking about anything that does not come under the lordship of our King; anything that is not pleasing to our Heavenly Father. That is what I mean by sin in your life. It could be lying, cheating, or murder. Whatever it is, if it is present in your life, glorification of God is not. 

There is a battle that is raging all around us and IN US, as Christ-followers. We are told to put on the armor and stand against our enemy. 

Ephesians 6

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

When we see our real purpose in this life, that is to glorify God, then we will battle against the evilness that so easily tries to take our focus off Christ. When we get victory in those battles, what will we want to do? Give God glory, right? It just so happens to work out that way :) Trust me, God knows what he is doing. I have realized that when you place your hope in anyone else, they will fail you. No matter how great your love is for someone, they will disappoint at sometime or another. That is why you ONLY put your hope in Christ. He will never fail you, and that will once again give you a reason to glorify God.

Oh, and let me make this clear. God deserves your praise no matter what situation you are in because he saved you from an eternity separated from him in agonizing pain. 2 Corinthians 1:10 says ^"He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us..." Yea, I would say that is a good enough reason to give him glory no matter what I am going through. 

I kinda was all over the place in this blog, but this is what the Lord was leading. Soooo boom there it is. 

Much Love,

Hannah 

True Repentance

Who are you allowing to "convict" you? The Holy Spirit or those "spiritual" peers around you? Feeling bad about something is not the same as having conviction over the fact that you have acted AGAINST the Holy God of this universe. True conviction is followed up by confession and a TURNING AWAY from that sin (repentance). If you simply "feel bad" about doing something, then you will just say, "sorry God," and move on with your cluttered walk with God. Why do I say a cluttered walk with God? Because you have just added another selfish/flesh pressured apology to tag on to the list of "bad things you have done."Dear one, sin separates us from God; "but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God..." Isaiah 59:2 Sin clutters our relationship with our Maker. When we just feel sorry about our sin, we will not see repentance. You wonder why you still are in defeat over the same sin struggle over and over again. It is because you have not truly repented.  When you see the gruesome evilness of sin that has infiltrated your heart and mind, and you see how much God HATES sin, then and only then, will you see true repentance. When you truly repent, you WILL see victory over sin. There is freedom that comes with repentance. Repentance causes self-denial and God-glorification. Repentance sheds away the selfish ambitions of your heart and makes you want to run after his desires. Repentance causes you to become more like Christ; Holy. This is one of the keys in the process of sanctification. When you repent, it is like God has breathed a breath of fresh air into your lungs. Sin sucks the life out of you, one little sip at a time. Allow God to crash into you with his convicting spirit so that you may break free from the "sin that so easily entangles us" (Hebrews 12:1) through repentance. Turning away from sin means turning towards God. What a beautiful new beginning that God gives us; "His mercies are new every morning." Lamentations 3:22-23 Rejoice in knowing that you do not have to live in bondage, you have been set free by the blood of Jesus. REPENT and BELIEVE. 

Your sister in Christ,

Hannah

Isaiah 58

“Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed^[b] go free,
    and to break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸ Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
    the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
    the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
¹⁰ if you pour yourself out for the hungry
    and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be as the noonday.
¹¹ And the Lord will guide you continually
    and satisfy your desire in scorched places
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters do not fail.
¹² And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
    the restorer of streets to dwell in.

¹³ “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
    from doing your pleasure^[c] on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
    and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
    or seeking your own pleasure,^[d] or talking idly;^[e]
14 then you shall take delight in the Lord,
    and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;^[f]
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Verses from biblegateway.com