Colossians 1:9-14 "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kindgom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
I started reading this book yesterday. My Bible has these great intros for all the books of the Bible. The intro for Colossians caught my attention because the subtitle said "What more could we possibly need?" That really got me thinking - what more do I need? Why do I always want more stuff? Why don't I continually long for MORE of Jesus - the author and perfector of life? I have only been through one chapter of this book, but it is a great reminder that Christ IS and MUST BE my everything. John 15:5 says "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." That has become so very true to me. Yes, God has blessed me with many friends and mentors and people to relate to, but they are nothing without my personal relationship with Jesus. If I can't be in a relationship with the one who created me, how can I relate to others and show the love of Jesus to them?
If I have learned anything since starting this blog, it is that I am nothing without Jesus in my life. Yes I will still exsist, but my life has NO meaning. Jesus perfects me, I cannot do this life on my own (even though I try really hard).
I encourage you to read Colossians - to remind yourself that Christ is EVERYTHING and nothing less than that.
Love to all, Dina
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Dependency
This week has been so good. Monday night I was blessed in conversation with a very dear friend and someone I would call a mentor, Cindi. I was sharing some of the work the Lord has been doing through me, some things that I felt led to share with her. We then talked about dependency. While talking with Cindi, the Lord totally opened my eyes to how much I was depending on people for my spiritual needs. Yes, I was seeking out the Lord. BUT I was not seeking him first always. For someone such as myself, a pretty friendly person, to learn this was so hard. I realized that I needed to begin detaching myself from some very close friends. This is not for any reason beyond the fact that I must put God first in everything and that I have to trust him with my life.
I hadn't written in my journal for a while because I was just trying to sort things out in my mind. That is usually the time that God gives me, what I like to call, a spiritual butt-kicking. I started my journaling with the following verses:
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 "Make it your ambition to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."
That could have been very hard to take, but it wasn't. Through some events of this week, God had totally prepared my heart to hear this. A close friend of mine lost his dad in a freak accident - totally unexpected. It made me realize that we do not know when we will take our last breath. Each day that we live is a blessing, a gift, from God. I could have taken the conversation with Cindi and been angry at God. Instead I learned some amazing things through that lesson and have been very focused on my relationship with God. I ended my quiet time, writing in my journal time, with this prayer: God, I want to be totally dependent on YOU. You are all I want! I love you so much and desire to serve YOU. Thank you!
God works in ways that cannot be explained and I am learning to be okay with that. It isn't always easy, but I get to chose how I respond to lessons. Dependency is only okay when it is being dependent on God for everything. What are you most dependent on? I encourage you to think about it and make changes. Today could be your last day!
In Christ's love, Dina
I hadn't written in my journal for a while because I was just trying to sort things out in my mind. That is usually the time that God gives me, what I like to call, a spiritual butt-kicking. I started my journaling with the following verses:
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 "Make it your ambition to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."
That could have been very hard to take, but it wasn't. Through some events of this week, God had totally prepared my heart to hear this. A close friend of mine lost his dad in a freak accident - totally unexpected. It made me realize that we do not know when we will take our last breath. Each day that we live is a blessing, a gift, from God. I could have taken the conversation with Cindi and been angry at God. Instead I learned some amazing things through that lesson and have been very focused on my relationship with God. I ended my quiet time, writing in my journal time, with this prayer: God, I want to be totally dependent on YOU. You are all I want! I love you so much and desire to serve YOU. Thank you!
God works in ways that cannot be explained and I am learning to be okay with that. It isn't always easy, but I get to chose how I respond to lessons. Dependency is only okay when it is being dependent on God for everything. What are you most dependent on? I encourage you to think about it and make changes. Today could be your last day!
In Christ's love, Dina
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