Okay

What a tough week. School, work, and more school can put a lot of pressure on my mind. By now, all of the schools have probably started; so those of you who go to school may know what I mean. Whenever I have a rough week or two, I tend to not get enough sleep and end up at school, work, or other things extremely tired. And, based on the looks I would get, I look tired. People will also ask stuff like, "Are you okay?" Now a lot of people will get offended by that question, but I make sure I don't. They are just making sure everything is all right. Sometimes with me everything is all right and sometimes it definitely is not. Though, unless it is my friends or family, I will probably say I am okay every time. Those phrases, "I'm okay," "I'm good," or "I'm fine" come out of our mouths almost automatically. Even sometimes when it seems like the world is crashing down around us we will find that answer coming out of our mouths or sounding off in our thoughts. Okay is defined in many dictionaries (I use definitions a lot if you haven't noticed) as "satisfactory or under control." So when can we truly answer "I'm okay (satisfactory and under control)."? We often are in the middle of all of this stress and all of these problems. A lot of times we forget why we are here and what God wants to do in us. We get lost trying to sort everything out on our own. I think the biggest thing that gets me is worries. A lot of times when I am worrying about school, church stuff, or my health I just lose myself trying to find my way out. But here is something that struck me recently. God wants me. He wants everything. He wants my entire life. He wants to take on my worries. Recently, a band named Leeland (I love this group!) came out with a new album called Love is on the Move. The album has a song called "Holy Spirit Have Your Way in Me." The chorus gave me something to really think about:

"As I lay down my life and pick up my cross, what a joy it is to give my life away to You. All that I need, All that I seek is You here with me. Holy Spirit have Your way in me."
"Holy Spirit Have Your Way in Me." Leeland-Love is on the Move 2009

My favorite part is "what a joy it is to give my life away to You. In everything you go through remember that God is with you. Everything you have, good and bad, give it to God. Dedicate your life for his glory. Let God work wonders in you and through you. If you joyfully give your life to God, you won't only be "okay," you will be alive for Him.

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you."
1 Peter 5:7

Wait

Wait. A word I have heard over and over again. The District Superintendent of the Missouri District Church of the Nazarene talked about waiting on the Lord. I heard my pastor mention that word. Just last Wednesday I heard that word in a message I will never forget. It was a small message in length but God was speaking through this guy that night. Without a youth pastor we have been having what is called "Wednesday Night Live" led by our pastor. But since pastor could not be there last Wednesday somebody else spoke. The guy who spoke has earned my respect in the three or four years I have known him. God used him to speak to me that night. He compared our youth group's situation to the disciple's situation in Acts. For instance, he compared how the early church was without a designated leader such as our youth group was without a youth pastor. He showed how both we and the disciples were both challenged with the impossible task of going into all the world and preaching the gospel. But what did the disciples do? They waited as they were commanded to by Jesus. ("Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised which you have heard me speak about.") The disciples waited and the Holy Spirit came upon them. They were speaking in tongues and people from all over who had come for the Day of Pentecost heard them in their own language. With the Holy Spirit working within the disciples, the task was not impossible anymore. Our speaker challenged us to wait for the Lord.
Now that I think about it there are many times in the Bible where people had to wait for the Lord. Noah had to wait 40 days in a big boat with stinky animals who probably pooped all over his boat. Abraham had to wait multiple times for the Lord. Joseph waited in prison. The Israelites waited for years in slavery plus 40 more wandering in the desert. Esther waited. David waited. Job waited. Daniel waited. Jesus even waited. How we wait is another important thing. The disciples stayed in Jerusalem as they were commanded and prayed. If you look back. You would find that these famous Bible characters didn't just sit around doing nothing. They were praying and seeking God's will. To me, stopping and listening to God should be a big part of waiting. (Here is where I might get slightly blunt.) Today, I don't see people waiting for God's guidance. A lot of us are definitely guilty of that. Definitely me. We are seeing churches who are being infected with all sorts of worldviews. Christians are accepting some things because the world says it is okay. Large denominations of churches are beginning to be drawn into the world. I believe that is because we are going in blind. We are going into the world to preach the gospel by ourselves. We aren't waiting and we aren't letting God carry us through. Without God guiding us and working in us, we may blindly walk into a trap. God wants us to go into the streets, He wants us to show his love and compassion to EVERYONE, but without Him inside of us, guiding us, we will lose our focus and fall.
Wait. Listen. Talk with Him. He has a plan far beyond the highest point of our imagination. His foolishness, His weakness, is stonger than our wisom and strength. He will show you what He wants you to do. Wait. Don't go into the battle alone. He is here. He is with you and me right now. He wants to talk with you. Listen.

Psalm 27:14 "Wait for the Lord. Be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord."

Living...All of the time.

Have you ever tried to write down everybody that you can remember meeting on a piece of paper? It is pretty hard. You don't realize how many people you actually have met until you look back on it. I tried to do it and it took up a quite a bit of paper. I gave up after a couple pages and that is just people I have met. This is not counting the guy at the register or people in the grocery store that you walk buy. You don't realize how many people come in contact with you on a regular basis or how many people were affected by your attitude or actions. People you may have never met in your life can be influenced by what you happened to do when you were around them one time. So what reaction would people get from how you act. As representatives of Christ, we should be representing Christ all of the time. We want people to see something different in us. We want them to see Christ in our character. Psalm 89:8 (NLT) says faithfulness is God's very character. The gospel of John says our actions are consistent with our character. We should be reflecting our faith in Jesus Christ. God wants us to have a faith in action. He wants our faith to be evident to those around us. This doesn't mean wearing bright yellow shirts and running down the street proclaiming our faith. Sometimes all we have to do is pray and ask God to use us to be a light in the world. And that may just be doing everything to the best of our abilities, with joy, and an attitude which reflects our character, which reflects our faith, which reflects Christ. It is hard. Very hard. But even just a good attitude can show something different in you to someone around you.