Enjoying God

Well, after that passionate post yesterday about taking action and following God and obeying his every command, I find an interesting status update on Facebook from a friend which really spoke to me. Here I am, all excited about doing God’s will for the purpose of obedience and I read this status, which says,“The key to serving God is to enjoy God. If you don’t enjoy God, you’re not ready to serve him. For God doesn’t want your help, he wants your heart.” (from my friend Evan).

God doesn't want my help.

This makes me think of something I dived into a bit earlier on this blog. And that is the concept of being still. Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God...". Exodus 14:14, Moses speaking to the depressed and complaining Isralites, states: "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

In the NASB, Psalm 46:10 reads, "Cease striving and know that I am God...". Why would knowing God is God stop us from striving? Psalm 100:3 says, "Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture." When we get it into our minds that God is in control, that He is the Almighty Lord of all, the King of everything, the great, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Creator God... when we even try to wrap our minds around it... It gives us a bit of peace. It does for me at least. One of the main causes of stress, of striving, is the false thought that maybe God can't handle it, that maybe he doesn't know what he's doing. I mean, honestly, God creates the whole world from nothing, then I come along and get all upset that he's messing up my life. Looking at myself from that perspective, I can be really ridiculous sometimes.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you're focused on anything but God, you're going to mess up. We can do a lot of good things in life, even people who don't believe in God can do nice things for other people. But true good, true satisfaction, true purpose and meaning, only come from God. Your life should be like a flowchart. Out of God's love he saved us. And because of that salvation and that love, we then give God everything we have, and by means of that, we love other people - the "whatever you do to the least of these" philosophy (Matt 25:40). Don't do seemingly "good" things to get something from God. Do them because of what God has already given you.

And, by the way, when we are satisified, we will stop striving. John Piper said, "God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him." Along with the idea that God knows what he's doing in our lives is the realization that God is all we need. Nothing else can satisfy.

Ask God to show you what it looks like to find him the center of your life. Ask God to give you the desire and the power to focus on Him and to love him and to enjoy him for who he is and what he has done.

I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.

- Psalm 13:6

Satisfied in God

What does it mean to be fully satisfied in God?

I've shared some quotes and verses here that I've been reading and praying over, specifically with regard to this idea of being satisfied in God.

"The essence of faith is being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus" - John Piper

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" - John Piper

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."

- Philippians 4:12

"To just read the Bible, attend church, and avoid 'big' sins - is this passionate, wholehearted love for God?" - Francois Fenelon

"It confuses us when loving God is hard. Shouldn't it be easy to love a God so wonderful? When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is.... This dissatisfaction [of American advertising] transfers over to our thinking about God. We forget that we already have everything we need in Him. Because we don't often think about the reality of who God is, we quickly forget that He is worthy to be worshipped and loved. We are to fear Him."

- Francis Chan

"If anyone is thirsty, let Him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." John 7:37-38

So, I ask my question again: What does it mean to be fully satisfied in God? Should I ever desire something beyond God? Will God supply my every need? And what is characterized as a "need"? What if what I desire isn't in God's plan for me - am I just supposed to ignore my desire?

Riddle me this: What does it mean to be fully satisfied in God?

Passion and Thoughts

Do you have a passion? Maybe you have a passion for art, drama, a particular sport or sports team, an activity or person. You might even feel somewhat apathetic.
It's true that no matter what we're passionate about, we will spend a lot of time thinking about it. How many times have you stayed up really late to watch your favorite team play? How many hours did you spend making that piece of artwork or that short story or that skateboard trick or that song on your guitar just perfect?
But listen to this: John Piper writes: "Nobody had a more single-minded vision for his life than Paul did.... One thing matters [to Paul]: Know Christ, and gain Christ. Everything is rubbish in comparison to this." (pg. 48, Don't Waste Your Life). The Apostle Paul's passion in life was knowing God. Piper urges his readers to adopt this same, single, life-changing passion, to make it the forefront of our lives.

Elsewhere, John Piper writes that with the single passion and goal of knowing Christ, resisting temptation becomes easier. There is less time to think about the lusts of the flesh if one's mind is filled with thoughts of God, knowing him, and rejoicing in his work. That is why Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about the admirable, excellent, praiseworthy things in life - because they come from God. See, sin starts in the thought life. If we don't stop the immoral thoughts when they first enter our mind, if we dwell on them, they becomes sin. Don't let that happen! Keep your mind on God and his majesty!

The point I'm making is that having pure thoughts and living a God-centered, God-passionate life does not begin with me saying "Okay, this is what I need to do to please God. This is my battleplan, this is my to-do list." It begins with having a passion and living passionately for God - something I cannot do in my own power. I just can't. That's why the possessed boy's father exclaimed, "Lord, I do believe; help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24). He couldn't believe fully because he was human - and neither can we. We have doubt. But give it to God!

It's funny to me that the life of a believer is asking God for help to praise God. But this shows that we need God - that we desperately need him and desire to passionately fall in love with him.

Temple Tuesday

Philippians 4:4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, Rejoice!" What does it mean to rejoice in the Lord?
John Piper tells us in his book, Don't Waste Your Life, that God created us for his glory. God created us to enjoy and to display him and his glory.
Enjoy, you ask? Yep, to enjoy him. I think, especially with regard to rejoicing in the Lord, that we forget the actual part about enjoying. Look, God made the world, God made the beautiful landscapes, the lovely things in life, the sun and moon and stars, the giggles of little children, the love between a husband and wife. Go see and feel something greater than you, something beautiful - and enjoy God. Rejoice in him, thank him, and praise him. Christianity is not about being sad and boring. Go rejoice!

Is This What I Meant?

I'm writing this after a seemingly normal day in the life of me. I woke up, ate breakfast, checked my e-mail, drove to school, went to English where I talked about poems, went to Bible where I took a quiz and did a worksheet, went to Science where I took a test, went to lunch, went to Economics where I watched a Dave Ramsey video, drove home and did four transactions on my Economics project, worked on my Key Club Scholarship, checked my Facebook, then I ate leftover Taco soup and watched Law and Order: Criminal Intent until I left for Bible Study which was at the coffee shop, I led the lesson at Bible Study about Abraham after listening to one of our members practice her speech on faberge eggs for her class tomorrow, then I came home and watched House with my mom as I made a Facebook event for next week's Bible Study and talked with a friend about a possible move night next week, then I got my laptop and went into my room where I continued to work on my scholarship application, and where I realized that I was supposed to buy a costume for the upcoming play, in which I play the main female role, then I logged on to my online yearbook program to work on my page which is due the day after tomorrow, and then I logged in here.

And it occurred to me: On Thursday I will be 18 years old. Of course, I've been planning events and talking about it with my friends, but it finally hit me. I suddenly realized: Wow. I wondered: When I was younger, and I dreamed about being 18, is this what I had meant? Is this what I had envisioned for my future?

I had always wanted to be involved and active in my world and have a lot of friends and a boyfriend and a car and that sort of thing. And sure, I'm the president of my school's Key Club, I'm a member of my church and my church's youth group, and my church's youth group's leadership team, and my church's Guest Services team, and... But sometimes it just seems like busy-ness. My younger self always thought that I would find immense fulfillment in every activity I undertook, yet my busy days look like just that - busy days. Not this perfect teenager who succeeds at everything she does. (Because I don't!)

I guess my question is: Am I who I thought I would be?

The answer is two-fold: Yes and no. Yes, activities like Key Club and youth group and Bible Study and my babysitting business have brought me out of my terribly shy shell and given me the experience to do more in my future, but no, I'm not perfect. I'm not the ideal teenager with a perfect life. No, I don't have a boyfriend and I struggle with thoughts that I'm not good enough every day.

I've always had this "perfect" mentality. You may see it in the lives of adults who say things like this: "I just need that job or that kind of car or a house in that neighborhood or those kinds of kids... and then I'll be good enough. Then I'll be perfect. Then I will be better than the Joneses." Well, I had this perfect little teenager ideal picked out for me: Car, Boyfriend, Job, president of some clubs, straight As, all the extracurriculars, overly kind, open to everyone... I could go on forever.

And now my question is: Do I want to be who I thought I would be? Do I want that ideal teenage life?

The answer is no. When we pick and choose these "perfect" labels, we forget God's plan. See, God doesn't want us to be "successful" as much as he wants us to serve him. Maybe God wants you in this particular neighborhood instead of the one you have your eyes on, so you can minister to the people here. Maybe God doesn't want you to join 10 groups in high school. Maybe He wants you to invest your life into 1 or 3 where you can make a big difference for Him. Maybe I don't have a boyfriend because he wants to use me as a single lady for his purposes, maybe to encourage someone else who isn't dating.

Riddle me this: Is the dirt-poor missionary in Africa any less successful than the famous wealthy movie star with 3 broken marriages?

Yeah, it's hard to say that I'll give God my everything, because I want my money! I want my time! I want my love life! I want, I want! It's hard to say that I will care about heavenly successes more than earthly successes. It's hard to say that treasures in heaven are more important to me than treasures on earth. It's hard to say that I'm more interested in God telling me "Well done, good and faithful servant" than the scholarship board telling me "Congratulations, here's your $1,000 scholarship".

But what really matters?

"Money is given you by God so that you might use it in such a way that it is plain to everyone that money is not your treasure Christ is!"

- John Piper

People get it living for a job,
Make a little money start living for a car,
Get 'em a wife, a house, kids and a dog,
Then they retire, they living high on the hog,
But guess what? They didn’t ever really live at all,
To live is Christ, and that’s Paul I recall,
To die is gain and for Christ we give it all,
He's the treasure you’ll never find in a mall,
See, your money, your singleness, marriage, talents, your time,
They were loaned you to show the world that Christ is divine

- Don't Waste Your Life By: LeCrae

"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

- Matthew 6:21