Well you all know that this is not a love blog. Hopefully by now you know the Doors Of H.O.P.E. team and our passion for Christ.
I am feeling a little under the weather this week which always makes me sad over all. During this quiet time, I kept asking God if it was just my time to rest or should I be using this time to do something. Well over and over again I kept feeling like it was time to rest, except that this blog idea kept coming to my mind over and over again.
How do you stay in Love with God, and how do you know if you are stagnant?
I wish I could tell you that this blog was completely out of the blue, but honestly this kept coming to me because I kept asking god the same thing. I kept asking “God, why do I feel a lack of completeness with you?” “Why am I feeling like there might be doubt sneaking into my heart?” “How do I know if I am still in love with you?”
I hope that you are nothing like me and that these question have never come into your heart, but I have to guess that at least one other person has ever felt like this.
As I spent some time on prayer today I just cried out to God for my children, brothers, mother, ministry, and just life. God take every selfish thing that remains within me and remove it for your glory. God take away those things in me that try to have me exalt myself in places that you should be exalted. Take away the spirit of doubt where you meant there to be a spirit of faith. God where are you and why am I feeling this way.
Tears streamed down my face. My heart filled with sadness. My voice wanted to burst in yelps of surrender. All of the sudden I felt the Lord speak quietly to me and say. “Why do you forget where I have brought you from? Do you forget the seat I gave you at work? Do you forget that I strategically placed you in certain places so that opportunity knocked at your door? If I restored the seed of your mother’s womb, why wouldn’t I restore yours? Your doubt comes because you tend to look onto what’s next, and never stop to examine that I must have it all in control, because when you look back you can tell the places that only I could have been in control of.”
I cried and cried in God’s presence during that time, and suddenly I realized that in order to stay in love with God I need to always be ready to hear what he says to me, but I also need to examine where I truly am with God and trust him to take me to the next level.
Life in ministry can be tough. It’s not like a job, where you know you will get your evaluation and that your boss will give you an acceptable or unacceptable grade. Ministry is different. You have to surrender. You have to wait and listen. You have to understand that the answer may not be what you wanted it to me. Your life is your ministry so I am talking to you.
This morning I was reading the book of 1 Samuel chapter 15 where God gave King Saul a commandment to kill everyone and everything when he attacked Amalek. Everything. God told him not to leave nothing living. God was specific in his command and there was no misinterpretation to what he meant he wanted done. Well Saul didn’t listen. He left the finest of the flock alive and didn’t kill the King.
His excuse was that he was going to sacrifice what was left over to God. Well clearly God wasn’t trying to hear that. God didn’t need their sacrifice. In fact, God says in Chapter 15 verse 23 that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
So what does all this have to do with being in love with god. Well you see, when I knelt down and the Lord spoke to me I could have easily said, “But God.”
I could have told him that my heart was torn, that I hadn’t received a word of confirmation in a while or that I needed more than that.
Here is what happened though. God spoke, and my heart submitted to him. I know that God has always been good to me. I know that he has power over all, but the difference between Saul and I, is that I chose to take God at his word, Saul chose to try to be greater than God.
I wish I could say it’s always this easy, or that I always get it right, well I don’t.
But for today I know that I love God more than my uncertainty, more than I want the answer that I want. More than I want anything in my life. I want to trust God.
In order for me to test my love factor for God, I need to evaluate how often I am willing to submit to his voice. Don’t fool yourself. You know what I am talking about. You know if the Godly folks around you are giving you advice and you chose to ignore them, you’re not submitting to God. You know if you have an annoying concern about how you are walking in the sight if the Lord, you are not submitting to God.
Choose to stay in love with him. Choose to put him first in your life. Make the willful choice to say, God I trust you. Being in love means you submit.
Maybe we all need to check our submission factor today?
Are you still in love?
I am feeling a little under the weather this week which always makes me sad over all. During this quiet time, I kept asking God if it was just my time to rest or should I be using this time to do something. Well over and over again I kept feeling like it was time to rest, except that this blog idea kept coming to my mind over and over again.
How do you stay in Love with God, and how do you know if you are stagnant?
I wish I could tell you that this blog was completely out of the blue, but honestly this kept coming to me because I kept asking god the same thing. I kept asking “God, why do I feel a lack of completeness with you?” “Why am I feeling like there might be doubt sneaking into my heart?” “How do I know if I am still in love with you?”
I hope that you are nothing like me and that these question have never come into your heart, but I have to guess that at least one other person has ever felt like this.
As I spent some time on prayer today I just cried out to God for my children, brothers, mother, ministry, and just life. God take every selfish thing that remains within me and remove it for your glory. God take away those things in me that try to have me exalt myself in places that you should be exalted. Take away the spirit of doubt where you meant there to be a spirit of faith. God where are you and why am I feeling this way.
Tears streamed down my face. My heart filled with sadness. My voice wanted to burst in yelps of surrender. All of the sudden I felt the Lord speak quietly to me and say. “Why do you forget where I have brought you from? Do you forget the seat I gave you at work? Do you forget that I strategically placed you in certain places so that opportunity knocked at your door? If I restored the seed of your mother’s womb, why wouldn’t I restore yours? Your doubt comes because you tend to look onto what’s next, and never stop to examine that I must have it all in control, because when you look back you can tell the places that only I could have been in control of.”
I cried and cried in God’s presence during that time, and suddenly I realized that in order to stay in love with God I need to always be ready to hear what he says to me, but I also need to examine where I truly am with God and trust him to take me to the next level.
Life in ministry can be tough. It’s not like a job, where you know you will get your evaluation and that your boss will give you an acceptable or unacceptable grade. Ministry is different. You have to surrender. You have to wait and listen. You have to understand that the answer may not be what you wanted it to me. Your life is your ministry so I am talking to you.
This morning I was reading the book of 1 Samuel chapter 15 where God gave King Saul a commandment to kill everyone and everything when he attacked Amalek. Everything. God told him not to leave nothing living. God was specific in his command and there was no misinterpretation to what he meant he wanted done. Well Saul didn’t listen. He left the finest of the flock alive and didn’t kill the King.
His excuse was that he was going to sacrifice what was left over to God. Well clearly God wasn’t trying to hear that. God didn’t need their sacrifice. In fact, God says in Chapter 15 verse 23 that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
So what does all this have to do with being in love with god. Well you see, when I knelt down and the Lord spoke to me I could have easily said, “But God.”
I could have told him that my heart was torn, that I hadn’t received a word of confirmation in a while or that I needed more than that.
Here is what happened though. God spoke, and my heart submitted to him. I know that God has always been good to me. I know that he has power over all, but the difference between Saul and I, is that I chose to take God at his word, Saul chose to try to be greater than God.
I wish I could say it’s always this easy, or that I always get it right, well I don’t.
But for today I know that I love God more than my uncertainty, more than I want the answer that I want. More than I want anything in my life. I want to trust God.
In order for me to test my love factor for God, I need to evaluate how often I am willing to submit to his voice. Don’t fool yourself. You know what I am talking about. You know if the Godly folks around you are giving you advice and you chose to ignore them, you’re not submitting to God. You know if you have an annoying concern about how you are walking in the sight if the Lord, you are not submitting to God.
Choose to stay in love with him. Choose to put him first in your life. Make the willful choice to say, God I trust you. Being in love means you submit.
Maybe we all need to check our submission factor today?
Are you still in love?
RSS Feed
