Life

Knowing You

All I once held dear built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this

(Chorus)
Knowing you, Jesus knowing you
There is no greater thing
You're my all you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you ,lord

Now my heart's desire is to know you more
To be found in you, and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousness

Oh to know the power of your risen life
And to know you in your suffering
To become like you in your death my Lord
So with You to live
And never die

I've always like this song and I think that all the verses have a lot of meaning that we 
can apply to our lives. However, I want to focus on the last verse of this song in this
entry. When it says "risen life" it implies that Christ has already died and come back. 
Then it says "to become like you in your death, my Lord". That line spoke volumes to 
me today!! I was sitting there, feeling kind of sorry for myself and all my problems when
we sang this verse. It suddenly dawned on me that we don't live this life to be happy
and always smile and have a good time!! God never promised us happiness, wealth,
or a nice easy life. He only promises us hardships, trials, pain, suffering and a multitude
of problems. Then I asked, well then why do I want to be a Christ-follower? Why do I 
follow a sadistic God, who believes in giving me pain and suffering?!?!?! The answer I
came up with is this. God promised us trials and pain, but even more so, did he promise
us the strength and the ability to face and overcome these problems. This brought me a
lot of hope and peace washed over me while I was sitting there thinking. He gives us the
strength to persevere and to reach to goal, the prize that he sets before us. 

I feel that so many people, when confronted by problems, deal with them by running away.
I've seen this in many people's lives including those around me, and in myself. We see a
"test" that is just too much, something we cannot handle, and so we run, we about face and
beat it. In any battle or engagement, if an army runs away it is called retreating and generally
that army is considered the loser. (of course, there are strategic retreats and everything, but
I'm going for the general idea here). If any army keeps running away, how can they become
stronger so as to face bigger battles, more engagements. If we look at ourselves as an army
or a soldier, how can we dishonor ourselves and the banner we fight under, the banner of
Jesus Christ, by turning away and running. God is always there to provide the help we need,
be it in a day or a year, and he will always do what is best for us. How can we turn him down
when he extends this unlimited help to us? And yet, we do!!!! We cannot have the faith, the 
mustard seed sized faith, to believe that our Lord will be there for us. 

Everyone has there own methods of "running away". Some people literally run away, be it from
home, a bad spouse, too much stress or whatever. Others turn to alcohol, or drugs, or gangs,
anything that can help them feel alive and without problems. Still others turn to gossip and 
fashion and material possessions that the world tells us we need. Another thing we have talked
about at the Harkin's over the past few weeks is the concept of speech; how it can be such a 
powerful weapon, but it can be used for either good or bad. I realized then, that no matter how 
small or "insignificant" a spoken word is, it can cause vast amounts of trouble or healing. Gossip
is a harmful weapon and although we justify it with the fact that everyone does it, or it's just a 
little thing, it doesn't change the fact that gossip is talking about someone behind their back
and essentially disrespecting them. Back to methods of running, others, like myself, turn to books
or friends and try to lose ourselves with our friends or in a good book. This isn't a bad thing
but it must be moderated because, as good as our friends maybe, or, a book, if we are using it
as an excuse to not face a problem, then it is bad. 

I guess what I've been trying to say, is that when you have problems, face them head on, and 
ask the Lord (who created the Universe for goodness sake) for the strength to see it all the
way through. Don't about face and retreat every time something bad comes your way!!! You
are strong enough to face anything with God's help, so do it! Expect trials, expect pain and all 
that, it doesn't lessen when you ask Christ to be with you, in fact, it probably multiplies. But,
you have an inexhaustible Ally that will always be there to protect you and give you strength
no matter the situation.  

just my thoughts,
hope for feedback, 
email me if you have a lot to say
~moki~

Failing myself

Missionary Times

Survive....