Maintaining Your Life With God

   Good Evening All,
               I'd like to share with you some words of encouragement that came to me through my Devotional readings a couple of weeks ago.  "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." ~Jude 1: 20-21.  "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.  For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered." ~Romans 8:26.
 
            I think that what Jude 1:20-21 is trying to say this, we have to build ourselves on our faith, and we must always pray in the Holy Spirit, we have to always make sure to keep ourselves humbled before God, no matter what.  We must look to Him for our rewards in our eternal life that will be spent with Him.  Let's be honest here, I'm having a pretty difficult time trying to understand these two Bible Verses, so please bare with me here.  I think that the second Bible Verse is a little bit easier for me to understand here, than the first one does.  So, we'll definitely come back to the first verse later on in this entry.  

               To those who don't exactly know what Intercession means this will be the definition or definitions if you will, a prayer to God on behalf of another.  I'm not sure if I even fully understand what intercession means even though I've been a born again Christian for about 4 years now.  There's still a lot more to learn about God and what He can help us with especially if it is in His will for our lives.  Anyway, Romans 8:26 is basically telling us this, "The Holy Spirit will also help us in all of our weaknesses, if we don't have the words to say or pray to Him, He will already say our own personal prayers for us."  He already knows what your needs and desires truly are.  He can listen to our prayers through our hearts, because He was the one who created us.  You know, sometimes it's just really good to sit there in silence and to just listen and reflect on certain things that you feel God may be telling us, whether it be during our devotions, during your prayers, or just in general.  We always need to be ready and willing to listen at what He's trying to tell us through His word. 

                  God can use our weaknesses to help us to grow in that certain area.  For example, I love to write, even though I'm not the best at it, but God can take this passion that I have and making it work out greater than any of us could have imagined.  We all have different talents and passions, and The Lord can take these things and make it greater than we could ever dream of.  If this is truly God's will for your life, then He will make it work out for the future of this world.  He put us all down here on earth for a reason, and I truly believe that that reason is to change this world and make it a much better, and happier place to live for those that need it the most.  

                     Let's go back to the very First Bible verse: " But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in The Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of Jesus Christ unto eternal life." ~Jude 1:20-21.  I know that I already posted this Bible Verse previously, but it is just a lot easier for me to look at down here, so that I can try and write about it again.  First, we must be humble before God no matter where we choose to pray and what time we choose to pray at.  When you are down on your knees, and humbled before God, that is when He will speak to you the most, but you've got to be willing to listen to what it is that He's trying to tell you before you go and do something else.  If you pray for strength, He wants you to stay seated or bent down so that you can receive His strength, before you start your day or end your night.  Second, you have to try and make Christ the center of your life before you go to make any type of decisions whether they be difficult or not so difficult.  Third, don't be a fool and make sure that you make real wise choices.  Fourth, we have to be able to surround ourselves with good, Christian people, who will build you up and not pull you down.  It is so important that we surround ourselves with the love of God and His people, because if we are around bad, negative people, then you'll feel horrible and dragged down.  I'm pretty sure that none of us will want to feel that particular way.  Honestly, I'd much rather be surrounded by people who love Christ and want to be like Christ, because when you are around them, you feel amazing and you have common ground to talk about.  What you should do is make sure that you get rid of those negative people in your life and start to find friends who you will have common ground and beliefs with.  That's why I love going to young adult group at my church, they are all great people and we have known each other for quite some time now.  We always have fun, and it's great to just get together in that group and talk about common interests, prayer requests, and just things in general that bug us on a daily basis, or maybe a not so daily basis.  Know what I mean? 

          We are just a group of friends who are having similar issues in our lives and it's just great to be able to let it all out and talk to someone who is willing to listen.  And finally fifth, you need to always look to Him for His mercy upon our own personal lives and He's the one we look to for eternal life that will be spent with Him.  You see, we don't need to look for approval from certain people down here on this earth, we need to look to Him for our eternal rewards awaiting for our arrival in heaven.  Yes, it is nice sometimes to get recognition down here on planet earth from someone special or maybe not so special, but to acknowledge us anyway, but just imagine how much better your reward in heaven will be.  People may not see what you do down here, but God sees everything, and He knows everything.  You have to be willing to let Him in to your heart and into your life, and trust that He will fulfill your every need.  Trust in Him, let go and let God, Amen? 
                  
~Emily P.