Beauty

I can't describe it
The beauty of it all consumes my heart
It's striking how You would lose it all
To have me
You have this heart
It's forever Yours

Your affections
Your infatuation
Completely arouse my senses
Knowing
I'm fully loved
I'm fully enjoyed
I'm changed

Dead

Faith without deeds is dead right? It's written in the bible.
I think what's even more scary for me is works without faith.

Pastors stress faith without deeds is dead but never read Romans 14:23.

Romans 14:23

²³But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

The main point of this Pastor's sermon was to "fight sin". How do you fight sin? He said "I'm not telling you guys not to sin." but he contradicted himself by telling us to "fight sin" without actually telling us how. Initially, when any person hear's the saying "fight sin" their psyche immediately tells them to stay away from it. It's bad.

How is it to possible to stay away from sin or even, not sin? It's impossible. I've tried and failed miserably. It's like a constant battle with yourself. You beat yourself and no one wins. It's always a loss. How is it possible to live a victorious, joyful life if the battle is always against yourself? 

Like I said. No one wins a battle with themselves.

Sin is the problem. There has to be a solution. 

His name is Jesus. 

His death and resurrection paid for every single sin, past, present and future. 

Because of Love we have now been declared righteous by what we believe. 

Hebrews 10:17

¹⁷Then he adds:
   "Their sins and lawless acts
     I will remember no more."

Understanding who God is and His character develops a deeper love for God. We continue to receive His love and we end up loving Him back. We fight sin by keeping our eyes on Jesus. He is the solution.

Think of a relationship with your significant other. Let's say your girlfriend hates something that you do. Would you the guy, keep doing it? I hope to my guy readers it's a no. I love my girlfriend enough that if she didn't like something I did, no matter how small or stupid it is, I would fulfill her request. 

Because Jesus Loves me so much, I hate the one thing that keeps me away from Him. I desire to be with Him, that despite my short-comings, I know that I've been forgiven completely. When I fall, I look to Him. And He says, Andrew, I love you. 

Don't focus on the problem.

Focus on the solution.

Jesus.

Infatuation

How can someone be upset at the same time be completely infatuated with someone?
I was reading Hosea, and one chapter talks about punishment for the Israelites and the next is all of the sudden about God's love for them.


Hosea 11

God's Love for Israel

 ¹ "When Israel was a child, I loved him,
       and out of Egypt I called my son. ² But the more I ^[a] called Israel,
       the further they went from me. ^[b]
       They sacrificed to the Baals
       and they burned incense to images.
 ³ It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
       taking them by the arms;
       but they did not realize
       it was I who healed them.
 ⁴ I led them with cords of human kindness,
       with ties of love;
       I lifted the yoke from their neck
       and bent down to feed them.
 ⁵ "Will they not return to Egypt
       and will not Assyria rule over them
       because they refuse to repent?
 ⁶ Swords will flash in their cities,
       will destroy the bars of their gates
       and put an end to their plans.
 ⁷ My people are determined to turn from me.
       Even if they call to the Most High,
       he will by no means exalt them.
 ⁸ "How can I give you up, Ephraim?
       How can I hand you over, Israel?
       How can I treat you like Admah?
       How can I make you like Zeboiim?
       My heart is changed within me;
       all my compassion is aroused.
 ⁹ I will not carry out my fierce anger,
       nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.
       For I am God, and not man—
       the Holy One among you.
       I will not come in wrath. ^[c]
 10 They will follow the LORD;
       he will roar like a lion.
       When he roars,
       his children will come trembling from the west.
 ¹¹ They will come trembling
       like birds from Egypt,
       like doves from Assyria.
       I will settle them in their homes,"
       declares the LORD.

If you look at verse 8 the tone of God's voice is literally an obsessive one. He's so infatuated and obsessed with His people that despite their disobedience His response is not wrath, but Love. 

He Wants Us.

Believe.

Drive

Love.

An intense feeling of deep affection.

A law of nature. 

An entity that is essential for a spiritual response.

Either you love something or something or someone loves you.

It's absolutely insane how this one entity called love is the driving force that literally is the reason why this world spins. 

God could've completely destroyed us. But what? He destroys something most precious to Him because He loves us. He wanted us so bad that the only way to have us was to lose His Jesus. 

Love drives everything.

His love is the fuel that allows me to run. I need to fill up everyday cause this kid is a complete gas guzzler. When I refuse to fill up I won't go. There is no energy for me to move. Any place that I need to get to, it takes triple the effort to get to my destination. I have to watch my gas meter every second, go extremely slow so that I wont run out of gas. If I had filled up I wouldn't have to worry.

Every time I receive His love, I can't stop. It's amazing the sites I see, the people I meet. He completely fills my life with joy.

I am completely satisfied.

I am filled.

He overflows my heart.

Be Loved.

Breakfast In Bed

I thought of something absolutely profound today. Doing good works in the Christian sense is like a 7 year old child wanting to make breakfast in bed for his or her mom's birthday. It's the kid's mom's birthday today. Let's say he has been receiving his mom's love since he was born and he continues to receive. Because of all the love and affections that he receives, he finally want's to do something nice for his mom. He decides to make her breakfast in bed. (I thought of this cause it's what I did when I was 7 for my mom's birthday) It's not out of obligation but pure enjoyment of who his mother is. He has received so much from his mom that he wants to give some back.

I really think at times, we don't give God enough credit. If we really thought about it, He does not need us. He created this universe perfectly, and beautifully all by Himself. We think that we have some sort of obligation to do things. It's not an obligation but a privilege and absolute joy. Imagine God wanting to show you a glimpse of His glory through You. You receive so much from Him that the gratitude that's been built up in your life, you finally want to release it. Through that release, in reality it's God bringing glory to Himself, but He shows it to us. He shows us how glorious He is. It's such an amazing blessing to serve others, or to give him praise. It's all from gratitude. Not obligation. Obligation leads to pride, which God sees as dirty, bloody tampons.

It's easier to do things for God rather than to trust Him.

Trust Him.

Ephesians 2:10

¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

As we learn to trust Him, He will leads us into every good work. He has prepared all of it. 

Trust.

Also...

I was talking to a friend. She's so adorable, but what she said completely warmed my soul.

Here's the conversation in a nutshell-

Andrew: Rebecca, isn't it so amazing that we are God's children?

Rebecca: I know I'm His Princess.

We are his #1 sons and princesses of daughters. 

He loves us. 

We are His.

We are His children.

Believe.

Remedy

My iPod randomly turned to the song "The Remedy" by David Crowder Band. It's so good that it's been on repeat.

Here's a part of the song-

Here we are
Here we are
Bandaged and bruised
Awaiting a cure
Here we are

Here You are
Here You are
Our beautiful King
Bringing relief
Here You are with us

So we lift up our voices
And open our hands
Let go of the things 
That have kept us from Him

He is the one 
Who has saved us
He is the one
Who forgave us
He is the one who has come
And is coming again
He’s the remedy

Why is that we live sometimes thinking that we haven't been forgiven? Thinking that God is always displeased with us? "Our sins are too much" "How can God love me?" I hate it when Christians say that God is displeased with us because of our sins. If we look at scripture correctly, it says in Romans

Romans 6:23

23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is not only displeased with sin. He wants to kill us. Destroy us. That is how much He hates sin. But we always forget the refrain. "But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of this gift that was freely given, not earned you are now pleasing in His eyes. How can we live joyously if we always think that God is unhappy with us? 

Yes we sin. But we've been forgiven. As we continue to fix our eyes on Jesus, we don't focus on our imperfections, but the perfect Jesus. He is our remedy. I can't stop sinning. I've tried. But the most amazing thing is that Jesus never sinned. And His righteousness was passed onto me. I've done everything possibly wrong but this amazing gift from God is that He see's me like I've done everything right. That leads me to joy. That leads me to true repentance. True metanoia. Understanding my Father for who He is. I will never understand His ways till I go home. But for some insane reason, He wanted me enough that He would give up something most precious to Him. For Me. And You. 

Trusting Him is the most hardest thing to do. When He takes the reins of my life, He guides me to His Glory. 

I like it when He drives. I'm a pretty bad driver when it comes to driving my life. I try to take short cuts in life thinking I can get better at something but its all filled with potholes, debris, and junk. It takes forever for me to get to my destination. But when he takes the wheel, He takes the long, scenic route. No pot holes, no junk but an absolute smooth drive. I get to experience beauty and awe cause He knows the road best cause He made it. 

He's forgiven us.

For me, His love produces gratitude. Which makes me cling unto Him, which allows me to bear fruit. (John 15)

Let Him Drive. 

He Prays For Me

I love how Jesus prays for me. I heard Him say to God, Lord please continue to remind Andrew how much You love him. I (Jesus) knows that he's forgetful at times, and Satan tries to lure him in with all His lies, but continue to hold Him close to Your arms.

Romans 8:34

³⁴Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Jesus prays for me. He does the work in me and through me. Knowing how much He loves me and does for me produces what is called gratitude. Therefore, through that, God righteously brings glory to Himself, because He is deserving of all praise. Ultimately, He Loves Us. We are His. By some odd reason, despite our sin, He still continues to show us His glory. In the end it ultimately leads us back to Him. Back to the Father, back to Jesus. 

I am His Child.  

I am enjoyed.

Believe.

Hypocrite

I truly believe that Christians are one of the most hypocritical people on this earth. I heard someone preach to a bunch of people, "I don't want to sound legalistic, but it's our actions and what we do that will lead people to Christ."

He will change our minds.
He will change our hearts.
He will change our life.

Nothing by our actions will lead people to Christ, because we are not perfect. What good have we done to lead people. It's ultimately Christ.

Matthew 16:17

¹⁷Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

I don't want to completely blow this guys head out, because He definitely has a good heart. But if you don't want to sound legalistic, then don't sound legalistic. We become more "Christ like" as we continue to abide in the vine.

John 15:5

 ⁵"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

He is the one that's changing us. His gospel is that powerful. All of our self-righteous works, God sees that as a dirty, filthy, disgusting, tampon.

Isaiah 64:6

 ⁶ All of us have become like one who is unclean,
       and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; 
       we all shrivel up like a leaf,
       and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

According to scripture its not our acts that will lead us to Christ, But Christ who lead people to the Father. Share Jesus. 

(And to my readers, I never said we can do whatever we want. Thats for a different time.)

Trust Him. 

He has made us Good.

Become a vine hugger.

Believe. 

Daddy

I heard something absolutely profound the other day. Fathers want kids. Fathers don't need kids, but they want kids. More and more as I think about my heavenly Father, I realize that He wants me. Why in the world would he save something so disgusting, foul, ugly, miserable, etc. In some indescribable way, He found some beautiful in this ugly. He found Jesus. Scripture always reminds us that the joy of the Lord is our strength, but I never found that joy until I started to believe. I always believed that I was employed by"Now you're saved, go do my work! Rather "Make every effort to enter that rest."

Hebrews 4:11

¹¹Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

God really enjoys us. We are his children. He wanted us so bad that he would give up the one greatest treasure He owned to be a living sacrifice for many. 

Rest knowing this reality. Take that deep sigh. Go on. Take it. 

He desires us. When we understand the true character of His being, it get's easier to worship. When we know, understand, and believe how great He is,

How can I keep from singing Your praise

How can I ever say enough

How amazing is Your love

How can I keep from shouting Your name

I know I am loved by the King

And it makes my heart want to sing

He desires us every waking moment of our lives.

Believe.

Blindness

Sometimes, blindness is such a blessing and a curse. A blessing in terms of you never have to deal with what others see cause you never see them. This world is so ugly at times. I just want to put a blindfold over my head and walk with a walking stick for the blind. Don't have to worry about what anyone sees. But Satan uses something that is good to blind us from true beauty. That true beauty is Him. He always pushes us to do what is good to keep us busy so we don't keep our eyes on that beauty. God.

It's always easier to do something for God rather than to trust Him.

Ephesians 2:10 

¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Even though at times this world is ugly, God does unveil my eyes to show me beauty in this broken world. I know what God sees. He seems to find beauty in the most ugliest things cause He is good. He is beautiful. And the way that we work is to abide. Live by faith. He will lead us cause he already prepared all of it.

You tore the Veil
You made a way
When You said that it is done.

Believe.

It's Easy

"It's easier to do things for God rather than to trust Him."-Mary Park

It's insane how Satan uses what is ultimately good to blind us from Jesus. If Adam and Eve never bit into that fruit, Ignorance would truly be bliss.

I was talking to Mary about this guy that thinks life is about complete servitude to Christ. In a sense I guess it can be true if it was said correctly but it never was. The focus on this statement is not on Christ, but on the person. The scriptures tells us in Hebrews 4, "make every effort to enter that rest". Rest? WTF?! I'm supposed to be serving, I can't be relaxing.. No way is that really in the bible?

I don't think we give the Holy Spirit enough credit.

God is omniscient. He knows everything. He's the master planner who's planned everything since day one till the day I go home. Ephesians 2:10 "¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." 


As we live, we live by Faith. Christ lives in us. He is essentially doing all the work for us, in us, and through us. To me it's not a lifetime of servitude, but a lifetime of trusting. He knows what is Good. Because He is Good. Let us simply be and receive his love. As we continue to receive we will be able to give back. We have a God that will carry us even to the extent of our old age.

Isaiah 46

Gods of Babylon

 ¹ Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low;
       their idols are borne by beasts of burden.
       The images that are carried about are burdensome,
       a burden for the weary. ² They stoop and bow down together;
       unable to rescue the burden,
       they themselves go off into captivity.
 ³ "Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
       all you who remain of the house of Israel,
       you whom I have upheld since you were conceived,
       and have carried since your birth.
 ⁴ Even to your old age and gray hairs
       I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
       I have made you and I will carry you;
       I will sustain you and I will rescue you.


When it's Him that's in control, His yoke is easy.

Remember.
Receive.
Rest.

My Need

"My propensity for love is far greater than my ability to love."

I haven't heard or said that to myself in a long time, but it's something that's so true. I need love plain and simple. The devil is so fucking crafty at times. He made me believe that my life was destined for a life-time a servitude. "Love God with all YOUR heart!" Being treated as property. Ultimately a slave. Where's the joy in that? Satan's so convenient at times with his bullshit, but my real Father says "Andrew, I just want to enjoy You as my child. That is all." I still continue to fuck up, but what does He say to me after? "Andrew Your sins and lawless acts I will remember no more" (Hebrews 10:17) I'm pretty sure that God still see's my mess, but the extent of His love and grace is so great and wide that all He sees is perfection. All God sees is Jesus. He is completely satisfied, and proud of my being. He loves that I am one of His own. Forever.

As He enjoys me, I enjoy Him.
It's where I don't mind taking His dishes to the sink with a genuine smile or getting Him that glass of water when He's thirsty during dinner.

He's changed my mind
He's changed my heart
He's changed my life.

I abide.
I am loved.