"I am Your guest"

Psalm 39:12
"For I am your guest, a traveler passing through"

This statement of 'I am your guest' makes me think a lot. And the Lord revealed to me that guests in a home treat those they are staying with...with respect, thankfulness, politeness, and etc. We are temples of the Lord...we are guests in his house! Therefore, our hearts and actions should be that of guests...of respect, thankfulness, obedience, and etc...for the one who ALLOWS us to stay here, the one whom created the earth and everything in it--our bodies, minds, hearts, world-earth. We are guests in his home...may we fear him and treat him with complete gratitude and reverence.

As we look at our world, our lives, and our activities we know that they are not ours in real perspective. My time, my family...ALL belong to God..He gave them to me. So we must respect and love all because everything,in reality, is truly HIS! The earth is HIS, so we must care for it. Our time is His, so we must realize that my time, my agenda, etc...all belong to Him because I am His. So it's not so much of a "sacrifice" of MY time, but more of an acknowledgment of knowing that all is His...and in that we are willing to SURRENDER everything we "have" because we are guests, and we play by HIS rules! Guests take their shoes off, if that is the rules. Christians should follow what the Lord states in His word--not just some of it. We need to have the attitude of a respectful guest. Our bodies are His temple, respect them. So when we use the word "sacrifice", think of the word "obedience" instead. (hebrew translation for sacrifice in many scriptures) Think of this not as a "self" given to God, but as a person who realizes that "self" IS God's! When we have the attitude where we consider everything to be MY time, My life and when I give God MY time...I feel good about it b/c I was "selfless" for God...THINK AGAIN...because this thought should never be! Rather, the thought should be...."God I am yours, all I have is yours (my time, energy, devotion, etc). I am your guest. I follow your rules."

He created us and everything. ALL belongs to Him! Start responding to Him like all really does belong to HIM! And let's play by HIS rules! He doesn't just have these commands in the bible made up for no reason or purpose. He LOVES us soo much that He wants us to follow his commands because He knows that it will benefit US! Often I think...God is not so much concerned about himself when we ignore Him or when we sin...but He is more concerned about us...because HE knows that sin and other things that distract us from Him ultimately HURT US!! He loves us that much that He wants our full attention...because His way is the BEST way..for HIM and for US!!!

WOw that's a mouth full!
BTW----I am preaching to my own choir here! convicting stuff for me!

:)

some clarity

Referring to my last post about wanting stuff....to clarify...I do not necessarily think we should not have nice stuff in this life, because those are blessings....but the main point of the last post is:

We can get so consumed with our selfish desires of wanting stuff, of which have no eternal value, that it blocks our hearts from seeing and desiring God's desires-for example, salvation for others.

:)

wanting stuff--a heart block in desiring what God desires

Okie dokie, so lately I have been thinking a lot about money and having things-material things. I have been praying for God to work on my heart to not desire the things in this life that have NO eternal value, but to only desire to bless others with the blessings I have been given. I don't want to be a person that desires materials or a person who finds happiness in having things! I want to desire God---my daily bread....ALONE! He is the source of everything and I want all of Him..and so if I want all of Him...I gotta get rid of the want for anything and everything else that does not line up to His word and that does not have eternal purpose. I believe when God does house cleanining in our hearts like this it makes room for our focus to get OFF of ourselves and onto HIM! This opens our hearts to desire what HE desires...which includes souls! I have been experiencing this in a new way recently and it has been so wonderful to come into more oneness with the father's desires. God has been seriously tugging on my heart about the people I know that are not saved, that do not know Him!!! I get all emotional about it...BUT unless I pray for these people...unless I TAKE ACTION in prayer or in whatever the Holy Spirit leads me to do...then these are just emotions!! (This ties into my last post about prayer). Anyways, SO basically, when we desires things for ourselves that do not have eternal value--things that are selfish desires, like material possesions and etc....we are blocking our hearts from being open to desiring what God desires....desiring stuff=HEART BLOCKAGE! This is one reason why we must ask God to prune our hearts of selfish desires. It is such a joy to desire what God desires, to get a taste of God's own heart!!

Lord, work on our hearts, bringing us into more oneness with your holy desires. Lord, we don't want to be caught up in the things of this life that do not impact eternity. God we want to be about your business. To do this, we know we must get rid of the cloudiness that covers and hardens our hearts that is a result of selfish wants and ambitions. Make us more like you. May we live to please you alone and be people who make an impact on the rest of eternity...all for YOU! In Jesus name..AMEN!

1 timothy 6:6-10
"Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So, if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.
But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of eveil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows"

WOW this verse is sooo solid! Basically Paul is telling it like it is!


P.S. -----Today I went shopping, which I actually don't enjoy that much anymore, oddly enough. I went to Sears (of all places haha). Anyways, I bought ONE item and the worker handed me a reciept that literally is at least the size of a regular ruler-12 inches that is!!! Seriously...WHY is the reciept so long? -(I only bought ONE THING) HAHA..for some reason I just think that is so funny! When I picked it up I felt like I was whipping out some ancient century long scroll or something.