WOW!! Second week of school is complete! It doesn't seem possible that it is only the second week, it seems like we have been here longer. Not that I feel overwhelmed or homework or anything, but just because I feel like I have just been so busy this year. Monday, Wednesday, Friday I have five classes which makes for very, very busy days. Then Tuesdays and Thursdays I only have one class, plus orchestra; which by the way is going to be so much fun!! We don't have instruments to a full, balanced orchestra this year, so instead the director is splitting us up into ensembles. Which means we now have a flute quartet!!!! I'm so excited!! Overall, I think this is going to be a really, really good year!! Already God has been teaching me a lot!!!

I have been going through Matthew for my devotions and there are so many amazing truths that God wants to teach us! First of all, we see how Jesus was so busy every single day, healing people, teaching. But yet He never complained once, or asked for time off, or even just slept in. What an example to us! How many times do we just get so busy with our every day lives and we get so tired that we just want to quit, give up, or just crawl into bed and sleep? But Jesus never did that. So how was He able to keep up with everything going on around His without getting too exhausted? Well...I'll let you in on a secret...ready? Are you ready? Ok...here it is..............every day Jesus got early in the morning...we're talking before anyone else was even up...most likely before dawn...and He met with His Father to ask for wisdom to get through the day and to "refuel" His heart so that He can be totally prepared to do God's will for that day! I don't know about you...but that is just so encouraging to me to realize that Jesus can do it, so can I. And that is exactly what I have been working on doing. I have been trying my very best to get up early in the morning to meet with God for His daily instruction for my day...not just because we are required to do devotions before chapel...but because I want to with my whole heart and I want to grow in the Lord. And I encourage you, my readers, to do the same. Not because God will hate you if you don't because He will always love you. Also doing devotions every day in the morning doesn't necessarily guarantee you will have the best day ever. It just means that you spent quiet time alone with God at the start of your day...and you will be more equipped to do His will for you that day.

Also, I am taking Romans class semester, and it is just so amazing!!! Not to mention I already loved the book to begin with, but this class is only increasing my love for that book. Romans is my favorite book in the entire Bible!!! It's one of those classes that I wish would never end, it is so good. We are pretty much going through it verse by verse and there is just so much to learn. Today we talked about how even if there aren't too many ways to get involved in in other people's lives, the biggest way we can get involve is by prayer.In Romans 1:9, Paul says he is constantly praying for the people in Rome. Think about it...if we all prayed for everyone in our life every single day I bet we could see so many miracles happen, it would be amazing!!!!

Anyway, I think I have shared all that is on my mind. I will try to keep up better on updating you guys with what God is teaching me.

Not guilty!

I stand accused
There’s a list a mile long
Of all my sins
Of everything that I’ve done wrong
I’m so ashamed
There’s nowhere left for me to hide
This is the day
I must answer for my life

My fate is in the Judge’s hands
But then He turns to me and says

I know you 
I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict not guilty

How can it be?
I can’t begin to comprehend
What kind of grace
Would take the place of all my sin?

I stand in awe
Now that I have been set free
And the tears well up as I look at that cross
‘Cause it should have been me

My fate was in the nail scarred hands
He stretched them out for me and said

I’m falling on my knees to thank You
With everything I am I’ll praise You
So grateful for the words I heard You say



Today was the first day I heard this song. A lady at my church sang it as a special, and I just think it is amazing!!! It describes our sinful life so well. To think that before we come to Jesus and accept Him as our Savior and ask forgiveness for our sin, we were all guilty and deserved to die. It really should have been me on that cross, but instead Jesus loved us SO much that He took our place JUST so we can live with Him for eternity!! Even though Jesus wished he didn't have to go through with it (if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; Matthew 26:39), he still followed His Father's will (nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt). We owe Him our lives for taking our place on that cross and for making us "not guilty." I hope you enjoy this song as much as I did when you listen to it.

Symbols of Freedom

There are two symbols that display our freedom. The first one we all know very well. She stands in New York harbor. She represents liberty for all: she is called the Statue of Liberty. When we see her torch raised to the sky we feel a sense of pride to be privileged to live in such a great Nation! She is one of the things that make proud to be Americans!

The second symbol of our freedom makes us Christians especially proud! It stands in Calvary on a hill in Golgotha. For Christians it represents a freedom from sin. It gives us hope that one day we will get to end our days here on earth and go live for eternity with our heavenly Father! It gives us a reason to celebrate because we no longer have to live in control of sin. Sin has lost its grip on us, and all we have to do is humbly go before Jesus and repent of your sin and He will cast it away forever! And this is all possible because God sent His only Son to die on a cross for our sins (John 3:16). And now in order to receive freedom from our sin, all we have to do is come to the cross and let go of all the sin that has held us captive. Then once you do that you can proudly say, "I am proud to be called a Christian."

A song I really like to listen to, especially around the Fourth of July, is called Stature of Liberty by Larnelle Harris. The lyrics portray just what I was trying to communicate in this blog post. I hope you like them too:

In New York harbor stands a lady

With a torch raised to the sky

And all who see her know she stands for

Liberty for me and you

I'm so proud to be called an American

To be named with the brave and the free

I will honor our flag and our trust in God

And the Statue of Liberty

On lonely Golgotha stood a cross

With my Lord raised to the sky

And all who kneel there live forever

As all the saints can testify

I'm so glad to be called a Christian

To be named with the ransomed and whole

As the statue liberates the citizen

So the cross liberates the soul

The cross is my statue of liberty

For it was there that my soul was set free

Unashamed I'll proclaim that a rugged cross

Is my statue of liberty

Unashamed I'll proclaim that a rugged cross

Is my statue of liberty

Happy Fourth of July Everyone!!!!!! Enjoy some wonderful time with family and find some time to thank God for your freedom and if you see someone who has served in the military be sure to thank them too for serving our country. God bless America!!!!!

Please Pray!

Those of you who are from Michigan may have heard this on the news, on Wednesday June 29th  a four month old girl was abducted. The police suspected the mother's boyfriend, who is now in custody. But nobody knows where the little girl is. The family did receive a glimmer of hope on Friday when the boyfriend nodded to say that she was still alive, but other than that he is not saying anything else to help them find the girl. As of yesterday nobody still doesn't know where the little girl could be, police have been searching the area around the guy's house but they keep coming up empty handed by the end the day.

Even though I don't know this family at all, the Lord has laid upon my heart to pray for this family and the situation. But I also know that prayer is so much more powerful with more people: just like it says in Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. So I am asking, if any of you could find time throughout your days to just say a short prayer for this family and their situation that would be most helpful. Let us bring this baby girl back home through the power of prayer. Just pray that the police will have wisdom to know where to look and pray for safety for everyone who is out trying find the girl. Also, pray for the family. Pray that they will find comfort no matter what happens and that through this situation somehow they will hear the gospel. Also, pray that they will be able to forgive the boyfriend or whoever abducted the girl.

Thanks ahead of time to anyone who is willing to pray for this family. I will try to write everyday to update everyone about this situation.God will work through our prayers!

Surrender All

Take all I am, Lord, and all that I cling to
You are my Savior I owe everything to
Take all the treasures that lie in my storehouse
They cannot follow when I enter Your house

So I surrender all to You
I surrender all

Take all my cravings for vain recognition
Fleshly indulgence and worldly ambition
I want so much Lord to make You the focus
To serve You in secret and never be noticed

Take all my hunger for all that’s forbidden
Every desire and sin I keep hidden
Search me and know me I want to bring to You
A life that is holy and sanctified through You

The first time I sang this song I just fell in love with it! It is just such a powerful message!! It communicates perfectly how we are not our own person and that nothing we own belongs to us--everything belongs to Jesus!! As you listen to this song really focus on the lyrics and just pray it back to the Lord. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!

Catching a Glimpse of Jesus

Catching a Glimpse of Jesus

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Purposes of Daily Devotions for Your Outer Life

Now that we know how daily devotions grow us in our inner life, let's take a look at how they affect our outer life. Once we allow God to change us on the inside, we will be more equipped to encourage others in their spiritual walk, and to live our days for God and for others. So, here are four other purposes for having daily devotions.

The first purpose for having daily devotions to prepare the outer life is submission: When we come to our special time with God, we must come with a submissive spirit. We must be willing to give God control of our life. If we try to run our lives on our own strength, we will be tired and frustrated by the end of the day. Now I know for me, the only reason I don't always submit to God's will is my pride and my independence. Ever since we were young, most of have learned that in order to survive in this world we need to be independent. But God is really teaching me to have a proper balance between independence and dependence on Him. We need to give the reigns to our spiritual life over to God. Then once we do that we will fell a huge burden lifted from our shoulders. and by being more dependent on God and less dependent on ourselves, we will find that we have more time to worship our Lord. We must be willing to let go of all our problems and completely surrender them to God. Submitting to God is realizing that it is not our will but God's will being done.

The second purpose for having daily devotions to prepare the outer life is direction: Whenever I need someone to talk to it is so refreshing to know that God is always there. I don't know about you, but whenever I have a bad day, I just grab my journal and just start writing and it really feels like I am talking to God and I feel SO much better! and the best thing about it is that He is NEVER too busy to listen! God is always there to take away my problems and to guide me through everyday and to help me set my priorities straight. But in order to experience all that to the fullest we need to spend uninterrupted time with God. We need to devote a special time every morning where we can spend cultivating our relationship with God. In order to be able to do God's work, we need to take the time to sit quietly long enough for God to tell me what He wants me to do. We should follow Jesus' example: get up early in the morning, go to a solitary place, and pray to our heavenly Father. Only then will we be able to do our Father's work properly.

The third purpose is for Intercession: A daily quiet time with God will better enable us to intercede on the behalf of our friends in need. Instead of taking matters into our own hands, we need to let God take control of the situation. He can do a much better job than we can. Instead of trying to change someone ourselves, let God change us first, then give that person over to God and let Him change them. All we have to do is pray for our friends and God will take care of the rest.

The last purpose for having daily devotions to prepare the outer life is transformation: The longer I spend with the Lord, the more I will be transformed into His likeness. Come into God's presence with an "unveiled" face. Take off the "good Christian" mask, and just be yourself when you come into His presence. Once you enter God's presence be ready and willing to be transformed into His likeness. This not a rushed process though. You are not transformed into God's likeness overnight. You have to take the necessary time to spend with your heavenly Father and overtime we will become more and more like Him. 

The result of applying these purposes to your daily devotions is someone who is ready to do the Father's work and to give Him the glory for everything.

The Purpose of Having a Devotional Time with the Lord

So to catch everyone up, I am going through the book "A Place of Quiet Rest" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. The deeper I get into this book the more and more I realize how important it is to have a devotional life. Having daily devotions is the biggest way we can deepen our relationship with our Lord and Savior. One of the ways daily devotions can help us grow in intimacy with our Lord is by helping us grow in our inner life. We cannot change on the outside until we change on the inside. So there are four purposes to having daily devotions to help us grow in our inner life.

The first purpose is for communion: God created us to have a personal friendship with Him. We should not have a devotional time just to cross it off our "to-do" list. We should have it because we long to spend personal time with our Best Friend. We should desire to come face-to-face with our Lord, especially if we have not been faithful to Him. We would need to "fix" our relationship with our Savior, and the only way to to do that is to humbly come before Him and ask forgiveness.
The second purpose is for purification: Since we live in a sinful world, we need to come back into God's presence and be cleansed. Just like the Israelites had to have a priest kill a clean animal to cleanse them from their sin we also have to be cleansed from our own sin. But unlike the Israelites we don't have to have a sacrifice made everyday, our sacrifice has already been made. God sent his only Son to be crucified just so we can be purified from our sin and have a relationship with our heavenly Father. Because you see, the Lord cannot have personal relationships with sinful, dirty Christians. Which is exactly what we are until we come before His throne and ask for forgiveness of our sins. So a daily devotional time also helps to cleanse us of our sin. We need to ask God to show us any sin that is hidden and be willing to let Him cleanse us and let Him cast it far away, so we never have to see it or think about it ever, ever again. "He predestined us to be a holy bride for His Holy Son--and one day we will be just that." In order to be His Holy Bride though we must be "washed in the waters of His Word."
The third purpose is for restoration: No matter how faithful we are to the Lord, we all get tired going about our daily lives. We are drained physically and emotionally everyday as we respond to the needs of those around us. So we need a personal devotional time everyday with our Shepherd in order to gain strength to get through another day. If we don't stop and be still and lie down by the "quiet waters," then eventually we will collapse from exhaustion. Our Great Shepherd, though, longs to give us rest. He wants us to come to Him daily for renewal in strength. He will calm our restless spirit.
The fourth purpose if for instruction: The Lord also wants to show us how to have a better relationship with Him. He doesn't necessarily care about our problems. He just  cares about changing us through our problems. He is our teacher and He is there for us 24/7. He is ready for us to just come to Him with our needs and He will show us how to deal with them with His help. All we have to do is humble ourselves and ask Him to "show us His ways" and be willing to accept and follow them. He will always be there to teach us the right thing to do.

Once again we must NEVER think of our devotions as a duty. It should be a time where we are eager to meet "face-to-face" with our Best Friend. It should be a time where we desire to learn, grow, and mature in our intimate relationship with our Lord.

Cultivating Your Relationship with God Through Devotions

So I just finished my first full week of summer break and I am going through the book by Nancy Leigh DeMoss called A Place of Quiet Rest. It is a book on finding intimacy with God through a daily devotional life. Now I have only gone through three chapters so far, but let me tell you, it is exactly what I needed. So many truths that totally apply to me own life. Because I know that for some Christians it may be hard to get up in the morning to do devotions, I thought I could share with you guys what I learn from this book and maybe it will help you too. So I hope you enjoy and I truly hope this is as big a help to you as it is to me.

The first thing I learned and found really helpful was that the author mentioned how Jesus too got up early in the morning just to have personal time with His Father. It says so in Mark 1:35--"Very early in the morning...Jesus got up...went to a solitary place where He prayed." So many times I tell myself that I WILL get up in the morning so I can do my devotions and I set my alarm to get up earlier. But morning comes, the alarm goes off, and what do I do? More often than not--I hit the snooze button. So why then is it so hard to wake up in the morning to do devotions? Do you have the same problem? I think that one of the reasons is because Satan so desperately tries to sabotage our relationship with God so He can win the battle. Another reason is probably because we have such busy days, that once we get a chance to rest we take it no matter what. But in order to REALLY restore ourselves properly we need to have our daily devotions.

So how can we get ourselves to get up in the morning and do our daily devotions? Well let's first ask how Jesus did it. Jesus was human just like us--so He got tired, hungry, thirsty, etc., just as you and I do. But the Key that we can learn from Him can be found in Mark 1:35; Jesus made a choice to get up early in the morning, before anybody else and go pray and spend time with His Father. Now since Jesus was also tempted like us; He was probably tempted to sleep in since He has so many busy days and all, with healing the sick, casting out demons, preaching. But He did not give into that temptation. He still GOT UP! All because He knew He needed that time with His Father in order to restore His body and be able to go on in another day.

So what does this all mean to us?
Well we clearly see the importance of having a daily devotional time with God in Jesus' own life. We see that in order for him to face another day, He needed that time alone. So, just Jesus; we ALL need that time alone with God everyday so that we can replenish our bodies, so that we are ready to go out and do God's Will during that day. We NEED to spend that time with our Lord in order to strengthen our relationship with Him.

So the next time you want to hit the snooze button and go back to sleep, just think of how Jesus was able to get up early in the morning to do His "devotions." If He can do it so can we!

Don't skip out on that time with your heavenly Father! He wants to spend time with you too!

What does it mean to love one another?

Have you ever had someone that you just did not think you could love? Someone who always got on your nerves? Or who was always annoying you, and you just could not love them? Well I am here to tell you that it is possible to love even the person in your life that you think is totally unlovable.

1 John 4:7-12
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
 ⁸He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
 ⁹In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
 ¹⁰Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
 ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
 ¹²No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us

This passage show us all about God's unconditional love for us. It tells us that in order to truly know the Lord we must be willing to love others in our lives. Just think about it: if God can love even the worst of sinners, why can't we be able to love the person in our life that is the hardest to love?

There are 5 reasons why we should love one another...
1. Love is the nature of God.
Everything the Lord does for us is touched by His love. He died on the cross for our sins because He loves us. He always forgives our wrongs because we are His children and He loves us SO much.  Even the trials He puts in our lives is touched by His love. He challenges us because He loves us and wants us to know His full unconditional love. God's love is also receive by action. The only way we can receive His love is if we accept it. God's love is free but we have to be willing to give up our sinful ways and fully commit our lives to Him. So in order to truly love someone we must follow God's example. We have to be willing to love the person no matter what they do to us. A true believer shows kindness and love to those they would naturally dislike. Also, a true believer takes no delight in negative remarks about God's people. So as we can see, God gives the perfect example of how to love even the the hardest person. All we have to do is choose to follow it.