Truly Loved + Wholly Surrendered

"You can't serve a full-time God with a part-time faith" is something that has been going around lately, and I've been thinking about how true this is. Also, how true the flip side is: "You can't fight against a full-time enemy with a part-time faith." I want you to think about this with me: a full-time job requires a minimum of about 40 hours a week. God works 24/7, and so does satan; that's 168 hours a week, a full-timer works only about 24% of their time. Not even a quarter of their week is spent at work. Now, imagine us, as followers of Christ, how much time do we give to facebook/twitter/snapchat/Instagram/other platforms? How much of it can be given to God? Why do we expect things to go so well with our lives if we don't even spend a quarter of our time with Him? He fights for us all day, every day. Satan is fighting against us all day, every day. If we were to just give Jesus a little more time, imagine how much more faith would be ...

"They immediately left their nets and followed Him." (Matthew 4:20). In context of this verse, Jesus had just been tempted by Satan (Matthew 4:1-11), and He was beginning His ministry in Galilee (Matthew 4:12-17). The verse that I picked out, never ceases to stand out every time I read it, so I started thinking about what that meant for the disciples in that time. They were working when Jesus called them, and they left immediately to follow this Man; left their families, their lives, their careers. It astounds me that they may not even have known Jesus, yet they chose to run after Him. It got me thinking: why don't we do that? Why is it hard for us to leave our social media worlds, why are our hearts guarded when Jesus comes into our lives? Why can't we just drop everything and give our all to Christ? What stops us from running into His freedom? Imagine how free your heart, soul, and life would be if you gave your all to Jesus? All of your life, all of your he...

Hey y'all! I decided to do a few more posts about what I think of certain songs and/or Bible verses. I really enjoy hearing the truth in all these messages, portrayed in different ways. If you have other songs/verses that you would like me to do, just let me know!  **This post will be a little longer than usual, as there are three songs that I will be talking about, so bear with me. :) ** "Amazing Grace,"  Chris Tomlin This song is one of my absolute favorites! I loved this song ever since Chris Tomlin did his own personal twist of the old hymn. This song is iconic in terms of sharing the grace of God, however, tonight, there were other lines that struck a chord with me. "Like a flood, His mercy reigns," is repeated in the chorus multiple times, and if you think about how water floods a house, you realize that God's mercy does that in the rooms of your heart. It starts quickly as it pours into your heart and then as your heart accepts His mercy, the wate...

My heart breaks, oh, how my heart breaks for those who are hurting, in pain, or just have a lot of heartache. I know from experience that it's not easy, and quite honestly, it just drains you. But, dear ones, take heart. Please don't forget that 'the Lord is close to the broken-hearted,' (Psalm 34:18); He heals all wounds that time cannot. When I thought of writing in light of this topic, this song came to me almost immediately: And all you who labor in vain And to the broken and shamed Love is here Love is now Love is pouring from His hands, from His brow Love is near, it satisfies Streams of mercy flowing from His side 'Cause Love is here  Listen:  "Love is Here," Tenth Avenue North Jesus bore all this pain that you carry on that rugged cross. Yes, I understand that it doesn't always take away the pain right away, but, dear ones, take notice of the fact that He knows that you're hurting. You think it doesn't bother Him? Oh...

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)," Ephesians 2:4-5 NJKV By grace you have been saved. Think about this: the definition of grace is, "the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings." FAVOR. In other words, God so favored us that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for our sins. Not because He loves us, although He did send His Son because He loves us, we receive salvation because He favors us. Isn't that crazy to think about? In the midst of all our sin, all our brokenness, God looked down on us and said, "Yes, I want these people to be Mine, I will provide a way. I choose to bestow My favor on them." Isn't it crazy? God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, because of His grace, and now we are His, forever. When you think about how and...

"Your love is proud to be seen with me." (Steffany Gretzinger, Pieces). I was listening to this song in the "Have it All" album created by Bethel and this line struck a chord with me. There are people in this world that we don't want to associate ourselves with, Christian or not. There are simply just people that we don't want to be seen in public with for any reason. God doesn't do that. God loves to love those people that don't have a lot of associations in public, in the real world. God is proud to know you, regardless of what you've done (or haven't done). If you're one who thinks that it's hard to find friends, or stay connected to people because of what you've done, or because of what others think of you. Jesus accepts you. He wants you. He chose you. God came down for this very reason: to love the unloved. Think about the numerous times Jesus chose to befriend someone in the Bible. Those He casted demons out of, those w...

I wanna think about Jesus for a moment, before His death. Think about the fact that a couple days before His crucifixion, He knew that the crowd that adored Him just a couple days ago would reject Him. He knew that His time was coming, that He was about to do what the Father had sent Him to earth to do. Think about the fact that He knew the pain that the disciples would feel, the sorrow His mother would experience, the sins that would be forgiven. A couple days before His crucifixion, Christ KNEW. He knew that the beatings He would bear would heal us of all our iniquities. He knew that He would have to bear the sins of the world, the shame, the guilts, the brokenness of this world, yet He chose to go through with it. He chose to have the full wrath of God placed on Him, He knew He would be alone in this. He knew that mockery and disbelief would rage on in the front row viewers of those watching Him being nailed to that rugged cross. He knew, and He thought of us in the midst of it all....