The "Love" Cycle

As I was walking to my doom...err my math final today, the most random, but sort of life-changing thoughts came to mind. In order to experience the fullness of God, there are three (if not more, I do have a small mind) things that have to cohere.

1. Praise & Worship
2. Bible Study
3. Prayer

Praise and Worship is the intimate time a child spends with his/her Heavenly Father!

Praise is giving God the credit for all the blessings in your life, the health, the friends, and the family. Praise is also thanking God for life's trials because, according to James, trials produce endurance, and make us stronger. Amen!

Worship is the outpouring of our praise and the overflowing of our hearts to our King. It's lifting your hands to the Heavens and singing your love and living the lyrics. It's also, as I discussed earlier, our actions, attitudes, and demeanors. It's our decision to be loving to a relative instead of arguing. It's handing money to a stranger, and trusting that God will add blessing to it.
Putting these two together equals probably the greatest joy in my life! I thank God for the ability to praise Him and bow before Him. Music is one of my deepest passions in life, and it's the ultimate way to express my love and affection for all He's done for me.



I am one of those people you see at concerts geeking out to the music and getting completely lost in it. It's like I temporarily leave Earth and just reside in the presence of my Heavenly Daddy. If there's anything I like about myself it's that I'm not afraid to physically and outwardly shout and dance for God! I sound like a total freak, but it doesn't bother me :)



The next step in seeing the amazingness of Jesus is bible study. Reading God's word is essential because everything that we as Christians believe in can be found there. Everything we stand for, everything we hope for, and every piece of evidence to prove God's faithfulness is there in black & white (depending on your bible ;] ). I know that every time I crack open my dusty old bible, I find new inspiration and meaning and joy and understanding and wisdom...there's no other book out there that changes my life every time I read it.
This is a very important facet of my relationship with God because worship and bible study go hand in hand. Many many many songs out there (the best ones at least) quote scripture at least once if not the entire song. How much more meaning and praise can we offer when we know the true meaning of the song? It lifts the words off the pages and becomes a God-breathed piece of offering by those who sing and believe the words.

The last part that I've come to realize is extremely important in reaching God's fullness is prayer! How exciting to know that any time, any day, and any place we can speak one on one to the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE?!?!! Not only is He the Creator, he is our loving Heavenly Father who loves us so much He gave his only son to die so we could be with Him forever in Heaven! We should be thrilled about praying to God every night (or whenever you like to pray) and thank Him for how smart, wise, and loving He is to provide us this way of communicating to Him our praises, concerns, and confessions!

There are some nights when I get into such a deep prayer that I forget where I am and my earthy life, and just rest in God and talk to him. It's like catching up with an old friend sort of, but this is so much better. I sometimes get reduced to tears of joy and thanksgiving. If I didn't know His word and I had the inability to praise and worship him in the midst of my prayertime, I'm afraid my prayers would be void of emotion. That is why it is so important to keep all three of these distinctions in mind at all times while living your life.

God is so good. He is worthy of all of the praise, wisdom, and prayers we can offer Him. If we can remember the "love cycle" (corny, but now you'll remember) our relationships with God will be fruitful and awesome!!

God Bless <3 <3

ramblings about my faith.

I'm feeling like I love Jesus. A lot. All the cares of my life right now are idling in the back of my mind and I'm awed in the presence of God. I learned in a bible study a while ago that worship isn't just lifting our hands to the heavens or singing praise until our lungs give out. Romans 12:1 says: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship."

Breath. God not only grants us permission to breathe, but he's the one who gave us breath! It is my joy to stand on God's earth and breathe God's air and live a life for my Father! You see, it's ALL about God. Everything on this earth, everything that takes breath belongs to him and should praise Him! So why is that not happening?! Has the world been so polluted by culture and false prosperity that in a matter of 2,000 years God is reduced to an option? God should never be an option, he is the only one worthy of spending our time on. If only there was some way I could stand on a podium high above the skyscrapers and news studios and satellites, and just rip them down like Jesus did when he went into the temple, then maybe we would get a clearer sense of how meaningless our lives are when we no longer have access to the things we've filled up our lives with. I say this in love, not to put anyone down or discredit their lives of meaning if they aren't in agreeance with me. I'm speaking to the people I see texting until their thumbs fall off and those who wake up and spend their entire day wrapped up in all things MEDIA. Now, media does not necessarily bear a negative connotation, it truly is revolutionary. When it becomes a problem is when it gets in the way of real, face to face interaction and distracts from holier things.

For example, I must confess that I like to watch television. I am very pleased with my dvr, and would be very bored if I didn't have it. I make a choice every time I sit in front of the t.v. to continue to watch "my shows" as opposed to doing something that propels me forward in life, like signing up for classes or looking for a new job, etc. A lot of times I choose the t.v. The point I'm trying to make is that even as an absolute adorer of Jesus Christ, it's easy in this world and in this flesh to get distracted by the meaningless things in life like television, internet, iPhones and what not.
What if we could live in a world where we could walk up to strangers and talk about the book of Hebrews? What if instead of knowing the latest real time twitter updates we knew the last bible verse our friend just memorized? Why not trade in the facebook account for an accountability partner? Could we ever just casually talk about the healings Jesus performed? Maybe I'm dreaming too much, but that sounds like a perfect world. I wonder if that's what Heaven will be like.

Sometimes it takes a little of feeling distant from God to realize that I am the one who's been pulling away and not focusing on Him. There is nothing this world can offer that God can't abundantly exceed. He's all I'll ever need.

What's stopping you from giving God EVERYTHING?