More Than Conquerors

1 John 5:4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.

There is an old Dogwood song entitled More Than Conquerors. I always took this song as a rally cry for all Christians and every time I listened to it I remembered that we have victory through God. I have recently realized that my view of having being a “conqueror” of Christ has been skewed. The world’s measure of success and overcoming is far different than God’s ideas and this is where my error always lied. Cassia and I were just talking about how the world’s definition of success is always along the lines of obtaining many years of schooling, having a high paying job, being able to afford “things, going on amazing vacations, etc. And I think as a Christian it’s so easy to get caught up in all of those things and have them become our basis of whether or not God leading us to overcome the world.

Looking into what is happening in my life right now and what happened recently, I have seen where I missed the mark. I have expected God to help me overcome at work by giving me a different and higher paying job. That is not always the case, He may be keeping me here in order to overcome in my present circumstances despite everything else. Overcoming is not necessarily obtaining victory in the human sense, but rather in God’s design. I can do more to overcome the enemy by being diligent in my work where I am now than being taken out of the situation completely. I have the opportunity to show that regardless of where I am, I will look to God for strength and He will lead me to become a conqueror for HIM, not for the world.

And this is where our (my) faith comes in. I need to trust that God’s plans are greater than my own. He only allows circumstances so that we can become stronger in Him. I’ve learned a lot recently that I cannot fully grasp what He is up to. He sees so much more than I do, therefore I need to let Him lead the way. And lead me to victory.

I apologize, but this is hilarious.

In His word I place my trust

"As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless..." 2 Samuel 22:31

Reading is something that has never come natural to me. I have the ability to read well, but my mind is prone to wander to pretty outrageous places. So staying focused while reading is my problem. I can read through an entire page and then get to the end and realize I didn't remember a single thing from it. I enjoy reading now unlike earlier in my life, but it is still something that I struggle with.

The struggles are of course the same with the time I spend in God's Word. I've always had a difficult time motivating myself to daily get into the Bible, and when I do I still find my mind drifting off. It's frustrating but I can't let my "personality" be an excuse for a lack of quality time with God.

Recently there has been a shift in my attitude towards my devotions. I have yet to determine God's exact reasoning for it yet, but I'm excited to learn why. For some reason I feel pressed to make sure I am in the Word consistently right now. I think because of where I'm at in my life, I just really need to be entirely in tune with God's desires for me. I long to be a Godly man and a leader, more so than I ever have, and the Holy Spirit is reminding me it is through His words that I'll be taught. I've always had mentors who have spurred me on in this, but it is exciting to me because it is entirely from God this time.

I pray that this new found desire to want to hear from God through His word will not be fleeting and that I'll always find myself wanting to read and study. The past few days at work I've found myself just wanting to stop everything and read something, and that's exciting because that has never really been the case. I think God wants to take me to the next step in my relationship with Him, and I want to be ready for whatever that may entail.

"When I Remember

These lyrics are some of my favorite and most touching. I think they adequately represent several times in my life where I felt nothing, and had to be reminded that God has always been there to hold me in His arms

Blindside
When I remember

That boy is gone
Sometimes I miss the way he wept at night
To be still and not run
To be rocked to sleep in Your light
These days there is not much that will bring tears to my eyes
But when I remember who I am and who You are
When I remember
A cloud moves in, rain falls, thunder strikes, and sunshine breaks through the clouds

I am walking blind
So distracted that I dont even feel when You hold me
When did i grow such thick skin
You are my sunshine and rain
My joy and sweet pain
I'm a spotless stain
That boy is gone
But nobody moves me like You do
When I remember

A cloud moves in, rain falls, thunder strikes
And sunshine breaks through the clouds
I can cry out of sorrow and joy
Every drop of rain turns into a crystal in the sun
So wash my eyes, my clothes, my skin, my bones, my soul
My feet, my love
I'm not forgotten
I'm in Your thoughts cause I feel sunshine in the rain

To this day nobody moves
Nobody
Nobody moves me like You do

In His word I'll place my trust

"As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless..." 2 Samuel 22:31

Reading is something that has never come natural to me. I have the ability to read well, but my mind is prone to wander to pretty outrageous places. So staying focused while reading is my problem. I can read through an entire page and then get to the end and realize I didn't remember a single thing from it. I enjoy reading now unlike earlier in my life, but it is still something that I struggle with.

The struggles are of course the same with the time I spend in God's Word. I've always had a difficult time motivating myself to daily get into the Bible, and when I do I still find my mind drifting off. It's frustrating but I can't let my "personality" be an excuse for a lack of quality time with God.

Recently there has been a shift in my attitude towards my devotions. I have yet to determine God's exact reasoning for it yet, but I'm excited to learn why. For some reason I feel pressed to make sure I am in the Word consistently right now. I think because of where I'm at in my life, I just really need to be entirely in tune with God's desires for me. I long to be a Godly man and a leader, more so than I ever have, and the Holy Spirit is reminding me it is through His words that I'll be taught. I've always had mentors who have spurred me on in this, but it is exciting to me because it is entirely from God this time.

I pray that this new found desire to want to hear from God through His word will not be fleeting and that I'll always find myself wanting to read and study. The past few days at work I've found myself just wanting to stop everything and read something, and that's exciting because that has never really been the case. I think God wants to take me to the next step in my relationship with Him, and I want to be ready for whatever that may entail.

A short oldie

"Love is the overflow of joy in God that meets the needs of others"

Without joy in my God, love as it was truly intended to be, will never be expressed in its fullness. There are many people in my life who deserve this perfect love and I will always fall short in giving it. Thankfully I have a God Who can and will love these people through me somehow. I don't understand how He does so, but I know it is a beautiful thing when I allow Him to.

The battle of work

The position I'm in at work essentially gives me no authority for much of anything. I'm considered a "temporary" employee and a lot of what I do, I actually shouldn't be doing according to district regulations. For example, all money handling needs to be done under the supervision of a "board approved" employee, of which there are none, and I shouldn't be counting the money from the events and depositing it.

My current boss continues to try to put more responsibilities on me and other employees think I am the one to go to, to make decisions. Part of me wants to just move everything up the chain of command past me. Not for the sake of being lazy, but just kind of saying "hey I still shouldn't be making these decisions, but if you'd like move me into a position that can, I'd be okay with that" Then the other part of me wants to take on all these responsibilities despite not being rewarded for doing so to be an example to everyone around. I have every right to do only a "temporary" employees duties, and nothing more, since anything is beyond my domain.

I may never be recognized for the work I put in here at the college, but as I stick it out and do get these new responsibilities and tasks put before me, I gain experience that I didn't have before. And God is teaching me to be diligent regardless of not being noticed for it, and I think that'll help me when I am in a job where there is the possibility of promotion and having this time to look back on will keep me motivated to glorify Him in my performance at work.

Cherishing my moments with her

In the 6 months me and Cassia were apart, God revealed a lot of things that I needed to take care of in my own life and the mindset I needed when starting our relationship again. I'm not going to go into all of those things now, just because it could take awhile.

We (Cassia and I) seem to agree that one of the hardest parts of being apart was not being able to be there for each other and just not being there with each other. We both went through some things during that time and all we could do was silently lift one another up in prayer, all the while wishing we could be there to comfort the other. I had a hard time going to places separately that we once went to together. I would go to restaurants or stores that we would frequent and it was always hard. I hated leaving church on Sunday because I knew I wouldn't be able to see or talk to her during the following week.

But now God has returned her to me. I am able to come along side her and be a significant part of her life again. As we go through our trials and circumstances, I know I have her there with me and I have the tangible comfort that I so greatly missed. Instead of "cheering" for each other silently we get to spend time in prayer and the word together. We now are able to return to those places we once visited, and find new ones to create new memories at. :)

And that is what God has been showing me these past few days, to always cherish my time with Cassia. I think it's partly because she's starting school again and mostly because I just need and want to always remember the blessing she is to me. I don't ever want to lose sight of the great gift that she is. And when I do remember that, it makes our relationship so much sweeter. It makes all the times we are together special; whether we are shopping, eating out, watching tv, hanging out with friends, praying, etc. Even when we are together and doing these "ordinary" things, I think God used our time apart to make me realize every time we are with each other is "extraordinary" and special.

A newbie

I'm new to the blogging "scene" so we will see how it goes. Within the past few years I've been giving the desire and gift (if you want to call it that) to write. I guess you can say it stemmed from the need to release what I have within me. I'm not always the most eloquent speaker and so I've found that when I write, I can be more clear as to what God has shown me. Which leads me into one of the greatest truths about this "gift." I do believe God gave me this desire to glorify Him, and so far I've found I can only write when He first has spoken to me. I go through times of nothing, wondering if I'll ever be able to write something new, and then when I'm least expecting it, and when I'm always needing it, He reveals Himself to me. And as I've written before, that is how I feel all gifts should be, only used when inspired by God, because frankly they are meaningless without His inspiration.

So I imagine this will be a mixture of new things and a collection of my old "favorites." Who will come across this? I have no idea. But my hope and prayer is that everyone will be entertained and most importantly see God in my life.