It's so cool to me when something is suddenly on my heart and then it seems that every verse, song, lesson, etc.. that I hear after that is like little messages from God telling me "Hey, I put that on your heart for a reason."
I brush it off a lot, but when I stop and put the pieces together, he teaches me some pretty cool things.
Lately He's been teaching me about being genuine. Genuine in my faith, friendships, relationship.. In everything. To stop just merely getting by day after day, and to live with a purpose.
A few weeks ago I was reading Romans 12 before going to sleep one night. The thought of being genuine had already been on my mind and the first part of verse 9 really stuck out to me.
"Love must be sincere."
So short and so simple. But extremely hard. It's so easy to get caught up in all the "important" things that go on in my own little world that I forget to be genuine. My faith becomes a routine. Sure, I go to church every Sunday. I read my bible everyday. But am I truly seeking and thriving for Him in everything I do? Or just.. Simply doing what I've always done. It's easy to play the part. But I want to be 100% real. I don't want Christ to be only a part of my life, when He IS my life.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
When I became one with Christ, every single part of my old life died. Which means I am now to live FULLY in Christ. I can't only give him parts of my life. He doesn't want my hour of worship on Sunday mornings or my 15 minute bible study before bed. He wants ME.
My whole life is nothing but an instrument to be used for His kingdom. Nothing else.
In my nightly prayer journal, I end every prayer with "May all that I am be pleasing to You"
But so, so many times I've written that and continued living to please myself. I want to live intentionally, not habitually.
Once I realized that He wants me to work on being genuine and intentional. I had to figure out just how He wanted me to do that.
To start, I realized I needed to fall in love again.
I needed to seek God in every aspect of my life.
Recently I also read Jeremiah 29:13
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart."
ALL of my heart. My whole entire life. My every action, word, thought.. my every single second of existance is to seek Him and to make His name known; and the best way to make His name known is to start being 100% authentic in my faith. Not just a Sunday morning thing but a give Him every ounce of my time and energy kind of thing.
I read this quote on Pinterest (quoting Pinterest once again.. :P ) But it was really fitting with what's been on my mind.
After I read that two verses immediately came to mind.
Matthew 6:21 and Luke 6:45.
Matthew 6:21 says "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Luke 6:45 says "...For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
If I seek God with all my heart, then my faith is going to be genuine. When people are authentic in their walk with God, it's noticable. They're set apart. People will be curious because there's something different. They'll want to know more.
So if we're going to share His love with others, we have to be genuine.
People can sense when we're fake.. and there's nothing attractive about that. Simply playing the part isn't enough. We have to truly act on our beliefs.
There's a piece of paper I keep in my bible of a prayer I wrote almost 2 years ago. I don't like sharing things I write down on paper. I usually keep them safe in a journal for only me to see. But I want to share this prayer.
"I am not my own. My life is not my own. My every breath is a chance; a chance to make a difference. To be a light in a world of darkness. To be a reflection of Him. Him, the source of my light, my hope, and my joy.
No day is just another day. Every day I want to choose to live for Him. I want to be joyful and bring joy to others. I want to be BOLD. I want to let go of every fear and knock down every barrier. I want to simply let go. My God is in control of everything, so I will do anything for Him. With all that He's done for me, there is nothing I wouldn't do for Him. He loves me; regardless of all my selfish sin. The love He has for me is the love I want to have for others. I want every single word I say and every move to reflect Him. He is my only reason to live, so what's my life if it's not FOR Him?
Even in the darkest of times, my soul is at peace. When the world hurts me, He heals me. When the world takes hold of me, He sets me free. When the world tells me I'm not good enough, He tells me I am HIS. His, the One who spoke everything into existance. The world will never accept me, but HE accepts me. He wants me. He chases after me no matter how many times I run away from Him. He is my everything to me, and my everything is His."
No matter how faded and torn up that prayer gets folded up in my bible, I hope to keep it forever as a reminder to myself to always live with a purpose. To be genuine, authentic, real. It's so easy to get swept away in the day to day routines. Every now and then we all just need to stop and remember the real reason that we're here.
I haven't posted in mOnThS but God has been teaching me this lately and I wanted to share.
I hope you enjoyed and God bless.❤️
