What does Love Look Like?

 

 

Being in college, it is almost mandatory to find your "soul mate." It's been told that college is when you find your spouse so many of us are searching for the one. When searching for the one we must know exactly what love looks like. We always hear verse 1 Corinthian 13:4-7 on what love is and sadly it has even become cliché. But in this blog we are going to do a case study on it and take a deeper look at the verse. The amplified version puts it like this

 

^"4 Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

⁵ It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

⁶ It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

⁷ Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]."

 

Before we break down the verse, we must understand what God created love to be. The word love can be properly defined in terms of action, attitude, and behavior. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul didn't give us a theoretical definition of love but rather a list of things love exemplifies so we can be aware of it when we see it. Now, back to the verse. It starts with love endures (stand no matter what hardships comes our way) long. Love is willing to wait for long periods of time through suffering for the one it cares about which causes it to be patient. Love is kind, it is gentle and cares about the person and their well being. Love isn't envious nor filled with jealousy. Jealousy implies to being displeased with the success of others. Yet, true love desires the success of others. Love is not boastful; it's not big-headed but rather big-hearted. Love is not conceited, it is selfless not selfish. Love is not rude. There are some Christians who seem to take delight in being blunt, justifying it with being "honesty." They will say, “I’m just telling it like it is.” But love doesn’t always tell it like it is; it doesn’t always verbalize all its thoughts, especially if those thoughts don’t build others up. There is a graciousness in love which never forgets that courtesy. Love doesn't seek its own; it is not worried about winning or being the best, love doesn't worry about its own selfish wants. Love is not easily provoked. It is slow to become annoyed and refuses to let other's under their skin. Love isn't a "bookkeeper" of wrong things done to it. That causes hatred and animosity to build up and that is not a characteristic of love. Love takes no joy in any evil or unrighteousness. Love rejoices when the truth prevails. It loves the exposure of what is right. Love bears all things, which means it "covers up" or "protects" what it loves. Love believes all things, it gives the person it loves the benefit of the doubt. Love hopes all things, love is a big believer. Love endures all things, love holds it position at all cost.
Reflecting off that, we see this kind of love through Jesus Christ. he is patient with us, even when we sin and he waits for us years and years until we turn to Him. He is kind and gentle, when we need Him, He is always there holding us and letting us know He is Lord and he will take care of our problems. He is not jealous when we love other people because love is an spiritual gift that we received through Him and when we love we bring glory to His name. He isn't boastful; he doesn't rub in our face that He took up our cross when He didn't have to. He doesn't think of Himself, but rather He thinks of our wellbeing. He is slow to anger and doesn't keep a record of the wrong we have done to Him; he forgives.  He doesn't find excitement in our suffering, when we suffer so does He. He rejoices when we learn the gospel because it is the truth. he covers us up and protects us. He sees the best in us and hopes nothing but good upon our life. He stands firm in his relationship with us and never gives up.
Now, look at the person you're interested in. Do they love you like Jesus does? If not why are you with them? God has prepared someone for you that will love you like Jesus. Jesus love for us is different than any love. Jesus has an agape love. Agape means selfless love of one person for another without sexual implications (especially love that is spiritual in nature.) Humans can't love like this because we are sinful by nature. We have selfishness somewhere in us. When we love, we don't love perfectly; we love with a phileo love. Phileo means brotherly love; affection. We see the difference in these two types of love in Acts. Jesus asked Peter 3 times if he loved him. John 21:15-17 states

 “Jesus asked, "do you agapao me?"
Peter replied, "I phileo you."

  Jesus asked, "do you agapao me?"
Peter replied, "I phileo you."

 Jesus asked, "do you phileo me?"
Peter replied, "I phileo you."

Jesus was asking him does he love him with all his heart, but Peter in some manuscripts says Peter was grieved and replied back "Lord you know everything; You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]." As humans, that's all we can offer others, a deep emotional based love. But when we ask God for his love and to love others like He does we begin to love them the way 1 Corinthians 13 describes love.

A lot of you are in a relationship where you have phileo love, but God wants to give you a spouse who will agape love you through their agape love given from Jesus Christ. I pray that God will show each and everyone of you what true love is, through Himself first, the church, your family and friends and then through a special significant other.

Stay Blessed!~

Why I Choose to be Pentecostal

As a child, I grew up in a COGIC church which is typically black. It's generally the same as a Pentecostal church- just historically black. When I moved to Texas my family and I jumped around from COGIC churches for a bit and eventually stopped going all together which was fine by me because I felt judged by my own people every time I entered the church. It was more of a fashion show rather a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. During those years we stopped going it seemed like our family was going through a lot; from financial stability to disobedience in my sister and I's behavior. Most of the problems came from me because I was a very difficult child. I guess I just wanted attention. Around 2011, my friends invited me to an event called One Night at their church Milestone. Not being in a church for years or even a youth group this was pretty cool to me seeing every kid in Keller at a church. That night the pastor preached the gospel and many students including myself gave their life to Christ. When you decide to become an actual Christian it's like sparks flying inside your heart- it's an amazing encounter. Soon after that I visited the church a couple more times and started noticing things. Even though I hadn't been to church in a long time I knew that playing Rihanna in the church wasn't something that should be accepted. I didn't understand that at all and a lot of the students where there just to hangout. It seemed as if the church was watering down their faith to be socially accepted and I didn't like how it was separated. Everyone had their own group of friends and I didn't feel socially accepted. So my friend invited me to her church, which was a Baptist church. I went here for a while and I loved it at first. It was different because I was actually in a group. I met a lot of girls who were on fire for God, but still I wasn't close to them. The only thing enjoyable about that church was the youth group, then we would go to "big" church after youth and fall asleep. I didn't want that, I wanted more than just a lesson; I wanted REVIVAL. I wanted a youth group were there wasn't any groups and clicks. Eventually, I realized this was what was happening at this church as well. It was such a huge youth everyone had their own group of friends and only came to social. I  wanted to be apart of something that changed lives. I wanted other people to feel those sparks I felt when I gave my life to Christ. I wanted to spread that and I didn't feel like any of these churches were trying to do that. After weeks of prayer, God answered my prayers and my friend's pastor began to eat lunch with us at school every Thursday. Pastor Randy would always let us know that "God has a plan and purpose for my life." He doesn't know it be he legit changed my life this year. I finally decided to test out their church. They had Tuesday night services and I tagged along with them. I had never heard of a Pentecostal church until then. As we got there I saw the big sign saying welcome to the Upper Room Church. I was nervous when we walked in because I didn't want this to be a fail like all the others. When we walked into the sanctuary I could tell something was different about this church than the others; I quickly learned that the difference was that this church had the Holy Spirit. I will never forget when we walked in the worship team was singing You're an Army by Rick Pino. It kind of frightened me because everyone was jumping around and being slayed in the spirit, then I realized that's the revival I had been looking for. I wanted to be so consumed with God that I jumped for joy and laid out in the spirit. During youth, their number one rule was no cliques! I loved this because it gave everyone a change to be accepted. Everyone quickly came up to me and greeted me, and even asked for my number so we could hangout. They seemed so interested in me and didn't care that I had on jeans and a hoodie. That night I had a powerful encounter with God. Now throughout the times I was looking for a church and attending the Baptist and Non-denominational church I was still falling into sin because I wasn't being equipped with the tools I needed to fight off temptation but rather I was being worried with the burden of trying to fit in. After going here, I changed completely. I had had my first real encounter with God other than when I had decided to accept Christ as my Lord and Savior. I began to go to the church's services on Tuesday Saturday and Sunday and even went evangelizing on Fridays! I Like how involved in the community and how we gave the people the true gospel and didn't have to water it down. Unfortunately, the devil didn't like what he was seeing and tried to get me away from the church. He tried to make my parents think I was in some kind of cult, but through prayer my parents came to the church and saw it was filled with nothing but the Holy Spirit and people whose desire was to give God all of the glory He deserved. It was different for my mom, because it wasn't a typical black church and different for my dad because He's Methodist. To me, in this generation I don't think it matters what color you are. We all worship the same God and we should be able to worship in the same house. In Heaven we all will be together worshipping Him for eternity so why cant we do it on Heaven without judging our fellow brothers and sisters? I choose to be Pentecostal because it's the first church I felt accepted in- there'd no racial barrier, no judgment and no condemnation. The gospel isn't watered down and the people can admit they aren't perfect, we all need Jesus! I've had amazing encounters at the Upper Room. Since going there I've received the gift of speaking in tongues, got to work in the church nursery and help with the youth, had experiences where gold dust has fallen down on us from Heaven and had amazing fellowship with amazing Christians. I thank God that he placed me at the Upper Room Church and used Pastor Steve, Pastor Randy and Pastor James to help me grown into the Christian I am today. I love being Pentecostal. It's more than just a label to me. It means a group a people who are accepting of others and admit they are broken and need Jesus because they cant do it on their own. I am proud to say I am Pentecostal.

Becoming Victorious in the Battles!

Something I need everyone to know today is temptation is NOT a sin. You are not sinning if you are being tempted. However, how you decided to deal with the temptation will determine if you fall into sin or not. The devil uses temptation as a tactic of condemnation to make us fall into sin and be bound in it. Like I always remind you guys... there is no condemnation in Christ. Don't fall for it! There's some of us who seem to constantly be in war with temptation. Sometimes we even keep falling into sin and it doesn't seem like we can overcome it. Let me tell you something,1 John 2:2 tells us that Jesus is "the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the world."

Jesus died for that sin already. When it comes to sin there's two parts to it: falling into it or walking away from it. Because we are humans we are prone to fall into sin, it is in our nature. Paul described it best in Romans 7 when he said
"I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do the good I want to do, and I do the evil I hate. ¹⁶ And if I don’t want to do what I do, that means I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ But I am not really the one doing the evil. It is sin living in me that does it. ¹⁸ Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is not spiritual. I want to do what is good, but I don’t do it. ¹⁹ I don’t do the good that I want to do. I do the evil that I don’t want to do. ²⁰ So if I do what I don’t want to do, then I am not really the one doing it. It is the sin living in me that does it.
²¹ So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me. ²² In my mind I am happy with God’s law. ²³ But I see another law working in my body. That law makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in my body is the law of sin, and that law makes me its prisoner. ²⁴ What a miserable person I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? ²⁵ I thank God for his salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
We were born into sin, therefore we are sinful. As Christians we desire to do good but there's bad living within us. Imagine your heart, it has an irregular beat that causes you problem after problem but God loves you so much that He offers you his heart- a perfect beating heart with no problems. Yet, sometimes we get so comfortable in our sin and comfortable with our "old heart" we don't want to take the offer of God because we either feel unworthy, scared what our life would be like after we give it up or even scared we will fall back into temptation. But I come to you as reassurance through my own struggles and encounters with God, He never intended for us to live in fear of the future. Proverbs 31:25 says
"..she can laugh at the days to come."
We have been given a joy through the Lord to laugh and rejoice for the future. He didn't give us a spirit of fear but rather a spirit of boldness to look at the future and say "I may not know what you hold for me but I know that my God is strong and has my best interest at hand. He has offered me his heart so that I can overcome temptation and be excited for what He has planned for me in the future that glorifies Him." God has a plan and purpose for your life that involves His heart that he has offered you. You can't pursue this plan or purpose until you have fully turned from your sin. You have to stop living off the beat of your old heart and let your new heart be the beat of your drum.
Romans 8 illustrates a raging war; a war against the spirit and the flesh. The Spirit (the heart offered to you by God) has an agenda of no condemnation. It offers a life that sets you free, a life full of peace, a life that labels us as a child of God and his spirit dwells in us. Most importantly it DOESN'T make us slaves anymore; no more being a slave to sin and fear! Hallelujah!
Now, on the other hand the flesh has an agenda to destroy. Simple as that. It has come to make you have selfish pride and live for your desires for yourself. The flesh is weak, it will fall for anything.  It is hostile to God and doesn't want to submit itself to the laws of God because it is comfortable in its sin and doesn't want to surrender itself to a new master- Christ. The flesh cant please God. So today is the day were you decide which team am I on? It has already been set in history that the Spirit will win the war, and yes the flesh may win a couple battles and overcome you but when you are in the Spirit it's easy to stand back up, repent, and fight harder against the devil. I don't know about you but I'm choosing the winning team. The Spirit will have a sweet victory- eternal life in Heaven. I want that! I want to fight for that in this war! That's my motivation everyday... to fight in this war everyday, because everyday I become closer to being with my Savior for life! If that's not enough motivation for you then I don't know what is. If you're choosing to be on the team for the Spirit welcome aboard! Now God has equipped us with a strategy to help fight in this war. He tells us in Ephesians 6:11-20
^"11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
My favorite part in this was verse 18. Prayer is key. Whatever you're lacking, pray about it. Whatever you need, pray about it. Whatever you have, pray about it. Pray about any and everything. I hope this has gotten you ready to fight in this raging war. I am here as a fellow warrior to help you get through these hard battles. I am praying for you in those times where you are faced with temptation. I pray you see the way out God has given you. I pray you become a bold mighty warrior in Christ and temptation and sin realizes you are so grounded in your faith that it doesn't even try to bother you anymore. We have been called to be conquers in Christ, therefore we have the power to be victorious in the battles of this raging war!
Stay Blessed!~

A Message for My Phi Lamb Sisters!

Lately God has been impressing on my heart this message I'm about to share with you. I've been wrestling with it and trying not to deal with it because I didn't want to offend anyone but  I've been learning to obey God, His commands and His word so I'm finally going to share with you this revelation God has shared with me.

 

Sigma Phi Lambda. Sisters for the Lord. Let's take a closer look at the "for the Lord" part. We are for the Lord. As Christians we are called to live our lives for the Lord. Everything we do is supposed to be glorifying and righteous in the Lord's eyes. When we are Christians we are put on a higher standard scale. When we mess up or fall into sin and temptation non-believers base Christianity off of that. We are called to live for the Lord in every aspect of our lives so sin and temptation don't enter our lives. Now, let's take a look at the meaning of Sigma Phi Lambda. We are a Christian sorority. We are different, set apart from the others. We are Christians. So let's talk about how we should maintain that. I know we aren't perfect but it is not glorifying to God nor does it look good for Phi Lamb if you are at every party, listening to secular music, drinking, cursing and gossiping. I know it's hard, especially being at a university where they start "turning up" on a Thursday. I know it doesn't seem like there's much for a Christian to do around the university that's considered fun, but let's face it, that fun you're having wont get you into Heaven. How does it look during rush when a girl who is considering pledging and isn't really a believer but wants to know God in an intimate way and sees one of us promoting to join Phi Lamb and is like "wait.. weren't you just at a Kappa Sig function this weekend completely wasted?" That's how Christians get the title of being a hypocrite, we tend to not practice what we preach. If you have friends who aren't in Phi Lamb, that's totally fine but don't let them influence you but instead influence them. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:14 (the AMP version)

^" Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?"

If your friends are hindering your relationship with God, you have got to let them go or separate yourself from them for awhile until you are strong enough to not fall for peer pressure. For me, my best friend Cierra and I planned on going to college together for about two years but it didn't happen. I know God separated us so we can grow stronger in our faith and blossom into proverbs 31 women. She's in Phi Lamb at LSU and found her an amazing church and I'm so happy God separated us. Before, if one of us fell into sin while the other was going strong after God we tended to pull the other one down, not purposely but to make ourselves comfortable with our sin. Now, since we are both stronger we help strength one another when we see each other struggling. If your friends cant do that do you really think you need them? Are you really going to let them be the reason you didn't make it into heaven because you wanted to be a people pleaser?  How about being a Jesus pleaser and DIE to your flesh and worldly wants. Seriously, how many drinks will it take for you to realize how much blood Jesus bled for you and how we owe Him our lives? In Proverbs 13:20, it states that

"He who walks [as a companion] with wise men is wise, but he who associates with [self-confident] fools is [a fool himself and] shall smart for it."

So lastly, lets go back to the part where it says "SISTERS for the Lord." Lets look at the part that says "sisters." We are sisters. We are a family in Christ. We have to keep each one of us grounded in our faith and separated from the world. We are a big group of accountability partners. When one of us fall it affects us all because they have something we need and if the devil is attacking that something that they have; he's essentially attacking all of us. It's important to GUARD YOUR TESTIMONY. You might think it's okay to party as long as I don't drink but like I said, we are Christians and we are on a completely different scale. You might know you're not drinking, but what does everyone else assume? That the Christian girl is there and she's drinking as well, so it must be okay for us to drink? That image of a Christian being okay with that keeps non-believers bound in sin and you don't even immorality associated with you according to Ephesians 5:3

But immorality (sexual vice) and all impurity [of lustful, rich, wasteful living] or greediness must not even be named among you, as is fitting and proper among saints (God’s consecrated people).

We are called to be holy, Jesus died for are sins and partying, drinking, cursing and gossiping are sins. He died for those things so leave them at the Cross. If you don't believe me pray to Him that He show you His side and he holes in His hand and where the thorn in His brow was placed, that's where your sin lays. He took that and in return as a Christian we are called to live a holy life, so don't worry about your image to society worry about your image in Christ. Sigma Phi Lambda.. Sisters for the Lord. God is calling us to awaken this campus through our image in Him, our character and through the spreading of His gospel. If you're just in it for the cool t-shirts you might want to reconsider what you're pledging. We aren't only pledging a sorority but we are pledging a lifetime commitment to the King. He is a jealous jealousy and it's either Him or the world! Don't break that commitment for a Thursday night Phi Delt function. Besides, I went to a Phi Delt function last semester... I'd rather have Jesus!

God Bless!~

Praising Him!

Just six months ago wrote this excerpt in my journal:

“His love. His heart is so transparent. He pours out his love onto my life in numerous ways but yet sin is like Glaucoma; fogging my sight of what's right and only allowing me to see what's wrong. The Lord says he will be back for his children but will I be one of the chosen ones to go back to his home? I've seen tasted smelled and been in the presence of God. So why do I keep allowing sin to come in when I've had the sweetest love known to man. But yet God still loves me. I can hear him saying do you know the way you move me? You are my child Amber. I made you distinctively unique; different from everyone else because there's something in you.... Something in you that you haven't figured out yet. That something is an attribute the body of Christ needs.

I'm just so thankful I serve a God who can forgive me for my sins I continually to commit and he's not disappointed in me. He breaks off all the shame and condemnation the Devil put on me that came with the sin I allowed myself to get into.

His presence is so thick and tangible right now and I don't even know how to soak it all in. It's something I don't know how to explain. I just feel like a complete disappointment to him. Just a year ago I was in church four days a week, evangelizing and winning souls. What happened? This person isn't me. I miss the presence of God.

I'm praying for repentance and strength. Father forgive me. Give me strength to fight of these demons. I bind them in the name of Jesus and put on the armor you provided me with. I plead the blood of Jesus over me and Satan has NO power over me anymore. My life belongs to Jesus. I am his.

Father thank you for your never ending mercy and love. Thank you for always forgiving. Thank you for sending your one and only begotten son. Thank you father.

I love you.


Amen!”

Looking back on this I just become filled with joy. At that time in my life I was hopeless and my faith was very little but God never took His hands off of me. I just wanted to post this and just let everyone know God never stops working on us and He has completely answered this prayer for me over these 6 months. He is more than my words can ever say and I just can’t stop praising Him. He’s so wonderful!

Conviction vs. Condemnation

 

 

Yesterday my best friend Cierra called me and the first thing she said was "There's no condemnation in Christ" and through the whole phone call she repeatedly said that. All night that was on my heart and I was just thinking there was no better time that she could have told me that. Something I've learned since I've been Christian is that God never intended to use your past sins against you, instead He uses it convict you and to remind you how far He has brought you from then and now and that you have strength in Him to overcome those sins. To understand this, we must understand the difference in conviction and condemnation. Conviction is a supernatural gift from the Holy Spirit placed upon our lives and condemnation is sent from the devil to stir up confusion and shame. God uses conviction through the Holy Spirit to bring our attention on what we are doing wrong and to draw us to repentance. While the devil uses condemnation to make us scared to approach our Holy God at His thrown and humble ourselves to repent because condemnation blinds us and we don't see the truth- that God is a forgiving God and there's no shame in Christ he does not judge. Conviction is revolved around love and forgiveness with opened arms and condemnation is revolved around scare tactics the devil uses through pride, shame and fear to slowly but surely pull you away from God and keep you in sin. Other differences are

1) Condemnation causes us to turn away from God in fear, dread, and shame. Conviction causes us to come to God and boldly place our faith in the perfect life and death of Christ.
2) Condemnation leads us to believe that we’ll never change and that we aren't worthy of God's love. Conviction gives us hope that, even though we sinned, God is still at work in us.
3) Condemnation paralyzes faith for change, keeping us in bondage. Conviction bears the fruit of faith for change, freeing us to fully grow in the love of God.
4) Condemnation causes us to wallow in despair and self-pity. Conviction leads to God-centered hope.
5) Condemnation sees God as an angry judge who is waiting in the shadows to strike at any moment. Conviction sees God as a loving Father who disciplines his children through His love for us.
6) Condemnation is inward, self-focused, and always dwelling on the fact that we have sinned. Conviction is outward, God-focused, and always dwelling on the fact that we have sinned against God.
It is important to know the difference in these. When the devil is condemning you, it's constantly nagging you and it's like your sin is a never ending movie that you're being forced to watch and memorize and repeat everything you are watching. While when God is convicting you it's like a wake up call to do better, to draw to redemption and fall back into His arms. The devil says "remember your past" as he replays, replants ad torture your with sin while God screams out "forget your sin" as he offers you repentance, hope and brighter days. Do not follow your heart, but follow the conviction of the Holy Spirit because Jeremiah 17:9 warns us that
 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]?"

If our heart is deceitful then it can be easily deceived by condemnation. Follow the truth, written in God's word rather than the lies said by evil (our heart and the devil.) God needs His people to understand this difference so he can bring them out of the sin that is enslaving them. He has given us freedom, don't let condemnation think you're still a slave when GOD says "you're free."
God Bless!~ 


Following God's Plan

 

All my life I had so many dream jobs, from being an astronomer to a forensic scientist. It wasn't until around middle school I decided I wanted to be a nurse. It even became my families dream for me to be a nurse. I loved the anatomy of the human body and I just knew that I would be an RN and eventually open my own hospital. Well, God didn't intend for me to be a nurse. As soon as I got to college my passion for my dream job suddenly faded away. I was so scared to tell my parents I wanted to change my major because I didn't want to disappoint them. Then I heard that calming yet powerful voice of God saying "Is it not I you live for? The only person you should be worried about disappointing is me- your Father." Being human, I still worried and never told my parents I wanted to change my major and that's when God began to convict me and punish me for being disobedient. My grades dropped and my parents grew frustrated with me. I knew God was trying to get my attention. That's when I told them I wanted to change my major. They seemed supportive but I know it really disappointed them. Now, this semester I am a Social Work major with a minor in Psychology but I still don't know if that's what God has planned for me.

 

God always has a plan for our life. Whether we know that plan or not, he has created a perfect path for us to follow in life to become the person he has intended us to be and all we have to do is be obedient to His word and promises and everything will work itself out. Seems easy right?  Well it's not that easy for us because of sin. Sin entered the world creating these paths that look easier and more appealing to the flesh than God's paths. It's hard following God's path when sin enters the equation. Following his path is an act of obedience, self-discipline and being selfless. God's plan for us was to live a life of full-time ministry. In Jeremiah 1, verse 5 God tells us

 

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

We are called to spread the gospel. Now that doesn't mean everyone is called to be Pastors, you can still be a lawyer, doctor, pharmacist or a youth leader. Wherever he calls you to do your full-time ministry is where you need to be. Don't choose a career without consulting the creator of it all. If you still don't know where you're called to be remember Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11

 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Whatever career path God places you own remember that his has full control and your purpose is not to fulfill the job's desire but to glorify the Word of God. Let that verse dwell in your heart and calm your seas. God has a plan for you and it might not be what you expect but He does have a plan. Don't stress and don't give up and take the easy paths that appeal to the flesh. He's still working on you!

God Bless!