Work in Progress

This morning I was reading through Philippians chapter 1, and I stumbled across verse 6. Now, I've always known this verse, and I've always thought it was a great verse. But something stuck out to me today that I can't believe didn't before!!

Philippians 1:6 states: For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (nasb)

Ok, so I get that Jesus began a good work in me and everything, but one thing I DIDN'T get until just now (well, about 10 minutes ago..) was the little word "until".   Hmmm, never considered that before did ya?  (..yeah, you probably did. I just needed Einstein to say "Duh" to me...you smarty pants readers you.)   The thing that amazed me was that Jesus began a good work in me, but He's going to CONTINUE to perfect it until the day of Christ, or until He is finished.  You've all heard it said that we are works in progress right? It's so true though!  Jesus isn't going to stop working on us, until HE'S finished, or until the day of Christ is at hand. How cool is that?!    Even though we make mistakes and sometimes it seems as if Jesus is going to have to start ALL OVER with us....He still just keeps plugging away, picks up all the pieces we broke, and glues us back together because until He says we're finished, we ain't finished.

I don't know about you, but that's a very serious encouragement to me! I can never mess up so bad that Jesus will "give up" working on me. He may take me to the woodshed for some good old fashioned you-know-whats but even that is apart of Him shaping me and trying to perfect me. So cool!!!
  Try to remember this the next time you think that God has given up on you, because He hasn't!  He's still going to perfect the good work He started in you, until Christ returns or until you die. Whichever comes first. (sorry, maybe that last sentence was a little morbid....oh well you get the point!)      You're a work in progress baby, as am I.


God bless, and blog soon

There's Nothing Left!

Hey guys, so this morning as I was driving home from work, all I could think was "gosh, I dislike people & I'm so glad that once I go home I don't have to put on a smile anymore."   Wow, how terrible is that? You know, I've heard it said that you hurt the ones closest to you the most, and it's so true!   What makes me think I can put on a smile & laugh with people at work (so as not to get fired) but I can come home hours later and be downright rude and moody with the people who love me most and get away with it? Uh uh! As those thoughts were in my mind, God's still small voice spoke to me saying: "Daughter, that's not how I taught you, is it?" and of course, I responded with "No Abba, but I don't care! They're my family, they understand and will forgive me more than anyone!"    Oh how silly of me.  Another thought I had whilst driving home was "I'm so tired of giving all of me to everyone, I HAVE NOTHING LEFT OF ME TO GIVE!"    It's easy to think like that sometimes, and get into that funk of "memememememe". Don't tell me I'm alone in that?!  Seriously though, that's what I was thinking until His voice spoke to me again and said "Daughter, do you honestly think that a child of mine has to do it all on her own?" and as I thought about that I realized something.  God doesn't ask us to try to serve everybody in our OWN strength, He asks us to serve in HIS strength.  I do think that God wants us to come to the place of "I have nothing left of ME to give", so that we can realize we can't serve Him in our strength. If we are trying to do things (even things like work) in ourselves, we're gonna find ourselves in a constant state of unhappiness.

 Psalm 20: 7-8
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.

That verse speaks to me SOOO much! How easy is it for us (me!) to trust in earthly things!! Shouldn't we (I!) be trusting in the name of the Lord? In my last post I talked about the powerful names of the Lord...go back & read that and now apply it here. 

I love how God uses His still small voice to get me to realize that a bad attitude isn't a Godly attitude. It's far from it! So I need to quit my "woe-is-me" and get my focus back on Jesus & HIS STRENGTH and allow all of my energy, all of my joy, all of my peace, and all of my love to come from above. 

God bless, and blog soon

Consider The Titles

In my studies of Isaiah lately, chapter 9 led me to verse 6 where it states these Titles:

 - Wonderful
 - Counsellor
 - Mighty God
 - Everlasting Father
 - Prince of Peace

Maybe you are like I was, and as you read through this chapter you came to verse 6 and went "oh how lovely, they put a few of His titles here...moving on..."  and then continued merrily on your way in trying to understand the book of Isaiah.  If you did all of that, then you are not alone! I did the same. Then I went back and realized I skipped over something seriously amazing!!   Lemme break it down:

 - Wonderful: Inspiring delight, pleasure or admiration; extremely good; marvelous. (thank you dictionary)     My point in that was to show you that God Himself is our inspiration for delights, pleasures, and should be the One whom we bestow our admiration upon.  He is extremely good, and marvelous.  I'd say that sums it up because simply words can't describe Him!

  - Counsellor:  God is our advisor, our Wisdom comes from Him & Him alone. He's a great listener so whenever we have a problem or need advice, we can go to Him and ask for His direction. He won't steer us wrong!!  The best part is, even if He tells us something we don't want to hear...He's the comforter.  I personally think that counseling and comforting go hand in hand, don't you think? He does a great job at both :) 

 - Mighty God:  Consider for a second the story of Jesus & His disciples in the boat. (Matthew 14:22-33)   Remember how calm and collected everyone was? HA! Yeah right, they were freaking out!!! But Jesus wasn't freaking out at all, in fact He was asleep through most of it!! I think the part that shows how mighty He is, is the part where He just commands the storm to quit it. Hello?! Mighty?! I'd say YES! You try telling me that my God is weak, I won't believe it for a second!!

 - Everlasting Father:  lasting forever, eternity. (thanks again dictionary!)  I think it's really hard to wrap our minds around the fact that forever means...forever. Never ending. Doesn't stop.  I don't know about you but to honest, that hurts my head.  But at the same time, when I think about the Titles that I mentioned up top, HOW COOL IS IT that we get to be around that Person FOREVER?! NEVER-ENDING?! ETERNALLY?  (sorry...it just excites me. I'll stop with the caps lock...for a bit hehe)  When I re-read the descriptions up top, I'm like HECK YE-ah (sorry, caps again..) I want to be around Him forever!! :) :) 

 and finally;

 - Prince of Peace: Literally, when I get to this Name, I just stop. I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and smile. Try doing that right now, and say "Prince of Peace" out loud. It may be weird to say out loud at first, but do it until you're comfortable because let me tell you what, there is something special about saying Jesus' name out loud. Honest to goodness, I get so much peace by just sitting and breathing in, and knowing that Jesus is sitting right beside me and bringing me His peace.  In these moments, I have the Prince of Peace looking at me, calling me "daughter", and I can feel it.      
So in our totally CRAZY days, I know if we just take a minute to breathe and say His name, peace can come flooding in us like a fresh river in the spring time.  (for all you people who have never seen that, it can get pretty intense!)   Just trust me, and try it sometime. Pray for peace that passes all understanding, and He'll give it to ya. 

So next time you're reading Isaiah 9, or any other place that mentions God's many names, don't just skip over it like I did. Take time to really think about the Titles that God has. Break them down and think about how important each role is in your life. I couldn't go a day without my Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, my Everlasting Father, or my constant Prince of Peace.


God bless, and blog soon

EMAIL ALERT!

Hey guys!!! Update: If you want to email me, please email me at:  carlene.bennett.blog@gmail.com

k?! That's the new email I have, and I'd appreciate it if you used that one instead of the old one! Thanks a bunch... Oh and I'll be writing a serious post soon! Don't worry people, it won't be long from now!


God bless, and blog soon