Caity Alice's Blog: Caity's Element, page 6

Fluent Like-It-Is

C. S. Lewis nails it again, speaking fluent Like-it-is.

Don't let our society distract you with a "bigger cause/issue" - that serves no purpose for eternity - from the very time-sensitive business of settling your own personal standing with eternity.

Are you getting caught up in a momentary war with things of the world, and allowing the enemy to gain ground in his own battle to keep your soul from repentance before its too late?

We have to think about these things...we must keep our lifespan in perspective.

The culture doesn't want you to think about it; the culture wants to offer you a crutch that alleviates your God-designed guilt - conviction towards salvation - by manufacturing a never-ending variety of collective guilt complexes that make us look and feel good when we apologize for things but makes no significant change, in your life or others, truly.

We have to realize that absolutely everything of importance will be toward eternity, and anything that will cease to matter when the world as we know it ends is not- cannot be- our main priority.

Wake up, Revolutionary.

Throw down that crutch- even if it brings you to your knees. That's where real change begins.

Radical Obedience

"One can imagine a sentient picture, after being rubbed and scraped and recommenced for the tenth time, wishing that it where only a thumbnail sketch whose making was over in a minute. In the same way, it is natural for us to wish that God designed for us a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less."

-C. S. Lewis

Suffer Well

Reminder for my fellow Revolutionaries...

We were never promised a pain-free life, rather we were promised in God's Word that in this world we would suffer (how good of Him to prepare us)...

Are we suffering as Christ exemplified suffering?

With patience?...

Endurance?...

Faith?...

Peace in knowing it holds a purpose, though we may not grasp the whole of it?

Joy in the small way we get to relate with our Lord and Saviour, as we go through for Him what He went through- and radically more so -for us?

Revolutionary, though it is odd and sometimes even difficult to say, may we suffer well.

Truth is No Fair-weather Friend

"Of this I am quite sure, that if we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future."

-Winston Churchill-

We ought to be fully present in each moment as they progress, intentionally continuing on in the purpose laid before us, looking ever upwards and inwards (not selfishly, but introspectively- at our heart of hearts) to ensure that we are still in God's will and fellowship with Him...we should not become held back by how things were- whether good, bad, fair, unfair- it should be left as it is (and cannot be changed), thanking God for all He has done and brought us through, and pay attention to what He is doing now, striving to always do what is right and make a difference for Him in the time we have been given, now.

Don't let the world cloud your view of weatherproof truth.

Fight the Good Fight

I would add, that to be only who God wants you to be...which is basically the same thing...who He designed you to be is who you will always be meant to be, and to live a life that doesn't follow His plan for you is to live a life that isn't meant to be lived by you; to live any life but that which God has designed for you from the beginning is to live in rebellion, and can explain many of our thought disorders and even some physical consequences...you will be restless and have no lasting peace until you embrace the calling God has written into your identity: to know Him and follow Him and use the gifts and talents He has blessed you with for Him, serving and walking in truth. The world does not want us to know peace- truly- for as long as it can keep us restless it can play on our search for stability and fulfillment, offering us temporary fixes that look like peace and subdue us for a moment, but eventually destroy us as it subtly conforms us.

To be yourself- your God-designed self- in a world that would lure you to be a product of the culture, this indeed is one of the greatest battles we face as we follow Jesus.

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." 

-John 16:33-

Our Infirmity Identified

Psalm 77 (emphasis vs 10)

THIS is my infirmity...

Getting my eyes off of all God HAS done and IS doing in my life as well as all back through time...focusing on my current circumstances and allowing doubts and anxious thoughts to creep in and take root...

We must remember what the LORD has done...we must think and meditate on all His wondrous works. We must discipline our thinking and take our thoughts to task; when we allow our minds to entertain unwelcome and untrue thoughts, they will create disorder and your mess will get messier.

Nothing the world offers you will take care of the problem that has begun in your mind- you must refocus on God's promises and His word and start exchanging all your doubts and worries for truth.

I'm thankful that in my momentary weaknesses, God's wonders and promises are eternal.

My Feelings Are Not God

Faith over feelings.

Reality over fantasy.

Smart over gullible.

Assurance over uncertainty.

Challenge over justify.

Revolutionize over victimize.

Set apart over conformity.

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17

Turn the World Upside Down

"...they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also." 

-Acts 17:6-

Turning the world upside down looks like choosing to follow and serve Jesus in the daily mundane when the world says to follow your heart and serve yourself.

People are rarely comfortable when making the biggest, most effective difference...

Please the Lord, even when it's uncomfortable...

Deny yourself, even when it's less convenient...

Trust His promises over your feelings, even- especially- when you are overwhelmed and your feelings are louder...discipline your mind...

Speak up (with the truth), even when it's sure to invite criticism...

Be still and watch God work, when the culture tells you to do it all on your own...

Lovingly, deliberately, faithfully choose "less of me, more of Him", and watch your surroundings and circumstances turn upside down as you reap His blessings in place of the world's crutches.

A Power Greater Than This World

 "Excellence isn't something to strive for so that people will notice, but so that our lives will reflect God's character."

-Michael Phillips-

Surrender>Perfection

It was never meant to be about what we can do and be, but what God can do and make of us when we give ourselves up and relinquish all control to Him.

Less of me, more of Him. Always.