Good morning, Lord!

I'm using this blog to journal, cause I don't know where mine is. :) It's kind of hard to find anything right now with the state of my room...Sage's stuff is everywhere, mine is everywhere.

It's rather chaotic. But, it's been fun!

Thank You for the wonderful week its been. There has been a lot of fun stuff we've done. It's been really enjoyable. Thank You for Your incredible blessings for us. God, You are soooooo good to me.

Right now, I feel like You're calling me to do some extreme things. I've noticed that there's been a lot of compromise in my life lately. My standards are gradually becoming lower and lower. Sin is no longer offensive to me. It's become "the norm." I've settled into a lukewarm routine.
I've been avoiding doing what I think I should. I know deep in my heart what I need to do. But, I don't want to do it. I know that it requires discipline and sacrifice. In order for me to be completely and totally recklessly abandoned to You, I'm going to have to do what's difficult. I must take the leap of faith and rise to the challenge.

Every athlete knows that, in order to succeed, they must make sacrifices. They have to work for what they want. For a long time, I've been skimping on my work. I've tried to get by with the bare minimum and then become frustrated with the results. In my training both physically, mentally, and spiritually, I have not done my best. And I'm paying for it.

However, 2 Corinthians 9:6 says this, "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously."

What have I been sowing? What am I reaping? Am I reaping the rewards of a job done with my whole heart? Am I reaping the rewards of a disciplined and passionate life? Or am I reaping the rewards of one who has sown sparingly and hoped that the seed would magically double just because I said, "please."

In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

In order for me to love the Lord with "all my heart, mind, and strength," I'm going to have to make some serious changes.

1 Peter1:13-16 says, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

God demands that we do not live as everyone else does--self-sufficient, self-serving lives. The world is going one way, we're supposed to be going the opposite direction! We are NOT supposed to be walking the same exact road that leads to destruction while holding a wimpy little sign that says "Jesus loves you." We have the WRONG idea of what it means to be a Christ follower.
Christianity is not about warm-fuzzy feelings. Christianity is about a dramatic life change. Our relationship with Jesus should permeate every single area of our lives--waking, sleeping, eating, drinking, schooling, walking, talking, praying, laughing, crying....Christ should be in our entertainment as well as the mundane every day life. There's a lot more to Him that daily devotions or Sunday morning service.

We have fallen so far away from where God wants us to be. I have fallen so far away.
But, He's calling me back to Himself.

Isaiah 2:3 says "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to ther house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths."

Isaiah 55:6-7
"Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon."

Titus 2:11-14
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to so "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and Godly lves in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself up for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good."

God is putting before His people a challenge: a challenge to take the next step, to do what is right, to put their past behind them and go to the extreme. God longs for His people to step beyond mediocraty and lukewarm Christianity and to embrace a passionate, intense relationship with Himself. He longs for us to run HARD after Him with our whole hearts. He's weary of half-heartedness and compromise.

Joshua 24:16
"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!"

God, bring me to a place of complete and total surrender