Happy Givethanksing

Let us look past the hand of God, filled with blessings

and

Onto the face of God, who He is, His presence.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.

let us dwell in the house of the Lord forever, starting now...

Two hearts beat within my breast,
One is foul, the other blest,
One I love,
One I hate,
The one I feed will dominate.

Hey guys,
Yesterday we talked about not trying to always please people but to work to please Jesus and Today I listened to this song and realized that it is saying exactly that. I have listened to this song a few times and today was the first time I realized what it was saying. I don't know if you like rap but the words in this song are pretty legit.
Heres the url check it out guys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyF2NN-ED6U

Ryan McEvoy

So Amanda's cousin had cancer, so her uncle made a facebook prayer group, and a recent post had this in it:

Matthew 6:25:

Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear... Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ...Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I know that I am not alone with my battles of worry... I know that we are certainly not alone with our battles against bad health and work instability... May we all not lose sleep, hair, or precious living over worrying about tomorrow. We really can't even add an hour to life. May we all learn to trust Jesus' words knowing that God values each person He created.

God Chose You

²⁶For consider your calling, brothers:^(A) not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,^[a] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷But^(B) God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise;^(C) God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, even^(D) things that are not, to^(E) bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹so^(F) that no human being^[b] might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰And because of him^[c] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us^(G) wisdom from God,^(H) righteousness and^(I) sanctification and^(J) redemption, ³¹so that, as it is written,^(K) "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

This verse was a huge encouragement to me. To me it said, "God doesn't care about how much you know, how strong you think you are, or how popular you are... God still wants you." What an ecouragement! Just look at some of the lines... "God chose what is foolish [...] to shame the wise." or "God chose what is weak to shame the strong." What I got from that is that God CAN and WILL use you... IF you let him. God can do so many great things with so many people that wouldn't be qualified as "great" by our society. God will use you. Be available for him.

Have a great day!

Oh How He Loves Us

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.


We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way...

That He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

Hungry?

Here's some food for thought in case you are hungry:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

In the midst of a heavy load of school work, we all need some encouragement and endurance...

oh hey look what I found... Romans 15:5-6:

⁵May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, ⁶so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When I was trying to apply that, I found myself thinking....wait, the endurance and encouragement is just the first part. The majority of the passage is about following Jesus as a group of believers so we can glorify God the Father with one heart and mouth. Through this we will feel encouraged and we will be able to endure.

-Josh

Last Night

Was great! I was wondering if we could somehow break into smaller groups earlier because I know how beneficial that time has been for myself and for others. God found out a way: he brought us less people! We didn't even end up breaking up.

A few things that God has been teaching us are 1) the fear of the Lord 2) listening to his Spirit. We are trying to be receptive. On that note, many of us have felt prompted or led to take our faith outside the walls it has grown in. We are in an environment that will allow us to float and drift and never be tested against the personalities that don't love God. It will be interesting to see how this materializes.

Praying for you guys. Stay strong, fear God, serve others.

Peace out

E