grateful4thegospel

Spirit-Filled Evangelism

2009-09-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

Please also pray for me to be aware of the ever-present opportunites around me everyday for evangelism. I need for the Holy Spirit to fill me for effectiveness in this area, as Acts 1:8 puts it:

~But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. ~ Acts 1:8

It is not the words I use or the way I say them that makes the gospel powerfully go forth. It is the power of the Holy Spirit having filled me beforehand going forth through me. Pray that I will be continually filled with the Spirit for this important task!

Faithfulness

2009-09-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I am tempted to feel a lack of energy or eagerness about what God has called me to do for Him, or I feel anxious about how well I will do in school this semester. This verse sums up all I need to know about how I will make it:

~He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Though I can feel inadequate and lacking in strength, the One who calls me is being faithful to help me and he will do it. This means that God, in His faithfulness, is accomplishing through me and for me what it is that He has for me in this season of my life. Praise Him for His assuring faithfulness!

Whatever You Do

2009-09-07T11:32:00.001-07:00

God has been teaching me that whatever I do is what He has called me to do. It gives me a motivation to do my best in school when I view it, not as a waiting time to get through, but as a calling given to me by the sovereign hand of God.

~Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. ~ Colossians 3:23-24

My school work, part of whatever I do, is what I am called to work heartily at as unto the Lord. God's word promises me that I will receive a reward from Him for working hard as unto Him. Yes, I have been given an opportunity to serve the Lord Christ and receive a heavenly reward. School is definitely worth it!

Salt and Light

2009-09-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

~You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden... let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. ~Matthew 5:13-14, 16

What a privilege it is to be one of those who are called to help preserve the world until Jesus returns. May God fill me with His Spirit to shine forth the light of the gospel that is the truth that preserves this world!

A Holy Nation

2009-09-02T19:49:00.001-07:00

As a new college student, I have been daily focusing on a verse or passage to help me renew my mind on truth in a different environment, and to keep me focused on my central passion during this season of my life.

The first verse I studied was 1 Peter 2:9--"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

I am so grateful to, as I look and see all the lost people around me on a daily basis, be aware of the holy, elite institution that God has called me to. How wonderful it is be one who is called out of darkness into marvelous light! Its implications are unending and amazing, including proclaiming its excellencies to those around me. May God give me the wisdom and grace to do that, and to be continually more astounded that I am apart of the elite group of God's holy nation and people!

Myth of Adolescence

2009-07-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long time with no posts. I have made more of a goal to post more this summer, but we'll see how well that goes. :) Anyway, Holly and I are reading through Do Hard Things again, and I have really been affected by what the twins call "the myth of adolescence." They very helpfully point out that we teens have been victims of a myth that the culture presents us with, that the youth ages are just a vacation from responsibility. The Bible, however, has a different view for teens, found in 1 Tim. 4:12:

"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."

As teenagers, we have a high calling to set an example for other believers in five important areas of Christian living! Yes, God has a very big agenda for His youth children, and we have an exciting life to lead because of it.

Alex and Brett also point out that doing hard things is actually what we really do want to do. So let us break off the shackles of the culture and live, not under the myth of adolescence, but as 1 Tim. 4:12 youth!

Influential Success

2008-11-26T14:57:00.000-08:00

I was pondering Alex and Brett's ministry and the extreme success they have seemed to have getting it started. At sixteen, desiring to do something greater with their teen years, the twins started their rebelution blog. It became the most popular web site for teens at the time, with millions of youth responding "This echoes the same cry of my own heart!" Through the "Do Hard Things" tour, they have been able to reach many young people and parents, and stir up this culture.

My first reaction was "Wow! These people are so successful! I wonder what it takes to become so influential? I wish I could be apart of a group like that." But as I thought more on what their mission is all about, I realized, this is just a group of Christian teens seeking to apply the gospel to their lives. What makes their ministry so effective is its purpose, not so much its numbers, or Alex and Brett. Living the gospel out in our daily lives, and having this good news be the central message we seek to proclaim yields wonderful fruit, no matter what curcemstances or people God has put us with.

Their numerical success has inspired me to see on an even deeper level my calling to walk in a manner worthy of the calling I have received, and to view my own circle of relations as capable of a similar rebelution mission. I have begun to see that my family, and my local church with its gospel-centered youth ministry is seeking to create this culture of godliness. I am so grateful to be apart of this great mission!

So to wrap up this post, may everyone, especially any of my own teenage friends reading this, be excited for what God has for you today, for the gospel we have been called to believe in holds a wonderful mission for all of us, whatever we may be doing right now!

On this Thanksgiving week, thank You God for Your gift of redemption, and for how You are using teenage children to advance it!

Looking forward to talking more "Do Hard Things" next Wednesday!

Introducing the "Do Hard Things" Series

2008-11-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry everyone for abandoning my posting for a while! I am planning to get onto a more regular blogging schedule now, prioritizing it along with a number of other things!

I just finished reading Alex and Brett Harris's new book, Do Hard Things, and I will have to say that it has been one of the best books I have ever read. The Harris twins do such an outstanding job promoting God's intent for the teen years, and most importantly, the passion for the gospel that we are all commanded to have! I thought I would take a few weeks to do a series on my blog about how God has encouraged me in thinking about my youth years through reading this book. Please check here every Wednesday to see the new post from this series! For this post, I will just give a brief synopsis of this book, and next Wednesday I will start into the specific topics.

Do Hard Things, subtitled "A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations," is challenging teens about God's mission for their lives as teenagers. This book holds out that the world has low expectations for teens, but that God has a higher calling. Using I Tim. 4:12 "Let now one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity," Alex and Brett show us that God has a plan for us as teenagers. We don't have to wait until we are older for God's real plan to be revealed for our lives; He has a unique one for us now. They developed a movement to help youth apply this mentality, titled "The Rebelution." A mix of the words revolution and rebellion, the twins want teens to rise up and free themselves from the lies and low expectations of this world, and lead other teens to do likewise.

Check out www.therebelution.com, and come back next Wednesday for the next post in this series!

For Whom Do We Work?

2008-09-21T17:29:00.000-07:00

Colossians 3: 23-24 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD, and not for man. Since you know that you will receive an inherritance from the LORD. It is the LORD Christ you are serving.

I am aware of my battle to work hard in school for the grades and to be the best at whatever it is I am doing. God kindly brought this contradiction to mind: working hard is a God-honoring thing, but what I'm doing is a proud thing. What's the solution here? I think this verse so helpfully states what my motive should be for working hard. I am called to work for the glory of God, not to impress others or myself with my accomplishments, which is working for my glory. And besides, God's rewards are the best anyway! So I am tempted to make my school a me thing where I am commanded to make it a God thing. Having this perspective, it doesn't really matter then if I make the highest grades or do the best. I need not be the best, but rather my best, which is all that God requires.

Just a quick note: I am not saying that healthy competition is wrong, or that high grades aren't something to rejoice in or work for, but I am saying that my primary motive for doing my best should be to bring glory to God by doing what He's called me to do.

Please pray for me that I would have this perspective more often!

A Good Time to Interrupt

2008-09-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

As I've started this school year, I am aware of a number of different temptations I have been facing. I am going to take a few posts to talk about some truths I can be applying. Here is just an example of a circumstance and how I so easily sin, and then the truth I will talk about today:

I study hard to be smart and get good grades.
My sister gets a perfect score on a chemistry test, and I miss four.
I feel jealous and then worried that I'm not doing something right.
I feel angry about being who God made me, because that feels stupid, worthless, and perhaps even a little mentally off.
The slow computer that needs rebooting, not once, but twice, takes so much time out of my afternoon that I feel is being spent in such hard effort and deligence already. Life now just feels like one big inconvenience all being directed toward me.
I struggle through an ACT passage and feel angry because I deserve my way.
I know I should apply the gospel now, but I just don't feel like it because that won't make me feel the way I want to feel.
Besides, I don't feel as passionate for the gospel as I sure would like to right now, and I sure don't feel like doing the work to make it apply.

Now, the one big problem with my train of thought is how many times the word "feel" appears in it. I have allowed my wandering, easily distracted soul to tell me all these things about the way it feels about myself and about God, instead of interrupting it and telling it the things that are true about myself and the gospel. I am weak, but God is made strong and powerful in my weaknesses. Because Jesus has died for my sins, I have every reason to be joyful and content, since my one main problem has been cared for. And my focus can then turn off of myself and my failed self-sufficiency and turn toward the perfect sufficiency and grace of my Savior. Then, I don't have to feel bad about the gifts God has given me, and I don't have to feel reliant on myself any longer. Praise God for the gospel!

I know I have a long, long ways to grow in this, so I would strongly appreciate prayers in this area.

Please check back with me next week for my next insight on this issue.

Burden

2008-08-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

I felt a burden on my back, heavy in its place
Until You led me to the cross, let me see Your grace
I felt it drop then turned to watch it roll down that hill
And leapt with joy as Your peace and hope became my fill
Freed from sin I turned my back upon the place it rolled
Fixed my eyes upon the cross where my life would unfold
Though this path is hard to follow; few do find its way
I know it leads to celestial joys every passing day.

~ Inspired by John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress

Thanks to all who prayed for our trip in CO. It far exceeded expectations!

A Fun Way to Pray

2008-07-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks for not updating this sooner. I thought I would post, though, before leaving for Colorado Saturday.

I don't know about you, but I tend to have a hard time knowing who to pray for in my quiet times. And the more requests I have to pray for, the easier it is to forget. So, I want to share a new fun prayer technique (spelling?) that I started using in my quiet times. Using a cool font on Microsoft Word, I typed out all the people I'm currently praying for, with a specific request by each name. This list includes my family members, extended family, people in the church, and a few evangelistic prayers. After cutting the names apart into strips, I mixed them up in an old notecard box and randomly draw three a day. I call this my "prayer box," and it really does help me with my prayer life.

Have a grace-filled day, and I'll post from time to time in Colorado!

An Encouraging Psalm

2008-07-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

Psalm 145

I will exalt you, my God the king;
I will praise your name for ever and
ever.
Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and
ever.
Great is the LORD and most worthy of
praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
One generation will commend your
works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.
They will speak of the glorious
splendor of your majesty,
and I will meditate on your
wonderful works.
They will tell of the power of your
awesome works,
and I will proclaim your great
deeds.
They will celebrate your abundant
goodness
and joyfully sing of your
righteousness.
The LORD is gracious and
compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
The LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has
made.
All you have made will praise you,
O LORD;
your saints will extol you.
The will tell of the glory of your
kingdom
and speak of your might,
so that all men may know of your
mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of your
kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom,
and your dominion endures through
all generations.
The LORD is faithful to all his
promises
and loving toward all he has made.
The LORD upholds all those who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the
proper time.
You open you hand
and satisfy the desires of every
living thing.
The LORD is righteouss in all his ways
and loving toward all he has made.
The LORD is near to all who call on
him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who
fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
The LORD watches over all who love
him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
My mouth will speak in praise of the
LORD.
Let every creature praise his holy
name for ever and ever.

This is perhaps my favorite worship passage in all of scripture. Staying home sick from church last week, I read this aloud to myself, and was particularly struck by the word "all" which occurs so many times in this passage, and by how compassionate our God is toward us in a time of weakness struggle. I was also amazed at the greatness and majesty of the LORD that is proclaimed hear, and how David is expressing His desire to pass His great deeds down through the generations. I'm so grateful4thegospel!

Anchor

2008-06-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

A ship that's tossing here and there
Blown on an angry sea
That can't much more the weather bear
Near broken as can be
And as the winds blow to and fro
With thunder's crashing sound
My eyes catch on a sight below
Our anchor in the ground
Now, though it feels we'll fall apart
With fears in every way
Objective knowledge fills my heart
That anchored we will stay
So though it seems it will not last
I know that this is true:
A rooted anchor DOES hold fast
Designed to make it through

~ A description of the gospel's unchanging truth and the joy that it brings in the midst of ever-changing circumstances and the false things we hear the world presenting to us everyday.

Missions & Evangelism

2008-06-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

The last few posts I've written have been newsy/chatty comments, but now I'd like to share a more "serious" post.

I'd like to share about a burden a feel the LORD has put on my soul for missions and evangelism. Ever since I was saved, really, I have had the desire to share the gospel with others. I would love to ask the friends I played with, and new ones I met, if they knew the LORD.

A few years later when I was 11, and our nation experienced the 9/11 attack on the trade center, I prayed for the names of people I heard of that were involved. It was at this time that I felt the strongest desire to be a missionary. I wanted with my whole heart to grow up to be a single missionary called to Afghanistan.

As I entered into the high school years, I believe God used our history curriculum, Tapestry of Grace, to further develop these desires. I felt amazed by studying how all men from every age needed a Redeemer, and the common thread of hope and salvation that the gospel held out throughout all of history. Seeing the gospel's advance in the past like this encouraged me more for its advance in this age.

Since I was 11, I have changed my desires for specific countries many times. One time I felt like I wanted to go to Israel, and once I thought China, and even another time I thought it was Africa. I also don't know that I want to remain single my whole life, but would like to marry a pastor and possibly be on a church-planting team (LORD-willing ☺).

At 17 and 1/2, I still don't know what are all the wonderful, sovereign plans God has for my life, but I do know that He intends for me to serve His kingdom with my whole heart where He has placed me as a youth. In His kindness, He has blessed me with a wonderful gospel-centered church with godly pastors and friends, where I can serve in and continually grow in my passion for the gospel! I have also been given the wonderful opportunity of joining my mom in taking a friend to the Simply Jesus Bible studies, which has been a very encouraging time of watching someone be drawn to the gospel.

From time to time, God has also impressed various people whom I don't know on my heart to pray for, including the guy my dad used to work for, and the candidates of the presidential race.

I want to close this post by, first of all, thanking you for reading such a long post, and also by asking you to pray that God will continue to help me trust Him for my future, that I would make the most of every evangelism opportunity He brings my way now, and that I would always keep my eyes fixed on what God has opened my own heart to believe about the gospel. All this be to the glory of God and my great Savior!!

Rom. 1:16,
♫ Karen ♫

Clear the Roads!

2008-06-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

Today I have become a licensed driver! I passed the test, which wasnt' so bad after all; once I get my insurance on Monday, I am cut loosee on the roads. So whether you're all rejoicing with me now or deciding to stay at home today (I don't know which ☺), I'm grateful I've passed this milestone!

Catch-Up

2008-06-14T12:22:00.001-07:00

We just had my cousin's wedding last night. It went very well, and it was fun to see her get married! We are also having a wonderful-fun time being with family. It has been fun just hanging out at our hotel playing in the pool, talking, and playing games, etc. I hope you are all having a grace-filled, fun week as well! TTYL!

More Vacation

2008-06-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

This week we are going to my 1st cousin's wedding in CA! This will be a big event for our family since it is the first of the cousins to get married! Please pray for us that all the traveling plans go as scheduled, and that we will have a wonderful time together as a (big) family. We are much looking forward to this time!

I will try to post some pics of our trips later when we get back!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2008-06-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, today is my mom's birthday. I wanted to use this opportunity to share a few evidences of grace in her life.

My mom is gentle and she's kind
God's grace in my life, she does find
She fellowships and has long talks
Which help me in my Christian walk
She takes an interest in my life
And demonstrates a godly wife
She's dedicated to her home
And satisfied in Christ alone
She wants to become more like Him
Confessing to us of her sin
And asking us to help her grow
By this, the gospel she does show
She truly has the gift of care
Which many people are aware
She makes our friendship to increase
She demonstrates a soul of peace

Mom, these things I say are true
I'm so grateful I have you!

♫ Karen ♫

Memorial Day/ Vacation this Week

2008-05-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! This week, from Wed. through Sat. we are leaving as a family for Ceday Point, a big amusement park on Lake Erie in Ohio. Please pray for me on any roller coasters I decide to ride on (I don't like heights ☺). I will post some pics when we get back!

Calvary

2008-05-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

O LORD, I hear you calling me
I feel Your Spirit's pull
To come to You and deeper see
The truth that saved my soul
And though I've heard it much before
A simple truth indeed
Its deep profoundness stirs me more
I'm grateful that I'm freed
This grace that opened up my heart
The first day I believed
It still affects life's every part
From daily sins relieved
So LORD don't let me spend a day
Without You drawing me
To come down deeper all the way
Into Your calvary!

~Everyday, I need to speak this gospel truth to my soul!

First post

2008-05-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

I just started a new blog! This is just a test post to see if it actually works (☺)

Karen