Don't Accept Change

My life, since the last time I posted something has been the biggest roller coaster! Constantly on the move and trying to get stuff done. It's just been so crazy and honestly I have been putting a lot of important things on the back burners. When I realized that the things that used to be important aren't so much of a priority in life anymore, I started to accept that things are changing and there was nothing I could do about that. I started to accept change that was for the worst. That's something I can't keep allowing in my life. Some things are really important and need more attention than others. 

I was reading through James 1 this afternoon and God did it again by having me read exactly what He knows I need to hear. James talks about going through trials and how to get through them. He tells us what we need to do when we face these problems. Rather than accept the hardship in life, we need to fight through it with God on our side. We should receive these trials as a type of blessing because it will give us patience. These trials will be a lesson to us and show us how much trust we really have in God. With out having these trials occur in our life we as Christians would never be able to grow in our faith. 

I went through trial after trial and some times I would find myself talking to God and asking for forgiveness or I would complete ignore that this isn't how my life should be going and just let it happen. I found myself going back to the old me and my old ways. Accepting life as it comes and just letting my whole life pass me by. God introduced new things into my life that should of been a test but I kind of just enjoyed it and was carefree. 

When we go through these trials in life we need to ask God for guidance. That He will give us the wisdom to get through it. All we need to do is believe that God will provide and when we ask we will receive. That was my life motto, 'ask and you will receive', because for years that is what I did. I asked and asked God and I believed that one day I would receive what I was asking for. And sure enough, years later, I started receiving those answers I was praying for for so long. I never doubted that God would ignore my prayers. I knew maybe I wasn't asking in the right mind set and eventually I started to change that. But I never doubted these prayers wouldn't be answered. So when we are dealing with hardship, the first thing we should be doing is going before God and asking for His guidance; that is all we need.

After months of hardship, I would ask God for guidance but I wouldn't go forward with it. This is my cry out to God. I want that relationship back with God. I need my faith back. I need that happiness back. I can't receive any of that with worldly things. That only can be provided by God. In the end, everything else on this earth will fade, but God Himself will always stand. Why stand on what this world has to offer, when we can be standing on God Himself, the rock that will never fade away?

God allows us to go through trials because He's testing our faith. Do we really trust Him? I've been tested a ton of times but this time seemed different for me. I was starting to accept that my faith wasn't as strong as I thought it was. I was accepting that maybe I'm not the Christian I made myself out to be for years. I was so strong in my faith but was I really trusting in God. When we go through trials we tend to lose our trust. I let the devil take over my mind. He started to put all of these negative thoughts in my head. I'm not worth it. I'm not a Christian because the things I am doing prove other wise. I will never have my faith back. It took this long for me to realize that I needed to wake up! Open my eyes and understand this is all a test. I need to stop letting the enemy win. We can't be confronted by trials and let them control our life. That brings us no where. 

We are brought into these trials when we let our temptation and desires win. When we are drawn away by our own desires we let the enemy in. We let him start to stir up something and once we fall into temptation and that turns into sin, it only leads us to death. The first time I heard this verse, it was like the biggest slap on the head. DUH! It all makes sense. Read it and believe it. Take it literal, just like everything else in The Bible. 'Then, when desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.' James 1:15 That's when everything starts to go down hill, when we let our own worldly desires take over our mind. And that is exactly what happened in my case. I went back into the world and started taking control of how I wanted things to go. I got my answered prayers from God, I said thank you and I ran with them. the exact opposite of what I should of done. Now look where that got me. I need to start being appreciative of what God has given me. Everything good comes from Him and we need to treat it like the blessing it is. We can't take advantage of what God has provided to us, God gave it to us so let God control what it does in our life. We need to be quick to listen and slow to speak! Listen more to God and understand what He needs us to do. We can't just hear The Word and ignore it and do whatever we want to do with it. We need to take it literal and listen to exactly what God is telling us to do. I can't call myself a Christian and not put it into action. We need to watch what we do and say so that we don't deceive others. I can write this blog and continue on writing but behind closed doors, if I continue to act the way I am now, all I am doing is deceiving everyone. And we aren't fooling anyone, because The only One that matters is God. In the end, He is the one judging us. We need to make sure we are doing right by Him. It doesn't matter how many people we can fool into thinking we are such a great Christian. God sees our heart and He is the one we need to make happy. We need to keep that smile on His face. Making Him proud to call us His children, because at the end of the day, His view of us is the only thing that matters.