He calls me holy

He calls me holy

Sacred, set apart

Made to bring Him glory

Regardless of my past

He has a plan for me

A plan to bring Him glory

He calls me holy

Beloved child of His

Made to bring Him glory

Called to do great things

Called to change my world

All to bring Him glory

I have an enemy

Who seeks to destroy me

To declare me unholy

To make me believe

I can't bring Him glory

To keep my useless

Down and defeated

He calls me holy

Though I've failed

Treated the holy as unholy

My past forgiven

My life redeemed

All to bring Him glory

He calls me holy

Sacred, set apart

Made to bring Him glory

Great things He has in store

If only I will trust Him

And give my life to bring Him glory

We have a God who does declare us to be holy in His sight. We are set apart as special for His service. But, we also have an enemy (Satan) who desires to destroy us and he knows that one of the easiest ways he can do this is to get us to treat what is holy (us) as unholy. When Satan gets us to do this, he can get to think that makes us unholy for the future as well. The good news is that God offers forgiveness and He will redeem us and make us holy again. God declares us holy!

i resolve

I'm doing Beth Moore's study on Daniel with a group of ladies from my church. We spent a fair bit of time talking about the word resolve. Daniel 1:8 begins with the words: "But Daniel resolved..." Daniel made a decision about how he would do things and what was acceptable. And he followed through on it, because he resolved to do it, not just thought it might be a good thing to do. As I was reflecting on this idea of resolving to do something, I found myself writing a poem about it.

I resolve: I will live for Him

He sets the standards I will follow

The world around me

Will not snare me

I will live a life set apart

A life that shines a light

I resolve: I will not be defiled

By a world that wants to change me

A world that wants me to conform

My mind will not be warped

By influences trying to confuse me

Satan will not have my life as his

I resolve: I will live for Him

My life is not my own - my life belongs to Him

No matter what may come my way, it's His and His alone

No other thing will hold my heart

He is the One who captured it

And He will hold forevermore

As I think about the decision that Daniel made in the situation he was in, it seems to me that it would be one not taken lightly and made on the fly. Daniel had to decide firmly in his mind that this is how he would live or he never would have been able to stand in the situation he found himself in. We need to do the same for the situations we may find ourselves in.

obedience before the courage comes

I noticed it had been a while since I last wrote anything for here. There are times in life when the things God is teaching me are far from being able to be put into words. That's where I've been for the last while. I sat down a few times to try to write a post, but it just wasn't time to write what God was teaching me.

Last weekend I was at a conference called Breakforth. I was going for the concerts that were a part of it mainly, knowing that the rest of the sessions and workshops would be good too. The first session began pointing towards what would become a theme for me for the weekend - and a summation of much of what God had been saying to me for the last couple of months. It seemed like every speaker I heard had something to say in their message that related to one specific theme.

One of the speakers at one of the workshops I took summed it up in just a few words. I'll share them and then I'll explain them.

Jesus Christ is adequate. Get out there and do it.

The speaker for that session was talking about how sometimes we know what we're supposed to do, but it scares us, so we start praying for the courage to do it. We stop there and spend so much time praying for the courage to do it, that we don't ever actually do the thing we're supposed to do.

Sometimes we might just need to take the step of obedience and do what God is asking us to do, even though we're afraid. And it's after we take that step of obedience that we find ourselves with the courage to do what we're doing. But, if we had never taken that first step of obedience, we never would have received the courage to do what we were supposed to do.

I'll be honest, I would prefer if the courage came before I had to do anything. And I'm one of those people who is likely to get stuck praying for courage and miss what I'm supposed to do because I want the courage first. That just seems like the safer way to do things. But, maybe I miss things in life when I operate that way.

Lately, God has been challenging me in things and telling me to step out and trust Him. And really it all comes down to trust. Do I trust God enough to take the first step even though I'm scared about it? Do I trust God enough to ask Him for the courage to obey what He is telling me to do and then step out in obedience even before I feel the courage to do things?

What about you? In your life? Is there something God is telling you to do? But you're hesitant to obey because what He's asking you to do scares you? Have you prayed for courage? Are you stuck praying for courage? Now that you have prayed for the courage, is it time you took the step even though you don't feel like you have the courage to do it yet?