Have you lost your taste for God?

I heard a snippet of a sermon by Pastor Shawn McBride and he asked a very interesting question: "Have you lost your taste for God?" He said that so often we feed off so many other things (Facebook, our iPods, Xbox, magazines, movies, etc...) that we lose our taste for God. His sermon encouraged me to start feeding off the Word every day. For me to have any relationship with God I've got to put some time in it - that's what I've been learning. Is anyone up for starting in Genesis with me and going through it all? Not necessarily at any specific pace, but whatever you feel you need to read that day. Let me know if you wanna do it with me! :)

God isn't looking for bench warmers. He's looking for warriors.

You want to know if God is awesome? He is.

I was at a Chris and Conrad/BarlowGirl concert last night and God did something amazing. BarlowGirl's whole message is that we are chosen, God has a purpose on our life. We need to chase after it with all of our heart. At the end of the concert they had a prayer time. There were about 7-10 people there to pray with anyone who wanted or needed it. Alyssa said something that hit me. We're supposed to be leaders and what better way to start than stepping out in a prayer line? I knew it in my heart, but I couldn't make my legs move over there. So instead I prayed. I asked God to do something. Break me, water my heart so it wasn't so dry - show me something. Well... you know what He did? He put it on the heart of one of the prayer line "staffers" to come and talk to me. He didn't say anything new, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. Kind of like "confirmation" from God that I have a bigger purpose than just standing in the back of the crowd taking pictures.

I've always had a desire to do something bigger. I want to step out and make a difference for God but I'm just stuck in the back. I let the devil take over by filling my heart with fear. I want to have a love for God so great that when people look at me they'll want that too.

I don't know where I need to start exactly, but I know that God is working. So now I think I will just continue to press in - maybe a little harder this time - and see what He does next.

Pressing In.

<----- So I have this favorite mug. I've been laughed at for using a "his" mug, but this is how I see it: it reminds me of who I'm waiting for. You Simply Waiting girls will know who I mean. ;)

Then I thought about something else. It should remind me of who I'm serving now. It hasn't, but it should. I'm in a spot in life right now where I'm not sure what God is teaching me, and honestly, I don't feel like I'm learning much of anything. I feel stuck in a routine that doesn't bring any results. I've heard that pressing through the dry times, pressing into God even when you get nothing, is what I need to do. I longed for the passion and ability to do that, but didn't know what that meant or how to do it. I looked into it though, and I think it sometimes involves routine and nothing. God wants us to come to Him even when we don't always get something because it means we were with Him. God wants a relationship with us. We have to do a little bit of the work sometimes because relationships are two-way. It's hard, but I have a hope that someday, after I've pushed through, something AMAZING will happen and I can encourage others with a passion because I had the courage to press through.

"It comes from a personal relationship between you and God. You have to take that time. If you don't hear God, how much time do you spend with Him? It's not just fifteen minutes of opening your Bible and saying, "Show me something. Do something now." Don't give Him a limit. You gotta press in and be as passionate about Him as you are about turning on the television and listening to your radio. Be passionate about listening to Him and just sitting there. Sometimes we girls will sit as a family before God for hours saying, "Okay, God. Speak to us." It's intercession. It's praying. It's being on your face. And a lot of times we don't get anything because God's slowly pulling the things of this world away so we can hear His voice. You gotta press in and be passionate about it." - Lauren Barlow

Here's to pressing in. I think I'm gonna try.