Ok, so basically God is awesome. That's been on my mind most of the day. On the way home from northern Iowa this afternoon, I had plenty of time to think and pray about life.. and this was something that God kept bringing to my mind. Awesomeness. I thought it was kind of ironic when at youth group tonight, that was the subject of the lesson. God's kind of cool like that, eh? Or awesome. Awesome awesome awesome. That word is one I use way to much, and yet don't even really take into account what it means. So I took it upon myself to look the meaning up in the dictionary. Pretty smart of me. I’m awesome.
Awesome: being consumed with awe. I find it interesting that there are two forms of usage for the word; an inspiring awe and an expressing awe. I think that's really neat, actually. The two forms are so similar, yet they are completely different in the way they are put in action.
Let's see. So I looked up inspiring in the dictionary as well, and one of the many definitions was this one: "to prompt or instigate (utterances, acts, etc.) by influence,without avowal of responsibility." Um. Yeah, I basically love that. Inspiration is not something I can create or bring about, it is something that I have no control over. For me, when I don’t have control over something, it becomes more real. I think it’s really cool how the second form of awesome is expressive awe, because it goes perfectly with the inspiring awe. I can’t help but want to express my awe when I’m inspired to. I don’t know if that makes sense to you. The communication part of my mind isn’t quite turned on tonight. I hope you get me, though. Or.. get how awesome being in awe is.
In my study on spiritual battle, I’m kind of discovering that one of the biggest ways Satan attacks the Church is through our ignorance. One way in particular is the accuracy of who God is. I mean.. dude. How often a year... or month.. better yet, a day do you find yourself in awe of God’s holiness? I definitely would say it’s less than 5 times a year that it actually clicks in my finite mind. I don’t get to see crazy and insane miracles like Moses did when God parted the Red Sea, or Daniel did when God spared his life from lions, or Esther as her nation was blessed for her faith in God’s plan, or David when he was made king as a teenager, or Mary when she gave birth to the Savior of mankind. Heck no. The biggest thing I can remember being in awe about this week was when I found five bucks in my jeans tonight as I put them in the washer. Excitement in my life is pathetic. I am so blessed with security and comfort that I don’t have to walk by faith or in trust as the Apostle Paul did in his life, or as my brothers and sisters do across the world right now as they proclaim Christ to the lost.
But that doesn’t give me any right whatsoever to not hunger for the same awe that those people did or do have thousands upon thousands of miles away from me. I feel so often I have these spurs of “Jesus highs.” I have a rocking worship time, hear a sweet sermon or testimony, or lead someone to Christ and BAM. I feel like anything could come my way, and I could easily conquer it with just my pinky toe. I’m so pumped and on a spiritual cloud nine that no thing could bring me down. Then something so simple as a cranky person bumping into me at walmart, or someone pulling out in front of me at a stoplight, or even me stubbing my toe on a chair turns my God wildfire in to a pathetically dinky flame. How does that happen? What power does the walmart shopper have over me to do such a thing?!
Well, I’ve discovered that the answer to that is nothing. No person has that ability over me. No one. The fact is, it is aaalll Satan in my grill doing that junk. He does this funky (and actually pretty smart) thing to try and convince us that people are the cause of our problems and anger and resentment, when in fact (loooove this) “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Our beef is against Satan and his obnoxious clan. I don’t know about you, but I notice when I lose my awe for God, I start getting upset at people and at circumstances. I find myself bickering at the stupidest things and get irritated at the randomest people.
You know something that is really cool that God pointed out to me today? Maybe you realized this long ago, but to me it’s fresh all up in hur.
Prayer is insanely powerful. INSANELY. In Ephesians 6, you know, the chapter all about the armor of God, the author Paul writes this: “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” He wrote that after he went through all that armor stuff. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, OH. And after all that, he writes “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With THIS in mind, be alert and ALWAYS keep on praying for all the saints” (emphasis added by yours truly).
Do you ever spend a whole time of prayer just praising God for who He is? I would say less than half the time I pray, I do. The majority of the time I pray, I either thank God for the things He’s given me, or I ask for more things to be given to me. But you know.. when Jesus explained to the Disciples how to pray, He said to pray to God “hallowed be YOUR name.” “YOUR Kingdom come.” “YOUR will be done.” He didn’t say anything about how to pray for the things we want there. He wanted to get across the point that dude, when we talk with God, we’re talking with GOD! Right off the bat, we need to realize that. We need to come before God, awestruck by His holiness and cry out “hallowed be Your name.”
And. This is awwesome... when we proclaim God’s holiness and sufficiency by way of praise, Satan has to flee. He doesn’t have the option to stay and tempt us, to feed us lies.. He HAS to leave. Everybody wave buh bye to the loser.
So next time you find yourself grumpy and annoyed at something or someone, try praising God. Don’t just thank Him for what He’s given you, but let Him know that you recognize who He is. He’s almighty. He’s faithful. He’s loving. He’s compassionate. He’s just. He’s sufficient. He’s peace. He’s joy. He’s good. He’s set apart. He’s Creator. Sustainer. Father. Brother. Best friend.
He’s God. And He’s not just God. He’s YOUR God.
Yeah. :) That's all.
Ally
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