Faithfulness and Risk-Taking

Here are some more thoughts as I have been thoroughly studying Chapter One of Simon Guillebaud's More Than Conquerors...

Discussing about faith, I believe that I am rather confident in believing God's faithfulness; nobody can be as faithful as he is. This gives me some assurance that my life is in awesome hands. Though I would admit, it isn't always so easy to put your faith in Jesus. But I had to spend time with him, gradually allowing him to take up more of my heart. I pray that God will be able to mould me more into who he wants me to be, and use me to my best potential.

I’m continuing to learn more about how to handle failure. Failure doesn’t always mean that it’s the end of the line for me; it does however allow me to stop, look back, learn from it and move on to becoming better than how I was in the past. I believe that because of this, I have now become a better person and I am continuing to trust God more when I fall down. Sure, it’s often discouraging to fail and it has often made me question my beliefs and faith, but in the end, I just need to continue learning more about giving Jesus control; after all, he has greater plans set out for me (see Jeremiah 29:11 for context). By focusing more on him, I’ll have a more exciting and intimate relationship with him; I’ll be able to gain a better perception about how my life with Jesus has been an adventure. Speaking of adventure, this whole journey that I’ve been going through with Christ so far has been rather interesting, even though there were some moments that weren’t all too exciting, and some even dark ones; however, God has always managed to get me through it all stronger than before. I’m glad that I am covered by his grace and mercy.

I think God is urging me toward evangelistic and knowledge-based pursuits. This appears to be both appealing and risky to me as it is within my areas of interest and giftedness, and I don’t fully know what kind of outcome will arise from it all. I’m hoping that he will continue to shape and use me as I enter this set of endeavors that he has set out toward me. I also pray that the Spirit will enlighten the path that I am to take next (make it more clear on my next direction to go, as to clarify what I am saying). I know that eventually, things will make sense to me; until then, I’ll have to trust that God is going to be with me every step of the way. I hope that all of this encourages you as you continue on your walk with him everyday.

Take care and God bless you!

Alex

Living a Risky Life

Recently, I began reading through a book by Simon Guillebaud called, More Than Conquerors. This book is similar in theme to More Ready Than You Realize, but focuses more on living the radically changed life that is given through Christ. So, if you want a different take on understanding how God wants us to live our lives, this book would be a good read, especially if you want to see how the Bible can be applied into your life.

Chapter One of this book talks about how life involves taking risks and how living out how God wants us to live is risky business. I would agree with what he is saying there; it's a risky life I'm living, which is following Jesus and trusting him as my Lord and master. I wouldn't be as greatly surprised if I were all of a sudden discriminated and attacked in the future because of my chosen lifestyle. This reminds me of something that Jesus said in the Gospels as he was preaching:

"Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets." (Luke 6:22, 23 NIV)

Here, he explains that even though people around us are going to hate and ridicule us, we know that God is always going to be with us and he wouldn't want us to give up because we are being bullied or betrayed. Yes, it's going to hurt, but we shouldn't let that get the best of us; not only does it hurt us, but it hurts God too and it doesn't get work done to propell the kingdom forward.

I'll be reading through Chapter Two to learn more about how I can live radically. There's always so much to learn about God and what he intends for us. It has definitely been quite an intellectual and spiritual journey for me so far, and I hope that it continues to progress like that and that I will be able to apply what I learn into the world around me.

God bless you!

Alex