Epic Moments

Ecclesiates 2:26
"To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness"

Ever had an epic moment? an amazing devo? awesome worship? or have you ever had a moment reading a verse you have read 50 times before, and suddenly you notice something new, suddenly you notice the half of the sentence that comes AFTER the comma? and you just sit in awe of God thinking "...wow". Those are epic moments, those are moments that God GIVES to you. They arent moments that just happen, that happen randomly, but theyre moments that God finds pleasure in you and he GIVES to you. He reaches down from heaven, after seeing you there, and touches you. You alone. Not the person next to you, not the person who is "on fire" for God, not the one teaching in tongues, but those moments belong to you. Theyre the moments when God finds pleasure in you, and finds pleasure in giving you even more of Himself. Which is how you got pleasure in the first place. It's an awesome cycle :) and i love it.

everlasting II

from the first everlasting post: "I realized that today, not "someday" like we often hear, but starting today, starting when we accepted Christ, we began living our everlasting lives with Jesus."

I thought about this the rest of the day. I was surprised at it, i barely recall writing it but am stunned by its implications. The more i thought about it, the more i realized we are already living in eternity. We dont have to wait to be in Jesus' presence in heaven to be living in His presence. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is everywhere, in all things, above all things, beyond all things. The Son is ruling in heaven, and will be ruling on Earth soon. The Spirit is already here. As i realized this i came to understand that we really dont have to wait for heaven to begin living in eternity.

The moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Spirit comes into us. The moment we have the spirit in us, is the moment we begin eternity with God. All the power and glory and perfectness of heaven is available to us in the Spirit, who has been here for 2000+ years now. Eternity begins now, it began yesterday, it begins anew tomorrow along with his mercy and grace. Lets live like it.

everlasting

"Everlasting, your light will shine when all else fades."
-Hillsong United, From the Inside Out

I heard that today and just began pondering the word "everlasting" and how it related to me. I realized that today, not "someday" like we often hear, but starting today, starting when we accepted Christ, we began living our everlasting lives with Jesus. As i thought about that, i wondered at how amazing "everlasting" is. how long, how big, the magnitude of the meaning behind it and i just sat in awe. i wondered what would motivate God to want to spend eternity with me? i wondered if i was in Gods place, why would i want to spend eternity with someone? and the only reason i could think of, was out of pure love. there is no other reason to willingly want to spend eternity with someone, other than because you love them. when you love someone, you dont want your time with them to end, you wont ever get tired of them or grow weary. you truly want to spend eternity with them. and i just couldnt get over how amazing God's love is, and how amazing eternity really will be.

"who am i that i should pray to God and he would hear me?"

wrong question. it should be

"who is God that when i pray to him, he listens to me?"

one question leads inward, towards myself. the other leads outwards, towards God. this whole "perspective" thing April and I have been seeing is very interesting to me. i dont quite understand it all. but i love finding out more about God through it :)

so as life gets more interesting, ive spent more time praying about what to do. what my purpose is, calling is, where im going, how im supposed to get there. but tonight i realized that even if God were to speak to me audibly and say "kyle, youre going to write a book that sells a million copies", that wouldnt help me really. it would point me to the direction of writing. but id still have to learn to write, edit, organize, draft, and whatever else is involved in writing. the same goes for teaching, training, or whatever else. i wont be able to just write a book, my first try, with no mistakes, and no experience. i have to use the talents God has given me now, so that i can show Him im trustworthy with what i've been given, and can be given more.

Matthew 25:28-29
Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

the purpose of life

to worship and lift up His name? possibly. this thought is still in its infancy, but i cant think of anything id rather do than those two things. if every action i take could somehow do one (or both... are they mutually inclusive?) of those then i dont know why id do anything else... which would thus be the purpose of my life :) which is why i study the bible, so i can find and learn more about what i can and am supposed to do. so that the things i do, do worship Him and lift up His name.