P90X

Sometimes in my life God whispers and sometimes He shouts.  The past three days He has done a little shouting.  The first question may be why did He need to shout for three days, are you deaf?  Well, yes, thank you I am.  Because listening can be so hard some days.

For me life is full of ups and downs, full days, days I feel filled with the Spirit of God, and days where I long for His presence and come up empty.  I imagine you know what I am talking about, because many of you have shared these waves with me as well.  Life is full of the imbalance, so why would our spiritual life be any different if we remain in charge, driving the boat?  We consciously have to make the decision and effort to keep the balance.  The balance between loving God and letting Him love us and then turning around and living for Him and sharing the story of Jesus with others.

I freely admit that I can become so passionate and excited about doing for others that I give up being with Jesus, sometimes accidental, sometimes conscious.  Don't mistake me, I believe that the Spirit of God can speak to me anywhere at anytime.  He isn't limited by anything.  Everything in my life about growing closer to Jesus isn't tied to reading the Bible or other things labeled traditional Christian practices.  I can be miles from a Bible or church and hear from Him, sense Him, and know He is God. 

But I think it is important to understand the process behind this presence of the Spirit.  God lays out the gift in His story, which begins with the Bible.  I have this gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit.  I believe the Bible is clear that without Him working in me and through me, I wouldn't have the ability to hear from Him.  This gift is available for all who call on the name of Jesus.  The Bible tells us where to start in this crazy process if we want it.  That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  

Because all things begin with Jesus.  Isn't that crux of Easter, the redemption story?

So God has been working and reminding me of all these things.  And shouting for me to stop moving, be still, and know that He is God.  Time to soak myself in the Bible.  Been too much on the wave of doing even with the doing being GOOD, and need to ride out the wave of being.  With God's strength, see if I can ride them both at the same time and balance my doing and my being through Him.  And by no coincidence I receive a facebook invite to join a group that speaks my language. 

P90x of the Soul.  90 days of reading through the Bible Challenge.  I love a good challenge.  I love structure and a plan and accountability.  Because left to my own, I will fail.  So the next 90 days I am going to see what He can teach me by being obedient to study His Word.  90 days that a year ago changed my whole life, my love for God, my definition of who He is, my view of life and faith, changed everything...this year I choose to listen.  I am good at speaking (I am sure you have noticed that by the lengthy blog posts!), but I am going to work on being slow to speak and quick to listen with God.  Might not pull it off with everyone else, but I can surely get it right with Him, even if just for 90 days!

I begin my 90 days on April 21st.  That day is a special one for me and I wanted to start it off right.  I would love to challenge you to try this too.  Join the facebook group and see what you think.  Studying His Word and journeying through life is always better with others.  P90x Facebook Group  I would love to get on the group after reading some day and see comments by you as God works in your life.