Saturday, February 17, 2007

God Notes: 6 years of sunday/wednesday/early morning notebooks




Before I started using my Treo to take notes, I used to drag a notebook to church or to Bible study or to wherever I happened to be reading my Bible that day. Over the years I've collected a lot of notebooks!

If I'm honest with myself, reading the Bible hasn't been super exciting lately... so to change things up, I went into the attic and found all my old notebooks which you see here. I'm going to start reading through them and reminding myself of the things God has spoken to me. What has He encouraged me with in the past? What has He asked me to change or to do and have I changed or done it?

I'm hoping to have an awesome journey where I remind myself of how far I've come and how much God has shown me. I'm going to post on this blog anything that I find interesting and that I don't want to have to climb into the attic sometime in the future to find again.




The first entry in the first notebook I kept:

It Begins...
7/6/2000
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever
- Psalm 73:26

If I just thought of one verse all day, this would be enough.

If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!
- Psalm 81:13,14

Reading this now makes me think of Iraq. Does democracy even work in a culture without Christian foundations, love thy neighbor as thyself and all that? Is the United States a country that deserves to be blessed by God and have her enemies subdued?

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
- Psalm 84:10
The worst of God's presence is better than anything the world has. Why do you doubt it over and over even though it always gets proven true?

I know this is always true... so why is it so difficult to "put time aside" to hang out with the creator of the universe?

7/7/2000
My Problem (today)
I am quick to speak what I feel in my heart without first thinking and praying. I destroy people and cut them down in my foolish words; coming off as proud and conceited.
I hate and despise this, nailing it to the cross.
My Solutions
  • FIRST, pray listen and wait. It's all about God's timing (he sure as hell doesn't need me)

  • You may not have to say or do anything at all but pray. NOTHING but pray. (this is hard for me to live)

  • If and ONLY IF it is confirmed through prayer that I am to act, I must do so through love, not just truth.

Well... I definitely still have this problem. Though my wife has helped me a lot in that area. Maybe that's why I'm going through my old notebooks. I need to stay focused on the things God has already empowered me to change.

7/9/2000
People should never hear God from you until they see God in you.

Good quote.

7/10/2000
To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless.
- Psalm 119:96
Serving God is the only true perfection, everything else never satisfies past a limit.

Yes! I'm so glad I found this one. I remember this verse hitting me like a ton of bricks. Why did Michael Jordan and Kelly Slater take up golf? They were arguably the greatest athletes their sport has ever seen. They just got bored. Being the best in the world at something still leaves you wanting more. Only doing the thing your Father in heaven created you to do will ever satisfy.

ok, ok... that's enough for today.

There's so much good stuff for me in these notebooks!

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