A Rebelutionary Looks Back on 2009

Hey, I read this post on The Rebelution blog, and was encouraged by it. This was the kind of place Bethany and I started out at a year and a half ago. Since this is a public blog, I'm assuming I'm not allowed to post it here, or I would. So, the I've posted the link below. While you're on the blog, feel free to browse around, see for yourself what The Rebelution is about, and join the forum!

A Rebelutionary Looks Back on 2009

Open the Gift

When someone offers you a gift, what do you do? You take it. This analogy is often used in the Christian realm- Jesus is offering you the gift of salvation. The only thing you have to do to get it is take it! But this summer, I realized there is a catch. Taking the gift doesn't mean you've actually received it.

There are a lot of people who have the gift. But they leave it sitting in a closet, accumulating dust over the years. They technically have the gift. And they tell people, yes, I've received the gift.
But they never open it. What good does the gift do you if you can't experience it? You see other people who have opened it, and kind of know what it is and how it works. But you've never experienced it for yourself.

Sometimes you want it. You're excited at the realization that you can experience the benefits of the gift if you merely open it. So you rush to the closet, open it and clean out the closet, looking for the gift, which has been shoved to the very back of the shelf. But then you begin to look at it- it's dusty. And unappealing.

Sure, you could fix that fairly easily with a wet rag. But, you'd rather not do that. It really can't be that great.

What we need to realize, is that just having the gift isn't enough. We need to open it. There are so many people who don't realize this. They tack the label of "Christian" on themselves, but live just as if they had never heard the name "Jesus" before.

If you are one of those people, and you know if you are, I have a challenge for you. Open the gift. Take the time to fix it up after all the years of neglect, and use it.

Tori

Immesurably More

Christmas is in the air! Ok, not really. But here in Orlando we have had some relatively cool temperatures over the past few days. And it's only October! Needless to say, I've been enjoying it greatly.

So, I found a really good verse the other day. I had heard it, and I knew that it was there, but I don't think that I had ever really read it.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." -Ephesians 3:20& 21

I don't know about you, but I have a pretty good imagination. Especially when it comes to things that I want, there's tons of things that I could ask for, and a ton of things that I do ask for. I often find myself imagining my future, and trying to make my plans for it. But are my plans really better than God's plans? And in this verse Paul isn't just saying that God can do more than all we ask or imagine, which to me is completely awesome. He uses the word immeasurably. It literally means impossible to measure. We can't even begin to fathom how much more He has planned for us. And I can guarantee you that it is better than anything that you can imagine too.

All this is according to his power at work within us. We cant' come up with any of this on our own. We have to let Him do it, and trust him through it. It then goes on to say "to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" God deserves all the glory forever anyways, but when we see how he is working his plans in our lives, doing more than anything we could ever ask, it serves as a constant reminder that He really is worthy of all the glory.

Challenge:
Trust Him to do more than you could ever ask Him for, and remember to give Him the glory when He does.

Bethany:)