Whose God?

Happy Easter everyone! I love Easter Sunday. Everyone gets all dressed up for church, and it's perfectly acceptable to stuff your face full of chocolate! It also ends the 40 days of Lent. (Which now means I have to decide on my own whether or not to drink soda.) But it's also the end of the "month" that I was talking about previously in which God wanted me to draw closer to Him and my Christian sisters.

It's been an amazing journey that I know will continue the rest of my life. As I sat with my girlfriends around the dinner table Tuesday and poolside Friday, laughing at each other and sharing embarrassing stories, I was once again so thankful for the past months to build these friendships.

But the past couple of weeks, I also felt God wanting me to draw closer to Him. In this journey, I have fallen in love with my savior, and didn't know it could be possible to draw any closer! But, of course, I was wrong. Sometimes I think God is just sitting back waiting to say, "Gotcha!"

It's so easy for us to put God in a box. We can't fathom just how big or awesome He is, but sometimes we get so stuck on how big He is, that we don't realize how personal He wants to be with us.

Then, when we have an amazing experience like a child is born, or a trying time like a job loss, we call on Him for help. But He wants to be there all the time!

I've always had a hard time with the scriptures in the Bible that say, "your God," or "the God of Abraham." Ramses often speaks to Moses saying, "the Lord your God."

"Forgive my sin only this once, and plead with the LORD your God to take away this terrible plague." Exodus 10:17

If I was Moses, (so it's probably a good thing I'm not)I'd tell Ramses he's an idiot for not realizing that the LORD my God is the only God. DUH.

I know culturally there were so many gods, that they clarified it that way, but it aggravated me! He is the one true God. The God of everyone, whether you believe it or not!

This still irritated me until the other day when I heard on KSBJ a story of a woman who called in about her husband wanting a divorce after over 20 years of marriage. The sadness and desperation in her voice broke my heart. After hearing several people call in to support, encourage and pray for her, she called back saying, "I thank MY GOD for my Christian family."

Wow. What a spin on the "your God" theory. True, He is the one true God, but He also wants me to know Him as MY GOD. MY SAVIOR. MY FATHER. MY REDEEMER. MY DELIVERER.

David often cried out calling God, "my God."

"Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you. You are my God." Psalms 86:2

What a personal way to reference God. He is MY GOD. MY ROCK. MY SALVATION. So why is it so hard for us to have this personal relationship with Him? Why is it easy to praise Him in great happiness and cry out to Him in great sorrow, but so difficult to daily walk by His side as MY GOD?

WHY ARE WE STUCK IN THE MIDDLE?

I have a visualization of man in the middle, desperation on the right and happiness on the left. Then, when one or the other happens, we grab God. But otherwise, we just keep walking.

There is another image, one we've been talking about in Re:Student Ministry. There are so many Christians that are stuck in the middle. It's too scary to jump all in, but you know you don't want to live this life of sin.

The answer, as Jonathan Spencer said so clearly last Wednesday, is fear. Fear of the unknown. It's also fear of having to give something up. For our high-schoolers, maybe it's popularity. For us in single life maybe it's our independence and control. And for many of us, maybe it's a relationship, or even the pursuit of a relationship.

It's a fear of greatness. When Jonathan said "maybe it's a relationship," it made me reflect on why so many women, myself included, have a tendency to cycle through bad relationships. We are afraid of being in a healthy relationship. We are so comfortable being in self-destructive ones that we don't know how to be in a good one much less in one with the most-high God! After all, that is the ultimate relationship. Don't be afraid of greatness!

If we are still holding onto our control and our relationships on earth, for fear of what God has in store, we can never fully understand what it's like to call Him, "my God."

I remember giving my testimony in front of the class and saying that God showed me I had two options. In one hand was the mess I had made with my life, and in the other was Him and His desire to give me life more abundantly. But, I had to give up my life. I had to die to myself and accept Him with everything.

There is a story of a little girl who owned fake dinosaur pearls. She loved them dearly. And everyday her daddy would ask for the pearls. She would give her daddy anything else, but not the dinosaur pearls. Finally, she gave them to her daddy. And he gave her a strand of real pearls. He was waiting for her to give up the cheap imitation, so he could give her real thing.

What are you holding onto? Is it a life of sin? God wants wants to give you real life. Is it a relationship or the pursuit of one? God wants to give you the one relationship that will always satisfy. Don't settle for the cheap imitation. Don't be stuck in the middle, because you are holding onto something comfortable.

Are you afraid of greatness because you fear that you are unworthy? By His grace you are made worthy! This again, was something else that God showed me in this month. I am worthy by His blood! And He is the only one I have to be worthy of. (I know, that should have read "of worth to," but it just doesn't have the same emphasis.) Don't ever think you aren't worthy of anyone or any church or any responsibility; God has made you worthy.

"I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels." Isaiah 61:10

No matter what my past was, I have been washed by blood of the LORD MY GOD! So stop living in the middle. He desires you! He is running to you with open arms asking you to call Him "My God."

Now today, I give you challenging questions:
So what are you holding onto that is keeping you in the middle?
What are you holding onto that keeps you from calling Him, "Mine?"
What relationship or pursuit, is keeping your relationship with Him second?

Praise be to MY GOD who defeated the grave!

Thank you for letting me come out of my comfort zone and wear my heart on my sleeve. It's not easy proclaiming this for the virtual world to see, but I type in obedience to Him. (and when you consistently have people that like to check your text messages, you don't have much privacy anyway).

But on this Easter Sunday, I leave you with these song lyrics of God desperately wanting a relationship with you. After all, that was what the cross was for. He suffered just for YOU, so that you could have eternal life with him.

P.S. There is one more question at the end...

By Your Side

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go

Final question: Why would you want anything else? Praise be to OUR GOD.