Nuggets

~* Faithful *~
Crying, depressed, beaten down to the dirt, that was me! That day the devil had his free reign on me, I had let down my shield of faith in my God, and that is when he (the devil) hit me blow by blow and all I did was sit there and drink in every one of the devil's lies, "Your worthless, your nothing, why should anyone care about you? There is no reason to go on in life, why not end it all..." The list went on, I just sat there. Why, You ask? That week I had been having a small problem with one of my friends, and my friend had no idea what was going on, they had not talked to me in just 2 weeks and I let down my guard cause I listened to that small voice that said "Why would that friend love you? You don't mean anything to that friend, they don't give a flip, that is why they haven't talked to you..." Again the list would go on and on. At the moment I "started" to listen to those voices my faith went PLOP, down the drain, I started to think, "Well maybe God doesn't really have everything in control, maybe He really does not care about me..." And my list went on for a long while. But then a figure, a shadow, something with life came up to me and gave me a good SHAKE back to earth. "What are you doing?" It was my brother, he wanted to get online, and I was sitting in the chair that was in front of the computer. So I got up and moved into our Music room (a room in our house with drums, lots of guitars, keyboard, an Organ, etc.) and just sat there again, staring at the floor. Then I looked up at the Keyboard and noticed a song (one I had written a few weeks before this trauma in my life) that was written on some paper, but it was not just a song, something about that song caught my attention. So I made my way over to where it was standing and read the words to myself: If it is Your will- then let it be- if it's Your will- then let it be done to me... Whatever You want- whatever needs to happen- let it be according to Your words.... It may hurt- it may sting- but if it is Your will then I will be still.
Those words, they struck me in awe, I was drowned in my own tears of guilt for not trusting in MY GOD! I was convicted guilty, I had forgotten His goodness and let MY problems get in the way of everything, what could I do? Right there, in that room, on that night, and in my tears I tried to express my sorrow to my King. I confessed to Him what I had done and I not only "confessed" my deed, BUT I also gave Him the situation with my friend, told Him I would not worry about it about it any more, cause I was putting it in His hands. And you know what? He forgave me...
Is that all? Do you think that that is the end of the story? Well if your answer was yes, then you are wrong! God did not just forgive me, He gave me this overwhelming peace, pure joy, complete freedom, and I felt the most comforting, loving arms enfolding me! And He did not stop there, oh no He is a loving God, full of mercy and compassion, THAT week my friend talked to me and no where else have I found a better friend then that one!
David wrote in Psalm 103:2-6:
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits--
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
Do you remember the story of Job (for a short version you can read Job 1:1, 1:6-22, 2:2-10, 42:10-16)? God was testing Job and He allowed the devil to do whatever with Job as long as he (the devil) did not kill him. We, like Job, are tested. We go through trials and tribulations and then we either 1. Blame God and say "Why are you doing this to me?" or 2. We say that we must have "sinned" to have brought this upon ourselves (like the people did to Job, they told him that he must have sinned to have received all his hardships). But really God just wants to see if we will remain faithful to Him! James wrote: My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have it's perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4). Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promises to those who love Him (James 1:12). Endure your trials, praising God almighty through it all.
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6)".

~*GOLD NUGGET 2*~ COME NEAR...
"I want to know you more, I want to see you, Lord come near to me!" That was my cry, my plead, I wanted to know God more, I wanted Him so bad, I wanted Him to come down to me. That has always been my cry, till I learned something.
Just last night I visited God, He did not visit me. Does that sound strange? But if you look, Jesus said He is always with us, He will never leave us. Then where is He when we need Him? He is right there! We have to come to Him Jame 4:8 "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your heands, you sinners; and purify your hearts you double-minded." We have to be pure and wanting Him. When I visited with Him, He told me to tell this to the world:

"Come near to Me, Just try. Stop singing "I want You", Crying "Oh give me more of You", pleading "I need more of You". Please just come to Me!! I want you, don't you know that I love you? I sent My Son, My only Son to die? How can you not see how much I love you? What more do you want? Just come near to Me! I want you, you are My creation, I made you for me! I want to know you more, come fellowship with Me, I want you!"

He wants to know us, but we are so busy to just sit and wait for Him. But that is what it was made to be, not a quick "Read the Bible, ok I can go now". We don't have time to just sit and come near to God, do you make time for Him? I am guilty of being too busy for Him. Everyday I think I am too busy to just sit and read my Bible, or to just sit and pray. But that is what the devil wants. He has put us on a spinning wheel where we don't have time to get off and think and meditate on Jesus.
Haggai wrote:
Haggai 1:7-9 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may... be honored," says the LORD. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house."
That speaks to us as well, "Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may... be honored". God wants us to build His house (which we are His temple, His house, His dwelling place), and so we are to do the things which He asks us to (doing the works which He commands, cause the more we do, the more we build up what He wants us to become.
Then it says, "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" We expect much from God, and we expect to have a good life and to stay healthy and well fed, and we expect to get all the stuff that we want... but then something happens, and we become broke or we did not get to eat, or someone hurts us (emotionally), and we wonder why. What you brought home, He blew it all away.
The answer, "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. " We are so busy with ourselves that we don't have time for Him. We don't keep building our relationship with God, we don't obey Him (or really listen for His voice to know what to do), and it is because we are too busy with our own house... With ourselves! We need this, we are too busy for that, we need this, we need that, I want that, I need that, I have to have this, etc..
God wants you, He made you for Him. Come to Him today!