So I know I’ve kind of disappeared from Tumblr for a bit and I won’t make any promises as far as returning to my postings. Today I did have some stuff I really wanted to share and, with school not being in session, I have the time for it!

So the Clemson Foothills Church campus ministry made a packet of quiet times for everyone to go over while home for break and, thus far, they have been incredible for me.  It’s so cool to look at scriptures that other brothers and sisters have been learning and growing from and then to ask myself the questions they thought about as they read the verses.

Today and yesterday, I’ve been looking at the quiet time submitted by my lovely girlfriend and have LOVED what I’ve gotten from them.  The first of these scriptures was Luke 7:36-50. A lot of what Sara’s notes for this verse were focused on, and what I found myself writing a lot about in my notebook, was the fact that the sinful woman was able to understand God’s love because of her awareness of her own sin.  It wasn’t that she was more sinful than the man, for we know that “whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10.)  The thing that made this woman so much more in love with God was her humility and the fact that she was open and vulnerable about where she was, while the Pharisee acted as though all was good in his life, hiding behind pride and not addressing his sin for what it was.  

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much.  But he who has been forgiven little loves little.

For those of you who also follow me on twitter, you saw that verse 47 in particular gave me a lot to think about. If we are to love God as much as we should, we have to have sober judgement on where we really are spiritually and to realize who we are in our hearts when all things are revealed.  We don’t have to be more sinful in order to feel God’s love more - all of us are already sinful enough! What we have to do is to be more aware of that sin so we see just how much we have been forgiven of!

At the end of her quiet time, Sara posed the question of whether we are the Pharisee who is full of pride and pretends to have it all together or if we are the sinful woman who is in touch with her sin and is therefore open and honest and gets healed and feels God’s love! WOW! I don’t want to be the Pharisee but so often it is my nature to want people to think I have it all together and know what I am doing!  If we believe that God’s power is seen in the weak, why would we want so desperately to appear to be stronger than we are?

This question brings us to what I studied out today:

The scriptures I studied out today were just some extended reading that Sara had given at the end of yesterdays for those who wanted to look at more scriptures on how God’s grace is shown to us in our weakness.  The first passage to look at was Luke 18: 9-14. 

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable..”

From the first verse of this passage, I was already getting convicted.  Jesus gave this message on humility and the realization of our need for grace to the men and women who were confident in THEIR righteousness.  Wow.. God doesn’t want us to be insecure about who we are - he wants us to be confident! What is the problem here though?  They found their confidence in their own righteousness instead of planting themselves in the righteousness of Christ!  We need to have humility and see how weak and useless we are on our own, but then we need to find strength and confidence in who we become by the power of the Spirit!

Going on to the parable, my favorite thing is that the man who simply recognized himself as an unworthy sinner was who God says is able to truly exalt Him!  Living a life that glorifies God isn’t about reaching perfection (see Philippians 3:12-14) but is about us seeing our worthlessness so that God’s righteousness is what is seen and is glorified.  HUMILITY. A good question for yourself is - Do I try to live my life so righteously that others will see me and want to be righteous too, or do I try to live a life that is transparent so that people will be amazed by how God is working through my weaknesses and so that the awe of his power will lead them to him?

People want God’s power.

How well we are doing in purity, anger, trust, security in ourselves, etc.. isn’t what matters!  People may be effected by our lifestyle and that is great, but don’t you want to be someone who people look at to see God’s power at work and not just to see good deeds?  ”Sharing your faith” isn’t about telling people what you are studying out in the Bible and asking them to come to your Church.  REALLY sharing your faith is loving people deeply, and being open and honest so that they can see where God is moving in your life and how his power transforms the imperfect.

To wrap up this novel of a post, I’ll finish with what I got today from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 :

This passage gave me so much to reflect on with myself personally so I suggest you read it yourself and try to find your “thorns.”  Whatever you decide you have been given as a struggle/challenge to help you stay from conceit and to show you God’s grace, I challenge you to think back on.  Look on your life and see how that struggle has caused you to wrestle with God as Jacob wrestled with God and as the widow in Luke 18:1-9 fought to get answers from God.  God uses our weaknesses, as hard as they may be, to push us towards himself and to cause us to see our absolute need for Him.  

When we learn to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and let our weaknesses push us to be humble and feel God’s grace, he is able to show His power through us!  

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

If we want to make an impact on others and to show the love and power of Christ to people, we must be open about our weaknesses and let our weakness be the strength of Christ!  Do we spend more time whining about our hardships and letting them lead us to more sin and self-pity or do we see our sin for what it is and allow ourselves to be used to show God’s power?  This begs the greater question - Is your life about being holy to bring glory to yourself and gain good standing in the Church and with those who see your good acts, or is your focus to bring glory to God no matter what that takes?

I don’t know if one person will read this or 100, but if you read this I challenge you to look at the scriptures instead of taking my word for anything.  Read the verses, pray about them, take notes, and find conviction so that you can view your weakness as what it really is - a way for you to grow closer to God and bring him glory.

With love,

- Jacob

im-pactedxcierra:

Guys, don’t put your security in girls. Girls, don’t put your security in guys. Put your security in God. He is the only person who will never let you down and will always love you.

(via im-pactedxcierra-deactivated201)

Well, I guess to say it’s been a while is an understatement! Between camp, Jamaica, family vacation, traveling to New York, and moving back to Clemson I got very busy and kind of put Tumblr on the back-burner.  

I’m back.

Today, I had a quiet time on 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10 and just felt that I really needed to share this with whoever reads my blog.  I’ve found this whole book to be super encouraging, and such a reminder of our call as disciples to have love and to have faith.  

Paul and the Thessalonians have an incredible relationship, though they are so far apart, and this is because of their strong faith in God, their love for each other, and the dedication they have to praying for one another and wanting to be together so that they can push each other forward in faith.

Today, as in my quiet times over the last week, I felt pushed to be a man of God who others think of for my love and faith, and not just for being a silly guy, a nice kid, or someone who likes to go to church.  If I’m just falling into these catagories, I am obviously not following Christ very well.  Did people love Jesus and enjoy spending time around him? Most definitely! But they also felt challenged by him and called higher.  If I’m really living righteously and not just being lukewarm, then people will either love me and feel called to be closer to God because of me, or they will dislike me and what I stand for.  If I’m afraid of this, then I’m more worried about the approval of men than the approval of God.  Dag..

So this brings me to the verse that really got me today.  

1 Thessalonians 3:8 - “For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.”

Paul says that to “really live” isn’t to be  well loved, super religious, or to have a high position in church. Truly living is being able to see those who we reach out to and share the Word with “standing firm in the Lord.” Our Christianity isn’t about our works, and it’s not a numbers game to see how many people we can bring to church each sunday - but we need to lead lives “worthy of the calling (we) have recieved!” Don’t just say you are a Christian, but REALLY LIVE. Reach out to others, share your faith, share the Word, let your life be a light to those around you and be dedicating to helping others in their faith and helping them to “stand firm in the Lord.”  

To everyone from camp who reads my blog, Kristina Kesel, and all of the others who I am so close to and who live elsewhere, I want you to know that I miss you all dearly and pray for you always.

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 - “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed you are our glory and joy.”

With much love,

Jacob

e-lyse:

I miss summer. I miss the loud crickets and cicadas and hard plastic mattresses. I miss getting six hours of sleep and having spiders crawling in my shower. I miss being afraid of mice and of the moleman. I miss those tiny un-filling stinkin’ muffins. I miss my campers coming in for a late night chat and them asking advice. I miss making crafts and playing quidditch. I miss the food and the canteen. I miss Mr Sonny and Ms Carolyn and Erwin and Debbie. I miss waking up and seeing the same people every day. I miss playing Mau during counselor break and listening to love letters. I miss dodgeball after dinner and mail call. I miss the starlight devo. I miss my best friends. I miss my family.

I can’t wait to see my family again.

AMEN.

“Purer in heart, O God, help me to be; 

May I devote m life wholly to Thee;

Watch Thou my wayward feet,

guide me with counsel sweet;

Purer in heart, help me to be.

Purer in heart, O God, help me to be; 

Teach me to do Thy will most lovingly;

Be Thou my Friend and Guide,

let me with Thee abide;

Purer in heart, help me to be; 

Purer in heart, O God, help me to be; 

That I Thy holy face one day may see;

Keep me from secret sin,

reign Thou my soul within;

Purer in heart, O God, help me to be; 

This song is so powerful and really goes with what I’ve been learning this week. Don’t look at the outward sin in your life and try to change it without addressing the matters of the heart! Heart sin may manifest in outward issues, but if you aren’t going to God to get your heart in the right, pure place - There is no way that you can escape sin’s grip!

- Jacob

So I was missing in action the last few days. I’ve returned.

Good night.. I have so much to blog about! First things first, some answered prayers:

• I’ve been praying for God to give me a way to get everything paid for between bills, my passport for Jamaica, the payments for the trip itself, rent money.. A lot of things! God came through big time. I just happened to click around on the Swamp Corps website and land on the donations page. Seeing this reminded me of this group that a friend had made on facebook asking people to just give a small donation to help her trip. I connected the dots, started my own group, and people have already donated almost $200! AMEN!
• For passport and bills, my parents told me that they wanted to help and gave me my mom’s high school ring to sell to the gold buyers - $105 dollars and I’m good for the bills! 
• On top of both of these, I’ve been praying that God would provide hours for me here in Murfreesboro at Starbucks and when I went to talk to the manager she was super cool and let me post up a note to pick up shifts. Thirty minutes later, I get a call to pick up a shift.. Tomorrow! 

God provides. Nuff said.

Now to what I’ve been learning:

Sunday at Church: 

• WE SANG MEN WHO DREAM!!!
• Communion Message: Talked about a lot of deep stuff - SO GOOD! I’ll just talk about one point. He mentioned God’s specific instructions for his people, emphasizing Noah making the Ark and how it had to be this long, this high, this wide, this wood, this shape…. (VERY specific) In the same way, God has given us very specific instructions on how to live our lives as his Disciples (i.e. “not be even a hint of sexual immorality among you”) God doesn’t say, “Try to be a good person.” He gives us guidelines that he is very serious about! Do I respond like Noah and do what God has called me to do, even if it gets me scrutinized by those around me? OR do I let other people’s opinions of me or opinions about what a Christian is supposed to look like effect my judgement? Let that sink in.

Genesis 6:11-22; Ephesians 5:3

• Sermon: Jesus Commands us to Go. Where did I hear that recently? OH YEAH! Two days before at the internship. Guess God is trying to teach me something. [end tangent]

Mark 16:15-16; All of the gospel accounts

1. First he pulled from Mark when Jesus is commanding the twelve to go out and make Disciples. In this, he talks about preaching the Gospel and baptizing. Is that all that Jesus did when he made Disciples though? No. Jesus spent three whole years training the Apostles in how to love others, how to follow his commands, and how to work through problems in their character. Was this always easy? Of course not! We can look through the 4 Gospel accounts and see just how many times his Disciples were completely hard headed or just ignored Jesus completely yet he stuck by them out of love. In the same way, when we go into all nations making Disciples, we aren’t just called to teach people a little bit about the Bible and then baptize them - we have to train people and have good relationships that build each other up towards Christ and have accountability, encouragement, and really be challenging.       

Romans 1:8-16

1. 8-13: God controls where we go! Make plans, pray, and trust God to put you where you need to be.
2. 14: Paul says he was indebted to spread the Gospel. Did he just share his faith because he felt like it? Not always. He did it because he knew it was his obligation to share it with others! Who is going to remain lost for eternity because you don’t follow your obligation to share the good news with others?!?
3. 15: Be eager to share the Gospel! It is an obligation, but one we should be excited about fulfilling! You get to bring God’s love to others! That is awesome!
4. 16: Be confident in God’s Word and what God has done in your life.

My Quiet Times:

I could talk about so much.. Ephesians 4 is taking me so long because everyday I can only get through about four verses! There is just so much to unpack! I don’t want to write a novel (too late?) so I’m just going to hit on two main points.

Ephesians 4:17-32; Psalm 4:3-4

1. Do not continue living in the world. We were created to SERVE GOD, not to indulge our selfish sinful desires. People sin because they have lost all sensitivity to the Truth and what REAL happiness is. Follow Christ out of love for him and feel the love you get in return! You are toast if you try to do this on your own, so be dedicated to the Word and to prayer!
2. 4:26-27 - “In your anger, do not sin..” Anger is the root of so much evil. Watch your heart closely to avoid anger, bitterness, and all forms of malice. In this way, you can keep the devil from getting a foothold! He can use the “smallest” sin to lead to deeper and deeper sins so WATCH OUT!
3. Psalm 4:3-4 God doesn’t see you as a burden, but one set apart by him for holiness! He loves you so much and wants to help you so have Faith and confidence in Christ’s love and reach out to him! He knows your mind and follows the line about anger with telling us to search our hearts and be silent in our beds. God knows that our minds drift and dwell on sinful thoughts and things that are just unbeneficial late at night and guess what? He just gave us the cure. Steady your heart and be silent. How do we do this? PRAYER.
4. 4:29 - “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Often, people use this verse to talk about gossip, cussing, crude jokes, and other “unwholesome talk” but this verse goes beyond that! Are those things bad? Yes. But it is also talking about just our speech in general being more encouraging and being considerate of each person’s specific needs. While one person may need to hear how great their singing is, there is another person who is prideful about their singing and just needs to hear that you appreciate their friendship. Encouraging people isn’t a one-size-fits-all kind of deal - we need to build up each person according to their specific needs! How do we do that? By loving people deeply and getting to know them well enough that we can do a good job looking out for their interests.

Ok.. I think I need to be done for now. It is stupid late and I’m working 7 hours tomorrow at Starbucks here. Pray for me! Hopefully this new store likes me and I can shine the light of Christ there by really loving the people and not being afraid to say who I am and what I stand for.

Jacob out.

Ephesians 4:15-16 ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

So today was incredible. Quiet time was SO on point. Only got through these two verses, but I got so much out of it. 

The phrase “speaking the truth in love” and the fact that it is what allows us to grow up into Christ had me going for quite a bit. This phrase embodies all that it is to be a Disciple of Christ! To speak the truth, we have to be in our Word! You can’t possibly expect to speak the truth to others if you aren’t in your Bible and in prayer. What does it look like to speak the truth? Being BOLD with the Gospel and really sharing it with others, pulling from scripture to encourage, teach, and admonish others, and lastly just choosing to speak The Truth instead of our own human truths and opinions. The second part of that phrase is also part of what defines us as Disciples. “Speaking the truth in Love” For the Word of God to be meaningful and impactful it has to be used in Love and not in spite, anger, pride, or an attempt to look spiritual.

I miss the internship dearly.. The lessons learned, friendships made, and examples set by the leaders there have me completely inspired and I’m so ready to implement all that I have learned. 

Goals for Clemson: More Discipling. Starting a Bible talk on campus.

Goals for self: Having faith in God’s plans for me. Being bold and not afraid to share the Gospel that has completely transformed me. Speaking the Truth in Love.

I love my Lord. I love my relationships. I love my life.

- Jacob

WITH GOD! 

This internship is LIFE CHANGING! I have been pushed on Discipling others, stepping up as a leader, being bold in love, and just taking the battle of sin and righteousness more seriously!

I have 12 minutes of battery life remaining and the outlet is full so this tumble will just be more a list of lessons I’m learning than a deep insight.

• God called you to himself that you might be continually seeking God, not just seeking him until you decide to live your life for him. Constant process.
• Hating sin means hating ALL SIN just as God hates ALL SIN. Don’t try to get away with the “little sins” like cutting sarcasm. GOD HATES THAT! So should you.
• Being a “good christian” means nothing if you aren’t bold enough to tell the lost what they need to hear and not just what will make them like you.
• God is your best friend, so talk about him that way.
• We are called to be the salt of the earth. Salt HEALS but first has to put PAIN on the places we are hurting. We aren’t called to love comfortably, but to love people enough to really bring the scripture to them and allow them to be cut to their heart!
• Have faith and step out with what God has given you. Guess what? HE WILL BLESS THAT AND GIVE YOU IMMEASURABLY MORE!
• Your feelings aren’t Lord. Jesus is Lord. This means not just praying and “listening to your heart” but actually getting in the Word to get direction.
• “‘Preach the Word of God always. Use words when necessary.”
• Deep love: sincere, unselfish, and against common sense
• Connection to God isn’t just about connecting with God. We need to connect to the Church to teach us, the lost to inspire us and remind us of what Christ did in our lives, and with God in the Word and prayer.
• We must be constantly in training to be able to effectively train others.
• Don’t have false humility that leads to not sharing your convictions with other people by saying “they just don’t have that conviction.” If they are in sin - BE BOLD AND CALL THEM OUT

John 12:24-26

Laptop Dying. To Be Continued.

Hello friends and random tumblrs who read this,

Today begins the North River Internship program and so far I am having an awesome time! Lots of great fellowshipping with the Disciples here and I am so excited about the classes and just straight up Bible submersion this week.

I’m going to be super busy this week so.. Don’t expect posts every day and don’t expect long ones! haha I hate to have a slack week right after getting into consistency with this blog but I definitely don’t want to spend time on the web when I could be using it for better things over the next six days.

God’s lesson for me today: Thankfulness for the Kingdom and the fact that you are a part of God’s “royal priesthood.” Man.. The sermon and my conversation in the car with Sara today about this just blew my mind! Why am I not constantly showing God how grateful I am for the opportunity to be in the fellowship of believers and to be able to talk to him whenever I want because of the blood of Christ?!? This is such a big deal!

Praying that this week I can be so excited about the fact that I have been given a chance to be a part of God’s Kingdom that all thoughts of pride and insecurity will just pass away.

This week is going to be incredible.

- Jacob

1 Peter 3:9-10

Well, today was another interesting day in Clemson. Had some awesome hangout time with four friends from the singles ministry and spent the evening getting dinner with Sara and having everyone over for a movie night. I started this post as kind of a sparknotes to my day but.. Well as is the normal Jacob fashion I got kind of carried away! haha

Hang time with Kenny: Talked about Joseph and the fact that after God tested him with the rejection of his brothers, his time in slavery, and then his time in jail - He STILL wasn’t done being tested after he told the cup bearer about his dreams as that man forgot about Joseph for TWO YEARS! After all of the hard things Joseph went through, God still saw it necessary for him to spend two more years in prison to work on his character and become the man God meant for him to be. The lesson here? Trust God’s timing and persevere. If God has perfect plans for his people, then we have to trust him in the good and in the bad and just keep up the faith that he will see us through situations and we will always come out better than we entered if we will keep up the faith - whether it is the way we expected or not. Wow.. 

[Genesis 40-41 for the Joseph story]

Pray time with Roper: Before praying, we had some discussion about stuff that we have been studying out and he shared with me about something interesting in the creation story involving the creation of the birds of the air and the living creatures of the sea. It says that “God blessed them..” We had a discussion about this and what I pictured when he asked what I thought their blessings were, I said just the joy that they find in what they do and just being blessed to only go after what they are created to go after. I didn’t even realize how what I said could relate to people! David and I went into more conversation about this and he pointed out that the reason that God said that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” is that the rich do not realize their need to rely on God and live in faith as a response. God sees the “poor in spirit” as blessed because they are able to look objectively at life and know that they NEED God to provide for them and have to just have faith that meals will come and they will be taken care of. Why do we seek after the things of this world? Don’t try to get money so you can feel secure in your wallet - instead try to be secure in God no matter what lies in your pocket.

[Genesis 1:20-23 for the creatures; Mark 10:25 for the rich man; Matthew 5:3 for the poor in spirit]

Lunch with Hanifa: We made homemade pasta salad with tuna and black olives and homemade fried chicken tenders! SO STINKIN GOOD! I can’t wait to have a bigger kitchen so that I can do more cooking in the fall. Back from the food to the friend-  I am going to miss having Hanifa as our intern so much.. She was one of the people who encouraged me the most as I was studying the BIble and trying to get a conviction about really following the Bible and saying “JESUS IS LORD!” Man.. I’m going to praying for that sister every day that she is in Chicago! 

Praying with Victoria: Vic and I went to the dike to pray and wow.. Prayer at the lake is seriously unbeatable! We had some good talking time about just putting all of our faith in God and not letting worldly situations get us down or discourage us and God really showed me that my problem this week has just been complacency and a lack of will to fight to feel close to God! It isn’t something I can do or something I can fit into my day - it is a constant realization that I have to be praying and asking God for help or I am going to fail!

Quiet time: Finished of Ephesians 2 and started chapter 3 today - so much great stuff. Yet again Paul speaks straight to my heart. Verse 22 was a reminder for me of the sermon last sunday on trusting the body enough to rely on them to bear my burdens just as I make an effort to bear theirs. Why do I keep failing to meet my own expectations? PRIDE! If I am too prideful to seek help from others or too insecure that they will want to help me, I cannot grow! It says that the body is “built together” to glorify God: I can never survive Spiritually if I try to do it on my own! Don’t just talk to people about what is going on in your life - seek their help.

Ephesians 2:22

The second main point I had today was that even Paul felt like he was “less than the least” as a Christian. Following Christ doesn’t mean being perfect. It means realizing that we can’t be, and fighting to live a life led by the Spirit and not be our nature.

Ephesians 3:8

Dinner tonight was really fun - Chickfila sandwiches, fries, and a million sauces with Sara. We were super silly and I turned into ‘Toms  Sawyer’ when we were on the Starbucks porch eating and drinking some frozen strawberry lemonades.

• Current character work: Grace and Trust.
• Current focus in the Bible: Ephesians 3
• Current main prayer request: Clarity
• Current answered prayer: God blessing my last full day in Clemson
• Current biggest encouragement: Everyone who wanted to hang out with me today and all the amazing conversations I had!
• Current random: I redeemed not one, but two free sandwich coupons tonight

Every night, I’m loving doing this blog and looking back on my day to realize just how many lessons God has tried to teach me and how many blessings I had - no matter how sad or frustrated I may have felt at any point. Our God is an Awesome God.

 - Jacob

Well, today was a day filled with Testing. Yet again, God has shown me that “perseverance (produces) character; and character, hope.”

Today started with a whole lot of struggling: people, selfish desires, lack of closeness to God, lack of faith in God’s providence with money for some things.. All in all let’s just say my heart was not in the right place and I was super discouraged. I was at a low with not a whole lot of joy or hope in situations but with some prayer, it all turned around.

The turnaround: Got on the cat bus to find Kenny driving and talked to him about perseverance and going to God; walked in to the copy shop to have a great dane walk up to me, lay against my leg, and let me pet it the whole time I was waiting; made friends with a guy at the bus stop who I walked all the way home with sharing life stories and talking about religion; got encouraged that KRISTINA KESEL IS READING THIS BLOG AND ENJOYING IT; found a check for fifty bucks; had an intense revelation in my quiet time; and read through a third of Not Even A Hint by Joshua Harris.  God gave me a mess load of encouragement!

Did I do some awesome thing midday to give myself a turning point? Did I somehow prove my worth to God or work out spirituality by studying out a million scriptures on conviction? NO. All I did was pray for God to pull me out of a rut and put Satan underfoot and he went the next step and squashed all of my frustration with blessings and encouragement. God is SO GOOD!

Favorite part of my quiet time today: 

“He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near” - Ephesians 2:17

Ok, so first off let’s look at the context of the times - Paul was addressing the Jews and Gentiles and telling that Jesus came to preach his message of grace to both those who were far from God (gentiles) and those who were near (jews). Does it say that the Jews who lived under the law were “those who were working harder than they needed to” or “those who were already in a relationship with God” ? NO! Paul says “those who were near.” In the same way, there are people today who are living in this way: they love God and are trying desperately to live a life that pleases him but are living by the law and not by the Spirit! Christ came that we could live life through him by the Spirit to gain access to the Father! If we will believe, repent, and be baptized - we have his spirit to lead us in righteousness! This destroys the barrier of sin brings us from “far away” or even “near” and allows us to have a direct relationship with God!

If you don’t have this- what are you waiting for? Talk to me. The scriptures make the way to God very clear, we just have to seek him and be willing to make the commitment to make Jesus Lord.

• Current character work: FAITH.
• Current focus in the Bible: Ephesians 2
• Current main prayer request: Money working out for the Jamaica trip
• Current answered prayer: God working out everything with the Internship and my passport situation
• Current biggest encouragement: God’s unfailing love in the good times and the bad
• Current random: Go read Not Even a Hint. Life changer

- Jacob

philippians4-8:

Sometimes I feel that I could fight an army
With just me and you, there’s no one could harm me.
Oh, but sometimes I can feel a little shy,
It’s when I need to know that you are there that’s why I’m singing

*Be with me Lord, Be with me Lord
be with me Lord, oh, be with me,
be with me, be with me…

Wow.. The last two days have been CRAZY! Nothing went according to my plans at all, and honestly most things went an opposite direction but amen for learning how to deal when the unexpected hits - good or bad.

Wednesday:

Awesome quiet time (still going through Ephesians) on remembering God’s power and that all the victories I’ve seen in the last two years - my baptism, all the sins and struggles I’ve overcome, my friendships, dating Sara, full time at Swamp, Jamaica Swamp Corps.. These things are all amazing but the glory belongs to God for working all of this situations out to his glory! It is so easy to get prideful, even about spiritual things and that makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER! I don’t need to be fighting to be a man who is known for his accomplishments but for my humble heart and openness to let God work through me! 

Athens trip.. SO GOOD! The pancake breakfast, chill time with ma boys, Starbucks and prayer time with Sara, my first Athens Banquet, and then more praying and some silly car time with Sara. Man.. I’m so grateful for that relationship and to just see how it’s pushing me to be a leader. I don’t know who’s reading this or will read it one day but fellas: don’t settle! There are women out there who love God way more than you or anyone else! Girls like this will make you smile and laugh and be silly with you because they understand true joy yet they can also talk with you deeper than anyone you know. What makes these girls different? Seeking God above all things. True Disciple character. I don’t know if tumblr is a place for hash tags but I am #grateful .

Thursday:

Around midnight I got picked up by Charlie, Reese, and Adam in Commerce and headed back to tiger town for a sleepover. The 16 hours they spent up here were awesome. Praying, bible study, Chick-fil-a, Starbucks, campus tour, games in the library, fishing. I’m so glad they got to come up.

Tonight was my last softball game of season and I think I’m done for good.. We will see. It’s just been something really testing my pride and selflessness as I don’t get much play time after paying so much for season. It’s hard when you have a big team though! And I think it’s interesting with Church leagues trying to balance fun and just putting in everybody with trying to win games and make it to the championship. All in all, I did have a great time this season - just wish I’d spent more time in the game!

• Current character work: Faith without fear
• Current focus in the Bible: Ephesians 2
• Current main prayer request: My meeting with Clemson tomorrow and getting my passport in time.
• Current answered prayer: My heart being much more willing to love others and be service minded
• Current biggest encouragement: Seeing God plan things
• Current random: Vanilla cupcake goldfish - taste just like icing

- Jacob

Note: This post will be a bit choppy because Tumblr logged me out after thirty minutes of typing and deleted my entire first post.. Don’t feel like redoing the whole thing right now.

Encouragement:

• God brought that guy to me to study the Bible when his heart was in a perfect place after I had been reaching out to him for ten months and we’re already done three Bible studies..  Wow! He is eating it up and I’m just blown away that he is wanting to go after God now when I was about ready to give up! God did this in HIS timing and not in my own! 
• Today was my last day at Starbucks of Clemson for summer and a bunch of my customers showed a whole lot of love and told me that they would make sure to talk to my manager about rehiring me in the fall. I was really reassured by that and am starting to feel at peace about God’s plans and the fact that he will have the right job for me in the fall.

Not so fun:

• Had to say bye to K Frid today after he’d become one of my best friends over the last semester. It’s hard for me to say goodbye to my close friends, but even harder to know that I won’t have those relationships that encourage me and push me so much spiritually close by over the summer.
• Last night I felt myself sinking back into my old self and it was super discouraging.. It had me feeling kinda low after work today but my quiet time was on the beginning of Ephesians 2 today about not living for the sinful nature and it really encouraged me to keep relying on the spirit and not go back to living like the Jacob who is dead in sin.

Came to Athens today for a meeting with the Athens LIGHT guys (Living to Inspire Global Healing Today) and it was really motivating! I’m excited to start a group up in Clemson to start working on the LIMYE project for Haiti to give health care and education to some women who really need it. 

Tomorrow is Athens banquet and I am SO PUMPED! I’m having a great time with Sara and all of the guys and girls from the campus ministry down here. It’s been great connecting with my close camp friends and just having some time that actually feels like summer!

I might take a day off from blogging but.. We’ll see!

- Jacob

Today was mad encouraging.

First off, had my second bible study with a guy I’ve been reaching out to for a while and it was so great seeing someone so eager to change their life and seek after God.. Man! So thankful to be able to watch someone go through what I went through 16 months ago.

Studied out Ephesians 1:11-22 and was convicted today about two things.

1. Living a life that reflects Love and Faith. These are the two things about the Ephesians that encouraged Paul to be constantly giving thanks and praying for them. If I want to be a man who inspires others and encourages them, I need to be a man who has this character! Showing others my love for them and faith in Christ by my life, not just my words.
2. Looking to the Spirit for Wisdom, Joy, Understanding, and Hope. If I try to somehow get my heart to experience these things or try to work them out on my own, I WILL FAIL! I need to rely more on the Spirit!

Tonight I went to the lake with Eric, Hanifa, Ben, DJ, and Blake and had an awesome time playing volleyball and praying together after the sunset. Can I just say, I LOVE having friends who I know can have fun and be spiritual in the same night - not a double life, but a consistency to do all things for Christ.

Tomorrow, I leave for Athens to stay with my boys and see my girlfriend. Yes please. Athens campus ministry banquet is going to be amazing.

• Current character work: Reflecting faith and love
• Current focus in the Bible: Ephesians 1
• Current main prayer request: Getting my passport in time
• Current answered prayer: Open hearts
• Current biggest encouragement: My Athens trip working out for this week
• Current random: I have four followers and I’m super encouraged!