21 Days without Netflix

As I was doing my devotions this morning I came across, not by accident it was in the reading plan, 1 Chronicles 21: 18-27.  This passage of scripture is about King David. Gad, a prophet, had been commanded by an angel of God to tell David to raise an alter on Ornan's threshing floor. (For those of you who don't know a threshing floor is where the harvest takes place and is collected and the chaff is removed.) So David went out to Ornan's place and offered to buy it so that he could build an alter to the LORD. However, Ornan told him he could just have it, but what David said next is was sparked a fire in me:

" But King David said to Ornan, 'No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.'" 

                                                                                                                    - 1 Chron. 21:24

I will not offer that which has cost me nothing...

There are so many different directions my brain goes, homiletics wise, with this phrase, but they one that impacts me most is what we, today, offer to God.  You see we today tend to offer God things that cost us nothing.  We do not sacrifice the things we enjoy often enough just to be with the LORD.  I know plenty of people who stay home from church because their favorite football team is playing or they leave as soon as church "lets out" so they don't miss too much of it.  I also know plenty of people who work on Sunday's when they don't have to just to make a little extra cash.  I know people who don't do their devotions because they have homework to do or yard work or didn't set their alarm early enough (I'm even guilty of this).  There are plenty of excuses to not spend time with God, I bet you could think of plenty of them that you or someone you know has used even in the past week.  But sacrifice is what being a follower and lover of Jesus is all about.  We laid down our lives for the work of the Lord when we confessed with our mouths that Jesus as our Savior (Romans 10:9). However, most of us tend to forget this sacrifice, especially those of us who live in places where we are not persecuted on a daily basis.

For many reasons we find ourselves wondering where God is and what he is doing in our lives, but mainly because we fail to spend time with Him, reading his word, listening for his voice, and resting in his peace.  But none of those reasons are good reasons. They are simply excuses. We are told to meditate on God's word day and night (Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2) and to never stop praying (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18), but we tend to forget.  Now am I saying your whole day should be consumed with God? Yes!! However, that does not mean you fail to clean the house or do what is required of you at work.  I'm saying when you feel the need to gossip, pray for that person instead. When you want to complain about life, bring your concerns to God. When you are frustrated because this is the third day you have had to redo a chore because the kids or your husband left it dirty, messy, or out of order, Thank God for those people in your life and pray that they would have a good day.  In your devotions memorize scripture, get index cards and place them so that you can memorize. When a verse pops into your head think about it. Don't just read through a book or chapter or verse to say you did your devotions, read it two or maybe three times, grab a highlighter and discover what "jumps" out at you. Ask God what he is saying to you through these verses.  Don't let life go by without knowing Jesus because you couldn't sacrifice.

So what will I be sacrificing? You guessed it, Netflix.  My I'm bored and have nothing else or don't want to do anything else time waster.  I asked God what I had in my life that I could give up for the sake of spending time with him and started listing off what I could give up. Facebook, I'm not on it so often that it consumes more than 30min of my day.  Pinterest, still not overly time consuming (anymore- used to be though). 1 meal a day- Sometimes I forget to eat anyway so that didn't work.  And then there was a small whisper, Netflix.  Yesterday I probably spend 5+ hours watching Netflix. Often times its when I'm doing something else, but still it took my mind off all things including spending time with God. So for the next 21 days I will not be watching Netflix.  Why, because it is a sacrifice. It is going to be hard not to want to open my computer and watch Criminal Minds, some Food Network or HGTV show when I feel bored or just don't want to do anything else.  My husband and I like to watch things on Netflix together sometimes, but I'm giving up that as well.

So what will you sacrifice? Have a plan and write it down.  Let someone know so they can hold you accountable! I dare you to experience what God may have for you when you do.

It's the Little Things

Today I was sitting at my kitchen table just working on some homework and listening to a random top hits playlist when the song All of Me by John Legend came up.  I was mindlessly singing along while typing up my paper when I heard a second voice singing with me.  No one else was home so I looked around to see who could be singing with me and of course no one was there. So I stopped singing and the second voice remained and it completely drowned out the voice of John in the background.

Now this may sound crazy to some of you, but I believe that there is a God who works and speaks through anything. We do find an example of this in the Bible where God uses a donkey to get his word across to his prophet  Balaam. (If you care to read that story you will find it in Numbers 22).

As I was listening I teared up and when it got to the chorus and I was able to sing along with my savior.  For those of you who have read my previous blogs you will find that I have struggled with feeling that I am enough. Pretty enough, a good enough Christian, a good enough wife, or even a good enough person.  Now these are all lies the devil uses in my life playing off of my insecurities, yes I do think the devil knows my insecurities just as Christ does. I have allowed these lies to penetrate my life every now and again and they tend to wreck me. In fact sometimes I go into a mini depression because I just don't feel like what I am is enough, but today I was reminded through a song that God love ALL of me with All of Him no matter what.

Today I felt like God's favorite. Granted because he is omnipresent everyone is his favorite, but today I can say the love of my heavenly father poured out from heaven and broke me free of the insecurities I was feeling today. Now they may resurface, but this experience is one I will keep in my heart forever to use against those thoughts and take them captive as we are instructed to do in 2 Corinthians.

Praise God for all that is able to do for he is the true overcomer of all my fears, insecurities, sins, etc. 

So I will challenge you today to keep your heart, mind, eyes, and ears open because you never know when God will amaze you!