Today is Friiidaaaay, today is Fridaaaay, is everybody happy well I should say!
Hi friends! Welcome to Friday and the LIVE IT OUT! List. Mind if I take this list to be a teeny, tiny bit selfish? Ok! :) I am in desperate need of your thoughts. You all bring so many lovely things to the List each time so will you take a moment to consider these questions? I am working on a new project to pitch to a publisher and I want to make sure I am on the right track. Whenever I write, it is so important to me that I am cutting to the chase and writing to what will serve you and usher you into a more meaningful conversation with Jesus. So here goes. This is a bit raw for me to ask these questions and put the whole book project out there. Raw and nerve racking.
While the title is not nailed down the main concept of this new project is: Meditations on a Life Entangled in the Presence of God.
It would mean so very much if you would take a quick sec and leave a comment to any or all of the questions below. I cherish your thoughts and ideas.
~The word entangled can have all kinds of connotations attached to it. But, what does the image of “life entangled in the presence of God” say to you? What do you first think of?
~ What kinds of limitations do you feel (if any) does the world…or maybe even the church… put on your personal interaction with the Lord via prayer, His Word, worship, His creation?
~ While still grounded in Scripture, prayer, worship, what do you long to see in your relationship with Jesus? What seems to be keeping you from experiencing God in fresh ways? What limitations do you place in your relationship with Him?
Ok…those were pretty heavy questions. I seriously can’t wait to see what you think. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for taking time to share these with me. If you feel like you would rather not share publicly, PLEASE feel free to hit the contact button at the top of this page and it will email me directly with your thoughts.
Hugs to you!
~The word entangled can have all kinds of connotations attached to it. But, what does the image of “life entangled in the presence of God” say to you? What do you first think of?
In this phrase I feel like a entangled means snare. I know what you mean to say but this was my first impression.
~ What kinds of limitations do you feel (if any) does the world…or maybe even the church… put on your personal interaction with the Lord via prayer, His Word, worship, His creation?
I believe I am the only one who puts limitations on my interactions with the Lord. However, I also believe the church needs to encourage more prayer. There are few if any prayer meetings. Few if any churches have a prayer line for those that might need prayer. This is sad to me.
~ While still grounded in Scripture, prayer, worship, what do you long to see in your relationship with Jesus? What seems to be keeping you from experiencing God in fresh ways? What limitations do you place in your relationship with Him?
I long for His presence. I long from r the day I no longer walk in my own flesh but in His strength and that when people look at me they see Jesus not Donna. This is the prayer of my heart.
I am th be stumbling blocks ck. I look for response, or approval from others because I don’t al aye hear it from God. In pile love to block out the doubt the enemy places on my worthiness. Sometimes it is me that causes doubt and insecurity because all my life I have always had to strive harder to meet approval of parents, siblings, spouse, children, work.
The limitations I place s the m to be my time. No don’t sp be the time I need to with Him consistently. He is faithful. I want to be equally faithful.
Not sure Hess answers are you hat you are looking for but they are honest & from the heart .
Thank you for taking the time to read it.
I love Luke love to help in anyway I can.
Donna! This is super helpful Thank you!
A life entangled with Christ to me, means showing that every aspect of your life, large or small, is set in Christ. He comes absolutely first, His desires and wants overtake our own desires and wants.
I believe the world, and even the church today, have set up this image of how we as Christians, are suppose to look, feel, act, etc. Christians should be like this, but not like this. David Platt’s book “Counter Culture” really opens eyes–we cannot stand for 1 morally incorrect agenda, yet not care about another. But, in today’s world, we are expected to stand by and watch man “tweak” God’s law’s to fit what man wants.
I want to see, in my own personal relationship with Christ, freedom. I need freedom from oppression, freedom from bondage, and I know I can only find that in Christ.
Yes Freedom!!!!
What does the image of “life entangled in the presence of God mean to me?” To me it means that my life is so entangled with God, so intertwined with His presence that it is almost like the breath that I breathe. To be in the presence of God is such a peaceful and humbling experience.
What kind of limitations do I feel the the world or even the church puts on my personal interactions with the Lord via prayer, His Word of Worship. I feel that the world puts limitations on everything that had to do with God, therefore there are times that it puts limitations on what I can say or where I can say it. I also believe the church puts limitations on prayer because it is not taught as being a priority in the Christian’s life. It is not emphasized just as knowing and reading God’s Word is not taught much in churches anymore. Worship can come in many forms and when churches try to make everyone conform to the same style, the same songs, etc, that puts limitations on worship for me.
What do I see in my relationship with Jesus? What seem to be keeping me from experiencing God in fresh ways? What limitations do I place on my relationship with Him? In my relationship with Jesus I want to get back the passion that I had when I was first saved. I want to know Him more and more and when I fail to spend time with Him I kinda berate myself. I think this goes along with the limitations I place on myself too. I have a hard time grasping what I read when I read the Bible and I get so frustrated with myself when I can’t remember what I have read that sometimes I pull away and that puts a limitation on my relationship with him. I am always looking for fresh ways to keep my relationship with God alive and showing him that I love him. I guess in away I am in chains when I limit myself by getting frustrated when I can’t understand or grasp what I have read. I pray before I begin and ask God to open my mind and my understanding of what His Word is saying and how I can apply it to my life and my relationship with Him. I want to be attuned to His Word that I can readily help others to see the truth and love in his Words.
Thank you for pouring your heart out!
~ While still grounded in Scripture, prayer, worship, what do you long to see in your relationship with Jesus? What seems to be keeping you from experiencing God in fresh ways? What limitations do you place in your relations.
I long to see Him working, for a long time it’s felt like nothing is happening and I’m just waiting. Stop me from experiencing- probably the frustration over waiting and feeling in a wilderness, but maybe that is the limitation I put on myself? Another limitation is sometimes o ithink if I don’t get what o want or how I planned than they can never be good.
I think it is doing our best to live every moment in God’s pesense and to live like Jesus is still with us on the earth.For me it is about how we live everyday, it is living as Jesus would as much as we can as simple humans.
Hey girl! First, I love the concept. That’s the kind of life I wanna live! (The kind of life I do live?) I’m envisioning someone wrapped up loosely like in ribbon. She’s definitely joyful.
As far as limitations–I think about comfortability. My own comfort zone but also those around me. Over the last week there have been several things the Lord’s asked me to do that I wasn’t comfortable doing and impacted others outside of their comfort zones too but I’m so glad I did because God knew what He was doing! I also think things we’ve never experienced before limit us. One of my mentors’ life theme is “There’s more!” and I think we get content where we are and afraid of the more because we don’t know what it might look like, haven’t seen it before, etc.
Yeah… if you want me to expand on/develop that more, let me know. :)
Hi Sarah,
When I think of a life entangled with Christ, I think of two things.
1: Pray continually. How challenging this is because of how far away heaven seems in our daily lives. Even women that are true Christ followers sometimes turn to friends or our husbands instead of Christ in both good times and bad.
2. WWJD bracelets. Even though the actual bracelets are laughable as a fashion statement, the idea behind them is great. I think it started as an attempt to incorporate the mind of Christ into our daily lives. When faced with difficulty, we should always ask what Christ would do, for this is the very definition of a Christ follower. To be entangled with Christ would mean incorporating the mind of Christ into every decision. A daunting, yet worth task!