life... thru Ivey's lens..

I feel like people (myself included) think to stop sining, you can just not do what you were doing and it be done!

But what you were doing had become a part of your way of living, your lifestyle.

So change won’t come as easy as, “I’m going to stop today”, when your life provides opportunity after opportunity to engage in that sin.

That’s why I’ve added this particular text to my list of favorite verses in the bible from Romans 13, “14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

Make every effort to avoid walking in the way of sin.. and if that path happens to be your way, you can blame it on God right?! ….. NO! Rather… call on God remembering that He’ll never put you through anything that you cannot bear, and in Him overcome.

Realize that this encounter with sin has occurred to increase your faith in His power to save, and further solidify the character of love, the spirit of heaven in your soul.

thoughts (that may be a bit discombobulated as i was driving, thinking, and typing)

Gods ideal for helping us to do or be is by providing opportunities to do and be and only after beginning to put forth a concerted effort, relying on Him for the strength to succeed. It’s coming to a realization of what you know you’ll do in situations, believing that God can give you the strength to do differently, then acting like it. But with God being God,  our “acting” will become legitimate habits and intentions just by virtue of who He is, and what He has promised.

From Experience

Obedience, true obedience, takes a whole lot of TRUST.

Of course when you don’t quite know the outcome. But more so when in your obedience, you don’t see immediate evidence or reason to obey, you must trust that the One who has given the rule knows this will be of benefit to you. Particularly, obedience to God in LARGE part means, a disobedience to self, to what you may know to be good. A suppression of your personal, natural, lustful, gluttonous desires. Those things that give immediate, fairly instant gratification, but always leave you empty in the long run, and realizing you’ve SPENT a certain amount of time and it’s lead to nothing. A disobedience to God leaves you on a roller coaster ride in life. An awesome high, then a tragic low. Trusting in the All Knowing means you now have access to a being who can direct you better than your mother, better than your boss, better than you brotha from anotha motha! Better than your 10 years experience. And that feeling of accomplishment as you trust in Him will outshine any of those small seemingly significant attempts at self gain that you’ve made without HIm…

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Christ, and He will direct your path. -David

so this sabbath, i decided to stay home from church and do some introspection. realizing there are a loooot of things going on in my life, and i’ve not yet been able to grasp one very well.. as a christian, i realize that true success with anything comes as a result of being in tuned with God. understanding who He is, who He’s made you to be and what path he wants you to take with the gifts He’s given you.. on top of that, you’ve got to accept it all, and make every effort to succeed with it all, in spite of the fact that we are born in bodies, with minds and tendencies that are bent exactly in the opposite direction of who God is, and what He wants us to do. success, and in the christian realm, perfection, can be attained, God said it in his Word, and showed it THROUGH his Word. i’ve recently heard a number of songs and quotes speaking to the topic of faith, leaving it in God’s hands, understanding when we can’t do it ourselves, but along with all that, God has required us to DO a number of things, LIVE OUT a number of qualities and PUT ON  a lot of traits, character traits that are a reflection of who He is… and that isn’t as easy as waking up and breathing (with the help of God) you’ve actually got to put work into the cultivation of your christian life.

i’ve recently heard a concept stated in a number of different ways, nothing great is attained without first putting in work, effort, and having to deny yourself of something. and that rings true, clearly in the spiritual realm, but particularly for me in my photography business. i’ve not put as much work as i need to into my business. just within the last 7-10 day’s i’ve been following a few posts, video and text, of a few of my FAVORITE photographers, Jasmine Star and Chase Jarvis, and something that has really stuck out to me with what they’re doing is, they put there ALL into their work. it’s not something that they happened to be good at, and are relying on that gift/talent to springboard them into awesome success… they’re puttin in hours to make this passion of theirs a reality, doing all they can to get better, and then help others get there as well. they also are doing it all as the real authentic jasmine and chase, and who they are is bursting through in all their work! their lives are what make their business so successful. they are authentically themselves in every way and that is a HUGE key in what makes them such a success!

i’ve realized over the past few weeks also, as i read a book i bought on my iPhone, Living on the Edge, by Chip Ingram, which is a study of how to live a Romans 12 life, that each and every, if not more of the things pointed out by chase and jasmine can and should be applied to our Christian lives! Authenticity! Dedication! Self Denying! Passion! Reliance on more than self!

i just really thank God for giving me these gifts, desires, and dreams.. i just hope and pray i can become man enough, to do what I do, in His name, heartily to Him, and let His glory be known to the world.