Detours- what way do I go?

Detours--they are everywhere
Sometimes you can't avoid them but when you don't know where you are or how to find your way back on the right track- you may need to use a gps.
I once sat in on a sermon by Francis Chan. He was talking about a GPS, but not in the way of being on the road. But rather as Gods navigational system. That he has this life measured out for us. He has a DESTINATION. He has a destiny. It went on to be a powerful sermon. I have it on audio if anyone wants to borrow it.

How incredible is it though?! Our life is is being navigated by God! But how does a GPS work in your life? You have to press start, right? Otherwise it won't go. Accepting Jesus is your "start." Salvation is the green go button!
When you are a follower and you find yourself getting off the course, what happens?
Does it try to recalculate?
Do you even know what to put in? What address? What about the "home" setting. So where is home? I would say God would be a pretty good input for that setting. There are going to be traffic delays and whatnot but don't get lost!!

So back to a GPS that you put in your car. When you get to driving and you miss you turn, your Gps will say "u-turn" or it will direct you to the next road that can redirect you.
What happens when we go too far in our lives? Better yet, what is too far?
How about when you are given a task, or asked to take on something. All of a sudden, your doing it all yourself, in your own strength, and sometimes going so far over your head that people might not want to be work with you, or be around you. You're left working by yourself.
How about when God opens a door for you and gives you this awesome opportunity? Do you put God in the center of it and really lean on him for it or do you find the glory going to yourself? The awesome thing is even if we take control instead of giving God the control, he will still be there when we realize, "maybe I need to slow down, trust God and rely on him for strength."
We don't nessesarily take a u-turn, but we take the next open road and get back on the right road. It's better to go forward then backwards. When you move on without moving forward your "conscience" will try to direct you. But it is our choice to listen. What destination do you want?
Now that I went through detours, what about distractions? In the driving aspect, how many people will be distracted driving by texting or surroundings? I will be the first one to say, I LOVE reading, and having some time in the quiet. But the reality is, when do I do it? I carry a book with me at all times and I read it quite a bit. I read my bible every morning, but its on my phone. Before I even open up my bible app; I open up Facebook, Pinterest, twitter, email, Instagram, my news apps. So when I finally get to my bible app, my cereals almost gone, my straigtners heated up and it's almost time to go!
So I keep up on Facebook, I follow a bunch of people on twitter and Instagram but really if I am a follower of Jesus Christ, why am I not putting more time into him?
What if Jesus had a twitter, or a Facebook? What would your status, tweets and insagram pictures look like if you knew Jesus was following you?
Well here's the thing.. God isn't your follower but he is by your side all the time. He sees everything you do, and every thought. But most importantly, he knows your heart.

"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:23 NLT)"

So where are you going? What's your destination? Are you going to let detours get you lost or let the GPS re-calculate you into the right direction?

"I'm happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I'm firmly formed. You canceled my ticket to hell— that's not my destination! Now you've got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I'm on the right way. "(Psalm 16:9-11 MSG)

Cravings

This morning at church I gave the offering message and within my message I had an "ah ha" moment. My mentor/youth leader in high school introduced "ah ha" moments to me. It's almost like an epiphany :)

As I was speaking I heard something in my own voice saying "this is good!" God was speaking to me as i was speaking! I allowed the Holy Spirit to be the words I spoke and by goly God delivered! So I want to share with you guys what God spoke I me.

I'll begin with a little bit of story time::

I was in Fort Wayne yesterday and I'm not down here much anymore without something to do. Usually that's Wednesday nights and Sundays.
Now, let me back track a little. Back in the day, I used to live this life where I was a shopper. And I was that shopper that Didn't care about sales and as long as I bought it at the mall I was happy. My bank account was out of wack a lot and sometimes bills were not my first priority. But that's another part of my story :)
Anyways, I was down at Jefferson pointe yesterday and I was using some coupons at a store. Well when I got that, all I wanted to do was buy some boots that were on sale, and then I knew skinny jeans were on sale at American Eagle. So i texted Jarod(knowing he'd say no) and he said no. We have a lot of bills that we need to pay for. All I had to hear was no. But It actually kinda hit me and I got really upset that I couldn't buy anything!! And finally I was mentally smacked myself in the face (but i stilll think God did lol)and said "Mary snap out of whatever this is! You need to be grateful for what you have! As a matter of fact you have more than you need!" And I sat and I said "you're right.. I have more than I need and I am given more than enough on a daily basis."

So. I said sorry to Jarod and I asked God to forgive me for being selfish and as I was driving I said to myself.. I would have offering message tomorrow. I'm speaking about giving and there I went and wanted everything for myself.
I sat in my car and asked God to please show me what he was trying to tell me?!
He revealed to me the story where Paul is writing to the Phillipians an he's saying you know, when I needed help financially, you guys were the only church that reached out to me. And before that he is talking about how the Phillipians were the only ones concerned about him, but he was never fully in need. He goes on to say he has learned to live off of almost nothing. That he figured out how to live on everything from a full stomach or an empty stomach and that is through strength of Jesus Christ.
So I got out my actual bible(as opposed to my bible app) and opened it up. And then I fell upon this verse that really took my shopping craze to a little weeping:

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ (Philippians 3:7, 8 NLT
WOW! It doesn't matter what it is; compared to Jesus, it's considered WORTHLESS!! It's all garbage! Whoa...

If we craved things for others like we did for ourselves what would that look like?....think about that.

You say, “I am allowed to do anything” —but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial. Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others. (1 Corinthians 10:23, 24 NLT)

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. (1 John 2:15, 16 NLT

So the question is: what are you holding onto that is keeping you from having an even closer relationship with Jesus. What can you do to crave God more?