Glorious and Inexpressible Joy

   Are you filled with joy? Are you filled glorious and inexpressible joy? Because if you are not, then you are not living as God would have you to live. You are not stepping into the destiny that God has for you. You are not fully accepting the gift from God that was bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.

   Joy is an emotion from the Lord. When we feel God’s emotions, when we feel what God is feeling with Him, our hearts become even more intertwined with His than before. When we feel His joy, His love, His tenderheartedness, and when our hearts break when His heart breaks, our hearts become tied together with God’s. Our hearts can become so intertwined together that no one will be able to tell where one begins and the other ends. And there is power when that happens.


1 Peter 1:8 says, "Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." Our joy comes from knowing what He has done for us, will one day allow us to see Him face to face. We will one day know Him as He knows us (1 Corinthians 13:12). Do you know what that means? Do you have any idea how intimately He knows us? Our thoughts, our deeds, our desires, our emotion, our personality, our tastes. He knows every single nuance and quirk of our being.  He knows every hair on our head. He knows what makes our heart beat faster and what excites us and what long for with all of our being. And we will one day know Him as He know us! Do you know what that means? Even angels long to look into the things we will one day know (1 Peter 1:11-12). If that doesn't make your heart come alive with glorious and inexpressible joy, than you need to fall in love with your Lover. If that does not bring tears to your eyes and fire to your heart I don't know what will! We will one day see Him face to face and know Him just as we are known. Can you imagine? I can not even begin to fathom what that looks like but that is where I find my inexpressible and unending joy. That is where I find my strength to live for another age. That is how I have hope amidst the hardest circumstances.  

Words: Life or Death

   Every single word we speak either brings life, or it brings death. They brings light, or they brings darkness. There are no neutral words. And one day we will have to give an account for every careless word we speak (Matthew 12:36-37, "I tell you, on the day of judgement people will give account for careless word they speak.) We will be judged by our words, and we will be set free by our words (Matthew 12:37, For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.).

Every word we speak has power. Proverbs 18:21, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits."

The Bible offers guidance for speech. Psalm 37:30, "The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice." And Proverbs 21:23, Whoever keeps his mouth and tongue keeps himself out of trouble." Also Colossians 4:6, "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Holy Spirit will speak through us if we will allow Him. 2 Samuel 32:2, "The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; His word is on my tongue."

We can enter into covenants on how we will and will not speak. Job 27:4, "My lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit."

We can speak with excellence. Proverbs 25:11, "As apples of gold in pictures of silver, is a word spoken in season."

Our words are sharp swords capable of waging great war. Psalm 57:4, "My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts- the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords."

We speak about what we love, and our passion moves out speech. Psalm 39:3, "My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue."

God knows our speech and our motives. Psalm 139:4, "Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether."


   This is a message of warning. For by our words we can bring death and judgement to our souls and to the people around us. We can gossip and slander, speak idly and cloud the atmosphere around us. We can speak death over people, even those we love, with our speech.

   But this is also a message of hope, for by our words we can set captives free, bring hope to the hopeless, bring healing to the broken, and life to the lifeless. We can show the love of God by our speech, and we can be set free by the words we speak. We can enter into life by our words.

   It is a message of hope because it declares we can change the life of people we come into contact with everyday. The times we witness without seeing fruit, we can know that we still spoke life over that person and that always makes a difference. The conversations with people that don't feel like they matter can matter and declare life over someone, and do more good than we will every see. It is a message of hope because we can bring life to every conversation when we speak.

  So how will you speak? I will be pretty transparent here and admit this is a struggle for me, especially with my family. I struggle with my tone of voice, and am too quick to speak a harsh word (even when not intending to speak harshly). It's something I need to work on, and will work on. So, starting one day at a time, I am going to really work on speaking life, and not death.

Meet Searcy, Our New Bloggirl!

Me. How do I describe myself in a single paragraph? The first things that came to mind were intelligent, beautiful, perfect, etc. but so you don't think I'm proud and haughty I shall refrain from such an answer. :p And in reality I'm none of those things. I'm broken, I struggle, I hurt, I deal with insecurity just like any girl, and only by the grace of God am I still standing here today.

No, I did not ruin the dress. It survived

and anyway I bought it on sale for $10.

I am a Child of God, and that is who I am. Everything else is a reflection of His heart, but not directly tied to my identity and who I am. I am 17, homeschooled and always have been. I love animals, especially horses and dogs. I love photography (see my photos here). I am passionate about my Beloved Jesus and the character of God. I am an emerging theologian, apologetic, and writer. I am an evangelist. I absolutely love provoking people into deeper closeness with Jesus, whether that looks like a softly spoken thought, meaningful question, or outright fiery challenge. That makes my heart come alive, and I love it even more when someone provokes me back. 


My middle name is Trouble (seriously, Searcy is my middle name and it legitimately means Trouble). I have a very sarcastic/snarky sense of humor that I have to watch so it doesn’t actually get me in trouble. (Oh, and to all y'all out there that think God is boring and no fun, I am living proof He isn’t. I am made in His image, and I am unbelievably fun, and the farthest thing from boring, so any God who would make me HAS to have a sense of humor!) I am a passionate, all or nothing teenager with a very fiery spirit. I love a good debate, but rarely participate in them as I am also very sensitive to people's feelings and never want to hurt anyone.

I have an amazing mentor, Megan, who is such an incredible woman of God. I am so blessed to have her in my life; she was and is truly a Godsend and she has supported and loved me more than I could ever have asked or imagined. I thought I should mention her, as I will probably quote her a lot in my posts. 

Freedom's Choice

You are only as free as you want to be. As I write this I am faced with a decision. One choice is easy and does not require stepping out of my comfort zone. Only it results in continued bondage. The second choice is hard and requires stepping out of my comfort zone (in more ways than one) but will result in truer freedom in Christ. It will raise painful questions and things I would rather see remain hidden. 

But I am only as free as I want to be. The latter choice will require leaning on God to see me through. But the former I can do in my own strength. I won't need anyone else. The question hangs, the choice is mine. Will I make the easy choice and continue living in bondage, or will I make the hard choice and lean on Christ to see me through? I will lean on Christ and I will be free. The road ahead may be painful and filled with tears at first but Christ will see me through to freedom. I will live free. 

What about you? We all have a choice to live in freedom, or to live in bondage. What are you going to choose today? Will you live free today, or will you live in bondage to sin and shame? The question hangs, the choice is yours. What are you going to do today?