Sunday, November 14, 2010

A new view of God

First, the update on life...


One midterm is done, one more to go, which means that we're more than halfway done with the semester. The required courses are done, leaving me with two electives and a thesis to finish next spring. My thesis is coming along, and I have an awesome professor as an advisor, and a rough idea of a topic. Right now, the topic is talking about how developers, users, and systems interact, as applied to the smartphone market, specifically Android vs. iPhone. Why do programmers develop for one platform rather than another? For example, why do people buy iPhones instead of HTC? Also, once I have an idea of what people think, I'm going to compare it with past technology competitions (ex. Apple vs. Microsoft, AOL & Earthlink vs. open internet, etc).


I'm not sure if you understand all that, but I'm still finalizing it myself :p. 


God has really been blessing me, and I've been enjoying this semester. I've been learning a lot, and I think that this whole thesis-writing is (or will) helping me learn how to think better, and become more thorough.Well....I was reading Oswald Chambers today, and what I read made me stop and reread 3 times!
 "We should be so one with God that we don’t need to ask continually for guidance. Sanctification means that we are made the children of God. A child’s life is normally obedient, until he chooses disobedience. But as soon as he chooses to disobey, an inherent inner conflict is produced. On the spiritual level, inner conflict is the warning of the Spirit of God. When He warns us in this way, we must stop at once and be renewed in the spirit of our mind to discern God’s will (see Romans 12:2). If we are born again by the Spirit of God, our devotion to Him is hindered, or even stopped, by continually asking Him to guide us here and there. “. . . the Lord led me . . .” and on looking back we see the presence of an amazing design. If we are born of God we will see His guiding hand and give Him the credit.
We can all see God in exceptional things, but it requires the growth of spiritual discipline to see God in every detail. Never believe that the so-called random events of life are anything less than God’s appointed order. Be ready to discover His divine designs anywhere and everywhere.
Beware of being obsessed with consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are a saint and say, “I will never do this or that,” in all probability this will be exactly what God will require of you. There was never a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord, but He was never inconsistent with His Father. The important consistency in a saint is not to a principle but to the divine life. It is the divine life that continually makes more and more discoveries about the divine mind. It is easier to be an excessive fanatic than it is to be consistently faithful, because God causes an amazing humbling of our religious conceit when we are faithful to Him."
From what I understand, if we are in communion with God, (assuming we're following the Bible and other authorities), we can do whatever we want, trusting that God will say 'no', and give us some sort of a check if we do something outside His will? Does it mean that we won't go through dry spells, where God isn't talking at all? 


When we DO go through dry spells, and are faced with a situation where we need guidance, does it mean that God doesn't care, that either one we pick is His will? How does this idea fit into real life?