Well, you never asked!

Ah, these ill-fated words, haha. As a dude with a girlfriend, whenever these words come out of my mouth i know two things; 1) i'm in trouble and shouldn't of said it at all, and 2) one of us has made a basic communicating error. I feel like people nowadays (including myself) make asking for stuff so difficult. Whether we're scared of the answer we're gonna get, to proud, or feel embarassed; we ask up, down, and around the question when it really just needed to be hit straight on. When we're asking for advice, it's always "hey, umm, well, my friend is having a problem with the boy she likes..." or "well, i, er...was like...maybe could you possibly do this kinda for me?" Gosh, how often do i make things way too difficult and awkward this way?

Right now, i'm reading the book "Crazy Love" with the family life interns at WEAG, and it's absolutely rocking my world. For maybe the past year, i've just been wondering if i'm really doing this Jesus thing right, ya know? And the answer was a resounding "NO!", haha. For all that the term "doing Christianity right" could mean, i believe that if our lives show an obvious love and daring chase after the things of Jesus, that is the difference between true Christianity and 'lukewarm Christianity".

But anyway, back to my main point. I'm reading this book feeling so convicted (for the first time in a long time), and saying "yeah, i really don't love God like i should. How do i fix it?" And like any good book, the answer came on the next page:
"The fact is, I need God to help me love God, something mysterious, even supernatural must happen in order for genuine love for God to grow in our hearts. The Holy Spirit has to move in our lives"
~Francis Chan, Crazy Love

I keep reading, and Chan basically tells us that if we want to love God, all that we have to do is ask. Just say, "God, i need your help, so help me to love you more, help me want to be closer to you." WHAT?!?!? It's that simple?!?!?! I often am occused of making things more complicated then they need to be, and i'm starting to believe it myself now. For the longest time, i've just been praying in repentence, and kinda saying to God, "Lord, i know you've asked so much more from me, and i'm going to try harder to do it". Which is totally the wrong approach, in His word he says that if we ask, and it is in His will, it will be given to us. And i can't think of anything else that would be more within God's will than for me to love him more, so that means God's gonna do it! It's like we're sitting here, struggling to get rid of our addictions by ourselves, our depressions by ourselves, or hard times by ourselves, and God has the answer and solutions. He's like, "geez yo, why hasn't he just asked me for help?!? why won't he just ask!"

I'm gonna try to wake up everyday, praying diligently for God to help me. To give me more of His love and His Holy Spirit. Not only will God bring me out of my funk, but He will then use me in ways i've never imagine, or thought were possible. He's gonna give me true joy, and true love. The life of passionately follow Christ is the only real way to live, am i right? I feel so realieved and excited, cause i think once and for all, the lesson that i can't ever do it without Him has finally sunk in, haha. I hope you guys do the same :)
~Jamal