9.30.14

Phillippians 1:12 And I want you to know my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the good news. 

My Thoughts

This is a letter from Paul and Timothy, they are writing from prison. And they see this as a great opportunity to spread the good news. Because of their imprisonment the whole palace guard knew who Christ was. 

This made me wonder how often God gives us a story to tell of His goodness while we are going through hard times? How many more people do we have the opportunity to reach during those times? Do we take me that opportunity or do we just grumble and complain about our circumstances? 

I live with Lupus, it is not something God gave me, but it is something God protects me from all the time. I can be very aware of all the ways God blesses me in each flair, in each remission and share God's story in my life. Or I can grumble  and complain, thinking only of poor me and miss opportunities to share God's amazing love, to share how God is always with me. I can miss the opportunity to share my struggles with compassion as I listen with understanding when another person struggles with something simular. I do have my poor me days! But I am learning all the time that God is in the details of my victories. They in fact are not my victories but His victories in my life. 

Paul and Timothy could have given up, they could have laid on the prison floors and succumb to all the horrors of being prisoners. But instead they reached a whole group of people that would have never heard them otherwise. 

God tells us in His word that we store up treasures I. Heaven for our good deeds. When we go through hardships, illinesses, pain and suffering...we can lay down and hurt, wallow in our misery or we can get up and fight the good fight. Fight the urge to give in and give up, we can move forward in our days, paying close attention to God's work in our lives and use those stories to share with others God's amazing love and care. And in doing so we can know that God is storing up such wonderful things for our efforts. And we will get to share them with the people we have touched because we didn't give up, because we didn't give in! 

9.29.14

Ephesians 5:33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

My Thoughts

I was a few days behind today, and as I skimmed over some of what I have missed this verse jumped out at me in a big way! I recently have been paying close attention to what God ask of me as a wife. How have I missed this important truth for so long? 

I looked up respect and it said this ....a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements. As women we are suppose to respect our husbands! We are called by God to admire our husbands abilities, their qualities and their achievements. We are to build them up with our admiration for their abilities, qualities and achievements! We are to brag on them! This verse, that tells our husbands to love us, calls for us to respect them. If we are nagging we are not respecting and admiring. Wow! I don't tend to be a nag...but I don't reveal my admiration for my sweet Robby near enough. To me this verse says that I should brag on Robby as often as I want Robby to tell me he loves me! 

Each day when Robby walks out the door he tells me he loves me. He calls me from work 4 times each day and each time he tells me he loves me. He tells me each night before he goes to bed that he loves me. And I love hearing it every time. If I return respect for each time he says he loves me, just think how much more I will be aware of just what my sweet Robby does for me. And just how much more Robby would love me because I notice all he does and all he is! Wow! This takes my breath away! 

9.26.14

Ephesians 4:1 Therefore I (Paul) , a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

My Thoughts

We had a new to us man to teach Wednesday night in Pastor Keith's absence. He taught on the "unknown man" in Genesis 37. There was so much to learn about this unknown man. His roll in the history of the Jewish people was huge, even thought his action was seemed so tiny if you never stopped to think about it. That lesson made me very aware of the two words in this verse that teach us so very much. Those words are "a prisoner."

In this verse Paul says to "lead a life worthy of your calling, you have been called by God." We so often in love wonder what we can do as one person, we wonder how our busy, simple lives can even matter in the big scheme of things. How can we/I make a difference. Paul made a difference in the lives so so many, even us today. And he was a prisoner locked away behind four walls. A prisoner locked away behind four walls with only a pen and a piece of paper. Yet his words still teach us today how to live better loves for our a Lord Jesus. 

The unnamed man in the field in Genesis 37 was working in his field. All he did to be mentioned in God's word is be kind, kind enough to give Joseph directions that lead to a chain of events that brought the Children of Isreal out of slavery. What he did mattered. It was so important that he was mentioned in God's word. And it was one act of kindness in the mist of his normal, busy day. 

If a man plowing his field can be a part of freeing the Children of Isreal and a prisoner behind four walls can start a Christian movement with a pen and a piece of paper, what can we do? We have been called by God to lead a life worth of Him, how can we take action? 

The unknown man was kind and took a minute for a stranger. Paul was locked away but used the power of words. Sunday we learned from Pastor Kevin that 3/4th of  the world live on $300 dollars a year. ripoff we make more than $300 a year we are richer than 3/4 of the world. We have resources, we have the world at our finger tips through media. We have the ability to be kind, to give a stranger directions. Each of us probably have more than one Bible on the shelves in our homes. A book full of wisdom and love, full of instructions on how to make lives better. A book that is right at our fingertips. Words that God promises will not return void if we just read them. We have the ability to make a difference! 

We don't have to find our purpose, our purpose is to lead a life that God Gould be proud of. We can do that right in the places He has put us. When we do all we can, for Him, with what He has I trusted us with He will then be able to entrust us with more. 

As I think about this I begin to realize that if there is a place in my/our loves where we don't see fruit we are probably not using that part of our lives for God. Do we struggle in relationships? Are we treating those relationships how God would want us too? Do we struggle in our finances? Are we using our finances the way God ask us too? Are we struggling in our alone time? Are we using that time the way God would ask?   Paul sat in prison and prospered because he used that time to grow others. I have no doubt that the unnamed man in Genesis had a harvest he could not have imagined in his field after he took a few minutes of his day to be kind and give direction.  

We, right where we are can make a difference! We may be like the innamed man and never know, in earth, what we did. But if our lives are being lived for God we need not have one minute of doubt that  we do matter in the lives of the people we come into contact with each day.  YOU MATTER, I MATTER, WE MATTER. 

9.24.14

Plated by my friend Tammy Morgan Harvey
It spoke to my heart.

"A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense." Proverbs 19:11 ... This verse has been on my heart for several days now. It does not say that it is to your glory if you never encounter an offense, it clearly states you WILL encounter offenses. The glory comes when we look beyond the offense. Life, people, circumstances are all a breeding ground for hurt but what will we do with it. Will we act in wisdom that yields patience bringing with it glory? I hope so..this is my desire today.

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9.23.14

Ephesians 1:14 The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased  us to be his own people. He did this so that we would praise and glorify his name.

My Thoughts

I love this verse! It tells me that hearing the Holy Spirit guide me makes me know that I am God's. It makes me know that I will see Him in Heaven one day. Every time I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit I need to praise God!  I love the peace God's word gives me. 

9.22.14

As I was reading about God's grace, and our works. I can have such a hard time with this one. I can know it in my head but not always feel it in my heart. The Holy Spirit gave me this.

Robby always loves me! Always! He loves me at my worst and he loves me at my best, always the same. Robby's love does not depend how how good I am at doing my part, Robby just love ME. When I am able to do my very best at things like cleaning house, washing clothes, cooking. Those "wifely" things Robby can better spoil me, it gives him time and energy to do special things for me, to pour out blessings on me. But he does not love me more at those times, he gets to spoil me more, but he couldn't love me more. He couldn't love me more because he already loves me to his fullest capacity to love.

God always loves us, to His fullest. Which is way more than we can imagine! God loves to our down blessings on us and when He sees that we are able to receive those blessings without it effecting our relationship with Him, he pours out those blessings on our lives. When we do good God is able to entrust us with more. But no matter how we do, no matter how hard we work, God always loves us just the same.

9.19.14

Galatians 5:6b What is important is faith expressing itself in love.

My Thoughts

God calls us to love. To love others, to love our enemies, to love the seemingly  unloveable.  Not to feel love, to act in love. What is love? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. ... We need to know this verse, so when we wonder of we are acting in love we can call it to mind and make sure. 

9.18.14

Isaiah 28:26&29 The farmer knows just what to do, for God has given him understanding. 29. The Lord of Heavens Armies is a wonderful teacher, and he gives the farmer great wisdom. 

My Thoughts

When God ask us to tell others about Him, he knows just who He has sent us to! He will give us the right words when we know His word. He will give us the wisdom of how gentle or how firm to be. God will not send us out to plant seeds for Him without having equipped us with just what we need. I am finding that the best way to build my fait in God is to share Him with others. That is when I learn the most about what I know about what God has taught me. 

We were made to share God and His love with others... God will be with us...He will bring to our rememberence   what we need to know. We can do this! We can! 

9.18.14

Psalm 23:17-18 Don't envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord. You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed. 

My Thoughts

When I read this I thought instantly, "We are all sinners!"  Then I reread it and the line' "your hope will not be disappointed."  I thought we don't need to ever hope we have what others have, we need to hope always to be more like Jesus. This is the only hope that doesn't come with some kind of disappointment.  That is powerful! The words "I hope" should always be followed by what God would want in our lives. 

9.16.14

Galatians 3:6 In the same way,  "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because if his faith." 

My Thoughts

This phrase is in the bible several times. Today in my reading it was talking about putting our trust in Jesus not in our works. But today as my Bible lay open beside me, I looked down and saw this verse all alone and was overwhelmed with how far our trust in God can take something.

God asked Abraham to take Isaac to the mountains and sacrifice him. God knew that this very act would further the Kingdom of God. And Abraham trusted that because God said so. But even in Abrahams wildest dreams he could not have imagined that this one act of total trust in God would touch the hearts of people hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years later. How many lives would have been different without Abrahams faith in God? We have no idea! 

But we also have no idea how many lives will be different because of our faith in God. We don't know who we touch with our examples of what God has done done for us. We have no idea how far our God stories go long after we share them. One day I will sit my granddaughter Ripley on my lap and read her a Bible story...and as I am I will say to her,  "My MawMaw, your great, great grandmother use to hold me in her lap and read me Bible stories. Just like I am holding you in my lap reading you Bible stories today."  Look how many generations away that one act will travel. And Ripley may one day say, "My Nana use to read me Bible stories, and her MawMaw, your great, great, great, great grandmother use to read her bible stories like I am reading to you."  That is just a simple act and look how many lives it touches. Not to count the other grandchildren I will have and they will have. Or the others my grandmother had and their grandchildren.  And that is a simple act nothing near as bold and as what Abraham did. 

In other words, what we do matters! It travels long past a place where our names are even remembered. Our stories of how God has touched our lives changes lives we will never know. But those stories can never change lives if we fail to share them. 

We share so many words in our days. We should never ever go a day without using our words to share something God has done for us. That one moment of sharing could make all the difference in a life somewhere. And though we may never know, God will. 

9.15.14

Galatians 1:10 Obviously I am not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant.

My Thoughts

You would think for a people pleaser like myself that this would make my life harder. And sometimes it can make life a little bit harder. But for me it eased my burdens! It narrowed my choices. It made life so much easier when the people around me  expect different things. I just have to ask myself will saying yes to this please God? Sometimes I ask myself, "If I commit myself to this now, will it cause me to sin later?" 

That second question may be a bit confusing. But I use it in those times I am asked to commit to something that I know will stress me out. I ask will my thoughts and feeling about this project be good and kind as I get to the end?" It the answer is NO! I say no. If the answer is, this could get stressful but I can handle all that comes with it." Then I say yes. You have no idea how much this has helped me. This has freed my life up in amazing ways. And it has helped me learn that people still love me even when I have to choose to tell them no. 

I find it amazing at how loving and honoring God can simplify out lives so. Yes sometimes it makes life a bit harder in the inset of the change. But as I continue to choose what God would have me choose life just gets better and better and better. 

The more I choose to please .god over people, the more I have past successes to draw from. Successes that tell me that God is bigger, God is stronger, god will make me able when I choose to follow Him. 

9.13.14

Psalm 57:1 Have mercy in me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by.

My Thoughts

Oh that I would learn to do this the moment I sense danger. The moment I sense the attack of Satan in my life in any form. Once I get upset I seem to loose all my ability to think. When all I need to do is open the pages of my Bible and rest in the safety of God! I don't have to know what to pray, or what to think, what to say.  I just have to rest in Him as He covers me with His wings. And when it is safe to come out, God will have prepared my heart, my words and my actions. I must remember, just pick up my Bible and hide in God's word! 

9.11.14

Isaiah 8:11 The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. 

My Thoughts

Breathing taking statement! How are we suppose to think? To know that we must, WE MUST get out our Bibles for ourselves and in prayer read what God's word tells us. As Christians we are not suppose to look like the world, think like the world, talk like the world, live like the world. We are not suppose to seek after the things of the world. 

It's funny it is not an easy thing to do, but it makes life easier when we do it! The world is always telling us, "You will be happy when...." Then that happiness promised last minutes, sometimes days. Then the world tells us "No, no you will be happy when...."  It keeps us chasing. Then we are left separated from our families for hours upon hours seeking or paying for that happiness the world promises. 

The minute we begin to think the way God tells us to think, the calmer our lives become. Peace fluids our souls, we find joy in the smallest of places we have strength when we need it and rest when we need it. We can feel fear leave our bodies.

We are not called to be like the world, we are called to stand out from the world! If we are thinking like the world, we are going to be like the world. 

The world likes to tell us that we can't help what we think...here God tells Isaiah that he can choose not to think like the world. It takes prayer and practice. It takes knowing God's word. Sometimes it takes writing down what our thoughts should be and reading what we need to be thinking over and over out loud to drown out the thoughts of the world. But it can be done! And in doing so we can find a peace that passes all understanding! 

I challenge you today to take at least one worldly thought captive and replace it with what .god tells us to think. Pay attention to how it effects your day!  If you don't know what to replace that thought with ask someone you trust to help you. Make the effort to make the change. God will honor that effort! 

9.10.14

Isaiah 6:3 They were calling out to each other, "Holy, holy, holy is The Lord of Heaven's Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!"

My Thoughts

The definition of glory as a verb is, to exult with triumph. God gives us His glory when we love Him! That means that with God we have triumph! We have the victory over all things of this earth. The whole earth...I love that the whole earth is filled with His glory! God wants to give us the victory, we just have to believe and trust in God. 

I picture it like this... The earth from the depths of the deepest sea, the deepest caves to the edge of earths atmosphere. If we could give God's glory a color and it was a mist like fog we would not be able to see it would be dense and everywhere. It is so surrounding us that it fills our lungs when we breath. It is ours to use so we will have victory. It goes ahead of us, it stands beside us, it is behind us. Glory is above us and below us. I just had to take a second to soak the thought in. It is up to is to use, what will we do with it? 

9.9.14

Isaiah 2:8 Their land is full of idols; the people worship things they have made with their own hands.

My Thoughts

I saw this and decided to look up the definition for worship to truly put it in to context in my brain. Worship  noun. 1. the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity. "the worship of God". But to put this in context of worship of man mad things it would say, the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration of an object.  Thinking of this took my breath away! 

God was upset at the Israelites for worship of things they made with their hands. I could not help but think of how we take drives through nice neighborhoods to admire beautiful homes. How we stand in line for hours and hours to be the first to get the next new gadget. How we think we need the best of clothes and all the accessories. I thought of Black Friday shopping and how we must look to God as we grab, grab, grab. Then I thought of how much simpler our lives would be if all we adored, if all we worshiped was God. 

Our homes would look so different and be so much simpler, there would be so much left over to help our neighbors with. Families would work less hours and spend more quality time with each other. We would be so much more able to focus on God and on people.  We would live in love instead of living in want. Life would be so much less stressful. 

When we have reverence and adoration for God alone, God will supply all our other needs. To think of  worship in these terms really changes things. So often we think of worship is sending up praise and falling on our knees. And if we only think of worship in this way we can walk around fooling ourselves. But when we thin of it in the words of reverence and adoration I think we are all in a bit of trouble. I know that I am. 

This revelation hurts my heart. It brings tears to my eyes. Dear God please, please forgive me for not making a better effort to understand. Help me to revere and adore only you in this world where worship of everything is promoted in such large ways. Make me strong in you dear God. I am so sorry. I love you dear, dear God. In Jesus name. 

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9.8.14

Psalm 51:4a Against you and you alone have I sinned; I have done evil in your sight.

My Thoughts

Oh my! We have all reacted to someone who did something to upset us in a way we knew was unkind. In fact I did this just yesterday in my frustration to a family member. I could look at it as pouting and try and just brush it off.  I could thin that the person that wronged me just a little deserved it. But my sin was not against a person, it was against God. 

The lesson to be learned from these few words is that we should always ask ourselves before reacting, or acting, "Would I act this way toward God?" If the answer is even an eye squint of doubt we should rethink our action. 

Forgive me dear God for I have sinned in this way so very many times in my life! My heart hurts that I would do this to YOU, to anyone that You love. Please forgive me and please help me have a better attitude. In Jesus Name, Amen.

5.6.14

Psalm 50:23 But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God. 

My Thoughts

Robby and I talked about this this morning, how giving thanks was a sacrifice. Then he went to work outside and I thought in it some more. 

One thing Robby said what that paying attention enough to be in a state of thankfulness was giving up yourself and letting God increase in your life. That we were sacrificing who we were to be who we were intended to be. A person more like God every day. 

Then one of the things I thought of is how when times are hard, we can get so lost in ourselves. In our pain, in our hurt, in our life situation and how it is effecting us, that we can not even see past our own nose. We have no idea what there even is to be thankful for. At those moments it is so hard to see outside ourselves that there are things to be thankful for. It can take every bit of our concentration and energy to find something to be thankful for. We must sacrifice our moments of complete selfishness to see what God has done in our lives to be able to be thankful. It can be very had to do at times. 

Then there is the next line in the verse, "If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God." To me this says that God honors us when we honor Him. A definition of salvation is preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss.... If we keep our hearts on God, if we walk in thankfulness, God will deliver is from harm and ruin, from loss. He will honor us if we walk in thankfulness to him. 

How can we accomplish this in our days? One example I can think of is if we get frustrated in traffic, instead of thinking angry, selfish thoughts.....instead of getting completely lost in them we can think of things in that very moment to be thankful for. Like the fact we have a car to drive, that we have a place we want to be, that we have a job we are about to be late to. We can thank God that He might be protecting us by delaying us.

 Thankfulness ..a sacrifice of our emotions and our thoughts, a way of keeping our hearts focused on God instead of ourselves and our situation. 

9.4.18

Proverbs 22:17-19 Listen to the words of the wise; apply your heart to my instruction.  For it is good to keep these sayings in your heart and always ready on your lips. I am teaching you today--yes you-- so you will trust in the Lord.  

My Thoughts

To be able to keep Gods words in our hearts and on our lips, we must know them. To know God's word we must be reading it for ourselves over and over and over. If we know God's word, the stories of how is hips there for the people that love and trust in Him, we are better able to trust in Him ourselves. When we hear stories of those wise in God, stories of how God has been there for them, then we can better trust God. For God to be able to change our loves, we must know His stories, we must learn stories of how He is helping people in our lives today. Knowing makes all the difference in us running to Him when we are making decisions in our lives. 

9.3.14

2 Corinthians 6:4 In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. 

My Thoughts

Just slap in the face! I do not do this very well at all, patiently endure troubles, hardships and calamities of every kind. I feel so ashamed at myself. The minute I thought this I felt The Holy Spirit saying,  "It's because you don't truly trust God with them!"  I must learn to say and believe, "God I know you have this, what can I do on my end to make it better?" Then go about my days doing what God tells me and finding joy in all that God has done for me and all that He has given me. I tend to take the knife of the situation and just stab myself over and over with it. Then in the end it all works out and I am left with forever scars from the situation that I inflicted on myself. All because I didn't just trust God. I need to write this verse down and learn it, internalize it. If I could just do this, no I can do this! I will do this, I will be determined to patiently endure! 

9.2.14

Genesis 2:18-22 Genesis 2:18-22 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man[a] to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

My Thoughts

These verses have been on my heart a lot the past few weeks. We as as wives were created to be a helper to our husbands. That is our first and most important job as women. When I asked myself how to accomplish this I decided to go about thinking of all I do for  my sweet Robby as a gift to him from me.  It has completely changed how I go about my day. It has humbled me in our relationship. I have been very surprised at how calming it is to my soul. I should not be surprised doing what .god ask of us always makes life run more smoothly. I so wish I had understood this sooner, but so happy that I know it now. 

9.1.14

2 Corinthians 5:20 So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God."

My Thoughts

When we feel the need to tell someone to come back to God, God will be with us, he will be with our words. When we think, "Bit I just met this person." We may have been placed in their lives for such a time is this. So often, most often people don't hear their own families.  So we need to take those opportunities when they are placed in our lives. Would we want so one that could reach our families to walk away if there was a chance they would be the person our families would hear?  Remember God never ask us to do something that he does not give us the tools for. Also we should never be discouraged, we may be one piece to an unfinished puzzle that is getting someone right where they need to be.