It's my birthday, so I'll blog if I want to

I'll cry if I want to, also... lol

Verses that came to my mind today...

Romans 11:33-34, 36
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unreachable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! 
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Psalms 9:1,2
I will praise thee, O Lord with my whole heart; I will shew forth all they marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

The song of the day...

Study, Practice, Teach

Just a few short thoughts today...

A few months ago I was listening to a recording by a motivational speaker/mentor, Jim Rohn. I cannot be sure that He was a Christian, but He taught a lot of biblical principals. He said, "If you believe something you should do three things. Study. Practice. Teach."

I thought this was very valuable advice. I took it to heart and plan to live by it. These words came to my mind quite a few times today while I was reading Hebrews chapters 4, 5 and 6... and highlighting many verses. One of them is Hebrews 4:12... one of my husband's favorites.

The few verses that really stood out to me are found in the 5th chapter, verses 11 through 14.
Powerful. Convicting. Challenging.

11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
12 For when for the time ye aught to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again... and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to [the mature], even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

In the study notes... "lazy hearing can result in a life of sluggishness."

The thought of "a life of sluggishness" bothers and convicts me, because "Only one life will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last." ~C.T. Studd

The scripture is challenging, because many times I am still in need of the milk, and I am bull of hearing when it comes to the meat. In other words, I lack understanding, and often I am more of a hearer than a doer (James 1:22,23). Truth hurts.

However, I am very encouraged! If I continue to study, practice and teach I will continue to mature and become more fit for the meat.

Themes, Discussions and Focus

Romans 12:1,2 is my theme verse for this year... I was looking back at my notes... just curious to remember how early on it became this year's theme for me. The date in my journal is January 25. After school got out I decided to share this theme with my family and to claim it as our theme verse for this year together. We have not done this as a family before (This is the first time I have had a theme verse for the year for myself.), but I am excited to see how this comes into focus for all of us this year. Looking ahead a little I am excited to see what other verses we can focus on in the coming years.

Working this verse with my kids so that they could better understand what the verse means, I asked the question, "What are three ways we can give our bodies to God as a holy sacrifice acceptable to Him?" (My 9 year old needed clarity on "sacrifice".) The three answers we came up with are 1. Purity 2. Healthy living 3. Christian service. We talked about each of our answers. What does that mean? What does that look like? How do we do that? Why do we do that? etc.

I enjoyed the notes in my Study Bible, and thought they might be beneficial to share. I love my Study Bible. If you don't have one you might want to get one. Mine is the Nelson KJV Study Bible. I used a 25% off coupon at the Family Christian Store (one of our favorite places) a few years ago. This is what it had to say, 

"The body has been an instrument of sin. Now it is to be presented to God as a channel through which the righteousness of God is manifest. Be not conformed (stop conforming yourself): They are to resist being poured into the mold of the present thinking, value systems, and conduct of this world." "...Daily dependance on God results in our transformation into the image of Christ."

Of course my focus in my personal time with God is first on Him, cultivating an accurate view of God, drawing near to Him, coming to know Him better, and second on myself, learning to live a life that is pleasing to Him and all that that entails. One of my difficulties as a mom is focusing on my life and how God is speaking to me. I read a verse and think about one or more of my children... It is not an entirely bad thing, but at the same time I must focus on what God wants me to know first and then think about how I can pass these truths on to my kids.

In other news... Saying goodnight to my son last night after family devotions... I said, "There are three verses in the Bible that say 'walk worthy'. I want you to find them tomorrow and write them in your journal." Expecting his normal eye roll and "that sounds like homework" I was pleasantly surprised by his reaction, "That sounds really cool!" We had a fun conversation about what "walk worthy" means, and that we all need a blinking neon "WALK WORTHY" sign.

To the Praise of His Glory

It's has been a while since I blogged.

"Why?" you ask. "Nothing to say?"

No. Quite the contrary. I've got so much to say... so many thoughts and words from scripture, I could spend hours sharing. I do love sharing. I have refrained, because if I allow myself to blog as much as I would like I would get nothing else done.

"Does this have a point?"

Nope. Just a girl expressing her thoughts about her absence lately.

Let's get to the point, shall we.

In my Bible reading I am in Ephesians... chapters 1 through 3 to be exact. I just want to share some of the encouraging and uplifting words I read today.

"...according to the good pleasure of His will."

"To the praise of the glory of His grace..."

"...the mastery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself."

"...the fullness of times..." (I love this statement and the meaning of it. In HIS time.)

"...according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."

"That we should be to the praise of His glory..." 

"...unto the praise of His glory." 

"And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power."

"...the fullness of Him that filleth all in all."

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

"And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ."

"According to the eternal purpose..."

And finally Ephesians 3:14-21... my Study Bible has the heading "Prayer for inner growth". How I crave this inner growth... like a sunflower reaches for the sun...
   
     "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His 
Spirit in the inner man;

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye being rooted and grounded in love, 

May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

I was in awe of these beautiful words and how they stirred my soul and swelled my heart with a desire to see His will accomplished - to see the beauty that He is bringing to pass.

His will.
His pleasure.
His praise.
His glory.
His time.
His grace.
His purpose.
His work.
His greatness.
His power.
His fullness.
His riches.
His love.
His power.
He is all in all.

It's all about Him.
What messes we make when we lose sight of that!

May I be to the praise of His glory!

Have I Not Commanded Thee

My simple thoughts...

I have been digging into God's commands to us. Not just The Ten Commandments, but other commands given to us in His word. One in particular that has been ever present in my mind is found in Matthew 22:37 Thou shalt love The Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. More than likely I will be blogging about it again before too long.

The verse I am focused on right now is Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage: be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

First off it's a command, so it caught my attention. When there is a command from God there is no mulling it over. There is no wondering, "should I" "shouldn't I""what does this mean?". It's simple. Do it. If I disobey I am sinning. Doesn't mean it's always easy for me. Doesn't mean I don't fail often. But God is faithful to strengthen me to do what He has commanded me to do.

Be strong.

Be of good courage (or be courageous).

Be not afraid.

Be not dismayed.

I looked up dismay, because it wasn't as easily defined as the other words.
  1: to cause to lose courage or resolution (as because of alarm or fear)
  2: upset or perturb

One of the synonyms of dismayed is frustrated. How often do I say, "I'm so frustrated"? Some other synonyms are disheartened, discouraged, depressed, saddened, distressed, troubled, weakened, and frightened.

Some antonyms of dismayed are emboldened and encouraged.

Be not dismayed means don't be frustrated, don't be discouraged, don't be depressed... So, to me the opposite of dismayed is joyful. Be joyful. Which brings me around to another subject of recent focus. Joy.

I have mentioned other thoughts I have had about joy in previous blog posts. The song "The Joy of The Lord is My Strength" has come to my mind quite often lately, and it makes me think... If the joy of the Lord is my strength, then in order to be strengthened I must dwell in the joy of the Lord (choose joy).

Sometimes it's not so easy to just be strong,  to be courageous, to not be afraid, and to be joyful. Sometimes I fight it. So often it's a spiritual battle (Eph. 6:12, 2 Peter 5:8). Often the fight is going on in my head - in my thoughts. A friend of mine recently said, "Our thinking is either based on truth or lies, there is no middle ground. We are either obeying or sinning." God has been teaching me that His words to me are never negative or discouraging (2 Tim. 1:7, Phil 4:7-9, 2 Cor. 10:5), and that I should focus on His words to me. If the thoughts in my head are negative or discouraging, and they are not from God, where do they originate?

I have a tool given to me by a friend that helps me to dispute Satan's lies to me and to understand God's truths about me and who I am. I also found it online. Check this out! I think you'll like it.

I know I'm not the only one who struggles with these issue which is why I thought it was important to share. When I am feeling "dismayed" it helps me to say "Get the behind me Satan!"(Luke 4:8) and "The joy of the Lord is my strength." (Nehemiah 8:10)

I am encouraged that it is possible to Be Strong, Be Courageous, Not be Afraid, and Be joyful, because The Lord my God is with me everywhere I go!

My Prayer

Psalm 139:23,24
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Lord, teach me to pray the way you would have me to pray.

I pray for spiritual growth for our family. Help me to draw closer to You each day. Let me feel You near me and see Your hand at work in my life... Help me to abide in You. Help me to grow and transform into who You have created me to be... Lord, transform my life so that others can see and believe in You. Lord, use me. Help me to touch many lives because of You...

Lord, speak to me, and help me to listen. Open my heart and mind... give me a message from Your Word for today. Help me to think about that message throughout my day. Help me to apply that message. Help me to be changed.

Help me to be completely surrendered to Your will for my life everyday.

I look forward to seeing how God chooses to answer these requests in my life throughout this year.

Amy Raw Part 2: Help My Unbelief

One verse that really helped me in my recent struggle is Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

It was not until Thursday of last week that I realized this battle I was fighting was not with me alone. It was a serious spiritual battle. So, that was at least four days into it. It was then that I started to see light at the end of the tunnel. 

It continues to be a lesson in trust and a test of faith. I am thankful for it, because I like the person I am now so much better than the person I was three weeks ago. I know most of you may not be able to tell the difference, but I can. I'd rather live with this me than that me. I think the other people I live with would agree.

God used a number of different people, medias, and His Word to speak to me through my battle. What a blessing.

Words from a dear friend that at first caused me to struggle more. I didn't want to give in that way. It required trusting somebody else to do a job I considered mine. Not a job I enjoy, but being a control freak, a job I didn't trust anybody else with. When I realized the advice was right and what I need to do is trust God... Trust God to work through this other person to do the job right. Trust God to work though this other person to do this job BETTER THAN ME. Trust God with this job.

Again, similar advice was spoken to me from a CD I was listening to. 

Well, it was a lot of inner turmoil, and 
"God, I don't know if I can let go." 
"Amy, do you trust me?" 
After hours of "Yes, but..." Finally I was able to say, "Yes, I trust You fully. This is in Your hands." 

I am telling you! Almost immediate beauty in the situation. (And not only that one particular situation, but also a number of my heavy burdens during this time.) I stepped out of it, and... speechless!

What am I thinking! Stay out of God's way! 

God you are awesome! Thank You for proving Yourself to me again. Help my unbelief!

¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

¹¹ Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

¹² For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

¹³ Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

¹⁴ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

¹⁵ And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

¹⁶ Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

¹⁸ Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 

Ephesians 6:10-18