The Ragamuffin Stuff

2011-07-20T23:25:00.001-05:00

“Contentment imports calmness and composedness of mind in every condition- stillness and sedateness of spirit under all occurences of providence. When a man likes whatsoever God doeth to him or with him…this is contentment.”
-Thomas Jacombe

2011-05-29T22:58:00.001-05:00

"We are not put on earth merely to satisfy our desires, to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. We are here to be changed, to be made more like God in order to prepare us for a lifetime with him."
Where is God When it Hurts? by Philip Yancey

2011-05-16T23:40:00.000-05:00

“We must continually remind ourselves of the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness….God has only one intended destiny for mankind—holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing-machine for people to use, and He did not come to save us out of pity–He came to save us because He created us to be holy.” -Oswald Chambers

2011-05-08T22:15:00.001-05:00

2011-03-20T23:45:00.000-05:00

“Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good
News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you
are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good
News. Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to
be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. For you have been given not only
the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.” Phil. 1:27-29

autonomy is not the path to happiness.

2011-03-20T13:57:00.001-05:00

"The golden calf that I spent most of my life worshiping turned out to be a dead idol. I always thought that the secret to a fantastic life was to optimize on getting as much autonomy as possible so that I could do whatever pleased me, whenever I felt like doing it. Boy was I surprised when I found out that that kind of life left me amused but not deeply happy, and that the only source of real happiness — of joy — is God. And you only need to glance at a crucifix to be reminded that God is the God of self-sacrifice."

Source

2011-03-19T00:29:00.001-05:00

"Attachment parenting requires sacrifice. God is the expert at sacrifice. There is no mentor better than Christ on the cross. We are good parents when we embrace our vocations with our whole beings; when we see that there is no greater privilege than to be someone’s parents; when we love wholeheartedly, unabashedly and with the self-donation of the Savior Himself."

Source

i hear ya.

2011-02-27T00:40:00.001-06:00

I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God I dwell in a quiet habitation.
-Charles H. Spurgeon

"Thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation." --Psalm 91:9

2011-02-15T21:10:00.002-06:00

Why do we have children?

2011-02-01T00:51:00.001-06:00

"We have children because love overflows. I believe as a Christian that I am created in the image of a God who is Love, a God whose love so desired an object that it brought us into being. Although the wisdom and power of love within us is clouded and twisted by sin, still the image of Love is there. We have children because love is essentially creative, and because our souls long for other souls we can love lavishly and forever.
Love precedes the beloved. That is why it is unconditional. In bearing children we participate in God's continuing creative act, and in sustaining and guiding and sacrificing for our children we reflect God's redemptive act. Theologically, then, we have children because we are made after the image of a God who had children, a God who is irreducibly relational and endlessly creative."
Dr. Timothy Dalrymple

One in five doomed married couples cite Facebook by name in their divorce proceedings

2011-01-27T00:42:00.002-06:00

...according to a recent survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

"Flirty messages and photographs found on Facebook are increasingly being cited as proof of unreasonable behaviour or irreconcilable differences. Many cases revolve around social media users who get back in touch with old flames they hadn’t heard from in many years."
-The Daily Mail
http://www.benterry.com/2011/01/80-of-marriages-divorce-because-of-social-media/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BenTerry+%28Ben+Terry%29

Ephesians 5:11 (The Message)
11-16Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It's a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ. Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light!So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!

James 1:13-16 (New International Version, ©2010)
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.

In Christ alone will I glory...

2011-01-06T23:43:00.004-06:00

...Though I could pride myself in battles won
For I've been blessed beyond measure
And by His strength alone I overcome
Oh, I could stop and count successes
Like diamonds in my hand
But those trophies could not equal
To the grace by which I stand

In Christ alone I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory let it be said of me
My source of strength, my source of hope
Is Christ alone

In Christ alone will I glory
For only by His grace I am redeemed
Only His tender mercy
Could reach beyond my weakness to my need
Now I seek no greater honor
Than just to know Him more
And to count my things but losses
To the glory of the Lord

In Christ alone I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory let it be said of me
My source of strength, my source of hope
Is Christ alone

I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory let it be said of me

My source of strength, my source of hope
Is Christ alone

My source of strength, my source of hope
Christ alone

*In Christ Alone - Michael English

2010-12-17T23:11:00.002-06:00

"I don't want to suggest that those of us who are following Jesus don't have any fun, that there's no joy, no exuberance, no ecstasy. They're just not what the consumer thinks they are. When we advertise the gospel in terms of the world's values, we lie to people. We lie to them, because this is a new life. It involves following Jesus. It involves the Cross. It involves death, an acceptable sacrifice. We give up our lives."
Eugene Peterson

Source: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/march/26.42.html
emphasis by me.

Over 4.5 billion who are without Christ are right now heading to an eternity in hell.

2010-12-15T22:30:00.004-06:00

That is a vast spiritual need. Add to that a vast physical need.

26,000 children will die today because of preventable disease.

God has chosen to determine the measure and integrity of faith by our response to the poor. If this book[The Bible]is true, then we do not have time to play games with our lives. We do not have time to play games in the church. I want to call us this morning to forsake hopes, plans, dreams, possessions, and ideas of a nice, comfortable, safe middle-class American life. I want to call you to forsake it all in radical abandonment for Jesus Christ.

David Platt

Source:http://www.benterry.com/?s=american+dream

emphasis by me.

Thanks to my dear friend, Red,...

2010-12-13T00:26:00.003-06:00

...for the link to this awesome post! God pointed me towards so much that I want to add to my prayer life, including...

"Our compromises and provision for the flesh don’t solely impact us. The most grievous result of resisting the Holy Spirit’s leading in God’s ways is that the Lord Himself is grieved. Our lives are about bringing Him pleasure (Rom. 14:8; 2 Cor. 5:9). The worst thing I can do is withhold from the Lord what He longs for and deserves. He is worthy of the joy that was set before Him as He endured the cross (Heb. 12:2). May we not grieve Him in our lack of yieldedness and insistence on self-effort.
But our little failures and compromises also affect others. God’s word repeatedly reminds us that our children can be benefited by a heritage of godliness or handicapped by our failures (Ex. 20:5-6; 34:4-7; Jer. 32:18).
----------------------------------------------------------
This is what we are to seek above all else[the kingdom of God] (Matt. 6:33). Homeschooling, like every other activity in our lives, is not really about this earth at all (Col. 3:1-2). Everything in our (and our children’s) lives must be about Jesus (Col. 3:17).
----------------------------------------------------------
In scripture the term "shelter" is always portrayed positively. The Psalmist sings (Ps. 61:3-4), For You have been a SHELTER for me, A strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the SHELTER of Your wings." God lovingly describes His people as His "sheltered ones" (Ps. 83.3).
----------------------------------------------------------
No doubt the Lord wants our children to learn to benefit from edifying fellowship, just as He wants this for us. However, positive social skills are generally not learned from children. God intends for fathers (not peers) to shape their children’s values and tendencies "in the training and admonition of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4). This requires protecting our children from peer domination, and instead structuring our family lifestyles to facilitate intense, intimate relationship between our children and ourselves.
-----------------------------------------------------------
It is not enough to know and follow scripture. Paul even argued (2 Cor. 3:6) that "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." Paul loved scripture, but the key issue of the reality of the Christian life was whether or not someone was living with God in the Spiritual realm beyond the temporal plane. "

SOURCE: http://valuesdrivenfamily.blogspot.com/2007/10/top-ten-mistakes-of-homeschoolers.html
emphasis by me.

hAPPY aDVENT

2010-11-24T00:23:00.000-06:00

"In these days when Christmas is not celebrated as a holiday(a holy day) but a season of consumption from late October through early January, it’s easy to be crushed under the Christmas rush without stopping to consider the season of Advent.
The evangelist writes that John the Baptized announced this time of waiting, of looking-forward, of pointing towards Jesus.
There was a man sent from God,whose name was John.He came as a witness to testify to the light,so that all might believe through him.He himself was not the light,but he came to testify to the light. (John 1:6-8)
John wasn’t the sort of soul who would celebrate Christmas from Thanksgiving forward, he pointed, he witnessed, he testified to the light still to come. John may have cried, “repent,” or “prepare,” and today might even exclaim “Happy Advent” if he were in a good mood, but John the Baptist would never wish a pre-mature Merry Christmas."

Read entire post here.

2010-11-20T22:08:00.003-06:00

"Among us English-speaking peoples especially do the praises of poverty need once more to be boldly sung. We have grown literally afraid to be poor. We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition. We have lost the power even of imagining what the ancient realization of poverty could have meant; the liberation from material attachments, the unbribed soul, the manlier indifference, the paying our way by what we are and not by what we have, the right to fling away our life at any moment irresponsibly - the more athletic trim, in short, in fighting shape."
-William James quoted in Shane Claiborne's Economy of Love

*emphasis by me.

This is a tiny peek into where God is leading my family.
To be continued...

"Some plants die if they have too much sunshine...

2010-11-11T19:10:00.001-06:00

...It may be that you are planted where you get but little, you are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit unto perfection. Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there."
Charles H. Spurgeon

"He shall choose our inheritance for us." {#Ps 47:4}

Mother: You have a mission field

2010-10-24T22:40:00.002-05:00

Would it be over the top if I quoted this posting in ALL CAPS AND BOLD??
i don't think so.

"OUR FIRST AND PRIMARY MISSION FIELD IS OUR CHILDREN."
more...

"One of the worst consequences of the Fall is the elaborate barriers people erect between themselves and others.

2010-10-21T20:19:00.005-05:00

...Facades abound in the world, even in My Body, the church. Sometimes, church is the last place where people feel free to be themselves. They cover up with Sunday clothes and Sunday smiles. They feel relief when they leave because of the strain of false fellowship. The best antidote to this artificial atmosphere is practicing My Presence at church. Let your primary focus be communing with Me, worshipping Me, glorifying Me. Then you will be able to smile at others with My Joy and love them with My Love."
-from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

1 John 1:5-7 (NKJV)
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Exodus 33:14 (NKJV)
14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Philippians 4:8-9 (NKJV)
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

"Facebook users spend 105,878 hours on Facebook games every month…Don’t waste your life."

2010-10-20T11:27:00.002-05:00

*source

Ephesians 5:15-17 (The Message)
11-16Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It's a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ. Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light!So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!
17Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.

"...will my life, find me by your side?..."

2010-10-11T21:26:00.001-05:00

2010-10-07T21:54:00.002-05:00

"People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.
We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance;
we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom;
we drift toward superstition and call it faith.
We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation;
we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped
l
e
g
a
l
i
s
m;
we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated."

-D.A. Carson’s, For the love of God : A daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. Volume 2 (25)
*emphases by me.

really into David Platt right now.

2010-10-01T00:56:00.001-05:00

http://vimeo.com/5833626

http://vimeo.com/14930182

2010-09-26T15:16:00.001-05:00

"We give because we’ve been given so much, and we serve because we’ve received more than we could ever repay. Living as an offering — giving to God our moments, our days — is not a burden, but really, it is a mother’s strength."
Read more thoughts from Amy Scott at her blog

2010-09-22T13:44:00.001-05:00

"According to the Bible, anything we worship–other than God himself–is an idol. Idolatry is centering our attention and affection on something, or someone, smaller than God. In fact, most idols are good things in our lives that we turn into ultimate things, things that take God’s place as we unconsciously depend on them to give our lives meaning and security. This is what John Calvin meant when he said that the human heart is an idol-making factory–taking good things and making them into idols that end up defining us.”
Tullian Tchividjian’s book, Surprised By Grace

"And even though it all went wrong, I'll stand before the Lord of Song, with nothing on my tongue but HALLELUJAH"

2010-09-21T12:50:00.002-05:00

2010-09-02T22:13:00.000-05:00

So Long I'm Six from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.

2010-08-16T13:26:00.003-05:00

Back to School?

2010-08-04T21:12:00.003-05:00

"No academic skepticism, no secularist authors, no blatant materialism can so undermine the spiritual life of the country like the completely secularized training of the child under the authority of the state... Bible-based education is mandatory for Christian parents. If we think we can keep our children in a secular school system and escape the dumbed-down, amoral, and immoral results of secular humanism in schools, we are sorely mistaken" (Dave Black; emphasis added)

Read more here.

2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV)
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

Watch Your Words Diligently.

2010-08-03T13:02:00.002-05:00

This is something that I have been working on with my 7-year old son. And then, this morning, I read these words in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young...

"Words have such great power to bless or to wound. When you speak carelessly or negatively, you damage others as well as yourself. This ability to verbalize is an awesome privilege, granted only to those I created in My image. You need help in wielding this mighty power responsibly."

Proverbs 12:18 (New King James Version)
There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword,
But the tongue of the wise promotes health.

James 1:19 (New International Version)
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

Ephesians 4:29 (New International Version)
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Purify your mind by turning away from worldly entertainment.

2010-07-28T09:54:00.000-05:00

James 12:1 Putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

"It astonishes me how many Christians watch the same banal, empty, silly, trivial, titillating, suggestive, immodest TV shows that most unbelievers watch. This makes us small and weak and worldly and inauthentic in worship. Instead, turn off the television and read something true and great and beautiful and pure and honorable and excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Your heart will unshrivel and be able to feel greatness again."
John Piper

(emphases by me.)

wow.

2010-07-20T22:40:00.003-05:00

“I’ve often said that our afflictions come from the hand of our all-wise and sovereign God, who loves us and wants what is best for us. So, although cancer is something new, I am content to receive from God whatever He deems fit for me,” she said. “Yes, it’s alarming, but rest assured that [my husband]and I are utterly convinced that God is going to use this to stretch our faith, brighten our hope and strengthen our witness to others.”
-Joni Eareckson Tada (Internationally-beloved disability advocate, artist and quadriplegic who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer)

amen.

Read the complete article here...http://www.alarryross.com/PressRelease.aspx?ID=555

Pondering...

2010-07-20T13:37:00.002-05:00

"Is my home the engine of materialism or a refuge from it?"
-PEGGY ORENSTEIN

1 Timothy 6:8(NIV)
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

2010-07-14T00:43:00.002-05:00

"Many Christians make the mistake of thinking that obeying the Bible makes them spiritual. Mahatma Gandhi obeyed the Sermon on the Mount quite literally—yet he never became a follower of Christ."

"The Apostle John reminds us that 'anyone who says he is a Christian should live as Christ did' (1 John 2:6, Living Bible)."

"We must seek Jesus daily by reading God’s Word and comparing our hearts with His. We must measure our humility, obedience, love and passion for the lost by what we see in Him."

How did Jesus respond to inconvenience and suffering? Read more here...

2010-07-13T00:38:00.002-05:00

"If we teach our children through our actions or instruction,even subtly, that being successful in this world is somehow a measure of their importance and success, then we will miss the point of all the Lord's teaching. We are given one chance to live on earth, and the true measure of our success will be our faith, our faithfulness, and our obedience."
from The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson

Ezekiel 16:12 "And I put a jewel in your nose,"

2010-07-07T19:22:00.005-05:00

about God's love

for Jerusalem

(and for you and me!)

here.

i just want to live for Jesus.

2010-07-06T12:23:00.004-05:00

"...I still can’t figure it out.
I try to listen.

I don’t know why He just won’t tell me straight out what is the best use of these days and is there anything that lasts and where is my place in the world? This heart sloshes its ache.

I just want to live for Jesus.

My heart hurts.
Does it hurt over the right things? Does it hurt in triplicate for the eternal or does it only hurt for things that are 'like straw to Him'? Am I bothered by the pain in this world? Or just the pain in me?
Or is it that —- the pain in me is a result of my indifference to the pain in this world?

'You really want to know how to live your one life best? Live the True Religion. Love and care for the hurting. Reach out to the orphans and widows, the homeless and loveless in their distress. Figure that out.'

Just that.

Really? I’m the mother of six. How do mothers, homemakers, say yes to that? To poverty and starving children and a breaking world and how do we become the voices of prophets and the hands of saints and does He send us “to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind and to release all the oppressed”? I don’t know how this works."(emphasis by me.)

Ann over at Holy Experience seems to be in my head. Her words, seen above, are thoughts that run through my mind on a daily basis.

i just want to live for Jesus.
how do i do that exactly??

2010-06-30T22:22:00.004-05:00

"To see that my adversary gives me my rights is natural; but Jesus says that it is a matter of eternal and imperative importance to me that I pay my adversary what I owe him. From our Lord's standpoint it does not matter whether I am defrauded or not; what does matter is that I do not defraud. Am I insisting on my rights, or am I paying what I owe from Jesus Christ's standpoint?"
-Oswald Chambers

This is huge.

from Oswald Chambers' My Utmost For His Highest

2010-06-29T12:55:00.004-05:00

"Never water down the word of God, preach it in its undiluted sternness; there must be unflinching loyalty to the word of God; but when you come to personal dealings with your fellow man, remember who you are-
not a special being made up in heaven, but a...
sinner
saved
by
grace."
(emphases by me.)

Phil. 3:12: "If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended."

2010-06-24T12:43:00.001-05:00

What is the difference between someone who willfully indulges in sexual pleasures while ignoring the Bible on moral purity and someone who willfully indulges in the selfish pursuit of more and more material possessions while ignoring the Bible on caring for the poor?

CLICK HERE for the answer...

I DON'T BELONG HERE.

2010-06-22T23:52:00.004-05:00

Do you know anyone who seems to have it all together? You know...those people who are always dressed appropriately for any given occasion, don't wear white shoes after Labor day, have their home's decor change with the seasons.

i am not that person.

If you know me, you know what to expect when you see me. I will be in my rope sandals, toddler on my hip, running 5 minutes behind, scripture cuff on my wrist as a constant reminder of what really matters.

I've always felt this way-different from the crowd. A square peg expected to fit into a round hole.
And now I understand! God has opened my eyes to the truth that this world is not my eternal home. This skin I walk around in every day is only temporary. It's okay that I just can't seem to figure out how "to do life"-as I told my hubby the other day.

i forget to return phone calls.
i say things out of anger.
i struggle with self-righteousness.
i judge.
i am ungrateful at times.
i can be lazy.
i am a sinner in desperate need of a savior-Jesus.

Without wisdom from God, I know nothing.
If I speak words that do not come from Him or from His Word, I've said nothing.
If I spend my life fulfilling selfish desires, I have done nothing.

Romans 12:2 (The Message)
Place Your Life Before God
1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

2010-06-11T21:47:00.002-05:00

Christ with me
Christ before me
Christ behind me
Christ in me
Christ beneath me
Christ above me
Christ on my right
Christ on my left
Christ when I lie down
Christ when I sit down
Christ when I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me

2010-05-25T22:47:00.001-05:00

"God is not concerned about our plans; He does not say - Do you want to go through this bereavement; this upset? He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, nobler men and women; or they are making us more captious(critical) and fault-finding, more insistent upon our own way. The things that happen either make us fiends, or they make us saints; it depends entirely upon the relationship we are in to God."-Oswald Chambers

2010-05-20T19:50:00.001-05:00

The apostle Paul gives us an excellent "check list" of the difference between the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, for by these we can judge ourselves before our God and those who observe us (Galatians 5:16-25 NASV):

16. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

17. For the flesh sets its desire [or lusts] against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

18. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

19. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,

20. idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,

21. envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not enter the kingdom of God.

22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23. gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

24. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with it's passions and desires.

25. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by [or follow] the Spirit.

2010-05-16T23:09:00.001-05:00

thinking on this...

2010-05-16T21:50:00.004-05:00

"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

(emphases by me)

WANTED: like-minded believers who want to take the teachings of Jesus as found in the Gospels seriously. People who want real community and simplicity of living.
*sigh*

“…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12b)

2010-04-25T22:44:00.005-05:00

Mr. Humble Heart: “Good morning, Sir. May I beg the favor of an hour of your valuable time?”

Editor: “Come in, and welcome. What can I do for you?”

Humble Heart: “I am sore troubled in spirit: I long so much to be able to call God ‘my father,’ but I fear I might be guilty of lying were I to do so. There are many times when I have a little hope that He has begun a good work within me, but alas, for the most part, I find such a mass of corruption working within, that I feel sure that I have never been made a new creature in Christ. My heart is so cold and hard toward God, that it seems impossible the Holy Spirit could have shed abroad God’s love in me; unbelief and doubtings so often master me, that it would be presumptuous to think I possess the faith of God’s elect. Yet I want to love Him, trust Him, serve Him, but it seems I cannot.”

Editor: “I am very glad you called. It is rare indeed to meet with an honest soul these days.”

Humble Heart: “Excuse me, Sir, but I do not want you to form a wrong impression of me: an honest heart is the very blessing I crave, but I am painfully conscious, from much clear evidence, that I possess it not. My heart is deceitful above all things, and I am full of hypocrisy. I have often begged God to make me holy, and right after, my actions proved that I did not mean what I said. I have often thanked God for His mercies, and then have soon fretted and murmured when His providence crossed my will. I had quite a battle before I came here to see you tonight, as to whether I was really seeking help, or as to whether my secret desire was to win your esteem: and I am not sure now which was my real motive.”

Humble Heart: “ I have sought to heed 2 Corinthians 13:5 and ‘examine’ myself, and when I did so, I could see nothing but a mass of contradictions; or, it would be more accurate to say, for each one thing I found which seemed to show that I was regenerate, I found ten things to prove that I could not be so. And now, Sir, I’m mourning night and day, for I feel of all men the most miserable.”

Editor: “Hypocrites are not exercised about their motives, nor troubled over the deceitfulness of their hearts! At any rate, I am thankful to see you are so deeply concerned about your soul’s eternal interests.”

Humble Heart: “Alas, Sir, I am not half as much concerned about them as I ought to be. That is another thing which occasions me much anguish. When the Lord Jesus tells us that the human soul is worth more than the whole world put together (Mark 8:36), I feel that I must be thoroughly blinded by Satan and completely under the dominion of sin, seeing that I am so careless. It is true that at times I am alarmed about my state and fearful that I shall soon be in Hell; at times too, I seem to seek God more earnestly and read His Word more diligently; but alas, my goodness is ‘as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away’ (Hos. 6:4). The cares of this life so soon crowd out thoughts of the life to come. O, Sir, I want reality, not pretense; I want to make sure, yet cannot.”

Editor: “That is not so simple a task as many would have us believe.”

Humble Heart: “It certainly is not. I have consulted several Bible teachers, only to find them ‘physicians of no value’ (Job 13:4). I have also conferred with some who boasted that they never have a doubt, and they quoted to me Acts 16:31, and on telling them I did believe, they cried ‘Peace, peace,’ but there was no peace in my heart.”

Editor: “Ah, dear friend, it is not without reason that God has bidden us ‘give diligence to make your calling and election sure’ (2 Peter 1:10). And even after we have given diligence, we still need the Holy Spirit to ‘bear witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God’ (Rom. 8:16). Moreover, spiritual assurance may easily be lost, or at least be clouded, as is evident from the case of him who wrote the 23rd Psalm, for at a later date he had to cry unto God, ‘Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation.’

Editor: “Before proceeding further, had we not better ask the help of the Lord? His Holy Word says, ‘In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths’ (Prov. 3:6). And now, dear Brother, for such I am assured you really are, what is it that most causes you to doubt that you have passed from death unto life?”

Humble Heart: “My inward experiences, the wickedness of my heart, the many defeats I encounter daily.”

Editor: “Perhaps you are looking for perfection in the flesh.”

Humble Heart: “No, hardly that, for I know the ‘flesh’ or old nature is still left in the Christian. But I have met with some who claim to be living ‘the victorious life,’ who say they never have a doubt, never a rising of anger, discontent, or any wicked feelings or desires; that Christ so controls them that unclouded peace and joy are theirs all the time.”

Editor: “Bear with me if I speak plainly, but such people are either hypnotized by the Devil, or they are fearful liars. God’s Word says, ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us’ (1 John 1:8). And again, ‘There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not’ (Eccl. 7:20). And again, ‘In many things, we offend all’ (James 3:2). The beloved Apostle Paul when well advanced in the Christian life, declared, ‘I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members’ (Rom. 7:21-23).

Humble Heart: “That relieves my mind somewhat, yet it scarcely reaches the root of my difficulty. What troubles me so much is this: when God regenerates a man, he becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus: the change wrought in him is so great that it is termed a ‘passing from death unto life.’ It is obvious that if God the Holy Spirit dwells in a person, that there must be a radical difference produced, both inwardly and outwardly, from what he was before. Now it is this which I fail to find in myself. Instead of being any better than I was a year ago, I feel I am worse. Instead of humility filling my heart, so often pride rules it; instead of lying passive like clay in the Potter’s hand to be molded by Him, I am like a wild colt; instead of rejoicing in the Lord always, I am frequently filled with bitterness and repinings.”

Editor: “Such experiences as you describe are very sad and humbling, and need to be mourned over and confessed to God. They must never be excused nor glossed over. Nevertheless, they are not incompatible with the Christian state. Rather they are so many proofs that he who is experimentally [by experience] acquainted with the ‘plague of his own heart’ (1 Kings 8:38) is one in experience with the most eminent of God’s saints. Abraham acknowledged he was ‘dust and ashes’ (Gen. 18:27). Job said, ‘I abhor myself’ (42:6). David prayed ‘Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed’ (Psa. 6:2). Isaiah exclaimed, ‘Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips’ (6:5). In the anguish of his heart, Jeremiah asked, ‘Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?’ (20:18). Daniel once owned, ‘There remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption’ (10:8). Paul cried, ‘O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ (Rom. 7:24).
“One of the principal things which distinguishes a regenerate person from an unregenerate one may be likened unto two rooms which have been swept but not dusted. In one, the blinds are raised and the sunlight streams in, exposing the dust still lying on the furniture. In the other, the blinds are lowered, and one walking through the room would be unable to discern its real condition. Thus it is in the case of one who has been renewed by the Spirit: his eyes have been opened to see the awful filth which lurks in every corner of his heart. But in the case of the unregenerate, though they have occasional twinges of conscience when they act wrongly, they are very largely ignorant of the awful fact that they are a complete mass of corruption unto the pure eyes of the thrice holy God. It is true that an unregenerate person may be instructed in the truth of the total depravity of fallen man, and he may ‘believe’ the same, yet his belief does not humble his heart, fill him with anguish, make him loathe himself, and feel that Hell is the only place which is fit for him to dwell in. But it is far otherwise with one who sees light in God’s light (Psa. 36:9); he will not so much as lift up his eyes to Heaven, but smites upon his leprous breast, crying, ‘God be merciful to me the sinner’.”

Humble Heart: “Would you kindly turn to the positive side, and give me a brief description of what characterizes a genuine Christian?”

Editor: “Among other gifts, every real Christian has such a knowledge of God in Christ, as works by love, that he is stirred up to earnestly inquire after the will of God, and studies His Word to learn that will, having a sincere desire and making an honest endeavor to live in the faith and practice of it.”

Humble Heart: “I cannot boast of my knowledge of God in Christ, yet by Divine grace this I may say: that I desire no other Heaven on earth than to know and to do God’s will, and be assured that I have His approval.”

Editor: “That is indeed a good sign that your soul has been actually renewed, and doubtless He who has begun a work of grace in your heart, will make the great change manifest in your life and actions. No matter what he thinks or says, no unregenerate man really desires to live a life which is pleasing to God.”

Humble Heart: “God forbid that I should flatter myself, yet I hope I have often found delight when reading God’s Word or hearing it preached, and I do sincerely meditate upon it, and long that I may ‘grow in grace.’ Yet, at times, I am tempted with vain and vile thoughts, and I strive to banish them, my heart rising up against them; yet sometimes I yield to them. I loathe lying and cursing, and cannot endure the company of those who hate practical godliness; yet my withdrawal from them seems nothing but pharisaic hypocrisy, for I am such a miserable failure myself. I pray to God for deliverance from temptation and for grace to resist the Devil, but I fear that I do not have His ear, for more often than not I am defeated by sin and Satan.”

Editor: “When you thus fall in your duty, or fall into sin, what do you think of yourself and your ways? How are you affected therewith?”

Humble Heart: “When I am in this deplorable condition, my soul is grieved, my joy of heart and peace of conscience gone. But when I am a little recovered out of this sinful lethargy, my heart is melted with sorrow over my folly, and I address myself to God with great fear and shame, begging Him to forgive me, pleading 1 John 1:9, and humbly imploring Him to ‘renew a right spirit within me’.”

Editor: “And why is it that you are so troubled when sin conquers you?”

Humble Heart: “Because I truly wish to please the Lord, and it is my greatest grief when I realize that I have dishonored and displeased Him. His mercy has kept me, thus far, from breaking out into open and public sins, yet there is very much within which I know He hates.”

Editor: “Well, my dear brother and companion in the path of tribulation, God has ordained that the Lamb shall be eaten with ‘bitter herbs’ (Exo. 12:8). So it was with the Apostle: ‘As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing’ (2 Cor. 6:10) summed up his dual experience: ‘sorrowful over his sinful failures, both of omission and commission; yet ‘rejoicing’ over the provisions which Divine grace has made for us while we are in this dreary desert – the Mercy Seat ever open to us, whither we may draw near, unburden our heavy hearts, and pour out our tale of woe; the Fountain which has been ‘opened for sin and for uncleanness’ (Zech. 13:1), whither we may repair for cleansing. I am indeed thankful to learn that your conscience confirms what your tongue has uttered. You have expressed enough to clearly evidence that the Holy Spirit has begun a good work in your soul. But I trust you also have faith in the Lord Jesus, the Mediator, by whom alone any sinner can draw near unto God.”

Humble Heart: “By Divine grace, I do desire to acknowledge and embrace the Lord Jesus upon the terms on which He is proclaimed in the Gospel: to believe all His doctrine as my Teacher, to trust in and depend upon the atoning sacrifice which He offered as the great High Priest, and to submit to His rule and government as King. But, alas, in connection with the last, ‘to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not’ (Rom. 7:18).

Editor: “No real Christian ever attains his ideal in this life; he never reaches that perfect standard which God has set before us in His Word, and which was so blessedly exemplified in the life of Christ. Even the Apostle Paul, near the close of his life, had to say, ‘Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 3:12). But may I ask if you are sensible of how you arrived at the good desires you mentioned? Do you suppose that such a disposition is natural to you, or that it has resulted from your own improvement of your faculties?”

Humble Heart: “No, Sir, I dare not ascribe to nature that which is the effect and fruit of Divine grace. If I have any measure of sanctification (which is what I long to be assured of), then it can only be by the gift and operation of God. I am too well acquainted with my wretched self: I know too well that by nature I am alive to vanity and sin but dead to God and all real goodness; that folly possesses my soul, darkness shrouds my understanding; that I am utterly unable to will or to do what is pleasing in God’s sight, and that my natural heart is set contrary to the way of salvation proposed in the Gospel, rising up against its flesh-condemning precepts and commandments. I see, I know, I feel that in me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing.”

Editor: “Then do you realize what must be the outcome if God were to leave you unto yourself?”

Humble Heart: “Yes, indeed. Without the assistance of His Holy Spirit, I should certainly make shipwreck of the faith. My daily prayer is ‘Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe’ (Psa. 119:117). My earnest desire is that I may watch and pray against every temptation. There is nothing I dread more than apostatizing, relaxing in my duty, returning to wallow in the mire.”

Editor: “These are all plain evidences of the saving grace of God at work within you, which I beseech Him to continue, so that you may be preserved with a tender conscience, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, and obtain a full assurance of His love for you.”

Humble Heart: “I thank you kindly, Sir, for your patience and help. What you have said makes me feel lighter in heart, but I wish to go home and prayerfully ponder the same, for I dare not take any man’s word for it. I want God Himself ‘to say unto my soul, I am thy salvation’ (Psa. 35:3). Will you not pray that it may please Him so to do?”

Editor: “You shall certainly have a place in my feeble petitions. The Lord be very gracious unto you.”
(Excerpted and edited from A.W. Pink, Studies in the Scriptures, October, 1932)
-emphases by me.

from John Piper...

2010-04-22T20:35:00.001-05:00

"There are millions of nominal Christians who are not born again who believe God loves them and yet are on their way to hell. And the difference between them and a born again believer is this:
What’s the bottom, the decisive foundation, of their happiness?

As you penetrate down deeper and deeper to the core, or the bottom, of what makes you happy,
what
is
it?"

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2010/4581_How_Much_Does_God_Love_This_Church/
(emphases by me.)

2010-04-15T23:24:00.003-05:00

from K.P. Yohannan...
The Bible warns us not to harden our hearts: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 3:15).
It is possible for us as believers to have a tender heart for a season, but then when God speaks to us about an issue, to choose not to humble ourselves but rather to harden our hearts. This is not a good place for us to be, because the Bible declares: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).
The Lord will not just let us go. He will allow circumstances to pound us so our hearts will once again become soft and pliable. The people of Israel are the perfect example of this. Just think of how many times God allowed them to face famines, hardships, oppression, defeat and captivity in order to soften their hearts and help them return to Him!
Read more at http://www.gfa.org/send/the-potter-works-only-with-soft-clay/?cm_mmc=GFA-_-Email-_-377991-_-100415-digest

2010-04-11T20:36:00.001-05:00

contraDECEPTION

2010-03-30T10:50:00.002-05:00

What will I teach my sweet baby girl, almost 2 years old now, about purity? What will I say to her about sex? What will my personal actions reveal to her about our beliefs on contraception? For my husband and myself, God has convicted us that using contraception is not trusting Him. It is a form of controlling our own lives, instead of giving Him complete control. But there's more...sex was created by God and given specific parameters(within marriage). Therefore, sex outside of marriage is an abomination to God. Hey, I call it like I see it! We can either listen and obey the Word of God OR listen to a fallen world that approves of things such as "casual sex", "no strings attached", "friends with benefits" (gross.), and "safe sex".
The following excerpt is from an article that first appeared in the January/February 2010 issue of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity (www.touchstonemag.com). I found it at a website of a godly woman named Kelly over at www.generationcedar.com...

"Christian parents are tempted to hope that if their kids mess up, they will at least be “safe” about it. The young have to be taught, with subtlety of course, that for everyone to remain happy, they must plan their sins and take measures to prevent these sins from coming to light. Veniality is far too risky.
The people we seek to keep safe are ourselves. There is nothing safe about “safe sex” besides an external reputation. As long as no one knows, we can still participate in society’s grotesque nuptial parodies. Our daughters flounce down the aisle in ironic white gowns, naked from the cleavage up; our sons save for honeymoons on which the couple, drained by months of preparing for the exhibition of extravagance, can finally get some sleep. We smile about how our darlings waited—or if they didn’t, about how they at least were smart enough not to let it become a problem."

Hebrews 13:4(NKJV)
Marriage [is] honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

2010-03-26T22:53:00.001-05:00

"The Bible calls debt a curse and children a blessing. But in our culture we apply for a curse and reject blessings. Something is wrong with this picture."–Doug Phillips

2010-03-24T23:39:00.005-05:00

"A woman's place is in the home because she has a job to do that does not belong to anyone else."

"A woman is needed at home to put limits on the demands which confronts her family."

"A woman's place is in the home so she can teach her children to be refined and respectful."

"A woman's place is in the home because there she does not have to BUY everything."

"A woman's place is in the home to provide hospitality."

"A woman's place is in the home because it is there that she will be under the least pressure to conform to the standards of the prevailing culture."

"A woman's place is in the home because that is where her greatest authority is."

-Read more at http://homeliving.blogspot.com/

Please don't shoot the messenger! I am not the author of the idea that a woman's place is in the home...God is.

Titus 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

*Keepers at home: Strongs Concordance: 3626 oikourgos: (a guard; be "ware"); a stayer at home, i.e. domestically inclined (a "good housekeeper")

"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is place in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into it's soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller

2010-03-23T11:11:00.002-05:00

"My kids always ate their vegetables, minded their manners, and won the spelling bee each year.
That was, of course, before I had kids.
In my mind, I baked cookies, but what nobody told me was, I really hate baking: then, now, and forever, amen. In my mind, I like the idea of baking and wearing an apron, though. The truth is I don’t own a checkered apron that ties in the back and has a pocket full of pinecones.

They will grow up and come back home for Thanksgiving with their children. And I will tell them that my expectations belonged to me, that they were my burdens to carry, not theirs. My job was to give them wings, not weights. My job was to inspire them to do what they were created to do, not create them in my own image.

It’s why we play baseball but not the piano. It’s why I know how to score an infield fly when I never cared before. It’s why my children are shy and I am not. It’s why all of that and more has to be OK."
(emphasis mine)
Read more at http://humblemusings.com/?paged=2

The Lord is, in His grace and mercy, teaching me how to parent. Because, let's face it, I hadn't a clue. Being around children, does not make a good parent. Once being a child yourself, as we all were, does not make a parent. And, of course, birthing a child does not automatically make you a good parent. Good, successful parenting comes from God...through wisdom in His Word which ignites all of the knowledge and talent and energy needed that is already inside of us-given to us by Him when He blessed us with children. The difficult part: weeding through all of the junk that the world has taught us about parenting. It's been a challenge for me to stop comparing my children to other people's children and myself to other mothers. Instead, I spend time(LOTS of time) with my children so that I learn who they are and I spend time (LOTS of time) in prayer and study of the Word as I humble myself in front of the Lord and depend and trust in Him fully for my needs as a mother(and wife, woman, friend, etc.).

2010-03-21T23:46:00.003-05:00

"[Success] has nothing to do with church association. It has everything to do with faithfulness to the Lord and constant, persistent endeavor after holiness of life."

i couldn't agree more.
;)

TAKE HEED THAT YOU LOVE.

2010-03-19T16:02:00.002-05:00

"Love Christ, and you will be content only if you possess all of Him.
Love Him, and you will be bold in your witness.
Love Him, and you will love His Book and His law.
Love Him, and you will seek no human love that ever could be inconsistent with the love of God.
Love Him, and you will possess Him and you will be possessed by Him.
Love Him, and you also will love all others who love Him."
Read more at http://pastorscmartin.blogspot.com/2010/03/take-heed-to-love-your-god.html

The woman i want 2 b...

2010-03-17T11:48:00.002-05:00

1. a mother who desire to live a life worthy of the calling of Christ
2. devoted to bringing up godly children
3. determined to love fiercely as a wife
4. committed to fighting in the battle that rages against the family

Read more at http://www.generationcedar.com/main/2010/03/rockin-and-rulin-mothers-whove-shaped-the-world.html

I love me some Spurgeon!

2010-03-16T21:07:00.000-05:00

You and I cannot be useful if we want to be sweet as honey in the mouths of men. God will never bless us if we wish to please men, that they may think well of us. Are you willing to tell them what will break your own heart in the telling and break theirs in the hearing? If not, you are not fit to serve the Lord. You must be willing to go and speak for God, though you will be rejected. - Charles H. Spurgeon

Pro-Homeschool

2010-03-16T20:48:00.004-05:00

"Try to see in your mind's eye the Lord of heaven and earth coming over to you and striking up a conversation like He did with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). You're speechless at first and filled with incredible emotions while you and Jesus talk, then the conversation turns to your children.
"How are they doing? Where are they now?" Jesus asks.
Your reply is, "Oh Lord, I dropped them off at the local public school for their education and training up."
The Lord responds with a gentle rebuke, "But I gave them to you to train up."
"Oh, yes, Lord, I know that, so that's why I try to take them to Sunday school every week," you reply.
Jesus replies, "But I gave them to you to disciple."
What would the Christian parent's reply be then? "I didn't know"?
Didn't know? Is God's Word vague on such an important topics as how to train up the next generation? Are not some of the following verses clear: Deuteronomy 6:1-9; 11:18-22; Proverbs 22:6 and Ephesians 6:4, to name a few?"
excerpt from http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=87264

"From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more" John 6:66

2010-03-10T19:30:00.003-06:00

"They turned back from walking with Jesus; not into sin, but away from Him. Many people today are pouring their lives out and working for Jesus Christ, but are not really walking with Him. One thing God constantly requires of us is a oneness with Jesus Christ. After being set apart through sanctification, we should discipline our lives spiritually to maintain this intimate oneness. When God gives you a clear determination of His will for you, all your striving to maintain that relationship by some particular method is completely unnecessary. All that is required is to live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ."
-excerpt from Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest
*emphases added by me

Something's been off with me lately. Instead of being proud of looking different than this world, I've felt like an outsider. Reading Oswald Chambers' words gave me some clarity. My walk with Christ is determined by 1 thing, short of His grace, and that is my relationship with Him. Not how my actions look, not if I can recall scripture at a moments notice, not if I "feel" like I am living the life He intended for me to live.
All I have to do is keep my eyes fixed on Him.
Why is that so hard?
Because we live in a fallen world that has, for the most part, bought into Satan's lies. We are constantly surrounded in work and play with people who live their few days on this planet focused on things other than "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable"(Philippians 4:8). So, sure, you will definitely look like an oddball when, in casual conversation, you bring up things like...purity or holiness.
But I digress.
I desire to only desire Him. I desire to only crave His Word. I desire to become a woman of worth in His eyes. And if this requires me to withdrawal, to a degree, from the worldy world...so be it.

"Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message."
http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/03/10/devotion.aspx

"Ye must be born again." --John 3:7

2010-03-06T00:12:00.005-06:00

"Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation, and we should be very diligent to take heed that we really are "born again", for there are many who fancy they are, who are not...
May the Lord enable us to be well assured on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope."

Charles H. Spurgeon at http://www.answersingenesis.org/devotions/devotions.asp
*emphases added by me.

A Simple Woman's Daybook

2010-03-01T22:11:00.007-06:00

Outside my window...the first signs of Spring! (If you look closely.)

I am thinking...about 1,000 things at a time, as usual.

I am thankful for...forgiveness.

From the kitchen...it's Mexican night 'round here-taco salad*yawn*

I am wearing...joy unspeakable.

I am remembering...my Mom.

I am going...to sleep well tonight, Lord willing.

I am reading…the Bible and about 12 other Christian books on my bedside table.

I am hoping(praying)...to be a woman of worth in His eyes.

On my mind…babies.

I am hearing...silence-everyone is asleep :)

Around the house...several projects going for homeschool and cubscouting including, but not limited to, water bottle rockets, a poster about our family's heritage, a den flag that needs a flagpole, and several scripture cuffs that I need to finish before the Canton Flea Market in May!

Noticing that….God is working in my marriage, Praise Him!

Pondering these words...“We love academics enough to send our children to the best schools and sacrifice to get them to college, we love athletics enough to hire a coach or sacrifice to get them involved in all the sports teams, but do we love the gospel enough to do all that we can do to raise children who love Him?” -Voddie Bauchum

One of my favorite things...the smell of my baby girl after she's been cuddling with her Daddy.

A picture thought…

To read daybooks written by other women go to The Simple Woman's Daybook.

The Discipline of Confession

2010-02-13T19:57:00.005-06:00

So I've been making my way, s-l-o-w-l-y, through the book Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.
In chapter 10, not only is the importance of our own confession addressed, but also the discipline of becoming someone whom others can come to as a safe place to confess their own burdens. Foster quotes Bonhoffer...
"Anybody who lives beneath the cross...will find there is no sin that can ever be alien to him. Anybody who has once been horrified by the dreadfulness of his own sin that nailed Jesus to the cross will no longer be horrified by even the rankest sins of a brother."
Foster writes...
"This is the one thing...that forever delivers us from conveying any attitude of superiority. We know the grace and mercy of God's acceptance. Once we see the awfulness of sin we know that, regardless of what others have done, we ourselves are the chief of sinners. Therefore, there is nothing that anyone can say that will disturb us. Nothing. By living under the cross we can hear the worst possible things from the best possible people without so much as batting an eyelash. If we live in that reality, we will convey that spirit to others. They know it is safe to come to us."
*emphases added by me.

...something for me to strive towards, no doubt.

James 5:16(NKJV)
Confess [your] trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Titus 2:11-14

2010-02-13T00:18:00.002-06:00

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself [His] own special people, zealous for good works. "(NKJV)
*emphases added by me.

Come to Me for rest...

2010-02-07T22:08:00.002-06:00

"Do not be ashamed of your exhaustion. Instead, see it as an opportunity for Me to take charge of your life.
Much of your weariness results from your constant battle against these opponents[the world, the flesh, the devil]. However, you are on the path of My choosing so don't give up! Hope in Me, for you will again praise Me for the help of My Presence."
from Jesus Calling:Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young

...its good to be reminded of sometimes. Thanks, sis.

Romans 8:28 (NIV)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose.

Psalm 42:11 (Niv)
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

2010-02-06T20:41:00.002-06:00

Is it possible to get so focused on Christ that you begin to miss ones right in front of you who need love? Is it possible to develop "blinders" of sorts to where your awe of what little God has revealed of Himself has blinded you by its beauty that you begin to see only what He is doing for you and through you? Is it possible to be "drunk" on the beauty, so pure and genuine, of Christ?
Or...would that be an oxymoron?
If you truly have received the blood-bought forgiveness of Christ...shouldn't that, doesn't that open your eyes even more to those hurting around you? Does it not soften your heart to where you can physically and emotionally feel the pain someone is going through even if you don't know them or the details of their struggles...simply knowing that they are a child of God, wholly and dearly loved, and they are hurting...hurts you. doesn't it??

"When thou hast the King's ear, speak to him for the suffering members of his body. When thou art favoured to draw very near to his throne, and the King saith to thee, "Ask, and I will give thee what thou wilt", let thy petitions be, not for thyself alone, but for the many who need his aid. If thou hast grace at all, and art not an intercessor, that grace must be small as a grain of mustard seed. Thou hast just enough grace to float thy soul clear from the quicksand, but thou hast no deep floods of grace, or else thou wouldst carry in thy joyous bark a weighty cargo of the wants of others, and thou wouldst bring back from thy Lord, for them, rich blessings which but for thee they might not have obtained:--"
Charles H. Spurgeon

2010-02-05T22:55:00.002-06:00

This was so moving, so real, and I identified with so much of it(although it was written by a 50-something man; while I am a 30-something woman) that I had to borrow it and make it my own...

I don’t like it that I can read Matthew 5:23-24 and reluctantly, at best, take a single step toward obeying it.
I don’t like that I can sin and then condemn someone else’s sin in almost the same breath.
I regret that I’ve spent so much of my life seeking to make myself happy in ways that never led to real happiness at all.
I don’t like it that I’ve accumulated so much stuff I don’t need.
It causes me real sorrow that I’ve said “I love you” far to little in my life, especially to the people I love the most.
I don’t like the fact that some think I'm a saint, when I’ve done nothing more than be an unlikely servant.
I hate the difference between what I know and what I do.
I don’t like that part of me that thinks everyone should listen to what I say.
I wish I could see myself as God sees me, both in my sinfulness and in the Gospel of Jesus.
I regret using so little of my life’s time, energy and resources for worship and communion with God.
I despise that part of me that always finds fault, and uses that knowledge to put myself above others.
I regret taking so few risks in the cause of living a God-filled life.
I despise the shallowness of my repentance for sin that has caused hurt and pain for others.

But...
I am grateful for the endless mercies of the Lord, and the amazing fact that those mercies extend to me, today and every day.
I am grateful that Christ,my substitute, took this sorry life, pathetic obedience and lethargic worship and exchanged it for his perfect righteousness.
I am grateful that the Holy Spirit is remaking and raising the dead- even me.
I am grateful that one day I will look at all these failures and regrets and they will have been transformed into the very glory of Jesus Christ himself.
I am grateful that God has cast the very things I most dislike about myself into the depths of the sea and has removed them as far as the east is from the west.
I am grateful that when I return in shame and embarrassment, my Father meets me running, covers me with his gladness and throws me a party in the presence of the naysayers and pharisees.
I am grateful that Jesus takes these things I loathe about myself and says “It is finished. Come you good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Today you will be with me in paradise.”
I am grateful Jesus says “Before I have called you servant, but now I will call you friend.”
I am grateful Jesus says “Who condemns you? There is now no condemnation because you are in me and I am in you. If I am for you, who can be against you? Go, and sin no more.”

adapted fromhttp://www.internetmonk.com/archive/im-classic-confession#more-5497

i will wait patiently for the Lord...

2010-02-05T11:25:00.004-06:00

Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland."

adapted from Isaiah 51:3 (NIV)
The LORD will surely comfort [me]
and will look with compassion on all [my] ruins;
he will make [my] deserts like Eden,
[my] wastelands like the garden of the LORD.
Joy and gladness will be found in [me],
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

Galatians 5:19-21(The Message)

2010-01-30T22:14:00.002-06:00

"It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom. "

ouch.

and yet...

22-23"But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
23-24Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
25-26Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original. "

Glory. Glory. Hallelujah!

2010-01-29T22:24:00.005-06:00

I fought the good fight. It started last week with an extremely sore throat. Next, I lost my voice-this made for some creative parenting! And, as expected, came the congestion (why eat that yummy food when I can't even taste it??), cough, weakness, and pressure under my eyes. I decided to throw in the towel today as I could see obvious signs of infection.

I went to the Dr.

Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Dr.'s(save that they are sinners just like me!). As a matter of fact, you would be hard-pressed to find a person with as much thankfulness and gratitude towards Dr.'s after I saw the way God used them(along with nurses, anesthesiologists, and countless others behind the scenes that I may never know about) to heal our baby girl-Thank you, Lord. (http://georgiagreer.blogspot.com/).
But, like most things in this "crooked and perverse generation", trips to the Dr.'s office, in my opinion, are misused.
Anywho...
as I sat in the waiting room of my Dr's office(whom, incidentally, I went to high school with) I was bombarded with the "latest headlines" running on a national news channel on the ever-present television set. Of course, the "latest, breaking", I am assured from past experience, was neither "late" nor "breaking" but was yet another spin on a topic that had no doubt been beaten to death-Pres. Obama's sticky situation b/t the parties.
The point I'm trying to get at is this...I was discussed, shocked, slightly pleased, but mostly sickened by the fact that Mr. Newsman used the story of the Noahic Flood in his delivery. The blatant way that he belittled the "story" (as if its simply a fairy tale amongst the other fairy tales, i.e. Greeks and Egyptians, made up for amusement but without the inspiration from the Creator of the universe. And most likely, that's all the Noahic Flood, indeed the entire Bible, is to Mr. Newsman). He made assumptions of what God meant (blasphemy!) and even had a visual aid for that extra oomph-an olive branch. lovely.
The small, very small, part of me that was pleased was based on this line of thought...wellll, at least they are talking about God on prime time. I mean, doesn't that open the door, plant seeds with some people that may blossom into curiosity, desire to know Him? And that's a good thing. Now, what God chooses to do with that curiosity is up to God, not them. Not me. Not you.

I read a much more pleasing reference to the dove and olive branch in tonight's devotion by the late Charles Spurgeon. It glorified, honored, and gave the due respect to the event recorded in the Bible, which was "written down for us" and is good for "doctrine, correction, reproof, and instruction in righteousness". You can read it, too. Go here...http://www.answersingenesis.org/devotions/devotions.asp

2Ti 3:16
All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

1Jo 2:1
My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Phl 2:14
Do all things without complaining and disputing,
that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

and for anyone who is interested...
Old Testament (Hebrew)
nĕ'atsah
neh·ä·tsä'
blasphemy, provocation

New Testament (Greek)
blasphēmeō
blä-sfā-me'-ō
blaspheme, speak evil of, rail on, blasphemer, speak blasphemy, blasphemously, misc
blasphēmia
blä-sfā-mē'-ä
blasphemy, railing, evil speaking

"My hard work is not the cause but the result of blood-bought grace

2010-01-28T23:10:00.004-06:00

...the life that flows from the soul that lives on Jesus is a life of love and service. When our hearts find their rest in Christ, we stop using other people to meet our needs, and instead we make ourselves servants to meet[others] needs. This is so contrary to the unregenerate human heart that it stands out as something beautiful to be followed or something convicting to be crucified."

from John Piper's Rethinking Retirement

emphases added by me

Rom 15:18
For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient--

Martha

2010-01-24T21:57:00.002-06:00

"The first thing for our soul’s health, the first thing for his glory, and the first thing for our own usefulness, is to keep ourselves in perpetual communion with the Lord Jesus..."
http://www.answersingenesis.org/devotions/devotions.asp

Luke10:40-42(NKJV)
"But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me."
And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

RESOLVE NOT TO BE A JERK IN 2010!

2010-01-20T11:34:00.002-06:00

1. Personal insults
2. Invading one’s personal territory
3. Uninvited personal contact
4. Threats and intimidation, both verbal and non-verbal
5. Sarcastic jokes and teasing used as insult delivery systems
6. Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims
7. Rude interruptions
8. Two-faced attacks
9. Dirty looks
10. Treating people as if they are invisible
-The No ***hole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t by Robert Sutton

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;…” Matt 5:44 KJV

tHE iMPORTANCE oF fATHERS...

2010-01-20T10:32:00.004-06:00

"In our world, where fatherlessness is rampant, many people walk away from their father's house prematurely. Those with a healthy father/child relationship to point to are far and few in between, and even in those cases, the child does not look to the father for security and identity once they reach adulthood. In many ways, our own culture has taken place of the patriarchal leader. We are not told what to do or believe or manage our lives by an earthly father - we learn those things from a television, a movie screen, or the latest music group. We take our value cues from actors and musicians. They preach a fatherly message of self worth and self inflation that is the support structure of all sorts of our social mores, including the second house, the third car, and the fourth wife. We believe in these things more than we believe in ourselves, and we'll pay any price to get them. We're made to believe that these things make us who we are."

wANT mORE? www.serve-others.com

thats what friends are for!

2010-01-18T16:57:00.002-06:00

Don't you just love when your friends bring insight into your life? That connection you feel to someone when they are saying the very words that you have thought. Those moments when a friend, or even an acquaintance or stranger, puts into words those feelings in your heart?
i do.
I was struggling through a conversation at lunch Sunday afternoon with my husband and a couple friend of ours. There seemed to be 2 sides forming around this particular topic. One side believes that God gives us "blessings" in the form of material things and, if I'm recalling correctly, we can work hard for those things and God will give them.
Umm-hmm. I'm trying really hard right now to be a "quiet, gentle spirit"!
Needless to say, I am on the other side of the argument. Which goes a little something like...take up the cross and follow Jesus, store up for yourself treasures in heaven, dying to self, whomever wants to be first must be very last...
Some think that I want to live like a "Quaker", and maybe I do. But only if God calls me to live that way. I find it so hard to wrap my head around the thought that God "blesses" certain people with million dollar homes. really? God wanted you to have that mansion/luxury vehicle/outrageously expensive clothes? really? I'm not buying it (no pun intended!).

Anywho...my sweet little Mary(www.soulsurfacing.blogspot.com) has been reading a book by John Piper and she summed it up for me through insight from his book Don't Waste Your Life-
"It is better to lose your life than to waste it. If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full."
Yes!! Exactly! The beauty is that losing your life, dying to yourself, in the name of Christ, turns out to be not a SACRIFICE but a PRIVILEGE. It's so beautiful on this side of the fence! It's not about "living like a pauper" or being deprived. Quite the contrary! The knowing that God will supply my every need is indescribable. Christ has taken away my every dependence on sTUFF-praise the Lord. (Ok, I still struggle with the urge to buy cardigans, books, and old stuff found in the corners or on the bottom shelves at antique stores).

Mar 10:21
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."

Mat 6:20-21
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

1Ti 6:9
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

Luk 12:15
And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

in support of mothering...

2010-01-15T20:08:00.002-06:00

I can identify with several of these ?'s posted at http://parunak.com/pursuingtitus2/2010/01/15/baals/comment-page-1/#comment-20069. I only wish I had been prepared with such eloquent, truthful answers when I needed them. I pray that any mothers of small children who may be reading this would become fully aware of the beauty and honor of mothering a child, and specifically in nursing your baby. Yes, it is demanding. And, yes, it takes (almost) everything you have. But my question would be...where else would you prefer to put your everything?

"What will people think of you, skipping church? Shouldn’t you be ministering to the other women?
I’m ministering to my baby. And my family is my primary ministry, my most important assignment from the Lord.
You’re home all day with small children. You need some fellowship time, some adult conversation.
I get lots of fellowship time most weeks. And sometimes serving the Lord means denying yourself.
You should be out there learning. This is your chance to study God’s word, use your brain, expand your horizons. Don’t you deserve a little intellectual stimulation?
I can read while I lie here. I can think and pray. And again, sometimes, I have to deny myself.
Are you saying you’re supposed to be completely fulfilled with nothing but this baby?
No. I am completely fulfilled with nothing but the Lord. I will not bow down to any idols, not even the “acceptable” ones that my neighbors worship, like adult conversation, intellectual stimulation, and visible ministries. These are blessings when I get them, but as soon as they interfere with serving Christ, as soon as they cause me to fret and be dissatisfied with the work He has given me, as soon as I cannot be happy without them, then they are idols, and I must throw them down."
http://parunak.com/pursuingtitus2/2010/01/15/baals/comment-page-1/#comment-20069

Psa 31:6
I have hated those who regard useless idols; But I trust in the LORD.

sin.

2010-01-12T19:40:00.002-06:00

Many years ago I started praying for Christian friends. Yes, I had friends at the time, but to be completely honest, we basically did the following things together:
1. shop
2. talk about other people(PUT DOWN other people, I should say)
3. search for other ways to fill our pleasure boxes

I prayed for Christian friends, even though deep down i didn't feel like i really deserved 'em.
Today, God is revealing these Christian friends to me...in fact, "my cup runs over"(see Psalm 23:5)
One of these dear fiends is named Mallory(such a lovely name!)...but she's known as "Poppy" to me...don't ask.
Although the following excerpt was written over a year ago, and at such a tender age(!), she unknowingly put into words one of the many reasons why i homeschool my children. Listen to her recall a time when she was 7 years of age(the same age my son is now) and was beginning to realize the truth of sin...

"Up until this time, I understood the world, or my world, rather, in terms of cause and effect. Obedience merited rewards, even if the reward was just a lack of a punishment. But as I got older, I began to understand the sin problem less as a behavioral or social issue but as a fundamental, intrinsic, even ontological malfunction that existed within me. Sinning did not only involve the breaking of rules or the damaging of another human being. I could sin alone just as easily. And sometimes I felt bad when I did certain things that no one even said were wrong. It was like there were invisible and unspoken rules inside of me, and I could sense when they had been breached. Like Adam and Eve, I became aware of my own nakedness. Something was wrong with me."
http://www.theoddityoftheodyssey.blogspot.com/
*emphasis added by me.

Rom 5:12
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned--

still thinking on Christmas...

2010-01-11T02:44:00.005-06:00

i found this helpful, from Noel Piper's Treasuring God in Our Traditions...

"One November a friend of mine almost lost her child. By Christmas the crisis was past, but they still were not sure of the long-term implications. She e-mailed me during the season that had always been her favorite time of the year:
Surprisingly, I’m finding Christmas hard. A little bit I resent all the hoopla; sometimes I want to shout, “Don’t you know my baby could have died?” At the same time I’m very grateful she’s alive, and very aware that she might not have been. So you’d think I’d be really, really happy! That’s a pretty secular statement. In spiritual terms, Christmas is not very meaningful to me this year one way or the other. I feel a bit like God and I are on a journey together, seeing and doing a lot, but certainly not staying anywhere for any length of time.
My answer to her could well be the summary of this chapter:
It’s not at all surprising that Christmas is hard for you this year. The reason for Christmas is the same as it ever was, and nothing is more essential to our lives than the Incarnation. What’s different for you, I expect, is that the traditions we wrap around December 25 to make it different from other days, those traditions and activities are as nothing to you this year. In fact, the thought of them probably weighs like a lump of lead in your belly. So what! Trees are nothing. Feasts are nothing. Lights are nothing. Music is nothing.
Only Christ matters. He is the only reason that you can be on any sort of journey with God, that you can have anything at all to do with God. Only Jesus matters.
Hold on to that. Even if your little girl had not survived. But she did, praise Jesus!
One time I told someone in hard times, “Just hang in there.” But she corrected me, “I’m not just hanging in there. I’m trying to hang on to Jesus.”
So, please, just keep hanging on to Jesus.
Sometimes, when things are going well, we might too easily forget that we have only one sure, immovable, dependable strength—Jesus, who was a baby once and is always and forever God. That is what holds us and keeps us whether or not we can carry out our traditions. May our decorations, gifts, and festivities—or lack of them—never block our view of him but always point us toward him.

Perhaps the following questions can help us prepare for [next]Christmas.
• Am I my Father’s child? Do I resemble him in my generosity?
• Am I focusing on God’s gift so that my appreciation to him grows?
• Can others see why I am celebrating?
• Am I celebrating Christ?"

*emphasis & edits added by me.

2010-01-08T23:19:00.001-06:00

2010-01-07T23:45:00.001-06:00

Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to live only in thee and to thee. Let me be as the bullock which stands between the plough and the altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be, "Ready for either."
http://www.answersingenesis.org/devotions/devotions.asp

Philippians 1:21 (NKJV)
"For to me, to live is Christ,..."

The Compact.

2010-01-07T09:40:00.004-06:00

What it is: "a 12-month flight from the consumer grid (calendar year 2010)."

What my family is committing to:

"To go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of disposable consumer culture and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- the Mayflower Compact.
To reduce clutter and waste in our home(as in trash Compact-er).
To simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)"...less STUFF; more of Him. (as my lovely, unofficial mentor stated at her blog...http://tomatosoupcake.blogspot.com/

Mat 6:19
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;

Jer 51:13
"O you who dwell by many waters, Abundant in treasures, Your end has come, The measure of your covetousness. "

Galatians 6:12-13"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other...

Isaiah 40:8 "The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever. "

Gen. 22:1

2010-01-07T06:30:00.001-06:00

“And it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham. . .” (Gen. 22:1)

Abraham had been tested many times since the first time that God had spoken to him and called him to Himself. That is the way and the walk of faith. Each passing day may bring a test of our faith. And with each passing grade God builds into our lives a strength of character and will enable us to face any challenge in life.
http://pastorscmartin.blogspot.com/2010/01/test-of-faith.html

tHE jOYS oF rAISING a bOY...

2010-01-06T01:03:00.002-06:00

"Boys need the uncomplicated camaraderie of other boys to channel their energy in shared activities. In the process, they learn valuable lessons about self-sacrifice, leadership, teamwork, and personal accountability. Instead, in today’s world, they are left with surface relationships that do not edify or help them to become better men."
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am

Tts 2:6-8
Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself [to be] a pattern of good works; in doctrine [showing] integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.

4 my Poppyseed...(you know who you are!)

2010-01-06T00:48:00.003-06:00

Nothing is so sweet
as to Lie passive in God’s hands,
And know no will but His.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/devotions/devotions.asp

Jam 1:6
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

Genesis 1

2010-01-04T23:18:00.004-06:00

"The opening statement of the Bible is the foundation of our faith. 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.'
If the Holy Spirit cannot be trusted when He tells of creation, how can He be trusted when He tells of salvation? If what He says about earth in Genesis 1 can be questioned, then what He says about heaven in Revelation 22 can be questioned. If the Holy Spirit cannot be trusted in Genesis 1, how can he be trusted in John 3:16?”
http://pastorscmartin.blogspot.com/2010/01/in-beginning-god.html

It is beyond my understanding how some people choose to believe parts of the Bible but not all. To, in essence, pick and choose what they can wrap their minds around at the time and that which they are (selfishly) willing to incorporate into their lives. I would rather the man who honestly says "I do not believe in the Bible" than anyone who mocks, laughs at, refuses, or tries to put their own spin on scripture in one breath and then in the other proclaim that "God is good". Who is this God you speak of?? And will He even know you on the day of judgement??
just sayin'.

2Ti 3:16
"All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, "

Mat 7:23
"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' "

A Devotional Series by Charles H. Spurgeon

2010-01-03T20:50:00.001-06:00

"Every valley must be exalted. Low and grovelling thoughts of God must be given up; doubting and despairing must be removed; and self-seeking and carnal delights must be forsaken. Across these deep valleys a glorious causeway of grace must be raised.
Every mountain and hill shall be laid low. Proud creature sufficiency, and boastful self-righteousness, must be levelled, to make a highway for the King of kings. Divine fellowship is never vouchsafed to haughty, highminded sinners. The Lord hath respect unto the lowly, and visits the contrite in heart, but the lofty are an abomination unto him. My soul, beseech the Holy Spirit to set thee right in this respect. "
-http://www.answersingenesis.org/devotions/devotions.asp

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." {#Lu 3:4}

the supremacy of Christ...is awesome.

2009-12-31T19:48:00.000-06:00

Christmas memories...

2009-12-29T14:11:00.002-06:00

My heart is heavy and my mind is confused lately...
When I think back on this Christmas season with friends and family, the memories that stick out to me the most are:

the food (yum)
my sister-in-law's great taste(decorating her house)
holding babies
stress
exhaustion
putting undo stress on my own children

Now wait a minute before you start assuming that I am a "typical" mom who dashes from store to store during the month of December-at any cost, even what's best for my children.
I am not that mom.
I started making our Christmas gifts in October, and had bought things throughout the year to put away for our kids. Our family decided not to put up a Christmas tree anymore and we gave away or stored away for use at church functions, most of our Christmas decorations.
So before anyone takes the easy way out in his/her own mind that I simply overdue Christmas and that explains my desire for simplicity for the next and all following Christmas seasons...I would ask that you quiet your soul and listen to what God is whispering to your heart.

Christmas is supposed to be a time that we, as Christians, set aside a time of year(although Dec. is most likely NOT when Christ our Savior was born) to remember, give thanks, and look ahead in anticipation os His second coming.
dID u dO aNY oF tHAT tHIS Chistmas?
HoNESTLY.
i didn't.
In my heart I did. In my soul I did. In my own head I did. During quiet times w/God I did. But if a stranger had peeked in on any of our family get-togethers this Christmas...
I
LOOKED
LIKE
EVERYONE
ELSE.
Sure, I dress modestly, and usually have a silly hat on my head. I speak more quietly and purposefully these days, since I surrendered to the Holy Spirit.
But, I believe with all that I am, that God WANTS MORE THAN THAT FROM ME.
George Meredith wrote about the "'rapture of the forward view'...As pilgrims, WE MUST MAKE PROGRESS AND NEVER PAUSE IN OUR HEAVENLY JOURNEY. never pause.
We are either advancing forward
or
declining backward."
always.

Not until I reach the promised land will I find rest.
So I ask you...my brothers and sisters in Christ. Were you advancing forward in your sanctification this Christmas season or declining backward?

Philippians 3:14 (NIV)
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 4:18 (NIV)
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

Santa who?

2009-12-23T20:17:00.002-06:00

Funny story: I was running errands the other day with my sister(holla!) and my baby girl. Our coffee craving kicked in so we headed to the local coffee shop. As we parked the car I saw the "Santa" standing on the sidewalk. While getting GG out of the car I heard "Santa" whispering, obviously not quietly enough, to the owner of the coffee shop..."Here comes a child!" Apparently, "Santa" had been hired that day to bring in customers by attracting their children. Anywho, the funny part was when we(with my 1.5 year old) walked right past him, greeted him with a kind "hello" and a warm smile and proceeded to enter the establishment. The looks on their faces said it all. Don't you know who Santa is??

Why we(my husband and I) choose NOT to include "Santa" in the training of our children...

1. Fairy tales are fun and we enjoy them, but we don’t ask our children to believe them.
2. We want our children to understand God as fully as they’re able at whatever age they are. So we try to avoid anything that would delay or distort that understanding. It seems to us that celebrating with a mixture of Santa and manger will postpone a child’s clear understanding of what the real truth of God is. It’s very difficult for a young child to pick through a marble cake of part-truth and part-imagination to find the crumbs of reality.
3. We think about how confusing it must be to a straight-thinking, uncritically-minded preschooler because "Santa" comes across so much like what we’re trying all year to teach our children about God.
Look, for example, at the [common] attributes of Santa:
He’s omniscient—he sees everything you do.
He rewards you if you’re good.
He’s omnipresent—at least, he can be everywhere in one night.
He gives you good gifts.
He’s the most famous “old man in the sky” figure.
adapted from http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2141_thinking_about_santa/

And as for St.Nicholas...yes, he is a great christian man in history to tell my children about. However, I will not encourage them to "worship" St. Nicholas, which is basically what I would be doing if we took the simple act of telling our children about him any farther than just that-telling them about him.
There was another great man in history named JESUS, Immanuel, Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace. And He is the only way to God, the forgiveness of sin, and eternal life. And THAT is the best gift that my children could ever receive.

Glory to God in the highest.

Exd 34:14
(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name [is] Jealous, [is] a jealous God),

Isa 9:6
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Luk 2:14
"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

Jhn 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

"The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." — Proverbs 16:33

2009-12-19T00:09:00.004-06:00

"If the disposal of the lot is the Lord's whose is the arrangement of our whole life? If the a simple casting of a lot is guided by Him, how much more the events of our entire life—especially when we are told by our blessed Saviour: "The very hairs of your head are all numbered: not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father." It would bring a holy calm over your mind, dear friend, if you were always to remember this. It would so relieve your mind from anxiety, that you would be the better able to walk in patience, quiet, and cheerfulness as a Christian should. When a man is anxious he cannot pray with faith; when he is troubled about the world, he cannot serve his Master, his thoughts are serving himself. If you would "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," all things would then be added unto you. You are meddling with Christ's business, and neglecting your own when you fret about your lot and circumstances. You have been trying "providing" work and forgetting that it is yours to obey. Be wise and attend to the obeying, and let Christ manage the providing. Come and survey your Father's storehouse, and ask whether He will let you starve while He has laid up so great an abundance in His garner? Look at His heart of mercy; see if that can ever prove unkind! Look at His inscrutable wisdom; see if that will ever be at fault. Above all, look up to Jesus Christ your Intercessor, and ask yourself, while He pleads, can your Father deal ungraciously with you? If He remembers even sparrows, will He forget one of the least of His poor children? "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee. He will never suffer the righteous to be moved."

My soul, rest happy in thy low estate,
Nor hope nor wish to be esteem'd or great;
To take the impress of the Will Divine,
Be that thy glory, and those riches thine.

- http://www.blueletterbible.org

...so beautiful. *sigh*

dON'T nEED A tHING...

2009-12-10T16:08:00.002-06:00

"Christmastime is here. It is a season marked by community and generosity. We gather to share food and memories with family and friends, and we shower one another with gifts.
In actuality, Christmastime is an excuse – an excuse to slow down, to live a little more like we share the planet with other people and that those people matter.
We were designed to live in community – to love, to need, to give, to receive, to simply “be” with others. When did we get too busy to live here?
I love Christmas time. It is a reminder of how we are to live life – together.
Christmastime also reminds us of the importance and beauty of a gift. Gifts are given freely, but that doesn’t mean there is no need for a gift. God’s gift of salvation in and through Jesus Christ is completely free to those who receive it by faith. I don’t think anyone would disagree that, in addition to being free, God’s gift is needed. It’s actually quite the understatement.
God’s gift giving makes me think about my gift giving. Does my gift giving address real need? After all, I can say that I “need” a new pair of jeans, but the truth is that I’ve never truly needed a new pair of anything. With that in mind, here are some gift giving questions to consider this Christmas season:
Who is in need?
How can I freely give to meet their need?
How can I address the issue of community in my gift giving?
How does my “presence” play into the gift?
How beautiful is it to benefit the community by giving a free gift? This kind of gift is a reflection of how our Creator, Sustainer, Savior-God relates to us. May we be mirrors that reflect His love to a watching world this Christmas, and may that spirit of community and generosity extend beyond a holiday."
http://www.christmaschange.com/wordpress/

pRAYING 4 God tO cHANGE mY "nOISE" iNTO a bEAUTIFUL mELODY...

2009-12-09T11:45:00.003-06:00

"Many of our families are not in ideal settings spiritually. This time of the year we are able to connect with those we love so long as we are able to persevere in seeing them through their process. Every person is somewhere in the process of coming into a personal relationship with Christ. No one is so far away from Christ that they are apart from his active wooing.
God has a plan for those we love. We need to catch a glimpse of those we love from his perspective. We all need to go back to him to seek to see these dear people from a new standpoint. He is willing and able to answer the prayer, "Give me your heart for this person!" Then we follow up on this with an expectation that he is going to speak in clear ways."

Furthermore...

"The reality, the noise our lives emit, speak louder than the good news we proclaim. When reaching out to your family it is important to know that the messenger is the message. Your life-style reveals the message you seek to tell. Living an inconsistent life is one of the main barriers that keep your family members coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, how we put our faith into practice is vital. "
http://www.aweber.com/b/1iwLQ

Matt 5:16 NAS: "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

One "girdle" that I will wear!

2009-12-06T22:58:00.001-06:00

"Girt about the paps with a golden girdle." — Revelation 1:13

Our Lord presents all His people with an example. We must never unbind our girdles. This is not the time for lying down at ease, it is the season of service and warfare. We need to bind the girdle of truth more and more tightly around our loins. It is a golden girdle, and so will be our richest ornament, and we greatly need it, for a heart that is not well braced up with the truth as it is in Jesus, and with the fidelity which is wrought of the Spirit, will be easily entangled with the things of this life, and tripped up by the snares of temptation. It is in vain that we possess the Scriptures unless we bind them around us like a girdle, surrounding our entire nature, keeping each part of our character in order, and giving compactness to our whole man. If in heaven Jesus unbinds not the girdle, much less may we upon earth. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.
-http://www.blueletterbible.org/devotionals/me/view.cfm?Date=12/06&Time=pm

I would gather children...

2009-12-03T23:22:00.002-06:00

Some would gather money
Along the path of life;
Some would gather roses,
And rest from worldly strife.
But I would gather children
From among the thorns of sin;
I would seek a golden curl,
And a freckled, toothless grin.
For money cannot enter
In that land of endless day;
And roses that are gathered
Soon will wilt along the way.
But, oh, the laughing children,
As I cross the sunset sea,
And the gates swing wide to heaven -I can take them in with me.
-Author Unknown

Psa 128:3
Your wife [shall be] like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table.

M-O-D-E-S-T-Y...please!

2009-12-03T22:38:00.005-06:00

"We live in times when blatant immodesty is rampant. Everywhere we are bombarded with intimate sexual details of the lives of strangers. Topics which were once only discussed between married couples and their doctor are now bandied in front of children and in mixed company. The sense of shame has all but disappeared."

fURTHERMORE...

"The everyday dress of women should work to their advantage and call to mind the inherent dignity of a child of God. There is tremendous latitude in style today, but few current fashions really flatter women. From the nearly indecent clothing once restricted to red-light districts to androgynous athletic gear, young women are pushed into choosing styles that make social statements that may be far from what they have in mind. "

hOWEVER...

"Let us avoid the extremes of Gnosticism. Gnostics, such as the medieval Cathars, thought that the body was bad, created by the devil."

adapted from http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/2009/06/be-modest-not-frumpy.html

1Cr 6:20
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body [fn] and in your spirit, which are God's.

1Timothy 2:9, 10
in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,
but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.

iT'S tHE mOST wONDERFUL tIME oF tHE yEAR-really?

2009-12-01T23:20:00.002-06:00

"The mall was crowded with shoppers. I struggled to hold my infant and my crying, wriggling toddler. He was uncomfortable and I was in the middle of a hot flash. Is that possible at 29 years of age? Music in the background played, "It's the most wonderful time of the year.""Whatever!" I thought "This is NOT the most wonderful time for me!"
Last year was ten month old Dylan's first official Christmas. For two year-old Cooper, it was his first Christmas in many ways too. Sure we have video of him sitting in front of presents his first Christmas. But he was just four months old at the time. I think he fell asleep before my husband and I finished opening his gifts!
He wore more of Christmas dinner than he ingested. Nap time interfered with celebrations. Instead of It's a Wonderful Life we watched Barney. Because we had tried all of these celebrations with Cooper, we should have known Dylan would not be able to comprehend the festivities around him. Still we went through all the same pomp and circumstance.
Looking back over the pictures I marvel at the ways we tried to help our young boys celebrate the season. A drive to enjoy Christmas lights turned into a meltdown of historic proportions. Family celebrations proved to be more exhausting than exhilarating. We had done it all - enjoyed meals, read the Christmas story, opened gifts, and as best as I could tell our boys were none the wiser to the real meaning of Christmas."
Whitney Capps

1 John 2:16, "For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world." (NIV)

Luke 2:13-14, 20, "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'…The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." (NIV)

Christmas=modern day Saturnalia

2009-12-01T22:03:00.003-06:00

"Today, shoppers spend more than $4 billion per Christmas shopping day, about $2.8 million each minute, during the holiday season in the United States alone. The average person in the United States spent more than $1000 on Christmas gifts in 2002.
Even Christmas songs have started to take on our worldly perception of Christmas. Songs like Silent Night and Angels We Have Heard on High have been replaced with songs with lyrics like "Candles burning low, lots of mistletoe, lots of snow and ice everywhere we go... all these things and more ~that's what Christmas means to me, my love" and "This Christmas will be a very special Christmas for me!"

Redeeming the Day?
In trying to celebrate Christmas in a Christ-exalting fashion, it is very important to reexamine some of our Christmas rituals, as some point us directly back to Christ, and other point us back to pagan beginnings. Christmas trees point back to an ancient Viking custom of putting evergreens in homes during winters to incur good luck; mistletoe was though to ward off evil spirits during the Middle Ages; our caroling tradition sprung up during the time when Christmas was seen as a drunken free-for-all."
Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas by Ace Collins

hOWEVER..

"Though, in part through the myths and fables surrounding it, it can be difficult to dig past presuppositions when examining the birth of our Savior, we can always trust the biblical account of His coming. It is interesting to note, however, that throughout the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and in the spreading of the gospel thereafter, though Christians are commanded to remember Christ's death, and to look forward to his coming, they are not commanded, or even encouraged to celebrate his birth."
info@voddiebaucham.org

just sayin'.

Col 3:17
And [whatever] you do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.(NKJV)

Exodus 20:3-6, "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." (NIV)

baby fever.

2009-11-30T18:18:00.003-06:00

"Mothers worry. We know this down in our bones; The price of holding a child to your neck and feeling his breathing gradually fall into step with your own is to have your heart intertwined with his forever."-http://booksandbairns.blogspot.com/2009/11/leaving-kind.html

Soooo, I'll admit it, I have a mAJOR case of BABY FEVER! Thanks alot, Piper :)
I've always loved babies-began babysitting in my preteen years, worked at a daycare center in high school, majored in Elementary Education and taught school for 7 years, and have been blessed with 2 "rewards of the womb".
hOWEVER...
not until now, not until I entered into the Holy Spirit's grace and have been offered a glimpse into His way of life for us, have I ever really appreciated mOTHERING.
Sure-the sight of a cute kid would always bring a smile to my face, I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I even homeschool.
But never before have I seen motherhood as the privilege, the honor, the great calling as I do now.
Like my pastor has been preaching on..."I was made for this"! (literally.)
even with the dirty diapers
even with the lack of sleep
even with the 24 hr. requirements
even with the demands and, yes, physical pain of breastfeeding
even with a 3 month hospital stay and brain surgery on my 5 month old baby girl

Psa 127:3
Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

with all that being said...
I don't ask for your prayers that I will get pregnant.
I ask that you pray that I continue to seek God's will for my life, and regardless of what that may intell, pray that I will receive it and say "Thank you, Lord."

Luk 1:38
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Job 1:21
He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

Rom 14:23
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because {his eating is} not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

hOW wAS yOUR tHANKSGIVING dAY cONVERSATIONS??

2009-11-28T22:32:00.004-06:00

...the inward affects the outward, as light shines from the centre of a lantern through the glass: when, therefore, the truth is kindled within, its brightness soon beams forth in the outward life and conversation. It is said that the food of certain worms colours the cocoons of silk which they spin: and just so the nutriment upon which a man's inward nature lives gives a tinge to every word and deed proceeding from him. To walk in the truth, imports a life of integrity, holiness, faithfulness, and simplicity—the natural product of those principles of truth which the gospel teaches, and which the Spirit of God enables us to receive. We may judge of the secrets of the soul by their manifestation in the man's conversation. Be it ours today, O gracious Spirit, to be ruled and governed by Thy divine authority, so that nothing false or sinful may reign in our hearts, lest it extend its malignant influence to our daily walk among men.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/devotionals/me/view.cfm

just sayin'.

"For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth." — 3 John 1:3

II Tim. 2:22 Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness (all that is virtuous and good, right living, conformity to the will of God in thought, word, and deed); and aim at and pursue faith, love, and peace (harmony and concord with others) in fellowship with all Christians, who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.

Matthew 15:18But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.

Luke 6:45A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Colossians 3:17And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

The Message (MSG)
Leviticus 19:16
16 "Don't spread gossip and rumors.
"Don't just stand by when your neighbor's life is in danger. I am God.