Godsgal

Jer and I are headed up to live under a bridge for the weekend.  We’re traveling over the weekend north about 3 hours away just to love on people.

I pray that each of you have a great weekend…and will blog about our experience when we get back.  Love you guys, and please pray for us, this is what we love to do.

“A ship is safe in the harbor, but that is not what it was built for”.

“Summer–time and the living is easy”… Are you taking it easy at all this Summer? …or are you grinding along day by day with no “days off” planned?

Obvious– to some, but not to others: what is something that seems obvious to you but others seem to miss? …or how about something you just don’t ‘get’?

Work?– Work! Summer jobs: how about the worst one you’ve ever had! …or maybe the most interesting one?

So– what if everyone else does it?!? I’m different and I’m going to do it my way!   What would that look like to you..the peanut butter and banana sandwich? …tie-dyed seat covers for the car? …or maybe an unusual sport?

Life Goes Faster– than you want it to sometimes. Is anything moving just a little too fast for you lately

“My day starts off best when I……” I’ll let you fill in the blank……..

Just wantin to know ya a little better…have fun!

“Won’t it be a joy again to wake up confident about being loved by God everyday, without having to earn it by any act of righteousness on your part?  That is the secret to first love.  Don’t try to earn it.  Know that you are accepted and loved, not for what you can do for God, or somehow hoping that you will be worthy of His acceptance, but because His greatest desire is to have you as one of His children.  Jesus came to remove any obstacle that would prevent that from happening.  This isn’t difficult.   In this kingdom you really do get what you seek.  That is the point of the whole thing.  If you are looking for a relationship with God you will find it.

Has it been what you’ve been seeking?  Probably at first.  But this works the other way around as well.  If you look at what you’ve ended up with, then you’ll know what you’ve really been seeking.”

“You will only hurt yourself when you look for people who want to meet a certain way or think only like you…Every person who crosses your path, be they believer or unbeliever, in a church or outside of a church is a potential partner in the journey.  By loving each of them to the degree that they allow, you’ll participate in His great gathering.  But the goal remains the same.  Him.  It’s always about Him-not a style of meeting or a preplanned program, or a safe salary, or predictable future.”

Thoughts?

Blessed1 began a contest a couple weeks ago…..and I completely forgot the first two… So, in light of trying to catch up…I’m gonna list my blessings today…

*** Our son has been here for a couple of weeks on leave getting ready to deploy in September to Iraq.  Things have been “normal” for us again, and we are so thankful to have spent this time with him and his beautiful bride Katie.  They are strong individuals, and strong in the Lord, so we are very blessed indeed as parents.  Today is his last day with us until we visit him in September and see him off.  It is a good thing…and has grown us a great deal in our faith and trust in the One who is truly in control.

****We were asked to participate this weekend in an outreach in a city about 3 hours from us called Eugene.  We will be sleeping under a bridge with homeless people…witnessing to them and just loving on them.  It’s been a yearly thing, and our first year in participating…I’m looking for wonderful things from the Lord, and it will be good just to love on these people.

****The Lord is showing new things to us all the time regarding Him, and His Word, and it’s been quite an amazing journey.  He has been showing us how blessed we truly are, not because of things we have, but because of who He is, and the people He brings into our lives.  Believer and non-believer alike, I truly love my friends He has brought into my life through blog-land and am very thankful and blessed by all of you.  You sharpen me, love on me, convict me, and just accept me where I am, and that means everything to me…because of you, I am truly blessed….

How are you being blessed today???

Matthew 25:13-”Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour”.

I have a friend who is going through a rough one.  In talking with her, she said “I wish Jesus would just come back today”.  I know how she feels as I have said it many times.  I really got to thinking about that.  We don’t know the day, or the hour…it could be today, in the next 60 minutes..am I really ready?

I’ve been asking myself some questions…would love to hear your answers as well…

What would I do differently today than yesterday if I knew He’d be here for dinner tonight?

Who would I make ammends with?

What would I get done that He’s asked me to do?

Will I hesitate today in sharing my Jesus?

If you knew the day and the hour, what would be different in your life?

Ok, here’s the deal.  We have 11 people so far…YAY you guys are great!!  What we’ll do this week is partner up to pray for one specific person, in whatever way they desire, every day, for one month.  I’ll email you guys with your prayer partner next Sunday.  Starting next Monday, the 21st, we will commit to praying each day, however your partner wishes, for one month.  I would like to suggest a journal of prayer requests, and document when you see the Lord moving in a specific situation.  Also, I want to encourage you to share each Monday either here or on your own blog when you see answer, breakthrough, or just plain peace.

Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us we can pray bodly.. “That is why we have a great High Priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God. Let us cling to him and never stop trusting him. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.”

The Bible also tells us to “pray without ceasing” and “in everything give thanks to the Lord”.

Above all I ask that we pray sincerity and humbleness before God…as James 5:16 states, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results”.

Blessings on your day…and let me know if you haven’t yet if you want to be part of this!  Love you!

My greatest need is to recognize God’s presence and guidance in every circumstance.  I can’t do this without the avenue of prayer. 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-21 states: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt.  Test everything.  Hold on to the good.  Avoid every kind of evil”

You cannot continually pray for the Spirit’s guidance in every circumstance without experiencing God’s presence.  There have been too many times in my life when my experiences in my circumstance has been a programmed response.  We often have our minds set in a way that we only get out of things what we are programmed to get out of them.  Through prayer we can realign ourselves in our circumstance to see what God wants us to see….that’s why I’m starting

Starting on the 21st of July, those of you who would like to participate will get a prayer partner from blogland.  What I would like to do this next week, is get as many people signed up as possible and we will each be responsible for a 1 month commitment to our blogland prayer partner.  I’ll explain more on Monday…and again, we’ll start the 21st.  Have a blessed weekend and if you’re interested, let me know here, or email me.  Love you!

Papa, I have you and Mama…

“But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves.” 1 Peter 1:15

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

“And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in the truth.”  John 17:19

“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1

“The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” 1 John 2:6

There’s just no way around it…the standard that God has set for the Christ follower to live by is God’s own holy and perfect character.  I feel like I have no right to be satisfied with my spiritual progress as long as I am falling short of that goal.  The very fact that God demands such holiness from us means the believer can in some way satisfy that demand.  He never demands something which He does not enable us to do.  It is one of His impossible possibilities…..

My commitment to strive for Holiness comes from Him telling me..”Be Holy”…it tells me to be decisive, settle it once and for all that I will be.  With this comes the choice, and a commitment of my will….

I love 1 Peter 1:13….tells me to get serious…”Gird up your minds for actions.”  This I found is a reference to hitching up long flowing garments to prevent their hampering our work or activity.  The figure is taken from the night Israel at the Passover in Egypt.  They were to eat with their loins girt about them, ready to travel at a moment’s notice.  The idea is that we should be mentally awake…..it means pull yourself together and get serious about belonging to God…

1:13 also says to “Keep sober in Spirit”….Moral alertness…the phrase describes calm, steady state of mind that rightly evaluates things; it is a life of disciplined self-control.  If we allow the world to influence us and become infatuated with its pleasures and treasures, we will lose our spiritual balance….

1:14 says to “Not be conformed to the former lust.”…there has to be a definite and daily break with the ways of the world…

God has called us to be holy and has provided the means to become Holy….it should really be one of our greatest ambitions….

I would like to start up some prayer partners….let me know if you’re interested and I’ll post more about it on Monday….Love you guys!

I’m stayin’ out of the funhouse.…

Tam had an awesome discussion going yesterday day on cursing…..and last night when we got home Michael, and I were reading through some of the comments and he was laughing at some.  I told Michael it must be hard being in the Military and keeping a check on what comes out of your mouth.  He looked at me and said “Depends on which voice you train your ear to hear.  Gods voice pretty much drowns everything else out for me…”

So…we got into a discussion on Holiness, and into 1 Peter 1:13-16…..”Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.”’ 

The Old Testament Hebrew word for holiness, kadesh, means “something which is cut off, separate or set apart.”  It means to be antisecular, in category all its own, to elevate out of the sphere of what is ordinary.  In the New Testament, the word used most frequently is hagios, which also means “set apart, separate, in a class by itself.”  In both the Old and New Testaments the term is applied to things, persons and God.

When applied to God, it means He is wholly other, above the created world.  He is in a category all to Himself.  When applied to things and people, IMO it does not mean moral purity but relationship.  To call a thing or person holy is to say that they belong to God, are used in His service or dedicated to Him, or in some special way are His property.  Nothing, except for God is holy of itself or by nature.  It becomes Holy by being dedicated to God and His service. 

Reading through this I know there may be some questions about my statement “IMO it does not mean moral purity but relationship.”  What I mean is because of that relationship, moral purity becomes a necessity.  In belonging to God we cannot belong to the world; being dedicated to Him we cannot be devoted to anything else. 

If we are called to be holy, even as He is holy, then the character of God has to be considered and the character of God should become the standard of our own character, becoming like the God of whom we belong.

SO what are your thoughts on holiness?  What are some areas in your life that He has or is calling you to be Holy?  Why are you resisting…..