Sleep has now become a luxury. Instead of exercising, I am going to take a nap so I can function for the rest of the day.
So in my favorite spot by the window I sit with my Bible open to my favorite Chapter. These are my “comfort foods”. This is my opening prayer – the first 5 verses of Psalm 25. That’s about all the prayer I could muster up at this point. Have you ever felt your soul so weary, you can’t even pray? The Bible says the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and the cry of our heart is heard through the cry of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8: 26, 27. Thank you, Lord!
And so, as I continue in the Chapter, my mind is drifting to one situation and another trouble. But then my eyes land on the tear stained section in verse 14. “The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them”. And I pause. Confides. A confidant. This means to entrust, to place in somebody’s care, to reveal, open your heart to. For those that fear the Lord, this is what HE does for us. Have you ever confided in someone a special part of you? A secret, a dream that is very special to you? When you intimately sit with that person, think of the closeness, think of the hushed tone of the conversation. That is what God does with us WHEN we have fear of Him. He entrusts His inner most confidence in US! Who are we that we deserve such honor? And that whisper session is God placing His plan for your life in your heart. How beautiful! And so this is why I praise the Lord and love Him! To read a real life example, check out Genesis 18: 17-19.
The other aspect of this verse is “the fear of the Lord”. The New International Version of the Bible gives this explanation, “Those who honor God and order their lives in accordance with his will because of their reverence for him; a sense of reverential trust in God that includes commitment to his revealed will”. Not the same fear we have of the IRS. Reverence means: respect, admiration, awe, worship.
So then I pray: Oh, Lord, have mercy on me and allow me into Your presence. Take pity on me and give me Your beyond all comprehension peace. (With my hands raised) I am desperate for You. I am so lost without You.
I continued in prayer sharing and asking for help in many things, which concluded in praising His Name!
Where is God going to show off today?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
January 27
This post is an addition to yesterdays.
After I posted, I went for a walk in the beautiful sunshiny day. I was thinking about what I posted about sin. This is the way I like to think about it. When we accept the Gift that God has given in His Son, we are redeemed and our eternity begins. The purpose and reason God has for us begins. The more we become consumed and filled up with that purpose – whatever it may be – the more connected we are with God. When we are pregnant with our purpose and task in life, there is no room for sin.
After I posted, I went for a walk in the beautiful sunshiny day. I was thinking about what I posted about sin. This is the way I like to think about it. When we accept the Gift that God has given in His Son, we are redeemed and our eternity begins. The purpose and reason God has for us begins. The more we become consumed and filled up with that purpose – whatever it may be – the more connected we are with God. When we are pregnant with our purpose and task in life, there is no room for sin.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
January 26
I’m not feeling so well today. I’m tired, bloated, crampy and truth be told, I don’t want to do much today. But there is one thing I refuse to pass up today – that is getting alone with God. I simply cannot live without pausing and soaking up His love, grace, peace and forgiveness.
Oh Lord, here I am at Your throne of grace. I am humbled before You. I am Yours to do with as You please and see fit. Holy Spirit, I pray that You will cleanse my heart and mind. Make me worthy to be drawn closer to You. Touch my mind and my heart so that I am see how Your word applies to my life today. I thank You for this time to spend in Your presence. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
Reading today: Romans 6: 1-14 Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
This section is so jam packed with Truth, I could spend days just reading sentence by sentence. But the whole section is like a nice full plate – all of it to be enjoyed. This answers the question one of my elementary age students asked last week, “If Jesus died for us then why do we still have to die”? In just 14 short verses Paul answers this question. I’m not going to specifically address this – read it for yourself and see what God says. What caught my eye in the Scripture is the truth of being dead to sin. Sin is that temptation we all fall into. We all have a temptation. Yours may be different than mine, and not affect me at all. Be careful though, this is not the idea of what is good for you is good for you, and what is good for me is good for me. Sin is sin. It may look different, but it is still sin. The other aspect of sin is selfishness. I have been thinking lately about the Old Testament happenings. People then weren’t distracted like we are today. Their lives were a lot more simple. TV, email, blogs, didn’t exist to take their minds away from God. We are selfish people. And in our society today, we are 100% wrapped up in ourselves. That is the basis for most sin. If we are so concerned about ourselves, we can’t be completely concerned about God. And that sin of selfishness separates us from God. Verse 6, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin”. Allowing sin to die from us is what baptism symbolizes. When I surrender my life to God every morning, I am dying to sin, so that God will reign and not sin. So today – I am alive. Alive for God, alive through God, alive because the Holy Spirit lives within me.
I tried to end in prayer but I was so distracted. All I could do was think of all the things that I needed to do today. So I grabbed a pad and pencil and jotted them down as they came to mind – one after another. Oh brother! The battle was against sleepiness too! Even worse! Then a song came on: Byron Cage, This is the Air I Breathe. Look it up! That snapped me out of my funk. So I closed by praying that song. “And I...I’m desperate for You….And I ….can’t live without You…this is my daily Bread”. Refreshed!
I desire to walk in the Power of God today!
I prayed for many people and circumstances. I asked God to guide me every step of the day. And I prayed that the Holy Spirit will reach far through this blog to touch many lives.
Be blessed and refreshed today!
Oh Lord, here I am at Your throne of grace. I am humbled before You. I am Yours to do with as You please and see fit. Holy Spirit, I pray that You will cleanse my heart and mind. Make me worthy to be drawn closer to You. Touch my mind and my heart so that I am see how Your word applies to my life today. I thank You for this time to spend in Your presence. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
Reading today: Romans 6: 1-14 Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
This section is so jam packed with Truth, I could spend days just reading sentence by sentence. But the whole section is like a nice full plate – all of it to be enjoyed. This answers the question one of my elementary age students asked last week, “If Jesus died for us then why do we still have to die”? In just 14 short verses Paul answers this question. I’m not going to specifically address this – read it for yourself and see what God says. What caught my eye in the Scripture is the truth of being dead to sin. Sin is that temptation we all fall into. We all have a temptation. Yours may be different than mine, and not affect me at all. Be careful though, this is not the idea of what is good for you is good for you, and what is good for me is good for me. Sin is sin. It may look different, but it is still sin. The other aspect of sin is selfishness. I have been thinking lately about the Old Testament happenings. People then weren’t distracted like we are today. Their lives were a lot more simple. TV, email, blogs, didn’t exist to take their minds away from God. We are selfish people. And in our society today, we are 100% wrapped up in ourselves. That is the basis for most sin. If we are so concerned about ourselves, we can’t be completely concerned about God. And that sin of selfishness separates us from God. Verse 6, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin”. Allowing sin to die from us is what baptism symbolizes. When I surrender my life to God every morning, I am dying to sin, so that God will reign and not sin. So today – I am alive. Alive for God, alive through God, alive because the Holy Spirit lives within me.
I tried to end in prayer but I was so distracted. All I could do was think of all the things that I needed to do today. So I grabbed a pad and pencil and jotted them down as they came to mind – one after another. Oh brother! The battle was against sleepiness too! Even worse! Then a song came on: Byron Cage, This is the Air I Breathe. Look it up! That snapped me out of my funk. So I closed by praying that song. “And I...I’m desperate for You….And I ….can’t live without You…this is my daily Bread”. Refreshed!
I desire to walk in the Power of God today!
I prayed for many people and circumstances. I asked God to guide me every step of the day. And I prayed that the Holy Spirit will reach far through this blog to touch many lives.
Be blessed and refreshed today!
Monday, January 25, 2010
January 25
Wow! Where have I been? So many things can happen and change in just a few weeks. There is much to share, so this is going to be a long one…
Before I can begin to journal all that has taken place, I first need to begin with my devotional time. I have been able to spend time with God throughout all these days. It has been sporadic. One day while I was cleaning my house, I put my praise music on and worshiped the Lord and prayed. I was worshipping the Lord by being responsible with the things He has given me – my home. I was also worshipping by praying and singing praises to His Name!
The song that played on my CD: Natalie Grant and Friends, High and Exalted.
Prayer: Oh Lord, how good it feels to curl up with Your good Book. How blessed I am to pause this day and spend time with You. You are high and exalted and worthy of all praise! I give you my mind and my heart. Touch me so that I may see Your power through Your Word today. Bless me with Your presence. I repent my sin to You and ask for forgiveness. Thank you and Amen.
So for today, I read in 1 Samuel again. This section is so powerful! God is so powerful!! He demonstrates that power every day; it’s up to us to recognize it and walk in it. The Scripture is 1 Samuel 4: 12 – 5: 12. Eli the Prophet dies, his sons are killed, and the Ark of the Covenant is captured in battle. We meet a pregnant woman in this section that is married to one of Eli’s sons that died in battle. She is so upset about the Ark being captured and her husband and Eli are dead that she cannot see the blessing in the midst of all of this. She gives birth to a boy, but feels all hope is lost because of her circumstances. How many times I have felt all hope was lost because I could not understand or “feel” God’s presence? But God is so much bigger than circumstances, and He is so much bigger than a gold box! So God shows up with great power in Chapter 5. The Philistines who took the Ark of the Covenant put it into their god Dagon’s temple. I just can’t help but giggle reading this. The first morning they find their god Dagon knocked over before the Ark! Fallen, face down! A big old probably stone statue – knocked down! So what do they do? They lift it back into place. Now my giggle has turned into a full blown laugh because the next day Dagon is knocked over again but this time his face and hands are broken!! HAHAHA! Our God cannot be messed with! End of story. There is a lot more to the situation here, but just thinking about how God can take care of Himself. He doesn’t need us to worry about His Name being questioned or tainted. What also strikes me about the character of God in this situation is how Just He is. All this took place because of Israel’s disobedience. And with all that was happening, He kept His Word and punished Israel still. But He remained Faithful through it all. THIS is why I praise Him!
My ending prayer: Praise You Lord for how wonderful, powerful, faithful and holy You are!!
I continued the prayer by giving to Jesus all my concerns, excitement for what took place the past few weeks, my sorrows, and those that are so close to my heart that need a touch from Him. But one thing I know, God is still on His Throne and in control. That is all that matters!! I just need to trust and have faith in that alone.
By the way – does Dagon sound familiar? Those who grew up in the 80’s, remember Ghost Busters? One of the evil “ghosts” was named Dagon. Look it up. Funny, right?
Now for the second part of this blog: I have been seeking God’s Will in my life for a long time now. The fact of the matter is that God is far more interested in showing us more of Him in the process of learning to follow His Will. With a completely surrendered heart, God showed me more of who He is and His perfect Will for my life. Jesus was teaching me patience, reliance, peace, studying the Bible, prayer, silence, waiting. I could go on. And so in all of that I changed my direction in school. See, I have been taking classes toward a Master’s in Education Supervision and Administration. Not anymore. I became so desperate and at a cross road. I asked Jesus (again) to take away all that was within me that did not belong. The joy and excitement for something new that He placed in my heart is beyond words! To have the road map of exactly what it is we are purposed for and to know the power before it, behind it and within it – this is what we are to live for! Nothing more. Nothing less.
The following week was complete with a roller coaster of emotions. Does anyone see the pattern here? But OH the peace…..when all troubles, decisions, excitement are placed before Him, truly surrendered to Him, I mean lay at His throne, completely. I felt Him say to me, it’s all right. All is taken care of. That was enough for me. That is faith. Now, I still pray about all these circumstances. I still think about all these circumstances. Are they giving me more gray hair than I already have? Ha, NO! One thing is for sure, He vindicates those that are truly His!
I was sitting in the car with my beautiful daughter, about to make a very big decision regarding her future. She read my favorite Scripture. I must have read it a thousand times. But yesterday, something spoke to me, “Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land”. His descendants will inherit the land! My children are blessed!!! What peace that Scripture gave – both of us!
God is good and faithful! All of this expression, how God ministers is for all people! And THIS is why I praise His Name!
Spread the Word….
Before I can begin to journal all that has taken place, I first need to begin with my devotional time. I have been able to spend time with God throughout all these days. It has been sporadic. One day while I was cleaning my house, I put my praise music on and worshiped the Lord and prayed. I was worshipping the Lord by being responsible with the things He has given me – my home. I was also worshipping by praying and singing praises to His Name!
The song that played on my CD: Natalie Grant and Friends, High and Exalted.
Prayer: Oh Lord, how good it feels to curl up with Your good Book. How blessed I am to pause this day and spend time with You. You are high and exalted and worthy of all praise! I give you my mind and my heart. Touch me so that I may see Your power through Your Word today. Bless me with Your presence. I repent my sin to You and ask for forgiveness. Thank you and Amen.
So for today, I read in 1 Samuel again. This section is so powerful! God is so powerful!! He demonstrates that power every day; it’s up to us to recognize it and walk in it. The Scripture is 1 Samuel 4: 12 – 5: 12. Eli the Prophet dies, his sons are killed, and the Ark of the Covenant is captured in battle. We meet a pregnant woman in this section that is married to one of Eli’s sons that died in battle. She is so upset about the Ark being captured and her husband and Eli are dead that she cannot see the blessing in the midst of all of this. She gives birth to a boy, but feels all hope is lost because of her circumstances. How many times I have felt all hope was lost because I could not understand or “feel” God’s presence? But God is so much bigger than circumstances, and He is so much bigger than a gold box! So God shows up with great power in Chapter 5. The Philistines who took the Ark of the Covenant put it into their god Dagon’s temple. I just can’t help but giggle reading this. The first morning they find their god Dagon knocked over before the Ark! Fallen, face down! A big old probably stone statue – knocked down! So what do they do? They lift it back into place. Now my giggle has turned into a full blown laugh because the next day Dagon is knocked over again but this time his face and hands are broken!! HAHAHA! Our God cannot be messed with! End of story. There is a lot more to the situation here, but just thinking about how God can take care of Himself. He doesn’t need us to worry about His Name being questioned or tainted. What also strikes me about the character of God in this situation is how Just He is. All this took place because of Israel’s disobedience. And with all that was happening, He kept His Word and punished Israel still. But He remained Faithful through it all. THIS is why I praise Him!
My ending prayer: Praise You Lord for how wonderful, powerful, faithful and holy You are!!
I continued the prayer by giving to Jesus all my concerns, excitement for what took place the past few weeks, my sorrows, and those that are so close to my heart that need a touch from Him. But one thing I know, God is still on His Throne and in control. That is all that matters!! I just need to trust and have faith in that alone.
By the way – does Dagon sound familiar? Those who grew up in the 80’s, remember Ghost Busters? One of the evil “ghosts” was named Dagon. Look it up. Funny, right?
Now for the second part of this blog: I have been seeking God’s Will in my life for a long time now. The fact of the matter is that God is far more interested in showing us more of Him in the process of learning to follow His Will. With a completely surrendered heart, God showed me more of who He is and His perfect Will for my life. Jesus was teaching me patience, reliance, peace, studying the Bible, prayer, silence, waiting. I could go on. And so in all of that I changed my direction in school. See, I have been taking classes toward a Master’s in Education Supervision and Administration. Not anymore. I became so desperate and at a cross road. I asked Jesus (again) to take away all that was within me that did not belong. The joy and excitement for something new that He placed in my heart is beyond words! To have the road map of exactly what it is we are purposed for and to know the power before it, behind it and within it – this is what we are to live for! Nothing more. Nothing less.
The following week was complete with a roller coaster of emotions. Does anyone see the pattern here? But OH the peace…..when all troubles, decisions, excitement are placed before Him, truly surrendered to Him, I mean lay at His throne, completely. I felt Him say to me, it’s all right. All is taken care of. That was enough for me. That is faith. Now, I still pray about all these circumstances. I still think about all these circumstances. Are they giving me more gray hair than I already have? Ha, NO! One thing is for sure, He vindicates those that are truly His!
I was sitting in the car with my beautiful daughter, about to make a very big decision regarding her future. She read my favorite Scripture. I must have read it a thousand times. But yesterday, something spoke to me, “Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land”. His descendants will inherit the land! My children are blessed!!! What peace that Scripture gave – both of us!
God is good and faithful! All of this expression, how God ministers is for all people! And THIS is why I praise His Name!
Spread the Word….
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
January 12
I have spent the past few days working at church and being a mother and a wife. Yes, busy busy days. But good busy. Productive busy. This week I am at a conference, so I may not get to blog as much as I would like. This is time and energy well invested, I'm sure.
It felt so good this morning to put aside everything. My computer, this blog, the dishes, the laundry, phone calls. To put aside all of this in order to draw close to God. Oh, so refreshing! I turned on my knees with the Bible next to me. It's at that point, nothing else matters except - God. This is my time of peace and worship. So here it goes:
On my knees before God, as His child I asked for permission to enter into His presence. Tears in my eyes because of the reality of the Creator accepting me, I continued to worship. I praised Him for who He is: Redeemer, Savior, King of my life, Creator, Merciful, Just, and Righetous. I asked Him for forgiveness for falling into my temptation once again. I also confessed my unwillingness to walk in faith. Forgiven, I asked for wisdom and understanding in reading the Word. "In the Name of the One who saved my life, and the One who gave it to save and the One who breathed the breath of Life into us both, Amen.
So the song I listened to is Kirk Franklin on the Hero CD, "Brokenhearted". Find it on the internet and listen. It's wonderful!
Reading: 1 Samuel 2: 12 - 36
Samuel reminds me of Daniel. They both had integrity. They both followed after God as young men despite the corruption around them. This section is about the priest Eli's sons. They were no good, corrupt men. God was about to judge them. But Samuel found favor with God. Read verse 35. This is another prophet coming to Eli to tell him what God says; so this is God speaking really, "I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind". Imagine that! God allows us to know, have a piece of and follow after his own heart and mind. I can not even grasp how wonderful that is! Can you? But it is true. Do you believe there is a God? Well, this is what God is looking for all over the world. People who will submit themselves to Him and truly seek after Him. When we do this, He gives us His heart and mind! The Creator. The One and only true God! He wants to do this with us. He does not need us, but He chooses us. Who is willing to be made worthy?
The other verse I like, verse 21, "And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord". Hannah was faithful to the Lord, recognizing that He was the only one who could bless her. And God blessed her indeed with many other children. She went to visit Samuel every year. That must have been wonderful for her to see her son grow.
Reading: Romans 5: 1-11
After reading this, all I could think of was: faith, justified, perseverance, powerless, reconciliation, access, stand, rejoice, saved...
Let me know how this passage speaks to you.
I finished devotional time in prayer. Sitting, by the window. Looking out into the sky. I prayed for people that I know that are struggling; people that I met yesterday; my pastor; my husband; my children; and my family. I also prayed for you and future readers. I prayed that God would make Himself popular and be glorified through this blog. I prayed that the Holy Spirit would touch the hearts of those who will read this in the future.
Praise Him!
It felt so good this morning to put aside everything. My computer, this blog, the dishes, the laundry, phone calls. To put aside all of this in order to draw close to God. Oh, so refreshing! I turned on my knees with the Bible next to me. It's at that point, nothing else matters except - God. This is my time of peace and worship. So here it goes:
On my knees before God, as His child I asked for permission to enter into His presence. Tears in my eyes because of the reality of the Creator accepting me, I continued to worship. I praised Him for who He is: Redeemer, Savior, King of my life, Creator, Merciful, Just, and Righetous. I asked Him for forgiveness for falling into my temptation once again. I also confessed my unwillingness to walk in faith. Forgiven, I asked for wisdom and understanding in reading the Word. "In the Name of the One who saved my life, and the One who gave it to save and the One who breathed the breath of Life into us both, Amen.
So the song I listened to is Kirk Franklin on the Hero CD, "Brokenhearted". Find it on the internet and listen. It's wonderful!
Reading: 1 Samuel 2: 12 - 36
Samuel reminds me of Daniel. They both had integrity. They both followed after God as young men despite the corruption around them. This section is about the priest Eli's sons. They were no good, corrupt men. God was about to judge them. But Samuel found favor with God. Read verse 35. This is another prophet coming to Eli to tell him what God says; so this is God speaking really, "I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind". Imagine that! God allows us to know, have a piece of and follow after his own heart and mind. I can not even grasp how wonderful that is! Can you? But it is true. Do you believe there is a God? Well, this is what God is looking for all over the world. People who will submit themselves to Him and truly seek after Him. When we do this, He gives us His heart and mind! The Creator. The One and only true God! He wants to do this with us. He does not need us, but He chooses us. Who is willing to be made worthy?
The other verse I like, verse 21, "And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord". Hannah was faithful to the Lord, recognizing that He was the only one who could bless her. And God blessed her indeed with many other children. She went to visit Samuel every year. That must have been wonderful for her to see her son grow.
Reading: Romans 5: 1-11
After reading this, all I could think of was: faith, justified, perseverance, powerless, reconciliation, access, stand, rejoice, saved...
Let me know how this passage speaks to you.
I finished devotional time in prayer. Sitting, by the window. Looking out into the sky. I prayed for people that I know that are struggling; people that I met yesterday; my pastor; my husband; my children; and my family. I also prayed for you and future readers. I prayed that God would make Himself popular and be glorified through this blog. I prayed that the Holy Spirit would touch the hearts of those who will read this in the future.
Praise Him!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
January 8
Secrets revealed!!!
I did not do a devotional today. Today is cleaning day for me. All day. Did I get everything done? Nope. I will work on it throughout the weekend in between many other responsibilities.
But what I did do today was play my music while I was working around the house. By myself. So nice. Twice I had to stop what I was doing, right in the middle of washing dishes and sweeping. A praise song came on and I just had to stop and praise my God! Wow. It felt so good.
The first song: Byron Cage, This is the Air I Breathe
I stopped what I was doing, went over to the couch, got down on my knees, and just prayed the words to that song. It felt so good to just get on my knees before my God and Ruler of my life.
The second song: Lisa McClendon, You are Holy
One of my favorite - can't live without songs. Ok, now for the secret for all my readers. :)
I sing - no, belt- this song out! When I am all by myself, and really want to worship, I sing this song so loud and so strong. It's amazing! Yeah, my voice cracks - a bit. :) But I just love singing this song. It's a love song to God. It's private just between the two of us. Today, I sang it twice.
Well, this weekend is going to be very busy. I'm not sure that I will get to do a devotional at all. But I will pray. Maybe I will just post that.
God bless you all!
Nicole.
I did not do a devotional today. Today is cleaning day for me. All day. Did I get everything done? Nope. I will work on it throughout the weekend in between many other responsibilities.
But what I did do today was play my music while I was working around the house. By myself. So nice. Twice I had to stop what I was doing, right in the middle of washing dishes and sweeping. A praise song came on and I just had to stop and praise my God! Wow. It felt so good.
The first song: Byron Cage, This is the Air I Breathe
I stopped what I was doing, went over to the couch, got down on my knees, and just prayed the words to that song. It felt so good to just get on my knees before my God and Ruler of my life.
The second song: Lisa McClendon, You are Holy
One of my favorite - can't live without songs. Ok, now for the secret for all my readers. :)
I sing - no, belt- this song out! When I am all by myself, and really want to worship, I sing this song so loud and so strong. It's amazing! Yeah, my voice cracks - a bit. :) But I just love singing this song. It's a love song to God. It's private just between the two of us. Today, I sang it twice.
Well, this weekend is going to be very busy. I'm not sure that I will get to do a devotional at all. But I will pray. Maybe I will just post that.
God bless you all!
Nicole.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
January 7
Reflection day today! It's been a complete week that I've been writing this blog. This is so exciting!
So, I've been thinking about this blog and it's purpose and direction. The reason for me writing my thougts for all the world to hear is to expose authentic Christian living - all it's wonderful experiences and trials. See, too many times having a relationship with God seems far, confusing, rule oriented and up to our own determination. So, the plan is to take you with me through a year of living as a Christian; to be open, honest and real. And by doing this you can experience all this with me; ask questions; and look for yourself. At the end of the year, I know we will all grow.
The first reflection:
Many nights this week I really did not want to post anything. I said to myself that I would just simply write - NOTHING TO POST - just so something would be there. HA! Joke was on me.
But then I started thinking about why I was posting when I really didn't want to. And it was simply for the sake of posting something. That concerned me.
(Because) second reflection:
The blog post is supposed to be my devotional time for the day. The time of day when I sit and get into the Bible, pray and journal. It's supposed to be my intimate relationship with God only blogged. And so I thought, wow, if I am only going to do my devotional time just so I can say I posted something each day - my motives are not right. Do you know what that is called? The sin of PRIDE, folks. So it's time to repent and get my relationship right with Jesus.
The third reflection:
I am doing this blog because it is part of a book that I am writing. Through prayer, I realized that blogging is a powerful way to connect with people and get some feedback. I think Jesus wants everyone to see that having a personal relationship with Him is something incredible not something crazy or impossible. I am so excited to see where this whole experience is going. I'm praying for all of you that are reading. And I'm praying that God will bring more people that need to connect.
Please spread the word. The more the merrier!
So, I will leave you with this:
Tonight a prayer service, my friend shared this thought -
"Why do we have to go through difficult things? It would be easier for God to reveal what He wants us to do so we can do it. But God is much more interested in revealing more of Himself to us and our relationship with Him. Not details".
Ponder on that a bit folks, and let me know what you think.
Goodnight!
So, I've been thinking about this blog and it's purpose and direction. The reason for me writing my thougts for all the world to hear is to expose authentic Christian living - all it's wonderful experiences and trials. See, too many times having a relationship with God seems far, confusing, rule oriented and up to our own determination. So, the plan is to take you with me through a year of living as a Christian; to be open, honest and real. And by doing this you can experience all this with me; ask questions; and look for yourself. At the end of the year, I know we will all grow.
The first reflection:
Many nights this week I really did not want to post anything. I said to myself that I would just simply write - NOTHING TO POST - just so something would be there. HA! Joke was on me.
But then I started thinking about why I was posting when I really didn't want to. And it was simply for the sake of posting something. That concerned me.
(Because) second reflection:
The blog post is supposed to be my devotional time for the day. The time of day when I sit and get into the Bible, pray and journal. It's supposed to be my intimate relationship with God only blogged. And so I thought, wow, if I am only going to do my devotional time just so I can say I posted something each day - my motives are not right. Do you know what that is called? The sin of PRIDE, folks. So it's time to repent and get my relationship right with Jesus.
The third reflection:
I am doing this blog because it is part of a book that I am writing. Through prayer, I realized that blogging is a powerful way to connect with people and get some feedback. I think Jesus wants everyone to see that having a personal relationship with Him is something incredible not something crazy or impossible. I am so excited to see where this whole experience is going. I'm praying for all of you that are reading. And I'm praying that God will bring more people that need to connect.
Please spread the word. The more the merrier!
So, I will leave you with this:
Tonight a prayer service, my friend shared this thought -
"Why do we have to go through difficult things? It would be easier for God to reveal what He wants us to do so we can do it. But God is much more interested in revealing more of Himself to us and our relationship with Him. Not details".
Ponder on that a bit folks, and let me know what you think.
Goodnight!
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