Came across this today and thought it was worth the share - I constantly need to be reminded of this!!
The Foxes in the Vineyard
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
Here I Am To Worship
Sunday was a good day for me - Church was great, Sunday school was great, a nap was great, and visiting my parents was great! When we pulled up to my parent's house and stepped out of the car, I was hit with a familiar smell, one you never forget - it was cane syrup cooking! It was sweet and delightful. When I was young, my parents, and grandparents, and great grandmother (Letha) would all come to the house for a day of making syrup. The kids got to run around and play, drink fresh cane juice, and get all of the attention we wanted! After the first batch was ready, we enjoyed it with some homemade biscuits, hot out of the oven! Amazing how one sniff caused all of these memories to flood back!
Parker got down and ran off to play with his cousins - a little while later we burned a brush pile and all of the kids stood in amazement at the big flame! While watching Parker and feeling full and grateful, I started thinking of something Dean, our worship leader, said in the early service. He spoke of us needing to shift our paradigm of worship. We show up to church to get filled, to enjoy the service and the fellowship, to hear moving music - and those aren't bad things, we should experience these things with our brothers and sisters in Christ. But, have we lost the focus of why we are showing up to church in the first place? We were created to worship Him. Isaiah 43:21 says:
Parker got down and ran off to play with his cousins - a little while later we burned a brush pile and all of the kids stood in amazement at the big flame! While watching Parker and feeling full and grateful, I started thinking of something Dean, our worship leader, said in the early service. He spoke of us needing to shift our paradigm of worship. We show up to church to get filled, to enjoy the service and the fellowship, to hear moving music - and those aren't bad things, we should experience these things with our brothers and sisters in Christ. But, have we lost the focus of why we are showing up to church in the first place? We were created to worship Him. Isaiah 43:21 says:
"This people I have formed for Myself: They shall declare My praise."
I felt a bit convicted because I do love to show up to our early worship service and listen to our worship team. I often close my eyes and sing to God - as if it were just me and Him and that fills me! So is that bad?; certainly not, but we have to remember why we are worshiping God - it is for Him, about Him, not us. In our own little world, we forget that it's not about us, it's about Him. I needed this reminder - I am worshiping God to give Him the praise He deserves, the praise He created me to give!
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:1-5
Monday, November 4, 2013
Delight In Being a Child of God
Originally posted on: http://followme365.wordpress.com/
Delight In Being a Child of God
A few weeks ago I made a post on my blog titled “Is Your Walk With Christ Lacking Delight?”. This was in response to our study guide that week. When I read Matthew 11:28-30 the words “come to Me” and “rest for your souls” spoke to me. I started reflecting on my life over the last year. It led me to John 10:10 where Jesus says “I have come that [you] may have life and have it more abundantly”. At that moment, I wasn’t feeling a light yoke or abundant life, I was feeling exhaustion. So I asked – what’s missing? I ended the post by saying I believed it to be total surrender – that we sometimes give lip service and continue trying to run our life our way.
As I studied last week’s lesson “Our Father” and this week’s lesson “Jesus Satisfies Our Desires” God began to further speak to me on delighting in Him. When I studied that lesson a few weeks ago and read those verses, I never once thought of God as Father – as myself His child. In Follow Me, Platt relates our relationship with God as our father to adoption. He speaks of his adoption of a son like this: “Clearly, when Caleb became our son, it wasn’t the end of the story. It was the beginning of an adventure in which Caleb would live as our son….Without question, although his status in our family is based on what a judge declared years ago, his life is based on our relationship every day as we play….” He goes on to say “This picture of joy in earthly adoption proves just a small glimpse of a far greater joy found in heavenly adoption. Without question our status before God was settled at the moment we turned from our sin and ourselves and trusted in Jesus as Savior and Lord. But our lives are based on the love relationship we enjoy and experience every moment of every day as God our Father saturates us as His children with His affection.”
Wow – that is something to delight in! Are we enjoying our relationship with our Father every day? I believe we all tend to get caught up in our desires and push Him to the side while we “handle” them. In Luke 11:11-13 Jesus says “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” He will take care of us! In Psalms 37:4 David says “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” We can delight in Him and satisfy our desires at the same time! Only He can fulfill!
In Christ,
Letha
As I studied last week’s lesson “Our Father” and this week’s lesson “Jesus Satisfies Our Desires” God began to further speak to me on delighting in Him. When I studied that lesson a few weeks ago and read those verses, I never once thought of God as Father – as myself His child. In Follow Me, Platt relates our relationship with God as our father to adoption. He speaks of his adoption of a son like this: “Clearly, when Caleb became our son, it wasn’t the end of the story. It was the beginning of an adventure in which Caleb would live as our son….Without question, although his status in our family is based on what a judge declared years ago, his life is based on our relationship every day as we play….” He goes on to say “This picture of joy in earthly adoption proves just a small glimpse of a far greater joy found in heavenly adoption. Without question our status before God was settled at the moment we turned from our sin and ourselves and trusted in Jesus as Savior and Lord. But our lives are based on the love relationship we enjoy and experience every moment of every day as God our Father saturates us as His children with His affection.”
Wow – that is something to delight in! Are we enjoying our relationship with our Father every day? I believe we all tend to get caught up in our desires and push Him to the side while we “handle” them. In Luke 11:11-13 Jesus says “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” He will take care of us! In Psalms 37:4 David says “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” We can delight in Him and satisfy our desires at the same time! Only He can fulfill!
In Christ,
Letha
Monday, October 21, 2013
Tithing - Are We Really Going to Talk About That?
Tithing is something we don't really ever bring up - is it going to offend someone if we say we should tithe? Let's just not talk about it........
I recently read an article from Christianity Today on Christian's giving - unfortunately, it was titled "Scrooge Lives! Why we're not putting more in the offering plate, And what we can do about it." The article made me really start thinking about our tithing. Are we doing it? According to this article, not so much!
Reasons sited in the article were lack of trust in the church's management of funds and not being asked to give. Others I have heard personally are: that was a command in the old testament and doesn't apply to us today, can't afford to, and the church doesn't need my money, they have plenty. My favorite one from this article was: "God required it, but....he also tells us that he doesn't want us to give if we don't want to." The scripture quoted in support of this argument: 2 Corinthians 9:7 "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." Really? I laughed when I read it - but it got me thinking - do we really feel this way but just don't say it aloud? Because when you say it, it sounds ridiculous!
I could sit here and try to argue why every one of these reasons is just an excuse, but I'm not, you've probably already heard that argument. I am going to ask: Do we believe our money really comes from and belongs to God? And if so, are our actions relaying this belief?
We should be joyful givers, but sometimes we just have to fake it while we ask God to change our hearts and reorient our lives. Tradition has it that Martin Luther once said that every Christian has to undergo three conversions: the conversion of the heart, the conversion of the mind, and the conversion of the pocketbook and his pocketbook is the last piece of him to be converted. Money and possessions have a strange power over us - are we praying for sanctification in this area of our lives or excluding it from our conversion?
Do we stop with tithing - can we just give our ten percent and pat ourselves on the back for being a consistent and cheerful giver?
On Generous Giving's website they have a guideline on giving. It is as follows:
We can speak of several “giving guidelines” that correspond roughly to the four stewardship laws. These are not biblical mandates, just guidelines inferred from Scripture that might make a good starting point for you on your journey of generosity:
I recently read an article from Christianity Today on Christian's giving - unfortunately, it was titled "Scrooge Lives! Why we're not putting more in the offering plate, And what we can do about it." The article made me really start thinking about our tithing. Are we doing it? According to this article, not so much!
Reasons sited in the article were lack of trust in the church's management of funds and not being asked to give. Others I have heard personally are: that was a command in the old testament and doesn't apply to us today, can't afford to, and the church doesn't need my money, they have plenty. My favorite one from this article was: "God required it, but....he also tells us that he doesn't want us to give if we don't want to." The scripture quoted in support of this argument: 2 Corinthians 9:7 "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." Really? I laughed when I read it - but it got me thinking - do we really feel this way but just don't say it aloud? Because when you say it, it sounds ridiculous!
I could sit here and try to argue why every one of these reasons is just an excuse, but I'm not, you've probably already heard that argument. I am going to ask: Do we believe our money really comes from and belongs to God? And if so, are our actions relaying this belief?
We should be joyful givers, but sometimes we just have to fake it while we ask God to change our hearts and reorient our lives. Tradition has it that Martin Luther once said that every Christian has to undergo three conversions: the conversion of the heart, the conversion of the mind, and the conversion of the pocketbook and his pocketbook is the last piece of him to be converted. Money and possessions have a strange power over us - are we praying for sanctification in this area of our lives or excluding it from our conversion?
Do we stop with tithing - can we just give our ten percent and pat ourselves on the back for being a consistent and cheerful giver?
On Generous Giving's website they have a guideline on giving. It is as follows:
We can speak of several “giving guidelines” that correspond roughly to the four stewardship laws. These are not biblical mandates, just guidelines inferred from Scripture that might make a good starting point for you on your journey of generosity:
- Giving Guideline 1: The Tithe. This mandatory 10 percent offering was an Old Testament benchmark that pointed to God’s ownership of all things.
- Giving Guideline 2: Freewill Offerings. These are voluntary offerings over and above the tithe which are meant to break the power of money in our lives.
- Giving Guideline 3: Sacrificial Offerings. These are voluntary gifts over and above both the tithe and the freewill offering which flow from our love for God and require that we give up something valuable in order to give.
- Giving Guideline 4: Radical Generosity. This is giving percentages so large that they do not make sense from a natural point of view, purely out of a desire to invest in eternity.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Is Your Walk With Christ Lacking Delight?
Our Sunday School class (along with several others) is doing the Bible study "Follow Me" by David Platt. One of the questions we will be looking at this week is: "Is Your Walk With Christ Lacking Delight?". So we must ask ourselves, is it? I feel like most of us could answer yes to this either now or at some point in our walk with Christ. Is this how it's supposed to be? Matthew 11:28-30 says:
"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
As I read this, I asked myself, is this how I feel, has this been my experience, a light yoke? Looking back over the last year, I would say no. It has been one of the hardest times in my life. I didn't know tired before having a kid! I have also been very busy at work and trying to build a house and move. Exhaustion - that's how I would describe my state over the past year. I really have no right to complain, I have been so blessed, but am I even enjoying those blessing? Does exhaustion sound like rest for the soul? No, of course not. David explains "The curse of superficial religion is the constant pressure to do outward things apart from inward transformation, and it's exhausting.
So what's missing? In John 10:10 Jesus says, "...I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." They is followers of Christ, so that's me - am I living the abundant life?
At times I have had rest for my soul and abundant life, but not daily - which is what Christ intended, he didn't say "sometimes you will...". So what am I missing? I think the key is in the first part of Matthew 11:28, "come to me". Jesus calls for us to come to Him in total surrender and take His yoke, not give Him lip service then continue to try to run our own lives. TOTAL SURRENDER. SUPERNATURAL REGENERATION.
At times I have had rest for my soul and abundant life, but not daily - which is what Christ intended, he didn't say "sometimes you will...". So what am I missing? I think the key is in the first part of Matthew 11:28, "come to me". Jesus calls for us to come to Him in total surrender and take His yoke, not give Him lip service then continue to try to run our own lives. TOTAL SURRENDER. SUPERNATURAL REGENERATION.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Life Ain't Always Beautiful
So my last post was November 4th 2012 - I have been MIA. My excuseS - growing my client base drastically, tax season, house building, teething, and life in general! I don't think I have ever been so tired or busy in my life. It has been a very tough season in my life but also very rewarding. I THINK things are about to slow down and normalize so I am recommitting to my blog!
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