For those days when i'm tempted into believing that i know something...
For those days when i'm tempted into worrying about things i can't change...
For those days when i'm tempted...
I was listening to that song by Nickelback... "How You Remind Me" or something like that... The chorus says, "This is how you remind me of what i really am" (It's about the only line i know) And i was thinking... "What am i, really?"
And then i was thinking about that song by Downhere... "Great Are You" (To which i know all the words!) And the chorus says, "Because I'll never hold the picture/ Of the whole horizon in my view/ Because I'll never, rip the night in two/ It makes me wonder/ Who am I, Who am I, Who am I/ And great are You/ Great are You, Lord"
It blew me away... How does God remind us of what we really are??
By everything around us! By everything that He has created! By the fact that when i mess up, the world doesn't end!
People heard how Job was talking about God and they reminded him:
Job 35:6-7 -
If you've sinned, what effect can you have on God?
If you've done many wrongs, what can you do to Him?
If you're righteous, what can you give Him, or what can He get from you?
Job thought he was smarter than God; God reminded Job of what he really was:
Job 38:1,4-5,12,16,21,36 -
Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.
...
"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have such insight.
Who determined its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line over it?
...
"Have you ever given orders to the morning or assigned a place for the dawn...
...
"Have you gone to the springs in the sea or walked through the valleys of the ocean depths?
...
"You must know because you were b orn then and have lived such a long time!
...
"Who put wisdom in the heart or gave understanding to the mind?"
By reading about Job, I am reminded of what i really am.
Who am i?
I am created by God, for God's pleasure! My purpose on earth is to have a relationship with Him and to please Him.
My purpose is not to think i'm smarter than Him, or more powerful.
And when you think about that, it takes all weight off your shoulders. When you do something wrong, God is still right. When you do something unjust, God is still fair. When you are not able, God is.
James 1:17 - Every good present and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father who made the sun, moon, and stars.
June 26, 2004
In Need Of... Standards! Just ONE Set.
Double standards are one (two?) of my pet peeves. Maybe not my pet peeve because that gives the implication that i take it lightly. I do not.
So, in my life... I think of things, or notice things, that i do not like to see people doing.
Example:
Driving down the road, i'll see someone not using their signal light. So instead of getting mad at them and flipping the bird or something (which i've never done, by the way!), i'll make sure that i don't irritate anyone else by doing that which irritates me. I always use my signal light!
Example:
About two years ago, i made a list of characteristics of all the things i want to see in a future husband. (HAHAHA, k stop laughing ;o) Anyways... I came to the realization that i should make myself worthy of these expectations. I should be training myself to be everything a man of those qualities would be looking for. It only makes sense if i don't want to be one of those folks with double standards, a "do-as-i-say-and-not-as-i-do"er.
God gave instructions to both men and women... (and as much as i want a man who will act out his part, i have to be willing to be the woman who can live with that man.)
Ephesians 5:21 says, Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. What does this mean?
So if i'm asking for:
Ephesians 5:25-26a, 27-31
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy... In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church- for we are members of His body.
To compliment that man i need to be:
Ephesians 5:22-24
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Tall orders on both sides. But God has His reasons, and i trust those reasons!
In Conclusion:
...Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)
So, in my life... I think of things, or notice things, that i do not like to see people doing.
Example:
Driving down the road, i'll see someone not using their signal light. So instead of getting mad at them and flipping the bird or something (which i've never done, by the way!), i'll make sure that i don't irritate anyone else by doing that which irritates me. I always use my signal light!
Example:
About two years ago, i made a list of characteristics of all the things i want to see in a future husband. (HAHAHA, k stop laughing ;o) Anyways... I came to the realization that i should make myself worthy of these expectations. I should be training myself to be everything a man of those qualities would be looking for. It only makes sense if i don't want to be one of those folks with double standards, a "do-as-i-say-and-not-as-i-do"er.
God gave instructions to both men and women... (and as much as i want a man who will act out his part, i have to be willing to be the woman who can live with that man.)
Ephesians 5:21 says, Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. What does this mean?
So if i'm asking for:
Ephesians 5:25-26a, 27-31
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy... In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church- for we are members of His body.
To compliment that man i need to be:
Ephesians 5:22-24
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Tall orders on both sides. But God has His reasons, and i trust those reasons!
In Conclusion:
...Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)
June 20, 2004
In Need Of... a walk!
Special thanks to Stuart! Who took me on a tour of downtown Ottawa!
Ephesians 5:8-11 (KJV) - ...Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Ephesians 5:8-11 (GW) - Once you lived in the dark, but now the Lord has filled you with light. Live as children who have light. Light produces everything that is good, that has God's approval, and that is true. Determine which things please the Lord. Have nothing to do with the useless works that darkness produces. Instead, expose them for what they are.
O, to have God's approval! To walk as a child of light... Lord give me strength!
Ephesians 5:8-11 (KJV) - ...Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Ephesians 5:8-11 (GW) - Once you lived in the dark, but now the Lord has filled you with light. Live as children who have light. Light produces everything that is good, that has God's approval, and that is true. Determine which things please the Lord. Have nothing to do with the useless works that darkness produces. Instead, expose them for what they are.
O, to have God's approval! To walk as a child of light... Lord give me strength!
June 19, 2004
In Need Of... the Good.
We've all been there... Decision-making skills stretched to the max. When it's time to decide between the Good and the Evil. When it's time to choose between the Spirit and the Flesh.
It helps to know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)... It also helps to know that God chooses to use people who are sinners. (Who else is there?)
In Romans 7, Paul talks about his struggles... Paul who was one of the greatest disciples of Jesus Christ.
He says, I know that nothing good lives in me; that is, nothing good lives in my corrupt nature. Although I have the desire to do what is right, I don't do it. I don't do the good I want to do. Instead, I do the evil that I don't want to do. Now, when I do what I don't want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it. Sin that lives in me is doing it. (Romans 7:18-20)
So is there any hope for me if PAUL was still sinning? I'm trying to be like Jesus, and it's so hard... Is there hope?
Paul offers us words of Hope.
Romans 8:2 - The standards of the Spirit, who gives life through Christ Jesus, have set you free from the standards of sin and death. It is impossible to do what God's standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin.
So... how does this help me? I'm still a bit confused here... It's impossible for me to be perfect, right? But God sent His Son to pay for my sins...
...If Christ lives in you, your bodies are dead because of sin, but your spirits are alive because you have God's approval. (Romans 8:10)
So... by accepting Christ into my life, i'm reviving my spirit... The spirit is the good part of me... the part that wants to do GOOD. so what happens to the evil part? the flesh?
Romans 8:12-14 - So, brothers and sisters, we have no obligation to live the way our corrupt nature wants us to live. If you live by your corrupt nature, you are going to die. But if you use your spiritual nature to put to death the evil activities of the body, you will live. Certainly, all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's children.
The flesh, the Evil, is beaten down by the spirit, the Good. The Good outweighs the Evil.
Quite the battle... Quite the Victory.
It helps to know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)... It also helps to know that God chooses to use people who are sinners. (Who else is there?)
In Romans 7, Paul talks about his struggles... Paul who was one of the greatest disciples of Jesus Christ.
He says, I know that nothing good lives in me; that is, nothing good lives in my corrupt nature. Although I have the desire to do what is right, I don't do it. I don't do the good I want to do. Instead, I do the evil that I don't want to do. Now, when I do what I don't want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it. Sin that lives in me is doing it. (Romans 7:18-20)
So is there any hope for me if PAUL was still sinning? I'm trying to be like Jesus, and it's so hard... Is there hope?
Paul offers us words of Hope.
Romans 8:2 - The standards of the Spirit, who gives life through Christ Jesus, have set you free from the standards of sin and death. It is impossible to do what God's standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin.
So... how does this help me? I'm still a bit confused here... It's impossible for me to be perfect, right? But God sent His Son to pay for my sins...
...If Christ lives in you, your bodies are dead because of sin, but your spirits are alive because you have God's approval. (Romans 8:10)
So... by accepting Christ into my life, i'm reviving my spirit... The spirit is the good part of me... the part that wants to do GOOD. so what happens to the evil part? the flesh?
Romans 8:12-14 - So, brothers and sisters, we have no obligation to live the way our corrupt nature wants us to live. If you live by your corrupt nature, you are going to die. But if you use your spiritual nature to put to death the evil activities of the body, you will live. Certainly, all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's children.
The flesh, the Evil, is beaten down by the spirit, the Good. The Good outweighs the Evil.
Quite the battle... Quite the Victory.
June 16, 2004
In Need Of... Wings.
Psalm 55:6-8
I said, "If only I had wings like a dove -
I would fly away and find rest.
Indeed, I would run far away.
I would stay in the desert.
I would hurry to find shelter
from the raging wind and storm."
But i don't have wings... and i have to stay where i am.
But I call on God,
and the Lord saves me.
Morning, noon, and night I complain and groan,
and He listens to my voice. (Psalm 55:17-18)
He will rescue me... He is listening to my voice.
I said, "If only I had wings like a dove -
I would fly away and find rest.
Indeed, I would run far away.
I would stay in the desert.
I would hurry to find shelter
from the raging wind and storm."
But i don't have wings... and i have to stay where i am.
But I call on God,
and the Lord saves me.
Morning, noon, and night I complain and groan,
and He listens to my voice. (Psalm 55:17-18)
He will rescue me... He is listening to my voice.
June 12, 2004
In Need Of... ARMOUR.
This armour is impenetrable... There are no cracks, no weaknesses.
Why make an armour so strong? What does it protect us against?
Ephesians 6:11-12 (KJV) - Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers...
Strong words! There are many wars going on in this world, but none are as organized and as vehement as those going on in the spiritual realm!
So how does this involve me? I'm not a ghost! :oP I am however a "spiritual being". What does that mean? I have a Spirit inside of me, this is the spirit of God. This Spirit within me is in constant battle with all evil things. These evil things are all things which oppose God's will.
So how do we fight against these evil things? What "weapons" have been given to us? What constitutes our "armour"?
Ephesians 6:14b(GW) - Fasten truth around your waist like a belt. Put on God's approval as your breastplate.
6:15(KJV) - And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
6:16(GW) - In addition to all these, take the Christian faith as your shield. With it you can put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
6:17(KJV) - And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
God is able to protect us from many things if we wear this armour. But it is a choice. I must choose to put on this armour every day. The same way i choose to put on a coat to protect me from the elements, i must choose to put on God's armour to protect myself from unseen threats.
Why make an armour so strong? What does it protect us against?
Ephesians 6:11-12 (KJV) - Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers...
Strong words! There are many wars going on in this world, but none are as organized and as vehement as those going on in the spiritual realm!
So how does this involve me? I'm not a ghost! :oP I am however a "spiritual being". What does that mean? I have a Spirit inside of me, this is the spirit of God. This Spirit within me is in constant battle with all evil things. These evil things are all things which oppose God's will.
So how do we fight against these evil things? What "weapons" have been given to us? What constitutes our "armour"?
Ephesians 6:14b(GW) - Fasten truth around your waist like a belt. Put on God's approval as your breastplate.
6:15(KJV) - And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
6:16(GW) - In addition to all these, take the Christian faith as your shield. With it you can put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
6:17(KJV) - And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
God is able to protect us from many things if we wear this armour. But it is a choice. I must choose to put on this armour every day. The same way i choose to put on a coat to protect me from the elements, i must choose to put on God's armour to protect myself from unseen threats.
June 11, 2004
In Need Of... A common goal.
Matthew 18:19-20 (God's Word) - I can guarantee again that if two of you agree on anything here on earth, my Father in heaven will accept it. Where two or three have come together in My name, I am there among them.
Jesus made this statement to his disciples... His followers... Those people who wanted to do His will.
I consider myself one of those people. So, how can i apply this verse to my life?? How can i strengthen my relationship with God by applying this principle when i am with my churchmates and friends?
I've been thinking about this quite a bit in the past couple of weeks.
What does it mean to "come together in [Jesus'] name"?
After some contemplation, reading, reflection and quite a bit of prayer, I have come to the conclusion that in order to come together in Jesus' name we must have our hearts focused on Jesus. He should be the reason you are coming together.
The common goal should be to glorify God.
When we start getting impatient or if we come together with a preconcieved notion that nothing is going to happen, we aren't focused on the same thing and we can't be called "TOGETHER".
Prayer is pivotal in these instances. If i would rather be somewhere else, i should pray about it until i'm ready to commit my heart to the discussion or the worship practice or the Bible study. But i also shouldn't have to do this alone. Everyone else gathered with me should be praying for me, too. That may be the beginning of the "coming together"! When you turn to God, it brings glory to His name and achieves the common goal!
Jesus made this statement to his disciples... His followers... Those people who wanted to do His will.
I consider myself one of those people. So, how can i apply this verse to my life?? How can i strengthen my relationship with God by applying this principle when i am with my churchmates and friends?
I've been thinking about this quite a bit in the past couple of weeks.
What does it mean to "come together in [Jesus'] name"?
After some contemplation, reading, reflection and quite a bit of prayer, I have come to the conclusion that in order to come together in Jesus' name we must have our hearts focused on Jesus. He should be the reason you are coming together.
The common goal should be to glorify God.
When we start getting impatient or if we come together with a preconcieved notion that nothing is going to happen, we aren't focused on the same thing and we can't be called "TOGETHER".
Prayer is pivotal in these instances. If i would rather be somewhere else, i should pray about it until i'm ready to commit my heart to the discussion or the worship practice or the Bible study. But i also shouldn't have to do this alone. Everyone else gathered with me should be praying for me, too. That may be the beginning of the "coming together"! When you turn to God, it brings glory to His name and achieves the common goal!
In Need Of... FocuS
I've been convicted to start writing in this blog again! God has been telling me to for the past month! I apologized to Him profusely tonight and here I am realizing that He was right!
It is an amazing feeling to be in the will of God! To be doing what the God of the universe wants me to be doing!
I've been learning to be focussed on God. I've been learning how to "pray without ceasing (I Thes. 5:17)" and how to fulfill God's calling in my life.
Jeremiah 29:13 - And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.
I want to be closer to God... I want to know His will for my life, but I know that i have not been searching for Him with all my heart. So what do i need to do in order to grow closer to God? what is the "seek"ing? Look back one verse, Jeremiah 29:12a says Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me...
So all i have to do is call upon God... also known as PRAYER. i need to pray! Is that all? The rest of the verse says "go and pray unto me"... um... again with the PRAYER! It must be that easy!
So why pray so much anyways?
Cuz God finishes that verse by saying:
Jer. 29:12b - ...and I will hearken unto you.
The word "hearken" means (direct from the original hebrew) "to hear intelligently, hear carefully, consider, hear diligently, listen."
Sure sounds like God is paying attention to prayers! I want my prayers to be worth listening to.
It is an amazing feeling to be in the will of God! To be doing what the God of the universe wants me to be doing!
I've been learning to be focussed on God. I've been learning how to "pray without ceasing (I Thes. 5:17)" and how to fulfill God's calling in my life.
Jeremiah 29:13 - And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.
I want to be closer to God... I want to know His will for my life, but I know that i have not been searching for Him with all my heart. So what do i need to do in order to grow closer to God? what is the "seek"ing? Look back one verse, Jeremiah 29:12a says Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me...
So all i have to do is call upon God... also known as PRAYER. i need to pray! Is that all? The rest of the verse says "go and pray unto me"... um... again with the PRAYER! It must be that easy!
So why pray so much anyways?
Cuz God finishes that verse by saying:
Jer. 29:12b - ...and I will hearken unto you.
The word "hearken" means (direct from the original hebrew) "to hear intelligently, hear carefully, consider, hear diligently, listen."
Sure sounds like God is paying attention to prayers! I want my prayers to be worth listening to.
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