Are You Judging God?

To judge someone means that you look at all the things that you know about that person, and you form an opinion of them. Hebrews 11:11 says "Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed,and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised." No doubt, Sara looked at all the things she knew to be true about God, all the things He had done in the past, and she determined that He was faithful. She had never seen any inconsistencies in His past. He had always kept His promises, so she knew this time would not be any different. When God promised her that she would have a child, even though she was past the season of her life to have children, her faith in God strengthened her to act on His promise. Has God promised you something that seems impossible? Are you judging Him? How are judging Him? Are you judging Him faithful? Are you acting like it? Let your faith in Him, give you the strength to live out, what you know to be true of our God!

Dad - Sunday - Memories

Father's Day being on Sunday has brought back a lot of memories of what Sundays were like with my dad. Actually, I guess it started Saturday night with dad polishing shoes. When we were small, Saturday evenings Mom was washing and rolling my sisters and my hair, and dad was polishing every ones shoes. Come Sunday morning, he was up and dressed for church and had normally gone to get donuts, before I ever thought of getting out of bed. He loved going to church and his enthusiasm on Sunday mornings usually came a little earlier than I appreciated. He would be up, dressed, donuts on table, and radio blaring loud enough that we could hear it anywhere in the house, tuned to the local station, which was airing the local church services where some very unprofessional trios or soloists were singing some very old fashioned tunes. Especially during my adolescent, teen years, I had very little appreciation for this talent. Then, he would go to each of us kids rooms and knock on the wall outside our rooms to wake us up (I hated that) as he was telling us to get up. When we were up, fed, dressed and heading out the door he always made sure we had our offering. After I grew up and left home, Sunday mornings just didn't seem the same without dads enthusiasm and Sunday morning routine. When my kids were small, he would often come over to my house on Sunday mornings and help me get them ready for church. What a great dad! I never could understand how anybody could not want to go to church. Maybe it was partly because dad made it such an important, exciting event at our house.And it still does not seem right to get dressed for church without that radio blaring and donuts on the table.

Why Do Adults Complicate Things?

When I was reading my Bible I was trying to decide where I should stop my Bible reading for the day. After all, I didn't want to get carried away and read too much just for the sake of reading, right? As I was thinking about this, I thought about when I was a young girl, and I would sit and read and read and read. Sometimes I was just trying to finish reading a certain amount of chapters or books in a certain amount of time. Or, trying to complete a goal for a prize in Sunday School. Most of the scriptures that I know today, I learned as a child. All of that marathon reading must have done some good! As adults we are always being taught "how" to read and study the Bible and pray. I'll admit sometimes it's confusing. When you get down to pray and you are more concerned about whether you are doing it the right way and saying it the right way, it really takes away from the pure joy of just pouring your heart out to God as a Friend and Father. As a child, before I had any teaching on the "how" of prayer, prayer was so simple, it just seemed to flow naturally. No wonder Jesus tells us to come to Him as a child.

Luke 18:17 "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein."

II Timothy 3:15 "...from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

Joy at sahmissionary.blogspot.com has a guest writer today who has a really good idea she calls "sink verses". It is a wonderful idea for getting the Word of God in our hearts. Go check it out.

By the way, I am still around. I just had a really busy week last week. Our church had its annual district council the first part of the week and I had company the last part of the week. The message from district council that stuck in my head more than any of the others was about letting God breath His dream/vision into us (Prov. 29:18 "Where there is no vision the people perish..."). The minister, Rick Dubose, used the illustration of blowing into a balloon. When God breathes into us it expands us beyond what is comfortable for us, we grow. He said that whatever we dream about is what we love (not night dreams, daydreams). Do you dream about retiring, taking it easy, becoming wealthy, how you look, or are your thoughts consumed with how you can win your neighbor to the Lord, training your children to serve the Lord, making a difference for eternity? Since I heard that message, when my mind starts to wander, I try to remember to ask myself, "Do these thoughts reflect the heart of God, do they have eternity in mind?".

Are You Carrying Your Load or Someone Elses?

Do you ever feel like your load is too heavy to carry? Do you pray and pray and it seems like the answer is nowhere in site? I've been there. There was a time when my husband was not serving the Lord, he had quit going to church with me, and the burden seemed too big to bear. I was always crying and praying for God to change my husbands heart. Going to church was very difficult at times for I had never imagined myself in this situation before and when I would sit in church and see all the happy couples and families around me worshipping God together it would often bring me to tears. One day when I was praying for my husband, the Lord gave me the scripture "Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2. I then looked around the church and found two other women,who also came to church alone, whose husbands were not serving God. I began to pray for their husbands instead of just praying for mine all the time. Within a years time both of their husbands came to know the Lord. Eventually, mine also recommitted his life to God. Do we love our brothers and sisters in the Lord enough (the law of Christ) to carry their burden like it is our own. As I was recently faced with a huge financial mountain this scripture came to me. I thought about a family that I know who is having it very, very hard financially. To be honest, it is harder to pray with as much concern and fervency for them as it is to pray for my own need. But, with the help of God, I will continue to help bear their burden. In our intercessory prayer meeting last week, the leader talked about how as intercessors we are to stand in the gap for others. We are not interceding for ourselves, we are interceding to God for others. But, when we intercede for others, God meets our needs. So, if you are carrying a burden today, lay it down and pick up someone elses, and watch God help carry yours.

Are You Fleeing Youthful Lusts?...Are Your Friends Helping?

2 Timothy 2:22 "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

In this verse Paul is talking to Timothy about what it means to be a soldier of Christ. Always before when I have read this verse, I automatically think about it applying to young men. But, today as I was reading this scripture, I began to think about how this scripture can apply to all of us, especially in a society that seems to want to perpetuate our youth. This verse says to flee youthful lusts(desires). What were some of your youthful desires? What were the things in your youth that kept you from maturing, especially as a christian? Was it a constant desire for pleasure? Was it foolishness, sexual lusts, self centeredness, lack of discipline, being consumed with friends, music that did not edify you, peer pressure? Are these things still affecting your life? Think about it. Are your youthful desires still affecting you? Run! Flee! Follow righteousness, faith, charity, and peace! "With them..." The Bible doesn't just tell us what to do, but who to do it with! Are your friends helping you or hindering you? Is it easy to be foolish, deny your responsibilities, etc. when you are around them? This verse says to follow after God, not by ourselves, but with those that have a pure heart and know how to call on the Lord. Not just people who say they are Christians, but those who truly have a heart for God and seek for more of Him. So, think about what your desires were as a teenager and compare them to your desires today. Think about what changes you (we) need to make to be a more effective soldier of Christ and ask Him to help you.

A Godly Mothers Influence

II Timothy 1:5 "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also."

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I read this verse and was struck with what a huge influence we mothers have on our children. We have such a huge responsibility to pass on our faith to our children. And that is done by first having a genuine faith in God ourselves. In this verse first the grandmother Lois is said to have an unfeigned (genuine) faith. She then passed the faith on to her daughter Eunice, and they both passed it on to Timothy (Timothy's father was a Gentile). And Timothy became a mighty man of God. I believe the key here is that these womens faith in God was real. As mothers our children need to see that we have an unwavering relationship with God. That no matter what, we are going to serve Him. That He is supreme in our lives. A friend and I were talking today about how so many woman use their husbands lack of dedication to God as an excuse for their own lack of dedication. This can not be the case. We must stay true to our faith for our childrens sake and also because we will each give account to God for ourselves one day. And, know that God is faithful!