365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 70

My son has gone away on a weekend church camp. They gave us what they are to be studying this weekend in the bible, the book of Job. I decided to read it myself to refresh myself of the story but also to look more deeply at it. Job is a righteous man who has been blessed by God in many ways but Satan claims that he wouldn’t be the faithful man he is if all those blessings were taken away. Thus far in my reading he has lost servants and all his children to death and now he is stricken bodily with sores from head to toe. After a week of this he finally pours out his anguish to God. Not cursing God but only asking that question we have all asked, “why?” At this point his peace is gone, he is in turmoil and can find no rest but he does what is right in calling out to God. Despite all the suffering, he has not turned his back on God but embraced him with his anguish. I especially like what Job says in response to his wife who is urging him to curse God. He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Job 2:10  Trouble will always come and we have to be ready for it by standing firm in our faith and loving God no matter what. Job shows us that we are to take our anguish to God, cry out to God, be angry at God because in doing this, we are still facing him in relationship. Like any relationship, it has it’s bumps in the road but we want to keep on that road and not be steered into a detour because of the trouble that has come upon us.

Job 3:26 “I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 284

This weekend I had the opportunity to connect with my father-in-law. They had driven down in my brother-in-law's new GrandAm so hubbie and son wanted to go for a ride. We opted to drive to church in two cars so my father-in-law got to go with me and my daughter. I have to say I did not look at it as an opportunity to connect but more negatively like I have to be in conversation with this man for a 20 minute drive. I have never really had this situation come up before when my hubbie wasn't there to steer the conversation. How do you connect with someone when you know they aren't interested in your stuff and you aren't interested in there stuff? I ended up starting by digging, digging for something that we could connect with beside the weather, the road conditions and other trivial conversations. I asked him if he could tell us about Nathan as a kid. I found a connection through the past! They used to go hiking. Now that was something we had in common. I was feeling good about how the conversation was going and the thought came to me to ask about how often he was able to read the bible. There was Satan on one of my shoulders telling me that might not be the best converstaion to get in and there was the voice of the Holy Spirit saying, "Don't be afraid". So, I pushed Satan off my shoulder, took a deep breath and asked him how often he had a chance to read the bible. It was an answer that I am sure a lot of people would say..."not as often as I probably should". He said reading always puts him to sleep after 20 mintues or so. I suggested he try a read the bible in a year plan because it breaks up the reading and he could do the reading in that 20 minutes each day. I told him how much I learned from reading the bible in this way. I was very happy the holy spirit had helped me by giving me the courage to speak up to someone about God. You never know what your words and actions will bring. I am not going to say I am there yet but I am working on being able to be fearless for the Lord. Baby steps....

1 Peter 4:11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 282

I started a new book yesterday by John MacArthur called Twelve Extraordinary Women which is about 12 women in the bible. Can you guess who the first chapter is on? Well, of course, its the mother of all living, Eve. I can't tell you how invaluable this chapter on Eve has been. I have read the story of the fall into sin too many times to count but never thought of some of the things this chapter has explained. I know I have heard it said before about the prophecy of Jesus going back all the way to the beginning but I have not until now really looked at it. The curse on humankind in Gensis 3:14-19 comes in three parts: to the serpent, to Eve and finally to Adam. The part that I am focusing on is about the serpent. We all know that the serpent is Satan but I found out in this chapter that this is actually revealed in the book of Revelation. We all know the serpent is cursed to live on his belly and eat dust all the days of his life. I always thought well yeah but hadn't considered that perhaps before the curse that maybe serpents had legs or in someway were not reduced to slithering in the dirt. The next part of the curse on the serpent is that part that is referred to as Protevangelium which literally means "the first gospel". And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. The word "enmity" was throwing me off. What does that word mean? I think I had an idea of it in my head but couldn't put it into other words so I have looked it up and found several definitions or synonyms: ill-will, hatred, bad blood, animosity and opposition are a few. "Enmity" is changed later in the verse to be as a person saying "he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." The "enmity" is our savior, Jesus Christ. He will crush Satan but not without Satan striking his heel first by his death on the cross. I am a word person and like to put in words that make more sense to me. Those first few just didn't fit my idea of Jesus but the word "opposition" made the most sense. Let's replace "enmity" with "opposition": And I will put opposition between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. That makes the most sense to me in terms enmity being personified as our saviour however, the other words make sense in that animosity and bad blood is between us and Satan. This really shows me how complex the word of the bible is. God had to put a whole lot into one fairly small book so it makes sense that the use of personification and all kinds of literary devices are used. God has meant for us to be studying his Word so we can work out the complexity and see really the simplicity. One last thing in this chapter about Eve really made me feel good. God could have destroyed Adam and Eve right there but in his love, grace and mercy for us he still allowed Eve to have children and still kept her as the companion of man and most importantly he gave her and all of us hope right from the fall that He already had a plan in place to save us. What an amazing God we have!
Genesis 3:21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 185

Today as you know is Memorial Day. It is a day designated for us to remember our fallen soldiers and the sacrifice they gave for our country. They fought wars for our country that gave us the freedoms we have and have helped preserve our freedom and spread it to others. But there is a spiritual war that we have been in since the first man and woman in the garden of Eden. Satan would like to keep all of us in the pit of hell with him but God came down to Earth in Jesus and made it so we could have a choice. Because Jesus took on our sins, we are now reconciled to the Father; we can be with the holy presence of God. Many soldiers for Christ have sacrificed themselves for Christ, for us; to let us know that the choice to make is with the one who has already won. Let's reflect on the Christian martyrs who have paved the way for us and helped spread the gospel to the ends of the Earth. Learn more about Christian martyrs at http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer's%20Corner/christian_martyrs.htm 
Acts 7:55-58 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, an Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  "Look, " he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."  At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of th ecity and began to stone him.