Where Do You Start?

The whole thing with getting disciplined about being in God’s Word, praying, meditating, memorization, etc. is there is an experimental time. You have to find when it best fits into your schedule. Having kids in the house makes anything challenging when they are around or awake so fitting prayer in a quiet time without any potential interruptions is going to be the most optimal. I often wake up and pray a bit right there in bed before I even get up for the day but I am wanting to find a time that works better as I often feel the pull of getting up and on with my day. I have often loved going on a walk and that is such a good time spent with God so I am going to see how to go about doing that every day. This may have to be an unscheduled thing but a task to do every day no matter when it is done kind of thing. I think a lot of us are in prayer mode in little spurts like in the car alone and driving to an appointment or sitting on the toilet with nothing to read so you pray (yes, you know you have probably done it too!). I started what is called the Psalm prayers where I read a psalm at a certain time of day, morning, noon or night. Afterward, I write up my own prayer based on what I read in the Psalm. This is challenging as I am already a day behind so it has to be one of those things I have to keep at it and not worry about falling behind but just keep going. It’s not about failing. It is about staying persistent in trying. It will be that way for all disciplines. Don’t give up because you forgot to water the garden yesterday, get out and water the garden today! It will always be about what you are going to do right now. Right now, I am going to pray. 

Father, spending time with you and in your Word are important to me and yet I so easily can let it go by the wayside going on to worldly things that need my attention. With your help, I can become more disciplined in every area of my life especially this area of my inner soul and tending the garden there. I am the gardener of my soul but you are the lead gardener. Help me to learn by the example of your son Jesus and help me to become a stellar gardener of my soul. With you all things are possible. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

My memory verse: 

 

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on this law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields fruit in it's time and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (by memory so far)

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, by the way of the wicked will perish. 

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 262

Have you ever felt beaten down? Like you are the biggest loser? You are not a good Christian? Know that Satan is working in your heart when you feel like this and know that all it takes is action. Start reading your bible again, start praying, start demonstrating your love to your family, friends, neighbors with kind acts and most especially talk to the Lord and ask him for forgiveness, help, guidance, whatever you are needing. Turn on your Christian music and sing! Action in the truth will push out those condemning feelings and things Satan is whispering in your ear. Take action!

1John 3:18-19 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 145

My mind is all over the place right now. I got some news about in-law family that I am trying to process. Suffice it to say that prayer is needed for my brother-in-law and mother-in-law. They are so deep into their issues that it is going to end up being only divine intervention that can help them.

Psalm 25:15 My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 123

The image of my family at the dinner table all raising their glasses of sparkling cider toasting Jesus our King came to my mind this morning. I will start this as a tradition on Easter Sunday to make a toast to our King. It made me think about other kings like you see on TV shows in which the people all bow down before the king with reverence, respect, ready to do what the king commands. Perhaps it is because we don’t have a visual on the King we are to be bowing down to that makes us apathetic in our service to our King. This Son of God made human died for me, for you, for all of us because of love for His Father in Heaven and for us. He did what his Father told him to do even though he didn’t deserve it in anyway. The Father could have at any time stopped it all and said, “No, let mankind lay in its bed that they made.” Jesus could have said “I am not going to do what my Father says, suffer on this cross and die for all mankind.” But their love was SO much that they did what needed to be done to save us from ourselves and evil. Would you be willing to die on a cross? Would you be willing to watch your child die on a cross? Love this great cannot be set aside because we are too busy dealing with our day to day lives. Worship! Pray! Sing! Bow down to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords everyday, every moment!!!

Revelations 19: 11-16 I saw heaven standing open and their before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no on knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 76

At the end of the book of Job, God speaks to Job and basically God says I am God and I command everything over the universe. He ends up blessing Job in the later years of his life with more children, etc and tells Job that his friends need to sacrifice a burnt offering for their foolish words. In the end, we can be angry with God, we can ask the why’s and we have to remember that God is God and we may not get the answers to our why’s. The main purpose is to keep in relationship with God. Don’t let bitterness or well-meaning friends and their words turn you away from the God who is infinite, who can do all things. Always look to Him and pray.

Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 57

I like this quote from Joel Osteen: You have a choice; you can either keep your joy, or you can give it away.  Choice is by far one of the biggest factors in becoming a believer of Jesus Christ and in our Christian walk. From the moment we make that first choice to believe that Jesus is the son of God and died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead so that we too might live we have the Holy Spirit within us. But everyday is a new day and so everyday we have choices to make. Not just the physical choices of what I am going to eat for breakfast or pick to wear today. Not just the mental choice to have a positive attitude or figure out the bills to pay but the spiritual choices of do we rely on God today, do we pray for the Holy Spirit and the fruits he can ripen within us or do we go it on our own. I for one have seen the power of the Holy Spirit working within me and it motivates me more. It is much like going on a weight-loss plan. The first week you are motivated by the idea of losing weight and feeling better about yourself, etc and by the third or fourth week the motivation comes from the very real reaction to your action. You get on the scale and see you have lost 3lbs and are thrilled. I have felt that same way every time I experience the Holy Spirit has given me what I needed. It makes me want the Holy Spirit working within me every moment of my life. For each day in the rest of my life, I am going to choose to pray in the morning for the Holy Spirit to ripen the fruits of the spirit within me, to help me love, to remind me that my joy comes from knowing I am saved and have the love of an awesome God.  And each night, I am going to pray and thank the Lord and confess my sins and what I could have done better and thank him for all the blessings, help, guidance, protection, inspiration, love and fruits of the Spirit that he gave to me for that day. I made a choice a couple years ago after a dentist visit with the typical talk about needing to floss. I made the choice to do it everyday and have only missed maybe two days in the last 2 years. If I can floss everyday, I can certainly pray everyday and so can you.  It is your choice.

2Thessalonians 2:13

But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 10

For the next week or so I am going to pick apart and study the famous wedding scripture 1 Corinthians 13:4-13. When I did my two read-the-bible-in-a-year stints on-line with other family members several years ago, one thing that I found that helped me understand the scripture I was reading sink in was to focus on a word that stood out. In that same thinking, I will focus on the little pieces throughout this scripture and really look at them in depth. The first word study will be on patience. It is always amazing to me to look up a definition of a word and get it put into other words that make you go ah-ha. Patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset; the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune or pain, without complaint, loss of temper or irritation or the like. Some good synonyms for patience are long-suffering, resignation, forbearance. I think that being a parent has probably taught me the most when it comes to patience and I am pretty sure most all parents out there would agree. Parenting is a lot of sacrifice that I think we aren’t prepared for. I can remember when my daughter was learning to use the toilet. My expectations were really high because I thought her being a girl and from all that I heard girls just got through this easier. Well, that was far from what happened with my darling girl. It was a long-suffering battle of my expectations not being met and cleaning up after the mess. I can look back and see how my patience was worn so thin and there were times that like a volcano I didn’t totally blow but I let off some steam. My daughter is sensitivity and my yelling greatly affected her. I prayed for patience with her even though my mother-in-law always told me never to pray for patience because than you would really need it. But being patient with others is a piece that shows your love for them. If you are losing your temper, yelling at your kids or husband or complaining about how you can’t take it anymore, than it is time to pray, pray, pray. What you need is patience and the Holy Spirit has that to give you! Look to Jesus as the ultimate example of patience.

King Jesus, you are the perfector of patience. Help me to look to you and the Word of God when I am about to blow-up with anger. Remind me that being patient with one another shows my love. With You All Things Are Possible, Amen.

1 Timothy 1:16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 328

Praise the Lord for a new day, a new beginning, a new everything. What a gift that is to be able to go to bed with the gossip you may have partaken in at work or the yelling you did at your kids or the lack of love you showed and wake up the next day and start fresh. Sins of the day before washed clean. Each day we can say we are sorry and know that we are forgiven. The Holy Spirit will fill us up and guide us in our new day but we have to listen. That is probably the hardest part. I got caught in the trap of talking negatively about someone with co-workers. I saw it coming and fought it internally but what I should have done is got up and walked away from it or even better stand up and say no more negative talk about anyone. I am thankful for the forgiveness given to me thanks to Jesus and I am thankful for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in helping me learn from my mistakes. Have you done something recently that you just knew after doing it that it was wrong? Stop and tell our mighty God you are sorry and pray for his help.

Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 294

Our family was watching the first show of the season for The X Factor. It's a singing competion kind of show like American Idol but with some different twists and formats. On this show the contestants have to try out in front of a stadium full of people and the four judges. One in particular really stood out from the show last evening because of all the emotion she had. Her background story was one of pain. She had been severly bullied during her middle and high school years but she found a way of healing throughy singing. Her voice and stage presence were great but it was the raw emotions that captured us all.  People were in tears and even Simon the judge known to have a heart of stone was moved. This is what is so amazing about these kinds of shows because you see the human heart and we all connect with it. We all live through pain, grief, depression and all those emotions that come up from the not so good things that occur in our lives. Thankfully many are able to find ways to express their emotions outwardly like in singing but what if you can't carry a tune or don't have a dancing bone in your body or can't paint a moving picture, taking an amazing photo or write a story that will help you get out those emotions out in a health way. There is always the way that many of us turn to in our desperate moments. We pray to God for help, or we turn our negative emotions towards Him. He wants you to call out to him in the desperate moments and in the joyful moments, when life is taken a bad turn and when life is being good to you. He is always there waiting for us to talk to him. He is the great counselor for us all, who will listen and will understand, who will give us what we need and will guide us to the healing through His love. It was amazing to watch this bullied girl end up crying with tears of joy. God wants that for all of us.

Psalm 63: 5-7 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 163

Nothing really ever goes as you plan it. Our hike yeterday got postponed to another time due to the looming dark clouds but we did take the kids to a park and tried to get in some walking around the playground to burn off all the calories we just ate from our mexican feast. As I was talking my my sister-in-law around the playground about my ministry and where it could go, she said something that really stood out to me and, of course, my memory won't serve me correctly so this is not a direct quote, "there are lots of hurting people out there that could benefit greatly by experiencing sitting down with others going through the sames kinds of issues and creating scrapbook pages that reflect these issues". The key part of this was the "hurting people". My original ministry idea was to bring believers together so they could study together and create faithbooking pages that will create a legacy of their faith and help in their growth process along the way. I am now seeing how this ministry could reach out to the hurting in the world. The plans for this ministry are not mine, they are God's so I will continue to pray, research and keep my eyes, ears and heart open to all the possiblities that God will bring my way to take this ministry. Thank you Lord for my sister-in-law and speaking through her!
Mark 2:17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."