365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 266

In all my studying on temperament, I can see how there will be some believers who don’t get into a community of believers. People, some more than others, will be more wary, anxious or even fearful of coming to a group of strangers, even if we have the common thread of believing in Christ. These people need not only the hospitality when they get there but need to be welcomed and personally invited. A personal phone call to say hi and invite the person to come will go a long way to relieving any wariness, anxiety or fear about attending anything within a community of people you do not know. They are the sheep that are on the outside of the group looking in but afraid to get any closer. They need a sheep from the flock to come over to them and personally say “baaaaaaaaaaa” come with me. The lost sheep out on the hills need this personal invitation from the flock, too. Knowing there is a great church your friends go to may not be enough to get them to walk in the door of the church. Invite them to join you for an event or activity at the church or with your bible study group. Practice hospitality by reaching out.

3John 1:8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 256

In my bible reading the word “alert” caught my attention. Alert means being aware, being prepared and being ready with all the tools we will need to fight the devil and his temptations. I have had a problem with eating as you know so after a conversation with my brother and sister-in-law yesterday about eating based on the Paleo diet I was intrigued and wanting to do something about my eating. The Whole30 challenge is a 30-day challenge that gets rid of foods that are hurting our bodies. I went to bed with all this on my mind and had one of those light bulb moments that makes you think well “duh”. The devil is using all the processed foods and all the convenience foods against us. He us laughing at us as we devour our too-large a bowl of pasta or our nightly bowl of ice cream. He loves it when we are in the grocery store and we end up tossing in an apple pie and a candy bar just in case we are in need of chocolate. Pleeeeeeease! I am so aware now of what the devil is doing so now it is time to get prepared and be ready with my arsenal of tools. What are these tools? Three things come to mind: community, prayer and commitment. The Whole30 challenge has an on-line community for support and I have my brother and sister-in-law I can call up when the temptation to make an unwise choice creeps up but I am also thinking about starting a bible study support group who would like to do the challenge with me and we can also read and study the book Spiritual Secrets to Weight Loss by Kara David, MD that explores the fruits of the spirit and how the Holy Spirit can help us in our fight against the temptation of food. I will let you know the plans for starting this group as soon as I have time to contemplate it all. If you are interested in being in the group, let me know. Have a wise-choice making Sunday.

1Peter 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 253

From what I have heard, sheep are pretty dumb. So what does that say about us? Laughing…. We are pulled astray by things of this world. Satan puts on sheep’s clothing and will lead us away from our Shepherd. I like the word “overseer” as another name for shepherd. An overseer is the one in charge of watching over everything to ensure all are safe and everything is as it should be. Sheep stay safe when they are within their flock. It is the same for us. Stay within the community of believers and listen constantly for the voice of our Shepherd who will lead us on to new pastures and away from evil.

1Peter 2:25  For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

365 Days of Spririt-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 234

Have you ever gone along with the crowd or agreed to something because you thought it would please the group, crowd, family, etc? I think we have all been swayed by peer pressure and driven by our own fears of rejection or our needs to belong and done things that we should not have done. King Herod does this in Acts 12. He sees how the Jews are pleased with how he has had James, the brother of John killed and so he decides to seize Peter because he wants to do what is pleasing the crowd. In this case, Peter is put in prison in chains and heavily guarded but God uses this opportunity to show the believers who are earnestly praying for Peter that God is listening by sending an angel to help get Peter out of prison. This is not anything like a jail break in a modern movie with tunnels being dug or schemes being played out that help the prisoner to get out of prison. Peter is literally visited by an angel who instantly releases him from his chains, tells him to put on some clothes, shoes and a cloak and to follow him. The angel leads him out and the iron gate leading to the city opens all by itself. God has taken the unwise decision of King Herod and turned it into an event that brings Him glory. Our own unwise decisions will be used by God for his greater plan as well but how about working on not making those unwise decisions in the first place. We shouldn’t be swayed or manipulated by anyone to do or say anything. Only God is our Guidance Counselor. It is Him we should go to when choices need to be made. This is a tough challenge in our busy world to do. How to stop and consider what Jesus would have us do. Pause and pray for wisdom to make the wise choices. It is something that needs to be cultivated in us. A habit needs to be formed and only a committed heart and some preparation will lead you to successfully becoming prayerful in all your choices. I am going to make it a family challenge and get my family to start working on praying before making our choices. We can celebrate with each other our successes and share our thoughts on how we might do better in the next days. A community effort is always helpful and I am sure pleasing to God.

Acts 12:11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 230

I read a book called Artic Tale to my daughter last evening. It is about two different animals in the artic a baby polar bear and a baby walrus. The interesting thing about each of these is the very circumstances they are brought up in. A baby walrus will stay with the group of all female walrus' for as long as they live while a baby polar bear is just with his mother until they are able to hunt on their own at about age 2. Two vastly different up-bringings. One in the midst of community and the other with just mom. God gave us two examples in these animals of what we can do as mothers. We can have that one-on-one bond and we can be in community with other mothers, women, sisters. We are blessed to be able to choose both worlds as we raise our young. God gives us the choice. Each of us, based on our own personality can choose how to be a mom. I love my one-on-one time with my kids but also love being with other women sharing about our struggles, rejoicing in our triumphs and laughing about our adventures. It's like the bible says there is a time for everything even a time to be one-on-one and a time to be in community. Thank you Lord for giving us the miracle of both ways to rear our young and for the examples of motherhood found throughout your creation.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 165

I beleive there are two key ingredients when it comes to relationship building: time and the ability to open up. I am going to share about the latter. There have been times with small groups of friends where I have shared something on my heart. Those times are forever on my heart as good times because I felt truly connected.  I think that really sharing with friends is a great challenge for many of us. I think we build up walls to protect ourselves but in the end when we share our burdens with friends we often discover that we are not alone in this struggle or we are comforted and encouraged and even given some wisdom passed down through our friends from God. There is a reason that God wants us to foster our relationships in community with each other and yet we still build the walls up. I am praising God for a lady who opened up breifly to me about her life situation and praising the Lord for bringing her into my life. God uses us not only as fishers of people but as encouragers, advisors, caring people, listeners and more. Do you feel you have walls built-up around you holding in feelings and thoughts that need to be shared to be processed? Take your burdens first to God and ask him to help open your heart to releasing your burdens with your community of friends.
Philemon 6 I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 49

I started a bible study group through my church 2 years ago when I kept finding that the timing of things going on at the church just wasn't lining up with my time. I think we have done about 6 different studies now. We have had some join for a short time and other long timers leave us who moved out of CO whom we have missed but we keep at it. We are currently doing a study called Fearless by Max Lucado. I am a huge fan of his writing style and love his children's books. I had the privelege of hearing him speak at a Women of Faith conference several years ago. He really knows how to say things that you already know but puts a great spin on it or puts it in another perspective that is just golden. In one chapter in Fearless, he talks about the incident on the boat with the disciples and the big storm. How afraid for their lives they became and how Jesus who was sleeping the whole time got awakened by them and their fearfulness and said for the uncounted time, 'do not be afraid'. Lucado points out that they are in a boat with the Son of God, the Messiah, sleeping or not, the disciples had no reason to fear. The same is true for us. He is with us whether we think he's sleeping or not and we have nothing to fear. My praise today is not only for this wonderful perspective gleaned from this bible study but for the ladies in my study who have brought lots of insight, wisdom and laughter to our group and made it so special. We truly are sisters in Christ. Do you have a community of believers that you gather with regularly to learn and grow more in your faith? If not, definitely seek one out or take the initiative and start one. If you are local, you can always join mine.
Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with the wise grows wise.