Day 30 - Shaped for Serving God
The Bible uses the term heart to describe the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections you have. Your heart represents the source of all your motivations --what you love to do and what you care about most. AWESOME!!! there is a scripture that says God will give you the desires of your heart. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!
Your emotional heartbeat is the second key to understanding your shape for service. What does your heart beat for?
A simple lfe in the fear of God is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Day 29
Day 29 - Accepting Your Assignment
Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation. Where are you serving? If you are a Christian and you are reading your Bible and going to church and studying (through this book) but are not serving then you will become stagnant.
Service is not optional.
Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation. Where are you serving? If you are a Christian and you are reading your Bible and going to church and studying (through this book) but are not serving then you will become stagnant.
Service is not optional.
Day 28
Day 28 - It Takes Time
Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering.
I am a testiment to that statement. I didn't want to go through that storm. I didn't want that season of suffering. I didn't want my testimony. If I could change my testimony I would, but God had different plans. I can now tell my testimony to people and help them through storms or lead them to Christ.
My testimony goes like this... I was raised in a Christian home with Christian parents. I never knew anything different but God, Jesus, Holy Spirit. I got baptized at 10 when I first accepted Jesus as my savior. I knew I had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and needed him to save me. From 10-21 I rebelled and grew farther and farther away from Christ. I had no relationship that was worthy of what He deserved. I dated people that and was very good friends with people that drove me away from my relationship further. I lied to my parents, grandparents, myself and tried running from God. Made awful choices in the middle of all of these years also. I was roommates with a Christian girl my Junior year of college. She got me to breakup with a boyfriend just by her attitude and way of life. It was nothing that she ever verbalized. It was the best year of my life. I grew closer and closer to God and learned a lot. I rebelled again and made some more horrible choices in the years to follow. Lied some more, got a bad reputation, kept sinning. It was hard to accept that I was on the right path and then screwed up again..still to this day. I started dating Nick (which was a wonderful choice) and he helped me through some growth and change. We helped each other through a lot. When Nick and I were engaged everything was fantastic and well concealed. All the garbage and trash didn't come out until the first few months of marriage. It wasn't that we didn't know the trash existed... don't get me wrong. We never kept anything from each other. It was just that I had pushed it down so deep that it didn't surface until our first year of marriage. It was the closest I had ever been to God because I had finally realized that God was all I had. I put my husband through a lot. He showed me a lot of grace. I will always love Nick for that. I WILL ALWAYS LOVE GOD FOR HIS GRACE. I just took a minute cry session. His grace gets me everytime. Now I can say that I have been in the pit with the Devil and I didn't let him win. He didn't get my relationship with Christ and he didn't get my relationship with Nick. Both of those things he wanted to destroy but God is stronger than the Devil and he lifted me up and protected me. If I can help one high school girl to not go down the same path as me... then my testimony is worth it. Yea I wish I could change a lot of things about my life, but if I use it for good then God gets the glory. :)
Write your testimony...
Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering.
I am a testiment to that statement. I didn't want to go through that storm. I didn't want that season of suffering. I didn't want my testimony. If I could change my testimony I would, but God had different plans. I can now tell my testimony to people and help them through storms or lead them to Christ.
My testimony goes like this... I was raised in a Christian home with Christian parents. I never knew anything different but God, Jesus, Holy Spirit. I got baptized at 10 when I first accepted Jesus as my savior. I knew I had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and needed him to save me. From 10-21 I rebelled and grew farther and farther away from Christ. I had no relationship that was worthy of what He deserved. I dated people that and was very good friends with people that drove me away from my relationship further. I lied to my parents, grandparents, myself and tried running from God. Made awful choices in the middle of all of these years also. I was roommates with a Christian girl my Junior year of college. She got me to breakup with a boyfriend just by her attitude and way of life. It was nothing that she ever verbalized. It was the best year of my life. I grew closer and closer to God and learned a lot. I rebelled again and made some more horrible choices in the years to follow. Lied some more, got a bad reputation, kept sinning. It was hard to accept that I was on the right path and then screwed up again..still to this day. I started dating Nick (which was a wonderful choice) and he helped me through some growth and change. We helped each other through a lot. When Nick and I were engaged everything was fantastic and well concealed. All the garbage and trash didn't come out until the first few months of marriage. It wasn't that we didn't know the trash existed... don't get me wrong. We never kept anything from each other. It was just that I had pushed it down so deep that it didn't surface until our first year of marriage. It was the closest I had ever been to God because I had finally realized that God was all I had. I put my husband through a lot. He showed me a lot of grace. I will always love Nick for that. I WILL ALWAYS LOVE GOD FOR HIS GRACE. I just took a minute cry session. His grace gets me everytime. Now I can say that I have been in the pit with the Devil and I didn't let him win. He didn't get my relationship with Christ and he didn't get my relationship with Nick. Both of those things he wanted to destroy but God is stronger than the Devil and he lifted me up and protected me. If I can help one high school girl to not go down the same path as me... then my testimony is worth it. Yea I wish I could change a lot of things about my life, but if I use it for good then God gets the glory. :)
Write your testimony...
Day 27
Day 27 - Defeating Temptation
The more you fight a feeling, the more it consumes and controls you. Don't fight the thought, just change the channel of your mind and get interested in another idea.
I wish I had read this book in my first year of marriage because I fought the worst fight of my life. I was OVERCOME with guilty thoughts and I always thought that you had to get the thoughts out of your mind and overcome them. The Devil was putting awful things inbetween me and Nick and I was making it worse by letting it affect me. I could have changed the channel of my mind - easier said then done I assume.
When Satan suggested temptation to Jesus by telling him he was hungry...Jesus didn't argue with Satan, He didn't say I'm not hungry....when tempted to use his power to meet a personal need He simply quoted scripture from memory.
This is why memorizing Scripture is absolutely essential to defeating temptation.
The more you fight a feeling, the more it consumes and controls you. Don't fight the thought, just change the channel of your mind and get interested in another idea.
I wish I had read this book in my first year of marriage because I fought the worst fight of my life. I was OVERCOME with guilty thoughts and I always thought that you had to get the thoughts out of your mind and overcome them. The Devil was putting awful things inbetween me and Nick and I was making it worse by letting it affect me. I could have changed the channel of my mind - easier said then done I assume.
When Satan suggested temptation to Jesus by telling him he was hungry...Jesus didn't argue with Satan, He didn't say I'm not hungry....when tempted to use his power to meet a personal need He simply quoted scripture from memory.
This is why memorizing Scripture is absolutely essential to defeating temptation.
Day 26
Day 26 - Growing through Temptation
Character development always involves a choice, and temptation provides that opportunity.
Let me just say that temptation isn't always PORN... it could be chocolate :)
Satan is incapable of telling the truth (I knew the was the King of Liars, but I never thought of it like this)
You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. You can't keep the Devil from suggesting thoughts, but you can choose not to dwell or act on them. Just because you have bad temptation - that is not the sin! The sin is choosing to commit in your mind to do the wrong thing. The Devil would like us to believe the thought is the sin. Theres a fine line though so be careful. Example: you are tempted with cheating on your spouse... you think about cheating on your spouse... you become friends with the other sex at work... you hang out more and more... you think about cheating on your spouse with this person... you are alone with this person... you cheat on your spouse. Being tempted to cheat on your spouse ISN'T the sin, but don't let the thought linger, because cheating on your spouse IS a sin. (Britt, I never think about cheating on Nick lol)
Satan fears your prayers. God says, Call on me in times of trouble. I will rescue you, and you will honor me.
You should identify your typical pattern of temptation and then prepare to avoid those situations as much as possible. No I don't think chocolate is a sin, however, for the point of example. If you eat healthy all day and then have weakness after 8pm STAY AWAY FROM THE FRIDGE...
If you have to cry out for Dog's help two hundred times a day to defeat a particular temptation, he will still be eager to give mercy and grace, so come boldly. I've been there. He's loyal.
Character development always involves a choice, and temptation provides that opportunity.
Let me just say that temptation isn't always PORN... it could be chocolate :)
Satan is incapable of telling the truth (I knew the was the King of Liars, but I never thought of it like this)
You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. You can't keep the Devil from suggesting thoughts, but you can choose not to dwell or act on them. Just because you have bad temptation - that is not the sin! The sin is choosing to commit in your mind to do the wrong thing. The Devil would like us to believe the thought is the sin. Theres a fine line though so be careful. Example: you are tempted with cheating on your spouse... you think about cheating on your spouse... you become friends with the other sex at work... you hang out more and more... you think about cheating on your spouse with this person... you are alone with this person... you cheat on your spouse. Being tempted to cheat on your spouse ISN'T the sin, but don't let the thought linger, because cheating on your spouse IS a sin. (Britt, I never think about cheating on Nick lol)
Satan fears your prayers. God says, Call on me in times of trouble. I will rescue you, and you will honor me.
You should identify your typical pattern of temptation and then prepare to avoid those situations as much as possible. No I don't think chocolate is a sin, however, for the point of example. If you eat healthy all day and then have weakness after 8pm STAY AWAY FROM THE FRIDGE...
If you have to cry out for Dog's help two hundred times a day to defeat a particular temptation, he will still be eager to give mercy and grace, so come boldly. I've been there. He's loyal.
Day 25
Day 25 - Transformed by Trouble HARD HARD HARD to do
In fact, he depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than he depends on our reading tbe Bible - pretty smart God.
It is during suffering that we learn to pray our most authentic, heartfelt, honest to God prayers.
You'll never know that God is all you need until God is all you've got.
Romans 8:28-29 says "We know that God causes EVERYTHING to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his piurpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son."
All things work for bad for those living in opposition to God and insist on having their own way.
*****Whenver we try to avoid or escape the difficulties in life, we short circuit the process, delay our growth, and actually end up with a worse kind of pain - the worthless type that accompanies denial and avoidance.
UGH I really don't like that last sentence because that is EXACTLY what I do. I try to cover up my feeling, my hurt, my avoidance... I try to escape what I know is going on and act like God will forget about it too. I try to short circit the process and then I DON'T GROW! I do end up with the kind of pain. I hate that denial. It's so hard to face change and growth straight in the face. UGH
In fact, he depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than he depends on our reading tbe Bible - pretty smart God.
It is during suffering that we learn to pray our most authentic, heartfelt, honest to God prayers.
You'll never know that God is all you need until God is all you've got.
Romans 8:28-29 says "We know that God causes EVERYTHING to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his piurpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son."
All things work for bad for those living in opposition to God and insist on having their own way.
*****Whenver we try to avoid or escape the difficulties in life, we short circuit the process, delay our growth, and actually end up with a worse kind of pain - the worthless type that accompanies denial and avoidance.
UGH I really don't like that last sentence because that is EXACTLY what I do. I try to cover up my feeling, my hurt, my avoidance... I try to escape what I know is going on and act like God will forget about it too. I try to short circit the process and then I DON'T GROW! I do end up with the kind of pain. I hate that denial. It's so hard to face change and growth straight in the face. UGH
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Day 24
Day 24 - Transformed by Truth
on page 186 top of the page there is a whole LIST of things that the Bible does for us. Very awesome list. You should consider is as essential to your life as food. I definately need to work on that!! hahaahah I KNOW I think about food more than reading my Bible. lol
Does everyone have a Bible? Let me know and I'll send you an extra if you don't.
Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
We had a Catholic woman talk last night at small group about growing up in the Catholic church and then going to The Village. She explained how they read the scripture from the Bible every week at mass and in 3 years you hear the whole thing. She said there was NO scripture reading at home. It was a crazy thought to think that if you had an issue.. that you could look up an answer in the Bible. What are your thoughts about this Erin?
Do you accept it's authority? Do you assimilate it's truth? Do you apply it's principles?
on page 186 top of the page there is a whole LIST of things that the Bible does for us. Very awesome list. You should consider is as essential to your life as food. I definately need to work on that!! hahaahah I KNOW I think about food more than reading my Bible. lol
Does everyone have a Bible? Let me know and I'll send you an extra if you don't.
Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
We had a Catholic woman talk last night at small group about growing up in the Catholic church and then going to The Village. She explained how they read the scripture from the Bible every week at mass and in 3 years you hear the whole thing. She said there was NO scripture reading at home. It was a crazy thought to think that if you had an issue.. that you could look up an answer in the Bible. What are your thoughts about this Erin?
Do you accept it's authority? Do you assimilate it's truth? Do you apply it's principles?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)