Impact

Read Daniel 6

When I read about Daniel, I think about impact. The humble life of a servant making an enormous impact. In Daniel 6:5, his jealous coworkers were looking for a reason to accuse him.  “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless is has something to do with the law of his God”. Can you imagine saying that about someone? Can you imagine living the type of life people could find no fault with? What if someone said that about you? One thing is certain, no one could say that about me.  If a “team of people”, were looking for things to accuse me of, it would take about one quick second to name several. But not Daniel! He is a mentor to learn from. I once read a great book that encouraged me to view each character in the bible as a life mentor,  and to treat each devotion as a session with these mentors. 

They will never find a reason to accuse Daniel (6:5). That is the kind of life I want to strive for!  Later in 6:25,  a decree is issued that everyone must fear and respect the God of Daniel. Can you imagine living such a life, making such an impact for God, that others are swayed by your life to come to God? This is too cool to think about! 

This is my prayer for today, for God to lead me and change my life into one that will better influence others for Him! 

….a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverance the God of Daniel (Daniel 6:26).

Did not come to call the righteous

Read Luke 5 :31-32, 2 Peter 1: 4-11

Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Well, thank goodness for that! Our pastor once read a poem about “staying close to the door”. The poem encouraged me to remember where I was when I came to Christ. It prompted me to make an effort to stay close to that door in terms of humility and maintaining that overpowering feeling of not deserving God’s amazing grace.  It is easy to get busy in the everyday and forget to treat others with the same amazing grace God has shown me. In 2 Peter, Peter encourages me to add goodness, knowledge, self-control, patiencce, service, kindness and love to both my life and my faith. Early the other morning  I wrote this scripture down, and immediately reflected on what this could mean for my everyday interactions. What if every interaction with others came from this place Peter describes? For me, it will have to be intentional, because I do not naturally think outside of  my family. Peter encourages me to be intentional in sharing God’s nature with people, even outside my comfort zone. 

Thank you Lord for this lesson and lead me as I continue to pray for you to change my life into exactly what you want it to be !

…make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness knowledge; and to knowledge self-control……2 Peter 1: 5

Gentle spirit

Read 1 Peter 3 1-7

Well this is something to strive for! A beauty that comes from a gentle, quiet spirit that will never be destroyed.  I will admit, this is difficult for me. My natural tendency is to be argumentative and state my opinions where they are not wanted. Yet it has become a frequent prayer of mine to become more quiet. To speak less often, and when I do feel the temptation to say something crass, I pray for God to help me before speaking, even if it means I do not reply at all! My husband has led us in a new spiritual discipline in the last couple weeks, which has included a period of fasting. During this time, we pray for countless everyday things which  need God’s guiding hand, and one of those is our marriage.  Boy, this exercise been difficult for me! This form of fasting seems to bring all my yuck to the surface. I read once, that we are more tempted when we are without, and this is the case for me! I think about the above scriptures often when I think about marriage. It is easy for me to use “words spoken” instead of a “life lived” to show my dependence on God. It is easier for me to talk the talk then to walk the walk, so to speak. But God calls us to live a life that will persuade others without saying a word! This is a challenge….. One evening, after a very trying day, my husband was explaining his prayer patterns. He wants to run everything through God, like He is a filter. How amazing would that be?  If we are really aiming true inner beauty that comes with  gentle spirit, our outward appearance will not be as important.  I read once when my daughter was very young that children need a role model, not a supermodel. I thought, this is a huge truth! How do my Godly actions guide my children? In contrast, how do my comments about getting old, wishing I had this or that feature, counting gray hairs, wrinkles or stretch marks, how do these comments shape my children? I will keep striving for more Godly actions, and less “me” actions….

…..the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is of great worth in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:4

Awed

Read Job 38-41 (NIV)

Job is considered wisdom literature! I believe it to be a story told especially for those  of us who ever find themselves in crisis of faith. I feed from it so often. I even love the way it starts, “The Lord speaks……” Anytime I read that, I sit up straight and get ready to be humbled. We are all probably most familiar with the common query in Job, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” Talk about a gut check! I mean, we are dealing with the creatorof the universe here! This morning as I read this section, I took notes on the parts that literally took my breath away, I mean I was truly awed with my God. Try reading this section and just jotting down what speaks to you. Here are some of mine. Feel free to comment on yours below! 

…shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment…

…given orders to the morning…

…entered the storehouses of snow…

….endowed the heart with wisdom, gave understanding to the mind…

…adorn yourself with glory and splendor and clothe yourself in honor and majesty…

Made for

Read 1 John 3, Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV)

How great is the love the father has lavished on us, that we should be called Children on God! (1 John 3, NIV)

I can’t help but think of my own children when I read these. I am so encouraged when I read scripture that refers to me as a child of God. This is because I know a mother’s love and I have seen in my husband a father’s love. My heart truly swells with joy at the thought of God loving me this way…..

I am always so excited to see my children. I long to see them or hear from them during the day. I love to watch them play and talk. Before we moved from our old home,  I walked around the empty inside alone. I could hear the laughter, the running and the squealing of my children in those walls. Love was there.  I love to imagine our God like that! I imagine Him longing to hear from us during the day, waiting to see us, reaching out to get a hug from us,or  listening as we talk about Him thoroughout our days…..

Knowing a parents love makes me long to please him as well. It makes me want to …..love him with all my heart, soul and strength. Its powerful to think of loving someone with strength. I am extremely blessed to know many types of love. I know love for a husband, love for my children, love for a mother, love for a sister, love for a brother, love for a grandmother and an aunt. I know love for a friend and children that are not my own.  But the greatest love I know is love for God. It is a dependent, I need strength kind of love. It is a I need you or I will truly die kind of love.  Expressing this kind of love with all my strength implies that it may take straining at times. It may take every muscle in my being flexed in effort at times, I may be sore from this kind of love the next day. ……And that’s the kind of love we were made for!

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ( Deuteronomy 6:5, NIV)

Moves in

Read James 1:14, Hebrews 12:1, Ezekiel 34: 11-16 (NIV)

What a pursuing God I serve! True to Ezekiel….. he will find me, help me, feed me,  heal me, and teach me. And teach me he does!  God continues to dig deeper and want more. And, its always just when I start to feel “comfortable” in my spiritual life. This week God has been speaking into my heart and asking me to reflect on my ….own evil desire (James 1:14, NIV). And reflect I have!

Have you ever acted in such a way that when you looked back you said, was that me? Well, it happened to me this week! I was a wreck over how quickly I reverted to old ways apart from God. It broke me.

When I am really battling, I benefit from fasting for a period of time as I seek God’s clear direction on a certain matter. It may be fasting from drink, food or a certain action. I know the things in my life that I benefit most fasting from. If you ever consider a fast, aim for something you will be able to replace with prayer. Anytime I find myself longing for the thing I am fasting from, I replace it with prayer over the matter I am battling with. I find extreme strength in this fasting! 

I have been battling with my own pride. Pride is typically the source for my sin. I openly admit I struggle with this. Out of this pride I long to for worldy perfection, I long to be right, I long to be the best, smartest, most successful…..I long to appear together. And in true God fashion He humbled me to show me how “not together” I am apart from him! The good news is, when I come to God broken and open, He moves in! Thank you Lord for this week and also for giving me eyes to see and ears to hear!

I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord (Ezekiel 34:15, NIV).

Bring it to Him

Read Hebrews 11 (NIV)

The Book of Hebrews explains Christs’ role so eloquently! At the same time, it is an amazing account of what can be attained through faith….. Last week, we  finally made a long, labored decision regarding our son. My husband and I starting discussing the role of prayer in that decision. The middle of Hebrews 8: 10 says……I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts……..(NIV) I often times long for a more immediate response. I impatiently want him to shout down in a bellowing voice or through a miracle of nature and tell me the right things to do. In  short, I want God to answer me directly and on my timeline, yikes!  My husband says when it comes to prayer, God just wants you to bring it to him. He wants to know you are bringing every decision before him as an act of faith. Through this action you make yourself available so he can……write them into your heart. Hebrews 1 reads, In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways but in these days he has spoken to us by his Son…..(NIV) All my decisions are so weak apart from Christ, all my prayers are so weak apart from Christ! Just bringing everday decisions to him gives me the strength to make Christ centered decisions with his…. laws in my mind. In Hebrews 11, a truly beautiful portrayal of all that was received by faith is recorded. Each one begins with,  It was by faith, _______. I started plugging in the obstacles in my life. It was by faith, I overcame a painful troubled past. It was by faith, I forgave. It was by faith, I came to know Christ as my leader…….I just couldn’t stop. The I started to plug in the current struggles of my life. I can rest in each, knowing that Christ is my leader in overcoming these! 

Hebrews 11 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for for and certain of what we do not see……(NIV)

Set free

Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (NIV)

I came across this familiar scripture in my reading about two weeks ago, quickly wrote it down, reflected, and then began praying this frequently…..careful what I ask for, I know! Often, during the confession part of my prayer I am quiet and reflect on the previous day. This is a rich time for me to reflect on how to apply scripture to my everyday life. As you can imagine, Psalm 139:23 cut  VERY deep, and during the last two weeks I have come across some pretty life changing scriptures…..

1 Timothy 5 :13 Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to…..

1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain….

2 Timothy 1: 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidy, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline…..

2 Timothy 2 :23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because you know that they produce quarrels…..

2 Timothy 3 :3 ….without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self- control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited…..

Praying this scripture in my daily prayer has been an exercise in humility, and humility always precedes great learning. If I honestly reflect on the above scriptures I am a hot mess when it comes to living out these truths. And if I am even more honest, I was in the dark that these areas even needed attention! I was again reminded of the power of scripture to cut like a sword at my greatest need. By coming humbly before my God with these shortcomings, thanking Him for making me aware of them and then asking Him to help me overcome them……. I am set free!!! 

…. lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23 (NIV)

God’s light

Read Jeremiah 22:15-16, Psalm 119:9-16 (NIV)

This truly is an instruction manual! This last week I have really been driven to draw close to God. I can honestly say I have yearned for Him throughout the day. I have been meditating on his will and how I can truly align my life with it. One particular morning this week I came across one of the above scriptures instructing me to be satisified, right and fair in actions, and to help those in need. How can I act that out? Love comes to mind. To love others was and is Christ’s greatest command. God wants me to be so consumed with my love for him that gratitude is overflowing and this love I feel for him is openly directed towards others. My husband calls it God’s light when he prays for it, I love the way he describes that! The closer I draw to God, the more I want to love. So how can I increase my own gratitude and love others more? I write down all the things I am thankful for each day. I aim for 10 a day, but somedays my list fills a half a page. In my prayer time, I always give thanks first, confess second, offer prayer requests third and then spend some time silently before God. After I give thanks and confess, I ask God to help me be satisified with the blessings he has given me. I ask God to help me love others. I keep my prayer list on a small piece of paper so I can fold it up easy and it can be portable. I pray over the things on the list until I can check them off. This helps me love. If I am praying for someone I cannot feel anything but love for them. Often times God brings fruits of the spirit to bear upon my prayers, and I prompted to express love tangibly to those on my prayer list. Sometimes He even adds people to my prayer list. It is so cool! 

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. Psalm 119: 15 (NIV)

Just as you are

Read Jeremiah 20:11, 1 Thessalonians 4 :11-13, Ephesians 6:10 (NIV)

Be strong in the Lord runs through my mind multiple times daily……I love this quick scripture from Ephesians because it forces me to honestly consider all my actions and thoughts as I reflect inwardly. I had a bit of a eye opening, humbling experience one morning this week. As I have openly said before, my mind is busy and I find myself praying for God to quiet my busy mind more than I would care to admit. Sometimes, most times the prayer seems to be unanswered. This particular morning during some quiet time, a thought came to me…what if God wants me to bring these to do lists and “quiet time interrupters”  to him right when they come. I even considered, what if this is the reason they are on my mind in the first place? I know you are thinking, wow, dummy…..took you this long to figure that out? Yes! God seems to be prompting me by the very things I assume are pulling me away from “serious time” in his word. Instead of fighting these things I can simply say, Lord, I have a difficult conversation scheduled with a parent today, what should I do? Or, Lord I need to find a way to help my daughter become a better listener, what should I do? Or, Lord I need to remember to send that friend a note of encouragement, help me remember! Or Lord, I was short with my husband yesterday, what should I do? I love when God humbles me! Just think of all the time I spent trying to quiet my busy mind instead of bringing those very things in prayer. This may sound small to others, but to me, God pulled me so close that morning, held me in his arms and said………don’t ask me to quiet your busy mind, bring your busy mind….come…..just as you are!

Ephesians 6 :10…..be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power….(NIV)