Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.
Blessed are those who keep His statutes, and seek him with all their heart.
They do nothing wrong, they walk in all his ways.
You have laid down precepts, that are to be fully obeyed.
Oh that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees.
Then I would not be put to shame, when I consider all your commands.
I will praise you with an upright heart, as I learn your righteous laws.
I will obey all your decrees, do not utterly forsake me.
I am working on memorizing more scripture so that I can be full of the Spirit of the Lord at all times.
Friends, memorize with me if it so delights you... I know that it delights the Lord.
I find that with God as my director, I am strengthened and encouraged. I make all kinds of mistakes, and I am an imperfect worker, but my goal is to follow him with an upright heart just as David wrote in Psalm 119. My desire is to know my Heavenly Father in His fullness, because He loves me. "OH THAT MY WAYS WERE STEADFAST, IN OBEYING ALL HIS DECREES>"
The Word says in Psalms 37:4 to Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
To know him... to serve him... to live for him... to MAKE HIM KNOWN!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Values and Investments
What are those things that you value most?
I have been thinking about what is most valuable to me, and how those things have had to come under the cross.
Paul says some encouraging things. He says to the Macedonians, that Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
I think sometimes we let life become so complicated. I do anyway.
I was reading some stuff defining limits in your life. Life is full of investments.
We constantly make investments of time, money, people. All of these are very important. I have been re-evaluating my investments and how they show a picture about who I am.
Are the investments I am making an accurate picture of what my core values are? It is too easy to just live according to the needs of everyone around you, and according to the pressures around us, when Christ says we are to walk the straight and narrow way.
He says "Enter the narrow gate," he says that "Wide is the road to destruction and there are many on it..." "But narrow is the road that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Of course there are basic needs that must be considered in a fair evaluation of one's values.
If you do not value sleep, you will probably not be well rested or as effective. Sleep is an important value.
If you do not value food, You may make all the wrong choices and end up still hungry, unsatisfied and malnourished because you are eating poorly.
Those are two givens: FOOD AND REST.
Then you have other values that are going to be important for you.
I value giving very much. It is a very important thing to me to give of myself and to give quality. I have learned that the more that I can invest in saving... the more I will be able to give. Thus saving is also important for me.
These are principles that I have learned recently to re-evaluate and focus to realize what causes me to behave the way I do, and what areas I have been suffering.
Many of our sufferings and confusion can come from displaced values or lack of them. I believe that focusing on core values is something that will bring clarity to many areas of my life.
I am so happy that God has revealed this to me, and used some great friends to help me. I had heard their story more than once before, yet this time, somehow, a different light went off and I learned something I had not previously caught on to.
I hope reading this, you as well, will begin to think about what are the things most important to you, and evaluate how you have aligned your life in such a way as to match up with those things.
Paying attention to yourself is important.
I have been thinking about what is most valuable to me, and how those things have had to come under the cross.
Paul says some encouraging things. He says to the Macedonians, that Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
I think sometimes we let life become so complicated. I do anyway.
I was reading some stuff defining limits in your life. Life is full of investments.
We constantly make investments of time, money, people. All of these are very important. I have been re-evaluating my investments and how they show a picture about who I am.
Are the investments I am making an accurate picture of what my core values are? It is too easy to just live according to the needs of everyone around you, and according to the pressures around us, when Christ says we are to walk the straight and narrow way.
He says "Enter the narrow gate," he says that "Wide is the road to destruction and there are many on it..." "But narrow is the road that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Of course there are basic needs that must be considered in a fair evaluation of one's values.
If you do not value sleep, you will probably not be well rested or as effective. Sleep is an important value.
If you do not value food, You may make all the wrong choices and end up still hungry, unsatisfied and malnourished because you are eating poorly.
Those are two givens: FOOD AND REST.
Then you have other values that are going to be important for you.
I value giving very much. It is a very important thing to me to give of myself and to give quality. I have learned that the more that I can invest in saving... the more I will be able to give. Thus saving is also important for me.
These are principles that I have learned recently to re-evaluate and focus to realize what causes me to behave the way I do, and what areas I have been suffering.
Many of our sufferings and confusion can come from displaced values or lack of them. I believe that focusing on core values is something that will bring clarity to many areas of my life.
I am so happy that God has revealed this to me, and used some great friends to help me. I had heard their story more than once before, yet this time, somehow, a different light went off and I learned something I had not previously caught on to.
I hope reading this, you as well, will begin to think about what are the things most important to you, and evaluate how you have aligned your life in such a way as to match up with those things.
Paying attention to yourself is important.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Biblical Boundaries: PART ONE
Titus 33:11-14
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "NO" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."
My dear friends,
So many times I have fallen into the hands of perhaps well meaning people with a "Yes" or "sure" or "I guess so" when the Bible makes it clear that we are to say NO. I am so grateful for the unfailing love and redemption of Jesus Christ, but I take it very seriously that my sins have been what has nailed him to the cross.
When we take lightly the things that we have done wrong or any correction that we receive, it is as if we are saying,
"Jesus, oops, I nailed you to the cross." and we are taking for granted our salvation, when really the pain and suffering that He went through was something that NO OTHER human being could have suffered. I am so grateful that my FAITHFUL LOYAL AND DETERMINED BEST FRIEND EVER chose to bear my sins and suffering. He bore each of our sins. He bore our burdens. He saw what was yet to come as well as what had passed.
When learning to say NO, it is important that we learn when we can say YES as well. This task is a great joy when done correctly, and frustrating from time to time as well. I have found myself angry and frustrated, but also peaceful and free because of learning this word. When I utilize it, I begin to realize the good I can do with this word.
Sometimes we say NO to things that we could have chosen to say YES, and it is possible that we go overboard on saying no when we are first realizing its power. We must also remember that in Christ Jesus, His promises are always YES and AMEN. (2 Corinthians 1:19) Paul says this in a very serious tone in this scripture, because he is speaking of the ownership that we have in Christ Jesus, who accepts us as we are without finding fault.
We, in and of ourselves, are weak, and it is only by the grace of God that we are able to stand up to the deceitfulness and the temptations that are present in this world. I have failed to say No too many times, and this has caused me great pain and conflict. It has also caused me confusion.
Although I see myself as a fairly conservative person, and I am extremely passionate about serving my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as so many of you know about me, I have had great trials and I have been in slavery.
Slavery, yes, slavery. I was in slavery to everyone's will. I wanted what everyone wanted. If it was their will that I do such and such, ok... and if it was their will that I be at such and such a place ... ok. The more that I wanted to please such a person, the more I was a slave to their desires. I was also held captive by some of my desires like marriage & perfection which I choose to nail to the cross. From time to time I was able to break free from this problem, but although "Whom the Son (Jesus Christ) has set free is free indeed," (John 8:36) I was blinded by my overpowering desire to please. So this part of my life was not under submission to the Spirit of God, but was still sin, working and alive within me.
I have no desire for that. The small little taste of freedom that I had the other day in my empowering ability to tell a friend NO about staying at my house was very liberating. I want to walk in freedom, in Christ. This means I have the freedom to choose activities, times of rest, friendships, and the things I do, which of course for me will be centered around the love of my life (Jesus Christ.) He is really the one I desire to honor, and I am forever grateful to him for the sacrifice he made for me.
This is a very complicated topic and I am sure that you will be hearing more from me about it. The desire for change is there, and I repent of my old ways, but I have to tell you, that this journey has been extremely difficult. I am reading the BOUNDARIES (by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend) book for the 4th time, and you know what? It is a great tool, but of itself it is not sufficient. I mean, I almost have some of this stuff memorized. This time through, I have learned even more, but until I took the steps to repentance and actually recognized my aversion to putting up boundaries for many various reasons, I was not able to feel good about the boundaries that I was putting up.
The roaring lion (the devil 1 Peter 5:8) looks around seeking whom he may devour. He is hungry to steal from us (the body of Christ) our unity, love, inner peace and purity, and he comes to rob, kill and destroy (John 10:10). and he has robbed so many Christians of these things by attacking their first love, which is in Jesus Christ.
I want to pour all my love on Him. He is the first and last and He is and always has been the GREATEST DESIRE of my heart. Since the day of my birth in Christ, there has been no hunger so great as the hunger to see Him face to face and to give my all to Him. So ... NO to guilt NO to depression, and NO to false securities and insecurities, NO to overresponsibility and NO to selfish ambition.
I say YES to forgiveness, YES to the joy of the Lord, YES to confidence in Christ and in my salvation, YES to self responsibility and Spirit-given responsibility and YES to godly righteousness.
I am FREE. "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)
BE BLESSED PEOPLE!
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "NO" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."
My dear friends,
So many times I have fallen into the hands of perhaps well meaning people with a "Yes" or "sure" or "I guess so" when the Bible makes it clear that we are to say NO. I am so grateful for the unfailing love and redemption of Jesus Christ, but I take it very seriously that my sins have been what has nailed him to the cross.
When we take lightly the things that we have done wrong or any correction that we receive, it is as if we are saying,
"Jesus, oops, I nailed you to the cross." and we are taking for granted our salvation, when really the pain and suffering that He went through was something that NO OTHER human being could have suffered. I am so grateful that my FAITHFUL LOYAL AND DETERMINED BEST FRIEND EVER chose to bear my sins and suffering. He bore each of our sins. He bore our burdens. He saw what was yet to come as well as what had passed.
When learning to say NO, it is important that we learn when we can say YES as well. This task is a great joy when done correctly, and frustrating from time to time as well. I have found myself angry and frustrated, but also peaceful and free because of learning this word. When I utilize it, I begin to realize the good I can do with this word.
Sometimes we say NO to things that we could have chosen to say YES, and it is possible that we go overboard on saying no when we are first realizing its power. We must also remember that in Christ Jesus, His promises are always YES and AMEN. (2 Corinthians 1:19) Paul says this in a very serious tone in this scripture, because he is speaking of the ownership that we have in Christ Jesus, who accepts us as we are without finding fault.
We, in and of ourselves, are weak, and it is only by the grace of God that we are able to stand up to the deceitfulness and the temptations that are present in this world. I have failed to say No too many times, and this has caused me great pain and conflict. It has also caused me confusion.
Although I see myself as a fairly conservative person, and I am extremely passionate about serving my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as so many of you know about me, I have had great trials and I have been in slavery.
Slavery, yes, slavery. I was in slavery to everyone's will. I wanted what everyone wanted. If it was their will that I do such and such, ok... and if it was their will that I be at such and such a place ... ok. The more that I wanted to please such a person, the more I was a slave to their desires. I was also held captive by some of my desires like marriage & perfection which I choose to nail to the cross. From time to time I was able to break free from this problem, but although "Whom the Son (Jesus Christ) has set free is free indeed," (John 8:36) I was blinded by my overpowering desire to please. So this part of my life was not under submission to the Spirit of God, but was still sin, working and alive within me.
I have no desire for that. The small little taste of freedom that I had the other day in my empowering ability to tell a friend NO about staying at my house was very liberating. I want to walk in freedom, in Christ. This means I have the freedom to choose activities, times of rest, friendships, and the things I do, which of course for me will be centered around the love of my life (Jesus Christ.) He is really the one I desire to honor, and I am forever grateful to him for the sacrifice he made for me.
This is a very complicated topic and I am sure that you will be hearing more from me about it. The desire for change is there, and I repent of my old ways, but I have to tell you, that this journey has been extremely difficult. I am reading the BOUNDARIES (by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend) book for the 4th time, and you know what? It is a great tool, but of itself it is not sufficient. I mean, I almost have some of this stuff memorized. This time through, I have learned even more, but until I took the steps to repentance and actually recognized my aversion to putting up boundaries for many various reasons, I was not able to feel good about the boundaries that I was putting up.
The roaring lion (the devil 1 Peter 5:8) looks around seeking whom he may devour. He is hungry to steal from us (the body of Christ) our unity, love, inner peace and purity, and he comes to rob, kill and destroy (John 10:10). and he has robbed so many Christians of these things by attacking their first love, which is in Jesus Christ.
I want to pour all my love on Him. He is the first and last and He is and always has been the GREATEST DESIRE of my heart. Since the day of my birth in Christ, there has been no hunger so great as the hunger to see Him face to face and to give my all to Him. So ... NO to guilt NO to depression, and NO to false securities and insecurities, NO to overresponsibility and NO to selfish ambition.
I say YES to forgiveness, YES to the joy of the Lord, YES to confidence in Christ and in my salvation, YES to self responsibility and Spirit-given responsibility and YES to godly righteousness.
I am FREE. "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)
BE BLESSED PEOPLE!
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