Community

This week I practiced "Community" as my focus. Each day I chose a place or a person who I felt the need to pray for. I ended up writing in my journal what I felt I needed to pray for.

Wednesday the 17th I prayed for The DOCK ministry. This is an after school ministry that gives a place for kids to go after school for a couple hours on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. The kids play games, do crafts, get fed a small meal, and taught a Bible lesson. I prayed for their financial needs to be met and for them to prosper and grow even larger. I prayed for the leaders and volunteers that faithfully give of their time week after week. For the kids, for them to grow in their knowledge or the Lord. For them to know what a Christian community really is.

Thursday The 18th I prayed the Equest Center. A place where kids and adults with special needs and disabilities ride horses. This is a place where I have grown to love and appreciate. It has allowed me to give back to the community, for all it has done for me. I thanked God for the four legged angels who day after day give kids and adults the hope they need. I prayed for the volunteers and the staff that give of their time and energy to help others achieve the goals they may never have thought they would succeed.

Friday I prayed for my sister Mikayla. Mikayla is a sophmore at South Christian High School and had made all- conference for her swim team. She made a difficult decision to not swim at State in one of her events due to some circumstances. She went against what the "world's view" and made the decision to do what Jesus would do. I thanked God for giving me such an amazing sibling, someone who has been with me through the thick and thin of life and has always encouraged me. On Friday she swam in the state meet and did a great job. She is such a leader and amazing role model.

Saturday I prayed for my parents. I have been blessed with a wonderful mom and dad, and I spent time in prayer just thanking God for my family. I prayed for my mom as she is finishing up the final projects with her Kindergartens before the Thanksgiving break. I thanked God for the times where I can go to her for advice or to just vent and I know she will just listen. I prayed for my dad as he has so much on his plate with work, finishing up our barn and just being there for his family. I thanked God for blessing me with an amazing dad, someone who is so strong and always there for us.

Sunday I thanked God for a day of rest. I was able to take a nap and focus fully on resting in Him. I thanked Him for an amazing Church where I am challenged and grow every week.

Monday I gave thanks to God for my friends. I thanked him for my small group of nine girls who all play a special role in not only my life but each of our lives. I was thankful for this past Saturday where we took time to share our testimonies with each other. I am thankful for my relationships in my life. For the family relationships, the friend relationships, the significant other relationship. God has put some amazing people in my life, people that challenge me, support me, and respect me, for that, I am most grateful.

Tuesday I prayed for Kuyper College. I prayed for the students, for peace, for support, and for the ability to continue their hard work as we near the end of the semester. I thanked God for the college itself, for the supportive and encouraging atmosphere it brings. I thanked God for the professors, their knowledge and their gifts. Each of the professors I have had are challenging me to grow in my own ways, I am so thankful for all of them.

Today, I prayed for the United States. I prayed for our president, for him to make wise choices. This was the most challenging for me as I do not agree with what he believes and does. It humbled me to take the time and pray for him. I prayed for those fighting for our country overseas, I prayed for their families back home, for safety and for comfort.

Blessings.

Revival

Charles Spurgeon says, "To say, 'I will revive myself,' reveals that you do not know your true state. If you knew your own true state, you would just as soon expect a wounded soldier on the battlefield to heal hiumself without medicine, or get himself to a hospital when his arms and legs have been shot off as you would expect to revive yourself without the help of God."

It is hard for me to put into words how I feel Christians these days are living. We call ourselves Christians, we try to act a certain way, go to Church, pray before meals, read our Bibles, but what is our personal relationship with Christ really like. Are we crying out for guidence, a revival? Habbakuk prayed, "O Lord, revive thy work." Habbakuk was groaning, he was in need of a radical change. It is only God who can perfect the Church, it is only God who can guide and strengthen our personal walk and relationship with Him. We cannot change our way of life by our little ol selves, and who think he can, is missing the point. Only God can work wonders in our lives.

We need to deny ourselves, to fully give over our lives to God and groan for a revivial, a change in each of our lives. We need to give up all hope of reviving our own selves and stand firm in prayer handing over what we cannot do ourselves, over to God.

Blessings on your revival and the strengthening of your personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.

Taking up my Cross

For my spiritual discipline this week, I practiced Devotions for my personal discipline and in class we practiced Scripture and Memorization. On Monday we read through Mark 8- Jesus feeding the multitudes- and we chose a part of that passage to memorize and to ponder throughout the week. We didn’t read Mark 8 from out personal Bibles but we read it like a narrative. Prof. Maddox typed it out without any verse numbers and like a story. How funny that a little change in the way I read a Bible passage changed the way I took it all in. We read it several times each time looking at it in a different perspective. I kept thinking if I were one of the twelve disciples how I would be acting when Jesus was telling me that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by others. What would I be feeling? I was also challenged highly of the three continuous commands God give us. 1. To deny oneself. 2. Take up his cross. 3 Follow Him. These aren’t suggestions they are commands and ones you can’t follow merely a week or a month or a year, but commands that will go with us the rest of our lives.

 I chose to memorize verse 34 and 34, “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Once again it reminds me let go of worldly things, and focus solely on God. To deny MY plans for life and focus only on the will of God.

I want to share a little bit about one of my devos this week. It’s called “A Lifetime Message”, a devotional in the book Holiness Day by Day, by Jerry Bridges, this book was given to me by a friend and I purely blessed by it. This one was based on the need and emphasis the gospel has on our everyday lives as Christians. Like my previous post about the struggle of getting into a habit of reading the scriptures daily and making the time to focus on what they mean for my life, I need the gospel; I need the Word of God every day. I want to be prepared to disciple, to bring the message of God to others, and the only way I can be prepared to do so, is the motivation and encouragement of the gospel.

Word of God

E. Stanley Jones in an excerpt of The Habit of Reading the Bible Daily illustrates the receptive and response rhythm of Jesus’ three habits. First, he read the word of God by habit. Second, he prayed by habit. And third, he passed on to others by habit of what he had, and what he had found.

On a personal level, I know I do not have a healthy and strong habit of reading my Bible. It comes in handy for my classes at Kuyper and in Church on Sunday when I’m taking notes and underlining part of the passage the sermon is on, but in my everyday life it goes by the way side. Dr. Howard Atwood Kelly says, “The Bible vindicates itself because it is such excellent medicine. It has never failed to cure a single patient if only he took his prescription honestly.” As someone who has lived in the medical world for several years dealing with health issues, and learning about how quote on quote, laughter is the best medicine, I really took to heart what Dr. Kelly is saying. Reading the Word of God daily is also the best medicine, and Christians should subscribe to this prescription and take it daily.

“We are Spiritual as we are prayerful; no more, no less.” What a statement, and boy did it hit me hard. I have been trying to focus really hard on my prayer life. I didn’t want it to just consist of when I got up in the morning, before each meal, occasionally with a friend, and then again when the day is finished. I want it to become an open conversation with God. I want it to become a habit where I feel comfortable with going to God any time throughout the day or night.

 Jones says “It is a law of the mind that that which is not expressed dies. If you don’t share it you won’t have it.” I think about Sunday mornings after I hear a message or after a Union (my college career group) night, and what I do in the coming days after. Am I passing on what I learned, am I making an effort to change after being given a challenge from my pastor? Am I taking the time to be an example to others? How am I passing on the Gospel or knowledge that was given to me?

Jones tells a story of a Christian school teacher living in Africa would go off on the weekends and drink. One night after becoming drunk he went into a native hut and slept. When he woke up there was a man sitting next to his bed. The man asked the teacher who he was and was told he was a Christian. The teacher than asked the man who he was and got this response, “I’m not a Christian, but if I were, I wouldn’t be living the way you are-I’d really live as a Christian.” Are we living as Christians? This happened to me just a week ago. I was sitting down with some friends and happened to be introduced to another girl. To my surprise said she saw me almost every weekend line dancing on Friday nights throughout the summer. As I left the group later, and was walking to my car, I had to stop and think. I did spend almost every weekend line dancing this summer. I haven’t gone out in a couple months, but that’s beside the point. The girl didn’t recognize me from Kuyper College (where we met) but from a bar. It was then I realized I didn’t want people to recognize because they saw me at some bar, or they saw me dancing. My mom has always said, “you are who you hang around with.” Who are you hanging around? How are you living your life? How do others perceive you?

Fasting

As a class we practiced the spiritual discipline of fasting this week. I know several people who fast regularly, but had never participated in it myself. I never thought much of the practice, or the importance. Adele Calhoun says, "Fasting reminds us that we care about "soul" things. We care about the church. We care about the world. We care about doing God's will. Thus we willingly set aside a little comfort so we can listen and attend to the voice and nourishment of God alone. For God can give us grace and comfort and nurture we cannot get on our own." This paragraph touched on the fact, we as humans are unable to fully fill ourselves. Only God can fill us. John 6:35 says, Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Fasting allowed me to realize just that, God wants us to fully rely on Him, to take the pressure off of ourselves and give it all to him.

 Praise the LORD, my soul,
   and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
   and heals all your diseases,
 who redeems your life from the pit
   and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
   so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. od's will.
       ---Psalm 103:1-5

Faith in Routines

Jesus is part of our everyday lives, I know thats a common sense statement, but is he really? In her book, Finding Faith in the Mundane, Kathleen Norris explains the relationship Jesus has throughout our everyday routines. She says, "When washing dishes, I am no better than anyone else at converting the drugery of the work into something better by means of playful abandon." How can we make, what we feel are the not so fun jobs or routines in our day, an act of worshiping God? It is sometimes hard for me to not grumble about work or cleaning around the house, etc. Its a choice.

I want to raise a question. God is with us, its a reality. Is how we act showing that? Would we complain about washing the dishes or household chores of Jesus were sitting in the same room with us? I'm not going to lie, but its somewhat easy for me to absent mindly put God aside. God wants us to look at our daily routines, as times where we can focus on him, and worship him, because this is where most of our time is spent.

The book gives a couple suggested exercises and the one I liked the most said to write PLAY on a 3x5 card and set it where you do most of your "work", as a reminder that your work can also be your play.

Blessings!