Great blog I found

I stumbled upon a really great blog called Talkwisdom the other day. It is unapologetically Christian and may be a bit right-wing for some people, but I'm not shy about saying that I am a conservative Christian. Whether or not you agree with it, there is always something that will give you pause to consider. There is also a website with forums and such at talkwisdom.com that I can only assume is related to this blog. There I found a well-done post on Recognizing Truth from Error: something of which we who call ourselves 'mature Christians' should be constantly aware.

Daily Surrender

This month's faithbook challenge at DSP was to talk about what the concept of 'daily surrender' means. Here is what I created:



Created with the Beautiful Bride kit by Beth Nixon available at DSP

Intentional Love

I had the great privilege of being in the courthouse earlier this week to watch as some friends of our legally added two little girls to their family. I had not been to an adoption hearing before and was considerably moved when each parent was asked the question, "Will you love this child?" Maybe all of us as parents should be willing to stand before our friends and family and say, "Yes, I will love this child in the best way I know how. I will provide shelter and food and moral guidance. I will kiss the scraped knees and wear macaroni necklaces. I will love this child through colic, the terrible twos, the endless questions, the messy rooms, the teenage angst and will rejoice when this child becomes a contributing member of our society." There is something so intentional about saying the words out loud.

Granted, people vow before God to love their husbands and wives at their wedding and plenty of people break those vows. We baptize or dedicate our babies and make a vow before God to raise them properly and many times we fall down on that vow too. But there is something about making a vow that is powerful and I believe is part of the reason that we are instructed to speak about our faith so often in the Bible. Saying out loud, "Yes, I love the Lord. Yes, I believe Jesus died for me. Yes, I will give Him everything" is powerful, intentional love. We should all be ready ALWAYS to share that with everyone.

One Minute

"...and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

I received the following email this week and whether or not the story is true, this is something that all of us should do more often. --Glynis


A KOREAN FRIEND ONCE TOLD ME THAT OUR CHURCHES DON'T GROW AND HAVE POWER BECAUSE OUR PEOPLE DON'T KNOW HOW TO PRAY. COULD BE HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT. HIS HOME CHURCH IN PUSAN HAD 58,000 MEMBERS AT THAT TIME. THIS CHALLENGE MAY BE JUST WHAT WE NEED.

2 CHRONICLES 7:14 IS GOD'S ANSWER.

0NE MINUTE EACH NIGHT

During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every night at a prescribed hour and for one minute they collectively prayed for the safety of England, its people and peace.

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America.

If you would like to participate:
Each evening at (6:00 PM Pacific), (7:00 PM Mountain), (8:00 PM Central), (9:00 PM Eastern Time) stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, and for a Godly nation.

If you know anyone who would like to participate, please pass this along.

Someone said if we really understood the full extent of the power we have
available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the most
powerful asset we have.

Thank you, and God Bless America.

The Word of God

"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. -- Hebrews 4:12"
  I read on Thursday night from the book The Heart of the Bible by John MacArthur and will paraphrase his comments on this particular passage from Hebrews.
  Do you think of the Bible as just a group of religious stories? Or maybe just a comforting book, an encouraging book. If so, then you haven't read what the Bible says about itself: it is a sword, a surgeon's knife, cutting between "joints and marrow". Here is a quote from MacArthurs's book: "...[W]hen we are up--elevated by pride or human wisdom--the Bible knows how to bring us down by uncovering our sin, unmasking our hypocrisy and demolishing our willfullness. Reading the Bible is not a safe thing to do. It can be a frightening experience. But wherever God cuts with His Word, He heals."
  We need to be grateful that He loves us enough to use His word to shape us into beings that He can use.

Spiritual Discipline

One of the spiritual disciplines that I am lacking is in the area of scripture memory. I remember as a child I could rattle off the books of the Bible in order and had a litany of verses that I had memorized from school and Sunday school. I guess I didn't always know what they meant, but I could recite them along with their references. These days I have a better understanding of the verses because of my life experiences, but I don't always know where to find them. Or I have conversations with people who say 'Well, doesn't the Bible say .....' and I know that I should know!

So, I am going to challenge myself to learn a few verses over the summer. I am hoping that members of the Praise Team and other members of my circle of friends will join me in this.

At practice last night, I shared that one verse I love is Galations 2:20 'For I have been crucified with Christ. I know no longer live, but Christ in me.' That is a life verse of mine. Others that were shared were Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 3:7 and Psalm 139.

I would love to hear some of your favorite verses so I can add them to my list of verses of memorize.

Wishy-washy Christians

Our great sermon this morning touched on a semi-controversial topic in American Christianity in the 21st century: how do we share our faith while still being tolerant of people who may share different religious viewpoints? I do not have all the answers, but I do know that we are called to be unashamed in our faith. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom 1:16a)."

Before church this morning, I read through the headlines and found this article. When the sermon started, I was just beside myself--these thoughts had been on my mind all morning, and God reinforced them to me through the sermon. (What's ironic is that I wanted to shout 'Amen', but since I'm uncomfortable doing that (maybe ashamed?), I stayed quiet!)

Let's just remember Jesus' words in Mark 8:38 "For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this sinful generation, the Son of Man will be also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."