"I have a burden." I've heard those words many times in my life and I've equated them to a heaviness in the spirit, something that is really tugging at your heart, something that needs your full attention, something that is eating at the very center of your existence. I've heard others say that about their children when they are not walking in the way that they should or who have chosen the wrong path. I'm sure there were many years that my parents had a heavy burden in relationship to how I've walked at times (this is where I need to stop and Praise our Holy God for His grace and mercy to love the unlovely to love me regardless of my actions and to forgive me forever - not just for a little while but forever when I repent ((say I'm sorry, mean it, and walk away from it))
A burden.....what is your burden is it something not going right in your life, is it a hurt or a forgiveness that has not been forthcoming, is it a lack of understanding by someone you love - when you try and try to explain your feelings all you hear back is argument and more pain? As difficult as it is to walk in the spirit in those times, we must. We must realize who our Father is and how much He loves us and how His love letter (The Bible) will explain and cover every issue and every need. We must trust Him completely and stop trying to handle things in our own might. That would be one of my burdens - letting God handle the things I know in my head that He will handle perfectly without me in the way and yet I so want to take it up and handle it myself. As a true southern girl would say, "Fix it; I just need to fix it" Only the Creator can "fix it" and his "fix" might not be the same way I would want to, but His way will be the right way, the perfect way.
Do you know what I wanna fix? I wish I could wave a wand and fill the altar of our chuech of all churches with the Body of Christ on their knees, humble before a Holy God crying out for the souls of our nation and our world, crying out for the souls of our brothers and sisters, cyring out for the souls of our neighbors and our church members.
We MUST come back to prayer. Where did we get the idea that it was okay to start anything without talking to our Holy God first? Where did we turn away from prayer. When I was in High School, my basketball Coach had prayer with us before every game. Coach Ken Harris from Sprayberry High School was a light to me in that dark world of High School. He is still a light in our community. We all talk about how prayer was taken from school but we are lost in knowing how to turn it around and yet as we walk aimlessly through life without prayer where we need it, radical, false religions are growing at monumental rates and threatening our peace of mind and our safety because we've forgotten how important prayer is.
Pray with me....please pray with me that we would get on our knees and ask God to direct our every thought, step, and deed. I remember as a child Wednesday night prayer meeting at our little church in the country. The saints of God would fill the altar on their knees and pray to God with all their hearts and without shame as they cried to their Father about broken hearts, broken lives, and for revival in our community. Revival would break out in those altars. A renewal of dedication and service to Jesus Christ would be evident on those faces as they stood and hugged each other after an hour or so in prayer...An HOUR??? We can't pray now but a few minues and we feel awkward and don't know what to say to our best friend, the creator of the Universe who desires your and my companionship.
Remember how God walked through the Garden in the cool of the day looking for Adam and Eve to talk to them? Think of how that would be today. Then, stop, kneel before Him and ask Him to walk in the garden with you today. And sit quietly in His presence as He reveals to you what He wants you to hear from Him. Let's just pray for communion - a time with Him.
My burden is prayer.....prayer from the church (the people) body....communion - true communion with God. Prayer for our leaders, our staff at RSBC, for each other, for our nation, our Pastor, our President, our Deacons, our lives....
Will you pray with me?
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Friday, July 6, 2007
Colossians 3 - How we are to live....as Christians
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life,is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed which amounts to idolatry.
For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience
and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them
But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with it's evil practices,
and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-
renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumsised and uncircumsised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free man, but Christ is all, and in all.
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
bearing with one another and forgiving each other whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you
Beyond all things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.
Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.
Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
Whatever yo do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.
Colossians 3 - are you living it? This morning God has revelaed to me some areas in my life that I need to die to....how about you?
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life,is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed which amounts to idolatry.
For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience
and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them
But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with it's evil practices,
and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-
renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumsised and uncircumsised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free man, but Christ is all, and in all.
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
bearing with one another and forgiving each other whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you
Beyond all things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.
Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.
Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
Whatever yo do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.
Colossians 3 - are you living it? This morning God has revelaed to me some areas in my life that I need to die to....how about you?
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Granddaddy Whittled
Life is so full of things to take care of and we seem to move at break neck speed. I'm tired of it. I want to slow down and ponder. Do you ever do that? Do you stop the busy-ness of life long enough to think about the importance of all that goes on around us...or the lack of importance?
Sometimes I ponder whether or not I am getting old becaue I am thinking that way! Sometimes I wish I had done that more early in life. Took a day away from running in wide open speed and just spent it talking to God about the truly important things of life.
When I was younger, my Grandaddy Cook came to live with us some of the time. He would stay a few months with us and then go back to Alabama to stay there a while. He was not a man of many words. But even though he had begun to slow down his pace in life, he still kept his hands busy....the old "idle hands are the devil's workshop", I guess.... He used to find wood out in the woods to whittle.
Do you know what whittling is? I don't guess that happens much anymore. It's like so many things in our society, the craftsmanship is going away or being imported from other countries. It makes me sad. He would carve with his pocket knife. He kept that knife sharp with a whet stone (probably never heard of that either). He would carve animals or whistles, or whip handles. He used to find some kind of small tree growing and he would cut it down, peel back the bark in strips, cut out the middle of the tree between the bark strips, and then weave the bark into a whip. I can tell you that was an awesome toy for us - of course, we would tear each other up with them when no one was looking...... I've started rambling.
I would sit and watch Grandaddy and ask him questions as he whittled. Sometimes he would answer patiently but sometimes he would send me on my way so he could think. I think those were his times with the LORD. I think he pondered life and all that he had been through with the depression, the dust bowl in Texas, a house full of young children to raise when his wife died....I think he pondered how good the LORD had been to him to give him an old mule named Dick who lived 40 years and plowed most of them. What a blessing that old mule was to him and his family. And, when he thought about how his baby daughter had such a traumatic head injury as an infant, the docotrs said she would be a vegetable....but God was at work and that baby is my Mother - a precious woman. I think he talked to God...I know he talked to him when he really was sick....I could hear him praying out loud...
Do you ever stop to ponder where you've come from and how the LORD has blessed you? Do you ever talk to the LORD so that your children hear you? or your grandchildren?
Grandaddy didn't say much but He was a mighty big man in my life. He could make anything with his hands. He loved his family and he spent time pondering and listening to the LORD. Grandaddy prayed so that this grandchild heard him. He's been home now for more than 35 years.
One day, I will see him again.....and I'll bet I get to sit and watch him whittle as he continues to ponder all that the LORD continues to do for him.......
My prayer tonight is that you have the assurance you will soend eternity with your loved ones who have gone ahead of you to Heaven. You can only do that if you have a personal relationship with Jesus. You can leave me a comment if you want to know more about that relationship and I'll answer you....
God so loved the world, that He gave His only son (as a sacrifice) that whoever believes in Him won't die forever but have eternal life in Heaven after this life. It's like Grandaddy's carvings, God takes us like we are and makes us into a new creation by whittling away those things that are not of Him once you trust Him with you life by telling Him that you know you are a sinner (someone who doesn't do the right things), asking Him to forgive for those things you've done that weren't right, aksing Him to be the LORD of your life and walking away from those things like the new person in Him...
Sometimes I ponder whether or not I am getting old becaue I am thinking that way! Sometimes I wish I had done that more early in life. Took a day away from running in wide open speed and just spent it talking to God about the truly important things of life.
When I was younger, my Grandaddy Cook came to live with us some of the time. He would stay a few months with us and then go back to Alabama to stay there a while. He was not a man of many words. But even though he had begun to slow down his pace in life, he still kept his hands busy....the old "idle hands are the devil's workshop", I guess.... He used to find wood out in the woods to whittle.
Do you know what whittling is? I don't guess that happens much anymore. It's like so many things in our society, the craftsmanship is going away or being imported from other countries. It makes me sad. He would carve with his pocket knife. He kept that knife sharp with a whet stone (probably never heard of that either). He would carve animals or whistles, or whip handles. He used to find some kind of small tree growing and he would cut it down, peel back the bark in strips, cut out the middle of the tree between the bark strips, and then weave the bark into a whip. I can tell you that was an awesome toy for us - of course, we would tear each other up with them when no one was looking...... I've started rambling.
I would sit and watch Grandaddy and ask him questions as he whittled. Sometimes he would answer patiently but sometimes he would send me on my way so he could think. I think those were his times with the LORD. I think he pondered life and all that he had been through with the depression, the dust bowl in Texas, a house full of young children to raise when his wife died....I think he pondered how good the LORD had been to him to give him an old mule named Dick who lived 40 years and plowed most of them. What a blessing that old mule was to him and his family. And, when he thought about how his baby daughter had such a traumatic head injury as an infant, the docotrs said she would be a vegetable....but God was at work and that baby is my Mother - a precious woman. I think he talked to God...I know he talked to him when he really was sick....I could hear him praying out loud...
Do you ever stop to ponder where you've come from and how the LORD has blessed you? Do you ever talk to the LORD so that your children hear you? or your grandchildren?
Grandaddy didn't say much but He was a mighty big man in my life. He could make anything with his hands. He loved his family and he spent time pondering and listening to the LORD. Grandaddy prayed so that this grandchild heard him. He's been home now for more than 35 years.
One day, I will see him again.....and I'll bet I get to sit and watch him whittle as he continues to ponder all that the LORD continues to do for him.......
My prayer tonight is that you have the assurance you will soend eternity with your loved ones who have gone ahead of you to Heaven. You can only do that if you have a personal relationship with Jesus. You can leave me a comment if you want to know more about that relationship and I'll answer you....
God so loved the world, that He gave His only son (as a sacrifice) that whoever believes in Him won't die forever but have eternal life in Heaven after this life. It's like Grandaddy's carvings, God takes us like we are and makes us into a new creation by whittling away those things that are not of Him once you trust Him with you life by telling Him that you know you are a sinner (someone who doesn't do the right things), asking Him to forgive for those things you've done that weren't right, aksing Him to be the LORD of your life and walking away from those things like the new person in Him...
Monday, July 2, 2007
Kay Arthur is coming this Friday
Are you planning to come?
International Bible teacher and five-time Gold Medallion award-winning author Kay Arthur founded Precept Ministries International with her husband Jack in 1970 with the vision to establish people in God’s Word. Today God is using Precept Ministries to reach more than 140 countries with inductive Bible studies translated into more than 65 languages. Kay is also the teacher and host of Precepts for Life, a radio and television program, which reaches a worldwide viewing audience of over 94 million, teaching them how to discover Truth for themselves. Kay has authored more than 100 books and Bible studies and shares the office of Precept CEO with Jack. The Arthur's live in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
7PM at Roswell Street Baptist Church - arrive early for good seating - I hope you'll all come....
Please let us know how you feel about events like this one and give us feedback about what you learn Friday night. Let me hear your thoughts and share anything God reveals to you during the time Kay teaches us on Understanding the Times and Knowing How to Live in these Days...
I am so excited as we get closer to this wonderful event!
International Bible teacher and five-time Gold Medallion award-winning author Kay Arthur founded Precept Ministries International with her husband Jack in 1970 with the vision to establish people in God’s Word. Today God is using Precept Ministries to reach more than 140 countries with inductive Bible studies translated into more than 65 languages. Kay is also the teacher and host of Precepts for Life, a radio and television program, which reaches a worldwide viewing audience of over 94 million, teaching them how to discover Truth for themselves. Kay has authored more than 100 books and Bible studies and shares the office of Precept CEO with Jack. The Arthur's live in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
7PM at Roswell Street Baptist Church - arrive early for good seating - I hope you'll all come....
Please let us know how you feel about events like this one and give us feedback about what you learn Friday night. Let me hear your thoughts and share anything God reveals to you during the time Kay teaches us on Understanding the Times and Knowing How to Live in these Days...
I am so excited as we get closer to this wonderful event!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)