Thursday, July 15, 2010

My Princess.....Pray With Power

Yesterday I started a study on prayer and got through the first section that talked about desperation and do we realize that we NEED God.  It was good stuff!  Well this morning at work I randomly opened to a page in my "His Princess" book by Sheri Rose Shepherd and here is what God told me today :)


My powerful princess,

Do not waste your walk through life today.  Open your spiritual eyes.  Prayer is needed everywhere.  Anywhere you walk today I can and will order your steps, if you will let Me.  Pray while you're driving, while you're cooking, and while you're doing laundry and running errands.  Of all the weapons in the world, prayer is your most powerful resource.  Don't let the day begin or end without letting your prayers to Me pave the way in all you do.  Wherever you go, remember that part of your royal privilege is raising your voice to heaven.  So hold on to the promises that are yours and pray!

Love,
Your King and Intercessor

Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.
                                                                              - Ephesians 6:18

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Trials and Suffering

Do you ever wonder why, since our Savior consented to suffering, we try to avoid it at all costs? 

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. (Hebrews 2:10)

Most of us do everything we can to sidestep the slightest twinge of discomfort.  But dodging pain makes for bit of a stressful existence.  How can we expect others to connect with our faith story when we've edited out the hard parts, the parts they would most identify with?

In the world today brokenhearted people are expected to keep their grief  hidden and told to "suck it up"
or else they're told to find a quarter and call someone who cares.  Even Christians in some areas lean toward putting the lid on pain.  Don't show your weakness....we are supposed to be holy and saddness and pain are not viewed as holy. 

Today I was reading about why Christians suffer and why we go through trials and I found some interesting things.


 And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. (Romans 8:17)

So ....I would think everyone would be excited about this above verse and I think that many people only read up until this part: only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. Hmmm....I don't know about you but I sure like the idea of being an heir but the suffering part doesn't sound as inviting. I have read enough at this point in my life to know that this is what comes with being a Christian. Things are NOT always going to be easy. I have also been reading and listening to some teachings about people that have gone to minister overseas and when they describe what people are willing to do for their faith I am blown away. People risk their lives every day to be a Christian in other countries. They are tortured and killed and as this is going on they still stand for Christ. Makes me feel like a big ol' wimp!!

What are we willing to sacrifice or suffer through for our faith.....for Christ? We are so accustomed to comfort. We need to have the right shoes...the right couch, bed, TV....the right food. All of these things are so minor when it comes down to it. I feel like I should be soo very grateful for everything I have even if it is not the style or color I may want.

Sometimes trials come simply to test and purify our faith.

1 Peter 1:6-7 I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. (MSG)

I heard someone say recently that God is not as interested in WHAT you do as HE is in WHY you do it. We all know he is interested in our Heart...our faith.....we don't have to KNOW every word of the bible. He is looking at the purity of our faith and sometimes we need to go through some things to purify our faith. It may hurt while we are going through but when we get on the otherside and see what God has done we can see a bit of how and maybe even WHY it was orchestrated that way.

Sometimes we have to go through trials to build compassion

 For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.  (Hebrews 4:15)

I was just thinking that when I look back over my life I don't necessarily think fondly on the divorce that I went through in 1999. That was so very painful I cannot hardly describe it. As I have put some time and distance in there God still has made me go back and actually "work through" the pain and the feelings. Was is pleasant? NO NO NO! Do I think God caused this? Not necessarily but I do know that God is using what I went through for His glory now. He has been placing women in my path that are on the verge of divorce and I have gotten a chance to tell them the story of what God did in my life since that time etc and to encourage them. I know that God is using other things in my life as well. It is easier to reach someone for Christ when you have been where they are. They are more willing to allow you to speak into their lives!

Paul even talked about this in Phillipians 1:12-14 I want you to know and continue to rest assured, brethren, that what [has happened] to me [this imprisonment] has actually only served to advance and give a renewed impetus to the [spreading of the] good news (the Gospel).... most of the brethren have derived fresh confidence in the Lord because of my chains and are much more bold to speak and publish fearlessly the Word of God.

Even though Paul was in prison he was able to be used of God. If we are to be able minister to others, don't we have to face some adverse circumstances and allow God to then bring us through to victory? To trust Him and know that he will use our circumstances as a great encouragement to others in the process.

What have you experienced that has drawn you closer to God?


What trial from your past is God using to minister to others?

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Defining Moments #1

Is there something you remember from earlier in your life that was a turning point in your life?  Something that changed the course of your thoughts ......your attitude.....how you viewed the world around you?  My next few blogs I am going to talk about some of my "defining moments" as I call them.  These are times in my life that I will never forget .....no matter how old I get :)  Some of these moments may be joyful and happy times and others may be painful and wounding.

BIBLE CAMP

One of my fondest memories of my teen years was going to Green Lake Bible Camp.  http://www.gllm.org/  I went four or five summers in a row for a week each summer.  I loved it.  I remember the first year we took a huge bus with a bunch of kids from our church.  I met many new friends and people that I still keep in touch with or at least know where they are still today.  Many of us that first summer made a pact that we would meet the last week of bible camp each summer and a few of us did.

We experienced many things together.  We played games like underground worship (which I think was banned a couple years later)which...when I think about it now....really makes me realize that I did learn things there...it wasn't just all fun and games.  We swam in the lake and each summer they would still make me take the swimming test to prove that I could swim before I could go past the rope (I was a lifeguard in training for crying out loud lol).  We played sports, walked into Spicer (it seemed soo far) and did the whole water slide and beach afternoon, we helped pick corn one summer, we put together a talent show one summer, etc.  

One summer while we were at camp a group of us were talking one afternoon about different students from our school that had died.  We talked about fond memories of them etc.  At the end of that conversation our pastor came to get the four of us that were from B.E. and told us that one of our classmates had died on a boy scout trip.  We were devestated! There is more to the story that I remember that actually hurts to even think about.   As I think back though I realize that we were in the best place we could be with Christian friends around us to support us and help us through.  I really felt something changed for our small group from B.E. that day.  We had experienced something together that we will never forget and we learned things about each other that week that caused a bond of deeper friendship.

On a lighter note....we had the best praise and worship!  The chapel was beautiful!  We would all pile in there and start to sing songs we had learned and before the worship time was over we were standing on the pews singing at the top of our lungs to God.  We had great campfires!  We had time together to talk about the theme of the summer and even the quiet time was good.  It was awesome and we all wished that we could take that excitement home with us to our home churches.  It just never seemed the same when we got home because we had experienced and learned things that caused us to change and everything at home had stayed the same.  I remember crying every summer because I did not want to go back home.  I wanted to stay where I felt closer to God and where the people around me were experiencing the sames things that I was.  

Have you ever experienced something like this?  Something that...when you try to explain it to others they just don't get it because "you had to be there?"