Don't Walk Away

In this life, this spiritual battle, we mustn't and indeed cannot walk away. The Lord calls us to be holy servants to Him, to live a life fully devoted to Him. And if we are to do that, we can't walk away when the going gets tough. But, as I've found out, it's easy to walk away without even realizing it. In fact, 'walking away' can simply mean, not giving God all our focus - not all our time. I'll admit, I 'walked away' recently. Something or someone [ =)] was getting a lot of my time, focus, and thoughts. I fear that this something or someone was taking more importance in my life. I had to repent for it. I had to get down on my knees and ask for His forgiveness. Every time we fall, God is always right there to pick us up again. What a wonderful, and grace-filled God He is! Satan has really been pulling at me lately - as well as some close acquaintance. But God can pull even harder if we let Him. Don't walk away from Him, try with all your might to stay on track. Even when the evil one whispers many lovely-sounding things in your ear.
Pray for that holy armour of God. He will grant it to us, His children.

Devotion

Why are we here, but to serve You? Yes, to serve You with our whole heart joyfully. Unto You, not unto men, I serve You, O God, my fortress. Let me never be ashamed.

Take a moment today, and devote yourself to the Lord. Give Him your time, and your full devotion. You won't regret it!

God bless your day!

Hidden in My Heart {Part 1}

            Accurately memorizing verses, chapters, and even whole books of the Bible, is how God’s Word becomes hidden in our hearts.  Why should we hide His Word in our hearts?  That we may be better witnesses, able to wield the Sword of the Lord with skill.

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.  Psalm 119:11

            How wonderful it is to have a verse pop into your head when you’re about to give into temptation.  If you have a specific problem in one area of your life, than memorizing a verse that is applicable to that problem will really help you to resist temptation.

Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.   Psalm 119:133 

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:   2 Timothy 3:16 

            Everyone has a different way of studying and memorizing verses.  I have found that saying it out loud is the best way for me.  Putting a verse to music is also an excellent way to memorize the Bible.  My mom used to do that with my brother and I.  We’d pick a verse to memorize, and then come up with a happy little tune to go with it.  It was fun, and we learned the verse much faster than we normally would have.

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.   Titus 2:15 

I encourage you to pick a verse, a chapter, or even a whole book, and memorize it.  A good place to start might be one of the gospels, or perhaps one of the Psalms, or one of Paul’s letters, like Titus.  Don’t be discouraged if it seems hard at first, or if it seems like you’ll never be able to memorize an entire book.  The more you exercise your brain, the easier it will be to memorize long passages of scripture.

In Part 2 of Hidden in My Heart, we'll take a look at how to use our Sword when under spiritual attack.

Sister Sites~#5

Another site that started the same time as LOV:

SISTERS OF THE COMMON LIFE

About SOTCL:

  Open hearts, devotion and loyalty, laughter, refreshment in His Word, late-night prayers, nature walks, shared memories...There is so much joy through fellowship and friendship with those who abide in Christ. To live our lives as one in Jesus Christ is one of life's richest blessings....bound together through the unity and desire to live for His smile alone.

   What started with two girls coming together to praise their King and to lift up His holy name soon grew to become a Bible Study with more kindred hearts.

  His hand is in everything and it's such a privilege to see Him at work in and through our lives. God continues to show us more and more as we come together in Him to read His Word and to praise His name. He continues to refine and mold us more into His image, and it has been and continues to be one of the most exciting and breathtaking adventures!

Self-pleasure is vanity

One morning, as I was reading my Bible, God gave me a set of verses, and thoughts that I wrote down, and decided to share them here, in case they might help someone else, as they did me :)

"I said in my heart, 'Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure'; but surely this also was vanity. I said of laughter - 'Madness!'; and of mirth, 'What does it accomplish?'
I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives."  Ecclesiastes  2: 1-3

When we give in to pleasure for ourselves, it displeases God, for it is vanity. By my acts of self-pleasure (day-dreaming, along with other things...) I was only causing grief to my Lord. That has been what has been causing me illness; my indulging in pleasure.
"I'm sorry Lord. I don't want to gain the whole world, if it means losing my soul."
When our pleasure is in God,  everything else will come together and also bring us joy. But when worldly pleasures come first, we will not have our greatest pleasure in the Lord. Even though it is difficult we - I - must act out this, so I may come back to God. As I said to ---- this morning, uphill is always harder.
It is easier to go downhill to our earthly pleasures, than it is to go back uphill to where our greater pleasure is.
But I will make it back uphill to renew my greatest pleasure, where my joy truly lives; with my Savior.
'For what is life if not for Me?' (that coming from God)
"So Lord, I give up my entire being to You, and will strive to climb that hill back to You. I'm sorry for going downhill so fast. My life is Yours. Into Your hands I commit my spirit." Amen.

Marriage

There is a wedding in my family that is taking place the same day this will post. And with this beloved union, it causes me to think about our union with Christ.
He is our Groom. We are His bride. We've all heard that before, of course, but I wanted to go a little deeper on it. Especially now with the experience of wedding preparation.
When you plan a wedding, you take extra intricate care, with each little detail, making sure that the brides day will be splendid and perfect. Memorable. You start the preparations the minute that the couple are engaged, and have their wedding day picked out.
Now let's switch it around to our marriage to Christ. When we accepted Christ, we accepted Him as our Groom. And therefore, as with earthly weddings, we should be preparing for our heavenly wedding, when we will be united with Christ again. That will be our wedding day.
We should be preparing our lives, taking extra intricate care with each little detail, to make sure our lives line up with how our Groom wants us to live. And only then, will He accept us as His bride.
We think that our heavenly marriage to Christ, is just a cute, fanciful, romantic idea; not truly real. If we did think it was truly real, would be living our lives the same way? No! We'd be devoting all our time to Him, Who called us to Him. Getting to know Him more, so we can please Him more. Spending more time in His Word, because that is His story. If an earthly groom had a book all about him, the bride would be pouring over it, wouldn't she?
You must think the same way of our marriage to Christ, as you would an earthly marriage to a man. Christ is the ultimate Groom. We need to strive to be the ultimate bride for Him.
When He comes for us, will He find we did the preparations right, and made sure everything would be perfect for that Day? Or will He come and see us wasting our time on other unimportant things?
Will you be His ultimate bride?

Not known for us.

"All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal to Him." -- Luke 10: 22

When Jesus Christ was on earth, He was not known to be the Son of God. There are many verses and passages that straight that He didn't want others to know just exactly who He is. By that He shows us how to be humble. He, Jesus Christ, Lord of lords, wasn't always recognized for what He did, and assuredly He did miraculous things! Then, by His example we should also be humbled, and give up our present life-style to follow in His footsteps; to give up who we are on our own.

Our final love.

How many times have we, as young ladies, dreamt about our future marriage and husbands? How many times have we thought of how perfect it would be, because it would be brought together by God? Even I have done it, and I don't wish to be married. But we do it just out of habit. It's what girls have been doing forever. The Lord showed me last night, that I may not ever be married. I wasn't too horribly sad, because I often would rather not be. But what else He showed me, made me cry out of amazement and complete adoration. I was to be His bride forever. He wants me completely to Himself. As He does with every young maiden. But He also understand the desire in us to be married, and many of us will be married, because the Lord delights in you and in the things you delight in. I think marriage is a splendid thing. The Bible talks about it a lot. It is sacred. I am so happy for those who have a wonderful, loving, God-foundation marriage. I am thrilled that my older sister will soon have that. But sometimes, the idea of marriage takes our minds off Christ. Off the main reason we live for. The Lord wants us to have Him as the center-attention, continual focus. Always. He wants to be our greatest love ever. I find that so amazing and comforting! The Lord also showed me some other neat things. As I was feeling a bit down, because I wanted flowers from someone - anyone. He showed me that He gives me flowers all the time. I just don't often take the time to realize it. The Lord is our first love, our lasting love, and our final love.

Mary or Martha?

The Lord brought this article, which I wrote a couple of summers ago, to mind this morning and I thought I'd share it with you ladies.

.....

My mornings are usually pretty busy.  I try to do as much outdoor work in the cooler morning hours as I can, although I don't always succeed in getting out that early (I'm not a morning person:).  Often times, I don't get around to reading my Bible until almost lunch time.  I know there's no real set time when you have to read your Bible, but it seems like early morning is the best time for having quiet time with the Lord.  The world's just waking up, and everything is still and peaceful.  But I was letting my chores, busy work, computer, reading, etc. interfere with my quiet time.  I was trying to justify it too, telling myself, "I have to get these things done.  I'm sure God understands.  He probably doesn't really mind when I do my Bible study, as long as I do it."  I even thought several times, "He's probably really proud of me right now, doing all of these chores first thing!"  But...I wasn't putting Him first.  I was being a Martha, to concerned with my chores and duties to sit at Jesus' feet.   To caught up in the warm fuzzies of getting my chores done first thing to spend the first part of my day with Him.

Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Luke 10:38-42

There's nothing wrong with serving others and getting your chores done, but Jesus should always come first.  My prayer is to be a Mary, instead of a Martha, sitting at the feet of Jesus.

This lovely hymn seems to sum it up best...

 

Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
Oh, what words I hear Him say!
Happy place! so near, so precious!
May it find me there each day.

Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
I would look upon the past;
For His love has been so gracious,
It has won my heart at last.

Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
Where can mortal be more blest?
There I lay my sins and sorrows
And, when weary, find sweet rest.

Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
There I love to weep and pray,
While I from His fullness gather
Grace and comfort every day.

Bless me, O my Savior, bless me,
As I sit low at Thy feet.
Oh, look down in love upon me;
Let me see Thy face so sweet.

Give me, Lord, the mind of Jesus;
Make me holy as He is.
May I prove I’ve been with Jesus,
Who is all my righteousness.

 .....

Many blessings,

Natasha Marie

Hoping continually and Praising His name

I felt the need to post about hoping continually. So I found a verse that said that, and in the rest of the verses were so uplifting and praiseful. I want to share them here: Psalm 71:14-24 (New King James Version) "But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And Your salvation all the day, For I do not know their limits. I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only. O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You? You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness, And comfort me on every side. Also with the lute I will praise You— And Your faithfulness, O my God! To You I will sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, And my soul, which You have redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; For they are confounded, For they are brought to shame Who seek my hurt. " Now think about these verses. Doesn't it just make you want to rejoice and praise Him? I love it! We need to be talking about His righteousness all the day long. You know that song "And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.."ect.? Well I want to be known as a follower of Jesus Christ, by my actions, my words, and my love. I want to get to the point where all I speak about is my Lord. Where only praises come off my lips. Not gossip, or mean things. Or even worthless things. I want to hope continually and praise continually. Don't you?

Falling in Love {Part Two}

{Be sure to read Part One first.}

I believe that one of the biggest problems with the concept of purity is that it always goes hand-in-hand with waiting. So many times, when I am talking with friends on the subject, the term “I am waiting for my Prince…” is exchanged.

I too have used these words for a very long time, thinking it was a beautiful concept. But recently, the Lord has convicted me of what they really meant. What the word 'waiting' really meant. Here is one definition—

Waiting—

Do nothing expecting something to happen -- to stay in one place or do nothing for a period of time until something happens or in the expectation or hope that something will happen.

For so long, I was trapped in the mindset of thinking that waiting was the only road to purity. But in fact, waiting is the surest way to stumble on your journey of the heart. Each one of us is designed with feminine desires. Desires that must be filled. For so long, I thought that I could suppress these desires, assuming that I could wait. I kept on telling myself “I am going to wait for my Prince”. -- And each time I told myself that, I felt as if I was failing.

Failing because I still desired fulfillment, but I didn't know where to find it. All I had ever read on the subject of purity said that waiting was the only way.

One beautiful afternoon, a few weeks ago, I found that I had a few quiet moments to myself in our backyard. I was sitting on our swing, just swaying back and forth. And at that moment, I felt the need to open up in prayer – “Lord…. Why is this becoming so hard? All I have ever known is waiting. It seems that is what every Christian young woman {I know} is set on doing. Why am I finding it so hard to just wait?”

It was then, that I received the answer that I think so many young woman hunger for. It was at that very moment part one of ‘Falling in Love’ was inspired within my heart. It was at that very moment when I realized that the Lord didn't design us to wait. He didn't create us to “Do nothing, expecting something to happen.” He didn't design our hearts to be empty spaces. He designed us with the desire to be loved and cherished. And He designed us to fall in love.

Ladies, I believe that so many of us are so focused on waiting, that we are missing out on the bigger plans the Lord had for these single years. For so long, I thought waiting was what the Lord was calling all of His daughters to do. But, now I believe otherwise. I think it is so important to realize that He is not calling us the impossible task of waiting, rather, He is giving us the opportunity to experience the most fulfilling relationship, and the loveliest romance of all time – that of falling in love with Jesus Christ.

Dearest Sisters, He is asking each one of us for the first dance. He is pleading with you to know, love and trust in Him. He longs to love you, and to care for you. -- If you will only let Him. If you will only know Him as your heavenly Prince. Then, and only then, will your desires be truly filled too the utmost. 

.... As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So shall your God rejoice over you.

Isaiah 62:5

Ladies, let us never again say we are just waiting. Let us never again fall into the mindset of thinking we are to wait. Instead, let us use these years as a time to build up our love for Jesus. These are some of the most valuable years of our lives, let us use them to strengthen our convictions and faith in the Lord.

Don't think of these years as an endless wait....

but rather an endless romance with your Heavenly Prince.

By http://www.johanna-an-old-fashioned-girl.blogspot.com/

One THOUSAND Gifts

One thousand gifts
One THOUSAND gifts.
One thousand GIFTS.
Yes,for YOU.
God gave you 1,000 gifts.
More than that.
Have you counted the ways He loves you?

About the book:

Drawing heartbreaking beauty out of the simplest of details, Ann Voskamp invites you into her grace-bathed life of farming, parenting, and writing---and deeper still into your own life. Here you will discover a way of seeing that opens your eyes to thanksgiving, a way of living so you are not afraid to die, and a way of becoming present to God that brings you deep and lasting joy.Recommmended for ages 16+. Highly Recommended!!

            To find out more,visit http://www.onethousandgifts.com/ and http://www.aholyexperience.com/

Falling in Love {part one}

The music had begun. The Dance was starting. And I lacked a partner.
Everywhere I looked, I saw giggling girls being swept away in the arms of handsome young men. Each looked like they were having so much fun. They looked like they were enjoying themselves. I heaved a lonely sigh.

My thoughts turned to a conversation that had taken place yesterday, while walking in the garden with one of my dearest friends -- "I am SO excited for tomorrow night, the dance! *sigh* Who do you plan on dancing with.... anyone in mind?" Lillian smirked as she said those last words. I turned to her, and said softly "Lillian, I actually don't... I mean.... well, no, I don't have anyone in mind. You know I have been saving my heart for my Prince, I am trying hard not to dwell on thoughts of young men, as I  want to keep my heart pure." She looked at me, "So, you are just going to wait?" I nodded, "Yes, just wait."

The thoughts of yesterdays conversation were hard to think upon at the moment.... thus, I decided to turn my thoughts away from that scene, and resumed my survey of the ball room. As I looked around, I noticed a young man, also standing without a partner. As I looked into His face, I was startled, for I saw not only was He too, gazing upon me, but was at that moment, making His way through the crowd, towards me! I felt my heart start to race -- within seconds He was at my side. He reached out His hand, and asked in a kind whisper, "Would you accept Me for this dance?" I looked up, again, into His face, I placed my hand in His; gently, He took it, and led me to the dancing floor.

As we began to dance, once more, our eyes met, the music seemed to fade into the background -- along with everything, and everyone else. It was just me.... and Him. The One Who was now holding me, guiding me, looking down upon me. Every moment that passed, our gaze became more unbreakable. With every step we took together, I found that I was falling deeply  in love with Him. 

His eyes were so kind, so humble, so caring. He was so different from any of the other young man whom I had ever met. 

But, as we continued dancing together, I began to understand why. I began to realize Who this young man was -- whom I had fallen so deeply in love with.

It was my Redeemer. My heavenly Prince. My Savior -- Jesus.

Tears began streaming down my cheeks, as I realized just how much He loved me too..... He had taken my hand, and led the way -- when I didn't even know His name. He saw that I was lonely, and needed Him. But, as I put my hands into His, and let Him guide me, my loneliness was shattered, I had found what my feminine desires had been longing for -- True Love.

He lifted His hand to my cheek, and gently wiped away the tears, and whispered "May I claim first place in your heart?"

Without pausing, I said "Yes."

"Will you trust me with it, until I say it is time to give it away?"

"Yes." -- I had faith that He would someday let the perfect young man cut in..... and even if that day never came, I didn't care. I was too in love with Jesus to care now. But I knew for sure that I wouldn't spend one more day just waiting, rather, I would use them to fall more in love with my Heavenly Father; So that one day, if a young man wishes to know me -- he will have to seek Jesus, in order to find Me.

*************

"A woman's heart should be so lost in God

that a man needs to seek Him in order to find her."

-- Author Unknown

*************

Part Two {coming soon}~

In part two of 'Falling in Love' I want to share with you Ladies how important it is to realize that we are not just waiting. So many times we use the term "waiting for our Prince", as if we literally are just sitting, and waiting for him to show up. I believe it is so important to use these years of 'Waiting' instead as years of falling in love -- with Jesus -- Our Heavenly Prince.

by Johanna

'Loving the Lord'~Amy Vest

This is a very inspiring video,well worth your time!

Loving the Lord Videocast #2 - A Relationship of Love with Jesus

from Loving the Lord Ministries on Vimeo.

{Welcome to the 2nd videocast from Loving the Lord Ministries! In this video we will cover what it really means to live out the greatest commandment and learn how to have a relationship of love with Jesus. We pray that you are blessed and we look forward to seeking the Lord together! For more encouragement on loving the Lord, you can visit our blog www.lovingthelord.org and website http://www.lovingthelordministries.org/!}
Visit http://www.lovingthelord.org/ to watch # 1 of this set!