Last night, Richard and I went to hang out with Caryn & Alozie and have a little devotional with them. It was such a sweet time of sharing what God is teaching us as well as struggles we are faced with daily. We spent time sharing our prayer requests and praying for one another. It's so good to have people here to walk with us and encourage us in our faith.
We watched a sermon called How to Change a Lustful Mind. It talked about how there are 2 systems of operation on this earth: the world & the kingdom of God. The pastor asked the question, so how do we get free from the world's system?? The answer, we walk in the Spirit. He talked about how will-power is NOT enough to free ourselves from the flesh, we have to REPLACE our flesh/sinful nature with something greater...the Word of God. In order to walk in the Spirit, we must KNOW the Word of God. It must dwell richly within us. The pastor stated that "we are destroyed by our lack of knowledge of the Word". How do we fight the flesh if we haven't learned how to use the sword (the Bible)? The pastor says the issue is our mindset. It keeps us trapped. Keeps us from progressing in our walk with the Lord. We have to stop "trying" in our strength to fight the battle with our flesh and allow the Holy Spirit to fight the battle for us. But we must know the Word of God. When you're tempted by the flesh, fight it with Scripture. Find verses in the Bible that directly pertain to your struggle. Easier said then done, I know, but faith is a muscle, you gotta use it for it to get stronger. :)
This morning, the Lor
d woke me up earlier than usual and gave me the desire and motivation to walk to the coffee shop down the road and spend some time with Him. It was such a peaceful morning. I stepped outside with a light jacket on, into the 55 degree weather, and walked through the heavy fog to the coffee shop. I prayed for the Lord to prepare my heart for my time with Him and that's just what He did.
I got to the coffee shop, ordered a hot cup of coffee, doctored it up just the way I like it, and nestled myself into my little hang out spot. (Pictured to the right) Perfect. :)
I've been reading through the Gospels and just started Luke last night. As I read through the first 3 chapters of Luke, I just loved being reminded of God's faithfulness to His people and how he uses the most unlikely people for the glory of His name.
I loved re-reading Mary's response to the angel, Gabriel, when he told her she would be with child by the Holy Spirit. "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38) She doesn't freak out. She doesn't tell the angel that he's crazy or that what he said was impossible. She submits to the word of God. I pray that that will be my response when the Lord calls me to do something crazy for him.
I loved reading about Zechariah's prophecy over his son, John the Baptist. In Luke 1:76-79, Zechariah says, "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." We may not be John the Baptist, but we can still follow his example. The Lord will return one day, therefore, we can still prepare the way for his return. We can give knowledge of salvation to his people, we can tell them about Jesus' forgiveness of sins, we can give light to those in darkness and hope to those in the shadow of death, and we can guide people in the way of peace! How cool is it to know that we have such a huge calling! We are called to make Christ known....all of us! Like I said earlier, he uses the most unlikely people to do great things for his kingdom!
After my time in the Word, I read a couple of chapters from my book Loving God. It's so neat because the things I'm reading in my book are parallel with the Scriptures I'm reading right now. Fun to see God work that out! :) In my book today, the author was speaking about the crucifixion scene and the two thieves on each side of Jesus. He said, "For those two men who actually died alongside my Savior are representative of all mankind. We either recognize our sinful selves, our sentence of death, and our deserving of that sentence, which leads us to repent and believe - or we curse God and die." I'd never thought about it that way. One thief is cursing Jesus saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" while the other, aware of his sinfulness, is saying, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom". Definitely represents our world today, we are all thieves (sinners)...but which one are you?
The author goes on to ask how do we express gratitude for what Jesus did on the cross. His words..."Simply stated: by living the way He commands. By obedience. That is what the Scriptures mean by holiness or sanctification - believers are set apart for holy living. Therefore, holiness is the only possible response to God's grace. Holy living is loving God." (emphasis added :) ) He says that holiness is "the complete surrender of self in obedience to the will and service of God...the conformity to the character of God and obedience to the will of God". But "there can be no holiness apart from the work of the Holy Spirit - in quickening us through the conviction of sin and bringing us by grace to Christ, and in sanctifying us - for it is grace that causes us to even want to be holy....Conforming to the character of God - separating ourselves from sin and cleaving to Him - is the essence of biblical holiness." Clearly I like what He has to say. :) Leviticus 11:44 says, "I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy."
Needless to say, I took in a lot this morning. But it was so good. I'm glad the Lord continues to teach me and open my eyes & ears to things I need to see & hear. I pray that He will continue to give me an open heart to His Word.
Blogging what I learn helps me to process, but I hope those of you who read are encouraged and challenged in your faith as well.
I have a lot of free time on my hands up here, so I'd love to know how I can be praying for my friends and family back home! Lemme know!
Oh, and this morning when I got to the coffee shop there was a sign on the front door stating that they are hiring full & part time positions...I'm thinking about applying! I'll let you know! :)
I'll leave you with a picture of the coffee shop and the view when you leave. :)
"This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it." -Psalm 118:24
much love!
loribeth
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