Bible vs Cell phone

(this is not mine, but very thought provoking!)


I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we used it to receive messages?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it as we traveled?
What if we used it in case of an emergency?
What if we upgraded it to get the latest version?
This is something to make you go...hmmm...where is my Bible?
Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cellphones, we don't ever have to worry about our bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill!

Shape Up or Ship Out

Ok now...I know only women can write this and only women can get excited reading this :):):):) but this morning I could fit some of my old pants that I couldn't fit 1 month ago! YAY! (I fit in them whithout laydown on the bed trying to zip it up! important note:))

Anyways, I gotta make it spiritual somehow :)
So as I was working out this morning, I thought of that: If we are the Body of Christ, we all were meant to function well. The reason we don't function well sometimes could be that we are getting out of shape. The more we're getting out of shape, less we can do to be effective.
I had an interesting conversation the other day with someone. This person called my home and was telling me how worn out and discouraging this past month was and how there is no desire or energy left to do anything for Christ. I asked one simple question , "how is your prayer life, study and quiet time with God?"...the answer amazed me ,"well, it's lacking lately, BUT IT'S NORMAL, everyone goes through it".
It is not normal! And the moment we make it normal- we're in trouble. We're running the race TO WIN and "normal" things may not be our best friends to do it. This is the common lie of the enemy ,"it's normal, tomorrow will be different". I had friends in Russia who's being in denial for 3 years already telling me it's a "normal" thing that all go through. I am not saying we'll loose your salvation over it, but we WILL loose our daily victories and blessing.
So that inspired me to stay in my shape spiritually and be alert and praying so that when temptation comes I won't give in.
I encourage you the same!!!
We don't serve "normal" God, we serve extraordinary God Almigthy who wants to give victory!

excellent tool

If you're like me love the deep study of the WORD and knowing the origional meaning of the phrases makes you excited (like me!)...then you might find this site VERY helpful for your studies.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/ there you can find Strong's concordance, commentaries, even songs for Scriptures- pretty impressive!

coming before the throne

Hebrews 4:14-16

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. "

This Scripture was one of many that we looked at during our last Bible Study. I pray that few insights that I found by doing a word-study will bless you just as much as it blessed me!

The word "sympathize" in Greek i very similiar to Englsih- "sumpatheo":
sum=with someone, patheo=feel. Therefore, it means to feel with someone.

Christ is not just feeling sorry for us in our time of trouble, but He feels it WITH US, hurting just as bad as we do, EVEN when He knows it'll be alright. He feels our pain.
One of the Commentaries suggested this thought: the reason He can sympathize with our weaknesses is because He's not only been there, but He was STILL be able to say "NO". The intensity of the temptation knows not the one who gave in, but the one who remained sinless. That's powerful! So we can come to Him with anything on our heart and trust that He will understand every single thing without us trying to express with better words.

Now...are you ready for this??? "Let us approach then the throne of grace with confidence"......I hope you're sitting as you're reading it!

The word confidence in origional Greek is "parhesia" (Strong #3954) and it means:
1) freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech
a) openly, frankly, i.e without concealment
b) without ambiguity or circumlocution
c) without the use of figures and comparisons
2) free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance
3) the deportment by which one becomes conspicuous or secures publicity

THAT'S A WORD FOR SOMEONE TODAY!!!!

Who would have thought of freedom of speech before the throne of God? MY GOD!


Do you think Jesus was an American? :):):):):):):):):):):)

Turnning things upside down

John 2:14-16

"In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

I wonder what would Jesus do if He walked in our churches today? What would He overturn and be deeply offended by? Would He overturn the tables in our church Headquorters, church offices, Bible Studies (ouch!), church dinners??? What would He have to overturn in my life, my marriage, my heart???? It's gotta be something that has appearance of "serving Him"or "being in His presence" but in reality it's nothing but a fog. Scary thought, really. I remember hearing someone tell me (when I was serving overseas) , "Well, I work in the church office, that's for God, I don't need to do anything extra on Sunday".....I wonder if Jesus would overturn all of our activities upside down saying ,"Get these out of here! How dare you turn our relationship into a performance, show and paper work".......that's a reality check for me.

Recently I felt that God is preparing me for a turn in my ministry that would most likely bring some painful changes. I told God that that would be the last thing I want to see, BUT if turning some tables upside down would bring us closer to Him and open our eyes in the areas where we were blind- by all means LORD, do it, just cover us with Your grace. Our heart and our desire is to have our heart beat with the same beat as God's. So, let's ask God to shove the obstacles out of our way in whatever areas of our life or our church.

Father, forgive us for bringing "tables" where we should bring our hearts and remind us of Your holiness, give us the fear of the LORD ; bring us closer to You Father!

In a mighty, saving, freedom giving name of Jesus,

AMEN!

Who Am I

2 Sam. 7:18 "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?" was in my heart last night.
I've been praying for a miracle for a while now. You see, I've been wanting to go visit my friend in NJ , but it just couldn't happen according to my check book. Last night at the Bible Study I told my ladies, "I really want to go the very first week of November, and it's only 2 weeks away and I haven't seen my check book expand in any way. But this I know: It took God only 3 days to raise Jesus from the dead, so I guess my 2 weeks is plenty of time for Him to show up in a mighty way"...All of them "amened" me.
Little did I know that the answer for my prayer was 3 minutes away!
After our prayer time my girls said they wanted to show their appriciation to me and handed me an envelope with a card- HOW SWEET. Inside the card was my ticket to go NJ (round trip) to visit my dear friend and get this- the first week of November!!! SWEEEEEET!
Isn't God good?!?!?!? The ticket was an awesome answer to prayer, but their warmth and love and care broke my heart into pieces.I told my friend after we left , "I know I didn't cry there because I'm still in shock, but I know I'll be sobing tonight". As I laid in bed last night, King David's prayer from 2 Sam. 7:18 never felt more real!
Thanks you Jesus for a wonderful family you gave me here. Thanks, girls! You have blessed me! (better stop now, before mascara runeth over :). The 11-th commandment : Thou shalt not cry with mascara on. :)

Lesson on Holiness

Have you seen a recent report on CNN about the "Ice Man". The guy who was in a mob for years and his family had no clue. He was one of the most severe murderers who not just killed people, but did a lot of ugly things with them and truly enjoyed it?..That was sickening. The thing that stuck with me about him was that he was a regular "church goer" AND he had a ministry, he was an usher in his church. Nobody had any idea. That is so sad, he heard the living WORD of GOD weekly at least and kept on living his life in a habitual sin- SCARY.
I thought of him when I prepared for my lesson for tonight's Bible Study. A hard lesson on holiness is described in Lev.10
"Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: " 'Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.' " Aaron remained silent.
Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come here; carry your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary." So they came and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses ordered.
Then the LORD said to Aaron,"You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses."

WOW! The "Ice Man" is lucky he wasn't living back then, or he could have burned alive in his suite right then and there. Thank God for the grace of Calvary, we don't die in church when we approach God in "unauthorized "way. The one and only way to approach God, to worship Him and pray is through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. It seems we loose respect for holiness sometimes, we think we can "play" church and believe we can get away with it. May be today we won't die physically in the church, but we sure will expirience death of our connection with God. That was a sobering reminder for me today of His Holiness. "Be holy, for I AM HOLY" He said, and there was a reason for that.
Another thing that caught my eye in this portion of Scripture is "You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean". Notice, that common may not always be bad for you, but it will be useless. We don't serve the GOD of common, we serve Holy GOD, so why not choose holy instead of common? Distinguish- that involves discerment, prayer and knowing the heart of your God.
Let us be challenged today to distinguish between holy and common and CHOOSE HOLINESS (through Christ) AS A LIFESTYLE.

Lord,as we approach You, show Yourself Holy and remind us to respect that.

Praise Report

God is so good!
Our church was in need of a new sound system. The worship team has been praying about that for a long time. So, our pastor made a call to the congregation challenging them to give GOD extravagantly. We needed $6000. I am happy to report you that the LORD answered our prayers beyond our wildest dreams (just like my GOD :)), we've got the offering for $10.000 that Sunday!
You should hear all of the testimonies Sunday after that one when people stood up and shared how GOD rewarded their faithfulness!
Once again I am reminded and Malac.3 "Test me by giving and you will see showers of blessings"