WorshipFULLWednesday...How Can It Be

“For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. ... You must fear the Lord your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone.  He alone is your God, the only one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done these mighty miracles that you have seen with your own eyes." ~Deuteronomy 10:18. 20-21

How can it be?  Because God is almighty and merciful. He is compassionate and gracious.  He is slow to anger and abundant in love.  Our God is the God of gods and Lord of lords.  He has done mighty miracles--the mightiest one being the salvation of our souls through the death and resurrection of His one and only beloved Son.  Cling to Him today!  Cling to His grace and His beauty.  Worship Him with all your heart and soul.  Happy Wednesday!  It's going to be a glorious day!

THaNksGiviNG Thursday...Intentional Thanksgivings

Before a new curriculum was implemented, I had the pleasure of teaching the old testament to my seventh graders for eleven years.  We would spend a good portion of the year with Moses and the Israelites.  After some time reading about the adventures of the Israelites in the wilderness, my students would begin to pick up on the pattern of behavior of the people.  My students would exclaim (sometimes sarcastically) things like "Oh, no!" and "They're grumbling again?!"  I would always smile and ask them, "Sound like anybody you know?"  

It doesn't take much to cause us to complain. Slow traffic, stormy weather, delayed flight, burnt toast, long line at Starbucks are all minor nuisances that can cause us to swiftly and easily grumble to the point our whole day seems to be ruined.  Grumbling breeds negativity.

I'm Grumbler #1.  I've become more of one recently because things haven't been going my way and I think I'm entitled to gripe.  Unfortunate key phrases there are "MY way" and "entitled."  No wonder I've been grumbling.  

One way I've tried to help my students to keep from grumbling is by using two different colored beans and a couple of jars.  I've labeled one (smaller) jar "Grumbling" and the other (larger) jar "Thanksgiving."  The black beans represent every time someone grumbled.  The white bean represent every time someone gave thanks.  

I would encourage my students to feel free to put a white bean in for each thing they were genuinely thankful for.  There was no limit of how many beans they put in.  Likewise, they were told to put in a black bean every time they heard a complaint or they themselves complained.  The purpose was to make them more aware of when they grumbled, to be more intentional on giving thanks, and to be more motivated to give more thanks.  Interestingly, one hundred percent of the time, the class as a whole would want the thanksgiving jar to be full.  I even had to go out and buy more beans one year because of all the thanksgivings!

Every year I put out these jars, it is amazing to experience how quickly the atmosphere changes and how quickly students become aware of what is coming out of their mouths.  Likewise, how quickly things would change for me if I gave more thanks.  God's way, not "my way," graciously gives me a reason to always be thankful.  May we all intentionally praise God and give thanks so that He doesn't have cause to say, "Oh, no! They're grumbling again!"

"Praise the Lord!  

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!

His faithful love endures forever."

~Psalm 106:1

WorshipFULLWednesday...Great Is Our God by Young Oceans

Hallelujah!
It's a good thing to sing praise to our God;
praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.
God's the one who rebuilds Jerusalem,
who regathers Israel's scattered exiles.
He heals the heartbroken
and bandages their wounds.
He counts the stars
and assigns each a name.
Our Lord is great, with limitless strength;
we'll never comprehend what he knows and does.
God puts the fallen on their feet again 
and pushes the wicked into the ditch.
~Psalm 147:1-6 MSG

Great is our God and most worthy of praise.  Worship Him with a thankful heart today.  Thank Him for the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful.  His love is abundant and His mercy is endless.  Great is our God.

Weekend Projects...Clearance to Priceless

"The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made."
~Psalm 145:8-9

I am a sucker for clearance racks/shelves.  I'm drawn to them like a cat to a can of tuna.  I don't just love a good deal.  I love finding something that looks a little ugly, a little banged-up, a little like a misfit and re-purposing it into something else...hopefully, better than before it was ever on clearance.

I recently visited a Marshall's Homegoods store and found this canvas art on clearance.  As much as I like owls, I wouldn't have ever EVER purchased this piece, but for $3.50, I snatched up this full-of-potential canvas art before it flew off the shelf into someone else's hands.  After a couple of hours of creating with some acrylic paint, mod podge and Bible pages, vintage lace, fabric flowers, and costume jewelry earrings, I had a new piece of art that I would definitely hang on my wall.  Goodbye owl; hello tree.

I think God sees us in the same way as I saw this owl--full of potential and better than the current condition of sitting on a clearance shelf.  He sees us as something He would want to hang on His walls.  He sees us a work of art needing the vision and touch of the Master Artist.  Ephesians 2:10 says we are His masterpiece--His workmanship--created to do good works.

Are you still sitting on a shelf not seeing your worth?  I know I have been.  Thank God for His Spirit of Truth!  We are more than this!  We are valuable, priceless masterpieces who Jesus died for in order to show us how worthy we are to Him!

Let's get off the shelves and into our Father's hands.  Let's allow our Heavenly Creator, design us with His love so that we look more like who He sees us to be. Then, let's hang proudly in His gallery, be displayed in His splendor, and know we were bought with a price (1Cor. 7:23)--one that keeps us in the gallery and never to be sold no matter who comes along to bid.  You are a work of art.  You are treasured.  You are valued.  You are more than what you may see now.  You are loved.  You are adored.  You are God's masterpiece.

SaturdayMorningMeDiTaTioNs...Be Still

Prayer Box

"Be still and know that I am God!"

~Psalm 46:10a

Today...Saturday.  The day between the crucifixion and the resurrection.  The day often forgotten because of the Friday and the Sunday surrounding it. The day to contemplate the yesterday and to wait expectantly for the tomorrow.  The day to be still and know that the great I AM has done a great feat.

Take time today to be still.  Take time today to pray.  Take time on this Saturday between Good Friday and Easter to know God, for this is the day Jesus endured death and waited for the victory of His resurrection.  This is the day His love deepened for you and me.  May you feel the very depth of His heart today...and always.

MondayMoments...Rejection and Truth

"..be content with what you have for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Hebrews 13:5

So much truth hit me tonight...hard.  My small group and I are studying Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself, and tonight's video was all about REJECTION.  Not a fun topic, but a necessary one.  (If you've never done Living Beyond Yourself [this is actually my 3rd time!!] or if you've never ever done a Beth Moore Bible study, please don't hesitate and go! Do! You won't regret it!!!)

One truth that hit me straight to the center of my heart was that God never rejects us.  Let me say that again, GOD NEVER REJECTS US!  I didn't realize until tonight that I've been believing the falsehood that He does.  I have felt rejected by God.  Why?  Oh, because He hasn't answered my prayers or answered them in the way I wanted Him to, because hardships continue to following me like stray dogs, because I don't always get what I want, because the love I give out to others isn't reciprocated or appreciated, because I feel my efforts are in vain and not rewarded, because physical suffering has come upon me and I did nothing to deserve it, because I've felt alone and unwanted, etc., etc., etc.

Can anyone relate?  I have had such a long list of disappointments that I've not just been blaming God for them, but I've also been feeling rejected by Him.  Why else would I have such a list, right? Wrong.

God never leaves us or forsakes us (Heb.13:5).  Never.  He sacrificed His own Son--rejected Him!--so that you and I would never be rejected.  Why?  Because He chose us to be His own.  He loves us that much.  So, though I may feel rejected because of all my disappointments, God isn't rejecting me, He's loving me.  He's loving me enough to allow things in my life to bring me to see my need for Him.  He's loving me enough to allow disappointments to bring me to His appointed purpose.  He's loving me, not rejecting me.  And He's doing the same for you.

Truth is so freeing...I'm free to value the unfailing love of God by being thankful for the failing love of man.  I'm free to love deeply at the risk of rejection because even if my love is rejected by man, it is received by God.  I'm free to be content with what I have even if what I have is a long list of disappointments.  I'm free to fully accept God's love.
I am free.

SaturdayMorningMeDiTaTioNs...A Solid Wall of Faith

"So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart."

~Nehemiah 4:6

Nehemiah 4 offers us an amazing illustration of faith.  There was great ridicule of and opposition to the rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem.  But under the leadership and encouragement of Nehemiah, the people continued to build.  The people remained faithful even when the Ammonites, the Arabs, the men of Ashdod, Sanballat, and Tobiah plotted and threatened to fight against Jerusalem (v.7-9) and even when the strength of the laborers were giving out and there was so much rubble that they felt they could not rebuild the wall (vs. 10).  They remained.  They remembered the Lord, who is great and awesome (v.14).  They went back to work.  They were prepared to fight, if necessary, and they relied on God to fight for them (v.20-23).

Walking in faith, in the Spirit, is like that wall.  There will be great opposition to your faithful, spirit-led lifestyle.  There will be many who will ridicule, scoff, and laugh at it.  There will be those who will look for the exposed places to attack (vs.13).  There will be times when you feel your strength is giving out because living by the Spirit takes unnatural intention.  There will be times when you feel like you're not getting anywhere.  And there will be times when you'll have to stand guard and be prepared to defend your faith.

So why would one choose to live by faith and by the Spirit?  Because the Lord is great and
awesome(v.14), because God will fight for us(v.20), and because He will give us success (Nehemiah 2:20).

Isn't it reassuring we don't have to live this life on our own?  We have the power of the Spirit, the presence of God, and the eternal hope and life of Jesus Christ.  We are never alone.  We can have the confidence that when we choose to live by faith and by the Spirit, we belong to God (see Romans 8:14-17) and will receive all that has been promised.

"But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope."

~Galatians 5:5

Go forward, then, with the power of the Holy Spirit filling you and strengthening you to keep building and defending your wall of faith built on the Rock, our Cornerstone.  It will be worth it.