Search me, O God!

Part III

Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

My middle child is much like my younger sister was as a child, which humors me in many ways.  She has a tendency to be sneaky and mischievous only to soon after confess her own sin to me without much prodding.  The guilt overwhelms her and she turns herself in.  Now, my oldest daughter is just like I was as a child.  She can lie with a straight face to the point that even she believes her own lie.  It takes a lot more reasoning and time (days sometimes) for her to admit her sin and ask for forgiveness. 

As Christians, the Bible says that you have died with Christ and it is no longer you who lives, but Christ in you. (Gal. 2:20)  So why do we continue to sin and struggle with the same sins for long periods of time?  The reality of it is that we were born sinners and in our own flesh we will sin until the day we die and are resurrected with Christ in heaven.  Sanctification is a process of getting rid of the old and putting on the new, the newness of Christ that comes from within.  For most, it is certainly not an overnight process.  The Bible says that the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.  Paul says in Romans 7:21, “So I find this law at work:  when I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”  Isn’t that the truth? 

We are not alone in this battle of the flesh.  We are not adopted into His family of faith and left as orphans.  The more we sin the stronger our flesh becomes.  Fighting our flesh with the Spirit of God takes deliberate effort and work.  The devil is real and entices us to sin and will even help us to justify and excuse our sin with lies that we believe.  God’s conviction to our sin is just as real, but if we are not spending time in the Spirit (God’s Word, prayer, accountability, etc.) than there is nothing in our flesh that will hold up our sin to the Truth.  Some Christians are walking around living like the rest of the world—dead and numb to their sin.  A non-Christian does not feel the weight of sin. There is a sense of entitlement to feel the pleasure their sin brings.  

Pray that God would search your heart and reveal to you your sin so that you can turn from it.  For some, God has revealed to you your sin and you are having a difficult time turning from it.  You are in bondage.  The only way to break that hold is by daily clothing yourself with the full armor of God spoken in Ephesians 6:10-17.  The devil wants to win every battle here on Earth, despite God already winning the war of your salvation.  Fight back and pray the for the Holy Spirit to guide you in your daily battle and against flesh and Satan.  

Warmly,
Jill

Your Inner Circle, Part Two

Psalm 139:13-16 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

There was a time in my life where I did not know or believe God’s love for me.  I was drowning in my own emotions, felt like a misfit in this world and was filled with self-loathe.  My self-talk was abusive towards myself.  Any accomplishment was never good enough or self-criticized.  I was struggling with bulimia and although was too skinny, I considered myself too fat.  I disrespected myself in every way.  What I didn’t understand at that time, is my self-abuse was also being disrespectful to my Creator.  My depression was all about me and nothing about God.

If this resonates with you at all, you too can overcome the feelings of worthlessness and despair.  One of the first steps is to gain a godly perspective.  Reread the verses above.   God created you in your mother’s womb, He thought of you before the beginning of time.  There is no accident in that.  God has purpose and knows the plans for your life (Jeremiah 29:11).  Every part of your mind, body, gifts and talents He thought of especially for you, whether you agree or disagree with His design. 

Spend time with your Creator.  Learn about His love for you.  Meditate on His Word, memorize it.  Pray with Him—have short and long conversations opening up to Him in your inner circle.  Over time, and with time and discipline, your mind will be transformed through the power of His Word.  He will heal your destructive self-talk and replace it with healthy, God breathed affirmations.  Invite the Holy Spirit to work miracles in your heart. 

Warmly,

Jill

Where is God in Your Circle?

Psalm 139: 1-4 “Oh Lord, you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.”

Psalm 139 brings comfort to me knowing God is all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful.  In the human realm, people only know what we tell them or what they observe.  Beyond that, they can make judgments—some accurate and some out of preconceived notions.  I often describe my friendships in circles.  I have my “inner circle” and these are the friends that I share the dirt with.  They know most of my fears, my struggles with sin and dreams, hopes and aspirations.  The "mid-circle"  may know some of this, but certainly not as much as the inner circle.  And then there is the outer circle, which are my acquaintances—those I still consider friends, but I do not know the details of their daily life and they do not know mine. 

Which circle does God fall into for you?  Do you share the intimate details of your daily life—the dirt, your fears, struggles and sin, dreams, hopes, desires and aspirations?  Or is He in your mid-circle where He knows some, but only intermittently?  Possibly, He is merely in your outer circle—where you consider Him part of your life, but do not consult with Him daily or consider the fact that He knows you best. 

We let others know and see what we want them to.  On the flip side, we hide what we do not want them to see and do not share out of fear they will discover something.  God already knows everything about us, even the number of hairs on our heads (Matthew 10:30), and still accepts us and loves us.  Isn’t that comforting?  God is always in our inner circle with us.  His greatest  gift is to allow us to know Him, turn to Him and become more like His Son, Jesus.  

Warmly,
Jill

What my 4 year old Taught Me

Recently I got a wonderful glimpse into the beauty and heart of a child. A few Saturdays ago my husband and I were getting ready for the day and my 4 year old came downstairs with a bag of toys. She told me she wanted to give these to her friend who was having a birthday party that morning. When I looked in the bag I was a little shocked at what she had put inside.  Many of the toys were my daughter's favorites. Sadly, my first reaction was to tell her she probably shouldn't give those away because my daughter liked them so much. She looked at me very matter of fact and said, "Mom, these are my friend's favorites to play with over here so I thought she would really be happy if she could keep them at her house". Wow!  The tears started flowing and I hugged my daughter and told her how proud I was of her and that Jesus was giving her such a tender heart and heart for loving others.

My husband came back in the room and I told him what happened and he just said, "Praise God. She is learning to hold loosely to things of this world. Let her give away whatever she wants". We both talked about how these are the moments in parenting that bring great joy. The day to day grind of training, correcting, modeling, etc. are hard. Then God in His kind and perfect way gives us parents who feel torn down, weary and tired a beautiful glimpse that it is paying off and the hours of prayer, sacrifice, and discipline on the parents part matters. It so matters!

My daughter was so proud to give this gift to her friend. She was beaming the whole car ride over. Once she got home I asked her about the party and the first thing she said to me was, "Mom, those toys are gone now. But that is OK, we have lots of other toys and it made my friend so happy". Yes it did baby girl and it made this momma happy.

We have an Altar Box where we keep mementos of God's goodness to us throughout the year. I put a small toy of Rachel's in there to remind me that the joy in giving is so much bigger than the gift. It is a divine attribute of Christ. He gave His life for us. Hold on loosely to things of this world. Only Christ matters. My baby girl taught me so much that weekend. Funny thing how God uses children to teach us adults divine lessons. I love the beautiful soul she is and how Christ is beginning to penetrate her heart. My prayer for her since I found out I was pregnant 5 years ago is that she would be a leader for Christ in this world and spread His fame with the talents, treasures, and time He gives her. He did that this weekend. I am so very grateful for a bag of princess toys, wooden staking blocks and fake fruit. It is a moment in my life that I will never forget.

Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
Glory in his holy name; let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
Psalm 105:1-4

With JOY,
Leeanne

The Best Advice

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying.  He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion.  He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”  ~ Samuel Chadwick

Today, I could probably give hundreds of examples  where God was waiting for me to turn to Him and ask for help.  The best advice I can give my children (and everyone else) is to pray about it.  Whether it is because something is lost or they are trying to make an important decision and everything in between.  God WILL help you in your time of need.  He will lay on your heart peace or discontentment regarding whatever matter at hand. 

When I was a new Christian and learning to trust God more, He continually increased my faith by responding to by breathe prayers.  The ones that you mutter in the moment or say in a desperate plea.  He still does this.  I vividly remember looking for a very important document that I thought I had left in my car.  I searched my entire car.  Went back into my apartment (at the time) and searched my desk and piles of papers.  I went back to the car and searched again.  After the back and forth numerous times, I sat in the front seat of my car and was about to give up.  I said one of my first breathe prayers as a believer, “Lord, please help me find this document.”  As the last word came out of my mouth it was as if I felt his hand lift my chin and my eyes fell upon the document safely tucked into the visor.  I wept.  All the back and forth was done in my own strength and will.  The moment I turned to Him, He heard and answered my prayers.

My four year old son came in from playing outside to ask for help to find some chalk.  I was busy and brushed him off.  I told him maybe later.  He came in the house about ten minutes later with a big smile on his face and said, “Mommy, I found the chalk.  I prayed to Jesus and He helped me find it.”  Later that day I wept again.  I praised God for increasing my four year old son’s faith with a piece of chalk when I wouldn’t give him the time of day.  The best advice I can give anyone, is to pray about it.  He is willing and waiting to hear from you no matter how big or small your issue is.

Warmly,

Jill

Prayer Plan

Luke 11:1  Lord teach us to pray.

Do you pray?  Hopefully everyone can say yes to that.  Are you intentional about praying?  Well, I pray when I need something, want something or am desperate about something.  Still, most people can relate to that.  Intentional means to do something on purpose; deliberately.  Do you deliberately pray?

For my family, we pray at meals, on our way to school, before bed as well as when we do devotionals.  We also pray if something “pops up” and we need to turn to the Father for guidance, wisdom, comfort, etc.  

After a recent sermon at church we were convicted that we needed to be more intentional with our prayer life as we seek to teach our children to rely fully on God.  We took our pastor’s advice to actually plan out our prayers.  Of course, this does not mean that if we have dedicated a certain day to pray for someone and something that we don’t add that to our prayers that day.  I typed up our weekly prayer list and made a little flip chart so it is easy to remember and the kids enjoy keeping us on track.

Sunday- Pray for our schools, teachers, administration and board members.

Monday- Pray for missionaries serving internationally and stateside.

Tuesday- Pray for our family that lives outside of our house.

Wednesday- Pray for leaders of our country and other leaders.

Thursday- Prayer for our friends and neighbors.

Friday- Pray for our family, our needs, daddy and mommy’s jobs and our future.

Saturday- Pray for our church, pastors, leaders within and those who work there.

Warmly,

Jill

2013 Goals

Happy New Year to everyone!  After traveling, sickness, and now a kitchen remodel, Jill and I would like to tell you how excited we are to be on this journey with you this year. I love change!  Christmas time is my favorite but when January rolls around I always seem to be ready for it. I love setting goals for my year ahead. I'm one that is more driven when I have specific goals. I like to tangibly see something and then hopefully implement. As I have been doing my quiet time the past few weeks I asked God to give me vision for the year. As I continue to pray and mediate, these are a few things the Lord has and continues to show me for this year:

1. Dream Big. Stop limiting God by my inability to see more. I have always been a big picture girl. Love to lead through projects, teaching and speaking but I am learning that God is even bigger and I need to not shy away from the really BIG dreams floating around in my head!

2.  Pray for those persecuted. So many followers of Jesus Christ are being persecuted. I need to sacrifice more time in prayer for those Brothers and Sisters.

3. Discipline. If I am honest, I can always make time for myself if I need to. I don't always, but when the rubber meets the road, all my needs are always met. The Lord has really been working on my heart regarding devoting more time to studying/reading His word. For me, that means getting up earlier than my children. To break that down my sweet baby girl loves her  6am wake up time. Am I willing to obey?

4. Watching my speech. Amazing what a Proverbs study brings to light. So many areas for improvement in this category.

5. Seek wisdom from wise women. I'm grateful for great mentors in my life. I'm making it a priority this year to be intentional to spend time with them.

6. Make my health a priority. Healthy eating, exercise regularly and more family active time.

7. Foster an avenue to serve a church/para church organization that loves orphans. This is an area of my heart the Lord is giving me great love and passion for. So, I dream big and pray.

8. Be a loving and gentle wife and friend.

9. Pray for my church. I am so blessed to have my church. Our pastor said last week "we make much of Jesus around here". Yes we do.

10.  Make teaching Jesus an even deeper priority to my children. They are my most precious gift. I don't want to waste it.

11. Tell. People need Jesus. People need hope. I need to tell the Good News to a world that is searching for truth. Someone was kind enough to tell me.

So.. those are just my top eleven!   I pray the Lord will radically shape my life and your life this year. I know the two things I must do - discipline myself and pray. Today, I leave you with this. Hebrews 10:23 says, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope with profess, for he who promised is faithful".

We have a great Hope!  Let's live this year with confidence in our great God.

With JOY,
Leeanne